Chapter 3:

"Hi mom." Ezra said, smiling uncomfortable as he sat down in front of his mother.

"Hello Ezra." Dianne said, smiling back at him. "You didn't bring Aria?"

"Oh no, she's coming. Actually, there's something that I need to tell you first." Ezra said, fiddling with his watch.

"Are you getting a divorce?" Dianne asked.

"What?! No!" Ezra said, surprised. "I love Aria. Why would you even think that?"

"Because whatever it is you want to tell me is something you can't do in front of her so I just assumed..."

"No, no. It's nothing like that! Aria knows what I want to talk to you about, she would be here right now but she needs to do something else first." Ezra said.

"Shouldn't family come before work?" Dianne said pointedly.

"What she's doing is family-related." Ezra replied evenly.

"Ezra!" said a voice behind him and he turned around to see a panicked Aria running into the restaurant, carrying Daisy in her arms. His eyes widened as he looked at his mother, who's face was a mask of shock.

"Ezra, she has a fever! All the crying wasn't from the diaper rash like I'd thought, she's sick!" Aria said frantically as tears spilled over her eyes.

Ezra took Daisy from Aria's arms and felt her forehead. She was right, Daisy had a fever. He jumped out of his seat and was about to run back to his car and drive to the hospital but his mother called his name. When he turned around, she looked as though she'd been hit by a car.

"Is she...yours?" Dianne asked, shocked.

Ezra paused and then nodded. "Look, I know this is a shock to you but I need to take her to the hospital. You can either join us there or I can call you later."

Dianne nodded. "I'll meet you at the hospital." she said, reaching into her purse for her keys as Ezra ran to his car with Daisy in his arms and Aria right behind him. He drove quickly to the hospital, thankful that the streets weren't very crowded and pulled up to the hospital. He turned to Aria. "Take her inside, I'm going to park and I'll meet you inside."

Aria nodded before rushing out of the car with Daisy and into the hospital.

"So it appears that Daisy has the flu." Doctor Phillips said half an hour after their arrival. "It's nothing to serious, I'll prescribe some medicine that you can give her twice a day for about a week. The fever should go down in about three days, just make sure she's getting lots of rest and that she's always dressed in warm clothing. A hat, a sweater, socks, and if you take her outside, then a jacket, the usual."

Aria and Ezra listened attentively to the instructions. Aria had taken out a pen and notebook and began jotting down everything the doctor said. When he finished speaking, Ezra shook his hand and thanked him and Aria picked Daisy up and then they headed out.

In the waiting room, Mrs. Fitzgerald was sitting in a chair, waiting for them. When she saw the three of them she stood up and crossed her arms. "Is she okay?"

Ezra nodded. "She's got the flu but it's not too serious."

Dianne nodded. "Okay. Explain now."

Aria looked uneasily at the other people sitting in the waiting room. "Do you think maybe we could do this somewhere more...private? How about we go home?"

Dianne sighed impatiently. "Fine, but as soon as we get there, you both have some serious explaining to do."

The couple nodded and the four of them headed out.

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up to the Fitz household and they all went inside. Aria went to put Daisy straight to bed and Dianne and Ezra sat on the couch, waiting for her to return.

"Do you, um, want some coffee or something?" Ezra asked, trying to ease the tension.

Dianne glared at him. "What I want is answers." she said, just as Aria returned and sat down beside Ezra, taking his hand in hers.

"Okay, um, well, as you know, we got married two years ago." Ezra started.

"Without telling me of course." Dianne said, continuing to glare at him.

"Um, right. Well, about eleven months later, we found out that I was three-months pregnant. And Daisy was born seven months ago on November 25th." Aria finished.

"Why wasn't I notified about this?" Dianne asked.

Ezra looked very uncomfortable now, and he felt Aria squeeze his hand, trying to comfort him.

"Um, we were going to tell you..." Ezra started. He wasn't really sure how to continue from there as he nervously fiddled with his tie.

"But?" Dianne prompted. "Let me guess, you didn't want me there." she said, staring pointedly at Aria.

"What, no, I-" Aria started to defend herself but Ezra cut in.

"Aria didn't do anything! She tried to get me to invite you, but you know what mom? I didn't want to come!"

"Ezra stop." Aria said quietly, grabbing his arm.

No. She wanted to hear why we didn't invite her, so I'm going to say it. It's because you never approved of our relationship, and I thought that if I told you, you would make a scene and ruin our wedding." Ezra finished angrily.

"Ezra" Aria said, glaring at him.

"Well what do you want me to say?" Ezra retorted. "That her invitation got lost in the mail? She wanted the truth and I gave it to her."

Aria was about to respond when Dianne broke in.

"Fair enough. You didn't want me there so you didn't invite me. Just remember that I'm the person who brought you into this world, you ungrateful man! I raised you to be the man you are today, and you know what, fine, you didn't invite me to your wedding, but you could have at least told me that I have a granddaughter. Did you ever stop and think that while you were depriving me of my grandchild, you were depriving that little girl of her grandmother? Had that ever occurred to you?"

Ezra didn't respond.

"Anger blinds you. So while you hold a grudge against me for not being a member of Aria's fan club, just think about the fact that everything you do affects that little girl sleeping in her crib." Dianne said, pointing to the bedroom. With that, she stood up and headed for the door.

Aria nudged Ezra and motioned for him to stop her. Ezra shook his head, still angry. Frustrated, Aria got up and followed her mother-in-law. "Wait!" she said.

Dianne stopped and glared at her. "What?"

"Do you...do you want to meet Daisy?" she asked.

Dianne's expression softened ever so slightly. "I...I don't know if my son would agree."

Aria turned around to look at Ezra but he wouldn't meet her eyes. She turned back to Dianne. "You're her grandmother, I think you deserve to be a part of her life."

Dianne looked at Aria for a moment before looking over at Ezra, who still hadn't lifted his head. Finally she nodded. "Okay."

Aria turned towards the bedroom and gestured for Dianne to follow. She led her to the crib where Daisy was sleeping peacefully, the medicine clearly doing its job.

"She's precious." Dianne whispered, leaning over the crib to plant a kiss on Daisy's forehead. The baby stirred slightly, but did not wake up. Aria smiled at the exchange, knowing that Daisy had charmed another person with her innocence and cuteness. After a moment, Dianne turned to Aria and gestured that she was ready to leave. Aria walked her to the door/

"Thank you for letting me meet her." Dianne said.

"Maybe you can come over again and see her while she's awake." Aria offered.

Dianne smiled. "That would be lovely. Goodnight Aria."

"Goodnight." Aria said, shutting the door behind her.

When she went back to the living room, she found Ezra with a glass of scotch in his hands.

"Ezra, what was that?" Aria asked, standing in front of him and reaching for the glass in his hands.

Ezra pulled the glass away from her outstretched hands and took another sip.

"Ezra"

"Leave me alone." he replied.

"What's the matter with you? Ezra, that's you mother, she gave birth to you and raised you!"

"Yeah and she tried on many occasions to ruin my life!" Ezra retorted.

"I get that, and I realize that you're angry, but she loves Daisy and we can't just forbid her from seeing her!"

"Why not?" Ezra asked. "We're Daisy's parents, we get a say in who gets to see her."

"Ezra, just think about Daisy for a minute. Do you really want her to grow up and find out that she couldn't meet one of her grandmothers because her parents didn't want her to? They have a right to know each other, whether we like it or not!" Aria said, trying to keep her own temper under control.

"She's our daughter! And I don't want my mother to influence her in a bad way or to try and ruin her life! I just want to protect her!"Ezra shouted.

"Did you see the way she looked at Daisy? No, you didn't, because you were too busy being to stubborn. I saw the way she looked at her and I'm telling you, she loves our daughter! And I'm not going to take her out of Daisy's life because you don't trust her! People can change!" Aria yelled back.

"If you want my mom to be able to see Daisy then fine! But just watch, when something happens, it'll be on you, not me!" Ezra said. Aria flinched as he slammed his empty glass on the table and stood up, going into the bedroom.

Uh-oh! Okay, so I've decided to leave a question at the end of each chapter and you can respond to it in the review or you can PM me. This way, I can get more opinions. So the question for today is:

How long do you think it'll take for Ezria to work this out? And how do you think they will work it out? (okay that's two questions but whatever)

Happy reading!

-xox Sobia :)