To my beloved readers:

Thank you to those who took the time to review, hopefully I can get more of you this time around. This is my longest chapter to date, I've worked very hard on it, so please let me know what you think. I don't want to have to say "If I don't recieve any reviews I will not continue" so please just review and I won't have to, I don't like being mean. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, I jumped the timeline ahead about two months, so Evangeline is about four months old, it's all explain in the chapter. Well enjoy, and I hope to hear from you guys, I really do love hearing your opinions. Thanks!

PS: I'm looking for artists to illustrate scene's from each chapter, so if you are interested send me a PM.

This chapter is dedicated to Ava.

Chapter 14

July finally rolled in and the blistering heat followed suit. The summers were always hotter in the city, the heat just seemed to be trapped between the buildings. It was kind of like living inside a giant pot with the cover placed on top of it. At this time of year you were either in the air condition or you were sweating to death in your apartment. For Angel it was the latter, even at 9 in the morning it felt like the gates of hell were opening right down in the streets.

Angel was on the couch using a newspaper as a makeshift fan. She wore a white linen skirt, and a blue tank top, but no tights it was too damn hot. Evangeline, who had just turned 4 months old, was asleep in her crib. Angel was just happy that she has started sleeping through the night, what wasn't so great was that she decided to get up at 6 every morning. Good thing Collins was teaching classes during the summer session at NYU, he got up around that time to get ready for work. So Collins would feed and change her then put her back to sleep, she would usually then stay asleep till about 9:30.

All of Angel's fanning was in vain, the temperature was just too intense. She threw the newspaper onto the coffee table, so the headline "HEAT WAVE HITS MANHATTAN" was visible. Angel got up off the couch and dragged herself into the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator door and shoved her face inside. The cool air rushed at her face, it was an instant pick me up. She could have stood there all day but Eva's crying tore her away. Angel reluctantly shut the door and trudged down the hall to get her. She bent over the side of the crib, and wiped her hands on her skirt to get rid of all the sweat. It didn't matter because Eva was a ball of sweat. Angel picked Eva up and placed her on her hip.

"I know it's hot baby." She walked over to the window to try and catch a breeze. No breeze came and Eva placed her head against Angel's chest and continued to cry.

"You wanna go stand in front of the fridge?" That was the only place Angel could think of in the apartment that was cool. But crying was the only answer Angel received.

"No? You wanna go see daddy?" Eva stopped crying and kind of just started to sniffle.

"Yeah? Ok lets go see daddy. Lets go see daddy and his air conditioning." Angel couldn't believe she forgot that Collins' office at NYU was air conditioned, and since the heat didn't look like it was going to break she decided NYU was right where she needed to be. Before going to gather her stuff, she stopped in front of the bathroom mirror to check her makeup. Luckily none of it had managed to smear in the heat.

"Thank God for waterproof Lancôme" she said aloud as she put on a little more eyeliner. She then went into the living room and grabbed her purse and Eva's diaper bag.

Once on the street the sun was beaming down hard on them. Angel reached into the bag and pulled out a little pick hat and placed it onto Eva's head. She then handed Evangeline her favorite toy, the stuffed cow that Maureen had given her. It had to be with her at all times no exceptions. Angel figured she would just carry Eva, the stroller was to much of a hassle. You could take a bus or a cab to NYU if you were lazy, but Angel decided she would walk. Eva was captivated by everything around her. Angel watch as she moved her head to all sides to take in the sights, squealing every now and then at some passing object. The stuffed cow's ear had found its way into Eva's mouth. Every once and awhile she would take it out of her mouth and starting smacking the cow into Angel's chest, all the while laughing and letting out little squeals.

Angel knew Eva was extremely attached to that cow. She remember the one time about 2 weeks ago when they had left the cow at Roger and Mark's loft. Eva was asleep when they had left, but by the time they arrived back home she was up and crying looking for that cow. Nothing would calm her, Collins had to go all the way back to the loft in the middle of the night just to get it. Roger was about to kill him too, for interrupting his beauty sleep. Only when the cow was back in her hands did she stop.

NYU's campus was pretty large, the philosophy building sat on the corner of Mercer Street and Washington Place. So Angel knew where she was heading this time, unlike last time when she almost scared the hell out of some old lady in the information center. The professor's offices where on the third floor, but it was 10:40 and Collins had just finished teaching his first class. That classroom just happened to be on the second floor, and that's right where Angel headed.

Angel walked in the classroom door and observed that Collins was sitting at his desk not facing the door, and leaning over a stack of papers. She walked in a few more steps, Collins didn't look up, so she stepped closer till she was right behind him. Angel was about to tap him on the shoulder when Eva beat her to it and started smacking her hand against the back of Collins' head. He went to swat it away.

"Renee how many times do I have to tell you…" He stopped when he turned around and saw Angel standing there. She smiled and shifted Evangeline on her hip.

"Whose Renee?"

"A slutty student that wants to fuc…" Angel pointed to Eva before he could finish that sentence. He decided to spell the word for her instead .

"F-u-c-k me. Usually she stays after and tries to get me to take her back to my office for some extra help"

"Actually that's why I'm here." Angel said as she sat on the edge of his desk and dropping her bags to the floor.

Collins leaned back in his chair, placed his hands behind his head and put his feet up on the corner of the desk. "For the extra help or the fuc.." Angel once again gestured toward Evangeline.

"Neither. I came to use your office, well your air conditioner really." Collins started laughing and dropped his feet off the side of the desk.

"You came all this way to use the AC"

"Its hot outside, and this look doesn't hold up in the heat." She gestured to herself, Collins got up and started putting his papers together.

"Come on I'll bring you upstairs." He picked up Eva's diaper bag and signaled Angel to follow him out the door. The professor's office's weren't large, first you would walk into one room which was were the secretary was, and branching off from that room where four smaller rooms. Each one belonging to a member of the philosophy department. The secretary, Mrs. Butler, was an older woman in her late 60s, she basically looked like any grandma you have ever seen. Angel had meet her a few times before, Mrs. Butler always told Angel that she was a very pretty young lady. Mrs. Butler didn't grasp the fact that Angel wasn't a real woman, she would always tell Angel to eat more that she needed to get some hips on her. Mrs. Butler was just hanging up the phone when Collins and Angel walked through the door.

"Morning Mrs. Butler" Collins called as he walked into the room, holding the door open for Angel.

"Good Morning Professor." She said to him in a sweet and cheerful voice. She looked up quickly to flash him a smile, but did a double take when she realized he wasn't alone. Mrs. Butler stood up and adjusted her glasses.

"Angel is that you honey? It's so lovely to see you again, I haven't seen you in a while." As she walked closer to where the two were standing , she let out a small gasp.

"And who is this? Hi sweetheart." She bent down to get a better look at Eva, then looked back up at Collins.

"I didn't know you two had a baby? You don't tell me anything." She gave Collins a playful slap on the arm. Angel adjusted Eva so Mrs. Butler could get a better look at her.

"This is Evangeline, say 'Hi' baby." Eva just chewed on her stuffed cow's ear, not really caring about the older woman standing in front of her.

"Can I hold her?" Angel offered Eva over to Mrs. Butler. Evangeline didn't comply at first, but in the end Mrs. Butler took Eva into her arms, and placed her on her hip.

"Oh you're heavy." She glanced over at Angel before continuing. "But not you, you're still as skinny as ever." Collins took that as his cue to leave, he knew not to get involved when women started talking about their weight. He went to into his office to drop off his papers.

"I know Mrs. Butler I have to get some hips." Angel grabbed her narrow hips as she said so.

"Well you have a gorgeous daughter. You two are very lucky." She handed Evangeline back over to Angel. "How old is she"

"Four months." Angel adjusted Evangeline on her left hip. Eva clung close to Angel with her cow in-between them. She didn't like being separated from her parents or Roger, she flipped out on Mark once when he tried to take her from him.

"Well congratulations. I wish I had known earlier." Collins came back out of his office with a new stack of papers in his hands, he had another class to go and teach.

"Well ladies I would love to stay here and chat but class calls." He said a quick goodbye to Mrs. Butler before going to give Angel a kiss, then Eva a kiss on the forehead. "Bye baby. I'll meet you back up here later."

Collins last class got out at 3:15, and he went back to his office to gather Angel and Evangeline. Angel was a little reluctant to leave, due to the comfort of the air-conditioning. After much persuasion and the promise to buy her a new pair of heels, Angel finally agreed to go. Evangeline had fallen asleep, Collins made sure he had her stuffed cow, he had it shoved in his coat pocket the hoof was hanging over the side. Once they were outside , they noticed that the heat had subsided a little, it was no longer boiling. They walked back to their apartment hoping that the heat would continue to decrease, if not then some of that Evita money was going towards an air conditioner.