A/N: Hey everyone! I know I haven't updated anything in awhile, but I have several new stories coming soon! I've had a request fic that I'm editing and will be publishing soon and I also have the rest of Breathe. But I really couldn't hold out on this fic any longer!

My characterizations are very different in this story and I'm so pleased with the end result! I'll be updating this once a week for about 10 weeks.

This was originally supposed to be a oneshot for Logan, but I just kept going!

So Logan, here is your "oneshot"

We're all a little weird, and life's a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in a mutual weirdness and call it love.

Dr. Suess

(2003)

Nine year old Ella Pador knew that her glasses weren't cool, triceratops were a boy thing, and if you weren't a singer you weren't anything. But she wasn't looking to be something, she was looking for fun. Her life was so routine during the year and summer was the only time that was truly a time to just live with out critical eyes. Her family always had something to say about how her life was lived and the paparazzi was always trying to make a quick buck with her photo. People always wondered if living with her father was really the best option, because it left little interaction with kids in her age group. Many people worried that instead of raising her, Ella was raising her father. They weren't wrong, her father did have his moments but Ella never knew that it was any different for other kids. But that all seemed to vanish during those magical two months, like the world finally had something better to do than criticize her life and father.

A lot of kids considered her odd, because who had thirty year old men for best friends? But Ella didn't mind. The members of Headline were funny and always had a little bit of time to spare for her, and if it wasn't a band member it was a roadie. Tito would always show her how to set the stage up properly and Krissy would let her play with a few sparklers while she worked with the pyrotechnic team. Touring was always her favorite part of the package, but her mother's family had raised a fuss by saying that it wasn't normal. When had her life ever been normal? It was this idea that caused her to be a little outspoken for her age.

So, upon skipping into the Soul cabin, she knew she'd be a little out of place. She ran her tongue nervously over where her left canine used to be and threw her bag on to her labeled bunk. She took in a deep breath, basking in the smell of the woods and the slight tang that came from the lake. This would be the first time she'd been apart from her father for more than a few days, and while it was going to be rough, she was ready for a new experience. Ella heard a sniffle behind her and turned to face her father.

To most, Van Pador was intimidating. Standing at six foot five, both of his arms were covered in tattoos, and add in unruly facial hair and Ella supposed she could understand why. But to her, he dueled dragons, checked for the boogieman, and still read her Good Night, Moon even if she knew she was to old for such treatment.

"Now Ella," he sniffled and rubbed the back of his arm under his nose, "if you ever feel like you don't want to be here any more, you just call me out on tour, okay?" Van knelt down to Ella's height and she raced into his arms. "I'm gonna miss you more than anything, baby girl." Ella grinned and tucked her head into his shoulder as he squeezed her tight.

"I'mma miss you too, daddy." Van wondered how long this would last and knew that this tour would feel longer than all the others. But he couldn't leave her with a sad good bye.

She let out a peal of giggles as he stood to his full height, taking her with him, and looking around.

"Ella? Ella? Where'd you go?" He turned his head in every direction in mock search of his daughter.

"Daddy! I'm right here!" She giggled and leaned back, kissing his cheek sloppily. Tears sat on the brim of Van's large dark eyes, but he threw his head back and gave a deep rumbling laugh.

"Of course, how silly of me." He set her back down and kissed her head softly, his scruff tickling her forehead.

"I love you, my little princess." She flushed with pleasure at the nick-name and threw her little arms around his legs. "I love you too, Papa Bear."

When Ella released his legs, they set up her bunk with the crowning jewel of her blue triceratops plush. It wasn't until she'd finished that another girl rushed into the cabin excitedly, buzzing around with long curly brown hair flapping after her. She spoke quickly to her parents, who seemed to be from a different time. Ella had a quick flash of mother envy as she eyed the new girl get settled down by her mother, Van squeezed her shoulder lightly before striking up a conversation with the new father.

"Caitlyn Raine Gellar, promise me that you're going to behave." Mother Gellar swept her own long blonde hair over her shoulders as she crouched to face her daughter. Caitlyn rolled her eyes, but grinned madly as her mother tousled her hair. Ella wondered what that would feel like, to have a woman tousle your hair. Her father mused her hair all the time, but Mrs. Gellar's hand were much smaller than her fathers. Ella shrank next to her bed, just observing their interactions, letting herself be envious if just for a moment.

"Okay Starla, I can do that." Caitlyn called her mother by her first name, and that surprised Ella. In her mind, she'd always called her mother "mama" or "mommy", but Starla smiled fondly while caressing her daughter's cheek. When she grinned, Ella noticed that Caitlyn was missing one of her front teeth and a canine, and she suddenly felt like friendship was just a little around the corner instead of completely unreachable. Dashing over to where he stood Ella tugged on her father's fingers and gestured for him to come down to her level. Cupping her hand around his ear she shared her fears.

"Daddy, do you think she'll be friends with me?" Van looked at her and brushed a large hand over her cheek.

"Of course." And with his blessing, Ella broke out into a run to introduce herself. When he straightened back up Tobias Gellar clapped him on the shoulder.

"It's hard to seem 'em grow up, isn't?" He gave a knowing grin as Van looked at their daughters chatting happily. Van gave Tobias his own smirk as his Ella dragged Caitlyn over to them.

"Whoa, that's your dad?" Caitlyn stared at him unabashedly and jaw hanging wide open and Ella nodded with pride, planting her little fists solidly on her hips. "He looks so cool." Caitlyn gave a smirk at her own father and crossed her arms. "All Tobias does is build homes out of recycled things."

"What?" Ella's head tilted in confusion and Caitlyn thought about how to better explain his occupation.

"Like my room used to be an old van, my door slides open instead of swinging and so does my closet, but it's built into our house so it doesn't look like a car from the outside." Ella's eyes went wide and glittered with joy as she jumped up and down excitedly. "That's amazing!"

Caitlyn gave a happy grin and loosened up a little bit, sticking her tongue out at her father before replying "Yeah, it's pretty cool."

"So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Brown asked with an enthusiastic grin as he sat in their music reading class. It was a pretty generic question with the same generic answers; Singer, dancer, actress or some type of performer. Ella leaned back against the wall as other kids shouted out their answers. Some of them had the natural talent to actually make it, but most were bunch of hot air. She knew that out of everyone in the room she, Tess Tyler, and Brown's own nephews probably had the best chance of making it in the music industry solely because of who they knew. Slowly, the question made it to her end of the circle. From beside her, Caitlyn gave the confident answer of a music producer. When it was her turn, Ella sucked on the spot where her tooth used to be as she thought about her answer.

"I think that maybe I'll be an otorhinolaryngologist." She said the word slowly and articulately, making sure to enunciate the word just like her father had taught her. The entire room went silent and Brown's smile wavered for a split second. "It's an ear, nose and throat doctor. I don't want to sing forever, I want to keep voices healthy." Ella twirled the ends of her hair around her finger and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose nervously.

"That's a real thing?" The middle of the Gray brothers asked, his face displaying his obvious confusion. "Yeah, my dad has one." The room continued to stare at Ella for a brief moment until Brown clapped his hands together and redirected their attention.

She didn't know it, but at that moment she'd caused a curly haired boy to fall in love with her. Nate Gray had never met anyone else who had a vocabulary as extensive as his, even his own family was astonished by his word choice and verbiage. So, Ella was a breath of fresh air. But also female, a life form he'd never really interacted with. Consequently, Nate made a habit of ducking behind trees when he saw her and watched as she went a head of him. He'd sit close to her, but not too close. Ella was really something special. She only showed interest in things that she liked and didn't make much time to pay attention to anything else. She liked to doodle on paper and sketch, skip rocks on the lake and relocate the snails so they wouldn't get stepped on. To Nate, it felt like no one else in the world knew these little things about Ella but him. So when the angry blonde girl started picking on Ella, Nate felt strangely protective of her.

"What? Can't see Pador?" Nate felt anger bubble up in his throat and a squeak escaped his lips as Tess threw the plush and kicked Ella's glasses just out of her reach, drawing the attention of his brothers. Shane followed his gaze and ran over to Ella, helping her fend off Tess. Jason fetched her glasses and plush, but Nate stayed planted on the bench. Jealousy trickled in as Ella hugged Jason and Shane, wiping the tears off her face and holding the plush closely, she didn't even know he was there.

Jason put a hand on her shoulder and jerked his head in Nate's direction and Ella waved shyly as she slid her glasses back on and squeezed her plush to her chest. Nate gave a little grin and waved back, forgetting about his missing two front teeth. Ella let out a giggle and showed her own missing tooth and followed Shane to the nurse's cabin. A melody started playing in his head and Nate gave one last lingering glance before going back to work and writing it down, in his mind he knew that this song had to be perfect.