A/N: Thankyou to all my wonderful readers and reviewers! That's about it for now - song for the chapter is "Say You Will" by Fleetwood Mac. Kicks ass.

It was coming from Rory's room. The quiet, deep dulcet tones of a man's voice singing almost inaudibly floated toward her as she crept down the hall. Her heart raced at the thought of the owner being Vince. He'd never sung for her before, not while he was sober anyway and that had been loud, off key and hilarious. That had been the night after Leon and Letty had first heard the baby's heartbeat and both men decided it was cause to have a drink – or twelve. They had ended up passed out on the kitchen floor of the firehouse after a full night of drinking, singing, drinking, celebrating and a little more drinking. Tala grinned at the memory. Her grin faded to a look of stunned hope when she heard the soft strains of a guitar join the singing.

Vince had been looking at his guitars more lately now that his arm was as healed as it was going to get. He still had pain, almost constantly, but it rarely affected him any more. He'd grown so used to it hurting him that he barely even noticed the pain any more, accustomed to it. Being an everyday thing for so long it had become natural for a constant ache to be present.

She got to Rory's door and peeked inside.

Rory was sitting up on the floor in front of Vince watching him with wide, wide blue eyes. Her hair had gotten longer and brushed her neck in baby fine dark ringlets. Her mouth was open slightly and she gazed at Vince's hands like they were magic. She was nine months old now and all signs pointed toward her being an exceptionally bright little girl. It was only when the doctor's had told her and Vince that their little girl was rather bright that Tala found out she got that from her father. The big oaf had neglected to inform her that he had graduated at sixteen after being bumped up a few years in school.

Tala smirked at the thought. That explained why Dom looked so much older than Vince. They had been in the same year in school but Vince was younger by two years. Because of his size nobody had even questioned his age and just assumed that the pair were both the same age when really they weren't.

Vince's hand left the strings of the guitar and he clenched his fist tightly, then flexed his fingers. He rubbed his forearm and looked down at Rory sadly.

"I'm sorry, princess. That's all I can play for you at the moment."

Rory's big azure eyes blinked at Vince, worried for her daddy. "Ow?" she asked him, crawling over to fill the empty space where he had previously been holding his guitar.

He nodded, holding out his arm so she could touch it. Her hands were gentle in their exploration of his damaged limb. The love Tala could see on Vince's face as he watched their child never failed to floor her. It was so blatant and obvious that even a blind man could see it clearly.

"Can you keep a secret, princess?"

Rory looked up at Vince, nodding her little head slightly. "Daddy..?" she climbed to her feet, leaning heavily against Vince's chest. He wrapped his thick arm around her and rubbed his beard against her cheek, smiling at her giggles. The pride felt showed on his face. Her first word had been dad at six months and she hadn't stopped saying it since much to his delight. He simply adored his little girl more than he cared for life itself. Tala knew there was a chance she would lose Vince to himself if anything ever happened to Aurora.

"All daddy's guitars?" he looked at her watching him avidly, "They're all yours. All of em."

Rory's excited squeals could have risen the dead. She may have only been nine and a half months but she knew what Vince had just told her was important. She may not have quite understood the gesture like an older child would, but she knew it was important.

"Another secret?" he asked conspiringly. At her nod he leaned in. "Mama's spying on us." He said in a loud stage whisper.

Tala erupted into a fit of laughter at the look on Rory's face when she stepped into the room. She walked over and sat beside Vince, leaning up to kiss him hello. She'd been working all day, just dying to get home to Vince and Rory. She sighed into his mouth, melting against him.

"You're way too good at that." She teased lightly, staring into his eyes.

Vince smiled and bent to kiss her again, Rory still held tightly against his chest. This time his kiss was a loud smacking one, making Rory giggle at her parents. Vince turned her in his arms and directed her toward Tala.

"Give Mama a kiss hello." He told her gently, hands hovering at her sides as she took wobbly steps toward Tal.

Once Rory was safely in Tala's embrace, Vince lifted himself to his feet and stepped over them. He started out of the room in a slight jog.

"Where you goin, baby?"

He grinned. "To get your present."

Tala flushed at the mention of a gift. She looked at her hand with her wedding and engagement ring on it and very nearly swooned. It was their one year anniversary that day and Tala had woken to go to work in the early hours of the morning to find a bouquet of dark purple Iris' and yellow roses on the night stand and a small card with a short but sweet message on it. The urge to just call in sick and ravage the sleeping Vince had been almost too strong to ignore, but she somehow managed.

Rory's azure eyes sparkled at her. She had her father's eyes, hair and smile and her mother's colouring. Tala had lost count of the amount of times she had overheard women commenting on what a beautiful pair Vince and Rory made as they perused the toy section in the supermarket. There were always comments about the adoring way Vince would give their daughter all of his attention as she waffled on in baby talk about something or other. It was times like those that Tala felt the most blessed. Sure Vince looked like a rough neck, but he was the most wonderful, loyal, loving husband and father that a woman could dream of. He was a big scruffy bastard, but he was their big scruffy bastard.

"Did you miss me?" Tala asked, smoothing Rory's wayward curls.

Rory's head bobbed up and down, her curls bouncing. "Uh huh! Daddy pay 'tar."

Tala smiled at Rory's fragmented speech. She was bright, but still only a baby. "I heard! He's so smart isn't he." She pressed a kiss to Rory's face, then looked at the guitar laying on the carpet. It was a Strat, she knew that much, but the colours on the body were so visually distracting that she was unsure as to how Rory had even been able to see Vince's hands past all the pretty colours. The body of the guitar honestly looked like a glorified black, red and yellow tie died t-shirt. It was worth a fortune no doubt. "Did you have fun with Daddy today?"

"Yep." Rory's fingers were playing with her necklace, the firefly Vince had given her their first Christmas together. She recognised the shape as the same thing that was on her bracelet and started ooh-ing and ah-ing. She was jabbering on at her mother when Vince came back into the room, package in hand, and sat on the floor again.

"You wanna help Mama open it?" he asked, handing Tala the rectangular box. Tala's eyes widened. That shape only meant one thing. Jewellery.

"Oh, Vince.."

He grinned, pushing it into her hands. He looked more excited about giving it to her than he got looking at the guitars in the local music store.

"Open it."

Tala let Rory rip the wrapping paper off it then she handed her to Vince so she could open the box. Inside resting against the dark green velvet was a white gold charm bracelet. A tiny guitar, a sun, a paint brush, a moon, an open scroll and a little VW beetle hung from it. Overwhelmed, Tala crawled over to Vince and kissed him soundly, snuggling into his side. Ever curious, Rory sought out to see what her daddy had given her.

"Vince it's gorgeous – I just.. Thankyou so much."

He wrapped his arm around her, rubbing her back. "Want to know what they all mean?"

"Please."

He removed his arm and pointed to the first charm. "OK, the guitar is obviously me. The sun is for Rory, because Aurora means 'dawn', the paint brush is Leon, the moon is Letty, because she likes night time so much and the beetle," he touched it lightly, "-is for the brat."

"What about this one?" she fingered the shiny scroll, then noticed there was writing on it. June 17th it said. The date they were married.

Tala sniffled at the beautiful gesture. She knew there was a lot of thought that went into the gift. "I love it, big guy." She kissed him again, "Thankyou."

He nuzzled her neck and hugged her with one arm while the other carefully held Rory against him. "Happy anniversary, firefly."