Author's Note: Sorry for the late one everybody! It was Christmas so I took a break, but I will catch up today!

24: Socks/Boots: Harold and Leshawna

Harold hadn't always seen his life ending up like this, not that he was complaining. He couldn't ask for a better girlfriend or daughter, even if his parents thought he could. The young man understood their complaints though. After all, Harold was no third grade ingrate. He had the mind of a scientist, physicist, and general Einsteinish way about him. He'd had it since he was a kid and started "nerding out" on things such as chemistry and radioactive superheroes. His parents had been nursing his genius for as long as he could remember. When he decided to give it up for a simple, contemplative, domestic lifestyle, it was understandable how upset and shocked his parents were. Even if he understood, that didn't mean he liked to hear their constant badgering. That was one of the main reasons he rarely visited anymore.

Losing that relationship wasn't all bad though. Yeah, he missed his mom and dad, but if they couldn't support his decision and be happy for him, then what was the point of keeping them in his life? They were only making him, and his little family, upset. Being away from them gave Harold a chance to find out what he wanted for his future. While attending university with Leshawna, he discovered that while he loved physics and the sciences, he didn't want a career in it. This came as a late decision, for he was only a semester away from getting his two degrees.

He and Leshawna both graduated the same year and both decided that Washington was not a place for them. They only moved there because it was the university they both were accepted into, but now they had more options. Since they both had country roots, they packed up the apartment and moved to a small town not far from the big city. Harold immediately fell in love with the environment and the people. When he wasn't exploring the wildlife and taking notes, he was working on opening a comic book store. After all, what kind of a childhood was one without Batman and Robin?

Harold had always been good with kids. At first, they'd look at him like he was strange, but after getting them to talk about something they enjoyed and he actually knew stuff about it, they warmed up to him. This was the same with the town kids. They soon started flocking to him whenever he was in town and he'd end up walking down Main Street with a pack full of screaming, laughing children. If Leshawna was with him, and she usually was, she'd laugh along with them and sometimes she got them to sing songs as they marched on. That was how she got started teaching a kid's choir at the local elementary school. Despite not having a teaching degree, the kids loved her and the school was in desperate need of more arts programs for the kids.

With both of them having natural tendencies to act well with children, it wasn't a question they would one day have some of their own. Harold just didn't expect it to be when he was twenty-five and unmarried. He knew everyone thought he should leave, because how would their relationship survive a baby? But people underestimated him. They didn't see that Harold actually loved the idea of having a baby with Leshawna and he couldn't wait to be a dad, even if he was a little younger.

The day Miya was born was the best for Harold. When he held her for the first time, all clenched eyes and gurgling noises, he fell in love for the second time in his life. After that, no one could tell him he wasn't ready to be a father.

Nothing was perfect though, this much was obvious. Some days he really did get stressed out by all the responsibility he had at home but it never crossed his mind to leave. Once you committed to something, especially another human being, you didn't just walk out on them. That wasn't how Harold's mind worked. Besides, he wouldn't miss watching Miya grow up for anything in the world.

Already, by winter, she was wearing big girl boots and to the point where any day now she would start walking, Harold was sure of that. Leshawna and Harold decided to take her out for a walk in the snow that day, so he knelt down and attempted to put on his daughter's boots. She thought it was funny that Daddy had his tongue sticking out as he concentrated on the laces, and she started giggling. At one point, she reached over and pulled off his glasses.

"Hey!" he said, caught by surprise, but smiled as he tried to get them back. "Come on Mouse, give 'em back to Daddy!" He nearly got them, but instead she stuck them in her mouth. Ah, yes, lovely. Now he'd have to clean them. She was still giggling though and he couldn't stay mad at her, not really.

Leshawna came out of the living room to see what was up and giggled herself. "What in the world are you two doin'?"

"Well, Mouse here thought it'd be funny to see how Daddy's glasses taste. Do they taste good Miya?"

She gurgled happily, causing both parents to laugh. The astrologist came over and gently pried the glasses out of Miya's mouth. "I'll go was em off, you try and tie those boots so we can go on an adventure."

"Ventur, ventur!" Miya squealed, clapping her hands. She was starting to speak more now, but hadn't said anything other than mama and dada till then. Harold grinned proudly and gave her an Eskimo kiss.

"That's right, an adventure," he nodded.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't going to cure the common cold or come up with a plausible end-of-the-world theory, but Harold had a place to call home, a family to love, and a job he adored. That was pretty great in the scheme of things in his books.