Chapter Eight

-:-

“Do you love Miss Walker and I meant, really love her that you want to marry her and she will be my new Mommy?”

Hearing that strange question from his one and only daughter, Martin put the newspaper down and with a questionable look on his face and tone in his voice, Martin Fitzgerald asked Sara Fitzgerald: “What?”

:-:

It was a bit of a shock when he heard that question from the child across the table and he was completely speechless for a few seconds, wondering why Sara asked him that question. He thought that Renee is a great woman but he only knew her for a whole day and he is in no mood for a romantic relationship right now and so, that the answer for that question will be a no but he doesn’t have a clue to tell that to his daughter, who he think is a hopeless romantic from knowing her too well.

Even through that he and Sara had a great relationship with each other, they had their ups and downs with their different views for Martin with women. And being very much in love with the woman you met that day who is also your daughter’s teacher is one of them.

“Daddy, is everything okay?” asked Sara who was staring at that look of his when she asks her father a random question but this is not very random, this is serious, especially for Sara who really want to know about the relationship between her father and Miss Walker. To see if this is true.

Martin was a bit confused about the question that his daughter just asked him and the moment he saw her staring at him and knew that he had to tell the truth before Sara starts bugging him with this question for the rest of his life but he doesn’t have a clue what to say to her about him and Renee with the right words. This is very hard for him right now.

“Daddy, is everything okay?” asked Sara again. “You look a little pale. Daddy, are you sick?”

Martin felt a little sick when she asked him that but the bile in his mouth seems to be gone for now and knowing that Sara is becoming scared because she thinks that her father is dying in front of her, Martin looked at his worried little girl and with a calm grin appearing on his face, he began calming her down to tell her that he’s not dying in front of her by saying to her, “No, Sara. I’m not sick. I was kind of well, - shocked by that question.”

“Why were you shocked by that, Daddy? Did I tell you something bad?” asked a still scared Sara who was staring at him with her brown eyes.

Martin saw those brown eyes of her and said back to her, “No, Sara. You didn’t tell me anything bad to me but, Sara. Why did you ask me that question?”

Sara shrugged her shoulder when she asked him this question, “I don’t know, Daddy. I wanted to know if you are in love with Miss Walker or not today.”

Martin took a few seconds to think about this before taking another sip of his coffee and looking up to the girl who is now, having a bit of white powder on the tip of her nose from the jelly donut, and said to her clearly and understanding, “Sara, I only know Miss Walker for about a day now and I am pretty sure that from the look of it, she and I will probably just be good friends and Sara, - “

“Yeah, Daddy?”

“If Miss Walker and I ever get to be more than that, I am promising you that you’ll be the first person that I will tell that Miss Walker and I are well, you know the rest.”

Not sure what her father just told her but she likes the idea of that, the cutest smile that she ever had on her face slowly appearing and after one last bite of the jelly donut, she said to Martin, “I know, Daddy. Thank you for telling me that.”

“No problem with that, Sara and sweetie?” asked a smiling Martin who is happy himself because he just told her that and it looks like that things will run smoothing this time.

“Yeah?” said back by the smiling girl.

“You got a bit of powder on your nose.”

Wanting to see the powder on her face, Sara put her finger on her nose and managed to wipe some of the powder off her nose with the finger before putting it down and an ‘oh’ came out of her mouth when she saw bits of white powder on her fingertip.

Watching her staring at the white powder on her fingertip, Martin smiled at her and said to her while doing that, “Baby, want me to wipe the rest off your nose?”

“There are more on my nose?”

Martin nodded to her and before he can wipe the rest off with a paper napkin, Sara asked him about something.

“Yes, Daddy. You can wipe the rest off my nose but with one thing.”

“Yeah, Sara. What’s it?”

“Can I take a bite of your slice of cake, please? You didn’t take a single bite of it since you sat down and plus, it will be laying there cold.” asked sweetly by Sara.

Martin chuckled when he heard that from the still hungry Sara and with a grin on his face, he answered her question by saying to her, “Sure, Sara. You can have one bite of the cake but I had to finish it up before heading back to see your Uncles and Aunties soon. Okay with that, Baby?”

Just hearing those words, Uncles and Aunties made Sara very happy that she leaned over to Martin and took a bite of the chocolate cake that was on Martin’s fork into her mouth.

Very shocked about that, Martin stared at her weirdly but a grin started making another appearance on his face when he said to her, “Whoa, Sara. I was planning to give you a bite of the cake myself!”

“But you were taking too long to do that!”

“True, true.” mumbled by Martin when he heard that, knowing that is very true but he didn’t mumbled while finishing up the cake and drinking more coffee at the same time when Sara was drinking her juice. After finishing up the snack and drink, Martin and Sara told the owners of the café their goodbyes for the day and the moment they were outside, Martin put a giggling Sara on his shoulders and with her weight on his shoulders, they walked over to the Federal Plaza to see his team mates again.

~:~

The moment the two of them got over to the bullpen; Martin put Sara down and watched her running over to Danny with her saying as loud as she can, “Uncle Danny!”

Danny heard one of his favorite girls’ voices from his desk and with a smile on his face, he turned to Sara and the moment she got over to him, Danny put his arms around her body so he can pick her up while greeting to her, “Hey, Chica. How was school?”

“It was good, Uncle Danny! I had a great day!” answered by Sara who kissed a wet one on Danny’s cheek.

Sara giggled when she saw Uncle Danny’s cheek blushing pinker by the moment while Danny asked her another question, “I am glad that you did, Sara and did you kick Liam’s butt yet?”

“Danny!” said by Martin in the background, watching all of this, hearing the info that Sara had kicked Liam Carson’s butt yet or maybe that she did that at school already. It could be a reason why Sara was late coming back to him after school ended. It probably is.

But Sara shook her head, telling the men that the answer was no and saying back to Danny with a smile on her face, “But I will do that soon, Uncle Danny. I’ll make you proud!”

“That’s my girl!” said Danny who gave her a hug and kissed her cheek before letting her go, watching her aiming for Martin’s chair to sit on.

Watching her running over there, Martin ran behind to her to put her on the chair himself and after putting her down on the chair, Sara asked Danny about the vacant desks around her, “Uncle Danny, where are Auntie Sam and Auntie Viv?”

“Sara, Auntie Sam and Auntie Viv are out of the building for work but they’ll come back before you know it.” said a smiling Danny.

“What about Auntie Elena? Can we visit her before Auntie Sam and Auntie Viv comes back? Please!” asked by Sara who is giving Danny the puppy eyes.

“Unless you get your Daddy’s permission, we can visit Auntie Elena too.” said Danny who is hoping that Martin will let Sara go with him to see Elena again.

To get his permission, Sara turned to her father who was sitting next to her and with her brown puppy eyes fully loaded, Sara gave Martin those eyes of hers and asked him in a sweet voice, “Daddy, can you let me go with Uncle Danny so we can visit Auntie Elena, please?!”

It took Martin about a minute and a half to think about it, letting Sara make some trouble with Danny again but seconds after finishing up his thoughts, he turned to his daughter and smiled at her while saying to her, “Sure, Sara. You can go with Uncle Danny but please, don’t make some trouble again with him, again. Fine with that, Baby?”

“Whatever, Daddy. Bye-bye!” said Sara who jumped out of the chair and ran over to Danny to hold her godfather’s hand to head upstairs to see Elena without any serious thinking of her chosen words.

Watching his only girl walking away with another man in her life, Martin sighed to himself when he saw that and went back into some random deskwork before he could heard from twenty feet away, deep inside the hallway, “Uncle Danny, Daddy is in love with Miss Walker! He told me so!”

“Really, Sara and by the chance, is your teacher’s first name is Renee?”

“Yep!”

“I knew it!”

“What do you meant by that, Uncle Danny?”

Before Danny can answer that question made by Sara and without any thinking, Martin ran off his chair and into the hallway to stop Danny and Sara from talking more about it, Martin said to them, mostly to Danny: “Danny Taylor, don’t you dare do that!”