I do not own Pepe or Penelope

I do own Pheffe

I fiddle around with the thought of Joy Hathaway (mentioned in Father and Daughter) and what happened to her so I came up with this. This also shows how Pepe means so much to Pheffe. This is also in honor of those who have had it tough.

Chapter Seven

Pheffe's Compassion

Kindly she pocketed her allowance savings. She had fifty dollars to give to the home for the troubled. Pheffe gave her generous donation along with a volunteering commitment for the day.

It was boring. All she did was carry down linens that needed to be washed to the laundry room.

"Boring, but eet eez for a good cause," the six year old thought.

The thought that many of the people being taken care of in that charity who lived there had depressing lives before astonished her. Some were young women recovering from abuse, some had been addicts, some were children who ran the streets and some were just homeless. Pheffe was grateful for what she had and felt sorry for the people.

"Zhey all have stories to tell," she thought. "Sad ones no doubt by where they are."

She was about to leave after bringing up an empty basket that had linens once and set the basket down when someone found her.

A little girl, a skunk, with black bangs (no hair like Pheffe) was there. She had toddled over to Pheffe and tugged on her shirt to get her attention.

Pheffe felt awkward since she was not around children that often. In fact, rarely. She only looked at the girl who was about two years old. She wore a little dark blue dress and wore pink anklets socks. She had no shoes. She stuck two chubby fingers into her mouth and blinked at Pheffe.

Pheffe locked eyes with the girl. The eyes were icy blue on the girl. Somewhere Pheffe had seen eyes like that before. Where?

"Hope!" a woman's voice called. The little girl turned her head down the hallway and toddled down that way with her little legs wobbling.

Pheffe couldn't help but feel a little smirk on her lips from the child's attempt to walking because she couldn't believe she once walked that way.

The girl (Hope) walked into a room and Pheffe felt curious to see who was taking care of her. So she tiptoed down the hallway and peeked around into a soft blue room that had an ocean décor. There was a bed and a crib along with a changing table a door leading to a bathroom and a one two medium sized windows that had soft pink drapes over them.

Hope was sitting in her mother's lap with a bottle of milk in her hands. She suckled down lazily on the rubbery part of the bottle. The mother was sitting in a chair of maple wood and looked gently at her.

The mother wore a white cotton dress with a pink hemming. She wore white high heels and had her waist length black hair pulled into a clip.

"Oh, Hope," she sighed. "I'm so happy to be that you're going to have a new father. Razo is one of the sweetest skunks I have met and has been counseling me since you were born and now I'm going to marry him. I won't be a Hathaway anymore. I'll be Joy Grenier."

Pheffe's eyes went wide. It was Joy Hathaway, the sad lady at Pepe's high school reunion who she gave her piece of cake to with such kindness.

Joy continued.

"You know, I didn't feel hopeful before you. One time I met a friend of mine from my childhood whose daughter gave me hope that there was still good for me if I just let go of my fears. I came here, they took me in. I never saw him or that child again. That's why I named you Hope. Your middle name is Josephine, because that was a little sister of my friend. I remember seeing her with him one time after school. She was so adorable. I wonder what happened to her. I think about my friend, Pepe, sometimes because I wonder how he and his wife and daughter are. I wish that daughter knew I was okay and that people were taking care of me. Oh well, Hope. I'll never forget her though. After living a life from my mother and father her abused me I'm happy to have a fresh start. I'll never forget how angry my parents would look when they would beat me. My father would scream that he hated me and would spit at me. His beatings were brutal. Razo won't be that way, so you don't have to worry."

Joy nuzzled Hope's nose and smiled warmly.

"You're going to grow up happy."

Hope's eyes closed and Joy's blue eyes danced with affection.

"I had a torn past, but some little one fixed that tear with one little gesture. If only there were more like that."

Pheffe backed away and quietly left. Hearing all that had shaken her hard. A father who beat her daughter and the mother too?

Pheffe couldn't imagine why someone would hurt their child, especially her father. Pheffe felt tears in her eyes as she walked down the familiar street to home. Joy gone through so much and Pheffe had done only one small thing to keep her up and alive. Giving her a piece of cake and it had changed someone. A little gesture of graciousness that not many other children could grasp.

Then Pheffe felt a tear drip from both of her eyes. Children everywhere did not have a dad like she did. Some like Hope (whose father left Joy quickly after Joy was pregnant) did not even know their father. Pheffe knew hers. It wasn't fair she had what others had. She should have been in little Hope's place instead. She didn't deserve what she had but she had been blessed with so. It wasn't fair other children had to suffer and she didn't have to.

She was grateful. Grateful as much as saddened. She didn't have the best toys or latest fashions, but she had a family who loved her. A dad who would do anything to keep her safe and loved his wife was the type of father she had.

Pheffe came to her house and slipped in. Pepe was there cooking some vegetable stew.

"Pheffe," he said cheerfully when he saw her. "I made you're favorite stew. I'll take you to zhe park afterwards since zhe fair eez steell going on."

Pheffe could not speak and only looked at him. He was tall and clean. Her dad, always towering above her with such protectiveness that she never felt afraid when she was with him and a love that kept them in a strong bond. She couldn't imagine life without him. She didn't even want to imagine life without him.

That feeling of compassion for other children touched her again and she felt a force of tears in her black eyes. Not everyone could have what she had, but she wished they could. It wasn't fair all over again.

Maybe Hope would come close to it, but she would never know her biological father. Pheffe knew hers, she didn't even have to use the term "biological," because she would not have a foster dad, or step dad.

She never had to worry about Pepe abusing her in anyway. He never would. He would go to many lengths to keep her safe. She had changed his life just as much as Penelope had changed his and he wouldn't have it any other way. He loved Penelope very much and he loved Pheffe very much. Penelope was his wife, lady, best friend and mate. Pheffe was his daughter, little girl, princess and treasure. If anything had happened to either of them, he wouldn't know what to do. He cared and loved them and always did his best to keep them close.

Pheffe was thankful for that. She had Pepe. Nothing could change that. He would always love her. Always.

Pheffe lost thought when Pepe was halfway through talking to her. Her thoughts had gone by so fast. She only walked to him to show how she appreciated him.

She flung her arms tightly around his waist since she was small next to him and hugged him. She buried her head into his side and let her tears of thankfulness and sorrow pour.

Pepe looked down at her with a smile and hugged her back with his free arm. Pheffe's mouth felt numb from her emotions, but her thoughts whispered.

"I love you Daddy."