Chapter Two.

Disclaimer: Uglydolls belong to their creators.

Flack pulled the car up to the curb.

Mac looked out at the familiar house. The last time he'd come here had been a couple of years ago, when he'd managed to get away from work and attend Ella's 9th birthday party. He smiled at the memory. Sam had manned the barbecue, while a seemingly uncountable number of small girls, all as tomboy-ish and energetic as Ella, had run around. No princess parties for this lot, they'd played games of soccer and basketball and then a game called 'Zombie War' which seemed to involve half the girls stumbling around making horrendous groaning sounds while the other half, led by Ella, had 'attacked' them with water balloons while uttering war cries of 'die, zombies, die!'

He remembered the way Ella's face had lit up when he'd given her an Uglydoll - a strange three-eyed pink creature named Peaco. Never one for princess or baby dolls, Ella loved the ugly-yet-cute soft toys, and had quite a collection.

The smile faded from Mac's face as he took in the peaceful little two-storey house. Somewhere inside, Ella would be waiting with whatever neighbor Sam had found to sit for her, waiting for her dad to come home.

'Mac?' Don asked, gently.

'Let's get this over with,' Mac said.

They got out of the car, and walked up to the front door. Mac knocked. Moments later, it swung open, and Ella's beaming face looked up at him.

'Mac!' she said, and hugged him. Mac instinctively wrapped his arms around her, and dropped down to her level. He felt sick at what he was about to have to do.

'My dad's not here, he went to get some groceries. I'm s'posed to be in bed, but Mrs Adams said I could stay up and wait for him so he can read me the next chapter in this book we're reading, it's...wait.'

Ella pulled back and her big green eyes studied Mac's face, curiously.

'Why do you look so sad? And why is he here? Is he a cop too?' Ella indicated Flack, but her eyes were on Mac's face, searching for an answer.

'I...' Mac's throat closed up, and tears stung the back of his eyes. 'Ella, sweetheart, I...I have some...very...bad news to tell you.'

Her face crinkled into a worried frown.

'Bad news about my dad?'

'Yes, Ella.'

'Did he get in an accident? Is he gonna be okay? Where is he, where's my daddy? Mac, where is he?'

Mac looked down as hot tears fell from his eyes. He hated this, hated the brutal unfairness of it all. He'd suffered far more than his share of loss, but for a ten-year-old girl to lose both parents in the space of five years...

'I think we need to go inside, honey,' he choked out.

He stood, taking Ella's hand and leading her inside, past a concerned-looking woman in her early 60s, who he took to be Mrs Adams, presumably a neighbor who had come over to watch Ella.

As Don beckoned the woman into the kitchen, Mac led Ella into the living room and sat with her on the couch.

He closed his eyes, took a breath, cleared the lump in his throat, then opened his eyes and looked right into Ella's.

'Ella, your dad was in a very serious car accident,'

'Is he coming home? Is he in the hospital? Are the doctors gonna fix him?'

Mac swallowed.

'I...do you remember when you were little, and your Mom got really sick, and in the end, the doctors couldn't make her better?'

'Yes, daddy said sometimes people get so sick that even though the doctors do their best, they can't fix the person and so then the person dies, like Mom did. But it's no one's fault, it's just the world being crappy.'

'Right,' Mac said,'Well, your daddy was hurt really, really bad in the accident, and so the paramedics couldn't save him.'

'You mean he's...dead?'

'Yes, Ella. I'm so sorry.'

'No! He can't be dead. He just went to the store. No one is supposed to die when they just go to the store! Maybe the paramedics made a mistake...'

'No, Ella. I'm sorry, but he's...' Mac couldn't bring himself to say the word 'dead' again.

'He's...really gone? He's never ever coming back?' Ella whispered, tears leaking down her face.

Mac just nodded, unable to speak.

'But I don't WANT him to be gone! I want him here! Why can't he be here? Why? I want my daddy, Mac! Mac, can't you fix it?'

Mac dropped his head down, and squeezed his eyes tight shut as he pulled Ella to him in an embrace. She clung to him, small hands clenched into fists lightly beating at his chest as she repeated, 'I want him back' over and over. Mac felt utterly powerless. There was no way to make this right. He felt helpless rage rise in him, against the driver of the other car, against himself and his own inadequacy in the face of Ella's grief, against a world that would leave a kid parentless for the second time in her life.

'Ella, I'm so sorry, but I can't fix it. I would do *anything* to fix it, but I can't.'

Ella's tear stained face nestled against his neck.

'I know,' she said, with far more weariness than any child had a right to know, 'I wish you could fix it.'

'I do, too.'

'I wish he'd never gone out for the stupid, stinking groceries. I wish he was here. I want him back, Mac.'

'I know you do, honey. I do, too.'

There was silence then, as Ella cried into his neck and he held her. Added to his grief for Sam, Mac felt a sharp grief for Ella too, mixed with guilt at the fact that he was here and Sam was not. He also felt a sudden, shockingly fierce sense of protectiveness towards her.

'iwannastaywithyou,' Ella mumbled.

'What did you say, honey?' Mac asked.

Ella's tearstained face lifted from his neck, and she met his eyes.

'I want to stay with you. I don't want to stay here with Mrs Adams. I want to stay with you. Don't send me away. Billy Samuels' mother died last year, and he doesn't have a daddy, and he got sent to Vermont to live with his granma. I don't wanna stay with Uncle Edward, he hated my Daddy and he doesn't like me. Don't send me to him, Mac, and please, please don't leave me here. I hate it here now Daddy's...'

She trailed off, and fresh tears poured down her face.

Mac cupped her chin.

'It's okay,' he said, gently, his voice still coming out choked and rough as he fought to control his roiling emotions. 'I promise I won't leave you here, and I won't send you away.'

Mac knew the hugeness of the promise he'd made, and it scared the hell out of him. He had no idea how he was going to explain what had happened to Christine, and the idea of taking on some kind of father role to this bereft little girl when he was still struggling with his recovery from what had happened seven months ago terrified him. But for all that, he knew there was no way he could possibly let Ella stay here with some neighbor, or send her to live with some man she barely knew. He knew that Sam had been estranged from his brother Edward and Ella's so called 'uncle' had seen her only once, when her mother died. And then there was the promise he'd made to Sam and Diane shortly after they adopted Ella and asked him to be her godfather. They'd asked him to be her guardian, in the event that they both died before she reached 18. Mac, still struggling with his own grief over Claire, had agreed. At the time, Ella had seemed like the one bright spot in a landscape of grief and loss and anger. The delight she'd brought to his friends, and their wanting him to be involved in her life, had given him a sense of finally being needed. He'd sworn to himself that he would not fail Ella as he had failed Claire.

Now, he felt that determination come flooding back.

'You really promise?' Ella asked.

'I promise,' Mac repeated.

Ella nodded, then buried her face in his neck again and clung to him fiercely.

Mac held the child close as she cried, softly now. He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but eventually Don came into the living room.

'Mac, I sent the neighbor home. What do you want to do now?'

Ella lifted her face from Mac's neck and peered curiously at Don.

'Are you a cop too?'

Don crossed over to sit next to Mac.

'That's right. My name's Don,'

'Are you Mac's friend?'

'Yes, I am. I've known him a long time.'

'Okay,' said Ella, as though Don being Mac's friend made him acceptable to her, with no further questions necessary.

'I'm really sorry about your daddy, honey,' Don said gently.

Ella nodded, and fresh tears fell down her cheeks.

'Me too. I wish he was here.'

Don nodded.

'Ella, can you please go and get a few things from your room, so that you can come and stay with me for at least the next few days?'

'Okay, I guess,' Ella said.

'Do you need a hand?' Mac asked.

'No, I want to do it myself.'

Mac nodded. He guessed that giving Ella something to focus on would help her a little. He knew it was when there was nothing to focus on, nothing to distract you even a little, that grief, sneaky bastard that it was, would sneak up and hit you hardest.

He watched Ella slowly leave the room, her head down, her shoulders sagging.

'She's going to be staying with you?' Don asked.

'For now, yeah. I'm her legal guardian, Don. I promised Sam and Diane I'd look after her if anything ever happened to the two of them before she reached 18. I just never thought...'

'Nobody ever thinks it will happen, Mac,' Don said, his voice soft and sad.

Mac nodded.

'I hate that this had to happen to a kid like Ella,' Don continued, 'I hate any case where kids get hurt. But it's a good thing she's got you, Mac.'

'You think?' Mac asked, 'I don't have a clue what I'm supposed to do with her, Don.'

Don smiled.

'Just do what you were doing just now. Be there for her. Kids like you, Mac. You have this way of connecting with them and making them feel safe. That's what they want, and that's all Ella needs right now. Any other stuff, worry about that later. And quit with the underestimating yourself, Mac. Any kid would be lucky to have you in their life.'

'Thanks, Don,' Mac said, surprised at the certainty in his friend's voice.

'Well, you needed to hear it. You take Ella to your place, and get her settled. I'll update Jo on what happened. I have a friend at Child Services, I'll put in a call to her and have her call you tomorrow. I found an address book in the kitchen with the name of their lawyer as well, I'll give him a call and have him call you as well. I guess he'll be the one with all the official details of your guardianship and stuff..'

'Thanks, Don,' Mac said, grateful for his friend's offer to handle at least the beginning of the various legal informs and issues that he would now have to deal with. He was utterly exhausted, emotionally and physically. His life had yet again taken a brutally abrupt turn. He'd lost yet another person close to him and now he had to not only find out the exact circumstances of his friend's death, but somehow get a ten-year-old girl through what would likely be the most difficult time of her life.