Happy Monday folks! And Happy MLK Day. Unfortunately, I still have to adult and work. Boo. But whether you celebrate or not, hope your day's a good one :)

Soooooo this weekend, I literally stayed up Saturday night until after 2:30am writing the last chapter, and you know how you just get in the zone? Yeah. That was me. Was completely dead the next day, but oh well. The last chapter...OMG...I can't wait for y'all to read it. It's. Freakin. Willllllllllllllld.

DoggyPocky: I did read how Hawthorn Tincture is taken for heart issues, though it looks pretty safe unless you mix it or take more than you should, which, is like any other drug/medicine out there. I feel sorry for Susie and her father too...basically everyone's going through it.

McSgwizzle: Yeah, I watched this random VICE doc on Youtube about Lean and that's how I heard about it. Cupid is just so precious, we stan lol. Just wait for later chapters. If y'all feel sorry for 'em now...ho' booooiiiiii.

Piperamitt: Ha, trust and believe if I wasn't a working adult, I'd be stayin' up right along with you lol. Just to touch on some points in what I read from your review (thank you for your input, btw. Actually really insightful for me.) Cozzie boy does struggle a bit with self-confidence after the monster Mama Cosma (haha.) Juan and Wandro's parents could have handled their disagreement much differently than they did, and I'm pretty sure they'll think about ever do that in the future based on how things went down. More exploration to come between Susie in regards to her father, and as far as Rose and her ex...whelp, stay tuned ;)

Wanda and Rose waited for Susie at a table across from the shelves of library books, meeting to work on homework together. Wanda worried Susie wouldn't show despite saying she would. She and Cosmo ended up falling asleep in his room, so she didn't return to her own room until the free time in between her first and second class. Alewandro told her ahead of time about Susie's meltdown. She probably wouldn't have realized from Alewandro using his magic to clean the aftermath. She and Susie had the same classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, just at different times, so she hadn't seen Susie at all since she left.

"You think Susie's coming?" Rose genuinely asked, informed of the gist of Susie's situation.

"She said she was." Wanda replied, honestly not certain.

"I hope she's okay…" Rose expressed, opening her notebook. "I would have never guessed she went through what she did…"

"It's partially why she's usually more upbeat." Wanda admitted. "Dwelling on the negative is something she doesn't like to do."

"…hey guys."

Wanda and Rose looked in the direction of the quiet greeting, seeing Susie somberly take the seat across from them.

"Hey, hun." Rose watched Susie take out her materials from her backpack, eyeing her in concern. "How are you?"

"I'm here…" was her dreary reply.

Wanda could see how tough it was for Susie to pretend her heart wasn't hurting. "You know, it's okay to not be okay." she wanted to give her best friend the same friendly reminder Susie would give to her. "We understand."

"I know, I'm just…" Susie sighed, slouching her shoulders. Tired couldn't begin to explain how she felt; no amount of sleep could cure her amount of emotional exhaustion. "…so angry…"

"Have you spoken to your grandma since?" Rose inquired.

"No…I can't bring myself to." Susie admitted regretfully. "…she must think I'm angry with her…"

"Are you?" Wanda wondered. "I mean…to just bring your dad back in without asking for your input, knowing the history…I wouldn't be too happy, either."

"That's the thing…I'm not angry with her." Susie leaned over her notebook with folded arms. "I'm angry at him…for giving her more stress than she needs…"

Rose and Wanda looked to each other as if wondering if Susie was going to elaborate.

"I'm just worried…" Susie elaborated as if reading her friends' minds. "…I'm worried…because there was one time…he actually overdosed….I-I remember finding him seizing on the ground…and he didn't respond to me calling for him." She drew her arms closer around herself. "I was so young…I-I didn't know what to do. If it weren't for my grandma coming over to check on us…" her voice lowered to a soft whimper. "…I would have watched him die…"

"…I'm so sorry, Susie." Rose laid a consoling hand over the table narrow enough to reach, delicately placed on Susie's arm. "That sounds like hell…"

"My grandma has enough issues of her own…" Susie muttered. "…dealing with him shouldn't be one of them…"

"If he's clean then that shouldn't happen." Wanda assured, hoping to shed some light in the situation. "Plus, do you really think your grandmother would have accepted him back if he wasn't trying to live the straight and narrow?"

"Probably not…"

"Do you think you'll ever forgive him?"

Raising her eyes to her best friends' worried stares, Susie wished she had a better answer other than "…I don't know."

Entering the hustle and bustle that is Fairy World Diner, a man and woman floated over to one of the few unoccupied booths, holding hands in matrimony.

Cantaloupe-orange kink in a large afro, his hair was the same color in his eyes and same color goatee seemingly glow against his caramel skin. His muscles accented the slim fit of his jade T-shirt, tucked into navy dress slacks, and his black leather belt matched the black loafers on his feet.

Covered in umber-brown skin, smooth as dark chocolate, she sported her marigold and white long-sleeve jumpsuit, vertical stripes alluding to a slim-thick figure. She wore her hair in black goddess locs extending down pass the small of her back, silver beads accented throughout various stands, matching her silver wedge heels. A small emerald stone hung on a silver chain around her neck, somehow bringing out the true tangerine of her eyes.

Almost as soon as they were seated, a green-haired fairy flew over to take their orders.

"Hey, I'm Cosmo; I'll be your server for today." he handed them their individual menus. "What would you like to drink?"

"Actually," the male began, a rich baritone in his voice. "we already know what food we want as well."

"Cool." Cosmo casually took out his pencil and notepad. "What can I get you?"

The male fairy made a gentlemanly gesture towards the woman in front of him. "Ladies first."

"You're so cute." The female smiled, holding her menu to give back. "I'll just have the chicken parmigiana and a chocolate milkshake."

"Wow, that's interesting." Cosmo commented on the odd combination as he wrote down her order.

"My wife loves her chocolate." The male stated light-heartedly. "Gotta have it some way, shape, or form."

Cosmo turned to the male fairy for his order. "And you, sir?"

"Lemme get a vanilla shake with a cheeseburger and fries." He responded. "No tomatoes or onions, please. Can't stand neither one of 'em."

"Wow, my best friend Thornton's the same way."

The married couple turned to stare at each other, communicating with their expressions. Cosmo wrote down the male fairy's order and looked up from his notepad, noticing the sudden silence between them. "…anything else?"

"Question." The female fairy turned to Cosmo with a quizzical expression. "You know a Thornton?"

"Yeah." Cosmo replied. "We met here at the Diner; he preps all the food and stuff in the back."

"And…this might sound like a weird question to ask but…" she paused. "…is his last name Garner?"

"Uh…yeah?" Cosmo slowly said. "Why, you know him?"

"Uh…indirectly." The male clarified, trying to avoid suspicion.

Cosmo offered to take their menus. "Your food should be ready soon, and I'll get those shakes for you."

The married couple thanked Cosmo as he left to put in their orders, and once out of earshot, the female turned to her husband in eager curiosity. "Ahmaud…you think we finally found him?!"

"I don't know too many Thornton Garners, Breonna." Ahmaud responded, his eyes in the direction of where Cosmo went before turning to his wife. "Besides, judging by how young that waiter was, he'd be around his age by now."

"What do we do now?!" Breonna eagerly asked.

"The waiter didn't describe what he looked like." Ahmaud theorized. "But if we getta chance to see 'em, then we can go from there."

With his converse dangling just above the ground, Spike texted on his phone as he waited for his girlfriend on the same bench as the location of their first kiss. He asked her to meet him there so he can tell her the surprise he didn't think would come so soon into their relationship.

After texting a reply to Susie, reminding her that he's there for her if she needs him, his peripherals caught site of the marmalade puffs he'd grown to love. He saw her loom to him with a pleasant smile on her face, and he stood up to greet her by drawing her near by the hand and brushing her lips in a simple kiss.

"How was the homework session?" Spike inquired as Rose held her fingers together, her arms circled around his torso.

"Good." Rose let his arms hug around her waist. "You get much studying done?"

"Yeah…though," Spike leaned in closer to kiss her once more. "I'd much rather study you."

For every time Spike made that comment, she'd be rich. "So what's this surprise of yours?"

Pretending to clear his throat, he pulled away slightly to take Rose by her hands, brushing them gently with his thumbs. She tried to read his expressions to gage what he could be thinking, but all she could read was his sneaky little grin which told her absolutely nothing. "What're your plans later?"

She smiled out of curiosity. "…whatever your plans are?"

"…wanna go meet my dad?"

"…you're joking."

"Not this time." This didn't dissipate Rose's skepticism, not until he spoke his next sentence. "He's been asking me to come over for dinner about a while now and, I figured, he can also get a chance to meet you."

"…oh wow." Rose knew that was one of the universal signs of their relationship getting pretty serious. "…does he want to meet me?"

"He only asks about you like, every other day." Spike smiled. "Considering you're…well…the first."

…and hopefully the last. "Well, if he wants to meet me," Rose pulled him in to fold her arms around his neck, allowing his hands to rest on her hips, before her lips curled in acceptance. "then I wanna meet the fairy who raised such a great man."

Her compliment led to yet another kiss from Spike. "He wants us to be there around six."

"It's 4:30 now." Rose checked her watch. "I think we can spare a few minutes before we should leave."

He tiled his head forward to where the tip of their foreheads met. "What ever shall we do in those few minutes?"

Gazing into his gentle blue eyes, it was as their surroundings faded away. "…I'm sure we could think of something."

"Something…" He tilted his head, the distance between their lips closing in. "…like this?"

No complaints there.

Her eyes closed to feel the magic of his lips pressed to hers. When it came to kissing, he was still a bit shy, but after the third or fourth kiss, his hesitation always melted away to give him the chance to really express his love for her. With every kiss, she wanted more, and the more she wanted, the more he aimed to please.

. . . . . .

When Rose's car turned into the streets of the neighborhood he grew up in, Spike spotted his dad's sports car in his driveway, making it all the more real. His father was about to meet his girlfriend for the first time ever. Never was he nervous, not when he asked her, not when she said yes, not when they got in her car, not even the entire hour drive to Glitterstone. Only in the moment his childhood home and his father's car came into view that nerves jolted an electric shock through his veins.

Rose parked her car behind what she thought to be Spike's father's car, seeing as how another unknown vehicle occupied the right side of the driveway. Killing the engine and removing her keys from the ignition, she veered to her boyfriend in the passenger seat, scratching the side of his head. She quickly picked up on that nervous habit of his, so when she leaned over to palm his cheek, she decided to give him a couple of sweet kisses as a means to soothe. "Don't worry." Rose smiled tenderly, removing her palm. "It'll be okay."

Spike met her smile with a nervous side one. "I should be telling you that."

Exiting the car, Spike tried to figure out why he was so nervous all of the sudden. He didn't think his father would disapprove of Rose; from what he's described to him, he liked her already. Was it because he worried about Rose feeling like she couldn't be herself? Not that that's ever stopped her before…much. Honestly, all she'd have to do was be her adorably sweet self, and she'd win anyone's hearts. Maybe it was because Rose was his first serious relationship and he didn't want anything to go awry. He didn't want to think anything could possibly go wrong, but you never know.

Rose held onto Spike's hand as he led her along the gravel to the front steps, arriving at the white marble arch of the front door. Expecting their company, Spike knew the door was unlocked, so he turned to Rose momentarily, taking a deep breath, and twisted the golden doorknob to enter inside.

Soon greeted by the smell of eggplant lasagna, Spike and Rose flew inside, the doorway halfway between the den and the U-shaped kitchen. Mr. Twinkle, a navy-blue lad with a high fade and pale-ivory skin, opened the stove to pull out the lasagna with his mitten, unaware of the newly arrived guests. A black apron hung over his white long-sleeve dress shirt and black tie, accompanied with black slacks and black loafers, his normal everyday attire. Carefully, he set the lasagna on top of the stove and turned off the oven, lining it along with the other finished dishes of macaroni and broccoli casserole. Spike grinned softly at the sight; his father hated to cook, so the fact that he probably made all three dishes by himself made this dinner much more of a special occasion.

Taking off his mitten, Mr. Twinkle placed it on the mint green countertop next to the kitchen sink, and he looked up to see two fairies holding hands by the front door, welcoming them with a friendly smile. "Why hello, there!"

"Hey, pops." Spike released Rose's hand to give his father their classic father-son handshake, tapping the back of their right hands together twice before clasping their hand in a single shake.

Mr. Twinkle noticed the girl with a pool of teal eyes. "You must be Rose!"

"That I must be." Rose smiled, extending her hand. "It's wonderful to meet you, sir."

"Ah, the pleasure's all mine." Mr. Twinkle returned the gesture with a few shakes. "I've only heard but so much about you!"

"That I've heard." Rose gave her boyfriend a sly smile. "I've heard a lot about you, too."

"All good things, I hope." Mr. Twinkle looked over to his son who returned with a light-hearted shrug.

"Well, he hasn't said anything bad, per say." Rose replied half-jokingly.

"I'll take it." Mr. Twinkle flew over to the white wooden cabinets to gather plates. "Sorry about not telling you I was inviting someone sooner. It was originally gonna be just the three of us but, something came up last minute."

"It's cool." Spike coolly responded. "As long as it's not some random off the street."

"Um…" Mr. Twinkle paused hesitantly, setting down the stack of plates before closing the cabinet. "…not quite."

"…Spike?"

The trio turned to the direction of the soft spoken voice, feminine and meek in nature. A petite fairy with curly teal shoulder-length hair stood in the frame of the bedroom hallway, her puffy bangs hanging just above her matching bashful eyes. She hid her hands behind her white V-neck sweater, a baby-blue T-shirt underneath, and her blue jeans frayed at the hems from overwear, covering most of her purple chucks. Rose took one look at her and thought she seemed pretty nice, but when she turned to Spike, the color drained from his already pale face appeared to have seen some kind of ghost.

Spike could only stare stunned at the woman before him, and barely above a whisper, he spoke to her. "…..mom?"

1:59am, Thornton and Cosmo finished wrapping up their shifts, and by 2:00am on the dot, both had clocked out, both physically and mentally. Business wasn't as booming as other days have been, yet meeting the demands of hungry, paying customers still took its toll.

"I'm beat…" Cosmo yawned, exiting the Diner behind Thornton.

"You and me both, brotha." Thornton floated across the parking lot to his motorcycle with Cosmo alongside. "My head has an appointment with my pillow, big time."

Slightly confused, Cosmo looked to Thornton quizzically. "How did your head make an appointment with your pillow?"

"It's just an expression, Coz." Thornton gave Cosmo's shoulder a few friendly pats. "Kinda like, 'I'm beat.'"

Taking out his keys, Thornton gives Cosmo his extra helmet, and when he reached for his own, a feeling of being watched came over him.

As Cosmo shoved his head into his helmet and fiddled with the straps to secure it, Thornton's eyes scanned the parking lot lit by the many street posts surrounding the rows of parking. Not many vehicles besides the night shift employees and a few customers occupied the lot, except for one lone black SUV sitting just a few spaces away from one of the streetlamps, almost invisible against the surrounding darkness if it weren't for the sheen of the gloss paintjob. Inside of the vehicle appeared dark with no light source, indicating the car was off, but he could have sworn he made out two shadowy figures sitting inside. Seeing as how the vehicle wasn't but maybe four parking spaces away from him, he tried to decipher whether there were four eyes staring directly at him.

"Hey, Thorn." Cosmo spoke through his helmet as he shook Thornton's shoulder to get his attention, unaware of what could have gotten Thornton's full concentration. "You sure you're good to drive? Look a little spacey."

"Spacey? Me? Nah." Thornton played it off, putting on his own helmet as he hopped onto his seat. "Besides, you have zero clue howta drive this thing."

Revving up his motor, Thornton waited for Cosmo to hold on so he wouldn't fall, and with a sharp turn of the steering, he pressed the gas to turn out of the parking space and drove to the exit, looking both ways before pulling out onto the main roads.

The two occupants in the black vehicle watched Thornton speed see passed their windshield with their front bumper facing the main road, watching until the motorcycle was no longer within their sight. Turning to his wife, held one hand on the steering wheel, caressing his wife's hand with the other. "Yeah, that's definitely him…that's the Thornton Garner we've been searchin' for."

"I can't believe it…" Breonna sighed in relief, feeling the void which left a gaping hole in her heart begin to fill with more answers than questions. She looked to Ahmaud with a satisfied smile, eyes glossing with tears of joy. "…we finally found our baby…"

. . . . . .

Wiping sleep deprivation from her indigo eyes, Susie turned the page to her Da Rules 2 textbook, careful so that her desk lamp shined away from Wanda as she slept. If it weren't for her mind racing with endless rambles and confusion, she'd be right along with her catching her own Zzs. Yet here she was, awake at two in the morning, trying to distract her muddled mind by getting a head start for her first class in a few hours.

She hadn't felt like herself since the encounter with her long-lost father, thinking about it non-stop to the point of driving herself crazy. Fifteen years without him, fifteen years of teaching her heart not to care for him, fifteen years of teaching her spirit to live on without him, all for him to make an unexpected return during one of the most vulnerable, challenging times of her life. Learning to adult while the child within her navigated through new territory, a new life. A new life in which she did not expect any of her old life to resurface. His tears, his pleas for her forgiveness, only made it harder for her to want to let him in. Having trusted him with her innocence just for him to rip it to shreds and disserting it to sew itself together again, how could she trust him again?

Her phone was on mute not to disturb her roommate, though she had it facing where she would see any incoming calls or messages. She was previously texting Alewandro in a way for him to keep her company while she studied, but she hadn't heard from him in about thirty minutes, assuming he fell asleep. When a familiar number appeared on her caller ID, she found it odd that she'd get such a call at this hour. Maybe Grandma Cocoa felt guilty about the situation, calling to check on her granddaughter. Since beginning her college career, either she called her grandmother or her grandmother called her; they never went more than 24 hours without some type of contact. Since the interaction, Susie has made no effort to contact her grandmother. Her heart weighed with shame…so wrapped in her own problems, she didn't think about how much the shock it must be for Grandma Cocoa to see her only son for the first time in ages…just for her granddaughter to reject him.

Knowing to keep her voice lowered, Susie answered the call, though the voice on the other end was not who she was ready to speak to.

"…hey…h-hey Susie?"

She sat speechless with no words, mostly nice words, to say.

"…y-you there?"

She had to dig for her voice again. "I'm hanging up-"

"Please!" She jumped slightly from the desperate urgency in his tone. "...please…don't hang up."

Susie found not one reason why she shouldn't.

"…um…momma's sleepin' and…I-I used her phone to call you…" The hurt in his tone seep through the levelness he tried to maintain. "…I-I figured if you were awake, you'd answer that way…and…" she heard him pause, choosing his words carefully. "….I-I've been thinkin'…over and over…whether I was doin' you any good by comin' back so suddenly…"

If only she knew the answer to that herself. "Are you serious?" she questioned, masking her trembling nerves. "…a-about quitting the drugs?"

"…I spent the last three months in rehab." Bernard confirmed. "…the withdrawal…..I was so freakin' sick…felt like I was gonna die just from that…but…little did I know…that was just the easy part."

Closing her textbook, Susie turned off her lamp and hovered to go to her bed, sitting just before the line between where the moonlight glistening through her blinds ended and where the shadow began on her comforter.

"…I'm not gonna lie…" Bernard continued, keeping himself together. "…I…still think about it sometimes…still wonder where I can get it…"

Her chest tightened at that last phrase.

"…b-but I'm not givin' in…I'm not givin' up…" he made sure to speak in a manner that he was serious. "…I'm gonna get a job…I'm gonna learn to support myself…I'm gonna be the man I should have been all these years…" she heard him exhale heavily. "…I…I just wanna see you…my little Susie-Lue…I-I wanna see you smile."

"How can you say that?" Susie whispered harshly, feeling her tears return. "You wanted drugs more than you wanted me!"

"I know and I'm so sorry for puttin' you through that…" he couldn't hide the remorse from his voice any longer. "…when…when yo' momma died I…I felt as if I lost my whole world…" the few whimpers she did hear painted the image of a broken man, picturing the tears probably falling from his eyes. "…it…it's no excuse…b-but it messed me up…and the drugs they…they became my escape…"

"…w-why couldn't I be your world?" Her own tears trickled from her eyes which she made no effort to wipe them away. "…why couldn't I be your escape?" She muffled a sob threatening to escape; she didn't want Wanda to see her crying again.

"…I'm sorry, baby girl…" he whispered into the phone, taking deep breaths to control his own emotions. "…I-I wish I could take all of it back…but…I'm here now…I wanna fix what's broken…"

"…I don't know…" Susie sniffed, blinking her tears from blurring her vision. "…I don't trust you…"

"…then let me show you." Bernard humbly implored. "Please…give me the chance to earn your trust…"

"I don't wanna trust you." Susie stated, swallowing the frog in her throat. "…I'm scared…"

"I'll show you that you don't hafta be…" Bernard assured. "…just give me a chance."

Was a chance truly what he deserved? After everything he's ever done…how would she benefit from trusting him again? She believed in being innocent until proven guilty, but he was a multiple offender; he repeated the same crimes on multiple occasions, so her verdict couldn't let him off the hook so easily. All Susie had to go on was how he treated her in the past versus how he says he wants to treat her going forward.

As far as she was concerned, he was guilty until proven innocent.