Piece by Piece

And she will never have to wonder her worth

Piece by Piece

And she will never have to wonder her worth

"And she will never have to wonder her worth

Because unlike you I'm going to put her first and you know"

"Well this is just sad. We definitely have to do this more often," Maya declared as she laid sprawled out on the ice after having just lost her balance – again. "Now come on, I know I had this down the last time!" Maya paused upon seeing her father's amused expression. "Fine, maybe had this down is a bit much ... but I was definitely better than this."

Shawn chuckled while helping the girl get back up on her feet. "I'm afraid that's totally normal, kiddo. You just have to get the hang of the movements again. You'll be back to dashing over the ice in no time." Maya gave him a skeptical look. "Okay, maybe not dashing ... but skating ... slowly maybe ... with my help?"

Maya huffed. "Alright then, let's try this again." She grabbed onto Shawn's arm tightly and he patiently guided her through the next few laps. And, who would have thought, slowly but surely Maya's body started to remember. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" The blonde pumped her fist in the air as she finally skated a whole lap on her own.

"Great job!" Shawn praised as Maya stopped beside him – way more elegantly than on their first trip to an ice rink two years ago. Shawn had taken the girl ice-skating a few times last winter as well and Maya had gotten quite good. However, since this was her first time out on the ice this season, it was no surprise that the blonde was a bit rusty. "See, it's not all gone. Your body remembers what to do. And at least you didn't knock me over this time." Shawn shoved the girl playfully, almost making her loose her balance.

"Dad!" Maya complained good-humoredly. "Not helping!"

"Sorry, kiddo." Shawn grinned sheepishly, not looking sorry one bit. "But really, you're doing great! I'm very proud of you."

Maya smiled at him. "Thanks, Dad." She really loved that she could officially refer to Shawn as Dad now – if anyone in her life deserved the title, it was surely him. There had been a few times before the wedding when the word had threatened to slip out and Maya had always been worried about Shawn's reaction – she hadn't wanted to push anything. But now that she could do it, the word just flowed off her lips as if she had been using it her whole life. Like it was meant to be. And Shawn really loved hearing it.

It had been two weeks since the big wedding. Katy and Shawn had taken off on their honeymoon to Fiji that same day and Maya had spent the week with the Matthews. And as much fun as that had been – especially with Josh stepping by to hang out with her, Riley and Farkle on a regular basis – Maya was really glad to have her parents back home. Yesterday, she and Katy had been out on a shopping spree – spending some much-needed mother-daughter-quality time together. Today, her and Shawn were having their first official daddy-daughter outing. And tomorrow would be her and Josh's first date. Shawn, loving his new role as the overprotective father, had already made sure to have the biggest and sharpest knives displayed very advantageously in the kitchen and the baseball bat was standing right by the front-door of their new apartment, just waiting to be used. Needless to say, Katy and Maya had some serious cleaning up and rearranging to do before Josh showed up or this might not only be Maya's first date, but her last as well.

"Maya!" a voice suddenly called out and Maya was startled when something crashed into her and held onto her legs tightly. The blonde struggled a bit to keep her balance and looked down. When she saw what – or rather who – had just crashed into her, a big grin spread across the girl's face.