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When Maria tells Frank that she’s pregnant, he’s more surprised than he should be. I mean, he should have anticipated the possibility that she could get pregnant given how much they were fooling around for the three months they’ve been together. He knew it was possible but just didn’t think it was all that probable. That was his mistake.
After Frank quickly overcomes his shock, the pair sit down and have an in-depth discussion of what to do next. Maria's adamant about keeping the baby, regardless of whether or not Frank wants to be involved in their child’s life. She places a hand over her stomach that’s not showing yet as a way to self-soothe, and Frank makes his decision. He’s not about to let his kid grow up without a father. He places a hand over the back of hers and squeezes, prompting her gaze to land on his face. Frank assures Maria that she’s not going to have to raise their kid alone. In his mind, he’s already brainstorming what kind of ring would look pretty around the fourth finger on her left hand.
But before Frank can delve into those thoughts any deeper, there’s something that he’s gotta do first.
He leaves Maria’s place after sharing a long kiss with the woman with the promise that everything will be alright on his tongue. As Frank drives in the direction of his neighborhood, he mentally rehearses how he’s going to break the news to you that he and Maria are expecting a kid.
Regardless of how well Frank knows you, he’s not too sure of how you’ll react. It doesn’t make him nervous because Frank doesn’t get nervous. It just unsettles him a little, to not be able to predict your reaction. Frank’s going to help Maria raise their kid, and he plans on proposing to her as soon as possible, but if you disagree with Frank’s actions, it’s going to make life more difficult.
After all, you’re the most important person in Frank’s life.
Frank drives past his home and brings his car to a stop in front of the house that’s stationed on the corner of his street. There’s a car already parked in the driveway, so Frank knows that you must be home. He’s quick to kill the engine and step out of his car. His heavy combat boots hit the cracked, concrete sidewalk as he strides to the entrance of your home, climbing up the wooden steps of your porch. He removes a hand from his pocket to hit the doorbell once. Frank can hear the loud chiming of the doorbell echo within the walls of your home. The sound is accompanied by a shout of “I got it!” in a voice that’s very much familiar to Frank. It causes his lips to curl upward slightly.
He can hear the sound of someone leaning against the door, presumably to check who’s there through the peephole, which brings a sense of relief to Frank. He’s glad that some of the stuff he’s taught you actually sticks in your head. There’s a soft gasp before the front door is unlocked and ripped wide open to reveal your beaming face.
“Frank!” you happily exclaim as you launch yourself at him. Frank grunts slightly at the sudden impact, but it’s not like it was entirely unexpected. He wraps his arms around you in a hug and only releases you when you pull back and unwind your arms from around him.
“Hey, kid.” Frank affectionately pats your head, drawing a whine from your lips. Your grandpa soon appears in the doorway behind you, greeting Frank with a smile. Frank nods in return. “Sir.”
“Hello, Frank,” your grandpa says. You whip your head around at the sound of your grandpa’s voice before turning to face Frank again. “Let me take a guess. You’re here for them?” he says, motioning at you with a hand.
Frank chuckles. Frank and your grandpa both know that he’s always there for you.
“Yes, sir. I was thinkin’ I could take them out for some ice cream if that was alright with you?” Your eyes immediately widen at the prospect of eating ice cream. You swivel your head around toward your grandpa, clasping your hands together in a pleading manner.
“Can I please go, Grandpa?” you beg. Your grandpa makes a big show of contemplating whether or not he should let you go, prompting you to amp up your begging. It doesn’t take much longer until he relents.
“Alright, alright. You can go get some ice cream with Frank.” At his consent, you erupt into cheers. “Go on and grab a jacket before you go.” You immediately bolt inside of your house, in the direction of your bedroom to search for a jacket. Both Frank and your grandpa chuckle at your evident enthusiasm.
“How’re you doing, son?” Your grandpa’s warm gaze settles on Frank after you’ve vanished from their line of sight. Your grandpa shuffles to the side of the doorway, inviting Frank inside with a wave of his arm.
“Doin’ good, sir,” Frank replies as he takes a step inside of your house, allowing your grandpa to close the door shut behind him. It’s considerably warmer in here than outside, melting the slight chill that was seeping through Frank’s clothes.
“How’s that girl of yours? You two still going strong?” your grandpa pries a little.
Frank’s brought Maria around your place a few times in the past three months. Early on in their relationship, Frank told Maria about you and your grandpa, about how neither of you was related to him through blood, but how both of you were family to him all the same. Maria was actually the one who expressed interest in meeting you and your grandpa, much to Frank’s surprise. He fell a little harder for her when she said that.
Your grandpa was charmed by the woman, which Frank was glad about, but he mainly wanted to get your approval. He’s not sure if he’d be able to be in a relationship with someone if you hated them, no matter how much Frank loved Maria. Luckily, even though you were initially cautious around the stranger, you were taken with Maria the moment she asked if she could play with you.
After Frank took Maria home and swung by your house again, he was relieved when you told him that you liked her. As much as Frank and your grandpa have done their best to raise you, he knows that it’s a good thing for you to have a female presence in your life.
At the reminder of why he’s at your house, Frank clears his throat. “Maria and I are good,” he says, leaving it at that.
Your grandpa gives him a look that reads that he knows there’s more to the situation than just that, but he doesn’t push Frank to talk, something that Frank appreciates.
Right around that time, you emerge into the hallway and bound over to the two men standing near the entrance of the house. Frank notices that the jacket you’ve chosen to wear is a heather-gray hoodie that he bought for you a few months back as you give your grandpa a quick hug.
“Bye, Grandpa. I’ll see you later.”
You slip your hand into Frank’s much larger one and tug, or attempt to tug, him toward the door. “C’mon Frank, let’s go get ice cream.”
Frank exchanges goodbyes with your grandpa as you try to use all your weight to make him move from his spot. You almost stumble over your feet when Frank actually takes a step in your direction, causing you to huff.
Frank lets you mess around with the radio after you two buckle up and he pulls away from your house. The station you settle on isn’t necessarily his favorite one, but Frank likes to hear you sing along to the songs that blare through his speakers.
The ice cream parlor that you and Frank frequent isn’t too far from your houses, so the drive isn’t too lengthy. As soon as the shop comes into view, you plaster yourself to the window. Frank laughs to himself at your inability to sit completely still as you’re too caught up in your excitement. So caught up in it that you nearly trip when getting out of the car.
“Woah there, sweetheart,” Frank says as he helps steady you on your feet. “Gotta be careful.”
You give him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, Frank.”
You tame your excitement and walk over to the ice cream parlor at only a slightly-above-average pace. The bell attached to the glass door jingles as Frank reaches around you to open it for you. The attendant behind the counter perks up at the sound.
“Welcome to the Dreamery Creamery!” they greet with a perfect customer service smile plastered on as you and Frank make your way to the counter. “I’ll be with you in just a moment,” they say before helping a group of customers at the register.
You get as close as you can to the glass without touching it and push yourself up onto your tippy toes to get a glimpse of the flavors and their names. Frank watches as you struggle. You’re still a smidge too tiny to get a good look at the flavors behind the glass barrier. Eventually, you give up and turn around, peering up at Frank.
“Can you lift me up so I can see?” You pull out the puppy dog eyes- something that Frank can never say no to. Not that he would say no to you in this instance.
He leans down, letting you loop your arms around his neck and wrap your legs around his torso, before standing back up at his full height. The change in height grants you a much better view of the vast array of ice cream flavors that the store has today.
“How can I help you, today?” The worker asks now that they’re done with helping the other patrons. Frank gently nudges you with his shoulder, prompting you to speak.
“What do you want, sweetheart?”
Your brows pinch together in intense concentration. You point to the flavor you want. “That one. Please.”
Frank nods. “Could we get a scoop of” Frank squints and reads off the name of the flavor you want. “In a cup, please.”
“A cone,” you pipe up.
“A cone, please,” Frank says, correcting himself. He’d prefer if you got your ice cream in a cup since there’s less of a chance of you making a mess, but if he’s going to break the news of Maria being pregnant to you and his plans of proposing to her, he wants you in the best mood possible.
Frank sets you down back on the ground after the worker hands you the ice cream cone. You race off to sit in a booth further inside of the shop when Frank tells you to go find you guys a seat. He pays the worker the necessary amount for the ice cream and leaves a couple of bucks in the tip jar.
There’s already ice cream all over your face when Frank slides into the booth across from you. It’s a complete sticky mess, but you look happy, which is what really matters to Frank.
Frank clears his throat, prompting you to look up at him while you continue to lick the melting ice cream from your cone. “Kid, I gotta talk to you about somethin’.”
Your brows furrow together. You pause from eating your ice cream as fear flashes through your eyes. “Are you leaving again? You just got back.”
Your eyes get a little watery, and Frank feels a pang of guilt in his chest. Frank knows you hate it when he leaves for deployment. All the phone calls and letters he sends you can’t make up for the fact that he’s not physically there by your side. You’re still so little, so young that you can’t really comprehend why Frank has to leave, all that you understand is that he does.
He reaches across the table to take your free hand in his to comfort you. Your hand is so small in comparison to his. “I’m not leaving anytime soon, sweetheart. I promise. That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Frank rubs the back of your hand with his thumb. He plucks a napkin out of the container to the side and wipes away some of the ice cream staining your chin.
“Oh. What did you want to talk about?” The tears in your eyes have receded, thankfully, and you tilt your head to the side- curious.
“You know Maria, right?” Frank asks as he continues to wipe all the ice cream off of your face.
You nod. “That’s the pretty woman that likes to play with me.”
Frank chuckles at your description of Maria. You’re not wrong.
“That’s right, kid.”
He bunches up the dirty napkins and tosses them to the side. He’ll throw them in the waste bin when you guys leave.
“You like Maria?” You’ve told Frank before that you did like Maria, but he has to ask again to be sure. Kids are fickle things.
“Yeah. She’s nice to me,” you say in between licks. Good, good. Frank’s glad for the confirmation.
“Well, Maria and I are having a baby together.” Frank probably could have approached the situation a little more delicately, but that’s not really who he is. He’s also not really good with shit like that. If he tried that tactic, he’d awkwardly skirt around the topic and probably end up confusing the hell out of you.
You pause from eating, looking up at Frank with wide eyes. “What?”
Frank clears his throat again. He can’t really gauge your reaction quite yet beyond your initial surprise. “Yeah, Maria and I are having a kid together.”
“Oh,” you dumbly say before going quiet.
Frank closely watches your expression. A flurry of emotions crosses your face before it eventually settles on a mix of confusion and sadness. He waits for you to talk. The last bit of your ice cream melts over the edge of the cake cone, dripping down the back of your hand as you sit there in silence.
“So you’re going to stop coming around.” You phrase it as a statement not a question as if it’s set in stone that Frank will discard you like you’re nothing to him now that Maria is pregnant. Your eyes are all big and round and your lower lip trembles as you try to hold back your tears.
At the sight, Frank immediately gets up from his side of the booth to slide right next to you. A heartbreaking whimper escapes you as Frank wraps an arm around your body and presses your head to his chest.
“Y-you’re going to have a baby, and you’re not going to want me anymore,” you cry into Frank’s chest. Your fingers grip the material of his jacket tightly into fists, clinging to him. He gently shushes you as he rubs his hand up and down your back.
God, has Frank been such a shitty dad to you that you’d think he’d give you up that easily? Nothing in this fucking world could tear Frank away from you, not if he had anything to do with it.
“B-because you’re going to have a real kid,” you blubber in between your sobs.
“Hey,” Frank interrupts, a little more sternly than he intended. He gently tugs you back by the scruff of your neck. Your face is splotchy, tears staining your cheeks as you loudly sniffle. Frank places a hand on your cheek and gently wipes your tears away. Although, it does no good since more tears take their place. “You are my kid. My real kid,” he firmly says.
Frank couldn’t care less about blood. Sure, he’s going to love his unborn child, but Frank loves you just as much. You may not be related to him- hell, you may not even legally be his- but you are absolutely his child. And he won’t have you questioning that.
“You’re my kid, sweetheart,” he repeats, pulling you back to his chest and kissing the top of your head. “You’re my kid, and I promise that I ain’t going nowhere. Our family’s just going to get a little bigger, baby, but you will always be my kid.”
Your crying starts up again, but Frank just rocks you side to side, gently shushing you and kissing your head. He feels the tears and the melting ice cream still clutched in your fist stain his jacket, but Frank doesn’t pay it any mind. He means what he’s said. No matter what happens, you will always be his baby.