(Vincent's Pov)
I was woken up by the crying sound coming from the baby monitor so I get up and yawned a bit and head into Hazel's room. I open the door and go and pick her up gently and pat her back gently as she cried and I took her to the kitchen and I started working on her bottle. Hazel kept crying and I sniff a bit but I don't smell anything and I rubbed her back gently. She calmed down for a bit and I grabbed the warm bottle and tested it and then I switched her over and began to feed her. She grabbed the bottle a bit but then dropped her hands and I chuckled at this.
"You're so cute." I chuckled and looked to the side a bit and then I took a seat on the couch and turned the TV on and it was a kid cartoon. I watched it as I fed her knowing she couldn't tell what was going on, on the TV. I look to Hazel for a bit and I smiled then kissed her head.
"Just remember your dad loves you very much." I say quietly to her and then look back to the TV. I wait a bit and look to Hazel as she finished the bottle and I smiled and pulled the bottle away from her. I set it on the table and move her so I could pat her back and burp her. I waited and when she finally burped, I took her to her the crib and laid her down gently in her bed. As she fell asleep, I looked at her then heard a soft knock and turned to see Clementine and I go over to her.
"She, ok?" She asked and I nodded.
"Yea just hungry is all." I tell her and I take her back to the room and I take a seat on the bed and then lay back.
"Tired?" She asked and I shook my head and then looked at her as she came to her side of the bed and I look at her.
"Nah, you?" I asked.
"Not really." She tells me and I nod and then place my hand on her thigh as she laid on the bed.
"You're warm." She says and I chuckled as she come closer to me and I kissed her head gently. I think a bit and kissed her neck a bit.
"Vincent." She says and I chuckled and looked at her.
"Sorry, um… what time do you need to get to the school?" I asked and she looked to the clock then back to me.
"Not for a few hours." She tells me and I think.
"Hazel might wake up in an hour." I tell her and she nods and kisses my cheek.
"I'm going to try and sleep." She says and I nod then she lays back and goes to sleep. I sigh and close my eyes but what felt like a few second, I hear Hazel crying again and I look to the clock to see that it was about an hour and I get up and head to Hazels room and I pick her up an look at her as she looks at me then her face scrunches up and I pat her back gently and I grabbed a diaper, wipes and powder. I cleaned her up and changed her outfit as well, then headed to the kitchen and got a bag ready for her. I look at the clock and then hear Clementine as she comes down and I see her and smiled as she comes up to me.
"Is your daddy making you a bottle?" She asked Hazel as she grabbed her and I chuckled and handed Hazel to her. Hazel calmed down a bit and I finished packing the bag.
"Are you taking her to the park?" She asked and I look at her.
"I was thinking about that yea." I tell her and once finished I grabbed Hazel again and Clem made herself some coffee then she came and looked at Hazel.
"Isn't that nice." She says to Hazel and I chuckled. Clementine then looks up to me with a thinking face and I look to Hazel then back to her.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" She asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I mean… the media still trying to figure out who the man Minerva had a baby with, and if people see you with a baby." She says.
"I'm not going to keep Hazel hidden, people just need to grow the hell up and stop trying to put themselves in my life." I tell her.
"I know I know but I just don't want people to be mean to her or try and make up some stupid story." She says as she holds Hazels hands a bit.
"Let them, if they bring up my daughter in any negative way then they can have a few words with me and a god damn rebar." I tell her.
"Vincent-."
"No, I mean it, if they're going to bash a baby for something she had no part in then they can deal with me, she's to innocent but I can't keep her locked away as if she's a dirty little secret." I tell Clem and she nods.
"I know but I was going to say, don't mention violence in front of Hazel." She laughed and I chuckled too. We all got settled in the car and as I drove Clem to school, I would look in the rearview mirror to see Hazel's car seat and then back to the road. I finally pull up to the school and Clementine gives me a kiss and I kissed her back; she then gets out the car and heads to class and I smiled then headed to the park. It was a nice day and I parked the car then took Hazel out and I walked around the park with her in my arms and I took a seat near the pond but not to close to it. Hazel would just look around anywhere and I grabbed the bag and put some sunscreen on her so she wouldn't burn.
"Oh, such a cute baby." I hear and turn to see Christa and Omid.
"Oh, hey you guys it's been a while." I say and they take a seat next to me.
"Mind if I hold her?" Christa asked and I nod a bit as I hand Hazel to her gently.
"This a family member of yours?" Omid asked.
"I uh… well yea she's… my daughter." I tell them and they look at me and I rubbed my neck and looked to the pond a bit.
"You and Clem?" Christa asked.
"No, God no uh... I mean I wouldn't mind…. No, she's not Clem's… I uh… it happened when I was in Texas and stuff happened." I muttered and sighed.
"What happened?" Christa asked and I sighed and looked to Hazel.
"It's uh… my ex, I was drunk as hell and stuff happened… and now Hazel is here." I tell them.
"This is going to be a rough time." Omid said and I look to him.
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"Well, how did Clementine react?" He asked.
"She was upset, which I expected in all honesty, she's lost trust in me but I am trying to get that all back and I know it's going to take time in all honesty… but she said she would help when I need it and I feel bad because… this isn't how I wanted my life to be and for her to deal with it as well." I say and I grabbed Hazel gently as she whimpered a bit and I look down at her.
"We are trying to handle this in a respectful and reasonable way, my mind is just out of whack but we are dealing with it." I say to them.
"And Clem?" Christa asked.
"I want to talk to her about it but I say the wrong thing and… it makes her upset but I mean she is allowed to be upset; I mean… I basically asked her if she blames Hazel and it made her upset." I tell them.
"Do you blame Hazel?" She asked and I shake my head.
"No, I can't blame her… I was the one to tell Minerva to keep the child if it was mine… I mean I didn't force her I asked her if she did… you know then I can't do anything about it." I mutter a bit and look to the pond.
"Do you think you and Clem should go to some counseling?" Omid asked.
"If she wants to then I'll agree to it." I say and looked to them.
"Well, I am sorry that we took up your time." Christa says as her and Omid got up and left. I looked to Hazel a bit and smiled at her then kissed her head and got up and walked around a bit with her. I get a call on my phone and I answer it.
"Hello." I say.
"Vincent, is it ok if I can have Hazel over?" I hear Minerva say.
"Wait I thought-."
"My parents want to meet her, and so does my other family." She says and I look to Hazel and sighed a bit.
"Can I at least have her for one more day?" I asked.
"Sorry they're coming over tonight." She says and I start walking to the car.
"I uh… well I'll bring her over but I think it's time for her nap." I say. I just wanted to spend a little more time with Hazel.
"She'll sleep as you drive over, I'll send the address." She says then hangs up and I get a text notification and I sighed. I set Hazel in the car and secured her in then looked to the address on my phone and sighed. I drove to the house which was about an hour away and Hazel was still asleep and I was feeling down now that I had to spend less time with my kid. I rubbed the back of my head as I pulled up in the driveway and parked the car. I see Minerva and Sophie come out the house and I sighed and got out the car. I head into the back and grabbed Hazel from her seat and she woke up and I look to her.
"Shhh hey don't cry." I tell her and she seemed to listen and I chuckled then look to see Minerva and Sophie coming up next to me.
"Don't worry she can come back to you once our family is done with their visit." Minerva says.
"How long is the visit?" I asked as I hand Hazel to her gently.
"About a month." She says and I look to her.
"I leave to L.A. in a month, I can't." I tried to say.
"We can keep her till you get back then." She tells me.
"I won't be back for three months." I tell her.
"Well, we can't leave her with Clem." Minerva says and I look at her.
"I mean she still has school, right?" She asked and I think and nod a bit.
"Yea." I mutter and sighed.
"Alright." I muttered and then looked to Hazel. I stayed and talked with the twins for a bit then after a while I get a call and answer it.
"Hello." I say.
"Hey Vincent, mind picking me up? Last class was canceled." I hear Clem ask and I nod.
"Yea, I'll come get you it might be a bit." I tell her.
"Sure, did something happen? Is Hazel, ok?" She asked.
"Yea she is fine, just dropping her off at her mothers, I'll explain later." I tell her.
"You sure?" She asked.
"Yea, anyway I'll be there to get you." I tell her then we both hang up and I look at Minerva.
"Pretty busy hu?" Minerva asked and I nod.
"Yea… I'm thinking about getting the old Mustang from Chuck, he's selling it as it is so it'll be a good project car." I tell her and she nods.
"Well, I'll let you go." Minerva says and I look at Sophie who stays and hands me a piece of paper and I look at her.
"Read that when you get home." She says and I look to her as she heads up to the house. I get in the car and head to the school. It took longer than I expected du to the traffic and I was getting a bit agitated once I get to the school and parked the car. Clementine comes in and she looks in the back seat and she looks to me.
"Weren't you supposed to have her for the week?" She asked as I drove again.
"Minerva's family wants to meet the baby." I tell her.
"They could have visited her in the hospital." She says and I nod.
"I know, I know but her family is… busy so to speak." I tell Clementine.
"Busy?" She asked.
"Minerva's family is full of Classical musicians and business owners as well, they have companies and studios to run and all that other junk… when her and I first started dating they thought I was dating her for her family name and money and bullshit, I never said anything on it because it didn't bother me, and they used their money to keep themselves hidden from the press." I explained.
"So, they didn't want to see their own daughter in the hospital with her baby, but now show up after she was released from the hospital and only spent one night with her father? You were told you would get a week with her at least, and I know about your trip to L.A. with Chuck, she'll be five months old when you see her again." Clementine says and I rubbed my face.
"I know I know it's complicated and I can't do anything about it." I tell her.
"Yes, you can, your name is on her birth certificate as her father, you are her parent as well and you have every right to see her just as much… what if your family wanted you to visit with the baby?" Clem asked.
"Then I would wait my turn… look I don't want to cause any problems with Minerva, I said it before the mother in most states well… majority of states are in the right and not the father, I want to be in my daughter's life as much as I can and right now, I have to play nice." I tell her.
"Are you trying to take Hazel from Minerva?" She asked me and I kept quiet on it and just drove.
"Vincent?" She asked.
"I don't want… to keep Hazel away from Minerva, I want her to have both parents in her life… I just have to face the facts that I will be… to busy to be in her life." I say and I look to the road.
"Vincent you…. What are you thinking?" She asked me and I shake my head a bit.
"I just… think I'm too busy I guess… Minerva made a comment on it." I tell her.
"Don't listen to her Vincent, yea you are a bit busy but all parents are, but she is going to take advantage of you easily giving her the baby back." She says to me and I head up my driveway.
"I have nothing else to do… I'll get Hazel back soon." I say and I look to the paper that Sophie gave me and I sighed and we head inside the house. I looked to the paper again and then opened it.
"Vincent, I think you might want to spend as much time as you can with Hazel as you can, my parents might try and convince Minerva to keep Hazel away from you, I just want you to know what the possibilities could be." I read out loud and then set the paper on the desk and sighed.
"Fucking… God fucking damn it." I mutter and I hear the door open and see Clementine.
"Something wrong?" She asked.
"No just… something I'll have to deal with." I tell her and she looks to me and then to the paper as she picks it up and reads it.
"Vi-."
"Don't… she should know that it would be stupid to do that, she knows I want to be in Hazel's life." I tell her.
"Vincent, she-."
"Will know I won't take no for an answer and that I would do all I can do in order to keep Hazel in my life… her parents don't think I can afford a lawyer but I know I can." I say and look to my computer a bit and sighed as I got up and headed to the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. I took a drink and I looked to see Clementine looking at me and I looked to the ground.
"I'm sorry." I tell her.
"Sorry for what?" She asked.
"For not… showing emotions on this matter… I mean in my head I have to think, that one day Minerva would do something to keep me from Hazel… and that I can't show emotions on it because who would care?" I say and look to Clem.
"Vincent, you don't have to hide your emotions from me, you know this… what's gotten into you that you think you can't talk to me?" She asked and I chuckled sadly and hold my beer with both hands.
"I fucked up badly… and I feel that I would be a bother." I tell her.
"You will never be a bother-."
"I have been a bother and don't tell me I haven't… I fucked up I know and I am beating myself up on it, and I have since I found out I knocked Minerva up." I say and take a breath.
"I… fucked up… my grandmother… shot herself and I blame myself because maybe everyone is right-."
"Don't… do not say that your grandmother loved you." Clem says and she came up and placed her hands on my shoulders and I take a deep breath and I felt tears go down my face.
"Sh-she could have been lying… in the note she left me… she could have been lying and I don't know and God forbid Hazel finds out all about me." I say.
"Your daughter will love you for who you are, and your grandmother wasn't lying to you, she told me how much she loved you, hell she bragged about you saying that you were a wonderful grandson, how you made her rainy days sunny even after your grandfather passed away… your grandparents loved you, and your daughter will love you too… I love you very much and you don't need to beat yourself up over this… I am not saying you aren't allowed to talk about this, please talk about this if not with me then your therapist." She tells me and I looked down.
"I… I stopped talking to her." I muttered.
"Why?" She asked and I look to the side a bit then moved away from Clementine and I took a seat in my recliner and I still held the beer in both my hands.
"Like I said… I thought I would be a bother… people have it way worse than I do she can help more… damaged people." I say hating that I used that word but I couldn't think of anything else. I put the beer in one hand and took a drink and then looked to Clementine who was staring at me.
"I think you should talk to her." She tells me and I shake my head a bit.
"No… no I'm good." I tell her.
"Vincent, you are not good, you are not fine, you just told me you were basically scared about your daughter finding out that her dad is trans, so what? You are Vincent Aldon, a loving caring man, who would do anything to make his friends happy… a boyfriend who I love." She tells me and I look at her and then to the floor.
"Look at me." I hear and look up to see Clementine come over to me and I looked away.
"Vincent, you know Hazel will love you no matter what, you need time… yea some point down the line you and Hazel will fight, especially when she turns into a teenager, all teens will think they're badass, hell even little kids will think that they're bad to the bone." She says and I chuckled a bit.
"If she's anything like me than… fuck we're going to have some problems." I mutter and rubbed my face a bit and sighed.
"If she is anything like you, then anyone she dates shouldn't take it for granted or take advantage of it." She tells me and I look at her a bit.
"If anyone breaks her heart I swear." I mutter.
"I know… and she will too." She tells me and I look at her and I smile.
"You going to bail me out of jail?" I asked her.
"Sorry but I'd be in jail too." She tells me and we both laughed.
"Oh god… just imagining it makes it funny… mom and dad in jail for beating the crap out of someone who broke their daughter's heart." I say and then look to Clem as she looked to me.
"D-Did I say something wrong?" I asked.
"No… no not at all." She says and I nod then I pull her up and onto the recliner with me and I kiss her cheek gently.
"Thank you for talking with me." I tell her and she nods.
"Anytime, now…. What are you going to do if… Minerva's parents?" She tries to say and I smiled a bit.
"Don't worry, I'll do anything I can to keep Hazel in our lives… unless her parents want to never see their granddaughter." I trailed off and then looked to the tv a bit. it wasn't long till Clementine got up and went over to the kitchen and I sighed as I got up and went back into the kitchen and grabbed another drink after throwing out the other one. I went back into the living room and took a seat in the recliner and drank a bit more. I get a text message from Sophie and so I read it and sit up some more.
"You got to be fucking kidding me." I mutter.
"What? Something happened?" Clementine asked and I look to see her as she had a plate in her hand.
"Um… nothing, just nothing." I mutter.
"No what is it?" She asked and I sighed and showed her the text message.
"Wait hold on, I thought you would get her back-."
"I know I know I'll have to talk to her about it-."
"She wants to keep Hazel for a god damn year Vincent." She says.
"I mean maybe she wants to keep Hazel and let me have some visitation is all, look I will talk to her about it ok?" I asked her.
"This is bullshit though." She says.
"I get it Clementine, but I just have to talk to her that's all, it's probably her parents doing, but they can't keep Hazel from me, I signed the birth certificate and I didn't give my parental rights up, and I am offering to take her in and so on, and she isn't that old yet so they can't say I'm a bad dad." I tell her.
"I… alright, I will let you handle it, but if you need help just ask me." She says and I nod a bit at this and sighed then called Sophie's number as Clementine went into the kitchen. I head into my office just as Sophie answered my call.
"Vincent I-."
"Are your parents behind the problem?" I asked her.
"Look I get it-."
"Are your parents behind this issue?" I asked again.
"A little, they think Minerva should have the baby more maybe keep her in line, they honestly think it's a good thing she had a baby, I mean maybe not in the way she did, they wish she was married at least but my parents are just… look maybe you can talk to them." She says and I look at the side and sighed.
"You think your parents would even want to talk to me, they hate me." I say.
"I know but once they see-."
"They'll try anything they could to keep Hazel from me." I tell her.
"No, I don't think they would try that, look… we can set up a meeting-." She says and I laughed.
"A meeting… I need to have a fucking meeting in order to keep my child… my child in my life, so that she doesn't resent me later on or think I'm a fucking bastard father to her because her maternal grandparents hate me." I laughed.
"I shouldn't have said it like that I am sorry for wording it like that Vincent." She says and I rubbed my neck.
"I… didn't mean to get angry I just… this is my first kid and I want to be a good dad is all." I explained.
"I know and I understand again I am sorry for how I worded it, I just think we should all sit down and have a talk with my parents and we could all talk this out." She says and I rubbed my head.
"Fine, how about you all come to my house with Hazel and we can talk it all out." I tell her.
"Sure, when?" She asked.
"Tomorrow, we can all have dinner here tomorrow." I tell her.
"Alright I will tell them that, again Vincent I am sorry." She says and I nod a bit.
"Yea I get it… tomorrow afternoon if that's what is good for Hazel I mean, so she could have a nap or something." I tell her.
"Alright, we will." She says and I nod and we hang up. I take a breath and headed out the door and I go into the living room and then look out the back door to see Clementine. I head out the door and look at her and she looked up to me.
"You, ok?" She asked.
"Minerva and her family will be here tomorrow, with Hazel… I just talked to Sophie about it." I mutter and take a seat next to her.
"And why are they coming over?" She asked.
"Well, they think it was a good thing Minerva had a baby, you know keep her in line maybe… I also want to tell them that they can't just let Minerva keep Hazel all to herself, do to the fact that I am hazels dad and you are basically her mom too." I say and look down to my feet.
"Will that convince them?" She asked.
"It better because… they can't take her from me, she's just a baby she wasn't born not that long ago, for fuck sake." I mutter.
"I know." She says and rubs my back a bit and I sit up and look at her.
"Alright, we got to pick out something nice to wear and I have to think of what to make for dinner." I say and we both get up and start making the plans for tomorrow. When we finished up planning out the meal and everything, we both headed to bed and I was just in my boxers as Clementine wore my shorts and shirt. I chuckled a bit and pulled her close to me and kissed her head.
"Everything will be ok Vincent." She tells me and I nod.
"I know… I know especially with you here." I tell her and we finally fall asleep. When I was woken up by my alarm, I sit up a bit and looked around tiredly. I yawned as I get up and get dressed up for work and since I had a meeting with Chuck and a client I had to dress up in a nice suit. I look at Clementine as she slept and I go up and kissed her head gently then left out to my car and began to drive to work. I go up and unlock the door and I see Chuck as he was talking to the Client and I go up and shake their hand and we head into the office. After we talked for an hour and Chuck explained the contract with the man and I answered any questions as well.
"I would like to commission all custom-made instruments for a band I am going sponsor." The client says.
"Alright we can do that, any particular way they need to be made?" I asked.
"Well, you should know the band." He says and I look to him.
"The Walking dead band… you were part of it correct?" He asked and I nod a bit.
"Yea I was… I can ask them how they want their instruments." I explain to them and they nod.
"Great how long till they can get it?" He asked.
"Well, it'll take some time and I need to know how they want it so it could take maybe close to a few months maybe." I tell him.
"Alright, that is fine." He tells me and I nod and Chuck grabbed the contract and the man signed it all. We shook hands and the man left and I look to Chuck.
"So, I heard you had a baby." He says and I chuckled a bit.
"I uh, yes I have a daughter." I tell him.
"Well, congratulations on being a father, I tell you kids are going to be hard to deal with but in the end, you'll love them." He says as we walked out the store.
"You got kids of your own?" I asked.
"Yep, but I haven't spoken to them in years, didn't want to bother them when they have their own families to worry about." He says and I look to him.
"I think they would love to hear from you." I tell him and he smiles a bit and nods.
"Sure, I'll give them a call, also don't forget about the trip." He says.
"I won't." I tell him and we head our separate ways. I had stopped at the pharmacy and picked up some soda and some headache medication as well so I had enough for the headache I was going to get with the visit of Minerva's parents. Once done I head on home and I see a car parked in my driveway and once I parked my car and got out, I see Minerva in the window and I groaned.
"Fucking early? Really? Set a time doesn't fucking matter, does it?" I say to myself pissed off. I head into the house to see her parents and I put on a fake smile.
"Well, if it isn't Violet." I hear her dad say and I breath through my teeth a bit and keep the fake smile.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Leigh welcome to my home how are you?" I asked them.
"We are doing fine and you?" Her father asked.
"That's good and I am doing fine-."
"Oh, did you finally get a real job?" Her mother asked and I clenched my hands a bit.
"Yes, I work at a music store." I tell them.
"And they make you wear a suit?" She asked.
"I, I mean I was just at a meeting with an important client so I had to look the part." I tell them.
"Hmm, then I guess you wear ripped jeans and shirt." Her dad says and I rubbed my neck.
"No, we can't wear ripped clothing that's unprofessional." I say to them.
"Hey uh so Hazel is in her crib right now Vincent so uh if you want to go see her." Sophie says and I nod.
"Yea, uh I'll be right back." I say and head up the stairs and I see Clementine in the baby's room and she is winding up the mobile. From the sound of baby talking, I smile and go over to see Hazel still awake.
"She is pretty active right now." She tells me and I nod.
"Yea, well she's, my daughter." I say and she laughed a bit at this and I smiled at her.
"So, you saw them hu?" She asked and I nodded.
"They called me Violet, fucking bastards." I mutter.
"I can correct them for you." She says.
"No, no as much as I would like to see you hit them, I'm just going to deal with it for right now." I mutter.
"You don't have to, this is your home for one thing, you aren't Violet, you are Vincent and they need to understand those facts." She says and I chuckled.
"I know but right now… I just… it's ok I will deal with it." I tell her. She wasn't happy that I said this but I wasn't in the mood right now. I look into the crib to see that Hazel fell asleep. I take a breath and we head down the stairs and I see Minerva's parents looking a photos I had around the house.
"Hmm, so what have you done with your life?" Mrs. Leigh asked and I rubbed my neck.
"I uh, well like I said I work at a music shop… I still work with the band sometimes." I tell her.
"Oh, so basically nothing that doesn't pay well enough." She laughed and I chuckled nervously.
"I uh, no they pay well." I say.
"Hmm yet you live on a farm." She says.
"I mean it's a nice quiet place." I tell her.
"But is it really a place to raise a child?" Mr. Leigh asked and I looked to him.
"It's not a bad place, lots of land-."
"The child could get dirty, running out in the mud making a mess." Mrs. Leigh says to me.
"Well children are supposed to have fun, so what if she get's dirty? It's called being a child." I tell her. She looked to be angry at me but at this point I'm not in the mood.
"How would she feel growing up she knows her so called father is a freak, I doubt she's really even your child." Mr. Leigh says.
"Dad, Hazel is Vincent's child please can we all just talk civilly?" Minerva says and I rubbed my head a bit at this.
"Oh, we are though, seeing as Violet here should be interested in knowing her daughter should be living in a nice home, and have a financially stable nuclear family, even if her weird mother is a freak of nature." Mr. Leigh says and I take a few breaths.
"Well, this freak of nature was able to give you Hazel as a grandchild so I wouldn't be so keen on badmouthing me." I mutter.
"Pardon?" Mrs. Leah says.
"Nothing." I tell them and I smiles a bit.
"So, we were never introduced who are you the babysitter?"
"MOM!" Sophie and Minerva both say.
"No, this is… my Wife Clementine." I lied and even Clementine looked at me in shock.
"Your wife?" Mr. Leigh says and I nod.
"Yep, this is my wife." I say again to them.
"I uh… well congratulations on the marriage I suppose." Mrs. Leigh says and I nod.
"Could we talk real quick dear?" Clementine asked and I nod as she pulled me to the side and I looked to her.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" She asked.
"I don't know I panicked and shit they said you were a baby sitter and I just… it just came out of nowhere." I tell her.
"Alright fine… fine we can act the part just." She says and I rubbed my neck and we went back to the others.
"Sorry uh, so how about dinner?" I asked.
"We were thinking of going to a restaurant here in town but seeing as there isn't much to choose from then we can go into Atlanta." Mr. Leigh says and I clench my teeth.
"Sure, we can do that once Hazel wakes up." I tell them and they all talk for a bit and then I hear the baby monitor go off so I head up to the room and grabbed Hazel. I made sure to change her diaper and clothes, I then headed down the stairs with her and we went out to the cars. I set Hazel in mine and I look to Minerva and motion for her to come in my car. She tells her parents that she will ride with me and Clementine gets in the passenger seat of my car and Minerva goes in the back seat with Hazel. Just as her parents got out the driveway and began to back out.
"Ok we need to have a talk." I say.
"Look I know it doesn't seem right but you know my parents." She says.
"They are being a-… I mean they are being rude and don't want me to see my daughter, for gods' sake they called Clementine a babysitter." I tell her.
"I know it was wrong for them to say that, and I am sorry." She says to me.
"They better not take her from me I swear to god-."
"They won't I promise." Minerva says and I rubbed my neck and drove. We finally get to the restaurant and I got Hazel out of the car and Minerva got out along with Clementine and I smiled at her then we all went in with Minerva's parents. As we get seated, I help put Hazel in a high chair and Clementine took a seat next to me, and Minerva took a seat next to Hazel who was next to me on my other side. I smile at Hazel as I look to her and I mess with her hand a bit but it makes her fussy and I sighed as I gave her the pacifier and she quiet down a bit and I look to Clem who was watching me.
"Looks like a nice family." I hear and look to Mr. Leigh who looked to me.
"Pardon?" I asked.
"You, Hazel." He says and I look back to Hazel.
"And Minerva." Mrs. Leigh says and we all look to the two.
"I mean I know you are married to… Clementine? But that doesn't mean you and Minerva can't be a family." She says and I was getting a bit pissed and was about to say something but Clem placed her hand on my thigh.
"In what way?" Clem asked.
"Oh, you know, Minerva and Vincent could live together, so that Hazel doesn't think her parent's hate each other." Mr. Leigh says and I look to him.
"Dad, Mom, that's-."
"A great idea, right? Now I'm not saying Vincent and Clementine should get a divorce, but you and him could live together to raise the child, have a somewhat normal life, I mean with her father being a tranny-."
"Mom, stop." Minerva says and I look to her as she glared at her parents.
"We're just-."
"Stop… let's just have a nice and quiet dinner." She tells them and they keep quiet as we put our orders in. it took a bit for our food and drinks and we had a quiet dinner. I would look to Hazel as she would spit up her pacifier sometimes and I chuckled at this. I look to Clem as she smiled at me and then I would look back to Hazel who was just looking all around like any infant would do. It wasn't long till I saw Mr. and Mrs. Leigh looking at me and I look to Minerva as she looked to Hazel. We finally finished our meal and I paid for the food then we all went to our respected cars and I set Hazel in mine.
"We were hoping we could spend more time with our granddaughter." Mrs. Leigh says and I turn to look at her then to Minerva.
"Mom, I think Vincent here would like to spend some time with his own daughter." Minerva says.
"Oh, I don't think Vincent would mind his daughter spending time with her grandparents." Mr. Leigh says and then an idea popped up in my head.
"Well, I was going to take her and Clem to see my family." I tell them.
"Oh well why don't they come and see her?" Mrs. Leigh says and I grip my fists a bit.
"Well seeing as my parents are a bit busy with work, I would still like for my daughter to meet my side of the family." I tell them. They glared at me a bit for this.
"I don't think you'd want to keep her from all of her family, would you? Especially with mine, we are very family oriented." I tell them.
"Fine a week-."
"Nope, I will not have a time limit on spending time with my daughter and showing her to my family, that is not how this will work and I will not have you tell me how much time we can spend with her and my family." I tell them.
"How dare you-."
"How dare I? oh no, this is my daughter you don't get to dictate how she is raised and how much time she can spend with my family, and don't even start this crap or I swear you will never see her again, and yes take it as a threat because I will make sure neither of you see her again if you try to pull something like this again." I tell them and they glared at me and I look to Minerva.
"Come on." I tell her and look to Clementine who nods as she helped finish with Hazel's car seat and I look back to Minerva's parents.
"Now you may see her once she is back but she is staying with me until I feel she can be allowed near you, of course Minerva is her mother and has every right to see and stay with her, but not you two." I tell them and then get in the car after Clem got in and I locked the doors and drove off to my house.
"Vincent… that was… amazing." Minerva says.
"I'm not going to be pushed around by your parents they are not going to give me a time limit on my own child fu-… I mean…" I stopped and calmed down a bit as I drove and looked to Clementine sadly as she placed a hand on my shoulder.
"It's going to be ok Vincent." She tells me and I nod and look in the mirror to look at Minerva and I sighed.
"You can stay at our house for a bit." I stated and looked to Clem from my side view. She didn't look to happy and I don't blame her at all, I will talk with her when we reach the house. As I drove, I could hear Hazel talking a little bit but not much with how young she is. I rubbed my neck a bit before I finally reached the driveway and parked the car next to the house. I helped get Hazel out the car and we all head inside, I get Hazel out of her car seat and smiled at her as she looked at me then around and I chuckled.
"You are just a curious little one, aren't you?" I asked but of course she wouldn't be able to reply, even with baby talk she couldn't reply. I go and take her to her crib and I set her to lay down, and I rubbed her back gently before I left the room and looked to see Minerva and Clem staring at each other and I clear my throat so they both had to look at me and I look up the stairs then to them.
"No fighting, baby is asleep." I joke and head into the kitchen and grabbed three coffee mugs for all of us.
"We weren't going to fight." Clementine says and I turn and look at both of them.
"You two were glaring at each other like a bunch of ally cats ready to claw each other eyes out." I tell them and they both look at me and I raise a brow at them.
"I don't want her staying here." Clem mutters and I look to her.
"Same but I would like to be near my daughter."
"Oh, you like shoving that fact in my face, don't you?" Clem asked pissed and I go up to them.
"Woah don't start a fight." I say to her.
"I don't like rubbing it in your face Clementine, I am sorry about what happened, I had no idea he could even do this." Minerva says and I look to her then back to Clem.
"Like hell you didn't." She says.
"Hey woah-."
"Don't 'Hey woah' me Vincent, I am not too happy-."
"Don't be mad at him."
"It takes two to have a child last time I checked." She says.
"It wasn't his fault; he was drunk hell he didn't even know we had sex." She says to her.
"So, you took advantage of that." Clem says.
"I didn't, I was drunk too, why the hell do you think we were at a motel." Minerva says.
"Look here-."
"Stop this now… look can we just sit and talk like adults?" I asked and Clementine groans but goes and takes a seat. I sighed a bit and then go and make us some coffee and once done I hand them each of their own cups and I take a seat at the head while those two sat across from each other.
"How are we going to do this?" Minerva asked as I took a sip from my mug.
"Like I said I need to take Hazel to see my family, so that will happen." I tell her and set my mug down.
"That's fine." Minerva says and I nod and I think.
"Look, I know you two don't like each other, but I want Hazel to have a happy life, ok? I don't want her to think that… that this was her fault because it's not do you both hear me?" I asked them.
"Bu-."
"No… no buts, that baby didn't ask to be made, that baby didn't ask to come into this world, we messed up this is on both of us, not her." I tell Minerva and looked to her.
"I am not saying it's her fault." She says me and I nod a bit.
"Alright as long as we have that established." I say and take another drink of my coffee. We sat in silence for a bit and I take a deep breath and sighed at this.
"So will she be calling Clementine mom?" Minerva asked.
"If Hazel wants to call Clementine her mother than she can, but she will know that you are her mother, so don't worry." I muttered and looked at the mug in my hands.
"Ok… what else?" Minerva asked and I think.
"Your parents are to not tell her anything negative about any of us, they are not to tell her of our past relationship, if they say Clementine is the reason, we aren't together I will personally make sure that they never see her in person… they are not to badmouth my own family." I tell her.
"No, no I agree with that fully." Minerva says and I nod at this and look to Clementine.
"Hazel can call Lee and Carly her grandparents, AJ can be her uncle." I tell both of them.
"Alright." Clementine says and I nod and think some more.
"She's going to be loved… she isn't going to be in the news either at least as best as we can knowing our luck." I muttered.
"Could we still post pictures of her?" Both Clem and Minerva asked and I chuckled and nodded.
"Sure, but keep it simple, no giving out locations so people don't try to follow up on it." I tell them.
"We should have a schedule you know, spending time with Minerva and us." Clem suggested and I nod.
"Sure, we can do that." I say and looked to Minerva and she nods at this.
"Weekdays, I want some weekdays with her and we can switch it up, one week I get her, then you get her the next week." She suggests and I nod.
"Now can we all agree that when she gets older, to at least think for herself she can decide when she wants to go to either of our places, that means if she wants to come here for a few months that is her own choice, if she decides one day to go to you Minerva and stay with you for a few months than that is her choice, no arguments about it." I explained.
"I am ok with that." Minerva agreed and I nod and take another drink and then rubbed my head a bit.
"Alright, we can also say that if she wants to spend time with my family or yours than we can allow her too do so." Minerva says and I look to her.
"So long as your parents can keep their mouths shut than I am ok with it." I tell her and she nods.
"If we can think of anything else than we can talk about it later, right now we should all go to bed and get some rest." I say and they agreed and I took Minerva to her room for the night and I come back down and I see Clem with a beer in her hand as she took a drink and I come over to her and gently take the bottle from her hand and look to her then the bottle and I take a drink and hand it back to her.
"I didn't mean to sound… like an asshole." She says and I nod.
"I get it, this is your home and you don't want another woman in here." I say and she nods a bit.
"But I get it… she's trying to… be there for her daughter and you want Hazel to have a somewhat normal life." She says and I nod.
"Don't worry, it's not a permanent situation, just for a short while." I tell her and she takes a drink and shivers and I chuckled as she handed me the beer and I take it and drank some of it.
"How can you drink that?" She asked.
"Just can, tastes like shit but I deal with it." I say and finished it off and then threw the bottle away and I turn to look at her as she leaned on the counter.
"Alright, lets go to bed, I'm going to be up in a few hours knowing Hazel's sleep schedule." I joke and clementine smiled a bit and I come up to her and she looks at me as I placed my hands on her hips and she sighed.
"Do you want me to sleep on the couch?" I asked.
"No, god no I'm not mad at you, I'm just… upset that I couldn't be there for you." She says and I looked at her confused.
"You mean to my grandmothers funeral?" I asked her and she nods at this.
"Hey, don't be mad at yourself, I'm the one that snuck out while intoxicated." I tell her.
"But if I had been-."
"Clem if you were there, I would still have probably gotten drunk off my ass, we won't ever know, what happened, happened, yes I fucked up badly, I messed up to the point where you could leave me even five years down the line and I wouldn't blame you for it, but Hazel is here right now, I don't blame her for being here, and I will deal with it, she is my daughter and I am her father." I tell her and she nods at this and I let her go and rubbed my head a bit and take a breath.
"I fucked up… I know and I just want to fix it." I say.
"It's not something you need to fix." She says and I look at her.
"It's not a chore or a job… I mean being a parent is a job, but it's not… something so easy to fix." She says and I take a seat and so does she and I look at her.
"Do you want to take a break?" I asked and she rubbed her head a bit.
"I'm not to sure." She says and I nod at this.
"Clem I am not asking you to be this little girl's parent, you don't have any responsibility at least in my own opinion you don't have any obligation to take care of Hazel… we aren't married." I tell her and she looks to the side a bit hand on her mouth.
"Vincent… I love you I really do." She says and I look at her more as she takes the time to think.
"Do you still love her?" She asked.
"No, I don't have any feelings for her, not anymore." I tell her truthfully. She looks to me a bit then looked to the side again.
"If I don't want… to be with you anymore…, would you stay with her?" She asked and I was confused.
"Are you asking, if you were to leave right now would I try and get back with her?" I asked and she nods.
"No, I wouldn't." I tell her again truthfully.
"Why not?" She asked.
"Just because she had my kid doesn't mean I would be quick to marry her, I love you, again I said if you were to leave me, I would understand as to why… but I will tell you right here right now that I do not love Minerva, I just want to make sure that Hazel has both parents in her life and that we don't cause problems for her." I tell her and she looks at me.
"If I want a break… you'll be ok with it?" She asked and I nod.
"Yea… and if you decide to date someone during the break, I won't say anything and if you need the house to yourself than I can let Hazel stay with Minerva and I'll get a motel for the night or however many days." I tell her.
"I wouldn't do that to you." She says.
"Offer still stands." I tell her and she nods and looked to the table.
"We can go on a break." She says and I nod at this and smiled just a bit.
"Ok… that's fine." She says and I nod as she and I both got up and we went to our room. I grabbed a blanket and pillow and she looked to me and I shrugged.
"Just for tonight, ok?" I asked and she nods as she lays down and I head out the door. I decided to lay out in the hallway right near Hazels room so if I hear her then I could get to her. I look to the dark ceiling for a bit and I take a breath and closed my eyes to get as much sleep as possible.