Disclaimer: I don't own anything. We've been over this before

Rating: Pretty much PG-13.

"Andrew Damien Phillips, hold STILL!" Dawn Schafer gave the little boy clinging to her hand an irritated look. "I swear, I'm going to smack you if you don't-"

"Don't worry, Dawn, I've got him." Grace Schafer, Dawn's half-sister, reached for the little boy, pulling him up into her arms. "Giving Mommy a hard time, hunh?" she teased.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Gracie." Normally she was much more patient with her two-year-old son, but sometimes he acted so…bad. Plus, she was so stressed out.

"Does your head hurt again, Dawn?" Grace asked worriedly, watching as her older sister massaged her temples. "Need Advil or something?"

Dawn shook her head without speaking. God. If only she could get some rest and-

Brrriiiinnnggggggg!!!!!!!

"Oh, jeez," Dawn finally snapped, jerking up her head and flinging her waist-length mass of wheat-colored hair behind her back. "Who the hell calls at this time of night?"

Grace looked at her askance, picking Andrew up and sliding out of the room. They both knew very well who was calling, but Andrew didn't need to know.

Dawn picked up the phone, headache forgotten. "So what's your excuse this time?" she spat without preamble.

"Dawn, baby…" the voice on the other end was only slightly apologetic. "I've got to work this weekend. Can't you-?"

"Can't I what??!??" Dawn knew she was loosing her temper, but she didn't care. "You know, sometimes I wonder if you actually want to see Andrew at all, you know. This has been the third weekend this month that you've blown him off. You were supossed to pick him up at six!"

"I be busy."

"I be busy," Dawn mimicked the southern drawl at the other end of the line with biting accuracy. "Damien James Phillips, I swear to God…"

"Calm down," Damien said, irritably. "Jesus, what are you, on the rag or something?"

Dawn was seeing red now. "WHAT??? You little mother-"

Damien knew he had gone too far. "OKAY! Okay, okayokay," he said. "Sorry. Jeez. Anyway, I can't take Andrew this weekend, like I said. I'm sorry, okay? Dawn?"

Dawn remained silent. She didn't want to say anything that prosecutors would use against her in court when she ultimately tried to kill this bastard.

"Dawn? You there?"

"Yes," she said, through clenched teeth.

"So…you'll keep him this weekend, right?"

Dawn swallowed some of the more colorful, angry expressions that sprung to her lips and tried to reason with him, instead. "Look, Damien," she said, after managing to release her jaw, "this really isn't fair to me, you know. I have plans for this weekend, and you REALLY have screwed me up."

"You? Plans?" Damien was close to laughing, she could tell, but since he valued his life, he wouldn't dare. God, she hated that scornful tone of voice. "What are you doing?"

"It's none of your business, really, but I'm going to Connecticut."

"To visit your mom? Take him along. She'll be thrilled."

"It's not to visit my mom, you fool, it's for a reunion! My highschool reunion."

"Oh, really. How quaint."

"Damien…."

"Sorry. How long will you be gone?"

"The whole weekend and half of next week. I'm staying with Mary Anne and Cary."

Damien paused, as if to consider; then he spoke again. "Sorry, Dawnie, but I just can't do it. Take him along- I'll foot the bill for half the ticket. Or leave him with that faggot friend of yours- what's his name? Dennis?"

"His name is Ducky, you prick. And he's not gay. Don't call him that."

Dawn could practically see Damien shrug on the other end of the phone. "Whatever. I call 'em like I see 'em. Leave him with your old man."

"I can't do that." Jack Schafer had made it clear from the time of Dawn's divorce that Andrew was Dawn's full responsibility, and she didn't want to be beholden to him for something like that, although he and Carol would probably take him in eagerly.

"Well, don't say I didn't TRY to help. Oh- and tell your stepsister I said, hi, willya? It's been too long since I've seen Mary Anne, and if she's still as cute as I remember-"

"Fuck you, asshole." Dawn slammed down the phone, hoping she'd burst his eardrum. She normally didn't use strong language- it wasn't her style- but Damien made her lose her temper each and every time.

She strode across the living room to the picture of she, Damien, and Andrew that stood mounted on the wall. It had been taken a few months after Andrew's birth, and his father was holding him up in the surf, while Dawn looked on, smiling. They looked like your stereotypical beachgoing California family.

As if.

Dawn had met the Virginia-born Damien Phillips in the University of California, sophomore year, and his sense of humor, passion for the environment and tanned, toned surfer's body made him immediately attractive to Dawn. They began dating on-and-off through their college years. They looked fantastic together- Dawn, with her slender build, her waist-length blonde hair, and her blue eyes, and him, with his surfer's build, shoulder-length white-blonde hair that just screamed, "dude!" and large, surprisingly puppy-like brown eyes.

Their relationship escalated when he and Dawn both decided to continue in the graduate geology program at the same school, moving in together, and marrying at the age of twenty-five. Andrew was born several months later, and though it was a bit difficult to make the two ends meet, all seemed rosy.

Then, Damien made a decision- he wanted to drop out of grad school, where he was months away form completing his Master's degree in geology, and join up with the Ralph Nader campaign, in the fight against pollution. Dawn, although apprehensive, was supportive and continued in her studies, caring for Andrew.

Practicality soon kicked in, however.

The bills weren't being paid, and they could no longer live on their savings. Dawn wanted Damien to quit the campaign and either return to school, or get a regularly paying job. Damien refused. Disagreements turned into arguments. Arguments turned into fights.

And Dawn found herself divorced, at the age of twenty-eight, with an almost-three-year-old son, a mountain of debt and an irresponsible ex-husband that was no closer to climbing the political ladder than he was when he first started.

Like father, like daughter. It was almost a family tradition, she thought ironically. She raked her hands back, through her hair. "Gracie!" she hollered.

Her half sister sidled into the room, finger over her lips. "I just put Andrew to bed," she said, in hushed tones.

"Thanks, sis. I'll go and kiss him good night." Dawn crept quietly into her son's room, looking at him lovingly. Light from his Finding Nemo night-light flooded gently over his face, illuminating his creamy skin, so unlike the tanned complexion of his parents, and his platinum-colored hair, bleached white from the sun. Dawn bent over and kissed him, gently, and he opened large, brown eyes to look at her for a moment.

"Daddy?" he whispered.

Dawn shook her head gently and placed her index finger over his lips. "Sleep, sweetheart." His eyelids drooped over his eyes. She watched him for another minute, then left.

Gracie was sitting in the living room, leafing through a magazine and chewing on half a Trix bar. "Dad picking you up?"

"Naw." Grace shook her head. "Jeff is. He's going to Dad's tonight. Where's Damien?"

Dawn ignored the involuntarily tightening of her lips and endeavored to answer calmly. "He's not coming."

"He's not?" Grace sat up straight, her blue eyes wide. "Who's going to watch him this weekend, then?"

Dawn sighed and dropped down onto the overstuffed sofa, swinging her feet up into Grace's lap. "Damien suggested Ducky, but he's always busy. And I'm not going to ask Dad or Carol. Guess I'll have to take him."

"What about Sunny?"

"She's visiting Trevor upstate." Dawn's thoughts went briefly to her ditzy, wild-haired friend, who was currently dating some film major from Stamford, much to her father's delight. "And Maggie's on location with Tyler," she added, naming her other old high school friend and her movie director husband, Tyler Kendall.

"Wish I could have come."

"I know. But you've got school."

"You think….Grace paused and looked at her sister. "Do you think….that maybe….Dad would let me go? I mean if you talked to him…and I could help take care of Andrew."

"That's true…" Dawn looked at her and grinned. "Or, we could just sneak you out."

"Dad would KILL us."

"Oh, c'mon, let's do it. We'll leave a note for him and run off together with Andrew."

"You're crazy."

"I know. I'm beginning to sound like Jeff and Ducky." Dawn laughed and pulled her hair away from her face. "So? Should we book the ticket? We can tell Carol, if you want. She won't snitch."

A smile slowly made it's way across Gracie's face, and she leaped up, racing for the phone. "Let's do it!"

More to come on Dawn and Gracie, as well as the others! I will update faster!! Review review review!!!