Not sure if I like this chapter :S This will be the last one for about two weeks as I go on holiday tomorrow!

Ronnie sat plaiting her daughter's hair as they sat on the hospital bad. The trip outside had been a refreshing change however it had soon worn Danielle out, and they had returned to the hospital room. The doctor had come in and informed them that Danielle would hopefully be able to leave tomorrow as long as she had a good night tonight.

"OK, it's all done," Ronnie boasted proudly, ecstatic that she had done something as simple as plait her daughter's hair and gotten it right. The nerves had spread through her body as she had started; worried that she would forget how to do a simple plait. Everything had to be right for her daughter; it was the least she deserved.

Danielle smiled gratefully, shyly muttering thanks as she did so. It had taken a lot of courage for her to ask Ronnie to help her feel more appropriate and feel better for the upcoming visit of Roxy and her best friend. But Ronnie had encouraged her daughter to open up and even the simple things, meant everything to her.

Twisting the ends of Danielle's hair around her fingers, Ronnie felt elated. This was everything and more that she had always dreamed of, her little girl was perfect; she was so childlike and innocent. It was wonderful.

Conversation had died down between the two but the tension was less evident in the atmosphere. The two women simply sat on the bed, listening to each other's breathing as silence fell between them.

Danielle traced her finger along the pot encasing her left arm, shuddering as she did so. Her confused expression mirrored her feelings, not sure what to do or say. Sure, every so often everything seemed perfect; Ronnie was perfect and always said the right things but then that died away and the two strangers were left in the silence once again.

Danielle wished she knew what to say, she wished her and Ronnie could talk for hours about endless things – getting to know one another but at the moment she knew that wasn't possible. However, the silence between them wasn't tense, it was a comfortable silence in which they could both just sit in a daydream that couldn't and wouldn't burst.

Feeling her daughter shudder, Ronnie moved in closer to whisper something but recoiled as she saw Danielle flinch away from her. It hadn't been deliberate, more in shock than in anything else but it didn't stop Danielle feeling let down with herself once again. She was worried that she would do something and it would push Ronnie too far and she would leave once again.

She felt her face flush with red as she bravely raised her eyes. They connected with Ronnie's face instantly, whose smile had been replaced with one of confusion. Cowardly pulling them away, Danielle muttered another apology under her breath.

"Hey," Ronnie whispered, confused at Danielle's reaction but understanding at the same time. If she were Danielle, she wouldn't be letting her mother in so close. Ronnie felt she didn't even deserve the title of Danielle's mother, treating her own daughter like dirt and badmouthing her to the rest of the family. She had been there every minute possible since the accident but it still didn't feel like enough, nothing would ever be enough – no matter how many times she apologized to her daughter. "It's ok,"

"No," Danielle replied back, "It isn't," her voice was timid as she spoke, crossing her legs under the bed sheets and darting her eyes everywhere around the room, everywhere except her mother. She took a momentary pause before she spoke again, her voice jittery with nerves, "I…I just don't know …how to be, what you want me to be like…," She took a deep breath before continuing, "I want to act like you want me to act…I just…I want you to like me for me, not just for being…for being who I am,"

Danielle felt immensely proud of herself after she had finished speaking; it was unusual for her not to tell somebody everything but since…since certain incidents in her life she had chosen to be more closed off, more separate and alone. More like her mother.

Jumping in to let her daughter know her true intentions, Ronnie started speaking, tripping over her words as she did so, desperate for them just to be heard, "I…Just because you're family doesn't mean I like you,"

Staying frozen to the spot where she sat, Danielle didn't dare move a muscle or make a sound as Ronnie spoke. She sounded so serious, so stern but yet so loving, so motherly like. She prayed she would hear the words she wanted to hear, she wished that Ronnie would once again show that she could place a small bit of trust in her and let their relationship grow. She sank her teeth into her lip as she sat there, nervously waiting for what her mum was about to say.

"Roxy really pushes me sometimes," Ronnie shared another detail of her past with her beloved daughter, desperate to open herself up in the hope her daughter would return the action, "but you're my baby, my Amy, my Danielle,"

Danielle felt a small smile escape her mouth as the words Ronnie spoke floated through her body. Ronnie had called her "her Danielle". The words she had waited for, for so long and yet however much she had dreamed about this moment nothing could quite match how perfect they sounded coming from Ronnie's mouth.

Coughing, Ronnie cleared her throat, before cautiously reaching out a hand and once again twisting Danielle's hair around her finger. She longed to see her daughter's reaction but instead, had to call upon her memories of her daughter, to try and understand and picture her daughter's reactions. She hoped she was saying the right things.

"I don't just like you, I love you. I love all the smiles you show and how you get little dimples when you do. I love how you look at me with your eyes and how you're so caring and gently. I love how beautiful you are and how thoughtful you are," Ronnie reeled off a list of everything she could think of in that moment, desperately hoping she was saying the right things, "I love everything about you," she whispered, "I want you to be you because I am so proud of you and I can't explain how much this means to me, how much you mean to me,"

A smile faded across Danielle's face, relishing in every word, every syllable, Ronnie was saying. She was beyond perfect.

Allowing her hair to fall across her shoulder as she tilted her head, Ronnie too smiled. She saw her daughter's cheeks rise slightly and instantly knew she had said the right things. Her heart was in her stomach as she watched her daughter simply sit there and take everything in.

Breaking the silence between them, Ronnie whispered, "So, do you like cheese?"

Feeling her face break into a huge smile, Danielle swiveled her head, her eyes brows raised and her face confused. Awestruck by her daughter's beauty, Ronnie's face also broke into a grin.

"Cheese?" Danielle questioned, confused at her mother's choice of questions. Of all questions she could have asked, she asked one about cheese? Maybe she wasn't so perfect after all…

Ronnie raised her head, flicking her hair behind her, "Yeah, I saw it on F.R.I.E.N.D.S once, I think" Ronnie justified, as a permanent grin remained plastered on her face, much to Danielle's bemusement who giggled as her mother attempted an explanation. "So do you like it?" Ronnie asked once again, her grin widening as eh heard Danielle giggle.

"I guess so," Danielle giggled, as she watched Ronnie's face light up, tears of joy forming in her eyes like shining crystals in the light.

"What kind?" Ronnie joked, as she beamed at the amusement passing between the two of them, "Bree? Cheddar? Slices?"

Danielle burst into a fit of giggles, as she felt Ronnie's hand wrap around her own. She could hear the sweet laughter of her mother and she hoped that there would be many more times, like this, to follow.