The New Ginger Princess

Monday morning has Austin rushing to get out of the house so he can get to work in time to open the shop. It isn't that he slept in, it's that Alan was using him as a pillow and every time he tried to get up Alan would snuggle closer and ask Austin to stay for ten more minutes. Those ten minutes seemed to add up until Austin was in such a rush that he only had time to grab a granola bar, eating it for breakfast during the drive to work.

Alan's morning is a much more leisure event, falling back asleep when his husband finally gets up for work, Austin's pillow taking his place. When Alan eventually does wake up he notices Marissa sitting in the middle of the bed watching some little kid cartoon. Her plushy puppy, Candy, is tucked under her arm and Mittens is curled up in her lap. The volume is really low on the tv and Marissa seems to be silent so Alan knows she didn't wake him up.

For a moment he wonders about how she got up on the bed in the first place, quickly remembering the chair that the parents have at the foot of the bed just for her. He considers going back to sleep but decides that he should probably make breakfast. He sits up, shifting the bed just enough to get the little girl's attention.

"Morning Daddy," Marissa says to her father.

"How long have you been in here?" Alan asks when he finishes yawning. He opens up his arms for his daughter, Marissa crawling into his lap and snuggling up in his arms.

"I heard Daddy leave, then I got up to get water, then I came in here to watch tv with Mittens. He was sleeping by your feet, but he woke up and wanted me to pet him, so I did, and then he fell asleep in my lap," Marissa replies, sort of answering Alan's question.

Looking at the clock, Alan figures that she had been in there for about an hour before he woke up. "Alright," Alan says, "we should get up for breakfast."

Marissa agrees and heads to the foot of the bed so she can climb down using the chair. Alan gets up and throws on a pair of pajama pants and a random t-shirt so he isn't walking around in his underwear. Him and Marissa make their way into the kitchen, her eyes lighting up when he grabs the pancake mix and chocolate chips.

"Chocolate chip pancakes!" Marissa cheers.

"I love chocolate chip pancakes. I'd eat them everyday but Austin won't let me," Alan comments, setting up the griddle and getting out the things needed to make the pancakes.

"Can I help you make them?" Marissa asks, standing on her tip toes in an attempt to see over the counter.

"Sure thing honey. Here you go," her father tells her as he pulls a chair up to the counter, helping her up. He measures out the pancake mix and passes his daughter the measuring cup, instructing her to pour it in the bowl. He does the same thing with the water before grabbing the whisk and starting to mix the batter.

"I wanna mix it," the little girl announces. Alan lets her finish mixing then takes over once again so he can start forming the pancakes on the griddle, making sure to add chocolate chips to each pancake.

"Hey kiddo, can you butter the pancakes for me when I put them on the plate?" Alan asks, giving Marissa another thing to help with. She nods and starts buttering the finished pancakes until they are all done and stacked high on the plate. Alan grabs a plate for each of them, turning around to see Marissa reaching into the chocolate chip bag and pulling out a small handful of them.

Realizing that she has been caught Marissa looks down in guilt, setting the chocolate chips on top of the bag. "Sorry," the child apologizes to her father.

Alan just takes the four chocolate chips that Marissa set down, handing two of them back to her and eating the other two. "I always do the same thing, but I have to make sure Austin isn't watching," Alan admits as he puts the bag of chocolate chips away.

The two of them clean up a bit and take their plates of pancakes to the couch, deciding to watch tv while they eat. Alan lets his daughter choose what they watch and ends up having to watch some Nick Jr. cartoon about a little boy and a bunch of talking puppies who save the day.

When breakfast is done Alan decides that they should both probably get dressed, so they go to their rooms to do that. He finishes getting dressed and lounges on the couch to wait for for his daughter, trying to think of ways the two of them can spend the afternoon. Marissa skips back into the room wearing a princess dress and a tiara from the dress up set the parents bought for her the previous day.

"When I said you should get dressed I didn't mean dress up clothes, silly," her dad says with a chuckle, not really planning on making her change.

"I wanted to be a princess," the child proclaims gleefully. She twirls around to show her dad how pretty her dress is, spinning faster to make the skirt flow out a bit.

"You are the most beautiful princess ever," the father compliments his daughter, saying it with wholehearted honesty. She smiles brighter at his words and runs over to give him a hug.

"You should be a princess too Daddy," the child decides.

"But I'm a boy," Alan reasons.

"Boys can be princesses if they want to," Marissa informs her father, who is actually quite proud of his daughter's open mind. That in mind, Alan is still uncomfortable with the idea of having to be a princess.

"Well I won't fit into any of the dresses so I might not be able to be a princess," he explains, thinking he found an excuse that will get him out of it without upsetting his daughter.

Marissa thinks about this for a second before getting an idea and running out of the room, telling her dad to stay put. He does as he is told and waits until his daughter runs back into the room with a second tiara. "The dress up box has two tiaras, so you can wear one too," she explains as she hands him the tiara.

Not wanting to upset the little girl Alan adjusts the tiara on his head as well as he can considering the small size that's intended for child sized heads. When the crown is in place he looks to his daughter and asks, "Does it look good?"

Marissa smiles up at her father replying, "You look beautiful. Now we're both princesses."

Alan can't help but smile and goes over to the couch to sit back down. "What?" Alan asks when his daughter makes a face at him, clearly bothered by something he did.

"You can't just look like a princess, you have to act like a princess too. We need to do princess things," the little girl instructs in a huff.

"What kind of princess things do we need to do?" Alan inquires, deciding that it's easier to just play along.

"Tea parties!" the little princess exclaims.

"Alright, go get the tea set and we will have a tea party at the coffee table," her dad says and Marissa goes to gather her new tea set while her father clears the coffee table. When she returns with the tea set Alan helps her arrange a place for each of them, then sits down on the carpet at his spot and pours imaginary tea into the two cups.

"What are you doing?" Marissa questions her father.

"Having a tea party," he replies, no longer sure.

"There's nothing in there," she says making another face.

"I thought we were going to pretend."

"We have to drink something it's a princess tea party!" she exclaims while waving her arms.

"Will water work?" her dad asks hopefully.

"Water is too plain," she takes a moment to think before continuing, "we should have juice." Her father smiles and takes the tea pot into the kitchen to fill it with apple juice.

With the drink issue settled the two princesses sit down and have their tea party, Alan being repeatedly corrected on his princess manners. Seeing that her father needs a lot of help Marissa decides that she should have him go to princess school so she can teach him.

"Daddy, you need to go to princess school so you can learn how to be a proper princess," the little girl commands. Alan is about to refuse, but the look in his daughter's eyes lets him know that he doesn't have a choice, so he gives in and agrees to go to princess school.

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When princess lessons are finally over Alan lounges on the couch, enjoying some relaxation while Marissa takes a "beauty nap" as she called it. Alan decides to play his guitar, grabbing his acoustic and playing whatever happens to pop into his head. He zones out for a half hour, only coming back to reality when his daughter sits down next to him.

"Your music is so pretty," Marissa comments, watching her father in wonder as he continues to play, thanking her for the compliment.

A soft "mew" attracts the attention of the two gingers, both of them looking down at Mittens. The music stops, however, when Alan notices that the little gray cat is covered in something blue. He picks up the cat, instantly smelling mint and feeling the sticky blue substance on his hands. 

The messy cat is taken into the bathroom in order to be given a bath, Alan knowing full well what to expect when he enters the bathroom. As expected the light reveals blue toothpaste all over the counter and floor, his tube of toothpaste is on the floor among the mess. He remembers that he had brought his toothbrush and toothpaste into that bathroom so Marissa could teach him how a princess brushes their teeth, but he forgot to put them back.

He shakes his head at his cat saying, "Maybe we should just call you Mint from now on, since you seem to have some weird thing about mint toothpaste." Mittens did the same thing as a kitten, except it was Austin's toothpaste the first time. Alan grabs a towel and starts cleaning up the bathroom, glad that his toothbrush is still untouched. When the toothpaste is removed from the counters and floor the only thing left to clean is the cat. He puts Mittens in the bathtub and works on removing the toothpaste from the clearly irritated cat.

The phone starts ringing and since her dad is still busy washing Mittens, Marissa decides to answer it. "Hello," the little girl says into the receiver.

"Who is this?" a woman on the other end asks.

"Marissa. Who are you?" the child replies.

"Is Alan there, I'm his mother," the woman tells Marissa.

"Daddy's giving the cat a bath," Marissa informs the woman. "Wait, he's back," she says as Alan walks into the room.

"Marissa, honey, who's on the phone?" Alan asks, holding his hand out for her to give him the phone.

"It's your mom," Marissa says as she hands him the phone, going over to the couch.

Alan frowns slightly and takes a moment to prepare himself for the conversation he is about to have before putting the phone to his ear and saying, "Hi Mom."