Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: Review? You're doing great so far! I'll try to update once I get five reviews on this chapter. ~Jackie

When I entered Ava's room, she was sitting on her bed in her pajamas, looking at me expectantly.

"Come on!" She said. "I want to hear the story!"

I smiled at her and sat down. Ava picked a notebook and her favorite purple pen off her nightstand, smiling back. "Go on, I'm listening." She sounded eager.

I leaned back against the headboard, thinking back. I couldn't tell Ava exactly what happened, I wanted to keep it PG. I'd have to stretch the truth a little. "The story starts with me doing something I regret to this very day, the end of one romance, yet only the beginning of so many others…"

So, I had been crying... I had been crying a lot, actually. I had just found out my boyfriend was enlisting in the army, and he hadn't bothered to tell me. I couldn't help myself from just sitting on the floor, putting my head in my hands, and weeping.

That year was supposed to be about us. We had promised that year we would have no drama, and yet there I was, bawling my eyes out. He had made such a big decision, without telling me. He was going, and I didn't want him to.

"Rachel?"

I looked up. Standing there was Sam Evans…

"Wait!" Ava interrupted. "Is Sam one of the four?"

I nodded. "He is."

"Is he my father?"

I couldn't help but laugh at my daughter's straightforwardness. "Is that your final answer? ...Well, maybe. May I continue?"

Ava scribbled something down in her notebook. "Yes. I need to gather clues about this Sam."

"Go away, Sam!" I had snapped at him, wiping my eyes in hope he wouldn't see my tears. "Please just go away!"

Sam didn't go away, instead he sat down beside me on the hallway floor. "Shouldn't you be in glee club? We've been looking everywhere for you! Finn was so worried-"

"No…well, yes I should. But I don't want to be." I interrupted. "I can't see Finn, not right now."

Sam's face fell. "This is about the army, isn't it? You're sad he's leaving?"

"Wait!" Ava interjected again.

"What is it now, Ava Bear?" I teased.

"This Finn, he's one of the four too? You said he was your boyfriend, right?" Ava asked. "Was he one of the men you loved?"

I opened my mouth, but the sound caught in my throat. "Yes." I said, biting my lip and trying to force myself not to smile. "Yes, I was deeply, irrevocably in love with him."

"Does that mean Finn's my dad?" I asked. "You said you were in love with him forever!"

"I was in love with him," I sighed. "I was. Definately."

Ava placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Mommy, you must've really cared about him. Can you continue with the story?"

"Did everyone know about this before me?" I sobbed.

Sam pulled me into a hug. "Please don't cry Rachel. I don't like it when you cry."

I looked up at him, studying his face. At that moment, he looked so handsome, so…loveable. I felt like I couldn't resist him. "Do you want to make me feel better, Sam?"

"Yes, I care about you Rachel and...want you to be happy." He breathed, before bending down and-

I stopped there, remembering I had to keep it PG for Ava. But my daughter had already begun to speak.

"You had sex with him."

"Ava!" I gasped. "What are they teaching you at that school of yours?"

"That is so a yes," Ava said, writing something down in her notebook. "Had sex with Mom." She read aloud as she wrote.

I rolled my eyes and snorted. "Good thing is you're mature." I glanced at the clock. "I think it's past your bedtime, young lady!"

Ava giggled, she liked being called a 'young lady' and she climbed under the sheets. I kissed her temple and she hugged me. "I love you, Mom."

"Love you, Ava Bear."

I smiled as I watched my daughter curl up in her blankets and wrapp her arms around her favorite teddy bear, Dreamer, a gift from her dad she received when she was born. It had bubblegum pink fur and held a little gold star in its fluffy paw, because her dad had known how much I loved them and had wanted our daughter to love gold stars too.

As I turned out the light, I longed for Ava to have a father figure for the first time since he left.

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