Five-year old Lily stared out the window of the black pickup truck. Today was a big day. Grant was taking her to the zoo. She was going to see flamingos and lions and pandas and who knew what else!

"We're going to park the truck, and then take the Metro to the zoo." A cold voice broke through her eager thoughts.

She glanced up to see that Grant had finally decided to speak to her. "What's a Metro?" She curiously asked. Maybe it was an animal she had never heard of before.

"It's like the subway." He emotionlessly said.

"What's a" she began.

"A train that goes underground." He angrily replied. "Do you need to know what a train is too?"

"No." The little girl replied. A pout spread across her face as she turned to glare up at him. "You're acting like the Grinch." She smiled as she turned to stare out the window again. She had just successfully insulted him, and it had been fun. She glanced back over at him to see if he was annoyed with her. The two briefly made eye contact before he rolled his eyes at her and the turned his attention to focus on the road.

"At least the Grinch was interesting and had a dog." She continued. She glanced up at him again and saw him bite his lip at her last retort. Strange. Every other time she had sassed him, he had either ignored her or responded with an equally rude remark.

"What's civil mean?" She pestered.

He glanced over at her. "What?"

"Civil." She again repeated.

"Polite."

"Oh." She sadly replied.

He let out a deep sigh. "Why?"

Lily shrugged. "Mr. Garett said he wished we'd be more civil. I didn't know what the meant."

"I'm being perfectly civil." Grant firmly replied. Each word was forcefully punctuated.

Lily glanced over and saw his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel. "Whatever you say, Mr. Grinch."

He shook his head. "Someone needs to show this kid some different movies." He muttered under his breath.

Lily perked up at his mention of the movies. Maybe there was a new Disney movie that she hadn't seen yet. "Ooh." She cheerfully said. "Can we go to the movies." She looked up at him with a big smile. "We can get popcorn and pretzels and even hotdogs."

"By someone I meant not me." He gruffly replied.

"Oh come on, Mr. Grinch." She begged. "Pretty please!"

"No."

"You're a mean one Mr. Grinch. You really are an eel." She began to sing.

"That's not the way the song goes."

"You're a."

"If you stop singing I'll take you tomorrow. Ok?" He exasperatedly promised.

"Yes!" She cheered as she began to bounce up and down in her seat. Today the zoo and tomorrow the movies. This job that she had to help Grant and Mr. Garrett with was fantastic.

A small smile appeared on Grant's face as he glanced over at the little girl.

"Can we get icecream at the zoo?" She turned to ask him.

His smile spread and instantly disappeared as he again pretended to be grumpy. "Maybe." He growled. "Give an inch and she thinks she can get whatever she wants." He again muttered.

"Friends get icecream." She sassily replied.

"We are not friends." He exclaimed. "You blackmail me into giving you whatever you want."

"I didn't mail you anything." She angrily replied. "But I can sing again." She said with a smirk.

***

Hey everyone!

As normal the flashback scenes will be shorter. I'm trying to write ahead more so I can release a larger quantity of chapters over the next few weeks. Please vote, follow, and comment.

As always any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!