That's Cherry ^^^ for anyone who's forgotten.

"Deedee?" Cherry asked the next morning while Monica was in the shower and I was packing up our things. She was sitting on the bed watching cartoons.
"Yes, Stargazer?"
"You always gonna be Deedee now?" I stopped what I was doing and turned to look at her.
"What d'you mean?"
"I no hafta go way? You always Deedee?"
"Nope. You don't have to go away again. You're mine now. Remember? My little Stargazer."
"Foreva." She said and nodded matter-of-factly. "Otay!" She put her necklace in her mouth and picked up her lion. Then she cocked her to the side and spit her necklace out. "What 'bout Monima?"
"Monica's your mommy now." That seemed to confuse her. Her brows furrowed and she got lost in thought for a few seconds.
"What a mommy?" That was the first time I was stumped by a four year old. Mommy is a very commonplace word and obviously I know what it means, but I couldn't come up with a way to phrase it to make her understand.
"Uh. . . a mommy is someone who takes of you and loves you sort of like Daddy does, but different." Yeah. I know. Not great. But I did the best I could. To be fair I hadn't been out of bed for very long.
"Monima 'ove me?"
"She does. Maybe not as much as I do, because I don't think anyone can love you that much, but she does." I went back to packing things into my suitcase.
"You huwt me? Like otha Deedee?"
"No! Stargazer, of course not!"
"Otha Deedee says he 'oves me an' he huwt me 'cos he 'oves me." She put her fingers back in her mouth. I crouched down beside the bed so I was eye level with her.
"What your other daddy did wasn't because he loved you. What he did was horrible and I'm sorry you had to go through it, but I promise it's never going to happen again. I would never do anything to hurt you. I love you, Stargazer, and that means I won't hurt you. Do you understand?"
"No huwt me?" She asked again.
"I won't hurt you."
"Monima huwt me?"
"Nope. No one is going to hurt you as long as I'm here. I'm going to make sure of it. It's my job to protect you."
"Pomithe?"
"I promise." She smiled and threw her arms around my neck.
"'Ove you, Deedee."
"Alright. Bathroom's all yours." Monica said as she opened the bathroom door. Steam poured out into the hotel room. "What's going on here?"
"Just explaining what a mom is." Cherry went back to her cartoons.
"And what exactly is a mom?" I stood and wrapped my arms around Monica's waist.
"You."
"Mm. Not really." She gave me a gentle kiss.
"Yes really. By signing those papers yesterday you became Cherry's mom." She tilted her head to the side.
"No, by signing those papers I became her legal guardian. I'll be her mom when she trusts me as much as she trusts you. There's a big difference between being her guardian and being her mom."
"I didn't know that."
"Well now you do. Now go get showered."
"Our flights not for two and a half hours."
"But we have to get through security and you have to get showered. Now go."
"Alright I'm going." I gave her one more kiss before getting a shower.

———

It was one of those mornings where I woke up with a song running through my head and the most obvious thing to do is sing said song which is what I did while I was in the shower. When I was out and dressed I opened the bathroom door to find both Cherry and Monica laughing.
"What's so funny?" I asked, smiling.
"You!" Cherry exclaimed while standing and bouncing on the bed.
"Me?"
"Funny looking, funny sounding, funny smelling." Monica said with a giggle.
"Uh-huh!" Cherry said. I picked her up off the bed and she laughed.
"Hey, I just got showered. Besides you chose me. It's not my fault." Monica hummed and gave me a kiss.
"That's a valid point." Then she got distracted with doing the last minute check to make sure we weren't going to leave anything. Cherry was tracing the tattoos on my chest. "Why you got pictas on you?"
"Because I like them."
"Why?"
"Because." I said again and tickled her. She shrieked and laughed.
"No! No tittles!"
"Alright. No tickles. Can you put your shoes on?"
"Uh-huh." I stood her on the floor and she sat down to put her shoes on.
"Here." I looked over at Monica and got a shirt to the face. "Finish getting ready."
"We've still got two hours."
"And I'd rather spend them in the airport after we get through security." I pulled my shirt on and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Toss me a pair of socks?" She chucked a pair of blue socks at head before zipping up my suitcase. "Thank you." I pulled my socks and shoes on and made sure all of Cherry's things were back in her backpack, then I helped her put it on and handed her her lion.
"Everyone ready? Everything's packed?" I asked.
"I think so."
"Up?" Cherry asked with her arms up. I picked her up and she immediately wrapped her arms around my neck.
"Let's go home." I led the way out of the hotel room and down the hall.

I've finally got my ambition back. I hope to have more chapters of this ready soon. Anyway. I hope you like it.

Avery L.