Finally, A Night With My Baby

G

Gareth Knight

Well-Known Member
Messages
249
OOC First Name
Summer
Gareth paced in the flat with anticipation. Nina had finally let him look after Isadora, it was supervised by her, but it was progress. He was okay with her getting over him the way she had so obviously done, but that little girl was his daughter and he had a right to know her and for her to know him. He wanted to convince her to let him tell their daughter he was their father but she seemed dead against it.

The girls had gone out for the evening. Moriah was staying a Markovs', normally Gareth would object but she swore she would be staying in Sydney's room and Sydney was the one that came to pick her up so he allowed it. Lily had gone to one of her friends from school and Avery was spending the night with her 'superhero'. They had all wanted to be here for Nina's arrival and to meet the girl but he had said no. He didn't want them bombarding her.

Though it had been two years, Gareth still loved Nina. Of course he did, she was his only love. But he respected her wishes and made no advances. She had obviously moved on with her life, just as he had too. He looked over to the mantel piece of the living room and smiled at the pictures on it. Nina hadn't been to the house yet and she may be in for a surprise when she arrived.

The mantel piece was full of pictures. There were pictures of Gareth's parents, who had passed away a year ago, pictures of the girls, and himself, growing up and, right in he center, was a picture of himself and Nina when he had taken her out for their first anniversary. They were barely adults, he had been twenty when the picture was taken, three weeks before the bombshell he had run from. It was the only regret he had in his life, running for her when she broke the news to him.

Gareth was brought from him thoughts when the doorbell rang, he knew immediately who it was and almost ran to answer it. He smoothed down his shirt and opened the door. "Nina, hi." He smiled and gestured for her to enter with Isadora.
 
Nina had made a special effort to dress nicely, she even put make up on which was something she rarely did. She wanted Gareth to see that she was fine on her own and that she didn’t need him – that Isadora didn’t need him. It might be mean but Nina felt that she had the right to be this way, especially when Gareth was pushing his way into hers and Isadora’s life after being absent for so long. She felt that it was her right to flaunt what he would never be able to get again, to give him pain because she would look so beautiful and happy in her life. This was probably because she wasn’t over him or the hurt of him abandoning her in her time of need but Nina would never admit this to anyone – moreover Gareth Knight. It wouldn’t be difficult to make him think this; she had been fooling everyone else for two years so he would just be one more person like she clearly had been to him when they had dated. But Isadora was not another person; she was not someone that would be a victim of her lies and as her mother it was Nina’s job and pleasure to do this for the little girl with the bouncing curls sitting at the edge of Nina’s bed watching her get dressed up. “Mommy, you look so pretty,” smiled the girl who Nina turned to. Her daughter was so sweet, so as she turned to the blonde girl, Nina spun the mascara closed and walked over to the girl; her heals clacking on the hard wood floor as she did so. “You do too, Issy.” Nina kissed the top of her daughter’s head before asking, “Do you want to get dressed up too?” Nina did not mind if Isadora did or did not, she was not like some mothers who chose their children’s clothes from day to day, outside of what was appropriate for the weather and for a two year old to wear. Mostly, she allowed Isadora to pick things out that she liked as long as it was under those two conditions and it was not some sort of special event – this was not one of them in Nina’s opinion.

So as the little girl nodded her head, Nina grinned and took her hand to get her daughter changed into what she wished to wear. Once the mother and daughter pair were ready, Nina grabbed her diaper bag and apparated her and Isadora to Gareth’s house. It wasn’t often that Nina apparated with Isadora because they lived in a muggle neighborhood and it worried Nina that her daughter might not understand that magic is something that had to be a secret. When she was older she would understand but now she was two years old and blissfully ignorant of the secret that Nina had to keep from her friends since she was eleven years old. Sighing in and out deeply, Nina raised her hand to knock on the door, waiting for Gareth to open it so that the three of them could spend time together. She had not been to Gareth’s new home and was nervous that it would be an inappropriate place for her baby girl to be so if she found anything that made her wary she would pick Isadora up and leave quickly. It was not something that she was against doing and Gareth knew this so if he tried to stop her she had her wand in her bag and would not have a problem with stopping any advances towards her or her daughter. But as Gareth opened the door and Nina narrowed her eyes she saw that the apartment didn’t look like a sty so she said, “Hello Gareth,” as she walked in with Isadora in her protective arms.​
<i></i>
 
Gareth guided them through to the Living room. The room had walls that were slightly darker than beige and the one wall was dark red. They had red sofa's that were nice and simple and a television in the corner. There were other pictures around the walls of his parents and their parents and weddings/birthdays. They had one large bookshelf next to the fire place with books on it that ranged for all ages and all topics.

Gareth sat down on the sofa, suddenly feeling very awkward. He wished he hadn't asked the girls to leave now. They always knew how to make something less awkward, when they wanted to anyway. "The girls say hi." It was the first thing he could think of saying.

Lillith had spent the evening telling Moriah how pretty Isadora was while telling him off for leaving them at the same time while Avery kept asking inappropriate questions, like when is Nina coming back? And, are you two going to get married? Which made the older girls laugh when he blushed.

Gareth had to admit, he wouldn't mind the idea of himself and Nina, and Isadora of course, being one family. But he couldn't see it happening any more. She obviously was over him and he had to focus on the girls, not his love life. He left his thoughts to focus on the room, wondering if she'd say anything about the picture of them on the mantelpiece.
 
Gareth’s home looked nice, comfortable and it suited him. So far, so good, Nina thought, still holding Isadora in her protective arms as she sat across from Gareth. Nina placed the diaper bag down on the ground by her feet and looked from Gareth to Isadora, wondering just how she would do this. It pained her that she had to introduce her daughter to her father, like she didn’t know who he was naturally like most children. And although Gareth was ready to tell her daughter that second that he was her father, Nina was not ready for it herself. She did not want her baby to go through any emotional trauma and she’ll be damned if Gareth caused it. Nina looked up from Isadora as Gareth spoke and she smiled softly. Moriah, Lilith and Avery had once been like a family to Nina and she loved them very much, it was just a complicated situation and she didn’t want them to be a part of it but she knew that they would be even if she fought it. “Say the same for us,” she smiled politely, trying to make the best of this uncomfortable situation that brought her to chew down on her bottom lip, a nervous habit that she had always had.

In Nina’s arms, Isadora had begun squirming, trying to break free to talk to the man she knew nothing about and her heart rate sped up with anxiety at this. But this was what they were here for, so she whispered to her daughter in German, a language that Nina had been teaching the girl, along with English, since birth. “Be polite, Isadora.” The girl nodded before she jumped off of her mother’s lap and walked over to Gareth. Watching the two interact brought Nina to tap her foot on the ground anxiously as if she was waiting for a bomb to detonate. This was when the little girl asked her father, “Who are you?” Nina frowned, Isadora was always forgetful but it was hard to know that she did not know who her father was. However, Nina did not want her to know just yet. At least, until they had begun a clear understanding of each other and how things worked with Nina as Isadora Patrokov’s sole guardian. ​
 
Gareth nodded and smiled. "Will do." He looked down as his daughter wandered over and, this time, laughed when she didn't remember him. He had accepted that she wouldn't remember him, in her eyes he wasn't an important person in her life. He knelt down and smiled at her. "I'm Gareth. A friend of your mummy's. And who might you be?"

Gareth wanted to interact with his little girl as much as possible, even if it meant a conversation about who each other was. He sat down properly on the floor, so he wasn't looming over her, and leant against the sofa. He gestured for Nina to sit down, she needed to relax a bit, he wasn't about to blurt out that he was Isadora's dad.
 
Nina watched Gareth and Isadora interact with another silently; hoping she wouldn’t mention that there was a picture of them together in Isadora’s bed room. The little girl had asked about it once but Nina had not given her a solid answer to the question and distracted Isadora with a trip to the toy store. “I’m Isadora,” Nina heard the little girl answer as she stuck out her hand, imitating what she had seen her mother do several times in the past. “Mommy said that she knew a Gareth… she said he was gone forever. Do you know him?” asked the little girl, assuming that just because they had the same name they would know each other and that Nina knew two different Gareth’s when it was just this person standing right in front of her that she had told her daughter about. Nina looked over to Gareth and chuckled with embarrassment, her cheeks burning in anxiety, hoping he wouldn’t get mad at her for saying it but at the time she had no other option, she needed to keep questions away.

As Gareth motioned for her to sit on the floor with them, Nina chewed down on her bottom lip before sitting on the ground facing Gareth, with her long legs stretched out. “How have you and the girls been, Gareth?” Nina asked softly, trying to make the best out of a bad situation by hopefully distracting him from Isadora’s question, although she sincerely doubted that it would because he wasn’t a two year old and it was something that might hurt him. It wasn’t something that she wanted but it had happened and as she looked at Gareth and her daughter she felt apologetic although she did not show it in her coffee coloured eyes.​
 
Gareth smiled and took the small girls' hand, shaking it slightly, before returning it to it's resting position on the sofa. The man felt a small stab in his heart when he heard the girl but he understood where she was coming from. Even he hadn't thought he'd ever see Nina again, it was logical to assume she didn't think they would meet again either. He looked over at Nina when she chuckled, she sounded nervous and looked awkward.

"No I don't. I don't know any Gareth that would stay gone and not come back and see you." Gareth replied while looking at Nina before turning back to the girl with a smile on his face. Sure, he was disappointed that Nina hadn't had faith but she had no reason too so he couldn't even begin to be mad, let alone stay mad.

Gareth turned back to look at the girls mother with a genuine smile and answered her question. "We've been alright. It's generally the same. Lil still gossips, Avery still bounces and Moriah still picks a bone with everything I do." Anyone who had ever met the family knew he and Moriah rarely got on well. They had been trying hard for the other two but they had such clashing personalities it often didn't last long. "Sorry about my behavior in the park by the way, I just don't like people mentioning our parents around Avery much. Especially on that week." He smiled sadly before turning back to the girl and grinned.
 
Nina listened to Gareth speak to their daughter and returned the gaze that he gave to her. She knew that he was trying to get through the walls she had built up to protect Isadora from hurt by promising her that he would never do that again but she wasn’t sure if she could trust him yet. He had broken her heart, it was difficult to get over that kind of pain and accept that person as being back into your life again. Especially when she had to think about this little girl that stood between the pair. As Gareth answered her question about his sisters, she nodded her head softly. They were very sweet children and it was so sad that they didn’t have parents any more, just like Gareth and that Avery – bless her little soul – might not remember them when she got older. As Gareth apologized she shook her head. “No, don’t apologize. I would have done the same for her,” Nina said, as she ran her fingers through her daughter’s blonde locks. The last thing in the world she would ever want is to not be around to see her grow up and be the strong woman that Nina already knew she would be.

The thought of not being there for Isadora caused a shudder to crawl up her spine and move through her body, as did a frown. It was not something she wished to dwell on but Gareth’s parents had been good people, they loved their family and we very kind and accepting to her. They were the last people in the world who deserved their death so young and she knew that if they had been killed, she could as well. Of course, it was why she had a will in place and who Isadora would go to but as she saw Gareth smile down to their daughter, she thought it might change eventually… But only if things went positively. Visitation was a privilege after all. “Do you like to play?” she heard Isadora say, interrupting her thoughts and she looked over at Gareth, awaiting his response just like the blue eyed little girl was.​
<i></i>
 
Gareth grinned at his daughter, that still sounded odd to him his daughter, but in a good way, and gasped. "Do I like to play? Of course I do, Who doesn't?" He laughed and smiled at her lovingly, it was the only expression he could do when he saw her angelic face, a mixture of his own and Nina's. "I actually have some toys upstairs if you want to play with them?"

Gareth insisted they kept all of their childhood toys. They were kept in a cupboard in Avery's room with the cot. Avery didn't want to get rid of the cot, she loved the baby bed and insisted they would need it someday so it stayed in her room. Gareth was quite glad she had insisted now. He could see himself with a family in the future, whether it was with Nina or not, and there was nothing he'd like better than to have that cot with them. His father had made it when he found out his mother was pregnant with Gareth.

Gareth didn't know what things Isadora liked to play with but it didn't matter. Everyone in the house had different styles and tastes so they had pretty much everything. From his actin man figures and boys stuff, to Lilliths' tea set and cooker to Avery's slinky and space hopper and, finally, Moriah's artistic things. They had at least one thing for everyone.
 
Nina couldn't help but smile as he saw the way that Gareth looked at their daughter. It gave her butterflies in her stomach that they were actually interacting with one another and she knew that it should have been like this all along but it wasn't so she had to lock every feeling for Gareth Knight and possibly having a life with him in a vault but as she saw Isadora turn her head towards her and Nina nodded, giving her daughter permission to play with him, she felt that vault let something out. It was nerve wracking and horrible. It caused her chew on her bottom lip as she tried to keep the memories of her relationship with Gareth from flooding back into the forefront of her mind. But it did not work, she saw flashes of their meeting and how she had gotten tingles all through her body when he touched her hand and as she looked back at Gareth she felt that same thing and it brought a healthy rose colour to her cheeks that she tried to hide with her blonde hair as she leaned her head forward and the strands fell in front of her face.

As she tried to hide her feelings from both herself and Gareth, Nina starred at her slender hands as her fingers tangled together and listened to what Isadora said to her father. "Yes! Do you have dollies?" This brought a grin to Nina's face, the thought of Gareth playing with dolls like Nina had with Isadora from an even younger age. More so, dress up would be humorous but with her knowledge of what he did for his sisters, she could imagine that he would dress up with her and drink 'tea' with her. It wasn't abnormal for Nina to have to do this with Isadora but she was happy to do it each and every time because she loved her child and when they didn't dress up or play with dolls together, Isadora was drawing her pictures and Nina had framed many of them and put them around the house or on the fridge. She loved each and every one of them, they were gifts just like her wonderful daughter was.​
 
Gareth laughed, not noticing the change in the woman next to him. "I'm sure we do, do you want to come check?" He assumed Nina would be fine with that as long as she came with him. He got mixed signals from her, she couldn't trust him but she obviously had an idea of what she wanted. It just didn't fit it with what she could handle right now. That's what he thought at least.

Gareth stood up and held his hand out to the small girl before looking over at Nina again. She was awfully interested in her hands. "Are you coming to play as well Nina?" He asked in a slightly teasing tone with a grin on his face. This all felt so unreal. He and his daughter were going to play with the dolls. Only a few months ago he was living as a human playboy and now he was here playing devoted daddy. It was all going so fast, but he didn't mind.

OOCOut of Character:
Sorry for the short post
 
Isadora turned to her mother and bounced eagerly to go play with the dolls and Nina smiled as the little girl pleaded, "Come on mommy!" She stood up and took Isadora's other hand to walk with her up the stairs with Gareth. She still hadn't gotten the handle of walking up the stairs very steadily and Nina would watch over her like a hawk because she suspected that Gareth did not have the ability to spot the possibilities for injury five steps ahead like playing a game of chess. But she did and it wasn't something she had just had, it was someting that grew into her when she had become a mother to the two year old that was walking between Gareth and herself, blissfully unaware that they both were her parents while Nina's inner monologue fought with itself over what Gareth had shown Nina in the past or what she wished they could have.

"I like your place..." Nina said quietly, "It's very warm. So like you." She kept her gaze ahead of her as the three of them walked up the stairs, just trying to keep her bottom lip from quivering with anxiety or her knees shaking as memories of the past flushed through her mind.​
<i></i>
 
Gareth led the two girls up the stairs, passing many family photo's (including a couple with Nina in). He hoped neither of them would point out how many times her picture was around the house. His parents had refused to take them down, they had really liked her, and he didn't want to either. He only remembered them just before she was meant to arrive when it was too late to move them.

Gareth was confused for a second before he remembered they had only moved house after Nina had gone. "Mum and Dad decorated it. It was the family house before they, well. Yeah." He faded off his sentence and, hopefully, the subject. He wanted today to be happy, he was spending the day with his beautiful daughter after all.

They reached the top of the stairs and headed into Avery's room. He walked over to the large cupboard near the door and opened it. It was sorted into sections, he had gotten very bored when he was unemployed, and he tapped the shelves full of dolls with his wand. The dolls flew across the room and sat in a row on the floor. "How are they?" He asked his little girl, the smile returning to his face when he looked at her.
 
As Nina, Isadora and Gareth walked up the stairs, she gazed over at the pictures that she saw, almost stopping when she saw a younger version of herself. She quirked an eyebrow up but said nothing to Gareth because she knew it would create more tension than there already was. This was why small talk was a genius invention but as Gareth cut that option out by talking about his parents she knew that even small talk had it's flaws. So with a silent and relieved sigh, the three of them walked into a room. She smiled as she recognized the room that was meshed with Avery's personality perfectly, almost perfectly with her nieces as well. So Nina squeezed Isadora's hand lightly, only to feel the little hand return the squeeze as well. It was as if Dora knew just how awkward she was with this even if she was blissfully ignorant from youth. That hand, however, had slipped out of Nina's loving hold and was clasped with the matching set over and over again. A clapping Isadora was usually a response to magic and when it was magic that had dolls with it, the little girl was on cloud nine.

Nina watched with the eye of a hawk as Isadora practically attacked Gareth and gave him a hug and said, "Thank you," as Nina had taught her to do. However, this hug wasn't long lasted because the two year old had returned to the dolls and sat in front of them, with her short legs crossed, as she inspected the dolls and decided which one she was going to play with. Part of Nina wanted Gareth to leave Isadora but the other part of her wanted Gareth to sit down beside Isadora and play together as she observed what would happen.​
 
Gareth's smile grew wider than he ever thought it could, wide enough that is hurt, when his little girl wrapped her arms around him. "You're welcome darling." He replied as his face returned to just a normal smile. He watched her sit down and choose before looking over at her mother. Nina looked conflicted so he didn't say anything and just let his gaze drift back to the angel of his.

Gareth moved and sat down next to the girl, waiting to see if she was trusting enough to let him play with her. He wasn't going to push the little girl. They had met three times and she still couldn't remember him so he wasn't about to force his company on her. He hoped he would be accepted into her heart quickly but he knew nothing was ever that simple.

"Are you going to join us Nina?" Gareth looked up at the woman, still lingering in the doorway. He would've thought she'd be in there immediately, making sure he didn't whisper something to the small girl that Nina didn't want her to know. He wasn't sure if she was there because she didn't want to come in properly or if she was actually trusting him with their daughter slightly.

OOCOut of Character:
Sorry for the short post again
 
Nina watched as Gareth and Isadora sat down beside each other and her lips pressed tight together, wishing that this had just been natural and that they didn’t have to keep the secret, that they could be a family but for so long Nina and Isadora had been a family together and now it brought her great anxiety to see them together, to have that family questioned and adjusted to fit Gareth who had brought pain to her heart for a long time. “Do you want to use this one?” Nina heard the little girl ask as she saw her hand him a brunette doll with blue eyes while she held onto a blonde, blue eyed one, similar to what Isadora looked like. Nina’s thoughts had travelled her away from the present moment before Gareth had quickly brought her back as he had asked if she was going to join. Silently, she watched Isadora look from Gareth to herself and she mouthed to her daughter with glossy eyes, ‘I love you’. Quietly, she walked closer to the pair and sat beside Isadora but did not take a doll, instead she just watched them together.

As Isadora turned to Nina and asked if she wanted a doll, Nina looked at Gareth and said to her daughter, although it was mostly to the father of her daughter, "I'll let you two play and get to know each other." The Hogwarts nurse, stroked the blonde hair of her daughter before watching in silence as Isadora and Gareth interacted.​
 
Gareth took the doll off of the girl and smiled at her. He didn't really know what to do. Avery liked to play on her own and he didn't really have many chances to play dollies otherwise. He held the doll and watched Isadora interact with her own doll before attempting to copy the actions. He guessed he would have to learn how to play with dollied if he wanted to be a part of the girls life. Surprisingly, he was okay with that. He found himself sure that he would do almost anything for the little, blue eyed girl.

Gareth nodded to Nina in thanks. The thanks was for more than just letting them play and he hoped she understood that. He hoped she realized how grateful he was for letting him in, albeit slowly, when she could've just shoved him away and denied him any contact with their daughter. He understood how hard it must be to watch her little girl getting close to someone who, he imagined, hurt her a lot. Of course, he couldn't know exactly how much this hurt her but he knew it was a lot and he was eternally thankful that she was going through it so he could have the chance to know his baby girl.
 
The playing between Isadora and Gareth had spiraled from dolls to stuffed animals to hand games and before they knew it, it had been past Isadora's bed time and she was yawning before she fell asleep on Nina's lap who had stayed close even if she had not participated. Nina looked over at Gareth and smiled in amusement. "She's usually fast asleep before this time," she said as she looked at her watch before slowly sliding her child's head off her lap so she could stand up before she carried her in her arms and took her home because she was sure that Gareth did not want to spend time with Nina now that Isadora was asleep and would be until the morning. Standing up, Nina raised her arms and stretched them before rubbing her back and looking at her ex-boyfriend with great discomfort and said, "She seems to have had a lot of fun. Maybe I'll phone or owl you to see if you'd like to watch her on your own sometime." Nina wasn't saying this was certain or that it would be the next time they spent together but she was saying that he had done well by her today. However, Nina was not going to trust him just because he did a little playing because when things had gotten rough he had left and with a child things weren't always the greatest. Sometimes you had to be the bad guy and punish them and it was hard but it had to be done so they could be good, productive members of society when they got older and as a single parent family sometimes she had to say no because she couldn't always afford it even if she wanted to spoil Isadora constantly. She had to decide between food and toys often so there were times when she got her old toys and gave them to her child as new ones or when Isadora begged for a toy that was simply out of her range she couldn't give it to her and there was simply no way around it. She knew that it must be worse for him because he had to take care of three children but he also had his parents savings when Nina was by herself.​
 
Gareth watched as the small girl fell asleep in her mothers lap and sighed. He had gotten the hang of playing in the end but it was hard work. He was determined to stick by her though, Isadora and Nina that is. He didn't want to be the run away, dead beat dad. He wanted to have a family. He wanted this family.

Gareth stood up and stretched out. He may be physically fit but he had been sat on the floor for Merlin only knew how long and now he was stiff as ever. Once he had finished he looked at Nina and smiled. "That would be nice." He knew it wouldn't happen immediately but just knowing that Nina saw he was better than she thought he was made him happy.

"You can stay, you know, if you want?" Gareth was obviously nervous about asking. He wasn't sure how easy it was for her to get home with a sleeping child, plus, he wanted to talk to her, just Nina again. How was he meant to show her he had changed properly if the only time they spoke was with Isadora in the room? There would always be a part of her that thought he was pretending or that he would run off at the first sign of trouble. "The girls are spending the night out so she can have Avery's bed."
 
As Gareth offered that she and Isadora stayed the night, Nina weighed the options. They did need to talk but she knew that if Isadora woke up in the middle of the night without her stuffed animal she would cry a lot. And where would she sleep because she certainly was not going to sleep in Gareth's bed with him. "We do need to talk more," she said softly, careful not to wake their daughter. "Maybe we'll talk and I'll just walk Issy and I home," she said, trying to make it clear that this was not a step she was ready to take so soon. So she carefully picked up her sleeping child and rocked her dotingly in her arms as she waited for Gareth's response. During Isadora's short life, she had quickly become an expert at raising her daughter or she felt like she was. There really was no way at telling until Isadora was an adult but she already knew that this precious little girl would be a great human being. Nina picked up the hand of her daughter and kissed the small palm with a smile as she looked from Isadora to her father, feeling the same confusion she had in the living room hours prior to this moment. Carefully, Nina put her daughter’s limp arm around her shoulder and continued to rock her as she looked through the golden threads of her daughter’s hair that matched with Gareth’s.​
<i></i>
 
Gareth nodded, understanding the woman needed more time. "Sure. You, uh, want some tea?" He didn't know where to start. He knew all he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her how he had come back, how he had regretted running every day since then. how she had been his one and only love and how he had never gotten over her but he knew he couldn't. He couldn't just dump a load that big on her, especially as he wanted to keep seeing his little girl, that meant he had to stay in her mummys' god books.

Instead, he knew, they would discuss telling the small girl who he really was and arrangements for him to see her and what not. A part of Gareth wondered if she was completely over him. At least, as much as she appeared to be. They were so close, so perfect, there had to be some of that left there, even if it was just a little bit, there had to be something. Anything would do, just to know that he wasn't the only one still feeling things. Of course, nothing could happen, but he wouldn't deny himself feelings for the girl.
 
The understanding that Gareth had in his eyes made Nina smile a silent thank you, because even if they were not going to say it aloud, it was clear what had just gone between them. However, their actual conversation was not nearly as natural so his offer was quickly responded with, "Sure. That sounds good." Walking past him towards the bed, Nina placed Isadora down on the bed and kissed her forehead. "It's really a shame you missed out on so much. She's such a wonderful little girl," Nina spoke, her inhibitions lost for a moment before colour reached her cheeks as she realized just what had been said. Deciding to not recognize the words she had said, Nina headed towards the door and turned her head back to Gareth who was still standing in that same spot and asked, "Are you coming?"

Nina hoped that he would take this bate as a distraction, they both needed something to keep the inevitably angry, hurt, confused emotions from seeping out of her. Nina didn't know her way around this house so she could go down to the first floor but where the kitchen was to put on a kettle of tea would not be sure to her so she would wait for Gareth to come walk beside her while she hoped their hands did not graze as they walked. It was so opposite from when they had been dating, she longed to hold his hand, to kiss his cheek, his lips and now she had to make it seem like the thought of it repulsed her when she knew that it did not. Nina still harbored feelings for Gareth but what they were, she was not sure because they could very well just be feelings of gratitude and love for bringing her Isadora. However, it could be romantic and although this was the last thing she wanted to feel for him, now that he wanted to be in Dora's life, she could not keep him away without going to the courts and hiring a lawyer she could not afford. However, Nina could also not afford Gareth spilling the proverbial beans to Isadora because she would not understand why he had not always been there always like she had. It would create stress that at this moment, she did not know how to respond to which was what she and Gareth needed to discuss over tea.​
 
Gareth smiled, at least she wasn't about to blank him out completely. He froze slightly when she spoke again. Her comment blew him completely off guard. "So I can see, I wish I had been there too." He said simply as he walked past her and lead the way. He made sure to walk in front of the woman on the journey downstairs. Right now, he knew, he couldn't let himself too close to her. Just a simple brush of their hands could make him do something he regretted. When he was with her the first time, when it was good, she would control him, he had no strength against her. He had a feeling this was still true.

Gareth entered the kitchen and put on the kettle. Of course, he had muggle things. It didn't matter that he worked with death eaters, he had protection from them and he would rather his sisters grow up knowing about muggle objects and not become prejudice. He cleared the table so they could sit around it. It was currently covered in Lily's make up box, Avery's drawings and Moriahs' letters from Markov. He didn't dare read them for fear of what he might find. They may not get along but that didn't mean he wasn't protective of his little sister. "So, ummmm, what have you been up to?" It was a stupid and awkward conversation starter but it was all he had at that moment in time.
 
Nina was not sure if she could believe Gareth when he said that he wished he would have been with her throughout every bit of her past with Isadora but these opinions stayed to herself. He had not proven himself unworthy this evening so she did not think she was in the position to criticize him today. She let him lead her down the stairs and into the kitchen and once the table was cleared, Nina took a seat and crossed her legs elegantly at the knee and folded her hands together so her fingers were laced together. As he inquired what was new with her life, Nina did not feel the need to work with these pleasantries because getting right into things would be faster and easier, even if it was rather blunt.

"Although I'd love to answer this and talk about the weather that has graced us with it's presence," began the woman with sarcasm spewing from her lips to make light of what would soon become serious. "It would be easier to get to the inevitable bulk of this conversation," Nina stated. A shaky breath was exhaled from the nurse's pink lips before she said, "I love my daughter and I don't want her to be confused on all of our relationships together." It was a known fact that she was a protective person but when it came to her daughter, Nina became as vicious as a mama bear protecting their cubs, if not more. She'd be damned if Gareth Knight hurt Isadora more than he already had for not knowing her since day one. This meant that she was not going to know that Gareth was her father if the young child adopted the phrase 'dad' or 'daddy' when addressing Gareth. This was why the former couple had to get their story straight so she waited for the agreement of the man before her so they could make suggestions to solving this problem.​
 
Gareth sat down and listened to what she had to say. He remembered how protective she was of things, himself included at one point, so he could only imagine what she would be like with their child. He could see her point, he ran once why wouldn't he again, but he knew better and disagreed. He did, however, have to convince her of his point. He knew how stubborn she was as well, this could be a long night.

"I see where you're coming from, believe me I do, but there is nothing I want more right now than to be in her life and I want to be there as her father." Gareth wouldn't be able to survive seeing his daughter grow up not knowing who he was. It almost killed him when she asked who he was, he didn't want to go through that as well. He knew that he would always be there for them, it was just a matter of convincing her that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top