"Mommy can I go outside?" Margaret opened her eyelids slowly and nodded. Nicole bounced out of the room and a sudden thought entered Margaret's mind.

"Nicole!" the little girl poked her head back into the room. "There's a fence that goes around the outside of your grandfather's property; don't go outside of that okay?" Nicole nodded compliantly. "And try to avoid you grandfather okay?"

"Mommy why is he so mean?"

"He's not mean; he just wants to be left alone." Nicole smiled and nodded.

"Oh like Jack?"

Margaret laughed, "Yeah like Jack." Jack was their previous neighbor's bull dog. He was old and preferred to spend all of his time alone in the cellar.

Nicole bounced towards the door as Margaret slipped her feet into a pair of worn slippers, grimacing as she saw two large bruises on her legs. She rubbed them gingerly and stood up to make some coffee.

Nicole ran outside and immediately headed towards the sound of the ocean. She didn't encounter any fences so she kept walking. She reached a cliff and looked out over the water. She gasped in delight when she saw it and eagerly looked for a way down. About twenty feet away she spotted what looked like a somewhat easy way down. She hurried over to it and noticed that it was actually a large pile of boulders, making somewhat of a complicated stairway with many twists and turns. Halfway down she noticed and opening in the rocks and crawled inside. It stopped after about four feet and was only about four feet wide, and a yard in height. She leaned up against the cool, hard rock and was able to look out over the ocean. She sighed happily and staid still only a moment before crawling back into the sunshine. She paused for a moment as her foot kicked something against the wall. She groped around in the dark wishing she had a flashlight. Soon her hands contacted a wooden box, only slightly smaller than a shoebox. She picked it up and crawled out of the "cave". She sat on the edge of a rock her legs swinging freely over the edge. She lifted up the lid, one of the hinges breaking as she did. Inside there was several pieces of folded notebook paper, some seashells and rocks and miscellaneous baseball cards and pictures. She inspected each piece and then unfolded the first piece of paper.

Ben,

Thank you for pushing Jimmy for me. I think he is a bully. Can we be friends?

Amy

Nicole laughed as she realized that this box must have been her father's. She looked through several notes from his friends and even some that he had written. There were dates on most of the notes and she saw that after he turned ten he only wrote one more. She opened it and saw that it was dated in 1956.

I was surprised to find that this box was still here. I haven't been up here since I was fifteen. I might take the box back home with me; Margaret would probably get a kick out of reading all of these notes. I came out here trying to kill time until I can leave for the hospital. Margaret is there with my new baby girl; Nicole Elizabeth Pierce. She is such a little angel, she looks so much like Margaret in every way except for the eyes; she has my eyes. It is so amazing and yet terrifying that such a tiny human being is completely in my care. She has only been in this world for a day and a half but I've already fallen in love with her and she has me wrapped around her finger. I can't wait until she's older. She certainly will be Daddy's little princess.

Nicole turned the paper over in hopes of finding more written on the back; there was nothing except for a few stains against the white paper. Nicole slowly folded the piece of paper and almost reverently placed it back in the box. It had made her sad but at the same time she was happy. Her daddy loved her; he had called her his little princess. It was comforting to have the reassurance of love from the father she never knew.


Daniel had seated himself at the kitchen table as he tried to read the morning paper; however his gaze frequently drifted towards the small guest house situated on the border of the woods. Around seven he saw the door open and Nicole dash outside. He shook his head and muttered something about children running wild. Against his will he looked up from his paper again and watched Nicole run towards the cliffs. He watched her for only a moment before he threw his paper down in disgust and retrieved his jacket from the coat closet.

When Daniel reached the cliffs he scanned the rocks wondering where on earth the child had gotten to. He finally spotted her climbing out of a small opening. She had a wooden box in her hands and Daniel recognized it immediately as his son's "treasure box". He watched painfully as his granddaughter sorted through the items. After about ten minutes had passed she placed the items carefully back into the box and concealed it in the cave. She jumped up and started to hop from one rock to another down to the beach.

"Hey girl!" Daniel shouted sternly. Nicole looked up in surprise and waved. "What do you think you're doing?"

She shrugged and began to climb towards him. "I was going to the beach." She stated simply. Daniel frowned and pointed towards a set of stairs about fifty feet down the beach.

"Use the stairs; I don't want you over here, do you understand?" he demanded harshly.

Nicole bit her lower lip nervously and nodded. Daniel looked at the little girl and his mind drifted to when he had fist seen her, so many years ago. Hawkeye had been let into the hospital room with Margaret and they had coaxed the staff to let Daniel in also. He could never forget his son's joyous expression as he held his baby girl.

"Are you okay?" Nicole's soft voice snapped him out of his reverie. He grunted and turned towards the house as Nicole quickly trotted after him. Halfway to the house Daniel stopped and turned towards her.

"What do you want?" he growled. Nicole stared towards the ground and shrugged. "Well go away, I don't want you around me understand?" Nicole nodded and fled to the guest house.