"Angela!"

Angie's head snapped up at the warning growl coming from the kitchen and she bit back a gasp as she dropped her book onto the bed next to her.

Uh oh. She was in trouble. He'd never used the full version of her name before.

"Yes, Daddy?" Angie slipped into the kitchen, eyes big and small voiced. She noticed a few weeks ago that whenever she called her dad 'Daddy' he had a tendency to soften, so she hoped maybe it would help here.

Scott had been getting crankier by the day, ever since his bad dreams started. In turn Angie hadn't been sleeping well either. She woke up so many times in the night, not sure if she'd woken for a reason or not and straining her ears, waiting. She never did hear him again, not like the first night.

"Why isn't this unloaded?" Scott asked, pointing at the dishwasher full of clean dishes.

Ice washed in and Angie wished she could say that she forgot because sometimes he wasn't as cranky when she said that, but she thought maybe today honestly was better.

"I wanted to read, so I left it. I was going to do it later."

"Well, it's later." Her dad growled darkly, setting her hair on end and letting her know he was not in a good mood. "Get to work. After that you can pick up the explosion of stuff you left in the front hall and put away the Lego I asked you to clean up three days ago."

Angie nodded mutely, fighting to keep her expression under control and not cry as she hurried to do as she was told.

Behind her she heard her dad heading for his room, muttering, "I've got a headache. I'm going to lay down. This better be done when I get up."

Swallowing hard, Angie scooped her Lego into the bin and dragged it back to her room. Then she started picking up the mess in the front hall. She hung up her jacket and made the shoes neat. Then she brought her lunch pail to the kitchen and cleaned it out after hanging up her backpack on the hook. Now was the perfect opportunity because she hadn't eaten it all and forgot to put it in the fridge, so it needed to be tossed.

Daddy didn't like it when she didn't eat. Sometimes she just wasn't hungry at school. At all. When she got home she was starving, but at school, especially when lunch time came around, she'd get a clenching in her gut and couldn't relax enough to feel hungry.

Once that was done, she worked quietly on unloading the dishwasher.

She needed a chair to put some of the cups away, and then she had to improvise to get up into the cupboard above the fridge to put a whiskey glass away next to the bottles up there. She knew her dad drank it sometimes and they'd talked a little about that. She never saw him drink and that bothered her a bit because then she didn't know how much he drank and if he ever got drunk and she wondered what that looked like and if he was hiding something from her. These were also all things she couldn't bring herself to ask, especially while he was grouchy and irritable.

Reaching on tiptoe, Angie strained to get the glass up.

Just as she was almost able to reach, stretching on one foot now at the edge of the chair, her foot slipped and the chair went out from under her. In her struggle to catch herself, she dropped the glass and she knocked a nearly full bottle out of the shelf, smashing onto the floor next to the cup even as she grabbed a hold of the cabinet edge and swung herself to the counter rather than falling to the floor too.

There was the barest of pauses during which Angie looked on in horror at the mess on the floor, praying that by some miracle her dad didn't hear it and trying to slow the hammering of her heart so she could think of what to do.

Clean it up. Somehow. Yes. That was it. She'd clean it all up before he could see the mess and then maybe he wouldn't be so mad.

Her mouth went dry as reality settled in.

He was absolutely going to be mad about this.

Angie hopped down, stepping carefully in her bare feet and watching for glass shards as she reached for a towel. Maybe she could just push it all into a pile and absorb the liquid and then after that she could-

"Don't. You. Dare."

The sharp, clipped order stopped her mid crouch, with her hands reaching out to start moving the glass into a pile with the towel. Daddy had heard her after all.

"You stay right there." He snapped, already moving towards her like a thundercloud.

Angie tried not to shrink when he stepped through the mess like a minefield, skirting along the edges with a dark frown. He was still glaring when he reached for her, and Angie went rigid as he lifted her out of the mess up onto the counter.

He took the tea towel from her with a little more force than was necessary, then lifted each of her ankles up so he could see her feet.

"What the hell were you thinking stepping into a mess like that with no shoes on!?" Scott growled. Despite the harshness in his tone, he was gentle with her feet, using the towel to brush them off before he searched them one by one for glass. "You better not have been about to try cleaning that up by yourself!"

Blinking rapidly and curling in on herself, Angie couldn't answer.

"How did that happen?" Scott asked sharply. "Were you standing on the chair, up on one foot, like I told you not to?"

Miserable, Angie nodded mutely, mentally begging her dad not to raise his voice any more than the small amount he had.

Shaking his head, Scott growled something under his breath, then bit out, "I have told you, if you can't reach high enough, leave it or ask for help."

"I'm sorry, Daddy." Angie whispered honestly. "I was just trying to put the glass away."

"Yeah, and you could have seriously hurt yourself," Scott answered in a marginally level tone as he started a visual scan over the rest of her. " Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Good."

"I'm sorry, Daddy." Angie whimpered again, taking in the thick, overwhelming smell of alcohol in the air and the liquid all over the floor. "I didn't mean to break the bottle."

"I don't give a shit about the whiskey," Scott snapped, irritation flaring again as he dropped the towel on the counter beside them. He rested both palms on either side of her, looking down into her face with a hard stare. "I do give a shit if you hurt yourself. Use your head next time and don't climb down into a field of glass in your bare feet! Got it!?"

Angie dropped her head and whispered, "Yes."

There was a long pause, then Scott sighed heavily and he rubbed his face with both hands.

"I need to calm down and clean this up." He said from behind his hands. "You need to go shower and get the smell off you. We'll talk after."

"Ok." Angie mumbled, still not lifting her head and stinging from the angry outburst of her father.

"Come here," He said gruffly as he dropped his hands and reached for her. "Arms around my neck. I'll lift you out of here."

Slowly, Angie snaked her arms around like he said, and let him hook an arm under both her knees. She was tense as he carried her out of the kitchen and set her on her feet in the hallway.

"Go shower," Scott ordered, irritation flaring up again. Angie figured it must be her fault. "Wash your hair too and don't forget to put that conditioner in it or it'll be a mess tomorrow."

"Ok."

Taking her time in the shower, Angie tried to escape the hollowness in her chest.

When she came back out, the kitchen was clean and Scott had dinner mostly all on the table.

"Is your homework done?" Scott asked, his edgy and clipped demeanor gone for the time being and replaced with a quiet, reserved sternness.

"Yes."

"Good. Come eat."

Angie did as she was told and they ate in silence. Once that was over, Scott said they would hand wash the dishes, so Angie found herself standing at the sink on the chair, dutifully washing the dishes while her dad dried them and put them away. She tried not to make a mess on the floor this time. With the cranky mood her dad seemed to be permanently in and her disgrace off and on this past week over multiple little things, she didn't want to add anything more to the list.

Unfortunately, she added too much soap to the water and now it was hard to hang on to the dishes.

One slipped from her grasp, splashing back into the sink with a vengeance and sending water everywhere…mostly on Scott.

Growing still, Angie hunched her shoulders and blinked away tears as she whispered into the dishwater, "Sorry, Daddy."

She couldn't bring herself to look up. He's used that exasperated stare on her enough times this week.

"Alright. Enough of this." Beside her, Scott dropped the dish towel on the counter and pivoted to face her. "Do you think I'm still mad at you?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Angie nodded at the dish water once.

"I'm not mad at you."

"You're…really grumpy…" Angie said carefully, still not looking up from the water.

"I'm always grumpy, kid," Scott answered gruffly, "It's got nothing to do with you. I'm sorry I've been a bear. Not sleeping well. Just tired. You're fine."

Not convinced, Angie kept eyes glued to her task of washing the next plate and nodded.

When water flicked into the side of her face, Angie flinched a little and couldn't stop the way her head turned to the side to see where the water came from.

"There." Scott lowered the fingers he'd just flicked water from. "Now we're even."

Angie gaped at him and there were a few beats before a half smile slowly worked its way onto his face.

Something in Angie flipped and ignited out of nowhere. Her hand dove right into the dish water and she splashed it into her dad's face.

The second she did it, Angie froze again, utterly horrified until Scott snorted in a laugh and used the dish towel to dry his dripping face.

"Don't start something you can't finish, kid." He told her, mischief suddenly sparking in his eye, replacing the brooding shadows. "Unless you think you can win…?"

Hesitating, Angie couldn't decide if he was instigating further or not.

She knew for sure when he reached behind his back slowly, that smirk growing on his face and the next thing she knew, cold water splashed into her own face as he flicked his full cup of water at her.

Gasping with shock and gleeful indignation, Angie couldn't stop herself from retaliating because this was more fun than they'd had in what felt like forever! She grabbed the soaking wet washcloth and threw it at Scott.

It was sopping wet enough that when he caught it out of the air, barking back another laugh, he still got water and soap bubbles everywhere.

A tuft of bubbles landed on his head and Angie started to laugh.

Grinning, Scott stepped in closer, warmth and affection wrapped in the brightness of mirth as he said, "Here, hold still, you've got some dirt on your face-"

Angie let out a squealing giggle as she tried to duck out of the way of the washcloth coming for her left cheek. He got her anyway and she let out a shrieking laugh, squirming and dancing sideways. She forgot she was on a chair and the mad giggling paused with a soft gasp when her foot found open air at the edge of the chair and she tipped downward.

Daddy's arm hooked round her middle, immediately keeping her from falling off the chair and she leaned back into the safety of his broad shoulder as he set her back upright.

The brief pause wasn't long and she scooped a handful of bubbles from the edge of the sink and smeared them on his arm, drawing a deep chuckle from him.

"Oh, look, you have dirt in your ears too! Didn't you just have a shower?" Her dad said 'casually'. Laughter lurked in the calm tone that rumbled through his chest into her back as he kept her tucked under his arm. "Yeah, just…just rightttt here-"

The washcloth was cold now and Angie shrieked with another round of giggles and laughs as she half-heartedly tried to escape her ears being 'cleaned'. In truth she didn't really want to get away and she didn't want it to end.

This kind of fun was one that she hadn't had since before Mommy got sick and the way Daddy played felt safe, just as it had with Mommy. The only difference was Daddy brought a wilder energy to the game and she had the feeling she could get away with more than Mommy would ever have let her, even with the knowledge that he'd been cranky earlier.

She spied the hose head on the sink and went for it just as Scott started in on her other ear. She flicked on the tap and seized the nozzle, aiming it behind her and hitting the button for the sprayer.

The hit was direct and she heard Daddy splutter out a laugh as he lifted her off the chair and ducked down to the floor, his back rocking into the cabinets with a sound thunk. She had to let go of the sprayer in the process and she sprayed herself too, but for the most part she was pretty sure she soaked him worse than herself.

He crouched there, shaking with laughter as he held her tightly from behind. After a moment he kissed the top of her wet head and said with another chuckle, "I think you won."

Breathless, Angie let herself relax against her dad, heart thudding and she looked around the kitchen.

"We got water everywhere!" She said, following the dripping trail all the way up the ceiling.

"Yeah, we sure did," Scott shook with another laugh and gave her a final squeeze as he asked, "Will you accept my surrender?"

Leaning her head back to rest on his shoulder, Angie smiled up at him, "I think so."

"Oh, I need a definite yes or no, Mini Metal," Her dad said with mock seriousness, "I don't wanna go toe to toe with you a second time. You'll kick my butt."

Thinking, Angie felt a devious spark rise and she drew on what she'd learned from history class about the end of wars.

"What are the terms of surrender?" She asked grimly.

That brought a short spell of baffled silence, followed by a burst of laughter from her father.

"The terms of surrender!? Oh…I really got myself in trouble!"

Angie decided to see just how far she could take this, since Daddy seemed entertained by it all and that was a nice change.

"I would accept your surrender if it included ice cream," She stated, still flopped happily in his arms as he stayed crouched and leaned on the cabinet doors.

The result was better than she expected. Daddy had to sit down all the way because he started laughing so hard, taking her with him as he shook, mostly silently.

When he finally got a hold of himself he shifted an arm so he could pinch the bridge of his nose, saying, "Ice cream. You are such a brat, you know that?"

There was no reprimand in the words. Only mirth filled affection.

"So do you accept?" Angie asked hopefully.

"Well, it's either that or I dunk your devious little butt in the sink!" She felt him debate for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "What the hell. I surrender to your terms. Let's go get ice cream."

Sitting on a picnic table by the ocean enjoying the terms of surrender, Metal let his walls fall a little.

He knew he'd been on high alert for days, especially when he and Angie were out somewhere. All someone had to do was look too long at her and he'd have to fight the urge to put himself between his kid and the random person on the street. The lack of sleep wasn't helping and neither was the knowledge that this week had been hell for Angie too because of his mood swings.

Therapy was only helping so much with this one. He needed to find more time to go for more sessions, but Mandy kept getting new leads on her little pet project and he just knew they were going to get spun up again soon. With his luck right now the timing would be terrible.

Glancing at Angie, he noted with satisfaction that there was still light in her eyes as she stared out at the rolling water. As long as they didn't get too close, she was happy to be down here now. The sound of the waves usually unwound both of them when there was too much restless energy in the house and Metal liked that there weren't a lot of people at this spot.

"Daddy?" Angie piped up suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"I forgot to tell you, but Lilly's having a party just for fun and she invited Autumn, Jameelah and me to come with her to the Carnival on Sunday."

Sunday. That was tomorrow.

Metal suppressed a groan. Carnivals. He hated the Carnival. It was noisy and crowded, not at all what he needed right now.

Trying to soften the blow as best he could, he said, "Little bear, I don't know if I can take you. I've got a bad feeling we'll be spun up again soon. Could be tomorrow."

"Oh! No, you don't have to be there! Lilly's mom and dad will be there!"

The way she said it, with such utter confidence that he was going to say yes now, just about sunk a knife into him.

"I don't know, Angie," Metal said it out loud, but it was more to himself as he pictured the outing happening at a security nightmare site, with people he'd never met watching over his kid in a sea of people and noise. "I don't think I'm ok with that."

"Pleeaseee, Daddy?!"

Metal glanced at her and took in those big, beautiful brown eyes, housed by that perfect face and framed by ringlets.

Nope. He couldn't stomach letting her out of his sight right now let alone allowing her to go to a Carnival without him, supervised by people he didn't trust.

Strengthening his resolve by letting his mind peek at the images he'd been pushing away, Metal said firmly, "I don't care how big those Bambi eyes of yours get, you aren't going."

"What?! Why?!" Angie's dismay and displeasure sparked now.

"For one thing I don't know her parents. I've never even met them."

"But-"

"And that's more than enough reason why," He interrupted, not wanting to get into the dark imaginings that flashed through his head. Carnivals really were prime opportunities for some son of a bitch to snatch a kid. He'd been having enough nightmares about Angie being one of the kids he'd had to go rescue on that last spin up without adding this to it. She wasn't going anywhere near a Carnival unless he was with her.

"Jameelah is going!" Angie protested, her big eyes still pleading with him. "And so is Autumn!"

"I said no, Angie." Metal ground out, irritation sneaking back in without his permission along with another headache. "That's final."

Frustration and upset were clear on Angie's face. She looked like she might argue with him, but instead she stomped off up to the truck and slumped against her door with her arms folded, throwing a familiar glare at the sand.

Great. Now they were both grouchy.

Sighing, Metal got up and followed her, tossing the leftover napkins in the trash on his way past and saying goodbye to the hope that they'd have a better day after this.

Angie gave him the silent treatment the whole drive home, fuming in the back seat as she glared out the window. He let her and figured he'd been in a sour enough mood lately he wasn't one to judge.

When they got home she went to her room and stayed there till bedtime. He wasn't sure how she'd react when he knocked on her door and asked if she still wanted him to read to her.

The conflict that flashed through her might have been comical if he wasn't so tired. In the end she mumbled, 'Yes' and crept out of her room to claim a spot on the opposite end of the couch than him.

The statement was clear. She still wanted the comfort of him reading to her, but she also wanted to make sure he knew that she was still mad at him.

Accepting it, Metal let it go and read to her as if nothing was wrong. Partway through, Angie got restless and eventually edged closer to him until she was almost up against him. Her excuse was that she wanted to see the pictures however, the book had few illustrations. He suspected there was a different motivation. In the end she hesitantly leaned her head on his shoulder and he lifted his arm for her to tuck under for the last few paragraphs.

When the chapter was done, Angie was chewing her bottom lip, frowning at the coffee table.

"Still mad at me?" Metal asked, already figuring on the answer.

"Yes." Angie told him flatly. He noted the thread of unhappiness in her when she said it.

"Fair enough."

He appreciated the straightforward bluntness from her. She'd been too secretive lately and he knew that was mostly his fault. He wasn't exactly creating an atmosphere that would inspire her to want to tell him everything.

"Why can't I go?" Angie asked, almost whining.

"Angie-"

"All my friends are going!"

"I'll take you another time."

"That's not the same! Lilly will think I don't like her!"

"That's Lilly's problem."

"Then the rest of my friends won't like me because it will upset her!"

"That's not likely."

"Yes it is!" Angie cried with frustration, popping up from under his arm and pulling away. "It's not fair! They'll get to go, and then they'll be talking all about it, and then they'll think I don't like them because I didn't go!"

"If they stop being your friends just because your dad says you can't go to the Carnival, then maybe they aren't really your friends." Metal growled, gradually losing what minimal patience he'd scrapped up.

"You don't understand!" Angie snapped at him accusingly.

"Maybe if you explain instead of keeping it all locked away in that brain of yours I would understand better," Metal said through grit teeth. Her temper mirrored his, reminding him that she'd inherited more than one trait from him and this wasn't going to end well if he didn't keep his head.

Angie glared at him, crossing her arms and muttering, "What's the point? You aren't going to change your mind anyway!"

"Yeah, that much is correct, I'll give you that," Metal answered without much success in reining in his frustration.

Something flickered through Angie and she clenched her jaw, getting up.

"Fine." She said icily.

Metal almost laughed. That word and the way she said it was her mother through and through. Instead, he called with false pleasantness, "Good night, Angie. I love you."

"Good night." Angie ground out before closing her door a little too hard.

When Angie was called for breakfast early the next morning, she found that she was still angry with her father.

It wasn't fair and it was just going to cause so much trouble for her at school. Sarah and Summer had already been causing Lilly to think that she didn't like her. They'd been telling her all kinds of lies about stuff they 'overheard' Angie saying about Lilly behind her back. None of it was true, but Lilly was sensitive and a little gullible. She'd started to believe it.

"Did you sleep ok?"

Her dad had been taking her silence graciously enough, not really trying too hard to draw her out. This question was pretty pointed. Angie had woken in the night from a nightmare, but when her dad slipped in to check on her, she'd pretended to still be asleep rather than accept comfort. Not only would it make it harder to be mad at him, it also meant she would have had to tell him what the dream was about, and for whatever reason she just couldn't bring herself to tell him.

"Angie?"

Feeling irritable and not wanting to answer, Angie shrugged instead. That only drew a tired sigh and she sensed her dad's movements get more rigid as he got up from the table to wash his dishes.

"There's a good chance I will get spun up soon and will be gone for a few days, just so you know."

"Ok." Angie mumbled quietly, eyes dragging over to the book she had waiting on the top of her bag. It called to her invitingly, promising a safe escape where everything would be ok in the end. She tried reading at the table while she ate. Daddy put a stop to that. She didn't understand why it mattered. They weren't talking anyway.

Guilt prickled at her gut. More like she wasn't talking because she was so mad at him.

The horrible thought from the nightmares she'd had last night slipped in again and she shivered. What if she really was pushing his buttons too much? What if he decided it wasn't worth it and sent her away and she ended up at Uncle Curt's, like in the dream?

As predicted, Scott's phone dinged with that now familiar chime and he let out a long breath.

"Alright. Let's get you to Aunt Naima's. Looks like I'm getting called in."

Angie didn't answer. Instead she felt irrationally angry that he was leaving even though she was also mad at him and didn't want to talk to him.

Drop off at the Perry house was very quick. Despite her cold shoulder, Scott still hugged her and kissed the top of her head, murmuring that he loved her before taking off again with Uncle Ray close in toe.

"Angie! Come get ready for the Carnival!" Jameelah cried as she sailed out of the bathroom. "We've got to go in an hour!"

There was a long moment in which Angie's mind went blank, followed by Aunt Naima saying in passing as she hurried around the house, "Yes we do need to leave soon. Angie, your dad was ok with it, right?"

The decision was made faster than Angie cared to admit. She would have liked to say later there was an agonizing debate, but instead the words fell from her lips automatically.

"Yup! I can go."

"Yay! It's going to be so great!" Jameelah squealed, grabbing Angie's hand so they could go get ready.

With the lie already in the air, Angie couldn't go back now and she tried to reason away the turning guilt already blossoming through her anger with her dad.

He was going to be gone for a few days. Aunt Naima didn't know Daddy said no. They didn't always get a chance to talk. Maybe he would never find out! Besides, she needed her friends at school. Without them she couldn't face Sarah and Summer everyday. And this way she could prove to Lilly that she did want to be her friend and then maybe she wouldn't believe what the bullies kept telling her.

And so, things were set in motion that Angie figured she had to see through. Aunt Naima didn't question her further and looked like she'd just gotten off a long shift at the hospital based off how tired she seemed. She very happily dropped the girls off with Lilly's mom and dad, planning to be back a few hours later to pick them up.

The guilt over knowing she wasn't supposed to be in the lively, exciting and interesting mix of people, rides and displays made it hard for Angie to enjoy herself. All the same, she couldn't deny that it was a fun day. Mostly.

On the plus side, Lilly was thrilled that she came and seemed to have forgiven her fictional offenses. Maybe that would make it all worth it.

"Come on, Angie! Come play with the jump rope I won!" Jameelah broke her from her thoughts and Angie moved to join in the fun at the edge of the big green space near where the Carnival was being held.

It was almost time for Aunt Naima to pick them up.

"Your turn, Angie!" Autumn cried, switching out with her so that she could turn the giant skipping rope and Angie could step in with Lilly instead.

She made a new record and quickly forgot all about her troubles as she moved through the skipping rhyme with her friends.

"Angie!" Lilly's mom called from a little ways away. "Your dad's here!"

Her feet stumbled to an abrupt stop and the rope snapped her ankles painfully.

Life left Angie as soon as she spotted her dad and instead unquenchable denial and dread flooded her.

Why was he here?! He was supposed to be gone for days! That's what he said this morning!

The fact that he was conversing pleasantly enough with Lilly's mom and dad wasn't comforting nor was his neutral question to her about how the day went when she forced her feet over to him. It wasn't until they were alone and walking away that his careful mask fell and she could see and hear just how angry he really was.

"Truck. Now."

"D-daddy-" Angie tried to explain, tried to somehow justify what she'd done because no amount of fun she'd had today could be worth how miserable and frightened she was now.

"Nope. We are not having this conversation here. Get in the truck."

Shrinking down, Angie stayed next to him as they moved through the crowded parking lot and climbed into the truck when they reached it without another word. Her heart thundered in her chest and she desperately wished she hadn't been swayed by the deeds of Summer and Sarah or given in to the fear of missing out and not fitting in with her friends because they all went and she didn't.

The drive home was in icy silence and as soon as they got in the door, Scott snapped his fingers and pointed to the couch.

"Sit." He ordered sharply.

Swallowing the thick lump in her throat, Angie hurried to kick off her shoes at the door and obey. She tucked her feet under her once she was up and wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them to her chest tightly. Angie studied one of the new scraps she had on her knee between flicking worried glances up at her dad who was now pacing the floor in front of the TV, taking too many controlled breaths of air.

Scott finally spoke, tone still hard and cold. "What I'm trying to figure out is what part of 'No, you aren't going' would be unclear for you to tell Naima I said you could go."

The tears threatening around the corners of her eyes leaked out and Angie bit both lips together to stop a sob from slipping out.

"You lied to a lot of people today. Why?" Scott asked, anger sparking into his words as he kept pacing, that steely stare never leaving her face.

The truth seemed so lame and unimportant now, and the words stuck in Angie's throat as she shrugged her shoulders with a ragged sob.

"Those tears are not going to save you this time! You either tell me the truth, or you spend the rest of the day in your room." Her dad snapped suddenly, the fury getting the better of him.

Angie flinched and put her face in her knees, holding in the crying. Again, words stuck in her throat and she couldn't make anything come out past the unbelievable tightness in her chest and the thundering of her little heart.

When she didn't answer quickly enough, she heard Scott point forcibly at the hall as he ground out, "Room. Now."

Angie got up like she'd been stung and retreated behind her door, relieved to be out of the stifling fury of her father.

She lay on her bed a long time, shivering and waiting, not knowing how this was going to end. In the other room there was silence for a long, long time before she heard the front door open and close with a slam, rocking the house a little.

Daddy left. He'd left her alone.

Somehow that was even worse than if he'd come in and yelled at her and Angie was undone, weeping into her pillow.

A minute later there was a soft knock at the door and a new voice greeted her ears, surprising her.

"Angie, it's Uncle Trent. Can I come in?"

Hearing the mildness of the man on the other side of the door provided an anchor for Angie to latch onto.

Her legs swung over the edge of the bed and she ran to throw open her door.

Uncle Trent stood over her, looking down with that unflappable calm as she cried.

"Come here, kiddo," He crouched down and held open his arms.

Angie hesitated, desperately wanting to run into them and be held but unsure if she deserved it.

"I lied to everyone," She said with a barking cry, telling him her offenses. "I didn't listen to Daddy."

Uncle Trent nodded with a small downward tug around his mouth, "Yeah, I know. Come here."

Not needing any more prompting, Angie darted forward and buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing afresh as Uncle Trent picked her up and took them both to the living room.

"I have to stay in my room-" Angie tried to tell him brokenly when she figured out where they were going.

"It'll be ok. I'll take the blame for this one."

"Daddy will be mad! He'll think I'm not listening to him again!"

"He's stepped out for a bit and when he comes back he'll be calmer."

"I don't want to make him mad again," Angie wailed as new tremors rocked through her and she twined her arms tightly around Uncle Trent's neck. "I'm sorry I lied! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"I know you're sorry, and he does too. He just needs some time to cool down. It's gonna be ok. Promise."

"I just wanted to fit in with my friends!" Angie gulped, desperate for someone to understand and the lack of judgment rolling off Uncle Trent loosened her tongue. "I didn't want Lily to think I didn't like her and Summer and Sarah already told her that I was saying things about her behind her back and I wasn't!"

"Sweetie, those are hard things, for sure!" Uncle Trent answered patiently. "But, it still doesn't mean you can disobey your dad and lie like that. He told you no for a reason, and no matter if you don't like the reason or how much you wanted to go, you gotta trust he said no for a really good reason."

"I know!" Angie howled brokenly. "I'm sorry!"

Uncle Trent hushed her and rubbed a hand across her back as he sat down with her.

He didn't say much more, instead letting her cry as long as she pleased and occasionally getting her to blow her nose.

"Is Daddy going to send me away?" Angie whispered after a while, unable to shake that pulsing fear in her mind that had been growing like an ugly weed for days.

"Send you away!? What?!"

It was hard to get any kind of shock or startle into Uncle Trent's voice, but she managed to this time. He was completely stunned by the question.

Not sure if she'd said something wrong and not liking that her words altered the usual calm around Uncle Trent, she fell silent.

Uncle Trent wouldn't let it go that easy though.

"Angie, honey, why would you think he's going to send you away?!"

The truth leaked out without her permission as she told him with bland frankness, "Because I'm so much trouble all the time and I'm not being good or perfect and-and-and I made him s-so mad !"

"Angie- No!" Uncle Trent's arms tightened now and he spoke with some urgency, "Honey, your dad loves you very very much ! He's not going to send you away over something like this! He's never going to send you away over anything!"

The words couldn't reach that dark knot of fear in Angie's heart, no matter how sincere and believable they were. Angie was still too wrapped up in the reality that her dad was so angry with her that he'd had to leave the house and call Uncle Trent over to take care of her instead.

When Daddy didn't come home before bedtime, Angie had herself convinced there was irreparable damage done by her actions. No amount of quiet explanation from Uncle Trent could fix the deep, ill feeling in her gut. No matter how many times he said Daddy just taking time and space for a lot of reasons that didn't even have to do with her despite how it felt, or hollow reassurances that Scott loved her more than anything in the world, nothing could quiet the flaming belief that she'd ruined everything.