Time 2 Talk

Miry finally made an appointment with Hope for a therapy session. After two years of emotional turmoil, she was finally brought to this point. As much as she wanted to believe she didn't have a problem, deep down she knew that she did.

"So what brings you here today?" Hope asked.

"My parents." Miracle replied.

"Your parents? Are you sure?"

"Well... It was their idea." Miracle took a deep breath. "Ok... Maybe I've been sad... and afraid."

"Maybe?"

"Fine, actually."

"When did you start feeling that way?"

"I guess when Darren died... I loved him so much. He was more of a dad to me than my dad was. We were really close. He was still young and he died saving me and Izzy. I could've died that day. Life can end at any moment, you can lose someone you love at any moment. All I can do is live for today because tomorrow is never promised, hell the next minute isn't promised so I don't want to die before accomplishing everything that I want. There's no time to second guess. Do what you want and do it now?"

This was a good start for Miracle. Hope dived right into her problems and really felt her pain. Hope was the best person for Miracle to talk to.

-v-

Leon and Sam were having some bonding time with their dad, Vic. They were both so happy that they finally had a chance to know him.

"What's going on with my boys?" Vic asked.

"Sierra's pregnant." Sam announced.

"... Congratulations. Looks like I'm going to be a grandfather again."

"Yeah! We're excited... What's up with you Le?" Sam asked.

"I met a girl. We're going on our first date soon."

"What about Miry?" Vic and Sam asked in unison.

"We broke up a couple months ago. You both know that."

"Yeah but you love her, don't you?" Sam asked.

"Of course I love her but I can't give her what she needs or wants right now. Besides, we're young. Maybe we should experience other things before we get tied down to each other. We both have a lot of growing up to do. As much as we love each other, I don't think we would last long if we stayed together where we are in our lives right now. I think we're better off taking a break from each other."

"As much as I love Miry, I totally agree with you. I'm glad you figured it out on your own." Vic said.

-v-

Matthew decided to take Destiny's advice about how to handle Nicole and Drew but especially Nicole. He allowed them to see their mothers under supervision. He gave Drew the typical no going out, no phones, no nothing punishment but he went a different route with Nicole. Along with the no nothing punishment, he never let her out of his sight and had her working with him at B.E. He also had someone watching her when she went to school to make sure she stayed there and didn't cut class.

Matthew was at the office and had Nicole working with him and she was being difficult about it as usual.

"Nic, I need you to make twenty copies of this document for me." Matthew said.

"Make your damn copies!" Nicole said.

"Excuse me. That's what I have you here for. Now go make the damn copies!" Nicole snatched the documents off the desk. "You better do it right. It's not rocket science."

"Whatever." Nicole walked out of the room. She came back a few minutes later with the copies."I'm not your slave, you know."

"No, you're my daughter and I'm trying to teach you some responsibility."

"What do you know about responsibility?" Nicole mumbled. "You've really been more of a pain in the ass since you've gotten with Destiny."

"Your mouth has gotten out of control lately. Don't say another word for the rest of the day. Finish what I told you to do early."

"Ugh!" Nicole rolled her eyes and sat down. "Asshole." She mumbled.

-v-

Destiny went to pick Drew up from her after school program.

"Why are you picking me up?" Drew asked.

"No one else was available so your dad asked me to come get you." Destiny replied.

"Oh... Well thanks. You know, if I had a car this wouldn't be a burden on everyone."

"Are you seriously asking for a car when you're grounded?"

"I'm just saying."

"Your dad would love for you to have a car but he doesn't want to reward bad behavior. Keep up what you've been doing and I'm sure he'll get you a car... I do want to tell you that I'm really proud of you for beginning to follow your own lead. I've noticed you've been a lot better."

"Really? Thanks. I've really tried... I never really noticed what I was doing before... I mean I knew it was wrong but I wasn't mature enough to do better."

"I know we're not really close and you and Nic probably aren't crazy about me but I do care about you guys and not just because your father and I are together now. Remember when you and Nic were really young, you two used have sleepovers at my house?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. That's when Miry, Nic and I were really close. I was like three years old then. Why'd the sleepovers stop?"

"That was my fault, I was kind of preoccupied after I had DJ."

"...If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell my dad?"

"That's a dangerous agreement... But fine, what is it?"

"I've been dating Harvey. He's my boyfriend."

"Why is that a secret? Harvey is a great guy. It's a good thing that you're with him."

"I'm glad you think so because I'm not so sure that my dad will be ok with it since he doesn't really get along with the Fords."

"You have nothing to worry about. His issues with the Fords are very petty at this point. Your dad doesn't even have time to focus on it anymore, besides, he loves Starr and he knows she has great kids. Just tell him, he won't mind and if he does, I'll talk to him myself, ok?"

"Thanks Destiny... And for the record, I never had a problem with you. Nicki does but I don't. I know that you've always looked out for us even if it was from the sidelines and I know that you're a good person."

"I appreciate that Drew."

-v-

Miracle went over to LaBoulé to talk to Izzy's mom, Rayan. Rayan, her twin sons, Ryan and B.K lived in the guest house with Brendan Thornhart. Rayan and Brendan have been married for three years now. Miracle was hoping Brendan wouldn't be around so that she could talk to Rayan alone.

"Hey Miry! What brings you here?" Rayan asked.

"I need to talk to you... It's about Izzy." Miracle said.

"Come in... I hope it isn't anything serious. Is she alright?"

"Not really? Her boyfriend is abusing her."

"No! I can't believe this. Are you sure?"

"Yes. I saw the black eye and everything and she's acting like she did when Oswaldo was abusing her."

Rayan went on a rant in Spanish.

"The scars from what Oswaldo did to her are deeper than what we thought. Ugh! Why did I marry him in the first place? Times like this, I wish I had a big strong husband to could whip some ass... You never heard say that... Izzy needs counseling and an intervention... I'll get her to go away with me for a few days and when we come back we'll have an intervention for her. I can't let me baby be abused again." Rayan said.

-v-

After talking to Destiny, Drew felt better about telling her dad she was dating Harvey. She was ready to stop hiding it.

Drew came down the stairs and into the living room and saw Matthew on the couch playing with Del. Matthew had her for the weekend.

"Daddy, can we talk?" Drew asked.

"Sure." Matthew replied then Drew joined him on the couch. "Del, won't you head to the kitchen and get your snack ok."

"Ok daddy!" Del said before leaving the room.

"What's up? You said 'daddy' so you must want something." Matthew said.

"I don't want anything. I just have something to tell you."

"I hope it's not bad news."

"No!"

"You're not getting off punishment."

"It's not about that!"

"Ok, I'm listening."

"... I have a boyfriend."

"Really? Since when?"

"Uh... Since about six months ago."

"More sneaky secrets huh?"

"Ugh! Dad, it's not like that. Would you just listen? I didn't know how you'd react but I'm really trying to be honest here. I talked to Destiny and she said it was a good idea to tell you and you wouldn't overreact."

"You talked to Destiny before you talked to me?" Matthew asked, surprised.

"Ugh! Does it matter? I talked to some mature adult. Isn't that the important thing?"

"You're right. I'm sorry so who is this guy? He better be treating you right."

"He's Harvey Ford."

"... Starr's son... Hm."

"What does that mean?"

"I wouldn't have thought... Eh... I guess that's fine. Hopefully he's more like his father and Starr then his uncles or grandfathers."

"He is! I promise, he's the best guy in the world."

"Good... Invite him over for dinner."

"Really?"

"Yes. He better not be like his uncles."

"He's not daddy."

"... Thanks for being honest with me." Drew left the room excited and skipping.
Looks like I'm making progress with one of my girls." Matthew smiled.

-v-

Matthew gets Del every weekend from Friday to Sunday. Dani was supposed to pick Del up on Sunday and she never showed. Now it's Monday, a school day and Matthew never received a phone call or anything. He tried to call her and he got no answer but he knew she was fine because he heard through the grapevine that she was out on Sunday, someone saw her go home. This was out of character for Dani but she had been doing a lot of out of the ordinary things lately. Every since Matthew and Shane took her out of the club that night she had been avoiding conversation with him and lately she had been having other people pick up Del and never wanted Matthew to come to the house. Destiny had even seen her less and less. Matthew was fed up with the nonsense and wanted to get to the bottom of her out of the ordinary behavior.

Matthew took the kids, including Del to school then headed to Dani's house. After a long wait Vida answered the door.

"Why aren't you in school?" Matthew asked.

"First of all, you're not my daddy, you're Del's daddy. Secondly, my mom is really sick. She's been sick every since last night. That's why she couldn't get Del and she was too sick to take me to school."

"Your mom went out last night."

"Yeah and she came home sick."

"I don't believe you."

"Nobody asked you to believe me. It's the truth. Deal with it."

"I want to see her."

"I told you she's sick you idiot."

"You're ten years old with a mouth like that?"

"Don't worry about my mouth." Vida rolled her eyes. "Come back another time." Vida quickly closed the door in Matthew's face, locked it, leaned against it and slid down to the floor.

-v-

Miracle was having lunch with Hope so that they could talk outside the office. Talking to Hope really seemed to be helping her move on.

"Maybe I was a little pushy with Leon... It's only because I love him so much." Miracle said.

"Maybe after some time, you two can get back together." Hope replied.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that will happen any time soon." Miracle gazed outside thinking she saw Nicole but no way, Nicole was supposed to be in school... But it was her alright and she was all over a man who looked like he was at least Miracle's age. "Oh hell no! That heffa is trippin. Excuse me, Hope. I have to handle my little fast tail sister." Miracle quickly walked outside to them. Nicole was in shock. "Hey Nic! Hello, I'm Nicole's oldest sister Miracle and you are?"

"I'm Dan."

"Dan! How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Why?"

"Miracle, can you just-" Nicole started.

"I asked the guy a question." Miracle said.

"Not that it's any of your business but I'm twenty-one." Dan replied.

"Are you now? And what are you to my sister?"

"Her boyfriend. What's up with the third degree?"

"Boyfriend!"

"Miracle!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Did you know Nicole was only sixteen?" Miracle asked.

"Sixteen? You're sixteen?" Dan asked.

"Yep, you're about to catch a case." Miracle said.

"Dan, I'm sorry. I just like you so much." Nicole said.

"I can't believe you're sixteen!"

"Now you know so stay away from her before you end up behind bars. Let's go Nicole." Miracle said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. You're not my mother!" Nicole said.

Miracle got closer to her. "Don't you dare make a scene. Now move it."

Miracle said goodbye to Hope and took Nicole to her car.

"Really Nic? You're dating a twenty-one year old? What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you not in school? Dad has someone watching you to make sure you don't cut, how did you get passed them?"

"Come on, no one figured I'd find a way around that after a couple weeks? Please."

"Well your hot ass is going to learn today. Wait until dad finds out about this."

"You're going to tell dad? You're Ms. Goody Two Shoes, Ms. Had a Baby at Sixteen?"

"Oh you're going to throw that in my face, huh? No, I'm not perfect. I made one mistake. At sixteen I may have had a baby but I wasn't dating men five years older than me. I wasn't skipping school. I wasn't sneaking out and goings parties. I wasn't doing drugs and drinking and I wasn't getting tattoos and piercings. So that's my one against your one hundred. Try again. Now are you having sex with that guy?"

"None of your business."

"I'll take that as a yes. You better be using protection... Ooh, wait until dad hears about this."

"You're not telling dad."

"The hell I'm not!"

"If you tell dad, I'll make sure all of Llanview knows that you don't know who the father of your son is."

"Oh so now you want to blackmail me and spread a big ass lie about your own sister and nephew. Honey, I've been with one man and we were friends our entire lives. There's nothing slutty about me but if you want to spread lies, you want to tell the press some BS about me, here's the phone. Go ahead and make your phone calls. Who are you going to call, Aunt Vicki because she won't print it? Vic Lord? He's damn sure not going to print it. Todd Manning? He won't print it either. You going to try to get Bre to put that BS in her magazine because you know she won't? I guess your last choice is to leak it on the Internet or Access Llanview or something but I can call Aunt Viki, Vic and Bre to straighten that all out so you want to tell lies on me and blackmail me, go right ahead. What else you got? Whatever you do, I'm still telling dad as soon as I see him."

"Everyone can know you're crazy too and receiving psychiatric treatment."

"Twist the truth if you want to. I don't care. You want crazy, I'll show you crazy. Don't play games with me. You won't win."

When they got to the Buchanan mansion, Matt wasn't there. He was working from B.E today but Miracle definitely was not going to let Nicole off the hook like Ace and Drew had done.

I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter. Believe me, I think you're all going to love the next chapter!