Sorry for the long wait. I could not log in for the longest. It was very frustrating but I'm finally in so I hope you all enjoy the new chapter.

It's Family Time

Family is important and every now and then a little quality time is needed. You need those people you can depend on like your parents, or children or spouse. It's family time.

Tea put Vida to bed and then went to Dani's room where she was lying on her bed. Tea lied next to her.

"Thanks for coming over mom." Dani said.

"No problem, Mija." Tea said.

"I wish I could just make everything go away for Vida. She's so angry right now that she's just lashing out."

"Well that's like you. When you get angry, you lash out. That's the Manning way… well the Lord way, whatever, same difference. You all do that, apparently that's a trait Vida picked up. You've been in similar situations and you react something like this. What would help you in this situation besides getting your dad back? Think about it for a while. The answer you need to help Vida is inside of you. You also need to help you. You need to get out and enjoy yourself for a little while. Take your mind off of all this. I'll tell you what, call Destiny and Estrella and make a girl's night out of it. I'll babysit."

"I don't know, mom. It doesn't feel right going out and having all this fun while Jason is in prison."

"Daniella, I love Jason, you know that but here's the truth, it's his own fault that he's in prison. He knows that and you should know that too. You shouldn't suffer because of what he did. He's your husband so be there for him and be faithful but don't stop living your life. Life goes on."

"But mom…"

"No but mom, I'm right. Trust me on this. Besides, Jason would want you to be living your life."

"I miss him!" Dani exclaimed.

"I know and he's been so good to you. I am so glad you found someone who was so good to you. I'm glad you didn't follow in my footsteps."

"You mean because I found someone different than Todd and Ross?"

"Yeah, great fathers, horrible husbands."

"I miss Ross… even though he did all of those horrible things. He was still my dad."

"He was the only one you knew for a long time and before things got bad he was really good to you."

"The men in my life are always leaving." Dani thought to herself.

-v-

Miley was comfortably sitting in the living room at the Buchanan mansion watching television when Miracle walked in. Miley looked over at her.

"Oh, hi Miracle!" Miley exclaimed.

"Hi." Miracle said, less enthused. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

"Since when?"

"Since a few weeks ago. Your dad didn't tell you?"

"Obviously not or I wouldn't be so surprised right now."

"Ace didn't tell you either?"

"Again, no."

"Well, sorry I'm the first to tell you."

"Where is everyone?"

"Your dad and siblings went to go get a pizza. I don't know where everyone else is, I just know they're not here. You can join me if you want."

Miracle joined Miley on the couch. "I'm sorry if I came off a little rude but I didn't expect you to be here. I thought it would be just my dad and siblings this weekend. He was so adamant about it."

"I won't be in the way… too much. I know he wanted this weekend to mostly be about him and his kids and building stronger relationships."

"Speaking of relationships, you two must be really serious since you live here."

"I'm only here temporarily until I find a place Ace and I love. You are the oldest and you seem very mature and I probably shouldn't ask you this but I'm just so curious. Every since I've been in Llanview I've been hearing a lot of not so great things about your dad. Is he really that bad and how come I've never heard about him having any long term relationships?"

"Is he that bad?" Miracle laughed. "He's had some times when he was pretty bad. I'm not in the mood for the details right now but he's trying to be better and you've never heard about him having a long term relationship because his last relationship was with my mom… Wait no, I take that back. He dated a mobster's daughter for a while after he and my mom broke up but his relationship with my mom was the longest. Now that I think about it, they were his only girlfriends… I take that back, Aunt Dani was his first girlfriend, at least in his eyes she was."

"How long did he and your mom date and how long has it been since they've broken up?"

"They were together a year, almost two years if you count the time while he was in a coma… and let's see, I'm eighteen and I'll be nineteen this year so they broke up about seventeen, eighteen years ago."

"And he broke up with the mob princess how long ago?"

"I don't know, sixteen years ago or more."

"Wow."

"Maybe I shouldn't have told you all this."

"No, I really wanted to know… I have a feeling he's keeping a lot from me."

"You know what they say; if you start snooping, you just might find something. You should just concern yourself with whom he is and who he's with now. The past should stay where it is. Besides, we all know you're not so squeaky clean yourself."

"So he was in a coma?"

"He never told you?"

"No."

"He was in a come for six months. My mom was pregnant with me at the time. Apparently he suffered a blow to the head and hit his head on a table or something but anyway, he still has a little brain trauma. This is the most important thing I've said this entire conversation. If ever he appears to have some type of problem with his head, take it seriously."

"That's good to know."

"Anyway, I'm not saying anymore. So what are you watching?"

"Fraternity Row."

"Oh great! I love this show! Can you believe they almost cancelled it eighteen years ago? I'm so glad they were able to save it. I don't know what my life would be like without it. My mom got me hooked."

"I watch Access Llanview after this."

"Me too! My mom hates that show."

"Why?"

"Once she and my dad got together, she became a hot topic. It wasn't so hot anymore. They talk about me too. They talk about the whole family and honestly I don't like it but it comes with the territory which you know but it's a shame. I like to know everyone else's business. My mom always said I was nosey but she would know. I got it from her."

Matthew finally walked in with his other four children.

"Miracle you're finally here! What's up?"

"I'm just bonding with your girlfriend who lives here and you didn't tell me."

"I was going t-"

"Whatever, it's all good."

"Where's Evan?"

"At the moment, he's with his grandpa Vic."

"As in Victor Lord, Jr.?"

"Yeah but he likes being called Vic by the way. He hates when people call him Victor like his father."

"You left Evan with him?"

"Oh come on, he's safe. What is he going to do? Kidnap him? He just wanted some alone time with his grandson."

"Miracle!"

"Excuse me, he's my son, I'm the mother. He's safe. I know he is. Let's leave it at that, ok."

"Why didn't you bring him?"

"I wanted my focus to be on this family bonding you were so adamant about and besides, its Leon's weekend anyway."

"It just seems like you're always leaving him with a family member."

"Excuse me? You're wrong. I'm not always doing that. I do it when I have to like when I'm at school and I'm working now so then too but other than that no I do not leave him with someone. I take care of him. Rarely do I ever go out and all that goes for Leon too so how dare you? I'm just grateful we have help like you and mom did so you should understand instead of judging me. You know what, I'm over this already. Bye!" Miracle said and then left the mansion.

"Miry!" Asa called and ran after her.

-v-

Victor was playing with Evan in the living room of his condo when Sam and Leon entered the condo and joined them.

"Looks like its just the guys tonight." Leon said.

"How did it go today with Evan?" Leon asked.

"We had a great time. Didn't we, Evan?" Victor said.

"I'm glad you got to spend some time with him." Leon said.

"Yeah me too." Victor said.

Jack walked into the condo.

"I brought pizza!" Jack announced.

"Good, I'm starving." Sam said.

Jack joined them and opened the box of pizza so they all could dig in.

"Jack, how's Bel doing?" Victor asked.

"She's good. I'm so pissed I lost the custody battle." Jack said.

"Of course you were going to lose. Neela has Destiny for a lawyer." Leon said.

"You were wrong for suing Neela for full custody anyway." Sam said,

"Are you kidding?" Jack asked.

"Not at all. Come on, look at everything she has going on. Her father is dying and you want to punish her for being there for him. You want her to lose her father and take her daughter away too." Sam said.

"Dad!" Jack exclaimed.

"Sam's right." Victor said.

"This is ridiculous. She doesn't seem so upset kissing and hugging Shane all the time."

"Do I sense jealousy?" Leon asked.

"No! I don't want to talk about this anymore." Jack said.

"Why is her name Bel anyway?"

"Neela has a thing for fairy tales and princesses. The princess in The Beauty and the Beast name was Belle and the name Bel was apart of her heritage." Jack explained.

"Interesting." Victor said.

-v-

The next day, John, Liam and Eva were going to have dinner together so Evangeline brought Eva over to John's house.

"I hope you all enjoy yourselves tonight." Evangeline said.

"We always have fun!" Eva exclaimed.

"I'm glad you feel that way." John said. "What do you have on your agenda tonight?"

"I think I'm going to spend some time with Shaun later." Evangeline replied.

"Cool."

"I'm going to go. I'll see you later, E. I love you." Evangeline said and hugged her daughter.

"I love you too." Eva said.

Evangeline went to open the door and Natalie was standing there.

"Evangeline." Natalie said.

"Hello Natalie." Evangeline said.

"What are you doing here?" Natalie asked.

"Leaving." Evangeline said and then Liam walked up.

"Hi, Evangeline." Liam said.

"Hi, Liam. How are you?" Evangeline asked.

"I'm fine. You?" Liam asked.

"Great. I was just leaving." Evangeline replied and then left.

Liam then looked over at Natalie. "Mom, what are you doing here?" He asked Natalie.

"I was just…" Natalie said and then began to let her words drift off.

"You were just what?" Liam asked.

"I was just coming to say hi to John… Hi John!" Natalie said.

"Hi." John said.

"That woman is desperate." Eva mumbled.

"I'll be going now." Natalie said and then walked away. She met Evangeline outside getting into her car. "Evangeline!" Natalie called and then jogged over to Evangeline's car.

"Yes Natalie?"

"Is there something between you and John?"

"What's it to you?"

"I'm just curious."

"You just want him for yourself. You always have."

"Would you just answer the question?"

"If you want him, go get him Natalie. I for one am I not standing your way. I'm surprised you're not pretending to be some damsel in distress so that he can save you. We all know John is a sucker for a damsels in distress!"

"I resent that you think that I would do that."

Evangeline laughed. "Everyone knows that you would. John and I have a child together and that's all so would you stop wasting my time? Goodbye Natalie." Evangeline got in her car and drove off. "Some people never change."

-v-

Destiny was at the recording studio with Darren. He was waiting for Miley to come in for their recording session. Meanwhile, he was letting Destiny hear some of the new music he was working on.

He had a groovy, R&B track playing, no words, just an instrumental.

"I love this!" Destiny exclaimed. "Who is this track for?"

"This is actually for Starr." Darren replied.

"Cool."

"Here are some lyrics I was writing for it." Darren pressed replay and brought lyrics over to Destiny and sat next to her. He began to sing and she began to sing in the second verse and then they sung together.

"I love it! I'm sure Starr will too." Destiny exclaimed.

"You sounded great."

"Thanks… I love you." Destiny said and then kissed Darren.

"I love you too."

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Miley said entering the room.

"No, not all. I'm ready for you." Darren said and got up to walk over to set it up so that Miley could go into the recording booth.

"Hi." Destiny said to Miley.

"Hey." Miley said and then just looked at Destiny for a few seconds.

Destiny looked behind her wondering what the hell Miley was staring at and then Miley finally focused her attention on something else.

"What is her problem?" Destiny thought to herself.

"Miles, I finished up the last song. It sounds awesome. We definitely have a hit on our hands."

"Great!" Miley exclaimed.

"Are you ready?" Darren asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Miley said and then stepped into the studio.

"Sweetie, I have to go. I promised Dani I would go out with her and Starr tonight so I will see you later."

"It's just going to be the three of you?" Darren aked.

"Neela's going to come too."

"Have fun." Darren said and then kissed her.

-v-

Shaun pulled up to his parents' house with Gavin. He told them he had some news that he couldn't say over the phone. He left Gavin in the car and went into the house to talk to his parents.

"What's going on Shaun? You had the same tone on the phone as you had when you had to tell us that Charlene was alive and you were Destiny's father." Richard said.

"Well, it's just about as big."

"What is it?" Phylicia asked.

"Pace yourselves… Greg has a son." Shaun said.

"What?" Richard and Phylicia asked.

"Yeah, that's what Destiny and I said." Shaun said.

"How is it that Greg has a son?" Phylicia asked.

"Just another secret, he met someone in Cherryvale and they had a son. He's twenty-five."

"Twenty-five? Oh my goodness. What's his name? What is he like?" Richard asked.

"His name is Gavin and you can find out what he's like yourself. He's in the car." Shaun said.

"Right now? Well go get him!" Phylicia exclaimed.

Shaun went to get Gavin and introduced him to his parents. They welcomed him with open arms.

"I can't believe how much you look like Greg." Phylicia said to Gavin.

"Come, tell us about yourself." Richard said.

-v-

Dani, Destiny, Starr and Neela were on their way out to Ultra Violet and Tea is going to baby all the kids.

"Dani, are you ready to have some fun tonight?" Starr asked.

"I guess." Dani replied.

"Make sure she has fun tonight!" Tea exclaimed.

"We're on it." Starr said.

"Thanks Estella." Tea said.

"And we're here to make sure you have fun tonight." Miracle said after walking in the house with Izzy.

"What are you talking about?" Tea asked.

"We are going to take your place as babysitter so that you can spend sometime with Mr. Lord." Miracle said.

"I can't let you do that. Leon has Evan this weekend; you should be out having fun."

"I had fun all day and Vida, D.J. Harvey and Uttara are easy to take care of, especially with the two of us."

"Vida, has kind of been a hand full lately." Destiny said.

"We can handle it. So go have fun, all of you!" Miracle exclaimed.

"Ok. Call us if you need anything." Destiny said.

"We will." Miracle said.

"Hey, I thought you were staying with your dad this weekend." Destiny said.

"I was but he was being a jerk so I left and stayed with Izzy." Miracle explained.

"Who's idea was this?" Tea asked.

"Mr. Lord." Miracle replied.

Tea shook her head.

"He loves you. He just wants to show you so go!" Miracle said.

"Ok but you know you can call me too if you need anything." Tea said.

"As always." Miracle said before they all left for their fun night out.