This is a continuation of the Millie story, Mr. Uncle Danny - Now That's a Surprise, three years later. Millie's now 8. And even though Jamko isn't supposed to get together for many more years, I'm about to officially put them together for the course of the story because this is more family than procedural and it just makes sense. Enjoy!

"Ok, third grade, I have a very exciting announcement for all of you!" Mrs. Callahan said as the kids packed up their bags and got ready to leave for the afternoon. "Friday night we're going to have a Dads and Daughters, Moms and Sons dance in the gym. It's going to be fun! You can dress up in your fancy clothes, and we'll have a fun time drinking punch and dancing!"

The kids all chattered excitedly as they made their way out into the car line. "Millie, who are you going to bring?" Carmen asked. Millie attempted to ignore her arch-nemesis. "Millie… Mrs. Callahan said to bring your dad. Who are you going to bring?"

"Mr. Uncle Danny, of course. He's my dad."
"Then why do you call him uncle?"

"That's what I've called him since I was five. Why do you even care?"
"Well it's a daddy/daughter dance. Not uncle/daughter. I mean, is he even your uncle? I heard you weren't even related."

"He adopted me, Carmen. He's my dad."

"Yeah, but not really. Do you even know who your real dad is? I mean, did your mom even know?"

Millie threw her stuff down. She had officially reached her limit. "Ok, Carmen. That's it!"

"Whoa, Mil. Don't hit her. You'll just get in trouble," Millie's friend, Lollie said as she held her back. "Come on. She's dumb. Let's go."

"She is dumb, and I will get in trouble, but I've had it!" Nobody talks about Mama." With that, Millie pushed past Lollie, and ran full force into Carmen, knocking her to the ground.

"See! She doesn't have a father! If she did, he'd teach her not to fight people!" Carmen continued chiding as she and Millie rolled around.

"STOP!" Mr. Anderson yelled as he grabbed Millie by one arm and Carmen by the other before pulling them to their feet. "What is this about?!"

The girls stared each other down. "Nothing." They both answered. "Well, let's go. We've got to talk to both of your parents before you can go home."

Linda was absolutely shocked when she arrived in the carline and was told she could retrieve Millie from the principal's office. "Hi Mr. Anderson, what in the world happened?"
"Wish I could tell you Linda. We were lining up outside and all of a sudden these two tied into it. I can't get either one to tell me what led to the two of them rolling around in the dirt."

"Millie?" Linda asked, with eyebrows raised.

"It was nothing."

After a few moments of silence, Mr. Anderson rendered the verdict. "Well, normally the two of you would be suspended for a couple of days… but since we were already out of school, I'm going to give you a week of detention."

"Yes Sir," Millie muttered.

The car ride home was silent. Jack and Sean tried to perk up their little sister, but to no avail. "When's Dad coming home?" Sean asked. "I want to work on my pitching."

"He should be home early," Linda said as she glanced in the backseat at Millie, "but I'm sure Jack can catch you for a little while… after homework."
"I don't have any."
"Me either." Jack said.

As soon as they walked inside, Jack and Sean took off to change and get their gear. "Millie," Linda started…

"I know," Millie said as she made her way upstairs to wait on Danny. She took a seat at her desk and pulled out her homework. It didn't matter though. She couldn't concentrate. Carmen's words just kept running through her mind. Carmen had said hateful things before that Millie just let roll off her back. She normally didn't pay her any attention, but for some odd reason, this seemed to get under her skin. She was more angry than worried about what punishment might be headed her way.

"Hey, Dad!" Jack yelled as Danny pulled up.

"Hey, guys. Working on your fastball?"

"Trying out a curve ball," Sean answered.

"It's all in location," Danny coached. "If you can paint the corners with a fastball, you won't need a curveball."
"Yes, but the curveball is more fun," Sean said as he reloaded and threw another pitch to Jack.

"Mil inside with your Mom?"
Jack and Sean exchanged a glance, not unnoticed by Danny. "What?"
"There was a thing after school. I think she's in her room."

"What thing? What happened?"

"She had a little argument with Carmen Tremble."

"An argument? Like a fight?"
"A…"

Danny turned on his heels, very interested in the whole story which he clearly wasn't going to get from either son. "Dad, don't punish her!" Jack yelled.

Danny walked inside to find Linda in the kitchen working on supper. "Hey, the boys said Mil got into an argument after school?"
"More like a fight. She tackled a girl."

"Why?"

"Couldn't get a word out of her. Mr. Anderson gave her detention for a week. She's up in her room, waiting on you to handle the rest. We don't endorse fighting, no matter what the reason."

Danny's mind was spinning. He knew he needed to provide consequences, but Millie was not one to fight. He had no clue how he was going to handle it. Millie hadn't even considered the trouble she was in until she heard Danny open the door.

"Hey, what happened today?" he asked as he walked over and took a seat on the bed, "Aunt Linda said you got in a fight? That's not you."

Millie didn't look up from her desk. "It was just a disagreement, I guess."

"A disagreement? That resulted in a fight? Mil, come here and talk to me." Millie sighed as she got up and slowly walked over and took a seat beside Danny. "Now if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that you don't just up and get in a fight. You've never once hit your brothers or anyone else for that matter."

"I know."
"So what gives? What did that girl say to you to make you tackle her?"

"It's not important."
"Not important? Must have been pretty important to get you detention for a week and sent to your room to wait on me."

"Yeah…."
"Yeah." They sat there for a few minutes while Danny tried to figure out what to do. Millie just looked at the floor. "Ok. How about this? How about we go get a bite to eat and maybe you'll want to talk after dinner, huh?"

They went down and had spaghetti with Linda and the boys. Millie mostly pushed hers around with her fork while the boys once again tried to perk her up, to no avail.

"Ok, who's on dishes?" Linda asked.

"Me and Mil," Sean answered.

"For one night only, I'm doing you a favor," Jack said, looking at him. "I'll help tonight. Come on, Mil. I'll wash, you rinse." They made their way into the kitchen and started on dishes. Millie's mind was a thousand miles away, but Jack, being the big brother, saw it as his opportunity to help. "You know," he started, "Carmen has a sister that's in my class. Her name is Lillian. And sometimes she says and does things that aren't nice because she thinks the rules don't apply to her."

"Yeah?"
"Yeah. And I'm guessing her sister is the same way."
"Yeah."

"You want to tell me what she said to make you so mad?"

"Jackers… she…"

"Mil, why don't you head on up and shower? I'll help Jack finish up in here. I'll be up in just a little bit," Danny interrupted her thoughts.

"Ok." Millie hung her head as she walked out and headed upstairs. After her shower, she put on her pajamas and laid down on her bed with a book. It wasn't long before Danny came knocking.

"Ready for bed?" he asked.

"Yes sir."
"Ready to tell me why you got in a fight today?" Millie once again just looked down. Danny frowned as he took a seat on the bed. "Sit up a sec and let me tell you what I know." Millie pulled herself up beside him. "Number one, I know that girl did or said something to make you fight her. You aren't a fighter. You don't just go around tackling people. That's not you. Number two I know it's killing you not to tell me the reason of why you did what you did, thus why you don't even want to look at me right now. Number three I know that me and Aunt Linda love you just as much when you are in trouble as when you aren't in trouble and we'll help you in any way we can. But we can't do that if you don't talk to me. And number four, I know and you know that we can't just not do anything about you getting in a fight."

"Yes sir."
"Mil, I don't even remember the last time you were in trouble. Do you?"

Millie sat and thought for a moment. "When me and Seany rode our bikes to the park and didn't tell Mrs. Aunt Linda where we were going."
"Oh yeah. You were what, six?" Millie nodded. "From what I remember, you and your brother both got a bad spanking for that."

Millie gulped as she put her hands underneath her thighs. "Are… are you going to do that again tonight?"

Danny looked down at her. "No. No, Millie, I'm not going to spank you tonight. I think there's more to this story that I don't know. And I don't think it's fair to do that if I don't know the whole story." Millie sighed a small sigh of relief. "Here's what we're going to do. For the next week, you're grounded… which means when you come home, you have to come straight to your room. No playing with the boys or playing outside. Now if you want to tell me why this happened sometime between now and then, we will reevaluate. Understood?"
"Yes sir."

"Ok. And while you're grounded, you have an early bedtime." Danny tucked her in and kissed her forehead. "I love you." Millie didn't say anything as he handed her her stuffed rat, Atticus. She rolled over and hugged him tight as Danny turned off the light and walked out. The minute he left, a flood of tears were released from Millie's eyes. Danny stood outside her door listening to her sniffle, but couldn't figure out what to do. She definitely wouldn't talk about it. He finally decided just to let her cry it out. Maybe it was a rush of relief. He wasn't sure.

Linda was pouring herself a glass of wine when Danny made his way back into the kitchen. "I need one of those, bartender."
"How'd it go?"
"Couldn't get a word out of her. The minute I walked out, she started crying."

"Danny did you…"
"No. No, I didn't whip her. I couldn't."
"Really…" She was very interested in Danny's take on the whole situation because she couldn't figure out what was going on either.

"We know Millie. She doesn't fight. Sean and Jack fight, but not Millie. She hides her eyes when somebody gets hit on tv. She wouldn't have done this unless provoked… and she's got a pretty high tolerance, so it must've been something big."
"So what did you do?"
"I told her she's grounded to her room for the next week or until I get an explanation."

"What happens if we get to the end of the week and she still doesn't say?"
"We'll know before then."
"How do you figure that?"
"Babe, I'm a gold shield detective for the NYPD. I have good faith in being able to figure out the beef between two eight-year-old girls."

"Ok. We'll see."

The following morning, Linda dropped the kids off at school. She dropped the boys at the high school first and then took Millie to the elementary school. "Mil, Daddy will pick you up at 4:00pm when detention is over."
"Ok."
"I talked to him this morning. We both think it would go a long way if you apologized to Carmen today."

"I don't think I can do that."

"Well, I think you better do that. And you better do it before Daddy picks you up today. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am," Millie grumbled as she got out and went into the school.

Linda sat there for a moment, completely bumfuzzled over the reluctance of her normally happy-go-lucky, well-behaved child to do one simple task. She called Danny on her way into work to update him on the situation.

"Hey Babe, you headed to work?" he asked as he took a seat at his desk and grabbed a file from Baez.

"Yeah. Just dropped off the kids."
"Everything ok?" Danny could tell something was up.

"Well, I told Millie she needed to apologize to Carmen today and she told me she didn't think she could do that."

"Huh. What'd you say?"
"I told her that she better and she had until 4:00pm today when you picked her up. What in the world is going on with that child?"
"I don't know, but if Millie won't apologize it means she doesn't think she did anything wrong which means that Carmen kid said or did something to set her off."
"Well, either way, we can't have a bully. So make sure she offers an apology when you get her."

"Will do."

Mrs. Calahan kept the two kids separated for the entirety of the day, not really giving Millie that chance to apologize; however, when the final bell rang and they headed to detention, Millie sucked it up and offered an apology.

"I'm supposed to tell you that I'm sorry I hit you."
Carmen smiled slyly. "Did you get in trouble?"
"Yeah. I got grounded for a week. Did you?"
"No. My dad said I didn't do anything wrong."

Millie rolled her eyes as she made her way inside with Mr. Anderson and the other few kids that were assigned detention for the afternoon.

"Have a seat up front, girls. No talking. You can work on homework. When you finish that, you may start copying from the book of Proverbs, chapter number seventeen. I want to know what you learn about friends." They both sighed as they took a seat and pulled out their notebooks.

When the hour finally passed, Danny was waiting. "Hey, Mil!" he waved from the car as they all walked out on the front steps. "Hi, Mr. Anderson!"
"Hello, Detective Reagan. Good to see you!" He turned his attention back to the kids. "Millie and Carmen, I want you to shake hands before we leave and wish each other a good day. We're going to do this every day for the next week, so get used to it."

Millie's blood boiled, but she really had no other option. "Have a good day," she grumbled as she shook Carmen's hand.

"Have a good day," Carmen reciprocated before wiping her hand on her skirt and storming off in the direction of her own car.

"Ready to go?" Danny asked as she got in and closed the door. Millie crossed her arms and nodded. "Have a good day?"

"It was fine."
"Did you apologize like Aunt Linda asked you to?" Millie nodded, clearly not in the mood to talk. "Want to tell me why you didn't want to?"
"Carmen said she didn't get in trouble because her dad said she didn't do anything wrong. So, why do I have to apologize if I don't think I did anything wrong?"
"But you did do something wrong. You hit her. Justified or not, you can't just tackle people and beat their face into the ground."

Millie didn't say anymore. The minute they pulled up at the house, she went straight in and up to her room. That is how the entire week of detention went. Every day, Mr. Anderson made them shake hands and wish each other well, and every single time, no matter how good of a day it had been, it made Millie furious. The minute she got in the car, she shut down and the minute she got home, she went to her room. After four days, Linda had had enough.

"Tick tock, Danny Reagan," she said after they put the kids to bed that Thursday night. "You've got until Monday to figure out what in the world happened."

"I'm on it, Linda."

"She hasn't been out of her room in four days. This is not normal or healthy. The kid needs fresh air."
Danny looked at her as if she needed to calm down. "The boys have been grounded for a week before… sometimes even longer. She's fine."

The following afternoon, Danny got to the school a few minutes before the kids were released and decided to take a seat outside on the bench instead of waiting in the car. It wasn't long before he was joined by Dave Tremble.

"Danny Reagan!"
"Hey, Dave. How are ya?"
"Fine. Just fine. Picking up my jailbird. You?"

"Same."
"You coming to the Daddy/Daughter dance tonight?"

"Huh?"

"The dance? You guys coming tonight? I had to buy Carmen a new dress and her mother made me go get fitted for a new jacket. You know me, I don't wear a lot of suits these days. I'm perfectly content with a button up. Easier to golf in."
"Yeah."

"So, you coming?"
"I didn't know anything about it."
"Oh. Well, the minute we heard about it Monday afternoon, Sheila made me start preparing. I had to rent a limo and everything. You know… we did it with Lillian and what Lillian got, Carmen gets."

"Yeah.." Danny's mind was spinning. Monday was the day of the fight. It was all starting to come together. "Hey Dave, Carmen ever tell you what the fight was about?"
"Nah. Kid stuff I guess. Just said they were talking and all of a sudden Millie went nuts."

About that time, the kids made their way out onto the front porch of the school. "Millie, Carmen," Mr. Anderson directed as they reluctantly turned, shook hands, and wished each other well. "I have good news for the two of you. You've handled yourselves with dignity and respect. As long as we can all agree to never again get into a physical altercation, I'm going to declare your punishment over. I never want to see either of you back in detention again. Deal?"
"Deal," they both agreed before running for the retreat of their separate cars.

"So, there's a dance tonight?" Danny asked on the ride home.
"Mmm hmm." Millie continued to stare out the window.

When she didn't expand on the conversation, Danny continued. "Well, were you going to tell me? I mean, I'm a great date. I'm hotter than the other dads… and I have the best moves…" Danny smiled as he began to car-dance. "What time is it?"

"I'm grounded. I can't go," she answered as they pulled into the driveway.

"Well, I'm sure we can make an exception…"
"No. It's fine. I'm going to my room." With that, Millie got out of the car and took off toward the house. Danny sat in the car for about two seconds. "Nope. Not ok with that answer." He took off after her. "Millie Rose Reagan!"

"What… why are we yelling?" Linda asked as she met the two of them coming in the door.

"I'm grounded," Millie said flatly.

"Yes, you are," Linda agreed.

"So, I'm going upstairs."

"No, you are not," Danny directed. "We need to talk. Did you know she had a Daddy/Daughter dance tonight?"

"No. Mil, why didn't you tell us? What time does it start?"

"I'm grounded. Grounded means you don't go to fun things." Millie turned and went upstairs.

Linda looked to Danny. "What happened?"
"I have it figured out. Most of it. They told them on Monday about the Daddy/Daughter dance. I'm assuming that horrible little Carmen kid made some crack about me not being her real father… I'm taking her out tonight for our own Daddy/Daughter time. And we're going to talk."

"I like that idea a whole lot. I'll go help her get ready."

"Millie Reagan," Linda said as she knocked and walked in to find Millie, sitting in the bottom of her closet. "Sweetheart, what are you doing?"

"Mr. Uncle Danny is mad."
"No he's not. He just wants to talk to you. In fact, he wants to take you out."
"I don't want to go to that dance."
"That's fine. He wants to take you on a Daddy/Daughter date. No dance. Come on. Let's pick you out something pretty." Linda reached down and helped Millie to her feet. "How about your orange skirt, white shirt, and jean jacket?"

"Ok," Millie shrugged as she took the outfit from Linda and got dressed.

"You want braids, or you just want me to pull back the top?"

"Just the top."

"Good choice."

When Linda finished Millie's hair, they both went downstairs to find Danny. He looked sharp… the true definition of swag. "Hey, is my best girl ready for a night out with the hottest dad in town?" He struck a few poses as Linda rolled her eyes and Millie giggled.

"Have fun, you two."

"Where we going?" Danny asked as they got into the car. "I'm taking you absolutely anywhere you want to go."

"Anywhere?"
"You want Biscuit Hut? We'll eat scrambled eggs in our fancy clothes. You want lobster? We'll go to Fancy's on Fifth. You want noodles? We can go to Penne Grille. You want pizza…"

"We can go to Mario Sartellos?"

"That where you want to go?"
"Yes sir," Millie smiled. Mario's mushroom pizza was her absolute favorite thing to eat.

"Mario's it is. Crank us up some music and let's dance." Danny figured the best way to get her to talk later was to get her to relax now. They sang and danced their way all the way to Mario's. When they got there, Danny placed their order and they took a seat at a high-top table.

"So," Danny started, "guess what."

"What?" Millie asked as she leaned down and took a sip of water through her straw.

"I'm pretty smart."
"Uh huh…"
"I figured something out." He had a huge smile on his face.
"What?"
"I know how the fight started."

Millie stopped drinking her drink as he eyes slowly made their way up to his face. "You do?"
"Well, the way I see it, Mrs. Callahan announced there was going to be this dance tonight, and then at some point, you and Carmen started discussing it and she said something mean. Knowing you, she said a few mean things. And when you couldn't take anymore, you tackled her." Millie shifted in her seat. "Ah ha! And I'm just guessing it was something about me. Is that right?" Millie sighed. "Come on. I've let you clam up for a week. Time to talk. Tell me the truth. I promise I can handle it."

"Part of it's right. Most of it's right." Millie took a deep breath. "Pretty much all of it's right."

"What'd she say?" Millie's eyes filled with tears. "What'd she say to you, Mil?"
"She said you're not really my dad and you shouldn't come to the dance with me because I don't even know who my real dad is. And she was right. I don't know. And then she said Mama probably didn't know either. And I can't ask Mama because…"

Danny's heart sank as the waiter came and dropped the pizza off on the table. "Can I get you anything else?"
"No, we're good," Danny answered. "Thanks."

Millie kept her head down as she wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt. "Hey, let me tell you what else I know." He dished out a piece of pizza on Millie's plate and one on his own. "Number one, sharing the same blood, doesn't make me anymore your dad than standing back there in that kitchen makes me a pizza. I mean, I do have a very important piece of paper where Judge Lovett declared me your dad, but that doesn't automatically make someone a parent either." Millie looked at him confused. "Forget me and you for a second. What makes somebody a good dad?"
"They love you?"

"Yep. What else?"
"They protect you?"
"Yep."
"They take care of you when you are scared?"
"Uh huh. They provide for you, they cheer for you, they support you, they take care of you when you're sick, they sometimes have to punish you or get on to you to do better… but they're always your number one fan, right?"
"Right."

Danny took a bite of his pizza. "So, Mil, what have I been doing for the past three years?" Millie sat for a minute and contemplated Danny's words as he continued. "Number two of what I know. You don't know who your biological father is because he's never done any of those things. He wasn't ready to be a dad when you came along, so he wasn't. Doesn't make him bad, it just means he wasn't ready to do all the things that would make him a dad. Number three, she's wrong. Your Mama knew who your father was. It's on your birth certificate. You don't know his name because it's not important. Because just like standing in the kitchen doesn't make me a pizza, the name on a birth certificate doesn't make him your father. It's just a name. But I can tell it to you if you want to know it. I don't know a lot about him, but I know his name and where he's from."

Millie took a small bite of her pizza. "It's ok. I don't need to know… if you're gonna be my dad forever. I only need one."

Danny smiled. "Well I ain't going nowhere and you're not getting rid of me so that's that. You're mine. Forever."
"So what's number four?"
"Number four is… people are going to say stupid stuff to you your whole life. And some of their words hurt."
"Like stupid Carmen?"
"Exactly right. Just like stupid Carmen." Millie smiled when Danny said that. Linda would've never approved of name calling and they both knew it. "But at the end of the day. That's all it is. Words. They don't do anything but fly off in the wind. And If you can keep you head about you, you won't end up in detention. Ok?"
"Ok."

"Good. I hereby officially deem punishment phase over. Let's finish our slices and go do something fun. What are you up for?"

Millie thought hard for a moment. "Can we go home and get blankets and go out and watch the meteor shower tonight?"
"That's it? That's what you want to do?" Millie nodded. "Ok. Can we at least have a dance party under the stars?"

"Sure."

On the way home, Danny could tell Millie was still deep in thought. "Mil, what are you thinking over there?"

Millie took a deep breath mustering all the courage that she could. "Mr. Uncle Danny… do you think it might be ok for me to call you Dad sometimes?" She said it so fast, he almost didn't understand her.

"That's a big step, Mil. Do you think you're ready for that?"
"I do. I mean, I can't call Mrs. Aunt Linda Mama. I don't want to make her sad, but it's just…"
"I know," Danny assured her. "And that is completely fine. Aunt Linda will understand. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. You're a Reagan forever, no matter what."

"So… it's ok?"
"Absolutely. If you're good with it, I would love it… just like I love you."

"Cool."

When they pulled up at the house, Danny told Millie to run upstairs and put on some play clothes and grab the boys while he and Linda collected blankets for the back yard. "Guess what," Danny grinned as Linda loaded him down with blankets. "Not only did I figure it out, get hit with the paternity question and survive, but Millie also asked me if she might could call me Dad sometimes… and I managed not to wreck the car due to hysterical sobbing."

"She wants to call you Dad?"
"Yeah. She said she didn't want to upset you, but she just can't call you Mama, but she wants me to be Dad."

"That's awesome, Babe. It's a big step."

"That's what I said. It only took what… three years?" Danny grinned.

"Three years for Dad… maybe in twenty-three years, we can drop the Mrs. and I can be just 'Aunt Linda', Linda laughed. "Hey," she smiled as the kids barreled down the staircase. "Are we ready?"
"Ready!" they all shouted as they rushed past her and into the back yard. Danny cranked up the music and they all danced around until it was time for the meteor shower to start.

"It's time! It's time!" Millie announced, looking at her watch as she and Sean rushed to the blanket and laid down, looking straight up in the sky. "Mrs. Aunt Linda, come lay by me." Danny, Jack, and Linda all made their way over and made themselves comfortable.

There were lots of "Oooos and Ahhhhs and did you see that?" throughout the course of the evening as the Reagan crew lay there, pointing to the galactic show above them. Danny had no clue that he would enjoy it as much as he did. "Mil, I'm glad you told us to come out here and watch. This was really cool," Danny said as they watched the last few stars flicker across the sky.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "It was actually pretty cool."

When the show was over, the kids all ran upstairs to shower and put on their pajamas. Danny and Linda took that opportunity to catch up. They each grabbed a glass of wine and sat down on the couch. Danny filled her in on everything Millie had told him over dinner.

"Well, while you were talking to one of our children about tackling a bully, I was talking to another one of our children about going over to hang out with a girl tomorrow."

"Jack?"
"Uh huh. He wants to go over to the Stevens' house to hang out with Ella."
"Will her parents be home?"

"He said they would be. Apparently Nick is grilling steaks and they are going to hang out by the pool."

"Well, I'm good with it if you are."
"I am. I'm still going to call Carol in the morning and just make sure one of them are going to be supervising."

The boys ran down to say goodnight just as they were finishing their wine. "Dad, can we go to the batting cages tomorrow?" Sean asked.

"I don't see why not. Once we get all of our chores for Mama finished, I'll take you over."
"Sweet!" he exclaimed.

"What about me?" Jack asked.

"As soon as I talk to Nick or Carol, yes. You can go," Linda smiled.

"Awesome." The boys took a seat and hung out with their parents for a few minutes, waiting on the smallest member of the family to finish her shower.

Millie came running down shortly after, with her hair dripping wet. "What do you want to do tomorrow, Mil?" Danny asked as she ran and wedged herself in between he and Linda. Millie shrugged as he tried to squeeze some of the excess water out of her hair.

"Can we make waffles for breakfast?"

He smiled. "I'm sure we can probably make that happen. But first, we've got to go to bed. Let's go." They all headed upstairs. "Goodnight," he said to both of the boys as they gave both he and Linda a hug before splitting off to their rooms. "Who's tucking you in tonight, missy?" Danny asked Millie.

"Will you?"

"Yep." He turned to Linda. "Mama, I'll be back in a second."

"Goodnight, Millie," Linda smiled as she kissed the top of her head.

"Goodnight."
Millie led Danny down to her room. She tossed the decorative pillows onto the floor as he turned back the covers. "Will you stay for a while?" Millie asked.

"Why?"
"Because I'm not tired yet and if you leave, I won't have anybody to talk to."

"I bet if you lay down and close your eyes, you'll fall asleep quicker than you think."

Millie stuck out her bottom lip. "Not gonna work," he laughed. "Hop in."
She got in bed as he tucked her purple, fuzzy blanket all around her. "Where are…" he looked around the room before spotting her beloved cats casually making their way inside. "Let's go fellas." He walked over and picked up Phil and Gus and dropped them on the bed.

"Will you at least tell me one story before you go?"

Danny chuckled and finally relented. He took a seat beside her and leaned up against the headboard. "What kind of story do you want?"
"Tell me about you and Uncle Joe when you were young."

"Hmmmm…" Danny thought for a few minutes, "did I ever tell you about the time that me and Uncle Joe skipped school and spent the day at Coney Island?"

"No. What did Grandpa say?"
"Grandpa never found out."
"But Grandpa knows everything."

"Not this. Me and Uncle Joe were supposed to be on a field trip with our class at a museum, but neither of us wanted to go, so we didn't tell Mom and Dad and didn't turn in our permission forms. Instead, we got dressed like we normally would, hopped on the subway, and went straight to Coney Island. We spent the whole day together. We rode every ride about three times. We ate corndogs and cotton candy and had the absolute time of our lives."

"And Grandpa never found out?"
"Nope."

"Wow!"

Danny looked down at her. "Don't you go getting any ideas, missy. I'll know if you and your brothers play hooky. Copy?"
"Copy."
"Good. Because no matter where you sneak off to, I'll always come find you and bring you home."

Millie smiled as she wrapped her arms around Danny's arm and took a deep breath. "I'm glad you're my dad."

"And I'm glad you're my daughter." He kissed her forehead as he got up. "Have a good sleep. I'll see you in the morning. Love you."

"Love you too."