Chapter 10

After Fallon dried her tears, she decided it was finally time to go see Paisley. She grabbed all of her stuff and made her way up to the pediatric recovery ward. She apprehensively stepped into the room, and was relieved to discover Grace and George weren't there.

"Mama?" Paisley squeaked out.

"Hi, sweetie. I'm so sorry I didn't come to see you sooner." Fallon quickly apologized, sitting down in the chair closest to the bed.

"How come you didn't?"

"My doctor said the babies could get hurt if I didn't rest, but I decided you were more important."

"Is papa gonna be ok?"

"We're not sure yet. The doctors had to put him to sleep so his body can heal. It'll be a while before we know if he's gotten better. For right now, you have me, and your grandparents."

"Grandma says you're a bitch."

"First of all, don't say that word. That word is only for grownups. Second of all, I know what your grandma thinks of me. That's not going to stop me from seeing you."

"What about when you have to go back to Atlanta?"

"I won't be going back to Atlanta for a while. I have to stay here with you, and make sure you get better."

"But what about your job? And Liam?"

"The good thing about running your own company is that I have people who can take care of things while I'm away. And as for Liam, he's fine in Atlanta by himself."

"Why isn't he here?"

"He was, but then he had to go back to work. We'll see him again when we go back to Atlanta." Fallon lied. She didn't think it was appropriate to tell Paisley what happened actually happened.

"When are we going back to Atlanta?"

"I'm not sure yet. It depends on how fast your body heals, and when your dad gets better." Fallon decided to omit the custody argument she was having Grace and George.

"What if daddy doesn't want to go back to Atlanta?"

"Then we'll work something out. Do you want to go back to New York?"

"I miss my school and my friends, but I want to stay in Atlanta with you, and Liam, and Uncle Sam and Steven, and Aunt Kirby. And I'm starting to like Gigi Cristal."

"When your dad gets better, we can talk about it with him, ok?"

"Ok. Can I have some food? I'm hungry."

"The nurse didn't come with food?"

"She did, but it was gross. I want McDonald's."

"Ok. I'll Postmate McDonald's."

Fallon quickly ordered the food Paisley requested, and then put her phone away. She had no interest in looking at the texts Liam had sent her, and she wasn't ready to explain what had happened to the rest of her family.

"Is anyone else gonna come visit us?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think anyone else knows what happened. I'll tell them eventually, but right now, no one else needs to know."

"But I want to see Uncle Sam and Uncle Steven."

Fallon let out a sigh. She didn't know what to do. She knew if she told everyone, she'd have to explain why they were in the accident, and what Beck did. She also knew she'd have to explain why Liam wasn't there.

"Do you want me to call Steven and Sam to come here?"

"Yes. I want them to come."

"Ok, I'm not guaranteeing they'll be able to come, but I'll ask. I'll be right back. Your food will be here soon." And with that, Fallon left the room to go call Sam and Steven.

When Steven had gotten out of the mental hospital in Paris, he spent another 6 months in Paris, trying to reacclimate to life on his own. After those 6 months, he decided it was time to go home. He lived in an apartment in downtown Atlanta, before he repaired his relationship with the family, Blake mostly, and moved back into the Manor. He and Sam were just friends for a while, but decided to give their relationship another chance.

"Hey, Steven. Is Sam around?" Fallon asked, as Steven answered the phone.

"Yeah, he's right next to me. Why?" Steven responded.

"What I'm gonna say is for both of you to hear."

"Ok. You're on speaker. What's up? How's LA?"

"It's not great. Last night, Paisley, Beck, and I got into a car accident. I'm ok, and Paisley's relatively ok, but Beck's in a coma. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, and he crashed through the windshield. It's a miracle he's even alive. The doctors don't know if he's gonna wake up, or when he'll wake up if he does. Anyway, I'm calling because Paisley's wants you guys to come to LA. She's scared and upset. She just wants as many people as possible. If you want to tell Kirby, that's ok, but make sure Blake, Alexis, Cristal, and Adam do not find out."

"Um, ok, we're on our way. We'll take the jet and be there in a few hours. Is Liam there?"

"Not really. He and I got into a fight and I told him to leave. He might still be here, or he might be on his way back to Atlanta. I don't know. I don't really care right now, either."

"What happened?"

"My doctor recommended that I stay on bed rest for at least 24 hours, just to make sure they're no complications with the pregnancy, but I refused. Liam got mad, and then claimed he doesn't want to be a father after all. It looks like I'm gonna be a single mom to three kids. One of which I might lose the right to see."

"I thought you said Liam wanted kids. Why did he suddenly change his mind?"

"I don't know. I really don't. Right now, I can't care. What I need to care about is my daughter. The daughter that might not be mine for much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"Beck's parents are threatening to take Paisley from me. Technically, because I never signed her birth certificate, I don't have any legal rights to her. Beck appointed his parents as Paisley's legal guardians in the event something happened to him."

"Can't you take them to court, and use Paisley to persuade the judge? She wants to stay with you, right?"

"It seems like she does, but I'm not really sure. I don't know what I'm going to do yet, and I probably won't figure it out for a while. Right now, I need you two to come to LA and make my daughter happy. I'll see you when you get here." And with that, Fallon hung up and went back to Paisley's room. "Steven and Sam are on their way. They'll be here in a few hours."

"Are you ok, mom? You seem sad."

"No, sweetie. I'm just tired and a little stressed out."

"What's gonna happen if papa doesn't wake up?" Paisley asked out of the blue.

"I don't know. It's gonna be hard, and you're gonna be really sad. It's ok to be sad, and it's ok to cry. You might have to go with your grandparents for a while."

"Why? I wanna stay with you."

"Sweetie, I know this is gonna be a little complicated, but when a baby is born, they have this piece of paper with their information on it. A birth certificate. On the birth certificate are the baby's parents. When you were born, I didn't sign your birth certificate. In the eyes of the government, I'm not your mom. I am, because I carried you for nine months and I gave birth to you, but I didn't sign your birth certificate. If I try to take you back to Atlanta, your grandparents could have me arrested. I'd have to go to jail."

"So I'd never see you again?"

"You could see me again, bu it might take a while. Your grandparents don't like me. They think I'm a bad mom. They don't want you to be with me."

"But I want to be with you."

"I know, and I want to be with you too, but sometimes we don't always get what we want."

The room went silent for a while, and stayed silent after Fallon returned with Paisley's food. The silence remained for a few hours, and eventually Paisley fell asleep. Fallon stated off into space for nearly an hour, until she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." She said softly, not wanting to wake up Paisley. Of course, Grace and George had to be on the other side of the door.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Grace asked, malice filling her voice.

"I came to see my daughter."

"You need to leave now, or I will call security and have you escorted out."

Fallon hesitated for several moments, but eventually decided having security called on her would make a huge scene, and she didn't want Paisley to see that. Fallon simply got up from her chair and walked out of the room. She heard George her Grace, "was that really necessary," before she left.

After leaving the room, she made her way to the waiting room, and discovered Sam and Steven were there.

"Hey." Fallon greeted, sitting down on the couch across from Steven and Sam.

"Hey. How come you're out here and not with Paisley?" Steven asked.

"Beck's parents came back and kicked me out."

"So we're not gonna be able to see her?" Sam asked.

"I don't know."

"Are you ok, Fal?"

"Do I look ok?"

"Not really."

"I'm not. I'm really sore from the crash, and I'm having some cramping. And the smell of Paisley's McDonald's made me nauseous. And even though he was being a complete ass, I miss Liam. And now I don't know if I can see my daughter. And I'm mad at Beck for getting all of us in this situation. And I just want this nightmare to end." Towards the end, Fallon's voice started the break. The pregnancy had made her more emotional than normal.

"Fal, please don't cry." Steven moved over to the couch next to Fallon and wrapped his arms around her.

"I can't help it. These stupid hormones are making me so damn emotional. And it's been a stressful 24 hours."

"Well, for right now, I think we should get you some food and water. That might be why you're cramping. What do you wanna eat?"

"Nothing. Nothing sounds good and I'm not really hungry."

"Well, you need to eat. Do you want a salad?"

"Not really, but I can't think of anything else. Can it be from Olive Garden?"

"Sure. What do you want to drink?"

"Water."

"Ok. I'll order it. Babe, can you go to the cafeteria and get water?" Steven asked Sam.

"Sure. I'll be right back." Sam got up, leaving Fallon and Steven alone.

"So, do you wanna explain to me why I'm doing this, instead of your husband?"

Fallon took in a deep breath before answering.

"When he got here, he was being all lovey and like his normal self. He got me food, and laid with me, and held me while I cried. And then, after Beck's parents paid me a visit, I started insisting I see Paisley. The doctor gave me an AMA form, and I was discharged. Liam wasn't happy with me, and wanted me to listen to the doctor. I told him no, because my daughter is more important. It was like a switch flipped inside of him. He said he doesn't want kids. He said he thought he did, but he was wrong. He said nothing was going to change his mind. I told him to leave."

"Have you talked to him since?"

"No. He sent me a few texts, but I haven't read them. I'm gonna give it a while before I speak to him again."

"Well, whatever you decide to do, I'm here for you and your little ones."

"Thanks, Steven. I'm really glad Paisley convinced me to call you. I'd be a mess right now without you."

"What are big brothers for?"

"I'm hoping Grace and George will go home tonight, so I can spend some time with Paisley, but knowing how evil they are, well at least how evil Grace is, they'll probably camp out in Paisley's room all night."

"I'm sure we can figure out something. Right now, though, we need to worry about you. You're only 10 weeks, Fallon. Doing anything wrong, like not eating and drinking, can really affect the babies."

"I know."

Neither one of them said anything else until Sam came back with water and a few granola bars.

"Here. I didn't know if you'd want to eat them, but I got them anyway." Sam said, handing over the items on his hand.

"Thanks." Fallon said, opening the water.

"So, do you know why the accident happened?" Sam asked, sitting back down.

"Beck was on coke." Fallon replied, as if it were no big deal.

"Coke as in cocaine?"

"Yep."

"How the hell did he get it? Weren't you with him all night?"

"No. I went off with a friend and he stayed with his friends and Paisley. I guess his daughter being there while he snorted coke wasn't a big deal."

"Are you gonna press charges?"

"No. I willingly got in the car with him."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, I didn't know he was on coke last night. His parents told me. I knew he was on something, but I also knew I had to protect Paisley."

"What happens if he wakes up? Is he going to take Paisley away?"

"I don't know. He said he was going to, but I don't know if he'll make that an empty promise."

"This really is a big mess." Sam deduced.

"No shit. But my life always seems to be messy. I guess I thought that messiness would go away after I married Liam, but it didn't. It only seems to have gotten worse."

"Liam's an idiot, and I'm sure he'll realize that soon enough."

"I hope so, because I really don't want to go through a messy divorce. Again."

"Especially not with kids involved."

"It's not like he'd fight me on the custody issue. The most he'd have to do is sign his name on the birth certificates and pay child support. We'd be getting the divorce because he didn't want to be a parent."

"Let's just hope it doesn't go that far. Maybe a little time will knock some sense into him."

"If it doesn't work, then I'm never getting married again. Three times, twice to the same person, is more than enough for me."

"Don't think so far ahead, Fal. You two aren't even broken up, let alone divorced. It hasn't even been a day. Right now, you're just on a break."

"I know, but it's hard to think pessimistically. Everything that's happened in the past two days has given me plenty of reason to think like this."

"I know, but don't give up. Your daughter needs you. And you need her."

"It doesn't matter how much we need each other. Grace and George hate me, and they hate the fact that I'm Paisley's mom. They're gonna do everything in their power to keep her from me."

"And you have to do everything in your power to not let them. You can start by taking care of yourself and your little ones by eating. Your food's here and on its way up."

"K." Fallon laid her head on Steven's shoulder and waited for her food. When it arrived, she quickly started eating, after realizing she was hungrier than she thought. Once she, Steven, and Sam were done eating, they started coming up with a plan. Fallon was going to be with Paisley, and she would do whatever it takes.