Evanescent

18 | C E R E A L

"Mmm, yes," Rosa said as she took another bite of her lucky charms cereal that she had seperated into two bowls, one for the actual cereal. The other for the marshmellows.

"Yes... is your favorite color?" Noah asked, laughing a little. She was such a strange girl. She did things so differently, but he enjoyed it so much. Her strangeness was refreshing in a way.

"Mm, yes. I dunno. Choosing the simple things is hard," she mumbled before taking another bite of cereal. "Um.. I like black a lot. But my favorite color would have to be based on whatever mood i'm feeling at the moment."

"So you feel dark, deep and depressed?" He asked, frowning a little.

"Nuh uh," she said with a shake of her head, picking up three green charms and crunching on them. "Black is my favorite color today because it's a safe color. It matches with anything. And it looks especially good against white."

He watched her for a few long seconds before sitting up straight and grabbing one of her marshmellows, eating it slowly in thought. "Huh? I've never thought about that way."

She shrugged quietly as she looked up from her two bowls of cereals. "Not many people do. Black might be a deep color. But people fail to look deeper at it and decifer what it really means. They keep it simple, because looking too deep confuses them. And black is a very deep color to float through."

He leaned forward in his chair, his knees facing her as he tapped her temple with his ringed index finger. "I like your brain. Do you write?"

"No," she replied as she gazed at him quietly.

"That's a shame babydoll. I'd like to see your pretty words written in your pretty handwriting," he said as he sat back and crossed his arms while he thought. "We'll go to the art store later tomorrow and pick you up some pretty journals, stickers and coloring things. Does that sound like a good idea?"

He could already see her trying to form the word no, but by the way her eyes lit up, he already knew her true answer. "I think it is. So we'll go tomorrow. Go ahead and brush your teeth and get ready for bed."

She slid off the stool quickly, the sound of her feet padding across the floor as she packed away her cereal registering in Noah's ears as he thought to himself.

He hadn't realized Rosa had been calling him until she tapped his shoulder. He looked over at her and his eyes widened when she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for taking care of me.. daddy."

He blinked a few times in surprise before smiling gently. "Of course. That's what I'm here for."

It took a lot of his energy to keep himself from grabbing her and pulling her back into his embrace.

She was too precious not to hold.

___

"Nooo," Rosa groaned as he tried to get her up and out of bed. Noah quickly dodged the pillow Rosa had thrown at him and he huffed quietly.

"Rosa, I have things to do today. Get up and get ready. I'm taking you for lunch later. And the art store. Stop being stubborn."

"I'm not being stubborn. I'm being sleepy. So let me sleep just five more minutes," she said, her soft voice getting lost in the pillows she was surrounded by. She was actually used to waking up at odd hours in the morning to get work done - but now that she didn't have to work until she had a breakdown, sleep was precious to her.

"You said that five minutes ago, baby," he chuckled. "I've given you fifteen minutes extra. You have five seconds to get up." He started to count down but obviously she didn't understand the weight of his counting. He sighed and began to collect the four corners of the sheet she was laying on top of. He bunched up the sheet so she was securely held in the center and then lifted her up and off the bed.

Rosa squealed when she realized she was being held over the ground like she was in a hammock. She giggled quietly as he carried her into the bathroom and gently placed her on the floor. Noah peaked down at her and smiled back at her when he noticed the happy little smile on her face. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before standing up and mumbling 'cheater' under her breath.

He laughed quietly and shook his head. "Brush your teeth, shower. I'll be back with some clothes. Is it okay if I pick them out for you?"

"As long as they don't make me look stupid," she said as she put toothpaste on her toothbrush and wet it under the sink.

"I promise they won't," he said with a soft chuckle. He left her to clean herself up and then went into the walk in closet in her room where new clothes that he had gotten her over the past few days hung up. He picked out a light, off the shoulder yellow top and some high waisted, black suit pants. He grabbed a black belt as well, frilly white ankle socks and some vintage looking school shoes. 

He would have put her in something less professional if they weren't going to his place of business, but the frilly socks and school shoes would still be give off the baby doll look that he liked on her.

He knocked lightly on the bathroom door after about ten minutes and swallowed heavily before slowly opening the door. He cursed under his breath when his eyes fell on her wrapped in a towel as she leaned over the sink counter, trying to get an eyelash out her eye. 

He watched her through the mirror as she poked and prodded at her pretty eye until it turned glossy and slightly red. "Stop it, Rosa. Come here."

"I can get it," she mumbled as she held her eye open wider. He didn't fight her and instead leaned against the bathroom door frame as he watched her. She whined in annoyance when her wet hair fell into her face when she leaned over too far. He could see the towels hold on her loosening.

He pushed off the door frame and came up behind her, tucking her towel back in place so it wouldn't fall before slipping his long fingers slowly up her waist until his fingers skimmed the bare skin of her soft shoulder. Her small intake of breath caused a smile to form on his face and he slipped his hand across the sides of her neck, collecting her hair into one bunch and slipping the hair piece off her wrist and onto her hair.

She watched through the mirror in awe as he leaned down and pressed a delicate kiss to the back of her shoulder before looking at her in the eyes from the mirror. "Let daddy help you."

She shivered lightly at his words and then slowly turned around to face him. He smiled gently down at her before lifting her onto the counter and tilting her head up a little.

Her eyes were starting to water and he would have thought it was because of the eyes natural reaction to get the lash out with tears. But then she began to cry, letting out small whimpers as she did.

"Awe baby, shush now. Does it hurt?" He asked as he grabbed a peice of toilet paper and rolled it so it was thin.

She shook her head and leaned forward, pressing her forehead to his chest as she cried.

He sighed softly and rest his chin on the top of her head gently as he rubbed small circles on her back.

"I'd like to go see my dad, please. Will you go with me?"

His eyes widened in surprise and he cleared his throat nervously. "Y-yeah. I'll go with you."

"We can go two days from now. It's the best time to go," she mumbled into his chest.

"Anything, baby. If this will make you happy."