Sophia gave a weak smile to her dad. "Please don't kill him, Dad. I really like him." She whispered "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier but y'all were all so busy. I didn't want to... be in the way" she walked down the hall with Zephyr. she sighed once they were out of earshot of her parents. "Sometimes I can't understand why Dad is so protective of me. All I can guess is that someone Mom was attached to once hurt her in some way" she gave a shrug and elbowed him gently in the ribs.

-

Abby nodded slightly. She couldn't tell what Sophia said. "Be easy on him Ryker. He's not Gavin. He's not going to hurt her. Plus he already looks a little uncomfortable here in the first place. Remember, once you were in a new place and some girl came bounding up and befriended you. You protected her with your life- almost literally- and now you have two little girls." She took a breath, a tired smile crossing her face. "Let someone else protect her for once. If Mom hadn't rolled Dad from me when Gavin was around, I probably wouldn't have been through all the stuff with him and wouldn't have given you a chance to fight for me" she gave him a weak squeeze of his hand that she had grabbed.

Zephyr glanced at Sophia, pausing for a second. "Not my business, but why don't you just ask him? He sounds like the person that wants to open up, but isn't going to do it without an invitation." He commented quietly, his gaze lighting up slightly as he saw the glow of a small cafeteria looking place. "Food. At last."
+++

Ryker glanced at Abby with a small sigh. "I know he's not Gavin, but that's my daughter..." He said quietly, running a hand through his hair and keeping the other wrapped around Abby's hand. He smiled faintly at her words, nodding slightly. "You know, if Sophia asked why I do things, she'd understand a lot more." He grunted, then seemed to fully accept her words. "Okay, I'll... try to give them a chance"

"And that's my plan... but I can't now. I feel like it'll hurt him too much. Especially if it has something to do with Mom." Her stride lengthened when she caught a whiff of the food being prepared. "Hungry hungry hungry" she said before she paused at the counter. "What do you want Zephyr?"

-

"she's my daughter too you know. And maybe if you had told her in the first place it would be different. I feel like if she heard my side she would think of me as a clumsy teenager who managed to get herself into a few too many tricky situations. My knight in shining armor had to same me a time or two" she shot him a small grin. She rubbed her thumb over his fingers for a second then yawned. "Ok... now I'm actually tired. No need to drug me again. It didn't last long anyway. What time is it? Wait" she started looking around. "Where is Ryan? And Pyper and the twins?"