-Signs-

And that one question opened up a Pandora's Box… Characters Not Mine.

Chapter One: Boogeymen At Bedtime

Signs. He should have seen the signs. He should have realized it sooner. He should have long ago questioned the general principles of genetics. He should have…

One: She had unruly, dirty blonde hair, neither of which her parents' had ever had and it wasn't a commonality in either of their families.

Two: She despised country music with a burning passion.

Three: She came to him when Mr. Bear got a boo-boo, when she had a nightmare, when the boy who sat next to her at snack time in her pre-school class picked on her. Him.

And, one night during a particularly loud thunder he came to a stunning realization.

"Uncle Greg!" the four year old wailed from the guest bedroom, which might as well have been her own.

He was there in a matter of seconds, sitting on the edge of the bed. "What's wrong, Hailey?" he asked, watching a bolt of lightening streak across the sky outside the window.

"Nightmare…" Hailey whispered, clutching the bear he'd given to her the day she was born for dear life.

Greg pulled her into his arms, rocking the little girl until she'd calmed down substantially. "How dare those boogeymen scare my Hailey?" he said, leaning over to peer under the bed. "You evil little chibi-chans! Shoo! This is a nightmare free zone!" he said, knowing without asking that that's what her nightmare had been about. It had been that way ever since Danny, the boy in her pre- school class, had told her all about the 'boogeyman'.

"I thought I was chibi-chan?" she pouted, a face she knew he couldn't resist.

He bit his lip in thought. "Yeah, but you're a good monster."

Hailey smiled, reaching out to him. "Sometimes," she whispered, burying her head against his shoulder, her long dirty blonde hair falling over her eyes. "I wish you were my daddy…"

The words still echoed in his head, "I wish you were my dad…" he repeated to himself as he lay in his bed. "Maybe I am…"

Hailey Stokes, who he sometimes had trouble believing was actually a Stokes, could be his. His and Sara's. And that one singular comment, those six words, had just opened up a Pandora's Box of questions…