Disclaimer: see Chapter 2

A/N: Looks like my little idea is being well received! Thanks to NCCJFan and Mrs. Rhett Butler for their reviews. Also, from now on, flashbacks will be in italics. Just thought you ought to know.

(Side note to Mrs. Rhett Butler: I like your idea! It's a good one, and very in tune with how I want Amanda's personality to be.)

A/N 2: The idea for Amanda's stubbornness when it comes to reconciling with her father belongs to Mrs. Rhett Butler, who I am grateful to for having such a good idea. Figured I'd give her credit for the idea before I use it. A lawsuit's the last thing I need right now...

Chapter Three: Eternity in an Instant

Amanda sat outside in the sun, watching her little sister play in the front yard. The past hours had been hard on her, what with finding out about her mother, and knowing that she'd be the one to identify her at the morgue. "Morgue." Amanda always hated that word. It made her think of the old Hitchcock movie, "Murders in the Rue Morgue," a particularly gruesome film, even by today's standards. Thankfully, she wasn't going to be alone. When she emerged from her room that morning, she found her friends Lexi and Lucy Thomas sitting on her aunt's couch, waiting for her. The first thing they did was hug her, and then told her "come hell or high water, there's no way you're going to that morgue alone."
"So," Lexi said, "When's 'Daddy' supposed to show up?" Lexi was sitting next to Amanda on the porch steps, watching Lucy indulge Jessie in a game of tag, while Lori slept inside.
"Soon," Amanda said. "Too soon, if you ask me."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It means that I'm not all that thrilled about seeing my dad," Amanda said. "After 15 years, just because he finds Mom in the morgue, he decides it's his job to be there when I go make the ID. I'm actually glad you guys are going with me. I need the moral support."
Just then, Jessie ran up to Amanda and asked if she would join her and Lucy in the game. Amanda accepted, glad for the moment that she had an excuse to stop thinking about her father. Although she had to wonder as she began running from Jessie-who was IT-While he was making the drive over, was he thinking of her?

Woody was nervous. He was driving down the backroads, on his way to see the daughter he had left in favor of college, after 15 years. Who wouldn't be nervous in that situation? He thought back to the last time he had seen Amanda. She was only three years old, and it was the day he told Jen he was leaving.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I wanted to Jen, but I didn't know if I had gotten in or not. I wanted to make sure that I had gotten in before I told you."
"Well what about Amanda? She's been asking me why people keep talking about Daddy going away. What am I supposed to tell her?"
"The truth, maybe?"
"How could I tell her the truth when I didn't even know it!"
Jen heard the pitter-patter of small footsteps coming down the hallway of her parents' house. She looked at Woody and said, "She's got to know sometime, might as well be now. Which one of us is going to tell her?"
"I'll do it," Woody said. "Might soften the blow if she heard it from her father."
"Hear what?" asked a small voice from the doorway. Woody and Jen looked up, and saw Amanda standing in the doorway in her sundress, freshly awake from her nap and obviously looking for one or both of her parents. "Hear what Daddy?" Amanda repeated.
Jen walked over to her daughter and kneeled down to be eye-level with Amanda. "Daddy's got some news to tell you," she said slowly, choosing her words as she went along. "I'm going to go in the kitchen while you two talk, OK?" Amanda nodded, and toddled over to where her father was sitting. Upon reaching the couch, she climbed into her father's lap and said, "What's up Doc?"
Woody grinned. Amanda had been imitating Bugs Bunny lately, and she was pretty good at it-for a three year old, that is. "Not much, Bean," he said.
Amanda smiled at her daddy. Bean was his nickname for her, and as far as she knew, she was the only one he called that. "Something need tell?" she asked.
"Yeah, Bean. It's pretty important."
"What is it?"
"Daddy has to go away for a while."
"Coldege?" asked Amanda, unable to say 'college' correctly.
"That's right, college. Your dad's gonna be a cop."
"G-man!" squealed Amanda, thinking of Alfalfa on 'The Little Rascals' and what he wanted to be when he grew up, naturally assuming that a cop and a G-man were the same things.
"No, not a G-man," her father said, "A cop. Like 'Starsky and Hutch,' or the guys on 'Hill Street Blues'."
"Pweaseman?"
"Yeah, something like that. Anyways, I won't be seeing you for a while, so I wanted to give you this before I left."
Woody reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. Amanda watched in wonder as he opened it, revealing a heart-shaped locket. Amanda squealed with delight and said, "Pretty! Pretty! What's inside Daddy?"
Her father opened the locket to show her the pictures inside. On the left was a picture of Amanda and her mother, and on the right, Amanda and her dad. "That me and Mommy and you!" Amanda said excitedly.
"Yep, that's us."
"We happy?"
"Yeah, we're happy..."
 "Then I took her back to her mom, and I left," Woody mumbled as he turned onto the street where Donna and the girls lived. "Some dad I was." He continued down the street until he saw the house. It was exactly the way Donna had described it on the phone the night before, and the first thing he saw when he looked back at the yard was a blonde-haired, brown- eyed 18 ½ year old running as fast as she could from a child that looked about 7, closely followed by another teenager, about the same age, with light brown hair and blue eyes. After a few minutes, he became aware that the blonde girl was watching him. She suddenly turned to the brunette-who had been tackled by the little kid and was untangling herself slowly-and said something, causing the brunette to stand up quickly, say something to the little kid-who went running into the house-and look at the car. Woody locked eyes with his daughter Amanda, then slowly pulled into the driveway and shut off his car.

"Run Amanda, run!!!"
"I'm trying Lucy! She's gaining on me!"
Amanda ran across the front yard, screaming strategy to Lucy the entire time. She looked behind her and saw Jessie closing the gap between them. Suddenly, her sister disappeared. Amanda stopped next to Lucy, who was catching her breath.
"Where'd she go?"
Then, out of nowhere, Amanda found out. Jessie jumped out from under the porch steps and launched herself at her older sister.
"GOTCHA!!!!" screamed Jessie, as she and her sister hit the ground.
While Amanda was busy being attacked by Jessie, Lucy took the opportunity to look up at the road. She saw a strange car slowing down near the house, and saw the driver staring back at her. She turned to Amanda, who was trying to disentangle herself from Jessie, and said "Amanda, check out the car."
Amanda looked at the car and stood up quickly. She leaned down to Jessie and told her to go into the house and tell Aunt Donna that she, Lexi, and Lucy were leaving. Jessie nodded and ran into the house. Amanda turned around and caught the eye of the driver as he pulled into the driveway and parked the car. She watched him get out of the car and walk towards them. When he finally got to the porch-after what seemed like an eternity-Amanda looked him straight in the eye and said something she hadn't said in 15 years: "Hi Dad."