Author's Notes: Thank you so much for all your wonderful reviews! It's so exciting that I get to build an entire AU with you guys. Endless possibilities! :) This one just gets the ball rolling. I'm kinda in a funk lately so I thought this might get me out. Hope it does the same to you!

Special thanks to greekmythologyforlife, d1gitaldump, emotionalminesweeper for constantly leaving me the sweetest reviews and to Janine16 for giving me that little push I needed to get this done. Enjoy!

All mistakes are mine. Standard disclaimers apply.

She's dragged along what feels like the entire floor area of the large, albeit empty, grocery store, her back beginning to protest at having to bend down to remain linked to the demanding little hand tightly gripping hers.

"What kind of parent leaves their kid alone in a grocery store, anyway?," she says incredulously. "You could get kidnapped, or drugged, or get trapped under a pile of boxes!"

They almost fall into a heap of limbs and pink glittery things when her legs collide with the little girls back.

The little human, whose name she's yet to learn, faces her and looks at her with big round eyes.

"I'm tired," the girl says following her declaration with a comic slump of her shoulders, her eyes blinking heavily at Amy. When the blonde doesn't respond, she unceremoniously flops down on the cold, tiled floor, her pink lips beginning to suck on her tiny thumb.

She's never dealt with kids before but the exhaustion is quite evident in the little girls body language. She's seen enough movies to know that being tired almost always equates to being cranky when it comes to tiny human beings so she treads carefully.

Bending down to her level, she starts cautiously, "What about we go find your mommy so we can all go to sleep? What do you say?"

Her mop of soft brown curls splays whips back at forth as she shakes her head no.

"I can't. I'm too tired."

The blonde is beginning to panic at the alarming rate at which the toddler seems to lose energy. If the kid falls asleep, there's no way she can find her mom by just looking for the prettiest.

What if someone else claims to be the little girl's mom? What if she accidentally hands her over to horrible people and later on finds out that she's become an accomplice to some sort of modus. She shudders at the thought, brought back to reality by a small voice by her side.

"What's a kidnap?," the tot asks, lifting her other hand to scratch her droopy eyes.

Her blue eyes widen into saucers, reminding herself that there's no way the little girl could've heard her internal musings.

"I didn't know there are different kinds of parents. When we find mommy I'm gonna ask her what kinds she is."

"Where are the boxes?," she adds, tilting her head to the side, begging for an explanation.

"Why did your mommy leave you?," she says, hoping to steer the conversation into a more helpful one.

"Oh no. Mommy didn't leave me. Unca Shane was supposed to watch me while Mommy went to pick up the rest of the goceries but he ummm got distracted," she babbles matter-of-factly, recalling how Shane followed an undeniably sexy dude to the end of the aisle and then practically forgot about the little girl attempting to tie her shoelaces.

"GROceries," the older girl amends, looking at the little girl who raises one of her perfectly shaped brows in response.

"You mean groceries. Not goceries." Amy explains, enunciating the syllables slowly.

"I know that. GOceries is just easier," the tot says defiantly, her chin tipped up in a perfect personification of sass.

Her little facade falters slightly as she whispers "Rs are hard," her head dipping low to her chest. When she lifts them again to meet Amy's eyes, there's a threatening pout on her lips and a definite glaze in her eyes.

Before the older girl can attempt to salvage the situation, a lone tear runs down her chubby cheek. "I miss my mommy," she says, eyes still trained on Amy.

Her heart begins to race at the concept of having to run around the place frantically looking for someone pretty while carrying a wailing toddler in her arms.

She finds herself leaning back a little when the kid begins to wrap her arms around her neck, not quite catching on to what the little girl wants. Instinctively, she links her arms behind the tiny body in an awkward hug, running her palm slowly up and down her back.

She finally catches on when the kids lifts her legs and wraps them around her torso and buries her face in her hair.

"Are you asleep?," she says, lifting them from the floor.

She feels her nod into the crook of her neck, the tip of her nose tickling the underside of her jaw.

"But we still need to find your mommy, remember? I can't do that without your help."

The little kid pulls back, her face half exhausted and half annoyed.

"I already told you! She's the prettiest," she answers, her immaculately shaped brows knitting together, as if there's no way one can't pick out the prettiest in a nearly empty store.

She furrows deeper into the embrace, nodding into the space between her neck and shoulders and just like that she feels her sag into sleep.

She checks all the aisles, searching for a guy who might pass for an Unca Shane, shaking her head at her current predicament.

All she wanted was chocolates, and here she is, carrying a little kid in her arms, and possibly spending years in prison for kidnapping.

As she rounds the last corner to the refrigerated section, she finds an uncannily familiar face with the same impeccable eyebrow raise being directed at someone she can't see.

"I swear to god, Shane, I will hurt you," she hears her say, her hands poised high on her hips.

She spots her from where she is, and Amy watches a flash of recognition and relief in her eyes.

Before she knows it, she's enveloped in a hug she can't remember being invited to.

Her head hasn't quite recovered from the whirlwind of activities that followed when the other girl begins a barrage of thank yous and proceeds to collect the little girl in her arms.

Her head seems to be stuck: God. She is the prettiest.

A/N: Here we are again with the pronouns. And there's three shes now. Someone send help (!)

I'd love to hear your inputs on possible story lines. Send me a message or leave me a review or whatever. XO