Disclaimer: Don't own. Also, don't shoot.

:}

Jade was enjoying herself, despite being someplace she'd once thought she'd never go, doing something she'd once swore she'd never do. It wasn't that she had a problem with water parks. They were on her short list of places she enjoyed going. But to be at one, wearing a water shirt that had yellow ducks on it, that just wants Jade. And to be avoiding the big water slides...

Jade looked one more time at her water shirt, the one with the yellow ducks on it. She wasn't ashamed of her body. She could rock a bikini as well as anyone, curvy while thin in the right places and generously endowed in the places men liked to look. But the water shirt was SPF 50+, protecting her from the sun. And while, only a couple of years ago, she'd have happily put on sunscreen to protect her pale skin, today she had to wear the shirt. There were some arguments you just don't have with four year old. 'Why did she insist on matching shirts?' Jade wondered again. And of course, no one was selling skull and crossbones water shirts. 'Not that she'd want one...'

"Amber, we walk. I know the ground is squishy, but we walk on wet ground." Jade instructed the child she was following through the sprayers. Characters from some animated show that went out of style fifty years ago adorned the water sprayers, reminding the goth that this was a child's attraction. Only children, and their parents, normally entered.

But Jade was a parent, kinda. 'Dad just had to prove he was a men.' She thought, but pushed the anger she felt over what he'd done out of her mind. She was there to have fun with her baby. 'Baby sister, but that's academic.'

Of course, Jade didn't choose to have a sister. She didn't choose the name either. 'Missy chose that name. God, I hope Amber gets her smarts from dad's side of the family. No one should have fallen for the line dad fed her mom.'

But some woman had, and Amber was the results. Of course, the name was probably as much a slap in her fathers face as anything, given that he'd insisted she abort the child. But Missy carried to term, and then expected him to take care of them both. It was so bad they wound up on one of those daytime talk show, with the host telling her dad that He was the father. 'Like he ever was a father to me.'

In the end, Jade wound up Amber's guardian. "Amber, when we're done, do you want to go to the wading pool?" Jade asked. It was either her, or the poor child wound up in the system. Jade had spent months there herself, and the only good thing to come out of that was she auditioned for Hollywood Arts. Social worker got her a scholarship too. 'Lots of scholarships at that school. They give them out like candy sometimes.' Jade thought. But Jade got in, and was able to continue after her mother proved capable of raising her again.

Jade had no intention of subjecting this little one to the misery of the foster-care system. At first, Missy refused to terminate parental rights, but wouldn't raise a finger to help raise the darling little girl. "Amber, maybe we should get something to eat right now." Jade sugested. "Then we can go wading." Only after fighting that girl for three years did Jade gain full custody. "Thats my baby girl."

Jade watched her child eating an overpriced hotdog, and reminded herself of the anti-sacrifice she'd made for the girl. Jade had gone and become a ghost writer for a horror film, not getting credit, but paid well to act as a script doctor. From there, she would help write five more films, getting credited on three. Half her work wound up made for TV, the kind of low budget original films that horror TV likes to make. Jade won an award for the last one.

"Amber, slow down. We have time, hours." Jade chided her child. Of course, she blamed Vega, Tori, for this strange turn in her life. Tori had softened her heart, from it's granite like consistency to soft and spongy, like the ground around where the children were allowed to run. Amber, her temporary rebellion slash act of mercy slash she had no idea what, forced her way in. Opened her heart for other complications as well. "Amber, SIT. We eat first, then we can play in the water."

'God, I remember when I wouldn't get wet unless I wanted to. And with how much I used to do to my hair, I never wanted to get completely wet.' Jade thought as she wrung out her pony tail. Amber sat, looking up at her with loving eyes.

Of course, Jade was mommy, but that was just for now. It avoided confusion at places like the park. 'When she's older, and can understand, I'll tell her. When she's older.' Jade just didn't want that discussion. Even now, years in advance, she shuddered at the thought of telling her little sprite that her father, their father, didn't want her. He'd let his daughter, barely nineteen at the time, take her in instead.

Then again, life often takes funny turns, like how it was Robbie who saved her sanity, and helped her make extra money. Robbie who'd introduced her to the world of stand up, wrote jokes with her until she could develop her own act, taught her that being honest, in a funny way, could be better then therapy. He even helped her get people, like Cat, to watch Amber while she performed.

He'd told her, that first time, "You don't have to be funny. Not yet. Work on that. Just go out there and be honest, in as funny a way as you can. You're smart, have a dark, sarcastic sense of humor. Use that. But remember, audiences like this, they respond to honesty, connecting with the performer. And, if you pass open mike night, you can make some money at this. Not a lot, not at first. But it can help. Plus, it's cheaper then a therapist."

It also helped her do the occasional weekend away. She mostly performed in LA, but would do a show in Vagus or the like if it included a room, childcare, and maybe something fun. Jade had managed a vacation a couple of years ago, just doing a few shows to cover things.

The best part of the comedy, and the writing, was that she maintained her anonymity. Standing there at the water park, she saw how valuable not being famous could be. Sure, she was working on making movies, not just writing them. And sure, she was assistant director on the last movie she wrote. Those were invisible roles. No one knows who directs, or produces direct to TV movies. And Jade gets to have fun with her child.

'Thats right.' Jade thought with a smirk, standing at the edge of the kiddie pool. Her child was now wearing a life jacket, even in the shallowness of this pool. 'She's my child. Sister or daughter, she's mine. I fought for her. I sweated, went to court, raised her. She's mine. I did it alone, or as alone as I could. Thank the gods for the help I got. But she's mine, and I have the court papers to prove it.'

Jade had to admit, every sacrifice she made for Amber was a strange twisting of her priorities. Like what she'd done just a couple of weeks ago. That big special in Hollywood. The one she had to do because the producers at HBO just made the deal too sweet. Letting her get some production credit, as an associate producer, and giving her plenty of room to make adjustments. But they had their reasons.

Jade's friends, the ones from the movies she'd worked on, they had gone to one of her shows, kinda as a joke. But after they'd gone, a short tape of her routine was circulating among the power brokers in Hollywood. That short five minutes became wildly seen on Peartube, as well as in the offices of executives across Hollywood. Then Jade got the call, offering her an HBO special. And once the pot was sweet enough, too tempting to resist, Jade took the bite. They hadn't yet shown her special, not for another couple of weeks, but already they were saying she was going to be huge. It was already earmarked for Comedy Central, and she'd been invited to be a guest roaster at their next years roast. By this time next year, she'd be so widely known that standing in the kiddie pool at a water park would require more of a disguise then a yellow ducky water shirt. But it was the kind of sacrifice she was going to make so that Amber would have a future. Amber would have a college fund, and live in a comfortable home. Amber would have everything Jade herself didn't have.

Jade allowed herself to be pulled into the water. Amber was begging to go to the wave machine. Jade steeled herself for losing another argument. Live preserver on, Amber could go, but Jade had to be right there with her. Still, Jade couldn't say no, not to this, not to the water shirt, not to anything that didn't really matter.

Because Jade loved her little sprite. And Jade loved being a mommy. She really couldn't see doing this any other way.

:}

No relationship mentioned, other then her friendship and partnership with Robbie. Ship who you want, cause it doesn't make a difference. I just thought of this while at a water park, watching the parents and their kids running through the sprayers. Then I let it sit for months to age. Hope it doesn't disappoint.