Visitation Rights.

Mark Prentiss

Mark smiled at that idea. More time with his daughter was very precious, given that it wouldn't be long before she finished high school, in just two years, graduated, and went off to to college. Besides, at this point, Mark didn't trust his daughter's friends to be a completely good influence.

"That is a very good idea. I love spending time with you and working toward reconciliation, but our daughter needs me, too. Just as I need her. And coming back to a home-cooked meal together, that would be just like old times. My two favorite ladies in the whole world, how perfect!" Mark smiled at Jess as he kissed her and headed to the bathroom to freshen up.

Of course, it was for the best. Being alone with Jess at moments like this might rush things that needed to come naturally, when both were ready for them.

Jessica smiled as Mark kissed her and then went to freshen up. Spending time with Chelsea would certainly make the both of them happy. She knew that Mark had given up so much in his life when the divorce happened and there was a lot to make up for when it came to their daughter. There had been so many angry words and sad moments in their lives. It was time to smile and be happy with one another.

Chelsea was waiting for her mom to pick her up when she saw her father's car pull up in front of her friend's house. She was a little taken back, but pleased as she walked to the car, placing her backpack in the backseat before she slipped into the passenger's seat.

"Where's Mom?" She asked her dad, grinning at him as she pulled her seat belt on. "She texted me and told me that she wouldn't be able to pick me up this afternoon."

Mark Prentiss

"Well, Chelsea, your mother and I agreed that it was a good time for us to spend time together. What do you want to do, sweetie?" Mark said, giving her a butterfly kiss.

Mark really wanted to stay in touch with Chelsea as she grew older. He wanted to milk every moment that he could before she went off to college. He would see less and less of her, he feared, once she went to school and started having serious boyfriends, probably got married and a career, became a mother....oh, no, let's not think about that yet. Deal with that when it happened. Still, it was why he wanted to keep his relationship with his daughter strong. Her being an only child, she had been the only thing that kept him going at first when Jess had kicked him out of her life. He had rediscovered other purposes over time, but Chelsea had been what kept him from slitting his wrists when he became depressed over the divorce. Only later had he discovered his own full strength.

"I want pizza and mini golf." Chelsea said with a grin on her face, her eyes lighting up just like her mother's did when she was excited about an idea. "And some ice cream afterwards."

Even though she was sixteen, she could still get excited over the most child like things. Her father always seemed to indulge her in whatever she asked for as long as it was within reason. He was so different from her mother who she loved dearly, but was completely into law and order. She felt free with her father and more like herself.

Mark Prentiss

"Mario's Pizza Town?" Mark suggested, not knowing what Chelsea had in mind, but judging from the way she spoke, he suspected that she was in a mood to just be his little girl.

"Golf Castle, too, I suppose. And two waffle cones from Thurman's, of course, with a sundae to go for your mother," Mark mentioned some old favorites.

Mario's was a local chain that served as a hometown underdog rival to Chuck-E-Cheese and Peter Piper. Mark knew very well Chelsea's favorite toppings and favorite games from there. Same thing with Thurman's Ice Cream Shoppe, a quaint sort of creamery locale....she had taken after her old man in pizza toppings, but her mother in ice cream flavors.

"Your favorites haven't changed too much, have they?" Mark teased his daughter a little.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of time until your supper. We'll just have to get your mother's sundae right before we show up at your Mom's," Mark added.

"You're the best daughter ever. Don't ever change, please," Mark thought aloud, thinking of how great a daughter he had. Maybe he was silly for being a sentimental father, but he really didn't want her to change at all.

"Daddy..." Chelsea said, her cheeks coloring a little bit in embarrassment as he waxed poetic about her. "You act as if I'm just going to disappear one day. You know that no matter how old I get and how far away I move, I'm always going to be your little girl."

She reached over and took his hand, squeezing it tightly in her own as he drove them towards Mario's. She loved her father, almost beyond reason. He was her hero, the man that brightened her day whenever she was feeling blue or when she was having a fight with her mother. She knew that her mother had to be the woman that she was because of the divorce and she admired her because of that, but she still had a soft spot for her father.

"So...what's going on between you and Mom? You've never wanted to bring her home ice cream before and you haven't had dinner with us in years. Are you two thinking about getting back together?" Chelsea asked him as they drove, wondering just what was going on between the two of them.

Mark Prentiss

"Thank you for that, honey. Glad to know you're still a Daddy's girl. So, about the issue that you mentioned, I'm not really at liberty to say much, but I will say that your mother extended an olive branch to me and I accepted it. Call it a truce or burying the hatchet, but we're getting along a lot better lately," Mark answered Chelsea, smiling at her as they exited the car and headed toward the doors at Mario's.

"Seems to me that you made your own peace with your mother, too, and I'm glad for that as well," Mark added as he paid, in advance as always, for the pizza for them and game tokens for Chelsea.

"Well....I saw how sad she was all the time and I thought that maybe I was the reason for it." Chelsea admitted as her dad ordered their food and their game tokens. "I was a pretty miserable kid. I didn't want you to leave and Mom never seemed to understand me. When I got over that, though, things got so much better."

She took the pile of coins from her dad and gave him a grin. "Want to see if I can still beat you at skeet ball while we wait for our pizza? Bet I can."

Mark Prentiss

"Works for me. What happens if you win or I win?" Mark asked her, curious as to what would take place.

He loved spending time with Chelsea....if she wanted to play games in the arcade, that was fine with him. The point was to enjoy her company and let her have time with her father. He knew how much he missed her when she wasn't around and he could guess how she felt as well.

"Tell you what. You win, you get several coins to use on the crane to get one of those stuffed animals, if you want one. I win, and we spend a day washing my car together next time you're with me."

"I think you love that car more than me sometimes." Chelsea said with a laugh as she nodded and finally agreed. "What if we thought about getting me my own car and we wash it some weekend together."

Many people had told her through her life that she looked like her father. She had his hair, his eyes, his lips. She had his height with a more feminine and athletic build. When she laughed right then, she sounded like her mother. There was a twinkle in her eyes, a smile on her lips that tipped the corners of her mouth up until her cheeks were two rosy apples.

Mark Prentiss

"Careful what you wish for," Mark teased Chelsea back as they played some skeet, "just for saying that, who knows that you might get."

He was grinning, of course.....he was sure that Chelsea knew that she was more special than any piece of machinery. They continued to play for a while, and predictably when it came to skeet, Chelsea won again. It was all in good fun, of course, and Mark was rusty with such a game. There were plenty of other games to play as well, but soon the pizza was ready.

Nice and hot, with all of Chelsea's favorite toppings, of course. Mark was making this day all about his little girl. What she wanted. How often did he get to spoil her in the last six years, anyway? Jess used to complain that he spoiled Chelsea too much, but, hey, he only had one little girl, and he always wanted to make their rare moments together happy, as they didn't have enough time, not as much as they wished, and soon she would be a grown woman....she was already a long way toward, what with being old enough to drive.

"You're not going to get me a car. Mom would kill you." Chelsea said, giving him a grin. "Buuuutttt...if you wanted to get me one, I could always keep it at your house and she'd never know!"

She couldn't help laughing with her dad. They shared a lot of the same sense of humor. Things that no one else found funny, she knew her dad would always laugh at. She would text him silly little jokes and pictures and it was something special that no one else in her life had in common with her.

Eating her ham and pineapple pizza, Chelsea was relatively quiet. She was thinking over something in her mind as the ate lunch. There was something she wanted to run by her dad before she talked to her mother about it.

"So...I've been thinking about getting a part time job lately. There's a place next to school that is looking for kitchen help." She murmured. "I think it would be fun and it would be a little extra money in my pocket. Mom hates the idea of me working because she says high school should be about fun, but you both worked your way through school."

Mark Prentiss

Mark thought about what Chelsea said and decided that he might be able to help her somewhat, "Well, perhaps we can find things for you to do for me, odd jobs and such that can work around your other activities, for which I can give you more spending cash. I'll talk to your mother about that. As to your own car, time will tell. I can broach the subject with your mother as you get older, but it would be something that we'd have to discuss very soberly. Luckily, your mother has been happier of late, I think, and we have been getting along better."

Mark was pleased to see Chelsea in such a good mood, and while he wanted her school and childhood to complete before she started any serious work, he did like the idea that she was responsible and wanted to earn some money, not just take it. That spoke well of her values, that she had something of a work ethic. Clearly, both Jess and he had passed that kind of sense of right and wrong to her.

He smiled at Chelsea as she ate her favorite kind of pizza and he never felt happier or prouder that she was his daughter. Jess and he made her together and she had turned out as one of the most wonderful people that he had ever met.

"Daddy, I don't want to work in your office." Chelsea said, wrinkling her nose at the thought of being stuck behind a desk. "I want to work with my hands and get a job on my own. I don't need you or Mom just handing me things all the time."

She had a good level head on her shoulders and she was incredibly stubborn, just like her mother. Perhaps that had been why she had survived as an infant in the ICU. That stubborn nature was enough to get her through the hardest of times, even her parent's divorce.

Mark Prentiss

"Well, you're definitely my daughter. And your mother's. That much is clear. You have our pride, our stubbornness, our desire to earn your way in life. If that's what you want, I respect that. I was the same way myself. Very familiar. I'm very proud of you. I will speak to your mother about it. See what she thinks, if she is open to it. I agree that you should have time to be a girl and enjoy yourself, but I like that you want to work hard, too. There is a place for both. I'm glad that you realize that. Everything in moderation, or something like that.

"Are there any questions that you have for me right now, since we're speaking so freely and openly?" Mark was curious what Chelsea would ask him in such frank moments.

He also sneaked a bit more ham and pineapple from his slice onto hers when he thought that her gaze was elsewhere. He wondered if she would notice.

"You going to take Mom on an actual date?" Chelsea asked out of the blue, giving him a grin as she watched that startled look come to his eyes. "I think she'd like it."

She took a bite of her pizza, noticing that the toppings seemed to have multiplied in the time since her last bite. She didn't say anything, knowing that her father had more than likely slipped his toppings onto her piece when she wasn't paying attention.

"Daddy, you know she loves you. She always has. She would always talk about how her boyfriends were never romantic or would never do the things that you did." She was certainly laying it on thick, but she so badly wanted this to work out between them.

Mark Prentiss

"Baby, you know me pretty well. I would love to take your mother back out on dates. I would love to get back together with her, in fact. Perhaps miracles can happen. Especially if she loves me as much as you say....and I think that you might be right. Still, there has been a lot of pain and a lot of time....it's not a simple thing to start fresh in a marriage. Still, yes, I love your mother. I always have, even after all these years. I have never seriously gone after another woman, not for dates or relationships, you know. None of them are your mother. I've had the best. That makes it harder to settle for less. Whatever our problems, I'll never not be in love with your mother," Mark confided in Chelsea his feelings without detailing concrete plans or the fact that Jess and he were seriously considering it.

He didn't want to give her false hope, but he wanted to make it clear for the record that he loved her mother and had never stopped. Never would stop. As much as it had hurt him to love Jessica, Mark just couldn't let go.

"You really think that she feels the same way, Chelsea? I sure hope so. Women seem to expect men to read them, but we guys just don't think the same way, can never know these things about women. We just don't know what to look for, you know. Maybe....maybe someday....aw, I guess that time will tell, won't it? I think that you're right, but I fear that it might never happen....still, it's a nice dream to have, isn't it?" Mark then changed topics, trying to be less depressing, "Hey, let's talk something a little less bittersweet, alright? What was next on the plan again? Ice cream? Or maybe you're too stuffed for that."

Mark grinned just enough to let Chelsea know that he was teasing her, even as he gave her a kiss on her forehead to show that he wasn't trying to be cruel with his jokes.

"There is always room for ice cream." Chelsea said with a wide grin as she finished up her last slice. "Rocky Road with chocolate syrup. Remember when we would go see Nana and we always use to stop at that place up north of town? They had the best ice cream."

"Mom use to get so mad because that was one of her favorite places. She said that you use to take her there when she was pregnant because she had intense cravings." Chelsea's eyes suddenly lit up and a wide smile broke out across her face. "We should go up there. Get Mom some ice cream. It's a sure fired bet!"

Mark Prentiss

Mark smiled at both the memory and Chelsea's playful, mischievous side showing up. He liked how she thought, surprising Jess with a nice half-gallon of Rocky Road ice cream....he could see where Chelsea got that....while he preferred Fudge Mint, Rocky Road was good and it was for Jess....for Jess, he would go out of his way to get her things, just like before.

"Yeah, don't tell your mother what's coming. We want to totally surprise her, don't we? But first, some mini golf, right? Work up an appetite for that ice cream, right?" Mark reminded Chelsea with a hug.

He loved how much Chelsea took after her mother...she would definitely drive her future husband wild in both good and bad ways, he just hoped that her marriage turned out happier. He loved to spoil both of the ladies in his life, Jess and Chelsea, though of course for different reasons. Jess had accused him more than once, both during their marriage and after it, of spoiling Chelsea far too much. Lately, however, her attitude had changed about it.

Suddenly, Mark's eyes got a little misty, but he pushed back the tears...he wouldn't get all sentimental and cry in front of his daughter. He didn't want to risk having the truth come out just yet, anyway....that Jess and he really wanted to reconcile, but had to work their way back into it.

"Yep, because I'm ready to kick your butt." Chelsea challenged as they made their way to the mini golf course.

After 18 holes, she most certainly had kicked his butt. She excelled at everything that she tried to do, whether it be sports or academics. She worked hard to make her family proud and she relished the praise that both of her parents gave her after a job well done. She was still lording the fact that she had won over her father as he drove them both up north to retrieve their precious ice cream.

"Maybe we should go see Nana soon. It's been a while since we went to her house to see her." Chelsea mentioned as she looked over at her father.

She adored her father's mother and she was adored in return. There had been some bad feelings after the divorce between Nana and her mother, but her mother had always said kind things about the woman that had been her mother-in-law. Nana, on the other hand, could be vicious in her protective nature.

Mark Prentiss

Mark laughed at that remark, because Chelsea was always so competitive, even as much as she loved her old man. It was just her nature, though thankfully expressed in a light-hearted manner.

Mark tried not to think too much of how angry his mother had been, and some rather unflattering terms that she had used for Jess after the divorce. His face burned as he recalled that. He never repeated what Carolyn Prentiss had to say, but then anyone could guess. Mark had been her pride and joy and she was a she-bear about anyone hurting him. No doubt Jess had figured that out by now on her own without being told. He hoped that if they got back together, his mother would forgive Jess as he had and not cause trouble, of course.

"Well, times when it's just you and me are good times for that. I don't like the tensions when your Nana and your mother are in the same room," Mark agreed, biting his lip.

He naturally let Chelsea pick out the ice cream and choose her number of scoops, as they sat in the ice cream parlor, before buying a half-gallon for Jess on the way out....the ice cream folks had to be thinking him a sugar junkie, he thought with amusement.

"Dollar for your thoughts. Penny's an insult," Mark smiled at his daughter as they drove back.

Chelsea was finishing her two scoops of ice cream as her dad asked her about her thoughts. She didn't know if she could really put them into words right that moment. She was elated that her parents were trying for a second chance. She was a little scared that it might not work out and drive them further apart. Being the product of divorce had been hard. She had to love them both equally even when they didn't love each other. It had been a lot for a 10 year old to handle.

"Just thinking about everything." She said with a shrug of her slender shoulders. "And don't worry about Nana. You know she loves Mom, she's just really angry."

Her Nana had always been a protective force in their lives. She remembered the first Christmas with her dad after the divorce and how tense things had been. She was afraid for her father who was so depressed and she assumed that Nana had been as well. That was why they were at her house, surrounded by family that would comfort them. At the same time, she worried about her mother, all alone back at home on the happiest holiday of the year.

"What if I went out with some friends after dinner? That would give you and Mom some time to talk." Chelsea offered, not really sure what she could do to help them.

Mark Prentiss

"Well, I'm sure that you're right about your Nana. It hurt her a lot, you know, but I believe that your mother never intended any pain, not to any of us. It was more that she was suffering things that none of us realized at the time. I certainly didn't know about it until that day. That's beyond our control. What we can do is show your mother that we still care about her. I would hate for a decision that I made at one point in my life, no matter how much it caused pain that I never intended, to cause others to hate me. We all felt anger, but we should never feel hate. I hope that makes sense, at least the way that I phrased it," Mark thought aloud....

He wondered if Chelsea was onto him and Jess. He hoped not, because then if it didn't work out, it would really hurt her, but his daughter....their daughter, was a very intelligent young woman. Little got past her, he'd noticed. He wouldn't be surprised if she had followed all of the hints and clues that pointed to a trial reconciliation, which was what this seemed to be.

"On a more shallow note, how do you like your ice cream?" Mark asked as he ate his own scoops of Fudge Mint, "and I think that would be nice, for your mother and I to have some time to talk. Very thoughtful of you, Chelsea, though you know that I never resent you being around...it's just, well, you know. Besides, you have a natural need to socialize with your friends, after all. Ultimately up to your mother, of course. She has custody."

"It's the best ice cream I've ever had." Chelsea said with a grin as he changed the subject, trying to hide from her what he was really thinking about her mother. "I'll just tell her that a few people are going to a movie. She won't say no."

With a shrug of her small shoulders, she gave him a look that told him that she knew what he was up to. She had high hopes, but she was also smart enough to know that life wasn't a fairy tale. When all was said and done, she wouldn't get hurt. She knew her father would do everything in his power to make sure that she wasn't hurt.

Mark Prentiss

Oh, shit, Mark thought. She knows...she knows it all, doesn't she? Smart as I thought, smarter even. No surprises, really, with such genes as from Jess and me.

"Chelsea, sweetie, level with me. How much do you know already of what's going?" Mark asked her outright, "and yes, I agree that she probably will okay it."

Mark was a bit nervous, to put it mildly.