"Daddy, I love him."

It was a phrase that Greg Hudgens had hoped he wouldn't hear for another decade from his oldest daughter. But there she was in front of him right now saying it.

Eighteen-year-old Vanessa Hudgens had just returned from a weekend with her boyfriend and his family. Apparently their drive home had been more eventful than expected.

"Vanessa, honey, you're eighteen. Are you sure you even know what love is? You and Zac have only been dating for a few months now. This seems pretty quick to me," Greg was trying to appease himself more than his daughter. But he also wanted her to think about what she was saying.

"Dad, we aren't getting married…at least not right away. It's just that our feelings for each other have really, well, grown since we started dating." Vanessa didn't need to convince herself although talking about this certainly made her feel even more in love with Zac. "We've known each other for nearly three years Dad. And we've been best friends for like over a year now. You know mom says she saw this coming before we even started officially dating."

Greg had been sitting in the living room attempting to watch football when his daughter had returned from her weekend. She was two hours later getting home than he had expected. The trip was only supposed to take three hours. She called when they left Toluca Lake, they were leaving an hour later than expected. So he sat down in front of the tv. What he didn't know was that there had been an extra long stop in the emergency lane about halfway home. No problem with the car, just some soul searching between the two teenagers that ended with them professing their love for one another.

So for the last hour Greg had been fidgeting, watching the clock and wondering exactly what Zachary Efron had done with his daughter for that extra hour. When he finally heard the front door open and his wife Gina greeting the young couple Greg relaxed a little bit and sank into his chair, focusing on the tv again.

He had heard Vanessa come in and give her mom a hug. Then Zac had come in, apparently bringing Vanessa's luggage into the house, and the three had then gone into the kitchen. He couldn't hear the conversation, but he heard them talking, heard Gina squeal about something, and then footsteps wandered into the living room near him.

"Daddy, I'm home," Vanessa had said. She came over and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, glad you made it back safely. I was getting a little worried." Greg glanced at his watch and then looked up at Zac who looked pretty nervous.

"Sorry about that Mr. Hudgens. We, um, had to make a couple of stops on the way home that I didn't expect."

"Everything alright? Your car didn't break down did it?" Greg asked, attempting to be as pleasant as possible to his daughter's boyfriend.

"Oh, no sir, the car's fine." Zac answered honestly.

"So what took the extra hour to get here?" Greg was getting a little hostile waiting for an answer from the two. And even without looking at them he could see them both blushing. They were trying to figure out what to say to him.

"Daddy," Vanessa started "I need to talk to you."

"Do you want me to stay?" Zac whispered to Vanessa.

"No, you go on. You need to unpack and get some rest. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay. Be sure to call me." Zac was almost demanding as he turned to walk out the door. Then he turned back for a minute. "Um, Mr. Hudgens, sir?"

"Yes Zac?" Greg grumbled.

"Thank you for letting Vanessa go with me this weekend. My parents had an awesome anniversary party and I know it wouldn't have gone as well if Ness, I mean, Vanessa hadn't been there to help. I really appreciate you letting her come with me." Zac put his hand out to Mr. Hudgens and did his best to smile at Vanessa's dad.

Greg shook Zac's hand and nodded at him. "I'm glad it worked out well. Sounded like a surprise-packed couple of days."

"Oh, it was, sir. Mom and Dad were completely surprised, along with some others." Zac turned and winked at Vanessa as he let go of Greg's hand and headed toward the front door. Vanessa started to walk with him. "That's okay Ness, I can see myself out. You talk to your dad."

Vanessa gave Zac a kiss on the cheek then watched him go out the door and turned back to her dad. "Do you mind turning the game off? I really want to talk to you." Vanessa asked nervously.

Greg grabbed the remote and turned the tv off. He knew in his heart what his daughter wanted to talk about. And he knew that she deserved his attention and his respect as she talked to him. But it's a conversation that most dad's don't want to have with their baby girls. One that he had been dreading for oh, nearly a year now.

"The dinner was great dad. David and Starla were so surprised. They danced and kept thanking Zac and Dylan for pulling the whole thing together. I think they were shocked that a couple of teens could put something like that together. But Zac and Dylan are both really smart guys, Dad. They knew what they wanted and they just needed a little extra help to pull it together." Vanessa was rambling.

"You really want to give me the play by play of the Efron's anniversary party?" Greg could tell his daughter was nervous. She invited this conversation, but he really just wanted her to get to the point.

"Okay, no, that's not what this is about." Vanessa looked her dad in the eyes. "But at the party, seeing their family together, thinking about our family…Dad, that's when I started to realize something about Zac."

"What's that?" Greg knew the answer before he even asked the question.

"Daddy, I love him."

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The father and daughter just stared at each other for a minute before either of them could speak again. Greg sat up a little straighter in his chair as he watched his 'little' girl in front of him. She didn't squirm. She didn't fidget. She point-blank told him what she was feeling and then looked as though she was ready to stand her ground.

"What made you finally realize that you 'love' him?" Greg finally asked.

"I'm not sure exactly," Vanessa answered. "We were at the party and seeing Zac with his family…I started wanting what I was seeing. And when I looked at Zac my heart just took over, it started telling me that I wanted 'that' with him."

This was the most forward that Vanessa had been with her dad in years. He almost blushed to hear her talking about a boy like this, and the very mature thoughts she was having. And Vanessa knew this was exactly the type of conversation that she needed to have with her dad. Because she needed him to know that she can be an adult. She can make her own decisions – good or bad – but she still needed the love, support and trust of the first man in her life, her father.

"Dad, I know you think I've made some bad decisions over the past few years. But I want you to know that I've grown from those choices. And falling in love with Zac…that's not a bad decision for me. He's helped me get through some of those poor choices. The photo scandal in particular, dad, you know he supported me through all of that just like you and mom did."

Greg couldn't argue with her. Try as he might, Mr. Hudgens could only find one flaw in the young man that his daughter had decided to date. And that was it. Zac was dating his daughter. But the 19 year old was courteous, responsible and seemed to have respect for both Vanessa and her family. But love is a big step for teenagers. Especially for his teenage daughter.

"Vanessa, we've breeched this subject before. Are you sure young Mr. Efron isn't just trying to get more from you, ehm, physically? Love is a strong word to use at any age. He didn't just throw that at you to make it around the bases a little quicker did he?" Greg was doing his best to be a part of this conversation. He needed Vanessa to know what he was thinking.

"Dad," Vanessa continued to look him straight in the eyes "Zac and I are both virgins. And it's going to stay that way BECAUSE we love each other. And he didn't 'throw out' the love word…I did."

"What?" Greg was taken aback by Vanessa's straight-forward approach. "What do you mean you threw it out?"

"I was the first one to say it. It just happened on the drive home. That's why we're later getting back here. We were having a conversation about our families and wanting to have our own family together. Zac had to pull off into the emergency lane because we both kinda went into shock. We sat there for a few minutes and I finally put my cards on the table. I told him that I loved him."

"And how did he respond to that?" Now Greg was in a state of shocked confusion. Talk about putting cards on the table. His eldest daughter – still a teenager – had just opened up to him about being a virgin, talking about a family with her boyfriend, and falling in love. Where on earth was Gina, his wife, during all of this?

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In fact, Gina was in the kitchen attempting to eaves drop on Greg and Vanessa. She wasn't failing miserably, but she certainly couldn't hear the conversation as well as she had expected.

Zac and Vanessa had quickly told Gina what happened on the way home from Zac's parents' house. Gina had squealed when the couple had told her that they had admitted loving each other. Then Gina had encouraged Vanessa to go tell Greg. Vanessa and Zac both knew that they had to tell Greg about this step in their relationship. But considering another chat that Z and V had had about trust, they agreed that this needed to be a daughter/father talk. That's when Vanessa had sent Zac home.

Gina was expecting some yelling from one or the other of them. When Vanessa had gone to Hawaii with Zac there had been raised voices and even a few curse words from Greg when Vanessa actually left the house. When she and Greg and Vanessa had sat down to get to the bottom of the photo scandal there were tears after more raised voices…Greg's and V's.

Their firstborn daughter was a lot more like her father than either of them wanted to admit. Gina knew they loved each other. She knew that Greg was hurt that his Baby V was growing up; he was hurt that she was in her first serious relationship; and he was hurt that some idiot had exposed his daughter to the world and there was nothing that Greg could do to make it better.

Greg had stood outside Vanessa's room for an hour listening to her cry the night that she admitted to them that the internet pictures of her were real. The three of them had sat at the kitchen table as Vanessa explained that she had used her camera to take some risqué photos of herself. She had thought she'd give them to a boy she liked at the time. The boy had promised to keep the photos to himself. That was three years prior, Vanessa was merely fifteen, and the boy she liked at the time certainly wasn't Zac.

When she and Zac had started getting close the other boy had apparently gotten jealous and used the photos to try and hurt Vanessa. She knew it had been a bad decision. She had hoped her parents wouldn't find out. But when the photos hit the tabloids, she knew she had to turn to them for help.

Greg had yelled, frustrated and hurt, and sent her to her room. He quickly followed her and stood outside her bedroom door. He heard her sobbing, and then he heard something he didn't expect, Vanessa's phone conversation with Zac. This had been months ago, but that's when Greg first realized that his baby girl was falling in love.

Her father had heard her tears subside a little when Zac answered his phone. Greg knew Zac was in Australia promoting his movie 'Hairspray' at the time that all this broke loose. Greg had only heard Vanessa's side of the conversation but that was enough. He heard her tell Zac that 'the picture mess' was just getting worse. His daughter had trusted Zac enough to tell him about the situation before mentioning it to her parents. Then he heard Vanessa tell Zac about the conversation that she had just had with Greg and Gina. And he heard her tears start flowing again. The conversation had gone on for half an hour, ebbing and flowing between Vanessa upsetting herself and Zac soothing the pain from the other end of the line.

Gina had found Greg sitting on the floor outside Vanessa's door, in tears himself. She had coaxed him into their bedroom to try and sort out what they could do to help their daughter. Love her, support her and trust her, and simply be there with strong shoulders whenever she needed them. The mother and father team had laid in bed for another hour just mulling over the situation. That's when Greg had gotten up, snuck into Vanessa's room and tucked in his sleeping daughter. "I love you Baby V.. Nothing will change the way I feel about my baby girl and NO ONE will hurt you like this again. I'm sorry, I love you."

A sleepy Vanessa had raised her arms up to her father for a hug and he wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her tear-stained face and held her close before laying her back onto the bed and pulling the covers over her. "I love you too, Daddy." Both of them had finally been able to fall asleep that night.

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"Zac was kinda, I dunno," Vanessa was telling her dad. "He was in shock I think. He held his breath and I thought he was going to turn blue. I was ready to get out of the car and call you to come get me, but he wouldn't let me go."

"Did he hurt you or scare you? If he did you won't be seeing him again. That's not love Vanessa Anne."

"Daddy, let me finish." Vanessa kept going. "I think I scared him. He had already thought of this really romantic plan to tell me that he loved me. And then I beat him to the punch. And I unintentionally freaked him out along the way so we both just had to sit there a while and put our thoughts together. Once I got calmed down, he was able to tell me that he loved me too."

"So he didn't make a move to get you into bed, or rush to the next hotel to seal this deal?" Greg was still in teenager mode.

"DADDY!" Although Vanessa had expected her dad to think like this she didn't expect him to actually form the words and say them. "No, Dad, honestly, have you heard a word that I've said? Zac barely kissed me. I doubt I could have even talked him into something like that." Vanessa added just to see her dad react.

This time it was Greg's turn, "VANESSA ANNE HUDGENS! Don't let me hear you talk like that. Let's go back to the part where you told me you were still a virgin. That's more of what a father wants to hear."

Father and daughter just smirked at each other, knowing they were both now working to get under the other's skin. They had to smile even more when Gina came 'wandering' into the room. "You two okay in here or do you need a mediator?" She saw their smiles and smacked Greg on the arm. "Seriously, are you guys ok?"

Vanessa answered, "Yeah mom, I think we're okay. We've covered the 'loooovvvveee' topic, but there's still something Dad and I need to talk about."

"What, there's more? Is this not enough to give your poor dad a breakdown already?" Greg smiled at his wife and daughter. It was a heart-felt smile, one that Vanessa noted she hadn't seen on him in a while. At least not when it was pointed in her direction.

Gina excused herself. "Okay, I need to run a couple of errands anyway." She looked at Greg. "I knew about that first conversation, but you're on your own on this next one. I've got no clue what she's got up her sleeve. So call me if I need to come back…especially if she suddenly mentions marriage, eloping or twins by some chance." Greg's eyes nearly bulged out of his head at that last statement. He turned to see Gina leaving the room and then looked back at Vanessa who just shrugged her shoulders. She hadn't heard the last part of her mom's statement so she was honestly confused by her dad's look.

"You aren't going to mention marriage, eloping or twins in this next conversation are you? 'Cause if you are I'm going to need backup." Greg had little beads of sweat forming on his head.

"Oh, good grief!" Vanessa just shook her head. "Nope, nothing like that unless you push me into it," she joked. "I want to talk about something that we should've discussed months ago. Since I've got my courage up and you're listening…I wanna talk about Hawaii."

Greg sat back down in his chair. His demeanor eased as he thought about the chat that he and Vanessa had just finished. The trip that V and Zac took to Hawaii was less of a threat to him now. If she was telling the truth about their relationship, if she and Zac are both still virgins, then the Hawaii trip was much more innocent than Greg had imagined at the time.

Gina and Greg were waiting at the airport for Vanessa's flight to return. It had taken Gina two days to convince Greg to come with her to meet their daughter. She had only been gone a week but it was the first time that Vanessa and Zac had gone away together as boyfriend and girlfriend with no chaperones. Neither of the parents was exactly sure what to expect when the teens returned.

It wasn't a publicity trip. No adult supervision, no scheduled appearances, no set check-in times because there was no one to check in with. Just a seventeen year old girl and her eighteen year old boyfriend. Gina had decided to trust them and encouraged Greg to do so as well. But Greg had already formed his opinion on this particular trip. He didn't like it. He liked Zac less than he had. And he had lost a little trust in his daughter for going against his wishes and taking the trip anyway.

Greg had seen some of the pictures that had come out in the magazines already of his daughter's trip with her boyfriend. Building sandcastles on the beach looked innocent enough, but there were other pictures of the young couple in the ocean kissing, and Zac's hands touching his daughter's bikini-clad body. That's when he had thrown down the magazine and refused to talk to Vanessa on the phone when she called.

He had gone to the airport with Gina that day just to make sure that Vanessa didn't get off the plane saying that they had gotten married in Hawaii. To make sure that he still had a little girl…at least for a little while longer. The truth that he had formed in his mind kept him from even speaking to Vanessa or Zac when they came into the airport.

Vanessa noticed her father's less-than-thrilled look when she and Zac had come into the airport hand in hand. And she had noticed that his face had hardened even more when she kissed Zac on the cheek as they each went to their parents' cars. Vanessa hadn't wanted to leave Zac and ride home with her parents but the look in Greg's eyes that day told her she'd better go with them.

Greg had listened to Vanessa talk all the way home about the trip, the fun and just relaxing. His ears tended to close, however, when Vanessa would say 'Zac and I' or especially at the mention of 'our hotel'. Gina had soaked it all in, realizing already that her little girl had entered into her first serious relationship. Greg was adamant that his daughter was still too young for this and basically refused to hear anything that would make her part of a 'couple'.

Both father and daughter thought back to that day and the week that Vanessa had been gone. "Okay," Greg conceded. "Talk to me baby girl."

Vanessa sighed. "You know how stressed we all were after the first movie came out and all the chaos started. The publicity trips and the schedule we were keeping was exhausting. So when all of that was over and yet things still weren't dying down, Zac's mom suggested getting away for just some relaxing time. I think she initially meant for it to be just Zac. His aunt and uncle had already planned a trip to Hawaii and Starla thought Zac could just bunk in with his cousin in the second room they had gotten."

Greg realized that he hadn't even listened to Vanessa when she attempted to tell him how the trip came about. He suddenly realized that he had some making up to do. "So Zac didn't just invite you on this unplanned, romantic getaway that he dreamed up?"

"No. He even hesitated to take me. I just happened to overhear his conversation with Starla one night during dinner with the gang. As we were heading back to the hotel that night, I mentioned to Zac that it sounded like a great chance to get away, and encouraged him to go. Since he had filming for 'Hairspray' coming up, he really needed a break from everything." Vanessa was thinking about that conversation with Zac and remembered thinking about how much she was going to miss him…between a trip to Hawaii and then months of filming, she had started wondering when and if she would get to see him, ever again.

"The next morning I noticed Starla and Mom having coffee together." Vanessa explained. "When I walked near them, Mom told Starla to go ahead and ask me…she said it would be 'up to me if I wanted to make the trip.' Then Starla asked me if I wanted to go to Hawaii with Zac. She thought he would be more willing to go if I went with him, and she really wanted him to go. So really, Zac never asked me, Starla did."

"Okay," Greg said softly. Even Gina hadn't told him this. She had called from that trip to check and see if they had enough to pay for V's plane trip to Hawaii. He hadn't thought twice about it until Gina mentioned who Vanessa was going with. "So you were actually tagging along on this trip?"

"Not exactly, but me coming along was a surprise to Zac too. He didn't agree to go until he found out that I was going too." Vanessa remembered Starla's attempt to convince Zac to go.

"Zac, you're eighteen now. You don't need me or your dad to go with you. You've been on enough of these publicity trips and auditions. Honey, you just need to get away for a while and have some time to yourself." Starla knew her son was still hesitant to go alone for some reason. She had realized then that maybe his hesitancy had something to do with his new-found girlfriend, not his family. So she had talked to Gina about letting the teens travel together.

Starla had cornered her oldest son in his hotel room alone the following day, after her discussion with Gina and Vanessa. "Zachary David, I'm going to make one more attempt at this Hawaii idea. What if I told you that you don't have to go alone? What if I told you that Vanessa is going with you? Would that make a difference?" She had seen his eyes glisten just at the mention of Vanessa's name. And a smile had formed on his lips as soon as she asked the question.

"That's not even possible, is it?" Zac had answered. "Mom, I just asked her to be my girlfriend a couple of weeks ago. There's no way her mom and dad would let her go away with me, would they?"

"Would it make a difference in your decision?" Starla was still trying to get an answer from him.

"It would. I have to be away from her in a few weeks to go film 'Hairspray'. I had hoped to spend some time with just her, somehow, between now and then. If Ness goes to Hawaii, I'll go, but not without her." This young man had made up his mind.

"Not that it matters, but who ended up paying for this trip?" Greg asked, knowing that he and Gina hadn't ponied up any money for the travel or hotel.

"Zac did pay for it. Once he realized what lengths his mom had gone to, he wouldn't hear of her paying for it. And knowing that he owed you and mom big time for letting me go, he paid for my plane ticket too." Vanessa kept going, delving into a subject that could've been easily explained months ago if her father had listened. "Do you wanna know how the one-room part of this came about?"

Greg took a breath. "Yeah, please," he responded.

"Zac's aunt and uncle already had two rooms reserved at the hotel. We wanted to be near someone we knew, but we couldn't get any other rooms at that hotel. So they gave up their second room to us, as long as we were willing to stay together. Zac's cousin was supposed to stay there, and he could've stayed with us, but there was enough space in their first room for him to stay with his mom and dad." Vanessa remembered being overwhelmed that Zac's family would be willing to do that for him, for them.

"I was honestly pretty embarrassed to think that we'd be staying in the same room. I almost backed out, but Mom reminded me of why I had agreed in the first place. If I cared about Zac, I needed to do this for him."

"Your mother…convinced you to go to Hawaii…with your boyfriend? And convinced you that staying in the same room with him was ok???!" Greg was stunned.

"Dad, don't go back on me now…we've come a long way here already," Vanessa worried. "Mom and Starla had spent time with us throughout all of HSM. They saw something that we didn't apparently. Aren't parents supposed to know these kinds of things?"

"Mothers apparently notice these things. Fathers, on the other hand, try to deny them for as long as we can. I'm just noting that I need to have a long conversation with your mother. She's avoided this topic for a long time thanks to my pouting!" Greg chuckled then his face got serious again. "Did you really share a bed in your room?"

Vanessa blushed. She knew she had to answer the question. She knew she and Zac had done nothing more than kissing and touching in that bed. But admitting even that to her father was hard. "Y-yes sir," she said.

"Yes sir?" Greg replied. "Care to expand on that?"

"Yes sir, we did share a bed in our room." Vanessa's face felt flush but she summoned up the courage to continue, her voice a little quieter than she expected. "We didn't the first night. Zac slept in a chair in the room. But I couldn't make him do that every night, and I wasn't going to have him sleep on the floor. I wanted…I offered to sleep on the floor the next two nights, but he's too much of a gentleman, he wouldn't have it." She didn't have a problem looking her father in the eyes as she talked about those first three nights. She remembered the little tiffs that she and Zac had had about the sleeping arrangements. By their fourth night there, they were tired of griping at each other and just gave into the fact that they would be sharing the bed. And by that day that had grown comfortable enough with each other to share some of the 'coupledome' that they had found during the day.

"That covers three nights. Do I need to know about the other three?" Greg urged her to continue. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Vanessa. I believe that you and Zac didn't have sex on this trip. I don't want to push this any further if you don't want to talk about it."

He believed her. Those were words that Vanessa had wanted to hear for so long now. That little bit of encouragement gave her the strength to go on. "Dad, I won't give you the details. Not even mom gets those," she quipped. But I will tell you that Zac and I were very, um, close, over those next three nights. Closer than we've been since we got back. No, we didn't… have sex, or make love, or whatever you choose to call it. But we kind of, well, explored each other, and talked about what we liked." Vanessa drew in a breath. "I think that's about as far as I can go with this. Does this help, us, me and you, Dad?"

"Just one more question, please?" Greg watched his daughter carefully. "You did this, um, exploring, in Hawaii. But you've just now told each other that you love each other?"

"Yes." Vanessa hesitated. "I know we probably shouldn't have done what we did in Hawaii. As a parent you probably believe that it should've been saved for the person I love. But I think, in my mind, I already believed that I loved Zac, I just couldn't bring myself to tell him that. This all probably sounds backwards to you. I just hope it doesn't make you hate Zac more than you already did. I don't regret what we did Dad. Especially now. I think our time in Hawaii helped us figure out that we do love each other. Does any of this make sense?"

Greg just sat for a moment, trying to soak in and understand what his daughter was telling him. Vanessa and Zac seem to have put more thought into this friendship, this relationship, than what he thought. He drifted back for a moment to his early romance with Gina. Exploring had been part of their relationship too, if he was willing to admit it. "V, I'm glad that you and Zac didn't go farther than exploring. I'm no expert, but it seems that a LOT of young couples are taking that next step these days. I admit, I thought you had too, and I didn't want to face that. It wouldn't make me stop loving you. I'll always love you. "

"But you're disappointed in me." Vanessa said bluntly.

"I was," Greg stated. "But that's changing. I think I respect you more now than I ever have. I never thought a daughter of mine would tell me some of the things you've just shared with me." Greg stopped for a moment. "Baby V, I don't hate Zac. I think I'm a bit jealous of him, but I wouldn't say hate, not at all." He saw Vanessa smile. "If he breaks your heart, leaves you at the altar or hurts my grandchildren, then I will hate him. Then I'll go after him like the scary father he thinks I am!"

"So you can't let him know how much of a push-over that you really are. Is that what you're saying here?" Vanessa kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey, I'm only a push-over for you and Stella, and maybe still for your mom a little bit. But I'll deny every word of it if you tell her that!" Greg pulled his daughter into his lap.

"But why are you jealous of Zac?" Vanessa pressed.

Greg sighed, "I think, because he has shared so much with you over the past couple of years. I haven't been able to be there to get to know him like your mom has. And I can just imagine that you both have so much more that you're going to share. I'm jealous that I can't be there with you and experience all this 'chaos' – isn't that what you called it?" It was Greg's turn to do some admitting.

"You know, the photo scandal, after you and me and your mom had that chat in the kitchen?"

"Yeah," Vanessa remembered it vividly.

"I heard your conversation with Zac on the phone that night."

"What? You were eavesdropping?" Vanessa didn't know what to say.

"Yes, I was. I apologize, but I'm glad I did. Baby V, that's the night that I realized that this boy was more than just a passing phase for you. Just when I was ready to send you to a convent, because of what the other idiot had done to you, I heard you talking to Zac. He was able to soothe you enough that night. He was the one who stopped your tears, not me. And he seemed to have his arms wrapped around you, all the way from Australia to California. Whatever had happened in Hawaii…I knew that night that he had your heart. I'm not ready to give you up V, but as of tonight, I guess I can willingly share you with Zac."

"Dad, you never have to give me up. I'm always your little girl, and you'll always be the first man in my life. Nobody can change that, not even Zac." She put her arms around her dad's shoulder and sank her head into the crook of his neck. Greg felt a few teardrops fall onto his skin from his daughter's eyes. He knew they were happy tears this time and he gave her one tight squeeze before she lifted her head and wiped at the tears. "Go call him. I know you're dying to! But don't you dare tell him I'm a push-over. I'll deny it to him too!"

Greg and Vanessa both laughed as she jumped out of his lap, grabbed her cell phone and headed up to her bedroom.

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