PART FIVE OF "and then he saw her..."

 
   THIRD PERSON

Y/N cursed mentally as she dropped the bottle, hearing the plastic scratch against the concrete.

   "Mommy, you dropped my bottle." The small voice called out. Y/N sighed and nodded, the obvious statement pushing her nerves.

  "I know, sweetie. Mommy is carrying a lot of stuff right now. Do you think you could pick it up and take it inside so mommy can bring in the food from the store?" Y/N asked, hope filling her voice. She looked to her little girl who smiled and nodded frantically, her sneakers lighting up as she ran to the bottle, snatched it up, and ran through the open doorway.

   Y/N shook her head and turned back to the car trunk, slipping her arms through the bag handles. With three on one arm and four on the other, she did her best to slam the trunk closed and lock the car, heading into the house herself.

   She heaved out of breath at the heavy groceries and slammed them onto the top of the stove to begin putting them away. Y/N took a deep breath, tossing the keys on to the island countertop.

    "Mommy!" The voice shrilled from somewhere. Y/N winced as the volume magnified her headache, but responded nonetheless.

   "Yes, Annabelle?" Y/N called out, leaning against the counter. She waited a couple of seconds before he familiar patter of feet running towards the kitchen echoed.
  
  Soon, the little angel appeared, an excited smile on her face.

  "Can we do my princess puzzle? I want to do the yellow one today." She asked, pulling the innocent brown eyes Y/N knew she had gained from her father.

   "Mommy has a lot of work to do. Why don't we just watch some TV? Or, we could watch the yellow princess movie?" She suggested. Anything to keep the little squirt occupied.

  "Yes, yes, yes!" Annabelle squealed in excitement. She sprinted to the large couch and jumped on it, sitting patiently in front of the TV.

 
   Y/N slowly followed, opening the movie cabinet where her hand pulled out Beauty and The Beast. Annabelle's favorite movie, although she couldn't quite always remember the princess's name.

   She put it into the DVD player and turned all the necessary things on and soon enough Belle started rummaging through the library. Y/N nodded and walked back into the kitchen, where she began rummaging through her own library. Instead of books, it was microwave meals and kid cereals.

    Once the groceries were in their places, Y/N threw away the plastic bags they came in and sighed.

   What time was Dylan supposed to be home today, Y/N tried to remember. Last night, he hadn't gotten home until 11 p.m.- way past Annabelle's bedtime. He wasn't able to read her goodnight story and went to bed as soon as he got upstairs, before getting back up at 6 a.m. to leave for work.

   Y/N had to get herself and Annabelle ready at 8 a.m. Dressing Annabelle for preschool and driving her there, she would drop her off at 9, then drive herself to work. Then after work, pick up Annabelle from preschool and drive home.

    Y/N loved Dylan to death, there was no argument there. They'd been together for five years. But recently, Y/N felt like she was married to herself. Hell, she raised Annabelle all on her own after the first year and a half. Dylan wasn't there for her first steps. Or her first day of preschool. Sure, not because he didn't want to, he had filming to do.

  But that's all he did. Film, film, film. Come home late, sleep, wake up early, film, come home late. It was a cycle, really.

  Three weeks ago, Annabelle stopped asking when daddy was going to come home. It used to be, every night after dinner, she would stare at the empty place sitting and ask 'when is daddy gonna be home?' which Y/N would have to answer 'soon' and hope she was right.

   When Annabelle didn't ask the first night,  Y/N felt sick to her stomach. Her own daughter had figured out he wasn't around much. That he just didn't have time for her.

  
   Well, he was about to start making time, Y/N thought.

  She glanced to the living room, seeing Annabelle had traveled from the couch to the middle of the floor and she danced and sang to the Be Our Guest song. Y/N smiled and walked upstairs, slipping her shoes off at the closet. She stripped off her jacket and walked to the dresser, ready to put on her pajamas.

   Her gaze caught the photo album they kept against the mirror. She smiled and pulled it closer, opening it.

  The first photo, was herself with pizza cheese hanging off of her chin, a laughing smile on her face. Their first date. Dylan snagged a picture and whilst Y/N had prepared to wrestle him to delete it, he insisted to keep it for memory purposes.

   A few photos later, one catches her eye. The proposal. She could see Dylan on one knee, the tears in her eye and questioned how he got the picture, but remembered his friend Tyler was helping him.

  Another photo, their honeymoon. There's a couple pictures for this one, mostly them posing in front of scenery.

  And then, pictures from the hospital. Y/N had just given birth to Annabelle and was holding her sweet little girl. Her mom had taken the picture. Y/N was gazing down at the creation whilst Dylan was holding a gleaming smile to his wife as he sat next to her hospital bed. The photo next to it, they're both lovingly looking at Annabelle.

   If only he still looked at us that way, Y/N shook her head.

   She heard the door click open downstairs and flinched, staring towards the hallway.

   "Daddy!" Annabelle shouted, excited. Y/N's eyes widened and went downstairs, almost tripping down the stairs.

 
    She reached the bottom and found Dylan, taking his shoes off already. Annabelle dashed in and grabbed his leg, hugging tight.

  "I'm so happy you're home! The yellow princess is on!" She cried out, gleaming up at her father.

   Y/N got a good look at him and saw he didn't look ecstatic. Bags hung under his eyes and his hair was un-combed. He obvious wasn't in the best mood, just as Y/N wasn't.

 
   "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Daddy's really tired. Maybe we can watch it tomorrow." Dylan grumbled, staring down at his leg. Annabelle released and pouted.

   "Daddy, you said that last time. . ." She whined. Y/N sighed.

 
   "Honey, Daddy will be there in a moment. We're just gonna talk for a bit, okay?" Y/N eased, crouching down to her daughters height. Annabelle quietly nodded and walked off.

  "Y/N, I'm tired, so if I could just-" Dylan began but Y/N stood up so abruptly, he decided not to continue.

  "No, no, no, mister. You're going to walk in there to your daughter and watch the movie because she misses you." Y/N quietly snapped, pointing to the living room. Dylan groaned.

   "Why don't you watch it? I've had a long day at work and-"

"Well, Dylan, so did I. And I picked up Annabelle, and I brought home groceries." Y/N huffed.

 
   When no words came from Dylan, Y/N continued.

  "Dylan, your daughter hasn't had any contact with you, much less an actual conversation, in three weeks. Don't you think that's important?"

  "Yes, Y/N." Dylan huffed. "What? You think I don't want to talk to our daughter? That- I just purposely ignore her?"

   "I don't think you're exactly treating her like you should be." Y/N scoffed.

  "Please let me know when you get a job that keeps you for late hours." He mocked. Y/N groaned.

   "I can't, Dylan! Because that's what you do! And if we both did that, Annabelle wouldn't know either of her parents. So, I take a small, well paying job that allows me to be with her. I adjust." Y/N argued, accidentally shouting the first part. She prayed Annabelle didn't try sneaking in to listen.

   "Y/N-" Dylan began before Y/N cut him off.

  "No, Dylan! There is a serious problem when your daughter doesn't draw her father in the family picture at school!" Y/N shouted angrily. Dylan froze and broke down the statement.

  "She what?" He breathed out. Y/N sighed.

   "The teacher told everyone to draw their household. So Annabelle drew me and her because she never sees you at the house, Dylan. She knows she has a father, but she doesn't know she has a dad."

   Dylan let out a shaky breath, running his hands through his hair anxiously.

   "I- I don't know what to do, Y/N." He finally cried out.

   "Okay, Y/N? You win! You're the better parent! Congratulations! I'm sorry I can't even take care of one kid!" Dylan shouted.

   "There is not winning or losing Dylan!" Y/N yelled. "There's just two people being their for a kid!"

  "And I can't even do that!" Dylan angrily yelled.

  "So-what? You quit? You quit parenting? Because that doesn't happen, okay? You don't quit. You're in it for the long run." Y/N snapped. She was furious.

  "I don't like coming home late! I don't like not being there! I don't like this!" He shouted.

   "You don't like being my daddy?"

  Both Y/N and Dylan spun around to the living room doorway, seeing a teary eyed Annabelle. Their faces fell at the sight.

  "No- never, sweet heart." Dylan cooed, sitting on the carpet. He gestured for her to come to him and she did, slowly. Eventually she plopped into his lap, thumb finger stuck between her two lips.

   "Daddy just- doesn't like being tired. He wants to be home more." Dylan nodded. Annabelle just stared into his eyes.

   "Daddy wants to be part of the family picture." He sniffled. Annabelle stood up from his lap and ran up the stairs on all fours, leaving Y/N and a crying Dylan alone.

   "She hates me. . ." Dylan sobbed into his hands, shaking his head. Y/N sighs softly and sat next to him, rubbing his arms.

   "She doesn't hate you. She just- wants you to be here. We want you to be here." Y/N admitted. Still, quiet cries left Dylan.

   Feet thumping back down the stairs caught both their attention and saw Annabelle running down with a paper in her hands. She made it down and ran over, putting herself back onto his lap.

   "I re-drew it two days ago, daddy. See? You're in it. Mommy said you'd be very sad if you saw you weren't in it. She told me you try really really hard. It's okay. I love you. You don't have to be sad." Annabelle smiled happily.

   Dylan looked confused and took the paper, looking down at the crayon art. Sure enough, a brown haired boy was standing next to a girl and a smaller girl, all smiles. Dylan chuckled and Y/N looked over to see him smiling through tears.

   "Mommy told you all that?" He whispered. Annabelle nodded quickly.

   "Mommy's right. But I'm gonna try harder, okay? Goodnight stories every night, how does that sound?" Dylan asked, making Y/N'S eyes widen. He really is trying hard.

   "Every night!?" Annabelle screamed. Dylan laughed and nodded, cradling her now.

   "How about you go and keep watching the movie and me and Mommy will come right in in a minute, okay?"

   Annabelle squealed and ran to the room, disappearing.

   "She does love you." Y/N spoke up. Dylan looked to her.

    "Thank you. I- I've been shit lately and here you are, cleaning up my mess and telling Annabelle I'm good. I need to show her. She needs to see I'm her dad." Dylan smiled. Y/N did as well, loving this new Dylan.

   "You are good. She'll see it." Y/N assured him.

   "I love you. So much." Dylan whispered, putting his forehead on Y/N's. She smiled and pecked his lips gently.

   "I love you. So much."

  "Daddy! You're missing the dance! Hurry!" Annabelle screamed.

  Dylan smiled and helped Y/N and himself stand up before pulling them both to the living room. Y/N smiled and sat on the couch as she watched Dylan grab his daughters hands and sway around the room, along with Belle and the Beast in the ballroom. Annabelle squealed and giggled as he picked her up and spun her around the same time Beast spun Belle and placed her back down.

  
    This is how it should be, Y/N and Dylan both thought before locking eyes and smiling genuinely towards each other. Like one, big, happy family.

______________
A/N:: what? no, no my eyes are just sweating. they do that. it's okay.

    and OMG I just thought of this lmao this is so far apart from the other parts

   love you