A/N- Thanks for the reviews! Keep them coming!

A/N 2- As of this chapter, Ella's 7, Ava's 8, and Jack's 10. Last chapter, Ella was 6, Ava was 7, and Jack was 9.

Dedicated- To heroes. Yours, mine, and ours. Whether they be cops, celebrities, or just someone who you love more than anything, this chapter is dedicated to them.

Disclaimer: I only own Ella, Ava, and Jack. And Amy can take them if she wants. I'm just playing with them for a while.

Heroes

Mrs. Russo's 2nd graders: Homework due this week
Due Monday: Math worksheet, writing worksheet
Due Tuesday: Reading log, math worksheet
Due Wednesday: Reading log
Due Thursday: None
Due Friday: Hero ProjectElla stared at the last words on the page. "Hero Project".

She knew that her classmates would be making collages and coloring pictures of their favorite superheroes. She knew there would be plentiful pictures of Superman and Batman from the boys and many of Barbie and Cinderella from the girls. She knew each picture would be accompanied by the words "I want to be just like insert name here when I grow up." She also knew that it made no sense to her.

Batman and Superman were nice and all, saving the world, but they didn't have anybody to love. Lois Lane was ok, sure, but every time she watched Superman, she asked her parents why they didn't love each other like her own parents and grandparents did. She liked Cinderella and loved the movie, but decided that she'd rather be Ella Mariano and not have to live with evil stepsisters for seventeen years before falling in love and becoming a princess. Besides, she'd told her grandmother, it would be impossible to play baseball in that dress.

And Barbie? Ella had to laugh at that one. Why would you want to be a plastic doll who can't even stand up in her own shoes?

The minute she'd heard about the project, Ella'd known who she wanted to do the project about and how she wanted to present it.

However, now that she was seated at the desk in her bedroom, dwarfed by an oversized desk chair, she couldn't figure out how to get started. Sighing, she slipped out of her chair, picking up her Colonel Clucker, and ran downstairs. She pulled out her parents' photo albums and threw them on the floor, opening one and tearing through the pages.

"Ella?" asked Jess, walking into the room.

"Yes, daddy?"

"What are you doing?"

"Looking at pictures."

"I can see that. Why?"

"Cuz I need spirination."

"What?"

"Spirination. You know. Like when you need spirination for a new book, you have a special day with mommy and me."

"Baby, do you mean inspiration?" Ella shrugged,

"Could be it."

"Ok... well, why?" Ella sighed,

"Because..."

"Because why?"

"Because of the project."

"Oh, of course, the project," Jess said, confused, "What project?"

"The project Mrs. Russo gave us," she said, pulling out her favorite picture and examining it, "The one about heroes."

"Oh, that one. Who are you..." Ella held the picture up to her father, rolling her eyes as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Oh. Well, that makes sense. Are you making a collage?" Ella shook her head,

"Nope. I'm writing a story. Or a paper. Whatever you want to call it." Jess laughed,

"You are so your mother and my daughter."

"Well, of course. Who else's daughter would I be?" Jess shook his head,

"It's a figure of speech... Do you want my help?" Ella nodded,

"Would you, daddy? Please?"

"Sure. Clean up and I'll meet you in your room in five minutes." Ella shrieked,

"Thank you, daddy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"No problem, munchkin."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ella skipped into her house a week and a half later, waving goodbye to her friend Kady and Kady's mother; they'd walked her home an afterschool playdate.

"Mommy! Mommy! C'mere!" Ella called. Rory came running into the foyer; her job at a newspaper had allowed her to work from home many days, and gave Ella the opportunity to spend half of her time at her grandparents' house and half of her time with her mother.

"What? What's the matter, baby?" Rory asked frantically, checking her daughter for cuts and scrapes.

"Nothing's the matter, mommy. What a silly thing to ask." Rory exhaled,

"Well, don't scream like that, then. You scared me."

"Sorry. I was just excited." Rory forced her breathing to return to normal and pushed stray hairs out of her daughter's face,

"What are you so excited about?"

"My project! My hero project that daddy helped me with!"

"What about it?"

"Mrs. Russo gave it back today. I got a 102!" Rory narrowed her eyes,

"And two?"

"I got extra cuz I was the only one in the class who didn't draw a picture or do a collage. She said my orgininality is estrardinry."

"You mean your originality is extraordinary?"

"Something like that."

"I did love that paper."

"And I wrote it all by myself. Daddy just gave me ideas about what stories I should tell and fixed a couple of words. I even got to use a thesaurus."

"Thesaurus, huh? I guess you're ready to write an editorial to go next to mine in the newspaper?"

"I guess so... Can we go to Grandma and Papa's so I can show them?" Rory nodded,

"We're going there for dinner tonight. Papa's making burgers and hot dogs."

"Good." Rory kissed Ella's forehead,

"Go upstairs and change."

"Ok." Ella skipped up the stairs, dropping her backpack by the banister.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"We're here!" Rory announced as she opened the front door, "Anybody here?"

"Hi Rory!" came Ava and Jack's voices from upstairs.

"Hey, guys! Where are mommy and daddy?"

"In here," came Luke's voice from the kitchen. Rory strolled into the kitchen and placed the plate of cake she'd brought on the table.

"Hi, daddy," she greeted, kissing his cheek.

"Hey, princess."

"What smells so good?"

"Rice pilaf. Your mom tasted it last week and decided that she loved it." Rory grinned,

"So, did I tell you what your granddaughter did?"

"No, what did she do?"

"She... actually, she'll probably want to tell you herself... Where's mom?"

"Upstairs getting dressed. There's a stocking crisis I apparently won't understand. Where are Ella and Jess?"

"Car. They'll be in in a second," she picked at the hamburger bun sitting on the counter, "I'm gonna go see mom." She ran up the stairs and as she reached the top, the front door opened.

"Papa!" Ella skipped in. Luke turned around and picked the seven-year-old up.

"Hey, bella. How've you been? I missed you these past two days!"

"I've been great, Papa. How've you been?"

"Can't complain." Jess trailed in, carrying a folder, which he handed to his daughter,

"Hey, Luke."

"Hey, Jess. How's it going?"

"Good, good. But the big news isn't with me. It's with little miss Mariano over here."

"Oh yeah? What's the big news, Miss Mariano?"

"I wrote a paper and I got 102 on it!"

"102?"

"Cuz I wrote a paper and I didn't have to. I could've drawn a picture."

"You wrote a whole paper? You really are your parents' daughter."

"That's what everybody keeps saying to me. I don't get why."

"Can I see the paper?" Ella nodded,

"It's in the folder," she held up the sticker-decorated folder labeled "Ella's greatest works"

"What's it about?"

"Heroes." Luke grinned and turned off the oven, carrying Ella to the kitchen table and sitting down, allowing her to rest on his lap.

"My Hero," he read, "by Lorelai Hannah Mariano... You went by Lorelai? I thought your teacher called you Ella?"

"Mommy writes as Lorelai 'Rory' Gilmore-Mariano. I thought I should do that too. I just left out the 'Ella' part, cuz my teacher already knows my name is Ella."

"Ok," He looked back to the paper and was about to continue reading the paper out loud when Ella interrupted him.

"Papa?"

"Yes, Lorelai Hannah?"

"Number one, don't call me that." Luke grinned,

"Yes, Ella?"

"Better. And number two, don't read out loud."

"Ok." He glanced back down at the paper and began to read to himself.

My Hero by Lorelai Hannah Mariano.

Most kids my age have heroes that they've never met before- Barbie or Batman. I've always thought that was silly. Why would you want to be just like someone you've never met? Like my daddy always says, "You don't know if that's what they're really like."

My hero is someone I know very well. My hero is my Papa Luke.

My Papa Luke is married to my Grandma Lorelai. I call him Papa because when I was a baby, I couldn't say 'Grandpa.' Papa and Grandma have two kids, Jack and Ava, who are my best friends. I play at their house all the time and we hardly ever fight (Even though we do get in trouble sometimes).

My papa is the greatest in the whole world. Some of my favorite things to do with him are to bake cookies, play baseball, and just sit and watch movies. We have old movies of Papa and me asleep on the couch together when I was a little baby.

My favorite thing that my papa and I have ever done together is, last Thanksgiving, Papa let me help him cook dinner. Ava and Jack made the pumpkin pie and papa let me help him cook the turkey. I want to be a diner girl when I grow up, just like my papa is my "diner dude."

The biggest reason Papa is my hero is because of all that he does for our family. Papa is my mommy's daddy, even though she has another one, too, who she doesn't see a lot. He always stands up for us and cooks for us and lets us be ourselves. And no matter how much trouble Ava and I get into, Papa always makes sure that when he tucks us in at night, he kisses our foreheads and tells us "I love you more than..." and we always have to say "anything."

Papa calls me "Ella-bella," or sometimes just "Ella," or sometimes just "Bella." He was the one who gave me my nickname when I was born, so it's ok that he changes it.

I love my papa for everything that he does for my mommy, my daddy, my grandma, Ava, Jack, and me. He works really hard every day to earn money to help our family, and he is still the silly, goofy, loving papa that tucks me in at night and rolls his eyes when I say something that reminds him of my mommy or grandma.

No tights. No capes. No plastic dream houses. Just a blue baseball cap, a buttoned shirt, and a book to read at bedtime. And I wouldn't want any other hero.

Luke looked down at Ella with tears in his eyes.

"So?" she asked excitedly, "You like it?"

"I love it, bel... I love you."

"I love you, too, papa. And I meant it."

"I would hope so."

"Hey, do you think grandma will like it?"

"I think so. I think she'll be proud at the joke about Barbie."

"I know," Ella grinned, "Daddy told me to put that in there for her."