"Um, hi," Lita said finally breaking the uncomfortable moment of silence between herself and John's parents. She still hadn't gotten over the shock of seeing them like she was sure they hadn't either. John's father, John Sr., actually smiled at her and returned her greeting, but his mom, Carol, looked like she was silently judging her son's ex-girlfriend which was nothing new to the redhead because she knew her ex-boyfriend's mom never was a fan of hers. She didn't know why Carol disliked her, but at the same time, she didn't care either. She was going to kill John if he knew his parents were going to visit and he didn't warn her in advance.

"Uh, why don't you come inside?" Lita said as she moved out the way to make space to allow the man and older woman to enter.

Carol scoffed as she entered the house followed by her ex-husband who was hoping she would keep her personal feelings towards the redhead aside. "I don't need an invitation inside my own son's house. Especially not from you." She turned around with a scowl present on her face to face Lita who was purposely taking extra long to lock the door. "What are you doing here? This is still my son's house, isn't it?"

Lita closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and turning around so that she was now facing the other woman. The three were still standing in front of the closed door, making no movement to go elsewhere. "Anthony wanted to see his dad and John also wanted to see him so I brought him down here," she said as calmly as possible. She never let Carol's cold attitude towards her bother her before and she wasn't going to let it bother her even now. At least she was going to try.

"John doesn't have a son," Carol replied.

"Carol, do not start with this again," John Sr. said before Lita had a chance to react. "John told you all about Anthony. He showed you pictures. You know that boy is his son."

Carol rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her ex-husband. "And I told him to get a paternity test done."

"What did you just say?" Lita asked furiously once those words left the other woman's mouth. Unfortunately for her, she was ignored and Carol continued.

"You know women these days. They'll lie about their child's paternity just to get a little money out of an innocent man and that is what she is doing to my son." She was about to say more, but luckily for everyone involved, she was interrupted when John came down the stairs. He heard the doorbell ring a while ago and knew Lita answered the door, but he was wondering who it was when Lita never came up to tell him.

"Mom, stop it," John said which earned his everyone's attention. He glanced between the three individuals and noticed his mom looked irritated, Lita looked like she was beginning to get very pissed off, and his dad looked relieved to see him. He stopped at his dad before speaking. "Anthony and Mikayla are upstairs. It's the second room when you take a right from the top of the stairs. Mikayla is awake, but Anthony is sleeping, I don't want her to disturb him. Can you look after them?"

The older man nodded and went up the stairs to do as he was asked. He would gladly do anything to get away from the two women.

John turned his focus back to his mom before continuing. "Anthony is my son and I don't need some test to prove it. You even said so yourself that looking at his pictures is like looking at pictures of my childhood."

Carol shook her head. "Just because he looks a little similar to you doesn't mean that you are his father."

"Mom-" John began to say only to be interrupted.

"Honestly John, how gullible are you? Anyone can come to you and tell you that their child is yours and you'll believe her?" She sent Lita, who was glaring at her, a quick dirty look before turning her attention back to John. "This is the woman who ruined your marriage and you're allowing her in your home? She is the reason your daughter is being raised in a broken home."

"No she's not. None of that is true. Me and Mickie had our own problems," John said only to be ignored.

"How long has it been since she left that company? She's running out of that money now and needs some of yours. What better way then to brainwash you into thinking her son is yours? He could be just about anyone else's. I mean, look at her, there has to be a long list of potential father's for her son. You're just one of the many candidates. How much child support are you giving her?"

"I'm pretty sure that is none of your business," Lita answered before John could give a similar answer. She had enough and was so sick and tired of everything this woman was saying about her. She was actually being accused of lying about the identity of Anthony's father for money. Carol was making her feel like some kind of gold digging whore and making it seem like she would actually use her child in some scheme. She was about to say more, but Carol decided to interrupt her now addressing Lita instead of John.

"How old is he? Three or four? If this is not you taking advantage of my son, then why did it take you that long to tell him about his alleged son?"

"Not alleged, Anthony is John's son and he's the only candidate as you like to put it. I really don't care at all if you believe it or not. My decision of... I was going to..." Lita shook her head as she trailed off. "No. That is none of your business either. I already had this conversation with John, we already discussed all of this so I don't need to explain myself to you. I don't owe you any type of explanation."

"Because you know I'm right. There is no other reason why you would wait so long to tell him about his son. I'm not going to accept him as my grandson until you get a paternity test done for him."

"Mom. Please stop it," John said before Lita had a chance to respond to his mom. He looked over at Lita for a moment before speaking. "Lita, maybe you should just go upstairs and I'll talk to my mom." Unfortunately for him, he was ignored as the women continued their conversation.

"Well then that's too bad for you because I'm not making my son go through that just because you don't believe he's John's son. It doesn't matter to me at all what you think about me. John has accepted Anthony so it doesn't make a difference to me whether or not you do. I'm not about to continue listening to you insult me. Have a nice life."

The mother-son duo watched as Lita went back up the stairs and presumably into Anthony's room. She would have rather just left the house at that moment, but she wasn't going to leave Anthony there with Carol around. She didn't think Carol would say anything negative to or around Anthony even though it didn't stop her from saying anything to Lita, but she wasn't going to take any chances of that happening.

John shook his head and let out a sigh as he looked over at his mom. He knew his dad was going to be paying a visit because he told his father Anthony was going to be there for a couple of days and his dad wanted to meet him. He just didn't expect his mom to tag along. He didn't even tell his mom that Lita and Anthony were going to be around because he knew something like this would occur. He wanted Anthony to meet his mom because she was his grandmother, but not right now. Not when Carol couldn't even believe Anthony was her grandson.

"I know you're my mom and I love you, so I'm just going to ask you to leave-"

"You are going to kick me out of your house because of her?"

John shook his head. "No. I'm not kicking you out of my house, I'm just asking you to leave before I say anything especially something I will end up regretting. But I will say this, you shouldn't have talked to Lita the way you did. She didn't deserve any of what you just said to her. She never did anything to you so I really don't understand why you dislike her so much that you would accuse her of lying to me about Anthony being my son. You know you're not only hurting her when you say this stuff to her, you're hurting me too by saying that you don't accept my son as your grandson. Mom, he's my son. He's my flesh and blood. He's your own flesh and blood. Why can't you just accept that fact?"

"I have a really hard time believing that someone would keep someone else's child away from them for years then tell them out of the blue without an agenda in mind."

"Well, that's exactly what happened. She didn't tell me herself. She wasn't even going to tell me. So much... She was about to tell me, but then... She had her reasons for not telling me while she was pregnant which I still don't fully get, but that doesn't matter because now I know about Anthony and I want him to stay in my life. She can keep him away from me because of what you're saying about the both of them and I really don't want that."

"John, I'm sorry, but I don't believe anything she just said. If Anthony is your son, then why won't she get a paternity test done? Why is she so against showing some legitimate proof?"

"Because that's degrading." He paused for a brief moment before continuing. "Please just go. Go to a hotel. I'll take you there if you want. I don't want Lita to take Anthony and leave which I'm sure she'll do if you stay here. I have to do whatever I can to spend the little time I have with my son before he goes back to Atlanta even if it means asking my own mother to leave my house."

"Fine. If that's what you want-"

"That's not what I want," John interrupted. "What I want is for you to accept Anthony as your own because he is. I want him to be able to have a relationship with his grandmother. I want you to go up there and apologize to Lita so she'll actually let you near Anthony. But you don't want any of that so this is what I need to do." Carol didn't say anything in response so he continued. "I'll be back," he said right before going back up the stairs and to Anthony's room where he knew he would find Lita.

Once John was in Anthony's room, he saw the little boy was still sleeping while Lita looked to be packing some things. His dad and Mikayla were no longer in the room. He assumed they went in the nursery or in some other room when Lita arrived up there.

"What are you doing?" John asked even though he had an idea what exactly it was she was doing. He was just hoping he was wrong.

"Packing," Lita said without looking up from the bag where she was throwing in some of Anthony's things that John remembered were one of the few that Lita said she needed to take back with her.

"Why?" John asked even though, once again, he had a feeling he knew the answer to the question.

Lita didn't say anything for a moment as she finished packing up the bag. John was about to ask the question once again, but he didn't have to when Lita finally decided to answer his question after she was done with the bag. "Why do you think?" She asked after she sat down on the bed and looked over to John who was standing near the doorway. "I don't want your mom anywhere near my son. I don't need him to listen to her negativity. Anthony is still sleeping, you think you could keep her away until we can leave in the morning?"

"You're not going anywhere, okay?" Lita was about to protest, but John continued. "No, listen to me first. This is my time with Anthony and you can't just cut it short. I'm sorry for everything my mom said, but you don't have to worry about my her because she won't be staying here."

"You... what? You told your mom to leave?" John merely nodded. "Why?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't want to stay here if she was here and I knew you would take Anthony with you if you left and I don't want that. I haven't seen him in like two months and our time together hasn't been going anywhere near smooth so far. He just came yesterday. I don't know when I'll be able to see him again. Please don't leave."

"John-"

"Lita, please don't take him away. Mom isn't going to be a problem right now. I promise. She won't be staying here. I'll go meet her at the hotel or somewhere else, just not in this house when Anthony is here. I'll make sure she doesn't come near him if that's what you want."

Lita wanted to decline because she just wanted to get out of there, but he looked so desperate. Plus, he did say his mom would be leaving so she wouldn't have to worry about the other woman possibly saying something to Anthony. "Fine," she finally agreed. "We won't leave."

John sighed in relief. He knew how stubborn she could be so he wouldn't have been surprised if she still decided to leave. "Thank you."

Lita didn't say anything in response, instead choosing to look away and stare in space. John took this as his cue to leave her alone. He was just glad she agreed to stay and not take Anthony away from there and cut their time together short.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for the review. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)