The Hardest Part Is Letting Go Of Your Dreams

I'm woken in the middle of the night by little hands tugging on my arm. I open my eyes and I can just make out Ruby standing by the bed in the moonlight filtering through the blinds. "Baby what's wrong?" I ask and she hiccups and sniffles as she says "Daddy Suzie had a bad dream." "Who's Suzie baby?" I croak out and she holds out her doll cushion for me to see. "We're scared daddy, there's a monster." I sigh and reach out, helping her into the bed, tucking her into my side. "It's ok baby girl, daddy won't let any monsters get you" I tell her as I tighten my arms around her and her cushion. I lay awake just cuddling Ruby and stroking her hair until her breathing evens out and she starts softly snoring and then I let my eyes close and I drift back to sleep. The next morning I wake up and Frank is out of bed already and Ruby is laying beside me playing with her doll cushion. "Hey cheeky monkey" I croak out and she turns her head to look at me and smiles wide. "Daddy" she chirps out and slides over, cuddling into my chest. We lay there sharing a cuddle for a few minutes
before I say "I think it's time to get up Rubes." I slide out of bed and Ruby drags herself up, standing on the bed holding Suzie starting to bounce and giggle so I reach out and scoop her into my arms, throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her from the room, Ruby giggling and kicking her little legs out. "Down daddy" she giggles out as we walk into the kitchen where Frank and Mikey are at the table drinking coffee. I put Ruby down in a chair and walk over to pour myself a cup of coffee and get Ruby some chocolate milk. When I sit back at the table Frank reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing it lightly and saying "Good morning gorgeous." I smile and blow him a kiss before he turns his attention to Ruby and says "And what were you doing in daddy's bed last night miss?" "Suzie said there was monsters daddy" she tells him seriously and Frank looks at me confused. "Her doll cushion" I tell him and he nods in understanding. "It's ok Rubes, there's no monsters I promise." "Daddy saved us" she tells him seriously and I chuckle. Mikey smiles and says "Aww daddy's a hero." I poke my tongue out at him, desperate to flip him off but not wanting to infront of Ruby and she sees the gesture and pokes her tongue out too, causing Frank to laugh.

After Frank goes to work Mikey and I take Ruby out for the day, shopping and to the park. We go into a comic book store and Ruby looks around wide eyed, amazed at all the colourful comic covers. Mikey is flipping through one he's interested in when Ruby tugs at my pants leg so I pick her up and when she's resting on my hip she looks over and sees the page Mikey is looking at. "Daddy" she chirps out as she points at the comic and I smile, the panels of illustration something she recognises. "Good job baby but that ones not daddy's" I tell her and she looks confused. "Daddy's is in the paper remember? Not in a book." She nods, still looking a little confused before leaning forward and burying her face in my neck, giving me cuddles. Mikey smiles at us before choosing another comic and we make our way to the counter. When we leave the store we go to a diner for lunch and the waitress brings out some crayons so Ruby can draw on the back of her napkin. She concentrates hard while Mikey and I talk, waiting for the food to come and when she's done she holds the paper out to Mikey. "For you Unk Mikes" she tells him and he takes it and looks at it. Mikey smiles wide and says "I love it cutie pie, can I have this one?" She nods her little head and beams up at him before he flips it around to show me the picture she drew of him, the gelled up hair a dead give away. "Good job Rubes" I praise her on her drawing and she smiles at me before handing me a crayon. "Daddy draw?" She asks and I grab another napkin, flipping it over and crudely sketching Ruby's face on the paper. When the food arrives I'm just finishing up so I sit the crayon down and hand her the napkin. She looks at it, her little face creased in concentration before she says "Me?" "That's right baby it's you" I tell her, causing her to smile. I take the picture back from her and sit it on the seat beside me so we can eat. After lunch is finished we get up to leave, Ruby tired and not wanting to walk anymore so I pick her up, settling her on my hip and Mikey grabs my drawing. "Gee this is really great considering what you had to work with. And I've been keeping up with your comic, you really are very talented. You should be doing something much greater than that strip." "Maybe Mikes but the paper pays well and I get to work from home and right now I have to put Rubes first. Someone needs to take care of her." At the mention of her name Ruby snuggles closer into my side and rests her head on my shoulder. Mikey nods in understanding and I check my watch, seeing that Frank only has fifteen minutes left until he finishes and his store is only a block away. I mention it to Mikey and we start heading that way. When we reach the music store I put Ruby down and she runs off, making a beeline for Matt, who she is now great friends with. He bends down and holds his arms out when he sees her coming and she runs full speed at him before jumping into his arms where he catches her and swings her up into the air making her giggle hysterically before settling her against his chest for a cuddle. She immediately starts babbling to him, talking so fast some of her words are unintelligible but Matt just smiles and nods along, responding to the things he can understand. I'm standing with Mikey watching them together when a pair of arms snake around my waist and lips press a kiss to the side of my neck. "Hey hot stuff, you looking for some private vocal lessons, I could teach you to make some very pretty sounds?" Frank purrs into my ear and I laugh but Mikey heard him too and pretends to gag before saying "Jesus guys, not in public." I flip him off and spin around in Franks arms, wrapping my arms around his neck as I lean in close and quietly say "Do you say that to all the boys who come in here?" Frank smirks and says "Only the insanely hot ones I'm married to who make me hard just by looking at them." I feel my face go red and Frank laughs before leaning in and kissing me. When we pull apart Frank says "I gotta go clock out. Be back in a second baby" before walking away behind the counter. Matt comes over with Ruby in his arms and says "Aww that was sickeningly cute" and Mikey smirks and says "Yeah you think that cause you didn't hear what was said, I think I'm scarred for life." Matt starts laughing and Ruby looks around confused about what's funny and when she spots Frank walking over she squirms in Matts arms and makes grabby hands at Frank. As soon as she's in Franks arms Ruby presses a loud sloppy kiss to his cheek causing Matt to chuckle and say "Ok I've had enough sweet for today, get out of here you disgustingly cute family." We say goodbye and head out of the store, Ruby waving so hard to Matt I fear her arm is about to fall off and we head off towards home.

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