Abel sat on the stairs listening to what his parents and Wade were yelling at each other in what they assumed were quiet yells. Finding out that he had an uncle was beyond awesome; finding out said uncle was his mom's boyfriend not so awesome. He liked Wade and for him to be his uncle that was pretty cool, he just didn't want things to be so messed up. Up until lately he wanted his parents to get back together. What kid didn't want that? He wanted his dad to change it wasn't until he got older that he realized that wasn't going to happen.

It was the hand on his shoulder that made him nearly jump right out of his skin. Looking up he saw that it was only his grandma looking at him with curiosity in her eyes. "Dad showed up early for once," Abel stated, his emotions were surely draining and the late hour of the night was starting to affect him. "Wade is dad's brother," he finished getting up. The voices had grown quiet and whatever the outcome turns out to be well he find out in the morning.

Candice had half a mind to join the three in the kitchen but at the very last minute decided against it. It wasn't going to help any of them if she stuck her nose into this tonight. She'd have plenty of time over the next few days. So instead she went back to the guest room that was hers for her visit. She did leave the door open a crack, just in case.

Things in the kitchen had calmed down enough for them to sit around the table in a civilized manner. Wade feeling a pressure from his brother tossed an arm around Zoe making sure Jesse knew to stay away. Jesse only smirked leaning on the table. As for Zoe she felt awkward as ever. She liked this possessive side to Wade but it was something she didn't want to deal with all the time. Being stuck in this little triangle wasn't any fun.

"I can't believe you guys didn't figure this whole thing out," a smirking Jesse laughed.

"How can I figure things out when you gave yourself some random name?" Wade hissed, staring daggers at his brother.

"Wait!" Zoe exclaimed. "That's not your mom's maiden name?" Zoe asked looking at Wade as she spoke. She couldn't ask Jesse because she didn't want to hear any more of his lies.

"No," Wade shook his head. "Her maiden name is Hugh," Wade told her softly, rubbing her arm.

"Oh," Zoe replied looking down at her hands on the table. Wade placed his free hand on top of hers.

"What is it you want?" Wade asked looking over at his brother.

"I happen to find you playing house with my family cute but I'm here now little brother. I can take care of my wife and my son," he told them a dead serious look on face.

"I find that rather funny. You wanted nothing to do with us then, what changed?" Zoe asked the pain of him constantly walking away when things got hard coming out. "Are you jealous that your younger brother is not only a better boyfriend than you but a better male role model for Abel?" She asked her bitterness towards her ex wrapped around each word spoken. "I'm not your wife, remember the divorce?" She asked with a snarl.

"Fuck you, Zoe!" Jesse snarled, sending the chair he was sitting in flying backwards, crashing against the wall. "You knew it wasn't going to work, you not only trapped me with a marriage but a kid," he hissed.

Wade was up and in his brothers face the kitchen table the only thing between them. "You don't ever talk to her like that," Wade threatened his voice low. "And that kid is amazing and you shouldn't be his father. He was handed a pretty low deal getting you as a father," Wade stated his voice even and calm.

"Real nice Wade," Jesse sneered. "When did a woman come before your brother?"

"When my so called brother left and kept me from knowing anything about him. Did I know that you were ever married? Or that you had a kid? Or that you had ever changed your last name?" Wade shot back. "The thing is Jesse I don't know a single thing about you. You kept me out of your life the day you took off, those handful of days that you had managed to walk back into my life; we never talked about anything personal, now did we? You're not my brother, not really, just some stranger that I share the same DNA with," Wade finished off.

"This is some welcome home party," Jesse smirked, fixing his chair to sit down in once again, letting everything his brother had just said roll off his back, it was the truth and it hurt but Jesse knew that he only had himself to blame for that and he was starting to think it was something that could never be fixed.

"In order to have a welcome home party we'd want you to be here," Wade quipped out. "And this isn't your home," he scoffed.

"You say that now," Jesse smirked leaning closer to his little brother. "But I have this influence over my ex-wife, who will dump you to be with me again," Jesse said matter-of-factly.

It was Zoe's grip on his arm that kept him for launching across the table at his brother. Wade looked down at Zoe to see her pleading eyes. He nodded closing his eyes taking a deep breath. Zoe got up pulling Wade to the door, with a final glance at Jesse they walked through the door shutting it behind them.

"I didn't know," Zoe told him near tears. She was afraid of so many things going wrong now that they were both linked to Jesse.

"I know," Wade sighed, pulling her closer to him, breathing in her scent to calm his nerves.

"I don't want him," she whispered her eyes tightly shut to keep the tears in.

Wade didn't respond to that, instead he kissed her forehead breaking the hold they had on each other, with one small squeeze to her hand he walked away. He felt like a jackass for walking away from her when she needed him, but this whole mess was something he still needed to get his mind wrapped around. He just found out that his brother was the father to his girlfriend's kid. He didn't know how he was supposed to handle that. He felt even worse when he looked back over at Zoe's place to see that she was watching him, it broke him even more to see in the soft light from the yard light above her head the wet trails on her rosy cheeks. Hanging his head he walked inside his house, shutting the door. It wasn't until he had made his way up to his bed that he realized that he forgot his dog at his girlfriend's place. Hobs would be okay for one night because there was no way he could go back over there tonight.

Zoe felt herself crumble with each step Wade had taken back to his place, each piece turning into dust as he shut the lights off as he went upstairs to his room. With a deep sigh and a wiping the salty water from her face she headed back inside her house to deal with her unwanted visitor. Jesse was still sitting in the same chair just now he was leaning back with his arm slung over the back of the chair, his smug smirk still in place.

"Why come early?" Zoe asked keeping her distance from him.

"Because I wanted to spend time with my son," he replied back getting up from the chair and moving to the Kitchen Island where Zoe was standing. "Because unlike the rest of you, I had all the right information and felt like I needed to share my findings with everyone else. Do you think that I like the fact that my little brother is dating my ex-wife?" He asked.

"It wouldn't have happened if you would have told everyone the truth about who you were and if you wouldn't have kept Abel and me this big secret from the rest of the world. Besides you don't have a say in whom I date. What I do with my life is no concern to you," Zoe told him shaking her head, moving through the kitchen.

"The people that matter the most knew about you and Abel," Jesse told her. "And who you bring around my son is my concern and I do have a say in that."

"So you're saying that your brother, that your family doesn't matter to you?" Zoe asked feeling herself grow outraged at him. "And no you don't. You can't walk in and out of his life when it's convenient for you and think you can still call the shots, being a dad doesn't work like that, Jesse."

"I messed up, Zoe and I want the chance to prove to you and to Abel that I've changed," Jesse pleaded.

"You're out of chances Jesse. I can't keep you from seeing Abel, but if he doesn't want to see you then you need to respect that. You can't expect him to be okay with you walking through his life like you don't care. At some point he's going to be sick of that and stop wanting to see you and stop talking to you. And that will be on you, Jesse," Zoe told him with a sigh. "I think you need to go now," she told him, walking to the front door.

"So it's like that now?" Jesse asked following behind her. "You hook up with my brother and you no longer need me," he sneered.

"I no longer needed you when you walked out of the hospital room the day your son was born," Zoe told him. "And Wade has nothing to do with this. Now get out," Zoe told him sternly, pulling the door open for him.

"I'll be back to see my son," Jesse hissed walking out the door.

"I know," Zoe sighed, shutting and locking the door.

With the events of the last hour numbing her mind she was able to turn the lights off giving Wade's house one final look, before she went up stairs. She stopped in Abel's room to see that he was asleep. She kissed his head walking out and going to her room. With in a few minutes of crawling into bed, her mom was there. Candice said nothing as she moved to sit on her daughter's bed. Zoe moved into her mother's arms, needing the comfort that only her mother could give her. Come morning she knew that everything her mom was holding back would be said, but for tonight she just needed her mom.