AN: This is a very different story for me. Completely AU – normally I don't write or read stories where S/R are married with kids, but this wouldn't stay out of my head. Let me know what you think.

JE owns all the rights to any familiar characters

Credit for the title goes to Jewel

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Ranger watched as his daughter twisted her long curly hair around the index finger on her left hand and pushed her eggs around her plate with the fork gripped in her right.

She hadn't eaten a bite in ten minutes and hadn't spoken a word in over twenty.

The clock, hung crookedly over the kitchen sink, ticked loudly - mocking him.

He searched desperately for something to say. "You could have just told me you wanted pancakes," he blurted stupidly, wincing even before all the words were out of his mouth.

"What?" she asked without looking up.

"I would have made you something else if you didn't want eggs today," he clarified.

Her eyes lifted briefly and were back to inspecting her neglected breakfast before Ranger even registered it had happened.

"They're fine," she mumbled and pushed them around some more.

"Yeah, I see your plate and fork are enjoying them immensely," he countered.

She dropped the fork and it clanged shrilly onto the china. "I guess I'm not very hungry."

"You have to eat something," he insisted.

Her head snapped up at that and she let the twisted hair around her finger fall back into place. Anger burned red in her fiery brown eyes. "I don't really think I need good nutrition lectures from you," she growled, looking pointedly at his plate.

He looked down at his own untouched breakfast. She got him good with that one. "Okay," he said and picked up his fork. In direct challenge, he scooped up a heap of eggs and shoved them into his mouth while she watched.

She only rolled her eyes, just like her Mother, and began moving her food around in random patterns again.

Ranger sighed internally and swallowed the now cold, rubbery eggs. He set his fork down quietly next to his plate.

"So," he tried again for something to say that wouldn't make her hate him more than she already did. "Only three more days of school before Christmas vacation and then two whole weeks of blessed freedom. Did you dig out your ski clothes from storage?"

Her fork froze in mid push and her whole body tensed at the question.

"I know Nicky is raring to go, he's had his clothes out for weeks," Ranger babbled on.

"No," she answered slowly. Her voice sounded thick, and harsh. "I'm not going skiing this year."

Panic seized Ranger's heart, squeezing it like a vise. "What?" He questioned incredulously "We always go skiing."

"Well not this year," she said bitterly.

"Oh, you're going," he informed her. "If I have to tie you up with the skis on top of the truck, you're going." The hollow pit in his stomach grew ever bigger as they stared each other down.

"You can't make me!" She suddenly screamed and pushed away from the table, standing up. "I don't even like to ski!"

"Since when?" Ranger shot back with a scream of his own. "You've been skiing since you were old enough to walk! And who was it that just had to have the new ski suit last year? The pink one? With the blue trim? Who was that?! It wasn't your brother and it definitely wasn't me!"

Her fists clenched tightly at her sides and she nearly shook with anger. "I don't want to ski anymore!" she ground out. "I'm late for school," she added and ran from the kitchen.

"Natalie! Wait!" Ranger called after her. Regret weighed him down as he attempted to chase her through the house. Every conversation the two of them had these days ended in a screaming match and he didn't know why, or how to fix it.

"Wait!" He tried again. "I'll drive you!" He offered as he saw her reach the front door.

"I'll take the bus," she yelled and he flinched as the door slammed behind her, shaking the walls of the house.

Ranger took a seat back at the kitchen table and pushed his plate away before he dropped his head down on the wood with a loud groan.

"I'm a terrible Father," he muttered into the place mat.

"The worst," Stephanie agreed. "I don't know how it is that you were allowed to procreate."

A small smile crept across his lips and he slowly lifted his head to meet the twinkling blue eyes of his wife.

"She hates me."

"No she doesn't."

"She blames me."

Stephanie was silent for a moment as she took in his statement. "Well, why shouldn't she? You blame yourself."

Ranger frowned and bit the corner of his bottom lip. "No I don't. I blame Morelli."

Now it was Steph's turn to smile. "No you don't."

"I do a little."

Stephanie shook her head and rolled her eyes. "She's a teenager, Ranger. You do remember what it was like to be a teenager, don't you?"

"Vaguely. But you know that this is more than teenage hormones run amok."

"I know," she agreed.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Babe," he whispered as tears abruptly filled his eyes. "She's completely shut me out."

Stephanie reached across the space between them and covered his hand gently with her own. "You never stop trying," she commanded fiercely. "You continue to chip away and eventually those walls she's built up will have to come tumbling down."

"Like they did with you," he said softly.

"Exactly." She squeezed his hand just as a noisy crash sounded to the left.

Ranger's head whipped around and he saw his daughter standing over a broken lamp she'd apparently knocked off the table by the doorway.

Natalie swallowed hard and tried to blink away the sudden rush of tears that flooded her eyes.

"I left my back pack," she choked out and reached under the table for the forgotten book bag.

She grabbed it quickly and once again ran for the front door leaving the pile of broken ceramic scattered on the floor.

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"Is she coming?" Lula wanted to know.

"I wouldn't bet on it," Ranger warned and ran a hand wearily through his hair.

"But she loves our Christmas Eve party," Lula protested and popped a piece of cheese into her mouth.

"Yeah, well she doesn't love much of anything these days," Ranger muttered and took a sip of Lula's famous eggnog.

"Is she still refusing to go on the ski trip?"

"Well, if you consider burning her ski suit in the fireplace refusing, then yeah."

"Yikes." Lula made a face. "I bet that stunk up the whole house."

"Yes it did, but Ella worked her magic and now it's back to normal."

"Ella is a fuckin' genius," Lula declared. "She did the same thing here when Drew let that skunk loose in the house."

Ranger allowed himself to smile. That had been one of the funniest things he'd ever witnessed. Tank and Lula's son had been so proud when he brought that skunk home. "I escued da kitty!" He'd exclaimed and let the thing go where it immediately began spraying everything in sight, including Lula's brand new Jimmy Choo boots. Steph, Lula and Natalie had all run outside screaming as he, Tank and Joe tried to capture the poor animal. Lula still bitches about those boots.

"So, where is she this time?" Lula interrupted his jog down memory lane.

"Melissa's. Supposedly," Ranger answered before chugging the rest of his eggnog.

"I don't like that girl." Lula frowned. "She's is just inordinately perky...in a deeply terrifying way. Nobody can be that happy all the time."

Ranger chuckled. "Yeah, that's what Steph said too."

"Well it's true," Lula went on. "It's not natural."

"Don't worry," Ranger told her stoically. "She's probably not there anyway. I think she's been lying to me for months about where she goes."

"Ranger," Lula squeezed his arm comfortingly. "You have to give her time. It will get better."

Ranger snorted derisively. "Yeah, like how Joe is getting better?"

"He is!" Lula insisted.

"Really?" Ranger queried skeptically. "And where is Mr. Morelli tonight?"

"Working," Lula said slowly. "Supposedly."

"Uh huh, right. They're probably together."

"Nah," Lula shook her head. "She hates him too, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. For once in our lives Joe and I actually have something in common." Ranger rubbed at his forehead trying to stave off the headache that always seemed to come when he discussed his daughter. "She's had nothing but time Lula, and it's getting worse, not better."

"Well, she let me take her shopping yesterday. That's got to be something, right? She hasn't let me do that in weeks."

"You got a teenage girl to go shopping? Yeah that's a real improvement."

"Don't give up Ranger," Lula ignored his little jab. "Please don't give up." She wrapped her arm around his back and gave him a sideways hug.

"I won't," he assured her and blinked back the tears that seemed to come at the drop of a hat these days. "Where's my other kid?" he asked. "You know, the one that still likes me. So far, anyway."

"He's in playing with Drew and Bella; you want me to get him?"

"Yeah, it's getting late. I'd better take him home."

"You got it." She squeezed him one more time and then left him standing in the middle of all their friends and family.

He spied Connie's daughter Megan sitting by herself near the blazing fireplace and another shot of pain pierced his heart. Megan and Natalie used to be best friends, inseparable like Lula and Steph. They had always been joined at the hip at this party, giggling and gossiping about boys or whatever it is teenage girls talk about. But now Megan sat alone, looking as lost as he surely felt.