The next morning when Alex swung the door open to her studio, the last thing she expected to see was her father, standing with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed in front of her easel.

At first, she just stood in the door way, hair tied up in a messy ponytail, wearing her fluffy sheep pajama pants, and stared at him. Apparently, it was throw-awkward-moments-at-Alex week.

"Hey, daddy." He picked his head up and looked over his shoulder at her.

"Oh, hey princess." He glanced at the portrait still on display and cleared his throat. "You wanna go out for breakfast?"

After last night, the last thing she wanted to do was talk about a painting of her ex girlfriend over breakfast, but she so rarely saw her dad smile anymore, she didn't hesitate to answer.

"Sure."

-x-

She adored iHop. She didn't care how old she was, she was going to get smiley face pancakes when she was fifty. Jerry sat across from her, taking a bite of his toast and chuckling at her gouging the poor pancake's left eye out.

"So..." He started and Alex froze with the bite of banana just outside her open mouth, her lips already pulled back and her teeth ready for action. "That portrait looks very familiar." Alex remembered what she was doing and swiped the bite off her fork, chewing slowly to work up the courage to respond to this. "Do I know her?"

"Maybe." She replied, working on cutting her pancake up like a pie, earning a little smirk from Jerry.

"Do you know her?"

"I used to." He nodded, taking in the information and taking a bite of his own pancakes.

"I remember her. Sonny, right?" She hummed in agreement. "What happened with her?"

Alex shrugged and Jerry waited. He didn't have to wait long.

"We broke up. Kind of. I guess." She swirled her slice of pancake in a small pool of syrup, slowly losing her appetite. "Well, she left." Alex dropped her fork and took a deep breath. "She just. Left me." She couldn't meet her dad's eyes. Wasn't she tough, strong, bratty Alex Russo? No anymore. Life seemed determined to break down that shield.

"Did you love her?" He didn't sound accusing or upset. The fact that her sick father felt the need to comfort her made her stomach turn.

"I did. I really did, Dad. More than art." They were both quiet for a long time, but before the silent could make her feel too anxious, Jerry cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter.

"Wow." He said around a sigh.

"Yeah." Another pause and Alex was almost sure she wasn't going to finish her pancake.

"So, why are you suddenly painting your runaway bride?" Alex choked out a short laugh and shook her head.

"You won't believe it if I tell you."

"Oh, just try me. After those baseball players liked Max's mystery sandwich, I'll believe just about anything." Her stomach flopped again and Alex was wondering what the point was of breakfast.

"She works with Chad."

"You can't be serious."

"I totally am." Jerry blinked at her and shook his head.

"That is crazy."

"I know, right?" She said, grinning.

"So, what happened?"

"I don't even know. We fought. I think I called her a cold-hearted Ellen Degeneres." He laughed with her and she realized how much of the tension had seeped away. "And then, we had this weird. Like. Meeting."

"And by 'meeting' do you mean date?"

"No!" Alex said almost too quickly. "God, no. I guess it was just another argument. We just, I don't know, scheduled this one."

"What happened that time?" Alex paused, thinking about how she was opening up to her dad like he was a girlfriend she was having a get together with. But, really, who knew how much longer she had with him? She shook off the thought and focused on the conversation again.

"She told me why she left. She went to Hollywood. She was only in New York for auditions. I guess I was just a bonus. And when auditions were running low, she just packed up and left. Without saying a word to me."

"Oh, honey..." Alex couldn't stand sympathetic eyes coming from her cancer ridden father. "I'm so sorry."

"I know. I'm alright though, I'm fine. Justin helped a lot, actually. It was weird. I think it's the closest we've ever been. Kinda sucks it was only because I was so fucked up."

Alex realized what she said a little too late and when she saw the look on her dad's face, she snorted so hard it felt like she tore a hole in her throat, which only set her dad off. The looks from the other customers only made them laugh harder, and by the time they settled down, their bellies hurt and half the restaurant was ready to call the men in white.

Alex shook her head, her stomach sore and her face red. She was crazy, but at least she knew where she got it from.

Her dad took big gulps from his ice water and sighed out, "Do you think you'll talk to her again?" Alex shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe. Things just... still feel unfinished. I don't..." She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to figure out what she was saying. "I miss her." As she said that, her chest felt lighter and heavier at the same time. Like she'd let go of a keep secret, but given herself a death sentence. Under her breath, she chuckled at her dramatics.

"Well, I know that if your mom just suddenly left me, I couldn't just let go." Alex looked up from her plate of cold pancakes and studied her dad's face. She almost couldn't believe her dad believed her. If she would have told him back then how much she loved Sonny, he would have patted her head and told her to get back to work.

She slid out of her side of the booth and into her dad's side, wrapping her arms around him and leaning her head against him. His arm hugged her close and he kissed the top of her head.

"Thanks, daddy."

"Always, honey."

She hoped so.

-x-

Ahhaha... Soooo... How're you guys? ^^;

LOL I'M SORRY D: I know I'm awful. I was just gonna write an epilogue for this so you guys knew how it ended, but I decided to try continuing it. And. Well. You guys tell me how I did. ;)