Derek P.O.V

We arrived home at 1:30 AM Sunday morning. Meredith and I had decided to get the kids a dog but we hadn't told them yet. Once we got home we put the kids in bed and all the luggage inside. We all went to our rooms and fell asleep.

Meredith and I woke up early on the last day of Brooke's Thanksgiving break and our last day off work. We began cooking omelets for the kids when Pay stumbled down the stairs in her little pajamas. "Morning Pay."

"Morning Daddy, Mommy. It smells good."

"We are making omelets. What all do you want in yours?"

"Cheese, ham, mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes."

"Sounds good." Brooke came down next and sat at her place at the breakfast table right next to Pay. Finally James came down and sat down. We put all the omelet on the kids' plates and sat down to eat breakfast. After breakfast Brooke and Pay wanted to color and James seemed tired so I put him down for his morning nap. Once James woke up we got the kids dressed and got ready to tell them the good news. We sat them all on the couch and I began to talk. "Well kiddos, I have some exciting news!"

Pay smiled "What is it? What is it?"

The kids all started bouncing up and down. "How would you all like a dog?"

They all yelled "Yeah!"

Meredith smiled "Well, we get to go pick one out right now."

"Really?" Pay asked about to burst with excitement.

"Really!" Meredith said. The kids all said thank you and ran to the car. Meredith and I locked up the car and headed to the pound. Once we got there, the lady asked us how she could assist us. I answered "We would like to adopt a dog."

"Of course. Right this way." She led us through and hallway and into a room with a lot of dogs in cages. At first, Pay and Brooke really wanted a Yorkie. The lady took it out but it kept barking so she put it back up. We saw a Jack Russell that seemed like a good dog until the lady informed us that th dog was pregnant. We looked at tons of dogs and finally found a chocolate lab. It was really sweet but at the same time calm. It played gently with all the kids and I knew this was the dog for us. We figured out the dog's name was Lucky. After signing the papers, we all got in the car with Lucky and headed to find the supplies we would need for her. Pay picked out a pink collar. All the kids found lots of toys for Lucky and we picked the right food. We took Lucky home and the kids started playing with her. They played fetch and chased her around the yard. We ate dinner and as soon as the kids were done they played with Lucky some more. At 8:30, we got all the kids baths and got them into bed. Lucky decided to sleep with Pay. Meredith and I got into bed and fell asleep.

Payton P.O.V

When I woke up, I put on some clothes and went downstairs where I found daddy and James on the couch waiting for me. "Morning Pay.""Morning daddy." I was really tired because I had another nightmare last night.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine." He looked at me with a look that meant he knew I wasn't but left it alone.

"So are you OK with hanging around the hospital until you go tour your future school?"

"Yeah." I forgot. Today was the day I got to tour my school. I smiled and daddy continued.

"You hungry?"

"A little bit."

"Want some cereal?"

I nodded and followed him into the kitchen. "Can I have cheerios?"

"Of course." He poured me a bowel of cheerios and a glass of milk. After I ate I got in Daddy's car and we left for the hospital. I sat in his office until he got paged. "OK, I've got to go stay her OK?"

I nodded but I knew I wasn't staying here. I waited for him to leave and decided to go exploring. I got on the elevator and hit the 5 button. It was a really colorful hallway with lots of kids. I walked around and noticed one girl alone crying. I went in her room. "Hey. What's wrong?"

She sniffled. "My mommy had to go to work but today is my surgery."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well I'm Pay."

"Hi. I'm Halley."

"What kind of surgery do you have to get?"

"I have a tumor in my tummy."

"Oh. I had a tumor in my brain but my daddy and Aunt Amy oh and Aunt Arizona operated and got it out."

"Your daddy's a doctor?"

"Yeah. My whole family is."

"That's pretty cool."

"Yeah."

"What happened to your arm."

I looked down simply because I honestly forget I have this cast on. I looked at the purple and green thing signed by all my family in New York and in Seattle. "Oh, I slipped on my trampoline and broke it. You want to sign it?"

"Yeah." I pulled the sharpie out of my pocket and she wrote in pretty letters Halley.

"Who's your doctor?"

"Dr. Arizona."

"Oh, my Aunt Arizona is awesome. She'll fix you so don't worry."

"She's your aunt?"

"Yeah and she's really nice."

"That's so cool."

"So, do you wanna play or something?"

"What can we play?"

"Hmm, we could color."

"Yeah." I got some coloring sheets off the table in her room and some crayons. We sat and colored pictures of princesses and dragons. I saw Aunt Arizona and she smiled at me. She walked in the room.

"Pay, I didn't know you were here."

"Yeah, I came to work with daddy. I met Halley."

"Well, I love that you two are having fun but it's time for Halley's surgery."

"Oh, OK. Bye Halley, good luck."

She smiled "Bye Pay."

I skipped out of the room. I got on the elevator and hit the 6 button. I got off at the not so colorful floor and saw a sign that said PLASTICS. I started wondering around. I was stopped by a friendly looking woman in greenish scrubs. "Hey sweetie, are you lost?"

"No mam. I'm at work with my mommy and daddy. Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Shepherd."

"Oh, so you're Pay. I've heard loads about you. I'm Lena."

I thought about that for a minute. Lean seemed really familiar. I then remembered why now. On Thanksgiving I remember Uncle Mark saying that Lena was the most annoying b word nurse he ever had to work with. "Oh, Lena. Uncle Marks says…" I tried to continue but I was picked up and felt a hand go over my mouth.

"Sorry about that Lena." Uncle Mark said.

"She's a doll."

"Thank you." He carried me back on the elevator before uncovering my mouth. "Pumpkin, what are you doing wondering around here?"

"I got bored in daddy's office so here I am."

He laughed. "Let's go get you something entertaining set up."

"OK, oh and Uncle Mark. Why wouldn't you let me tell Lena you called her an annoying bitch?"

He looked at me surprised. "You heard that?"

"Yeah."

"You know that's a bad word right? I shouldn't have said it."

"I know, but what does it mean."

"It's just a mean name for a girl. It really means a female dog."

Some more people got on the elevator. "COOL I'M GONNA GO HOME AND CALL LUCKY A BITCH!" The people all looked at me and either looked shocked or amused.

Uncle Mark was trying to hide his smile but I saw it. "No, unless you want your daddy to kill me you shouldn't do that."

"Oh OK. Uncle Mark, I'm hungry." He hit another button. We got off the elevator and walked to the cafeteria. I held his hand and as we walked through the line I spotted some chocolate cake. I jumped up and down. "UNCLE MARK! PLEASE I WANT CHOCOLATE CAKE! PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEAAASSEE!" Aunt Callie showed up behind us.

"Mark, if you give her chocolate cake on the same day you taught her a bad word Derek WILL kill you."

He turned around "You heard about that? Already?"

"Dr. Nelson told me."

"Don't tell Derek, oh please don't tell Derek."

She laughed "I won't. Pay, let's go sit while Uncle Mark gets you some food."

"OK." I took her hand and we sat down. "Aunt Callie?"

"Hmm?"

"If bitch means a female dog, why can't I call Lucky that."

She sighed. "Well, that's what bitch used to mean. Now it's just a really mean name and you wouldn't want to be mean to Lucky would you?"

"No. Why did Uncle Mark call Lena that then. Saying mean things are bad."

"I don't know. You should tell Mark that saying mean things is bad."

Uncle Mark sat by me. I looked in his eyes very seriously. "Uncle Mark, you said something mean to Lena. You need to tell her your sorry."

Uncle Jackson sat down at the table and laughed "Yeah Mark. You need to apologize."

"Shut up Avery."

"HEY! SHUT UP IS A MEAN WORD!"

Uncle Alex sat down laughing now too. "Yeah Mark, now you have to apologize to Avery."

"Yeah Uncle Mark. Say you're sorry."

"OK Pumpkin if you insist. I'm so sorry Jackson for telling you to shut up."

"I forgive you."

I grinned. "You have to hug or it doesn't count!"

They sighed and gave each other hugs. "Happy now?" Uncle Mark asked.

"Very."

"Good. Now eat your sandwich so we can go and entertain you."

"OK." I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drank my milk.

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah. Bye Uncle Jackson, Aunt Callie, and Uncle Alex."

They smiled and all said "Bye Pay."

Uncle Mark and I walked to daddy's office. He put The Little Mermaid on daddy's computer and I sat in his lap and watched until daddy showed up. "You ready to go tour your school?"

"Yeah."

We walked holding hands to the car where mommy was already waiting. Mommy got in her car and daddy put me in his. We drove for a while and eventually we pulled up in front of the school. I first saw a black iron gate. The words said "Building Brighter Minds" We drove through the gates and I saw kids playing in the snow. I then saw some older kids that looked like my New York Cousins running all wearing red sweat pants and grey shirts. Once we parked daddy helped me out of the car. I held daddy and mommy's hands. We walked through the big wooden doors of the castle looking building they called a school. There was a smiling woman with a clip board in her hand. "Hello Dr. and Dr. Shepherd. You must be Payton. Brooke, Sophia, and Lisa have told me all about you."

"You know my sister and cousins?"

"Yes. I'm Mrs. Norvel, I'm the elementary school principle."

I shook her hand. "I'm Payton, but you can call me Pay."

"Well Pay, let's get this tour started." I looked up at my parents who smiled and nodded in approval. I followed Mrs. Norval. She stopped at the first door. "Well, this is one of our kindergarten class rooms." She opened the door and I saw a lot of little kids playing with blocks and dollies. She continued. "This whole hall, that consists of 4 classrooms, a rest room for naptime, and the playroom which you just saw, is all the kindergarten." She walked a little bit more. "This is the first grade hallway. There are 5 classrooms, a music room, rest room, play room, and an art room." She opened the door and I saw lots of kids painting. I smiled. I was going to like this place. She walked to another hallway. "And this, this is the second grade hallway. This is where you will be most of the time. Since you will be here everyday, I'm going to show you every room OK?" I nodded. She opened the first door. "This is Mrs. Lang's class. She teaches English, reading, and writing." A bunch of kids were sitting around the room all reading books. She opened the second door. "This is Mr. Brewers. He teaches science." There were a lot of kids all looking through text books while the teacher was talking about the bones of the body. She opened the third door. "This is Mrs. Smith. She teaches math." There were lots of kids playing some sort of game. I saw Sophia and Lisa both in the circle, but they were facing away from me. She opened the fourth door. "This is Mr. Barnes, he teaches history." There were lots of kids talking about something, I guess history related. The fifth door she opened was my favorite. "This is the play room." It was a room full of toys and a slide. The sixth room she opened topped the play room even. "This is the art room." There were tons of markers, crayons, colored pencils, paints, and clay. It looked like my dream classroom. Mrs. Norvel began talking again. "In second grade, you start switching classes for subjects. You also have something called home room. You start out your day in homeroom which will either be Mr. Barnes, Mr. Brewers, Mrs. Smith, or Mrs. Lang. In homeroom, you do things like go to the playroom, or go to the art room. Next you have whatever subject your homeroom teacher teaches, then second period, first recess, third period, lunch, second recess, fourth period, and then you have either Spanish, French, German, or Russian, depending on what you choose. After that you have gym. You end your day back in homeroom where you rest, and then your parents pick you up or you go to after care which is on the playground or inside somewhere depending on the weather. Shall we continue?" I nodded again. We walked to an office. "This is the elementary school office." We walked inside and I saw a woman behind a desk smile at me.

"Hi, I'm Ms. Linda, the secretary."

"Hi, I'm Pay. It's nice to meet you."

"As it is you."

Mrs. Norvel pointed to a door. "That's my office." We followed her out of the office and across the hall. She opened the door and there was a woman putting a band aid on a little boy's knee. "This is the elementary school nurse, Nurse Becky." We walked out of the nurse's office. The next room was a big room with lots of tables. "This is the elementary school cafeteria." The room next to it was a library with lots of bookshelves. "As you can guess this is the library. This part of it is for the kindergarten through 2nd graders, up those steps is for the 3rd through 5th graders." We walked out of the library and to the next set of rooms. "These are the third grade classrooms." She opened one door. "This is the computer lab." There were lots of computers all on desks that were lined along three of the walls. We walked to the fourth grade part of the school "These rooms are for the fourth grade rooms." She headed to the next part. "And this, this is the fifth grade hallway." We continued walking. She lead us up a flight of stairs. These are the language classrooms the French door is red, the Spanish door is yellow, the German door is blue, and the Russian door is green. And this is the gym for kindergarten through second grade." It was a big open room with a basketball court, two soccer goals set up, and a lot of other sports equipment. She pointed across the hall. "That's the 3rd through fifth grade gym." We followed her back downstairs. We walked outside this time. It was a HUGE playground! There were lots of bikes, a play set, a swing set, a field set up for kickball, a soccer goal, a jungle gym, and lots of other fun stuff. We walked back inside and out another door. Mrs. Norvel pointed to another building. "That's the middle school and the building right beside it is the middle school gym." She pointed at a more distant building. "That's the high school. The building to the right of it is the Girls' gym and the building to the left of it is the Boys' gym." She walked to another building and opened the door. "This is the main auditorium. This is where concerts, plays, and school wide assemblies are held." It was a big thing that looked like a movie theater. We walked out of the building and behind the high school. There were lots of fields. She pointed to the football field. "That is where football games are, the practice field is behind it but you can't see it from here, next to it is the practice field for soccer, and the practice fields for baseball and softball." She pointed to the soccer field. "That's the soccer game field, beside it you see the baseball game field and softball game field. The lacrosse field is way over there right beside the tennis courts and golf course. There is also an indoor pool for the swim team, water polo team, and dive team. The gym for the cheer team and gymnastics team is right beside it." We walked back in the elementary school and into Mrs. Norvel's office. "So Pay, what do you think?"

"It's big."

She laughed "You'll get used to it soon. So are you ready to take your test?"

I nodded. "OK, well I'm going to have you sit with Ms. Alison, our guidance counselor to take it. If you'll just follow me." I followed her out of the room after telling my mommy and daddy goodbye. We walked into a room where a woman with red hair was sitting at a desk in a spinny chair smiling at me. "Hello, you must be Pay. I'm Ms. Alison. Are you ready to take the test?"

"Yes mam."

"OK, well have a seat at the table." I sat down and she placed a packet in front of me. I opened it. "Ask me if you need any help." I smiled.

"Thank you." I looked at the first section, math. The first question was 33-19. That was easy. 14 duh, the rest of the test was just as easy. When I finished Ms. Alison took me back to my parents.

"Hey sweetie." Daddy said with a big smile.

"Hey daddy, mommy."

Mommy smiled "Are you ready to go home?"

"Yeah."

Daddy asked Mrs. Norvel "Can we go ahead and pick up Lisa, Sophia, Drew, Addison, Tuck, Nicole, and Brooke?"

"Of course. I'll call for them." She picked up her phone and about 10 minutes later all seven of them walked in the office walked into the office.

Sophia and Lisa squealed and gave me a hug. I giggled. Mommy smiled "We are taking you all to your parents. Does everyone have everything they need?" Everyone nodded. "Well let's go then."

We all got into the various cars and drove back to the hospital. Once everyone was with their own parents mom and dad took Brooke, James, and me home. Once we got there mommy started cooking dinner and daddy asked Brooke, James, and me if we wanted to start decorating the house for Christmas. We all eagerly agreed. Daddy pulled box after box out of the attic and into the living room. Lucky was being silly and barking at the box labeled 'Outdoor Decorations'. I giggled and went to pet her. She wagged her tail and licked my face. "Stop it Lucky." I laughed and she licked me more. I giggled. Daddy handed me six stockings.

"Here, how about you hang up the stockings."

"Daddy, why are there six?"

He laughed "Well Lucky needs one too doesn't he?"

I giggled even more. "Of course."

I put the six stockings on the mantle. When I turned around I saw Brooke putting Christmas pillows on the couch and James playing with Lucky. Daddy was setting up the tree. Once he had it up we ran to the box with the decorations and helped him decorate. Once the tree was decorated except for the star that is, mommy said dinner was ready. Once we sat down I asked daddy about the star. "What about the star?"

He smiled "Well, we always celebrate Christmas with the family in Seattle on December 17th, the day before we leave for New York. That's when we put the star on the tree."

"Oh OK." We all ate dinner and then went back to decorating the house. Once everything was done we took our baths and went to bed.

THE NEXT MORNING (still Payton P.O.V)

When I woke up the next morning I looked at the clock and saw it was only 5:30 AM. I had another nightmare last night but I never tell mommy or daddy about them because I don't want them to blame themselves. I thought about how I got to be a Shepherd finally. Then I thought about something. Daddy said that he was my dad but he never said anything about my mom. I decided I would ask him about it when he drove me to wherever I was going today. As if he could read my mind he walked in my room. "Pay time to… Oh you're up early."

"Yeah, I guess I slept late yesterday so I didn't today."

"You should get dressed. Your Aunt Teddy has the day off and wants to spend it with you."

"OK." Daddy left so I could get dressed. I put on some blue jeans and a purple sweater. I walked down stairs where daddy was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper.

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's go."

I got in the car. "Pay is something bothering you sweetie?"

"Actually I have a few questions."

"What are they?"

"You're my biowhatever dad right?"

"Yeah, I'm your biological father."

"But mommy's not my biological mother?"

"No, she's not."

"Who is my biological mother then?"

"Her name was Addison. She and I were married but got divorced."

"Wait, what do you mean was?"

"Sweetie, she died a few years ago in a car accident."

"Oh."

"Are you OK with all of this?"

"Mommy is my mommy, not Addison."

"But you're not sad?"

I was, I didn't know why I was sad but I was. "No, I'm fine."

"OK, good. Why did you want to know?"

"I was just curious."

"OK.'

I started thinking more about my life. All my life people had hurt me. All my life I always thought my mommy and daddy would rescue me. My daddy did and I guess my mommy did to. Not my biological mother but my mommy. I then started to wonder why I was upset that my biological mother was dead. I thought about how I never really had a Thanksgiving or Christmas or even a birthday. I thought about how my mommy and daddy had given me a Thanksgiving and were currently giving me the best Christmas ever. Mommy was my real mommy. Addison just gave birth to me. "Pay? We're here."

I looked and realized we were at Aunt Teddy's house. I hopped out of the car and daddy walked with me to the door where we knocked and Aunt Teddy opened almost immediately. "Hey Pay, Derek. Pay there's some breakfast in the kitchen, help yourself to whatever you would like."

I walked to the kitchen where I helped myself to a waffle that I put strawberries, blueberries, and syrup on. Aunt Teddy walked in while I was still eating. "So Pay, what's bothering you. Don't say nothing because I can tell."

"It's nothing really…" She gave me a little mom glare "OK, fine. I asked daddy about my biological mom and he told me she was dead and I don't know why it makes me sad."

"You know you can be upset right?"

"But why am I upset?"

"Even though you never knew her, she still gave birth to you."

"But she shouldn't mean anything to me. Mommy is my mommy not her."

"Sweetie, it's perfectly fine for you to feel upset. In fact I would be worried if you weren't upset about it."

"Yeah, but I don't want to be upset. I wish I had never asked daddy in the first place."

"Well, you would have asked eventually, it's probably better that you know now."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, I have a fun day planned for us. You remember the shopping trip I promised?"

"Yeah." I got excited. I knew what was coming next.

"How about today?"

"YES! YES! THANK YOU!"

She smiled. "Want to go to the outlet mall?"

"I've never been there before."

"You'll love it."

"OK, then yes I totally want to go."

"Alright well let me clean up the kitchen and we can go OK?"

"OK. Can I help?"

"Of course if you want to."

I helped put the leftovers in the fridge and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Once the kitchen was clean we got in Aunt Teddy's car and drove to the mall. We went to the Polo store, the coach store, the Nike store, the Toy store, and the Gap store. After buying some stuff we ate lunch and Aunt Teddy asked if I wanted to see a movie. I agreed and we went to the theater and saw The Polar Express in 3D. It was super cool and it was my new favorite movie. After that we stopped by my house to drop off my stuff and Lucky jumped up on me and wagged his tail. I giggled. "Get down Lucky." He jumped down and chased his tail. I giggled. After that Aunt Teddy said it was time to go pick up Lisa. At the school mommy was there with James to pick up Brooke so I just went home with her from there after thanking Aunt Teddy and saying bye to Lisa. We got home and Brooke and I played goldfish until dinner. At dinner mommy said daddy was on call but would be back tomorrow and would be off so he would stay with me. I sighed and went to take my bath. I put away my new stuff and went to bed.

I began dreaming. I was with George and Lucy. My most abusive foster parents. George was beating me and I was screaming for help. A red head woman showed up and grabbed me from George. George yelled at the woman "ADDISON WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Addison, as in my mother? She ran with me and put her in her car. She began to drive off but George followed us and crashed into the car. Mommy wasn't moving. George was holding a gun to her head. "NO PLEASE DON'T KILL MOMMY!" I begged George. He grabbed me and threw me on the ground. He shot my mom. "NO GEORGE! WHY'D YOU KILL HER? NO! MOMMY PLEASE DON'T DIE!" George kicked me over and over again. "LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU'RE HURTING ME! GEROGE NO! STOP YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

Meredith P.O.V

I was in my bed researching new surgical techniques when I thought I heard a scream. I blew it off thinking I was hearing things. I heard Lucky start barking and then closed my laptop to listen. "LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU'RE HURTING ME! GEORGE NO! STOP YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

I shoved my laptop to the other side of the bed and ran to Pay's room. I shook her desperately trying to wake her up. "Pay, it's a dream. Your dreaming. Pleas wake up baby girl. Sweetie, your dreaming." She finally woke up. I tried to give her a hug but she moved away.

"NO DON'T TOUCH ME! I WANT DADDY!"

I sighed "Pay, he's at work."

"NO I WANT DADDY!" She was crying even more.

"Pay, sweetie calm down."

"NO I WANT DADDY! PLEASE I NEED DADDY!" I didn't know what else to do so I called Mark. He had something special with Pay that I couldn't understand, but that didn't matter. I just needed to get Pay calmed down.

"Hello, Mere? It's midnight. Is everything OK?"

"No, Mark listen, Pay had a nightmare, a pretty bad one and she won't talk to me or let me touch her. She just wants Derek. Can you come try and calm her down. Nothing I'm doing is helping."

"Sure, I'm on my way."

30 minutes later Mark showed up. "Where is she?"

"In her room."

Payton P.O.V

Uncle Mark walked in my room. "Pumpkin, what's wrong?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE! I WANT MY DADDY!"

"Baby, he's at work. Talk to me. Please Pay."

"NO I WANT DADDY!" I started crying even harder to the point where I could barely breathe.

"Ok, I'll take you to him." I sniffled. Uncle Mark picked me up. "Let's go."

He put me in his car. After the long drive to the hospital he got me out and carried me in. "Where's daddy?"

"We're going to go find him OK?"

"OK." He carried me through the hospital and bumped into Aunt Arizona.

"Arizona, have you seen Derek? It's kind of important?"

"He just got done in the pit. It was a quick consult."

Uncle Mark carried me down to the pit where we finally saw daddy. "Daddy!" He took me from Uncle Mark and I cried into his chest.

"Shh, baby what's wrong?"

"George, he killed her."

"Sweetie, what."

"George killed Addison."

"Who is George?"

"He would beat me. He was really mean. He killed Addison."

"Baby, it was just a bad dream."

"But it was so real."

"I know, baby. It's OK. I've got you." He carried me to his office and sat on the couch holding me. I stopped crying a little bit. "Pay, baby, please tell me what's wrong."

I sniffled a little bit. "George, he was on of my foster dads."

"OK, why do you think he killed Addison?"

"He did in my dream. He was hurting me and she came to save me. She tried to drive me away but George wrecked into us on purpose and then hurt me worse that he had. He killed her." I started crying again.

"Shh, baby, it's OK. Your OK now. It was just a dream, it's over. I've got you."

"I was so mean to mommy when she tried to wake me up."

"It's OK. She understands. Everything's OK."

"I want these dreams to stop."

"Have you been having nightmares?" I nodded. "Oh baby, why didn't you say anything?"

"I thought you would…"

"You thought we would what?"

"I thought you would send me back."

He turned me and looked in my eyes. "Look at me Pay and listen. Your mommy and I love you. We love you just as much as we love Brooke and James. You are our girl. You are my girl. You aren't going anywhere. We love you more than you could ever know. We will NEVER EVER send you back. Baby, you're not going anywhere."

I looked at him. "Really."

"Of course."

He held me there in his arms rubbing my back. "Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you." I then closed my eyes so I could go to sleep.