[Author's Note: Alright, I lied. Here's another chapter to hold you over. It's shorter, but hopefully that's ok.]

-Warren's Point of View-

An hour or so had passed and we decided to head to bed. Jade led us upstairs and into the spare bedroom. She pulled out two extra pillows and blankets from the closet. She smiled at us and the girls said good night, going to get more blankets and pillows from the hall closet. I watched them disappear into Jade's bedroom.

Wait. Cora. Cora's bedroom. I kept thinking of her as Jade. It was so hard to put her with another name. She looked like a Jade to me; she didn't look like a Cora. Will thumped me on the back and I looked at him, glowering.

"You ok, man?" Will asked me and I just nodded.

Zach and Ethan decided on taking the queen sized bed. I told Will he could have the couch that was in the corner, leaving me with a square of floor space. It didn't bother me much.

It felt like I'd been laying there, staring up at the ceiling for five or six hours. I'm sure it had only been an hour or so, but it felt like it lasted much longer.

"Are you awake?" I heard Will whisper, looking over at me. Before I could nod, Zach gave a "Yeah," and Ethan sighed. Will gave a gentle chuckle as we all sat up.

"I wonder what the girls are doing," Zach voiced quietly.

"Probably sleeping." Ethan said, sounding groggy and rolling over in bed to face the wall.

Zach climbed off the bed at the same time Will and I stood up. Quietly, 'like ninjas,' in Zach's words, we crept down the hall and stopped in front of the girl's bedroom.

"Cora. Can I ask you something?" We heard through the door, making all of us freeze.

There was a hesitation inside the room and a soft rustling sound. "Yeah." She finally said.

Layla paused in her question. "Who is Emma's father? Why did you get mad at Aunt Rose when she said Emma probably wanted to be around a guy like that?"

The three of us heard Cora sigh and I knew she didn't like talking about this subject. Hell, maybe she'd never talked about it with someone besides Aunt Rose.

"I was fifteen and I thought I knew what the world was about. I thought I knew what love was. I somehow ended up with this guy, Dean. I honestly don't remember how we even met or how he got into my life, but he did.

"For a while, he was gentle. He was sweet and caring. He was seventeen and I thought it was so cool to be dating somebody older." She said and it was almost as if I could feel her heavy heart.

"You can't tell Warren this ok? I don't know where I stand with him, but I don't want him knowing how Emma got here. I don't want him to think any less of me." Cora's voice said, barely reaching the door.

Zach and Will both looked at me, but I ignored them, pressing a little closer to the door.

"No way are we telling any of the guys this. They don't need to know." Magenta voiced.

Cora seemed to deem this acceptable, as she continued with her story. "I ended up spending the night at his house. Aunt Rose thought I was at a friend's. He had gotten a bottle of Captain Morgan from his college friend and he kept pouring me drinks. I didn't think anything about it, until I thought I was sitting on the couch and I busted my head on his coffee table."

The room went quiet for a moment and I could tell she was trying to gather her wits.

"He said he'd take care of me. He said he'd make everything better." Her voice cracked and I knew she was on the verge of tears.

"Oh, Cora. I'm so sorry." Magenta said, and their voices seemed to be moving towards Cora.

"We won't tell anyone, we promise. It's ok. We're here now." Layla said, trying to comfort her as the soft sound of sobs came from the room.

Zach, Will, and I moved away from the door, all looking at each other. We moved a little down the hall, not quite to our room yet and I turned to them. "We never talk about this."

"Unless it's the three of us." Will said, holding out his hand.

We all three promised and moved back to the bedroom. When I laid back down, I just stared at the ceiling, slowly slipping into the darkness.

I woke up, breathing heavily. Sweat covered my body and I was chilled. The nightmare I had had less than a minute ago raced through my mind. Jade. Drowning. And I couldn't save her.

I looked around and noticed my hands on fire. I doused the flames, looking at Will, then Zach and Ethan. All three were out cold. Zach and Ethan were lightly snoring while Will was mumbling about Layla in his sleep.

That was something I had no interest listening to.

Then I heard a noise. It had woken me from my sleep. I couldn't place it though. I threw the blanket off me and quietly walked to the hall, instinctively walking down to the last door on the right before the stairs.

I opened it and looked around. It was Emma's room. She gave a little cry and I walked over to the crib. She stopped crying as I picked her up. I wiped the tears off her little face, holding her close to my bare chest.

She looked up at me and just smiled as I walked her around the room. She snuggled into my chest and just looked up at me. Maybe she'd been cold. "Dada." She said quietly, giving me a smile.

I thought back to what Cora had said about Emma's father. I huffed. Father was a loose term. Maybe sperm donor. He obviously wasn't here taking care of his daughter. I know she said he was dead. But the little girl just stared up at me and I smiled back at her.

"Yeah, baby girl. I'll be your dada." I whispered to her. She smiled, clapping her hands quietly. I heard a noise and turned. There, in the doorway stood Jade. Damn it brain. Cora.

"What did you just say to her?" Cora asked me. I could tell she had heard me.

I walked over to her, still holding the baby. "Listen, I don't know what happened to the dad. It's none of my business. But he's not here and she needs somebody to be a father figure. So why not me?"

Cora watched me cautiously. I handed Emma over to her and she just stood there for a minute. "Are you serious?" She asked, taking me off guard momentarily. "Because if not, that's a cruel joke. If you're joking, take it back now and I'll forgive you."

There was hurt in her eyes and she looked like if I said the wrong thing, she'd cry. I gently took her hand, leading her over to the couch that I assumed she'd slept on a lot in the first four months of Emma's life.

I gently pulled her to sit next to me, Emma cuddled up against her. I didn't let go of her hand as she sat down. I just looked her in the eye. "I know that on the scale of things, we don't know each other all that well. A week ago, I didn't know you were a spy, or that you had a daughter. But you didn't know I could heat up to eight hundred degrees either." She just watched me. "But Emma needs a father figure. Someone that will take care of her, and take care of you."

She looked at me, a surprised look on her face as she instinctively began bouncing Emma, who just smiled.

"If something happens, and you find a guy who loves you and Emma for yourselves, then I'll be happy for you and then I'll step back so he can step forward. But until that point, you both need someone there to help."

I saw her swallow as she looked at the floor boards. "What happens if you get a serious girlfriend? I don't want you to hang around and help out, if you're just going to leave."

I looked at the wood flooring for a moment. I knew my answer; I just didn't know how to word it. But she took it as hesitation. She started to stand up, when I took her hand again, gently pulling her back.

Her eyes were watering, threatening to spill over as she avoided my gaze. I set my hand under her chin, softly turning her head. "I will never leave you. If I end up with a girlfriend who doesn't like the fact I'm helping out a friend that's a single mother, she won't be my girlfriend long."

She looked scared. Scared that I was lying to her. "Don't promise things you can't keep." She started to stand again, but I wasn't going to let her leave. Not until she understood I was serious.

I looked around the room quickly and saw a jar of pennies in the window seal. I pulled out a small handful. "Come here." I said, pulling her to her feet. She looked skeptical as she followed me out of the hall and into the bathroom. I closed the bathroom door behind me and moved her to sit on the toilet.

At some point, Emma had fallen back asleep. Cora just watched me as I took the pennies in my hand and heated them up until I could feel them melt in my hand. I cooled it just enough to mold it in a circle and turned on the cold water, running it under as steam evaporated into the air.

She gave me a confused look as I shook the water off, drying the cooled piece of rolled copper on the towel. It definitely could have been better, but it would work until I could do something else.

I looked over at her. "Cora Cross, will you allow me to be the father of your daughter, until another man can do a better job?" I asked, getting down on both knees in front of her. Her eyes went wide and the tears she had done so well at holding back spilled over.

I could tell she knew I was serious. I wasn't going to leave her. I wasn't going to just go away. I took her right hand and placed the ring on it. It was a little big; just loose enough to move on her finger, but not big enough to slip off if she flung her hand.

She smiled at it, wiping her face. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper and handed it to her. "It's a promise ring." I told her as I wiped away the stray salt water. "I promise to be here for you when you need me. I promise to be there for Emma as long as you want me to be. I promise to keep my promises."

She just looked down at the sleeping little girl in her arms. "You've got a daddy, honey bee."