Surprise!

Chapter 4

The next day, Autumn's peaceful sleep is interrupted by insistent poking. She groans and rolls over, ignoring the poking for right now; but the poking continues. She groans again. The poker sighs, knowing exactly who she gets this from. Instead of continuing to poke his daughter, Tony yanks the covers off of Autumn. She shivers at the immediate cold and tries grabbing for the blanket from her father but he keeps it just out of her reach. With a soft sigh, Autumn opens her eyes and turns back to face her dad. He smiles softly at her, stroking her cheek.

"Why are you poking me awake?" She whispers, confusion lacing her voice. He laughs and hands over her glasses; she takes them and smiles in thank you, slipping them onto her face as she sits up in bed. "Dad?" His smile grows.

"Come to work with me?" He asks. She yawns, quirking an eyebrow. "Come on! It'll be father-daughter bonding time! You, me, and a stack of paperwork I really don't want to do by myself." Autumn laughs.

"You want me to go to work with you so I can help you with work. Not because you actually want me there." She remarks. Tony gasps, placing a hand over his chest.

"That's not true!" He exclaims. She raises an eyebrow. "Not completely true!" He corrects. She nods, knowing she's right. Autumn stands, stretching her arms above her head. "Please, Mel?" She shoots him a look as she moves to her closet.

"Mel?"

He shrugs. "Your name is Melody isn't it?" She nods then goes to same something but Tony quickly continues. "And what kind of nickname can I get out of a name like Autumn?" She shrugs. "So your mom's nickname for you can be Autumn but mine will be Mel." Autumn hums, sifting through clothes in her closet until she finds a light purple off-the-shoulder shirt with darker purple sleeves. "Unless you don't like it!" Tony rushes, setting his head on her bed. "Because if you don't then I can go back to calling you Autumn." She shakes her head, turning around with the shirt in her hands.

"No, it's fine. I like the name Mel."

"Really?!" Tony asks, lifting his head up like a puppy. Autumn laughs and nods. "Perfect!"

"If you want me to go to work with you, I'll need to change." She reminds him. He looks to the shirt in her hands before nodding and heading out the door.

"Just be quick, limo's on its way." He tells her before leaving. Autumn's brows knit and she purses her lips.

"Limo?" She asks but Tony's long gone. She sighs. "Guess I'm taking a limo to my father's work." She whispers to herself then laughs softly. "Oh mom. If only you could hear that sentence."

Autumn pulls the T-shirt she slept in over her head then kicks her shorts off. Quickly, she changes into the shirt she found in the closet and the pair of shorts she had on yesterday. I need to get more clothes, she thinks to herself with a frown as she moves to the bathroom connected to her room. In there she does everything that needs to be covered before walking out, pulling her hair up in the process. After putting on her slip-on sneakers, she walks out of her room.

"Good, you're ready!" Tony pipes up, kicking off the wall he was leaning on. Autumn's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Let's go."

"Were you. . . Were you standing there waiting for me?" She asks. Tony doesn't say anything but the cheeky smile on his face gives it away. She rolls her eyes and sighs softly.

Grabbing her wrist, Tony drags her outside where a long black limo is already waiting for them. Autumn's eyes widen; she's never seen anything like this before. Tony is the first to climb in because, obviously, he's seen the limo multiple times before; the aw has worn off on him. If it weren't for her father yanking her into the limo, Autumn would've stood there all day admiring the vehicle. With a huge smile on her face, she sits in front of her father, her fingers digging into the leather of the seat. Tony chuckles under his breath as he watches his daughter admire the inside of the limo.