So I've been on a bit of a hiatus. (I really should stop those) But here is a new chapter (I had a snow day, a whole ¼ of an inch of snow fell and like always the whole county shuts down). Hope you like it. As always any suggestions are appreciated.

Hailey sat in a swing pushing her feet back and forth as she watched Jake play on the slide. Each time he tried a new way to come down he called out to her yelling, "Hailey, Hailey watch this." And each time she would lift her head up, putting her conversation with Laura on hold, and watch the brown haired boy slide down.

"So Hailey, do you have a boyfriend?" Laura asked.

"No, I really don't have time to do anything fun. Morgan always tells me I'm a bore and that I should get out more, but I like spending time dancing and hanging out with my mom. We are really very close." Hailey responded as she drew a heart in the damp mulch under the swing.

"So your telling me that you are eighteen years old and you don't have a boyfriend? You expect me to believe that?" Laura gawked.

"Of course you're supposed to believe it. It's the truth." Hailey stated.

"She's telling the truth you know." Morgan said as she walked up to the two sisters sitting on the swings. "Sometimes I wonder how we are such good friends, we are very different you know." Morgan said sitting on Hailey's lap.

"You know swings were not built for two people big butt." Hailey laughed as she tried to push Morgan off.

"Well as you can see there are not any available swings so I opted for the next best thing, my best friend." Morgan dug her feet into the ground to keep herself stable.

"Hailey," Jake yelled from the monkey bars. Hailey looked up and saw her brother as he reached for the first bar. "I'm really good at monkey bars see," He said as he went across. Once he reached the end Jake jumped down and dusted off his hands.

"Good job Jake," Hailey said clapping her hands. From her right Laura rolled her eyes at her brother's attempt to impress Hailey.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" Laura asked.

"If your asking have I been on dates, the answer is yes. But personally I'd rather wait until college to get into a serious enough relationship to call the guy I'm dating my boyfriend." Hailey answered.

"Seriously?" Laura gawked.

"Seriously. Hailey has never had a quote end quote boyfriend. But there has been guys she dated for a month or two." Morgan added.

"Thanks for your input Morgan," Hailey said as she once again tried to push her friend off of her lap.

"Always a pleasure! By the way it is so not going to work Hailey." Morgan grinned as she tried to hold her position sitting on Hailey's lap.

"Hailey you said you take ballet if you've been taking for eight years you've got to be pretty good at it."

"Laura, Hailey is good enough to teach ballet classes. She's been dancing longer than you've been alive. She is amazingly graceful." Morgan said admirably.

"I am not that good, but I have been dancing since I was three so that's what fifteen years?"

"I have never done anything that long ever," Laura, said impressed.

"Of course you haven't you have not been alive long enough," Morgan said cheekily.

Again Laura rolled her eyes. "What is it like, meeting your father for the first time?" Laura asked.

"What do you mean?" Hailey asked.

"Well, you never knew dad and he is your dad. You had to feel something, I mean you met the man who helped create you." Silence ensued Laura's question as both of the older girls stared at her question. "I'm not a child, I know where babies come from." Still there was no response from Hailey. "I guess what I'm trying to ask is whether or not you wished you had never met dad."

"And this is when I go play with Jake," Morgan said getting off of Hailey's lap to leave the sisters alone to have a more personal conversation.

"Oh I think I understand now," Hailey said.

"You do?" Laura asked.

"Derek told me that you and Jake were both adopted, and your trying to figure out if you ever want to meet your biological parents."

"Yeah that's my question."

"Your thinking that our situations are the same, I never met my biological father until now and you've never met your biological parents."

"Well now that I think about it, our situations are not that the same. Your biological father wanted you and so did your mom." Laura said.

"Laura, I'm sure that your parents wanted you. There are many reasons why couples give up children not because they don't want to keep the baby but because they can't afford to. In their eyes they are trying to give you a better life than the one they could provide for you. Or maybe the mother was a teenager and the father never knew she was pregnant. Laura every situation is different. You won't know until you decide to find out. Have you talked to your parents about this?" Hailey asked.

"No I'm afraid to ask them I…" Laura stopped. "You don't understand."

"You don't want them to feel like you don't appreciate them, or like you don't love them right?" Hailey said.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"My mom started dating Matt, her fiancé when I was thirteen. After I met him it took us no time to develop a father daughter like relationship. Two years ago I had toyed with the idea of asking my mom about my father but I didn't. I loved my mom and I felt like if I asked I would seem ungrateful for everything she had already done for me. I also did not want to hurt Matt. When I couldn't talk to mom, I could talk to him. He was and still is always there when I have a problem. He's basically been my dad for the last four years." Hailey explained to Laura.

"So you kind of understand how I feel." Laura said.

"Yeah, I do."