Thank you to everybody for the absolutely phenomenal reaction to the first chapter. I may have procrastinated slightly over posting this chapter but I hope you enjoy it :)

She was late for work now after her Mom's phone call so as she raced through the streets she hoped that she didn't get fired as that really would put an end to her plans to stay in New York. Reaching the café she pushed the door open and slipped inside feeling even guiltier as she watched her boss doing her work.

Looking up when he heard the door open he was so relieved to see the woman in front of him, "Stephanie, I was so worried about you."

Walking over to her boss she smiled softly, "I am so sorry I am late. My Mom rang and she kept me on the phone and I'm sorry, I will make it up later."

Looking at her like she was crazy he shook his head, "don't be silly baby girl. You work your ass off every day you are here and you are only ten minutes late so I am not going to deduct your wages or make you work longer. Is everything with your Mom okay?"

Groaning she rolled her eyes as she shrugged off her jacket and draped it over one of the chairs as she put her purse on that chair also before she took the tray from her boss, "yes thank you Gino, everything is fine. She is just sticking her nose into my life as normal but nothing I can't handle."

Smiling at the young woman Gino nodded his head, "I am pleased everything is okay. I am going to go back out to the kitchen to make a start on the dough for the pizzas as I have already done the pasta and Mrs Gino is bringing the sweets over in the next hour so if you need me you know where I am."

Nodding her head she watched as he picked up her purse and coat to take them and put them away safely for her, "thank you Gino, you're the best."

Waving at her as he walked away she was like a daughter to him and he knew the day she left it would be like a massive hole was created in the business and a lot of hearts would be broken, especially his own, but he was so proud of her and how far she had come he was like a proud Papa.

Focussing entirely on her job at hand she had to get it all done and set up before the café opened in twenty minutes.

The other waitress had called in sick ten minutes before her shift which left Stephanie to deal with the lunch rush all by herself but luckily for her Valentina, Gino's wife, stayed around to run the register for her so she could focus on taking the customers orders and delivering them to their tables.

The lunch rush had died down and things were now steady but she was still yet to have time for a break but she didn't mind because she had forgotten her lunch and she didn't have the money to buy some. Setting the latest table's meals in front of them she smiled politely, "enjoy your meal." Turning around to go back to the counter she smiled as she saw her best friend and Godson enter the café loving the way he immediately ran to her so she bent down to hug him, "hey there little man."

Jade shook her head at her son, "Tyler, what have I told you about running to Auntie Stephanie whilst she is working? You know you can't do it because there's hot food, hot drinks and a dangerous environment."

Tyler pouted, "sowwie."

Stephanie smiled at her best friend as she stood back up, "so is this a flying visit to say 'hi' or are you here to order something?"

"We're here to have a milkshake and a muffin as a reward for Tyler being a very good boy in Kindergarten today."

Taking Tyler's hand she led them over to a table right by the window, "why don't you guys sit here and I will take your order."

Helping Tyler into his seat Jade then sat down, "we'll have one coffee, one strawberry milkshake and one chocolate muffin please."

Making a quick note of that Stephanie then went to make the order.

Valentina had gone back into the kitchen to see how her husband was doing and smiled as she watched him instructing one of the line cooks how to make the pizza the 'correct' way, "Gino."

Turning to his wife Gino smiled, "what did I do?"

"Stephanie hasn't had a break yet."

His eyes widened in surprise, "you must make her. If the State finds out we could be closed down, tell her that."

Nodding her head Valentina exited the kitchen just in time to see Stephanie making coffee, "Stephanie, you need to take your lunch break. Gino said if the State finds out they could close us down."

Sighing softly she wasn't going to get them in trouble, "I will just take this order to my friend's table. Is it okay if I sit with them?"

"Of course dear, just don't do any work."

Smiling politely she made two cups of coffee, a milkshake and got one of the special double chocolate muffins and put it all on the tray and carried it over to the table setting all of it down, "I hope you don't mind me joining you?"

Jade shook her head, "hell no. Sit down, I miss you."

Pulling out a chair she took a seat opposite her friend but next to her Godson, "so how are things?"

Shrugging her shoulders Jade couldn't complain really, "they're okay I guess. It's hard given that I had to drop out of College before I could finish my degree as I was pregnant but I'm going to look for jobs every day and I will find something. How are things with you?"

Sighing she shook her head, "awful. My apartment is a dump, there is no hot water again but I can't afford anything better, I can't get a teaching job and to top it all off my Mom called this morning to say that if I don't find a job in the next two weeks she has already spoken to the headmaster of the local Elementary school at home and there is a job there for me and she expects me to take it."

Shocked by what her best friend had just said she had heard how much her Mom hated that Stephanie had left the state but she had no idea she would go that far to get her to come back, "you're kidding?"

Sighing heavily she shook her head, "I wish I was. As you can imagine I am now desperate for a job so if you see anything suitable please tell me. At this point I will probably take any job going but if it would actually somehow involve my degree it would be better."

"Of course, I will keep my eyes open."

Having received no food orders nor seen Stephanie Gino walked out of the kitchen to his wife, "what has Stephanie eaten for lunch?"

Valentina jumped a little at the sound of his voice, "nothing, she just has a coffee."

She had barely finished speaking before he was back in the kitchen and she just rolled her eyes, she loved the man to death but sometimes he made her crazy.

Walking into the kitchen Gino instructed his deputy to drop another serving of pasta for his own lunch as he checked on the pasta he had dropped a few minutes before and seeing that it was ready he started to plate up.

Once he had a plate of pasta and a knife and fork he carried it out of the kitchen and walked over to where Stephanie was sitting and set it down in front of her, "enjoy."

Jumping when the plate of pasta was placed in front of her she turned to look at Gino confused, "this was never ordered for this table."

"I know."

Looking at him strangely she was lost, "then maybe you should take it to the right table? I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job but I'm confused."

Realising he would have to be honest with her he said, "you haven't eaten since before you arrived, you must eat."

Trying to think of the best way to sugar coat the truth she said, "but . . . I can't accept this."

"Why not?"

Sighing heavily she decided to just be honest, "because I can't afford to pay for it."

A little shocked that she couldn't afford a less than twenty dollar plate of pasta Gino didn't let it deter him, "it's a good thing I wasn't asking you to pay for it then isn't it? It would hurt me very much if you were to refuse this plate of food, food is very important to me and it hurts when people turn down my food."

Nodding her head slowly she smiled politely, "thank you Gino, I appreciate your generosity and I love you dearly."

Smiling brightly realising she was going to eat it he kissed the top of her head, "I love you too, you are like a daughter to us and I want to take care of you."

Turning around he walked back to the kitchen to allow her to eat in peace pausing briefly to talk to his wife, "we need to make sure Stephanie eats here at least once a day and it is always on the house."

Valentina nodded her head, "is everything okay?"

Shaking his head he frowned, "she is wasting away on us, we must feed her up."

Chuckling lowly she smiled at her husband, "of course." Turning her attention back to the cash register she rang up the customer now stood in front of her.

As soon as Gino had left Jade gave her friend a stern look, "what's going on? Why can't you afford it?"

Sighing heavily as she twirled some pasta around her fork, "my cooker broke, I was going to cook on the hob or in the microwave for a few weeks/months until I could afford to buy a new one but it didn't turn out to be very practical so I had to buy a new one immediately and so currently when I do actually eat I am living on a diet of beans on toast and a cup of soup on the very rare occasion."

"Things are that tight with money?"

Nodding her head she hated admitting it, "things are that tight. I'll survive though, it will be better when I have a better job that pays more than Gino can afford. Let's change the subject though, I really don't want to dwell on my money issues or the fact that my Mom will force me to go home in two weeks if I don't get a better job."

The last thing Jade wanted was to lose her best friend so she was going to do her best to get her a job that would keep her in New York.

Paul had spent the day juggling his newborn daughter and his job. Luckily the phone calls he received from people they were incredibly understanding of his situation and allowed him some extra time when he explained that he would not let them down and he would get it done but he would have to sort the childcare issues out first but he would do it as soon as possible.

Looking at his watch as he walked down the stairs he sighed, his wife had left before eight o'clock this morning and it was going on for eight at night and she had not returned or even called to check up on the baby. With the baby monitor in hand he made his way into his office needing to do some more work now Chloe was down for the night and whilst he waited for Megan.

He had been so lost in trying to catch up on his work he lost complete track of time but when he heard the front door close he looked up at the clock shocked to see that it was past nine now. Getting up from his seat he quickly walked out of his office ready to confront his wife, "Megan, I have been waiting for you."

Jumping at the sound of his voice she spun around to face him, "Paul, I thought you would be busy with Chloe."

"She's asleep, I was catching up with work but we need to talk."

Rolling her eyes she shook her head at him, "what is there to talk about? I am going to get this promotion and you can do whatever you want with Chloe."

Looking at her like she was crazy he didn't know what to say, "so you have no interest whatsoever in our daughter."

"None at all. My career is incredibly important to me and that comes above everything just like yours always has."

Rubbing his temples they were going around in circles, "so what about my job? Originally you were supposed to be having the first six months off so all of my work is already scheduled for the next six months and I can't drag Chloe around to building sites with me."

Shrugging her shoulders she put her jacket over the bannister, "then employ a Nanny or something to look after her. I really don't care what you do, just leave me out of it."

Walking past him she went to make herself a cup of coffee before she went upstairs to do some more work.

Watching his wife walk away from him he gave in, there was no use fighting with her over it but hopefully she would come around in time and would want to be involved in her daughter's life.