A Little Love (1st Draft)

Chapter 28: Choosing Little

Chapter 28

Choosing Little

Alec

After spending just over an hour at Madison's, we were finally parked in my garage. Ariana had been rather quiet the entire trip home, only asking whether she could have some of the cookies that Madison had sent us home with. I told her she could have one cookie and not make a meal out of it.

"Did you enjoy your time with Toby?"

Ariana was nibbled the rest of her cookie before answering. "Yea, it was fun," she said meekly with a shrug. I frowned as she seemed like she had hidden inside of a turtle shell.

"You sure could have fooled me," I chuckled. "What did you guys do?"

I handed her a bag to hold as I unlocked the front of the house for us to get in out of the cold.

"We watched Paw Patrol," she grimaced. "It's not my favorite—but I didn't want to tell him that.

Ariana began to start putting some of the groceries away as we got into the house and fed Binx. When we were finally finished, I wrapped my arms around her in a strong hug. Pressing my mouth, a top of her head I planted a kiss. I relished the feeling.

"I think it's time to get ready for bed little girl," I said softly and immediately heard a whine escape her mouth.

"Already? It's so early?" She argued.

She was trying to wriggle away from me but my arms were much stronger than hers. "And I think after lasts nights stunt that you should have a week's worth of early bedtimes, but we will just settle for tonight."

Ariana pouted, but eventually gave in.

"Come, let's get you set up in the bath upstairs."

Effortlessly I lifted her up, causing her to squeal. It was some of the first lifelike sounds I had heard from her in the past few hours.

Soon the bath was filled to the brim with hot water, just the way she liked it. She had grown accustomed to me undressing her and no longer blushed every time I took her top off or removed her underwear.

She rested her back in the bathtub and allowed me to use the spray nozzle to drench her hair in water. Using a generous amount of shampoo, I began to massage her scalp, being careful not to get to close to the wound that she had acquired from falling.

"Ariana?"

"Yes Daddy?" she asked softly with curiosity.

"Do you remember the first time we met?"

It took a moment for her to try and answer. The time it took confirmed Madison's suspicions on what she could recall from the night we met.

"I remember most of it, like, how you had to save me from the greasy looking men. I remember you sticking the pacifier in my mouth to stop me from looking down on myself, and the fact that you tried to confiscate my phone from letting me take an Uber."

"Do you remember when we briefly talked about our families?"

There was another strong pause before she answered. "I remembered you talking about your father who died and your mother."

"Do you remember what I said about my father? How he died"

Ariana grunted. She seemed really pained that she couldn't remember what I had told her.

"It's alright if you don't," I comforted reassuringly.

"I'm sorry, but I really can't. After I got sick, that entire week seemed to get muddled into a bunch of memories that I can't completely recall. Heck, I barely remember you coming to my house the night you took me to the hospital. I remember feeding my cat."