A Gifted fanfiction

Part 2

That night, Frank was in the kitchen whipping up some easy and simple Mac and Cheese for dinner. He lifted the metal pan off the stove and placed it onto the counter.

"Mary! Come down for dinner!" He checked the beef lasagne that was still in the oven and used the mitten to take it out and place it onto the dining table.

After pouring the cheese covered macaroni onto two plates, Frank placed the empty pan into the sink. He looked around to still find no sign of his niece anywhere. That was strange.

Usually  Mary would come running down the stairs at Frank's call of dinner. It was usually the time of the day when Mary would talk about her day at school in her excited chatter while Frank would just nod and smile, adding in questions of his own.

"Mary! Dinner! Come on! Don't make me come up and get you!" There was the sound of bare feet padding down the stairs as Mary made her own way toward the kitchen with a solemn look on her face.

She sat at the table and picked up her fork, not all that interested in her food. Frank settled down just opposite her, picking up his own fork all the while eyeing her. He watched as Mary lazily picked at her Mac and Cheese.

"Mary? Are you going to eat your food or what?" Frank asked, he himself having not touched his meal either. Mary then pushed her own plate away. "I'm not hungry Frank. I'm just gonna go upstairs and do some math." She got up to leave but Frank  stopped her, grabbing a hold of her wrist.

Mary flinched. "Look. You haven't been acting like yourself lately. You keep ignoring me day in and day out. You barely talk or do anything all day besides math. Got anything you'd like to tell me?" He raised an eyebrow, the hold on his niece loosening a bit.

"No." She denied stubbornly.

"Mary." He warned.

"Do you love me?" The words slipped past her lips faster than she could catch them.

Frank looked at her in shock. Mary wasn't looking at him. The question rang in his mind. Did he love her? Of course he did. She was his whole world. What on earth had compelled his sweet and caring little niece to ask a question of such ridicule?

"Of course I do. You know I do. What brought this up?" Frank was fuming. He didn't think that she'd be getting bullied. On a side note, he had never heard even a single complaint from her about her new school.

Mary was looking down at her feet, shuffling them nervously. "Well... some of the other adults and professors at the academy labelled me a malfunctioned child. They said that no child should be that smart. And they also said that you'll kick me out once you have no use for me anymore. Are you going to kick me out Frank?" She was out right practically crying by then, tears flowing down her bare cheeks.

Frank reached down to kneel in front of her on one leg so that he was on the same level as her.

"Of course not. Just don't listen to them, okay? They don't know a thing about what they're talking about. Listen. I love you very much. I don't know what I'd do without you in my life. You have to believe that." Frank had embraced her in his arms, they stayed like that for a while as her sobs had subsided into sniffles. She nodded.

"Okay. Now eat up before dinner gets cold. Then we'll go over to Roberta for her party."