Author's Note: Now I know why the cage bird sings his cute little song...

That sounds like a good song lyric, right?

Day Ninety-Three: Songbird by Fleetwood Mac

"It's alright, Daddy. Please don't cry," Avery said to her father as she wiped some of his tears away. "Please don't cry, Daddy. Mommy's already home."

"Avery, she—"

"No, Daddy. She's really here. She's really okay."

"I'm really here."

They both looked to the door and there she was. She looked a bit bruised and battered and just a little less composed than usual, but it was no doubt her. The little girl's brown eyes with little flecks of blue shined when she saw her. She ran over to the woman who looked like an older version of her and jumped into her arms.

"Mommy! We thought we had lost you," she mumbled into her mother's porcelain skin.

"I thought I had lost you, too. But I'm here," she promised. "I really promise I'm here and I'm not leaving. You can't get rid of me," she joked shakily.

"I would never try and get rid of you," Avery assured her.

After a few minutes of just hugging her, Spencer finally put the little girl down and she ran upstairs to play in her room. Maybe she'd tell her favorite teddy bear, Eddie, all about how her mom came back to her and how excited she was.

When she was gone, she walked over to him and sat beside him. She, like her daughter, took the time to wipe his tears away.

"Don't cry, Toby. You're too wonderful for that."

He was still in shock. "How—"

"I couldn't leave you. There was no way I was leaving you. You've made me feel so…so…so…" She couldn't find a name for it. "I feel like I need to at least try and give you back everything you've ever given me. Like her…" she trailed off. "She's my sun and you're the stars."

"But Spencer, you—"

"This is right. Why are you questioning why I'm here? Fate wanted me to be with you," she insisted. "And Fate isn't dumb. Aren't you happy?" she inquired, almost hurt.

"Of course, I'm happy," he replied without hesitation. "But I'm worried it's too good to be true. I…I can't lose you again."

He hadn't even realized that he had begun to cry before she began to wipe his tears, like their daughter did just minutes ago.

"You never will. I'd give you everything—"

"I know. That's what I'm scared of," he explained cryptically. She was confused. "What if one day you give me too much? What if it's too much and…and…"

She shook her head reassuringly. "It's never going to be. Toby…"

"I just…I get scared for you. You know I worry about you. And now with Avery…I worry about her, too."

She nodded. "You know that's perfectly normal, right? That just makes you a good dad, to worry. And…it makes me love you even more. To know how good of a father you are to Avery, I mean. It's…endearing and sweet and special in a way I think can only be attributed to a man with his daughter. To know you'll never be cold or mean…not that you have a mean bone in your body, anyway…"

She became quiet when she heard it. She heard the sweet singing of a little girl from upstairs. It was some cute little song from a movie or a musical she had seen. Some of the notes were a bit off-pitch, but for the most part, it was good for a six year-old.

"Do you hear it?" she inquired with curiosity.

He nodded. "She loves to sing."

"She's our little songbird," she thought aloud. "It's like she knows the score to our conversation," she concluded as she realized it was some little love song.

"Do you wonder if she knows we can hear her?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know, but…"

He already knew. She surrounded beautiful. And she just kept singing, even if she did realize they could hear.

"I love her so much, just like I love you," she said. "And I can't wait to make up for lost time."

He nodded slowly. "We can't wait to make up for lost time," he responded.

She turned to him and smiled. With a little bit of hesitation, she leaned over to kiss him. It was timid and shaky, like a bird trapped in a cage with its heart trembling.

I think I used that line about the caged bird and its trembling heart before, but whatever. Close enough.

tobyequalshottness:Thanks! I'm so glad you liked it!

AL3110: You're so VERY mature, AL. Do you have an accent like that woman who was speaking to Marina when she sang on Danish radio? I just need to know. And by "Breakfast at Tiffany's", do you mean like what they did in Glee? Cause I'm up for that.

LittleBittyAbby:Really? You don't even like PLL that much? How do you...wait, that would be really hypocritical of me, considering PLL is getting very annoying to me. Alright, carry on.

MilaMizz:I am officially DONE WITH BIO for this year (and next year). I might take it in 11th or 12th grades, but only if Mr. Duffy is my teacher. He was this cool guy who looks like my math teacher and gave us a sample lesson. Learned more in that one class than I did all year in Bio. And I also dislike math, which I will have to deal with, unfortunately, for the next three years and it just gets worse and worse. Trig, then AB Calc, and finally, BC Calc. I think AB and BC are AP's, too, so...great. I guess Columbia and NYU will have to see how horribly I did when I apply for those schools and then they're going to be like, "NEXT".

Sarah:Okay. (Evidently the most romantic word ever.)

And I had math today and I'm gonna die because I got like an F- on it. Yup, all those minuses. Actually, I thought I was doing kind of well until I got to geometric means and some really weird parallelogram and a triangle and ugh I failed. It was legit 7 questions. I got the last one wrong and...I failed. I probably got like a 50. Thanks, Mr. Almeida. I tried. I tried. I get an E for Effort. But I still failed.

Sigh...the next one-shot is Candy by Paolo Nutini, but I highly recommend the cover by MATD because she is simply perf. Just perf. Pluperf, even. Yup, I've got Latin on Friday. -Kayson