A/N: So my brain just won't shut up lately... At least not with this story, sorry if you are an Addy fan, hopefully I'll update there soon.

But as always, hopefully you enjoy! :)

And I Just Wanna Listen To Your Words:

"Is she dead?" A young girl's voice asked sounding as if she was on the verge of tears.

The eldest boy of the group poked the unconscious adult replying, "I don't know… I think she's breathing."

Toni started to stir, so all off the kids jumped back and away from her gasping in surprise. "Fuuuck…" she grumbled quietly. "Stupidest idea…"

As she complained to herself, Toni rubbed her temples and opened her eyes. When she saw that she wasn't alone, she sat up straight and quickly apologized, "Oh shh… Crap. Sorry guys… Umm hey…"

The five kids just stared at her wide-eyed and remained completely immobile, so she tried again more cheerfully saying, "So… Who's ready to get out here and go home?"

When they all realized that her previous words of anger weren't directed at them, they all enthusiastically answered, "Me!" before running out of the room. Toni got up off the floor very slowly with the hopes that moving slowly would keep the pounding in her head from becoming incapacitating. She tried to take stock in her head of any evidence that could be detrimental to her and made sure to wipe down the light switch with her shirt sleeves before using the wall to help keep herself on her feet while she walked. Then she tried her best not to touch anything else while struggling to get up the stairs.

None of the kids were in the kitchen when Toni got there, so she attempted to move quickly to the door which caused a huge wave of nausea to hit her hard. She almost didn't make it to the sink before she started to dry heave and a small amount of liquid rose up her throat and onto the stainless steel.

"Are you okay Toni?" A quiet tentative voice called from the open back door.

Toni rinsed her mouth out then turned, slowly towards the door and smile replying, "I'll be okay Isabella… I just hit my head really hard so I'm not feeling so hot right now."

The tiny girl with jet black hair walked over to Toni and gently took her hand saying, "My Daddy will help make your owie better."

Toni couldn't help but laugh and then she burned hot with embarrassment when she realized that her version of kissing away her pain was probably much more X-Rated than Isabella's would be. Toni gave the little girl's hand a friendly squeeze without commenting and then they made their way to the front yard. The eldest boy of the group had one protective arm wrapped around the two other seven year old girls and his other around a five year old boy beside Toni's truck with an unsure look on his face.

Seeing the group huddled together, shielding each other from any other potential threats, made Toni's heart swell, much to her surprise. Before she could say anything, the group's protector said, "I know where everyone lives if that's what's scaring you."

She then caught her reflection in the passenger's side window and saw how pale she looked because of the blood loss and nausea. She could only assume that her looking like that equaled "scared" to an eleven year old boy. Toni didn't want to be overly dismissive and discount his attempts to demonstrate his strength, so she just nodded, flashed him a broad smile and unlocked the door so that they could all get in. She knew that she should probably verbally reply as well, but she still felt unsure about her ability to effectively interact with children.

When she and the eldest were the only ones left outside of the truck, Toni tentatively grasped his forearm saying, "Thanks for all you help…"

"Owen," he offered when Toni couldn't quite finish he thought.

"Owen. Thanks for taking care of all of the kids for me," she continued more confidently. "That was really brave of you and I really couldn't have done this without you."

He smiled but seemed unsure how else to accept her compliment. Toni recognized the look in his eye, so she just placed a hand on his upper back and coaxed him to the open door. She was hoping that he would know that she understood how he felt and that no other words were needed.

While the other four children slept, Owen pointed out each of their houses to the driver. Toni didn't have the strength to deal with each of their parents and her head was still pounding too hard to come up with a convincing lie, so she parked a few doors down from each of the homes before letting the kids out. She and Owen took turns waking each of the little ones up and then they kept a keen eye on them until they were engulfed in the loving embrace of their awaiting parent. None of the kids looked back towards Toni's truck once they got home and their parents seemed to be too preoccupied with relief to care how their children had been returned safely to them. Once the last child was home, Toni finally breathed a sigh of relief that everything seemed to be over and no one… Well none of the children were worse for wear.

After she parked in the driveway of the last house, Toni gently shook the tiny child beside her softly saying, "Isabella? Umm… Busy Bee? We're home… Come on… Time to wake up… Please?"

Isabella barely stirred, so Toni slipped one arm under her to try to shake her more vigorously. Isabella in turn rolled into Toni's side and snuggled in closer to her torso. Toni's free hand grabbed the door handle in a white knuckle grip while she stared down at the sleeping child while she frantically tried to figure out what she should do next.

During her slumber, Isabella slung her right arm over Toni's waist to grip her rescuer even tighter. Toni took a deep breath then stared at the ceiling of her truck thinking, She's pretty small… It shouldn't be too difficult to carry her right? Even with this massive headache?

She then took in a couple of deep breaths very much akin to the way she did before she fought a spirit or werewolf then turned and slipped her free arm under the little girl's legs. Just as Toni had predicted, Isabella's weight barely registered in her arms. As she made her way up the front walk, she couldn't help but laugh silently because just like each of the other four houses, the front door flew open before she had made it all the way up the stairs.

"TONI!" Kory nearly shouted. "You… You found her."

Toni smiled but before she could say anything, Isabella raised her head off Toni's shoulder and sleepily asked, "Daddy?"

"Yeah it's me Busy Bee," he tearfully replied before crushing her slightly between his and Toni's bodies when he pulled them into a hug. "Toni… Thank you."

Toni tried to offer him a reassuring touch, but it turned into her just back-handing him lightly in the stomach. "Kory… I think you might be crushing Isabella."

Kory quickly released them both with a quiet, "Sorry." Then they both snickered because they noticed that Isabella's slumber hadn't been disturbed in the slightest. The relieved father reclaimed his daughter from the hunter's arms and just hugged her close for a minute, relishing in the fact that his daughter was home safe and sound once again.

Isabella squeezed her arms around her dad's neck still deep in sleep and said, "Daddy'll make it better."

As his tears of relief fell, Toni stood up on her tip toes to Kory's then Isabella's cheeks before saying in a hushed tone, "Daddy surely will. Kory why don't you get her to her bed?"

Kory almost reluctantly pried his eyes away from his daughter's serene looking face to look at Toni so he could try to reply. When he took a closer look at his friend, he finally saw the large stream of blood that flowed along her hairline and down her neck to where her shirt was struggling to absorb it all.

"Toni! You're bleeding!" He blurted out a little too loudly in his state of shock.

She raised her hand and started touching her skull until her fingers found the sticky blood. She tapped the wound a couple of times then followed the trail down her neck while she silently assessed the damage.

The longer Kory watched her, the more concerned he became, but he wanted to wait for her to speak first. When her right hand was pretty much covered in blood and she still wasn't saying anything, he tried to get her attention by asking, "Toni? Are you okay?"

Hearing the worry in Kory's voice made Toni refocus onto him quickly. She immediately smiled then replied, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

He just gave her a skeptical look and didn't move so Toni elaborated, "Kory it's a head wound… They always look way worse than they actually are… I promise. Please don't worry. Just go, take Isabella up to bed and I'll get cleaned up and then we can all forget than any of this ever happened."

Kory gave her another uncertain look and Toni could tell that he didn't really trust her. She then hooked her arm through one of his and turned to lead him up the stairs. Kory repositioned Isabella so that she was balanced onto one of his hips and then he wrapped his now free arm around Toni's waist. At the top of the stairs he moved to kiss Toni's temple, but stopped when he remembered that it was still covered in blood.

Instead he just quietly told her, "There's a first aid kit under the sink in the Ensuite. This one is a bit of a Tomboy so I always keep it fully stocked."

Kory then turned to his right to carry Isabella to her room and tuck her into bed. When Toni got into the bathroom and was finally able to properly survey the extent of her wound, she started to feel mildly guilty. She was used to seeing herself with this much damage inflicted somewhere on herself, sometimes it was much worse than this, but she knew that Kory wasn't at all. She was also aware of how much Kory cared about her, so she knew that seeing her like this would worry him unduly.

She cleaned the trail of blood that ran from her face to collarbone with her soiled shirt the best that she could then dropped it at her feet without paying much more attention to it. While she was washing away the dried blood and taking a closer look at the wound in the mirror, Kory appeared behind her in the doorway.

"Hey Toni I brought up your duffle bag for you," he announced without making eye contact with her reflection in the mirror.

Toni wasn't sure if he was feeling shy now because he didn't want to see the damage the creature had inflicted on her head or if it was because she was now only wearing her blood stained white lacey bra. Either way, Toni started to feel slightly uncomfortable too and kept her eyes focused only on her hairline in the mirror. She retrieved another facecloth from a drawer and continued to wash the rest of the blood away while they stood there awkwardly in silence for a moment.

Kory finally broke the deafening silence by more timidly asking, "Did… Did it hurt you badly?"

Toni turned to look at him before pointing at her head and replying with a slightly humorous tone, "Oh this? No, this wound is self-inflicted… Should be an easy enough fix." She then pointed at her fat lip and its accompanying scabbed over cut and continued with the same light tone of voice, "He wasn't all that tough because he only got the one hit in."

Kory shook his head as he snickered at her joke with the full knowledge of what Toni was trying to do at this moment in time. Toni in turn recognized the look that clouded Kory's eye and knew that he wouldn't stand for it much longer and she couldn't continue the same way she was attempting to. He was going to call her on it at any second and she hated it when he called her bluff before she was able to get the full smoke and mirrors screen put up.

She quickly took her bagfrom him, saying in a much more serious, almost exasperated tone, "I have something in my bag that'll do the trick to patch me up. Thanks for bringing it up by the way."

As soon as her bag was in her hands, she spun around on her heel and put it on the counter. While she searched through her bag, Kory watched her with a bit of sadness. He hadn't meant to annoy her with his genuine concern, but he should have known her well enough to know that he would. She continued to disinfect the cut with peroxide then rinsed it with a clean facecloth before she almost rammed her forehead into the mirror while trying to get a closer look at the area she had just finished cleaning.

When Kory heard a quiet and very angry "Fuck! That's just fucking great!" he hesitantly asked, "Toni? Is there… Is something wrong?"

Toni was still concentrating on her wound so intently that she didn't answer as she turned and started shuffling through the contents of her bag asking no one in particular, "Where are my fucking tweezers."

Kory stepped up behind her and deliberately pressed his body against her while he pulled a drawer to their right open. As he lifted the tweezers up and out of the drawer, he shoved his hip forward while stating with his own firm and somewhat annoyed tone, "Here. This should do the trick, right?"

Toni again felt more than ashamed about her behavior and before she could thank him, she apologized with an amazingly remorseful tone, "Kory… I didn't mean to… I'm just used to… I'm so sorry; I don't mean to be such a bitch, but…"

He ran his now free hands slowly up and down her ribcage interrupting her and somewhat imploring, "You're injured… And I know what happened wasn't a walk in the park… But you don't have to… Just don't be a tough guy with me right now, okay? I'm here to help, so let me help you."

Toni nodded and her hard swallow was almost audible before Kory retreated from invading her personal space. Toni inwardly scolded herself quickly then turned to face her friend and held up her right hand.

He looked confused until Toni explained the peace offering she was trying to extend, "I can't really see it from this angle, but I definitely felt a splinter in the cut while I was cleaning it…" She paused and couldn't help but try to make light of the situation by finishing with, "Since you're so much taller than me and all, I was hoping you could see it and pull it out… You know, so that I won't get a massive infection and get brain damage of something."

Kory took the tweezers from her without attempting to hide his sourpuss face in response to her joke, but did refrain from narrating any portion of his internal dialogue. Instead he just said, "Here let me take a look… Just tilt your head this way so I can see it under the light."

She complied without any further commentary, but couldn't stop the involuntary hiss that escaped her lips while he pulled out the two inch long sliver. Kory wanted to lean down and kiss the pain away like he had for Isabella on so many occasions, but then he saw the small blob of blood that emerged once the wood was removed. He quickly snatched up one of the facecloths Toni had been using and thrust it against her head.

When he took a moment to inspect the object he had carefully removed from Toni's head, he inadvertently exclaimed, "Holy shit Toni! Where the hell did you get that from?"

Toni suppressed her laughter at his reaction because for her this really wasn't something to get that hysterical about as she flippantly explained, "From a door." Kory didn't seem satisfied, so she explained in further detail, "The kids were locked in a room and I had to force my way in."

She had once again turned back to the mirror and started taping and gluing up her wound before Kory was able to fully register everything she had just said. He then watched her in amazed fascination as she worked at stopping the blood and ensured that the wound was properly covered so that it could heal properly. When she was putting the finishing touches on her handy-work, Kory once again approached Toni.

The touch of his lips on the side of her neck made Toni jump ever so slightly in surprise because she had been focused so intently on herself that she hadn't noticed Kory approaching her.

"Thank you," he stated with loving firmness into her flesh as he continued to kiss it.

"Really… Kory… It's… Noth…" Toni tried to reply offhandedly through her aroused breathing as Kory's hands ran over her flesh with the perfect amount of force to excite it.

"No, it IS something," he countered. When his touch rendered her speechless, he turned her around almost too roughly so that they were face to face asserting, "You are amazing… Why do you doubt that and try to play it down?"

Before she could offer her usual dismissive reply, Kory kissed her hungrily. Toni had barely caught on to what he was doing when he lifted her onto the counter. Once he pulled their bodies closer together, Toni had regained her faculties enough to try to attain the dominant position of the embrace.

This was a back and forth game that they had both grown used to during their three year, on again off again, relationship at school. Toni only let Kory think that he won the upper hand back then from time to time because she was too competitive to actually let him win. Kory of course thought that he had legitimately beat her at her own game, just as he thought that he was going to be the sole decision maker for the pace of this amorous scene right now. Once Toni realized that she wasn't going to be able to regain control by the usual means, she didn't hesitate to play dirty.

"Ow… Ow…" She complained softly as she tried to push out of their embrace.

As soon as he heard the pained noise, Kory immediately shoved himself a full arm's length back and hyperventilated to catch his breath so he could say, "Shit… Sorry… Sorry… What'd I hurt?"

Toni gave him an exaggerated pout then touched her lip with her forefinger right where her newly acquired cut was and coquettishly said, "He split my lip… It's a pretty bad owie… I think you should kiss it better."

Kory quirked a playful eyebrow and then leaned in close to Toni's face once again. In anticipation of what was to come, Toni closed her eyes and held her breath. Kory was more than willing to play this game, but he was determined to make sure that he played it by his own rules, so instead of kissing Toni on the lips, he kissed the spot on her chin just below the damage.

"I think I should too," he huskily replied before he licked the length of her bottom lip then kissed each corner of her mouth. He kissed a few spots around her mouth, but avoided full contact with her lips.

While he continued to tease her, Toni worked at unbuttoning his shirt as she whimpered, "Kory… Please…?"

He leaned back to remove his shirts and took a moment to drink in the look he had managed to put on Toni's face. When she started to slowly open her eyes, he went in for the kill and mashed his lips against hers. Once she started to match his pace perfectly, Kory removed her bra so that he could lavish the same affection all over her torso. At first Toni just panted with need and massaged his scalp appreciatively. But then she wanted more so she undid her jeans then reached down and pulled his face back up to hers.

As she kissed him, she murmured, "It's all better… Need you now…"

He tried not to, but Kory still sputtered a quick laugh at her achingly needy tone. Toni didn't seem to notice because she just continued to work at unfastening Kory's belt and pants. He was now trying to remove her jeans so Toni braced herself to lift her lower half off the counter top then he made quick work of disposing her pants and underwear onto the floor.

Once he was done, she pulled their lips together again and Kory completed the task of undressing himself. Toni tried her best to guide Kory to the final act of this play, but he gently removed her hand and held both or her wrists in his left hand.

To show her frustration, Toni bent down slightly and sunk her teeth into his collarbone. Kory hissed in a breath then replied, "Whoa… Just needed… To get… This…" as he produced a small foil package from behind Toni's head.

She had already started to softly lick and kiss the mark she made ordering, "Hurry… Or next time I draw blood."

Kory paused to look her in the eye and gauge how serious she was about her threat. When he saw no humor in her face and she bore her teeth slightly to illustrate her point, Kory hastily complete his task then pulled her midsection towards his. As he joined her body with his own, Toni threw her head back in ecstasy where it immediately connected with the mirror behind her.

They both didn't seem to notice, but Kory still wrapped her legs around his waist and picked her up off the counter. While he walked to the door, Toni made sure to keep her hips moving to keep their pleasure building.

Kory struggled under her ministrations to make it to the bed without giving into his bodies desire to collapse. His knees started to buckle and they lost all contact as he dropped Toni on the bed. Before she could register the lack of contact, Kory climbed on top of her and thrust back into her with an almost brutal force.

"Sorry," he panted against her skin. "Thought you'd be more comfortable here."

Toni was too lost in her feelings of pure bliss to offer any response and soon Kory was rendered completely mute as well. She wanted to scream, to let the whole block know the masterful job her partner was doing, but as she climaxed she was having such a hard time catching her breath that no sound could escape her lips.

"So… Should I be worried about a concussion?" Kory asked softly before kissing Toni's bare left shoulder. "You know, wake you up every hour and so on?"

Toni rolled her head, but kept her body lying face down on the bed as she snorted in a laugh replying, "No, I'm good… Hell, my headache's even gone."

He kissed her shoulder again as he pulled the covers up to her waist. As he gently stroked the scars that he had kissed he tenderly observed, "These look like they would have been beyond painful when you got them."

"They weren't that bad… I was pretty lucky and passed out pretty much after it attacked me."

"And 'it' was what exactly? Because they kind of looks like talons or claws made them."

Toni shook her head against the pillow saying, "Nope… You'll never believe me… Plus you're too sweet and innocent to be tainted with this knowledge."

Kory bunched up her hair and kissed nearly every inch of her back asking "Please?" after each embrace. When he was satisfied that he had touched practically any part of the exposed skin of Toni's back with his lips, Kory moved back to his side of the bed.

"Please?" He asked softly again before pouting at her.

Toni just kept shaking her head saying "Nope" and "Nuh uh" after each request. Kory then leaned in and kissed her, sucking on her bottom lip as he pulled back to lie against his pillow again.

"Werewolf," she breathlessly answered the second he released her lip.

Her eyes flew open as soon as she realized that she had confessed the truth. When she tried to hide behind her hair, Kory quickly pushed it back off her face.

"Really?" He asked as he raked his fingers through her hair and made sure that it was off her shoulder so he could pet her scar again.

Toni rolled onto her right side to allow her to look at him more easily. She didn't care about being modest or trying to cover up her nakedness, so Kory took it upon himself to pull the comforter over her shoulder.

"Yeah… But then she took a silver bullet to the heart so she got the worse end of the deal," she finished shyly as she traced the logo on his t-shirt.

"Huh… So your tattoo…? Does that mean that you like worship Satan or something?"

"What?" Toni exclaimed softly as she pulled the covers tight up under her chin. "No! No… That's for protection," she explained while shaking her head emphatically. "One of the first things I learned was that we know fuck all about pentagrams in the 'real world'… They seriously have gotten a bum rap."

"Oh… Wow… Well… Either way… I think tattoos are seriously sexy," he commented with a shrug.

Toni leaned over him and let the covers fall off her shoulder to kiss him and replied, "I know that… But what…"

She stopped suddenly when she heard a soft knock at the door. Just as it cracked open, she snatched up the covers and pulled them as tightly around herself as she could. She had a terrified look on her face, but Kory tried to calm her fears by petting her cheek lovingly and mouthing, "It's okay."

"Daddy?" Isabella called out in a hushed yell. "Daddy, are you awake?"

Kory was already fully clothed, so he rolled off the bed and made his way to his daughter saying "I sure am Busy Bee. Did you have a bad dream?"

As soon as he picked her up, he heard her quiet sniffle in reply. She didn't say anything to him and just wrapped her arms tightly around his neck nodding vigorously. Kory gently stroked her hair whispering comforting words as he tried to calm her tears.

Before he let go of her, Kory sat down with Isabella on his lap and asked, "Can you tell Daddy what your nightmare was about?"

She shuddered a bit and then took in a deep breath. "Damon was really mean to Elena and he even tried to eat her," she explained just barely over a whisper into her Dad's neck.

"Damon? Elena? Busy Bee who are they?"

She started crying harder and shook her head knowing that her Dad wouldn't be happy with her if she gave him a full explanation.

"Isabella," he cautioned with quiet sternness in that hopes that she would crack easily.

"From 'The Vampire Diaries' Daddy… I… I snuck in one night and watched when Candice fell asleep on the couch… I'm so sorry Daddy… I know I wasn't supposed to…"

Kory chuckled softly and kissed her head trying to further calm his laughter as he rocked her in his lap. "It's okay Pumpkin… But now you know why Daddy doesn't want you watching shows like that, right?"

She nodded and whispered another, "I'm sorry Daddy."

He sat her up off his shoulder so he could kiss her cheek then accepted her apology saying, "It's okay Isabella… But no more sneaking out of bed to watch TV okay?"

She nodded agreeing, "Okay."

He kissed her forehead again then stood up to tuck her into bed. "Also… Just remember Busy Bee, that's just a TV show… None of that is real, so they can't hurt you."

"Okay Daddy," she agreed as she snuggled under the covers with her favorite stuffed animal.

"Good… And Daddy will stay here 'til you fall back asleep. Now, close your eyes and try to picture what it'll be like when you're crowned Princess…" He trailed off while he petted her hair because that was usually the key to calming her mind so that she could have her usual, happier dreams.

As he stood up, Isabella froze him in his spot by asking, "Daddy? Did Toni have a bad dream? Because you could give her Flopsy to protect her for the night."

Kory knelt down again beside his daughter's bed and tucked the stuffed rabbit toy with long, over-sized ears back under the blanket with her saying, "That's sweet of you, but Flopsy's here to protect you."

She scowled softly then offered, "You could lend her Horton… He could keep her safe, I guess."

Kory picked up the floppy elephant plush toy then turned to Isabella saying, "Okay, I'll take her Horton. That's really generous of you. You have the kindest heart Busy Bee. I love you too much. Now… It's way past your bedtime so time to sleep, okay?"

When she didn't reply, he double checked that she was in fact sleeping then gave her one more kiss on her forehead before getting up to leave. He walked to the end of her bed to replace the toy in its rightful place on her dresser. Just as he was ensuring that 'Horton' was with his friends, he heard the distinctive sound of his front door closing.

It only took two small steps to get to the window that overlooked the front yard. There he saw Toni stumbling to get her boots on at the bottom of his front stairs. She was fumbling to do up the zipper on her right boot while holding her left boot and duffle bag in one of her hands.

"Toni!" He called out in a hushed yell after he got Isabella's window open. "Toni!"

He knew that she had heard him because he saw freeze in her spot before continuing to put on her left boot. He was going to try calling out to her again, but once she had her second boot zippered and was standing up straight, Toni sprinted full speed to her truck with her bag and jacket in hand.

As soon as she was in the driver's seat of her pickup, her taillights illuminated and her vehicle started moving down the street. Kory closed the window slowly and watched until her taillights faded into the darkness of the night.

Kory kissed his daughter's head one more time and told her that he loved her quietly before turning to leave. He wanted to delay returning to his room for as long as possible because he already knew what he would most likely find in there. On more than one occasion when Toni had wanted to take a break from their relationship, but didn't know how to tell him, she would take off when he stepped out of his room for a short while with a long winded note on his pillow telling him all of the reasons why she needed some time away from him for an unknown amount of time. The page would be filled with excuses like she had fallen behind in her classes and needed to play catch up or that she was heading home for a spell to see her mother or brothers, but she always ended her letter with BUT I'LL SEE YOU SOON LOVE TONI, so he had always held the hope back then that his loyalty would one day be rewarded.

Now he knew that circumstances were different, but that still didn't keep him from feeling crushed when he saw the yellow piece of paper folded in half on his pillow. He was tempted just to throw it out, but his curiosity got the best of him and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to see what excuses she had for him this time around.

When Kory picked up the paper to read it, instead of a full page apology, Toni's sentiments were summed up in less than twelve words.

KORY… I'M SO SORRY… I SHOULDN'T HAVE… I'M SORRY. GOODBYE KORY.

Toni wouldn't allow herself to stop for any reason until she had finally exited the State of Illinois because deep down she knew that that really wasn't how she wanted this job to end. But if she was completely honest to herself, somewhere in her heart she knew that the moment her Dad said, "He said his name was Kory Turner", she had hoped that the night's activities would come to pass just exactly as they had a few hours earlier. Toni was still licking her wounds in response to the last time she had interacted with Sam and she had hoped that being with Kory would ease that pain. She hadn't factored into the equation that Kory wasn't the exact same man that she had used in the past when she need to feel that someone loved her. Now Kory had a daughter and a full life that she had no right to invade with her own issues of insecurity. Right now she hated herself for not actually dealing with her feelings before seeing Kory because all it did was complicate that everything that much more and now she felt guilty for not being honest with the man that loved her or the man that she loved.

"Toni? It's late… Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, sorry… Everything is fine… I'm sorry I woke you Dad," she apologized quietly as she looked over her roadmap once again. "But I just wanted to keep you in the loop and all."

He chuckled softly then replied, "Well, I did ask you to do that, didn't I? So how did everything go? Did you vanquish the spirit?"

"Umm… No, Sir… It wasn't a spirit… It was… Umm… Something else, but yeah, I killed it and everything has gone back to normal for them," she explained somewhat hesitantly.

"That's great Angel… Really, I'm so proud of you."

Before he could continue bestowing her with more compliments, Toni cut in saying, "Thanks Dad, but that's not why I called and woke you up."

Her Dad cleared his throat then asked in a very serious tone, "Oh, okay. What did you need to discuss with me Toni?"

"Well…" She started timidly. "You know how you keep telling me that I've been working too hard and that that time off I took with you probably wasn't enough?"

"Yes Angel, I'm not so old that I don't remember that."

"Well I was thinking that I might just take your advice. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but… Well Vanessa has been getting on me to visit her since she had her baby and all… So…"

"So that sounds like a great plan. Have fun while you're with her, but Toni? Don't forget about me while you're with her, alright?"

"Dad, I could never forget about you. I'll call you when I get there and once I know a better time line you'll be the first to know. I love you so much Dad. Really, you… You don't know how much your pep talks lately have meant to me."

The Colonel paused for a moment, still not used to hearing his daughter being so open about her feelings. Then he choked back a sob and replied, "I love you too Angel. Drive safe."