Lexx was relieved to hear Chel’s response and already on the lookout for Maenae. She had to be in here somewhere. Then, he spotted her. She had obviously already seen him because she was running in their direction.
“Why are we going through here, Lexx?” Chel turned away, watching the kids play and finally giving in to her curiosity.
“Daddy!!” The little girl was different from every other alien child in the room. She wasn’t of any of the races represented amongst the children here, although very humanoid in appearance. Lexx cringed inside hearing her yell, but he tried to hide it for Maenae’s sake.
It was a terrifying thing to hear someone calling him that. Daddy? That carried way too much responsibility with it, more than Lexx wanted. Every hair on the back of his neck stood up. Then, she was in his arms, wiggling about eagerly to hug him.
Lexx’s cheeks flushed violet in self-conscious embarrassment. He had zero experience with children and pretty much let her do what she wanted without reprimanding her for anything. He just couldn’t do it. The only time he’d ever raised his voice at Maenae, she’d burst into tears and he’d crumbled immediately. Anything to please the little girl.
He was a horrible disciplinarian. It was so hard to say no or stop to her.
Lexx was out of touch with how to handle a child. She really never did anything wrong though. She listened and while overly energetic and into things, she was a good kid. Especially after Riley had gotten a hold of her and done a little bit of disciplining on his own. Lexx envied how the Littan had handled Maenae, making her easy to handle for Lexx at the same time.
It was surprising to see Riley angry, and he had been after Maenae had gotten into his things and managed to destroy one of his favorite coats with a pair of scissors. It was even more surprising when Riley came near to punching Lexx to get the point across that he needed to be stern when Maenae did something he had told her not to.
Riley didn’t even have to touch Maenae. His way of getting a point across was to make dinner with a desert that he knew Maenae loved,… then he made her leave the table and go to bed without getting any. Lexx had been livid that Riley would do something like that and interfere,… especially when Maenae started screaming.
Lexx had wanted to go bring her dessert immediately. Riley had gotten in his way and after a brief argument, Lexx backed down. Riley had brought up the valid point that while Lexx’s experiences with discipline had been painful, that this was not really hurting her. She wasn’t getting what she wanted because she’d done something she wasn’t supposed to and just because Lexx couldn’t stand hearing a little girl cry did not mean he needed to give in. Otherwise, … she’d learn how to get her way in everything and would grow up to be a spoiled woman,… like Claudia. After that, Maenae never touched anything that didn’t belong to her without asking first.
“…Lexx?” Chel turned around to see Lexx holding a little girl.
“Daddy!” Maenae repeated, tiny hands gripping Lexx’s neck. The only other female Lexx was now okay with touching him.
‘Deuce,…’ Lexx’s thoughts returned at the word. ‘WHO told her to call me Daddy!?’
“Missed you!” Maenae giggled.
“Daddy?” Chel stared at Lexx’s back, mouthing the word in pure astonishment.
One thought on “April 15, 2003 (1 Comment)”
oneluckyduck
Her eyes. Are. /Priceless!/ XDXD