Chapter 4 || Not just another year of Ole Yeller
Daphne could still remember the first time she ever called Deacon dad. It had been completely by accident one day many moons ago when she was doing her best to talk him into taking her out late one night for milkshakes.
"Daphne it's nearly 10pm, not only is your mom going to be upset that I am letting you stay up this late but she certainly will not be happy if I'm shoveling sugar in you." He had given her a knowing look that she knew that this was the truth. Her mom and Deacon had only been married a couple of months and with everything going on with Maddie, the house was tense enough as is without adding a stupid fight between them just because she wanted a milkshake.
But that didn't mean she didn't want to do everything in her power to make at least one of her parents smile and in her mind a milkshake was just that. Her mom was still at Highway 65 and neither Daphne nor Deacon had any notion of going to bed after spending the last few hours camped out in front of the tv. They deserved to go out, the needed some time together to just enjoy and forget about the void Maddie had left when she left them. That pain was never going to go away but she could at least try and move forward.
"Please?" She asked with the best pout she could come up with making her step father laugh before shaking his head making her push hard. "Please? Dad? Please?" She hadn't realized she had said it until she did and Deacon looked at her a soft but shocked smile on his face and she quickly covered her mouth completely freaked out over it. Before she could let him say anything she was coming up with ten excuses as to why she should go to bed and running up the stairs.
Twenty minutes later he was knocking on her door, two milkshakes in hand.
"Hey. Can I come in?" He had asked and she nodded still too embarrassed to say anything. It wasn't that she didn't mean what she said or she wanted to take it back, it was just confusing and she wasn't expecting herself to say it.
"I..." She began before he cut her off, sitting down next to her and handing her the cup.
She sat there nervously sucking on her straw watching his eyes having had found it amusing if it were any other day or situation that the great songwriter Deacon Claybourne was at a loss of words. She sat there for another twenty seconds before she started to freak out. Was he mad? Did he not want her to call him dad? He was Maddie's dad, not hers. She had a dad already but was it not okay to have two? Before she could sink further into humiliation he put a hand on hers.
"I know that you're freaked out, darlin'." He said calmly in that Deacon way that could calm anyone down. "And that's okay." He murmured pausing only to take a drink of his own milkshake. "I love you so much, and you my dear are my daughter and not only because I married your mom. When and if you are ready to call me dad you can, but only when you're ready. Okay?"
It was months before she called him dad again and that was just fine with the both of them because they both knew how they felt and that they had each other. He was her dad after all, no matter how strange she felt working through the courage to actually say it.
She was twelve years old back then, confused but happy to have so many people in her life that loved her so much. Now at sixteen she knew more now than ever that the people in your life are meant to be there and despite losing her mom devastatingly she had not one but two dads who loved her and her sister more than the world.
When her dad got out of jail it had been yet another shock to her system that she wasn't ready for. He wanted more than anything for her to move in with him and to leave Deacon, and the second he heard her call him dad it had blew things even more up than she expected but there was nothing more that she wanted in life but to live with Deacon. She wanted to continue the life they were building as a family, even with Maddie merging into adult life and leaving them to each other more than ever. They loved it though; they fought and loved like a real family. It was everything she knew her mom would want for them.
Three years had passed since they lost her, three years of holidays and birthdays where they wished she were there to spend it with them. Three years of having each other through the good and bad.
It was yet another birthday of her dads where he insisted of watching the saddest movie of all time in everyone's opinion but his. It was something he had done for years and even more so now that her mom wasn't there to talk him into at least going bowling to celebrate. She always chose to watch it with him, refusing to let him sit alone in the dark on a day where he deserved to be surrounded by love.
This year wasn't going to be any different except she was forcing it to be.
It had taken almost a year to plan her birthday present. There had been a lot of secret talks and meetings and more fights than she could ever imagine but she was adamant regarding her decision and was excited that the time had finally came to move forward.
"Dad, I get it. This is your thing, this is your favorite movie and I will happily watch it with you this morning." She said as she followed him through the kitchen laughing as he grumbled about not wanting to have a special birthday dinner even if it were just Scarlett and Maddie coming over. "But this is happening. It's been planned for weeks, we're going to sit here as a family and you're going to sit through it and let us sing to you and eat cake. Got it?" He glared at her and she smirked but she knew he was going to do it whether he hated it or not. He couldn't say no to her.
So they spent the morning watching Ole Yeller not once but twice before she made him go and relax while she began to set everything up. It was going to be a family affair and the excitement and nerves bundling in her stayed as Maddie arrived and then Scarlett and they enjoyed yet another meal together just enjoying each other and most of all the man who they all loved so dearly.
When it was present time she waited anxiously to be the last person to give him hers. Everyone in the room knew what was about to happen except for him and she knew that she was about five minutes from all her hard work coming to a final result. It had taken so long to sort it all out figure out how to do this that she was practically making her lip bleed from nerves as Deacon carefully opened the red packaging finding on top of the multi-layer box a framed photo of them. "Keep going." She said softly before he could say anything regarding the portrait and before he lifted the tissue paper to find another frame with a letter in it. "Read it out loud."
He looked at all of them, Scarlett already in tears and Maddie damn near it before looking down through his glasses and clearing his throat.
"Dad,
My earliest memory of you is when I was about three. Mom was on tour and you as her bandleader were running around the stage instructing the band as Maddie and I sat near the edge just looking at the empty arena. I remember inching closer and closer before being whisked up by you and you telling me that I was going to fall off and 'hit my cute little noggin'. You were my protector then as my Uncle Deacon and you are even more so now as the best stepfather I could ever ask for.
Throughout the good and the bad you have been there for me. You have been my rock, my heart, and my soul in which I don't know what I would do without you.
I know that I am a pain in your neck and you blame me for those gray hairs on your head, but I can't imagine being anything but your pain.
You are already by dad, but I have a question for you.
Will you be my dad?"
He looked at her confused as she slowly walked towards him motioning to look at what was underneath the next layer – a petition for adoption. Before she could say anything else he was pulling her into a hug, her head against his shoulder both of them crying as it hit him.
"I hope that's a yes." She mumbled with a laugh against his flannel causing him to laugh and nod as he kissed her head.
It wasn't just any old birthday anymore and they weren't just some family either. They had each other and she knew as Maddie joined in on their hug that their mama was staring down at them smiling away.
hi ya'll! so this is my last and final installment in this little deacon/daphne one shot series. this wasn't originally the prompt i had in mind but i watched one of those 'adoption surprise' vids on fb and it just hit me. this does make this story complete though! however if anyone has any prompts send them my way while i diddle daddle in a couple other true multi-chapters i have in mind (is s3 into for s4 over done yet cause i have feels over that time period, oh and a s5 rewrite maybe? idk) anyways send them my way and thanks for reading my short and sweet moment between these two. i had felt like they deserved a chapter or 4 of cute love for our favorite stepfather/daughter duo.
