"Mommy, why? I don't like this thing." Lily said as Ava strapped her into the helicopter that we were taking to the island. Lily was trying to get out of it.

There was a family dinner and it was time for Lily to meet the family. She had been rather excited about flying to the island, until she saw the helicopter and decided she belonged on land, not in the air.

"It's ok, baby. It's not scary. It's fun. Besides, Mommy and I are right here beside you at all times." I told her.

"No, no. I don't like it." Lily cried.

"Baby, we're not gonna go anywhere until you say so." I said to her, gesturing for Dante not to take off yet.

"Daddy, I don't like it... I'm not a bird, I'm not supposed to fly!" Lily said.

"Baby. I promise you that when we get there, we'll have some delicious strawberry cupcakes with your aunt Sophie, ok? And we'll play on the beach and have loads of fun! We can swim and play soccer and have water fights.... We can do whatever you want." I told her.

"And James too?" Lily asked, looking back at James who was in his cage, ready to fly to the Island.

"Yeah, and James too!" I laughed.

"Ok, it will be quick?" Lily asked.

"Of course." I nodded.

"And the man knows how to fly it properly?" Lily asked, looking at our driver and pilot, Dante.

"I sure do, little miss." Dante said to her.

"Daddy, I like this man." Lily said, pointing to Dante.

"I like you too, little miss. You're the prettiest little one I've ever seen. Don't tell any little girls about it though." He said to her, winking.

Lily giggled and held onto my hand, whimpering a little as we took off. We flew over the Pacific Ocean until we landed on Angel's Island. As soon as we landed, Lily started trying to free herself. She seemed eager to see the Island.

As soon as we got out of the helicopter, Sophie came running at me, hugging me tightly and kissing my cheeks. Lily ran to Ava and clung to her like glue.

Sophie dragged us towards the Villa and Lily looked around in awe.

"Mommy it's a palace." She whispered to Ava, making me chuckled and making Sophie bounce excitedly at her cuteness.

"Lily, I want you to meet everyone, baby." I said to her as we entered the Villa and I sat down on the couch.

Lily insisted on burying herself in Ava's arms and never looking at anyone or anything.

"Don't you wanna meet Nana and Papa?" Ava asked her.

"Yeah, my Mom and Dad... don't you wanna meet them?" I said.

Lily peeked over Ava's shoulder and looked around. Seeming very nervous about everything.

"You wanna meet my sister, baby? She made you some strawberry cupcakes... they're so delicious." I said, trying to get her to calm down and try meeting the family.

"And your cousins... Mia and Mila and Nora..." Ava urged her.

"And your cool uncle Theo." Theo added.

Lily's head snapped around to look at Theo and he waved and then made a funny face making her giggle and look away again. She was definitely a shy little one.

"Hey! I'm cooler! I'm your aunt Mabel!" Mabel laughed.

Lily peeked out at Mabel to see her bouncing excitedly.

"I have the coolest hair... look." Mabel said, turning so Lily could see her knee-length braid.

"Woah... Mommy look." Lily said, pointing at Mabel's braid.

"It's smells like strawberries." Mabel said.

"Yeah for the wrong reasons, Mabel." Ari said, making Lily look at Ari who was carrying both her daughters into the room.

"Hello, Angel... look how pretty you are!" Ari smiled at Lily.

"Daddy... she has hair like me." Lily whispered.

"Yeah, and so does her momma... who happens to be my sister Sophie." I said, pointing to Sophie.

"How come they have the same hair as me?" Lily asked Ava quietly.

"I don't know, it's just like that... you all have pretty hair." Ava smiled.

"Hi, Lily." Nora said, climbing into my lap and making Lily smile. "I'm happy you're part of our big family now! Everyone is so, so nice! And we're gonna have so much fun together!" Nora giggled.

"Hi Nora." Lily whispered with a giggle.

"You wanna come see our room? All us girls are gonna share it tonight!" Nora said.

Ava tapped Lily's back supportively, urging her to go.

"Can my mommy come?" Lily asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, of course. Aunt Ava is cool!" Nora giggled.

"Mommy? Come?" Lily asked.

"Of course, baby." Ava said, standing and setting Lily down on the ground. Lily wouldn't let go of Ava's hand though, she was being very shy and hiding behind Ava's leg as they walked towards the stairs.

Nora basically ended up giving Lily a tour of the whole Villa. Then Lily returned to my lap. She seemed more open and ready to meet everyone now.

"Where's Nana?" Lily asked, making my mother pout and get down on her knees in front of me.

"I'm right here, baby. Why don't you come give Nana a hug? Then she can show you the special surprise she made for you." My mother said.

"Nana, you made me a surprise?" Lily asked.

"Yeah. Your surprise has a name." Momma told her.

"What's its name?" Lily asked with a little cute gasp.

"Theodora." Momma said, making it up on the spot.

"I wanna meet her!" Lily said.

"She's in Nana and Auntie Hazel's factory, are you ready?" Momma asked her.

"Daddy, I can go with Nana?" She asked me.

"Of course, baby. Meet Theodora and then let her come meet us all." I said, kissing my daughter on her forehead.

She went off with Momma and Dad followed them, wanting to get to know Lily as well.

Lily came back with a lollipop and some gummies and a huge stuffy made by my mother. She was on my father's shoulders with a sticky hand in his hair.

"Daddy! Look!" Lily giggled, waving the bag of gummies around.

"Mhm... you've been given sugar... we're all gonna have a great night, isn't that right Ava?" I said, my heart dropping at the thought of handling Lily on a sugar high.

"Mommy! I want snuggles!" Lily said.

Ava took her baby in her arms and then she quickly handed me the gummies and the lollipop as she distracted Lily.

"Baby. Look... this is Uncle Rico... he's daddy's big brother!" Ava said while I hid the candy.

"Hi, Lily." Rico said.

"I think uncle Rico wants to show you his soccer field, baby. Who wants to go play soccer and burn off lots of sugar and deplete all of our energy so that we can have a peaceful night?" Ava asked.

"Nora does!" Juliet said, drawing our attention to Nora who had a bag of gummies similar to the one Lily had in her hands earlier. Except Nora's was almost empty.

"Who brought the candy?" Micah said, walking in with the twins latched onto his pants and in the process of climbing him.

We all looked over at Remi and Mabel, who had their own bags of gummies and were munching happily on them.

"Great." Ari nodded with a sigh.

We all went to the soccer field and took turns entertaining the children with running around. Lily was definitely reluctant to be around everyone, but she was slowly getting used to them. Enough to let them carry her around.

She liked them, but she was still scared. She knew that in Ava and I's presence, nothing could ever happen to her, so her trust for them was much stronger than her trust for outsiders.

She played on the field, finding it easiest to let Nora in because she already knew her.

In the end, she came over to me with her sticky fingers and her hair poking out in strange directions and she curled up on my lap.

"Daddy... I think it's sleepy time." She said to me.

"No. First it's bath time." Ava said, picking her up and carrying her to the Villa to handle her.

Everyone was in love with my little angel, they were prepared to wait as long as it took for my shy girl to open up.

"Hey, Ava. Come back after Lily's all cleaned up." Juliet said.

"Alright." Ava nodded with a smile.

My girls went off to get cleaned up and both of them returned after their shower together. Ava found it easier to just get in the shower with Lily and wash up along with her, they both still gave each other the privacy they needed and both my girls were happy. Lily honestly didn't seem ok with taking showers or baths alone and I sensed it was because she didn't have a choice in her previous home and baths became a bad memory for her.

When my girls came back all clean and ready for bed, we all sat down and Ava and I decided to tell everyone about our decision to have the wedding but only to have something small and to do it on the island. We'd invite her parents, but that would be it. Only family.

The family loved that plan and then Mabel told us to sit down and listen up because her and Juliet had something to say.

"So... once upon a time, Mabel decided she wanted to get married and guess what, she already had a good, supportive, hot man to marry.... so she grabbed the next more fun person in the family, after her of course, and he also wanted to get married and had a gorgeous girl to do that with.... And both Mabel and Romeo, grabbed their gorgeous partners and off they were to propose.... We had the time of our lives, and then, bam! Rings!" Mabel said, showing us all the rings on all four of their fingers.

"She's lying to you, I proposed." Theo added.

"Such a buzzkill. My story was better." Mabel rolled her eyes, kissing him with a smile on her face.

It wasn't just us who had male engagement rings in this family, Romeo and Theo also had them even though the guys did propose. Theo was bound to do that though, since he'd always needed to flash his ring from Mabel to get rid of any other girl that tried to get near him.

Now Romeo and Juliet were engaged and so were Mabel and Theo. Evan was the only one left who hadn't proposed to his girlfriend. I knew their relationship was still very fresh though, so I don't think either of them minded being last to get married.

"This means we need to have a bachelorette party for Ava and an engagement party for both you girls.... What do you guys say we do that next week... unless Kiara goes into labour before then?" Hazel asked, pulling Nora into her lap.

"Sounds like a plan!" Kiara giggled.

I smiled, seeing how excited everyone was about everything. I looked down at Lily who was in Ava's lap. Suddenly, Lily started to try kicking her little slippers off. A frown formed on her face and she started breathing really hard. Her hand came up to her chest and she screamed for Ava.

"Mommy!" She screamed, crying her heart out, terror filling her eyes.

Ava picked her up and grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of the room to the chairs on the deck.

"No, no!" Lily screamed as she hyperventilated.

"Baby... it's ok. Mommy is here. And so is Daddy. We're here, my love." Ava said softly, stroking Lily's hair back.

I watched as my baby girl panicked. Her eyes were full of absolute horror and she was hyperventilating and holding her chest.

"Sh... Mommy's here." Ava said gently, stroking Lily's hair back.

"And Daddy's here too." I said calmly and softly.

"There's no need to be afraid of anything, Mommy and Daddy are here." Ava told her.

I took the slippers off my baby's feet and I hid them behind my back, sensing that they might have been the issue.

"Daddy's little strawberry is so safe here, she has nothing to worry about. Daddy is always going to be there to protect her." I whispered, taking my baby's hand.

"D-d-d-daddy." Lily said, her hand squeezing mine.

"That's right. I'm right here. Daddy is here." I said, kissing her little hand. That's something that she'd told me no one else ever did.

Ava smiled down at Lily even though she looked like she wanted to cry. My daughter laying helplessly in my fiancé's arms wasn't something I ever wanted or expected to see. Lily's shaking hand reached out for Ava's hair. She always said Ava had the softest hair in the world.

"See, My Angel...? Mommy and Daddy are right here and no matter what happens, we're here to protect you, nothing can ever hurt you if Mommy and Daddy are here." Ava whispered.

Lily's sweating and fear began to go away just slightly. Ava continued to gently stroke Lily's hair back and whisper how safe she was. I could only watch in horror and plant kisses on my daughters hand.

Ava was much more in control of herself than I was. I was about to burst into tears at the sight of my baby like this.

I watched how Ava looked down at Lily like there was nothing in the world that could ever matter more. Ava's stiff posture screamed panic and fear, but she kept a smile on her face for her baby. I was much less composed though, until Ava reached out for my hand.

"Hey, look at my baby's pretty onesie... with all those delicious strawberries on it." I chuckled as quietly and gently as I could.

"I think Lily has been such a well-behaved girl today... don't you think, Daddy?" Ava asked me.

"She has been. So Mommy and I are gonna take her up to their room and we're all going to read a nice story before bed." I said, stroking my child's hair back and finding her forehead soaked with sweat.

It had already been five minutes and Lily still looked scared.

"Just relax, my love. Mommy is here." Ava said, rocking Lily back and forth like she always seemed to do.

Lily was straddling Ava's lap, but laying against her legs and her head was rested on Ava's knees.

"There's no need to be scared." I assured my daughter. "This is daddy's home. This is where I know we're all the safest we can be."

"It's ok, My Love." Ava said, pulling Ava into an upright position and embracing her ever so gently. Lily's arms latched around Ava's neck and she hugged her mother tightly, making Ava rub her back soothingly.

"It's ok, Mommy's got you. I won't let anyone hurt you, baby." Ava said, kissing Lily's forehead.

I walked over behind Ava and I wiped away my baby's tears.

"It's ok. You're ok." I said softly.

Lily was doing better until she saw the slippers on the ground and freaked out all over again.

I threw the slippers back into the Villa and then showed Lily how they were gone.

"Daddy threw them out, Lily. Look. They're gone, baby, I got rid of the bad slippers. You're perfectly ok." I said to her, kissing her forehead and wrapping my arms around her and Ava.

"We need to go up to the bedroom." Ava said, pushing me towards the door and continuing to sway from side to side with Lily in her arms.

I went into the Villa and explained that Lily was panicking, I gave the slippers to Evan and he got rid of them and then everyone went into the theatre so we could get through and go to the bedroom without making Lily's panic attack feel public to her.

I went back out to find Ava still swaying from side to side and telling Lily that everything was ok. I took Lily and I quickly went up to the bedroom with my baby in my arms.

Ava went to speak to everyone and then she entered our room with a big tray of chocolate strawberries.

Lily was much calmer now, but she was still shaking and sweating and she still looked a little worried. Ava and I both got into bed with Lily laying between us. We gave her the space that she needed and we both kept assuring her she was ok and safe.

Eventually Lily was only crying. But it had taken us a full twenty minutes to get her to calm down fully. She was hugging Cornelius and wiping her tears away and then she looked up at us and she finally spoke.

"I feel icky." She whispered.

"Why don't we take another bath?" Ava asked her.

"With Daddy." Lily whispered.

"Ok. All three of us... and we'll put bubbles in the bath too, ok? Pink bubbles, ones that smell like strawberries. Would you like that?" Ava asked Lily.

Lily nodded her head, her eyes scanning the floor as if she was searching for those slippers.

"Are you feeling better now, baby?" Ava asked her.

"Yeah." Lily nodded. "I don't like the slippers."

"The slippers are gone now." I said.

"Uhm... Mommy? I love you." Lily said, hugging Ava. "I remember when my bad mom kicked me with a fluffy slipper like that... I didn't like it. It hurt me."

Ava's tears could no longer be controlled. Ava was the one shaking now. I didn't know if it was anger or just sadness that her baby had been through that.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore, baby." Ava said, taking Lily from my arms and hugging her back.

"I know, but I just didn't like remembering... and it was so dark there in that house and so messy and it didn't smell nice, I didn't like it at all... it's so scary to remember." Lily said.

"I know, baby. But when you remember, you should know that it's over, none of that bad stuff is ever going to come back, ok? It's just you and Mommy and Daddy forever. We have three homes. Our house that we live in, this island and the mansion that you still haven't seen. That's where our family is, and we're always gonna be safe in those places. We'll never ever have to worry about bad stuff happening." I said to her.

"I like this place, Daddy." Lily told me.

I smiled, taking my shirt and pants off and getting into the tub in my boxers. Ava did the same and joined me in her bra and panties and then Lily took the onesie off and hopped in.

The tub was large, which was expected given it was in the Villa on our private island. So we all fit next to each other. Lily noticed how Ava hung onto my arm and she pointed at my biceps.

"Daddy, you have big arms." Lily said, cuddling closer to my chest.

"Yeah, I have big muscles." I laughed, flexing so that Lily could see them.

"How come?" Lily asked.

"So that my girls can always be safe and protected." I told her.

"Mommy does Daddy make you feel safe?" Lily asked Ava.

"Yup. I know that no one can hurt me or you when we're with him." Ava said.

"Daddy makes me feel safe too... and you too, Mommy." Lily said as she hugged my naked chest, allowing me to stroke her hair gently.

The rest of the night was spent with Ava, Lily and I spending time together and making sure Lily felt as safe as she could be. And the next morning, I started working on reporting Lily's biological parents for physical abuse. There was no way in hell I'd ever allow those people to continue running around and maybe having more children to abuse. They needed to be discovered for the horrors they'd done and they needed to be stopped.