"An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language."

~Martin Buber

"Wow, Daddy! Look at this one!"

Ty had to wrap his arms around Tessie's waist to prevent her from walking over to the cage with a Chihuahua in it. She pouted a little, but her face lit up when she saw where we were headed.

Alicia was standing in front of a room, sitting beside a blue dog bed with a bunch of puppies crawling around in it.

"Mommy! Do we get one?" Tessie gasped, squirming in Ty's arms. I laughed, kneeling down in front of the bed of puppies and glancing up at the woman.

"You must be Alyssa." She said, outstretching her hand, "I think we talked on the phone." I nodded, taking her hand and shaking it.

"Yeah. This is Ty and his daughter Tessie." Alicia shook both of their hands before we all knelt down and stared at the dalmatian puppies.

"They're all ready to be adopted. Is there one in particular you want?" She asked, gesturing toward the puppies. Tessie started pointing at the puppy that had wandered off the bed and was teetering toward us.

"That one, Mommy. It likes us." She said, giggling. Alicia picked the puppy up, looking it over.

"This here is a little boy. You want to hold him?" Alicia held the puppy out to me, and after a second of hesitation, I took him. He nuzzled his little nose into my hand, earning a laugh out of me.

"They're great for young children." Alicia said, gesturing toward Tessie, "And if you plan on having another child, they are great to have around babies as well." I knew she was trying to sell the puppy, but she didn't even need to say anything. The puppy's big brown eyes had already sold me, I was going to buy him.

"Hey there, Spot." I said, leaning back against Ty so Tessie could see the puppy, "You're going to be coming home with us." He tried to wiggle out of my hands, his nose digging into Tessie's hand.

"Let me get all these other little guys ready to be adopted and I'll be right back out to give you the adoption papers and lists of supplies needed."

*

It was nearly night time by the time we got back home. Ty and I sat Tessie down and explained to her that the puppy couldn't be carried all the time, that he couldn't run around with her just yet. That he was still fairly young and could get hurt easily.

That's how she ended up curled up beside Spot's bed on the couch, a princess blanket thrown over her as she hugged her stuffed animal against her chest.

"She's so adorable." I whispered to Ty, laying my head against his shoulder. He nodded, but didn't say anything.

"She keeps asking if you're coming with us." Ty changed the subject, turning so he was looking at me.

"What do you mean?" I knew exactly what he meant, but I didn't want to let him know that.

"To the house. It's only about a half hour from NYU. They said they'd pay the first month's rent, so I could just live there until I'm working again." I looked down, feeling Ty gently touch my hand, "This is pretty much the last thing on the list, Ally." He pulled the folded piece of paper from his pocket and showed me everything I had crossed off.

"I mean, except the whole baby thing, but we're going to wait as long as you want for that." He went on.

"I think. . . I think maybe you should let Tessie adjust to the new house without any int interruptions. Maybe I-"

"Alyssa, please just hear me out for a second before you tell me that it's done, that we won't see each other except on Holidays when you feel obligated to." He took me down the hall to one of the bedrooms, shutting the door so it was only open a crack.

"When you found me on the street a couple months ago, I thought you were nothing more than some rich bitch there to try and convince me to do some stupid job for you so I could make a few bucks." He cupped my cheek in his hand, "And sure, maybe Steph did write that list, but you were the one that made the most out of every single thing on there. You didn't have to do everything you did for Tessie and me, you went far beyond what Steph probably expected, what I did." He took my hand in his and smiled down at it.

"You helped me get my daughter baby, my baby girl. You possibly saved my life, Alyssa. Because back then, I had nothing to live for. I had nobody, I couldn't even see my daughter. But you helped me, Ally. You, not Steph." I smiled a little at his words, feeling his hand sliding up my waist until it planted itself on my hip.

"All those people you helped, too. Hearts for Hearts, those people on Fourth and Lincoln. You helped them, baby. Not Steph. As much as we wish we could say Stephanie did all of this, it was you, Alyssa. That's why she made the list, so you could experience the life she wished you had, that she wished could of. And you did it, Ally. You did it perfectly." I leaned into his touch, closing my eyes as he continued.

"My daughter adores you, Ally. You want her to settle into the new house, to be happy. But she's become so attached to you that she won't be able to adjust. I know you said you didn't want me to say it, and I understand why. Your whole life, you've had people that said they loved you leave or disappear. You're afraid of holding on, afraid I'll let go. But Ally, I'm here and I promised I'd always be here for you. Relationship or not, I love you Alyssa Morrison. I love how strong you are. How you keep a smile on your face, even when you're dying on the outside. I wanted to believe that you were a stereotypical rich girl, that you would never care about me. But you weren't, you were this beautiful girl with a heart of gold."

I felt his lips brush against my ear as I rested my head on his chest.

"I've lived enough of my life to know that I want to spend the rest of it with you, Alyssa. I want you in my life, Tessie wants you in our life." I nodded, a smile tugging at my lips.

"Ty?" I eventually whispered, tilting my head back to look up at him.

"Yeah?" He replied, equally as quiet.

"I think I love you too, I just don't know for sure yet." He leaned down and kissed me, his hand brushing my bangs out of my eyes.

It was different from the last two kisses we'd had. It felt as if the weight of the world was off our shoulders and maybe. . . maybe we could have a normal life.

*

I woke up to the sound of Tessie crying. I pushed myself up from the bed, walking quietly by the puppy bed with Spot asleep in it. I snuck out of the room without seeing if Ty was awake or not as well.

Tessie was sitting up in Steph's bed, or her bed now, her head tilted toward the ceiling as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" I asked her, making my way toward the four year old crying.

"I don't wanna go bye bye." She said through her tears, "I want to stay with you, Ally. I want Daddy to love you so you can be my real Mommy." She said. I sat down on the bed beside her, pulling her against my chest.

I felt my heart clench for a second at the familiarity of the action, of running my nails through her long, dark hair.

"Hey, don't cry, Tessie. I'm right here." I kissed the top of her head.

"Don't leave me." She whimpered, looking up at me with tear filled, big green eyes.

"I'm not going to leave you, Tessie. I love you and Daddy. I. . . you're my family now." She sniffled, still looking up at me.

"You promise?" She asked.

"Yeah, Princess." I hugged her tightly against me, "I promise."

*

Ty was waiting for me when I came back to the room, nodding toward the baby monitor on the nightstand.

"You heard us?" I felt my cheeks flush.

After I had started to quiet her down, I'd told her about Ty and me. I told her how much I wanted to have a family soon.

"I did." He answered, patting the spot on the bed beside him. I laid down, kicking my slippers off before laying in the bed. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around me and kiss my cheek.

"It's going to be strange, going back to school." I whispered, lacing my fingers through his, "But I need to finish. I promised Steph I would." I felt Ty lay his head against my back.

"You're strong, Ally. You can handle it. You can handle anything."

***AN***

So I'm just sitting here crying. There's only a chapter and the epilogue left. 

Does anyone have a tissue?

I hope you guys enjoyed! 

Let me know what you thought!

~ChasingMadness24