Thank you from both Rach and I for the reviews on the last chapter! This one was written by me, and chapter four, the final chapter, will be written by Rach.

Isla is now fifteen, and dealing a few issues that her dad might just be able to relate to.

Enjoy!

XV

She's looking like her mama a little more everyday

One part woman, the other part girl.

To perfume and make-up from ribbons and curls

Trying her wings out in a great big world.

It was seven o'clock in the evening when the door to the Rivers household slammed shut, and Isla walked in. Caleb smiled at the thought of her being in the safety of their home – no matter how old she was, he would always worry about her when she was out and about on her own.

"You okay?"

"Huh?" Caleb mumbled, before realising that he'd stopped talking mid-sentence, "Yeah, I'm fine, Islee just got home, that's all," He informed Hanna, who was listening intently on the other side of their phone call. "How's your mom?"

Hanna exhaled loudly, "She's fine," She confirmed, "But she has the flu, so I'm gonna stay for a couple of hours and make her some food."

Caleb smiled at his wife's kindness, "So basically you're her babysitter?" He chuckled.

He could practically hear Hanna rolling her eyes.

"No," She retorted, "I'm being a good daughter. My mom did so much for me as a kid, and as an adult, it's the least I could do, Caleb."

"I know, I'm just kidding," He laughed, softly, before looking around the room for Isla. He'd heard the door close at least thirty seconds previously, why hadn't she come to say 'hi' to him yet? It was always the first thing that she did when she got home.

"Anyway, I've gotta go, mom wants a hot chocolate," Hanna mumbled, lowering her voice so that Ashley didn't hear her, "I'll be back at ten, at the latest."

"Ok," He agreed, "Love you."

"Love you too."

Caleb hung up the phone, smiling to himself at Hanna's words. No matter how many times they said 'I love you' each other, the phrase never failed to make his heart beat that little bit faster. Pushing his cell into his pocket, he stood up from the couch and stretched his arms up into the air. "Isla?" He called out, curious as to why he hadn't seen his daughter since she'd entered the house, "You upstairs?"

"I'm here," Came a small mumble from the bottom of the stairs – Caleb immediately walked out of the living room and into the hall, only to find his daughter leaning against the wall, her face buried in her hands.

"Hey, what's-" He stopped immediately when he heard her snivel, "Isla?" He took another step towards her, and placed his hand on her shoulder, which prompted her to look up at him – her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks were bright red, and she had fat tears streaming down both of her cheeks. Without a single word, Caleb reached out and pulled her into a hug.

She cried against his shirt for a good ten minutes before her whimpers died down, and Caleb dared to speak. "You want to talk about it?" He asked tentatively, not knowing exactly what to say. He'd never seen his daughter this upset before, not even when Hanna had threatened to take away her internet privileges after she'd 'borrowed' one of her mom's favourite bags without asking, and failed to bring it home after a party.

Isla simply shook her head, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Islee," He began, "Please t-"

But before he could get the words out, Isla was already out of sight, halfway up the stairs, presumably on the way to her bedroom. Her cries had returned, even louder than before, and Caleb let out a deep sigh as he rubbed his forehead.

This was definitely Hanna's forte.

As he decided what best to do in his current situation, his phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out, only to be greeted by a text from Hanna.

Mom's asleep, I'll be back in an hour or less… how's Islee? xx

Caleb bit him bottom lip as he typed out his response.

Not good – she came home in tears. Don't know what she's upset about though. She's in her room, do I go up there or leave her alone?

Hanna's reply was instantaneous.

GO UP THERE! I'll be home in twenty xx

After letting out a small laugh – he knew that's what she would say – and stuffing his phone back into his pocket, Caleb ambled up the stairs to his daughter's bedroom. He didn't have that much experience when it came to talking to teenage girls about their problems, but what he did have, he had gained from Hanna; her problems had undoubtedly been completely different to their daughter's, because he was sure that Isla wasn't being stalked, or tortured, but it was experience all the same. Maybe that would be his saving grace.

"Islee?" He spoke softly as he knocked on her door twice, "Can I come in?"

Her whimpers stopped abruptly at his words, and she paused for a moment before replying. "Where's mom?" Came her sad, much quieter than usual voice.

"She's at your nana's house," He informed her, "I know you probably want to talk to her right now, because she's better at this kind of stuff, but I'm here for you too."

He heard Isla suck in a breath before she spoke again, this time with a hint of humour in her voice, "But you don't know anything about boys."

At that, Caleb opened the door and poked his head around it, before stepping into the room. "Hey," He chuckled as he took in the sight of his daughter, who was now sitting cross-legged on her bed, "I was a teenage boy once, I might know more than you think."

Isla's expression turned serious once again, and she looked down at her lap, fumbling with her hands as she pressed her lips into a tight line; her dimples were on display as a result, and Caleb couldn't help but smile. She looked so much like Hanna whenever she did that.

"If you know so much about boys, then tell me why he dumped me," She mumbled biting her lip in an attempt to stop herself from crying again; it was to no avail, as a single tear slipped down her reddened cheek.

Caleb let out a sigh and sat down on Isla's bed next to her, before reaching out to put his hand on her arm. "Who dumped you?" He asked her, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice, though it definitely wasn't directed at her, "Are you talking about Lewis?" He enquired – Lewis was the only boy that he was aware of his daughter being close to.

"Yeah," She breathed out, shakily, "Lewis. We were sort of, dating, a little bit." She looked up at her dad with wide eyes, nervous to see his reaction. He'd always been very protective, but never in a bad way – she knew that it was only because he wanted the best for her.

"Dating?" He raised his eyebrows, "Fifteen-year-olds date now?"

"You were like sixteen when you started dating mom," Isla rolled her eyes, "Don't be a hypocrite."

"Sorry," Caleb chuckled, holding his hands up in defeat, "I guess it's just hard for me to believe that you're at an age where you want to date people. How long have you and Lewis been… together? The last time I saw him, you were friends."

"Like six months," She shrugged, nonchalantly, "But we're not, together. Not anymore. Because he dumped me," She finished with a sad smile, before her bottom lip started to quiver.

Caleb wrapped his arm around Isla's back, and pulled her into him until her head was resting on his shoulder. "What happened?" He asked gently, "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," Isla sniffed as a fresh batch of tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Ok we-"

"But yeah," Caleb was interrupted as Isla quickly changed her mind; she was just like Hanna in that way. She was so stubborn and defensive when she was upset, no matter how she was feeling underneath the façade. But eventually, the façade would always slip away. "He was spending way too much time with his friends, I barely ever saw him," Caleb made a noise of understanding, signalling for her to continue, "So I told him that I was upset, and he told me to stop trying to control him and walked out," She finished before choking out a sob, at which Caleb scrunched his eyes shut – just like with Hanna, he couldn't stand to see his daughter cry.

"Isla, that doesn't mean that he's finished with you," He tried to comfort her, "It's just an argument. Why don't you call him and talk to him about it?"

"You don't think I haven't tried?" She retorted, "He isn't answering any of my calls, or my texts. Or my emails."

"You emailed him?" Caleb asked with a slight chuckle, "Really?"

"Don't laugh," Isla scolded him as she sat up, though there was a slight smirk playing upon her lips, "I'm desperate, it isn't funny."

Caleb rolled his eyes, "You're not desperate, you could have anybody you wanted Islee, you're only fifteen."

"Don't patronise me," She shot back, "You and mom-"

"I know, I'm sorry," He apologised, rubbing her arm up and down, "You know I didn't mean it like that, I just mean that you have a lot of time to find the right person. You don't need to rush anything."

Isla swallowed loudly before another tear slipped down her cheek, "I want Lewis, though," She mumbled, a little embarrassed, "I just have this feeling, you know, that he's the person I'm supposed to be with. Did you feel like that with mom?" She asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

Caleb wanted to say no, to tell his daughter that she had the whole world to explore, thousands and thousands of new people to meet, that she didn't have to focus on this one person. But he couldn't lie. He knew exactly how she felt. Maybe it wasn't the same for everyone, but the moment he'd met Hanna, he'd felt an inexplicable and unbreakable connection to her.

"Yeah," He breathed out, meeting Isla's gaze, "I did." He paused for a moment before speaking again, "And you know what? Your mom and I went though a lot, so much that you can't even imagine it, and we came out the other side just fine. You and Lewis will sort this out, I promise."

Isla nodded in understanding, "Did you and mom ever break up?"

Caleb let out a short laugh, "A bunch of times," He confirmed, "And they were bad breakups, too. One lasted for three years, we were living in different states. But here we are."

Isla pursed her lips, a little apprehensive about bringing up the topic that she so desperately wanted to. "Were they because of that stalker?" She asked quietly, "I mean, is that why you broke up?"

"Only one of the times," Caleb spoke before clearing his throat, memories that he wasn't at all fond of coming back to the forefront of his mind, "The rest were all because of us, or choices we made, or things we needed to do. But we grew, and we moved past our issues. The stalkers definitely didn't help, though," He finished with a sad smile.

"Stalkers?" Isla questioned as she sat up straighter, and turned to face Caleb, "There was more than one?"

"Three, actually," Caleb nodded, "And they made our life hell, for years. I won't go into detail, because I know don't know how much your mom wants you to know yet, but she went through a lot. And if she can get past that, then you can get past anything," He smiled, nudging her arm with his, "Ok?"

"Ok," Isla nodded before she laughed, "My problem seems kinda stupid in comparison to what you and mom had to deal with."

"It's not stupid, I'm glad you don't have the kind of problems that we did," Caleb assured her, "If it upsets you, then it's important."

"But it shouldn't upset me," She shrugged, "It's just a fight. I wish I was as brave as mom, she'd never cry over something like this."

Caleb licked his lips thoughtfully. "Your mom is brave, the bravest person I know," He confirmed, "But she cries too, over lots of things. She's cried over me, and over her friends, and over the groceries when she forgot to buy her favourite ice cream," He chuckled, prompting a laugh from Isla, "You can cry and still be brave."

"Good," Isla smiled, before leaning her head back down onto her dad's shoulder, "Because that's what I want. I want to be just like mom."

"Even though she cries over groceries?" Caleb joked.

"Even though she cries over groceries," Isla confirmed. She paused for a moment before she spoke again, "Do you have any photos? Of you and mom, when you were younger?"

Caleb smiled, thinking of the millions of times that Hanna had 'forced' him into taking photos with her, even though he'd secretly enjoyed it. "Yeah," He nodded, "Why?"

"Can I see them?" Isla asked tentatively. "You've told me so much about how you met, and what you've been through, but I've barely seen any photos or videos of you from back then. I think it'll make me feel better about Lewis, if I can see the mom and dad that I know as people who were just like me."

At that, Caleb reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone. He opened his photos, and scrolled to the bottom until he found the albums that he was looking for – one labelled 'HS', and one labelled, 'NY'. "Here," He smiled as he passed the phone to his daughter, "Look through the last two albums."

"HS and NY?" She asked, her brow furrowed, "What do they mean?"

"High school and New York," He informed her, before selecting the 'HS' album himself.

Isla nodded in understanding, and looked down at the phone as she flicked through the photos. She smiled at the sight of her parents when they were seventeen, laughing and posing together in numerous 'selfies' – though admittedly, there was one in which they were kissing that she grimaced at and moved on from very quickly. She stopped on one particular photo, which caught her eye immediately; it was of Hanna leaning against Caleb's back, her arms wrapped around him as she grinned widely, her bright smile mirroring his. They looked so genuinely joyful, so in love, that Isla couldn't help but feel a little emotional at the sight.

"I like this one," She told her dad, "You both look so happy."

A smile tugged at the corner of Caleb's lips as he thought back to the day that he and Hanna had taken that photo, or rather, had it taken of them. It was the summer before their senior year, and they'd gone out for the day with Ashley; it had originally been planned as a shopping trip for the two girls, but then Hanna had insisted that Caleb should join them, and Ashley had happily agreed. On the way home, they'd stopped for an ice cream in the park, and sat down on the grass to enjoy them – aside from Ashley, who refused to get stains on her white dress.

When Ashley had asked for a picture, Hanna had immediately jumped up and onto Caleb's back, and they'd both fallen forward in fits of laughter as the photo had been taken. The single photo had led to what he'd described as a 'full-on photo shoot' – not that he'd minded, because the smile on Hanna's face throughout the entire thing was enough to breathe life into him for the whole day.

"Yeah," He eventually smiled, "I like it too."

Isla carried on scrolling, until she reached the end of the album, and then moved on to the one titled 'NY'. This time, she stopped on a photo of Hanna sitting cross-legged on the floor, her head in her hands, and five brown paper bags surrounding her. "What happened in this one?" Isla laughed as she looked to her dad for more information.

Caleb furrowed his brow for a second before he realised when it had been taken. "That, is the infamous grocery day," He laughed, "I forgot almost forgot how dramatic she was."

"She was really crying like that over ice cream?" She smirked, "Ice cream?"

"Ok, that was one time, and you promised you'd never tell anyone."

Caleb and Isla both looked up immediately as the sound of Hanna's amused – if slightly annoyed – voice filled the room.

"Hi," He smiled warmly at Hanna as he noted the pout that adorned her lips, "We were just kidding, I was telling Islee some stories to cheer her up." He held his arms out for her and she walked towards him, before sitting down on his lap and pecking his cheek.

"You're forgiven," She smirked, turning to Isla, "Are you okay baby? Your dad said you were upset when you got home." She reached out to stroke her cheek, and Isla smiled in response.

"I'm fine," She nodded, "Dad sorted it all out."

"Really?" Hanna raised an eyebrow as she turned her head to look at Caleb.

He nodded, "Yeah, I think I did a pretty good job. We were just looking through some old photos when you walked in," He informed her, before holding out his phone so that she could see the photo that Isla had stopped on.

"Oh my god," Hanna laughed, taking the phone from her husband, "I can't believe you still have this. I didn't even know you took a photo!"

"It was funny," Caleb shrugged, "I had to."

Hanna slapped his arm lightly as Isla laughed beside them, "Me crying is funny to you?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"No," He shook his head, chuckling, "Only when it's over ice cream."

Hanna let out a long sigh, fuelled by her laughter, before turning to look at her daughter, who had gone back to scrolling through the photos on her dad's phone. "Wow, I didn't realise you'd be so interested in looking at old photos of us," She spoke softly, brushing a strand of dark hair back from Isla's face, "I thought you found stories about us when we were teenagers boring?"

"No," Isla retorted, looking up at her mom, "I like hearing about you two. I only find it boring when there's kissing and stuff involved. You can keep those ones to yourselves." Hanna and Caleb both looked at each other and let out a laugh, before Isla held the phone up for them to see. "This is my favourite one," She declared, showing them the photo that she had asked Caleb about earlier, from their shopping trip with Ashley all those years ago.

Hanna smiled the instant that she saw it, and looked up at Caleb. "That was a pretty great day," She murmured, before leaning up to press a quick kiss to his mouth.

"Ok," Isla interrupted, "This is the kind of stuff that I was talking about. I don't want to see you guys making out on my bed," She grimaced.

"We were hardly making out," Caleb laughed, "It was one kiss."

"Yeah, and I could see more coming," Isla rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's leave her alone," Hanna chuckled as she stood up from Caleb's lap, before holding her hand out for him, "I think she's had enough of us for one day, especially you," She joked.

"Hey," Caleb retorted, "We had a good talk," He smiled, looking back at his daughter.

She nodded, confirming to Hanna that Caleb had indeed solved her problem. "Thanks dad," She said sincerely, "You really helped me today."

Caleb gave her a quick nod in return before he and Hanna left Isla's room, hand in hand, feeling content about the fact that their daughter was no longer upset. As they walked back downstairs, and reached the landing, Hanna tugged lightly on Caleb's arm so that he turned to face her.

"Why was she upset?" She asked him, raising her eyebrow, "Was it her math teacher again? Because I swear to god-"

"It wasn't her," Caleb interrupted, shaking his head, "It was Lewis."

"Lewis?" Hanna asked, a little surprised, "As in her best friend?"

"Apparently he's more than that now," Caleb shrugged as he led Hanna into the living room, and they sat down on the couch, "They've been dating for a while."

"I thought they might have been," Hanna mused, "He's been over here a lot, lately."

"Me too," Caleb agreed, "But apparently they had some big fight over Lewis not spending enough time with her, and now they're not speaking."

"Huh, so what did advice did you give her?" Hanna enquired with a slight smile, curious as to how Caleb had handled the situation.

"I uh," He cleared his throat, "Well, I was gonna tell her not to worry, you know, plenty more fish in the sea and all that," Hanna nodded, signalling for him to go on, "But then I thought of you."

"What about me?" Hanna raised an eyebrow, a little confused, but interested to see where he was going with this.

Caleb just smiled at her for a moment, seemingly thinking about something, before he spoke. "About how I knew I was going to marry you the day I met you. About how I could never imagine being with anyone else, and how even after every single one of those breakups, I knew we'd find our way back to one another."

"Hm," Hanna mused, "Even the three-year-long one?"

"Yeah," Caleb nodded, reaching over to take her hand in his, "As soon as I came back, and I saw your face in person again, and I heard your voice, I knew that it wasn't going to be long before we were us again. You still looked at me the same way that you always had."

Hanna blushed at his words and bit her bottom lip, before leaning over to press a quick kiss to his mouth. "And what did Islee say to all of this?"

"She thought it was cute, and said she felt the same about Lewis," He mumbled, "Which is kinda crazy, I mean she's only fifteen-"

"Caleb," Hanna scolded him, "We were only sixteen when we met."

"That's exactly what she said," He mumbled, rolling his eyes. "But anyway, that's when we started looking at the photos of you and I. I think they made her feel better, you know."

Hanna licked her lips before shuffling closer to Caleb on the couch; she rested her head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "You're such a good dad, you know that right?" She murmured against him as his hand began to rub up and down the top of her arm, "Islee loves you so much."

Caleb simply smiled to himself in response; after the upbringing that he'd had, he'd never imagined that he would hear those words coming from somebody else in such a truthful manner.

Caleb Rivers was a good father.

And in that moment, that meant more to him than anything else ever could.

And that's part three! Hope you all enjoyed – the next chapter will centre around Caleb and a twenty-five-year-old Isla. As always, reviews are very much appreciated, and let me know in a review if you'd like a preview of part four x