Hi guys! (: It's spring break and I am back. Thanks for you patience and I am sorry for being away for so long. On top of being extremely busy with school, I also struggled to find where I wanted to take this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Read and review! (:

Remember to check out the photobucket for this story!

http : / s1123 . photobucket . com/albums/l543/ImLikeMonica/

"How has she been?" the elderly woman asked. She looked so frail as she laid back against her cushioned chair with a slouch. Her skin was very pale and I could hear her heart beating more faint that it should be. It looked as if one mistake could leave her broken, yet her gentle eyes never failed to shield her vulnerability. I was glad that I made the choice to bring Kayleigh to visit Miss Lis because not only did the girl miss her, but I knew that she needed some company. On top of that, I needed some support from the woman.

"She's too young to understand what's going on," I shook my head, "She's been asking questions about you." The older woman's eyebrows pulled together for a slight moment before she spoke again.

"It has only been a week, Derek. Of course she is going to ask about me," her tone surprised me. There was a hint of sass in her voice that reminded me of my sister, Laura. "But those questions will go away soon." I looked up at her trying to read her expression.

"The more time she spends with you, the less she will think about me, and soon she will be left to you completely." Though her words were so somber, Miss Lis still had that genuine smile on her face. It truly amazed me.

I knew she was dying, but I didn't have it in me to ask her about it. I had only known the woman for a moment, but I felt like I owed her my life. If it wasn't for her, who knows where Kayleigh would be right now. A shiver went down my spine just thinking about Kayleigh's fate if Miss Lis was not around. On top of that, the woman gave me a sense of comfort that I had not experienced since my family had been alive. Her humble spirit was something that was impossible to push away and to know that she was looking over my shoulder through all of this was actually a relief.

This past week had been utterly strenuous, on a level different from the days following the fire that destroyed my family. I had never been so exhausted in my life. Every day I learned new things not only about Kayleigh, but myself as I was put to the test of doing stuff such as helping her "go potty". I recalled the day before when I had to endure one of the worst experiences in my 22 years of life – shopping with Kayleigh.

The memory of that day came back to me.

Right from the beginning, I knew it was going to be a tough day when I could not even manage to buckle in her seat belt. Early that morning I drug her car seat that cost me $400 down to the parking garage, which Kayleigh and I finally picked out after hours of researching online about which car seat was the best. Once I successfully installed it, I took a step back to admire my work – however, I immediately felt as if my man card just took a hit. The sight of a hot pink car seat sitting snug inside of a black-on-black, tinted Chevrolet Camaro made my heart sink a little. Was this what my life was becoming?

When it came time to buckle Kayleigh into her seat, I almost lost it. The directions on the box made it look so simple, yet after half an hour, I still couldn't figure out that bullshit puzzle. Must your child's safety be so difficult to figure out? After countless attempts of trying to put the seat belt pieces together and Kayleigh asking me several times if I was okay, I finally figured it out right in time before I took my last resort of grabbing some duck tape and fastening her to the seat.

After the car incident, I was already pissed off – more than usual – but the day was just getting started. What I didn't know and what I learned quickly is that no man should ever accompany a girl, at any age, on a shopping trip.

My vision of "taking Kayleigh to buy some clothes" was to choose a store, grab what you see, and get out – but she already had her own plan for the day. I already felt very uneasy for taking Kayleigh around so many people at once since I hadn't exactly gotten use to the job of watching over her, therefore my goal was to stay in the mall for thirty minutes tops – however, of course, things didn't play out that way.

I remember as my heart dropped when I almost lost Kayleigh when she ran off into the mall, even too quick for even me to catch up.

She had found a store that appealed to her with its bright pink and blue lighting and racks of little girl's clothing everywhere – I tried to keep myself from running the other direction.

"Pick what you want and let's go," were my instructions and she followed them… after an hour. For a three year old, the girl knew what she wanted and what she didn't – yet she was still indecisive while she tried on almost everything in the store. Even with my objections, I couldn't get my way.

"Please, Dewik? I really want to try this one too. I think it will make me look pretty," she pouted and widened her familiar green eyes at me.

"No, Kayleigh," I declared.

The glow in her eyes softened and once again, it was like a punch to my chest. "Okay," she mumbled, turning around to put the clothes back on the rack.

I lowered my head, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes. "God damnit," I hissed under my breath. Taking place inside of me was a fight – a fight between the angry man that I have been for years and the newly-discovered father who couldn't bear to see his daughter hurt in any way. It was difficult and very weird for me because it had been so long since I had cared about anyone – I didn't even really care about myself.

I sighed in defeat. "One more, Kayleigh. One more. Then we're leaving," I stated for what felt like the millionth time. The blond girl spun around with that light back in her eyes and a smile playing on her lips.

"Okay, Dewik. I promise. One more," she sang before taking the clothes back to the fitting room. The sales woman was happily waiting for Kayleigh – happy because I was adding more money to her commission. I rolled my eyes.

When we were finally done shopping and on our way to the car with two handfuls of bags, Kayleigh surprised me. The little girl stopped me in my tracks as she wrapped her tiny arms around one of my legs, holding on as tight as she could. We stood in the parking lot like that for a moment as I was unable to figure out how to react.

"Thank you, Dewik," she mumbled against my leg.

"Uh," I stared down at her awkwardly, "you're welcome." With that the girl unraveled her arms and in an instant she happily skipped her way to the car. I was dumbfounded for a moment.

"What just happened?" I questioned to myself. One moment the girl was making me swipe the paint off of my credit card and the next she was softening my stone heart. She had me caught up in the middle of her little game.

I followed after her, shaking my head – at myself.

"How are you adjusting?" Miss Lis asked, snapping me back to reality. Unintentionally, I slouched lower in my seat.

"It's… difficult," was all I managed to say.

"Of course it is, Derek. What else were you expecting? I would be surprised if you said everything was going well," she chuckled. "Raising a child is no easy task. Especially out of the blue, in your case."

I was silent for a moment before I spoke again. "I never saw myself as being a parent. I never even wanted kids."

Miss Lis laughed quietly. "Well, life can throw the unexpected at you. But it's all in God's plan."

"Hm," I nodded. Using my wolf hearing, I constantly listened in on Kayleigh while she was upstairs in her old room. If it was possible to develop a habit in a couple days, then I had done it – I always knew where Kayleigh was and what she was doing. At the moment, I could hear her talking to what I assumed were her dolls during their "afternoon tea party" and the background noise of the television sounded as if I were sitting in the room next to her. Miss Lis' house was as cozy as I expected it to be. Due to the state of her health, it was surprising that she had such a large house with two floors. It was a very family friendly home. Old, but clean and well furnished. The place felt familiar and it reminded me of my home in Beacon Hills.

"I told her," I said suddenly. Miss Lis looked at me curiously.

"Told her what?" she asked.

"That I'm her father," I answered.

"And how did she react?" the woman responded.

I looked away from her, "she didn't." I recalled when I told Kayleigh that I was her father a couple days ago and how the little girl carried on with her day as if my revelation were nothing. I had to remind myself that she was too young to comprehend.

"She will start to understand soon, Derek. She never had a father figure in her life, but now that you are finally here, you will both start to adjust to your roles as father and daughter," she said. I nodded, digesting her words. It seemed almost impossible for me to adjust to the role of being a dad, I was still in shock - I knew that I would be for a while.

"Miss Lis," I said. The old woman looked at me with curiosity in her eyes, however as wise as she was and by the tone of my voice, I think she knew what I was about to say to her. I hesitated for a moment as the words played at the tip of my tongue. I actually made me upset that I had to ask her this, "how much time do you have?"

The woman smiled humorlessly and nodded, understand my question perfectly – she knew that this was coming. Miss Lis was quiet for a long moment before she spoke with sincerity glowing in her eyes. "Not much." She leaned forward to touch her hand on top of mine. "But don't worry about me. I have lived a long time, Derek."

• •

Once we got back home, I put a pizza in the oven for me and Kayleigh to eat for dinner while she picked out a movie to watch. Miss Lis wasn't lying when she said that the girl loved to watch movies. In the week that she had been here, Kayleigh had already gone through almost two shelves of my DVD collection, but I didn't complain. As long as she was kept busy and I could keep an eye on her, my life was made that much easier.

When the pizza was ready, I grabbed a couple slices and laid it on the coffee table in front of the couch in which Kayleigh was sitting on. Her big green eyes were looking up at me patiently with a smile on her face with her favorite blanket draped over her legs.

"Dinner," I nodded towards the plate before I awkwardly turned to walk out of the den.

"Hey, where are you going?" her little voice questioned quickly as she reached out to tug on my jeans, halting me in my place. I turned to look over my shoulder to find her eyebrows pulled together. I stared down at her sternly.

"Come sit," she patted the empty space next to her.

I hesitated before I sighed in defeat and took my seat on the couch. What other choice did I have?

I could see Kayleigh smiling from the corner of my eye. We sat their awkwardly for a few minutes as the previews rolled by.

"So…" I paused, drumming my fingers on my knee, "what are we watching?"

"I think you will like this one, Dewik," she said with an excited tone.

"Oh yeah?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's my favorite," she insisted. "It's called Despicable Me!"

• •

"Derek! Derek!" my eyes snapped open. "Derek! Open the God damn door!" I cringed as I recognized that familiar voice banging at the door. What does he want?

I started to push myself off of the couch before I felt a weight keeping me down. I looked down to find something leaning against my side, wrapped snug in her favorite blanket underneath my arm. We had both fallen asleep during the movie, which by the way, almost made me want to jump off the balcony. How did that DVD even end up in my house?

Slowly, I moved away from Kayleigh and laid her head gently onto a pillow before I bolted towards the front door at wolf-speed to stop our annoying guest from making any more noise. The anger was radiating off of me when I opened the door to find Scott's scared shitless face.

"She knows," he said. His eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of his head. I was too pissed off to answer him – it was one in the morning and if this little fuck wakes up Kay…

"Derek! Allison knows!" he screamed. "She knows what her family does! She knows that they're wer-"

"Dewik?" a little voice spoke behind us. Scott stopped mid-sentence in shock while I snapped my eyes shut. SHIT.

The boy peaked around me with a twisted expression as I heard her kicking off the blanket and pushing herself off of the couch.

"Uh, Derek?" the young boy asked, confused. "Who is that?" Scott asked me before shifting his attention to her.

"Who are you?" Kayleigh asked Scott sleepily in a curious tone.

"Who are you?" he repeated the questioned to the blonde girl.

I took in a deep breath before I opened my eyes to find Kayleigh standing beside me in her pink pajamas rubbing her eyes. Scott's face showed that he was beyond disconcerted at this point.

"I'm Kayleigh," immediately my body tensed as she began to speak in her little voice. I knew what was coming next and there was no way of and no point in stopping her – he was going to find out eventually. She tugged on my jeans trying to draw Scott's attention towards me. "This is my Daddy."