And here's the first part to All-American Girl. I hope you guys like it.

AND READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AFTERWARDS!

thank you.

Disclaimer- Ha. Ha. Ha. no.

Memories- l

He buried his head in his hands as he heard the front door close oh-so quietly. He couldn't face this, he didn't want to face this. How in the world was he supposed to tell his beautifully, gorgeous, young daughter that her mother was- was-

"Hi daddy!" the little girl, with her big blue eyes and strawberry blonde curls up in two pigtails with pale green bows wrapped around. Her pretty green dress with a white sash tied around her middle was adorable, and she looked so innocent. Innocent. He would wreck that.

"Hey, baby." he said tiredly, struggling to put on a smile. The little girl saw right through his facade.

"Daddy? What's wrong?" she dropped her blue Sailor's backpack by the door and jogging up to him. Her big blue eyes reflected his bad attempt at a smile and his brown eyes- the same way hers had done. The same bright, loving blue, like the crystal clear waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Honey, there's something I gotta tell you." he started, sighing. The little girl blinked up at him, concern in her blue orbs. She didn't understand why he was upset. Mommy would be home soon and than they would go to the movies, like they did every Wednesday. He should surely be excited, he loved movies as did mommy! They loved taking her to movies. They loved watching movies, like they did every Sunday. Mommy and Daddy would hold up three or four movies and they would watch them during dinner. So, why was Daddy sad?

"Do we need to wait for Mommy?" the little girl said innocently, gazing up at him with curiosity.

"That's the thing, sweety," he said quietly, kneeling down beside his little angel. "We can't wait for Mommy. Mommy won't be here to hear it."

"Why not?" the little girl asked, pouting her lips. Mommy was never late to anything. She was always there.

"Because Mommy won't be coming home today, we have to got to her."

"Why?" the father smiled sadly at her, understanding her confusion.

"Because, darling, mommy won't be coming home."

"Why won't she? She's always home." the girl insisted.

"Not this time, love." that was the thing he only called her when Daddy really meant it and wanted her full attention.

"Can we go now then?" she asked, no longer asking questions.

"Of course, hun, we can go now." he grabbed the girl's hand and lead her out to his black sedan.

"Why is she here?" she looked up at her father in confusion, who smiled back at her through the rearview mirror. He killed the car and walked out, opening the door for his little girl.

"Mommy's not okay," he said, taking the girl's hand and leading her inside.

"But why?"

"She's hurt, doll." a young woman, maybe in her early thirties, walked up to them with the same sad look in her eyes that the man had.

"But why, Auntie Lauren?" the girl addressed this towards the woman in blue scrubs.

"Because someone wasn't following the rules." 'Auntie' Lauren said quietly.

"Will she be okay?" the girl looked up at her aunt and father, trust gleaming in her eyes. The two adults looked at each other and the father nearly broke down. They knew the answer, but they didn't want to break the little girl's heart.

"She's in a better place now, doll, we hope she'll be okay there. She's being taken care of."

"By who? Why couldn't she come home and tell us? Where did she go?" the two adults shared a sad smile at the curious and concerned little girl.

"She went to spend time with a nice man, like your grandfather, who will take good care of her." her father said gently.

"She isn't coming home?" the girl said, tears in her eyes.

"Just tell the damn girl the woman's dead, why don't yeah?" an older gentleman slurred, glaring at the sad trio.

"Close your mouth, sir, or I will have you escorted out now." Lauren said darkly to the old man, who glared right back at her with eyes full of loathing.

"Dead? Mommy's dead?" the little girl looked between the two adults with fear and horror destroying her blue eyes.

Her father knelt down beside her, pulling her into his chest. "Yes, love," he whispered brokenly, a tear racing down his cheek. "Mommy's dead."

The girl pulled back, looking at her father and then at her aunt. She rubbed her eyes and said, quietly but confidently, "I want to see her."

"Mom, I wish you were here." he heard the broken voice of his sixteen year old girl behind the door, and he stopped leaning against the doorframe. He knew she probably wanted to be alone, but he wanted to know what she was saying. "Dad's making us move to New York. I don't want to go- I don't want to leave you. But he says it's for the best, and I know he means well. I can also understand where he's coming from. All the kids here look at me funny, like I'm some depressed person who's going to start bawling in the middle of class. All the teachers go easy on me and they don't say anything bad about me so they don't have to deal with my emotions. I don't get it, I'm a strong girl. I can take criticism. I can take bulllies and everything. But the silence really bugs me. I have all these stares wherever I go and everyone's nice- but too nice, you know?

"Mom, I miss you so much. You should be here for everything. I wish you'd been here last week, you should have seen the look on Dad's face when I brought out a perfectly iced cake. He swore I was trying to kill him, but all the times that I tried to kill him was because I was covering for Aunt Lauren. I miss her, too. She moved to New York a long time ago and I haven't talked to her in awhile. But, we'll be closer now so I get to talk to her, too, huh?" his daughter let out a bitter laugh. "I'm sorry, Mom. I wish I could see you one more time, to go out with you and eat chocolate ice cream and watch movies just like we did every Wednesday after school. I miss the way things were done here. And I miss you so much. I love you mom."

He heard the sobbing, muffled by the door and his own eyes began to burn from his own tears. He missed Jennifer, he missed his wife. But he wouldn't dwell on that. After the incident, he'd moved them to her old home in California. He'd had her buried here, too. But everyone in the town had known Jenni and therefore, they all treated the two of them like glass. They knew about the incident, and they all been close to her when she had grown up there. But they moved on, but treated the two of them different, as if they would break apart any moment. It had bugged Steve, and now he had finally decided to move to get away from it. He thought his daughter needed a fresh start.

So they were moving to New York, New York. The Big Apple. He hoped he'd made the right choice.

As he walked away from his daughter's door, he saw an old photo of him and Jenni, with little four-year-old Chloe smiling at the camera with her two missing teeth. She looked so much like Jenni.

"I wish you could see her, darling," he whispered. "She's beautiful."

Bam. What do you think?

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Toodles-

-DJ