Disclaimer:

I do not own anything just Es and her family. Thanks for reading…please review.

Esmeralda looked at her father. "Papa, why are you crying?"

Jean moved to lean on the front his desk, sitting across from his daughter. "The other day, when you told me that I was never there. I went back to my study and looked at pictures from when you were born. I remembered the night that you came into this world. The doctor told me that you were a girl and I remembered, and this I am not too proud of, that I wanted another boy. Then he laid you in my arms and I felt my heart sing with joy. You were my little girl, the center of my world, my number on… I loved you like I would've a son."

Esmeralda smiled. "I remember our fishing trip when I was about five." She said.

"You asked me if the hook would hurt the fishes lips." He said, laughing. "You also said that 'those things in the can will die without air'."

"We let the worms go."

"Then we chased butterflies." She said, than looked at him. "That was when you started getting overly involved with work."

He nodded. "When I saw you with Erik that night, the look of despair on your face when you thought he was dying and it seemed like only yesterday that you were swimming and playing sports with your brother…and I realized that I had to let you go…to be free. Because I know that you'll always know what you were to me."

She stood up and held him close. "I'll always be your little girl. The center of your whole world, you're number one…you love me like you would a son."

He held her tightly then whispered. "Now, I need to talk to Erik before I can let you run off and tell your mother."

Esmeralda smiled at him as she turned to leave. "Je t'aime, Papa."

"Je t'aime aussi, Esmeralda. » He said.

Erik came into the room several seconds after Esmeralda left. "Yes, Monsieur?"

"I wanted to talk to you." Jean said, sitting back down. "But first, if you don't mind, I have some papers to shift through."

Erik nodded and looked around the room. He leaned in and saw some pictures of Esmeralda sitting on the shelf. She was playing Cinderella; riding her first bike; bouncing on a bed, with a pillow in her hand; running through the sprinkler with an enormous grin on her face; dancing with her father, looking up at him. Then it hit him. In her eyes, she was prince charming but to her father he was just some man who was stealing Cinderella. The last picture on the shelf was one of her singing at a concert; she looked so much like Christine in the picture that Erik couldn't help but smile.

He leaned in closer to look at it when her father came up behind him. "She's something, isn't she?"

"She's a remarkable woman." Erik said, slowly taking his eyes off the picture.

Jean just stared at him that was when Erik saw it too. The little girl in the pictures was everything to the man before him.

"Before I send you back to my daughter, bear in mind…if he comes home crying because of something that you did, then I will give you a hard time."

"Monsieur, I, honestly, cannot blame you. I'm the one who is stealing Cinderella."

"That you are."

"I have one thing to ask of you though." Jean said, looking at the door. "She will always be my baby, so take good care of her."

Erik nodded and shook Jean's hand.

I know it's short but I never got around to writing the next chapter…lol. I will write more when I get a review.