"Congratulations. It's a boy!"

Lisa began to cry as she held her son in her arms for the first time. Jackson kneeled down next to her and pushed her hair back from her sweaty face. She smiled at him, and he shook his head.

"Don't even think about it."

"What?" she asked innocently.

"We aren't naming him Jackson. I'm not going to put him through that elementary school bu llshit."

Lisa pouted. "Fine. What do you suggest?"

Jackson paused, looking down at his son's sleeping face.

"Caylib. It's Irish, and reminds me of the honeymoon."

Lisa smiled and looked into his face. "Caylib Jackson Rippner."

Jackson laughed and tugged her curls. "Ok. I surrender."

Lisa kissed him and held her child in her arms, feeling surrounded by the two people that she loved the most.

Caylib was, in Lisa's opinion, the most beautiful thing in the world. He had her hair, sprouting out of his head in deep auburn curls before he was even two months old. His skin was pale and his eyes were the same crystalline blue that Lisa had fallen in love with years ago.

He was a short little boy, and chubby. But by his third birthday he was incredibly intelligent, so smart, in fact, that he could already count to fifty and read small books. Lisa smiled as she watched him play on the floor one night as she and Jackson were finishing up dinner.

"The lawyer says you're gonna go ta jail," Caylib was making his dolls argue. "A cause you did somethin bad stuff."

"I can't believe you let our son play with Barbie dolls," Jackson scoffed.

"They're not Barbie dolls," Lisa protested. "They're action figures." Jackson strode over to the toys, picked one up, and held it up to Lisa so she could see the label on the back of its neck.

"Ok, ok, so they're Barbies," Lisa laughed. "So what?"

"No one will play with him when he starts school."

"The girls will," she giggled, and kissed him.

"Yeah, well, girls don't matter," he teased. She swatted him on the arm.

"Excuse me?"

Jackson laughed and encircled an arm around her waist. "You're the exception to that rule," he kissed her again.

"Daddy," Caylib giggled. Lisa blushed and looked down at the tiny boy. "What is you doin?"

"Um..." Jackson laughed. "Something you should never do. Got it?" He shot his son a stern look and Caylib scuttled away. Jackson stood and cleared his plate.

"I have to make another trip to California," Jackson sighed. Lisa stood.

"Jackson," she moaned. "Again?"

"Leese, I know..."

"Don't 'Leese' me," she snapped. "You said things were going to be different."

"Yeah well..."

"You said you weren't going to work as much."

"Well, someone has to work," he snapped pointedly. Lisa stared angrily at him.

"I do believe it was you, Jack, that thought I should stay home with Caylib."

"Sure, Leese, just keep thinking that."

Lisa angrily began clearing the table and slammed a plate into the sink.

"You know, I'm sick of this. Everything has to be about you," she spat. "You're so selfish."

"I'm selfish?" he snorted. "Women. You're all the same. You have to make things so dramatic."

"All you think about is yourself," Lisa cried. "You wanted me, you got me, you wanted a kid, you got one of those too. Now start acting like an adult and be here, be here for Caylib, be a father."

"I didn't say I wanted kids."

Lisa paused, his words hitting her like a ton of bricks. She silently moved to Caylib and picked him up. Thankfully he hadn't heard his fathers words or he would be scarred for decades.

"Come on, sweetie, time for bed." Caylib yawned and didn't say a word as Lisa dressed him in his teddy bear pajamas and tucked him into bed. Then she returned to the kitchen and angrily began cleaning the table again.

"Lisa..." Jackson began. Lisa cut him off as she slammed down a glass.

"You win, Jack, you tried to get me angry," she snapped. "And I am. You want a fight, you got one."

"Again with the fucking drama!" Jackson cried, tugging at his hair. "God-"

"I just want you to actually be here for a change," Lisa snapped. "Caylib hardly ever sees you."

"What do you want, Lisa?" Jackson mocked. "You want me to be honest with Caylib, too? Let him know that once Daddy's done playing Legos with him he has to go blow someone's brains out?"

"Sure, Jack, get a little more vulgar there, that's a surefire way to encourage your son to follow his father's footsteps," Lisa yelled.

"You know I don't want that."

"Then quit!"

"You don't understand, Lisa, you think...you think that life's all sunshine and rainbows, everything is always perfect," Jackson yelled.

"Jesus, Jack, I think I know a lot more about the sucky side of life," Lisa screamed.

"Yeah? Is that so? How? If you're talking about your parking lot scuffle that long ago I'll say the same thing I said back on the train: Get the fuck over it."

Lisa raised her arm and slapped him across the face. Jackson sent her a blow to the face that sent her reeling to the floor. She scrambled back up as he spoke.

"Here's another little flashback for you, sweetie," Jackson snarled. "I do believe I told you that if you hit me, I hit ten times harder."

"Don't touch me," she snarled. "What am I to you, then, Jack? What can I say? You want me to be just some docile bimbo that you come to for some talk about the weather and a quick blowjob?"

She was cut off by another heavy blow to the face. This time her head connected sharply with the kitchen tile, and she felt dizzy, so she didn't get back up. Jackson kneeled down to speak to her, a whisper in her ear.

"It's dangerous to assume things like that, Leese. It's just as bad as lying." And then he was gone.

Lisa pulled herself to her feet as he slammed the door behind him. Her salty tears burned her cheeks and she moved to the bathroom.

The iodine stung in her cuts as she sobbed. She collapsed to the toilet seat. It had been perfect. What the hell had happened?

Lisa Reisert had just learned that life...no matter what...is never, ever perfect.