A\N: Hi everyone! HazelI'd here with chapter 3! Hope you are enjoying our story. It's been lots of fun to write so far. Thanks to Justicerocks for letting me play in her universe for awhile.

Disclaimer: Neither one of us own anything you recognize

Spoilers: None

Warnings: None

Chapter 3

Connie looked around the family room one more time before turning away to resume the search for her husband. She suspected that she would find Mike in the kitchen, sulking. Maddie and her honor court had descended on their house for pizza after their latest dance practice for the waltz that they would all be performing during Maddie's quinceanera. The boys were a little hesitant and unsure at first, but after a few practices they were all getting the hang of it.

Maddie had invited everyone over for pizza after this latest practice, ostensibly to talk about the dresses for the girls and the suits for the boys, but actually to give her father a chance to finally meet Brenden. Mike had not been able to make it to any of the other group practice sessions, so this was his first opportunity to see Maddie with the fourteen kids who would stand up with her during her fifteenth birthday celebration. Fifteen friends, actually. Seven couples and one boy to be Maddie's escort.

And that one boy was Brenden Relleke.

Mike was trying, he really was. Despite Andy's protestations that Maddie's "almost boyfriend" was not good enough for her, primarily because he had no interest in sports in general and baseball in particular, Mike had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. It turned out that Brenden was a fairly proficient guitar player and had also earned one of the lead roles in the school play. Mike had gained a few points with his daughter when he pointed out to Andy that not everyone's talents lie in sports.

Brenden was polite enough, Mike supposed. He had a mop of dark hair hanging over his forehead, not quite covering his equally dark eyes. He was neither overly bossy within the group of teenagers currently taking over their house, but nor was he a doormat to his friends. He was not dressed in black from head to toe, and did not appear to be terribly sullen or moody. Mike couldn't see any glaringly worrisome personality traits or future convict tendencies in the young man. Hence, his retreat from the room.

Connie did, indeed, find Mike in the kitchen. He was standing at the sink, his back to her, rinsing some dishes. Connie came to him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Are you hiding out in here on purpose?" she asked quietly.

She felt more than heard him sigh. Drying his hands on a nearby dish towel, Mike turned to look at her. "I'm not hiding out," he protested half-heartedly. "Not really."

Connie just smiled, shaking her head, before diving headlong into the subject she knew he was holed up in the kitchen trying to avoid. "Well, what did you think of Brenden?"

Mike looked away at that point, and moved to begin wiping down the counter with the dish towel he still held, then organizing the oven mitts next to the stove. Without meeting Connie's eyes he finally just shrugged. Connie knew immediately what that meant. She had seen it before from him in court. He wanted desperately to make an argument, but just couldn't come up with any plausible points to argue.

"Alright, so he's not terrible, I guess," Mike grudgingly confessed. He finally met Connie's eyes as he continued, "I know the whole point of this is supposed to be Maddie's introduction to adulthood, but I'm just not sure she's completely ready to be an adult." He paused for a beat before adding quietly, "I know I'm not ready for it."

Connie came forward and hugged him. "Oh honey, remember this doesn't mean that we're ready to pack her up and send her off on her own, or just because she's dancing with that boy that she's going to run off with him."

"I know," Mike agreed, sliding his arms around her waist, "but I also know Maddie. She's come a long way in the last few years, but she can still be so stubborn and impulsive."

"That's why she's got us," Connie countered. "Turning fifteen doesn't mean she has to magically figure everything out, or that she's going to stop needing us." Mike nodded, knowing his wife was right. "Look, think of it this way, those kids could be out running amok right now, but they're here in our family room, demolishing a truckload of pizzas after spending an hour practicing a dance that's been around since the sixteenth century, all because Maddie asked them to. They must think pretty highly of her. And most of these kids and their families we have known for four years now. They are good kids."

Mike gnawed on his bottom lip and nodded, thinking to himself, this is why I never want to face her in court. Connie was more adept than anyone he had ever known at crafting a convincing argument. He shrugged before admitting quietly, "You're right. They're just dancing after all, and it's not like we won't be there through the whole thing."

"Right!" Connie agreed. "Listen, do you know how hard it is to get teenage boys to dress up and agree to dance in public, even with the promise of free food and cake? I had a terrible time getting boys outside of my family for my court when I turned fifteen."

"Oh really?" Mike smiled, pulling her closer. He took her right hand in his left, curling their arms together until their joined hands rested near his heart. Mike began a slow dance with her around their kitchen. "I would have danced with you," he whispered, brushing his lips against hers.

Connie returned his kiss, but as she pulled away, her smile was pure sass. "Is this the point in the story where I remind you that you were in law school when I celebrated my quinceanera?"

Mike narrowed his eyes at her for just a moment before throwing her back into a low dip. Connie giggled joyously as Mike pulled her back into his arms, kissing her deeply.

"Ugh, please!" they heard Maddie's voice from behind them as she entered the kitchen. "Please do not do that in front of any of my friends," she said, grabbing a few sodas from the refrigerator. As she turned to head back to the family room, they heard her muttering, "My family is so weird."

Connie sat on the overstuffed couch outside of the dressing room in Laurel's House, the dress shop where Maddie was currently putting on her quinceanera gown. Claire was standing on the slightly raised platform, twirling in circles and watching her multiple reflections in the three full length mirrors in front of her. Claire had just finished "modeling" her own dress: a beautiful sky blue dress made from Jacquard material with a delicate floral design. The dress fell right at Claire's knees with the cutest bow attached to the left shoulder. They had also found a pair of beaded pearl ballet flats to complete the outfit. Claire was beyond excited to finally have her "big girl" party dress that was the same color as her sister's, and Maddie had to admit - she did look pretty adorable.

Connie's attention was drawn away from her dancing little girl as the door to the dressing room slowly swung open. Maddie glided out gracefully, a hesitant smile on her face.

"Wow," Claire said as she jumped off the platform and joined Connie on the couch. "Mommy, Maddie looks like Cinderella."

Connie had to agree. Maddie did resemble a fairy tale princess. The dress she had chosen was a gorgeous light blue ball gown with a sweetheart neckline delicately embroidered with beaded floral embellishments in pastel pink, lavender, and white along the bodice that we're also mirrored in the full, tulle-lined skirt. Maddie's favorite part had been the lace up, corset style back. She looked over at Connie and bit her lip, raising her eyebrows in question. "Well?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh Maddie," Connie breathed, "you look beautiful sweetheart."

Maddie smiled, then turned to step up on to the platform that Claire had just been twirling on moments before. She looked at herself in the mirror, turning from side to side as she studied her reflection. She caught her stepmom's eye in the mirror, then turned and stepped off the platform to hug her. "Thanks Mom."

A half hour later they were on their way back to the car, one small and one large garment bag in tow. They had a few more stops to make, namely to pick up the high heeled shoes that Mike would present to his daughter during her birthday celebration. Maddie had found the perfect pair at a little boutique called Individual Medley that she and some friends had visited right after she had asked them to be part of her honor court.

As Connie took care of the purchase of the shoes, Maddie browsed around, being mindful of Claire's curious hands to make sure she didn't get into something she shouldn't. She found a beautiful pair of gold hoop earrings along with a necklace depicting a sunrise. She was admiring them as Connie joined them. "That's pretty," Connie said.

"I love it,". Maddie agreed. "There's so much cool stuff here. I wonder if they'd let me set up a gift registry for my quinceanera gifts," Maddie said, only half joking.

Connie's eyes narrowed just a bit. Maddie had made comments like this before, and they were happening more frequently the closer they got to her birthday. "You know Maddie," Connie cautioned gently, "it's not really all about the gifts and presents and things you'll get. Remember what Grandma Maria said, this will be a momentous and memorable birthday, your journey from childhood to maturity."

Maddie just shrugged. "I know," she said, then smiled, "but it's my birthday, too, so I'm probably going to get some pretty cool stuff. And with so many people coming to the party, I will really be packing in the presents!"

Connie just nodded as they began to make their way out of the store. She had put it off as long as she could, but now she knew, Maddie's "material girl" ways was something that she really needed to discuss with Mike.

Connie didn't have a chance to talk to Mike until later that night. The younger kids were asleep, and the older kids were in bed, supposedly each reading a book but they knew it was more likely that Andy was immersed in his latest Batman comic book and Maddie was more than likely glued to her phone.

Connie tapped on the door frame of Mike's at home office. "Can you take a break for a minute?" she asked.

He smiled, laying down the pen in his hand and pushing himself away from his desk. "For you, anytime." Connie came forward and perched on the edge of the desk in much the way she used to do when they still worked together before they were married. Mike noticed, however, that she wore a troubled look. "What's up?"

Connie began to recount their visit to the boutique that day. She could see Mike's jaw clenching as she finished by telling him about Maddie's idea of a gift registry for her party.

"Dammit!" Mike cursed as he rose from his seat and began pacing the length of the room. Connie just watched him as he stalked back and forth in front of her. "How did this happen?" he asked. "How did she get like this?"

Connie remained silent, trying to think of the most diplomatic way to say it was all due to her mother. Finally she pointed out, "She does receive some pretty extravagant gifts from Melissa."

Mike stopped, met her eyes for just a moment before letting them drop to the floor. He knew Connie was right. Maddie really and truly was a good kid, but her eyes were definitely easily swayed by things. Having things, making sure everyone was aware that she had the latest and greatest was important to the teenager. And while Mike and Connie rarely indulged her, Maddie's birth mother often did. And while Maddie knew that her extravagant gifts were nothing more than an attempt to buy her love, she took them just the same.

Mike suddenly looked up at Connie again. "Any money she gets for her birthday is going straight into her savings account," he told her. "Or better yet, half of it will go to the bank and for the other half we'll tell her she's going to pick a charity to donate it to."

"And I'll tell all of the family that gifts aren't necessary, or if they really want they can make a charitable donation in Maddie's name," Connie added.

Mike came to her then, taking her hand. "She's going to push back against us, you know that right?" Connie just nodded. Mike let at a deep sigh, suddenly feeling very tired. "Someday she'll appreciate us, right? All the things we do for her."

Connie slid off her perch on his desk, taking him in her arms. "She appreciates us. She loves us. And someday she'll be grateful for everything we've done for her," she pulled back and looked at him, "and for all the things we don't do for her, too. Kids outgrow clothes and toys and stuff. They don't outgrow time and love."

The next day it was time for the gentleman of the Cutter family to get their wardrobe in order for the upcoming party. Even though his only job at the party was to participate in a family candle ceremony, Andy very glad that the rest of the boys on the honor court had made the small request of dressing in nice suits rather than full on tuxedos, and that Maddie had acquiesced. He knew how his sister could be when she didn't get her way, but he also knew how easily she could be swayed by her friends.

And in all honesty, that's what bothered Andy most about some of what he had discovered when he looked at Maddie's social media. Most of it was goofy teenage girl stuff, plans to sneak into R rated movies or take makeup to put on once out of the house and away from home when hanging out with her friends. There were lots of weird posts back and forth with Brenden where Maddie was pretending to be a little more interested in things like Eric Clapton and musicals like Hamilton and Rent than Andy knew she really was.

But there was one batch of messages that Andy found that had bothered him the most. First off, he didn't recognize the sender as one of Maddie's friends. Second, the guy (Andy was assuming here) seemed to be older and asking Maddie a lot of weird questions. He knew she had heard all of the same lessons at school during Digital Citizenship week that he did. Even as just a fifth grader they were told over and over: Don't share personal information, don't talk to people you don't know.

But Maddie seemed to be doing both. Not giving out her phone number or address, but she had answered a lot of questions that this guy had asked about their family.

"Daddy, can we get some pretzels?" his little brother's voice interrupted his thoughts. They were on their way out of the mall, but his dad had made the rookie mistake of parking on the side of the building that forced them to walk through the food court to exit. Connie always parked on the opposite side of the mall.

Within minutes, Mike had them all situated at a table in the food court, munching on pretzel sticks and washing them down with lemonade. James couldn't have been happier, but as he looked over at Andy he saw a troubled look on his son's face.

"Hey Kiddo," Mike questioned, "something bothering you?"

Andy opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped. He had managed to avoid anymore groundings since his first confession about hacking into Maddie's social media accounts. Part of him worried that bringing it up again might throw him right back into the hole he had just climbed out of. Maybe he should try a different approach this time. "Did you and Mom ever check out Maddie's Snapchat?" he asked.

Mike nodded his head. "Yes, we did," he reassured him. "And I'm assuming you have not looked at her personal accounts anymore, correct?"

"Correct," Andy agreed. "How about her email?" Andy investigated further.

"Yes, we looked at everything," Mike reassured him again. "Listen, I know your sister is getting a lot of attention right now, but you don't need to try to get her in trouble."

"I'm not!" Andy immediately protested.

"Because your turn will come, you know," Mike told him, "Although I'm not sure if boys get as big of a birthday bash when they turn fifteen as girls do."

Andy just shook his head. "Can we just get a suite at Yankee Stadium for my birthday?" he asked.

Mike had to laugh. He reached over and ruffled Andy's hair. "It certainly might be cheaper."

Mike looked around the ballroom, a contented smile on his face. Maddie's party was well underway, and it appeared that everyone was having a wonderful time. As Mike thought back over the events of the day thus far, he had to admit, everything was going perfectly according to Maria, Connie, and Maddie's plans. Even the service at the church, which was the part that Maddie was a little hesitant about, was just beautiful. In the early planning stages of Maddie's quinceanera, Maria made it very clear that the service at the church was as important, if not more important, than the party itself. Luckily for both of them, as much as Connie's parents celebrated and revered the traditions of their Catholic faith, they also understood that this was not the same faith that Mike had grown up in or raised his older children in. They all agreed that a non-denominational ceremony might just fit the bill for everyone. As the individual aspects of the ceremony began to take shape, Maddie's hesitation lessened, especially as her grandmother took the time to explain the meaning behind the different parts of the ceremony. Maddie was able to appreciate how important this part of the celebration was to Maria, and she wanted to honor that. And though she still tended to agree with her father - you don't have to go to church every Sunday to have a relationship with God, she thought that the church ceremony celebrating her fifteenth birthday really was beautiful and she found herself overcome with emotion at several moments throughout the service.

The festivities moved on to the Meadowbrook Banquet hall, and as Andy said, it was time to party! Maddie and her honor court were introduced to thunderous applause. The traditional quinceanera toasts were given. Maddie had initially agonized over the short thank you speech, but once she really sat down to think about what she wanted to say, the words just poured out. Dinner was enjoyed by the guests before the ceremonial parts of the quinceanera took place. Mike and Connie had taken the opportunity to catch up with Jack, as he joined them at their table for dinner. Some of the most beloved quinceanera traditions had already taken place: Maddie was presented with her last doll, symbolizing the final piece of her childhood, the last toy she would receive before entering adulthood. The beautiful porcelain doll bore a striking resemblance to her owner, all blonde curls and sky blue dress. As Connie presented Maddie with the doll, her words were heard by the entirety of the guests, but were truly meant for Maddie alone.

"I may not have been here for every moment of your childhood, but I will forever be grateful for these past few years, years when I have been given the opportunity to watch you grow into the beautiful, kind, and remarkable young woman that you are today. I am so proud of you Maddie." Connie held the doll out to Maddie, who took it before wrapping her arms around Connie.

"Te amo hija de mi corazón," Connie whispered in her ear, "I love you, daughter of my heart."

"I love you, too, Mom," Maddie whispered in return.

The music in the room changed, and the DJ called Mike forward. It was time for him to present his daughter with her first pair of fancy, high heeled shoes, followed by their father daughter dance. Connie met him with a smile, handing him the box holding the bedazzled heels that Maddie had found for her first pair of "grown up" shoes. Mike took the box from his wife with a smile before turning toward his daughter, who was now seated in a chair in the center of the room. Maddie smiled at her father as he dropped down to one knee and took one Converse Chuck Taylor All Star clad foot in his hand. He smiled, shaking his head at the turquoise blue canvas tennis shoe as he slipped it from his daughter's foot, replacing it with the baby blue satin high heeled shoe. Mike repeated the action with Maddie's other foot, then stood up, offering her his hand.

"May I have this dance?" he asked.

Maddie giggled a little as she stood up and took her father's hand.

The started to glide across the dance floor. As much as Maddie was into practicing for the waltz and the "surprise" dance that should would be performing with her friends later in the evening, she and Mike had only practiced dancing together twice. And though Maddie had limited experience with "slow dancing," her father, she discovered, was quite a good dancer. They moved together so fluidly. Mike smiled down at his daughter as the flashes from the cameras of many of their audiences illuminated the room around them. "Happy birthday sweetheart," Mike told her.

"Thank you Daddy," Maddie told him. "Thank you for everything. Thank you for letting me have this party. Thank you for always taking care of me. Thank you for loving me, even when I sleep half the day away."

Mike laughed, then shook his head. "I'm so proud of you Maddie." he told her. "You've been through so much, most kids couldn't have persevered the way that you have."

Maddie dropped her eyes. She didn't like to think about that bad memories, but as she had learned in counseling, those things would always be a part of her, of her story. Some things can't be fixed, they can only be carried. Maddie would always carry with her some of those struggles from her past: the assault to be sure, but the problems with her birth mother and the lasting effect that had had on Maddie.

Mike tilted Maddie's chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Madelyn, if it seems sometimes like I am being too strict, holding a little too tight, it's only because I love you so much. It's my job to protect you, and I know I haven't always done that. For a long time, when it was just you, me, and Andy," Mike paused here for a moment, dropping his own eyes away from his daughter's gaze. He took a deep breath then continued, "Nothing was more important than the two of you, and now the twins, too. I have always felt that way, and I always will."

"Daddy," Maddie said tremulously, tears gathering in her eyes.

"You know," Mike said, trying to change the subject, "the next time we're dancing together like this, will probably be at your wedding, on the day I give you away in marriage."

Maddie suddenly wrapped her arms around her father's neck. Mike held her close as everyone else in the room faded away, tears forming in his own eyes when he heard her whisper, "Please don't give me away Daddy. Not for a long, long time."

A\N 1: So, what did you think of this chapter? Please take a minute to review. HazelI'd did an amazing job or researching Quinceanera's and all that they entail.

A\N 2: So who is Maddie talking to online and what's going to happen next? Two hints 1) the man is the 'Ghost from the Past' in the title and was featured in at least one Law and Order episode 2) You'll find out for sure who it in the next chapter. In the meantime though we'd both love to hear your thoughts and theories,