I've forced myself up until 5am for this chapter. Enjoy it. Some of you requested that it be longer and I am proud to say this chapter is over 2,000 words, excluding the notes. I kind of feel like the second half of this is slow. Maybe boring. I promise things will speed up after this chapter. I hate to say this but 600 VIEWS! Hundreds of you are not reviewing and my gun is loaded. I joke. I have no gun. But please review. Every review makes my heart grow a little more. I won't turn in to one of those "No chapter until x reviews" people. They're annoying. But if you have a request, idea, criticism or anything that you want me to know feel more than free to leave it in a review or PM me. I always answer any questions. Fun fact at the end of the chapter ;)

There it was. Out in the open.

For a few seconds, everything was silent. Joe watched Mel's face change from concerned to confused to distraught and back to confused.

"What?"

"Oh, and Mindy is bringing her over here tomorrow" He figured he would do it all at once. Rip the band aid off.

"What?"

"I said I hav-"

"I heard what you said!" Mel finally snapped from her trance "You have a daughter! How?"

"I think you know very well how, Mel" Mel gave him a glare and he stopped joking. He let out a long, painful sigh "It's a long story"

"I have time" Mel raised her eyebrows at him. He had a daughter? She needed details now. "Well I went out with Mindy, we broke up, she found out she was pregnant and 6 years later she's telling me about it. I guess it wasn't a long story"

"Oh my god" Mel was at a loss for words, to many things were going through her mind. What would happen? Was she going to lose Joe? Does he want to raise a child? Wait did he say she's coming over here?

"Wait.. she's coming here?"

"Yeah. I didn't really think about it, it was wrong of me to invite them over here. If you want me to tell them th-"

"No, Joe it's okay. I'm just.. just surprised I guess" Joe laughed a little "Believe me, so am I" Oh yeah Mel thought Joe just found out he has a daughter. Oh my god, Joe just found out he has a daughter.

"I can't even begin to imagine how you feel" Mel put her head it her hands. She could feel a migraine coming on.

"Scared, mostly" they both looked up and caught each other eyes "I have no idea what i'm going to do"

Mel felt her heart ache for Joe. How could she worry about herself when Joe is in so much distress? She got up and sat down next to him, setting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey" Her voice was soft and inviting, much warmer than the tone she usually used with Joe "It'll be okay" Joe looked away, fearing the tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes. This was all too much. He could barley handle his life right now, how was he supposed to add in a child all of a sudden?

"I don't know, Mel. I can't raise a child" Mel moved her hand from his shoulder and rubbed his back like she would rub Lennox's when she was suffering from heartbreak.

"Of course you can. You helped raise Lennox and Ryder!" She encouraged, but he didn't seem convinced. "Lennox and Ryder are teenagers. They practically raise themselves". Mel was about to object when a thought appeared. Did Joe want to raise a child?

"Joe?" "Mhm?" Mel contemplated whether she should ask or not "Do you want to be apart of this?" The question caught Joe off guard

"What do you mean?" Mel carefully scanned her vocabulary for the right words. She needed to be gentle. "I mean, do you even want to be part of her life?"

"Mel, She's my daughter. I have to" Mel nodded.

"Just checking" An awkward silence filled the air. There were so many questions that she wanted to ask. Mel finally broke the silence.

"Are you going to leave?" They immediately locked eyes "What?"

"You know. You'll have a kid in your life now" She could feel tears in the back of her eyes. Joe finds out about his child and all she can think about is herself. She couldn't help it, she'd miss him to much. Not that she would tell him that.

"I don't know, Burke" she hid her little smile at the nickname "I think we should see what happens" The tears threatened to spill from her eyes. But what did she expect him to say? "No of course not, Mel! I'll never leave you guys for my child!".

For the thrid time their eyes locked and Mel nodded along with his answer, hiding her sadness. Instead of looking away they continued to look at each other. For moment she thought they might actually kiss but Joe looked away and broke the intense silence.

"Violet. Her name is violet" The air suddenly felt uncomfortable. There was obvious tension being avoided. She tried to focus on his words but she couldn't, all of a sudden she really wanted to kiss him. His lips, they were all she could look at. She quickly found herself gazing and snapped herself out of it.

Joe stared at her, waiting for a response. Does she hate they name? Why isn't she saying anything? God she looks pretty. Wait, what? His swirling thoughts were stopped when Mel responded

"That's really pretty" She gave him a small smile before, again falling in to each other eyes. This time they didn't waste a second, they immediately fell in to each others lips. They couldn't resist it any longer. They waited two years for it. For a few seconds it was magical. All this built up confusion was being buried away as their lips moved, perfectly in sync. But then the magic stopped when they pulled away.

"What are we doing?" Joe looked like he was in total shock, yet happy. His facial expressions were similar to Mel's.

"I-I don't know" They sat there in shock, heavily breathing due to the lack of air they received while kissing. She quickly stood up and took a few steps back.

"I have to go.. upstairs" She continued backing out of the room. "You know for. . . work. . and stuff" she then quickly scurried up the stairs without looking back.

"Oh.. yeah I have to go too!" He called after her "For.. stuff"

It had been 2 and a half hours since the kissing "incident". Luckily Lennox and Ryder called to say they were busy with after school activites and wouldn't be home until late. Oh shit he thought. I haven't even thought about them!

He rolled over on his bed and buried his face in to his pillow, letting out a muffled scream. He couldn't even begin to think about telling them. But he couldn't be focusing on that right now. He had been lying in his bed for the past two and a half hours, scared to go upstairs and face Mel.

"Come on Longo!" he scolded himself "You're going to have a kid within the next 24 hours, you can't just hide down here!" Finally he worked up the courage to go upstairs and face her. Once he made his way up the stairs he was immediately greeted with Mel standing there, pouring herself more coffee. He was surprised that after what happened it wasn't wine.

"Hey" he awkwardly got her attention as he strolled in the room

"Oh hey" She responded, seeming as perky as usual. She was using the forget-about-it method.

"So uh.. about that think that happened-" Joe started. Mel cut him off

"Yeah, we can just forget about that" Mel waved it away. Should I have said that? Does he want to forget it? Of course he wants to forget it Mel, he doesn't like you!

"Oh. Yeah. we'll just pretend it never happened" Joe mentally kicked himself. She wants to forget it. I knew she'd never like me. Not like I care. Why would I care? I don't like her and she doesn't like me, end of story.

"So.. " Mel trailed off, looking for words to say

"So" Joe continued the awkwardness. There obvious words that wanted to be said. Everything just felt so strange. There whole lives were going to change in a matter of hours.

"Lennox and Ryder are getting home soon" Mel hinted. Mel was curious and terrified at how the children were going to react. Ryder would probably to confused to react at all and Lennox would have multiple different emotions exploding from her and then she would write about them on her blog.

"You have to tell them"

"What? Why me!"" Joe freaked

"Oh I don't know, maybe because it's YOUR KID!" Mel snapped

Joe gave her a pleading look. She couldn't resist it.

"Fine, we'll tell them together" Joe smiled

"Thanks Mel" He nearly went in for a hug but thought about earlier and abruptly stopped himself. The almost-hug triggered another awkward silence to fall. Joe finally spoke up

"can we stay here?"

"What?" The question caught her totally off guard. What did he mean 'can we stay here?'

"Earlier when you asked if I would stay, it got me thinking. Are you okay with this? I mean it is your house" Joe asked. It had been on his mind all day. Mel sighed and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. Ever since this started, which was surprisingly only a few hours ago, she's been holding all of these thoughts and feelings. Joe needed her support, Joe suddenly has a kid, Joe's life is being turned upside down, Joe, Joe, Joe! She was scared too. For more reasons than one.

"Of course i'm not okay with this Joe" She watched his face fall "But it's happening and i'm not going to kick you out" She crossed her arms and pursed her lips, suddenly feeling more tension in the air. Was that to harsh?

"Mel you aren't my babysitter. If you don't want this to happen here then it doesnt have to. My folks in Jersey always have a room open" Joe hated hearing the truth. I'm so stupid. Of course she doesn't want us here.

"Jersey!" Mel was startled by his suggestion "You can't raise a kid in Jersey!"

"Well i'm not going to stay somewhere where i'm not wanted" Joe started to pace. he paced when he was stressed.

"Damnit Longo!" She got his attention and he stopped pacing. "Didn't you here me? I'm not throwing you out! Of course I don't want a 5 year old in my house all of a sudden but that's whats happening"

"Mel-" He started to argue but Mel immediately cut him off

"Let me finish! If Lennox got pregnant do you think I would happy? Of course I wouldn't want to help my niece raise a baby but I would because she's family Joe! We're family"

"We are?" Joe was slightly stunned. He had never heard Mel refer to him as anything other than a nanny, maybe a friend, but never family. Mel nodded.

"We are" They shared a heartwarming smile before more issues arose in the conversation.

"I don't even know if i'm going to be involved to be honest, Mel" Joe sat down next to her and rested his chin on his hand

"What! You said you wanted to help raise her!" Mel nearly yelled. This man is an emotional rollercoaster she thought

"I do! But she might not even like me. I haven't been in her life for over 5 years" Mel quieted down and sympathized.

"That isn't your fault"

"I don't know anymore, Mel! Everything is so complicated all of a sudden" Mel hopped up from her chair and looked him in the eyes

"Look Joe, I know this isn't easy but you need to figure out what you want because tomorrow you'll have a child" Her words hit him hard. But she was right. Tomorrow he would have a child.

But the words didn't just hit Joe. Mel could feel the blow. She thought back to their conversation. 'Of course I don't a 5 year old in my house' she had said. She hadn't thought of it that way. When she pictures Joe having a kid she thought of him taking her to the movies or him pushing her on the swings. This child was going to be in her house. Possibly living there part of the time. Oh shit.

Just then they heard the door swing open. Lennox and Ryder were home.

Hehe I leave cliffy. I so mean. I'm gonna update when I get 20 reviews. Not really. I'll update when I finish writing it.

Fun Fact: I met my best friend through here. I reviewed her fic, she pm'd me back and from there it was history. We skype almost everyday. She lives on the other side of the country *cries* but we sent each other Christmas packages. It was magical.