Being Charlie's father changed exactly nothing. It did explain some things of course. It was no wonder she kept getting in trouble when she had a criminal like Miles Matheson as her father. Genetics were always such a bitch. Apparently you could give a kid the best parents in the world but if their father was career criminal, the genes would win out in the end.

But it didn't give him any special privileges or anything. Miles was still forbidden from having contact with Charlie, even though she was in the same minimum security prison as his girlfriend. He wondered if the two of them had met yet. It wasn't really something he could bring up with Nora since she didn't know he had a kid. Other than the one she was pregnant with of course. He really needed to figure out what they were going to do with the kid in case he ended up in jail again. Maybe Emma would take it. Of course she probably wouldn't let him see it when he was out.

But back to the problem of Charlie. Miles didn't know what deal Rachel had worked out with the damn guards but he couldn't seem to get himself on the list to see Charlie. Not that he had seen her much before all this. Still, she was family and all that shit. Might as well get to know the kid.

"You're the one that put her in there," Rachel insisted as she packed for her next business trip. Miles would surprise her when she was in a hurry and by herself in the house.

Miles groaned. It's the third time today he's heard the argument and he was over it twenty minutes ago. Honestly, he wasn't even sure why he was here except he's visiting Nora religiously and given that she shares a prison with his daughter, they're bound to be in the visiting room at the same time eventually. Charlie's probably going to wonder why Miles isn't visiting her. "Look, I'm not the cop that arrested her, I'm not the lawyer that sucked at defending her, and I'm sure as hell not the judge that sentenced her. So I fail to see how this is my fault."

"Because she's your daughter."

"I can count on possibly both hands the amount of times I've seen her in person and I'm pretty sure I'd have fingers left over. The most we've done is exchange emails and Christmas cards. You and Ben raised her."

Rachel shot him a glare. "Are you trying to say I'm a bad parent?"

"I'm saying I want to be on Charlie's visiting list," Miles retorted. He had come here with a simple request and instead was getting told everything that was wrong with his life. Honestly, he could have gone to Emma if he wanted that.

"Absolutely not."

"Why?"

"I don't want your bad influence on her. How many counts of criminal conspiracy are on your record exactly?"

"The only reason they put that on there is because Bass and I happen to double date a few times and his girl runs a gang so they figured they could put my name in the draw and get some years off their sentence. Not my fault Duncan Page can't keep her men in line well enough to stay out of jail. Bass should have found a better girl."

"You could have told him not to do it," she pointed out.

Miles rolled his eyes. "Bass wants to be a moron that's his problem. I got my own shit to deal with."

Rachel pursed her lips. "You've gotten yourself in jail plenty of times without his help. You're practically a career criminal in your own right. I swear they have your damn name on that cell. Why would I want my daughter around that?"

"She's in jail, Rachel. She's already around that." He stretched out on the bed. It was probably not the best idea to be having this discussion in the master bedroom. But Rachel insisted she needed to pack while he talked.

"I am very aware that my daughter is in prison. With your…baby mama no less."

Miles howled at that one. "Did you really just use the phrase baby mama?" he asked, grinning.

"It's not funny," Rachel snapped. "I could call her a whore if you prefer."

Miles' eyes flashed. "Back to Charlie," he growled. She could anything she wanted about him and Bass but Nora was damn well off limits.

"Does this Nora woman even know that you have a daughter?"

"I didn't know I had a daughter until a few days ago. My daughter knew she was my daughter before I did."

Rachel didn't' answer while she folded clothes. She hadn't meant to tell anyone. It was supposed to be her secret until the grave. IF she had just managed to keep her damn drunken mouth shut it wouldn't have been an issue. "I shouldn't have told her," she huffed, mostly angry at herself for doing so.

"No, you shouldn't have," Miles agreed quietly. He was damned if he was going to feel guilty for something that wasn't his fault. He hadn't been the one to tell Charlie. Rachel could wallow in guilt on her own this time.

"I am not letting you visit her," Rachel stated. "The decision is final. And now I need you to get out of my house."

"Fine," Miles sighed as he got to his feet. "But one of these days you really need to learn stop busting everyone else's balls but your own." He slipped past her and went back to his car. It was just about phone time which meant… His phone buzzed. After he hit answer a voice told him an inmate was trying to call him. "Morning, Bass," he greeted.

"How it'd go with Rachel?"

"About as well as I expected. You still with Duncan?"

"We…kind of broke up. But she does still owe me a favor or two."

"She's back to minimum security, right?"

"Same one as your lovely daughter. Which also means neither one of us can call her. But I can give you the number of one of her lieutenants who's still on the outside taking orders. Have him drop my name and she should be able to get you squared away. The tangle of paper work Rachel'll have to go through to get you back off should buy you a few months." Bass rattled off a phone number as Miles wrote it down.

"You're the best brother. Regular hours this Sunday?"

"It's prison. Visiting hours don't change."

"See you then." Miles put the paper into his jacket pocket before pulling away from the curb. If he stayed parked here too much longer Rachel would call the cops. He whistled to himself as he drove away. Being Charlie's father changed exactly nothing. If Miles couldn't get what he wanted through legal means then he'd use whatever loopholes he could.