Just a Kid • Book 1

• Chapter 1 •

Third Person's POV

When Aurora got told by her grandmother that some fishermen had found her father alive on an island five years after the yacht sank and he was assumed dead, she couldn't believe it.

All she had wanted for the last five years, every birthday and shooting star wish, was for her father to be alive and to come home. They had never found a body, so she never believed he was dead.

Now that her wish was coming true, she was feeling an overwhelming amount of emotions: relief, excitement, happiness, and even nervousness to name a few.

Rory sat on the side of her bed, shaking her leg nervously. Her Aunt Thea was in the room with her, pacing the length of the room. That was her way of showing her nervousness and trying to pass the time until her brother would come home.

You see, Moira had gone to the hospital to pick up Oliver and now his sister and daughter were waiting for them to come home.

After what seemed like an eternity, they heard the door open downstairs. Thea stopped pacing and Rory stood up to go stand next to her.

"You ready to go and see your dad again, kiddo?" Thea asked her niece. She had been calling Rory 'kiddo' ever since the yacht sunk, adopting the nickname that Oliver used to call her, despite being only six years older than her herself.

Rory took a deep breath and nodded. She was so excited, but so nervous. I mean, five years had passed. She was no longer the little kid that he had left, she had grown and changed.

Thea left the room and Rory followed behind her. She was going to let the siblings reunite first. When Thea got to the top of the stairs, she stood there for a moment before rushing down to hug Oliver.

While Thea hugged her brother, Rory walked to the top of the stairs. Thea pulled back and stood to the side so her brother could reunite with his daughter.

Rory couldn't believe he was actually there standing at the bottom of the stairs. After years of being told that he was dead, she had always hoped that he would one day come back home, but she didn't think it would actually happen.

Seeing Rory made Oliver want to cry. Both from how happy and relieved he was to finally get to be with his daughter again, but also from how sad he was that he had missed so much of her childhood.

"Aurora?" Oliver voiced and Rory took that as her cue to run down the stairs and jump into his arms. She held onto him tightly, afraid that he might disappear. "Daddy." Rory spoke softly, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding as tears welled up in her eyes.

"I missed you so much." She whispered, her tears now running down her cheeks. "I missed you too, kiddo. More than anything. But you were with me the whole time." Oliver responded and just hugged his daughter closer.

~~~

After all the reunions, Oliver excused himself to his room to get showered and cleaned up. But he let his daughter walk him to his room as she didn't want to leave him just yet.

"So, Rory, where's your mom?" Oliver asked and Rory immediately became uncomfortable. She looked down towards the floor and stuffed her hands in her pockets.

Her mom, Laurel Lance, refused to see Oliver again. She would barely ever speak about him, so Rory stopped trying to get her to.

And Quintin Lance, her granddad, would try to hide his anger at the mere mention of his name, though Rory didn't know why.