"Have you talked with the others about Betsey?"

"No." she answered. "Not yet."

"Why?" Kevin put an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't really know. I just want to figure out what to do first. I'll tell them, I just... I'd like to have something more to say."

"Don't worry honey. Okay?"

"Okay." she smiled at him warmly.

Kevin stayed silent for a while, thinking about something huge that would make his soon-to-be wife happy.

"You know, we never talked about it."

"About what?" she looked up confused.

"About i kids. How do you feel about it?"

"Well, I... I've always wanted children." she told him.

"Because we could, you know... apply for adoption. For Betsy."

Addison stared at him. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, you-" he was cut off by her lips crushing against his. He grinned. "I love you."

"Mmm, me too." she whispered in his neck.

"Well baby, we'd better go to sleep now. It's getting late."

"You go ahead." she answered. "I'll have a quick shower and then come."

Kevin nodded, giving her another quick kiss.

When Addison joined him half an hour later, she found him sound asleep. She smiled, and kissed his temple.

A few hours later, when she was already very comfortable on the bed, she heard her phone ring. She picked it up from the bedside table, "Hello?" it was an unknown number.

"Who's it?" Kevin mumbled half asleep.

"Addison? It's Betsy."

"Betsy?" she exclaimed. Hearing that, Kevin opened his eyes.

"What happened, are you okay? Why are you calling this late?"

"I'm at a party and I need to get away, but I can't drive yet and my friends want to stay... Can you pick me up?"

"Sure." she said, trying to hide her surprise. "Tell me where you are." she grabbed a piece of paper to write it down.

"What happened? Kevin asked her when she out down the phone.

"She asked me to pick her up from some party. I don't know where the place is, I'll take a cab."

"I can come, I'm sure I know where it is."

"I know but... I don't think Betsy will like it if I go with someone she doesn't know. And besides you have to get up early tomorrow."

"Fine." he replied eventually. "Call if you need me."

"Sure." she said kissing him.

x

"Mona Park" Addison told the driver.

He raised his eyebrows, looking at her. "You don't look like the people that usually go there."

"I don't know what or where 'there' is. I'm just picking up someone."

"Got it. I hope for you it's not your son or daughter. When I found out my kid went there, I've forbidden her to go out for two months."

Addison thought the man was being intrusive, but if he was a father maybe he was right. Surely, Betsy was in a place she shouldn't even know about.

"She's not my daughter, but... just, she's a teenager. And I care about her."

"Mona park is a place in Compton where teenagers meet to party all night, sell and buy drugs and drink a lot of alcohol. Actually, most of them are boys and they're all aged around twenty-five years. The girls are usually under eighteen.

"Perfect." she mumbled. "Just perfect."

"We're here."

The redhead raised her eyes and saw Betsy on the sidewalk, looking around.

"Just wait for a second, please." she got out of the cab, as anger raised inside her. How could that girl be so irresponsible!

"Get in the cab." she ordered when she approached her. "Get in the cab now, I don't wanna hear a word." she took her by her arm and walked fast.

"Leave me-"

"No. You called me, now I can have whatever reaction I feel like having." she closed the door and asked the cab driver to go back to her house.

"You have no ri-"

"Like I said, you called me. I don't think you're stupid enough to think I wouldn't be mad just because I paid that bag for you and didn't say anything."

"I simply needed someone to drive me to the group house. And the address is-"

"I'm taking you to my house. I just need to be sure you're safe, Betsy." she added a bit softer.

The girl turned her head towards the window, her arms crossed on her chest. She didn't say anything for the rest of the drive, and Addison didn't either. She was just so furious.

"It's freaking three am Betsy!" she yelled as soon as they entered the living room. "What the hell were you thinking? And Compton! It's, it's, it's somewhere you don't have to go to! Have you been there other times?"

Betsy laughed. "Of course! All of my friends live there, and my boyfriend does too!"

Addison was surprised, but it went away as quickly as it came as soon as she realized that having a boyfriend was the minimum of all the things Betsy would tell her.

"How old is your boyfriend?"

"Huh, just turned twenty-nine."

"I'm sorry? Are you-"

"Okay, okay, I was just kidding. Really. He's just twenty-six."

Addison faked a smile. "How wonderful. What were you doing there?"

"We were dancing, and having fun... you know there were a lot of people, we were at Jeff's house... I don't remember who he is though."

"Perfect. And how did you get alcohol?"

"We bought it."

"How?"

"Fake IDs, silly."

Addison was about to really lose her temper now. "Give it to me."

"No." she shrugged.

"HAND IT HERE BETSY!"

As the voices started becoming louder, Kevin woke up and sat on the bed. He didn't know if Addison wanted him to join her or if she preferred to yell at Betsy on her own. So, he decided to wait some other minutes, but he walked to the top of the stairs so that he could hear better what they were saying.

"Addison, I'm not giving you anything." Betsy repeated.

"Fine, so now you come upstairs with me and go to sleep, and I'll drop you back to where you live before I go to work." she grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her in her direction, but the teenager slipped away.

"I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME! YOU'RE NOT MY MOTHER NOR ANYTHING LIKE IT!" she shouted.

"DID YOU HEAR ME SAY I WAS, YOUNG LADY? I NEVER DID!" Addison yelled back, causing Kevin to jump a little.

She wrapped her fingers around Betsy's arm again, dragging her to the guest room.

"Who the hell is that man?" te girl asked harshly to Addison.

"He's my fiancé, and you're not allowed to talk to him like that. Understood?"

As the two adults expected, she didn't answer.

"I said, understood?" the redhead asked again, louder this time.

"Yes." Betsy said defiantly, as Addison closed the door of the room.

x

The next morning, Addison took Betsy to the group house and asked to talk to Aria.

"Addison." she was very surprised to see her with the teen girl. "Where were you?" she turned to Betsy, who obviously didn't think she deserved an answer.

"She asked me to pick her up this morning at about three, I took her to my house. She was..." she thought for a minute. "She was out with some friends." she stared intensely at the girl, hoping to win her trust somehow. Truth was, she felt bad about how she had treated Betsy. "Aria, I was thinking we should schedule another appointment soon to talk about what I said the last time."

"What did you talk about?" Betsy interrupted.

"I'll tell you another day, I have to get to work now."

Betsy's look was all but friendly. "I don't feel like staying here."

"Bye, sweetheart."