At about 2 o'clock Stacey had finished giving Jackson the tour and they were sitting in the living room talking, waiting for their daughter, Danielle, to get home from school.

"Shouldn't you go pick her up?" Jackson asked.

"Its not my day in car pool, her friends mom is picking up today, she'll be home around 2:30." Jackson nodded; he didn't think he'd be this nervous about seeing his daughter after a year. A dog barked out front and Jackson turned his head towards the window, which moved his collar just enough to reveal the still pink scar on his neck.

"What happened to your neck Jackson?" Stacey asked her voice concerned.

"I botched a job." He responded truthfully, Stacey was taken aback, Jackson was the best at what he did, he never screwed up, ever.

"How?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind, and it's nice of you to act like you care." He said again truthfully.

"We don't have to talk about it Jackson, but, just so you know, I would care if you died." Stacey said earnestly, Jackson smiled, one of the first true smiles she'd seen on him in a long time. At that moment both of their thoughts were interrupted by the shutting of a car door. Both Stacey and Jackson stood up, as Danielle opened the front door and came bursting in. She looked much older then Jackson remembered, her hair was pulled back in a pony tail, and she was wearing jeans and a sweater with puppies on it. She stopped short when she saw Jackson standing there.

"Daddy?" she asked uncertainly, looking towards Stacey.

"Yeah, hi Danny" Jackson said, using his pet name for her. She stared for a minute more, god she's got my eyes, Jackson thought to himself, as she ran towards him and he scooped her up into his arms. Stacey stood back watching it all, she couldn't deny that he was great with her, and she was defiantly her father's daughter. She was charming like him defiantly, and she also had his manipulative side, and generally got her way with her friends at school. She wasn't exactly sure if her being like Jackson was a good thing or not, but she was always so happy to see him.

"Daddy are you gonna live here now?"

"No sweetie, I'm sorry, but I'm only staying for the rest of today." Her face dropped slightly and Jackson was suddenly afraid she was going to cry.

"Do you wanna see my room?" She asked, recovering quickly.

"Sure" Jackson said with a sigh as she began to race up the stairs to her room, before Jackson could follow, Stacey whispered to him, "You can stay the night if you want…that is…if you have time." He smiled and followed his daughter up the stairs to her room.

The rest of the night past pleasantly, almost like they were a real family, Stacey thought to herself. Jackson played with Danielle, and helped her with her homework; they had dinner together, which passed uneventfully until Jackson got up to clear the table. Danielle had already gone upstairs to get ready for bed, and Stacey noticed the lump behind Jackson's back, under his coat.

"Please, Please tell me you don't have a gun in this house." She asked angrily. Jackson sighed and said,

"Stacey, I'm an assassin, I always have guns or knives, or something on me. You know this, if you remember correctly, I sleep with a gun under my pillow."

"I don't want it in the house."

"Well I can't take it off, so…"

"So, I guess you're leaving" she said finishing his sentence.

"What?"

"Go tuck her in, and then you're leaving."

"You said I could stay the night, I have no ride home, I didn't call a cab."

"I don't care, I'll call one for you right now, go tuck in your daughter, and say good bye cause you're leaving this house Jackson." He stalked angrily towards the stairs, but rather then head up them he grabbed Stacey, and forced a kiss on her. She'd known Jackson for a long time and he was fairly predictable to her at this point, but she defiantly didn't see this coming. She immediately tried to pull away, but he held her tight, after a moment she relaxed and ran her fingers through his hair, as she felt his hand on the back of her neck. With his hand on the back of her neck, he gently tipped her head back to further deepen the kiss. He stopped as abruptly as he began and walked upstairs to tuck in his daughter.

When Jackson had left the room Stacey sat down in one of the kitchen chairs, she needed to figure out what had just happened to her, why had she let him kiss her, she thought, well that was easy, you still love him she thought to herself. After about 10 minutes Jackson came back down the stairs.

"What was that Jackson?"

"I'm not sure, what did you want it to be?" Jackson responded quietly, Stacey stood in silence, not sure what she wanted from him.

"Look, my cabs here, I've got to go back to work. But I'm going to call you when I finish this job, because we defiantly need to talk, is that ok?"

"Yeah, that's fine Jackson."

"Good" he said. he walked over and gave her a hug and kiss goodbye, god he smells good, she thought to herself. And then just like that, as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone.