I walked into my five year old daughters bedroom.
The light was off and on the bedside table there was a a flashlight and book placed face down to mark the page.
A small face and some thick curly brown hair were all that I could see of the little girl wrapped up in the bed covers.
Her eyes were scrunched closed and I knew she was awake.
"Faker" I whispered and she giggled.
I walked over to her bed and she opened her brown eyes and looked right at me.
"How did you know?" she asked,
"I'm your Dad, I know everything. Now come on Lora, no more reading, you have to go to sleep, you don't want to be tired tomorrow when your mom picks you up for the weekend."
She nods her head and I tuck her in.
With a quick kiss on her dark curly hair I turn to leave when I hear Lora's voice behind me.
"Daddy?" "yeah, Lor" "How come you and Mommy don't live together?"
I sit down on her pink bed covers, "What makes you ask?"
"At school I was talking to to a new boy called Andy and I was telling him about staying with Mommy this weekend and he said that his Mom and Dad live together and Jody and Sam all said their Mommy's and Daddy's live together and Grams and Grams live together and all my friends Mommy's and Daddy's live together."
I was once again floored by my daughters ability to say so much in one breath, she may look like me, but she's definitely her mothers daughter.
"Well" I said trying to explain this in a way she'd understand, "a lot of the time Mom's and Dad's live together because they love each other, but your Mom and me, we don't love each other the way other Mom's and Dad's do."
Lora cocks her head to the side "So you and Dean live together because you love each other"
"Yes" I answered, and then I suddenly realise that I've never admitted it before. The past six years me and Dean have been together I have never told him, or anyone else, that I love him.
The only person I've ever said "I love you" to is Lora.
Lora looks at me and smiles "I love you and Dean too." "well me and Dean love you back, now go to sleep" I stood up and tucked her in again.
I walked into the living room of our apartment and saw Dean watching Lord of the Rings. again.
"She asleep?" he asked
"No she was reading with a flashlight under the covers" I replied as I sat down beside him.
"Loralie says Rory used to do that."
"What happened to the days when she couldn't read by herself, I knew we shouldn't have sent her to school."
"She could read before she went to school."
"Yeah but she never stayed up til all hours reading with a flashlight."
"It's only nine and it's not like she has school tomorrow"
"Huh"
"Aww, your just upset cause she doesn't ask you to read to her anymore"
"little girls are supposed to want their dad's to read to them."
Dean laughed "What are you going to do when she gets a boyfriend?"
"Nothing anyone can prove in a court of law"
Dean shakes his head and puts his arm around my shoulders pulling me closer and goes back to watching TV.
It strikes me, how much has changed the past few years.
When I found out Rory was pregnant I thought it would ruin everything, Rory's collage plans, my relationship with Dean.
But Rory's attending Yale, I'm still with Dean and I have a beautiful daughter to top it all off.
I rest my head on deans shoulder
"Dean"
"Yeah"
"I love you"
Dean looks at me with those beautiful brown eyes.
"What?" I ask
"You've never said that before."
"I know"
"What makes you say it now?"
"What does it matter? what matters is the fact that I said it"
Dean smiles and leans down to kiss me.
"I love you too" he mummers against my lips.
I brake the kiss and smirk "Well of course you do, whats not to love"
"Shut up"
"Make me"
And then his lips are on mine again.
