Goodbye, California

"Oh Dallas, she looks just like you!"

"Do you know how hard it's going to be to take care of her? You two are still so immature! This is a baby we're talking about here; you might as well have had AIDs and still have given birth to her!"

"Ignore them, Dal. This is our baby and we're going to take good care of her. We don't need our parents ridicule. I love you and Juliet and that's all that matters."

Dallas sat straight up in her bed and look around. Zacky was asleep next to her, and she heard Juliet crying in the next room. She put her glasses on and made her way to her daughter's light pink room. Juliet was laying in her crib and tossing around and wailing. As soon as she saw Dallas, her arms reached up and she picked her tiny body up out of the small crib. "Hey honey, what's wrong huh? You scared mommy with your crying." She sniffled and put her tiny arms around Dallas' neck. "Is it your diaper?" It was. Dallas put her on the changing table and changed her small diaper.

"I think she gets the tininess from you." Zacky chuckled from the doorway.

"I'm a walking twig, what did you expect? It's a wonder I didn't die in childbirth." Dallas replied and picked her up again. Zacky walked over and took Juliet from Dallas and held her up in the air. "Honey don't do that, she won't be able to go back to sleep."

"She's a baby; all she ever does is sleep." He smiled and made goofy faces at her.

Dallas folded her arms across her chest and watched as he played with her. "I think we should see my parents." She blurted.

His funny face turned blank. "Why? They hate me."

"You're the father of my child; they're not allowed to hate you anymore." She said.

"But they live all the way in Louisiana." He replied in a whiney voice. "I don't wanna drive that far. My butt falls asleep easily."

Dallas rolled her eyes, "Please? I miss my family, Zack. And I'm sure they miss us, especially Juliette."

"You can go but I'm gonna stay here. They don't like me and the last thing I want is for you to get into another fight with them and leave town with me."

"That's what happened the first time I met you, remember? But that was before all the vamps came outta the coffin."

"And another reason why I don't want us to go, too many vampires in that town! I don't want a vampire to get a hold of Juliet, especially if baby's blood is the best!"

Dallas guessed that was her number one fear of going home, some vampire might take her daughter. But wasn't that what her parents worried about when they first came out? Although Dallas was only seventeen when that happened, then Zacky came to town with his friends looking to meet a sexy vampire woman and all he got was Dallas: the tall skinny waitress at Merlotte's. That's where they began, him and his friends sat down in her section and her boss was eyeing them.

"They look like a bunch of thugs." Sam had said.

"I dunno Sam, they're just different." Dallas smiled in their direction.

"Oh no. I know that look all too well." He laughed, "You've got the hots for them don't ya?"

She blushed, "Shush up, Sam." And walked over to their table and took their orders, and Zacky got her number in return.

"Goochie goo! I got your nose, I got your nose!" Zacky said in a childish voice to Juliet that made Dallas laugh and Juliet laugh until she spit up on him, which made Dallas laugh even harder.

"That's…great. Thank you, Julie. Daddy appreciates that." He wiped the spittle off Juliet's face then handed her to Dallas and went to clean himself up.

"Alright now that daddy's gone, time to put you back to bed." She said and kissed Juliet's forehead, laid her down in her crib, turned off the lights and cracked the door. Her blue night light cast a soft glow on her walls so she wouldn't be in complete darkness.

"She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow." Dallas said as she climbed back into their bed.

"Oh good. 'I threw up on daddy now I can go back to sleep!'" Zacky replied.

"Now about Bon Temps…"

"We don't have enough money to even get out of LA, Dallas. How are we supposed to get there?"

"Well, we have a car for starters. And there's always your parents…"

"I knew you were going to pull the 'Zackys Parents' card!" He laughed, "But they do love you now. They didn't then, but they do now. I think it's because you're so tiny and you gave birth to my child."

"Yes my twiggyness is a big accomplishment." Dallas replied.

"Ok so…I'm awake now." He said.

"No." she laughed, "Not tonight. It's like 2 am."

"Fine." He stuck his tongue out.

"That right there is why my parents think you're immature." I point at him, and he tried to bite my finger. "Exactly why!" She squealed as he rolled over on top of her.