THIS IS IT. THE END. I expect reviews and opinions, after all this is the last chapter, I wanna know what you guys thought. Thanks! :)

Chapter 33

"Come on baby, that's it, I knew you could do it." I hold out my arms to catch her as she falls to the ground right where I'm kneeling. Her blue eyes stare back at mine. She's not hurt, shes just shocked, as well as I. I had always dreampt of when I would see her take her first steps.

"That's it Hailyn, you're doing great baby," I plant a kiss on her forehead and slide further away, forcing her to get off her knees again and rush into my arms. This time when she falls into my lap, I don't move away, I squeeze her tight and inhale the scent of her clean clothes. She's so beautiful, I'm truly blessed.

I scoop her into my arms and she squeals with delight as I bring her to the kitchen. I know she has to be hungry. I set her in her high chair and get her some baby food ready. I can't imagine how this would taste to an infant, I know when I've licked the remains off of my finger from the package it tastes horrible.

Maybe babies don't have tastebuds.

I feed her lunch and then cuddle with her in my recliner and watch TV, which is mainly there for background noise. My focus is on her. I love this quality time with her. I love when she snuggles up to me, especially after she's full and I know that will make her sleepy. She squirms a little to get up and play, but once I tell her no a few times and keep her on my lap she settles to cuddle and lays her head on my chest, thumb in her mouth. Her eyes are droopy and drowsy.

It won't be long now that she'll fall asleep and nap for a while. That's one trouble I haven't had with her. She cried a lot at first, I had no idea what to do. The nurses that instructed me and told me it would be hard, that I'd get no sleep, and I didn't at first. I didn't know how to keep up with the restless nights and exhausting days of keeping her healthy and fed. I had to take a leave from work just to get adjusted to this new addition. She certainly takes a lot of work. Much more than I ever would have expected. I never knew how much it was going to take, not until I got myself going and got little Hailyn into her own daily routine.

She breathes deeply in her slumber as she curls up on my lap. Her thumb remains in her mouth, I soon have to start weening her from that habit as well. I'll give it a few more months before I attempt to break her of that. It's so cute, and I don't want to make her stop, but she's going to grow up one day, too soon I think, and I wouldn't want her being 20 and still sucking at her thumb.

The months have flown by and I can't believe how much she's grown. Even though she was not planned or prepared for, she's still very loved, and I think that's more than what most children get nowadays. The ones at the facility where Adley was held and the many others like it basically manufacture children, use them for slaves or export them on a market to other countries with parents that want kids but can't have them. Some even use them and fetus's as well for research to develop new products.

The world outside this cozy cabin lacks love and compassion, it lacks politeness, structure and even discipline. It's falling to pieces out there, but I know I'm safe here, with my daughter, who looks so much like her mother it hurts.

The hair, the eyes, about eighty percent of my daughters looks are that of Adley's. Adley, who I couldn't save. After Hailyns birth, Adley's body stopped contracting. The contractions stopped altogether, causing her to bleed rapidly. The contractions after birth are to keep the mother from having severe blood loss. By the time that anybody had noticed the contractions had stopped she had bled to an unhealthy level. She lost too much blood before they were able to get it to clot. No amount of medications could save her.

I never would have done this to her if I had known it would cause her death. If I had only taken that one pill, if only I had remembered I could have been with her and she'd still be here, but then I wouldn't have the next love of my life. Hailyn.

It's a different kind of love, one where I would not only die for her, but I would give anything to see her live the happiest life possible. I would do anything for this little one, time and time again. My only wish, is that Adley could be here to see her take her first steps. I wish she could be here to witness all the milestones Hailyn has already accomplished, and the million more that she will achieve.

I wish I had treated her better.

I wish that I would have been more compassionate, more understanding. I wish I could have given her all that she wanted and more. I wish and regret so many things it's physically impossible to count all the things I regret doing to Adley. I wish I was kinder, more gentle. I wish I had not yelled at her and screamed like I did, I wish that I didn't make her so angry, I wish that I could take back every fight that I'd ever had with her, but then I remember the good things.

I taught her to read and write, taught her how to cook and clean. I gave her a roof over her head and a half decent bed, I took her away from that god awful place.

That awful place that you worked in.

It haunts me every day that I used to work in a place like that, but I needed to make a living. I needed the money to support myself and then Adley. Once they discovered the fake pregnancy test, they cut my funds immediately. I had no choice, I needed to move or they were going to come and take her away, and I couldn't have that.

I may have loved her, or maybe I didn't. I don't know what I felt for Adley, all I know is that it was real. It was real and it hurt, and it still hurts. The truth is I didn't even know the meaning of love until I met her, even if it was a strange relationship, even if we didn't get along and had numerous fights, at least I felt something with her, and that's a lot more than I can say for half of the men that walk in through that door in search of a good time.

This world that is filled with desire and almost nothing but, it's hard to imagine the things that went through my mind about Adley. I didn't just see her as a piece of meat, as something I could sink myself into and own and control. I saw her as a person, as an actual person, not a doll or some fancy toy or even just a plain face. That's the problem, nobody sees people as people anymore, they see them as an inanimate object, lifeless. The only thing that we recognize as life anymore is ourselves.

It takes a special someone, someone like her, to force you to remember that all of us are people, all have feelings that are much more powerful than desire. I don't know how she did it, or even if she meant to, but she has accomplished to change my whole life and how I see things.

As I rock my beautiful daughter in my arms I know that some day we will get back to the way things used to be. Back to a time when lust was a sin and not a pleasure, back to a time when it was uncommon for these tragic and vulgar things to happen to women, instead of an every day occurance, back to a time that made sense.

If there is one thing that Adley has done, it's that she has taught me how to feel again. If the world could do the same, if they all could find that special someone, love of their life or not, but just that one person, that makes them feel something again, then maybe we can all figure out what it's like to actually feel again.

Then maybe Adley would have died for something instead of nothing.