Lexi opened her locker and grabbed a book before slamming the door shut. She then smiled as she felt a hand tap on the shoulder, knowing exactly who was behind her. "Hey Cassidy," she said as she turned around

"Hey girl," the shorter girl replied cheerily before growing more serious. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the funeral."

"What funeral?" Lexi exclaimed bitterly. "Her ashes were scattered in the woods. That's not a funeral. And don't get me started on that stupid headstone. There's not even anything in the grave. The only reason it's there is so her parents can pretend she wasn't cremated."

"Yeah," Cassidy said uncertainly, unsure of how to respond to that.

"I got the flowers you sent though. Thanks."

"No prob," her friend told her as the two of them walked towards the cafeteria. "So, have you met your new dad yet?"

"Yup. Moved in yesterday."

"What's he like? Does he look anything like you?"

"No, he looks nothing like me. He's really tall and has brown hair and a giant forehead. And I don't know why, but his face reminds me of a Muppet." Lexi shrugged as she thought over how to describe the way things had been going with her and her father. "He really wants to get to know me. He kept asking me all these questions yesterday. And he wanted to take me out today to spend the day with me or something."

"So why didn't you do that? I'd rather do that then be stuck here?"

"I just couldn't. I mean, you know how I always felt about my dad. Even if it was a lie, I just can't hug him and change my feelings like that," Lexi exclaimed as she snapped her fingers to illustrate her point.

"Least it sounds like he's trying. He could have been a douchebag and just pretended you didn't exist. But it seems like he wants to be there for you. You should give him a chance."

"I guess," Lexi said. "Oh my god, you should see his fiancée. She's almost my age."

"Really?" Cassidy said in surprise.

"Okay, so she's in her twenties. But she could practically be like my older sister. I don't know what to think of my dad being one of those cradle robbing old guys chasing women half his age."

"Maybe I'll swing by and see what he's doing, you know, since you blew him off today" Cassidy added playfully.

"Ew, gross Cassie."

"I'm just messing with you."

"Don't even going there. It's bad enough seeing him with Bambi eyes."

"Bambi eves?"

"That's what I'm going to call her. She has these freaking huge eyes. She looks like an Animi character. And you should have seen her with all the questions she kept asking me. 'Lexi, how do you like school? Do you want to talk about how you're feeling or anything?' Just shut up and leave me alone. She knows me for two minutes and acts like we're besties going to get our nails done." Lexi gripped her book tightly as anger took hold of her. "I swear, if she expects to boss me around and have me call her mom, she's in for some serious fucking disappointment."

"I'm sure that's not going to happen," Cassidy replied, though not sounding entirely convinced herself.

"It won't. I already had a mother. I don't need a replacement."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Lexi slid her house key (one of the 'goodies' she had received) into the front door lock and stepped inside. She went to the kitchen to get something to eat when she saw a book on the counter, entitled Animation Methods, the only book you'll ever need. On top of the book was a post-it with the following note. 'Lexi, a mutual lawyer friend of ours told me you were into animation. Hopefully you find this book enjoyable. I'll see you later tonight when I get home'. In spite of herself Lexi couldn't help smiling at that. Her dad was really going above and beyond to try and take an interest in her. Maybe he wasn't so terrible after all.

She turned her head as the front door opened and Annie stepped in, her arms weighed down with grocery bags. "Lexi, hey. Can you please help me with these groceries?"

"Can't, gotta read," Lexi said as she took the new book and went into her room.

"Lexi!" Annie yelled as the teenager shut her bedroom door. Annie sighed in frustration before juggling the falling bags as she brought them into the kitchen. Just as she made it to the counter one of the bags ripped and a box of eggs smashed against the floor.

"Son of a-," Annie hissed in frustration as she grabbed some paper towels to clean up the mess.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Lexi looked up as she heard a light knock on her door. "Yes?" She smiled as the door opened and her father stepped in. "Hi."

"Hello. I see you got my gift," Jeff said as he indicated the book in her hands.

"I did. Thanks. So far it's really interesting."

"Glad you like it. I'm not really versed in drawing or art techniques, so I wasn't sure what to get you."

"Chilton's always encouraged my art. So I'm not surprised he told you to get me a book on animated drawing.

"Actually, Annie was the one who suggested it. Chilton told me you liked animation and drawing, but Annie said I should get you a book about it."

Lexi frowned at hearing that. "Anne told you to get me this?"

"She actually prefers to go by Annie. And yes, she said a book would be a good gift. Though I wanted to get you something, so it was kind of 50/50." Jeff chuckled as he sat down on the bed next to his daughter. "I probably wouldn't have suggested a book, but it's Annie, so of course that's where her mind went."

"Great."

Jeff frowned at Lexi's sudden lack of enthusiasm. "Is everything ok?"

"It's fine," she said as she put the book down without marking where she left off. "Thanks for the gift."

"You're welcome," Jeff said, confused at why she had suddenly turned cold. "So…how was it seeing your friends at school?"

"It was fine," Lexi replied with a tone that told Jeff she didn't want to talk.

"Okay, well, I'm making turkey chili for dinner. You're welcome to join us, or you can eat it in your room if you want."

"I'll decide later."

"All right." Jeff got up and went out into the kitchen, where Annie was dicing onions. "I swear, every time I think I'm making progress I take another step back."

"What happened now?" Annie asked as she put the chopped onions in the pot and washed off the knife.

"I don't know. She seemed really excited about the book and wanted to talk. And then she just suddenly closed up."

"I'm sure she's going to be moody for a while. She's both grieving and trying to adjust to a whole new life. It's going to make it hard for her to open up." Annie dried the knife and put it away as Jeff opened a jar of corn salsa and poured it in the pot. "And you said she wanted to talk for a bit. That's better than yesterday."

"Great. I just have to bribe her to get her to open up for thirty seconds."

Jeff let out a sarcastic grunt at that thought before feeling Annie come up beside him and place her hand over his. He instantly relaxed, as he often did from Annie's touch. "Jeff, I know things between the two of you are going to get better. But it's going to take time and patience. I know you don't like hearing that, but it's the truth."

"I know. Believe me, I know."

They continued to work together in sync until the chili was done. Annie ladled out three bowls worth and filled three glasses of water as Jeff went to Lexi's room to tell her dinner was ready. Annie sat down as Jeff and Lexi came over and joined her at the kitchen table.

Lexi looked down at her bowl before tentatively picking up her spoon and slowly dipping it in her chili. As she brought a spoonful to her lips she heard Annie say, "How was school today Lexi?" She glared at her, causing Annie's smile to deflate slightly. "You know, your father and I actually met at school. We were going to college at the same time-."

"My mom said she met my dad at college," Lexi interjected, "That would have made you, what, six?"

Annie picked up on the challenge in Lexi's voice, but decided to let it slide. "It's a long story, but your dad had to go back to college a few years ago and that's where we met. We were both in the same study group for Spanish class. Actually," she said with a laugh, "your dad pretended to be a Spanish tutor to try and impress one of our friends and formed the study group. It didn't take that long before we realized he knew as much Spanish as we did."

"To be fair, you probably knew more than any of us. Miss Studious had a habit of reading the whole textbook within the first week of class," Jeff said playfully.

"I didn't read the whole textbook," Annie countered defensively. "I just liked doing a little extra reading."

"So you're kind of like Hermione, doing a ton of pointless extra work. Personally, I thought she was a big dork who tried way too hard to impress people. She probably would have been a better character if she just left people alone instead of butting into their business," Lexi said.

Annie looked over at Lexi in surprise, clearly catching the insult the girl had just dished out. "Um…you like Harry Potter?" she asked, trying to defuse the growing tension.

"Yes I do, Anne. It's a good book series for children to read," Lexi said pointedly.

Annie glanced over at Jeff, who looked like he had no idea how to respond to this. Before she could say anything Lexi suddenly said, "You know which characters I found interesting Anne? Lupin and Tonks. Here's a woman who kept throwing herself at this much older man, even though she could have been with lots of guys who were more age appropriate. And in the end it led to them getting killed. It probably would have been better for both of them if she'd just left him alone."

"Ok, first of all, Alexis," Annie said with unmistakable bite to her voice. "I don't think either of them dying in the last book had anything to do with being happily married. And second, Tonks wanted to be with Lupin because she loved him. The fact that he was older than her didn't matter to her at all. Love doesn't always follow how society says it should."

"Clearly you would think that," Lexi responded with a smirk as she pushed her chair back. "I think I'll finish my dinner in my room." Without another word she took her chili and deliberately walked to her bedroom.

Annie sat there slack jawed, completely shocked at what had just transpired. She looked over at Jeff, who was glancing down at his lap. "Thanks for sticking up for me there," she said with angry sarcasm. She quickly got up from the table before going to their bedroom and slamming the door shut.

Jeff sat at the table, completely thrown by what had just transpired. If it had been anyone else that had attacked Annie like that he would have stopped them at the first insult. But the fact that it was his daughter throwing the verbal barbs left him unable to do anything but sit there in shock. He knew he had to try and smooth things over. So Jeff got up and went to their bedroom.

Annie was laying down on her side of their bed, flipping through channels in a way that clearly showed she didn't care what was actually on TV. He sat down next to her as she unconsciously moved her legs to make room for him. "Well, that was unexpected," Jeff said lightly to try and lift some of the tension.

"Unexpected. She attacked me for asking her how her day was," Annie said as she sat up. "I felt like I was being picked on in high school again. I thought I'd outgrown stuff like that. Did she say anything about me before dinner?"

"I don't think so," Jeff contemplated. "She told me she liked the book. And then she became closed off and defensive."

"Well did you say anything to upset her?"

"Why would I have said anything to upset her," Jeff said defensively.

"Jeff, I'm just trying to figure out why she went after me like that."

"I'm going to talk to her about it. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Was that a question? Because honestly, I'm upset." Annie shuttered in frustration before relaxing slightly as Jeff put an arm around her. "I know Lexi's going through a lot, but she just ripped into me, like she hated me or something. It hurt me to hear her talk to me like that. Especially since most of it was about us and our relationship."

Jeff gave Annie a one armed hug before getting off the bed. "Let me see if I can set things straight." He walked over to Lexi's room and knocked on the door. "Lexi. Can I come in?" Not waiting for a response Jeff opened the door and walked in.

"You couldn't wait until I said come in," she hissed as Jeff sat next to her on the floor beside the bed.

"Sorry," he said halfheartedly. "What was that at dinner? Annie's really upset with the way you talked to her."

"What, she can't take a bit of tough criticism?"

"Lexi," Jeff sternly replied, an unmistakable trace of anger entering his voice. "You attacked her for no reason. I want to know why."

Lexi shrugged, not wanting to reveal the full reason for her hostility towards her father's fiancée. "I just…she keeps butting into things. I was sick of it."

"When has Annie butted into things?" Jeff asked.

"Last night, when she kept asking me all those questions. Then just now, when she starts interrogating me before I even have a chance to eat."

"She didn't really ask you that many questions. And she just wants to get to know you. You're a very important part of our lives now."

"Sure," she said uncertainly.

"I'm serious. If you want I'll tell her not to be as inquisitive as she's been and to back off a little. But right now the two of you are the most important people in my life. I don't want you two going at it like that again."

Lexi sighed deeply at hearing that. "Fine, I won't go at her, all right?"

"Good," Jeff said slowly, not entirely convinced by her answer. "You should probably go and apologize at some point."

"Okay," Lexi said out loud while internally thinking that there was no way in hell she was going to apologize to her dad's pocket sized princess.

"All right then," Jeff said. "Listen, I know you didn't want to spend the whole day with me today. But I think it would be good if this weekend the three of us all did something together. How does that sound?"

Lexi pulled her knees into her body as she really thought over what her dad had just said. "Can it be something just you and me do instead?"

"Well…" Jeff said uncertainly. In truth he wanted Annie there so she and Lexi could have a chance to bond together. But, he did originally want just the two of them to spend the day together. Maybe she also wanted to get to know him better. "All right. This time it'll just be you and me. What would you like to do on Saturday?"

"I want to visit mom."