July 11, 2005 Cleveland, Ohio

The day the kids went back home was heartbreaking for Nick. Over and over again he had to give them away, rip himself away from them after just starting to adjust to having them around. To simplify it to himself he thought about it in the sense of renting a video game. He could get a game and absolutely love it, play it for the entire time of the rental and then never want to return it. He still had more challenges to conquer, more levels to complete, he was not ready to simply bring it back to the store and maybe pick it back up another time.

There was a slight consolation in the fact that he was in Cleveland and not flying the kids into the airport. Rather than sitting on the plane with two cranky children counting down the hours and minutes until he would have to see them off only to turn back around and get on a plane again he actually got to enjoy the wrap up to his time.

They’d spent the morning after breakfast at the park. He’d gotten himself stuck in the playground equipment a few times but they still had a blast, laughing, running and being silly. It was refreshing for Nick to actually see Zoey have a smile on her face and listen to her squeal as she ran around the playground, and slipped down the slide happily.

They were now at a low key pizza parlour having lunch. It was a family friendly place with bright colours on the walls and big pieces of brown paper covering the tables so the kids could colour while they waited for their food. Most of all though, it was nearly empty, the lunch rush was over.

Parker got one side of the booth to himself and was making quick work of his very own personal sized pepperoni pizza before he had to go back to eating healthy at Mom’s house. Zoey was sitting in a bright pink booster seat on the inside of the booth next to Nick picking the liquorice whiskers of a kitty cat pizza, her immediate selection off the kid’s menu.

“Is that good?” Nick asked her with a smile, running his hand over her hair quickly.

She nodded and continued to pull the pieces off the pizza which used bits of candy as well as regular toppings to give the small pizza the appearance of a cat.

“What is this?” he asked her, pointing to the pizza, “Is that a kitty? Can you tell Daddy what that is?”

“She won’t say it,” Parker rolled his eyes and Nick shushed him, encouraging her to say the word.

Trying to get Zoey to speak had become a habit and although he knew that she needed to do it in her own time he was getting desperate to hear her say something other than Daddy. He wanted to hear her say something with a smile on her face, without all the tears, just for once. She stayed silent though, kicking her feet under the table, still picking away at her lunch.

“It’s okay,” Nick said though the sentiment was more for his benefit than hers, “Maybe later.”

He was about to go back to his own pizza when the bell above the door jingled and he looked up to see Tina’s father making his way through the restaurant. It was shocking enough that it wasn’t Lynn coming to pick up the kids but after a quick check of his watch Nick realized the man who was once almost his father-in-law was early.

“Grandpa!” Parker said cheerily as the older man slid into the booth and greeted them both.

“You’re early,” Nick pointed out, double checking his watch just to be certain.

Tina’s father wrapped an arm around Parker’s shoulders, “Don’t worry, I’ll wait until you’re done your lunch,” he said to Nick before turning to the boy, “What did you guys do this weekend?”

Parker started rambling excitedly about all the things they had done but Nick couldn’t find it in himself to feel excited. He had known that this moment was coming, that he would eventually have to step back and let them go but seeing Tina’s father had just made it all the more real. He pushed his plate away from him, suddenly losing his appetite.

“I said I would wait,” the other man stressed to him in a friendly tone and Nick glanced up, tears brimming in his eyes, “Are you okay?”

“No,” Nick choked out, shaking his head, “I can’t do this anymore. It’s killing me. Every time I feel like it’s that day all over again. I just keep thinking about how terrible it felt to come home and find out everything was gone.”

“I’m sorry,” Tina’s father told him and Nick felt like he was being genuine in his sympathy, “I wish things were different--”

“No you don’t,” Nick snapped, “You love this! You wanted her away from me and you got what you wanted. Who cares that it was at my expense and the expense of your grandchildren. You got what you wanted!”

“Maybe initially,” he admitted, watching the two kids eat their lunches oblivious to the serious conversation happening on the other side of the table, “but I never thought she was going to stick with it this long. I figured she would take a little while, you’d come back from your recording, you’d both realize how stupid you were being and smarten up for the sake of these two. I never imagined that it would have gone on this long. I’m on your side Nick. I can’t stand to see how this has affected the kids; it’s not fair to them. You had problems, sure, but neither of you ever really gave it any effort to work things out. It was just so much drama but I felt, at the end there, that you had been making progress.”

“I was,” Nick said softly, “I made a lot of mistakes but I’ve learned from them. I’ve grown up. That’s what I tried to tell Tina this weekend but she wouldn’t listen.”

“You saw Tina this weekend?” the elder interrupted and Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise, not having expected that he and Lynn wouldn’t already know all the details.

“Yeah,” the blonde nodded, “She came over for dinner and then showed up the next morning. We talked but she basically said that it’s over and there’s no hope of working things out.”

“And she saw this?” he questioned, pointing towards Zoey. The girl had eaten all the toppings off her kitty cat pizza and was currently examining the cat shaped crust.

Nick nodded and quickly leaned over to kiss the girl’s head.

A frown covered the older man’s face, “Well,” he muttered, “We should get going.”

Reluctantly Nick nodded and got out of the booth, collecting the kid’s bags while holding back his emotions, “Guys it’s time to go with Grandpa.”

“Why can’t we go back home with you?” Parker asked, looking between the two adults curiously.

“Because you have to go to Mommy’s house,” Nick answered, reaching into the booth to slide Zoey, still on the pink booster seat, across the vinyl. The tears were already welling in her eyes but he ignored them, it would be too hard to watch her cry then send her off with someone else. The second he picked her up she turned on the waterworks and he did his best to avoid eye contact. Once her feet were on the ground he packed up her stuff and handed it off to her grandfather.

Tina’s father scooped up the crying child while she stretched out her arms for her father, Parker following dutifully behind. She struggled against him, kicking out her legs and arms until her grandfather couldn’t help but put her back down on the ground.

“Daddy!” she screamed through the mostly empty restaurant, bursting into a sprint back towards her father who was in the middle of paying their bill at the cash register.

Ignoring his change Nick crouched down so he was closer to his height, “You have to go with grandpa, Princess.”

Zoey let out a sob and threw herself into his arms, “A kitty!” she cried suddenly into his ear, “My pizza was a kitty!”

“Zoey,” Nick’s eyes were wide and he pulled back, in complete shock that she had suddenly started talking to him.

She was still a blubbering mess, holding onto his collar, “Please don’t make me go! I’ll say anyfing you want! I’ll say anyfing!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he comforted her, pulling her up into his arms as he stood.  The next few moments were the hardest of his life. He felt like he was betraying the person he loved most in the world; rubbing her back, kissing her hair and soothing her cries while walking her out to the car that would take her away from him. Hearing Zoey speak should have been a happy moment but instead it was marred by guilt and anger. She thought that he was sending her away because she wouldn’t answer his question about her pizza when in reality keeping her with him wasn’t an option. He felt guilty that she had tried so hard, put herself out there, in order to stay with him and he was sending her away anyway. He fought to control his emotions as he strapped her into her car seat and dropped a lingering kiss to her forehead, assuring her that they would see one another again soon.