So … yeah, I know it's been a while. I lost my motivation for this story and focused on other things. But now I'm back and of course I immediately noticed a mistake. I forgot to write a chapter where Mia met Kendall and James for the first time ... So I decided to write this "scene" as a flashback. Let's go.

Logan took the last suitcase and stepped out into the hallway. Then he noticed that Mia and Camile were still standing in the apartment. Camille caught his eye and shrugged apologetically. "I think we need a moment."

Logan nodded understandingly. "All right. Take as much time as you need. I'll wait in the cab."

He left the building and went over to the driver, who was helping him to stow the suitcase. Logan thanked him and said in French, "I think it will be a few minutes before we can drive."

The man waved off with a friendly smile and replied, "That's okay."

Logan grinned. "Because you know you will get your money anyway, don't you?"

The driver nodded. "Exactly."

Logan chuckled and got into the cab. There he leaned his head against the window, let his thoughts wander, and ended up on the day when Mia met James and Kendall for the first time...

Flashback:

Logan and Mia were having breakfast when Logan's cell phone rang. Mia looked up happily from her bowl with cereal. "Maybe it's Mommy."

Logan smiled and looked at his display. "Nope, it's uncle Carlos."

"Great!"

Logan laughed and answered the phone, "Hey, man, what's up?"

"Hey, Logan. You know, I've been thinking and I've come to the conclusion that we should do it today."

Logan hesitated and looked over at Mia, who was busy with her breakfast again. "I don't know, Carlitos..."

"Come on, Logan. Today is the perfect opportunity. We have the day off."

"Yes, that's why I wanted to go to the park with Mia to-"

"Great. Then we can do it there. James has been asking me about it for a while. And Kendall seems to be sorry too, right?"

Logan sighed. "Yes, I think so. But maybe it would be better if Camile was there because-"

"Yeah, but she's not here right now. And I'm sure she wouldn't mind. So what do you say?"

"Who are we waiting for, Daddy?" Mia asked, looking around the park.

"You'll see in a moment," Logan mumbled, who was also looking around. Then he raised his hand and waved. "Look, Mia, there's Carlos."

Immediately Mia jumped off the bench and started running towards Carlos, but shortly before she got to him, she stopped. "Daddy, who is that?" She asked Logan, who had followed her.

"You mean the person standing next to Carlos?"

Mia nodded.

"This is James. Come on." He took her hand and walked with her over to Carlos and James. Logan gave them both a quick hug. "Where's Kendall?" He asked, mumbling quietly to Carlos. Carlos shrugged. "I tried to call him, but he didn't answer his phone. So I left him a voicemail."

Logan nodded with a sigh. "Well, we can't force him." He looked encouragingly at James - who looked a little nervous - then turned to his daughter. "Honey, this is James Diamond. He's one of my best friends."

"Hello, Mia," James said, giving her his best James Diamond smile. "It's so nice to meet you."

Mia looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and thoughtfulness. Then she said in a cheerful voice, "You are pretty."

Logan coughed and Carlos rolled his eyes. James grinned. "Thank you. But you're pretty too. In fact, I think you are the prettiest girl I have ever seen."

Mia giggled. "Thank you." She looked at Logan and motioned for him to bend down to her. "Daddy?"

Logan knelt down. "Yes?"

Mia whispered something in his ear, which made Logan grin. Then she asked, "Can I go play now?" She pointed to the playground behind them. Logan nodded. "Yeah, sure. Have fun. But be careful."

Mia ran away. Logan looked after her with a smile until he heard James ask in an impatient voice, "Well, what did she say?"

Logan turned back to his friends. "She thinks she likes you."

Carlos started laughing while James looked indignant at both of them. "What? She just thinks that she likes me? ... What does that mean?"

"That means that from now on you are in the testing phase. She will assess you more precisely in the near future and in the end we will see how she decides."

"How she decides? Does that mean she can still change her mind from "I think I like him" to "I don't like him"?"

Logan nodded with a smile. Carlos looked very satisfied. "Well, I didn't need a testing phase. She liked me from the start. And that means I'm her favorite."

James scowled at him. "Yes, for now. But just wait. Because soon she will realize how great I am and then I'll be her favorite."

"Um, guys?" Logan tried to interfere, but they weren't paying any attention to him.

"Nonsense. After all, I'm the funniest of all of us."

James nodded. "Yeah, okay. Maybe you're her favorite right now. But I assure you, once she's a teenager, she'll need me more than you. Then you'll just be the embarrassing uncle, but I would be the cool uncle who can tell her all about clothes, styling, and boys."

"Guys..."

"I'll always be her favorite. You'll see. Because I-"

"Guys!" Logan shouted, which made the two turn to him in amazement.

"Dude, why are you yelling?" Carlos asked confused.

"Yeah, Logan, we're not deaf," James agreed. Logan looked grumpy at them until they burst into laughter.

"Oh my god, you should see your face," Carlos laughed.

"I can't believe it's still that easy to trick him," James said, grinning.

"I know, right?" Carlos agreed. Logan grimaced. "I hate you guys. I really hate you." He shook his head and turned around to check on Mia while James and Carlos were still laughing. But their laugh quickly disappeared when Logan suddenly asked in an alarming voice, "Where is she?!"

"Who is where?"

"Mia! She's gone!"

"What?!" Carlos exclaimed in horror.

"Does she know she can't just walk away?" James asked worriedly. Logan gave him a dark look. "What do you think?! Of course she does!"

"Okay, don't panic. We split up and look for her," Carlos suggested.

"Let's go," Logan and James said at the same time, and they ran off.

A few minutes earlier:

Mia sighed. She wanted to use the slide, but the line of children was just too long. So she looked around, hoping to find something interesting. In fact, it was one of her favorite games that she had regularly played with her mommy. They sat on a bench in the park, ate ice cream, looked at the people around them and made up stories about them. She had tried playing this game with her daddy a few days ago, but it hadn't worked out so well. Mia could see that he had tried really hard, but he just didn't have enough imagination for it. But her mommy, yes, her mommy could tell great stories. Of course, Mia knew that some of the stories were total nonsense because they were about things that didn't exist. But it was fun to imagine them and that was the most important thing. But her mommy wasn't with her now and couldn't play with her. So Mia tried it alone and looked at the many people in the park. Suddenly she saw a young man sitting on a bench who looked familiar to her. She looked back at her daddy, but he was talking to Carlos and James. And maybe the man would be gone when she asked her daddy about him. She thought for a moment, then told herself that it wouldn't take long and ran over to the young man with the dark blond hair. When she stood in front of him, she said, "I've seen you before."

The man lifted his head and looked at her in amazement, no, he even looked quite frightened. His bright green eyes were wide. He looked around, then nodded and said hesitantly, "Yes, I've seen you before too."

Kendall wasn't sure what to do after hearing Carlos's voicemail. Even though he'd already managed to have a reasonable conversation with Logan and Camile, he still had doubts. To tell the truth, he was even a little scared of meeting the little girl. But Jo had told him so much about the little one and when he got Carlos's message, he decided on a plan B. He would come to the park, but only to observe. Because despite his doubts, he couldn't deny that he was curious. So he sat on a bench in the park and watched his friends. And suddenly Mia stood in front of him and looked at him with interest. Kendall was shocked. He had expected everything, just not that. He looked around for Logan, but he couldn't see his best friend. So there was nothing left to do but face the task.

"Are you Kendall?"

Kendall nodded. "Yes, that's me."

"You're one of Daddy's friends. Then why are you sitting here alone? Why didn't you come to us?"

"Um ... I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me."

"Why?" Mia asked in a tone that only children can master perfectly. Kendall considered what to answer. Finally he said, "Well, to tell you the truth, I haven't been very nice to your parents lately, so I thought that you might not like me or even hate me."

Mia looked at him with genuine astonishment on her face. "But we don't know each other. So I can't hate you, can I?"

Kendall nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think you're right. You are really smart, Mia."

Mia, not in the least surprised that he knew her name, nodded. "Mommy says that comes from Daddy."

"I see."

"Are you sorry for being mean to my mommy and daddy?"

"Yes, I'm really really sorry."

"Are you sad?"

"What?" He looked confused at Mia, who was watching him with a strange look. Kendall thought of Logan, the look he always had when he was trying to solve difficult math problems. It was exactly this expression that he could see on Mia's face now, as if she was trying to read his mind.

"My mommy says that if you're not sure if someone is serious about an apology, you have to check if that person is sad. Because when you're sad, it means you're really, really sorry."

"Hmmm ... looks like your mommy got a point."

"So are you sad?"

"Yeah," Kendall muttered, looking down at the ground.

"Don't be," she said encouragingly. Kendall sighed. "I can't help it."

Mia climbed up to him on the bench and said, "Do you know what always comforts me when I'm sad?"

Kendall shook his head. "No, what is it?"

"This," Mia replied and hugged him.

Logan ran through the park, trying in vain to turn off the horrible thoughts in his brain that were preventing him from keeping a cool head. Then he discovered her. And his heart, which tried to calm down the second he saw Mia, pounded hard in his chest again when he saw her talking to a strange man. Without hesitation, Logan wanted to rush towards her to get her out of this potential danger. But then he realized that the other person wasn't a stranger at all. It was Kendall. Logan stopped in amazement and watched the two of them talk to each other. Then he was even more surprised when he saw how Mia climbed onto the bench and hugged him. Kendall had no idea what to do. He looked around helplessly and saw Logan. They met each other's eyes for a moment, then Logan nodded slowly. Kendall hesitated, then he carefully put his arms around Mia and hugged her back. Despite the adrenaline that was still rushing through his body, Logan couldn't suppress a smile.

"What the hell?"

He turned around to see James and Carlos walking over to him. James stared open-mouthed at Mia and Kendall. "I don't believe that. I'm stuck in this "testing phase" and Kendall, who was mean to you and Camile, is being hugged by her? That's not fair."

"When did that happen?" Carlos asked, surprised. Logan shrugged. "I don't know. I just found her."

Mia heard her daddy's voice and turned her head. Then she let go of Kendall, jumped off the bench, and ran towards Logan. "Daddy, look, I just met Kendall."

Logan nodded, knelt down, took her hands in his, and looked at her with a serious expression. "Mia, we talked about it. You can't just go away without telling someone. Something might have happened to you. Never do that again. We were worried about you."

Mia looked down. "I'm sorry, Daddy," she said in a voice so sad it broke Logan's heart. "Please don't be mad."

"Oh, sweetie," Logan said softly and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. "It's okay. I'm not mad. Everything is fine." He caressed her cheek and kissed her forehead. "Are we good?"

Mia nodded and managed a small smile. "Yes, Daddy. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Logan said, stroking her hair. "So how about we all go now and eat pizza together?"

"All of us?" She asked, looking at Kendall, who was still sitting on the bench, not sure if he should join them or not.

"I'll ask him, okay? Are you going with Carlos and James? We'll meet at the park entrance."

Mia nodded and walked over to Carlos and James. Carlos hugged her and kissed the top of her head. Then he and James each took one of Mia's hands and walked away with her.

Logan waited until they were out of earshot, then he sat down next to Kendall. "Well, I don't know what you were talking about, but it looks like she doesn't hate you at all."

Kendall shrugged. "Yes, it really looks like that." He thought for a moment, then he said, "She's special, Logan. She's not like other kids."

Logan nodded with a slight smile. "Yes, I know."

"And I swear the second she hugged me, I could literally feel my heart melt. You know, in a good way."

"Yes, she has that special gift. It's amazing."

"I can't believe I actually said I didn't want anything to do with her. I was-"

Logan held up a hand. "Stop, Kendall. We have already talked about it. At some point, all this self-reproach has to be over."

Kendall looked at him with raised eyebrows. Logan nodded. "Yes, I know what I just said. You are my best friend. And if you can't forgive yourself, how am I supposed to do that? We need to stop clinging to the past. Instead, we should focus on the present and the future. But I can't do this without you."

"Um … Is this the moment when you tell me that you love me?" Kendall asked, trying to speak in a neutral tone. Logan rolled his eyes. "Shut up, you idiot."

They both had to laugh. Then Logan said, "So what do you think? Should we start over and celebrate with pizza?"

Kendall hesitated. "Are you sure that's okay?"

Logan nodded. "Absolutely. So come on. I'm starting to worry that Carlos and James might adopt Mia if I keep them waiting."

Kendall laughed and stood up. "Well, I think we should definitely try to prevent that." Together they followed James, Carlos, and Mia, who were already waiting impatiently for them.

This chapter was written for Kira (guest). I hope you liked it. And thanks a lot for the sweet words in your last review.