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Troy was nervously fidgeting against the fence of the amusement park. At thirty-seven years old Troy was getting older and in need of a family. His wife had left him five years ago because of his constant overseas travel with his work. He always knew that he wanted kids, but getting one had always seemed to elude him until now. That is until his good friend Vanessa Sutton called him and informed him of a little girl in need of a home. When he saw her picture something attacked his heart. This would be his child. He loved her the moment he laid eyes on her. Now it was just a waiting game. He just hoped that her foster family would willingly let her go. Then one man punched another. Guess things weren't going to go well.

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Jeff looked up at his friend, holding his jaw. "What's wrong with you?" Randy was standing over him glaring and breathing rapidly.

"She's mine, you can't have her!" John stepped between the two men.

"She's not a dog guys, let's talk this out calmly." John was attempting to mediate but doing it badly. Now Randy and Jeff were working staring each other down nostrils flaring. As if on cue, Jessie ran up to them.

"Hey are you guys ready for pizza?" As soon as the words were out of Jessie's mouth, she sensed the tension. "What's wrong?" Randy tried to calm down while Jeff turned away. John got down on her level.

"Sweetie, we have some good news for you. You're getting adopted!" Jessie's eyes got wide.

"Really? By who?" Randy and Jeff looked at each other.

"By me," they said in unison. Jessie looked at John confused.

"Both of them? Is there something I should know?" John smiled while Randy and Jeff grunted.

"Good one kid," he said clearly amused Jessie beamed proudly. John opened his mouth, but then they heard footsteps.

"Hey Sweetie." Jessie wasn't amused.

"Hi, Ms. Vanessa," she said less than enthusiastically. "How are you?" Vanessa smiled.

"I'm great, I have someone that I want you to meet." For the first time she noticed the tan man standing near the far pole at the end of the pavilion. Jessie sighed, this was confusing. The man stepped forward obviously nervous.

"Hi Jessie, I'm Troy." Jessie glared but didn't respond.

"Jessie don't be rude," Randy scolded.

"Hi," Jessie mumbled, with her head down. Troy felt a twinge of uneasiness as all the three men glared at him.

"Randy, can I talk to you and Jeff for a minute?" Both men glanced at John.

"I'll watch her she'll be fine." They nodded and walked off leaving John with Jessie and Troy who uneasily twiddled their thumbs.

"Vanessa what are you doing here?" Randy asked. She sighed.

"You're still one to get right down to the point."

"I am when my kid is involved." Vanessa rolled her eyes.

"She's not your kid. Remember the deal is to find her a home." Randy and Jeff sighed.

"She has a stable home!" Jeff yelled excitedly. Vanessa smiled, they really did love her.

"Look guys, when I agreed to help we ALL agreed to work to find her a home and I have. Troy has agreed to adopt her and give her just that." Randy and Jeff looked at her incredulously.

"Please, we can work this out, just let her stay." Vanessa shook her head.

"I know you guys love her, but she needs stability and constantly moving around isn't stability. Let her have something better." Both men looked down.

"When does she leave?" Randy said with tears in his eyes.

"Day after tomorrow, Troy wants to get back to West Virginia and get set up." Randy and Jeff gasped.

"So soon?" Jeff and Randy couldn't believe it. Vanessa put her hand on Jeff's shoulder

"Look guys, she loves you and I'm sure you guys love her, but you're going to have to let her go and tell her it's ok before she will." They sighed and nodded. Vanessa led them back to where they were the other three were seated. Randy motioned for Jessie to sit on his lap.

"Hey baby." Jessie frowned.

"Why are you crying, what's wrong?" Randy shook his head.

"I'm just sad is all." The wheels started turning in Jessie's head. Then she groaned.

"Troy's adopting me isn't he?" Randy nodded. Jessie shook her head.

"No." Randy took a deep breath.

"Jessie," he said almost in a whisper.

"No!" She screamed as she ran across the park. Randy broke down crying into his hands and John and Jeff tried to console him. Vanessa felt terrible watching the scene, but knew it had to be done. Troy watched cautiously not wanting to interfere.

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About twenty minutes later everyone was calm enough to speak finally. Randy had finally stopped crying and was staring at the floor. There was a sense of sadness lingering in the air. Finally Randy got up, slowly returning to his old self. "Ok guys, go get the chef to start making the pizza and I'm going to go get the kid." Jeff and John nodded while Vanessa followed. Troy stood there not really sure what to do. Randy noticed him still standing there. "Well?"

"Well what?" Troy said defensively. Randy smiled, he didn't back down, good he thought.

"Aren't you going to help with the pizza?" Troy shook his head.

"I want to help look for my daughter." Randy nodded with the pain evident in his eyes. They walked in silence for a long while until randy saw a bright red ball near the windmill of the mini golf course.

"Let me talk to her first and then I'll hand her over." Troy nodded.

"I'd really appreciate that." Randy nodded and turned to walk towards Jessie.

Jessie heard him coming and smiled, at least something never changed. The emotions that were deep inside of her were on the verge of spewing out. She wanted a daddy, but Randy was her brother…her only real family. She took a deep breath. "Hey kid," he said.

"Hi," she said weakly still tossing rocks into the make shift lake.

"We need to talk." Jessie turned around and peered up at Randy through her glasses. He knelt on his knee and grabbed her hand. "You love me right?" She nodded.

"You know I do."

"I love you too. That's why I'm going to let Troy take you home." Jessie shook her head.

"I am home. I live with you guys, you're my family." Randy's heart was throbbing in pain. He smiled through his hurt.

"I know Sweetie, but this is for the best. Troy will take real good care of you, and be your daddy. I know that you've always wanted a daddy." Jessie sighed, that was true.

"Why can't you be my daddy?" Randy sighed, she wasn't making this easy.

"I can't be your daddy because I'm your brother. No matter what I'll always be your brother, got it?" Jessie nodded.

"I'm scared, what if he's mean or doesn't like me." Randy smiled.

"He won't be, if he is I'll kill him."The pure venom in Randy's voice let Jessie know that he wasn't kidding.

"You promise everything will be ok?" He nodded.

"You can call me, video chat me, anything you want. It will be like you never left and we'll come see you too."

"Really?" Randy nodded.

"As much as we possibly can." She sighed.

"Ok, I'll try it, but if he's mean, I'm kicking him in the balls and catching a bus to St. Louis." Randy smiled, his little firecracker hadn't changed.

"I'm going to go get your pizza set up so you can talk to Troy, ok?" She nodded slowly. Randy walked away, boy did this hurt. He reached Troy and smiled. "I'll get the pizza." Was all he could muster. Troy nodded and admired him. This had to be painful. Slowly he walked towards the young girl in cargo shorts and a bright read T-Shirt.

"Hi," he said softly. She turned to look at him, he was easily taken by her beauty.

"Hey," she said shyly. Troy reached down to touch her face.

"You're very pretty."

"Thanks," she said with a small smile. Then quickly turned back into her hardened shell. "So you want to be my dad?" Troy nodded.

"If that's ok with you." Jessie squinted.

"Do you smoke?" Troy shook his head.

"Not in ten years." She smiled.

"You drink?"

"On occasion, a little glass of wine with dinner never hurt anybody."

"You have a dog?"

"No." Jessie scowled. "However, I am not against getting one." Jessie smiled slightly. She started walking around him as if to inspect him.

"Ok, hypochondriacally speaking," Troy's eyebrows furrowed.

"You mean hypothetically?" She scowled.

"That's what I said." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, hypothetically, speaking if I were to say not do my homework what would happen?" Troy smiled.

"I'd ground you for two days." Jessie nodded and continued to circle him.

"What about if I say, went to a friend's house with permission?" Troy started to chuckle, she was testing him.

"Well, I'd probably take away friend and TV privileges for a few days." Jessie's eyebrows furrowed, is he joking? He's had kids before she thought.

"What about if I stole some of your wine," she said with narrowed eyes. Troy's smile turned to a serious scowl, hoping to let her know that he was serious.

"Then I'd have to give you some hard labor chores and send you to your room for a while."

"What's hard labor?" Troy smiled.

"Raking leaves, cleaning gutters, pulling weeds, or anything else I can think of that isn't fun at all." Jessie stopped walking and stared at him.

"Are you serious?" Troy nodded, there was no need to beat around the bush.

"Yes, no child of mine will drink underage or steal for that matter." Jessie stopped and started pondering again.

"Do you have kids?" Troy shook his head.

"Just you if that's what you want." He was holding his breath. Jessie looked at him intently.

"I get to choose?" He nodded.

"Well yeah, I wouldn't want to force you into anything." Jessie smiled.

"Um, If I go with you will you let me call Randy?" Troy nodded seriously.

"Of course, he's your brother, I wouldn't want to mess with that." He knelt down on her level. "I don't want to replace what you have with Randy, I just want to be the father that you never had." Jessie nodded and looked at the ground. There was a brief silence.

"Do I have to call you Dad?" Troy took a deep breath and smiled.

"No, not if you don't want to, for now Troy will do." Jessie smiled.

"What's your last name?" Troy looked down at her and saw her smiling.

"Carrera." Jessie grabbed his hand.

"Jessie Carrera?" She paused causing Troy to again hold his breath. "I like that," she said.

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Randy was smiling at Jessie as he sat on the side of her bed while she read to him like they had done every night for the past year. They both sat with heavy hearts knowing that she and Troy were flying to West Virginia tomorrow. Neither one of them was paying attention to the story and finally Jessie threw the book across the room. Randy's eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong?" Jessie shook her head.

"I don't wanna go," she said in a whisper. He closed his eyes with frustration so the tears wouldn't come out.

"I don't want you to go either, Kid." He held her close. "You know that Troy will take good care of you. New things are scary, but remember me, Jeff, and John are only one call or one flight away. OK?" Jessie nodded.

" I'm going to miss you Randy." Randy looked at the sky.

"I'm not going to cry dangit Randy be strong!" Jessie smiled and shook her head.

"Still talking to yourself, eh?" Randy looked down at her and pulled her into a hug.

"Yeah, Kid."

Ok guys what'd you think? Reviews!