FIRST LITTLE STEPS

(By Deyse)

John had been sitting in a separate room at Moonwater Studios silently studying his text. But once in a while, the blond actor raised his head and turned his attention to a baby pushchair standing right in front of him. Inside of it, there was a cute one-year-old baby girl, peacefully sleeping with her chubby little hands resting upon her chest. And the white and pink dress and the small pink ribbon in her hair, matching small white socks, gave her the appearance of a doll. John smiled pleased to see that little Reilly was sleeping so calmly and returned to his text.

But silence was broken a second later, when he heard the unmistakable little voice right in front of him, "Mommy?"

He immediately let go of his script and knelt in front of the chair, "Hey, little angel..."

"Mommy? Mommy?" she called, threatening to cry at any minute if she didn’t see her mother. John acted quickly: carefully, he removed the little baby from the trolley and gathered her in his arms. "Hey, baby girl, uncle Johnny is here, it’s ok, don’t cry sweetie..." then, watching the distress on her face once she didn’t find her mom anywhere around, he grabbed Alice – Reilly’s teddy bear that he had given her when she was born, and showed it to her, "Hey, look who’s awake, Alice!"

His soothing voice and his tenderness little by little put the little girl’s heart at ease and, some minutes later, she finally smiled as he placed the teddy bear’s nose against her own nose. Soon, the room was filled with the pleasant sounds of Reilly’s squeals, as her "uncle Johnny" wouldn’t miss the opportunity to play with her and make her laugh.

They were both sitting on the floor playing with some of Reilly’s toys when Roma entered the room.

"Mommy!" the baby exclaimed, raising her little arms. The Irish actress, still wearing Monica’s costumes, smiled with delight to see her daughter’s meek face and her smile. "Hullo, my wee angel! I can see you’re fully awake now!" she spoke, gathering the baby in her arms and kissing her cheeks, "Did you behave yourself with uncle Johnny?"

"She was a real little angel!" the actor said, enjoying to see mother an daughter together. Roma looked deep into his green eyes with gratitude and admiration: how could there be such a kind man always ready to take care of her little baby for as long as it was necessary and to do it cheerfully, with all the love in his heart. "Johnny, I don’t even know how to thank you..."

"Stop, stop... Don’t even say a word, Roma. I told you many times that you don’t have to thank me; honey. I love this little one and she and I always have a great time together, right Reilly?"

Their hearts practically melted when the girl put her two hands together on her mouth and blew him a kiss.

"I guess she says she loves you too, uncle Johnny!" Roma joked, and, standing on the tip of her toes, she kissed his cheek, "Thank you!"

Blushing deeply, he nodded his head with a shy smile, "You’re always welcome, sweetie! You know you can count on me, anytime you want." John knew about the hard times the actress was going through with her marriage and had decided he would do anything to help her – he loved her deeply, since from the first time he saw her. But if he couldn’t show her how much, at least he swore he would give her all this friendship and support.

Some time later, Roma placed her little daughter on the carpeted floor, as she had her attention focused on her toys once again, and the couple of actors could rehearse their lines, as they still had some scenes together as Monica and Andrew. The two were sitting on the couch and Roma was saying her lines when suddenly John interrupted her, gently (and almost unconsciously) placing his hand over hers. "Roma... look!"

She raised her head and looked at the direction he was showing her: little Reilly was grabbing the chair and standing on her two feet.

"Oh my God..." the actress murmured, without knowing what to do.

"Call her... kneel slowly on the floor and call her to you!" her dearest friend said, as he had a considerable experience with children due to his nephews and godchildren.

Roma did as he said and opened her arms to the little girl. "Hey, my little angel... Come to me! Come here to mommy!"

Reilly smiled broadly at her. "Mommy..."

"Come here, honey... come here..."

A second later, the little girl let go of her pushchair and stood on her legs without losing her balance. Then, smiling even more, she gave the first step towards her mom; and then the second, and the third...

"Oh Johnny, she’s walking!" Roma said, with emotion in her eyes. Equally excited, the nodded his head enthusiastically, "Go on, keep calling her!"

"Come here with mommy, my little angel!"

Walking clumsily, Reilly finally shortened the distance between her and her mother and threw herself into Roma’s arms.

"Oh baby! You walked! You walked!" she said, kissing the baby’s cheeks repeatedly. Smiling pleased to see that, John had an idea. "I’ll stay on the other side of the room and call her. Help her to stay on her feet and let’s see if she can do it again."

A minute later, the smiling baby girl was throwing herself into John’s arms, after one more well-succeed short walk. Laughing, the blond actor kissed her cheeks and raised her in his arms, causing her to squeal excitedly. "Our little angel can walk!" he said, kissing her tiny hand and laughing as if she was his own daughter.

"I can’t believe she’s growing up so fast! It seems like yesterday I first held her in my arms!"

"Me too!" he said, and then placed Reilly on the ground, "Wait here, I have a camera in my dressing room, I’ll go pick it up!"

*

Some minutes later, John programmed the automatic camera to take a picture of him, Roma and little Reilly standing on her feet in front of the two adults – and he couldn’t miss the opportunity to wrap his arms around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him.

*

"I love this picture..." a 6 month pregnant Roma said, resting the back of her head against John’s chest. Her husband was tenderly running his fingers through her long hair and also smiled as he saw the picture in the photo album that they had been looking in the past 10 minutes, lying lazily in their bed, "Yes... it was a day to remember!"

"Oh yes. And I’m glad that you were there to share it with me!" Roma said, turning her head to face him. He bent down and kissed her lips tenderly, "Me too, sweetie... And I can’t forget Reilly’s excitement and how much she laughed even not knowing why we were both so happy!"

With her eyes filled with tenderness, she nodded, "We kissed her about a thousand times on that day!"

"Yeah! She was the heck of a cute little baby! And I wanted to the same with you, but as you already knew how to walk I thought it could sound a little suspicious!"

Now the Irish actress let out a loud laugh and turned around completely, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Well.... There’s still time, ya know..."

"Yes, I believe that, and I’m specially grateful you had the idea to look at this album..." he said, before she pulled him down for a long and sweet loving kiss.

"I love you so much..." she said, her eyes sparkling with love for him, "You were with me in some of the most important days of my life... either laughing with me or holding me tight in difficult times..."

"I wish had met you before..."

"Yes... me too... but God knows what He does... I can’t imagine myself without our little angel... I miss her even now, when she’s at school!"

"Me too, honey. And you’re right, I love that little one as if she was mine... I can’t imagine us without her."

"The feeling is mutual, you know. She loves you very much, as if you were her daddy."

"I cannot say that I’m surprised, you see... She already told me that!" he spoke, remembering the many times the sweet little girl had told him how much she loved him as a real father, which was in fact what he was to her. "Besides... look at us... We are a happy family now and I have everything I always wanted..." he kissed her forehead, "...right here with me..." he bent his head and kissed her nose and then his smile turned into a mischievous one, "... and as I was saying, now I can do what I wanted to do when Reilly gave her first little steps..."

He bent his head and kissed her deeply and just as lovingly as always. Wrapping his arms around her body, the blond actor brought her closer to his and gently caressed her hair and her cheeks, enjoying it when she wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling her limp in his warm embrace, feeling like never letting her go again.

The Irish actress stroked his short blond hair and felt a wave of tenderness and so much love it nearly made her cry – of joy, for sure, as that kind and tender man was responsible not only for teaching her daughter how to give her first steps but also for teaching her to give her first steps out of sadness and experience all the love and affection he had for her.

And for that, she would be eternally grateful.

The end.