If that's what it takes

6

Derek lifted Zoey to the ground as they stepped out of the store. She held his hand tightly as she gripped her new teddy bear in her other arm. "Mister Derek is hungry." She said softly as she looked up at Derek.

"He is?" Derek said as she looked up at him and sighed. "I mean, she is?" He corrected himself as he smiled down at her. "What would she like to eat?"

"Um..." She sighed as she watched Derek. "A cheeseburger?" She asked as she tilted her head at him.

"A cheeseburger..." Derek repeated as he looked around at the different food vendors in the airport. He checked his watch and walked with her toward the McDonald's down the hallway. "I had no idea that pink bears liked cheeseburgers."

"Little girls likes cheeseburgers too. I'm going to help her eat it." She nodded as Derek chuckled as he stepped up to the counter and ordered the cheeseburger. They walked over to the bright red chairs beside the yellow tables and Derek pulled the chair out for Zoey so that she could climb up onto it as he put the yellow wrapped cheeseburger in front of her. She looked up at Derek and tilted her head. "Aren't you hungry too, Just Derek?" She asked as Derek looked at her for a moment with an amused expression as she unwrapped her cheeseburger.

"What did you call me?" He asked with a laugh.

"Just Derek." She said as she lifted the cheeseburger to her mouth and took a big bite. "That's what you said to call you." She said with a full mouth as she watched him laugh.

"I suppose I did say that." He said as he jumped a little in his chair at the shrill sound of his pager going off on his belt loop. "Darn it..." He said as he pulled the pager off his belt and looked at it.

"You have a peeper!" She exclaimed as she pointed at the pager in his hand.

"A peeper?" He asked, watching the wide eyed expression on her face as she continued to point at it.

"Yes! Mommy had a peeper! And it would go 'peep, peep, peep' and she had to go to the hospital to rescue people."

"Your mommy is a doctor?" Derek asked as he looked at the number on the pager and shook his head with a sigh.

"Mommy was a doctor... she's in heaven now." She said as she took another big bite of her cheeseburger as she watched Derek look up very slowly from his pager.

"Heaven...?" Derek said in a whisper, not connecting everything at once. He was exhausted and as soon as it dawned on him what she meant, he immediately felt bad.

"Yes..." She nodded as she swallowed her mouthful. "Mommy's peeper went off and she went to the hospital and then went to heaven." She said as she watched Derek's Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed hard. "How old are you, Just Derek?" She asked, tilting her head as she watched him continue to watch her. "Just Derek?"

"Hm?" Derek muttered as he shook his head for a moment.

"How old are you?" She asked as she changed the subject by just asking the first question that popped into her head.

"Twenty six." Derek replied as he turned his phone on and flipped it open.

"Oh... that's a lot older than me. I'm six... who are you calling?"

"I need to call the hospital... that's what this is for..." He said as he smiled softly and showed her the pager.

"Don't go to heaven, okay?"

"I'll try not to." Derek swallowed hard as he dialed the number on the pager. He watched the little girl as she watched him very closely. "Mark?" Derek said as he sighed. "I'm still in New York and probably will not be around until tonight... can you schedule that for tomorrow afternoon? Thanks... Was that all you needed? Okay... I'll call when I get in... thanks." He said as he sighed, watching as the little girl held her hand out to him. He closed the phone and looked at her curiously. "What?"

"Can I see that?"

"The phone?"

"The peeper." She said, wiggling her fingers as she tried to get him to hand it over.

"Oh, you don't need the silly peeper..." He shook his head as he snapped the pager back on his belt and watched her wiggle her fingers at him.

"No heaven, Peeper!" She said sternly to the inanimate object, wiggling her finger at the pager as she looked up at Derek and smiled, crumpling the paper from her cheeseburger up. "Oops!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Derek asked with a bemused expression.

"I forgot to share my cheeseburger with Mister Derek! He must be so hungry still!" She said as she held the bear up in her arms.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're using him as a scapegoat?" Derek asked flippantly as he chuckled.

"Bear, Just Derek. He's a bear... not a goat." She sighed as she giggled, listening to Derek laugh as they sat together waiting for their flight to be called.