"I'm just saying, Becky, she runs faster than a cheetah on speed." The blonde looked over his shoulder to see Vanessa still sleeping on the couch, just to make sure she was there. He was leaning against the wall, one arm bracing him in place, the other hooked in the telephone receiver while he talked to his wife. "And one of these days, I'm going to be able to actually keep up with her. Then she won't know what to do."

"Jean," There it was. That patented mother sigh. She'd learned it with him and only dragged it over into her parenting years. "She fell one time, that doesn't mean she's clumsy. If she fell every day I'd worry. Did you at least clean up the wound?"

"Nah, I let it get infected. She's got maggots and shit in it now," He smirked and chuckled. "I'm kidding, Becky. Come on, what kind of parent do you think I am? I've been doing this for three years now, I think I can handle pretty much anything."

"Yeah, you say that now. Wait until she starts dating. Then suddenly you can't handle anything." Becky snickered a moment, putting a hand over the line to muffle the conversation at the office. She could barely make out him tapping irritated against the wall. "Sorry, they asked if I filed my reports yet. How lazy do they think I am?"

"About as lazy as you think I am?" His gaze landed on the couch again where he noticed Vanessa wasn't there. "Hold on, Nessa's on the move. Where'd she go?"

Crawling across the floor with a camouflage blanket over her shoulders, Vanessa was oozing her way into the kitchen like a slug. She inched along, satisfied that he was playing along with her ability to hide. Her muffled giggles carried from under the blanket.

"Becky, I don't mean to alarm you, but I think Vanessa has turned invisible. It's the weirdest thing. One minute she was sitting there, the next she vanished." He moved from the wall to tap the oozing blanket on the floor with his bare foot, shaking his head. "And we have a beautiful camouflage rug now. Well, looks like we can give away all of Vanessa's toys. I don't think she's coming back...hope she has a good life wherever she vanished off to."

"Hm," Becky seemed unimpressed. "Wasn't her birthday coming up soon?"

"That's right, her birthday is in a month. Oh well, we can donate all of her toys. She won't need them." He sniffled a bit and pretended to be sad. "I'll miss my baby. I won't have anyone to entertain me while you're at work now. Goodbye, wrench hander-er."

"Daddy!" Vanessa shouted, sitting up and throwing the blanket to the side. She squealed and moved quickly to cling to his leg, her arms wrapping tightly around him. "Don't give away my dolls! I'll stay and be your wrench person! I promise!"

He pretended to sniffle again, just before a mock excitement crossed his features. "Vanessa! Where did you come from!? I thought you ran away!" He put the phone between his cheek and shoulder, then reached down and snagged Vanessa into his arms, nuzzling her cheek with his beard. "She came home, Becky, call off the search. She's alive."

"I wanna talk to mama." Nessa demanded, her hands reaching out for the phone. "Let me talk to mama."

"Let me talk to mama please." He corrected, offering the phone to her. "Be nice and don't yell, mama's got a headache."

"Yeah, and it's named Jean." Becky commented sarcastically.

Vanessa blinked a few times and looked to her father, both locking blue eyes for a long time. "Who is Jean?" Vanessa inquired finally, her voice tiny now. "Is that the frog outside?"

"I'm Jean." The blonde remarked, pointing at his chest. "And you're Vanessa, and that's Becky."

"No. That's a phone, and you're daddy." The little girl rationed, blinking in confusion. "You are Daddy, right?"

"Well, I mean, the last time I checked…" He blinked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "But my name is Jean. And Mama's name is Becky. Nana and Papap don't call me daddy, you know."

Vanessa gasped, her blue eyes suddenly very wide. He knew that look, she was about to cry. "But who are you!? I don't even know you anymore!"

"I-" Snagging the phone from Vanessa, he set his daughter down and watched her run off into the other room in tears. "I'll call you back. Looks like we've got a crisis. Love you, babe." After hanging up, he ran after Vanessa, finding her hiding in the closet. A trait she invariably picked up from her mother. "Vanessa Mae...come out here and talk to me please. That closet is way too small for both of us."

"No."

No? Did his daughter just tell him no? He huffed and sat back on his knees, thinking. "Fine, I'll leave you alone." Cookies! Vanessa had a weakness for cookies. Sure, Becky would kill him for it later, but it would lure her out of hiding. He was only gone for a few minutes, but when he came back, Vanessa wasn't in the closet. Shit. Hearing the slamming screen door he was on his feet and chasing after her. "Vanessa!" Becky's going to kill me.

The child found the first person on the street that would listen, hastily telling them that she didn't know the man following her and she wanted her daddy. She was in tears, really selling the story. He found her like this, the woman looking at him with a horrified expression. "That's the guy!" Vanessa screamed.

"I swear on everything that's holy, I'm grounding you until next summer." He huffed, his palms against his knees to catch his breath. "Stop. Running. Away."

"That's not my daddy, that's Jean!" Vanessa screamed, now clinging to the strange woman's legs.

He growled something under his breath and stood up tall now. "Yeah, Jean. Jean Havoc. Your father. Come home, please, before your mother kills me."

The woman knelt down beside her and smiled gently. "What's your name, princess?"

Vanessa looked up with wide azure eyes, looking to her father. "Vanessa Mae Havoc."

"So he's your daddy," The woman commented, ruffling Vanessa's hair. "Mommies and daddies have names. Their parents give them their names, just like your parents gave you the name Vanessa. Then their kids give them a new name. You didn't think your mother called him Daddy while they were dating, did you?"

The child squirmed now, backing away from both of the adults, her hands tugging at the hem of her shirt. "You're one of them! You're all aliens!"

"Honey-"

Jean sighed and knelt down behind her, wrapping his arms around her small body to hold her close. "Listen to me, Vanessa Mae. You know how mama's in the military and she's a Lieutenant?"

"Yeah…"

"And you know how everyone calls her Lieutenant?"

Vanessa nodded. "Uh huh. Oh...so it's a rank? Like mama's?"

The woman wandered off while they spoke, while he tried to rationalize in his daughter's small mind what was happening. "More of a title. Your name isn't Princess, but we call you that because you are to us. Just like Nana's name isn't Nana, but we call her that so you can pronounce it easier. Do you understand now?"

The little girl nodded again and turned into his arms, burying her head against his chest. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't ever do that again, Vanessa. Do you understand me? Someone will believe you and I'll go to prison. I'll never see you again. Is that what you want?"

She shook her head no, wiping her tears away. "I don't want you to leave."

Brushing her hair back, he kissed her forehead and hoisted her up into his arms. "Come on. Let's go home before mama calls in the cavalry to find us." He snickered at the idea, holding his child close. The story he'd have to tell her mother would be priceless. And they'd have a long talk about strangers and awareness. Maybe they taught her too well about strangers. "Hey, Vanessa?" The little girl looked at him with those same blue eyes, so much like his own. "I love you, baby girl. Even if you try to kill me every other day."

"I love you too, Daddy. And I'm sorry."