" Once upon a time, in a far far away land there was a princess living with twelve frogs and an evil fairy step mother who fed her apples. One day, she went into the forest and lost one of her shoes. How stupid was she? "

" Very stupid. What happened next, Daddy? " mads giggled in my arms.

I chuckled before pretending to read the story from the book when in fact I was making it all up in my head. I knew my daughter didn't like fairytales and all the princess bullshits.

" The princess cried and cried and cried while running through the forest looking for her shoe. Then came a beast growling at the annoying princess who disturbed his sleep. He barked and told her to cry him a river, build a bridge and get lost. " I continued.

" I like the beast. " she grinned, giving me a thumb up.

" But, the beast is a boy. What do I say about boys, mads? " I narrowed my eyes at my daughter playfully.

" Boys are stupid. If a boy ever talk to me, I will punch him in the face. " she said, filling my chest with pride.

" Good job, princess. Now do you want to continue the story or are you sleepy? " I asked, kissing her forehead lightly.

I kept the book away on her bedside table and wrapped my arms around her tiny body as she snuggled into my chest. She had her arms draped loosely around my waist. I smiled at my little girl still couldn't get over the fact that she was mine.

" You know dad loves you so much, right? " I whispered, kissing the top of her head.

Strawberry was apparently my new favorite scent.

" Do you love my mommy too, daddy? " she asked.

I felt my guts twisting painfully inside my body. My heart jerked upon my ribcage as my throat was starting to get dry as silence lingered, sucked in my own breath. I swallowed before answering my daughter's heart wrenching question.

" Of course I love her. " I said.

" Then why don't you marry her, daddy? "

Fuck. I was trying to, mads. I was fucking trying. I swore. But, your mother was being a fucking pain in the ass right now.

" Because something happened before you were born and we fell apart but I'm trying to fix it. I will marry her, baby. One day. "

" Promise? "

" Cross my heart and hope to die. " I chuckled as she said it back and we sealed the deal by intertwining our pinky fingers.

I stayed awake all night watching my daughter slept soundlessly in my arms, listening to her calming breath. I stroke her cheek wishing thing would be different. It was then when I knew I would literally do anything for this little human, starting by giving her a loving family where both her parents weren't at each other's throat.

Around midnight I heard car approaching the house so I quietly untangled myself from mads and went over to the balcony. He had his arm on the small of her back as he walked her to the front porch. It took everything in me not to go down there and beat the shit out of him. I clenched my jaw listening to their painful conversation. He was making her laugh.

I should be the one who did all those. Taking her on dates and kissing her goodnight.

My heart twisted in pain when he leaned in to kiss her. Pull away, Ana. Turn away, baby. And, like god was listening to my prayer, she did. The idiot missed her lips as she pulled him into a hug instead.

Sighing in relief, I walked back into the room with a small grin on my lips knowing the fact that she wasn't over me after all. There was still hope.

The date must have gone terribly worse than I had thought judging by the looks on her first the next morning. She was utterly quiet and somewhat strange. There was this looks on her face filled with unknown emotions that I couldn't seem to grasp, I wanted to ask if she was okay but I chose not to say anything about it.

Because knowing her, she would explode if I dared question her when she clearly in a mood, defining a defusing bomb.

Madeline invited the two of us to her tea party later in the afternoon at her playhouse in the middle of the lemon trees. She was already so spoiled by her mother and my father didn't help either.

" You will be the king, daddy. Mama will be your queen so I can be the princess. " she giggled, handing out her sparkly purple tea cup.

Madeline was pouring her non existing tea from the tea pot for us when I took Ana's hand into mine and planted a kiss on her knuckles. She quickly pulled away and gave me a death glare which only made my smirk wider.

" What are you doing? " she glared.

" The king can kiss his queen anytime. Isn't that right, mads? " I asked as a gasp left her throat.

" Yes, mama. Why won't you let daddy kiss you? " Madeline asked, scratching her head in confusion causing her mother to gape at her in shock.

" Because I'm mad at him. " Ana explained all while glaring at me.

" It's better to kiss than fight, mama. Now kiss and make up. " she squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly.

I was so going to buy this little girl a fucking castle for Christmas this year.

" You heard the fucking princess. " I scooted my chair toward her and whispered in her ear.

Grabbing her face into my hands, I planted a light kiss on the corner of her lips. My mouth quirked up into a small smile when she grunted lowly under her breath before smashing her lips on mine. There you go, baby. Final-fucking-ly.

Nick 1 the bastard from last night 0.

I glanced sideways not breaking the kiss to look at our daughter as thing started to escalate and the woman in my arms seemed to forget there was a little innocent child here with us too.

Luckily for me, she was oblivious to what her parents were doing, lost in her own world feeding cookies to the stuff animals. I had the best child in the whole fucking world.

Breathless, she pulled away from my mouth, lips swollen and cheeks crimson red. I chuckled and pulled her closer to me, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. A small smile formed on my lips as I felt her relaxed under my touch, melting into my body as we both watched our daughter played with her toys.

" Fuck. " she mumbled under her breath, tilting her head up to look at me in the eyes in shock like she couldn't believe what she just did.

" I know you're scared to fall but don't be. I will jump in first and be there to catch you. " I whispered, kissing her forehead.

One step forward, no stepping back.

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