Well, I discovered that I have a four day weekend nowadays and since as of yet the work load is still pretty light, I managed to squeeze out a chapter for all my wonderful readers. Hope you all like it.

Chapter 26

After dinner Laura insisted on us all watching a movie together. That was fine by me; I had no intention of doing anything much this evening anyway. Ranger, on the other hand, had a pained expression on his face as he was pulled into the living room by Little Laura and followed closely by Julie who was pushing him forward. I chuckled a little at the spectacle. At her age, Julie was supposed to be rebelling, refusing to spend time with her parents, but it seemed it was the exact opposite. Perhaps it was Laura's influence, or the fact that Julie had not, in fact, known her father until recent years. In any case, the two girls made quite a sight, pushing and pulling their father into the living room while discussing what movie to watch.

I knew for a fact that Ranger would not have let them move him if he didn't want them to, but his expression at the suggestions they both kept shooting out was one of pure agony. I was barely containing my laughter as the girls sat him down on the couch and Julie moved to the DVD cabinet. Laura settled herself on Ranger's lap and I sat down on one side of them.

"The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid Two. Lion King One, Two and Three. The Wiggles Various DVDs including movies. Hi-5 various DVDs. Drop Dead Fred. I don't know, Laura what do you want to watch?" Julie was grinning as she rattled off the various titles, smile widening with each new option. Soon she was sporting a full on two hundred watt smile that was so much like her father's, with a wicked twinkle in her eyes.

"Drop Dead Fred!" Laura exclaimed. It came as no surprise to me, it was her absolute, all time favourite movie. I myself was actually quite horrified the first time I watched it as it seemed to be the spitting image of my life, except of course that none of my imaginary friends had been quite so outrageous.

As Julie set up the DVD Ranger groaned aloud. I turned to watch as he hid his face in Laura's glorious curls, eyes shut tight. "Is everything all right?" I asked quietly, next to his ear. He turned his head to catch my eyes in an alarmingly panicked stare. "Are you okay?" I reiterated, raising my hand to cup his cheek reassuringly.

"I can't believe I'm about to watch a children's movie!" he gritted out. His eyes widened suddenly in realisation. "You can't let any of the guys know about this!"

I was beyond laughing at this point. Truth was, I was guffawing, I was in hysterics. If I had been standing up when he uttered those words I'd have fallen to the floor in a fit of mirth. Julie, I realised, through the haze of hilarity and blurred vision, was also laughing, doubled over halfway between the couch and the television.

"What's so funny?" Laura was demanding, hands on hips. She still sat on Ranger's lap and he was showing no signs of releasing her, actually, he seemed to be trying to hide behind her. I noticed his shoulders were shaking and my efforts to stop giggling were shot back.

"Ranger!" I finally managed to cough out as the ruckus in the room died down a bit. "I can assure you that your entire A-team, if not the entire company, has already seen this movie."

Suddenly sobering from his own laughter at my words, Ranger fixed me with a hardened stare. "How can you know that?" he asked, his voice portraying how serious he was, or at least, how serious he was trying to be, I realised as his lips twitched.

"This is Loza's fave, Dad," Julie chimed in, now sitting on the floor where she had been stooped earlier, facing us on the couch. "She would watch it every day if she could."

Ranger's eyes flitted from Laura, to Julie, to me and fixed on my face for a little longer than the girls. I simply nodded. "Lester sat down and watched it with her every day for a week. And as he left he vowed that he was going to introduce everyone to it. You'll love it, I promise."

"It funny Daddy!" Laura piped up, pointing excitedly to the screen where the main menu had come up. I waited until Julie was settle on Ranger's other side, snuggled under his arm just as I had done, before pressing play.

As the credits rolled a little over an hour and a half later I disentangled myself from Ranger's arms, trying not to disturb a sleeping Laura. On his other side I noticed Julie stretch and do the same as Ranger moved the arm that had been secured around me to keep the child from slipping backwards. Laura had nodded off not long after her favourite part, having been contented by the fact that she had gotten to see 'Fred' smear dog poo on the arm chair in the living room.

Once Laura was tucked into bed I made my way to Julie's room to say goodnight. When I knocked on her open door I found her sitting on the bed tapping at the keys of her laptop. "Hey Steph," she exclaimed a little louder than she probably meant to as she hastily closed the computer. "What's up?"

My eyes moved suspiciously to the laptop that she was now shoving out of sight into her desk draw. "I came to say goodnight," I admitted. "What were you doing?"

"Nothing," she replied a little too quickly. "Just checking my email."

I nodded briefly, planting my rump on the side of her bed and taking her hand in mine. She met my gaze with practiced innocence. "You can tell me the truth, Julie," I told her. "You know you can always confide in me. I won't get mad." As I said the words I noticed her cheeks get red and she quickly averted her eyes. "What's up?" I persisted, giving her hand a squeeze.

She shook her head. "It's silly," she muttered under her breath, stilling looking everywhere but at me. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it's not silly," I assured her. "The only thing that is ever silly are the faces your father pulls at Laura when he thinks no one is looking."

Julie chuckled a little at that. "You noticed them too?"

"I notice a lot more than everyone thinks. Like the fact that you're on that laptop of yours every chance you get." She blushed again. "And the fact that, while you're at that stage in your adolescent development where you should be rebelling against you parents you seem to be wanting to spend more time with your father instead."

Rolling her eyes, Julie finally crossed her arms and leaned back to face me again. "You've been reading too many parenting books," she claimed. Not true, I hadn't read any parenting books! I'd watched a lot of Dr. Phil and Maury, though, does that count? "I'm waiting for you to call the brawl Bobby and Hector got into at the office the other day a 'minor disagreement of the physical kind'. Serious, Steph, life is rarely ever what they describe in the textbooks. Sure there may be a couple of helpful hints in there, but you have to realise that half the people who write those books have never actually had kids of there own."

I stopped her there, holding my hand up to silence her. "First, I have never in my life read a parenting book. Second, what's your point?"

She sighed. "I just meant that teenage rebellion is not only restricted to the parents, in fact, it is usually restricted to the full time caregivers, which, in my case, would be Mum and Ron. Dad was never really a part of my life until... well, you know when. I've spent half of my life not really knowing my father. Yes, I had a father figure, but nothing beats the real thing. Being here these last couple of weeks has allowed me the chance to make up for lost time. I'm living what my childhood would have been like if Dad was there and you were my mother. You're a great mother by the way. Laura is so lucky, she has wonderful parents." Tears were filling my eyes as she continued to point out all the points that made Laura the luckiest kid in the world. "I've seen how Dad is most of the time, all business and that kind of thing, but when he's with you, it's like... I have no idea how to describe it. He's just so different. And the fact that he accepted Laura so quickly when you came back is truly amazing."

"He's an amazing guy," I sniffed. "But Laura wasn't quite so accommodating when we first got back. She wasn't too sure what to think of him."

"That's a good thing, though," she urged. "You taught her stranger danger at a young age and she was slow to accept Dad until she knew he was okay. She's a truly incredible kid."

I couldn't help it any more, she had reduced me to tears. I had never actually been complimented on my parenting before, and hear such marvellous words of wisdom come from the mouth of a sixteen year old, while you wouldn't think it would mean much, actually touched my heart an awful lot. I pulled her to me in a big bear hug and she returned my embrace. "You're an incredible kid as well, Julie, and don't you ever let anyone convince you otherwise. No matter what anyone tells you, you're a terrific person and a beautiful young lady." I let a few moments of comfortable silence stretch between us as we continued to hug before returning to the original topic. I ended the embracing, holding Julie at arms length and looking earnestly into her eyes. "What's up?"

After breathing a sigh of defeat she took a deep breath and began to tell me everything.

WATCH OUT FOR THE CLIFF!!! Just thought I'd let your imaginations run a little. What could be up with Julie? Something good? Something bad? Who knows?! At this stage I am still open for suggestions in regards to that matter.