Disclaimer: Still not mine

Hey, thanks to everyone for the reviews, keep them up cause i love them dearly! One more chapter after this i think, so hope you like it!

"Daddy?" Ellie said in the smallest of whispers, the only noise audible in the dead silence that had swept over the room following her mother's exclamation. The place was like a photograph, the moment frozen in time before everything changed. No one moved a muscle, batted an eyelash or uttered a sound until the calm was broken by Mrs. Nash launching herself at the tall figure as soon as he stepped through the door. Throwing her arms around his neck and bawling hysterically into his shoulder, he wrapped her up swiftly in his own arms as though she had been made to fit into them and held the woman close.

And then all of the sudden it didn't matter that Ellie hadn't called her father "Daddy" since she was about ten years old, or that just a few hours ago she had hated her Mother more than any daughter should, or that she had just confessed her desperately-hidden secrets to Craig, or that she was wearing the head cheerleader's stupid dress, or that her cheeks were going to be streaked black from tears and mascara, or that she had dried up caterpillar between her fingers, because Marco had been right, this WAS her lucky day because her Dad was HOME. Not on a peacekeeping mission, not overseas, not at an undisclosed location, not anywhere in the world except Degrassi Canada, in his living room with his wife hanging onto him for dear life and his daughter running towards him as fast as she possibly could. And then they were together, a tangle of arms and hair and tears, just as it should be. The Nash's were together again, and as dysfunctional as it might be, their family was whole once more.

It took awhile for the music and cheers bombarding them from both the TV and the neighbors celebrating out on the street to register to Ellie. At first, it seemed as though the whole world was rejoicing with her at her Father's return, instead of the passing of one year and the beginning of the next. Colonel Nash's eyes were twinkling as he wiped the last few tears from them and gazed down lovingly at his wife and little girl.

"Well look what we have here! I do believe a kiss at midnight is in order and I just happen to have the luxury of having the two most beautiful women on the face of the earth in my arms. My, oh my, I sure am one lucky guy!"

Ellie felt her heart constrict in her chest as her father kissed her forehead. He was lucky alright, but for reasons much less trivial than having someone to kiss on New Year's. Her Dad was lucky to be alive, luckier than many of the men he had stood alongside who didn't get to come home, as well as all those who would never again get the chance. She felt ashamed of her complaints earlier regarding bad luck, because in the grand scheme of things a little teenage heartbreak and a fashion mishap weren't even worth mentioning. Right now she felt like the luckiest girl in the whole world, and she didn't care in the slightest how corny it sounded.

"And you," he said, watching his wife in almost a state of wonderment after breaking their kiss "look at you, I'm so proud darling."

Mrs. Nash knew exactly what her husband was implying, and dropped her eyes to the floor in shame. He had no idea the hell she had put their daughter through since he had shipped out. All the stories, the excuses that Ellie had come up with had been for her. No child should have to lie for her mother to her father, she realized that now. She had seen her first glimpse of it when Ellie had left her, the redhead she had doctored the childhood scrapes of revealing self-inflicted scar tissue that had scared her off the bottle...for a little while. But it had been just earlier that night that the stupidity of her own actions had really sunk in. Ellie's eyes flashing with an all-too-familiar fire as she made quite logical points backing up her request to stay in at New Year's. And she had been right, most parents would want their children safe at home, but she had been blinded by the allure of getting smashed with her friends to see that. Her daughter's words had stayed with her though, nagging in her ear as the Merlot was poured and the cosmo's were shaken, so strong was it that she had passed up the glass handed to her, over and over that night, opting for water and soda rather than liquor. And never before had she been happier with her decision, the look on her husband's face as he took in his sober wife...it was priceless. Of course, she must tell him the truth in time, but as for now it was nice to just enjoy how everything felt without the numbness of alcohol.

"It's Ellie you should be proud of, dear" she replied, running a hand down her daughter's cheek and smiling when the teen didn't shirk off her touch, "she's been the strong one here, must take after her father I guess!"

Colonel Nash chuckled and the compliment and for the first time took in his daughter's outfit. "Well now Elle, don't you look just ravishing this evening! Don't tell me you got all gussied up for your mom's party, a young lady like you should be out enjoying the holiday with her friends looking like that! But then again" He stated with a tone of mock fatherly concern "I'm not too sure if I want boys seeing my little girl looking so devastating, I am licensed to carry a gun you know!"

"Oh Dad!" Ellie grimaced, rolling her eyes "This dress definitely wasn't my idea, but I was at Marco's party and...well, I just decided it was time to call it a night and come home, that's all."

"Ahh, I see. And did you bring some company with you?" He responded, pointing to an out-of-place brunette boy still lurking upstairs, who gave a feeble wave upon being spotted.

"Him? Oh, that's Craig, he's...'

But what exactly was Craig? The boy she had promised along with Ashley to hate until the end of time? The boy who had been there for her this summer when both of her best friends and her boyfriend weren't? The boy who had broken her heart into a million pieces at a wedding? The boy who had kissed her under the mistletoe? The boy who had been her everything but technically wasn't anything to her at all?

"He's the lead singer in our band." She finally answered, "And he's one of my best friends. Hey Craig, come down here and meet my Dad!"

so, what do ya think!