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OTHER ENGAGEMENTS for Propaganda by SA
"Daddy, I'm hungry." Roy rustled a little on the bed and turned over. "Daddy. I'm *hungry," said Lian, tugging at his sheets. Roy was valiantly trying to stay asleep, but he was out of luck. "DADDY I'M HUNGRY!" Lian shouted. Roy started out of bed, his heart pounding wildly. Lian jumped back, holding her blanket close. "I'm hungry, Daddy," she whispered, and Roy calmed down just enough to stop breathing like the Joker was after him. "It's okay, honey," he said, pulling Lian close and into his arms. "You're hungry, huh?" Lian nodded. Roy glanced at the clock, which read an obscene five-thirty. "You're up really early, too. Is that why you woke up, 'cause you're hungry?" Lian nodded again, resting her head on his shoulder. "Okay. We'll go make some breakfast then," he said, climbing out of bed still holding her close to his chest. He winced as the light from the hallway hit him and stopped for a minute to let his eyes adjust. When he could open them again without a problem, he went down to the kitchen and turned on the light over the stove. Roy put Lian down in the kitchen, and she sat down at the table, messing with a cup that had been left there from the night before. He looked into the fridge. While it was definitely better than his from a few years ago, there was still almost nothing there. "Guess we have to go shopping today, kid," he said, pulling out the last of the milk, giving it a sniff to make sure it was okay. It smelled like milk. He was never any good at the milk-sniffing test anyway. But the date was still good, and so long as Lian didn't complain, that's what she was getting. He took a clean glass and bowl from the dishwasher and poured some milk into it; then he grabbed the Cheerios from the top of the fridge. "Here you go," he said, setting the box and bowl down in front of her. "That'll tide you over until I can make you a pancake, okay?" Lian stuffed some Cheerios into her mouth as she nodded, and Roy couldn't help but grin. He definitely had the cutest kid in the world. It didn't take long to make a couple of small pancakes for Lian and a few good-sized ones for himself. He sat down to eat, watching Lian rip the pancakes apart and somehow get them to her mouth. It was fascinating. She gave him a happy smile and reached up her arms for a kiss when he walked past to put the dishes in the dishrack. Roy picked her up and gave a big smacking kiss, which made her giggle. Her little hands were sticky, and Roy looked at his daughter consideringly. "I think you need a bath, short stuff." Lian's eyes lit up. "Bath! Bath bath bath!" Roy shook his head. "You're an odd one, Li. But I guess you like to make a huge mess with all that water, don't you?" Lian shrieked her answer, and he put her down to run off to the bathroom, following behind her. He supervised her as she pulled off her clothes, running the water and taking his own shirt off too. He'd learned by experience that he got more wet when Lian took a bath than Lian did. Lian screamed for her toys, and Roy tossed a few in there. Lian immediately took to making an ice cream parlour from the items at hand, and she chattered away at her father while he went in and out of the bathroom, cleaning up toys from the hall and putting her clothes in the hamper. "Thank you, Daddy," she said as he played with her in the tub. "For what, baby?" he said, looking for the sweet-smelling body wash he knew she liked. "For being a good daddy." She turned her big eyes to him. "Can you stay with me today, Daddy? I don't wanna go to school." Inwardly, Roy groaned. He should have expected this coming. To be fair, he hadn't really had a lot of time to spend with her this week, what with the near-daily struggles to keep the Outsiders whole and on track. He probably should have been heading over to the compound now, he thought, looking at his watch. Roy looked back to Lian, who was waiting with unusual patience for his reply. God, he couldn't say no to her. He could only imagine what she'd do to him when she grew up. "Okay, honey," and her happy smile was worth whatever trouble it would take to get out of his commitments that day. He let her finish playing in the water until it got too cool and she started shivering, and then he wrapped her up in one of the fluffy towels that he *knew* he'd never bought but somehow ended up in his apartment. They went back to her bedroom to go pick out clothes for the day, and Roy grabbed the phone. He called her day school and told them she wouldn't be coming today, and then looked at the phone for a long minute and sighed. "Hi Grace," he said after he dialed. "Yeah, I know I was supposed to be there about an hour ago. Listen, I'm not coming in today. Yes, I *know* we said we were going to go over the new specs today, but I just can't swing it. Other commitments," he said, looking at Lian who was very seriously considering a t-shirt with a bear on it versus a t-shirt with a flower. "I'll be there tomorrow. Bye." "Which one, Daddy?" asked Lian, and Roy was certain that he'd never get sick of hearing that word. "That one," he said, pointing to the bear. She wriggled into it all on her own, and when she was done, Roy picked her up for a hug. "Can we go to the park?" Roy nodded yes. "Okay, and I want to go see Uncle Ollie today, can we go see Uncle Ollie?" "Oh, definitely," Roy said with a grin. He couldn't wait to call Ollie up and let him get a lapful of excited kid.
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