Ty's chance *An Animals MC Novel*

Chapter ten.

When Chris returned home that night he instantly felt guilty for being later than he originally planned, it had been so nice getting out with a fellow officer, a friend, an adult for a while that he lost track of the time.

He parked his car and glanced at the house seeing the porch light was on like always.

He walked across the porch and used his key to let himself into the house, glancing to the left he saw the kitchen was clean, empty and dark. He couldn't hear the girls anywhere in the house so he knew they were somewhere asleep.

Stepping into the living room he found both of them, Zoey was laying on the couch sound asleep with Hannah laying on top of her and both covered with a blanket that his mother in law had made his wife before she died.

The television was off, a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk sat on the coffee table.

If he had to guess Hannah had zonked out midway through whatever movie they were watching and Zoey was too good to move her or wake her up and eventually fell asleep as well.

He ran a hand through Hannahs long blonde hair, she had his and Liz's white blonde curls but she looked more and more like her mother every day.

Leaning down he carefully and gently lifted her into his arms cuddling her against his broad chest he carried her carefully to her room. She was already in her favorite pair of Batman pajamas so all he had to do was pull down the princess bedding and slip her into it.

He had become almost a pro at tucking her in without waking her up, of course, he had been informed by Hannah herself that Zoey was better at it, Zoey after all, was the best at everything.

He tucked her blankets all around her and made sure that her giant batman stuffed animal was next to her to keep her safe then turned on the matching nightlight next to the bed.

Closing her door behind him he made his way back downstairs to where Zoey still slept on the couch, the guest bedroom was on the first floor and he always made sure it was ready in case she ever needed to stay over. She used it about once or twice a month if he worked late or if the weather refused to let her go home.

The first time had been because of a deadly blizzard that tore through town, although he knew it was the only logical option a part of him was uncomfortable with the idea of her staying all night. He knew what the rumors were in the bars downtown, that creep Lonnie had people believing that Chris was defiling Zoey from an inappropriately young age and letting her stay over almost would confirm this to people who didn't know they slept in different rooms.

He carefully lifted her as well, she weighed practically nothing. He carried her into the guest bedroom and carefully lay her on the queen sized bed.

She stirred slightly.

"Chris?" She mumbled sounding sleepy.

"I'm home, get some sleep."

He moved to gather the blankets and pulled them up around her.

"Home late," She pointed out.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He sat on the bed next to her

"How was your date?" She asked, snuggling against the pillows.

"Good, it went really good."

"Did you kiss her at the door?" She asked with a grin.

"I'm not going into details with you," He said with a laugh as he stood.

"But you still came home, couldn't be that good of a date." She teased.

"Get some sleep."

She chuckled as he closed the door behind him and walked to the stairs, he stopped on the bottom step his hand getting gripping the railing until his fingers ached. That same old feeling he kept pushed down rising up briefly he wrestled it a minute then continued up the stairs.