"Uh oh!" I dug once more through the back of the fridge and closed the door in defeat.

"What oh?" Pie looked up from her coloring page at the kitchen table.

"We are out of eggs. We're going to need to go over to the store real quick and get some so that we can make the cookies."

"Awww man!" Pie put her crayon down and shook her head. "Daddy is gonna be in trouble because he didn't get the eggs."

I held back my laughter and just smiled.

"I don't think Daddy did it on purpose. We'll just get dressed real quick and run over to the store, maybe we can grab some hot cocoa mix too, looks like you're low."

"With marshmallows?" She asked eagerly.

"You got it!"

"Yeh!" Pie jumped from her chair and tore off through the house to get her clothes on.

"Careful!" I called out at her retreating back.

I finished my cup of tea and pulled an old striped sweater on with my jeans and tied a dirty pair of sneakers onto my feet.

Standing next to Pie while she brushed her teeth, I brushed out my hair and decided to leave it loose and just wear my old beanie hat.

"You ready for me to brush your hair?"

"Yup!" Pie beamed at me in the mirror.

"Anything special today?" I pulled the brush carefully through her soft hair, smiling at her choice of the outrageous tutu skirt and pink sweater she was wearing.

"I don't know."

"Alright, how about I braid it and put a little ribbon on the end?"

"Yes." She smiled again and I began a quick French braid, "Lean this way real quick." Pie and I moved together, her giggling, while I dug through my small makeup case for a tiny rubber band and ribbon.

After getting the braid wrapped with the band and a pink polkadot ribbon, Pie twisted around and round to see it in the mirror.

"I love it, Bella. It's like a princess."

"I'm glad you like it so much. I'm more than happy to do it any time." I put her brush back in the cabinet, "You ready to rock and roll outta here?"

"I need shoes. Hang on."

"I'll meet you in the living room, I need to get my purse."

"Okayyyyyyy!" Pie's sing-song voice rang out.

A short while later I heard a strange clomping noise coming from the hall and looked up in time to see Pie wobbling her way toward me in pink sparkle plastic shoes.

"Woooowooo, Piper. You look beautiful." I fished in my bag for my phone. "Let's get a photo for Daddy."

"Okay." Pie cocked a hip and threw her hands in the air with a giant smile and I couldn't help but melt a little. I sent the photo to Edward not really sure when he would see it, but knowing he'd absolutely be over the moon.

"Are you going to be okay walking in the store with those fancy shoes?" I was just a tad worried about her slipping on the linoleum floors.

"Welllllll..." Piper thought for a minute, "Maybe I will change to my orange shoes."

"That sounds like a good idea. When we get back home, we can put your pretty shoes back on, sound good?"

"Yup!"

.~.~.

"Which one should we get?" I lifted Piper to examine all of the different boxes of hot cocoa mixes.

"Hmmmm." Her eyes ran over each package carefully. "I think, mayyyyyybeeeee, ummmm..."

I laughed, "Are you having a hard time picking?"

"Yes. There's so many!"

"Okay, well, how about this; you said you wanted marshmallow cocoa, these are the two with marshmallows, looks like one has colorful marshmallows. That's kinda cool."

"Oh yeh, that is really cool!"

"So is that the one you want?"

"Yes, please."

"You got it." I set her back down on her feet and dropped the box into our basket. "Now we need eggs."

Pie tore off down the aisle toward the eggs; I barely caught her arm before she ran into another lady at the dairy case.

"I am so sorry." I apologize for Piper.

The woman looked about my age, dark hair and a generous smile.

"Don't even worry about it." She smiled down at Piper and I was surprised when Pie shied away and hid behind my leg. "Your daughter is so cute."

"Oh, she's not mine, but thank you, I think she's pretty awesome too." I placed my hand on Piper's head behind me to let her know she was okay. She had wrapped both of her arms around my thigh and I could feel her peeking around. I'd never seen or heard of her behaving so cautiously.

"Well, we should get going, we have cookies to bake."

"Have a lovely afternoon." The woman chimed as I grabbed a carton of eggs, Pie pushing at my leg the whole time.

"Thanks, you too." I waved and allowed Piper to direct us toward a checkout lane.

Before we entered the lane I dropped to my knees and looked Piper in the eye.

"What's up, kiddo? You okay?"

"Yeh, I just got scared."

"Why? I would never let anything happen to you. I promise."

"I dunno. I just did."

"Well, you let me know if there's anything I can do to help you feel better." At the invitation, Pie flung herself into me, her arms wrapping tight at my neck and I hugged her back, holding her steady in my arms.

Leaving Piper in a few weeks was going to be the hardest thing in the world.

.~.~.

Piper squealed in delight as she helped to move the hand mixer through the sugar cookie dough. We had found an old apron for her to wear, the front read, "King of the Kitchen", and had a skull with crossbones made out of two spatulas.

Just as we were getting ready to turn the mixer off, my phone beeped in my pocket and without thinking, I let go of Piper's hand that held the mixer and cookie dough flew through the air splattering our faces, the counter, cupboards and floor.

"Oh my gosh!" I laughed and grabbed for the cord pulling it from the socket. The beaters came to a halt and I looked over at Pie who was licking her hands and grinning.

"Best cookies ever."

"Well, at least we know we did a good job making the dough." I laughed again as a blop of dough dripped off the cupboard and Pie scrambled to swipe it up with her fingers.

"We have a mess."

"Yes we do." I agreed, "But! It's a delicious mess and there's still plenty in the bowl for us to get them into the oven."

"Daddy maked a mess once, more than one time, but he maked a mess with cake dough one time. It was a big mess." Pie nodded solemnly as her gaze tracked the splatters of cookie, "This is not so big like that one."

"Well, I am going to try to get this mess cleaned up fast so we can work on getting the rest into the oven. Let's get you situated at the table."

I wiped her hands up, picked a chunk of dough from her hair and then sat Piper up with crayons and coloring paper at the table while I cleaned the rest of the mess.

Half an hour later we both sat at the table eating warm sugar cookies and drinking milk.

"Well, this was worth the mess, don't you think?"

"Iss so good." Piper said between bites before yawning.

"Hey, wanna watch a movie when we're done?" If I could talk her into a movie, she might just take a little nap, which she no doubt needed. We'd been going nonstop for two days.

"Capin' America?"

"Sure thang, Miss Piper Elliott."

We snuggled in on the couch with pillows and blankets and Piper was out in the first ten minutes of the movie, I think I made it about twenty minutes before my eyes drooped shut.

xEx

I'd sent Bella a message before I left Seattle, but hadn't heard back from her figuring she was busy with Pie. Judging by the photo she'd sent, I would have guessed they were having a good time so I wasn't too worried.

I pulled into the garage and shut the bike off, removed my helmet and shrugged the large backpack off and onto the ground. My shoulders were a little stiff from the long ride, but I was happy to be home and ready to have my Piper back. Seeing Bella was an added bonus.

I grabbed up my bag and entered the house through the garage, everything was silent and then I heard an explosion from the living room.

"Captain America." I grinned at the sounds of Piper's new favorite choice in movie.

Leaving the backpack on the kitchen table, I sauntered into the living room and stopped short at the sight of Pie and Bella snuggled together and passed out under an old knitted blanket my grandma had made for me when I was a kid. With my heart hammering and melting at the same time, I sat quietly in the recliner across the room and took my boots and jacket off. For the first time ever things felt perfect. I'd never brought a woman home. I'd never wanted to and I never wanted Piper to get close to a woman, but I wanted this and I was willing to fight for it. Now I just needed to convince Bella that I was all in.

.~.~.

"Knock knock!" A small fist tapped on my head.

"Who's there?" I asked without opening my eyes.

"It's me Piper!" She was whispering into my ear causing me to laugh.

"Hello, Piper." I opened my eyes and she grinned down at me.

"I was sleeping and I didn't knowed you were home and I waked up and here you are and I missed you, Daddy so much." She pressed her cheek into my chest as I wrapped my arms around her small frame.

"I missed you so much too, Punky."

We sat quietly, holding each other, enjoying our silent company. I looked quickly over Piper's head and saw that Bella was stirring on the couch. Her long hair wrapped around her neck and I watched with avid appreciation as she stretched out, her back arching off the couch.

She patted around for a moment and then sat straight up.

"Pie?" I watched her reach for her glasses and grinned.

"I'm here, Bella. Daddy's home!"

Shoving her glasses on quickly, Bella turned and faced us.

"Oh gosh, I promise I didn't sleep the whole time." She patted her hair down on one side, attempting to remove the strands from her neck.

"No worries, Bells." I grinned enjoying her flustered and barely awake state. "Pie wears me out all the time, don't you?" My daughter grinned up at me with nothing but pride written across her sweet face.

"Yup! Daddy snores sometimes."

"How about we don't talk about that?"

Bella was smiling and standing up.

"Well, I'll let you two get back to your normal routine." I watched in fascination while Bella nervously flitted her hands around the pockets of her jeans, "I had a great time, Miss Piper, we will have to do it again some day."

Pie scrambled off my lap and ran to Bella, wrapping herself around one leg and looked up at her. I knew what was coming, the begging and pleading not to go and then the puppy eyes would come into play and maybe a quivering lip if she decided to be so evil.

"Don't go, Belly! You stay."

"Ohhh, Pie." Bella went down to her knees and I wanted to warn her that she basically just lost the fight, but my heart was curious to see just how Bella would handle the situation.

"You stay." Piper's hands were on Bella's cheeks, eyes serious, "You can have dinner with me and Daddy."

"I don't know, Pie, your daddy has been gone, I'm sure he's ready to snuggle you all up to himself for a while."

"No he doesn't." Still holding Bella's cheeks, Pie turned on me and I knew she was about to toss my ass under the bus, "Right Daddy? You want Bella to stay for dinner. Right?"

I couldn't properly read Bella's face as it was being smooshed by my daughter's hands, but I'd have been lying if I told Pie I wanted her to leave.

"Bella is more than welcome to stay for dinner." And because I'm a little bit of an instigating ass I added, "And dessert too."

I watched Bella's eyebrows hit her hairline and grinned.

"See?" Piper's confident grin lit her entire face as she turned back to Bella, "You stay."