Denise was already up and making breakfast when Keeley carried a sleepy Cara down stairs. “Oh, doesn’t she look adorable. You match!” Denise smiled at the sit of Cara in a purple jumper that matched Keeley’s top.

“Yeah, I put her in the outfit you laid out last night.” Keeley added. “But in my defense I got dressed before I saw it.”

Denise smiled knowingly. “I did no such thing. Oh, Joseph!” she called him up from his room in the basement. When Joe appeared, Denise doubled over in laughter. “Joe, is there a reason you and Cara match?”

Joe was dressed in a white button down shirt with a purple tie hanging loosely from his neck.

“Duh, because we’re like, best friends.” Joe smiled, taking the baby out of Keeley’s arms and spinning her around while she giggled. “Good morning, Cara Bella.” He kissed her hair softly. He then waltzed over to his mother and kissed her cheek. “Morning, Mommy.” Lastly, he made his way to a stunned Keeley whose cheek he also kissed, “Morning, Key.”

That broke Keeley out of her thoughts. She had been thinking of the unlikely possibility that Joe would choose to call Cara the exact nickname that only Keeley did. She wanted to correct him, but she hadn’t called Cara that around him, so he had come up with it himself.

“What’s for breakfast for the munchkin?” he asked, placing Cara on his leg.

“O.” Cara poked him.

“Cara.” Joe poked her back.

Cara giggled and reached up to pull on his tie.

“Honey Nut Cheerios.” Keeley said, placing a small bowl in front of Joe. “And you do know she has a high chair, right there, right?”

Joe shrugged. “So? And why not regular cheerios?” Both Keeley and Cara made a face. “Okay… does she not like plain cheerios?”

“There’s so…. Icky.” Keeley replied, coming back and placing a plate of bacon and eggs in front him as well as herself.

“Right.” Joe agreed sarcastically. He began eating with his left hand, holding Cara with his right arm. “Do I have to feed her the cheerios, or will- okay, then.” Joe stopped when Cara began feeding herself the small pieces of cereal.

“Why don’t you move her to the other leg so you can eat normally?” Keeley asked as she ate her own food.

“Because that increases the chances of me dropping her,” he admitted while blushing slightly.

Alarmed, Keeley quickly tried to protest, “Please, high chair-”

Joe cut her off, “She’s fine. Chill. You really are a paranoid mother, huh?” he teased. Keeley glared in reply. “Besides, I’m done,” he explained proudly as he pushed his finished plate away from him. He adjusted Cara so he was holding her better with his right arm and helped feed her, her cheerios.

It surprised and unnerved Keeley at how good Joe was with her. He fed her, picked out her clothes -and matched himself to them-, put her crib together, sang her to sleep… He seemed almost natural at the whole father thing. Much like she was pretty natural at the whole mother thing. Considering that Cara was, biologically speaking, neither of their children. It occurred to her, though, that he’d be an amazing father one day.

“Thanks,” he smirked as Keeley’s thoughts were spoken.

“W-what?” Keeley said shaking her mind clear.

“You just said I’d be an amazing father one day. I said thanks.” Joe gave her a weird look out of the corner of his eye, his attention mostly still focused on Cara.

“Oh, right. Yeah. You seem pretty natural at the whole… taking care of a kid thing. That’s a disturbing thought actually,” Keeley frowned.

“Why?” Joe caught her eye and she felt her breath catch. He was too irresistible, holding a cheerio between his thumb and forefinger, extended to her daughter, holding said daughter carefully and intimately, staring at her with those eyes that made millions of tween-aged girls swoon.

When a coherent thought forced its way up, Keeley finally responded, “Because you’re called Danger by your family. Your natural parenting abilities are rather… odd.”

Denise, who had been silently watching the exchange between the two finally spoke, “All of my boys are. Their father was like that. But Joe is the one who tends to be more comfortable with kids.”

“That’s because they share a mentality,” Keeley teased.

Joe rolled his eyes. “Speaking of mentality, someone has to go get registered for school,” he commented changing the subject.

Keeley groaned, and dropped her head onto the kitchen table, “Can you shoot me instead?” Joe laughed outright at her, and Cara, unknowingly laughed as well. Keeley pouted, “You’ve turned my baby against me.”

“It’s just the Jonas charm. All girls from 2 to 22 fall for it,” Joe winked at her playfully.

“She’s not even two yet, Joe.” Keeley rolled her eyes at him. She groaned again. “I hate school.”

Joe smiled, “Best part of being on tour. I got home schooled.”

Keeley’s eyes lit up as she turned to Denise. “There’s no way I can-”

“No. Try the new high school first. If it’s too much, we’ll see about home schooling,” Denise bargained. “Besides, if you were to get home schooled by me, you’d have to actually stay after your birthday.” She smirked at her son, “And we know how much you don’t want that, Keeley.”

Keeley blushed and stammered, “W-well, um, you’re, uh, not at all what I was expecting, Mrs. Jonas-”

“Denise.”

“Right. See, that right there. It’s an odd concept to me.” Keeley laughed.

“Okay, we really have to go. Joe, are you coming or are you going to keep an eye on Cara while I’m gone?”

“What do you want to do Cara? Take Aunt Kiwi to school or hang out with Uncle Joe?” Joe asked.

She tapped Joe’s chest with one small hand and pointed to Keeley with the other. “On-Kiwi. Un-ca-O.”

“Guess that means both. Come on, you.” Keeley picked Cara up from Joe’s lap, who protested, and slung her onto her hip. “Oh, Joe can you hand me my bag?”

Joe handed her the bag and smiled as Keeley pulled the strap up onto her shoulder and kept perfectly balanced between the slightly heavy bag and the baby on her hip. He had no doubt that should could take care of herself and Cara. He just felt the overwhelming need to help, to take care of the both of them, though at the very least Cara. He wanted to help Keeley, though. He knew she was selfless in her actions, sacrificing everything for a child that wasn’t even hers. But there was no one there for her to lean on for support. He’d already discussed with his mother what their position on the situation was: help this selfless girl get on her feet if she was really worthy of raising another human being. What he hadn’t discussed with her was just how far into her life their help was supposed to go. And that was the problem he faced. He wanted to be there for Keeley as much more than just a friend.

“Say bye to Aunt Kiwi,” Joe said, holding Cara in his arms after they left the principle’s office.

“Bye on-Kiwi.” Cara reached out to hug Keeley, who happily hugged her back. Joe kissed her cheek, surprising her. Denise quickly hugged her as well, wishing her good luck.

“I’ll pick you up at 2:30?” Joe turned back to ask. Keeley nodded incoherently. “I’ll be in the SUV.”

Keeley groaned as they left. “Your boyfriend sure is sweet. He older than you, honey?” The secretary asked.

“Yes he is. But no, he’s not my boyfriend. I’ve only known him a day. He’s… oddly affectionate. It’s a tad disturbing,” Keeley explained, still trying to wrap her own mind around it.

“Only a day?” the secretary asked astonished. “Wow. That boy’s fallen pretty quickly.”

“What?” Keeley asked.

The secretary laughed, “Oh, please, You can’t see how much that boy likes you?” After laughing for a moment at Keeley’s dumbfounded expression, she went back to business. “Well, you better get a move on it. You’re already late for first period.”

“Right,” Keeley sighed and stalked out to class, her mind filled with thoughts of Joe and his unusually friendliness. It had only been a day and she was finding herself falling more and more.

As luck would have it, there were people she had left behind almost 3 years ago here, but thankfully no one seemed to remember her much. There was an air of familiarity to her, but no one could place her. Well, no one from Wyckoff, anyway. They were the ones she wanted to leave behind. There were a few from Franklin Lakes that remembered her. Including her one friend who never turned her back on her. They hadn’t been great friends, but Marissa never turned her back on Keeley like the rest had.

“OMJ! Keeley Hartt? Is that you?” Marissa exclaimed when she saw her in the hallway. It was true, Keeley hadn’t changed all that much, except maybe her legs got a little longer and her breasts a little fuller. Marissa hadn’t either. Her trademark blonde hair and bright smile were still the same.

Turning to face the girl unknowingly, she began “You do realize that God is spelt with a G- Marissa?” Keeley asked, genuinely surprised and slightly happy to see her.

Marissa hugged Keeley tightly. “I can’t believe you’re here! You never came to visit! Are you back for good?”

“Sort of. I’m actually kind of staying with a foster family in Wyckoff,” Keeley alluded.

“OMJ! What happened to your mom?” Marissa asked worriedly.

“Okay, what is with the OMJ? A. OMG and b, just say oh my god or gosh.” Keeley huffed irritated slightly.

Marissa laughed. “I would if people wouldn’t give me weird looks for saying Oh my Jonas. That’s what OMJ stands for. Most people don’t notice the difference.”

“But the Jonases are from Wyckoff. Why would people give you weird looks?” Keeley asked, hoping to keep a conversation that had nothing to do with her.

“Everyone here who isn’t a fan hates them. It’s not like, oh I’m not into their music. They like, hate them. They think they reflect badly on Wyckoff because they’re Disney stars.” Marissa explained. Keeley couldn’t help but laugh at the Disney comment. Joe definitely loved Disney. You just had to look at Cara’s room to figure that out.

“Wow. Well, feel free to love them. I play their music for Cara all the time.” Keeley slipped in mentioning Cara and bit her lip, praying the questions wouldn’t come.

“Who’s Cara?” Marissa asked, despite Keeley’s silent prayers.

Keeley stumbled to explain. “My best friend’s daughter. I, um, take care of her.”

“Oh. Keels, you know you can be honest with me, right? I’ve never judged you and I wouldn’t start now.” Marissa said laying her hand softly on Keeley’s arm.

Keeley smiled and laughed, remembering why she’d been friends with Marissa in the first place. She was impossibly perceptive and amazingly forgiving and understanding. “She’s honestly not my daughter. She really is Amber’s daughter. But, thank you.”

Marissa nodded, still not 100% believing but willing to let it go. “What class do you have next?”

It turned out that Keeley had all of her classes with Marissa except for her first period class. Keeley had gym while Marissa had dance. Keeley was quite grateful for her new old friend. Marissa didn’t really have any friends either. She seemed to know everyone and talked to lots of people, but Marissa admitted to not having a clique so much anymore. The girls that Marissa and Keeley hung out with when they were younger all opted to go to Indian Hills instead of Ramapo. Keeley could see a lasting friendship coming out of this situation, if nothing else.