I'm glad you guys are excited to see this back! The lyric for this chapter is from a song called "This Way" by Jewel.

Say that we'll stay

Forever this way

Forever and forever

That we'll never have to change

"Amber, did you sleep here again last night?" Sophie's eyes went wide as Amber joined them in the kitchen the next morning, a silky robe draped over her shoulders.

"Why? Am I in trouble if I did?" Amber pretended to be frightened suddenly, sliding her arms around Corny's waist and kissing the base of his neck. He groaned in response, his hands busy with the spatula he was using to flip the pancakes in the pan.

"No," Sophie sighed softly, and Amber moved toward her, running a hand over her dark hair affectionately before joining her at the table. Amber sat straight in her chair, smiling at Corny, and Sophie watched her blush. "Did you guys play more games after I fell asleep last night?" She asked curiously.

She heard Corny chuckle softly, and Amber nodded her head quickly.

"We sure did."

Sophie shook her head.

"Grown up games are boring anyway," she tried to comfort herself with the fact that she hadn't missed out on anything really fun.

"Only if you don't know how to play," Amber quipped suddenly, "And me and your daddy are the best at those kinds of games."

"Amber," Corny hushed her suddenly, moving toward the table and slipping a pancake onto Sophie's plate, "Can we not talk about our games in front of my seven-year-old daughter?"

Amber smirked and lifted a glass to her lips, letting the orange juice slip down her throat.

"Daddy, it's okay," Sophie nodded, using her fork to slice her pancake apart, "I know you and Amber play grown-up games." Sophie narrowed her dark eyes at Amber suddenly, "Amber's not very good at using her inside voice."

The words slipped from her mouth with no warning, and the juice in Amber's throat caught. She coughed suddenly, and then spit, spraying an orange mist over the kitchen table. Sophie screamed, pushing away from the table quickly and grinning slightly at Amber. Corny blinked twice, dismayed at the fact that she had just ruined the stack of pancakes it had taken him a long while to perfect.

"Gee, Amber, what happened?" Sophie asked innocently. Amber glared at her, grabbing a napkin to dab at her watery eyes.

"Sophie, that's…" she sputtered for the right words, "it's not nice to eavesdrop."

Sophie blinked innocently.

"I wasn't…eavesdropping. I was just listening." She pursed her lips suddenly, "And I wasn't listening very hard, either. What are you always screaming about, anyway?"

Amber was flustered suddenly, and looked to Corny for support.

"That's enough," he directed his gaze at Sophie suddenly, "Sophie, don't…listen. Amber, don't…well…try not to be so loud." He dropped the dirty pan into the sink, and Amber felt the corners of her lips twitching into a smile.

"I don't…" Sophie was studying the food on her plate suddenly, "I don't think I want to eat these after Amber spit her juice all over them."

"It doesn't matter," Corny sighed, defeated, "Let's just go out for breakfast."

Almost an hour later, they slid into a booth at the same diner Corny had taken Sophie to all those years ago, when she'd shown him the letter Brenda had written to him. Brenda. That was a strange word, a foreign concept to any of them. They hadn't seen or heard from her since the pageant two years ago, and none of them had spoken her name since. Even Sophie had seemed to have forgotten about her, though every time Corny looked at her, he still saw Brenda. Of course, he only saw the good parts; her dark eyes and hair, the rhythm she'd inherited from both of them. Sophie was involved in a dance class that she excelled at, and it made him burst with pride at the thought that she was so interested in dancing. It was, after all, the one thing that had brought his life together.

Sophie slid into the booth beside Amber, and Corny reached across them, pulling three menus to spread out between them. He felt a twinge in his back, and cursed beneath his breath. Amber heard the soft word, and arched a golden eyebrow at him.

"What's wrong?" Her words made Sophie look toward her father, studying him.

"You okay, Daddy?" She echoed Amber's words.

He shot them a grin, flipping the menu open.

"I'm fine," he nodded, "just had a little pain in my back."

Amber's crystal eyes studied him, and he met her gaze slowly.

"You're not getting old on me, are you?" Amber felt her lips turning into a soft, teasing smile, "I'm not looking to marry some old geezer."

He rolled his eyes playfully at her, and Sophie shifted in the booth beside Amber.

"Hey Dad," she said the words slowly, as if she were turning the words over in her head, "What's gonna happen when you get too old to dance on your show anymore?" She studied him with dark, concerned eyes. "Is it gonna get cancelled?"

Amber looked toward Corny, and he swallowed hard. She let her gaze drop to the table suddenly, feeling a twinge in the pit of her stomach. The simple question had made them both worry suddenly, and she knew it. Corny loved that show; it was his livelihood, his youth. She knew that once he realized he was too old or tired to go on hosting it, it would break his heart.

And, as much as she didn't want to admit it, a part of her dreaded that day. It was the day she would have to find a man to take her fiancée's place, doing something that he loved to do so much. It was also the day that he stopped being Corny Collins the host, the man she had fallen in love with, the one that she had always found so deliciously off-limits, and simply became Corny, her soon-to-be husband. She had tried to prepare herself for that day, but even thinking about it made her feel ill.

"Well," he cleared his throat, "You know Amber is in charge of picking a new host, so I guess when that day comes, I'll tell her that I need to be replaced, and we'll find someone to take my place." There was a certain sadness in his eyes at that moment, but he forced it away quickly, smiling at Sophie. "But that's not going to happen for a long time, baby. I'm not an old man, at least not yet."

The smile returned to Sophie's face suddenly, and she nodded.

"Good. I don't want you to get old."

"You're not the only one," Amber sent him a playful smile, and then swallowed, averting her eyes to Sophie. "Come on; let's decide what we want to eat."

She could have claimed that her sudden digression was because she was hungry, because she was impatient, and wanted to eat. In reality, she knew it was because she didn't like this topic of conversation. She didn't want to talk about Corny getting old, leaving the show. She didn't want to have to talk about replacing him with someone younger, more vibrant. That was the day she knew things would change between them, however trivial that might seem. She was too afraid he'd resent her for it, for replacing him. It could cause so many problems between them, and she hated it. Still, she knew it was inevitable.

"Hey," he had noticed her worried gaze, and she shifted her eyes up to look at him, "let's just not think about that, okay? I'm not an old man, Amber. I'm only thirty-three."

She nodded at his words, and Sophie squeaked softly beside her.

"Thirty-three? Daddy, you're ancient! Amber's only twenty-four, right?"

Amber let herself laugh softly and nodded, gazing over at Corny. He smiled and sighed softly, folding the menu in his hands.

"Wow, thanks, Soph. You sure know how to make your dad feel good about himself."

Sophie reached across the table suddenly, slipping her fingers into his strong hand.

"It's okay," she nodded seriously at him; "Me and Amber still love you, even if you are way older than both of us."