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Chapter or StoryAuthor's Chapter Notes:
This is it folks, this is the end of the Fic. Thank you all so much for all of the reviews and the feedback. We have loved it all. I hope you all like this chap as well, and look out for our next Fic. It will be called At What Price, and as soon as I finish editing it, it will be posted. With any luck, with in the week. Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews. (As always though, this is co-written but Jaccione and Onisius.)
Jarod nodded. "You should get some rest, I bet Bailey will be up early tomorrow, and I think it will be a difficult day for her."
Gracie nodded in agreement. "I will leave you the Tim Tams. Don’t eat too much, you might get a tummy ache.” She said in a motherly tone, talking to him as if he was a small child, as she stood to her feet.
Jarod took another biscuit and reclined on the bed. He was bone tired, from more than just the run today. Everything that had happened to him emotionally had been pushed aside, and he could feel it finally taking its toll now that he had lowered his guard a little. "Thank you Grace, for not leaving me there." Despite everything, he couldn’t bring himself to hate her. Deep down he knew she was as much a victim as he was, she was only doing what it took to survive, like he was.
Gracie bent over and tucked him in the queen size bed, the bedding soft and warm, she brushed his hair back and smiled down, "It was my pleasure, I just hope I haven’t gotten you into more trouble then this is all worth.” She planted a soft, tender kiss to his forehead, "Go to sleep now Jarod, you're exhausted. I'll watch over you for a while.” She said softly, warmly. Gracie knew if they found out about this place, if it wasn’t as well hidden as she had thought it was, and they were caught, Jarod would be in so much trouble. The only reason he had gotten out was because of her, and Gandi would take it as such a betrayal to them that he did run again. Gracie couldn’t even comprehend how much trouble she would be in, there was just no way of her to imagine it. The only good thing was Bailey most likely wouldn’t be in trouble. They would see it as her just following an order from a handler, having no choice in what had happened.
He was about to argue with her and decided not to. He closed his eyes and relaxed a little, truly let himself relaxed for the first time in what had to be at least a month.
Gracie settled on the side of the bed and kept smoothing back his hair relaxingly, comforting him. She watched as he slowly drifted off to sleep and when Grace was sure he was dead to the world, slowly got up and left the room.
Jarod allowed himself to almost float away under her gentle touch, falling into the first real sleep he had had since this all began. In the past month or so, he had only managed to catch a few hours sleep at a time, but was always haunted by terrifying dreams. The only half decent sleep he had managed had been in the infirmary, where despite his protests, they had drugged him.
Gracie was playing mother not only to Bailey but now Jarod as well. She was always cooking what she could, cleaning, making sure both of them bathed before bed. She would help Bailey to brush her teeth and get ready, Jarod as well if he forgot to do his teeth because he was too caught up in the computers. She tucked Bailey in, Jarod as well, waiting until both were sleeping before going to bed herself. Grace wasn’t too sure if Jarod liked being mothered like this, but she couldn’t help it. Jarod's feet had healed now, still tender, and she would reprimand him if he did too much, stood to long on them. It had been an exhausting week, organising transport, going over different escape routes. She had helped Jarod pick an area that they would be safe in until they could fly out to America, believing it was best to stay over there until Bailey was used to her new life before shifting her again if it was needed.
Breakfast was ready on the table and she went to wake Jarod up first, she had been slipping him mild sleeping tablets to help him sleep after realising how bad his nightmares were. The first night he had woken both her and Bailey screaming in terror. Grace had tried to calm him, but only seemed to make it worse, and in the end just grabbed a hold of him and held him tightly while she changed his emotions, taking away his fear and pain and replacing it with calm and reassurance.
Jarod woke feeling refreshed. He was sleeping better here than he ever had and he wondered if it was because of the girls or because this was the closest thing he had ever had to a real home. "Good morning,” He smiled as she came into the room. He had grown very fond of little Bailey very quickly, and even Grace.
"Good morning Jarod.” She said softly, the light on, "How did you sleep tonight? Any nightmares?” She asked, knowing the answer. She knew if Jarod was aware of what she was doing, he would throw a hissy fit, but she could not have him waking up each night screaming. Bailey had been scared all morning after hearing his screams on the first night.
"No nightmares,” He said in wonder. It was so unusual for him not to have bad dreams. He sat up and swung his legs around. Tonight was the big night when everything was set for them to leave. He had still had a few things to take care of, but he wanted to spend most of the day in 'class' with Bailey.
"That’s good to hear." Gracie said happily and knelt down, checking his feet. She touched them gently, "Still sore?” She asked him in concern, she knew they were a little but nowhere near as bad as before.
"They will be fine,” He said, hating her fussing.
"Excellent.” She smiled standing up, "Breakfast is ready, go brush your teeth then you may eat." Grace said, thinking she sounded like a mother would. It gave her a purpose if she was looking after both of them. Watching them, making sure they were clean, feeding them.
He had given up trying to get her to stop ordering him around and he teased her gently about it. "Why thank you Miss Gracie,” He said, putting on his best southern accent, which he knew always cracked Bailey up.
"Cute Jarod,” She said, ignoring his grin, "Get going."
He smiled to himself and made his way to the bathroom, chuckling to himself along the way.
Grace walked past the bathroom and poked her head in glad to see him brushing his teeth before she moved into her and Bailey's room and turned the light on. "Bailey, its time to get up." Gracie said gently as she sat on the bed.
Bailey stretched and yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Do I have to Gracie?” She whined. She had sat up late last night with Jarod as he told her all about the animals from all around the world again. He had drawn so many pictures for her and wrote down information that she could almost make a book out of it.
"If you don’t want to miss breakfast you do," Grace told her as she pulled the covers back.
She nodded, something on her mind, but she was scared to ask.
"Come on Bailey,” She said as she sat up, "Breakfast is waiting." Grace liked sharing meals with Bailey, it made them feel so much closer then before.
"Gracie?” She asked hesitantly as she started to get up.
"Yeah?"
"You like Jarod don’t you?” She let Gracie help her to dress, even though she was big enough to do it by herself now. She liked how Gracie fussed over her all the time now, it made her feel wanted.
"Yes of course I do Bailey, why do you ask."
Bailey had been scared of him at first, but now she never wanted him to go away, not ever. "Will he leave us today, after we go? He wants to go home."
"Yes he does, he wants to find his Mummy and Daddy. But he won’t leave us until we ask him to.” She said gently as she finished dressing her and started to brush her hair. She had the most lovely hair, just like Gracie, only hers was wavy, Grace's was dead straight.
"I know how to make him never want to leave us,” She whispered nervously. He had taught her lots of things that nobody else had taught her before and he said he would teach her how to be a vet too.
"And hows that honey?" She asked curiously.
"He couldn’t leave us if he was our Daddy,” She said even softer, losing her nerve now.
Gracie tied her hair back and sighed, "Bailey, you can’t ask someone that just so they don’t leave. That is a very big thing to ask of him.” She said gently.
"Why not? You took him without asking. He said he likes us, said he wants to look after us.” She had learnt the basic dynamics of a family. "He doesn’t have any family, we could be his family and he could be our Daddy and if he got married to a lady, she could be our Mummy." It all made perfect sense to Bailey, and if he was her Daddy, he couldn’t just leave them.
Gracie sighed and looked at her for a long time. "No I didn’t ask before I took him, but I knew it was the right thing to do." Jarod was making slow progress with her about what was right and what was wrong, taking him and Bailey out was right. "He does have family Bailey, he has a brother and sister, Mummy and Daddy. He just doesn’t see them.” She had already asked Jarod about being their family the first night they were out and not sure at all that he would say no to Bailey asking him to be her Daddy. "You can ask him but.”
Bailey thought about it for a moment and then nodded, reaching her decision. "I will ask him later then."
"You can ask him at breakfast ok Bailey? Now come on, let’s get those teeth brushed so we can eat." Grace said, wondering what Jarod would say to her.
She nodded, happy with that. She still missed home, but there was so much to do here that she hardly noticed. Jarod even let her help him on the computers, but she knew he was just doing that to make her feel good because her typing was so bad, but she was getting better. She rushed to the bathroom so she could hurry up and eat. She was looking forward to all the foods Jarod had told her about, especially something called PEZ, but he wouldn’t explain what it was.
Jarod was already seated when they came in. He was waiting for them both, a smile on his face, wondering if he would get a good morning kiss from his favourite girl.
Grace followed her, a smile on her lips at Bailey's enthusiasm. She watched her, making sure she brushed them correctly before walking her into the kitchen. Grace had the small bar fridge on, using a lot of the little amount of power from the batteries to run it. When they knew it would be a week, she had eased up on the food and water and power. Gracie had set out the bowls and cereal already and grabbed the open bottle of long life milk and sat it on the table. She filled each of the three glasses with juice before putting the juice back in the fridge. "Hands.” She asked, wanting to check they were clean, as she did every other meal they ate. She knew it drove Jarod crazy, and it always amused her.
Bailey let Gracie inspect her hands, making faces at Jarod while she was doing it.
Jarod poked his tongue out at her and then looked serious again when Gracie glanced his way.
"Manners at the table Bailey please.” She told her off gently as she checked to see if her hands needed to be washed again. When she was happy with Bailey's hands, she let them go and turned to Jarod, "Hands."
Jarod had given up the argument with her and presented his hands to her. He was a grown man and knew how to wash his hands, but he submitted to it to keep the peace.
She checked the over before sighing, "Go wash your hands again Jarod.” She told him, letting them go, "And scrub under your nails this time."
"Grace,” He protested. His hands were perfectly clean and he had no idea why she was so obsessed about this.
"Just do it Jarod," Bailey advised sagely.
"You will go wash them again or you will not be allowed to have breakfast.” She said in a stern voice, knowing how much this annoyed him, loving it to death.
Jarod shot a long suffering look at Bailey and then sighed dramatically and made his way to the bathroom slowly, as if it pained him to walk.
Bailey giggled and put her hand over her mouth and cast her eyes down quickly before Grace said anything.
"You think it is funny when he sulks don’t you Bailey?” She asked with a smile. "Because I do.”
"He is a terrible actor,” She told her with a grin.
"For a pretender, you would think he would be better.” She laughed a little, knowing he exaggerated to make Bailey laugh.
"You are bad Gracie,” She said, wanting Jarod to hurry up now the fun was over. She was hungry.
Grace just smiled at her little sister.
Jarod came out of the bathroom and presented his hands for inspection before sitting down.
Gracie inspected his hand and smirked when she let him sit down. “Perfect Jarod.” She poured the cereal and milk for them all and started to eat, “Bailey, why don’t you ask Jarod what you asked me?”
Jarod looked at her and then Bailey, eating his cereal.
Bailey didn’t stop shovelling food in her mouth, she usually didn’t have much time to eat so she always ate quickly, not used to company and talking during meals. “Would you be my Daddy?” She asked him between spoonfuls.
Jarod almost choked on his current mouthful as he gaped at her. "What?” He whispered in pure shock.
Grace bit down on her lip at his reaction. “She wants you to be her father Jarod. She likes you so much. She doesn’t want you to leave.” Grace tried to explain, hoping Jarod’s reaction wasn’t going to upset Bailey.
Jarod looked at her and then back to Bailey who was still eating. "I... ahh... I...” He was at a complete loss for words.
Bailey finally looked up at him, her eyes wide. "You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” She whispered.
“Bailey, why don’t you go feed Walter for me please?” She asked, wanting her to leave so Jarod and her could discuss this.
Bailey looked from Jarod to Gracie, knowing it was one of those times that was for grownup talking. She skipped away from the table, confident that Jarod would say yes. She had learnt to read him pretty well over the past few days. "Walter, are you hungry?” She asked as she left the room.
Grace looked at Jarod, “I’m sorry Jarod. This is not the kind of thing you need right now but she is afraid that once we are safe, you will leave her. She said if you were her Daddy, you could never leave.” She told Jarod in a soft voice.
Jarod almost cried as he looked at her, thinking about how quickly Bailey had opened up to him, how much he had grown to love her in such a short time. "I won’t leave her, or you.” He told her softly. "But she needs a real family Grace, not someone like me, leading only half a life."
“She doesn’t want a real family Jarod, she wants you. No one has ever treated her how you have, and she never wants you to leave.” She said softly. “Say no Jarod, don’t feel like you have to do this. if you don’t want to, Bailey will get over it.”
Jarod didn’t know what to do, the very idea of leaving these two to fend for themselves was beyond comprehension, but his life was not the kind he wanted them having. They needed stability and kindness, not a life on the run. And this was the kind of commitment he had never have to worry about. His only concern had been himself but they were in danger now because of him and he could not turn his back on them. "I will not leave you,” He stated again, softly but with conviction.
Gracie nodded, “But that doesn’t answer Bailey’s question of being her Daddy.” Grace all but chided him.
"You have to understand Grace, I have never had a family, I don’t know if I would know how to be her father.” He said bluntly. He had failed so miserably lately, and this was something he could not mess up if he agreed to it.
“And I don’t know how to keep her safe without screwing her up. We all make mistakes Jarod,” She shot back at him.
He nodded slowly, surprised at how natural it felt to say yes to this.
The End.
Gracie nodded in agreement. "I will leave you the Tim Tams. Don’t eat too much, you might get a tummy ache.” She said in a motherly tone, talking to him as if he was a small child, as she stood to her feet.
Jarod took another biscuit and reclined on the bed. He was bone tired, from more than just the run today. Everything that had happened to him emotionally had been pushed aside, and he could feel it finally taking its toll now that he had lowered his guard a little. "Thank you Grace, for not leaving me there." Despite everything, he couldn’t bring himself to hate her. Deep down he knew she was as much a victim as he was, she was only doing what it took to survive, like he was.
Gracie bent over and tucked him in the queen size bed, the bedding soft and warm, she brushed his hair back and smiled down, "It was my pleasure, I just hope I haven’t gotten you into more trouble then this is all worth.” She planted a soft, tender kiss to his forehead, "Go to sleep now Jarod, you're exhausted. I'll watch over you for a while.” She said softly, warmly. Gracie knew if they found out about this place, if it wasn’t as well hidden as she had thought it was, and they were caught, Jarod would be in so much trouble. The only reason he had gotten out was because of her, and Gandi would take it as such a betrayal to them that he did run again. Gracie couldn’t even comprehend how much trouble she would be in, there was just no way of her to imagine it. The only good thing was Bailey most likely wouldn’t be in trouble. They would see it as her just following an order from a handler, having no choice in what had happened.
He was about to argue with her and decided not to. He closed his eyes and relaxed a little, truly let himself relaxed for the first time in what had to be at least a month.
Gracie settled on the side of the bed and kept smoothing back his hair relaxingly, comforting him. She watched as he slowly drifted off to sleep and when Grace was sure he was dead to the world, slowly got up and left the room.
Jarod allowed himself to almost float away under her gentle touch, falling into the first real sleep he had had since this all began. In the past month or so, he had only managed to catch a few hours sleep at a time, but was always haunted by terrifying dreams. The only half decent sleep he had managed had been in the infirmary, where despite his protests, they had drugged him.
Gracie was playing mother not only to Bailey but now Jarod as well. She was always cooking what she could, cleaning, making sure both of them bathed before bed. She would help Bailey to brush her teeth and get ready, Jarod as well if he forgot to do his teeth because he was too caught up in the computers. She tucked Bailey in, Jarod as well, waiting until both were sleeping before going to bed herself. Grace wasn’t too sure if Jarod liked being mothered like this, but she couldn’t help it. Jarod's feet had healed now, still tender, and she would reprimand him if he did too much, stood to long on them. It had been an exhausting week, organising transport, going over different escape routes. She had helped Jarod pick an area that they would be safe in until they could fly out to America, believing it was best to stay over there until Bailey was used to her new life before shifting her again if it was needed.
Breakfast was ready on the table and she went to wake Jarod up first, she had been slipping him mild sleeping tablets to help him sleep after realising how bad his nightmares were. The first night he had woken both her and Bailey screaming in terror. Grace had tried to calm him, but only seemed to make it worse, and in the end just grabbed a hold of him and held him tightly while she changed his emotions, taking away his fear and pain and replacing it with calm and reassurance.
Jarod woke feeling refreshed. He was sleeping better here than he ever had and he wondered if it was because of the girls or because this was the closest thing he had ever had to a real home. "Good morning,” He smiled as she came into the room. He had grown very fond of little Bailey very quickly, and even Grace.
"Good morning Jarod.” She said softly, the light on, "How did you sleep tonight? Any nightmares?” She asked, knowing the answer. She knew if Jarod was aware of what she was doing, he would throw a hissy fit, but she could not have him waking up each night screaming. Bailey had been scared all morning after hearing his screams on the first night.
"No nightmares,” He said in wonder. It was so unusual for him not to have bad dreams. He sat up and swung his legs around. Tonight was the big night when everything was set for them to leave. He had still had a few things to take care of, but he wanted to spend most of the day in 'class' with Bailey.
"That’s good to hear." Gracie said happily and knelt down, checking his feet. She touched them gently, "Still sore?” She asked him in concern, she knew they were a little but nowhere near as bad as before.
"They will be fine,” He said, hating her fussing.
"Excellent.” She smiled standing up, "Breakfast is ready, go brush your teeth then you may eat." Grace said, thinking she sounded like a mother would. It gave her a purpose if she was looking after both of them. Watching them, making sure they were clean, feeding them.
He had given up trying to get her to stop ordering him around and he teased her gently about it. "Why thank you Miss Gracie,” He said, putting on his best southern accent, which he knew always cracked Bailey up.
"Cute Jarod,” She said, ignoring his grin, "Get going."
He smiled to himself and made his way to the bathroom, chuckling to himself along the way.
Grace walked past the bathroom and poked her head in glad to see him brushing his teeth before she moved into her and Bailey's room and turned the light on. "Bailey, its time to get up." Gracie said gently as she sat on the bed.
Bailey stretched and yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Do I have to Gracie?” She whined. She had sat up late last night with Jarod as he told her all about the animals from all around the world again. He had drawn so many pictures for her and wrote down information that she could almost make a book out of it.
"If you don’t want to miss breakfast you do," Grace told her as she pulled the covers back.
She nodded, something on her mind, but she was scared to ask.
"Come on Bailey,” She said as she sat up, "Breakfast is waiting." Grace liked sharing meals with Bailey, it made them feel so much closer then before.
"Gracie?” She asked hesitantly as she started to get up.
"Yeah?"
"You like Jarod don’t you?” She let Gracie help her to dress, even though she was big enough to do it by herself now. She liked how Gracie fussed over her all the time now, it made her feel wanted.
"Yes of course I do Bailey, why do you ask."
Bailey had been scared of him at first, but now she never wanted him to go away, not ever. "Will he leave us today, after we go? He wants to go home."
"Yes he does, he wants to find his Mummy and Daddy. But he won’t leave us until we ask him to.” She said gently as she finished dressing her and started to brush her hair. She had the most lovely hair, just like Gracie, only hers was wavy, Grace's was dead straight.
"I know how to make him never want to leave us,” She whispered nervously. He had taught her lots of things that nobody else had taught her before and he said he would teach her how to be a vet too.
"And hows that honey?" She asked curiously.
"He couldn’t leave us if he was our Daddy,” She said even softer, losing her nerve now.
Gracie tied her hair back and sighed, "Bailey, you can’t ask someone that just so they don’t leave. That is a very big thing to ask of him.” She said gently.
"Why not? You took him without asking. He said he likes us, said he wants to look after us.” She had learnt the basic dynamics of a family. "He doesn’t have any family, we could be his family and he could be our Daddy and if he got married to a lady, she could be our Mummy." It all made perfect sense to Bailey, and if he was her Daddy, he couldn’t just leave them.
Gracie sighed and looked at her for a long time. "No I didn’t ask before I took him, but I knew it was the right thing to do." Jarod was making slow progress with her about what was right and what was wrong, taking him and Bailey out was right. "He does have family Bailey, he has a brother and sister, Mummy and Daddy. He just doesn’t see them.” She had already asked Jarod about being their family the first night they were out and not sure at all that he would say no to Bailey asking him to be her Daddy. "You can ask him but.”
Bailey thought about it for a moment and then nodded, reaching her decision. "I will ask him later then."
"You can ask him at breakfast ok Bailey? Now come on, let’s get those teeth brushed so we can eat." Grace said, wondering what Jarod would say to her.
She nodded, happy with that. She still missed home, but there was so much to do here that she hardly noticed. Jarod even let her help him on the computers, but she knew he was just doing that to make her feel good because her typing was so bad, but she was getting better. She rushed to the bathroom so she could hurry up and eat. She was looking forward to all the foods Jarod had told her about, especially something called PEZ, but he wouldn’t explain what it was.
Jarod was already seated when they came in. He was waiting for them both, a smile on his face, wondering if he would get a good morning kiss from his favourite girl.
Grace followed her, a smile on her lips at Bailey's enthusiasm. She watched her, making sure she brushed them correctly before walking her into the kitchen. Grace had the small bar fridge on, using a lot of the little amount of power from the batteries to run it. When they knew it would be a week, she had eased up on the food and water and power. Gracie had set out the bowls and cereal already and grabbed the open bottle of long life milk and sat it on the table. She filled each of the three glasses with juice before putting the juice back in the fridge. "Hands.” She asked, wanting to check they were clean, as she did every other meal they ate. She knew it drove Jarod crazy, and it always amused her.
Bailey let Gracie inspect her hands, making faces at Jarod while she was doing it.
Jarod poked his tongue out at her and then looked serious again when Gracie glanced his way.
"Manners at the table Bailey please.” She told her off gently as she checked to see if her hands needed to be washed again. When she was happy with Bailey's hands, she let them go and turned to Jarod, "Hands."
Jarod had given up the argument with her and presented his hands to her. He was a grown man and knew how to wash his hands, but he submitted to it to keep the peace.
She checked the over before sighing, "Go wash your hands again Jarod.” She told him, letting them go, "And scrub under your nails this time."
"Grace,” He protested. His hands were perfectly clean and he had no idea why she was so obsessed about this.
"Just do it Jarod," Bailey advised sagely.
"You will go wash them again or you will not be allowed to have breakfast.” She said in a stern voice, knowing how much this annoyed him, loving it to death.
Jarod shot a long suffering look at Bailey and then sighed dramatically and made his way to the bathroom slowly, as if it pained him to walk.
Bailey giggled and put her hand over her mouth and cast her eyes down quickly before Grace said anything.
"You think it is funny when he sulks don’t you Bailey?” She asked with a smile. "Because I do.”
"He is a terrible actor,” She told her with a grin.
"For a pretender, you would think he would be better.” She laughed a little, knowing he exaggerated to make Bailey laugh.
"You are bad Gracie,” She said, wanting Jarod to hurry up now the fun was over. She was hungry.
Grace just smiled at her little sister.
Jarod came out of the bathroom and presented his hands for inspection before sitting down.
Gracie inspected his hand and smirked when she let him sit down. “Perfect Jarod.” She poured the cereal and milk for them all and started to eat, “Bailey, why don’t you ask Jarod what you asked me?”
Jarod looked at her and then Bailey, eating his cereal.
Bailey didn’t stop shovelling food in her mouth, she usually didn’t have much time to eat so she always ate quickly, not used to company and talking during meals. “Would you be my Daddy?” She asked him between spoonfuls.
Jarod almost choked on his current mouthful as he gaped at her. "What?” He whispered in pure shock.
Grace bit down on her lip at his reaction. “She wants you to be her father Jarod. She likes you so much. She doesn’t want you to leave.” Grace tried to explain, hoping Jarod’s reaction wasn’t going to upset Bailey.
Jarod looked at her and then back to Bailey who was still eating. "I... ahh... I...” He was at a complete loss for words.
Bailey finally looked up at him, her eyes wide. "You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” She whispered.
“Bailey, why don’t you go feed Walter for me please?” She asked, wanting her to leave so Jarod and her could discuss this.
Bailey looked from Jarod to Gracie, knowing it was one of those times that was for grownup talking. She skipped away from the table, confident that Jarod would say yes. She had learnt to read him pretty well over the past few days. "Walter, are you hungry?” She asked as she left the room.
Grace looked at Jarod, “I’m sorry Jarod. This is not the kind of thing you need right now but she is afraid that once we are safe, you will leave her. She said if you were her Daddy, you could never leave.” She told Jarod in a soft voice.
Jarod almost cried as he looked at her, thinking about how quickly Bailey had opened up to him, how much he had grown to love her in such a short time. "I won’t leave her, or you.” He told her softly. "But she needs a real family Grace, not someone like me, leading only half a life."
“She doesn’t want a real family Jarod, she wants you. No one has ever treated her how you have, and she never wants you to leave.” She said softly. “Say no Jarod, don’t feel like you have to do this. if you don’t want to, Bailey will get over it.”
Jarod didn’t know what to do, the very idea of leaving these two to fend for themselves was beyond comprehension, but his life was not the kind he wanted them having. They needed stability and kindness, not a life on the run. And this was the kind of commitment he had never have to worry about. His only concern had been himself but they were in danger now because of him and he could not turn his back on them. "I will not leave you,” He stated again, softly but with conviction.
Gracie nodded, “But that doesn’t answer Bailey’s question of being her Daddy.” Grace all but chided him.
"You have to understand Grace, I have never had a family, I don’t know if I would know how to be her father.” He said bluntly. He had failed so miserably lately, and this was something he could not mess up if he agreed to it.
“And I don’t know how to keep her safe without screwing her up. We all make mistakes Jarod,” She shot back at him.
He nodded slowly, surprised at how natural it felt to say yes to this.
The End.
