Chapter Two-

"Daddy! Wakeee up! Wake up!" I felt little feet jumping all over my bed and cracked one eye open to watch Paige fly around like a crazy child.

I closed my eye again and pretended to sleep.

"Daddy!"

I lunged up with a war cry and tackled her onto the bed, tickling her while she screamed hysterically.

"Uncle! Uncle! Daddy stop!" she giggled.

I leaned back "Will you jump on me again munchkin?"

"Yes!" and she leapt off the bed with a cackle and ran into the kitchen.

"Then ill tickle you again you little monster!" I yelled.

I grabbed a shirt and padded into the kitchen to see Paige grabbing orange juice from the fridge.

I raise my eyebrow "What are you doing?"

"Getting Orange Juice daddy, duh."

"You shouldn't sass me at such a young age, daughter dear. And you know you are not supposed to grab juice yourself, not after what happened last time."

She sighed dramatically "That jug of milk spilled itself Daddy."

I scoffed and grabbed the juice out of her hand "Sure it did, kid." I grabbed a kid dinosaur cup out of the cupboard and poured her some juice.

"Do you want toast or cheerios munchkin?"

"You should really learn how to cook different foods, daddy." She said as she sipped her juice at the table.

I look over at her "Toast, Cheerios or nothing munchkin?" I laugh.

"Cheerios, daddy."

"That's what I thought." I grabbed a bowl that had Cars characters on them and poured some cereal before adding a spoon and some milk. I usually let Paige pick out her own dishes, and lately it was a dinosaurs and Cars phase.

I set it on the table in front of her and went back into the kitchen to grab coffee.

I sat at the table with my coffee and watched her eat.

She looked up with 3 cheerios stuck to her cheek and smiled. "Whatchya doing daddy?"

"Watching you eat like a pig, daughter dear." I laughed.

"I just know how to enjoy the food I'm given, don't be jelly."

"Jelly? Where the heck did you get that one?"

"Elise's sister said it the other day while I was at her house. What does it mean?"

Elise's sister Tanya was 16, and constantly telling Paige weird sayings. So, it made sense that Tanya had taught her "Jelly". I shook my head at that ridiculousness and made a note to myself to talk to Tanya. I wanted to understand my daughter when she speaks.

I laugh "I think it means jealous, but we'll have to ask Elise. Speaking of, you need to get ready and I need to get ready for work."

She jumped off her chair and ran to her room screaming "Okay Daddy!"

I put her bowl in the sink and walk to my bathroom. I turn the water on and jump in. After my shower I wrap a towel around my waist and grab a toothbrush.

I pause to yell out to Paige "You doing alright out there munchkin?"

"YES!"

I chuckle and put toothpaste on before brushing.

I walk into my room when I'm done and grab some boxers before searching through my clothes.

Right now, I worked as a Marketing Administrator for a company downtown. After Paige had been born, I wasn't able to go to school quite yet, but Aunt Stacy had helped me before she got married and moved to California. She had hated to leave us, but her new husband was based there so I assured her it was okay. About 3 years ago I had finally taken some classes and decided on Marketing. 2 years later I had finished and gotten the job I have now. I had a talent for Web Design and Graphic Arts, and that is why I was hired so quickly, I think.

This job is where I met Grant and his wife Elise, Paige's babysitter while I was at work. Grant was a funny guy, and talented when it came to work. I had met Elise when she came to the office one day with Grants forgotten lunch. I always thought that was cute and made fun of him for days after that one.

Somehow Elise wound up becoming Paige's babysitter after my usual one cancelled, and it just stuck. Now she did it for me every day. She and Grant had one son a year younger than Paige, Owen. Paige and Owen loved each other, so our arrangement worked for everyone. I finished getting dressed in my slacks and black button-down walking into Paige's room when I was done. I stopped when I saw her and laughed.

Tillie would be appalled that Paige had somehow gotten my fashion sense.

At least the few things I learned from Tillie had stuck with me, but Paige refused to dress any way but her own way.

She looked up and twirled around "Pretty, daddy?"

"Very pretty." I said. She was wearing a neon green shirt, with yellow shorts and purple rain boots.

But she was so cute, I'm sure she could pull it off anyway.

It still made me laugh, though. I grabbed her green dinosaur bag and put everything in there that she could need during the day. We tromped out to the car and I buckled her into the backseat.

We drove for 15 minutes while Paige chatted about what she wanted to do with Elise that day.

"I want to bake cookies, and play Lego's with Owen, and paint on Elise's paper."

I looked at her in the rearview mirror and smiled "I'm sure Elise will let you do all of that."

When we got to Grant and Elise's house I got out and grabbed Paige's bag before unbuckling her.

She jumped out of the car and ran to the door yelling "Eliseeeeeeee! I'm here!"

A woman with blonde hair and brown eyes opened the door laughing "I can see that Paige, come on in."

Paige ran in to find Owen and Elise looked up at me "Hi Erik, how are you?"

I walked the rest of the way to the door chuckling and grabbed Elise in a hug. "I'm good, pretty lady. How are you?"

She hugged me back with a smile "Good, as always. How long did you need me to watch her today?"

I handed her the bag "Until 3 today, if that's okay?"

"You know it is. We'll see you later."

I started walking back to the car "See you guys! Love you Paige." I yelled.

"Love you too daddy." I heard from inside the house.

I got to my car and drove to work.

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3 o'clock could not come soon enough. I liked my job, but I always missed Paige. I walked out of my work building and made my way to my car. I heard the roar of a motorcycle before one sped by right in front of me. I glare at it as it leaves the parking lot.

Dumbass.

I got to my car and drove back to Elise's. I knocked on the door and Paige answered "Hi daddy. Come on, were making cookies." I smiled and followed her to the kitchen, where Elise was standing rolling dough into balls for the oven.

"You mean Elise is making cookies?" I asked Paige with my brow raised.

She shrugged "Details, daddy, Details."

I laughed and looked at Elise "Hey, pretty lady. How was she today?"

She smiled "She was good as always. Let me just finish these and then we can talk."

I rolled my eyes. I know what she wanted to talk about; she always wanted to talk about this.

"Why don't you go play with Owen, bug." Elise said to Paige while taking her apron off and setting the timer.

"Okay, so when are you going to go on another date mister?"

I laughed at her. She had stopped with the subtlety a while ago.

"I just don't have time for that Elise. I have Paige anyways, it's always to complicated."

She rolled her eyes "You don't necessarily have to tell them about Paige at first."

"I don't like lying Elise. When will you give it a rest?"

She smiles "Never! Not until you find a hot man to go on a date with, mister."

She had been trying to get me on dates since we had met. She was weird like that. I had only been on 3 dates since Paige had been born. I just did not have the time to do that. The third date I had been on was with a guy named Ethan and when I had told him about Paige, he had been...disgusted.

He apparently didn't like children and accused me of just wanting to experiment. No one understood about Paige or gave me a chance to explain. So, I eventually just quit dating altogether.

I focused on school, my career and raising Paige the way Tillie and I had wanted.

"I'll date when I'm ready, Elise."

"Yeah, never." She grumbled.

"Yea, Yea." I laughed. "Paige, time to go honey."

"What about the cookies daddy?"

Oh yea. I had completely forgotten. Elise saved me with "They won't be done for a while honey, we can have milk and cookies tomorrow."

I laughed when I saw 5 minutes on the timer but went with it.

She should not have cookies before dinner anyway.

"Okay, Elise. Bye!" and she ran out the door to my car.

I rolled my eyes and laughed before grabbing her bag. "Yea, bye Elise! Bye Owen."

I walked out to my car and buckled Paige into her seat before driving us home.