A/N enjoy this, I can't wait to start posting the REALLY DarkGarret!

I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
-Bob Dylan

"So." He said pouring out two glasses.

"So." She replied, picking up one of the glasses and taking a small sip. "How do you drink this stuff?" She asked, the look on her face plainly saying what she thought of it. He laughed.

"You get used to it." He said simply, taking a sip of it himself. "How's college?" He asked, sitting down across from her.

"It's going pretty well. Exams are coming up way too fast." She grinned none the less though.

"Any idea on what you're going to do once they let you out into the real world?" She shrugged.

"Well-" She trailed off with a smirk.

"Well, what?" He asked, hoping that it was something that was at least somewhat respectable.

"I was thinking about going to law school-I took the LSAT's already, and have the scores and the GPA to get into Harvard-" The stunned look on his face made her burst out laughing and he had to join in with a grin of his own. "What, you thought I was going to say I wanted to be a porn star or something?"

He chuckled. "I can't say that I wouldn't put it past you-" She gave him a smack, but the grin remained on her face. "That's wonderful though." It was, it was a wonderful surprise. Harvard. That was something he had never expected from her. She was smart, she was everything to be proud of.

She was getting her life back together. She had done an abrupt about-face from where she had been when she had graduated from high school four years previously. Her chaotic life was falling into order, climbing back up from the downhill spiral she had been on before. She popped a stick of gum in her mouth and ground it back and forth a few times before grinning. "Thanks." She said, taking another sip of the burning liquid and making the same face she had before.

"It grows on you." He said simply, taking a sip to prove it. "And it tastes much better without gum." She laughed. "You've grown up." He pointed out after a minute and she shrugged.

"Not up, really, just less stupid. Enough to know when to act mature and when to be the ditz I am." He smiled faintly with a nod. "And it made me realize some things. Like fighting with you over every little thing is stupid." He blinked. Twice.

"How much of that did you drink?" He gestured to the glass in front of her and she laughed.

"I didn't say that I've sworn off fighting with you completely. I just realized that fighting with you over everything is stupid. The less I fight with you the more likely I win." He chuckled. She was going to make a great lawyer. She had the instincts. "Speaking of that-I do have a favor to ask of you.." She trailed off.

"What?" He expected it to be asking him to pay for law school, he had the money for it, that wasn't a problem.

"Well, I know mom said that I can have her house for the summer when I get out-but for now, while I'm staying with you, you mind if my boyfriend stays too?" He was tempted to say no. The word was on the tip of his tongue, but he saw the look on her face. She had grown up. He could give her one little thing.

"Is he a nice guy?" She grinned and nodded.

"Nicer than Paul, even. Polite, calm, quiet, he's an engineering major-already has been accepted to MIT." He nodded. At least she hadn't picked some of the boys she had dragged in before.

"Just don't do anything with him in my house that you wouldn't want to walk in on me doing." He didn't want to think of some of the things that he knew his daughter knew.

She made a disgusted face. "Ewww, parent sex, gross.

"So how have you been?" He shrugged.

"Same old, same old." He replied, with another sip disappearing from the tumbler. Her eyebrow quirked upward, a trait she had learned from him.

"Really? Last I heard you were dating the DA." He frowned.

"That ended a while ago." She shrugged.

"So who are you dragging to Mom's wedding then?" It was his turn to shrug.

"Probably Jordan." He hadn't thought about it, really. At least Jordan would be someone that he could talk to, that he knew.

"So in other words, your life is as boring as it can be?" He nodded with a grin.

"So, looking forward to graduation?" She nodded, energetically, grinning broadly.

"Can't wait. Law School, then out in the real world."

"Choosing not to follow in my footsteps?" He mocked looking hurt.

"Can't do the blood, guts and gore."

"Don't blame you." He stood up as his phone rang.

"Is it OK if I take your car home?" She asked and he fished his keys out of his pocket, tossing them to her. "So Blake can come over tonight?" She verified.

"Like I said, just don't do anything you don't want to see me doing."

"Deal." she said and hugged him. "Thanks dad." She walked out leaving him alone to answer the phone.