Part 2

"Mom, where's dad?" Anna asked while looking out the window.

"He's coming," CJ finished getting dressed. "He better be coming." She mumbled as an afterthought.

CJ walked into the living room and saw Anna looking out the window. She smiled as she watched her daughter. Anna loved Toby so much. He had been there when she was born and has been there for everything since. Anna truly believed that Toby was her dad. She knew that Toby wasn't her blood dad. But he was her real dad by heart.

"I see him," Anna jumped up and ran to the door.

"It's about time," CJ said to herself. She heard the door swing open.

"Dad!" Anna ran up to Toby.

"There she is," Toby picked Anna up and swung her around. "How's my princess doing tonight?" He asked while kissing her on the cheek.

"Great, now that you're here." She blushed.

"I have that affect on many people," Toby laughed.

"I have something for you, I'll go get it," Anna kissed Toby quickly before he put her back down, and ran up the stairs to her room. Toby looked up and saw CJ standing there watching him.

"I said six," She mentioned as he walked all the way into the house.

"You're lucky I came at all," Toby playfully pushed CJ out of his way as he walked into the living room.

"We should leave here pretty soon, he's meeting us there." CJ mentioned.

"Have you told Anna?"

"Yeah, she's happy that she gets to pretend we're married."

"I figured that," Toby smiled and sat down. "Where is he staying?"

"He's not. His plane leaves at 10 tonight."

"He's here for one day?" Toby asked, confused.

"Well, he has kinda been here for a week," CJ said quietly, but still loud enough for Toby to hear her.

"What? CJ, he's been here and he hasn't seen me?" He knew he should have stayed home tonight.

"You were in California all week, and he knew that. That's why he's staying here late tonight. He wanted to see you." She tried to put a positive spin on the issue.

"Why? So he can kill me?" Toby said to himself. He rubbed his forefinger against his temple.

"Look…" CJ started, but stopped as Anna ran back in with a paper flapping in her hand.

"I drew you this," Anna jumped up on Toby's lap and handed him the drawing.

"Wow, this is beautiful," Toby took his time to really study it. It was a picture of Anna, CJ, and Toby during the Summer when they went up to New York. "Thank you sweetheart." He kissed her forehead and winked at her. "I love it."

"It's a picture of our vacation. I thought you might like it." Anna smiled proudly. "Remember how much fun we had? We went to the Yankee game and mom scared this guy into giving us the foul ball he caught." She giggled at the memory.

"Are you kidding? I love it. I'm going to hang it up in my office first thing in the morning," Toby smiled and kissed Anna again on the forehead. "Thank you." He looked back down at the picture. He had her up on his shoulders booing a bad call that was made against the Yankees, while CJ stood in the background scaring some poor sap into giving her the foul ball he just caught.

CJ couldn't help but smile. Anna and Toby were inseparable. She loved watching them interact. Anna brought out the good in Toby, something CJ never thought anyone could do.

"Okay, we need to get going," CJ slapped her hands together and took a deep breath.

"Okay, let's get our game faces on," Toby joked as he stood. CJ gave him a glare while Anna laughed.

"Lets go, oh mighty one," CJ said sarcastically as she took his offered arm.

All three of them sat in the car for a little while once they arrived in front of the restaurant. CJ was praying everything went well. Toby prayed Mr. Cregg hadn't rented a vehicle during his visit. And Anna sat in the back, her big eyes darting back and forth from her mom to her dad. She was so excited to play pretend tonight. Maybe her mom and dad would have fun too.

"I don't think I can do this. The man hates me." Toby mentioned while loosening his neck tie.

"He doesn't hate you Toby. This whole past week, all he has been doing is praising you. I'm even starting to get sick of it," CJ smiled, trying to help ease the pressure off of him.

"You'll do fine dad," Anna said while jumping forward and fixing his tie for him. "There, now he can't resist you." She smiled, grabbed his face with both hands, and gave him a big kiss on his cheek. She heard her mom laughing as she opened the car door.

"Thanks," Toby kissed her back and helped her out of the car. Anna kept a tight grip on Toby's hand as they walked. CJ went over to Toby's other side and grabbed his hand. She gave it a reassuring squeeze. He smiled at her.

"Thank you for doing this Toby." She said honestly. She's lost count of how many times she's said that to him since Anna's birth. He was picking up the pieces for her.

"You're welcome," Toby smiled as they all walked in.

TBC