give me back my broken parts

October 2080 - Hayden Phoenix is 31, Summer is 16, Ryanne is 10. (Tyler Jackson is 17, Piper Wilson is 26).

* optional soundtrack, "Be OK" by Ingrid Michaelson *

Hayden and his girls are finally trying to put their lives back together, but first-things-first! Ryanne says, "You need a new outfit, Dad, you're thirty-one-years-old and you need to wear shoes that cover your toes!"

Hayden bought the condo right next to his parent's house - it's small, two bedrooms and one bathroom, but they're making it work. Hayden's parents didn't think he should try to move out on his own again so soon, but a grown man doesn't really want to live with his parents, you know. So with his parents right behind him, and uncle Jeremy right across the street, he's got plenty of help whenever he needs it. Though he's determined that he and the girls are going to be just fine on their own.

Of course, it helps that Aunt Abby did keep her word, and helped Hayden get back on his feet - she brought over $20,000 and a juicer. A condo for Hayden, and a cabin for Stephanie... Patrick, Riley, and Jackson are starting to feel a bit jealous!

Summer is going through a bit of a phase - not wild, necessarily, but just free. She's quite proud of her brand new womanly curves, which is evident in the fact that her shirts seem to be shrinking, which also just might be directly related to how much time she's spending with her boyfriend Tyler. She isn't exactly rebelling against anything, because she doesn't really have any boundaries right now. She basically comes and goes as she pleases, since everyone else has been too busy taking care of other things, like her father.

She's been thinking a lot lately about what she wants to do with her life - she'd love to be a rock star, but has absolutely no musical talent to speak of - but then, doesn't everybody want to be a rock star? Unfortunately, it looks like the Nova musical gene didn't fall down her branch of the family tree. Summer inherited much more of her grandfather's Phoenix-family athleticism instead.

On top of everything, she has the store to consider, Summer's Place. It's almost like she doesn't even have a choice in the matter - she'll make and sell toys when she grows up, as fate has decreed it. Not that she would be unhappy, if that were her fate. Things have been so busy around here she actually hasn't even had time to make it over there yet.

Summer just hates being cooped up in this shared bedroom with her baby sister, oh how she hates it! ;)

But Summer isn't happy about the arrangement, so she's kind of flitting between here, and her grandparents' house, and Tyler's house - she's even been known to sleep over there a time or two! But sixteen and sharing a room with her baby sister??? Not ideal by any stretch, and she would much rather be over at Tyler's...

But Tyler is a regular around here a lot of the time too. Unlike Summer, who actually goes to work sometimes at her grandmother's catering shop, Tyler just hangs around to throw leaves with Ryanne.

He helps out around the house too. You know, he wants to get on Hayden's good side, in case Hayden ever finds out what he's been doing with his daughter...

Which would be that after dating for three years, and after many months of careful deliberation and thought and all the necessary precautions, Summer and Tyler have finally decided to "graduate" from third-base. They take advantage of the empty house after school, when Hayden is at work, and before Ryanne gets home.

But this is true love, people! Wanna know how we know...

And she loves it too!

She always has.

Rhianna will have been gone one year next month, and they're all anxious about the anniversary date. Hayden and the girls have a private memorial service at her grave, which is something they all feel ready to do now. They buried her next to Hayden's grandparents and placed blue flowers by the grave because it was her favorite color. They planted a plumeria tree over her too.

And while they're there, Hayden even gets a reassuring smile from his grandfather, Jimmy Phoenix... maybe they'll all be okay after all?

Hayden is getting on well, most days - other days, he still just can't believe everything that's happened. But positive things are happening too. His girls are the joy of his life, Summer is a ball of sunshine, and Ryanne is smart and sassy. He's working in the gaming industry, which was something he always wanted to do, and has been promoted to Button Masher. He actually worked in gaming once before, a long time ago back when Ryanne was still a baby, but went into law enforcement with his dad because he needed a "real" job to pay the bills. Though he could stand to be making a little more money, he's more interested in doing what will make him happy. Life is short, they now know. Too short sometimes.

Hayden often drives out to the Gamer's Den to visit Chad. It's a 20-minute drive out to Bluewater, but it's the best place around for the adult gaming crowd. And Hayden has finally started to take notice of pretty ladies again. Chad says, "She's cute, why don't you talk to her? You need to practice."

"She's like twenty!" Hayden says.

"You aren't that old," Chad says. And though he isn't, Hayden feels like he could be a dinosaur.

He needs lots of practice, apparently. Hayden is thinking, Eeew, she dresses like my teenager!

But the thing is, Hayden wonders how can he try to care about someone new when he knows he would take Rhianna back in a heartbeat? Chad says, "Well, you'll probably live another forty or fifty years, that's a long time to be alone. And you know, you're not married anymore, you don't technically have to care about someone that much to have a good time."

It's a shocking proposition! Shocking! Hayden is appalled. He's always been more of a big friendly teddy bear kind of guy.

Come on Hayden, sumo wrestling? You're not doing yourself any favors! Chad is thinking, This dude is hopeless...

So it's just the three of them, and they're getting by just fine, until Hayden mentions that he's bringing a friend home from work to help set up his wireless internet connection - Hayden has been a cop for the past ten years, and he's a little rusty with technological things...

Hayden says, "Girls, this is my friend, Piper, from work." But as soon as they see their father grinning like a fool, they know this woman is maybe just a little bit more than a friend from work. Couldn't anyone have come to set up the wireless internet? A guy friend? The girls are skeptical. Summer isn't opposed, but maybe just a bit stunned - she knew this day would have to come eventually, but is it already time for this? Ryanne can't even look!

Hayden met Piper at a karaoke bar a couple weeks ago. Or that's where they officially met, though he feels like he's seen her around before. Hayden shows Piper where the computer is, and she fixes it right up. She was never very good at school, but Piper knows computers! "There you go," she says. "You're all hooked up."

Maybe Piper got up a little too suddenly, or maybe Hayden was a little dazed, thinking about how she smelled really really good. "Oh, sorry," he says. "Tight squeeze, isn't it?" Nothing happens though, except for a rush of flustered giggles, and Hayden walks her out. He would ask her to stay for coffee, or whatever, but he doesn't figure that's the kind of thing a single father does when his girls are home.

But oh my goodness, what do you do with all this chemistry???

Well, you both crack your knuckles simultaneously, it seems. Because Hayden is a single father of two and the decision isn't just entirely his anymore - and Piper realizes that the guy she's been crushing on comes as a package deal, and not that she would rule it out, but that just isn't the kind of thing a girl pictures when she's searching for the perfect husband. Would he even want to get married again? What if he didn't want more kids?

Piper says, "So you have a sixteen year-old?"

Hayden says, "And I have an angsty preteen with a dead mother." Well, Hayden figures, if he's going to scare her off, he might as well do it from the start.

To Hayden's relief, she doesn't run screaming, at least, but she only laughs and says, "Wow, that's pretty heavy."

Hayden says, "Maybe we could go out some time, for coffee, or whatever."

Piper says, "Yeah, totally."

Hayden thinks he could really like her some day, if it was possible to like anyone again. And Piper doesn't know if she gets a choice in what kind of a "perfect husband" fate throws her way...

Meanwhile, in the living room, Ryanne says, "He sure is taking a long time to say goodbye."

"Don't be bratty," Summer says.

"He likes her, doesn't he?"

Summer says, "He might."

"Do you think he's already forgetting about Mom."

"He'll never forget Mom. He just doesn't want to be alone."

Ryanne says, "He's not alone, he has us."

"It's not the same," Summer says. "Some day you'll fall in love and you'll understand. Hey, I know what'll cheer you up!"

Summer turns on the music. She says, "Come on, dance party!"

So they dance...

And when Hayden comes back inside, Ryanne says, "Come on, Dad!"

Hayden says, "I don't know..."

But their dad is a silly kind of guy, and it doesn't take much persuasion.

And maybe they might be okay after all...

***

notes: I'm still not even over Rhianna myself. I thought they would grow old together :(

But holy cow! I don't know when Hayden and Piper got up to 133 ACR together? That might even be higher than what he had with Rhianna (I think it was like 128 or something). He and Piper were always three bolts, but it was 112 last I checked. And that's besides the obvious shared hobbies and interests - do hobbies and interests factor into attraction?

But by the end of the month, I had to cancel out ACR every five seconds to keep them from running to the bedroom, lol! There are children in the house! But anyway, I think he's ready now - for dating at least, or "whatever" ;)

***Outtake***

Maybe Hayden does really need to get laid! He was so busy staring at that girl in the dress that he almost set Tyler on fire!!! Either that, or he does know what Tyler's been doing with his daughter ;)