Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Chosen. Dallas Jenkins does and I am NOT making any money off of this. I only own my Original Characters: Hanna, Maya, and Faith. And none of the events with Hanna, Maya and Faith happened in the bible. Thank you and God Bless you!
Hanna was extremely happy with how her room was turning out. Her father had even come home with plenty of new things for her that night as well.
"The boys were making fun of me all day for this" Gaius had said as they were sitting on her bed, stringing fake flowers to put around her bed frame. "I told them I had to spoil my little girl and that shut them up."
Hanna giggled and kissed her dad's cheek. "Welcome to the world of having a daughter. I know it's not the same as having sons though."
"No it's definitely different" Gaius said as he looked around Hanna's room.
Her sketches were scattered all over the walls, her vanity had been stored with perfume and make-up that she had previously bought herself. How he he managed to know her favorites was beyond him. He even got her some more clothes and jewelry.
Once the two of them had managed to fix her bed frame, Hanna stepped back and smiled brightly, looking over her room happily. "Do you like it?" Gaius asked as he pulled her into his arms, kissing her head.
"I love it dad thank you!"
"Anything for my baby" Gaius said as they both stretched out on her bed, leaning into her brand new pillows.
"So I kind of have a surprise for you" he said pulling her close, kissing her forehead.
"Daddy you've already given me so much already, what else could you possibly give me?"
"A sleepover with Quintus. Tomorrow night."
"What?" Hanna sat up now, looking down at her father, taking one of his hands. "Daddy are you sure?"
"I trust you Han. And I also trust we don't have to have that conversation..."
"Oh! Ew! Dad I am a virgin! I'm saving that until marriage!" she exclaimed, shuddering at just the thought of it.
Gaius sighed and closed his eyes, nodding as he pulled his child back against him, kissing her cheek. He would rather not have the talk with her unless it was really necessary. That would be way too awkward for him and his 18-year-old daughter.
"So why are you allowing me to spend the night with Quintus?" she asked curiously, gazing up at her father curiously now.
"So that is another thing I wanted to tell you" Gaius said to an expectant Hanna. "You know Faith right? Simon's sister?"
"Yeah I know her. We're like sisters why do you ask?"
"Well um...she and I are kind of having dinner here tomorrow night."
Hanna's eyes widened as she gazed up at her father, a smile starting to form on her lips. "Daddy this is great!" she exclaimed hugging him happily as she kissed his cheek.
"Faith is so wonderful you will love her!"
Gaius smiled and ruffled Hanna's hair playfully. "I sort of already do sweetheart."
"I'm glad daddy. I'm very happy for you" Hanna said, snuggling close to her father.
Gaius smiled and hugged his daughter close, laughing when he heard her stomach grumbling. "Well someone is hungry" he teased lightly as he ruffled her hair a little more, making her squeak in protest.
"Okay yeah I am, but do you have to mess up my hair?"
"What you aren't expecting Quintus are you?" he teased her, starting to actually braid her hair like an expert.
"Who taught you how to do that?" she asked curiously, looking up at him.
"Wouldn't you like to know" he said, kissing her cheek a couple times, making her giggle.
Gaius smiled and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Pretty girl."
"So you think I'm pretty even with how I dressed before?" she asked now, looking down at her hands.
"I think you were the prettiest 16-year-old girl in Capernaum and you still are even at eighteen. It didn't matter how you dressed."
Hanna thought over things for a long minute. Maybe this was why her father didn't want her dressing like a Roman girl. He wanted her to be herself and he loved her just the way she was. The thought had never occured to her. Gaius must have noticed her long silence, because he took her hand gently and lifted her chin with one of his fingers so she could look at him.
"Han. I didn't and don't want you dressing like that because I don't want you to lose sight of who you are. I love you for you. I don't expect you to dress like a typical Roman girl, I don't expect you to worship our gods. If you want to worship you're god then so be it. Hanna..."
Tears were flowing now as she gazed up at him with a small smile.
"You are my little girl and I love you the way you are. No matter if you wear a veil or not. No matter how many hours you spend with Maya when she comes back regardless of who her father is now. I love you whether or not you love Quintus! And you know if he treats you badly ever he will have to answer to me. You may not be a typical Roman girl, but you are mine and you are precious. I love you Hanna Banana."
Now she was just sobbing as she clung to her father happily, her face in his neck. "I love you too daddy."
Gaius kissed her forehead and rubbed her back gently, holding her to him as tightly as he could. He would hold onto Hanna for as long as possible.
Later that night, Maya walked next to her father as the group came home from dinner. She had been quiet the whole night, but she was still tired from her headache and everyone seemed to understand that and gave her the space she needed, which she was grateful for. She was still nervous around the men of the group and it was clear in the way she had shrunk away from Simon when he had come too close to her. It hurt her to do so internally because she was starting to get attached to him as much as she was attached to her father, but she didn't know if she could trust him.
Matthew, who was on the other side of her and Jesus noticed her silence as well. "Maya will you talk to one of us?" he asked gently, brushing some of her hair behind her ear.
She had been getting more and more depressed as the night had gone on with all her thoughts of Simon, her father and her fear of men in general. She just smiled weakly at Matthew, but didn't say a word. Matthew exchanged glances with Jesus now before they both looked back down at Maya.
"Little lamb I know it's difficult but you have to talk sometime" Jesus said as he took one of her hands. "What is this all about?"
Maya sighed shakily now and wiped at her eyes with her free hand. "Simon hates me...and it's difficult because I am starting to see him as an uncle and he just hates me!"
John, who was walking next to Jesus looked over at Maya now. At the tears in her eyes and at the tangled hair that fell in her face. He watched as his Rabbi pulled his daughter closer, pushing her hair out of her face as he whispered comforting words to her that he could not hear. He could feel his big brother instincts kick in now as he gazed at the girl he had known for a long time. He remembered when she had used to baby-sit Abigail as she lived right next door to him. Maya had been so full of light then. And then news of her father's alcohol problem spread and the young girl had just disappeared.
She was always seen with Hanna and Matthew as they had been her two best friends since the age of five. John didn't think any of the issues with Maya's parents had been her fault and he hated that Simon shared the opinion of the rest of Capernaum. He thought Simon would have known better than that.
Later that night as Maya was laying in her and her father's bed, John walked in and sat across from her on his bed in the same room. Her father had gone somewhere for a few moments, so it was just the two of them.
"Maya" he whispered, leaning over to tap her arm gently so he wouldn't scare her.
The girl looked over at him now curiously as she sat up, leaning against a pillow. "John what is it?" she asked now. He had hardly even talked to her and now here he was. Talking to her.
"Listen I just...I heard what you said to you're father on our walk here and I just...well I want you to know that I don't hate you. Neither does Big James. You can come to us for anything. I swear Maya we won't hurt you."
She looked over at John and sighed softly running a hand down her face before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, so she could sit directly across from him.
"Promise?" she asked hesitantly and John held out his pinky for her.
"I pinky swear little lamb!"
"You remember that?" she exclaimed as she wrapped her pinky around John's.
"Of course we do!" Big James said as he walked in, sitting down on his own bed. "You, Hanna and Abigail for days on end!"
"Oh please Big James! Tell me what else she used to do before I came along."
Maya turned to see her father at the door grinning widely at her. A mischevious look in his eyes.
"Oh no! No! Big James don't tell him!"
"She and Hanna...running around for hours on end when they were sixteen, trying on every Roman look! That was Hanna's idea. And Maya...with her head in the clouds, always in her prayer journal and secretly crushing on Matthew!"
"What?" Matthew asked as he peeked his head in the door. "I thought I heard my name."
"Big James over here is spilling all our secrets!" Maya said as her father sat down next to her, laughing. "And you can see my head wasn't completely in the clouds Big James. Exhibit A is sitting right here next to me."
"Oh yeah and Maya going around with Hanna all the time going 'Oh the Messiah will come and adopt me and save me!' John now said in a girlish voice as Maya took a pillow almost throwing it at him before her father playfully tackled her to the bed, tickling her sides as she dropped it, squealing now.
"Abba!" she cried out laughing as she squirmed and tried to get out of her father's arms. "M..Matthew help!"
"I don't know if I should Maya" he said looking at the father and daughter with a slight smile on his face.
"Maya why don't you call upon the ghost that haunts this room to get you out of it" Big James said smirking as he looked at John, who paled a little.
"N...No! Abba please I give up! Matthew save me!"
"Oh now what? Now what?" Jesus exclaimed as he continued to tickle his daughter. "I thought I was you're savior!"
"Y...you are! I l..love you more than anything! Abba!"
This seemed to satisfy Jesus as he let his daughter go as she leaned into his arms, her face buried in his shoulder.
"Abba why?" she asked, out of breath, looking up at him.
"I thought it was funny" he said laughing a little as he kissed her forehead. "Go and say goodnight to Matthew. It's way past you're bedtime young lady."
"I don't have a bed time. I never did" she said pouting playfully as she walked up to Matthew, who pulled her close and kissed her soundly, making James and John smile behind them.
"Oh great. I can't escape it" a voice said behind the couple, making Maya's mood drop now as she pulled away from Matthew and walked back to her father, suddenly all sad and depressed once more. Simon noticed this now as well as the looks as he was getting from Jesus, James and John. Matthew simply walked away, brushing past Simon.
"Maya..." Simon started as the girl turned from him and curled up next to her father, who placed a protective arm around her, kissing away a tear that had slipped from her eye.
It left Simon confused and feeling a little guilty. What was going on with this girl?
The teenager was instantly asleep in minutes, her father watching over her as he held her close.
The next morning Maya and Matthew sat close together at breakfast. His arm was around her tightly as she quietly ate. Maya was silent once more and had been ever since she had woken up that morning. But she did feel more comfortable with John and Big James around her now, which was an improvement, but not quite better.
"I'm going for a walk" her father announced now.
Maya jumped up and ran to him, taking his hands. "Abba can I go with you please?"
This was her escape. Her way of getting out. She was almost begging at this point, her eyes gazing into her father's.
"Not this time little lamb" he said hugging her close to his chest for a minute, kissing her forehead.
"Just stay close to Matthew, Mary and Ramah" he whispered into her ear, kissing the side of her head once more before walking out the door, her hand slipping out of his as he went.
And it was like her appetite went with him as she walked back over to Matthew and Ramah, sitting next to the two of them. She pushed her plate away gently, running a hand through her hair now as she leaned against Matthew, his arms instantly wrapping around her once more. She wished Hanna was there with her at that moment. Ramah was there, but Hanna knew her inside and out. But she supposed another best friend wouldn't hurt.
"Maya are you not hungry?" Ramah asked, concerned.
"I'm fine Ramah" she said smiling now as Matthew ran his hand through her dark hair, kissing her forehead.
Simon looked over at Maya from afar. He had been watching her since she and her father had appeared that morning. He could see how depressed she was now and how detached she was from everything around her. But he didn't have time to talk to her as he got into a fight with James and John over the security of their Rabbi.
"He'll go where he likes" Mary spoke up now, trying to break up the fight.
Maya couldn't take it anymore. She didn't handle conflict well and she couldn't take all the yelling from the three men in front of her.
"Would you all just stop for once! Abba can take care of himself and he doesn't need you all fighting over him!" she cried out loud enough to make the three fighting men stare at her in shock.
She jumped up and raced out the door now, tears filling her eyes. She felt childish for crying so many times in two days, but she couldn't take it anymore. She raced up into the room that she and her father were staying in and slumped down onto the bed, crying into her pillow.
"Maya" a gentle voice said from the doorway fifteen minutes later. A voice she never expected to hear say her name in such a loving way.
She turned to face Simon, tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn't even want to wipe them off now, she was too tired.
"S..Simon..."
He looked at her sadly, walking towards the bed slowly. As slow as she had ever seen him walk towards a person. She wondered why he was so sad and guilty and why he was suddenly being gentle with her. She braced herself as he sat down, surprising her as he took her hand and held it in his lap. She sat up now and looked at him tearily.
Simon could feel how tense she was at that moment as he turned and pulled her gently into his arms, rubbing her back as she clung to him now, her hands fisting in his shirt as she sobbed into his shoulder.
"James and John just told me what is going on" he whispered into her hair as he smoothed it down, kissing her cheek.
"I don't hate you little lamb. I'm sorry if I've been harsh to you. You don't deserve that. You deserve the whole world and I'm sorry that I haven't given that to you. That I didn't do something to stop you're pain when you really needed it. Can you forgive me?"
Maya looked up into his eyes and nodded shakily. "Y..yes I forgive you Simon"
Simon sighed sadly and wiped her tears away, taking a brush that was on the bedside table. "Turn around sweetheart. You're hair looks very tangled."
Maya turned, a little surprised as Simon started to brush her hair like an expert. "How..."
"I brush Eden's hair alot. It has the same beautiful curls as your's." He paused for a minute and nuzzled her cheek. "And I've always wanted a little girl to spoil. You're not so little anymore but still."
She smiled and leaned back against his chest now, gazing up at him as he kissed her nose gently. "You can consider me you're uncle Maya. If anything happens to you're dad? You are my responsibility."
She nodded and closed her eyes tiredly as Simon laid her back down gently before laying down next to her, stroking her hair.
"I love you as much as you're father does Maya. I may not have shown it before but everything I have done has been for you're protection. I just went about it the wrong way apparently."
Maya snuggled into his arms and placed her cheek on his chest. "I love you too Simon." she whispered as she drifted off to sleep.
