Flow of Madness

I decided that in honor of Father’s Day I would write an (alternative universe - meaning Grace is alive) drabble about Rich as a Dad. 

Summary: Rich takes his daughter Elise out to the park. 

This is dedicated to Edie (h-a-d-l-e-t) for creating a wonderful AU Hardlet life with me :) 

Rich went into the bedroom to quickly retrieve his backpack so he could pack a lunch and other things for his daughter Elise. Rich promised Grace that he would take Elise out for the day so she could catch up on sleep. Grace was pregnant again with twins and it was taking a toll on her energy levels. Rich looked over at Grace sleeping and smiled to himself before walking over to give her forehead a sweet kiss.

Rich walked back into the living room to find Elise sitting on the couch watching the end of ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ Elise was a good mixture of Grace and Rich. She looked like her mother except she had his eyes and his bottom lip. She was a graceful ballerina who was well mannered and kind like her mother. Yet at the same time she was independent, stubborn, and was beginning to understand sarcasm like Rich. She was also an extremely energetic kid who was quite intelligent. Rich was a proud Dad and he loved his little girl more than anything.

Rich was in the kitchen loading everything into his backpack when Elise ran over and grabbed his leg. “DADDY!! You almost forgot MY unicorn!!” Rich looked down at Elise. “What unicorn?” Elise pouted by sticking out her bottom lip even more and giving Rich a look of frustration. “DADDY!” Rich chuckled at Elise’s reaction. “ELISE! Well, go get it then.” Elise ran out of the kitchen and returned with her stuffed unicorn handing it to Rich so he could put it in his backpack.

They both walked toward the car where Rich opened the door for Elise and she climbed into her seat. Rich made sure that Elise put her seat belt on before he closed the door to get in the driver’s seat. Rich drove them to the park so that Elise could play outside and enjoy the nice weather.

Upon arriving at the park Elise grabbed Rich’s hand as they walked closer to the play structure. Rich sat down on the grass as he watched Elise climb around and go down the slides giggling to herself as she played. Another kid on the playground was building a sand castle with his bucket only to be disappointed as it crumbled to the ground. Elise saw this and went over to the little boy. Patting him on the shoulder and offered her help. Rich scoffed to himself as he overheard Elise telling the little boy. “My daddy is not really good at this either. Mum says you need to be patient and gentle.”

Rich walked over to Elise who signaled she wanted help with the monkey bars. He lifted her up off the ground so she could grab onto the bars as she swung from bar to bar to the other side. Then Rich threw her over his shoulder as Elise shrieked with laughter and carried her over toward where his backpack was laying placing her on the ground. Rich handed her half of a sandwich and Rich began eating the other half.

“Do you think mum is sleeping?” Elise was looking at Rich as she ate her sandwich with a worried look on her face.

Rich looked over at Elise and noticed she had peanut butter stuck on the left side of her mouth. Rich wiped it off her face as Elise scrunched up her nose and swatted at Rich’s hand. “I think she is. She needs lots of rest to keep your brother and sister healthy.”

 “Uncle Alo…said that…I would need to share mummy and yours love.” Elise said this with worry in her voice.  

Rich looked at Elise and shook his head. “Uncle Alo said that? He’s a bit of an idiot.” Elise narrowed her eyes at Rich like Grace did when she was annoyed. “That’s mean Daddy.” Rich laughed and playfully ruffled Elise’s hair. “Well… he’s wrong…love does not work like that.” Rich finished his sandwich. “Love is not like a pizza where the more people who show up for dinner the less people get. It’s more like…” Elise grabbed a biscuit from the container. “Biscuits?” Rich shook his head laughing at his daughter. “No…there’s no limit to it. You get more and more love to give. Like before you were born I loved your mum and she was the most important person to me. I didn’t think it was possible to love anyone as much as her. Then you came and I loved you just as much. There’s no limit. No matter what your mum and I will love you just as much if not more always, yeah?”

Elise smiled and nodded at Rich before grabbing another biscuit from the container and putting it into her mouth. “I think what your Uncle Alo meant to say was that you will have to share our attention. Cause babies need lots of it, yeah? But you have a job to do as well you know.”

Elise nodded her head ecstatically. “I’m A BIG SISTER!! Which means…I have to teach them things and take care of them…and play with them.”

Rich smiled and felt overwhelmed. The truth was Elise could ask for anything and he would try to make it happen. He loved his little girl and was so proud to be her dad. “That’s right…and what are you going to teach them?”

Elise looked as if she was thinking and smiled. “I’m going to teach them to dance! Color! Play tea party! I can teach them this too daddy.” Elise then gave Rich the rock on sign with her tiny hand.

Rich gave the hand gesture back at Elsie. “That’s important. Lesson number one right now. How to throw up the horns.” Elise walked closer to Rich so she was looking right into his face and screamed “SLAAAAYYYEERR!!!” Then fell to the ground in a fit of giggles.

Rich pretended to make his face serious as he looked over at Elise. “Oh no, Elise….I feel strange…I feel….like…the undead.” Elise immediately began to run around giggling as Rich chased her pretending to be a zombie. He caught up to her and tickled her to the ground as she giggled hysterically.

“Alright thrasher princess, let’s head home.” Elise got up grabbing Rich’s leg and wouldn’t let go so Rich had to walk with her attached to his leg toward his backpack.