*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter they were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much*
December arrived and the cold weather arrived with it. There was a blistery chill in the air as Journey, Zoey and I walked out onto the streets of Manhattan from the building that holds our penthouse. I hold Zoey's hand as we make our way into the busy sidewalks of the city. It seems like there's more tourists and more hustle and bustle on the weekends leading up to Christmas. "Where are we going, Daddy?" asks Zoey as we walk.
"Times Square," I answer her with a smile. "We're going to pick out Christmas presents for children at the shelters."
"We're going to Toys R Us? I love Toys R Us, can I get a toy too?"
"We'll see," I say with a smile as I look into her blue eyes. She looks cute dressed in her purple trim coat with a light purple hat shielding her ears from the cold and her light purple mittens to match. "Remember Zoey, today we're buying for boys and girls that don't have any toys and their parents can't afford to pay Santa Claus. Okay?"
"Okay, Daddy," she says with a smile. "I want to help out a little boy and girl," she says making me smile.
We make our way down the busy sidewalk and walk to Times Square. The entire city is decorated for Christmas. It's my favorite time of year. The street lights are decorated with green and red garland with mistletoe and every window we pass by has a Christmas decorated window with a Christmas display of Santa and his workshop or advertising a Christmas deal. "It's so beautiful, Daddy!" says Zoey as she looks at all the decorations.
"Isn't it?" I ask with a smile. "Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love seeing all the Christmas decorations in Manhattan but you know what my favorite thing is to see every year around Christmas?"
"What is it Daddy?" she asks.
"The tree at Rockefeller Center at night it's always decorated so beautifully and the lights are amazing. I love seeing it every year."
"That sounds pretty," she says as I scoop her up and carry her as I take Journey's hand. "Can I see the tree?"
"We'll have to go visit it some time when it's dark. How does that sound?"
"Tonight?" she asks.
"Not tonight," I say. "We're going to decorate our own Christmas tree tonight maybe another night we'll go see the tree at Rockefeller Center. How does that sound?"
"Okay," she answers with a smile. "Mommy, do you want to go to Rockefeller Center?" she asks.
"Yes, Zoey, I do. I have never seen it," she says and she seems distant. She's been quiet for the last couple days and I'm not sure why.
"Everything okay?" I ask her.
"Yeah, I'm just tired," she says. "I've been working a lot to get all my designs finished to present on Monday at your office and I also have Zoey. Apollo is a lot of work too so I am just tired."
"Okay," I say, "you know you can get some rest tonight. I can take care of Zoey."
"No, I'll be all right," she says. "I don't want to miss out on decorating the Christmas tree."
"All right," I say but I'm worried about her. She's been a little off and a little distant since the other day. I'm not sure why. If something is going on she surely isn't telling me. I wish she would just be open with me and she would just be truthful with me, I wish she would let me in. I know there's more than her being tired even though she has been working hard to present her designs on Monday; there's definitely more going on with her.
We finally make our way to Toys R Us in Times Square. It's one of Zoey's favorite places to go because of the ferris wheel which we allow her to get on before we begin our shopping. She also enjoys the candy shop which we promised we could go to after we picked out a few gifts for the boys and girls at the shelter. Zoey does a wonderful job she helps us pick out a few baby toys because we do have babies in our shelters it's sad but we have at least 5 babies in our shelters. Zoey then helps to pick out toys for boys between the ages of 2-4, 5-8 and 9-12. She goes through picking out toys from her favorite movies and television shows as well as action figures for them. The girls are easier for her as she runs through all the girl toys picking out toys for the same age group. Journey and I smile at her willingness to help children in need. "The kids are going to be so happy!" she says with a smile.
"Yes they are," I say with a smile. "They're going to have a good Christmas because you are helping put a smile on their face."
"I know, Daddy," she says before we hit the Disney Princess section. "Daddy, can I get this?" she asks holding up a Moana dress. "I really LOVE Moana, can I get a Moana dress?"
"What do you think?" I ask Journey. "Do you think she deserves a Moana dress?"
"She's done such a good job helping others I don't see why not," she smiles. It's the first time I saw her smile in a couple days.
"So I can get the dress?" she asks.
"You can get the dress," says Journey with a smile.
"Thank-you!" she says with excitement. I take the dress from her and get her a dress in her size then allow her to carry it. We stop at the candy shop so she can get a couple lollipops and a couple other treats before we go to pay for everything. We take our bags out to the sidewalk and my driver meets us so we can put the gifts we bought in the trunk of the car so we can continue on with our day. I want to take Zoey to Macy's to see Santa Claus for the first time but don't want to carry around a lot of bags with us.
We continue through the busy sidewalks to get to Macy's and of course as soon as we hit the line to see Santa Claus it's longer than I expected. We jump in line which is about an hour and a half wait to see him. Zoey looks up at me and smiles as we wait for our turn to see Santa Claus. "Are you excited?" I ask her.
"Yes. I never met Santa before," she smiles with the child sparkle in her blue eyes.
"Are you going to tell Santa what you want for Christmas?"
"Yes, Daddy," she says with a smile. "I want a baby sister for Christmas."
"I don't think you're going to get a baby sister," I chuckle nervously and Journey starts coughing. "Baby sisters don't just happen like that."
"How do they happen, Daddy?" she asks.
"The stork brings them but the mommy and daddy have to agree that they want a baby," I say explaining it the best way that I want to for a three year old.
"Well, do you and Mommy want to have a baby?" she asks.
Before I can say anything Journey answers for me, "someday," she says.
"Yes, someday," I say looking at Journey as she gives me a strange look.
"You know what I would name my baby sister?" she asks.
"What?" I ask as we wait in line. It's a way to kill time. "What would you name your baby sister?"
"Marissa," she says.
"That's a pretty name," I smile. "It's a very pretty."
"I know, Daddy."
"And what if you had a brother?" I ask.
"I don't know. I think Phillip."
"Sounds good," I say with a smile. "Well, she's got it planned out for us, Journey," I joke with her.
"Yeah, sounds like she does," she says.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, Dean. I just don't feel well and I'm tired. I think I need to sit down."
"Go ahead and sit down. You can come up with us when it's time for us to see Santa."
"Okay," she says before she gets out of line to sit down. I still have no idea what's going on with her.
"What's wrong with your mommy?" I ask Zoey as if she can give me any information on her mom. It's worth a shot. She may have heard something that I didn't hear when I was at work.
"I don't know she's sick," she shrugs. "Really sick she had us rest all day yesterday because she was tired. I don't know and she peed for a really long time yesterday. Then she cried."
"What do you mean she cried and peed for a really long time?"
"I don't know, Daddy," she says. "She told me to stay in the living room and color. She went to the bathroom and then she cried."
"Interesting," I say. "Anything else I should know?"
"No, Daddy," she answers me.
"Okay," I say as I shrug my shoulders.
Once we are up to Santa Clause Journey joins us back in line. Zoey runs over to Santa and sits on his lap with so much excitement on her face. I watch her as she talks to Santa and points to her mom and me. "What do you think she's telling him?" I ask as I wrap my arm around her shoulders.
"I don't know," says Journey. "She asked for a baby sister. She's probably asking him for one right now."
"Maybe," I say. "I think it's cute she wants to be a big sister. I can't wait until we make her one. I mean I can wait there's no rush but I can't wait for the day she becomes a big sister. I bet she's going to be awesome."
"I'm sure she is," she says with a soft smile. "We can only hope."
"By the time that happens she's going to be at least 6 years old so she should be all right."
"Yeah," she says. "She'll be 6," but there's something in her voice that worries me. She's not confident.
"You okay?" I ask.
"Yes, stop asking me if I'm okay, Dean. I'm fine."
"All right," I say, "just worried about you. You're not being yourself."
"I'm fine," she says again and I decide to drop it. Zoey motions for us to join her with Santa Claus and we do so we can take a family picture with the man in the red suit. He gives her a candy cane and tells her he will see what he can do about her gift but he can't promise anything. It makes me wonder as she thanks him then skips off in front of us so that we can head to the penthouse to drop off the gifts then head out to get our Christmas tree from a Christmas tree farm.
We spent an hour and a half at the Christmas Tree farm to pick the perfect tree for our living room. The tree was either too bare, too tall, too small but nothing just right. We looked at dozens of trees before we finally found the perfect tree. It was perfect. It was medium sized with a lot of firs on it. There was no bareness in sight. It was full and beautiful with the pine smell I associated with Christmas. We cut the tree down and we pay for it. We take it back to the penthouse and I get everything together for it while Zoey and Journey get out the Christmas decorations we bought. I never had decorations because I never felt the need to decorate a tree but since I wasn't alone anymore and I wasn't spending Christmas alone I wanted a tree. I wanted to give Zoey and Journey the best Christmas that I could.
Once I had the tree set up in the living room I strung the lights on it while Journey decorated the living room with Christmas decorations. She put garland on the mantle, a wreath on the front door and set up a little nativity set next to the fake fireplace. She then hung the stockings on the mantle it was starting to feel like Christmas. "The tree is ready to be decorated," I announce.
"Yay!" yells Zoey with excitement.
We begin to decorate the tree together and of course with my OCD every ornament Zoey put on the tree I had to readjust so they weren't too close together and also so that the same colors weren't too close together. She never even noticed as she kept hanging up ornaments on the tree. It looks pretty good as we finish it. There's an array of red, gold and white ornaments on the tree. "What do you think, Zoey? Do you think we did a good job?"
"I don't know," she says standing with her hands on her hips like her mom would do. "Something is missing," she says.
"Could it be this?" I ask showing her the angel for the top of the tree.
"The Angel!" she says with a smile. "She's so pretty," she says with a smile as she touches her hair. "Can I put her on the tree?"
"Yes," I say with a smile as I hand her the angel and then lift her up on my shoulders. She places the angel on the tree and I put her down on her feet. "Now that's a Christmas tree."
"Yes it is," she agrees with me.
"The tree is beautiful," says Journey with a small smile.
"Let's take a family picture," I say with a smile.
"Okay," says Journey. I give my phone to one of the maids and we pose to have our picture taken. She takes our picture and hands my phone back to me. "That's so good," says Journey. "We truly are a family."
"Yes we are," I say with a smile. "I love you," I say before I kiss her lips softly.
"I love you too," she smiles.
"I love you, Daddy!" says Zoey.
"And I love you too," I say before I kiss her cheek. "What do you say we go out to get dinner tonight and have a nice family dinner?"
"I think I'm going to pass," says Journey. "I'm not feeling well and I just want to lie down. You and Zoey can go out to eat. Have a nice father daughter night."
"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask.
"I'm just not feeling well," she says. "I just want to try to sleep this off," she says. "You two go out and have fun."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure, I'll be all right. I'm just going to sleep."
"Okay," I say. "Get some rest. Zoey and I will have a daddy daughter date."
"Sounds good. Zoey, listen to Daddy okay?"
"Okay, Mommy," she says. Journey gives us each a hug and a kiss before she goes into our bedroom to rest. "Well, Daddy it's you and me!"
"Yes, it's you and me," I say with a smile. "Let's get ready to go." I get Zoey dressed in her coat, hat and mittens before I get myself dressed to brave the bitterly cold New York weather.
I take her to one of her favorite restaurants in the New York City. We enjoy our meal together. She laughs and tells me jokes as we eat and I tell her my own jokes. We talk about what she wants for Christmas and we talk about some of her favorite shows. She's catching me up on them since I miss them because of work. I promise her that every weekend we'll have to watch a couple of her shows together so I know what's going on. "Daddy?" she asks me as she drinks her milkshake.
"Yes, Zoey?"
"You're the bestest daddy in the whole world! I love you."
I smile as my heart melts and say, "and you're the bestest daughter in the whole world and I love you." My phone starts to ring and I answer it. "Hello."
"Seems like you have made a pretty nice family, Dean Ambrose," says the man on the other end. "They aren't your family. They belong to me. Zoey is my daughter she will never be yours. I know what you're trying to do and it won't work. Zoey and Alexis are mine. 22 days until your fantasy life is over," he says with a laugh before the line goes dead. I instantly feel rage building up inside of me. He's now threatening me as well as Journey. I can't allow that. I need to get the ball rolling on getting his rights to Zoey taken away and getting his divorced from Journey finalized. I just need her medical records which might be complicated with her starting to get sick.
"Zoey, how about we go home," I suggest.
"What about my milkshake, Daddy?"
"We'll take it with us. I think we should get home to your Mommy."
"Okay, Daddy," she says. I motion for our waitress and I ask her to bring me a cup to pour the rest of her milkshake into it so we can take it home with us. I pour the rest of the milkshake into the cup and grab our food that we didn't finish to bring home along with the food I ordered for Journey to eat when she woke up.
Something told me to get home to Journey. I didn't like her being alone at the penthouse. As soon as we are back at the penthouse I give one of the maids our food and Zoey goes to sit in the kitchen to finish her milkshake while I walk to the bedroom to check on Journey. I let out a sigh of relief as I see her sleeping peacefully in our bed. I smile before I shut the door allowing her to sleep and finish spending my night with Zoey watching movies and coloring, giving her a bath and then putting her to bed. I'm starting to think I have this whole dad thing down and I think I am pretty good at it.
*A/N: What did you think? What do you think about Journey? What about Cody's threat? Please review and thank-you for reading.