I Lost my Little Girl

It's only love

Paul

"But if there are only white cows, then how is there strawberry ice cream?" Annie had been questioning whether or not cows only made white milk, ever since we left the ice cream parlour.

"Yeah! And what about chocolate ice cream?" Julian continued the questions, and I pulled into the driveway.

"The ice cream isn't really vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry. They flavor it." Jane explained while getting Julian and Joey out of the car. I walked around and got Annabelle out of the car seat, holding her in my arms.

It seemed as though they had given up on the questions, and Jane and I weren't complaining. I unlocked the door with the key that I found under the front mat, and put Annie down. I held her hand and led her in. Once we were all inside,  Jane and I brought the kids upstairs.

Annie rest her head on my chest and yawned.

"'m tired, daddy." I softly rubbed Annabelle's back and layed her on the bed next to Julian, and sooner or later they were fast asleep. I kissed Annie goodnight and watched Jane putting Joey to sleep.

I stood up from the bed and walked to the doorway.

"He's finally asleep!" Jane looked up and smiled at me as she lay him down in his carrier, and joined me on the threshold of Julian's Bedroom. We watched them sleep for a while and then headed downstairs. I sat on the sofa and Jane sat next to me.

"So, what do you do for a living? I'm guessing you can put one and one together and figure out what I do." I chuckled and turned towards the redhead on the couch next to me.

"I'm an actress. I work in movies." She smiled widely at me.

"Ah, that's so cool!" I shouted enthusiastically, and she only nodded.

"Paul?" She asked, turning closer to me.

"Yes?" I looked her in the eye, kind of scared of what she was going to ask.

"What happened to her?" I stared at Jane blankly, honestly confused.

"'Eh, who?" I watched her dumbly, as she cocked her head in curiosity.

"Your wife. Or girlfriend. Annie's mum. if she was okay, she would have been here for her birthday." I 'Oh'ed in realization, and chuckled softly.

"I look that much like er',ey'?" You thought we were really related!" Grinning at the fact that I looked like my 'Daughter', I shook my head and began to explain.

"She's not really me Daughter. I found er' sniffling and freezin' cold behind my car three November's ago. So I decided to bring her home for the night and look for her parents afterwards. But I never did find them. And I grew completely too attached to ever give my Annie back." I chuckled softly and Jane stared at me in awe.

"I would have never expected that. You treat her better than any father I know treats his daughter!" She exclaimed.

"She is my daughter. She has been for three years, and always will be " I grinned at Jane and she giggled.

Clearing my throat, I decided to ask the question I have been wondering all night.

"Well, now that you've asked about the non-existing Mrs. McCartney, where is Mr. Asher?" I cocked an eyebrow and smiled at her warmly.

"He..He's. dead." She sighed and looked away.

"That's horrible! How?" I asked in shock.

"The army." She mumbled in response and rubbed the dog tag necklace she wore around her neck, that I never noticed before.

"I'm..I'm sorry I asked." I murmured.

"No. it's fine Paul. it's nice to get it off my chest once in a while. Y'know?" Jane sighed and started out of the large front window.

"Yeah." 

We sat like that together for a few minutes, just staring out the window in silence and enjoying each other's presence.

"Jane?" I asked almost so quiet it was inaudible.

"Yes Paul?" She swung her head around so she was looking me in the eye. She was smiling again, and I almost buckled under the pressure.

"Would you..erm..." I rubbed the back of my neck slowly and looked down at my lap.

"Would you like to..you know..go out sometime?" I'm not sure why I was. asking her this! She's going to say no for sure..

"That sounds lovely Paul. Of course I would." She grinned over at me, and I moved my hand the extra inch, and grabbed her's softly. I held her delicate hand in my Palm and smiled to myself. I haven't had a steady girlfriend for years now. We sat in silence once again, until I heard giggles coming from the stairs. I smirked to myself and let go of Jane's hand. She seemed upset that I did. I ran towards the stairs, just quick enough to grab one of the little spies. And of course, it was my Annie. She giggled and squirmed in my arms. I threw her over my shoulder and walked back to Jane.

"I caught an eavesdropper!" Jane laughed and so did I.

"We only wanted to see what was happening!"

"We? Oh! So there are more of you! Maybe the others would like to surrender now? Or we could just catch them and they'll pay the consequences." I stated playfully and heard a gasp from the stairs. Glancing over, I saw Julian holding Joey, who was half his size. Jane and I burst into laughter and Julian carried Joey over. They sat on the floor.

All of a sudden someone came through the door and Julian jumped out of his spot on the floor over to them.

"MUMMY! YOU'RE OKAY!" He shrieked. Cynthia shuffled in and  hugged him.

"I'm fine, love." She chuckled and John followed her inside.

"Don't hug her so tight Jules! Don't want to hurt your brother or sister do ye'?" Julian just pulled away and stared at him confused. I heard a choked gasp come from Jane, and she screamed loudly. She jumped up and ran to Cynthia. I realized why as she was doing it.

"CYN! YOU'RE PREGNANT?!"

John Smirked and glanced over at me. I just stared back smiling.

"I suggest my Nephew should be named after me." I retorted.

"What if it's a girl?" Cynthia looked at me curiously.

"Paulina. Or Paulette. How about Jamie?" I laughed.

"I get to be a big brother!" Julian shouted. He and Annie shrieked excitedly together.

"Name her after me!" Annie yelled, and John picked her up.

"There's still a chance that it's a boy, munchkin." She giggled and he tickled her belly.

"His name could still be Annie!" She smiled widely at John.

"I don't think so. I don't want me son goin' around with the name Annie."

He chuckled and Julian piped in as the girls went into the kitchen to talk.

"Name him after me!" John snickered, while sitting down next to me where Jane was sat before and pulling his only current son into his lap.

"Then I would have two sons named Julian!"

"Hm..you're right." Julian laughed.

"Aren't you tired, love?" I smiled down at Annabelle and rubbed circles around her back.

"Yes." She yawned in reply.

"Come on Annie."I helped her out of my lap and held her hand. She shrugged her coat on and said goodnight to everyone, even the baby, Hugging Cyn's stomach. I chuckled and pulled her into my arms. We left The Lennon's house and headed to our own. By time we arrived, I had to carry Annie to bed.