Offer Accepted

"People Seldom refuse help, if one offers it in the right way."

- A. C. Benson

The next case started, and everyone pertaining to hers walked out of the room. She was one of them, but she wasn't really aware of her surroundings as the words "I'm not going to grant you emancipation" and "joint custody" resounded in her ears. She had to sit down, and the first wooden bench she saw became her seat. Calm down, she had to calm down because what the fuck had actually just happened?! That was rather simple; it'd all gone to hell and the dream turned to smoke. All of that work, all of that planning and within five minutes it was all gone, down the drain. Well fuck, now what?! Again, the answer was rather obvious: joint custody.

A swirl of emotions was making its way throughout her body at the very thought, and as fate would have it, Juliette Collins, her case worker, walked in front of her and asked if she was alright and that was the last goddamn straw.

"Alright?! Juliette, does it look like I'm alright?!" The confusing swirl of emotions suddenly became a lot less confusing as anger took over. "That – that was not a hearing! Do you know what that was?"

The 40-something dirty blonde woman looked taken aback by the sudden burst of anger, and was about to speak, maybe to answer what had clearly been a rhetorical question, but Lux was having none of that.

"That, Juliette, was a train wreck! But you already knew that didn't you?!"

Lux stood up, no longer needing the bench for some sort of support, as the anger and adrenaline pumped through her system. A sharp smile appeared on her face, because now she knew what she was doing. This right here was familiar territory; lashing out at adults (as well as people in general) wasn't just a defense mechanism. No, she'd perfected it to an art, and at times even considered it a sport of sorts.

"You knew," she hissed as she jabbed her finger at Juliette Collins, "you full well knew that I wasn't going to be granted emancipation! You knew that those signatures weren't valid! That's sabotage, Juliette, sabotage!"

The woman did not appreciate that at all, and Lux relished in the disgruntled expression that appeared on her face. That's right, take the bait, and get this argument rolling!

"Can't say I didn't know, Lux, but to be fair I'm not the one who stole the paper and got it signed without witnesses. If anyone sabotaged the already small chance of you gaining emancipation, it was you. I can only do so much; I'm not a magician who can make these things happen within a day. These things take time, as I told you when we first met, but obviously you didn't take that with you. Maybe if you'd let me do my job on my time we wouldn't be having this conversation, but you didn't, so here we are. Now, we'll talk more tomorrow, when you'll have calmed down."

With that said, Collins started walking away in her stupid, ugly, little, striped two-piece suit. This bitch was supposed to be the one to help her get emancipated – one less burden for the already overburdened foster care system – and she was all but admitting that it wouldn't have mattered one way or the other, and that she didn't really care either. Lux really didn´t care much for that patronizing tone of voice either.

Lux's pride and anger demanded she go after her because they were far from done, but Nathaniel Bazile decided to talk to her before she'd even set a step, which really wasn't a smart decision on his part.

Well, this was not what he had expected at all. All he'd wanted to do was see how her case went, congratulate her on her emancipation and open the bar for business and drink in celebration of having at least given Lux her freedom. If that had to be done by signing a rental agreement, who was he to argue? Two signatures were the least he owed her.

But…life was never that straight and simple was it? Instead, life liked being unexpected and threw curve balls at you. It had decided to do that in the form of the Judge saying Lux was back in his and Cate's temporary joint custody. So, instead of giving her freedom, he'd put her back in shackles. Oh, and he'd put himself in mortal danger - because Cate would now murder him. He was sure of it. At least he wasn't the one that had to inform her, so he had that going for him.

No, but seriously, what exactly was the court going to expect of them because this…this was not just a tall order; it was an impossible one. Sure it was temporary, but Cate would never agree, and if by some miracle she did…well he'd be shocked, honestly. Aside from personal issues, all three of them led different lives, combining them would be no easy task. At the same time, he didn't really have a choice, did he, because it was either this or letting Lux back into the foster system and that just simply wasn't an option. He'd already fucked up her youth, and now her emancipation – a great track record to be sure – fucking up the next two years wasn't on his to do list.

He closed the courtroom door behind him and decided that he'd go talk to her right now, apologize as early as he could and find out what her thoughts on this mess were. He found her after scanning the hall, she was on a bench to the left, but her case worker had already beaten him to the punch and was asking her if she was alright.

It was the polite question to ask, but stupid all the same considering the circumstances. Lux loudly pointed out the obvious and then proceeded to tear into the woman. It was done with a vindictiveness that he found very, very familiar. The sharp, fake smile that appeared on the teen's face was one he'd seen not three days ago.

Damn it all! Three days and not once had it occurred to him that maybe…maybe the signing should have gone through official channels? All the same, as he saw Lux tear into her case worker, he had to concede that both had valid points; Lux should have never hurried it along all on her own, but Juliette, as the woman was apparently called, should not only keep a better eye on her stuff, but also have informed the teen on how all of this would transpire, as that alone might've actually prevented this situation from ever happening.

It would have also prevented him having spent a few hours with his daughter, and though selfish it might be, he wouldn't trade that for the world so he was actually glad it had turned out the way it had. He watched in interest as Juliette left, but noticed that Lux looked like she was just getting started. Stopping her was probably not all that good for him, he'd become the target of her anger, but it was better than ruining the already tenuous relationship that his daughter seemed to have with the foster care system. A part of him wondered as to what exactly she'd done to be relocated a total of seven times.

That was a question for later though; right now he had to face an angry teenage girl.

"Hey Lux, I wouldn't –

The blonde whirled around and angry blue eyes narrowed as they locked onto the sight of him. Well, no turning back now.

"You!"

She stepped forward and got all up and in his face. "Don't you dare tell me what to do, especially after you just ruined the most important moment of my life!"

"I thought Juliette was the one who –

"Oh no, don't you try and wriggle your way out of this one, Baze! You're just as guilty as that bitch and you know it! Why, man, why did you have come?!"

"I wanted to help you," he answered truthfully.

Lux let out a sardonic bark. "Yeah, and look where that much valued help got us. I didn't need your help!"

He shrugged. "Maybe not, gave it anyway. Besides, Lux, I'm in this just as much as you."

She glared up at him and practically growled. "Yes, can't forget about our sentence can we? Temporary joint custody! Ha! What a fucking joke! If I wanted parents I wouldn't be applying for emancipation, now would I?"

"True," he conceded, "but this is the hand we've been dealt, so how about we try and make it work."

Deep disbelief, much like his, colored her words. "Make it work? Baze, the two of you can't even hold a fucking phone conversation! That's worse than most of the foster parents I've been with, and that's saying something! What's the point of even giving this a go, it's doomed to fail! I'll be back in the system, like always, so why postpone what we already know is going to happen?"

His daughter stormed off, and he didn't follow because she'd just hit the heart of the matter right then and there, hadn't she? He and Cate, the two of them couldn't be parents, not together anyways. He would've given it a try, but if Lux, the very reason he would've, didn't want it then why even bother? She was right; it would've been a disaster. Plus, he understood why she didn't want it even if it would've worked; why would you want to go back to the very people who'd given you up? He knew that, had he been in her shoes, he wouldn't.

Lux paid the balding bus driver her fare and took a seat somewhere in the middle of the bus. She took out her phone, put in her ear buds and turned on her favorite radio station. She cranked it up to full volume as one of the rock classics was playing. She thought the music would drive out all of these thoughts that were buzzing in her noggin, but even with a guitar solo blasting its way into her skull, they refused to leave.

Her anger had waned as she'd stormed out of the grand building where justice was served and made her way to the correct bus, leaving her biological father in the dust. What had now taken its place was a deep sense of failure. Blaming Juliette and Baze had been easy, so easy, but that didn't make their arguments carry any less weight or truth. Juliette was right in that had Lux let the woman do her job that form would've been signed the correct way. And sure, Baze showing up had made an already bad situation worse, but all he'd been doing was trying to help. It was she alone, in wanting to speed the process up somewhat, who had caused it to go down as it had.

By doing exactly that, she hadn't just crushed her own dreams of freedom, but also those of her friends, especially those of her best friend. She'd failed her friends and though she felt small, alone and worthless right now and would love nothing more than to cuddle up to Bug, she couldn't bear to face them because of shame. All of that planning, all of the ideas the four of them had had now would never be.

All the same, the judge hadn't just thrown her back into the system; she had offered her an out. The idea of being in the temporary joint custody of her birth parents was a very strange and loaded one. It was court issued, and though she'd botched up her own case, she knew enough about the judicial system to know that you had to follow it. However, she'd also been part of the foster care system long enough to know that this wasn't even in the hands of her parents; no all authority was laid at the feet of Child Protective Services. It was they who would decide whether or not this temporary joint custody was even to be, and though her faith in CPS wasn't as strong it had been once upon a time, she knew even they could tell that this would never work in a million year. But…suppose CPS did grant her birth parents that right, what then?

She somewhat knew her biological father, having at least spent half a day with the man, and from their last conversation she knew that he would at least try and make it work and that he would never be as bad as some of her foster fathers had been. Cate Cassidy she only knew as a voice on the radio – she was very happy that Morning Madness wasn't playing right now – and that was probably a scripted character, if one that Lux idealized and loved.

Everything else she knew about the woman who had carried her for nine months was that she hated Baze, and that she'd abandoned Lux without so much a name or any rights to speak of. The woman had never – not even once - checked up on her and had signed the slip for her rights when Baze had brought it over without a problem and hadn't even felt the need to talk to Lux or even send her a message through Baze. If that didn't tell her that Cate Cassidy wasn't interested in her estranged daughter, Lux didn't know what would. Ryan was right in saying that his cohost didn´t have a maternal bone in her body.

A disinterest in Lux and a burning hatred for Baze were not exactly the inspiring qualities that she or CPS were looking for. If CPS didn't shut this one down, she would because Lux didn't need a mother, and certainly not the one that hadn't cared since day one.

Dulled blue eyes looked out of the window as they left the city and entered the suburbs- the less well to do ones, anyway. Tall brick buildings that were all crammed next to each other became spread out old, ramshackle wooden houses; home sweet home. 20 minutes later they reached her stop and she got off. She shivered, the heat of the bus was gone and winter in Portland wasn't exactly what she would call charming. She started on the half hour long trek that she had to embark on every day just to reach home. As she walked through what had been her neighborhood for the past year and half she thought about her current foster family. Mr. Foster was away more often than not, so she really didn't know or care. Mrs. Foster might be a bitch and a far from perfect foster mother, but at the very least she was a good mother to her own children. Hell, Lux even liked the little baby girl, Stella, who was quite adorable. Stewie could go fuck himself though. Yes, now that she was thinking about it, she'd dealt with worse. It wasn't perfect, but Lux would tough it out another two years with the Fosters, and if she got kicked back to Sunnyvale, so be it.

Finally she arrived and she entered what she could truly call a Foster home, happily leaving the cold behind. She closed the door and entered the main room, all ready to just take a nice warm shower and sulk in her bed. Tomorrow she'd deal with the repercussions of today; right now she was all used up. She walked towards the stairs, only to find all of her stuff packed up and ready to go, her teddy bear, the one that the nurse who had named her had apparently given her, sitting atop one of the suitcases.

They didn't want her. She grabbed the bear that had protected her from many a nightmare and held it tight as tears fell down her cheeks. It offered little comfort from the dark thought that had plagued her since she was a little girl: maybe no one did.

He poured the man a Guinness, which Baze personally despised for its dark and bitter taste. Odd, given the darker his coffee, the more he liked it. Maybe it was because he was American. He was glad to be working, though; it kept him busy and didn't let him think about what had happened today. Not only was the bar a reminder that not everything in his life was a failure, but he was glad to be surrounded by all these people, who were laughing and chatting rambunctiously whilst his playlist resounded in the background. It was a nice atmosphere to be in when in a dipping mood. Yeah, the social aspect was one of, it not the chief reason he'd started up the Anvil. Not only was it fun, but he was good at it too. The college parties he'd hosted had been grand successes, from what he remembered.

He made a margarita for a tall and slim brunette. She was part of the gaggle of girls in the corner trying to play darts and failing rather spectacularly. Whether they were too drunk or just sucked at it naturally was uncertain at this point. Jamie, who'd been collecting empty bottles and glasses, had been pulled aside by one of them to teach them how to actually hit the board. The man wasn't one to say no, and was enjoying himself immensely. So were the girls, if their lecherous grins and giggles were any indication. Baze had the feeling that Jamie would not be alone in bed tonight.

"Here you go, one margarita."

"Thank you." The 20-something took a sip, played a bit with the toy umbrella and spoke again. "Is your friend over there, Jamie, taken?"

Baze smiled. "No, he is not. Are you interested?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't matter anyway. Amy," here the girl pointed to the Asian that Jamie currently had his arms around, "already has her claws into him. She always gets the guy."

He could practically smell the envy coming off of her and see her confidence crumble. He was going to fix that, and rather easily too. "Well, then I'll tell you a secret; Jamie is more into brunette's than he is Asians."

"Really now?"

"Really," he assured her. "You're exactly his type too. Now the next song that'll play is his one of his favorites. Ask him for a dance, he won't refuse."

A smile made its way onto her face, brown eyes lighting up with confidence. "Thank you, I'll do that! Thank you!" And like that she moved on back to her pack, an extra spring in her step.

He had just pulled off what he liked to call a Double Wingman; set up his friend with a chick of his preference whilst setting up the chick with the guy she was interested in. Playing matchmaker, it was a perk that came with the job and had through the years kind of become a hobby of his. Sure, this would probably stay a one-night stand, but he'd given her a confidence boost and that alone was worth it. This might not be one of them, but he had put together two people that were still items to this day. Faithfull patrons and good friends they were, though not here this night.

Happy hour went by in a flash, and soon enough it was already midnight. The amount of customers had already gone down significantly, the gaggle of girls having left – some with men on their arms – though the brunette, whose name turned out to be Sofia, was still here. She was actually helping Jamie with stuff around the rest of the Anvil, although currently she was keeping the man from doing any work whatsoever.

Luckily it wasn't busy; they were only open for two more hours, seeing as it was a Wednesday. The weekend was when the real party started and Baze was already looking forward to it because he knew for a fact – she'd texted him – that Patricia would be here again. He'd actually had the decency to respond, Jamie meanwhile hadn't let the redhead hear anything, which was about as expected. A similar fate would probably befall Sofia, although maybe she was one of the rare ones that Jamie was actually interested in.

Speaking of interested, Baze himself wasn't always this much of a gent; he was actually genuinely interested in the blonde. Sure, this would only be their second night together, but he had a feeling that it might actually get a bit further than a one night stand. Maybe it would only be as fuck buddies, and maybe it would be as more, or maybe it would end with two nights of great sex. Only time would tell, but it had been a long time since he'd actually entertained the notion of starting a relationship of any kind. Perhaps it was time to try again; he really didn't have anything to lose.

He heard the door open, and ready to help his new customer, he turned around. He almost dropped the empty bottle of Jack Daniels he'd just replaced. All thoughts on relationships came to a halt, because out of all the people he could have expected to see standing there she was not on that list. Not tonight at least.

Lux was glad that there were still busses going, as that would have made an already truly terrible day even worse. The heat of the bus was welcoming indeed, and she took a seat in the middle this time so that there was space for her bags. She hated cold weather, she really did, but the cold wind had made her pale skin raw and red, which at least camouflaged a little bit that she'd shed tears. It was something, although it didn't help her feel any less miserable or angry.

She was angry at herself for crying because tears were stupid and didn't help jack shit; she'd learned that at a young age. She was angry that the Fosters, of all people, had made her crumble and fall apart completely. She'd wanted to scream and shout at them, but found that they weren't even worth that. They didn't deserve that privilege and so she'd left without a word.

As the suburbs passed by once more, so did her anger. Loneliness and sadness linger a lot longer in that respect. She felt as miserable as she ever had and her first instinct was to go to the people who understood, to get the comfort from the people she knew the best, but again the shame was too strong. She just wanted out of it, to get away from it all.

Baze's voice resounded in her head, "Seriously, if you ever need a place to just get away from it all and relax, there are few better places to do that than our loft. Family takes care of family, after all."

Family takes care of family. It was a whisper, a promise of something she'd wanted since she'd learned that she, too, had real parents somewhere. Her heart ached for it, as it always had, and so she decided that she was going to take this particular gamble. She'd already lost all her other bets, and the court had issued that order anyways, so why not give it a shot now. This was her test, and maybe it would turn out alright after all. Maybe not perfect, but alright and that was better than she feeling right now, so she'd take it. Besides, Sunnyvale always resided in the back, a familiar evil.

It was how she found herself standing outside of the Anvil at 15 minutes after midnight. She vaguely heard a song by Queen being played and voices speaking and laughing, across the street she heard the loud bass of house music. There was still a chance to go to the familiar, to abondon this gambit, as this hadn´t been the last bus. No, she decided that turning back now would be fleeing, and Lux did not flee. With that in mind she entered the bar where she´d found her biological father not three days earlier.

There weren´t that many people in the bar, in the middle she saw Jamie making out with a brunette, over to the right, nearer to the bar, she saw what appeared to be bleu collar businessmen who´d gone here right after work, and behind the bar stood the man she was looking for. He was still wearing the clothes he´d worn to court, not that she´d changed her outfit. He looked very surprised to see her, and she didn´t blame him, not with the way she´d stormed away from him after accusing him of not being capable of being a parent.

His head cocked to the side as his eyes flicked to the suitcases she had with her and his brows furrowed ever so slightly. It funny how open this man was, how easy to read. She doubted the man was very good at poker or lying, both things she excelled at. He came over and asked, "Lux, what are you doing here?"

"Well...maybe I should have waited until after the hearing to tell my foster mom to suck it. She kind of kicked me out."

His green eyes widened and he said, "She what?!"

"She kicked me out, you do see the suitcases do you not?"

"Yes," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I see the suitcases. Why...why would she kick you out?"

"Because she's a bitch? Anyways, Baze, is that offer to get away from it all still on the table?" This was the question everything hinged on, so she kept her face as blank as possible.

He blinked and a smile appeared his face. "Of course that offers still open, come on up to the loft."

She smiled as well. "Thanks, this means a lot." She was about to lift one of the suitcases when his hand stopped her.

"Nuh-uh, you've been lugging them around for who knows how long, let me carry them the last bit."

"They're pretty heavy," she warned.

"Yeah, and if I'm not stonger than you at my age I have some serious issues. Please, give me some credit." He lifted them with a lot more ease than she would have and she was glad she wouldn't have to lug them up the spiral staircase.

"Fair enough."

Her father turned towards his college room mate. "Jamie, could you please take helm of the bar for a while, I got to settle Lux up in the loft?"

The black man nodded, and pulled along the brunette. Lux heard him say, "Come, Sofia, I'll show you some tricks I've picked up over the years."

With that they left the bar behind, though she could still hear the music play in the background. He put both of them down in the middle of the loft, wiped his brow sat down on the tallest one and faced her.

"You were right, these suckers aren't particularilly light. On to business though, you're getting my room no 'ifs' or 'buts' about it. I do need to clean it up a bit. That'll take a minute or two, so go take a seat here in the loft, grab a drink if you want, and just relax."

He went into his room, the one closest to the fridge, she noted. She wasn't thirsty, so she sat down on the couch and waited for her father to come back. He'd taken this all really well, a lot better than she'd expected. He'd even offered her his room, which probably meant he was going to be sleeping on the couch. That was not only a very nice gesture, but also a first. He was also right about her being really tired, she would gladly welcome sleep.

A few minutes passed and he came back out. "Well, it's all ready. Come let's get you settled in." Once again he carried the suitcases, and set them down. The room was big, bigger than any room she'd ever had. The same could be said for the bed, which looked very, very comfortable. A dresser was placed across from the bed. Various things, such as pictures were placed on top of it and a mirror hung above it.

"Well that's the bed, that over there is closet and the door on the left of the bed leads to the bathroom. The bathroom has a toilet and a shower, basically everything you need, so you need not worry, you've got privacy. Now go on and get some sleep, God knows I could use some."

"Thanks, Baze."

"Not a problem, Lux."

"No seriously," she replied, "this is...this means a lot. I don't really know why you're being so nice to me, especially after what I said today, so thank you!"

Baze chuckled. "And as I said, it not a problem. I know what its like to get kicked out of the house, and trust me that eventually they'll let you back in. People say and do a lot of rash things when they're angry, not all of them smart. Besides, you're family - my daughter to boot - I can't very well leave you on the streets now can I? So just go to sleep, we'll talk about where we go from here tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night," replied Lux softly as he left the room, closing the door behind him. She flopped onto the bed and let out a groan of satisfaction as the soft mattess absorbed her form. She would sleep like a baby, of this she was sure. Her thoughts turned back to her father. This was only the third time meeting the man, and he had to yet let her down. He understood, maybe not completely, but he understood somewhat and she hadn't expected that. A trustworthy adult...was a foreign concept. In fact, before today she would have called it an oxymoron and a myth. She wasn't entirely sold on the idea yet, a part of her was sure that he would let her down at some point, but for now Nathaniel Bazile was acing this test. For now, she might actually be willing to give this a shot.

AN: Well this is back, if with a somewhat shorter chapter than planned. Originally this chapter was 9000 words strong, and I was happy with it, but it dissapeared on me, killing a lot of the enthousiasm that I had for this story. I kind of abondoned it for a while, all the way up until this point. I have no idea if this is actually as good as the version that dissapeared, but this is here, and I know already precisely how the next chapter will go/ should go. That one should be back up to the usual length, but we'll see how that actually turns out. In any case I hope you guys enjoy it and a major thanks to Ravenreux for Beta'ing it! R&R if you like, let me know what you guys think!

Cheers,

Ray the Red