Mr. Mom

67

"Come on El, we have to go." FP calls for the four year old, she's taking extra long today.

"One minute daddy!"

He waits for a minute before following the direction of her voice and finds her brushing her teeth. "Come on, El."

"Daddy I have to brush my teeth!"

"You already did."

"But uncle Freddie said that brushing your teeth is important and that I should do it a bunch of times a day."

"Yeah Uncle Freddie is a real know it all isn't he?"

"I'm almost done." She assures him.

He looks at his watch and sees that they're twenty minutes late. She had taken extra long eating her breakfast and had demanded seconds and thirds, claiming she was extra hungry that morning. She had also refused to get out of bed. He had only managed to get her up after promising to get ice cream on the way home from daycare later.

They hear the door open and Ellie smiles, zooming past FP to the front door. "Allie!" Ellie runs over and wraps her arms around her legs.

"Hi sweetheart." Alice crouches down to her level so she can give her a proper hug.

"Come on, El. We should get going, we're already late." He and Alice lock eyes. She's so beautiful, damn him for being an idiot. And damn Gladys for putting stupid ideas in his head.

"I have to go potty!"

He sighs. Of course she does. "Go quickly."

Both adults watch as she runs to the bathroom, disappearing out of sight. They share an awkward smile. "Is it ok if I..." she trails off and he nods.

She disappears down the hall and he impatiently waits for Ellie. "Come on, El, we have to go honey."

"I'm going potty!" She yells at him, clearly frustrated with him rushing her.

He waits by the door, hoping Ellie will finish up so they can leave before Alice is done. It hurts too much to see her, all a reminder of what he threw away. Alice comes out of the bedroom shortly after with a couple of bags. "Bye, FP." She solemnly says as she walks past him.

"Al, wait..." She turns back to him and he scratches the back of his neck. "Did you, uh... do you have a place to stay?"

"Yeah, I'm crashing with Pop Tate and his wife until I find a place."

"Oh, that's good. I was scared you'd go back to living with that piece of shit ex-boyfriend of yours. You didn't say anything that night when I told you not to."

"I was mad at you." She explains. "But believe me. I would never."

They stand in an awkward silence. "I'm really sorry."

"It's okay." She tells him softly.

"No it's not okay! I didn't even give you a reason for getting so pissed off."

"So tell me now."

He steps closer to her. "I'm such an idiot. I ran into Gladys that afternoon at Pop's and she was saying all of this shit about how if you and I broke up we would only be hurting Ellie... I guess I was just scared."

She's quiet for a moment. "Makes a hell of a lot more sense why you did it now."

He takes a step closer to her. "When I heard her tell you she loves you it was like warning bells went off in my head. I wanted to protect my little girl from getting hurt but in doing so I hurt all of us."

"I understand where you were coming from." She assures him but he doesn't even register it, just continues explaining to her how he messed up.

"It's just... she was so heartbroken when Gladys left. Fuck, she even asked me if she was bad, she really thought Gladys left because she misbehaved or something. Do you know how fucked up that is?" Alice frowns at him. "You want to know what's more fucked up? My daughter coming into my room the morning after I told you to leave and saying that now both of her mommy's have left her. She considered you her mom, Al! And because I'm such a scared asshole I ruined that for her."

"Hey... hey," she wraps her arms around him in an attempt to calm him down. Her eyes tear up as she consoles him. "it's alright."

"It's not alright, I feel terrible." He holds her tight, savouring the feel of her body against his. "She loves you, Alice... we both do."

She pulls back slightly just so she can see his face. "You do?"

"I love you, Alice."

She smiles at him, that gorgeous, beaming smile he loves so much. "You love me?"

He nods and lifts his hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm pretty sure I've been in love with you since the moment I laid eyes on you. You're perfect, Al. You're smart, you're funny, you're stunning," she smiles. "You love Ellie, she loves you, and you're so good with her." He pauses and takes her hand in his own. "I want a life with you, Alice. I want to marry you one day and add to our little family with you, I want to give El a mom who will be there for her and love her. I want you, every day, for the rest of my life. I love you."

She blinks back the tears in her eyes and stares at him, her jaw dropping slightly. "I... I don't even know how to respond to that. I just know that everything you just mentioned? I want it too."

"Yeah?"

She nods. "I love you, FP and I love Ellie. I got a taste of what my life would be like without you and I don't want to go back to that."

He smiles at her and takes her face in his hands, kissing her for the first time in far too long.

He savours the feel of her lips against his own and holds her tighter.

They hear someone giggle and pull away only to see Ellie smiling up at them. "You rugrat, you planned this, didn't you?" FP questions. "You took extra long because you knew Allie was coming over, didn't you?"

"Maybe..." she giggles again.

"You know, FP. I think there's only one way to teach her a lesson." He nods and Ellie looks at them curiously. "Tickle monster." They agree in unison.

Ellie's eyes grow wide and she turns to run away but Alice scoops her up before she can get very far.

They tickle her and she laughs loudly. "Stop! Stop it! I'm sorry!" She giggles. "I just wanted Allie back." She wraps her arms around Alice's neck and hugs her tight, laying her head in the crook of her shoulder.

"Well I'm here now." Alice assures her, pressing a kiss to her head and holding her tight

"Forever?" She questions, looking between her dad and Alice.

Alice looks to FP who's smiling at the two of them. He takes her hand. "Forever."