"So, how are you doing?"
Jade bit her lip, considering this question from her father. He would expect the most honest answer that she knew how to give him.
"I'm doing okay." She smiled when she said it, thinking of Dylan, and using his catchphrase.
"Are the kids too much for you?"
"It's not just me, Dylan's there too."
"Don't remind me."
Jade decided to ignore that comment. "Olivia started calling Dylan 'D two' today."
"What is that?"
"Daddy Two."
"After two days?"
"She and Marcos follow him around all the time." Jade added softly, "She reminds him of Emily."
"I thought as much." He cleared his throat and asked, "So, you like your taste of parenthood so far?"
Jade nodded. "I do."
Her dad paused before asking, "How about that taste of married life?"
Jade choked on her tea. That was the one question that she had expected him to leave alone, although, come to think of it, she had no idea why.
"It's nice." She answered, trying to make the phrase sound less vague then it really was.
"Something you'd like to have in your future?"
"Get married? Sure."
Nathan tilted his head to the side, studying her. "Is Dylan someone you'd want in that future?"
"He is my best friend." Not really an answer.
He sat up straight, asking, "Jade, who do you think my best friend is?"
"Mr. Mitchell." She answered confidently.
He shook his head. "Nope. Try again."
"David?"
He leaned forward as if he was going to share some great secret and said, "Your mom."
Jade tried not to roll her eyes. "I knew that. It's just never referenced like that, so I didn't think of it."
Nathan nodded. "Here's the thing," he paused. "I'll be honest, it makes me a little nervous sometimes, you two being at that house without supervision."
Jade laughed. "Without supervision? There are five kids there too, four of whom have very big eyes and ears. And mouths. Believe me when I say that we do have very good supervision."
"True enough." Nathan nodded.
"And as far as that goes, what about us?"
"What about you guys?"
"We have to live with what we do too, you know. I know people think, 'Oh, crazy, thoughtless teenagers', but, Dad, if you can trust us with five young children, shouldn't you trust us with ourselves first? I mean, it's not like we don't know better." Jade grinned to herself, deciding not to add that David and Amanda had seen to that. "We get Scripture poured into us, and that comes through in our thoughts. What about Proverbs 27:17? 'Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.' That's what we've been doing, long before the fires. Trying to keep each other on track in everything. Please, trust us."
"I do trust you, sweetie, I just slip some times. Maybe we should work on sharpening me too."
"I need you to trust Dylan too." She requested softly.
Her father sighed. "I do, believe it or not. But, sweetheart, you're my little girl, and I don't care how many boys try dating you, I'm not gonna think that a one of them is good enough for my baby." He paused before saying, "But Dylan's the closest any boy has ever come to good enough."
Jade smiled. "I guess that's good, isn't it?"
Nathan grinned back. "Good for you, bad for me."
Dylan stuffed his secret project under the entertainment center and looked up from his usual after-supper seat on the floor as Jade and Nathan came through the door. Both were smiling, so that had to be good.
"How was it?" Kayla asked.
"Good food, good company, good conversation. Same old, same old." Nathan answered, carrying the basket towards the kitchen.
"What did you talk about?" she asked.
"Boys." Jade answered, settling down beside Dylan.
"There was almost no plural to that conversation." Nathan corrected her, coming into the room.
Dylan felt his eyes widening as he looked at Jade. "And what conclusion came out of that conversation?"
"You're good for me, bad for him, and the closest thing to good enough that there's ever been." Jade answered. Then she gasped with glad surprise, and bolted out of the room.
Seeing his father's look, Dylan answered at the same time Nathan did, "Poem."
Nathan looked at him in surprise, but, mercifully, he didn't comment.
"Closest thing to good enough." Adam nodded. "That sounds about right for Daddy's girl."
"You know," Dylan said. "I think that having a daughter must be something like a relay race."
"How's that?" Adam asked.
"A lot of ways. For one, and for my purposes, there are two runners in the race, but the anchor runner always gets more credit than the first, even though they both did the same amount of work, both affected the outcome equally. And the timing of passing off the baton. That's mostly on the first guy. You try giving it to the second guy before he's ready? That baton is going straight into the dust."
"He could pick it up though, couldn't he?" David asked, catching on.
Dylan nodded. "He could, but it messes up your running and deducts points. I'm not saying that the guy couldn't win the race, because he could. But both runners would always wonder how much better it could have turned out. So, I guess my point is," He dared to look at Nathan. "Just don't let go until you think your anchor runner is ready."
"I'll remember that." Nathan replied.
Dylan wasn't sure if that was a threat or not, but he knew he saw some respect in Nathan's eyes. Jade came back down the hallway, carrying her "doodles and poems" notebook. The way she was looking at him stole his breath away. She walked across the room and sat back down beside him. She put her pen to her paper and he looked over his shoulder as she wrote "Do you have any idea how much I love you?"
Dylan smiled at the question, and looked at the poem that she had just written. Under the title "The Closest Thing", she had written "by Jade Mitchell". Dylan pointed to the name as his answer. She grinned.
The grin turned into a wide yawn. She stretched and rested her head on his shoulder. He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Did William leave all ready?" she asked.
"Yeah." Her mom answered. "About a half an hour ago."
Nathan asked, "So what are your ladies plans for tomorrow?"
Bobby spoke up. "That apartment that I went to take a look at worked out, so I was hoping, maybe, you ladies would be willing to take a couple of days to get it done up."
That was quickly affirmed by Victoria, Kayla, and Carmen.
"Looks like we're back on full-time parenting duty." Dylan spoke to the girl beside him. She didn't answer. "Jade?"
"She's asleep." Kayla grinned at her daughter.
Dylan sat there for a minute as the others talked. Eventually, he moved carefully out from under Jade and picked her up, her head resting on his chest. Nathan looked surprised as he watched. Dylan headed down the hallway with Jade in his arms, deciding to ignore the fact that Amanda had her hawk-eyes glued to him.
He carried her into his bedroom and laid her down on his sleeping bag, as carefully as he could. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I love you too, Mrs. Mitchell."
Okay, so this is a reposted version of my original story with the same title, just in case you read that. Please review this! I really need the motivation right now! Thank you in advance!:)