Chapter Text
September 27th, 2002. On that day, a little girl was born to a dying woman. That little girl was doomed to never meet her mother. For better or worse, however, her father was located a few months later. Stuart Pot, otherwise known as 2D.
It was Christmas of that year when a knock could be heard. 2D's mum went to answer the door, and before she did, she called to him over her shoulder.
"Stuart, if this is someone from child support at my door telling me that you aren't paying the poor women, I'll get that Murdoc to hit you with his car again," she said, though it was a rather empty threat as she really wished he hadn't gotten hit at all.
"I've been payin' Mum," 2D promised, toying with the sleeve of his jumper.
A woman was stood at the door holding a tiny bundle. Rachel Pot covered her mouth for a brief moment, and blinked.
"Is this the home of Stuart Pot?" The woman asked.
"Yes," Rachel responded. "He's inside. Come in, it's cold out there."
The woman walked inside, holding the tiny thing wrapped in its blanket. 2D squinted to try and figure out what it was. She held out her hand for 2D to shake.
"Serenity Wolfe, I work at a nearby orphanage and we've recently found that this girl is your daughter," she said. "Her mother, Lilac Bates, recently passed away . She told us you were this girl's father before she died, but it took us a while to get to you."
2D froze up a bit after he shook her hand, processing what the woman was telling him. Lilac was a pretty, nice girl he had met some time on tour or something, he couldn't quite seem to remember. Merry Christmas, he'd thought to himself. A nice woman was dead and her child was stuck with him.
After a moment of thought, 2D tipped his head like a curious puppy. His voice was soft, as if to not wake up the sleeping baby. "Did Lilac name her?"
Serenity nodded slowly. "She named her Amber Grace. I suppose it would be Amber Grace Pot. That is, of course, if you choose to take her in."
"Yeah, yeah," 2D said, his voice quiet as he nodded. "I quite like that."
2D's mother stood by, seeming conflicted. She seemed to be slightly disappointed, as her son had so many children that some of them weren't even known of. But, the chance that he might be more than willing to take care of at least one of them made her overwhelmingly happy. The possibility of him being a responsible adult was practically a Christmas miracle.
2D took little Amber from Serenity's arms. He held her carefully, studying her face with an awestruck expression. She looked remarkably like her mother, just with more of 2D's nose and definitely his hair, as it was messy blue. The small infant was soft to the touch and probably the most interesting thing 2D had ever laid his eyes on. The more he looked at her, the more he remembered her mother. They had gone out for a while, but 2D had to break it off in fear that Murdoc would mess with her. Lilac had seemingly understood, and she had left. And now she was dead. 2D sighed. He decided that he needed to take care of Amber. He would be the greatest father to ever live... even if he needed some assistance.
"Where do I sign?" 2D asked softly, a slight smile on his face as he gazed down at the little girl in his arms.
Serenity smiled as well. She ran a hand through her hair, combing it out of her face. "Come in next week and we can get things taken care of. I suppose you can take some time to get to know the little thing."
2D nodded. Silently, he promised Amber that he would be the best dad she could ever have.
About a month passed since 2D had gotten Amber. He assured her that she was his favorite Christmas gift, even though she couldn't understand him. It made her smile, which was good enough.
2D was completely ignorant when it came to raising a child, and he was very lucky that he had his parents' assistance. Though, to be fair, Amber was the lucky one, as she probably wouldn't have lasted a day if they weren't there. Among the things that 2D was ignorant about was the notation that a four month old couldn't talk. He tried his best to get her to talk to no avail. His frustrated attempts did make Amber laugh, however, so that was a major plus.
It was truly shocking to the Pot family how short the baby's temper was. It was worse than her father's at the mention of a certain cheating slag, one could say. If she spat out her pacifier onto the floor, or wet herself, or accidentally dropped the fluffy stuffed rabbit that 2D had found for her at Tesco, she would scream and cry. 2D would frantically try to calm her down, doing whatever he could, speaking utter nonsense to her, some of which she might have possibly understood. Despite the minor shortcomings, 2D was still in awe of the precious baby. He didn't ever think he could love something or someone so much. Amber was so interesting to him, even though she was just a little baby who didn't do all that much. 2D knew that they would go through a lot together if things actually managed to go well. God, he hoped they would.
"I promise I'll do my best to care for you," 2D said softly to the tiny thing in his arms. "I swear it on my life."
Amber giggled at him quietly. The sound of it made 2D's heart melt. He would be the greatest dad, he really would. He would try his best, anyways.