Authors note: Summer is boring; I'd rather be at school to be honest with everyone. Shout out to my lovely cousin for editing this crap fanfiction. Enjoy and review!

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Degrassi because if I did, I would make up a character that represents me and make it endgame with Hunter Hollingsworth…

Summary: This is the story of two teenagers falling in love not once, but for the second time.

Can't help falling in love

After

"Mama?" Kayden says as I take him out of his car seat.

"Yes, Baby." I reply setting him on the ground. I hold his tiny hand and shut the door.

"Why here?"

"You're going to see daddy." I tell him.

"Daddy?"

I put the bag of his things on my shoulder and we start walking to the apartment building.

"You're going to spend the day with Daddy, how do you like to sound of that, Baby boy?"

"Yay! Ya! Ya!" He says loudly and excitedly jumping up and down before trying to run ahead. He doesn't get very far before he starts wobbling and nearly falls over, it's a good thing I have my hand holding his.

I wasn't doing this for me, it was for him. For Kayden, Eli and my bank account. If I could have it may way, Eli would never have come back into our lives. He would be gone, wherever it was he went and he would still have no idea about having a son. Kayden would only know his father through the picture I've shown him and life would be peaceful the same way it was not that long ago.

Eli doesn't exactly know I'm coming today either. I should have called and talked to him, but instead I asked Jake where it is he lives. I would have willingly called Cece but she disappeared as much as Eli had after Kayden was born.

Cece always made me feel at home whenever I was over with Eli back when we were dating. We would always bake and when Eli wasn't around she would tell me his embarrassing baby stories and show me pictures that he would never have wanted me to see. But that all changed the day that Bullfrog had died.

It seemed the entire Goldsworthy family changed that day they received the news. I had been over that day… and Eli and I had a very busy weekend exploring each others bodies without clothing when they got a call. I will never be able to forget that day. It ruined me. Never as much as it had Eli and his mother, but Bullfrog and I were close and I was devastated.

Kayden wiggles out of my hold and runs to the door of the apartment building, trying unsuccessfully to reach it's handle. I don't run to catch him. We are away from traffic so I'm not particularly worried about him being hit by any cars. Defeated, he waits expectantly as I open the door.

Inside, there is a list of names, numbers and buttons. I search for his name, running my finger over the list until I find it and tapping it a few times. There he is. Elijah Goldsworthy, apartment number 613. I take a long, deep breath, preparing myself. "Here goes nothing." I say quietly to myself as I press the button. Several seconds pass and there is still no response so I press it again.

"Hello?" Eli's voice comes over the intercom and my heart seems to stop. I could back out right now, go back to my car and go to court to win full custody and never speak to him again. I could but I knew as much as I wanted to I shouldn't. I am going to do what I know is right; no matter how much I don't want it. I've come here to talk and I'm not going to leave until we do. I have to hear him out like Alli said I should. I have to ask him about the letter and get to the bottom of things and bringing Kayden around would give Eli a chance to see him, bond a little, and let Kayden get used to Eli being around… And myself. Now that he knew about the baby I have to deal with him for the next 16 and a half years.

"Hi... Um it's-"

"Clare?" Eli says, recognizing my voice in an instant.

"Yes. Yeah it's me. Look we need to talk, can I come up?"

"Sure, I'll buzz you in"

A loud buzzing noise goes off, signifying that I can open the door. It lasts for a good five seconds. I hold the door and Kayden dashes through.

"Woah, woah, woah, where do you think you're going?" This time I run after him, corralling him in the right direction, towards the elevator.

"Alright hit the button big boy." I tell him lifting him up under the armpits in front of the elevator buttons. He does so and once the doors open he runs in. I press the sixth floor button and the doors close. With a jerk, the elevator starts taking us upwards, closer to Eli. Closer than I would really like to be. Right now, Australia would likely feel too close, but this is it. There's no going back now, only forward. Plus he knows I'm here, how weird would it be if I just never came up?

The doors open with a ding and Kayden and I make our way out. I amble down the hallway with him toddling just in front of me. It is a short walk before I am standing in front of the door that is Eli's, calling Kayden back over to me as he continued walking down the hall.

I breathe deeply for a minute, calming myself, steadying my heart beat. After a short time I outstretch my one hand to knock lightly on the door while the other holds Kayden's.

"Hold on!" It's him. It's Eli and I just want to run away.

I tap my foot nervously as I wait, it is a long minute or so before the door opens. He looks tired, as if he hasn't slept in a few days, maybe. There are bags under his eyes and he just looks horrible, but mother always told me never to tell a person any of those things because it is rude to do so.

"Clare, hey." His eyes move downward, he sees Kayden and a soft smile grows on his face. "You brought Kayden." He says looking at me. I nod once.

"C'mon in." He says moving aside. I let go of Kayden's hand and he toddles in. I step in behind him and Eli shuts the door.

"How did you know where to find me?" He asks leading me through the front hallway of his apartment.

"Uh… I asked Jacob, but he wouldn't tell me the room so I just kinda had to look through the names in the front entrance." I explain to him.

We pass by an archway leading to a cosy living room with white crown moulding and a movie collection so big I didn't have to ask to know what it was. Passing one closed door and a hallway with two more, he leads me through another archway into his kitchen. There are stainless steel appliance's and a medium sized balcony, and I wonder how he affords to live in a place like this one.

"Do you want something to drink?" He asks me. I give Kayden the toys I brought with us to entertain the baby before I answer Eli.

"Do you have grape juice?"

"Yeah." He goes over to the refrigerator and I notice that small limp in his walk again.

I take a seat on one of the island chairs that had been tucked away underneath it. "A whole bottle, just for you." He says closing the door to the refrigerator.

"You hate grape juice, why do you have it?" I say. He sets a glass of it down in front of me.

"You drank it so much while we were dating, I thought I'd better have some in case you stopped by…" He sits down on the other empty chair.

I smile slightly without showing any teeth and then take a sip out of the glass. Kayden comes over to Eli and holds on to his pant leg. "Some! Some!" Kayden says reaching up. Eli glances at me for some sort of help.

"He wants some of your grape juice." I tell Eli.

"Right." Eli says. He puts his cup of juice down and picks Kayden up, sitting him down in his lap. He brings the cup to Kayden's mouth and holds it as the baby takes slow sips from it. I feel something watching them interact so well.

Kayden usually doesn't take to strangers very well. He normally clings to my leg and hides his face away from them, but he doesn't with Eli. He seems content and comfortable. He is not afraid of Eli from the encounter they've had, they appear to get along well and it warms my heart. I am making the right decision and I know for sure now. Kayden needs his father in his life.

"I can't afford a lawyer." I spit out. Eli casts a glance my way. "And I really don't want to go to see a judge over all this... You can have him every other weekend and every Tuesday and Thursday."

He smiles hugely. "Really?"

"Yes." I nod. "He needs his father in his life."

"Thank you." Eli says looking me in the eyes. I look away quickly, afraid I will get lost in his eyes the way I used to. I take another sip finishing the juice from my cup. I place it down on the counter and reach over to move the cup from Kayden's mouth.

"If he drinks too much… let's just say it won't be pretty coming out later." I tell Eli.

"Oh." Then he chuckles. "We don't want that." Eli puts Kayden back down and he goes back to play with his toys.

I look around his apartment from my spot. It's not large but that's fine because it's very Eli. Books everywhere, framed photos and posters of his favourite bands. There is a bookcase in the hallway that holds more books and movies. I recognize some of the titles of his movies. All horror. Nightmares for days is all those movies ever caused me and I think apart from the fact that he enjoyed them, he would always pick the scariest ones when we dated just so that I would get scared and have to cuddle with him. I bet he still thinks I had no idea he did that on purpose.

"So… what have you been up to?" He asks me.

"Just work and taking care of the baby."

"That's it?"

"Well what did you expect? I've been a single mother with no friends for the longest time. I'm a very boring person."

"No you're not." He says.

"Trust me you'd be surprised. "

"You're not going to school? Or dating anyone? What about those girl nights you and Alli did every Thursday." He questions.

"I can't afford to go to school, Alli got accepted to MIT so I see her maybe four times a year now," I explain. "and no one wants to date a girl with a baby." I finish.

"There's always loans." He says disregarding everything else I said.

I shift in my spot. "I know," I say. "but I'm fine not going."

It's a lie, I've wanted nothing more than to go back to school and become that journalist I've always dreamed of being. But things change and all the money I had saved up for school went towards providing for Kayden instead. But I don't regret my decision to give it all up for my baby, he's the brightest star in my galaxy.

"You're lying." He says giving me an expression that expressed you're-a-terrible-liar-and-we-both-know-it "It was everything you ever wanted."

"I had a baby Eli." I snap at him not meaning too. "I had a baby and you weren't around to help me, so I had to give up on the thing I wanted most. Now can we just drop it?"

Eli sighed. "I'm here now… And I'm not going anywhere, Clare." He pushes his lips together as I look down at Kayden. "I think you should look into it. If you're serious about me being able to see Kayden then you'll have extra time."

My lips curl in a small smile and I tuck a curl behind my ear. "I'll think about it."

"Good."