So, I said I'll update every day... but FanFiction had a glitch. Huh. That was a dilemma- but I got a nice, long cuddle with my goddaughter today! She's so little- not even a week old! Anyway, read and review and hopefully you'll hear from me soon!

Rhyleigh xoxox

Hearing the car pull into the driveway, little Ruby took off as fast as her legs could carry her. "Daddy!" she screamed, throwing herself at Dave.

With a grunt, Dave took a step backwards as the four year old latched herself onto his legs. "Hi baby", he greeted, ruffling her curls.

"You're home early!" she cried gleefully. "Come on, Daddy, you can help me colour in Cinderella-"

And she was off.

"Hi!" Julie said with a smile, coming out to greet him.

"Hello", Dave smiled, meeting her lips with a kiss.

But she knew him better than that. "Dave, what happened? What did the doctor say?"

"I'll tell you later", he said dismissively. "I'm apparently helping Rubes finish colouring Cinderella".

"All about the princesses". Julie's eyes twinkled and Dave put his arm around her, kissing her forehead, before advancing into the house to find his youngest daughter.

Julie shook off the worry, but she couldn't help the niggling feeling that something was wrong. the last time the weather had been like that- grey, dreary, rain trickling down- they had gotten news that rocked the boat. but it was Monday, and the weather had put everybody in a rather melancholy mood.

So she shrugged it off, choosing to laugh at her youngest daughter's antics instead.

"Daddy, we need to use the pink", Ruby decided, as Dave pulled a bottle of children's shampoo from the shelf.

"What's wrong with the blue?" he checked, setting it down and taking the pink, strawberry scented liquid instead.

"I like the pink, and everyone always gets the pink but Granddad asked Carbo when he was going to the shops to get shampoo and he got the BLUE and not the pink! I like the pink because it's like strawberries and strawberries are my FAVOURITE!" Ruby waved her hands around, splashing them in the water for a final effect.

"We'll use the pink", Dave said tiredly, tipping a little of the liquid into the palm of his hand before lathering up the little girl's blonde curls.

He couldn't believe he had missed that much of his little girl's life- the last time he had checked, Ruby had hated strawberries (an incident he was blaming Ben for- who would tell a three year old that the seeds on the fruit would cause strawberries to grow in her stomach and sprout out her ears? He hadn't found it funny, but his older children had. Julie had taken care of damage control and suddenly Ruby adored strawberries).

"Can I have ice cream?" Ruby wanted to know, under her strawberry scented foam hat.

"You've already had ice cream today".

"Yeah, but not for dessert".

"I think one lot of ice cream for today is enough".

"But Ben always lets me have extra ice cream", she wheedled.

"Ruby Louise-"

"Fine..." Ruby crossed her arms grumpily, but she knew as well as her father did that she couldn't hold a grudge.

"Dave", Julie whispered, tears in her eyes.

He had told her last time that there was no way he could go through it all again. No more treatment, he had told her, let nature run its course. But that was before.

"It's going to suck", he whispered back, holding her close, "But I'm not giving up. Not yet".

There was so much in the future, and he was going to be there... no matter how hard the road ahead was.