Author: Sandra (Blissdementia)
Title: The Man I've Become
Rating: MA (For sexual encounters and language)
Fandom: TFATF
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or places from the movie! But any other characters you do not recognize, I own!
Summary: When life hands you lemons, make lemon aid. When life hands you a baby…Well, what do you do when life hands you a baby?
Archive: Only on VX and FF
Pairing: Dom/OFC (Eventually)
Feedback: Yes please. But I'm still learning how to be a better writer…so please be nice!

Author's Note: I would like to thank my good friend Babydoll for always giving me her thoughts and help with my stories. And I couldn't have done this story without Evilgrin, she's a great beta and big help! So thank you and enjoy!

Chapter 1

In a house in Los Angeles a baby cries. A sleep deprived father lies in bed with his eyes closed, hoping the baby will stop crying. A few moments later the man drags himself out of bed and looks down into the older wooden crib.

"Papi, I wish you could tell daddy what the problem is." Picking his son up, he feels the baby's overly warm skin for the fourth time that night.

Mia walks into the bedroom with a bottle in her hand. "Why don't you try to feed him again." The younger woman says as she passes the small bottle into the larger hand.

The father looks at his son as the baby starts to fuss, not wanting the warm bottle of formula. "He's been up all night running a low fever, Mia. When he wasn't crying, he was coughing. When he wasn't coughing, he was crying." The father sighs, "I'm so tired, I don't think I'm going to make it into the garage today. Would you let the guys know?"

Mia kisses the baby's head and nods. "Of course I will! You just take care of Dallas today and try to get some rest yourself!"

She can't help but to frown a little as she leaves the room. The man lies down on his full size bed with his son next to him, smirking as the baby's eyes get wide at the sight of his daddy's silver necklace dangling from his neck.

Mia walked into the kitchen, where the other three men sat eating their breakfast. "Well, boys, it looks like he won't be making it into the garage today. Baby D isn't feeling well again." She poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned her backside against the sink.

Leon frowned a little as he stood up to get more coffee, "Man, I didn't know that takin' care of a baby could be such hard work."

The other two men shrugged as they continued to drink their coffee, which made Mia smile. "Then I suggest you wrap it up every time, boys! This can be a lesson for you all!" She let out a little giggle and sat down to eat her breakfast too.

A few minutes later the dad came down dressed, carrying Dallas in his arms.

"I called his doctor and she told me to bring him in to be checked out." The dad sat the diaper bag down on the table and handed Mia the baby. He walked to the fridge and poured two bottles with the correct amount of formula and he added them to the contents of the medium sized black bag. "I'm sorry I won't be able to help you three out at the shop today."

The men looked at their friend. "Don't worry about it, man, just make sure Little D gets better!" Jesse said as he got up and cleared his dishes from the table.

The baby started to cry again, which made his dad sigh. "Your favorite woman in the whole world has you, buddy, and yet you cry for her too?" he asked as he took his son back and picked up the diaper bag to leave. The very tired man headed out the door to his car that was once his only prized possession.

Thankfully Dallas fell asleep on the way to the doctors, the dad didn't have the heart to wake him, so instead of removing the baby from the comfort of the car seat, the man carried the exhausted baby. car seat and all, into the office. He sighed as he looked around the busy waiting room that he had grown to know over the past two and a half months. He shook his head as he saw all of the mothers with their kids; it seemed that it was always the moms that brought their kids in. He found a seat and watched his small son sleep in the car seat as he waited and remembered the first time he met the baby.

"What do you mean we have a kid?" The larger man demanded answers as the towel he was wiping his hands with flew onto the hood of a nearby car.

The woman looked down at the three week old baby, dressed in all blue and sucking on a little pacifier. "I-I tried to call several times to tell you, but every time you just hung up when you heard it was me." She looked back up at the angry man who stood a car length away from her.

"Well, what the fuck was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to feel? After everything I did for you, you just up and left me and the team; without even a simple goodbye." He panted now, still not understanding why the woman he once loved stood in the garage telling him these things.

The shorter, tanned woman with long dark hair looked at him. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore. I tried, but I can't be a mother." She set the diaper bags down next to the car seat.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with him? I don't even know his name or how to take care of a baby; you of all people know that." The newly named father shot his ex girlfriend a pleading look.

The woman glanced down at the bags one more time, with eyes that were once so full of life, now hidden behind dark circles from lack of sleep."There's a folder in one of the bags, it gives you hospital records, a birth certificate, and everything you need to know about Dallas." She bit her lower lip and then reached down to take the baby out of the car seat. She gently kissed the baby's head and brought him over to the man she had left behind, "Here, take him, keep him safe and love him, like you always did me!"

The man took the baby and held him in an awkward position, before he looked at her. "Don't do this; just stay, please!"

She was already moving away slowly. "I can't! You know me, I've never wanted kids. But I know that you have always wanted a family, so take care of our son!" She started to cry as she ran out of the garage, leaving the tiny baby staring up at his daddy.

His memory was abruptly halted as the nurse came out, calling for Dallas. The dad sighed and picked the car seat up and followed the nurse back to the room. Once in the room, the dad removed Dallas from his seat, and placed him on his shoulder. The nurse took down some notes of what was going on with the Dallas; she took his temperature, and then excused herself to get the doctor.

Dallas looked over at the animals on the wall, only to let out a little whimper. His reward was being moved into his daddy's arms where a small smile was looking down at him, before the rocking that he liked starts. Ten minutes later the doctor came in.

"How are you doing?" Doctor Sanchez asked the father with a smile as she entered the small white room that had small zoo animals pasted along the walls.

The dad glanced up at her before he leaned down to kiss Dallas' head. He stood up and gently laid the baby down onto the table lined with crinkly white paper. "I'm alright; it's Dallas that's sick again," he said before he looked at her with concerned eyes.

"This poor little guy, he just can't seem to get a break with his health, can he?" The doctor asked as she started to look in his ears and up his nose as the baby moved his arms and legs.

Something kept running through his head as he laid awake the night before with his son, "Do you think if he would have been full term he would still have these problems, doc?" The dad asked as he stood next to the exam table to watch the doctor look at his infant son.

"Chances are he wouldn't have these problems, but at the same time you just don't know. Some babies are born with medical issues that are not seen until they grow older, other babies are just sick off and on from the start." The doctor finished looking at everything and smiled at Dallas's dad. "It looks like he has an ear infection. I'm going to give him some antibiotics for his ear and something for his cough. If it hasn't gotten better within a few days you call us and we will check him again."

He looked down and smiled at seeing his little brown eyed boy smiling up at him as if he knew he was going to be feeling better soon. "What about him not eating? I don't want him to get dehydrated," he said in a concerned voice as he placed one large hand on the baby's belly, and rubbed it in a gentle circle, not wanting the baby to start crying again.

"Since his source of food is a bottle, sucking on the bottle probably makes his ear hurt. There is a juice for babies and kids called Pedialyte, I want you to give that to him. That should help him until he is feeling better. But just make sure you keep trying the bottles with formula! Since you say he hasn't wanted it, I would make him a one ounce bottle, that way if he doesn't take it, you aren't wasting a whole lot of formula. If you still can't get him to drink the juice, try wetting a wash cloth and letting him gum on that." The doctor walked over to the cub board and took out a small clean baby wash cloth. Getting it wet she brought it back over to Dallas and rubbed his lips with it, making his little mouth open and when she touched his little pink gums he started to make chewing motions. "By him getting the water from the cloth, he's getting liquid. But like I said, keep trying the formula and get some of the juice."

Nodding his head the dad smiled down at Dallas who stiffened out when the wet cloth was taken from his mouth. He picked Dallas up and placed the baby onto his shoulder once again, "Alright I will try that; thanks, Doc."

Doctor Sanchez smiled at him and handed him the prescription for the antibiotics before she opened the door and exited out into the hallway.

At the drug store Dallas rode in his car seat in the basket of the cart while his dad looked at the different flavors of Pedialyte. "Papi, you want Grape, bubble gum, or fruit flavored?" He held up the different bottles and smiled at the baby even though he knew the three month old wouldn't answer him.

Dallas looked at him and grunted, his face turned a bright shade of red. The dad sighed and looked around a little, "You are doing that again? Here in the store?" He paused and shook his head. "Women don't like that, little buddy," he chuckled referring to his little shirt that said 'Daddy's little chick magnet'.

The bottles were placed back on the shelf, he pushed the cart to the men's bathroom, and hoped they had a diaper changing table. He looked inside and saw that there wasn't one. He frowned at Dallas as he took him out of his car seat and did a sniff test to make sure he really was poopy, his eyes closed tightly at the bad scent.

He looked up as the woman's restroom door opened, he smiled as he watched a woman with a baby come out of it. The woman had her sandy brown hair pulled back into a pony tail with small strands gently falling out. Her face held small round framed glasses that tried to hide her eyes.

"Excuse me, is there a changing table in there?" he asked as he looked at her, hoping there was.

The woman smiled at him. "Yeah there is, we just got done using it," she said in a soft tone as she looked down at her own son.

He glanced past her at the door she just came out of. "Is there anyone else in there?" He looked down at his son in his arms and gently started to bounce the baby. "I really don't want to change him in my car again," he said with a smirk as the baby started to whimper, since he didn't like to be in a dirty diaper for too long.

The woman giggled and opened the door for him. "There isn't anyone in there and if you would like I can stand here and make sure no one comes in."

While he grinned at her, he picked up the diaper bag and walked into the women's bathroom. "That would be great, thank you!"

A few minutes later he walked out and saw the woman feeding her son from a bottle. "Thank you for your help! I'm still getting used to this father thing." He smiled at her, and set the diaper bag back into the cart.

As friendly as she was, the woman looked up from the baby eating, she smiled at him, "Did your wife have something to do today?" That's when he noticed the woman's pretty hazel eyes ; he hadn't noticed the color before.

He shook his head as he frowned, "Um no, I'm not married, I'm one of those single fathers." He watched her pick her son up to burp him, "Mind if I sit down?"

She shook her head and smiled, "No, go right ahead! How old is your little guy?"

"Dallas here is three months." As if to show off, Dallas smiled before he gave her a big yawn.

"I thought he looked a little like he was. Brenden will be seven months next week." She smiled at the man sitting next to her, "May I ask your name?"