The Welcome To Llanview sign came into view and Brody looked across to the passenger seat, smiled to himself as once again it sank in that he was finally going to get the one thing he'd always wanted.. He was finally going to get a chance to have a family of his own, to have a child of his own.

This very thing had been denied to him so many times already.. But recently, a child protective services worker from Nevada had contacted him and explained that apparently, the mother of one of their 'wards' was listing him as the father. And the case worker seemed to think that Brody was the only person his 15 year old daughter Gabrielle had left.

He'd had to take a week off of work to go up to Nevada and have his DNA tested against the girls, then sign a bunch of paperwork, but when all was said and done, his 15 year old daughter Gabrielle was given to him at last.

Now he was taking her home. The word bought a smile to his lips.

Now the small 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom bungalow style house he was renting to own wouldn't seem like just a place to crash after work.

Now it would actually be a home.

"We're almost there." he said aloud as Gabrielle sat up, yawning and stretching, looking around at the town as they drove through the main part of it. "Wow.. This place is definitely smaller than Mayberry." Gabrielle mused aloud as she peered out the passenger window at the houses and mansions, the town hall, the park, a few small and locally owned stores and the few other things to see as one drove into Llanview.

"It's definitely not Nevada, Gabrielle."

"Tell me about it, sir." Gabrielle said as she bit her lower lip and thought about how awkward this all was going to be, not only was she starting over, she was having to bond with a father who she figured would sooner or later get bored with her or sick of her and walk away.

The truck they drove in pulled to a stop in the driveway of a small bungalow styled house with white siding and navy blue shutters. The house even had a white picket fence which had Gabrielle scratching her head for a moment, itching to make a comment about the Stepfordesque appearance of the house and the ones surrounding it with their well manicured lawns, the American flags flying from nearly every porch post..

Her stomach growled, it reminded her she hadn't eaten since their last stop and she was getting kind of hungry again. Brody heard the growling of his daughter's stomach and with a smile said "We'll go grab a burger. I'd say I would cook something but I really don't think I have anything in the house right now worth attempting to cook that I wouldn't totally mess up."

"Not much of a cook either?" Gabrielle asked as he laughed and shook his head, smiled sheepishly and shrugged as he commented "Just your typical single workaholic guy's food groups."

She shrugged and said quietly, "It's probably better than what my mom did for food." as she looked down at the platform wedge heeled sandals she wore with her sundress. Brody sighed. It hurt to know what his daughter had been through simply because he hadn't known she existed. And Brody knew that she'd probably take a really long time to warm up to him given all that she'd been through. But he was definitely going to try and he was going to prove to her that her daddy loved her and he wasn't going anywhere ever again.

That the nightmare she lived in before he'd been found and notified of her existance was over for good and she was safe again.

"I meant what I said when we were talking to that stuck up case worker. I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me, princess, like it or not. I'm your dad."

"We'll see about that." Gabrielle insisted warily as she jumped out of the truck and shut the door behind her, grabbing her things. It wasn't that she didn't believe what he said, she just didn't think the poor bastard knew what he was getting into.

She was nothing but trouble, she'd been nothing but a thorn in the side of her mother, the foster homes she'd bounced around from sporadically since she was about 9 or so when her mom first started her long and messy downward spiral.

Brody sighed as he reminded himself that he just had to keep trying with her. It'd take a lot of time but it wasn't too late to give her the love and stability she deserved and lacked badly until now.

He walked to the front door and unlocked it, called out to her "Your room is down the hall from mine. The bathroom's between us."

She nodded and tried not to let herself get too damn excited mentally. She hadn't had her very own room (or her very own stuff) in a long time. And once this guy got bored with playing daddy, or she pushed him too far, she'd be gone and she'd be back to the way things were before.

She didn't want it, she dreaded it, but inevitably, it was going to happen. It had every single time she'd gotten her hopes up before now. Why would this time be any different?

"So.. We'll go get a burger and then talk about rules." Brody said as he looked at his daughter who froze for a millisecond with a raised brow as if the word rules was spoken in a foreign language.

"Given what the case worker told me about your records, yeah, we're going to have rules in this house." Brody said to clarify that he meant it and he was serious.

"Fine with me." Gabrielle muttered as she worked on touching up her makeup, re styling her hair distractedly.

"You're fifteen. Why do you need makeup?" Brody asked, not sure why she wore the stuff. He might be your average biased daddy, but even though he'd literally just gotten his daughter in his life, he thought that hands down, she had to be the most beautiful girl in the world.

Did she not see it?

"I don't need it, sir. I happen to like it." Gabrielle said quietly as she put her lipgloss neatly on the vanity's surface.

"I like my room, by the way.. You didn't have to go to any trouble.. I mean it's not like.." Gabrielle told her father quietly as she bit her lower lip and fell silent. He didn't have to hear the rest, he knew where she'd been heading with it.

The words of advice his best friends Gigi and Rex had g iven him came back to him about how he'd have to keep reaching out to Gabrielle, how she'd eventually come around, he just had to sort of disprove her theory on how everyone in her short life had abandoned her and it stood to reason that her father would one day do this too.

"Ready?" he asked as she nodded and followed him out of their little house quietly.

The short drive to the diner was quiet, Gabrielle spent most of it messing around with her phone, staring at it's screen intently. Brody spent most of it trying to figure out how he'd eventually prove to his daughter that no matter what came at them, he was in her life and he wasn't going anywhere.

Gabrielle studied the myface pages of people she'd be starting school at Llanview High with on Monday, intently.

The intense blueish green eyes caught her attention and held it. She muttered the guy's name, Shane Morasco, to herself.

Curious, she clicked on his profile and scrolled around on it, learning a little about him. Some of the disgusting comments girls with no obvious taste in men made about him had her rolling her eyes. Apparently, this small town was no different than the one she'd lived in in Nevada.

Only there, she'd been their target.

Until she stopped being a target and started being like ice.

Until she'd learned how to fight fire with fire, stop letting every little whisper about how she was a whore just like her mother and how she was trash, get to her.

"What are you looking at?"

"My Myface." Gabrielle said as she clicked the plus next to the Llanview High's page to join it, linking her profile to the page for her new high school.

"Myface?"

"It's social networking, dad."

"Other words, it's something that would probably annoy me." Brody asked with a chuckle as Gabrielle nodded and then said "Or you'd wind up knowing more about some people than you really wanted to know."

"So.. What's your page like?"

Gabrielle shrugged as she said "Mostly just pictures and stuff.. From Nevada. I rarely post an actual status or anything. Kills the air of mystery."

Brody chuckled and nodded as he wondered to himself if this Myface page of hers was something he should take a look at somehow.

Or what a fifteen year old girl would be up to that requires a level of mystery or something.

"So.. Llanview High.. What's it like?" she asked, mostly curious, mostly to change the subject because she had this sense that her father was about to start prying in her business and she wasn't entirely sure she was cool with it.

"It's not too bad. It's pretty much like any other high school."

"Ahh.. That sounds like a blast." Gabrielle quipped sarcastically as Brody said "You'll meet one of the kids going to Llanview High with you tonight. His name's Shane. I'm friends with his parents."

"Guess it's a good thing I fixed my face and hair, huh?" Gabrielle joked, but only partially. When her father wasn't looking, she smiled to herself. She'd get to meet this Shane guy who'd had her so curious while she'd been on Myface in person...

–

Shane grumbled as his father knocked on the door to his room yet again. For whatever reason, they seemed hell bent on getting him out and to the Buenas Dias with them. "Just go ahead, okay?" he asked stiffly as he stared at the computer screen in front of him.

His eyes stung but he was refusing to cry. If he cried at the things everyone said to him, they'd be winning.

Besides, he thought to himself, they were right.

He was trash. He was a nothing at Llanview High. Girls were repulsed by him and guys liked to pick on him and make him feel like less of a guy.

He noticed that a picture he'd posted of himself playing the drums had a new comment and he hovered over the notifications for a moment, stomach filling quickly with dread.

"Come on, Shane.. You need to get out of that room." Gigi demanded as Shane grumbled and then asked "Why do I have to go?"

"Because, Shane, Brody wanted all of us to grab a burger with him tonight. Said he's got a surprise."

Shane rolled his eyes. Biting his lower lip he clicked on the photo that had the new comment.

And blinked when it wasn't something bad for once.

The girl's name was Gabrielle and she'd posted "Obviously these stupid trolls don't know sex when they see .. I happen to dig drummers.#JustSaying.." with a winking smiley face at him. He raked his hand through his hair and clicked on her name since it'd link him to her profile.

Her only recent status simply read "Llanview bound.. Hope this little pissant town knows what it's getting itself into." with the same winking smiley face that she'd posted on the comment on his photo.

He went to her photo albums and gaped at some of the photos, raking his hands through his shaggy blonde hair. He clicked on a video titled 'Reproduction – Grease 2, Central Reno School District, Talent Show.

And coughed when he realized what the girl was singing with a group of other girls (and quite a few guys too) about. Sex.

"Come on, Shane, it's not going to kill you to leave your room for a few minutes, son." Rex tried again as he asked "Do you have a girlfriend on that laptop or something? Come on."

He stood and grabbed his jacket.

The girl was probably just being a smartass, he reasoned as he walked out into the hallway and looked at his parents then said aloud "Okay, alright, fine. . Let's just get this over with." as they exchanged a look at each other.

His face was flushed as if he'd been blushing.

Did he have a girlfriend over the internet?

Should they be worried?

–

Gabrielle sat looking out the window their booth was beside, tapping her foot against the floor impatiently as she nibbled on ketchup and mustard drenched french fries. Brody chowed down on his burger as he told his daughter about the Morascoes and their son Shane, who was a year older than she was.

She listened intently, even though if you looked at her you'd never be able to tell that. The car pulled to a stop beside her father's truck and he got out.

She bit her full lower lip as she nodded at something her father had just said.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm good, sir. I was listening to you.. You said they have a drama club here, right? And show choir? I love singing and dancing, it'll be great to do it again." Gabrielle said to him to prove that she'd heard everything he'd told her just now.

Shane followed his parents into the Buenas Dias as he tried to walk and navigate his Myspace page from his cell phone. They slid into the booth that Brody sat at and Shane looked up from his phone when Brody said with a smile, "Shane, this is Gabrielle.. She's my daughter and she's going to be living with me from now on.. She'll be in Llanview High on Monday.. I thought it might be good for you guys to meet before then so maybe she wouldn't feel lonely."

Gigi and Rex started asking their questions and Shane gazed at her from across the table while their parents talked with a raised brow.

She winked at him!

He gaped a moment and then said "Hi." as he sipped his drink.

"Hi." Gabrielle said as she watched him with an amused look on her face. Had he seen her comment yet?

"So, umm... What grade are you gonna be in?" Shane asked awkwardly as Gabrielle shrugged and said "I'm gonna be a freshman. I kinda got held back." as she bit her lower lip and asked "You?"

"Sophomore." Shane said as he ate a bite of the burger the waitress bought over and continued to watch her.

Gabrielle stood and said casually, "Gonna go to the little girls room." as she slid out of her father's side of the booth and slunk to the back of the diner.

Shane stood and said "I'm gonna go to the jukebox.. If that's okay?" as he watched Gabrielle walking away covertly. He was going to confront her about her obvious joke comment. Because she could not have possibly meant it.

Unless it was sarcasm or something.

He caught up to her just before she disappeared into the girls bathroom and tapped her shoulder. "Why'd you post that? On my Myface page."

"Because, Shane, I wanted to." Gabrielle explained casually, as she looked up at him and then added "I'm pretty straightforward when I want something, okay? Just don't see any point in beating around the bush." as she smiled and reached up, flipped the collar on his polo shirt so that it stood up instead of laying flat.

"Better. Looks better that way."

He looked at her as if he weren't sure if she were losing her mind, or she was already insane, or what might be going on.

"Why though?" he asked as she looked at him and then laughed a little, shaking her head before muttering something about guys being dense and disappearing into the girls bathroom.

"Was it just me or were they sort of acting strange?" Gigi asked as Brody and Rex nodded and said "I noticed it too." seconds after each other.

"Kind of like they knew one another?"

"She might have seen him on that Myface thing she was on earlier. She said she was looking at Llanview High's Myface page on the way here." Brody said as Rex nodded and then said "So.. You've got a teenage daughter.. You realize that this is the end of you ever getting the bathroom to yourself for more than ten minutes.. Right?"

Brody chuckled and nodded then said "Do not remind me. She was unpacking earlier and I saw some of her clothes and shoes.. I already want to build a tower and lock her in, probably dig a moat around it and swallow the key to the door of said tower. And the makeup.."

"She's fifteen though." Gigi asked as Brody nodded and said "She acts older. I have to say that. I also have to say that it worries me that she acts older." and took a bite of his burger.

Meanwhile, Shane stood, leaned against the wall outside the girls bathroom, arms crossed. He was going to figure out what she was up to and end it, one way or another. Because she had some alterior motive, probably a bad one, when she'd posted that comment.

After all, most girls only noticed him to play cruel jokes on him, pretend to want to go out with him just to embarrass him later.

She couldn't be any different.

Unless of course, she was insane.

The door opened and Gabrielle walked out, raised a brow at his being there, waiting on her.

"You still didn't answer my question. Why?" Shane insisted as she looked at him a few moments then said mysteriously, "You'll figure it out soon enough, okay?"

"Tell me now."

"But then it won't be fun anymore." Gabrielle pouted up at him. He grumbled and dropped the subject for now.

"You waited out here.. On me.. This long?" she asked him, hint of an amused smile on her face. He nodded solemnly and then said "I'm gonna go find a song on the jukebox. Since that was my excuse to leave the table."

"Can I pick?"

He gave her a strange look then shrugged and said "Whatever." as he lead her to the jukebox in the corner of the diner.

He held out the dollar he fished out of his pocket and she took it, grinning as she slid it into the dollar slot on the machine and after punching a series of numbers, the song Gotta Get Me Some by Nickelback started to play.

He turned his gaze to her, brow raised as he asked, "Really?"

"It's a good song, damn." she pouted as she danced around a little.

Somehow he got the feeling that he might as well get used to her, and that if they did eventually become friends, they were going to have one of those odd friendships to say the very least.

Gigi nudged Rex and Brody, nodded to the jukebox, to Gabrielle trying to coerce Shane to dance with her. "I'm getting a picture. This is too cute not to."

Brody groaned and then chuckled as Rex smiled a little then asked "So apparently they're getting along?"

"Sort of.. You can sort of tell Shane's really, really not sure what to make of her right now." Brody admitted with another light laugh as Gigi said "It'd be good for him to make friends.. he's just seemed so down lately. I still get this feeling they'd met before or something already."

"I'm not dancing."

"You will."

"I'm not."

"You will."

She started to dance, trying to beckon him forward. He kept leaning against the jukebox, watching her with a raised brow.

She finally stopped and walked over, grabbed his hand and dragged him out onto the floor where there was more room to move around without bumping a table or something like that.

He gave in, only a little, and very begrudgingly at that, and she said quietly, "Look.. I'm gonna have as much fun as I can now, okay? Because for all I know my father might just drop me off at the nearest childrens home any second now. I figure I better at least try to enjoy any shred of a normal life while I'm getting the chance."

"Oh."

"Besides.. You're cute."

"I'm not cute. I'm disgusting."

"If you were disgusting, Shane, I wouldn't even be flirting with you.. Do you ever just let go? Or are you always this uptight? Maybe if you smiled more..."

" I had a reason to smile more, Gabrielle, maybe I would. As far as the me being disgusting thing, I am. You've only been in Llanview a few hours. You'll figure it out and then you'll think so too, so..."

"And always being a downer doesn't bug you?" Gabrielle asked as she studied him intently. She bit her lower lip and thought to herself 'Maybe I should just give this up.. I mean why's it gotta be this one guy, huh? So what he's got that great smile.. So what he looks intense, sweet.. He obviously doesn't want to be liked, by anyone.. I have to try though, quit isn't in my vocabulary. Besides.. The one true thing my mom did teach me is that things happen for a reason. Maybe I'm here for a reason. Maybe I met him for a reason.' as she twirled a strand of curly dark blonde and brown highlighted hair around her fingertips and looked up at him, slightly amused and curious look in her eyes.

"Not really, you've been here a while? You'll be just like all the rest of them and I won't matter.. Unless of course you're just going to make my life hell too. Look, I'm not being mean, okay? But you don't really know me." Shane said as he studied her intently and thought to himself 'And as much as I want to get to know you? Not sure it'll happen. You'll meet all the 'cool kids' and I'll be nothing to you. Things will go back to the way they are now. So I'm not sure I wanna bother with letting you get close to me, because when you started school with me, it'd only wind up blowing up in my face.. But you are pretty, confident, wild... I do want to get to know you.. Just don't see why you'd think about even being my friend.. I am Wheezy the superdork, after all.'

They slid back into the booth and Gabrielle started to talk to the adult s at the table, animatedly. Shane sat eating his food, watching her and wondering what the hell she seemingly saw in him.

He was still willing to bet the girl was up to something.

Brody suggested they hang out the next day, that Shane could show her around Llanview and she smiled brightly at him.

"Okay, fine." he grumbled as his mother gave him a warning look and Rex nudged him when nobody was looking. Neither of them understood what was going on with their son lately, and neither of them were sure they liked this 'new' Shane. Something was wrong and they were hell bent on getting to the bottom of it, one way or another.

Once he was in the car again, Rex smirked and then asked "So.. She was cute, huh? Energetic.."

"And probably a pain in the ass." Shane muttered as he sighed to himself.

She wasn't actually interested in him.. She hadn't met any of the other guys yet after all. When she did? He was at least ninety percent sure she'd decide quickly that he wasn't good enough for her to even be seen around too.

Brody asked his daughter with a laugh once they were in the truck, "So.. Looks like you made your first friend today, huh?"

"I don't think he likes me." Gabrielle said quietly, a little disappointed... She wasn't good enough or pretty enough, apparently. Because he seemed annoyed more than anything by her openly admitting to liking him, thinking he was cute and wanting to at least become friends with him.

And telling him she really did want to get to know him better like she had while she'd had him out on the floor in the Buenas Dias, dancing with him.

Somehow she got the feeling that he either didn't believe her, or he didn't want to believe her.