Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fic, except the ones that you don't recognize. Disney and Alliance Atlantis and so forth own them all.

Note: The Italics are mostly someone's thoughts.

Realization of Fate

A Recipe for WWIII

It was a nice day, despite the fact that it was early Monday morning. It was only a quarter till 6:00 when Val decided to get a head start on the day ahead. She looked outside the window, taking delight at the beautiful sunrise as it cast different shades of orange, red, blue, and purple across the sky. It was not the first time that she witnessed such a gorgeous display, but it was the first time that she stopped and appreciated it in a long time.

I can't really explain what it was about that day that seemed… Well… Perfect. If you're thinking that it was because Tyler and Andrea broke up… Maybe… But that's not it. Was it because I'm about to start on a new job? First days are always the most exciting ones. That's still not it though. What is it about the sunrise? Is it signifying a new beginning? For me? I can't really explain it. All I know is that everything was going to change.

Val was broken away from her trance when she heard a muffled laugh coming from somewhere. She was almost sure that it was Alyssa, but knowing how big the house is, she couldn't be a hundred percent sure. She will eventually go downstairs anyway, so she grabbed her robe and decided to check where the noise came from. She discovered that she was right. It was Alyssa.

"Good morning, Mommy," Alyssa said with a great, big smile. "I had bwekfast."

"How did you get down here?" asked Val with a little concern. "And why are you awake? You should still be in bed."

"I'm not sleepy," she said as she took a bite from her plate.

"Who came with you here?"

"Daddy did," she smiled once again. "He made me these."

Alyssa tried to lift her plate before Val helped her out. Apparently, Tyler made some pancakes in different shapes. How he managed to make these was a mystery to her.

"Where's your dad?"

"Shhh," Alyssa said as she pointed towards the kitchen counter. "Daddy's sleeping."

Val smiled when she saw him with his head down on the counter. He was sitting on a stool which was almost about to fall if not for a single movement or two. She woke him up without thinking of the consequences.

"Tyler! Wake up!"

Val really wasn't thinking about what she was doing, because the immediate result of her wake up call only ended in disaster. Within the following two or three seconds, Tyler was sent crashing down the floor, now fully awake and fully aware that he was not dreaming anymore.

"Tyler! Are you okay?" asked Val as she approached him.

His back hit the floor first, and just before he could reply and thought that everything was going to be fine, the stool had a different agenda in mind. The target… Right down the middle of his ribs.

"I'm fine," he said in the midst of pain. "Good morning."

"I'm so sorry," she apologized while trying to stifle her laugh. "I didn't mean to startle you like that. I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to wake you up."

"You woke me up, alright," he replied lightheartedly, but the pain was still evident in his voice and on his face. "It was probably the most effective wake up call I've ever had."

"Did you break anything?"

"Not yet," he said while keeping one hand on his ribs. "That stool is going to pay though."

Tyler found his way to the table and faced a frightened little girl in front of him.

"Are you hurt?" she said in a terrified tone as though her very words are going to hurt him.

"I'm fine, honey. Why don't you eat your food now? Okay? It will help you get better and stronger and healthy."

Alyssa looked at him with a questioning look. Tyler had no idea whether she understood him or not, but he assumed that she did. Before he could say anything, Alyssa took some pieces of her pancake on her fork and tried to feed Tyler instead. Not wanting to disappoint her, Tyler took a bite. To his surprise, they turned out pretty good.

"Are you better?" she asked.

"Yea," he smiled and leaned over to give her a kiss on the head. "Much better."

"One more?" she asked as she tried to give him another piece.

"One more," he said before taking his second bite.

Alyssa displayed another smile on her face before finishing off her plate. Val, on the other hand, stood back and watched the two interact with each other.

There's just something about him. I really don't know how to describe it. Was he always like this? Cute… Caring… Funny… Loving… He loves my daughter… Our daughter so much. What was Seth like? He used to be different, but now he's just, I don't know… Bitter… Indifferent… Somber… Cold… He though Alyssa was a nuisance. Did I miss something here? Well, it doesn't really matter anyway. We're only friends now… Nothing more.

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After a sleepless night and an early body beating, thanks to Val, Tyler was feeling a lot better. For half the night, he spent his time going around the house to get rid of anything that had Andrea written all over it. For the other part of the night, he was waking up every half-hour until Alyssa finally woke him up for good, at least for the time being. However, there was still one thing that he had to do. Leaving Alyssa with one of the maids, he ran downstairs, hoping to catch Val.

"Wait!" Tyler said as he opened the front door. "Don't leave yet!"

"What's the rush? I'm not going anywhere for another five minutes."

"I… I… Hold on. I need to catch my breath."

"I'll hold. Is it important?"

"I just wanted to say thanks."

"For what? I don't remember doing you any favors."

"For talking some sense into me last night. I know that I opted not to talk about it, but I'm glad that I did. It really helped me a lot. I think I'm ready to move on now."

"Okay, well, you're welcome. What are friends for?"

"Best friends," he corrected. "Hank's here."

Tyler waved as Hank parked his car in the driveway.

"Are you ready Val?" he asked. "Hey Tyler!"

"Hi Hank!"

"I'm ready," she said. "I better go. Alyssa needs to be at school no later than nine o'clock, but most of the time, it's better that you get there a quarter before nine."

"I got it. Good luck at work."

"Thanks. I'll be needing it."

"Val!" cried Hank. "Come on!"

"You better go now. Impatient Hank is not fun."

"I'll see you later."

"Later," he said as he watched them go.

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Tyler and Alyssa arrived at her around eight forty-five. Without waiting a second, Tyler carried Alyssa in his arms and headed for her classroom. As they approached the room, Tyler felt a few pairs of eyes on him. He surely was not a celebrity, but Kingsport was a small town, and everyone practically knew who he was, even before he became a big time lawyer. Being engaged to Andrea Burbank added a little bit to his fame. Of course, being Andrea's former fiancé was another story.

"Good morning," Tyler greeted the woman whom he assumed as Alyssa's teacher. "I'm Tyler Connell. How are you today?"

"I'm fine," the teacher answered nervously as she helped Alyssa into the classroom. "I'm Liz Carroll. I'm Alyssa's teacher. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, I'm fine. What time should I pick Alyssa up?"

"Her classes end around three, but you can pick her up any time you want."

"I'll see you at three."

"It was nice to finally meet you in person. I've heard so much about you."

"I'm sure you have. Okay, I'm going now."

"Before you go, I just want to say that there are many fishes in the sea."

"Thanks, I think."

"Are you sure you're okay? I can talk if you like. I also majored in psychology in college."

"Have a nice day, Ms. Carroll," Tyler said before quickly departing.

As Tyler walked back through the hallway, he noticed the same pairs of eyes on him again. He concluded that they were all mothers just waiting for the class to begin. He would have chosen to stay, but being around all these women made him anxious and hope that Val was there instead of him. There was no question as to why they were staring at him. Even the teacher was acting strange. It was beyond him how his business and his own life was any concern to people that he hardly even knew or whom he had just met.

"Are you new around here?"

Tyler turned around to see a guy who was about his age, more or less.

"Not really. I'm just dropping my daughter to her class."

"Oh, you don't work here?"

"No, I don't. I'm actually a lawyer. Why? Do you work here?"

"Actually, I'm the resident doctor."

"Really? You look so…"

"Young?"

"That's the word."

"I get that a lot. Everyone seems to expect some old guy."

"How old are you, anyway?"

"I'm twenty-seven. How about you? Thirty plus?"

"Twenty-eight, thank you very much. I'm not in the thirty zone yet."

"You're quite young to be married. How old is your daughter?"

"I'm not married. And Alyssa is four."

"A single parent?"

"Not really."

"Wait, so let me get this straight. You have a four year old daughter, you're twenty-eight, you're not married, and you're a lawyer."

"That about sums it up."

"Wait a minute. You look vaguely familiar. No, you're not him, then, maybe you are. You don't happen to be Tyler Connell by any chance, are you?"

"The one and only."

"I knew I read about you somewhere. It was probably one of those magazines that lists the top bachelors of the country."

"May I ask how you came across to reading that article?"

"Certainly not for leisure," he laughed. "Aside from my job here, I'm also the assistant director at my other job. In case you're wondering, the head is a woman and all the reading articles in her office are, of course, what women want to read. I just came from there actually."

"How are you getting along with this… Woman?" asked Tyler.

"Man, she gets on my case every time. She gets on my nerves a lot, if you know what I mean. I'm only the assistant director, and for the most part, I really don't do much, but she keeps making me work and work and work. I think she hates me. She's making my life a living hell."

Tyler tried not to laugh. It was obvious that this guy liked this girl somehow. At least, that's what he assumed.

"And you know what bugs me? She's three years younger than I am. She's probably the youngest head ever. They say that she's supposedly really talented, but I'm guessing that she just has the right connections, if you know what I mean."

"Why would you say that?"

"Get this. She worked at the place since she was young. Her old boss probably recommended her."

"May I ask who this person is?"

"Let's just say that she's the bitch on heels in my vocabulary. Kind of like what Mel Gibson called Helen Hunt in that movie. Women wanting something or whatever"

"I didn't catch your name."

"David Collins."

"If I didn't know any better, Collins, I'd say that you have a crush on this woman."

"When hell freezes over," he laughed. "If you put the two of us in a room together, then you'll have World War III. I'm telling you again, she really has it in for me. One time, I was just sitting there because she said that we had something to discuss, and then she made a comment about how I was being rude, because I didn't say anything. I mean, come on, what am I supposed to say? She was the one who called me. If I say something, she yells at me. If I don't say something, I thought she wouldn't scream at me again. Well, guess what? She did yell at me."

"And what do you do about it?"

"I'm not just going to stand up there and do nothing. The logical thing to do would be to fight back. I have pride too, you know. Anyway, that's basically what we do the whole time."

"You two sound like you're a married couple or something."

"My worst nightmare," he laughed. "I better go."

Tyler watched him with an amused look on his face.

"Now that's what I call a love-hate relationship, although the love is certainly not there yet."

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Tyler left the school and decided to go to the station and pay Brooke a visit. As he neared the place, old memories started coming back. He lived fairly close to the place, but it was the first time in months that he actually drove down to pay a visit. As he parked his car, he saw Brooke come out of the building with anger all over her face. Tyler kept his windows up to avoid recognition, but he kept his guard up to see what was happening.

"Where the heck did Collins go?" she asked the girl right behind her. "He left again before telling me. Ugh, I hate his guts. He's the most stubborn, obnoxious guy that I've ever met."

Tyler stepped out of the car when Brooke was out of sight. He can already predict that he picked a bad time to visit. 'I wonder what that was all about.'

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That's it for now. You're probably wondering what David has got to do with anything, but he'll be around in future chapters. He'll be am important factor in the story later on. I hope you liked it. I'll be back! ~ Scalret182