CPOV

"Ana, what are you saying to me? This...this can't be."

"Oh? It can be and it is and yes, she is your daughter, Christian."

"How? When? I...I don't understand?!"

"The how and the when are very easy to explain, though I'm sure you don't need a diagram to figure out how it happened, do you?"

"But I thought, I mean, you were on the pill and..."

"The pill isn't foolproof, Christian, as you can very well see," Ana says as the baby continues to coo and pull on my lips.

"Kristen needs to go to sleep." Ana takes the baby from me and I, for whatever reason, immediately feel bereft. Holy shit! That little baby is already under my skin.

I am in complete shock as Ana's words are still resonating in my mind. I'm thankful that I have a moment to grasp the enormity of the situation. When Ana returns, the first thing I ask is, "Does my mother know? Is that why you were there today?"

Ana looks at me and slowly nods...

***Earlier That Morning***

APOV

"Ana, are you sure you want to do this? You've been through so much already," Noah says as we sit together enjoying our breakfast.

"Yes, I'm sure, Noah. I can't keep this a secret much longer and I owe it to Grace, she needs to know the truth. Only thing is, I feel guilty about telling her before I tell Christian," I say as I feed my baby girl some soft scrambled eggs as she plays with and feeds herself cheerios.

"Why should you feel guilty? You didn't leave. He did. You don't owe him a damn thing, Ana!"

"Noah, stop swearing in front the baby. I will not have her hearing this type of foul language."

Noah makes a face and speaks baby talk, "I'm sowwy baby, I no mean to talk dat way in fwont of my baby girl, no, no, no. Mommy gonna spank me if I talk naughty in fwont of youuuuu."

"Oh Noah, please stop talking like that, you know it drives me nuts," I say in a huff.

"Ok, fine. Listen, I've got a tee-time in about forty-five minutes. Are you going to be ok?" he asks as he stands.

"I'll be fine, Noah, go on. Enjoy your golf game," I reply.

He kisses my forehead and kisses my girl, giving her raspberries on her cheek that make her laugh and then he's off.

I take my baby girl to her bedroom and get her ready for the day that lies ahead of us. Give me strength, I think silently to myself.

"Hey little one, are you ready to go out and have some fun?" I ask her as I slip on her brown sweater. Brown, the only color that I allow her to wear when we go out. The color serves a purpose because her eyes change color depending on the color clothes she wears. Her brown sweater makes her eyes look green; if she wears any other color her eyes look exactly like her father's.

GPOV

I don't know what to make of these couple of months. Christian told his father and me that he made the decision to pursue Ana. I had and still have a bevy of mixed emotions.

A part of me is happy that he wants Ana back in his life though a part of me fears that if she does take him back that he'll break her heart once more and in turn destroy himself. Christian has been open and honest with us since he left her and made us promise not to continue a relationship with her. He said it would only make it more difficult for him, as he severed all ties with her.

I was angry with Christian for making us keep that promise until he spoke openly and frankly about the demons that he was fighting. It was a dark and ugly place that he'd attempted to escape, only he kept going back for more, he said he felt as though the monster inside of him needed to be silenced once for all and the only way he could do that was through punishment. A punishment that he never felt he got as a child. I'm not sure how he can say that seeing as he was abused for most of his young life.

Of course as far as his father and I were concerned, he'd been punished enough just by being raised by an addict mother and an abusive pimp. We wanted to win him over and show him love. He never understood how or why we loved him and to some degree, he still doesn't believe he's deserving of love.

That all changed when Ana came into his life and as quickly as she came into all of our lives and made Christian happy, she disappeared just as quickly and so did Christian's belief of being deserving of anyone's love.

Mia and Elliot were both very angry at Christian for breaking Ana's heart and for ruining his chance at happiness. Carrick and I tried to remain supportive of our son as we knew there were extenuating circumstances. It wasn't easy but we all eventually let Ana go. Ana's name was not mentioned at our family gatherings but she was there, her obvious presence was still in the room, her smile, her sunshine, her love. We all missed her.

Christian had a small trust fund from a distant relative who had long since passed away, a last connection to his former life. Once he ended things with Ana, he decided to use some of the money to travel and explore. He was away from us for a year before he decided to come home; we would get an occasional postcard or phone call. Christian was traveling through Europe, another attempt at trying to heal what was ailing him.

When he did return home he was a shell of the person he was when he was with Ana. Christian was thin; his eyes were dark with almost with no life in them. I stood there at the front door in shock. He fell into my arms and said, "Mom, I'm fucked up. I can't run anymore. I'm so sorry, I can't do this. Help me."

Carrick and I wasted no time getting our son the help he needed. We made an appointment with Doctor John Flynn. He was referred to me by one of my colleagues and it was the best decision we've made. Since seeing John, Christian has put his life back on track. He used the remainder of his trust fund to start his company and we watched with pride as our son built his company from the ground up.

We couldn't be happier for our son. Actually, we could be a bit happier if he found someone to love. Since Ana, he's not dated. Well, not that we know of, he keeps his personal life very private which is why it was a complete surprise that he let Cary and me know of his intentions regarding Ana. I knew that Ana lived in Seattle, she's doing quite well for herself, though she too, leads a very private life. They are oddly similar in that way.

I'm brought back from my thoughts as I hear the doorbell ring. I walk towards the door and there she is, right in front of me, looking as beautiful as the day we first met. Ana!

Something is different about her; she's holding a little someone in her arms. A little girl, she can't be more than two years old and she's absolutely beautiful. Her eyes are the first thing I notice. They are a beautiful shade of green, unlike any green that I've seen before.

"Grace? Are you ok?" Ana asks.

"Oh goodness, Ana, I'm sorry dear. Do come in. I...I wasn't expecting you."

"I know and I apologize for this unexpected visit. I needed to speak to you and I needed to be sure that you were alone," Ana says as she walks in, looking around.

"We're alone, Ana, no worries. Mia's out-of-town and Carrick is at a golf tournament."

"I'm sorry to visit you like this, especially after all this time," she says nervously.

"It's fine, Ana. Do come in and have a seat," I say as I lead Ana to the family room and we take a seat.

"May I get you something to drink dear? Coffee, tea, water?"

"Thank you Grace, we're fine. We just finished our meal before we arrived."

Well, there's no getting around this beautiful little baby so I decide to ask the obvious. God help me.

"Who do we have here?" I ask, hoping against hope that it's not the answer that I fear most. Please let it be her niece, a cousin, or even a friend's daughter she's babysitting. Please don't let it be Ana's daughter, a daughter with green eyes, like Noah, her first boyfriend.

"This is my daughter," Ana says as she removes her little brown sweater, careful not to remove her flowered pink headband. My heart breaks for my baby boy, does Christian know? How will he handle this? Is she married? Focus, Grace, focus. Her daughter is wearing a lovely pink and white striped shirt and she is the cutest little thing that I've ever seen.

"Would you like to hold her?" Ana asks as she pulls down her t-shirt that exposed an adorable chubby belly.

"I would love to, Ana," I say as she places her daughter on my lap, facing me. I look at her again, time slows down, the color of her eyes have transformed from a sea green to a deep grey.

"Grace, I'd like you to meet my daughter Noelle, your...granddaughter."

APOV

"My...granddaughter?" Grace asks in shock. "Oh my God, Christian!" Grace says as she holds my baby girl. "Oh Noelle, I'm so happy to meet you, my beautiful granddaughter," Grace exclaims as the tears fall down her face; she peppers Noelle's face with little kisses. Noelle looks at her grandmother with her big gray eyes; she smiles and puts her chubby hands on Grace's face.

I start to cry as I see Grace bonding with my baby.

"Oh Noelle, you are so beautiful. You have eyes just like your daddy! Yes, you do, Miss Noelle."

"Kristen Noelle actually, but we call her Noelle," I say as I grab some tissues from my bag. I hand one to Grace and I keep one for myself as we wipe the tears from our eyes.

"Ana, dear Ana. You named her Kristen. I'm so sorry you had to do this on your own," Grace says as she takes my hand while still holding her granddaughter.

"You're sorry? I thought you'd be angry with me for not telling you that you have a granddaughter."

"Oh Ana, darling. Of course I'm upset but I can't blame you for your actions. Christian said he left you and...oh dear God, please don't tell me he left you because you were pregnant?!"

"No, Grace, he didn't know. He left before I knew I was pregnant and because of that, I decided not to tell him. I didn't want him to come back just because I was pregnant. I'm sorry, Grace, I'm so sorry. I hope you can forgive me."

"Ana, oh dear sweet Ana. You're still so very young and the fact that you came here to do right by our family speaks volumes. I'm...I'm a grandma!"

"I'm relieved that you feel this way, Grace. I had the biggest fear of not knowing what or how you would react to this news."

"I'm over the moon, Ana! Only, I'm guessing Christian still doesn't know?" Grace asks and the room becomes silent, with the exception of little Kristen blowing raspberries.

"No, he doesn't. I'm not sure why but I felt the need to tell you before I spoke to Christian or anyone else about my little revelation."

Grace looks to Kristen and says, "And what a lovely little revelation you are, little one. I cannot wait for Aunty Mia to meet you, she and I are going to have so much fun spoiling you." Grace quickly looks up. "That is, if it's ok with your mommy? Ana, you are telling me this because you do want us all to be a part of Kristen's life, correct? I mean, you're not leaving us, are you?"

"Of course not, Grace, that's another reason why I needed to see you. I had a visit from Christian two months ago; he came to my office. He's determined to win me back. I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I know we have many things to discuss and our discussion is now going to include our child. He's been waiting for me to call him so I plan on doing that today. I need to face the music but then again, so does he. I trust you can keep this to yourself? At least until tomorrow?"

"Of course, Ana, I won't say a word. Perhaps we can have a family dinner tomorrow and make the big announcement?" Grace says as she makes funny faces to Kristen.

"I'm not sure how things will go today but yes, dinner tomorrow would be lovely." I look at the time - I have more to do before this day is over.

"Grace, I really should be going. I have a busy day and I need to mentally prepare for meeting Christian today," I say as I stand to leave.

Grace takes a deep breath; she stands and asks, "Do you need a babysitter? I'm available."

I giggle and say, "I'm fine for today but I'll definitely take a rain check." I extend my arms to take Kristen but Grace says, "No, let me hold her. I'll walk you to your car."

I smile and nod. Grace walks us to my car and I get Kristen strapped in her car seat.

As Grace walks away I hear her cell phone ring...

CPOV

I recall the conversation that I had with my mom earlier today after Ana finally called me.

"Mom?"

"Christian dear. How are you?"

"Mom, are you alright? You sound...different."

"I'm fine, dear. What can I do for you, darling?"

"Mom, Ana called me. She'd like to meet with me tonight. I'm hoping this is good news. I was wondering, you know, if things go well between Ana and me, maybe we can have a family dinner tomorrow?

"Mom, are you there? Hello?"

"Yes, dear, I'm here."

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think it's a lovely idea, Christian."

"Ok, I'll call you later tonight and let you know how things went. Wish me luck, mom."

"Good luck, son, oh and Christian," Grace says with a note of hesitation. "Keep an open mind, dear."

"I will, mom, thanks." Hmmm, I wonder what she meant by that?

That's why Grace told me to keep an open mind. She knew about the baby!

"Christian, are you going to say anything?"

Ana's voice brings me back to the here and now.

The reality of what's taken place has just hit me.

Me? A father?! This can't be! It's not fair to the baby...to little Kristen, I can't do this to her! She deserves a perfect father, she doesn't deserve to be stuck with the likes of me.

Ana starts to yell at me and I don't understand why until I realize that I've started to walk out on her...again! I'm halfway out the front door! How the hell did that happen?!

Fuck!

Ana is following behind me and she doesn't hold anything back! "Yes. That's right Christian, leave! That's your usual modus operandi, isn't it?!"

I'm so angry at myself! How did I manage to fuck up once again?! I'm also angry at Ana! She's had my daughter all this time and didn't say a word to me!

I quickly turn and march back to face her.

"What did you just say to me?" I snarl.

"You heard me! Go, leave. It's what you do!" Ana shouts.

The anger is boiling over, I can feel it. There is no beast, only my anger. I can do this, I can stay in control. I close my eyes and attempt to count to ten but my words are out before I can stop them.

"Yeah, just like having a baby without telling the father is what you do!"

Slap!

A/N

Hello,

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Rosie :D