Hello, it is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter! Ah, how wonderful it was to revisit Justin and Eli for this chapter! Although it focuses on quite a heavy moment between Eli, and Justin's daughter, Layla, thanks to the recent-ish arrival of their youngest daughter, Luna, it was just really lovely to write about the couple as a married pair and with a family of their own. It touches me when I think about how hidden and complicated their relationship was the first time around :) But yes, this chapter touches on Eli's relationship with one of his stepchildren in particular, but also shows off their lives around this time. I hope you enjoy :)

Ages:

Eli: 38

Justin: 35

Luna: 9 Months

Layla: 7

Disclaimer: I own only the story and the OCs mentioned!

"Luna, are you going to say bye to your daddy?" Eli crooned as he curved his spine to bend and see the baby strapped in her carrier at eye level. Not that he really needed to. "Say daddy, my love. Say goodbye to him."

Eli's eyes which had been so filled with an equal blend of hope and curiosity soon changed their tune when, soon enough, words contradicting what he had been trying to encourage filled the air. And it wasn't baby Luna coming out with her first words!

After Luna blinked eyes the deep blue hue of the earth at her father in front of her, she was soon turning behind her as she felt a breeze on her neck before the words that Eli too heard were set free.

"Yes, Luna, say bye-bye to daddy. This daddy." Justin went head-to-head with Eli to coax words from their daughter, his mouth quickly spreading wide with an impish grin. He couldn't stop himself from roaming his fingers through her tufty locks to get her full attention in the same way that he had blown air from his lips against them. "Say daddy."

Luna offered the same reaction towards Justin that she had offered to Eli and then some more! Wondrously round eyes locked onto him peering across from her while she was wrapped to his body and facing outwards. And then she erupted into giggles! She merely chuckled.

Luna laughed but apart from that, she remained silent.

Rather than focusing on continuing her drawing at the kitchen table, Layla's eyes darted as if she was watching a match of tennis while her father and her stepdad continued trying to coax words from the little girl in many ways.

A soft sigh escaped her lips that was not too a dissimilar breeze than the one that often tumbled from Justin's lips to blow against Luna's tufty locks as if she was a dandelion. But, just like her only little sister, she decided to keep quiet rather than saying other words.

Layla went back to her drawing.

Eli straightened his spine from resting his hands on his hips and trying to coax those precious words from his even more treasured little girl. He would just have to be patient. They both would. And they didn't mind – not really.

Luna was going to find her voice whenever was right for her. And whether she said daddy or even a completely random word, the occasion would be sure to fill their hearts with joy whenever that moment came.

Although Eli stopped looking down at his daughter, the quality of his gaze did not change as he decided to look over at Justin instead. While his hands roamed into his pockets to hold his fidgets though he did not need to in the comfort of his own home, he couldn't stop himself from going on his tiptoes slightly, his shoulders bunching closer to his ears as he looked at his husband.

"You really had better get going, my darling." Eli spoke and Justin was prompt to send his own gaze down towards his husband, even though both of his hands were occupied by being captured by the fists of Luna as she remained close to him. "The two of you don't want to be late for Lucy and Sammy."

Eli's naturally deep voice elevated as with his second sentence, he addressed his baby daughter for another occasion and leaned forward to plant a lingering kiss on her brown tufty locks. She kicked her legs in her carrier in delight without hesitation and babbled words of her own language.

Then it was Justin's turn.

Not that anybody was paying her attention at that moment in time, but Layla couldn't stop herself from playfully scrunching her nose up and shielding her eyes when the two of them shared a goodbye kiss that wasn't as long as Eli's had been for Luna but was still filled with the same love.

Justin had to clutch onto Luna's hands rather than the other way around when they pulled away from each other, his naturally porcelain cheeks having the blush of a rose and a different kind of smile stretching his mouth wide.

He took a moment to briefly look at his watch while he and Luna's hands were still joined, and Eli was tucking his long hair into place in the way that he liked. Most of it behind his ears except for the thick strands at the front shielding his face.

No matter how many years were added onto his side, he still loved that feeling of comfort.

"I think we are already late at this point." Justin answered before taking his own time to curve his own spine to plant a kiss against the curls on the top of Eli's head. Eli stretched as high as his legs would allow. But then he had to deal with Justin indeed turning away from him. "I trust they'll be willing to forgive."

Eli nodded, forcing himself down to his regular height and his arms wrapping around his own frame seeing as Justin was preparing to really go rather than be there for him to occupy himself with embrace or otherwise.

There would have been a time when they both certainly would not have forgiven, Sammy least of all! But time had moved forward. Layla, who was then nearly eight years old at the kitchen table, was living proof of that. So was Luna with her handful of teeth and dwindling baby chubbiness.

Eli watched Justin reach for Luna's baby bag. He didn't need a jacket because the sun was shining beautifully on that June day.

"You'll say hello to Darcy and Zack for me, won't you?" Eli asked while nodding a second time although he didn't need to, instinctively helping Justin with the strap of the baby bag on his shoulder so it sat more comfortably. "Lu and Sammy too." He allowed Justin to take his nod for himself and changed the gesture of his head from a nod to a twitching shake as he corrected himself. "Oh, and Chia and Bea too, of course."

Justin's shoulders were melting closer to his body as time went on and it wasn't because Eli had adjusted the strap of the bag so that it did not dig into his bony shoulder. He might have spun around on the kitchen floor in his boots to get one more adoring look at his husband, but he did not speak words of affection.

Well, he did. In his own way.

"Is there anybody else you would like me to say hello to?" he teased, making his eyebrows shoot closer to his neat parting for the occasion and his eyes as readable as possible so Eli knew that it was all in jest.

He did anyway without all the extra effort. He knew Justin in the same way that Justin knew him.

Eli answered with the same promptness.

"No." he pretended to mutter with curtness, but he could not allow that quality to truly rumble through his body and that was clear from the subtle smirk that elevated his mouth closer to his ear. Eli decided to plonk himself down at the kitchen table with Layla. "At least, I don't think I'm missing anybody out."

Eli's mouth stretched wider and became a grin rather than a smirk when he caught Layla's eye as she continued drawing, one hand hard at work and the other cupping her face rather than shielding it like when her stepdad and her dad had been kissing.

Layla didn't offer him a grin and a look of the same degree. But she had been in her own world.

She, however, soon had to focus on the outside world as Justin managed to crouch next to her on the floor while Luna remained strapped to his body. He reminded his daughter where he was going and how long he would most likely be, just like he always did, whether he was popping to the grocery shop or heading out on tour.

Then, after Luna gurgled for some reason or another, he tried to get his middle daughter to say goodbye in the same way as he had been playfully encouraging his baby.

"Are you going to stop your drawing for a minute and say goodbye to Luna?" Justin asked, slowly standing back up from crouching but still bending so Luna was as close to her sister as she was to him. He couldn't help but occupy his hands with dancing Luna's feet. "If you do, she might bring you back a cupcake from the church picnic."

Absentmindedly mirroring Layla's own posture of sitting at the table with one hand supporting the side of her face, Eli's expression stopped portraying admiration at how surprisingly agile his husband was at bending and crouching with a baby strapped to him and instead couldn't refrain his own eyebrows darting closer to his hairline.

Bribery wasn't usually something either of them resorted to as parents. But he could understand why Justin had accidentally let this slip. So, he didn't say anything.

Both watched as Layla sighed for a second time that day – this time a more thundery sort of breath rather than a gentle breeze – but she did put her pencil down and she did say goodbye to Luna. In her own way.

Layla patted the top of her sister's head as if she were a canine rather than a baby. But Luna was happy enough either way! She merrily kicked her legs free of her father's hands and chuckled to herself.

Justin and Eli managed not to catch each other's eye, in the silent way that parents often did. Justin also managed to hold back his own breeze escaping from his nostrils although this proved more of a challenge to him than balancing with Luna strapped to him!

"Well, I guess I will catch you all later then guys." Justin announced. He checked he had everything on him which he did. He reminded himself to make sure to say hello to all those people for Eli, even if that interaction had been lighthearted. And he falsified a wave from Luna to Layla which was not returned by the seven-year-old.

Eli raised a hand to wave but also to catch the kiss that Justin blew to them before he headed off. Upon future reflection and hearing this tale, I do not know whether it was this that stopped Justin from being so sturdy. Or whether it was no proper goodbye from Layla to Luna. Or whether it was the brief goodbye that was happening between all of them.

Whatever it was, something made him meet his husband's eye that time. And for all the occasions that Eli misread a situation, this was not one of them.

While his inhale and exhale were silent, his receiving of the wordless message was not. He met Justin's gaze in the same way and bobbed his head just once. His husband copied this gesture. Then, with a close-mouthed smile which revealed a dimple to anybody watching, he was truly off this time. And it was just Eli and Layla in the kitchen.

A wave of silent awkwardness did not fill the room as soon as it was just the two of them. You know the kind; the one that makes your blood run hot and cold at the same time and causes your feet to twitch, as if they are preparing to make a run for it at any given second.

No, no awkwardness occurred between Eli and Layla. There never had been any of that or could be any of that. At least on Eli's part. He had too much love in his heart for the child that was not technically his own to focus on anything other than the joy he felt simply to have her in his life.

The two of them did not meet each other's gaze. Layla was scribbling across her page once again. But Eli still lowered his arm away from his face, using his thumb to nudge against her arm to get her attention.

He figured she wouldn't mind.

"Luna wouldn't say goodbye to me, but I still hope she brings me a cupcake back from the picnic." Eli tried to humor the nearly eight-year-old girl but in the end, while he did capture her attention, he ended up amusing himself most of all!

That was clear from the way that he went on to keep his hands to himself and fold his arms over his chest, his shoulders twitching up and down.

Layla had not been actively encouraged to stop her drawing, merely just acknowledge that she was not alone, but she still put her pencil down for a moment and stop her drawing. As her hands moved up towards her hair it became a possibility that she was doing this to tighten her ponytail.

But she went on to speak words to Eli. And it became clear that it was natural for her to offer him space in the same way he had modelled for her since she had been a younger baby than even Luna.

Layla's nose scrunched up on her tanned face.

"Hopefully she brings you one that somebody dropped in the grass!" she countered, her eyes glinting in their sockets as much as her earrings were doing in her lobes and, just like Eli, her own shoulders began to shake at her own joke.

She promptly resumed trying to draw. But that did not stop the amusement at her own words rippling through her. And this did not stop Eli from sharing in her wit as well.

Although he uttered out a sort of oof noise from the corner of his lips as if he had been wounded, he took the jest well and continued sitting back in the chair with his arms folded over his chest. You see, you had to learn to take this kind of thing in your stride when you were a father, not that Eli had yet learned this from having children of his own.

When you were a stepfather, it was even more crucial of a lesson. Man, Darcy, Zack and certainly Layla too could ridicule him no end!

But he loved every minute of it. He loved every atom of all of them.

In that moment he knew that he had chosen to do the right thing as the smile on his face changed from being that of admiration and altered into adoration instead. He knew he had chosen to do the right thing. And not just by willing to step up for those three stepchildren of his as well as Justin over the years.

He was sure that both Justin and Luna would have a whale of time at the church picnic with Sammy and Lucy and their two daughters, Chia, and Bea. As well as Justin's teenaged children, Darcy, and Zack, who were spending the week with Sammy and their stepmother.

It wasn't like he hadn't wanted to go. But it wasn't like he particularly wanted to either. It had been a busy week what with it being summer and the children wanting to be out and about at every given opportunity. Eli didn't get energized by all of that in the same way that Justin did and that was okay.

He knew he needed a day indoors and he was content to sit the picnic out to spend some time with Layla who had decided to opt out of it too when she heard that Eli wouldn't be attending.

There was no place Eli would rather be. A quiet day in the house with Layla and doing activities like drawing and dancing and listening to music was going to fill his cup up quite a lot. If he played his cards right, by the time Justin returned with Luna, his mind could be free of all things and not just any worries he might have.

He just had to remember to wake their son, Freddy, up from his nap upstairs before his brain became too blissfully empty! Otherwise, he would sleep too long and then be unable to sleep that night and then they would all pay!

Eli didn't bother to stop himself from leaning closer and focus his gaze on Layla while he had thoughts of her and all her siblings, both half and full.

He truly was the luckiest man alive. His life was not free of challenges and often they popped up when he was certain that he was done with the lessons. But when he honestly thought about it, he knew that there was not a lot that he would change.

But there was something to be changed, or at least altered. Eli would allow this to stay in the back of his mind for a few minutes longer.

He did not want the bliss to end. He did not want potential awkwardness to arise for the first time. He did not want to remember that there had been reasons beyond his own social battery for him to be home with Layla.

"Will you tell me what you are drawing today?" Eli broke the silence which felt like not much time at all for him but all the time in the world to Layla. But then again, she was used to him keeping himself to himself sometimes and often staring at all their family.

She knew it was love that made him do this. Well, that's what Justin told her anyway as she got older and wondered if it was because she was doing something wrong.

Layla thought that he was never going to ask! And the reason for this wasn't because she was hoping he was going to. For some reason, she didn't know whether she wanted him to or not. But she figured that he would eventually.

So, because of this, she put her red pencil down all over again and scooted the piece of paper across the table to Eli. She didn't need to remind him to be careful. She knew exactly who she was dealing with.

"It's a photo of me, you, Daddy and Papá." She informed Eli, her hands absentmindedly rising to her head before realizing that she had already tightened her ponytail. Although she had just put it down, that blushing pencil was picked up into her hands once again.

Her digits felt awfully empty now her artwork was in the hold of her stepfather instead.

Eli didn't have to even be holding it or looking at it for long at all for his expression and indeed his heart to be filed with awe. It simply amazed him how quickly time passed and how perfectly children grew and how their little doodles reflected this.

He had watched Layla's artwork go from messy finger paintings aided by Justin as a baby to chaotic rainbow scribbles on a page and eventually do circular people that resembled root vegetables. Somewhere along the way she had somehow figured out to make these doodles of family members more lifelike, even though for some reason she still believed their whole bodies had to be painted their hair colors.

Nowadays, Layla was quite the artist. She took after her father in this way. Her father Justin. Well, Sammy could draw too. But Layla's style was all Justin. It was all people rather than things and expression of love rather than a cry of boredom.

A smile stretched Eli's mouth closer to his ear as one hand clutched the piece of paper and his other hand tried to conceal this mouth of his. But it was to no avail. His eyes said everything.

His eyes said everything.

This was for the best. He went on to say words that Layla didn't wish to be hearing.

"That's absolutely wonderful, Layla." Eli complimented at first and this wasn't the issue. The issue wasn't even that he started to hand the piece of paper back over to her as he figured that she wanted to look at the artwork herself while she heard the encouragement. "Are you going to add Lucy and all the others? Luna too?"

It was as if the white sheet of paper had bled into Layla's tanned skin as soon as he fingers grabbed hold of the page once more. Well, that is until the sunlight streaked in through the window but wasn't the reason for the flush that encapsulated her from the base of her neck to the beginning of her hairline.

She didn't allow the piece of paper to tumble back down to the table, discarded, even though she very much would have liked it too. She couldn't be that obvious with her actions.

Layla, however, decided to be abrupt with her words instead. She came out with a handful that even Eli couldn't misinterpret as anything other than disdain.

"Well, seeing as it's a drawing for Father's Day, I don't see why anybody else would be included in it." Layla snapped. She didn't need to add the words especially not Luna, because they ricocheted around the room as much as the silence that erupted from the four walls of the kitchen.

The silence still wasn't awkward but it sure was weighty. Yet it was the words from Layla that caused Eli's gaze to portray the opposite of a stare and instead flicker around the room before dropping straight down to his lap. His cheeks felt as warm and as slapped pink as the walls of he and Justin's kitchen that was painted in blush. He did not know what to say.

This was not a new experience for him. But it was a new one when it came to parenting. It was a new one when it came to Layla. He felt as though his tongue had been snatched from him. He realized this wasn't true when and only when he found the courage inside of him to speak. But part of him believed that it still was.

His tongue felt very foreign and puffy to him inside his mouth.

"Well, you didn't explain to me that it was a Father's Day picture, Layla, so I was hardly going to be able to make that guess." Eli said rather than anything else. He came out with these words rather than punishment. He came out with these words than those of disappointed towards how Layla had spoken to him.

He probably should have. He should have been prepared to still be a stepfather, even if there was an important conversation to be had. Eli couldn't really do too many things at once unless it was to overthink. He did not know how to be the stepfather that he had always been to Layla even in times of difficulty.

He did not know how to remain whole when he had been hurt.

Fortunately, Eli did not need to speak words of disappointment for Layla to experience remorse.

Her own cheeks stung in the same way that Eli's had done following her own words and, although she felt too locked in her own emotions to utter a proper apology, the words that she concocted next showed that she was on the road to a sorry, even if she accidentally passed that path by.

Layla held her red pencil for comfort as well as her own ponytail in her left hand.

"Perhaps I can help Luna draw a Father's Day picture including everyone." Layla suggested hurriedly, and in a way that was as if she was afraid her words would get the better of her. Or worse, would run away from her entirely.

It was her turn to feel unsettled by eye contact, so she did not look over at Eli as she spoke, instead clutching her pencil in her hand and looking down at the eyes of Eli in her drawing.

That made her stomach hurt. She needed to then look at a blank section of the paper that had not been filled in at that point.

Eli's own stomach held knots. He had barely been alone with Layla for ten minutes and felt like he had already failed her. Had already failed Justin. Had failed all of them. He hadn't parented her when she had snapped at him. She had tried to correct the situation on her own and that was good and that was to be noted but he couldn't praise himself for that, could he? That was all her.

Eli was glad he had not yet eaten lunch.

Regardless, he knew where he had to focus even if his mind tried to tug him elsewhere. To thinking that he had ruined things before they even had a chance to go right. To thinking that he had to honor his husband by talking to Layla in the way that he agreed that he would. But thinking that it was useless.

He was useless.

Eli managed to parent his own thoughts even if he hadn't managed to parent Layla's outburst.

After a deep breath within himself that was as weighty as it was private, he encouraged his head to nod, and he encouraged himself to look at Layla though she still could not look at him.

He did not touch her. But his flat palm rested on the table halfway between them both.

That was a hug for them both.

"I'm sure Luna would really appreciate that special time drawing just the two of you." Eli spoke, and he twitched his mouth into a smile, his naturally sunken yet wonderous eyes appearing their full roundness as he needed time to prepare what he knew he needed to say next.

He knew that this was the perfect time to bring it up. He knew that this was the perfect time to bring it up. It would seem natural too. It wouldn't seem false. Something was finally on his side.

Eli licked his lips just once. Then he was rendered speechless. Not by his own words tumbling out of his mouth. But from the words that filled the room. They of course had been put forth by Layla.

The way they escaped while her red pencil scribbled red onto her father's jacket and her eyes focused there rather than anything else made it possible that her words had gotten away from her truly this time.

"I feel like you and me don't get a lot of special time anymore." Layla said and Layla said these words before she could stop them. Before she could wish to stop them. Before she could even think about stopping them.

Her feet clenched under the table. But they were out there. Eli's chin twitched closer to his neck, and he blinked. But he had heard them. He had also stopped gazing down at his lap a couple of seconds ago. So he could see the way that Layla's shoulders edged towards her ears to comfort herself and the way that her chest began to heave in and out.

His little monster.

He had never loved her more than that moment there. She had only just snapped at him, but he didn't care about that. He heard those words now for what they were as much as he heard this second confession.

She wished to connect.

Eli could never get mad even if Layla's little chest was fearing that this could happen for the very first time.

He swung his chair round the corner of the table with him and so he could sit closer to the little girl. He could connect with her in the way that she wished even though she had been unable to express with words for once.

"You feel like the two of us don't get enough special time anymore?" Eli repeated without quoting verbatim and Layla replied by her cheeks stinging as red as her pencil as she looked down at the table rather than across at him. She wouldn't. Couldn't. She was not his to make demands. "I guess we don't." Eli conceded. He knew now wasn't the time to feel the knot of failure in his abdomen. "We could have it now, yeah? But I know it's not like it was when you were a baby."

Layla's eyes felt stingy in the same way that her cheeks did, but they still did not drip tears. Even so, when she heard these words intentionally coming from her stepfather and offered his presence to her with not only his words but by sitting close to her too, she couldn't help but rub her eyes with the back of her hand.

After she did this, she felt able to look at him.

It was only for a second. But this second still occurred.

The quiet gasp that escaped Eli's throat did not deter her from finding her own words, even if they were hard to find and even harder to draw out.

"It's not the same." She agreed. She agreed to Eli's last sentence rather than his penultimate, but he wasn't to know so he almost gasped for a different reason. Fortunately, Layla went on to say even more even if her throat was burning from the inside out. "You don't just have me, but you have Darcy and Zack too. And Freddy and Luna. And…"

Perhaps this was the wrong thing to do – Eli would go on to vilify himself for this too – but he couldn't stop himself from nodding in agreement and adding more reasons to the list of how much things had changed. How many responsibilities he then had.

His hand supported his forehead rather than his cheek with his elbow planted against the wood of the table.

"I have all of you. I have Justin. Then there's my work. There's your father's work. There's the house. There's cleaning. There're bills. There's…" he could see Layla's eyes glazing over. She was not merely bored. "There's… There's no excuse more important than you." Eli had yet another situation to correct. He did this after running a swift hand over his curls before his mouth sucked on his top lip and then his bottom lip to steady himself. "I would love to plan a day where we could have special time. What do you think?"

Eli half expected her to tell him to go and do one! She was not a teenager like her older siblings were but that did not mean that he could be entirely immune. There was a first time for everything. And he had seen the way that he had caused her eyes to become like that of a statue. He felt that it wasn't boredom – like when he went on one conversation too many about topics that didn't interest the children.

Still, after all the errors that he had felt that he had made on that day, he was prepared for anything.

What he was not prepared for, however, was for the topic of conversation that he needed to tackle to then be in Layla's hands instead. She was taking hold of the future. He was just there for the ride.

"You could come along to my school's Father's Day picnic." Layla suggested. Gone was any deflation or remorse from before. Her hand was back on the drawing and pushing it closer towards Eli. She did not need to voice that this was a prophecy. With her voice endearingly growing husky with all the hope in the world. "I would really love that…"

All Layla's cards were on the table. She looked across at Eli because she felt that there was no way that he could let her down. He never let her down, not really. Not like he sometimes believed that he did. Of course, he was going to say yes, wasn't he? Even if that was too much for him like the church one was then surely, he would suggest one in the living room that would be equally as fun. Wouldn't he?

It was a long drop from the top. It was an even harsher drop when you were only just flying towards the top.

Eli's face cracked as if he had been asked to jump into a ferocious beasts' cage instead. He was usually the one who couldn't read expressions all that well all the time. This time it was Layla's turn. And she fretted that the reason for this altering was everything other than what it truly was.

Eli's eyebrows punched nearer each other, and his eyes grew solemn as his hand reached out to her shoulder before trying to – as gently as he could – let her down.

"Oh… I'm not really sure that I can do that, my love." He began. Immediately, Layla's shoulder stiffened underneath his touch, and she didn't bother to stifle her shrugging his hand away. "Justin and Sammy signed up to go months ago. And I'm not sure who could look after Fred and Luna at such short notice."

Layla felt as though her pencil had levitated up off the table, turned into a weapon, and impaled her right in the center of her chest. That hadn't gone how she expected at all. There was no apology. There was no suggestion for a compromise. There was no meeting halfway.

He had acted as if he cared. But he didn't. Well, she knew that she was being dramatic. She knew that she was lying to herself. Even with disappointment piecing her heart, she knew that Eli cared about lots of things.

Like he had said, he cared about Darcy, he cared about Zack, and he cared about their father. He cared about his work. He cared about the house. He cared about cleaning. He cared about paying bills. He did not care about her.

This notion was the final straw that made her cheeks erupt into the temperature of a volcano and for her to skid her chair back behind her with such a vehement groan as she leapt up away from it.

No doubt would Eli have more cleaning to do now! This mark would be a lot simpler to rectify.

"Right." Layla muttered before Eli could copy her in standing on the floor or even question her what she was doing. This time, her eyes did prick with liquid pain. "Luna is number one, isn't she?" Layla interrogated as if another name had not been mentioned. She suddenly homed blurring eyes in on her stepfather. "I bet if she asked you, you would go then!"

A groaning sound filled the kitchen. It was not Eli's knot filled belly, nor was it Layla's. It was not Justin who came home early to see things between them going less than well. It was not even Eli's throat as he did not know how things had taken such a turn.

The legs of his chair groaned and made an equal mark on the kitchen floor as he skidded it behind him while standing in the same way in which Layla had done.

He for once did not care the effort that he would have to take to fix this mistake.

All he cared about was Layla. All he cared about was the children. All he ever cared about was the children.

"Layla!" Eli did not like to raise his voice and so he didn't. Nonetheless, an extra layer of richness filled his tones which spoke of the upset that he too shared with the seven-year-old girl. He wanted to sort things out no matter the cost. He was suddenly on his knees and not to conceal the harsh mark on the floor. His hand cupped around Layla's wrist before she could think about fleeing the scene. "Why do you hate her so much…?"

The list of Eli's mistakes in his own mind was growing taller than even Justin!

If he had a chance to re-live that day, among several other things he would have done differently, he would have certainly chosen another word. This one was too harsh. Too strong. Too inaccurate and he knew it.

He knew Layla like the back of his hand. No, he knew Layla like the thump of his heart. She was too wonderful for such an emotion.

Although her face twisted up as if this was not the case as she shoved Eli's touch away from her a second time, she corrected the situation. She was a big sister, after all. It wasn't that she had a reputation to keep intact. It was that she had two little ones in her heart. No matter how much attention they took.

"I don't hate her." She managed not to allow her voice to rise despite the emotions that she felt pulsating on the inside of her throat and outside of it as well. She also succeeded in highlighting the right word.

If she had failed at this then Eli would surely begin to think that it was he whom she loathed!

Perhaps he thought this already. This certainly could be the case from the way that he had to hold his hands up after his touch being rejected a second time and stand back to his full height.

Eli was seated again by the time he found his own voice. He just didn't understand how things had gone so wrong. And not just on that day. He should have known that the abrupt entry of Luna in all their lives would have led to chaos.

He had just had to have been the hero, hadn't he?

"Well then what?" Eli's voice cracked as if he was indeed the one being loathed and as if he could feel that hatred making its way from Layla's gaze and burning like a white-hot light into his skin. She was focusing on taking her own seat again rather than looking elsewhere. "You feel something very strong towards your little sister, that's apparent." It was lucky that Layla was sitting. Eli felt the same way. "You're a smart kid, Layla. You know you changed towards me the moment that I brought her home…"

The glass in Layla's mind smashed. She couldn't allow her heart to because, while she was seated, there was still a very real possibility that she could fall through the flooring.

She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about anything. But she had to. Eli wasn't forcing her to reminisce. Her mind merely took hold of the oars and took her on a journey towards an ocean of memories.

Luna had fallen in their laps overnight. As far as she knew, Justin wasn't really planning on having any more children with Eli or otherwise. He had been on tour! Eli had heard the wails of a child that needed parents and it was because of him that all four of them had ended up with an extra sibling.

She hadn't really changed with Eli as quick as circumstances had changed, had she…? It had all been a blur to her. Eli was wrong, wasn't he? She did like having a little sister. It was just that… It was just…

Layla flopped out of her chair. She wasn't giving up. She wasn't flopping down to the ground. Layla was on her feet. Was moving closer to Eli. She didn't wish to think anymore. She wished to speak.

In her mind, there was one way that everything could turn around. This quality of not wanting to let go of her visions and her dreams came from both of her fathers. It was unstoppable.

Her hand could not be stopped as it reached out to touch Eli's cheek in one last attempt to connect with him and deep inside his heart.

"Please… Please. I don't want to fight." Eli's eyes immediately shut from the second that he could feel the child's hand melting against his skin. That touch alone soothed so many of the scars that she was aware of. But he still felt the pain over the fact that she thought they were fighting. "Just come to the picnic, won't you?"

Eli's eyes opened far quickly than they had fluttered shut. And when they revealed themselves to Layla, they were filled with agony. He just couldn't. He just couldn't do it. But he didn't know how to express this without rejecting her entirely. He just didn't know how to at all.

Layla felt her heart wholly breaking at the hands of Eli for the first time when he felt he had to – albeit gently – remove her touch from the side of his cheek.

"That isn't going to change anything. Is it, Layla?" he asked. But Layla was far too shattered for questions. She was far too shattered to speak. Eli nearly felt the same way. This is why he knew he had to hold the hand that he had just rejected before both of their hearts crashed in splinters down onto the floor. "That's not going to fix anything. It might even cause more problems. Probably will."

Layla didn't see things that way. Couldn't see things that way. Whatever. She was too disheartened to even worry about that. All she could focus on was Eli wrapping his hand around hers and how good it felt even though she simultaneously wanted to reject it from her forever.

Layla didn't see things the way Eli did for once. She only saw them in the way that she saw them. So, she had to voice this.

With a shake of the head so serious that it almost caused her ponytail to unravel, she kept her hand tucked inside Eli's and she looked at her stepfather with eyes that gave even his a run for their money.

"Don't you see?" she began, although she soon realized that these words were futile. It was clear from his blink that he just didn't see. She needed to tell him. "I love Luna. With all my heart." Eli could not breathe out just yet even though Luna being loved was more impactful to him than him being adored. "I just wish that you loved me the way that you love her."

It's amazing how the quietest of things can be so loud. The sound of a heart breaking technically doesn't make any sound at all. But there and then in that moment – in the kitchen of Justin and Eli's household – anybody could have sworn that they heard Eli's heart breaking.

It wasn't because of the gasp that erupted from his throat that sounded like he was choking. It wasn't because of the way that his eyes bulged out of his head further than ever before. And it wasn't even the way that his arms suddenly wrapped around the seven-year-old child to soothe them both.

It was none of these things. And it was all these things.

How incredible that Eli once believed that he did not have a heart at all and now it was breaking loudly in his ears. But louder than that was his love for Layla. Was his love for all his children, the same blood coursing through their veins or not.

A scar of his that would never heal was the one that Layla believed that she wasn't adored by him.

"I do love you in the same way that I love her. Oh my god." Eli's voice thickened as his arms wrapped tightly around the frame of Layla. Physical touch wasn't always his thing and even though she adored it, it was something that they both needed in that moment. Eli waited for his own throat to sob. But it instead affirmed his love for the child. "I'm so sorry if I've ever made you think that. All of you mean the absolute world to me and have done ever since the day I met you all. That has only grown in time."

Layla could surely feel the way that Eli's body was trembling against hers. This paired with the words could be enough for her to surrender to her tears. But they didn't come in the same way that Eli's didn't either. Perhaps they would appear later. Or, despite it all, their love for each other burned so brightly and so hot that it evaporated any tears whether they wished to come or not.

For a couple of seconds, Layla surrendered to the words of affirmation from her stepfather, and she held onto him in the same way that he was doing to her, and her little hand even slipped back to place her palm against his cheek.

She couldn't work out if it was hot or cold. To her, it felt like both. To her, she also felt like saying her own words. So, she did.

Layla tried to pull away from the hug, but she could sense Eli needing her as much as she needed him, and this caused her body to remove herself from him but her hand to linger. Her eyes watered but they never dripped.

Her tears were fuel for her honesty.

"I… You never made me feel like that. Not really." Layla began and it prompted Eli's Adam's apple to bob in his throat. He felt like she was lying. But for a rare occasion, he was okay with being lied to. He, however, couldn't focus too much on it. Otherwise, he would crumble at her protecting him despite it all. "I just… I…" Layla needed to take a deep breath. "I just wish you were my dad too like Daddy and Papá. Like you are to Freddy and Luna. I don't know… I just always have."

Eli did not need to draw his own bottom lip into the rest of his mouth more to soothe himself. How fascinating. His heart had only just shattered. He thought these words would cripple whatever was left of the broken pieces. But they didn't.

Somehow and in some way, they had brought them all together again.

How lucky he was.

But this wasn't many, many years ago. He knew reality and what kind of reality they were in. He wanted to tell the child that anything was possible. But somethings could never be. No matter how much you wanted them to be.

This was tough to say. And it was an even tougher lesson.

"Oh, my little love, I wish that too. I do. If only it was that easy." Eli had to look away for a couple of heartbeats before his eyelashes threatened to get too spiky and before he crumbled into a pile on the floor with the marks that their chairs had left. "It's just… You see…"

Eli could see the words in his mind, but his mouth just wouldn't say them. Couldn't say them. He couldn't throw anybody under the bus. There wasn't anybody to throw under the bus. Not really. It was just that – like we both pondered before – some dreams just couldn't be.

Layla appeared to understand as her little hand stiffened on the cheek of Eli before falling away. He had said as much to her with his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish as he had done with everything else that he had said.

She needed to take a step back and Eli respected this. They remained with her feet planted on the floor and Eli's knees on the floor and his hands securing her lower back. Their connection would always exist. Even if it could never blossom to its fullest potential.

"It… It's okay. I understand." It took a lot of effort and a lot of courage for her to nod her head as if she understood. Perhaps she did. Maybe she really did. This made Eli's fingers dig into her spine a little more. And then it encouraged tears to come at the words she discovered next. "I'm sorry if I made you think I hated Luna. I'm even more sorry if I made her think that."

Layla's feet squirmed on the wooden floor as her eyes travelled down slowly and then all at once. Eli's heart began to feel exceptionally large inside his chest but, for a rare occasion, this was a sensation that he could not only ignore but use to his advantage.

His fingers stopped twitching against the back of Layla and pulled her back into his arms. She relished in being there, gripping onto him in return and not wanting to leave him.

Layla knew why things couldn't be, even if they both wished them to be. Even if, Justin wished them to be as well. She was already a lucky person, as lucky as Eli was. She had two fathers that adored her. She had the best siblings – even if they drove her crazy a lot of the time! She had a step-mum and a stepdad in Lucy and Eli even if they were no longer a couple.

She had all the love in the world surrounding her at any given time. Could she focus on what was missing rather than all that she was blessed with?

No, not really. Not entirely. Maybe she would during some breaths. But most of the time, she was filled with gratitude.

She had been made by a whole bunch of people who wished for her to be part of their lives and had been loved by so many more. Many adventures and memories would be made with them all.

For the time being, the only memory she longed for and the only moment she wished to be a part of was being in Eli's arms and feeling loved by him again in the same way as she had done when she had been a younger girl. Not that it had ever gone away. She just told herself that it had done. But that wasn't her story. That wasn't their story.

And their story was going to get better.

You see, as time had passed and she had grown upwards, her being part of Eli's life along with Justin and all their other crazy family had caused his heart to practically expand too. This new organ of his made it easier for him to speak his mind. And speak his mind he did there and then.

Eli pulled Layla closer and murmured into her ear. He murmured more words of love.

"I am the luckiest man in the world, you know that? Because not only did I get to have your father in my life when I married him, but I was given the blessing of Darcy, Zack, and you as well, Layla." He began and Layla practically melted against him, but this wouldn't last. This time, Eli was encouraging her away from him so he could look at her while he spoke. He had a tear threatening to leave his eye this time as he continued. "I never thought I would ever be allowed to have a husband, let alone children." Eli's voice cracked and Layla watched that tear trickle down before she stroked it with her finger so it as well as his love could absorb into her skin. "I feel like I have the greatest sons in Zack and Freddy. I feel like I have the greatest daughters in Darcy and Luna. And I know I have the greatest daughter in you."

Eli couldn't say anymore and that was okay. Layla couldn't listen to anymore and that was okay too. After Eli's words had wobbled in his throat, Layla had thrown her arms back around his neck and clung onto him as she had done before and as she had done when she had only been a little baby.

How foolish she had been, she told herself. How foolish she had been to doubt Eli and the size of his heart and the depth of his love. Of course, there had always been room for both her and Luna in his heart. In the same way that there was space for him, Sammy and Justin within hers, there was room for everybody tucked inside her heart.

Some people wondered how she did it. How she coped. But there wasn't anything to cope with. Justin and Sammy had once been together and then when she was a baby had decided that they were better off as friends. This meant that she still had them both in her life even if they weren't together and – when they fell in love with Eli and Lucy respectively – she had even more people in her life.

She was the luckiest girl alive.

Whether they shared blood or a last name or not didn't matter to Layla anymore. She had three dads. And they were the best three dads she could ask for. She still wished they could all be there on that day. But maybe she just had to be patient.

Nothing lasting was ever built in just one day. Eli and Sammy hadn't always gotten along – let alone been friends. And now look at them. They still bickered. They probably always would! But their mellowing and deepening bond was a sign that anything was possible if she ever saw one.

Eli still worried that some things were impossible. But Layla was not even eight years old. She was a child. She had the wonder of her age on her side and was convinced that things could be achieved.

And so, she had to try one last time.

Layla pulled away from Eli's chest and placed one palm on his damp cheek and looked at him deep in the eye.

If they were going to make a wish come true, then they were going to do it together, weren't they?

"I still really would like you to come to that picnic if you could." Layla began and this made Eli sigh out loud. But not in a mean way. Not in a grumpy way. Nor a frustrated way. As both of his hands enveloped the cheeks of Layla, he knew that if he could, he would grant all her wishes. She felt the same. And so, she had an idea. "Maybe you could draw a picture and that could convince them?"

Eli and Layla hadn't before spoken of anybody needing convincing, so this caused Eli to pull away from Layla an extra couple of inches at her sheer intuition. His head tilted to the one side. But instead of focusing on the dismay – as much as he wished to remain a little unnerved and impressed with her – he decided to feel adoration for her instead.

Eli smiled as he chucked her underneath the chin with one of his hands before they both cupped around her cheeks once more. His forehead found itself pressing against hers before his words found themselves.

"I hate to use this word around you, my little love, but I think that sounds impossible. Even if I had your drawing skills." Eli tried to pull her back towards him with his hands still on her face but, for the time being, she simply didn't let him.

Layla instead mirrored his countenance with her neck craning to the one side and then her eyes scrunched up. She threatened to erupt into fits of giggles like she was the age of Luna, and both her dads were playing with her again!

"Oh, I don't know." Layla hummed, leaving Eli with eyes full of natural love for his daughter at her antics but, more importantly, her presence. He was simply enamored by everything that she was. "It worked out for me."

And with that, Layla allowed herself to be pulled into the arms of Eli. Although, that time, he wasn't sure if he wanted her there! Not really. Her embrace was one he rarely liked to say no to. But, you see, certain images were filling his mind.

He remembered the drawing that she had left on the table. He suddenly realized that it might have been a prophecy. But then, he chuckled out loud. Eli didn't care. Whatever it was.

He pulled the little girl into his arms all over again and planted a kiss to her forehead and vowed to never let her go. While her eyes contentedly shut and she made the most of being exactly there and didn't wish to be anywhere else, she listened to the last words that Eli had to say to her during this story.

Her artwork was as powerful as her effect on him, that was something that couldn't be argued with.

Words had never been so easily formed by him before.

"You are no doubt the funniest and most artistic nearly eight-year-old I have ever met." Eli affirmed to her with his lips near her ears and her already giggling at the reassurance. But more importantly, her heart was thudding at the closeness. Eli's arms embraced her tighter. He had never been so sure of anything. "But I think, my little monster, that this right here – us – has always been meant to be."

And with that, the two of them shut their eyes and relished in the embrace. They may have shut their eyes at the same time, but they didn't shut their eyes on each other. Would never shut their eyes on each other. Would certainly never shut their eyes on all that they were meant to be.

My little monster.

It had felt like forever since Layla had been called that by Eli. But whether he had said it or not or she had acknowledged or not, one thing was certain:

Eli was right. He was the luckiest man in the world. His whole life had been leading up to that exact moment and so many more. He had better get used to feeling contentment and enjoying being in his own skin. Things were only going to get better and better for him.

And it was all thanks to him being brave enough to be receptive and welcome all the joy that was always destined to find him.

The End.

There you go, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :) The bit at the beginning with Justin and Eli messing around with their youngest daughter, Luna, made me so happy. Like I said before, their married life is always sweet to me and I love that they get to be parents together. Layla is indeed another child of Eli's even though she biologically is not. Of course, he feels the same with Darcy and Zack, but Layla being only 6 months old when he and Justin got into a relationship again made them spend a whole lot of time together. Even though things have moved forward here - with Justin and Eli being married and Sammy and Lucy too even with their own children (yay for the first mention of their kids, Chia and Bea :D) I still wanted it to be realistic. There will always be a part of Justin that protects Sammy, that doesn't want to make him feel like Eli is replacing him in any way. That's of course the reason he worried about attending the picnic. This chapter introduced a lot of new things. And I don't know if any of you peeped my profile where I write a little bit about the characters, but I recently added something about Eli that I wanted to mention here. Over the months, I noticed that a lot of Eli's traits are that of someone with autistic spectrum disorder and so I've decided to headcanon him as receiving a later in life diagnosis of that that in the year after he and Justin married. This was the first chapter that I consciously wrote a bit more of his traits which are because of that. I really want to go more into it though. One day :) Thanks again for reading and well done if you've read all that too :D I'll be back again next Wednesday so see you then!

Amy signing out :)