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“Ok, class, it’s everyone’s favorite time of year. That’s right, it’s time to raise a fake baby together!”
Mr. Coulson laughed hysterically at his own joke while the rest of the class groaned. Everyone knew this was the worst assignment of the year. Everyone was paired up and given these weighted dolls to take care of. It was supposed to prepare them for the future or something, but Daisy knew it was just substitute birth control. The pairs had to decide who would have the baby for the night, and they had to wake up every so often to fake feed their fake kid. The whole thing was ridiculous.
Even worse, Daisy was going to be paired with some rando, she just knew it. Mack would try to get paired with the exchange student he was into, and Piper was trying to catch the attention of the cute girl in their bio class so she was sure to try and pair up with her. Which left Daisy all alone.
“If you didn’t sign up with a partner, then I have assigned you one,” Mr. Coulson continued. “Please listen as I call out the pairings.”
Daisy stared out the window as her teacher began to talk, trying to figure out how much her new fake baby was going to complicate her life. She almost jumped when Mr. Coulson called her name.
“Daisy Johnson, you’re paired up with Daniel Sousa.”
Daniel Sousa? Who was that?? Daisy didn’t recognize the boy who was walking over to her. He had dark hair and eyes, and he was definitely cute. Maybe this wouldn’t be so awful after all.
“Hi, I’m Daniel.” He stuck out his hand for her to shake, and she tried not to laugh at his seriousness.
“Daisy, nice to meet you. Are you new around here?”
His face tensed up. “Um, no. I’ve been out for a medical issue.”
“Wow, it must have really been something,” Daisy replied. “I’ve been here since the beginning of the semester and haven’t seen you around.”
Daniel raised his eyebrows. “You know everyone around here then?”
Daisy shrugged. “I like to know who I’m dealing with. And don’t think I don’t recognize you avoiding the question.”
He sat down in the recently abandoned desk next to Daisy. “Yes, well, I had to learn to rewalk you know, so that took a while.”
“Rewalk?”
Daniel patted his right leg. “Car accident. Leg amputation. Prosthetic now.”
Daisy wanted to crawl in a hole. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”
“It’s fine,” Daniel said with a small smile. “I guess I just thought that everyone would have heard about it by now. I didn’t count on there being a new girl.”
“Well, I guess one origin story deserves another. I’m an orphan. Got fostered to a family here this summer, and now I’m here.”
“And now we’ve properly met. It’s good we got that out of the way actually. I’d hate for our child to think its parents are strangers.”
Daisy couldn’t help but laugh at this statement. “That would be a shame. So, how are we going to handle the matter of child custody?”
“We should probably compare schedules and hope our babysitting availability lines up.” He pulled out a planner, neatly filled in for each day.
“Wow,” Daisy said, staring at the planner. “You are super organized.”
He nodded. “I found in my heaviest rehab days that it was best if I knew what was coming. Helped with the anxiety.”
“That makes sense. Well, my life is always chaos, so I guess it makes sense that my planning skills are like that as well.” She motioned to his planner. “May I?”
Daniel slid the planner over to Daisy, and she looked over it. “I think our schedules should line up rather well actually. Little Daisy Jr should be well cared for.”
“Daisy Jr?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
“I’ve always wanted a namesake.”
His mouth twisted as if he were trying to hide a smile. “Daisy Jr it is then.”
Mr. Coulson walked up to them with their assigned doll then. “Well, here they are, your loving offspring for the week. Congratulations, Sousa-Johnson family.”
“Sousa-Johnson family?” Daniel echoed. He looked at Daisy, and they both laughed.
They had agreed that Daisy would take the doll home first as Daniel had physical therapy after school, so Daisy decided to make the best of it. She took Daisy Jr to the park and took pictures of her to send to Daniel. She was rewarded with a phone call immediately after the time she knew his therapy was supposed to be over.
“So, our child appears to have had a good time while at the park.”
“She did,” Daisy agreed. “Although, I have to say that she has very strong opinions about which play structure is the best.”
“She must get that from her mom.” He paused. “Should I come over? Spend some quality time with the kiddo?”
Daisy froze. She hadn’t lived with her current fosters that long, but she felt more comfortable there than she had in a long time. Still, she hated to ask them for, well, anything really. On the other hand the chance to spend more time with Daniel seemed very appealing…
“Lemme talk to my current parental unit first. Just a sec.” Daisy put the phone down and went to see her foster mother.
Melinda May and her husband Andrew had taken in Daisy before the beginning of the school year, and so far things had been running rather smoothly. May had definite expectations for Daisy as to how things should be done, but she was never cruel. She looked up as Daisy entered the room.
“Hello Daisy.”
“Hi.” Daisy kind of shuffled her feet around. “So, I have this school assignment where I have to take care of a doll with another student, and anyway he was asking if he could come over. I just wasn’t sure what the rules were here about stuff like that.”
“I don’t see any problem with that. Just keep yourselves where I can see you.”
“Thanks,” Daisy said. She turned to leave.
“Daisy,” May called after her.
“Yes?”
“Are you two going to introduce me to my granddoll?”
Daisy had not expected this, and she immediately laughed. “Sure thing.” She ran back to the phone and gave Daniel the address. Daisy made sure to beat May to the door when the doorbell rang, not wanting May to scare him away. Daisy introduced them, then pulled Daniel to the family room where Daisy Jr. was awaiting them.
Daisy wasn’t quite sure exactly what the two of them would do, but it turned out that she needn’t have worried. Daniel was super easy to talk to, and they mostly just talked about their days. Daisy told him all about the bug that was giving her issues in her latest coding project, and Daniel talked about what they had discussed in history. They also dutifully wrote down when they changed and fed Daisy Jr. Or when they would have if the doll was actually real.
Daniel offered to take Daisy Jr for the first night, and Daisy sent him away with promises of updates on how their child handled the night. It turned out that Daniel didn’t live too far away, and he offered to come over in the morning so they could go to school together.
This pattern continued through the week with them spending every spare moment together. Daisy even met Daniel’s family, spending some time over his house as well. It had been one of the best weeks Daisy could remember, even with getting up every few hours to curse her fake baby’s existence.
After spending all day together on Saturday, May came to sit by Daisy after Daniel left for the night.
“You two seem to be spending a lot of time together,” she said.
“Yes, well you know, we’re just being responsible co-parents.”
“I see,” May said. “So, do you think we’ll see Daniel around after your parenting assignment is done? Andrew and I like him.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Daisy sputtered.
“I’m not saying anything.” With that May got up and left.
If Daisy was being honest, she was actually going to miss spending all this time together with Daniel. Still, it was rather funny to think of May and Andrew approving of this boy before anything had actually really happened. Daisy had only known him for a week after all.
On Sunday Daniel had offered to take Daisy and Daisy Jr on a picnic. She almost felt a little ridiculous sitting on a blanket with a doll between them, but she quickly forgot about it after she began eating with Daniel. He had brought a basket full of delicious things to snack on.
“Did your mom make all this? Daisy asked.
He gave her what she supposed was a shocked face. “You mean you don’t think I did this all myself?”
“Well, I don’t know. Did you?”
“Not all of it, no,” he said laughing. “But I did do a lot of it myself. Didn’t want little Daisy Jr to think her dad is not a good cook.”
“I think this little one thinks she has the best dad a week of temporary guardianship can provide.”
“It’s only been one week? Feels longer.”
“That’s probably the lack of sleep talking,” Daisy said.
“Maybe,” Daniel said airily. “Still, it hasn’t been all bad. I mean I got to spend a lot of time with you, which has definitely been a highlight of my life in the past 6 months or so. Knowing I was going to get to see you after school made my day a lot better.”
Daisy smiled. “Well, I could say the same thing. My foster parents even agree. May asked if they were going to get to see you anymore. Apparently they like you.”
“Parents always like me for some reason.”
“Everyone likes you for every reason. Because you’re the best.”
“Well, I’m not going to disagree with a compliment like that,” Daniel said.
Daisy took her time finishing her food because she knew that their time together was coming ever closer to a close. She was going to miss this. Miss him.
They had to finish though, and Daisy helped Daniel clean up everything.
“Help me up?” he asked her after she stood. “I probably shouldn’t have sat down on the ground like this. Still not used to getting up on this leg.”
“Sure thing.” Daisy grabbed his arm and let him put his weight on her to stand. When he stood, Daisy realized they were very close and still holding hands. Her heart sped up and her brain emptied. “Hi.”
He smiled down at her. “Hi. And thank you.”
Daisy swallowed hard. “No problem.”
They stood there for a moment, just looking at each other, and Daisy had never felt such an overwhelming desire to kiss someone.
“Hey you two, how’s the parenting going?”
Daisy and Daniel jumped apart to see their teacher, Mr. Coulson, standing there.
“It’s going well,” Daniel said.
“Yep, we’re going to win weighted doll parents of the year,” Daisy added.
“If that were a real thing then I’m sure you totally would,” Mr. Coulson said. “Well, enjoy the rest of your day you two.”
They watched him walk away. “Well, I guess I should take you home,” Daniel said finally.
“Yeah, guess so.”
They spent some time watching a movie together, then Daisy walked Daniel to the door.
“So, should I come walk you two to school one last time?” he asked.
“Sounds perfect,” Daisy said. She held up the doll. “Say goodnight to your dad for the last time.”
“Sounds so ominous.”
“Yes, well, this family unit is about to see it’s demise.”
Daniel looked at her quite seriously for a moment. “Well, goodnight Daisy.”
“Night,” she echoed, then watched him walk down the road for a bit.
The next day saw them turning in their doll along with all the logs and reports they had made for class.
“Well, I guess that’s it,” Daniel said. He held out a hand and shook Daisy’s hand very formally. “It was a pleasure being a parent with you.”
“The pleasure was all mine,” Daisy said. The bell rang for their next class. “Well, don’t be a stranger.”
Her evening seemed a little duller knowing that Daniel wouldn’t be coming over. Just as she was mulling over texting him, she heard the doorbell ring. She heard the murmur of voices at the door, and suddenly May was at her bedroom door with Daniel.
“Hi,” Daisy said, confused. May just nodded and melted away. “How was physical therapy today?”
“Fine.” Daniel looked unsure. “Actually, it was kind of awful. Nothing seemed to be working right. Even my PT noticed, and when they asked me what was different about today, I had no idea. So I just sat there and struggled until suddenly I realized what the problem was. It was because I didn’t have the prospect of seeing you to look forward to.”
“I’m...sorry?”
“No, no, it’s not your fault. I mean, it kind of is, but it’s mostly me.” He looked at her directly, and Daisy felt like he could see into her soul. “Daisy, I like you. I know we haven’t known each other very long, but you have made every part of my life better over this past week.”
Daisy could feel her face flushing. “Wow.”
“So I thought about it, and I decided there was only one thing I could do about it. Daisy Johnson, would you like to go on a date with me?”
Daisy quickly rose up on her toes, throwing her arms around Daniel and kissing him. After enthusiastically returning her kiss for a few minutes, Daniel pulled away.
“Wait, is that a yes?”
“Yes,” Daisy said, laughing.
“Great,” he said with a dazzling smile. He kissed here again. “Unfortunately I have to run back home. I promised my mom I’d help her with something. The only reason I came right now is because she practically pushed me out the door. Said I looked completely miserable.”
“Missed me that much already?”
“Actually, yes.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore because I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good. Walk to school again tomorrow?”
“Definitely,” Daisy said.
She watched him walk down the street with a lighter heart this time. She decided she should write Mr. Coulson a thank you note, because as school assignments go, this was by far the best one she had ever had.