Sorry for the wait you guys, but I wanted to get this chapter up before I became swamped sending out applications for my clinical practicum sites. Grad school is becoming very real, very fast. Anyway, here you go.

The next morning Pam was busy trying to sign Emily out of the hospital and communicate with her husband about what was happening. Emily was still fast asleep and Paige was completely passed out sitting in one of those chair-bed things they have in hospitals. With Pam outside of the room, Ashley Marin had offered to sort of keep and eye on them since she was there to check on Hanna and Caleb. She sipped her coffee as she looked through the window of Emily's room, watching the two girls sleep. Her concentration was broken when she heard a voice from behind her.

"Paige could always sleep anywhere, no matter how uncomfortable it might be to other people. Cars, airplanes and apparently even chairs." Ashley turned around to see Nick standing a few feet behind her with his hands in his pockets, looking tired and little worse for the wear.

"I imagine she would have slept on the floor to be close to Emily." Ashley played with the cup in her hand before just asking flat out. "What are you doing back here Nick? Pam made it seem like I shouldn't expect to see you back here."

"I handled things poorly yesterday."

"I'll say." Nick looked at Ashley like he wanted to defend himself and the red head shook her head. "Don't look at me like that Nick, I'm not going to sugar coat this for you, you fucked up bad and in the process you hurt my kid's best friend. I didn't give birth to her, but I love her like I love my own daughter so if you are going to pull a stunt like that again, you and I are going to have a very real problem."

"I would never hurt Emily."

"See what I think you mean to say is that you would never hurt her again. I'm not going to simply forget the stunt you pulled at school last year."

"Like I said I've made some mistakes, but I would like the chance to make them right." Ashley took a step toward him. "I'm going to let you in that room only because Paige is your child, but in the absence of Pam I'm in charge of Emily so if I don't like what I see I won't think twice about hauling your ass out of that room and kicking it all over this hospital. We clear?"

Nick swallowed hard and nodded his head, "Crystal." Ashley stepped out of the way and let Nick enter the room. The sound of the door opening made Emily shift in her sleep and that caused Paige to stir as well. She reached over and made contact with Emily's hand and laced their fingers together before settling back into her pillow. Nick stood at the foot of Emily's bed and watched his daughter and her girlfriend sleeping. Her girlfriend…the word and very idea still confused Nick. He never thought Paige would grow up to like women, then again what father ever does. Nick kicked himself for letting his fear dictate his actions in making Paige and Emily feel like he wouldn't want them to be happy.

"It's rude to stare." Emily opened her eyes slightly and Nick felt he got caught interrupting their couple's moment.

"I was hoping to talk to Paige and to you as well."

"Well if you want to talk to her, the first words out of your mouth better be I'm sorry, followed closely by I love you."

"I do love her."

"Funny way of showing it. No offense Mr. McCullers, but you have a long way to go before I trust what you say."

Nick nodded, "I know I do, but I have to start somewhere right?" Emily nodded and gave Paige's hand a squeeze. "Paige, baby wake up." Paige moaned and grumbled, but eventually opened her eyes to see her father standing there.

"Aren't you afraid you'll catch my gayness by being in the room with two lesbians?"

"I suppose I deserve that."

"You think."

"Hey, I may have screwed up a lot, but damn it I am still your father." Ashley knocked on the window as if to warn Nick that he was on think ice.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. Look Paige, I don't expect to fix this right here today, but I want to start fixing our relationship. I pushed you away and I'll never be able to take that back, but I would like the chance to get to know you. All I have in my head is the little girl I would coach on sports teams and now you all grown up and I don't know anything about your life anymore."

"No, you know one thing about my life that makes you angry, not my fault you have a thing against gay people."

"Paige, cool it." This time it was Emily who jumped in. "I am the poster child for having parents take this news poorly, but look where my mom was and where she is now. Everyone deserves a second chance if they are willing to meet you half way. Besides, the worst thing that could happen is that you keep this relationship the way it is now, but you have the chance to turn it into something positive. Give him the chance to prove he means it."

Nick took a step toward his daughter. "Paige, I don't understand really any of this, but I'm going to try and figure it out, but I was hoping you'd be willing to help me with that. No parent is ready to hear that their child is gay, but I hurt you with how I handled it and I can't apologize enough for that. Your mother told me about a bunch of books and meetings I can look into and if Pam can find it in her heart to forgive me, maybe we can figure the rest of this stuff out together. I want to be a part of your life and that means supporting you in this part of your life."

Paige looked at Emily as if to see if she was supposed to believe her father's words. Emily offered Paige a smile and Paige played with her fingers for a moment before responding. "One chance dad. I'm not putting Emily and I through this again just for it to end poorly. But I'd like to have a relationship with my father and I am willing to meet you half way and help answer your questions." Nick smiled for the first time in days and Paige could see that it was a genuine smile and she had hope for her relationship with her dad.

"Your mom is fixing your room up for you to come home once Emily goes home. I thought maybe we could go grab food before we head back to the house?"

"I'd like that dad. I'll be right back, I'm just going to go grab my bag from the bathroom and change. You'll be ok for a minute?" She looked between her dad and Emily and Emily smiled. "We'll be fine." Paige stood up and kissed Emily briefly before walking into the bathroom.

"Emily I never said I was sorry for how I acted at school last year, I was completely out of line and I'm sorry for any pain it caused you."

"I appreciate and accept your apology." Emily sat up a little straighter and cleared her throat. "But let me be clear, you may be an adult and her dad, but I love her too, so I'm going to say this once and then we'll never mention it again. If I ever have to kiss away the pain that comes from something you do again I will make the rest of your life hell. I want her to be happy and she loves you, but I will not stand by and watch her get hurt by anyone, EVER again."

Nick was stunned, his daughter's teenaged girlfriend just threatened him and he stood there and took it. Deep down he knew he had to hear it and he was glad to see that Emily loved his daughter enough to be a little rude.

"I think we have an understanding." Nick started to walk to the door, but he paused. "Emily?"

"Yes Mr. McCullers?"

"I'm sorry for what happened to you and your friend Caleb last night, and I'm so sorry you had to resort to violence just to survive, but…thank you for saving her. We may have a strained relationship, but she's my daughter and I love her."

"I would have gladly given up my life, if it meant protecting Paige."

"Well, I'm glad that it didn't come to that. Tell Paige I'll be back in a few minutes will you?" Emily nodded and Nick quietly left the room. He closed the door behind him and was met with Ashley Marin still looking at him rather intensely.

"How'd it go?"

"About as well as I could have hoped. Emily is something else."

"She's a special young lady and she loves your daughter."

"I'm beginning to understand that."

"Good then you and I shouldn't have any further problems." Nick laughed, "they love each other, even I can see that."

"Something you saw must have changed your mind pretty fast for you to say that."

"Just then when Paige got up to leave the room and Emily watched her go, the looks they shared the kiss goodbye. It just reminded me of when I first met Paige's mother, we acted the same way, guess it just made me see things differently." Nick smiled at the memory before turning back to Ashley, "I'll be back in a few minutes to get Paige. Tell Pam I stopped by."

"Oh, don't worry I will." Ashley watched Nick walk back outside and she was pretty sure she had witnessed something truly amazing.

YES, I know its cheesy, but I wanted to get this up before I become very busy so here it is. I figure I'll do a few more chapters and then finish it off. Let me know what you think for the last few chapters.