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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hi everyone. My finals are not done yet. In fact, they haven't even started. My first one is tomorrow pending the snow we get isn't too bad. I'll be done sometime next week. Well anyway, I needed a break from studying, so I wrote a little. Here it is. I hope you like it.

The next morning, while Nick was still asleep, Roxie was in Ariel’s room getting her dressed. “Where are we going?”

“To the mall.”

“Should we get Daddy?”

“I was hoping that today it could be just me and you. Is that okay?”

Ariel nodded. “Why are we going to the mall?”

“So we can get you supplies that are safe for a child to use when knitting.”

Ariel smiled and let Roxie finish dressing her.

After breakfast, Roxie took Ariel to the mall to buy her, her very own knitting supplies. She left a note for Nick telling him exactly that as well as that she hoped they’d end up shopping more.

Nick woke up and went to pull Roxie to him. When he felt the empty bed beside him, he sat up frantically, thinking that Roxie left him. As he woke up more, he realized that there was nothing wrong with his relationship. He relaxed. He got out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

When he was done in the bathroom, he quickly got dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, and then went to search for Roxie. He smiled when he found the note. He was glad that his girlfriend and his daughter would have a chance to bond. He ate breakfast and then went into the garage to get the supplies he would need for the day.

Meanwhile, Roxie and Ariel just left the craft store. Roxie purchased a pair of knitting needles that would be safe and easy for Ariel to use. She also let Ariel pick out a color and texture that she likes. As Roxie picked up enough yarn for Ariel to make a scarf for herself, she wasn’t surprised that Ariel picked yarn that is typically used for baby blankets, due to its softness. Roxie also purchased two knitting books; one was a book of patterns to make scarves and a book of projects that are small and easy for kids.

Holding her purchases in one hand and Ariel’s hand in the other, Roxie headed for the entrance of the mall. She wanted to make a whole day of shopping with Ariel, but she wanted it to be Ariel’s idea. She was almost at the entrance and Ariel hadn’t asked about shopping more, so she assumed that Ariel wasn’t interested.

“Roxie, I have to go potty.”

As Roxie turned around to head for the nearest bathroom she said, “It’s good that you told me now.”

They were almost at the bathroom. “Roxie, I really have to go.”

“Its okay sweetie, we’re almost there.” Just as Roxie was about to push the bathroom door open, Ariel started crying. Roxie turned to Ariel and immediately noticed the wet spot on Ariel’s jeans. Roxie stepped over the small puddle to hug Ariel.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It happens. Don’t cry.”

“Do I have to stay in these all the way home?”

“Of course not honey. I’m going to take you to a store so we can buy you a clean pair of clothes. Does Daddy make you wear wet pants home after an accident?”

“No. I don’t know. I’ve never had an accident with Daddy. He always asks me if I have to go. But when I went shopping with Mommy she wouldn’t pay attention to me. When I told her I had to go potty, she used to tell me to hold it, but she’d never take me to the potty and I had accidents all the time with Mommy. And it usually happened a lot of times in one shopping trip. And Mommy wouldn’t buy me new clothes. So I’d be in wet clothes until we got home.”

“I’m not her. And I’m sure Daddy would buy you something to change into. But first, we need to go into the bathroom so I can get paper towels.” Roxie took Ariel into the bathroom and to get paper towels. She went back to the door and cleaned up the mess and threw the paper towels away in the bathroom.

They left the bathroom and went to the nearest children’s store. Once in the store, Ariel was clinging to Roxie. Roxie picked up a cute dress off the rack and showed it to Ariel. “What do you think?” Ariel’s eyes became wide and she nodded excitedly. Roxie laughed. “Okay, let’s go buy it.” Roxie said and started toward the cash registers.

“Can’t we shop some more?”

Roxie smiled. “Of course we can. But let’s buy this first so that we can get you out of those wet clothes.” Roxie paid for the dress and a package of panties and took Ariel into the fitting room to change her. Once Ariel was in her new dress, Roxie slid her small flip flops toward her so Ariel could slip them back on. “Alright, let’s go do some more shopping.”

“Yeah.” Ariel said excitedly.

As they were shopping Ariel was just standing there letting Roxie show her clothes. “Aren’t you going to pick anything out?”

Ariel shook her head. “I like what you’re picking out. It’s different than anything Daddy has ever bought me.”

Roxie laughed. “I’m glad you like what I’m picking out for you.”

“Yeah. I always went shopping with Daddy, and he’s boring.”

Roxie laughed. “That’s because Daddy’s a boy.” Ariel smiled as Roxie picked out more clothes that she thinks Ariel might like. When Roxie had a few more outfits for Ariel she turned to the young girl and said. “You ready to move on?”

“Yeah.”

Roxie once again went to the register and paid for Ariel’s new clothes.

Once out of the store, Roxie started leading Ariel through the mall.

“Where are we going?”

“I want to get something for Daddy.”

“What are you getting him?”

“Some things for his guitar. Maybe we can convince him to start playing again.”

“Yeah.” Ariel said excitedly.

Roxie walked into a music store holding Ariel’s hand. The store was very well organized and Roxie had no problem finding what she would need. She grabbed a pack of picks and moved over to the guitar strings. She remembered that Nick had said he was in a band, so she assumed that he had an electric guitar. She picked up a pack of strings and walked over to the counter to pay and then left the store

As they were walking through the mall they passed the saloon. “I really need to get my hair cut one of these days.” Ariel started to pull Roxie toward the entrance of the saloon. “Where are you taking me?”

“To get your hair cut. We can make you pretty for Daddy.”

“Wait a minute, you don’t think I’m pretty now?” Roxie said with a chuckle.

Ariel looked at Roxie. “We can make you prettier for Daddy.”

A couple minutes later, Roxie found herself sitting in a chair while the hair dresser prepared her dark brown hair to be highlighted with a chestnut red and then eventually cut.

During the hour that Roxie was getting her hair done, Ariel was sitting on the floor talking nonstop to the hair dresser. After Roxie’s hair was done, the hair dresser turned the chair that Roxie was in to show Ariel. “Do you think your daddy will approve?”

Ariel nodded. “Yeah.”

The hair dresser turned to Roxie, “Well, now that the hair is done, and looks fabulous if I do say so myself, I think a complete makeover is in order.”

“Oh I don’t know.” Roxie said.

“Well if you’re going this far to impress him, you might as well go all the way. I’ll apply the makeup and if you like how it comes out, you can buy what I use to use all the time.” She turned back toward Ariel. “What do you think? Makeup, or no?”

“Makeup.”

Roxie relented and let the hair dresser lead her over to the makeup.

After taking several minutes to set up, the hair dresser, now makeup artist, started to apply makeup to Roxie. Ariel watched on in excitement. “What about me?”

The makeup artist turned to Roxie for permission. “I don’t see the harm in putting a little on her.”

“Okay. Get closer sweetie.” Ariel moved forward a bit so the makeup artist could reach her.

Twenty minutes later, Roxie was completely done. Ariel had gotten some eye shadow and blush and a little bit of lip gloss.

Roxie looked in the mirror and was absolutely shocked. She could barely tell she had makeup on. “So what do you think?”

“I think you need to tell me how you did this.”

The makeup artist smiled. She got out brand new containers of everything she used and gave Roxie detailed instructions on how to apply it so she gets the same kind of look. Roxie paid for her hair cut and makeover, as well as the makeup.

On the way out, Ariel said, “Wow, that cost a lot of money.”

“Yeah, but it’s worth it to look pretty for Daddy right?”

“Yeah.”

“You were very good in there. So, how about a treat?”

“What kind of treat?”

“Ice cream?”

Ariel smiled in excitement. Roxie laughed and led Ariel to Baskin & Robbins. After they finished their ice cream, Roxie asked, “Where to now?”

Ariel srunched up her little nose in thought. “TOY STORE.”

Roxie chuckled. “Okay, toy store it is. Just be nice and don’t buy out the whole store.”

“Deal.” Ariel said and grabbed Roxie’s hand.

Roxie led Ariel to the toy store. Once there, Ariel immediately went over to the baby dolls. She stood there for a couple minutes looking at her choices. She saw one doll that only had one left and she reached for that one.

She grabbed it and turned to show it to Roxie when it was pulled from her hands.

Ariel turned to the young girl who took it from her. “Hey, that’s mine. I had it first.”

“Well, now it’s mine.”

Ariel started crying.

“Mikayla Marie Collins, give that back to her right this instance.”

Roxie was hugging Ariel trying to calm her down as well as convince her to pick out a different doll.

“But Mommy, I want this one and there aren’t anymore.”

“Give that one back to the poor girl and pick out another one or else you aren’t getting any.”

“No. I want this one.” Amanda Collins grabbed the doll from her young daughter and handed it to the crying toddler in front of her as her own daughter started to throw a temper tantrum.

Amanda turned to Roxie. “I’m so sorry about this.” Roxie looked up and nodded to accept her apology. Amanda recognized Roxie almost immediately. “Rox?”

Roxie looked at her in confusion. “Nobody has called me that since…Mandy?”

Amanda smiled. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Yeah, you too.”

“God, I can’t believe the last time I saw you, you were 8 years old. You’ve really grown up.”

“Oh don’t be so sentimental.”

Amanda laughed. “You look like you’re doing well. How old is your daughter?”

“Oh, actually, she’s not mine. She’s my boyfriend’s daughter.”

Ariel looked up at her. She still had tears in her eyes from the traumatic event of almost losing the doll she wanted. “Don’t you love me?”

Roxie looked down at Ariel. “Of course I love you sweetie”

Ariel held onto Roxie’s leg with the arm that wasn’t holding her doll. Roxie looked up at her older sister.

Amanda smiled. “So, tell me about your boyfriend.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Start off with how you met him?”

“Well, I went into the store Waves Records and Ariel here was running around unattended and I took her over to her father, who I later found out was the owner of the store and having a very bad day.”

“Waves Records? I love that place. I go there practically every morning after I send the kids off to school. Who are you dating?”

“Nick.”

“Ooo, the hot blonde who’s always there?”

Roxie blushed. “Yeah, that’s him.”

“Wait, did you say he’s the owner?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you mean he was the owner?”

“No, he still owns it.”

“Oh, I figured there was a change of ownership because he hasn’t been there for awhile.”

“No. He…” Roxie paused not quite sure how to phrase this without revealing too much of his private life. “Uh, he’s been sick.”

“Oh that’s too bad. How sick is he? Is it life threatening?”

“Well, it can be. He’s doing a bit better now.”

“That’s good. So, how long have you been together?”

“About three months. Our three month anniversary is on September 10.” She wasn’t including the month that they were separated.

“That’s on Friday.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll watch…” Amanda paused realizing she doesn’t know the little girl’s name.

“Ariel.”

Amanda smiled. “I’ll watch Ariel if you two want to do something romantic.”

“I’ll have to talk to Nick. It’s really up to him.”

“Oh, he knows me.” Amanda’s oldest daughter came over pulling a still screaming Mikayla. “Come here girls. I want you to meet my sister. Roxie this is Alana and the little drama queen over there is Mikayla. Girls, this is your Aunt Roxie and Ariel.”

Alana looked at Ariel. “You mean like the little mermaid?” Ariel nodded shyly. “Cool, I love that movie.”

Ariel smiled. “Me too.”

Roxie and Amanda smiled as Alana and Ariel talked about The Little Mermaid. “How old is Ariel? She looks like she’s about three.”

“Actually, she’s just very small for her age. She’ll be five in January.”

“Oh wow.”

“Yeah. How old are your girls?”

“Alana here is eight. Mikayla is five. And I have three more at home driving Chris, my husband, nuts. Dean is six, Zackary is three and Landon is ten months.”

“You certainly have your hands full.”

Amanda smiled. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. So, you never told me how serious you and Nick are.”

“Well, I know it happened fast, but we’re in love. I live with them. And honestly, I can’t see myself without them.”

“That’s great. Hey, we should all have dinner together tonight at your house. That way I can bet better acquainted with my future brother-in-law.”

“Okay, but why our house?”

“Well, if he’s sick, then we can’t make him go out to come to us. He should be resting.”

“Uh, right. I’m just going to call him to see if he’s feeling up to starting dinner.” She said and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed the house and waited for Nick to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Hey you. What’s up?”

“I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to start dinner.”

“Why? We can just throw together pasta or something when you get home.”

“Well, I wanted something a little more elaborate because I ran into my sister…”

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah.”

“You never mentioned her.”

“She’s ten years older and I haven’t seen her since I was 8. But anyway, I ran into her today and I want her to come over for dinner so can you start it.”

“Today’s not a good day.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m painting Ariel’s room. I won’t have time to start dinner.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Hey, I’m not saying never. Just any night but tonight. It can be tomorrow night. I’ll help you and we’ll have a lot more time.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love you too. Bye.” Roxie hung up.

“Aww, you’re so cute. So, what time should I be there?”

“Actually, he said that tonight’s not a good night for this. So, how’s tomorrow.”

“Aww, he must be sicker than you mentioned. I’ll follow you home from the mall. I’ll help you cook. If he’s feeling that sick, he’s going to need a good meal.”

“But...”

“But what? It’s settled. How much more shopping do you have to do?”

“I don’t know. Today didn’t have a set shopping plan. It was basically just so that me and Ariel could bond.”

“So, you’re telling me that you’ve been with the guy three months and you haven’t bonded with his daughter yet?”

“Well, we did, but we had a few rough patches recently.”

“Oh. Well, you’ll have plenty of time to bond with her. Especially since you live with them. And with him this sick then I’m sure you have lots of time with her when he’s resting.”

Roxie didn’t know what to say so she finally gave in. “Let me go pay for Ariel’s doll.” Roxie paid for Ariel’s doll and returned to Amanda and handed her a piece of paper. “This is how to get to Nick’s house, just in case you lose me.”

The left the mall and soon Roxie found herself pulling into the driveway. She wasn’t sure how to tell Nick that they were having company that night after he asked to have it a different day. Roxie’s only consolation was that she managed to lose Amanda and that she gave Amanda the long way to Nick’s house from the mall.

Taking a deep breath, Roxie got out of the car. She got Ariel out of her car seat and the bags out of the trunk. Grabbing Ariel’s hand, they walked into the house.

“Daddy, we’re home.” Ariel called loudly into the house. “Roxie has a surprise so come here.”

Up in Ariel’s room, Nick heard Ariel screaming through the house. Damn that girl has a set of lungs on her. Nick thought with a chuckle. He left the room, making sure to close the door behind him. He went downstairs and stopped mid step as soon as he saw Roxie. His jaw dropped. After a couple minutes he regained his composure. “Wow, you look…wow.”

Roxie smiled. “You like it?”

Nick smiled and walked closer. “I think you look gorgeous.” Nick said and kissed Roxie.

“See, Daddy, I told you Roxie had a surprise.”

“Yes you did.” Nick looked down at Ariel. “Roxie, is that makeup on my four year old?”

“Don’t I look pretty?” Ariel asked with a big smile.

“You always look pretty Ariel.”

“When I was getting my makeup done she asked for a little. I didn’t see any harm. Are you mad?”

“No. There are worse things you could’ve done to my daughter than put make up on her. You didn’t get her a tattoo right?” Nick said jokingly.

Roxie caught on to his joke. “Actually. She begged me for a tattoo. She gave me that puppy dog look that she learned off of you. Well, anyway, I caved.” Roxie grabbed Ariel’s arm gently and showed nick the temporary dolphin that was on Ariel’s skin. “She saw them in the mall. I just couldn’t say no.”

Nick laughed. “Temporary tattoos are okay.

Nick went to kiss Roxie again when he saw a van pull into the driveway. Nick went to the window. He saw a woman get out with 2 young girls. “Roxie, do you have something you want to tell me?”

Roxie bit her lip. “Um.” The bell rang.

Nick stood by the door. “I thought we agreed to have her over tomorrow.”

“I know, but she...”

“But she what?”

“She’s my sister.”

“And I never said that she couldn’t come over. I just asked for you to have her over tomorrow.”

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer. And besides, she’s here now, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The doorbell rang again. Nick opened the door roughly. Amanda was about to say something. “You have to wait a minute.” Nick said and closed the door.

“Nick, that was rude.”

“So was bringing her here when I specifically asked you not to.” Nick said and brushed past Roxie, he went back into Ariel’s room to finish where he left off.

Chapter End Notes:
Please review. It'll get me motivated for the next chapter.