A/N: Holaaaa. Muchos gracias for the reviews. They pretty much make me happier than a pig in you know what. Please let me know what you think!
Lauren had cracked a window open right next to the back porch, so she had sneakily eavesdropped on her daughter's conversation with Nick. Though she could only hear one side, it sounded like Nick was in the doghouse. She hated to take advantage of such a situation. Okay, not really. It was kind of nice to hear that Madeline wasn't happy living with her father, and actually wanted to live with her. She loved Madeline, and she was a big help around the house and with Callie. Lauren would love to have her daughter living with her full-time, not only for those reasons, but also because she knew it killed Nick. One point for Lauren!
When she heard Madeline had hung up, she stealthily moved away from the window, and busied herself picking up a few things on the kitchen table. Maddie walked in and slammed the sliding door behind her, looking thoroughly seethed.
"Baby, is something wrong?" Lauren's tone was almost overly concerned. Madeline stopped next to her mother and rubbed at one of her eyebrows as Lauren soothingly patted her arm.
"Dad's so unfair," Madeline muttered, fresh tears coming to her eyes. Every time she thought of the fact he was trying to keep Gavin away from her, she felt herself get angry all over again. He'd almost always understood her growing up, but lately they seemed to be on totally different pages.
Lauren let out a sympathetic sound and guided her daughter to sit down at the kitchen table. Her daughter allowed her, accepting the comfort, glad to have someone on her side. "What'd he say, sweet pea?"
"He's mad because I had Gavin over after he told me I couldn't," Madeline began, "but I'm at your house, Mom! And you don't care if I see him, so why should he have any control over what I do here?"
Lauren continued to rub her daughter's arm in sympathy, nodding her head every now and then to let her know she understood. "He doesn't, baby. When you're at my house, you only have to follow my rules. I'm sorry your father's being such a stick in the mud."
Maddie wiped some tears away from her eyes. When had she forgotten how awesome her mother could be? At her dad's house, Sara never backed her up. They were always on one side, and she was always on the other. Her mother just seemed to understand her, and it this point in her life, that made her the more popular parent. She didn't much care about all the crap her mom had put her through in recent years; she cared that her mother understood her feelings about Gavin.
The sound of the doorbell interrupted their heart to heart. Madeline grumbled, knowing it was likely her father coming over with her novel and to give her a piece of his mind. Lauren sighed and stood up, then gave Maddie an encouraging kiss on top of her head. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you like, sweetheart."
Maddie nodded in appreciation as her mother walked across the room to the front door. Lauren just stepped aside and glared at her ex-husband as he walked in. Nick gave her a greeting nod, much more focused on talking to his daughter. "Evening," he told his ex.
Madeline had since stood up to face her father, crossing her arms across her chest. It was all about presence and confidence, and now that she had her mother backing her up, Maddie didn't see how her dad would get away with his plans to ruin her adolescence. "Father," she greeted him coldly.
Nick poked his tongue in the side of his cheek and handed the book over to Maddie first. She took it and tossed it onto the coffee table, not once averting her glare from his face. Her mother stood by, leaning against the doorframe just behind Nick. "We need to talk," Nick began.
"Yea, we do," Madeline agreed, her voice strong and firm. She was surprised at how much conviction she heard coming from within. "You have no right to tell me what to do when I'm at Mom's house."
Nick laughed humorlessly, looking down for a moment before meeting his daughter's gaze once again. "You're not just my daughter when you're at my house. You saying you don't have to follow my rules when you're here is like saying whenever you go to a friend's house you don't have to follow the rules."
"Oh yeah?" She challenged him. "Well, that's not what Mom seems to think, is it Mom?" She summoned her backup. Lauren walked into the living room, where the two were sparring and stood next to her daughter.
"I have to admit you're being pretty ridiculous about all this, Nick," Lauren told him, enjoying this position of power against her ex-husband. He always acted so high and mighty, and their daughter usually seemed to take his side. It was nice to have Madeline relying on her for help.
Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lauren ditches them, manipulates their daughter, and tries to kidnap her, and all of a sudden she's Maddie's best friend again? He guessed he should be used to being the bad guy. "I'm being ridiculous?" he asked, exasperated. "I'm the one trying to set responsible limits for our daughter, and you're backing her up like you're her friend and not her mother?"
"It's a ridiculous rule, Nicholas," Lauren defended herself. "And I'm not trying to be her friend. I'm trying to understand her. I remember what it's like to be a teenager in love."
Nick scoffed, putting his hands on his hips. Courtesy number one with divorced parents with kids was to back up the other parent when the kid acted up. Did she realize what the hell she was doing to him? To Madeline? His daughter was going to be confused if the rest of her adolescence was like this. Up until now, Nick and Madeline hadn't had a major disagreement. Now that they had, Lauren was hindering rather than helping.
"Unbelievable," Nick muttered, shaking his head. If he had any hope of getting through to Madeline, he'd first have to shake Lauren out of her current state of mind. Why was she being so ridiculous? "Madeline, will you excuse us for a minute? I need to speak to your mother alone."
Maddie rolled her eyes and let her arms fall to her sides. She angrily walked off and headed up the stairs to her bedroom. Nick waited until he heard the door shut before he started in on his ex.
"What the hell are you trying to do? Huh?" He demanded. Any patience he'd had before he walked in the door was long gone. He wasn't sure who was the teenager in the house – Maddie or Lauren.
Lauren sighed loudly and headed into the kitchen to load up the dishwasher, distracting herself slightly from her ex-husband. "I told you. I'm trying to understand our daughter. Don't you remember what we were like when we were young? Madeline needs to have fun, Nick, and you're just being asinine."
He followed her into the kitchen, leaning on one of his hands against the counter as Lauren worked. "And look how things turned out for us. Just because you think you're in love, or whatever she is, doesn't mean she can ignore her responsibilities. School should be her number one priority right now."
"That's your number one priority for her, Nick. Have you ever considered stopping to ask her what she wants?" Lauren asked, slamming a cup into place in the top row. "Maybe she doesn't want to go to college."
"Oh, she's going to college," Nick corrected her. "Come on, Lauren. Everyone knows a college degree gets you ahead in the world. We've always wanted that for Maddie. What's she gonna do otherwise? Do gymnastics for life?"
"Maybe she wants to coach gymnastics," Lauren pointed out as she rinsed a still dirty cup out in the sink, raising her eyebrows at him.
"She's sixteen," Nick pointed out. "She probably doesn't know what she wants to do with her life yet. Until she figures it out, she needs to keep her options open. She needs good grades to get into college, and when she's spending what little free time she has with this Gavin guy, they're goin' down the drain."
Lauren shook her head and huffed. "Madeline's been telling me you've been like this. You won't even consider her opinion."
Nick really didn't think that was the case. He listened to his daughter plenty, but there was a time he had to make Madeline do what she needed to do, not her spur-of-the-moment desire. That's what parenting was about, but apparently Lauren had never caught on.
"If you keep on like this, you're gonna confuse Madeline," Nick told her. "We can't disagree about things. She needs consistency, and the way you're takin' her side, and not looking out for her future is really just makin' it harder."
"Typical," Lauren observed as she wiped her hands on the dishtowel and turned to face him. "You always assume you're right."
They were interrupted when Howard graced them with his presence. His shirt was off, and the only other piece of clothing he wore was boxers. He looked concerned, having overheard part of their conversation. Of course Lauren had told her new boyfriend tons of horror stories about her previous marriage, most of which were highly skewed versions of the actual events. Nick noticed Howard eying him suspiciously.
"Is there a problem here?" Howard asked, getting all alpha male. Though Nick wanted to continue this argument, he was also aware this wasn't his home, and he'd probably overstayed his welcome. Howard possessively rested his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder as Lauren glared at Nick, as if to say he was outnumbered. No one in this house wanted him here.
Nick shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "Depends on who you ask," he replied, taking a step towards the door. Though he hated to admit it, Nick was afraid. He was afraid that Madeline was being taken advantage of by staying with Lauren and Howard. They didn't make her accountable, and he doubted they parented her at all. He was afraid for Madeline. That soon she would come to terms with the harsh reality that her mother was using her to get back at him; using her as a stand-in mother for Callie; using her as a convenience. And because of all this, he was losing his daughter. It seemed he was powerless to stop it, at least for now. Madeline refused to listen to him, and Lauren wasn't making it any easier. As he made eye contact with his ex, he could see that look of victory she thrived on. She had won tonight, and unless Nick thought of something quick, she was going to destroy their daughter.
CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI
As soon as Nick got home, he tossed his keys and his wallet onto the counter in the darkness. He was beyond frustrated and frankly, he was hurt at how Madeline had so easily turned her back on him. And how low was Lauren for using the situation to her advantage? All he wanted to do now was crawl into bed with his wife. As part of his nightly routine, he walked to the front door to make sure it was locked. Sara must have already locked it, because the bolt was already in place. When he turned to walk towards the stairs, however, he saw a faint glow coming from beneath the door to his office. Because of his job, he was always overly cautious, so he moved silently towards the door, very gently turned the knob and poked his head inside. Just in his line of sight, he saw his stepson Cody, most likely on the computer.
He sighed and opened the door all the way, wondering why on earth Cody was on the computer this late at night. As he stepped fully into the room, however, he could see why Cody had locked the door. Apparently, he had found a very interesting website, and one that was not all appropriate for a ten year old boy; and actually, not appropriate for anyone under the age of eighteen.
"Cody," Nick said his name clearly, but didn't want to startle him. Cody had been so engrossed in the picture of the bare-chested woman he'd been staring at, he hadn't heard the door open. He gasped and looked at his stepfather, wide-eyed, his face already flushed with red. Nick wasn't mad. He was a little disappointed, but he understood curiosity was all part of growing up. Now that the internet was around, there was certainly a lot of imagery to feed that curiosity.
Cody fumbled to close the internet screen down, embarrassed beyond words. He couldn't believe his stepfather had walked in when he was looking at…this. Why hadn't he heard him outside the door? Cody opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't think of anything. He heard his voice make little sounds, struggling to form words. Cody was surprised when he saw Nick smirk at him.
"Code-man," Nick sighed and sat on the edge of the desk and crossed his arms. "It's okay to be curious about things, but it's ten o'clock. It's way past your bedtime."
"Umm…" he looked down at his hands, anywhere but Nick's face, trying to think up an excuse. "Yea, I forgot I had a little bit of homework, and then I accidentally linked to this site, and…"
Nick could tell he was embarrassed, but his story was an obvious lie. Nick understood, though. If his father had caught him looking at a porn site as a kid, he'd want to hide in his room and never come out.
"Cody, if you have questions about…anything, you can come talk to me or your mom," Nick reminded him. Since Cody's father wasn't around, and Sara was a woman, obviously, Nick felt the responsibility of having "the talk" with Cody fell in his lap. Thinking back to his own childhood, the last person he'd want to talk about sex with was his mother. His father was pretty high up on the list too, but Nick hoped he was making himself approachable. If Cody could get past his initial embarrassment, Nick would be willing to talk about it openly. "Sex sites aren't exactly the best place to get information, and they don't portray women very well."
"Uh, yeah," Cody still avoided looking at him, and scratched the back of his neck, "Well, I better get to bed, I guess." He stood up and pushed in the chair, anxious to get away from this awful situation.
"Okay. Good night," Nick told him, understanding now was not the best time to give Cody the talk. Cody quickly wished him good night also and disappeared from the room, and ran up the stairs. Nick chuckled to himself a little, and leaned over the desk to shut down the computer. He stretched for a moment before turning off the light and heading upstairs to his bedroom for the evening.
Sara was already asleep, based on her shallow breathing. As he closed the door to the room, he looked over at his beautiful sleeping wife. Her arm was perched protectively over her growing belly, and her head turned to the side. Nick felt badly that she seemed to be suffering through this pregnancy. Her morning sickness had been worse than it had been with Cody, and her hormones were making her emotional. Nick sighed and stripped off his t-shirt, shoes, and jeans and tried crawling into bed without disturbing his wife. She needed as much rest as she could get, since she refused to quit working.
As Nick climbed in, the creaking of the mattress woke Sara up, and her eyes fluttered open. She smiled when she saw her husband settling in. Reaching out with her hand, she gently ran her hands through his short brown hair, causing Nick to look over at her.
"Hey, babe," he whispered, then leaned over to give her a tender kiss. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." His hand instinctively traveled under her tank top to rub the bulge in her stomach, which held his growing child. Suddenly, he had an awful, disturbing thought. If Madeline moved out of the house to live with Lauren, it would likely devastate Sara. Though the two weren't exceptionally close, Sara loved her stepdaughter unconditionally. Over the past few years, they'd grown closer. If Madeline were to suddenly leave, especially with Sara in the state she was in, it would break Sara's heart. Right now, Sara had no idea what was going on. It was Wednesday night, so it was normal for Maddie to be at her mother's for the night.
Sara sensed that something was troubling her husband as he rested his head on his pillow, his hand still resting on her stomach. She looked at his face – his forehead always seemed tensed when he was worried, and it was now. "Nick, what's the matter?"
Nick often underestimated Sara's ability to read him. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked back at her. Right now, he wasn't going to get into Madeline's desire to move in with her mother, but he knew if he didn't spill something, she'd be worried and suspicious.
"I'm just concerned about Maddie," he began, resting his head in his hand, propped up on his elbow. "I told her not to see Gavin until I could trust her again, and her English grade came back up. But she's at her mom's house, and I found out he was over there."
"Wow," Sara commented, raising her eyebrows. "She is really into him, isn't she?"
Nick scrubbed a hand over his face. "I guess so. I grounded her, but I don't think Lauren's gonna be enforcing it."
Sara turned onto her side and ran her hand up and down her husband's chest soothingly. She knew Madeline meant the world to him. Maddie meant the world to her, too, and it hurt to find out she'd been deceiving them. "Oh, sweetheart," she said sympathetically. "It'll all blow over sooner or later. She's only there once a week, so you can keep an eye on her the rest of the time," she pointed out, oblivious to Maddie's threats.
Nick closed his eyes in frustration. He felt bad for not telling Sara, but he really didn't want to upset her. Plus, Maddie's mood often swung from good to bad, back to good at the drop of a hat. Maybe she didn't really mean she wanted to move in with Lauren and Howard. She could just be trying to call his bluff. Nick hoped it wasn't just wishful thinking. As Sara laid her head on his chest and let out a relaxed sigh, he really hoped Maddie didn't mean it. It would crush him, and crush Sara if she left.