Rum and Coke

For once, Luck was on Ellie’s side. The record company built in three “fun days” before the New York show when they were arranging tour dates. Ellie and Ryan, having grown up in the city, did not need these days. Avenged Sevenfold and co had also seen most of what the city had to offer. It would be tight and tressful, but Ellie knew that she could complete everything she had to within her time restrictions. Ellie spent the entire first day in back to back board meetings and a press conference. As of eleven o’clock AM, Jared’s share of the law firm was divided up between the remaining partners and ellie washed her hands of the lawyers. It’s not that she didn’t like them, she just wasn’t around them as much as they wanted her to be. As of seven o’clock PM, Colin Wright (Ellie’s principle ballet partner) was the new director of the dance company; Adam was the headmaster of the performing arts school; Idina and Taye Diggs were in charge of the booking and managing of the whole theatre house. All four of these people knew that they had to work in tangent to keep the entire building afloat- to keep Danielle and Ellie’s legacy alive.

Ellie stumbled into Adam’s house at one in the morning the next day. Adam was sitting on the couch, waiting up for her like he had done so many times before. “Where have you been?” he asked, his gruff voice startling Ellie.

“God, daddy, do you have to be such a creep sometimes?” she asked, clutching her chest and supporting herself the the molding of the kitchen door.

Adam stood up. “I asked you a question, Ellie. Where were you? The meeting got out at seven.”

“I went to get something to eat and then I went to the house.”

“Ellie, I told you to wait-”

“I spent two and a half hours trying to get the mental strength to actually go in. When that didn’t happen, I went to mom’s house and spent the rest of the time watching old performance tapes. Man, I was so flat when I was younger. I could hardly believe that it was me.”

“Ellie, you’re crying,” he noted, taking her into his strong embrace.

“It-it wasn’t supposed to happen like this! Th-they only put me in their will as a joke! I-I was supposed to go before them! I was supposed to go before everyone,” she sobbed into his chest. The weight of her emotions suddenly became too much to bare.

“Shh, it’s okay, Ellie. Don’t worry, I’m here now. You’re home,” he cooed into her hair.

“They’re gone…I can’t believe that they’re gone…why would anyone do that?” Her voice broke several times as she spoke into his clothed chest.

Adam cradled her head in one hand and rubbed her back with the other. “I don’t know, I honestly don’t. Shh, My Angel. I Love you.”

“I love you, too, Daddy,” she said, her voice weak. “C-Is it too late to take you up on that offer?”

“The one I proposed after your mo-”

“Yea, that one. Is it still standing?”

“Of course it is. It’s what I’ve always dreamed about. We’ll move you in after we clean out the house.”

Ellie could only nod her head. “Okay. Sounds great.”

“What about Brian?”

“Right now, you’re the only Dad that I want to be with,” she said, burrowing her face more into his chest.

Adam smiled to himself. He felt accomplished in an odd way. He kissed the crown of her head when he felt her pull away. “There’s a package on your bed, Angel. It’s from the Davis family.”

Ellie nodded. “Thank you- for everything.”

Adam smiled and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’d do anything for you. You know that, right?”

“Yea."

"Oh, and I went ahead and scheduled an appointment for you with Dr. Amani. It's right before we clean the house."

"Um, thank you. I-I’ll see you in the morning. Well, when everyone else in the world is also awake."

“Sweet Dreams,” Adam said as he watched his daughter walk up the stairs to her room