Disclaimer: I do not own Static Shock. I am not making profit from this story so no one sue me, please. Any characters whom are not from Static Shock are rightfully owned by me.
Summary: Virgil and Richie haven't been friends for nearly 20 years. They have gone their separate ways and lived their successful live through work. However, how have their personal lives suffered since their failed friendship?
Just like every morning, Virgil's alarm clock blared at 6:35 in the morning. Almost robotically, Virgil automatically reached over and shut off the offending noise and sat up in his bed, his head leaning back against the headboard. He drew in a deep breath, causing his neck to stretch and his airway to constrict until he let out the breath slowly and evenly. Pulling his head back into an upright position, Virgil glanced around his darkened room, noting that everything was exactly as it had been the night before.
Puffing out his cheeks, Virgil blinked a couple times to adjust his eyes before finally deciding to swing his legs over the side of the bed. He sat there as he reached his arms behind his back, stretching his muscles and joints, which lead to a satisfied groan. He let out another puff of air, officially feeling much more awake and mostly ready for the day.
The day which was apparently going to start a lot sooner than Virgil had planned.
From down the hall, Virgil heard fast paced footsteps heading toward his bedroom door. He raised an eyebrow with his eyes fixated on the door and pulled his legs onto the bed, sitting cross-legged. He lazily covered himself with the blanket just as he saw his bedroom door open.
"Good morning, Daddy," Chloé said as she stuck her head through the cracked open door. "May I come in?"
"Sure, baby," Virgil said and leaned back against the headboard again. He made space next to him on the bed and Chloé sat down beside him. "What's up?" Virgil asked as he planted a kiss on top of Chloé's head.
"Can Rachael come and stay the night?"
Virgil blinked and absently glanced at the clock again. The time was now 6:42 in the morning. Virgil looked back at Chloé who was staring intently at Virgil as she awaited the answer to her question. Virgil's mind reeled through a couple of thoughts, but most specifically: Why was Chloé asking him at 6:40 in the morning?
"Chloé, honey, you do realize what time it is, right?" Virgil said in a way that had been meant to not hurt her feelings, but make her aware that it was too early to be asking him something like this. "Is Rachael even awake at this hour? Why are you awake?"
"I'm awake because Rachael called me to ask if she could stay the night," Chloé said as if that should have been obvious.
"Rachael called you at 6:30 in the morning, Chloé? Why?" Virgil questioned monotone. Then his eyes narrowed. He daughter didn't own a cell phone, so another question caught his interest. "Called you on what?"
"The phone, Daddy," Chloé said and held up Virgil's home phone. "I gave her your phone number at school so I could talk to her over winter break."
Virgil knitted his eyebrows together, scratched his forehead with his middle finger, and then squeezed his eyes shut gently. Not that he had anger issues, but he mentally counted backward from ten, anyway, so that he could clear his thoughts, because right now his daughter was in his bedroom at almost 7:00 in the morning asking for permission for something that could easily have waited at least two hours. On top of it all, Chloé had been giving out his phone number without his permission. Then there was the fact that all of this was going down before he had his morning cigarette. He needed to clear his mind.
A few moments of complete silence passed between them, throughout a majority of which Virgil watched the dance of emotions across Chloé's face. Finally letting out a sigh, Virgil sat up into an upright position and pulled Chloé into a hug which she returned with the same intensity that Virgil was giving.
"She can come over," Virgil said without letting go of his daughter. Gently, he pushed her away just far enough to see her face that had begun to fill with excitement from her father's approval. He smiled and brushed a kiss on her cheek before continuing to speak. "But, next time, can you wait until a more reasonable hour to come ask me? Seven in the morning is a little early for me to be making decisions about the rest of the day, Chloé."
The expression on Chloé's face fell slightly as she said "I'm sorry, Daddy," apologetically, and buried her face into Virgil's chest, wrapping Virgil in a monstrous hug. When Virgil returned the hug, Chloé cuddled up against him and said, "Thank you for letting her come over, though." She paused momentarily before adding: "Is it okay if we go get her? She doesn't know where you live, but I know where she lives."
Virgil sighed but nodded quickly. "Yes, we can go get her. You're sure you know where she lives?"
The absolute look of glee on Chloé's face was more than enough of a thank you for Virgil. Sometimes he even wondered if he told Chloé yes on things just because he wanted to see her happy. It was a possibility, considering Chloé was the only pretty much the only person in his life that actually made him happy.
"I'm clairvoyant, Daddy," Chloé reminded, breaking Virgil of his thoughts, as she ran out of the room to get dressed. "I know how to find people, remember, Daddy? Finding Rachael will be easy!" she laughed, but then said seriously, "But yes, I know where she lives," she called out just before she was out of his earshot.
"Wait!" Virgil called down the hallway, when a sudden question came to him. He got up and went to the doorway, catching Chloé right before she went into her room. She turned on her heels to face Virgil. "Are we supposed to be picking her up now?" When he didn't get an answer, he said, "Chloé, it is only seven. I was thinking maybe we could get her at, like, nine or ten."
Chloé's eyes darted to the floor and she said, "I told Rachael we would come get her at 7:45 if you said yes," in a cautious tone.
Without really thinking, Virgil groaned loudly, obviously displeased. He dropped his face into his palm and placed his other hand on his hip. "Chloé, it is seriously way too early to be driving to Gotham. Not to mention, I am not even dressed, my dreads are a tangled mess, and I would like a shower. Besides, it's Monday morning; there's going to be rush hour traffic. Just because I'm off work doesn't mean other people are, too."
Chloé's chin slumped to her chest as she began to pick at her fingernails. Every so often, she would roll her lips and then gently bite at her bottom lip. She occasionally shifted her balance from her right foot to her left, feeling genuinely uncomfortable by the situation at hand.
Virgil sighed softly and walked over to Chloé. Getting down on his knees, he pushed Chloé's head up with his pointer finger and thumb. "Chloé, I'm not mad at you. A little frustrated, but I'm not mad," Virgil said and drew in a deep breath that ended in a yawn. He pulled Chloé into a hug, to which she gratefully returned. Virgil couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips when his daughter hugged him back.
After several seconds of just hugging, Chloé finally spoke. "Do you think I should call Rachael and tell her we'll be there by eleven instead?" she offered.
Virgil gave an airy laugh that tickled Chloé's cheek and hugged her closer. Chloé responded by practically curling into Virgil's chest, taking in the sweet scent of his unique smell. She relaxed in her father's arms at the all-to-familiar scent that made her feel warm and protected, even when she knew she had done something wrong.
"Yes, Chloé, I think you should. I would really appreciate it."
Letting Chloé free from the hug, Virgil gently kissed Chloé's cheek and then watched as she ran down the hallway to her bedroom, calling after him with an "I love you." Virgil listened as he heard the mumbled sounds of his daughter's voice, and something that sounded like "My Daddy says 7:45 is too early. I should have asked first. Is like 11:00 okay?"
Virgil shook his head as he grinned, laughed airily. There was certainly no doubt that Chloé was his daughter, and certainly even less doubt that Virgil loved her, absolutely no matter what. It was moments like this that made Virgil think that maybe, just perhaps, whatever he had screwed up while in the future, had been worth it to have a daughter as beautiful and loving as Chloé. Even if it ultimately meant loosing his best friend.
Staring at Chloé's bedroom door, Virgil made a split-second decision that Chloé was probably going to be on the phone for a while, so Virgil went back into his room, grabbed his hoodie, and momentarily slipped outside to the balcony. His dreads and the shower could wait.
A/N: I had intended on this chapter being a little bit longer, but decided at the last minute to just give you this fluffiness. There's a lot of angst to come (probably chapter 9 or 10) and since we just got past some angst, I want to give you guys a little bit of a breather before more comes. It's like a roller coaster of Angst up in here.
Um... I have nothing else to say about this chapter, or in general.
Except that this chapter took me forever to write, but I think I'm happy with how it turned out.
Anyway, please review! Constructive criticism is welcome!
Just thought I'd add something: Please ignore any errors (i.e. missing words) that may be in this chapter. I wrote it kind of late and forgot to proofread. Sorry about that. =/ I'm doing my best to go back and make changes as I see needing them.