*3 am* Alex Gaskarth POV
I woke up to my phone ringing loudly next to me, I reached over to see an unfamiliar number but, if your calling at three am it must be important.
"Hello is this Mr. Gaskarth?" The voiced from the other end asked,
"Um yes, this is." I stumbled wiping my eyes.
"This is Officer James from the Maryland police department. Do you know Mary Hopkins?" He asked I thought for a minute about Mary. We had dated about 4 years ago and I hadn't heard from her in years.
"Yes, we used to date but years ago," I responded,
"Well I'm sorry to inform you but, Ms. Hopkins was killed in a car accident earlier this morning." He said.
"Oh my..." I muttered, god I can't believe she's gone like that, but why am I getting called?
"In the car was her three-year-old daughter, Charlotte. Ms. Hopkins left in her will that you are the father of her daughter." He started, I remained silent. A kid, my... kid?
"Now if you do not want to or unable to care for this child she will be put under state custody until a relative is found. And if no relative is located she will be put into a foster house." He continued, could I care for a child? But I can't live with knowing I never met my kid.
"Where is she?" I asked,
"Maryland University Hospital," he replied, my heart sank this poor defenseless baby. She couldn't have done anything, now her mom is gone.
"Is it bad?" I asked,
"No nothing so far. Just some bumps and bruises. And she's scared." He explained.
"Can I come to see her?" I asked.
"Yes you can Mr. Gaskarth if you would like we could run paternity test to see if she's yours," he added,
"Okay, thank you," I said before we ended the call. I stood up out of bed and walked to grab a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I took a breath and quickly slipped on a pair of shoes as I dialed Jack's number as I closed the front door. He picked out on the third ring.
"Dude it's fucking 3:30 in the morning! This better is a good one." He exclaimed,
"Jack, remember Mary? Mary Hopkins." I asked.
"Yeah, you guys dated for a little in high school, why?" He replied.
"She died, but um she had a kid and um in her will it said that I'm the father.." I trailed off,
"Damn..." he mumbled.
"A little girl, she's three. Charlotte. They just called me and asked if I wanted her. I'm gonna go and meet her." I responded.
"Dude, what are you gonna do? A single parent at 24?" He questioned,
"Well if I don't take her, she'll go to a home somewhere. But she's my kid, Jack. My little girl. I already missed so much. I can't just do nothing." I told him.
"Yeah, it would be wrong to just leave her. I think you should go and meet her." Jack said,
"Okay, Jack I'll keep you updated," I said and ended the call. I jumped in my car and drove to meet my daughter.
-JUMP CUT TO THE HOSPITAL-
I pulled up to the hospital and parked, I took a deep breath before I got out of my car. I slowly approach the ER doors, as I enter I saw an office.
"Excuse me are you Officer James?" I asked.
"yes I am, you must be Mr. Gaskarth," he replied.
"You can call me Alex," I said we shook hands.
"She's in this room, a social worker in there at the moment," he said gesturing toward a room.
"Okay thank you," I said and approached the door, I knocked and a young woman opened it and let me in. I guess she is a social worker. Then my eyes landed and the tiny girl lying in the bed. She had a grey bunny covering her face and was whimpering.
"Hi I am Alex," I said extending my hand to the woman.
"Grace Thompson, it's nice to meet you." She asked standing up and shaking my hand.
"It's good to meet you as well," I responded.
"Charlie, this is a friend of you mom's," she said to the small girl.
"I can give you a minute if you would like, and if Charlotte is ok with it," the social worker said,
"Is it okay if I step out for a little and you stay here with Alex?" I heard a faint "okay" come from Charlotte. The social worker walked out of the room, I took a seat to the side of the bed. I quietly watched the small girl toss and turned, I looked at the clock. 3:52 am, I've only been a dad 52 minutes out of 3 years. I looked back to see Charlotte sitting up, and looking directly at me.
"Hi," I opened, she shot me a shy smile.
"Hello." she giggled,
"My name is Alex, what's yours?" I asked.
"Charlotte Eloise G. Hopkins" she stated with a big smile.
"What does the G mean?" I questioned. Did Mary tell her about me?
"I don't know, mommy said it's my daddy's name," she said looking at me and tilted her head.
"Where is your dad?" I asked.
"Oh mommy said daddy travels, and he's all over the world helping people!" She explained, Mary told her about me. Very little and in a weird way but she still knew about me.
Charlotte shifted and I got a better look at her face, her hair is a very light brown almost blonde and short but messy, her eyes were mostly green with some brown. They reminded me of Mary's eyes. Her skin was pale, she had freckles all over her face.
"What's that?" She asked pointing to my hand with the tattoo on it.
"Oh, this is a tattoo," I said, I moved my hand from my lap to the bed so she could see it better.
"It's pretty," she said admiring it,
"Who is your friend?" I asked pointing at her bear.
"Oh that's fuzzy," she explained.
"Do you have any other tattoos?" She asked tilting her head,
"Yeah I do, I have three tattoos," I said taking off my sweater to show her my skeleton tattoo.
"Do you know what this is?" I asked pointing at the skeleton,
"Um, a tattoo?" She giggled.
"This is a skeleton, like at Halloween," I responded.
"Halloween?" She asked, does she not know what Halloween is? That can't be.
"Yeah, the holiday when you get dressed up in a costume and get candy," I explained, she looked at me like I was crazy.
"Okay." she simply replied. The social worker walked in soon after.
"Mr. Gaskarth can I discuss with you, somewhere private?" The social worker asked, I nodded and stood up. Bye before I could walk away Charlotte grabbed my hand.
"You are going to come back, right? Alex you're going to come back?" She asked with panic in her voice. She was still holding on to my finger. I turned around to face her.
"I'm gonna come back, I promise," I said, she nodded in response with a small okay. I followed the social worker to a conference room where we sat down.
"So it is to our belief you are the biological father of Charlotte. So legally you can take custody of your child if it is proven that biological she is yours, but it is possible that you could be challenged for custody if a family member comes forward."
"Okay, so how would we see if she is my child?"
"A paternity test. It is a simple test, would you like to do that?" She asked,
"Yes, I would like to," I replied.
"Okay you can go back to her room, I will let the doctor know. It's quite late so it will most likely be scheduled for the morning," she said, I stood up and exited the room and made my way back to Charlotte's room. As I approach the door I took a deep breath, I am a dad, pull it together.
"Alex mommy sing to me at night. Can you?" Charlotte asked.
"Of course, what does she sing about?" I asked.
"Daydreaming." That's sparked a thought, did Mary used to sing Daydream Away to her? Did Mary keep Charlotte a daydream away... for me? Or herself?
"I think I might," I replied, I sat down in the chair next to her. Charlotte motioned for me to pick her up, I was nervous at first because what if I drop her? As soon as I pulled her into my lap she cuddled into my arms, and at that moment everything felt right. She smiled up at me and her little nose crinkle, you could see she was tired. I started singing softly to her and her face lit up, she was shocked I knew the song. I was just as shocked she knew it, before long she was asleep. I looked down at the small girl in my arms. She was so peaceful and calm, she accepted me without question. At that moment everything fell into the right place, every mistake I had ever made didn't matter. All that mattered was this little girl in my arms.