"ROAR!" Octavian yelled, stomping towards the little girl who screamed as he neared.. He had to suppress a giggle and chasing his almost three year old daughter Isabel. They'd only adopted her a year ago but she had captured their hearts the second they'd gotten her. He shivered happily as he caught her, throwing and then catching her. She too was giggling.

"Daddy you're silly!" She laughed. He laughed too.

"Not as silly as you." He retorted, tickling her. She was dressed warmly in pink pjs with Minnie mouse on them and it was technically his job to get her to bed as it was at least twenty minutes past her bed time.

"I'm not silly!" She whined, pulling a pout.

"Oh, you're not?" He asked, dangling her by her feet. She shrieked with laughter.

"Come on bedtime sweetheart." She shook her head no, trying to escape. He hung on.

"I know you don't like it."

"Not sleepy!"

"Mommy says." He said, wisely taking his wife's side.

"Uncle Percy lets me stay up!"

"I would let you stay up too if mommy wasn't in the living room ready to discipline me if I don't get you into bed. I'll tuck you in with your softest blanket and all your stuffed animals if you promise to go to bed."

"Story." She said, getting her stubborn expression which she'd learned from Rachel.

"One story." He agreed, beginning to tuck her into her dolled up little bedroom. They'd worked really hard on her room and it was the most precious thing in the world. Well, not as precious as Isabel, but fitting for such a princess as herself.

"Which story?" He asked when she was properly tucked in.

"Once upon a time three pigs." she ordered. He nodded and smiled, he should have guessed that was for some reason her favorite.

"Once upon a time there lived three pigs, one," he held up a finger.

"Two," peace sign fingers.

"Three. They were brothers-"

"I wanna brother." She interrupted.

"One day sweetie. Mommy and I are talking about it. They were brothers and they lived with their mommy and daddy. One day they grew big and left."

"Like Uncle Caeser?" Caeser had left for college about the same time Isabel had come into their life.

"Uh huh. They disagreed on how to build houses though, so they split up and each built their own house. One little piggy built a house of straw." She giggled as if it was the funniest thing ever.

"Another built a house out of sticks." Another giggle, her laugh was the cutest.

"But the third knew that houses built out of straw or sticks weren't that sturdy, and built his house out of bricks." Octavian smiled for a second, thinking about Jason Grace being hit in the head by a brick.

"After they got settled into their cozy new homes they got visited by their new neighbor, a big, bad wolf who ate piggies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He came to the house of the first piggy and knocked on the door. 'Little pig! Little pig! Let me in!' He demanded. "Not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin! The pig replied. The wolf got angry, he wanted his breakfast. "If you don't let me in I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down!" The pig didn't open the door, so the wolf blew his house down and gobbled up the first piggy. Then the wolf went to the house of the second piggy and said the same things and huffed and puffed and gobbled up the second piggy. However when he came to the came to the house of the third piggy he found out that he couldn't blow down the house made of bricks, so he went home and never bothered anymore pigs. In fact he soon became a vegetarian and soon became fast friends with the third piggy who managed to forgive the wolf. The end." By this point Isabel was fast asleep and Octavian could slip away.

"Thirty minutes ago our precious daughter was supposed to be asleep."

"She escaped."

"You let her."

"That is true." He said thoughtfully. She lightly punched him in the arm. He pulled her into a kiss, for a few seconds she let him. Then she pushed away. They were cuddled up on the couch in their cozy new living room.

"Ian, you can't just let her get away with things."

"She wanted a story, I obliged."

"Let me guess, the one where the wolf becomes a vegetarian?" He laughed and nodded.

"I can't understand why its her favorite, but the wolf always reminds me of myself... I used to be big and bad-"

"Thin and scrawny and bad." She corrected.

"Yeah, but now I'm different, better, and the people I used to lash out at have now forgiven me and become my friends." He smiled.

"I'm the wolf. The big bad augur."

"Not anymore."

"You changed me, you both changed changed me, she changed me, Caeser changed me. Here I am now because you guys changed me for the better."

"You changed me too. You added so much to my life, love, hope, so much." He smiled and kissed her again.

"She asked for a brother again." Rachel sighed.

"We can't afford it at the moment, with her birthday coming up and all. Soon, maybe, but not too soon."

"Maybe that's another reason she likes the story, because the piggies were this cute little family."

"She is aware that two of the piggies die right?"

"Yeah I can't account for why she likes that part." They both laughed, and cuddled some more.

"I love this Ian." Rachel said finally.

"Hm?"

"All of this, this family, this house, us. I love us. It is the best thing to ever happen to me. I am so in love with our family, I hope we never change."

"Things always change, but things are changing in our favor this time. Whatever happens we'll get through it together. I love you too. Come on, I'm wiped out, lets get to bed. We've got a big day of being together tomorrow." She smiled, because she looked forward to that. They both did. Sometime in the middle of the night Isabel climbed into bed with them and that's how they ended the night, together as a family, changed for the better.

I'm in love with this adorable piece of fluff.