A/N: To everyone reading and reviewing, thank you! I have been able to post every single day, but now I'm not going to be writing a chapter ahead of the one I'm posting, so heads-up that it may be a few days but I'm by no means done!!

Lauren didn't call Matt on Monday or Tuesday, and since they didn't have class that week because of spring break, she wouldn't be seeing him there. When he'd text, she'd just give a one-word response. She didn't mean to ghost him exactly, but she wasn't ready to confront him and officially find out that she was dating a liar.

Finally, on Wednesday, he called her. "Hey you," he said, when she picked up. "Sorry, I've been working crazy hours this week. We have a really disorganized project manner who thinks his lack of planning should be our problem..."

"Oh, yeah, that sucks." Lauren couldn't hide the bored tone she used with him. She hadn't talked with him about what she'd found out, like Roderick had urged her to do when she'd taken he and Madison to lunch on Monday. Instead, she'd just been building the whole thing up in her head.

"I'm sorry I haven't called lately," Matt went on. "I finally have a day off tomorrow, though. You maybe wanna come over to my place? I figured it was time I invite you over, for a change."

At this, Lauren sat up straight. "To your house?" she felt the need to clarify. "To the house, the one we went to when we needed to grab your sled one time, to that house where you currently reside?"

Matt laughed on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry, did you think I lived somewhere else?" he asked her. "Yeah, that house. I was thinking maybe... we could watch a movie together."

Lauren liked the results of watching movies with Matt. And she was feeling very relieved to have learned that he wasn't homeless. "Sure," she said. "What did you want to watch?"

"Well, uh... how about Big Hero 6?"

"That... cartoon movie?" Lauren didn't bother to hide that the choice baffled her, but then Matt quickly jumped in to explain.

"Well, for, um... for Mariah," he went on.

"Oh."

Lauren's disappointment was hard to mask. The more he talked, the less appealing this sounded. He wasn't asking her on an actual date. He was asking her to come over and help him babysit his little sister. But because she really wanted to see him and, with any luck, talk about some of the stuff that was bothering her, she agreed. Besides, she hadn't even met the sister or been to his house, and those were two things she still needed to do.

She found Roderick doing exactly what she was headed out to do, when she finally emerged from her bedroom, a little overdressed for a night in but happy with her appearance. He was already parked on the couch next to Madison watching 'Divergent.'

"The sequel's coming out soon," he said, looking at Lauren over his shoulder. "Madison's read all the books. She's rewatching this one so I'll be caught up."

Lauren had a feeling 'Divergent' wasn't exactly Roderick's choice but, when it came to Madison, he'd probably even go so far as to watch the 'Twilight' movies he used to make fun of Lauren for liking. For a half second, she considered torturing him and plopping herself on the couch for movie night. But Matt was waiting on her, so she simply acknowledged Madison with a quick hello and then left.

Little Mariah was the first one to the door to greet Lauren. "Hi!" she said, brightly and without an ounce of shyness. "I'm Mariah! I'm watching a movie with you for your date!"

Matt stepped up behind little Mariah and took her by the shoulders. "Lauren, this is Mariah," he said. "Um, actually... actually, come in, there's something we need to talk about before we watch a movie."

There is definitely something we need to talk about, Lauren thought, instantly remembering that she needed to press him for the full story about the high school dropout thing, but more importantly, the fact that he'd lied and said he transferred.

She stepped inside and took in her surroundings. Matt's mom and step-dad's house was nicer than hers, in that it was bigger, newer, and in a better part of town, but otherwise, it wasn't much different. The entryway led into a formal-looking sitting room, but Matt kept going, leading her into a more comfortable, larger den with a large leather sectional, flatscreen TV, and a pool table. Mariah padded along behind them, stuck so closely to Matt that she might as well have been his shadow. He turned and stooped to her level to address her.

"Hey, baby," he said. "Miss Lauren and I need to have some grown up talk first. Can you go find a snack and then go upstairs and get your pajamas on? I'll come get you when it's time to watch the movie."

"Okay, Daddy."

Lauren felt the color immediately drain from her face, as she realized what Matt needed to talk to her about. Little Mariah turned and scurried to do as she'd been told, as Lauren just stood awkwardly, staring after her, eyes wide and lips slightly parted. Slowly, she turned to meet Matt's eyes, only he wouldn't quite look at her.

"Matt?"

"I lied and I'm so sorry," he said, hanging his head in shame. "Yes, Mariah's my daughter. She just turned four. I don't have a half-sister, I have a daughter."

Despite all of her theories about why Matt might have dropped out right after junior year, she hadn't actually thought of that one. Lauren was torn between running out the door or staying put and getting all her questions answered. She stayed put, and took a seat, but she sat perched on the edge of that sectional, as though any minute she might make a break for the door.

She folded her hands in her lap and waited patiently for his explanation. He didn't exactly rush in to explain himself, so she spoke next. "But... you're only, what... twenty-two?"

Matt sat cautiously across from her, like he wasn't sure if he was allowed to sit in his own house. "Yeah," he said. "I'd just turned eighteen when she was born. Uh, so... if you'll allow me, I'll start at the beginning."

"That would be good." Lauren somehow found it in herself to appear calm and reasonable, on the surface. "Because you should know, I started digging up dirt on you when Puck let it slip at Regionals that you dropped out."

"I, uh, you did?" Matt fumbled his words a bit, at this revelation. Well, she wasn't about to be the only one caught off-guard tonight. She settled back into the sectional a bit, smug in knowing that he hadn't counted on her working to uncover his lies before he could reveal them.

"Mm," Lauren crossed her arms over her body smugly. "I took a little field trip yesterday. So I know that you enrolled at Fairbrook High, but you never actually showed up, and you were withdrawn shortly thereafter."

"The plan was for me to transfer," he said. "But it's true. I never did. That was a lie."

"The first of many." Lauren wasn't going to let him off that easy for lying, but she was beginning to see what had happened.

"I'd just found out about the baby," he continued, his voice shaking ever so slightly. "And, well... I wanted her. She didn't want to keep it, but I begged her and told her I'd take care of the baby myself, if I had to."

"She," Lauren interjected. "Meaning her mom. So, who is she? This nameless, faceless person who gave birth to your child. Who is she, Matt?"

"Her name's Andrea Cohen," Matt said. "She was... actually a member of Vocal Adrenaline. They kicked her out her senior year for being pregnant. They weren't as understanding as we were about Quinn, I guess..." He looked at his hands and Lauren was trying to decide if he was sad over losing this Andrea girl or just sad that Mariah didn't have her mother.

"Does Mariah have any contact with Andrea?" Lauren was trying to work out why all these glee nerds managed to have so much sex. Were there that really many random hook-ups between members of opposing show choirs?

"No, and she wants to keep it that way," Matt said. "She actually... well, I'm not in touch with her but Mike is. She's a student at the Joffrey with him now. I've asked Mike to talk to her about Mariah, but she's really not interested in being part of her life. Which... I mean, is a complicated thing, because I don't want to be in a relationship with Andrea but I do wish Mariah knew her mom. Kind of like I wish I knew my dad."

Lauren stared at him. How was it possible that she was actually feeing badly for the liar? And yet, here she was, hearing this story and thinking to herself that he was a hero for wanting to keep his daughter and sacrificing a lot to do that.

"I found out about Mariah at the beginning of the summer," he said. "After I begged Andrea to keep the baby, I got Puck to help me clean as many pools as I could to raise some money. I never really explained to him why I needed money so badly, but being who he is, he didn't ask me too many questions."

"Puck, just thought you dropped out to help your mom," Lauren said. "And I talked to Mike Chang, but he wouldn't tell me anything. He just said to talk to you." She gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Which I should have done that sooner."

"I'm the one who should have said something sooner." Matt looked really remorseful, which was going to make leaving hard. Not only that but...

"Daddy?" Mariah reappeared, clad in her cute 'Frozen' nightgown. She was every bit Matt Rutherford, with the same eyes and turned up nose. "I found my pajamas but I couldn't find my bunny slippers and my feet are really cold."

Matt shot Lauren an apologetic look but she was already getting to her feet. "Your dad will help you," she said. "And if you'll point me in the direction of the kitchen, I'll go make us some popcorn," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling the little wrapped package out. Was she weird for having popcorn in her purse? Maybe. But it got a smile from Mariah.

"Wow, you're like the popcorn fairy!"

"Well, everyone knows you bring your own popcorn to the movie," she said, leaning over and smiling at the little girl. But her smile faded and she gave Matt a blank expression, as she caught his eye. He'd been smiling at her interaction with Mariah, but when he saw Lauren's face, his changed, too.

"Thanks... thanks Lauren," he said. "The, uh, the kitchen is right around the corner."

Lauren was so distracted she almost stuck the popcorn in the microwave with its plastic film still intact. As it popped, she quickly grabbed her phone and called her brother.

"Is he a serial killer?" Roderick wanted to know.

"It's worse than that," Lauren told him. "He's a dad, Roderick. He dropped out of school to support the baby who's now four."

What followed was Roderick's long, stunned silence. The popcorn had completely finished popping by the time he spoke again. "Wow, you can't seem to find a guy without baby mama drama. What are you going to do?"

Lauren sighed. "I don't know," she said. "Right now, it looks like I'm going to go in there and watch 'Big Hero 6' with him and his daughter like nothing's wrong."