Author Notes: Hi everyone! Thank you for taking a look at my new story! I was hoping to update this sooner after Paradox was over, but I was unable to update for a while. For those who have read Paradox, this little story takes place before Hope and Lightning get married, before what happened in chapter 16 of Paradox. For those who haven't read Paradox, no need to read it. This story could be read without having to read the main story. I was hoping to make this all one chapter but I wrote so much that it will have to be spread over several chapters.

Hope that you'll like the new story!

Chapter 1: Let The Party Begin:

The sound of childish laughter filled the air as the sun was beginning to set over the city. Playfully the two year old closed her eyes as she couldn't stop giggling. Her body was swinging back and forth as her arms were being held up by two adult arms; one belonging to her mother and the other to her father. The two parents smiled, watching her have so much fun as they were walking along the streets of their suburban neighborhood.

"And up!" replied a silver haired man. With one last, strong swing, her mother let go of her arm. Her father held onto her and caught her free arm with his other hand. He lifted the small girl up toward his chest. She leaned against his shoulder as she continued laughing. Beside them the pink haired woman's lips curved up more as she watched them both. The silver haired man turned his attention to the woman beside him curious. "I wonder if it was a good idea letting her swing like that. She just came back from the doctor's."

His companion stepped over toward him and placed her fingers on the child's arm where there was a bandage. She wasn't worried. "I'm sure it's fine. She just got a shot that all children get. I'm sure that it won't make her arm fall off. Don't worry so much Hope."

Hope let out a smile grin. It comforted him to hear her say that. "If you say so Light."

Another smile appeared on Lightning's lips as her eyes met with that of the little girl's. She could feel as her small fingers grabbed onto her index finger. "I'm surprised that Faith didn't cry as much, but then again, you helped her get through it better than I did."

Hope's lips curved into a smile. It wasn't so hard to get Faith through the appointment. "I just made her laugh and took her attention away. I guess it worked… most of the time."

Lightning gave a small sigh of relief. "It wasn't so bad."

Faith leaned her body over and reached more toward Lightning. She started to loosen herself from Hope's arms. He became nervous hoping that she wouldn't fall completely out of his arms. "Hold on Faith."

Lightning took her from his hands. She let Faith lean against her shoulder. Once she started to calm down more from earlier, her eyes lowered tired. Lightning could feel Faith relaxing against her. "Someone's getting tired."

Hope gave a tired smile himself. "It's been a long day. I'm starting to get tired myself. Coming from the Academy straight to Faith's doctor's appointment; all I want to do is relax for the rest of the night."

"Same here," Lightning agreed. "Hopefully it will be a quiet one with this one asleep."

A thought crossed his mind which made him happy. "It won't be long. We're only a few days away." Lightning turned her attention to him. She had an idea of what he was referring to. Hope continued. "You and I will have our wedding ceremony."

"Oh. Right."

He became curious. "Are you a little excited?"

Lightning looked ahead. "I'll be glad when it's over. All this planning and stuff is wearing me out."

Hope's eyes traveled toward the ground as he began to wonder. "So… is a part of you happy that this will be happening?" he asked somewhat nervous about what her answer would be.

Lightning's eyes met with his. "Well… I think that it would be good for Faith to have a stable family." It wasn't the answer that he was expecting. It made him somewhat disappointed if that was the only reason. She noticed his look. With one hand, she held up a tired Faith against her and with the other hand reached over and grabbed his hand. When his eyes turned to her, she gave a small smile. "And I think that it would be good for both of us as well. Why else do you think I would have told you yes?"

In return Hope smiled at her response. He figured that was her way of saying that she still wanted to. "It's not too late to get out of it."

Lightning's eyes traveled forward. "Too much work. Everything is already paid for and we do have a child with us. Too late to take any of those back."

Hope grinned. "It's just going to be harder to get out of later."

Lightning's lips curved into a smirk toward him. "Then you better make this worth it."

Hope nodded. "I'll try." Her smirk changed into a gentle smile. More she intertwined her hands with his. Along with him, she was glad that things were working out between them.

A few minutes later they finally reached home. They opened the door and walked in through the kitchen. "Finally." Lightning started to unwind more now that they had made it. "Now we can relax the rest of the night."

"You said it," Hope agreed, glad that they were back.

"Surprise!" All of a sudden familiar faces popped out of their hiding places with big grins.

Hope's and Lightning's eyes lifted up in surprise. They stopped in place. Hearing the noise, Faith started to wake up as her face scrunched. Lightning noticed and frowned at the uninvited guests. "Good going. She just fell asleep."

The happy smiles around the living room soon turned into nervous ones. "Sorry," Serah replied as she was the one standing out in front of Snow, Vanille, Fang, and Sazh.

Lightning's eyes followed as Serah approached her. "What are all of you doing in our house? I only gave you a key."

Serah looked over toward the others. "I know. I let them in."

"Why?" Lightning asked.

Fang leaned back against the couch as she smirked. "Because this is both of your parties."

Hope looked surprised as Lightning shook her head and frowned. "No. No parties."

Vanille let out a moan. Fang continued. "Oh come on! You both have to have some kind of celebration before you get tied down to each other. The boys will do their thing and the girls will stay with you."

Nervously Hope smiled. "Can we maybe have the party at another time?"

"Or never?" Lightning added.

"This is your last night of freedom. You better take it now or you'll never get another chance," Fang replied.

Snow walked passed Hope and Lightning and went into their fridge. "Come on you two. One night won't kill you."

Lightning frowned at him especially since he was going through their fridge without asking. "It might kill you if you eat everything out of my fridge." She turned her attention back to the others. "Look. You guys can have a party somewhere else, but if you haven't noticed, we have one person that can't exactly go to a party." Her eyes glanced at Faith who was resting peacefully again with her eyes closed.

Fang shrugged. "We took care of that."

Lightning became curious. "What? You brought us a babysitter instead of entertainment?"

Serah smiled. "We put it to a vote or really we had a contest of whether the girls would stay here and the boys would go out or if the girls would go out and the boys stay in."

Lightning arched her eyebrow. "Oh really? So which one of us is the lucky one who gets to look after Faith tonight?"

Fang pointed toward Faith. "Who's the one holding the baby right now?"

It didn't take long to figure out the answer. "Lucky me," Lightning breathed out.

Nervously Serah smiled. "Sorry Lightning. We tried to win against the boys."

Vanille grinned. "So the girls get to stay in while the boys go out!"

Hope held up his hands. "It's all right. Light can go out if she wants and I'll stay here with Faith."

Snow grabbed onto Hope's shoulder as he displayed a grin. "Oh no! We won the right to go fair and square so you're coming with us."

Sazh leaned his arm against the top of the couch. "Might as well. Last night of freedom from the misses."

Hope turned his eyes to Lightning which she noticed. She knew how tired he was and that he was silently asking for her help. Lightning let out a sigh as she closed her eyes. "He can't go. He can stay here and look after Faith."

Snow smiled. "Oh come on sis! Let the man be free on his last night!"

Lightning shrugged toward Hope. "Well I tried. I'm not fighting you being dragged out of the house." Hope wanted to drop his head, but kept it up. He had nothing against hanging out with the guys, but he felt tired from working all day and just getting home. He expected a quiet night with just Lightning and Faith. Lightning looked at everyone. "Can you at least give us a few hours to make sure that she stays asleep before this happens?"

Sazh and Fang stood up from the couch while Vanille got up off the floor. Serah looked toward everyone. "I guess we can eat dinner before we come back." Agreeing to the plan, everyone walked out of the front door.

Hope and Lightning watched as they left. "So much for a quiet night."

Hope let out a sigh. "I'm probably going to have to take a few hours to sleep before they take me out." Soon after they turned and headed upstairs.

After a few hours had passed, Hope stepped out of the bathroom of their bedroom dressed in a casual shirt and pants after his shower. His eyes met with Lightning's who was sitting on their bed with Faith. In her hand, she had a small spoon with a small glass jar. Her eyes traveled down to Faith who was sitting in front of her. With the last bit of food from the spoon gone, she took it away from Faith. Hope walked over and lied down with his back against the bed. He placed his arms behind his head relaxing. He turned his head toward Faith and Lightning. Curiously, Faith went over to him and grabbed his hand. "Well she's done for tonight. I'm going to put her to sleep soon." She placed the jar and spoon on the dresser near their bed. Lightning paused a moment before she spoke. "Did you manage to get any sleep?"

"A little." Hope picked up Faith and held her up over him in the air. She placed her fingers into her mouth as she stared down at him. "Probably not as much as this one right here."

"Say good night." Afterwards Lightning took her from his hands and placed her under the blankets of their bed.

Hope looked a little surprised. "You're letting her sleep here tonight?"

Lightning reached over and adjusted the blankets for Faith to be comfortable. Faith stared up at her curious. "I don't know how tonight is going to go, but I want to keep a close eye. Her room might end up as someone's guest room for all we know."

Hope understood her reason for doing so. "Good idea." After a few minutes they watched in silence as Faith fell asleep. "That was almost too easy."

Lightning stood up from the bed. "Now that she's getting older, it's getting easier to make her sleep." Hope sat up and grabbed her hand. Lightning looked down at him. "Try not to get into too much trouble tonight."

He let out a small smile as he pulled her toward him. She sat down beside him. "I won't. I was actually looking forward to spending time with you here."

"You'll have plenty time to do that."

There was a happy look on his face. "Ah! So you do see this working out."

She let out a small smile. "Those weren't my exact words, but maybe." Hope leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. The two spent a few minutes with each other. When they parted, he leaned over her. She leaned back with her back pressed against the mattress of their bed. His lips once again met with hers. Things started to grow more passionate between them. His lips moved down to her jaw line along the side of her neck. While they were separated, Lightning turned her head and looked over to the other end. "Hope?"

He lifted his head curious. "Yes?"

She turned her eyes to him. "There is still someone else in the room."

His lips curved into a smile. "Then I guess that you'll have to stay quiet then."

Lightning let out a smirk. "I should be the one saying that to you."

An idea crossed his mind. Hope gave her a quick kiss. "I'll just put her in her room for a little while, but we'll still let her sleep here." He kissed her again. After spending time with her lips, he moved further down toward her collarbone. His fingers peeled back some of her shirt off of her shoulder. She breathed out as she closed her eyes. More they started to get into the moment.

"Hey! Hope! Sis! You guys ready yet?!" Once they heard the familiar voice of Snow yelling through their door, they stopped.

Hope let out a sigh as he closed his eyes. Lightning sighed as well as she rolled her eyes. She placed her hand to Hope's chest gently pushing him away from her. "When you guys go out tonight, make sure that you leave Snow somewhere that he can't find his way back here."

More they heard loud knocking at the door. "Guys! You in here?!"

Both Hope and Lightning looked over to see Faith's face beginning to scrunch up. Lightning stood up and went to the door. She swung it open with an angry look on her face. "Stop making so much noise! You're going to wake her!" she hissed loudly.

Snow rubbed the back of his neck uneasy. "Sorry. I didn't know you had her in there."

Lightning looked serious. "We'll be out in a minute now go." Snow listened and went back downstairs. Lightning closed the door to the room. When she turned around, she saw Hope sitting near Faith making sure that she didn't wake up anymore. Lightning stepped over to him. "Is she still asleep?"

Hope's eyes traveled over to her. "Yeah. It didn't wake her that much."

"Let's go before Snow decides to make more noise." Listening, Hope stood up. Lightning twisted the knob on the baby monitor to cut it on so that she could hear Faith from downstairs.

Both of them stepped out of the room quietly. From the hallway, they could hear the others talking and laughing amongst themselves downstairs. Lightning leaned against the wall across from their room with her arms crossed. Hope smiled as he stood in front of her. "You'll have fun tonight. You'll see."

Lightning pressed her hands to his chest and straightened out his shirt somewhat. "Just make sure that you don't get carried home tonight."

Hope laughed a little. "You don't have to worry about that."

A small smirk displayed across her lips. She leaned in and kissed his lips. Her hand grabbed onto the top of his shirt pulling him in closer. He began to relax more against her. His arms wrapped around her waist. The kiss began to get intense. Teasing him a bit, her leg began to rub against his inner thigh. A smirk appeared on his lips mirroring hers. Her teasing was starting to get to him. His hand rubbed against the side of her neck underneath the pink strands of her hair. Afterwards she pulled away from him as she looked up into his eyes. He was about to lean in again, but then heard a voice nearby.

"Hey!" Both of them looked over to see Snow step toward them from the stairs. "We don't want to wait too late to go."

"He's all yours," Lightning replied.

Snow smiled and left. When she turned her attention back to Hope, she saw that he was smiling. There was suspicion that shone in his eyes. "You pulled away just in time."

She crossed her arms. "I could hear him coming up the stairs."

Curious, a faint smirk appeared on his lips. "If I didn't know any better, I would think that you were giving me a signal to stay."

A smirk came across her lips. "Don't have too much fun without me."

"We could ask for a few more minutes." Hope leaned in, but she slipped out from under him.

"That wouldn't be enough time." Lightning started heading downstairs and Hope followed behind.

Once the others saw them downstairs, they smiled. "Hey!" they all greeted them.

Lightning and Hope went to where Sazh and Snow were standing. Lightning placed her hand on her hip mainly giving a stern stare at Snow. "I want him back in one piece and alive just as he is now."

Snow grinned. He placed his hand on Hope's shoulder. "Don't worry sis! We'll get him back home fine."

"Yeah. You won't have anything to worry about," Sazh added to assure her. Then Snow and Sazh turned as they started walking away.

Hope turned to Lightning and smiled. "I'll be back later. Have fun."

"Okay." Lightning leaned in along with him and kissed him. In the background they could hear the sound of the girls awing over them. Lightning turned her attention to them as she frowned. "Cut it out." When she looked over, she saw Hope smiling toward her, but also further passed him Snow grabbing something from their fridge again. She sighed, letting it go for now and watched as the men left. Afterwards she went into the living room and sat on the floor at one end of the table along with the others that were left. Serah was sitting close to her on one side of the table while Vanille was sitting on the other side from Serah. Fang sat across from Lightning. Lightning leaned her arm against the table. "So? What do you have planned?"

Everyone let out a smile. Fang placed a glass in front of her and poured her drink. She gave one to Lightning and Vanille as well. Lightning looked down at the glass. "No way."

Fang smirked. "Oh come on. This is supposed to be your party."

"I still have a child to look out for," Lightning reminded her.

Serah smiled at her. "Don't worry. If Faith needs anything, then I'll check on her."

Lightning turned to Serah surprised that she would volunteer. "You're not having anything?"

Serah shook her head. "I'll pass. Besides it's your night tonight. We want you to have fun."

Lightning wasn't sure, but then picked up her glass and took a sip of her drink. The taste was a little strong. She placed her glass back down. "Don't worry. I won't have much. I'll probably need to wake up early in the morning anyway."

Vanille smiled as she looked interested. She leaned forward on the table. "So what is it like having a baby?"

Serah was interested as she smiled as well. "I was curious about that too."

Lightning took a small sip from her glass and then let out a sigh. "It's not easy I'll tell you that much."

Serah wondered more what she meant. "How so?"

"For one you don't get much sleep." Lightning leaned her head on her hand as she thought back. "I barely got any. She would sleep for a few hours, but then it was right back to being awake again. I would have to sleep on her schedule. I thought I could use to it, but soon it starts catching up with you. It had gotten bad to the point that I got worried about how much it was affecting Hope's sleep. He would go to work really exhausted. I thought he might pass out at his desk, but he told me that he hasn't. Now it's gotten a lot better."

Serah smiled. "It must've helped with Hope being here." It sounded like it was hard work, but at least she had someone to help her get through it. She was glad that Lightning wasn't alone.

Lightning's eyes traveled toward the table. "Yeah. It did." A faint smile came to her lips as she thought back. "He's helped me out a lot. He has this way of making Faith smile when I can't seem to get her to. He really has… looked out for us." When she lifted her head, she saw the others smiling at her. For a moment she was lost in her thoughts and forgot where she was. The smile from her lips disappeared. She closed her eyes as she sighed. The tips of her fingers had touched her glass. "I already had too much."

Vanille grinned. "That was really sweet what you said."

Serah smiled at Lightning. "Awe! You must really care about him."

Lightning frowned, thinking that things were getting too mushy. "Is this night over with yet?"

Fang held up her glass a little off of the table. "No shame in saying that you love the guy. Why else are you marrying him?"

Lightning took a sip from her glass. "I have my reasons. Most of them against my will."

Serah laughed at her sarcasm. "Oh come on Lightning."

Fang placed her glass against the table. "Come on! Enough of the mushy stuff. I thought this was supposed to be a party! We'll loosen her up in no time."

Lightning gave a glare toward Fang. "If any of you put any kind of hat on me then this party is over."

Inside of a bar in Academia, three friends held up their glasses and clinked them together. Snow let out a grin. "Here's to Hope soon to be called brother in law." Hope sat in between Sazh and Snow and all three began drinking at the same. Snow leaned against the round, medium sized table. "I was surprised when sis and Serah told me that you two were getting married."

Hope closed his eyes as he breathed out. "It wasn't easy getting Light to say yes. It took some work."

Sazh looked over at Snow as he smiled. "So what surprised you more? When he told you that he was having a kid or these two were getting married?"

Snow's eyes traveled to Sazh thinking. "Hmm…I don't know… Hadn't really imagined sis with a kid or getting married. Back when we were in Bodhum before this whole crazy adventure started, I hadn't really seen her interact with guys that much. She was so busy taking care of Serah that I thought she wouldn't stop watching her." He let out a grin toward Hope. "But I guess now Light has someone else to watch over every second."

Hope smiled a little. "Faith can be a bit of a handful sometimes."

Sazh smiled at Hope. "I think the big guy was talking about you." Then both Sazh and Snow let out a laugh.

Hope's eyes traveled between the two of them surprised. "Me? Why would she need to look after me every second?"

Snow smirked at him. "So you don't get out of line. You see once you get married some things are going to change. Just when you think you've seen it all, you'll see sides of her you've never seen before."

Sazh held up his glass, getting ready to drink. "Start making you do more things around the house, asking questions you're not sure how to answer and having to be careful about answering them. Not only that, but you have two women in the house. You're outnumbered my friend."

Hope smiled at them, but behind it was a little nervousness. "I'm sure it won't be that bad."

Snow held up his glass with a smirk. "You may think that now, but just wait until that little girl of yours grows up. Soon you'll be beating off guys with a stick that even look at her." Hope let out a sigh as he closed his eyes. It concerned him a little because that part of his life and hers would come. He knew it would be something he would have to go through and it would be there before he knew it. Snow's lips curved into a smile as he looked up thinking. "Still I can't wait until me and Serah have a kid. I'm ready to get my family started." His eyes traveled over to Hope. "And then they'll have a cousin to play with. See our family is already growing a lot."

Hope let out a smile. "Yeah."

"Hey!" they heard a voice from nearby. The three looked over seeing the familiar face heading over toward them. Hope was surprised by who he saw. He didn't expect him to show up to the party. "Noel?"

Noel took a seat at the table. Snow smiled. "Hey! I was wondering if you would make it!"

Noel smiled toward the others. "And miss this? When I heard that Lightning was getting married, I had to see if it was true for myself."

Hope smiled. "Well it's true."

Noel crossed his arms as he seemed interested. "How did you pull that off?"

"Luck," Hope answered as he breathed out.

Snow leaned his arm against Hope's shoulder. "The kid might have helped a little."

Noel looked surprised as he remembered. "Oh right! I haven't seen them yet. Is it a girl or boy?"

Hope pulled out his wallet and opened it to where it showed a picture of Faith smiling inside. "A little girl. Her name is Faith."

Noel took the wallet from his hand. "She's cute. She has to look more like her mother than you."

Hope grew suspicious. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Noel let out a smirk as he put his finger to his chin. "I don't know. It's just hard to believe that you have a cute daughter." A frown crossed over Hope's lips. Everyone could see his discontent. They were starting to get a little concerned. Noel smiled as he handed him back his wallet. "I was just kidding! Wow! I didn't think you would take it so serious."

Snow gave a nervous smile. "Careful. I wouldn't mess with Hope. If he drinks enough, then who knows what will happen. He might be fighting man." He rubbed the back of his head remembering something that he wasn't supposed to forget. "And since I'm responsible for him, anything that happens to him I'm sure that Light will make good on her word and take her anger out on me."

A smirk crossed over Hope's lips. "Its fine you guys. I can take a joke you know."

Noel would take his word for it. "All right! All right."

Hope smiled toward him. "I was surprised that you were able to make it. I thought you went traveling for a while trying to figure out what happened to Caius and Yeul. Did you find any answers?"

Noel's eyes drifted toward the table. "Not yet, but I'm hoping to."

Snow smiled a little for comfort. "Good luck with your search."

Sazh gave a smile of comfort as well. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Yeah," Hope agreed.

There was a look of sympathy in Sazh's eyes. "That has to be hard."

Noel smiled hopeful. "It's okay. I'll find something soon. Anyway so what have you guys been talking about before I got here?"

Snow placed his hand on Hope's shoulder. "We were teaching Hope here how to survive marriage."

Sazh smiled as he looked over. "He's still got a lot to learn." He looked over at Noel. "Might as well grab a drink. This might take a while." Everyone let out a small laugh.

Inside of Lightning's living room, Serah looked interested at Lightning as she smiled. "So what was it like having Faith?"

Lightning reached down and took another sip of her drink remembering things clearly. "It hurt… a lot." She placed her glass down on the table. "I guess in a way too bad Snow wasn't there."

Serah was surprised that she wanted Snow there. "Really? How come?"

"Because I wouldn't had to take out all of my frustrations on Hope. I thought I was going to break his hand."

Nervously Serah smiled. "I'm guessing with Snow it would have been easy to take out your frustrations?"

"A few hits might have helped me get through it more than the painkillers." Then Lightning looked over as she slightly arched her eyebrow. She was starting to get a little suspicious. "Why are you asking me so much about this?"

Serah smiled as she felt on edge. "Umm…?"

Lightning grew more suspicious since she could tell Serah was holding back on her. "You've been asking me questions like this all night."

Before they could continue, Fang and Vanille walked back into the room with more glasses. Fang smirked at the two. "Don't tell me that you two are still talking about the same thing? Change the subject already!" She sat down on the same spot on the floor in front of the table. "I know! We'll start talking about the craziest things either of us has done starting with the bride to be."

"I'll pass," Lightning said. She didn't want to be in the center of what Fang was planning.

Fang wasn't going to let her get away that easily. "Oh come on! You got have to tell us something and it won't leave this room."

"No thanks," Lightning replied.

Vanille grinned as she sat down. "Oh come on! It'll be fun!"

Fang leaned her arm against the table as the first question came to mind she wanted to ask. "How about the craziest place you've ever gotten busy?" A smirk came across her lips. "If you know what I mean?"

Lightning crossed her arms as she frowned. Things were already getting inappropriate, but it didn't surprise her. "I'm still not answering that. There's nothing to tell."

Fang leaned more against the table pointing her index finger between Lightning and Serah. "I know one of you must have a story. She's married and you got a kid so neither one of you can get away with the virgin excuse. That already told on you." Lightning sighed with her eyes closed. She could tell that Fang still wasn't letting the question go. "Still not loose enough yet?" Fang asked.

Lightning frowned. "I told you I'm not drinking that much."

"All right how about this? How did you end up with the little one?" Fang thought it would be easier for her to answer.

Lightning crossed her arms as she gave a dull stare. "I think you already know how that happens."

Fang smirked. "You know what I mean. Where did that happen?"

Vanille grinned as she became excited. "Anything said won't leave this table. We promise!"

Lightning sighed. She didn't know why she was thinking about humoring them, but maybe it would be less aggravating than them trying to drag it out of her all night. Her eyes drifted to the side. "Fine. It was in his office. Happy now?" she spoke quickly. Right after she took another sip from her glass.

"Ooh!" Vanille replied.

Fang leaned her head on her hand as she smirked. "Couldn't wait until you got home huh?" Lightning wouldn't look over at her. Fang's eyes traveled over to Serah. "All right! Your turn unless…" Fang returned her eyes over to where Lightning was. "…you want to tell us some more places..." she tried to persuade her.

Lightning scoffed as she rolled her eyes. She regretted answering the first time. Suddenly they heard a cry. Curious, they looked over toward the device on the dresser. It was easy to recognize the sound. Lightning stood up from the table. "I'll be back. You guys continue."

Serah smiled nervously hoping that the others wouldn't ask her the same question yet. "We'll just wait until you come back. After all, this is your party."

Fang stood up. "Fine. We'll wait." She was starting to get a little uncomfortable sitting on the floor. Afterwards she lied down on the couch with her hands behind her head.

Lightning walked passed her heading toward the stairs. Before she left, an idea crossed her mind. She looked back at Fang. "Since you want to know another place so bad, you're lying on it." Instantly Fang jumped and sat up on the couch. Even a smirk had to come to Lightning's lips because of the reaction.

She headed upstairs where her bedroom was. By her dresser she turned on a lamp letting a light shine on the bed. Her expression softened as she reached over. "What's wrong Faith?"

"Mommy!" Faith wrapped her little arms as much as she could around Lightning's waist. She buried her tear stained face into her shirt as she continued to let water flow from her eyes. Her cheeks were puffed with red as she closed her eyes tight.

Gently Lightning stroked her short pink hair. "Were you scared of the dark or had a bad dream?" Faith continued holding on as tight as she could. She didn't want to let Lightning go. A comforting smile came on Lightning's face. "Here." She lifted Faith from off of her and had her stand to her feet. She used her thumbs to wipe away the tears. "No more crying all right?" Faith opened her eyes calming down more. She was starting to feel better since Lightning was there. "Let's put you back to sleep." The two lied down beside each other on the bed. Faith clutched onto Lightning's shirt with her fingers. In return Lightning gave a gentle smile. She wasn't sure why Faith was afraid, but she wanted to help her not to be. "I'm not going anywhere." Faith leaned her head against Lightning's chest with her eyes closed. Softly she stroked through Faith's hair for comfort. "I'll stay here until you fall asleep."

Faith lifted her head, opening her green eyes. There was a curious stare, but behind it was still her sadness. "Daddy?"

In response Lightning's lips curved into a smile as she cupped Faith's cheek. "You'll see him when you awake up all right, but first you have to go to sleep." Listening, Faith closed her eyes and cuddled up next to her mother. Lightning leaned head against her hand. She breathed out with a hint of amusing. "What has your dad gotten me into?" Her eyes traveled over to the side. "I wouldn't be here doing this right now if it wasn't for him." Her eyes traveled down as the tips of her fingers stroke against Faith's pink hair again. "I guess I had something to do with this too. Still if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have you so I guess it's not so bad." She lied down more next to Faith with her head against the pillow. She wrapped her arm around Faith and leaned her head against Faith's. Her eyes lowered to a close. "Just sleep. I won't let anything bad happen to you. I'll always be there to watch after you." Minutes later Faith fell back asleep peacefully. Along with her, Lightning fell asleep as well without realizing she had done so.

To be continued... Thanks for reading! As always let me know what you think and I'll be back to update soon!