Monday comes too soon, Sam just barely gets Lily to school on time and once he does he tries to live his life like nothing has changed. He goes home, starts to work on his project, and just ignores the looming lifestyle change up the road. He does not try to think about Alex while he works but as he redesigns his art he notices that the woman now resembles Alex. When he sees this, he wants to change it, his fingers resting on the keyboard and mouse but finally, he decides to leave it as it is. No one will notice it, except him and possibly Alex if she lives long enough to see his work.

At 3:30 he expects his phone to ring, but it does not. So for once, he did not forget something at his apartment that Lily will desperately need. He pushes away from his desk and looks into her room, her princess bed is covered in stuffed animals but the turtle stands apart from the others. On a whim he rises and goes to her room, picking up the stuffed toy and looking at it, Alex would be mad if he just showed up… That does not stop him though. He grabs his phone, keys, and wallet before getting on the bus with the stuffed animal in his grasp. He presses the buzzer and Alex’s voice comes on over the intercom. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me. I, uh, I have Lily’s Turtle.” There is silence for a moment but then the door opens, he takes the toy up to the apartment and knocks.

“Go answer the door, baby.” Is whispered from the other side and Sam drops down to one knee to be eye level with his little girl. She opens the door and squeals loudly seeing both the turtle and her father.

“Daddy!” She launches into his arms and he picks her up, laughing.

“Hey princess, I couldn’t let you leave your turtle at my place, he looked lonely without you.” She laughs and takes the toy, Sam sets her down and lets her run inside, happily going to her room to show her other toys their new friend. “Sorry to just drop by.”

“No, it’s ok, Sam. I’m glad you did.”

“I saw him on her bed and I just wanted to see both of you again.” Alex smiles and steps aside allowing him to enter.

“Thank you, Sam.” He looks at her.

“Why?”

“For coming over and bringing the turtle.” He smiles at her as Lily comes charging back with her turtle.

“Daddy, daddy, guess what?”

“What?” Again he kneels to be at her level.

“I got a smiley sticker on my spelling test!” She grins, very proud of herself.

“Really? Good job!”

“You wanna see?”

“Yeah, princess.” He once again takes charge of the turtle as she goes her backpack, she digs the test out of the depths and shows him. There is not a single red mark on it, just the smiley face sticker.

“Wow! That’s incredible! We should put it on the fridge.”

“Yeah!” Lily grabs hold of her father as he stands up and together they go to the fridge and put the test on it so everyone can see it. Alex smiles at them as the timer goes off.

“Excuse me, you two, but dinner is done.” Sam gives her a sheepish smile and slides out of her way.

“Well I have to get going now,” He sets Lily down but she refuses to release him. “I shouldn’t interrupt dinner.”

“Stay, daddy! Please?” She looks up at him with large eyes “Please? Mommy, can he stay?” The two adults look at each other and Alex smiles first.

“Of course, but only if he has finished all his work.”

“Well lucky for me, I did.” Lily jumps up and down, excitedly cheering as Alex serves up the food, both her portion and Sam’s are small but its more than enough for him. They eat as Lily happily babbles about the school, friends, and the next time they can go do something fun. When dinner is done, and Lily has to start school work Sam leaves, giving his daughter a quick kiss before slipping into the night and returning to his apartment.