Okay I'm sorry for the delay, but the reviews have been disappointing and I just started classes again ;D bye holidays…

In another note, I hope you like the direction the story is getting.

Chapter 21: People change when you think you know them the most.

Beca had been sitting in her porch playing the guitar for an hour when she heard her cell phone sound. She took it and was surprised to see the call was from Lindsay, who should be working, but she imagined it was some kind of emergency so she quickly answered the call.

"Hi Lind!"

"Becs, hi, listen, are you doing something right now?" Beca looked at her guitar for a moment.

"No, I had to take some days off because of the head, so… why, what's up?"

"Ms. Galler, Allen's teacher, called. Apparently our son got into trouble, but I'm working and can't go, so I told them you'd go…" Lindsay explained. Beca was quickly on her feet, putting the guitar inside the house, and finding clothes.

"I'm on my way Lind, don't worry. Send me the address alright?"

"Okay, but can you drive?"

"Yeah, don't worry. If anything I can always take a taxi or something. Don't worry, I'll try to talk the teacher down and if there's no convincing then I'll take Allen here."

"Awesome. Thanks Becs, give him a kiss from me?"

"Count on it!" Beca smiled and hung up.

Soon she was making her way into the school. She saw what seemed to be the secretary of the school and approached her.

"Hi, I'm here for Allen Spaughton, they called home so one of his moms came…" Beca explained "I'm Rebeca Mitchell, his other mom." The secretary nodded and pointed to the stairs.

"First floor to the right, class 24." Beca nodded.

"Thanks." Beca went there and knocked in the door before opening a bit. Allen was sitting in front of the teacher's desk, and the teacher seemed to be writing some papers. The teacher, Ms. Galler Beca assumed, looked up "I'm Rebeca Mitchell, Allen's mother."

"Hi, welcome Ms. Mitchell." They shook hands "I'm Ms. Galler, I called because Allen was caught fighting with a classmate." Beca raised her eyebrows and sat next to Allen, putting an arm around his shoulders and giving him a kiss on the head.

"Why don't you tell me what happened buddy?" Beca asked, and Allen nodded, looking sad. Beca then realized Allen had a swollen eye "Wow… where's the other kid, Ms. Galler? Who did this to my son?"

"Don't worry Ms. Mitchell. He already left with his parents. I've decided to expel both children for a couple days, so they can think of what they've done and calm down." Beca nodded and looked at Allen questioningly.

"Mom, we were in class waiting for the next teacher to come, and as I told Ms. Galler, Todd came and told me they needed one more player later in the playground because they were going to play football against another group and one of their usual players is in home sick." Allen explained, Beca nodded understandingly "I said I didn't want to play. I don't like football mom." Beca nodded "So he got pissed off. He went to the rest of the team saying they couldn't play because 'that idiot' didn't want to. So they started making commentaries and Todd came and punched me." Beca raised her eyebrows "And I pushed and he fell on his ass. That's when the teachers came and took us here."

Beca's mouth was forming and 'o' and looked at the teacher.

"Are you going to tell me my son is being expelled two days because a classmate bullied him, left half his face swollen, could've seriously hurt his eye, and my son pushed him? Are you seriously going to compare…? Have you seen his face?" Beca could feel her blood boiling raising Allen's chin up softly "His eye's swollen! And I gotta take him to the doctor now and that boy Todd what, his ass hurts a little?"

"Ms. Mitchell I understand you're angry but your son hit a classmate and said classmate did the same, so the punishment is the same. Allen should've come to me when Todd got angry and he wouldn't have been punished."

"That's bullshit." Beca snapped "No, you listen to me Ms. Galler. If a person runs another over and the other is only injured, the driver isn't as punished as if the other had been killed in the accident. Because yeah, maybe the running over is the same but the consequences aren't." Beca said as politely as she could. "My ex wife and I would like to meet with the principal tomorrow morning, first hour if possible. First I'm gonna take my son to the doctor and see what the actual damage is, because my son is not gonna be expelled not one day for protecting himself and causing a guy some pain in his ass, even less when his face is like this! And that Todd better prays my son's sight isn't at risk because if it is, I will sue them and this school." Beca got up taking Allen up in her arms like if he was a baby.

"I'll speak with Principal Harris. He's out at a meeting today, but he'll be able to receive you tomorrow." The teacher assured.

Beca soon had taken Allen to the car, and kissed him on the cheek multiple times as she put him the seatbelt.

"How are you feeling my boy, does it hurt too much?"

"Just a little." Allen said, visibly upset "Am I gonna miss the rest of the classes of today for defending myself?"

"I'm afraid so buddy. It's not okay to push a classmate, no matter what the reason is" she said sitting in the driver's seat "revenge is never the solution. But I'm gonna call your mom now and take you to my friend Aubrey in the hospital so she can take a look to that eye, and tomorrow your mom and I are gonna make sure you can go to class tomorrow. And today you're gonna spend the day with me and my girlfriend Chloe, when she's out of work." Beca said turning the ignition on "We're gonna make a barbecue and maybe we can play some play station if you don't like football, or chess, you liked chess right?"

"I love chess!" Allen said excitedly and Beca smiled while driving.

"Excellent. Then we're gonna make the best of this day and end well what started a bit difficult, and I'm gonna see if I can have dinner with your mom and you so we can talk with her about this a bit more, alright?"

"Awesome." Allen smiled.

"Okay. Now make sure you stay awake until Aubrey sees you alright?" Allen nodded, and soon, they were at the hospital. Beca had called both Lindsay and Aubrey on the way there and Aubrey had spaced her agenda a bit and had time for Allen, and was waiting for them already.

"Wow, I hope the other guy was worse!" Aubrey joked with a grin seeing Allen.

"He's not, but that's good because now maybe he'll get punished more than me." Allen smiled.

"That's the attitude son." Beca laughed following them to the consult. After a few tests and a scan, Aubrey just gave Allen a painkiller.

"Well since you've gotten a bunch of hits in the head, you know what to do." Aubrey told Beca with a little smile and Beca nodded "But don't worry too much, he's fine. I'll give you something for the swelling and normal painkillers should help with the headaches."

"Do I have to wake him up every few hours?" Beca asked helping Allen get dressed.

"No, he doesn't have brain swelling or anything. And the eye is fine, it's just the face swelling. Don't let him do a lot of mental effort for today just in case and if he feels any worse you tell me, but the scan came clear so I wouldn't worry. You know, if he can't sleep, if he throws up, or doesn't have appetite, or is too tired… whatever."

Beca nodded.

"Well, ready to go champion?" Beca smiled at Allen, who nodded too busy sucking a lollypop one of the doctors had given him "Awesome. Let's go home. See you and Jesse for lunch Aubrey? Want to do one of my famous barbecues now that I remember how to."

"Sure, I'll be out around one though." Aubrey said.

"It's okay. See you then!"

Mother and son left then to go home and, deciding play station and chess qualified as too much of a mental effort, Beca sat Allen on her lap with her guitar, and taught him a few easy things, which he enjoyed. After a bit, though, Allen was tired for all the emotions of the morning and Beca laid on the sofa with him on top, stroking his hair and back softly to make him sleepy. She had given him a shower, and lend him a big cotton shirt of her so he was in his underwear and with the big shirt, more comfortable.

"Mommy?" Allen asked after a while.

"Hmm?"

"Now that you remember us… Can we be a family again like before?"

"Baby, it's more complicated than that…" Beca kissed his head "Look, I love you and your mamma, but I don't love her the way I love Chloe. Yeah, I remember you two, but we all have new lives too, hopefully better ones that will make us happier. But we're always going to be a family, okay Allen? Don't let anybody ever make you believe otherwise. We are a family. But there are many kinds of families, some have two parents, some have one, some have two dads, some have two moms, some have a mom and a dad, and I'd say some even have three parents. Some don't have human children but pets, and they're still a family. Some have neither, and are still a family. We are a family. But our family is composed by your mom, her side of the family and whoever she ever dates, you, and me, my side of the family and whoever I date. Chloe is my family and therefore, maybe one day if she and I were still together and our relationship was older and stronger, maybe then she could be part of your family and you part of hers. Just like with your mom. We are a family even if mamma and I aren't together, and our family grows by my side and by your mom's, but you're still part of it, and our favorite boy. And if any of us had more children, they'd be your siblings, just like in any other family."

"Promise?" Allen whispered.

"I promise." Beca loved putting her face buried in Allen's hair and closed her eyes enjoying the embrace "You can come here anytime because this is your home too. We barely just moved here, but I'll make sure you get a bedroom here, so you can have your stuff if you want too, and maybe we can set some days for me to pick you up at school and we spend them together, or some weekends we could take Chloe and Lindsay and the four of us could go somewhere nice. How does that sound for you?"

"I'd love that." Allen smiled burying his face on her chest, and she smiled widely. This could be nice, living like this.

Chloe, Jesse and Aubrey came back later, Aubrey usually picked Jesse and Chloe up, and she had informed them of the morning's events, since Beca hadn't called them because they were teaching classes. They arrived the house and found Beca and Allen sleeping on the sofa.

"This doesn't look like a barbecue." Jesse joked. Chloe rolled her eyes and palmed Beca's cheek softly to wake her up.

"Wake up, you promised barbecue and we brought the empty stomachs." Chloe said with a smirk. Beca woke up and smiled kissing her on the lips.

"Damn yes I did. I guess we fell asleep, but we're on it. Come on sweetheart, time to cook!" Beca said enthusiastically waking Allen up.

"Five minutes!" Allen begged.

A while later Beca was teaching Allen all about barbecues, cooking in their garden. They spent a nice day together and, when night came, Lindsay invited Beca and Chloe to dinner, so they drove with Allen to the house.

"Did you have a nice day?" Beca asked Chloe with a tiny smile putting a hand on her thigh and looking at her adoringly while the redhead was driving. Chloe nodded.

"Yeah, and it's about to be even better." Chloe smiled squeezing Beca's hand on her thigh, not wanting to put her eyes away from the road. She was very careful driving since her brother Michael had died in a car crash.

As Chloe had imagined, the dinner went smoothly and they had a nice time. Allen's face looked better, and Chloe had been occasionally putting some ice in his face while he helped Beca with the barbecue around noon. She was very caring with Allen and had gotten pissed off when Beca told her what had happened at the school, also Beca really enjoyed seeing Chloe and Lindsay both talking trash about Allen's school during dinner.

Fortunately, they'd be able to fix it in the morning. With that in thought, Beca cuddled against Chloe that night, the redhead already pretty sleepy.

"I want to get one of the rooms ready for Allen to stay here whenever he wants." Beca whispered hugging Chloe from behind and kissing her shoulder "If that's alright?"

"Sure." Chloe moved her face so her cheek brushed against Beca's "Are you still planning to visit your father?"

"Yeah…" Beca nodded "And I was thinking of bringing Allen with me. This weekend." Beca said.

"Allen? Why? Your father is a disgusting man to put Allen close."

"I know but I just want him to meet him. My mom will meet him too, soon. I told Lindsay and she thought it was a very nice idea, so maybe I'll call my mom tomorrow and see if she can come before the weekend. I don't want my father to have the privilege of meeting Allen before my mom."

"Good." Chloe moved a hand to put it over the hand Beca had resting on Chloe's upper arm "Rest babe, you'll need it." Beca nodded kissing her on the cheek.

"Sweet dreams dorky." Chloe smiled and Beca felt her fall asleep shortly after.

Everything went as Beca expected. The same day they got the Principal to admit Allen back to school, Ruth came for dinner and to spend a couple days, which were spent wisely in bonding with the little boy, who quickly fell in love with his grandma. But Beca had already let the boy know that meeting his grandpa wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Hello Rebeca." Jordan saluted coldly opening the door to his house one Saturday "We're alone as you requested. Come in."

"Great." Beca pulled an arm around Allen's shoulders and guided him to the living room, both sitting on the sofa.

"Why are you here?" Jordan said directly, sitting in front of them.

"Well, I wanted to introduce you to Allen. My son." Beca said just as coldly as her father. Jordan eyed Allen curiously for a few seconds and nodded slowly.

"I see. Nice to meet you, Allen." Jordan offered his hand and Allen, dubious, looked at Beca before shaking it "I didn't know you had been pregnant, although he looks nothing like a Mitchell." Jordan said looking at Beca.

"He isn't a Mitchell. He's the son of a friend who passed away and my ex wife and one of my best friends." Beca explained "I was never pregnant with him, but that doesn't make him any less my son. I saw him come to this world, I was there all his life, I helped raise him, and I adopted him as my own legally." Jordan nodded and crossed his arms above his chest, leaning back. He then sighed.

"Alright, great to know. I still don't see why you came here, why you are introducing me to Allen. Last time you came here things didn't end well and you were quite pissed off for not having been the father you'd have liked, now you want me back?"

"Oh, no." Beca sighed and leaned forward "Look, I've thought tons about this. I hate you. I can't love a man who never tried to protect me from someone like mom, who was hurting me physically, a man who never took interest in his daughter, a man who ignored his own family's issues on purpose and never even tried to give his wife some help, thinking the best thing to do was leaving..."

"I never knew Ruth was hurting you…" Jordan started, interrupting her.

"Because you refused to listen to me! I tried to tell you a thousand times, dad." Beca surprised herself using the nickname and Jordan stared at her surprised. Beca bit her lip trying to keep herself together "I tried to tell you and you ignored me. You were always working, and you know what? Eventually my memory came back, and funnily enough, I still barely have memories of you, not because I have a bad memory, but because you just weren't there and when I look at the pictures of you and me, you don't even seem to like me one bit."

"Rebeca, you can't try to understand what our situation was. My marriage wasn't happy and you looked far too much like her, and I guess I couldn't feel as much affection towards you as I would've liked, because when I looked at you I saw your drunken mother." Jordan said kinder than Beca had ever heard his voice be "I still cared about you, but I chose to put me first because I thought I was the only one being mistreated. I thought your mother treated me like shit and treated you like a princess. And honestly before you were born our lives were quite happy, so I guess maybe I resented you."

"You blamed me for it?" Beca was hurt and Allen contemplated Jordan with disgust.

"Maybe I did Rebeca. I don't know. When your grandma, Jude, was around, it was all easier. Of course she didn't like me, but it gave me the chance to deal more with your mother without you around all the time. At first, we were happy, but you were still very, very little when your mother started being bitchy and I'm a lawyer Rebeca, I love my job and it made me feel better than being around her. So I worked. Maybe I didn't do things the right way, but I dealt the best I could and still refused to leave you behind. Yeah, I cheated with Jillian but because she loved me and made me feel good again, and Robert was an accident, but was a kid I could love and who loved me. Your mother left me, I had no control over what happened to you, she wouldn't let me take you, and I couldn't prove to any jury she was a drunk and drugged up woman because she managed to always show up presentable." Jordan shrugged "But things are the way they are, and now you love your mother? Well I don't understand that. Because she treated me like if I was nothing, and now that you tell me she treated you more or less the same, I don't see why any of us should feel any affection towards her."

"You know why I love her?" Beca said. Jordan looked down "I love her because she changed. She never stopped trying to find me when I left her house back in 2007. I ran away and she got cleaned up, realized she had been the worst, and rehabilitated, got a good job, did everything she could to find me and once she did, she did all she could to get me to talk to her. She was always keeping an eye on me from the distance even if I hated her, she didn't give up, and she apologized a hundred times for all she ever did. She came to my house bothered to meet my girlfriend and bond with her and with me, and back then I got sick and she was there for me, taking care of me and helping my girlfriend all she could at home so I could rest. She regrets the person she was, she cleaned her name, and she has done all she could to come back into my life. Allen, wasn't your grandma playing with you all day yesterday?"

"And she taught me how to make chocolate cookies." Allen said with a little smile. Beca smiled ruffling his hair before bringing him close and kissing him on the check.

"I see…" Jordan nodded.

"And what have you done?" Beca went back to her father "Let me see… for all I can remember, you were always working, never home. And I remember being eight and starting seeing mom drunk, crying because she missed you, saying you didn't like her anymore, that's why she started. Because you were an awful absent husband, it was your fault Jordan." Beca pointed an accusatory finger "And then you got more and more absent until you left with Jillian. Yeah, ultimately my mom was the one who took me away, but you were gone already, even if officially you lived with us, you were never there!"

"I wanted to take you with m…"

"I don't care, Jordan!" Beca breathed deeply to calm herself down "All I care is that you were never there for mom, and never for me, for eight years, eight years in which I was there and mom was still okay. You had eight fucking years, so don't blame it on mom's issues. You wanna blame it on me, because your life was better off without me? Fine. But be honest and recognize it's your own fault. You could've prevented mom from getting bad, and you could've helped her afterwards. And me."

They sat in silence for a bit, thoughtful.

"Why did you bring Allen here?" Jordan whispered finally.

"Because he doesn't have grandparents except mom and you. The others died." Beca said "And I had this weird thought that he deserved to get to see you face to face and know the kind of man you are. And that if you wanted to redeem yourself, look, you're never gonna be… anything, to me. But you can be his grandpa, if you do it well, if he never has a complaint, and if you never let him close to that woman you call your wife."

Jordan nodded.

"Thanks." Jordan said sincerely "Well, it was really nice to have this visit. Really." He said without sarcasm, and Beca nodded taking Allen's hand and getting up "I will call you, okay?" He said grabbing Beca's arm before they left.

"Fine." Beca said pulling from her arm to let it free.

"Allen, would you mind waiting for your mom in the car for a moment? Just a minute." Jordan told Allen with a tiny smile. Allen looked at Beca, who smiled stroking his head.

"Go to the car Allen, I'll be right there. Here, take the keys and lock yourself in while I finish here." Her car was parked right in front of the house so Beca watched him from the door "So?" She asked looking at Jordan.

"What did she do to you, Rebeca?" Jordan asked. Beca looked confused "Please." Beca rolled her sleeve and showed him faint scars of burns from cigarettes.

"She also insulted me, a lot. I had to do all the tasks at home except the meals, and if I did it wrong, she would insult me more, throw me things…" the memories stung in Beca's memory now so clearly at first when her mom appeared at her house two days ago she had gotten a bit rude with her, until they talked a little and Ruth apologized again "She pulled my hair. Kicked me, yelled at me. She was rude and forceful and made me feel guilty for everything that ever went wrong."

"Jesus." Jordan sighed.

"Yeah." Beca nodded "Can I ask you something?" she asked, looking at Allen in the car.

"Yes." Jordan shrugged.

"Jillian is completely different from mom, what do you even see in her?" Beca asked, to which he smiled a little.

"She was amazing at the beginning, like everyone I guess. Now I must admit that she has become some weird snob with very little sense of fashion. But she always made me feel like home and gave me good memories." He explained "You like that girl, Chloe, right?" Beca nodded "Then do yourself a favor Beca, and make sure you know who you're with before you get any more serious with her. People change when you think you know them the most."

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