Author's Note: Thank you for the amazing feedback from last chapter. I can't stop telling you enough how much I appreciate them because I really want you to know that I do. Reading a review is like being paid for your work, kinda. LOL. Anyways, to the guest reviewer, sissy is also a name for sister – a younger sister to be exact, and it also can mean a cowardly person. Hope that clears things up a bit. Anyway, this chapter is very Iya centric so enjoy!

Iya's POV

She was sitting on the small couch in her father's office at his Brooklyn studio while listening to him candidly talk on the phone. She didn't pay much attention to what he was saying because it was business, which meant it was boring to her. When he got off the phone, she said, "Dad, can I have something to drink?"

Fitz' hand immediately went to the intercom to buzz in his assistant but Iya interrupted him.

"I can get it myself," she said evenly, welcoming the small excursion to the refrigerator in the break room on the opposite end of the floor rather than being held up in his office longer.

"Sure. Bring me back a water while you're at it, please."

"Got it." She got up and exited his office, making her way to the kitchenette area. It was a Saturday morning and the studio was empty sans for a few workers. Ms. Lauren was there as well as Derrick; he was going to be helping her with the background music for the song she was singing for the school talent show, which was the main reason she was there. It was her first time taking part in the competition. Both excitement and nervousness plagued her because she really wanted to do well. She practiced while getting dressed for school, humming the song throughout her day, practiced while she was on lunch break and when she got home in the afternoons until she went to bed. By now the entire house knew the lyrics to Laura Izibor's Shine song.

As Iya got closer to the kitchen area she could hear Ms. Lauren's singing voice and immediately perked up. She always liked her father's assistant because she was very friendly to her and siblings whenever they visited the studio. Most times they were left in her care while Fitz had meetings with clients. Iya spotted the medium height woman with dark hair and tan skin dressed casually in jeans, boots and an oversize green sweater, pouring hot water into a red cup.

"Hi Ms. Lauren," she greeted warmly.

Lauren looked up from her task and smiled. "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm good. Came to get something to drink. What you making?" Iya asked.

"Some hot chocolate, you want some?"

Iya nodded her head gleefully. "Yes, please." The October weather was growing colder and she welcomed the warm beverage.

Lauren grabbed an extra cup and poured hot water into it as well before opening two single packets of chocolate powder with marshmallows. She poured the chocolate mix into both cups before handing Iya a spoon to stir hers.

Shortly after they were seated at the round table at the center of the room, drinking their hot chocolate.

"So, how's school?" Lauren probed, holding the mug with both of her hands, enjoying the warmth the cup was emitting.

"School is good," Iya returned with a smile.

Lauren nodded, taking a sip of her drink. "Good, keep it that way. Stay in school and make something good of yourself," she advised.

Iya nodded politely. Silence fell as the two continued to drink their hot chocolate. Despite of her young age she was very perceptive and could tell that Lauren was having a bad day. She had a faraway look in her eyes and her smile wasn't genuine. "Did you always wanted to be a secretary?" Iya asked.

Lauren shook her head. "No."

"What did you want to be?" She probed, eyeing the older woman, who was no doubt younger than her mother over her warm cup.

"A doctor."

Iya's eyes widened a bit at her confession and she tempered it before her shock expression was fully shown. "What happened?" She watched as Lauren shrugged her shoulder before taking a drink of her beverage.

"So much. The main reason though was the cost. It's too expensive and my parents couldn't afford it."

"Oh." Iya felt bad for her. Lucky for her she didn't have to worry about money for school or otherwise because her parents would obviously take care of it.

Before the conversation could continue Fitz entered the room and said, "Iya, come on, Derrick is ready to go over the song with you."

"One second, Dad," she returned before draining her hot chocolate in one sitting, enjoying the feel of the warm liquid sliding down her throat and warming her belly. She got up and carried the cup to the sink and placed it inside, turning away.

"Wash it, please." Her father's chiding voice commanded and she immediately obliged.

After she was finished she bid Lauren bye and followed him out of the kitchen and into the recording room. It was kind of ironic that she had all this equipment to use for a talent show, just a talent show, while some people would love to have it to launch a career that would no doubt change their life. Don't get her wrong she obviously enjoyed having the finer things in life but it made her conscious of her surroundings. It made her feel both happy and sad. She was happy that she was so blessed and sad that not everyone was.

"All right, Missy, let's get started," Derrick said through the microphone from inside the control room, breaking up her thoughts. Iya sat perched on barstool in front of a silver microphone in the small room with her father on her right. She was extremely nervous so she took several breaths to get her frantically beating heart under control.

"Come on, sweet cheeks." It was her father's soft prodding that led her to open up her mouth and began singing.

Your life is one big compromise
Stuck in the job you swore was only temporary
Feel like the world is passin' you by
Never done all the things you wanted to try
Stuck in one place, got a pain in your face

She closed her eyes and sang from her heart.

From all your stressin' out
You ask yourself there's got to be more than what I'm livin for
You ask yourself there's got to be somethin else
Somethin' more, more, more

As she sang the song she couldn't help but feel as though the lyrics was probably how Ms. Lauren was feeling and the thought only made her sing more passionately. She sang as though she knew firsthand the pain of being stuck in a rut.

Fitz' POV

He was still blown away by his daughter's performance. He knew that the girl can sing but he didn't know that she could sing… He was a proud papa as he drove them home. As soon as she opened her mouth he was astonished by her rich, soulful voice as she made the song hers. She completely owned it, and he was grateful she didn't sing one of his songs because she might've showed him up. He chuckled to internally at his thoughts.

"You're amazing."

"Dad… how many times are you going to say that?" she laughed, throwing her head back against the backrest of the chair in an exaggerated fashion. She cast him a sweet smile, showing off her shallow dimples.

"As many times as I could because it's the truth. Believe me, I knew you could sing but I didn't know you were this good. I'm seriously blown away, darling, so give your old man a little room to work out his shock. It's been a while since I've encountered such raw and brilliant talent. I'm in awe." It was his turn to smile at her as the car came to a stop at a traffic light.

"Well, I can't say I got it from mom because we both know she can't sing." The car erupted into laughter then. If Olivia was there she was bound to chide them both for laughing at her.

"Good thing she has other talents." Fitz quipped, when his laughter abated.

"Uh huh," Iya murmured absentmindedly, turning her attention to the window, watching the overcrowded sidewalks filled with New Yorkers and tourists.

"Dad, did you know Ms. Lauren wanted to be a doctor?"

Fitz stepped off the break and pushed down lightly on the gas pedal when the light changed to green. "No, I didn't. How do you know?"

"She told me."

"Oh," he uttered, keeping his eyes on the road.

"But, she couldn't because her parents couldn't afford it."

Fitz' mouth set into a thin line, a habit he formed when he was listening to people, giving a pensive look. He said nothing in return to her comment.

Iya turned away from the window to look at him. "Maybe you can give her the money to do it."

Fitz sighed. "Sweetheart, this isn't how it works. I just can't walk up to her and give her money."

"Why not? We obviously have a lot of it."

Fitz smirked. "We?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "You and mom have a lot of it," she corrected.

Silence fell and he took her words into consideration. Lauren has been a faithful assistant to him for years, while a selfish part of him wanted to keep her working for him because she was obviously very good at her job, another part of him – the part that his daughter drudged up wanted to help her make her dream a reality. It was an Iya thing to do. Ever since she was a young girl she was always looking out to help those in need.

"I'll think about it, sweet cheeks. Any other requests?"

"To stop calling me sweet cheeks," she quipped.

Fitz chuckled, turning the steering wheel to take a right turn. "Nope, we already shook on it that I can call you sweet cheeks but not in front of your friends." He remembered the horrific expression on her face last year when some of her friends were over for her birthday dinner and he had called her sweet cheeks in his toast – his daughter was mortified to say the least, and made him a pact to not say it in front of company.

"Ugh, fine…"

He smiled victorious. Shortly after the sound of a cellphone ringing filled the car. Fitz looked over briefly to Iya because it was her ringtone, he watched as she looked at the screen and quickly silenced the call before sliding the phone into her coat pocket. She looked nervous.

"Who's calling?" He asked curiously.

"Uh… Zoey," she fumbled.

Fitz knew she was lying because if it were one of her best friends then she would've answered her phone instead of silencing it. "So, why didn't you answer your phone?"

She looked away nervously and that confirmed it for him so he asked again, "who was calling you, Iya?" His voice was stern, letting her know he wanted the truth and nothing but the truth.

"Aiden," she confessed softly, biting her bottom lip.

Fitz immediately felt an onset of a headache. "Why is Aiden calling you? We specifically stated no phone calls with boys, especially boys you have crushes on," he stressed.

Even though his voice was calm Iya was terrified to look at him so she kept her eyes straight ahead, staring through the front window shield.

"Dad, we're just friends," Iya tried to explain.

"So why did you lie to me when I asked you who was calling? What's with the secrecy?"

"Because mom said you'll overreact, and that's why I didn't want to say anything."

"Your mom knew you were talking to him on the phone and told you to hide it from me?"

Iya said nothing.

Fitz was annoyed earlier but now he was fuming. How could Olivia encourage this when they both specifically laid out rules for Iya to follow when they gave her the cellphone?

"I'm going to have to take away your phone," Fitz said evenly.

"But Dad! He's my friend." Iya became hysterical at the thought of her phone being stripped from her.

"You'll get it back when you learn to follow the rules and not lie. I simply asked you who was calling and you chose to lie to me."

"That's not fair!" Iya exclaimed, folding her arms around her midsection.

"Don't say another word before you make matters worst," he warned.

For the remainder of the car ride they were silent. And when he found parking in front of their brownstone Iya gathered her coat tighter around her body before opening the door and rushing out of the vehicle. Fitz climbed out shortly after and activated the car alarm. He rushed after her up the short stairs.

"Phone?" He stretched out his hand to her as he inserted the key into the front door's lock.

Iya started crying, begrudgingly retrieving the phone from her coat pocket. "This is not fair," she pouted, slowly handing the phone over.

"You're right. Fair would be following the rules and not lying."

As soon as the door opened Iya rushed inside, wanting to get away from him quick.

Olivia's POV

"Hey, you guys are back already?" Olivia said when she heard noise coming from the foyer. She was in the living room with Tommy and Amia watching TV.

Iya walked into the room, sniffing.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Olivia asked, concerned at her despondent appearance.

"Dad took away my phone."

Olivia was puzzled as to why Fitz would do that. "Why did you take away her phone, honey?" She asked Fitz who just entered the room.

"Hey kids," Fitz greeted Tommy and Amia instead of answering her question.

"Dad," Tommy briefly greeted in return before refocusing his attention on the TV. They were watching the Minions.

"Daddy!" Amia squealed, getting up from her seat next to her brother and rushed to him. She was the only one that still got excited to see her parents after a few hours of their absence.

"Hey princess." He scooped her up in his arms and hugged her to his chest. "You look pretty," he complimented her pink outfit with the matching headband that pushed back her curls.

"Thank you," she cooed, raising her plump cheeks to her eyes in a smile and he couldn't resist kissing them.

"Fitz…" Olivia stood annoyed, waiting for him to answer her question.

"Ask Iya what she did," he said tersely, upset with both of them.

So she turned to Iya and raised questioning eyebrows at her, in which she took as her cue to start talking.

"Mom, Aiden called and I silenced my phone. Dad asked who was calling and I told him Zoey. I only said that because I know he would've overreacted if he knew Aiden was calling me."

Olivia rubbed her hand over her hair. Yikes… "Iya, why did you do that?"

"I was afraid dad was going to overreact," she reiterate, rubbing her nose with the back of her right hand.

Olivia sighed and turned her attention on Fitz. "Can we talk in the kitchen?" She asked, knowing that if they stayed longer in the living room they would have a big blow out fight in front of the kids and neither wanted that.

Fitz begrudgingly followed her into the kitchen – two rooms away from the living room but that didn't really matter because the house was an open plan style with hardly any walls inside. She would just have to keep their voice in check, mindful of the children.

"She's not getting her phone back, at least not right now so don't even try it," Fitz said evenly as soon as they entered in to the kitchen. They stood on opposite sides of the kitchen island.

Ok… He's already worked up. "Before you overreact, please understand that –"

"Before I overreact?" Fitz scoffed. "When we bought Iya a cellphone we decided on shared rules that she should follow, which included no talking with boys on the phone."

"We never said no talking to boys. We said the phone can be use to talk to your family and friends. And Aiden is her friend. She can have boys that are her friends, Fitz," Olivia rebuffed in an even tone.

Fitz shook his head. "A while ago wasn't she crushing on him and now I expect them to just be friends?"

Olivia's eyebrows knitted together in agitation. "What you expect them to be, Fitz?" She leaned her weight on her right leg with hands akimbo on her waist, standing up to him.

He shrugged and said nothing.

"Exactly. Nothing. You need to stop overreacting because it's a boy she's talking to on the phone. You have to trust Iya because she's getting older and you can't keep her in a box because that's what makes you feel comfortable."

"Don't you think I know that? I know this but it doesn't relieve me when she lies to me about it and you keeping it a secret from me. That's not how we deal with things in this family and I don't appreciate being out of the loop," he countered gruffly.

"She was wrong to lie to you and we will speak to her about that, no matter what happens we require truth. And, I'm sorry that I kept it from you but I never told her not to say anything to you. I would never advise any of our children to lie to you or keep things from you. I accept my wrong in this and I apologize." Olivia spoke sincerely. She was indeed remorseful for her actions and made a mental note to be very careful of her non-verbal and verbal cues around the children. She did remember saying to Iya that her father would overreact when she confided in her that Aiden and her exchanged phone numbers. To her it wasn't a big deal because the duo mostly talked about schoolwork when they would chat on the phone or TV shows. It was never vulgar or obscene from what she could tell.

Fitz sighed and let out a jagged breath. The headache he was feeling earlier was full blown. He wouldn't lie by saying that this wasn't hard for him. He had a hard time reconciling the fact that his little girl was growing up and he had to trust her. It wasn't her that he didn't trust but the world, and to him his duty was to protect her at all times from seen and unforeseen dangers. It may sound outlandish but it was an inner worry and fear of his. The logical part of him knew that he can't keep her safe from everything but he was going to try at all costs to be there for her when she needed him – when they all needed him.

"So, you're not going to say anything?" Olivia asked pointedly. She needed to hear he was okay with all of this.

He sighed again, twitching his mouth from left to right. "You're right, but I'm not letting go of the lie so easily."

She gave him a small smile in return. This parenting thing was hard work; sometimes they had to fight their differences out in order to make the right decision for the children.

"Two weeks without her phone?" Olivia proposed.

Fitz scratched the back of his neck and conceded, "A week should be good."

Shortly after they called Iya into the room and spoke to her. She apologized for lying and was remorseful for doing so when her parents brought up one of their household rules, which was, we will tell each other the truth even if it hurts. She accepted her punishment begrudgingly and left her parents to go chill with her siblings – at least they didn't punish her, she thought.

Two Weeks Later

Leman's Prepatory school auditorium was overflowing with parents, guardians, teachers and other patrons alike for the school's talent show. It was a big event so Olivia ensured that they were there early for good seats. Fitz, Olivia, Tommy and Amia sat in the third row 15 minutes before the show commenced. Amia sat in her father's lap to make room for other families while Tommy sat in between them. Iya was backstage with the rest of the performers.

Presently they were watching a first grader do a magic routine and it sort of sucked if they were being honest, but people encouraged him on with small rounds of applauds.

"Mmm… Mia probably could do a better job than that," Tommy snickered, finding the performance extremely lacking. Olivia tried to not laugh the child who was trying his best to find the right card that his assistant picked but couldn't locate it after five tries, and Tommy's low commentary wasn't helping her case.

"Thomas, stop…" she bit her lips to muffle her laughter when the little boy gave up altogether and dropped the cards unceremoniously onto the stage.

Fitz snickered aloud and Amia joined in. She cast them both a look but it was futile, as Amia started laughing even more loudly.

"He dropped the cards!" Amia announced loudly, clapping her hands together – making the family on their right erupt into laugher as well.

"Mia…" Olivia put her index finger to her lips to quiet down the little girl but she wasn't having it.

"So funny, mommy!" She threw her head back on her father's shoulder as her laughter continued to erupt loudly from her lips.

It was no use fighting it because the infectious laughter of the little girl caused those immediately around them to laugh until the next performer was introduced.

The evening continued with some ok, good and great performances. And, by the time they got to the sixth graders and Iya's name was announced the four of them stood to their feet and started clapping rambunctiously. A teacher nearby had to ask them to kindly take a seat and they obliged.

Iya walked on stage, settling on the X behind the microphone. She immediately spotted her family.

"Sissy!" Amia yelled, waving her hand, which made Iya laughed as she watched her mother covering her little sister's mouth.

Taking a deep breath, she smoothed out the fabric of her white Grecian styled dress with her left hand while she took hold of the microphone with her right The dress was lily white with a blue braided sash cinching her waist and her hair was in a side braid that fell on her shoulder with two retro gold leaves hairpin stuck into the sides. She looked like a young goddess.

"I want to dedicate this song to everyone who feels stuck in a job or some unfortunate circumstance in life."

She closed her eyes and licked her lips just as the instrumental sound track for the song Derrick compiled for her started playing in the background. She sang the first verse beautifully with her eyes closed and once the chorus started she opened her eyes and smiled brightly at the audience.

Well let the sun shine on your face
And don't let your life go to waste
Now is the time, got to make up your mind
Let it shine on you, let it shine on you

By the time she was finished bringing the house down most people were on their feet clapping in time to the music. She blushed at the overwhelming support, beaming at the loud whistles coming from her little brother's mouth. She bowed graciously and made her way backstage.

As soon as she got backstage everyone was telling her she did a phenomenal job, and at the end of the line of congratulators she saw Aiden behind one of the heavy black curtains and she went over to him. On impulse, he wrapped his arms around her and brought her in for a hug.

"You were amazing!"

He hugged her for a few seconds before he turned his face towards hers and before either knew it their lips gravitated together in a kiss. It wasn't anything deep but a mere meeting of their lips. And just as quickly as it started it ended. Pulling apart they stared wide-eyed at the other, shocked at what had just transpired as neither planned it. Slowly, smiles formed on their faces in wake of their first kiss.

Later that night the Grants went out for a treat before retiring home. Even though Iya didn't win the talent show they were all very proud of her second place position. A girls group from the 8th grade won the competition with their rendition of Beyonce's Single Lady. They had the dance moves to go with it and had the crowd in uproar. Nevertheless, Iya went to bed with two reasons to smile and her family was only aware of one, and she was going to keep it that way. She had her first kiss.

Author's Note: I want to take the time to thank each and every one of you who were with me since the beginning of this story a year ago. An entire year past and this story should've had more chapters by now but I kinda desert it from time to time for my other stories. Yikes... But like I always say, this story doesn't have an end in sight and I hope you'll continue on this journey with me. Once again, thank you for reading it, and for those that leave reviews religiously, you keep me motivated to write. I appreciate you dearly.

Now, onto the story – this chapter was very Iya centric and I hope you enjoyed it. FYI, I will not be putting Iya into a relationship with Aiden, however, I don't see anything wrong with them crushing and even sharing a kiss. Thoughts? Is 12 too young? Did Fitz and Olivia handled the situation with her right? Let me know your thoughts. Tommy's chapter is next. I just have to figure out what I want to write for him. Leave suggestions. :)

Until next time,

XOXO

PS: Check out Crazy in Love for a fun light read. I updated a new chapter yesterday. Enjoy!