"Okay, Daddies," Harriette said. She'd been completely absorbed in the assignment Sun had given her. Moon had asked her to change into her pajamas. But the completely relaxed demeanor the child had was completely gone. No longer was her attention on her classwork. "I'm sorry." It was barely more then a whisper.
"What?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't be mad, I won-" Harriette started.
"Oh, no, no, no, that's not, hey, hey it's okay," Moon said. "You don't have to call us dad if you don't want to."
"That's not- but I- it's not- I-"
"Hey, hey, it's okay, Sun and I would be honored if you wanted to call us dad, but you don't have to, that's a big step, and a lot of-"
"Your not mad," she sounded surprised. It somehow had washed away the coming panic attack.
"No, of course not," Moon said. Tucking a strand of hair behind the girl's ear. "Why would I be mad?" Moon said, softly.
"I- I once called Vernon that," Harriette admitted. "He-he didn't like it."
"Well, I thought we'd established he was a terrible person right," Harriette nodded, sniffling. Moon continued, rubbing soothing circles into her arms. "Listen, you don't have to call us anything you don't want to, or aren't ready for. There's no rush. Okay. You can think of us as Dad but keep calling us Sun and Moon if you want. And you can start calling us dad whenever you feel ready. Okay?" Harriette nodded.
"Does Sun agree?" Harriette asked. "Does he really not mind that I think of you as my daddies?"
"Would you like to talk to him?"Moon asked. Harriette nodded. They switched it wasn't exactly easy, but they'd do anything to make their little girl feel better.
"Hello, Harriette," Sun said, he would have asked her what had happened while he'd been sleeping, even though he hadn't been sleeping if Harriette hadn't spoken first.
"You heard what Moon and me were talking about, right?" Harriette asked.
"Yeah," Sun said.
"Are you- do you- Um?" Harriette struggled.
"What Moon said was one hundred, no ten thousand, no a million bajillion percent true," Sun said. He wished he could change his expressions. He wished his feelings on her face. He was sure she'd know just how much they both loved her if they could. They just knew it. "You are very precious to me and Moon. We both love you so very, very much. And we would be honored to have you as our daughter, even if you're not ready to call us dad yet." Harriette nodded, then hugged them. She gripped so tight, and cried.
"I'm sorry, I'm not ready to call you guys Dad yet," Harriette sobbed. "I want to be, but I just."
"I know, we both do," Sun said, rocking her. "I've gotta switch back to Moon now is that okay, can we keep hugging." Harriette buried her face into their ruffles and nodded.
"Uh-huh," she said, sniffling.
