Colors seemed to blur together, slow and dark at first, blending into beautiful patterns, much like a Kalidascope, but then moved faster and began getting brighter. Sounds that Renae couldnt seem to make out, sharp and earpiercing shrieks. Finally her eyes snapped open as she heard a high pitched scream, and she sat up straight in bed.

Her breathing was fast and a thin coat of cold sweat covered her forehead. She took a deep breath, calming down once she had realized where she was, and that she was alright.

The colors had faded and were now replaced by the familiar surroundings of her bedroom. From the white walls, the soft, fluffy, dark and light purple and white checkered bedspread, sheets and pillows to match. The windows on either side of the oversized bed were open, a little less then halfway, allowing a cool breeze to blow inside. The silky lavender curtains that were long, touching the pearly white, shaggy carpet. The computer on the wooden desk, up against the wall opposite the bed, was posititioned inbetween the bathroom and hallway doors. The bureau was to her right, the tv and entertainment system, complete with DVD, VCR, Sattelite dish and stereo with surround sound speakers, was up against the wall to her left.

The high pitched scream, however, had been real, and she sighed as she realized it was the baby crying, which meant that Marshall had gotten home. She swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood up. She walked out of the room, clicking the light off on her way and walking down the long hall, the tall staircase with plaques and pictures decorating the wall alongside it, showing off their many achievements. The crying had stopped as she entered the front hall, and she heard Marshalls voice, from in the kitchen.

"Hai, can you hand me that towel?"

"Uh huh, here Daddy." Renae walked into the kitchen doorway just as Hailie said that. She saw Marshall, seated at the kitchen table, cradling the small baby in his strong arms. Hailie was standing beside him, smiling down at little Marshall. She handed him the wash rag and he took it. "Why do you need that?"

"Thanks, baby. 'Coz Marsh spit up on my shirt." He said, wiping the baby throw up off his shirt.

"Ew!" Hailie giggled and looked at Renae, standing behind them, smiling as she watched the two. Immediatly, Hailie stopped laughing and turned away from her, taking a deep breath.

Renae frowned, feeling a little hurt. Sometimes she got the feeling that Hailie didnt like her all that much for marrying her dad. "Hi Hailie." She said softly. Marshall turned his head slightly when he heard Renaes voice, and then went back to wiping his shirt off.

"Hi." Hailie replied quietly, staring at the tiled floor.

"Hey, Renae, come take Marsh?" Marshall asked. Renae nodded and walked forward, lifting the baby carefully away from Marshall. "Thanks." He said, standing up.

"When did you get home?" Renae asked, sitting where he had been sitting just moments before, and looking down at the baby. She felt Hailie watching her, and Renae did all she could to avoid eye contact with her.

"Uh, 'bout half hour ago. I aint wanna wake you up." Marshall said, going to the sink and turning the warm water on, to wet the rag a bit. "We left your food in the microwave, we ended up getting Pizza Hut instead of McDonalds."

"Okay. Thanks." She said quietly.

"No problem. I'ma be right back. Haveta change my shirt." He said, giving up trying to clean it and tossing the dishrag into the sink.

Hailie watched him jog out of the room and go up the stairs as she climbed onto a stool at the island of the kitcehn, and reached for the cookie jar. Selecting a chocolate chip cookie, shit bit into it and turned her gaze on Renae.

She didnt like Renae, just as Renae had suspected. Renae had never done anything to hurt Hailie, or anything mean. In fact, she was always nice, and it seemed she tried extra hard to get Hailie to like her. Hailie simply didnt like her, and wouldnt, no matter how nice Renae was to her. Hailie didnt like the idea of anyone else marrying her dad, or her dad loving anyone else but her mommy. It was true that her daddy was alot happier then when he was by himself, but Hailie still didnt like Renae-at all.

Her mommy didnt like Renae all that much either, and always asked Hailie if Renae was nice to her. Hailie told the truth, but she understood why her mom didnt like Renae. She was smart for a six year old, wise beyond her years. She knew that even though her mommy said that she hated her daddy, and yelled at him, calling him names that she wasnt allowed to repeat, she knew that her mommmy loved her daddy, deep down.

And...She had THOUGHT that he loved her to, until he met Renae, and married her. Now, she was his NEW wife and they had a NEW baby. She loved the new baby, despite her feelings towards Renae, because she knew that her daddy would love her no matter how many new babies he had. There was no jealousy, just the fact that her dad didnt seem to want her mom anymore and wanted Renae, made her mad at Renae, even though it wasnt really her fault.

"Uh, so, Hailie...You have fun today?" Renae asked, trying desperatly to make conversation and get rid of the awkward silence.

"Not really." Hailie said simply, looking down at the cookie and taking a bite out of it.

"Oh, okay..." She thought for a second and then tried once more to make conversation. "You want to hold the baby?"

Hailies eyes widened. "Yeah!" She said quickly. She loved holding the baby, he was so cute, like a doll or something, except her daddy had told her that she was not allowed to play with it when he or Renae wasnt around. She quickly remembered that she hated Renae and scowled. "But not right now. Maybe when my daddy comes back down." She said quickly, giving Renae the hint that she didnt want to talk to her or have anything to do with her.

"Alright." Renae sighed, and look back down at the baby. So soft and calm, so small and helpless, she couldnt help but love him. She got that feeling every time she saw him, since that first time that the doctor put him in her arms at the hospital, and now he was 6 months old. The months seemed to have flew by so fast that she could barely remember them. She didnt want him to grow up, but he was. She looked up and saw Hailie watching her, and then looked back down quickly. "Um, Hailie, do you want anything to eat?"

"Already ate." Hailie replied.

"Okay." She said, trying to think of a way to get Hailie to talk to her. At that moment Marshall came downstairs in a brand new shirt. He looked from Renae, to Hailie, who was staring at the counter.

"Sup girls?" He asked, taking a seat across from Renae at the kitchen table and putting his hands in front of him, tapping the table top boredly.

"Nothing." Hailie said quickly. "Can I go watch TV?" She asked, hopping down off the stool.

"Sure baby." Marshall nodded. Hailie smiled at him and then glared coldly at Renae and left the room. As soon as she was gone, Renae sighed and looked down at the baby, his eyes were half closed as she rocked him back and forth, and he looked like he was about to sleep at any minute.

"Why doesnt she like me?" She asked, avoiding eye contact with Marshall. He stared at the top of her head, the thick, smooth brown hair pulled back into a pony tail with some strands of hair creating a curtain around her face.

"Who, Hailie?"

"Yeah. She hates me." Renae looked down, almost ashamed. Marshall frowned, feeling bad, because he knew that Renae wanted Hailie to like her since the first day they had met.

"She doesnt hate you." He said simply, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head. Renae looked up at him, and he almost fell backwards. She looked honestly hurt.

"She does." She insisted. "Did you see the look she gave me when she left? She hates me. I know she does. She never wants to talk to me, and whenever I try and talk to her, she hardly keeps the conversation going, and only talks in short answers to my questions."

"Shes just shy." He shrugged.

"How long has it been since I met her? A couple years? I dont think she likes me at all." She shook her head and looked back down at the baby. His eyes were closed now, and he looked like he was falling asleep, if he wasnt already.

"How can she not like you? Your always nice to her, c'mon, you must just be, I dunno, paranoid or something."

"Im not!" She whispered loudly. "I am not paranoid about this."

"Want me to talk to her?" Marshall raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, just ask her why. Its ok if she does, I guess if my Dad had remarried, I wouldnt like the bitch either." She shook her head and stood up. "Hes sleeping so, I'ma go put him upstairs."

"Okay, Ill go talk to Hai." Marshall stood up too and they walked into the hallway, parting at the stairs. Marshall went into the living room and Renae carried the sleeping child up to its nursery to put it to bed.

Marshall walked into the livingroom and saw Hailie sitting on the couch, watching the disney channel, her back facing him. He grinned and walked forward, then lifted her up and flipped her upside down playfully. She screamed and giggled, kicking and trying to get down, and he laughed at her.

"Daddy!" She shrieked, laughing and grabbing his arms to try and steady herself, and make herself feel better about being so high in the air and upside down. "Put me DOWN!" She screamed. He smirked and flipped her upright, and then set her on the couch.

"Hai. I want to talk to you." He said, laughing and falling down beside her.

"About..." She trailed off, waiting for him to start talking. He sighed and put his arm up on the back of the couch, around her and then looked down at her.

"Well, Renae thinks that you hate her." He said softly.

"I do." Hailie looked down at her hands.

"Why?" Marshall shifted his weight, making himself confortable and waited for Hailie to respond to him.

"Because, I thought you loved Mommy."

He looked down, trying to figure out what he should say to her. "Well, baby, I did love mommy, very much at one point. But, sh-Things happen. And, Now, I love Renae. You shouldnt hate Renae, because I dont love Mom."

"Yeah...I know." Hailie said reluctantly.

"Shes a good person, shes been good to you, and she likes you." He said, poking Hailie in the shoulder and making her smile. "So, why dont you just give her a chance?"

Hailie looked at him and was about to say something when he cut her off.

"Please? For me?" He pleaded. She rolled her eyes.

"I guess so." She shrugged. She had no intention of thinking differently towards Renae, but she wanted him to leave her alone about it, right now.

"Thanks baby. You will love her once you give her a chance. I promise." He grinned. "Shes so much fun, trust me."

Hailie forced a smile and nodded. "Okay Daddy."

"Aight babes. Thanks." He said happily, kissing the top of Hailies head. "So, what are we watching?"

"Boy meets world." She chirped happily. He chuckled to himself and sat back to watch it. A couple minutes later he saw Renaes reflection in the tv when it switched to a different scene. She looked scared to enter, leaning against the doorframe, baby moniter in hand and looking between him and Hailie. He tilted his head back so that he could see her and she smiled a little bit. Hailie hardly looked up, to engrossed with the show to show interest in anything else.

"Come in here!" He said, grinning. Hailie looked up and then quickly back at the tv as she saw Renae walking towards the couch. Marshall put his arms out and pulled her down onto the couch beside him, so that he was inbetween Renae and Hailie, an arm around each of them. Renae smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder, still a little nervous about whether Hailie liked her or not, but she felt better to be next to Marshall, just relaxing and watching tv, something they didnt do very often anymore.

Marshall leaned his head against hers and smelled her hair, trying not to make it obvious to either her or Hailie, but Renae noticed and giggled a little. Hailie looked over at them and rolled her eyes. She was fine, watching tv with her dad until SHE came along and now everything was ruined. It was her time with her dad, she didnt see him as much as she wanted to, and Renae got to see him whenever she wanted. It wasnt fair that Renae cut into her time too. She wanted him right now, why did Renae have to get in the middle of it all?

She stood up, and Marshall looked up and immediatly pulled her back down. "Where you going, girly?" He asked. Hailie sighed and crossed her arms.

"Im hungry." She lied. She just wanted to get away from Renae, and her dad. She didnt want to be here when they started laughing at each other and stuff.

"Hailie?" Renae said timidly. "Do you want me to make you something to eat?" She offered in a sweet voice, hoping that Marshall had said something to Hailie today that might have changed her thoughts about her.

"I want my Daddy to do it." She said, staring daggers at Renae. Renae sunk back into Marshalls arms and turned her attention to the tv. She didnt understand why Hailie didnt like her, and it was making her feel badly. Marshall looked from Renae, and her hurt expression, and then to Hailie.

"Hai, I dont feel like getting up right now. Let Renae make you something." He said firmly, but soft at the same time.

"But Daddy-" She protested.

"Hailie, what did we JUST talk about?" He asked, raising his voice slightly. She bit her bottom lip and glared at her father.

"Fine." She said, shrugging.

"Ask her to make it for you."

"Can you make me something to eat?" Hailie asked reluctantly. Marshall shook his head and pushed Renae back down into the couch when she tried to stand up and agree. She was excited that Hailie actually talked to her, even if Marshall had made her, and even if she didnt say it in the nicest of voices.

"No Hailie. Ask her nicely, and politely." He said, staring at her, as if telling her to listen to him with his eyes. After a second she rolled her eyes.

"Renae, will you PLEASE make me something to eat?" She asked. Renae smiled at her and nodded.

"C'mon Hai." She said, standing up and grinning at Marshall. Marshall smiled back and winked at her and she laughed. Marshall chuckled and grabbed Hailies arm as she passed him, stopping her briefly. She looked at him and narrowed her eyes.

"Hailie, you remember what we talked about, okay?" He said. She nodded and walked away, pulling her arm from his grasp. He watched them go and then sat back and watched the rest of the tv show.

"So, Hai. What do you want to eat? I think I still have pizza left over from earlier, I havent eaten it yet, you want it?" She asked, walking towards the microwave.

"No." Hailie said flatly. She pondered something and then looked up at Renae. "Renae?"

"Huh?" She looked over at Hailie in surprise.

"Are you trying to be my mommy?" She asked suspiciously.

"No, no Hailie." Renae said, being caught offgaurd. She walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. Hailie pulled a chair out and sat next to her. "Im not trying to be your mommy. Thats not what Im trying to do, at all. Jeez, its no wonder you hate me."

Hailie looked up, suddenly feeling sort of guilty. "You, know that-that I dont like you?"

Renae looked down and nodded, biting her bottom lip. "See, I love your dad, and Im not trying to steal him away from you. I would never do that. But, like, I also love you, even though I know you dont like me. But, I think, if its okay with you, maybe we can, share your dad? Agreed?"

"Share him?" Hailie asked slowly.

"Yeah, like, I wont steal him away from you, and you wont steal him away from me. A deal...Okay?" She asked.

"Promise?" Hailie asked.

"Promise."

"Swear?" Hailie asked again.

"It isnt nice to swear, but yeah I guess."

"Okay." Hailie smiled. She still didnt like Renae alot, but she figured that she liked this deal they had made. Renae smiled back, finally feeling as if Hailie might accept her. A few seconds later the doorbell rang and Renaes smile faded. Kenny was here.