YOU bit into the burger and seemed to be in heaven. As the combination of meat, cheese, bread, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and lettuce danced across your taste buds. You closed your eyes as you enjoyed the flavor. You had forgotten how good these tasted. Ignis smiled at you as you hummed your delight.

"I don't think that I've ever seen anyone enjoy a burger quite so much before." Ignis commented as he enjoyed watching you savor each bite as he ate a fry.

"You try living off of nothing but fish for three years." You said before you took another bite.

Ignis gave you a strange look. "Only fish? How is that possible?"

Paul started laughing as he grabbed a fry.

"It wasn't all fish." He commented as he ate the fry.

You gave him a stern look as you chewed.

"I mean sure we, had it a lot." He added as grabbed another fry.

You paused as you cocked your head at him.

"But it wasn't every single night. We tried to have something else every chance we got." He continued as he was starting to get uncomfortable.

"Uhhhh." You groaned after you finally swallowed your food. "What my father is neglecting to say is that in Altissia, fish is the primary source of food due to the locality. There isn't exactly a lot of open fields there that can be used to raise animals. So to be able to eat anything other than fish is kind of a luxury and can be quite pricey. Sure they may have had the monster fights every night. But there was never any guarantee that you would get any good meat after the fights were done. Most of the time the meat was tainted or poisoned. So they would used it to hunt or fish with instead."

"You know I never even thought about that before." Korn said as he watched you take another bite. "You have learned quite a bit while you have been gone."

"Are you kidding." Paul chimed in. "This girl hasn't stopped once. She memorized every street in Altissia like the back of her hand and I think she even knows every vender."

"Not quite every vendor." You corrected.

"Some of them never did trust me because I wasn't 'born' there." You said as you did quotes marks in the air for emphasis.

"You memorized all of those streets?" Korn asked as he looked at you.

"Believe it to not, there aren't really that many to memorize. Plus each area is kind of like Insomnia, in the sense, that it is broken up into sections. All I did was learn each section separately then just put them together like a jigsaw puzzle." You explained then ate a few fries. "Holy shit, even these taste better."

"Hey, language." You dad said sternly to you.

"What?" You asked as you ate a few more.

Paul just shook his head as he decided to drop it before it went down hill. "So after we're done here we'll head to the grocery store so that we can get the food and cleaning supplies that we'll need. I'll start calling the utility companies once we get back to the house so that we can get everything turned back on today and tomorrow. I want to have us in the house well before the celebration starts."

"Don't you think that that might be pushing it a bit?" You asked as you ate a few more fries.

"No, I don't." Your dad answered.

Then he gave you a direct stare. "We have been out of our house long enough. It's time to go home."

"I want to be home just as much as you, but I'm worried about you pushing yourself too far." You added before you took a drink as you gave him a concerned look.

"I'm fine." He answered back a little more firm without meeting your gaze. "Just let me handle things, alright? I am the parent here."

"You may be the parent, but your also a person." You returned as you stopped eating for a moment as you search his face. "If you push yourself too far, you'll collapse just like anyone else."

"It's not for you to decide when I should stop!" He sternly answered as he gave you a matching look.

"I never said that I was deciding for you!" You glared back.

"I just don't want to see my dad destroy himself as he works himself to death instead of taking care of himself!" You ended with force.

"That's my choice!" He almost shouted back.

You dropped your head in frustration. Nothing you said was getting through to him. And if he kept going the way he was, he would be so far gone that you would never get him back again. He would be more wrapped up in work then ever and he would further push away the only family that he had left. And that was you. Suddenly the burger and fries didn't look so good anymore.

"I'm not hungry anymore." You said as you stood up.

"I'll wait for you by the car." You said as you stood up and wrapped up your half eaten food in the burger wrapper.

Then you walked away with your drink and wrapper. You threw them in the trash can by the door. Then you shoved open the door and walked outside. Ignis stood up and wrapped up his food as he followed you with his eyes. Korn gave him a curious look.

"I'm going to go talk to her." Ignis said as he left the table with his half eaten lunch.

Ignis gave Paul a disappointed look as he walked away.

Korn then turned and gave Paul a stern look. "She's only worried about you, you know."

Paul dropped his head.

"That's not how it's supposed to be. It's not her responsibility to be worried about things like that." He quietly said as absently ate a fry.

"She wouldn't be worried if you would let her know what's going on." Korn said as he searched Paul's face. "And if you started taking care of yourself and paying attention to those around you. Hell, when was the last time you had a good night's sleep?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Paul asked as he fidgeted with his fries.

"When was the last time that you sleep a full eight hours in one night?!" Korn asked as he could see the bags under Paul's eyes.

"I............I don't know." Paul answered as he looked down at his food. "Perhaps last night."

"Nice try. But that's not what the staff told me. They mentioned to me this morning that they saw you up shortly after midnight. And that was after I last saw you, which was around ten." Korn returned as he sat back and crossed his arms as he gave Paul a stern look. "Of course they also told me that (y/n) hadn't done much better than you. Which is odd for her, since she use to sleep all night when she stayed at the citadel before."

Paul dropped his head when he heard this. He of course knew that this was true. He hadn't been getting much sleep. And the sleep that he had gotten was mainly due to pure exhaustion taking over. But that seemed to be the only way he could sleep. For every time he tried to get a normal night's rest, he would be plagued with nightmares that would wake him up in a pool of sweat. It was only if he passed out that he was able to get any sleep at all.

But then there had been several nights where he had noticed that your light was still on as well. He had thought at first that you had been staying up late to work on projects for school. But then when he had peek through the door a few times. He saw you just sitting on the balcony looking out over Altissia. He had even seen you there again last night as you looked out over the garden. Although he also knew that you had left your room last night as well, before you were on the balcony. In fact he had heard your door and the conversation through the open balcony door of Noctis' room.

"Don't you see?" Korn continued. "She's getting those vibes from you. So not only are you hurting yourself, your hurting your daughter as well."

Paul sat there for a few moments as he felt those words sink in. He hadn't really thought about how his behavior might affect you, since he had been so consumed in his own grief. But now that he thought about it.  He realized that your reactions were showing him that he had started to push you away again. And that had not been his intention.

He had done that once before in Altissia. But that time, Camelia had forced him to take some time off to spend some quality time with you. That was when he had gotten to know the young woman that had taken over for his little girl. He smiled to himself as he thought about the relaxing mid-day lunches and lazy afternoon conversations while the two of you fished. Then there was the long walks as you both talked as you tried to better understand each other. He had learned more about you during that time, then he had ever expected to.

"It seems as if (y/n) isn't the only one who could still use some lessons from Camelia." Paul said as he dropped his gaze as he took a long drink.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

You were sitting on the curb staring at the car as if willing for it to take you somewhere other than there, when Ignis came walking up. "Hey."

"Hey." You said as you kept your head down.

"You could have finished eating you know." You said without looking at him.

As soon as you heard him, you knew for a fact that he had just thrown away half a burger like you had.

"And just how am I suppose to eat, when I know that your not?" He asked as he sat down beside you.

"But aren't you still hungry?" You asked as you looked at him.

"I am." He replied as he gave you a slight smile. "But I can always make us up something when we get back."

You smiled at him then dropped your head as you brought your legs up to chest as you wrapped your arms around your legs. You hated the idea that he had thrown away his food, just to check on you. But at the same time it was a sweet gesture. Which is why now you felt guilty for your reaction to your dad.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." You said as you stared at the ground in front of you. "He just makes me so mad sometimes."

"I can understand your frustration." He said as he put his arm around you.

"My uncle and I have had a few rough patches ourselves after we found out about my dad." Ignis added.

"And I can't say that we always agree and get along." Ignis continued. "But we have learned to meet on common ground."

"Besides it's only natural to be upset. But arguing isn't going to get you anywhere." He continued as you leaned up against him.

"I know." You quietly said as he pulled you closer and kissed you on the head.

"Just give him time." Ignis quietly said as he held you. "He'll come around soon enough. It's just a matter of giving him plenty of time and patience."

"I have." You quietly returned.

"Three years worth of time and patience." You said as you dropped your head. "But I don't know if he'll ever be the same. I've waited and supported him. I've done everything that I can think of to try and help out. But it just doesn't seem to be enough. I don't know what else to do. I had missed him so much for so long. I couldn't wait to get him back.

"But the man that I got out of Gralea, that wasn't who I knew anymore. His old self wasn't as distant and he didn't try to push me away all the time, you know. I just wish we could go back in time. And go back to the way things were. In fact it doesn't have to be the exact same. I know I'm not the same. But I just..........I just want........" You started to say. But you had to pause and take a raspy breath as you took control of your emotions.

"I just want my dad back." You said as you sat there absently staring at the concrete.

Right as you said that, you heard someone come to a stop behind you. You turned around and looked up. You saw your dad standing there with his mouth opened like he was going to say something. But you looked away from him and stood back up. Then you quietly walked to the other side of the car so that you could get in before he could say anything.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the afternoon was quiet between you and your dad. The group split up in the grocery store so that the shopping would be faster. You and Ignis started in the produce department while your dad and Korn headed for the freezer section. Then you met in the middle by the canned goods before heading to the cashier.

Then you each headed to different areas in the house after the groceries were brought in. Your dad headed up to his study so that he could call the utility companies. While the rest of you stayed in the kitchen and started clearing out each cupboard before cleaning and reorganizing each one. It wasn't until you were almost done, that Korn went up to check on your dad. Leaving you and Ignis alone to finished up in the kitchen.

Paul heard a knock on his door.

"Come in." He called as he set down the picture that he had been looking at for the past five minutes.

Korn walked in and found Paul sitting behind his solid oak desk with a stack of bills in front of him. They looked like some of the old bills since they were already marked as paid. He also noticed a notepad that had some prices written on it. He figured it must be the current prices for each one.

"Finished already?" Paul asked as he met Korn eyes.

"I left them to finish. And at the rate their going, they should be done downstairs in about half an hour or so." Korn stated as he looked at Paul.

"Sounds good." Paul said as he absently nodded his approval as he thought about the issues that he was having on his side.

"Any luck with the utility companies?" Korn asked as he could see the frustration on Paul's face.

"The water, sewer, and trash are done." He said as he pointed to the prices on the sheet. "I was even able to get the electricity turned back over to me again. So their done for the most part. I'm just still having issues with the internet, cable and phones. They don't seemed to be as user friendly as they use to be."

Korn chuckled at his comment. "Well you've made more progress than most." He said as he sat down on the couch that sat up against the wall. "I'm impressed that you got it down to just those three. Perhaps you could try them again tomorrow."

"Oh, I got a hold of them today." Paul interjected. "The problem is that they can't come out until Friday and today is Sunday. I was hoping to be back in the house completely by Wednesday."

"You could still be here on wednesday." Korn answered as he looked at Paul. "But your going to be very bored. Unless you just watch movies every night."

Paul slightly smiled as he gave a half laugh. "That would be a lot of movies."

"What about your work office? Do they have you set up there yet?" Korn asked as he watched Paul.

"They have to recreate all of my accounts and reactivate my security clearance again." Paul said as he sat back with an exasperated sigh. "They told me that it could take up to two weeks to get me up and going again."

"It's never easy to bring someone back who's been undercover as long as you were. I'll tell you what." Korn said as he relaxed back on the couch. "I'll let you use my office at the citadel until you get your internet and phones back for work."

Paul looked at him with a slight smile. "I appreciate the offer. But I don't want to interrupt your work. I'm sure that you will be needing to use it."

"My desk, yes." Korn answered. "But not the whole time. I have to take care of a few things throughout the city, so I'll be out of the office a lot this week."

"Oh." Paul answered. "Let me guess, celebration set-ups?"

"Precisely." Korn answered as he smiled back at Paul.

"Well considering that the work that I would be doing concerns the celebration, it might not be a bad idea to work out of the same office this week." Paul answered as he smiled back at Korn.

Korn smiled and nodded his agreement.

"Alright, I'll take your offer. At least until I get hooked back up at work and home." Paul said with a smile. "Thank you."

"Consider it a slight sanity check for me." Korn answered.

Paul gave him a curious look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, my secretary, Sara, tends to be very nervous when I'm around her." Korn answered. "I'm curious to see if it's just me that makes her nervous or if she is just naturally like that."

Paul slightly laughed at him. "You do tend to make people nervous."

"So I've been told." Korn returned as he looked down.

"Are you planning on letting her go if it turns out to be you?" Paul asked as he watched his reaction. "I would hate to be a part of someone being let go because you made them nervous"

"I wouldn't let her go. I would simply move her to another office. She's good at what she does and I don't intend to let her go because of nerves. But at the same time, I don't want her uncomfortable at work." Korn answered.

"That's understandable." Paul replied with a smile. "Alright then. I'll join you then in your office tomorrow morning so that we can get started."

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile......

"There." You said as you put the last glass away. "All finished." You said as you smile proudly at the well organized cupboard.

"I must say that I'm a bit impressed with the changes. It looks good." Ignis said as he stood by the island and looked around at the well organized and displayed kitchen.

"Let me see." You said as you went over and stood beside him.

You glanced around the kitchen and was very pleased with the end result. The glass door cabinets now proudly showed off the dishes, where as the food items were now out of sight. The spices were now proudly displaying in the cabinet beside the stove. With the exception of the ones that you used on a daily basis. Those you now have sitting on the back of the stove for quick access.

"Your right." You said with a smile. "It does look good."

"There is one thing in this kitchen that looks way more intriguing though." He said as he stepped behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist.

"Oh." You said in almost a whisper as you felt your heart start to race as his heated breath sent thrills down your back as he dropped his head down by your ear. "And what would that be."

"Oh I think that you know what that might be." He said then gave you a tender kiss behind your ear.

Instantly the heat from earlier came back on like a furnace being lit off. You purred against him as you placed your hands on his as you closed your eyes. You loved how he could turn you on like that, with just one kiss. You lightly squeezed his hands as they started to slid across your waist.

Ignis dropped his head further as he gently kissed your neck. He knew that he should wait until he could pull you privately aside again. But he couldn't seem to resist you as you stood there. His fingers were too eager to touch you so that he could become lost in you again. He had never had anyone have this much of an affect on him before. It was almost as if you had him under a spell that he never wanted to break from.

You tilted your head to the side so that he could get to your whole neck as he expertly brought back out the heat as he continued to kiss your neck. Your breath became rugged as he moved back up towards the back of your ear again as he pulled you closer to him. You could hear his hunger in his breath as it became rugged as his fingers tensed up on you as he pulled you harder against him.

You reached back and placed your hand on his hip as you felt him starting to rub against you. He was becoming lost in the moment as he was starting to strain against the fabric of his shorts. He backed up enough to allow you to slide your hand over and continue where you had left off from that morning.

As soon as you touched him again. He groaned and aggressively grabbed both of your breasts before he latch onto your neck. You gasped at the pleasure that he was giving you, which was like throwing kerosine on a open flame. For he increased the pressure and applied suction to the kiss.

"We should stop." You whispered as you felt the heat in your core as you started to long for him to rub your pearl again. "They'll be down any moment."

"Yes." He quietly groaned as he pulled you close and gave you one last passionate kiss on your neck.

"For now. But don't think that you'll be by yourself tonight my dear." He growled as he slowly started to loosen his grip. "You've started something in me that I can't seem to control anymore. At least not until I hear you cry out again."

Your body trembled from his words and his hands as they squeezed your breasts one more time before they slid down your sides. You stood there shaking as he released you and went to grab the broom to sweep the kitchen floor. You stood there as if in a daze from the intensity of him. You were afraid to move in case your legs gave out as you watched Ignis return with the dustpan and broom.

"Shall we?" He asked as he handed you the dust pan.

You simply nodded at him. He then quickly and expertly swept up the kitchen. In no time at all he had the dirt in a neat pile. You stepped forward and knelt down as you placed the dustpan down on the ground for him to sweep up the dirt. But you couldn't help but watch as his barely hidden erection was within your reach. You had to look away as you remembered seeing him hanging straight out, the last time that you were in this position with him. Of course the thought had your heart racing and your fingers tingling again from the urge to feel him in your hands.

Then right as the last of the dirt was in the pan. Your hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it reached up and started to rub his hip. You looked up to him only to see him giving you a heated look at the gesture. You looked in his darken eyes as you started to move your hand towards his gro.

But just before you reached him, you heard Korn and your dad coming downstairs. So instead of touching him, you quickly stood up to dump the dust pan. But as you turned to walk away from him, you gently ran your fingers across the front of his pants, which caused a slight groan from him. But it ended there, since they entered the kitchen right after your hand left him.

"Wow." Paul said as he looked around with a smile. "I'm impressed. It looks great."

"Thank you." You both quietly replied as you gave each other very heated looks.

"Splendid.  Well, with that done. Shall we head back then?" Korn said as he watched Paul as he opened up each of the cupboards as if he had never seen them before.

"Yeah." Paul said as he closed the last cupboard door. "We can come back tomorrow and start to go through all of the closets and dressers and get rid of the clothes that don't fit us anymore."

"Sounds like a good goal for tomorrow." Korn said as he looked at Paul.

You dropped your head as you thought about how it was going to feel as you were going through you mom's clothes. She had let you wear her clothes before. But this was going to be different. You wouldn't simply be borrowing her clothes anymore. You would be taking them as your own this time.

"In fact the timing will be perfect." Korn added as he looked at the group. "His majesty is holding a ball the night before the celebration, as a way of welcoming some special guests to the city."

"Since when was this in the plan?" Paul asked as he stared a Korn in disbelief.

"Since you two decided to come back." Korn answered with a smile. "He wanted to welcome the two of you back without causing a big fuss."

"Big fuss huh?" Paul asked as he crossed his arms in front of himself. "I think that a ball qualifies as a big fuss."

"To his majesty, a ball is small when compared to the rest of the celebration." Korn said with a laugh.

"Perhaps after you go through your mother's clothes, Ignis could take you out to get the rest of your wardrobe?" Paul said to you as he tied to talk to you again.

"Perhaps." You quietly said. You had actually hoped that your dad would take you this time. But it looks like he was going to use this as another way of pushing away.

Ignis reached over and grabbed your hand as he tried to comfort you. He could see the hurt you were feeling just by how your shoulders seemed to droop as if your spirit was being broken. He could only imagine what you were thinking as you stood there. But he had a feeling that you had hoped that someone else would have taken you shopping instead.

"I would love to take you." Ignis said as he tried to distract you again.

"Thank you." You said as you smiled up at him as you reached over and grabbed his arm as if you were trying to steady yourself from the crushing realization that you about to be pushed further from your dad once more.

The car ride back to the citadel was quiet for the most part. The only talking was between Korn and Paul as they talked about the specifics for the ball. But it wasn't about the music and lights. No it was about the security and the checking of the guests as they walked inside the citadel. None of which was exciting to you.

The only thing that you were excited about was being able to dance with Ignis again. But this time it would be in front of more people than just Marge, Jim and your dad. You smiled at this fact as you leaned against Ignis in the backseat of the car as your dad drove to the citadel for the night. Ignis had his fingers interlaced with yours as he held your hand. He didn't dare do anything more than that with the other occupants in the car.

Once you got back to the citadel, you and Ignis both headed to the kitchen to start dinner, while Paul and Korn went to talk to King Regis in his study. You smiled as you followed Ignis into the happy noisey kitchen as everyone was busy making their various dishes. As you walk through to the back, everyone greeted you with open arms and a few very firm hugs. Ignis simply smiled as he enjoys the scene as he watched the kitchen staff light up again to have you back in the kitchen. He leaned up against one of the counters as he watched the staff ask you what seemed like a hundred questions about Altissia and Gaulden Quay.

"It's good to see her smiling again." Ignis heard a happy accented voice say from beside him.

"That it is." Ignis responded back as he watched you happily chatting and laughing at the comments from some of the kitchen crew.

"How did she handle the house?" The concerned female voice asked.

Ignis' smile dropped as he remembered you crumbling in his arms as you held the necklace that you found on your vanity. He tried to swallow down the tightness in his throat as he remembered the helpless that he felt to take away your pain. All he could do was hold you as you shuddered in his arms with grief. He knew the feeling, but it didn't make it any easier to see or deal with.

"It went as well as can be expected." He quietly said as he looked down. "It's not easy for anyone to go through the loss of someone. Let alone in their case as they watched her mom being murdered before their eyes."

"No, I would say not." Marge said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "But that is where support and love will help her to heal. And I know that you will be one of the main people that she will turn to, to help her heal."

Right then you looked up and meet his eyes as you smiled at him. He gave you a big smile back as he put his hands on the counter and slightly nodded back. He once again saw that sparkle in your eyes started to dance with excitement as you smiled back. He knew then that you were truly glad to be back where you belonged.

******Author Note******

First off THANK YOU!!!!! I have hit 7,000 read for this book. You guys are AMAZING!!!! And I can't thank you enough for coming with me on this journey with our favorite team of up and coming warriors.

I do apologize that this did take a bit longer to come out. I was slightly side tracked as I was reading another book as a means of figuring out Paul a little more. I want to keep his personality is a certain way, but he will have to face a few more challenges before this is all said and done. ;)

Either way, I do hope that you will continue with me to see how well Korn and Paul will handle being in the same office as they get everything ready for the Founder's Day Celebration.

Thanks for reading. :)

**************************