Authors Note: Again, thanks to my best reviewer, TWBasketcase, for the wonderful reviews. This story has definitely become all for you, girl! You are always my faithful, ever present hope! And I hope everyone else enjoys this as well.

To Little, Too Late

Stunned, I took the telephone over to the kitchen table and sat down. My heart was racing a mile a minute, I was so surprised and taken a-back by Carly calling out of the blue. I had so many things to say, so many hurtful words that I had concocted in my imaginary conversations that I had had with her over the past few months, that I didn't know where to begin. How was I? Well, let's see—

"Faith? Are you there? I can't hear you very well." Came her voice at me again.

"How am I? Do you really care how I am? How any of us are?" I asked icily, trying to control my voice.

Upon hearing my tone Bosco turned around and gave me a questioning look. I held my finger up at him to give me a second. He picked Davis up and wrapped the blue towel around him and carried him over to the table and set him in his baby seat and sat down on the chair opposite mine.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked innocently.

"Are you kidding?" I asked her sarcastically.

"Who is it, Faith?" Bosco asked, as he picked up the baby brush and began to softly run it through Davis's mop of dark hair.

"No. I'm not kidding. I just wanted to see how you were doing and how the baby was." She said.

My eyes opened as wide as saucers as I grasped for my next breath. She was serious–she was actually calling me, the person she had lied to and manipulated beyond belief, and asking about the child she had abandoned. I was speechless. "Are you seriously calling me to find out how Davis is? After what you did to him? After what you did to us? You must be out of your mind!"

Bosco's mouth hung open as he set the brush down on the table and covered Davis's ears with his hands, a silly look on his face. As if that would help. "Is that her? Is that Carly?" He asked incredulously. "That little bitch has the nerve to call here and ask how he's doing? Let me talk to her!" He demanded, in a harsh whisper.

I rolled my eyes at the sight of him covering Davis's ears and covered the mouth piece with my hand. As if Davis understood the words he was saying. "Bosco—what are you doing? He can't understand what you're saying!"

He shot me an impolite, holier-than-thou look and smirked at me, but didn't release his hold on Davis's ears, and leaned toward me. "Dr. Spock says that you shouldn't talk about serious stuff in front of infants." He lectured.

In spite of myself, I almost laughed, but didn't. "Is that so? Well, maybe we can make up a new kind of sign language so that when we want to talk about serious stuff, all you have to do is wave your arms around and make secret signals." I dead-panned, my eyes wide and goofy looking.

"Here's a signal–" He said, this time covering Davis's eyes with one hand and flipping me the bird with the other. "See if you can guess the secret about what that means." He said with a shake of his head.

Carly spoke again, bringing me back to the conversation at hand.

"Faith? Are you gonna tell me how he is? Please–don't hang up on me. I've lost so many nights sleep over wondering how you're doing, how he's doing." She pleaded

I shook my head at Bosco and then stood up and began to pace around the room. "Carly, you have no right to call here after what you did. I'm sorry but it's too late."

"Faith! He made me do it! Brett made me give him up! I had no choice." She whined like a little kid.

That pissed me off. Made her do it? She chose to leave him at the hospital. She chose to leave him behind and leave me to pick up the pieces.

"Made you do it? What, are you, five?" I demanded harshly. "You did what you wanted to do, kid! Now you have to live with it!"

"Be reasonable...Faith, I was thinking about coming back to New York and seeing my son. I've made a mistake...a terrible mistake!"

"Be reasonable? What do you call leaving your child at the hospital? You think you're up for mother of the year? Reasonable doesn't even apply to this situation. You're damn right you made a mistake, Carly! And there's no way in hell that you're gonna set your eyes on him now...do you hear me...no way in hell!"

"Please, Faith...just let me come and see him...one time! Just one time...I can leave Brett and come back if you tell me that I can see him...only if you'll let me see him! He's my son!"

"I'm sorry, but he's not your son. Not anymore. Michael has custody of Davis.. He's Michael's son now." I said, lowering my voice a little. I wasn't completely uncompassionate. She was his birth mother, and I knew that in some ways she would always regret her decision. But I would not allow her to come back and ruin my other sons life.

"Mike? What do you mean?"

"Carly, I don't know what game you're playing , but we aren't going to be a part of it. Michael has taken over the responsibility of raising him, not that it's any of your business now." I said curtly. "We've already been to court over it. You abandoned him and it's on record. That, and we also had about twenty nurses from Boston Memorial ready to testify on my behalf. You're finished here."

Bosco was now up from the table and trying to pry the phone out of my hand. "Faith..let me talk." He growled. I slapped his hand away from mine and grabbed the phone and dragged the long cord out into the hall knowing that he wouldn't leave Davis alone in the kitchen for fear that the three month old just might sprout some athletic legs and leap out of his seat and come running after us, oh heaven forbid, jump up and set the kitchen on fire. Satisfied that he wasn't following me, I leaned up against the wall and hung my head.

Even though I had my chance to make Carly hurt with my stinging words and accusations, I felt awful for it. It was true that when you got the chance to say what was on your mind, remorse was right around the corner, waiting to pounce on you and let you know that, indeed, maybe you were a little too harsh.

I was there when she had been born, all seven pounds of her. I was there for every birthday, every Christmas and Easter vacation. I had seen her grow from an infant to a toddler and from a child into an adult and even though I hated what she had done and I was so angry, I still felt a twinge of guilt over treating Sasha's daughter this way.

Through the crackling of the telephone line I thought I heard her sobbing. I took a deep breath and contemplated my next words to this girl that I had known forever and a day. No matter what, this was my family that she was messing with and I would protect it, come hell or high water.

"Can you just tell me how he is?"

"He's beautiful. He's almost twelve pounds now." I said reluctantly. "He sucks his thumb, the same way that Mike did when he was a baby."

"If I come back home do you think that Mike will let me see him someday? I mean, if I leave Brett for good and come back with no ties?"

My head snapped up and I felt a fierce fire growing inside me. No ties? What did she think this was? Try on one brother and then when he doesn't fit, go back and get the next best thing? In that second, every bit of guilt I had felt over the past few minutes vanished and evaporated until all I could feel was nothing but contempt and spite.

She had married Brett, cheated on him with his brother, lied to all of us, and left her baby without a second thought. It seemed to me that the only person she ever gave a second thought to, or a first thought for that matter, was herself. Carly Davis.

"You listen to me and you listen good—" I barked into the phone. I felt blood thirsty and vengeful in that moment, quite like the anger I had felt at my first husband, Fred, when he had killed my two children from my first marriage. I could see red. I wanted to hit her, to kick the shit out of her and I wanted to make her feel as bad and as hurt as we all had been. I wanted revenge for my sons, for both of them.

And I knew exactly what I could do to accomplish that.

"You will never be a part of our family again—for as long as I'm alive you will never be so much as allowed to bring your lying, cheating, whorish ass on my property----and as for Davis–you'll never get your hands on him. He's not yours anymore and we'll go to any court in this country to keep you as– far—away—as—possible!" I yelled into the phone, stressing my last sentence.

"Faith!"

"Don't ever call here again—or I will hunt you down and make sure you know what it's like to feel real pain!" I screamed and then hung up on her. I threw the phone against the wall, smashing it, leaving the cord being the only thing not damaged.

I let out a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. I felt tears of frustration and anger start to cascade down my cheeks. I furiously brushed them away, determined not to let Carly ever control my emotions again. I was done with her.

I turned around and jumped as I saw Bosco standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his bare chest. "Something wrong?"

"Bosco! Don't sneak up on me like that!" I barked at him childishly. I saw the look of hurt pass over his face and then, I was sliding down the wall and plunked down on the floor and buried my face in my hands. "She wants to see him...she wants him back, Bos...and we can't let that happen." I wailed.

He sat down beside me and threw an arm over my shoulder and kissed my hair. "She won't get him. He's ours now and Mike's...it's over. She's just talkin." He said softly, rubbing my back in small circles. "It's official, babe...don't worry." He consoled me.

I sniffled back my tears, although it took a few minutes and looked at him. "You actually left the baby in the kitchen?"

He chuckled. "Now, do you know what Dr. Spock would say about leaving an infant alone in an unoccupied room?" Apparently he had been doing quite a bit of reading lately, and although it was cute, it really seemed like something from the twilight zone.

"Not to?" I asked, lightly.

He reached around the corner of the doorway and dragged the baby seat a few inches until I could see him sleeping contentedly. "You really didn't think that I'd leave him too far behind, do you?" He teased, looking at me with such tenderness I felt bad for snapping at him.

I leaned in and pressed my lips against his in a long, lingering kiss. "I love you––you know that, right?"

He nodded and reached out and rubbed his thumb against my cheek lovingly. "I know. No matter what happens—I know and you don't even have to say it." Then he nodded to the now-smashed phone on the floor a few feet away. "Now what are you gonna do about this?"

I smiled at him, for real, this time. "Can't I just ask Dr. Spock?"