Two Occasions (The Deele)

SANTANA'S POV

After an epic game night and an honest conversation with Quinn, I knew that Q would offer for me to stay, but seeing her hadn't been a part of my plan.

"So, are your bags in your car?"

"Oh yeah, where are you staying?" Vanessa asked, and I smiled at them both.

"Actually, hanging out with you ladies side-tracked my schedule a bit. I was supposed to be in New York by now."

"Wait!" Q said, standing up and stepping into my personal space. "Where are you going?"

"I've been helping Sue all summer; I helped her onboard the baby Cheerios; there's a competition in New York. Courtney is debuting. I promised her I'd be there since Britt can't make it."

"Oh."

"Yeah, and then I promised her a road trip back home. She's been really sad since Whitney died. I know that she's not really my sister-in-law anymore, but I've been in her life since she was 7. I don't want to let her down."

"That's pretty amazing. I wish I could go. Can you send me pictures?"

"Of course." I pulled her into a tight hug. "I'll be staying in Lima for Anthony's birthday, then I'll be back in time for school."

"What about your sleepover with Beth?"

"Shit, when is she back?"

"Next week."

"Tell her that I'll spend the weekend after she's back."

"She'll love that."

"Then it's a plan."

When I agreed to give Courtney a road trip from New York, I did not anticipate Pierce being with us.

For 13 hours, I had to listen to him drone on and on about life after Whitney.

He talked about taking his girls and moving to California.

Courtney apologized to me over and over, but I just smiled through it.

What that long-ass ride taught me was that if I could make it through that without craving drugs, then I was going to be sober for a long time.

I dropped them off at home, and Britt was sitting on the porch talking to Sam. She grinned when she saw me helping Pierce with his bags.

Courtney hugged me tight and apologized for the hundredth time before telling Brittany she was a putz for not staying married to me.

Britt rolled her eyes and demanded to see the first-place trophy.

For a brief moment, it felt like all was right.

And then, I got a call from Beth and said my goodbyes.

Only then did Britt show a measure of sadness, but it was gone in an instant.

It would be a long road for us to be anything more than exes, and right then, as I soberly walked away from her, I was more than okay with that.

"This could have been me." I muttered to myself as my parents stood a few feet away talking to Anthony's headstone.

The ground next to Anthony had a fresh mound of dirt on top of it and a marker where a headstone would soon be.

After going to rehab and seeing just how many people were worse off than I was or who had been to rehab several times already, I realized that I was on the shallow end of addiction and could either decide that I wasn't addicted...wasn't as bad as I thought I was OR I could walk away from the experience knowing that I still had a chance to stop while I was ahead.

One of the many things that came up in therapy was my old habit of trading sex for things.

A habit that started in high school...trading sex for popularity and attention. I realized that I had only had sex a few times where it actually meant something.

With Brittany...with Dani...and with Quinn.

But with the first two...it eventually became a trade-off.

With Brittany, in the end...it was a trade to keep her away from Quinn, and with Dani, it was the only thing that I could do to keep her attention on me and not on other bitches.

Neither of those plans worked well for me.

Along the way, I thought it was harmless that a blowjob or worse for some cocaine is only further proof that I was way more addicted than I ever realized.

A chill went through me as I nudged the dirt with my sneakers, leaving an imprint of my shoe in the soft mud.

"Tata?" Papi called to me, but I was frozen in place, imagining someone freshly buried six feet underneath me...it had me feeling like such an idiot for throwing so much of my last few years away.

Hadn't we JUST buried Finn?

Why did I think I was exempt from this kind of fate?

I'm such an idiot.

A hand came down on my shoulder, and then a body bumped against my side.

I went from being alone in my thoughts to being flanked by my parents.

"This could have been you." Mami says, cutting through all the delicate pretense we had been walking around with since I came home.

"Mari." Papi warned, but no...I was tired of the kid gloves they had been treating me with.

"I'm a big girl, Papi. It's okay...in fact, I was thinking the same thing...the last time I got coke, in Philly...it was the night I went to Quinn's. I actually went all the way with some guy...it was the first time I did that." My parents were silent, and so I just kept going because I had told my therapist this, but they needed to know. Up until now, it was something that happened away from them...Papi, more than Mami, was disconnected from it. Now, he wouldn't be. "I ended up with... gonorrhea and had to be on antibiotics. I hit bottom and I tried to act like I didn't, but I was this yo-yo constantly hitting the same bottom over and over until Beth reminded me that I made a promise to her."

Papi wrapped his arm around me and pulled me against his side; he was shaking...probably crying, and it made me ache to know that I was the reason.

"I'm glad you are making things right, Nanita."

"Me too."

QUINN'S POV

It was gloomy as we drove up the highway and headed towards home. Beth and Vanessa were talking excitedly about the baby and what we should name him because both of them were sure it was a boy.

Beth had taken the news of me wanting to adopt the baby just like I thought she would and hasn't stopped talking about it since.

Thankfully, she was so excited that the idea of a flight to Ohio only a few days after getting off the plane from Texas didn't bother her one bit. Vanessa, on the other hand, has done nothing but gripe about everything...until we were in the rental car, at least.

She hates surprises, and my coming home with three tickets just this morning was as big a surprise as I could have given her.

Speaking of which, my arrival in Ohio wasn't just a surprise to Vanessa and Beth...it would be to my mother as well.

When we hit Lima City limits, I decided it was about time to let Mother in on my presence.

The last thing we needed was to surprise her and her boy toy mid-coitus.

So I handed Beth my phone and told her to put it on speaker and call Judy.

"You didn't tell her?" Beth whispered as the phone rang.

"Nope but you will."

"But..." She began just as Judy answered.

"Hello? Quinnie?"

"Hi Grandma, it's Beth!"

"Oh hi sweetie! What a surprise?! I've missed you so much."

"Me too! That's why I'm coming to see you."

"What? When?"

"Today. We are driving to your house right now."

"Right, right now?" She said, sounding slightly panicked in that frantic, perfect housewife way. "Oh my...I was not ready, are you hungry? Did you eat already?"

Beth looked at me and grinned, hoping to get out of my mother what I wasn't so good at making unless it was filled with bacon, which Beth, unbelievably, isn't such a fan of.

"Can we have grilled cheese?"

"Absolutely! I'll start making them right now. I'll see you soon, sweetie. Oh how exciting!" Judy chirped.

"I love you, Grandma."

"I love you too! Tell your mother that she should have given me proper notice even if this is the best surprise ever."

"She heard you, she's trying not to laugh right now."

"Of course she is. She's such a trouble maker!" Judy chuckled.

"Tell her about Vanessa." I whispered.

"Oh, and we have a friend with us." Beth added in, and Judy huffed.

"Oh my, who is it? Your dad? Oh your mother is in SO much trouble, springing people on me like this."

Beth giggled. "No, it's Vanessa."

"Oh goody! Okay, sweetie, I'm going to hang up because I am not dressed for company, and I will not have your mother embarrass me like she loves to do!"

Beth ended the call, and I nearly crashed the car as I burst into a fit of giggles.

Vanessa followed suit, and Beth wasn't far behind.

SANTANA'S POV

It took Anthony's birthday and my bomb-dropping about the lengths I went to for cocaine for my parents to actually include me in one of their formal dinners.

Apparently, they always had it at Papi's house because it was the rare occasion that he cooked.

How have I gone so long without knowing that?

We sat in the dining room after dinner, having coffee as my parents chatted about how today would have been Anthony's 30th birthday and how he would have surely been seeing someone and might have even given them a grandkid.

In the past, this kind of talk would have made me jealous, but as I sat listening to them, I imagined how they would have talked if I had died.

Two kids in the ground would have completely crushed them. My eyes were filling up with tears before long, and I tried my best to quietly wipe the tears away, but not much goes unnoticed these days.

"Tata?" Papi said as he reached over and cupped my hand in his.

"I'm so sorry for all the shit I've put you two through. You deserve so much more than I've been."

I expected Papi to respond, but Mami's chair screeched as she scooted closer to me and put a hand on my arm.

"No. We are so grateful for the person that you are Santana. You are so talented and intelligent. We are beyond proud that you are our daughter. I wouldn't trade you for anyone, not even Anthony."

I looked my mother in the eyes and thought about the things that I had done and the guilt that I carried...but still, she loved me, and I broke down in tears.

It was a full-blown Full House moment; all that was missing was the violins.

Moments like these were few and far between, which only made it that much more amazing.

After our sappy moment, things seemed to be even lighter than before.

My parents were cracking jokes on each other, and my soul felt lighter.

For once, my role as the replacement baby didn't feel so contrived and worthless...

It was eye-opening.

My phone chimed in my pocket, and my parents didn't seem to mind that I had forgotten to leave it in my room. Normally, it would have started them in on a lecture. So when they didn't even look my way, I pulled it out of my pocket to check it. It was my reminder that there was a meeting tonight if I needed it...but then I saw a message from Quinn.

Thinking about you today. Call me if you need to talk. I love you.-Q

I couldn't help my smile as I looked down at the message, wishing like hell that I could visit Quinn and have her hold me all night, but I knew that was a shot in the dark.

She had bigger things on her plate than me, and frankly, an obligatory message today was more than I expected from her, even if she's been doing it for as long as we've been friends.

I wish you were here. I love you, too.-S

QUINN'S POV

I'm a sap.

I readily admit to it, so it should come as no surprise that I was sitting in Antonio's driveway, parked behind Maribel's car, texting the girl that I could see through the bay window.

Trust me, it sounds creepier than it actually is.

My phone chimed, and her message said just about what I had hoped it would.

With Vanessa and Beth out baby shopping with Judy, I had hours at my disposal, and I was hoping that I could spend them with Santana.

I wish you were here. I love you, too.-S

I couldn't help grinning as I typed in my response.

Funny you should mention that. Come outside.-Q

I watched her read the message, and then her head whipped towards the window. She said something to her parents and not only did she get up from the table but so did they. Sometimes, I forget how much her parents have embraced me in her life because, for years, it seemed that they kept their distance, and it was probably out of respect for Brittany, but now, they looked just as happy to see me as she was.

"Get out of that car and come inside!" Maribel yelled from the doorway while Antonio actually rushed past Santana to get to the car first. It was a sight that I wish Beth could have seen. She would have loved it.

Santana somehow outpaced her father at the last second and nearly fell through the window as she leaned in and planted a big, wet kiss on my cheek.

"Thank God you're here, these two were being soooo sappy." She said loudly.

Antonio huffed from behind her and then called back to Maribel, repeating exactly what Santana had said.

"Excuse you, Santana!" She said, and then a dog barked from next door.

It was like being in an alternate universe, seeing them all so happy with each other.

"Can you give us a minute, Papi?"

"You live in the same city! You have all the minutes you want when you're there."

"Please?" She begged, and he finally threw his hands up.

"Fine. You make dinner for people, and they just brush you away but fine...it's good seeing you Quinn."

"Back at you!"

Once we were alone, Santana leaned on the door frame and rested her head against the window frame.

"What brings you to Lima?"

"You among other things but right now, I'm here because I wanted to see you. Is that okay?"

"More than okay."

"Did you want to go somewhere?" I asked as I resisted the urge to touch her face.

"Actually, I'm leaving in the morning, and I wanted to savor this time with them...do you want to join us?"

"That doesn't sound half bad...maybe with them chaperoning it will be easier to keep my hands to myself."

She had the nerve to look shocked that I wanted nothing more than to touch her all over.

"Um...I...uh..." She said, standing up fully and brushing her hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, Q. I didn't even...shit." She blustered, and I couldn't do anything but smile.

"I'm fucking with you, trust me, I can control myself. Have you forgotten who I am?" I countered, and she just shook her head, a smile trying its best to remain on her face.

"The pregnant president of the celibacy club, if I recall correctly." She teased, and I couldn't even argue it.

"Touche."

SANTANA'S POV

I walked back into the house to find my parents happily sharing dishwashing duty as they danced in place to the Marc Anthony that Mami had blasted.

"You two should just move in together...get married...adopt a pet." I quipped as I rested back against the counter.

They both looked at me for a long moment and then at each other...and out of fucking nowhere, he leaned down, and she leaned up, and they kissed.

Like a motherfucking fairy tale, and I'm just standing there like they morphed into vampires.

"Oh wow!" Quinn said as she walked into their lingering kiss. "This is new."

I looked at her in shock.

"Tell me about it."

Mami fell back down onto her feet and went back to washing her dishes as she popped her gum...

But wait...she wasn't chewing that before, Papi was...Oh gross...Ewww.

Papi clapped me on the shoulder, leaned over, and kissed my forehead.

I just stood there frozen as I looked at Quinn, who was holding back laughter as she bit on her bottom lip.

Her phone rang, and she answered it without looking away from me. From the way her face brightened, I knew it was Beth.

"Why don't you go put a movie on while we finish up in here?" Papi asked me, and I just nodded, happy to have a reason to leave the kitchen.

And even though she was on the phone still, I grabbed Quinn's hand and pulled her along with me.

For all the years that I prayed to have parents who were together, I don't think I was quite prepared to see it happen right before my eyes.

I curled up on the corner of the couch while Quinn paced back and forth in front of me.

This seemed so normal...even if it was the first time we were spending time together since she stepped out of my car, needing to process everything I had told her.

We had sent a text or two, but nothing more than that. Now, though, here she was in my father's living room, her bare feet sinking into his carpet as she chatted happily to her baby girl.

I couldn't stop watching her; I was obsessed with the woman who was right within my reach...the one I had asked to wait two whole years for me.

She scratched at her side, her shirt lifting, and I was practically drooling.

Fuck.

I picked up the remote and turned on the television, trying my best not to look at her, but she just kept walking across my vision, her fingers running over her bare stomach.

"Hey! Horndog...keep it in your pants." Papi yelled after walking into the room and seeing me staring.

I glared at him, and he just burst into laughter.

"Not cool, Papi."

"Hey, you decided on the celibacy, not me..." He said, throwing up his hands in surrender.

"Stop messing with her, Tony. That's not nice."

"Tony?" I said, not used to anyone calling Papi that...especially not Mami.

"See, I told you we should have just told her." Papi whined as he sat down next to me, a beer in one hand and the pillow in the other.

He looked mischievous but I couldn't imagine what he was going to do with that thing until I saw it fly at Quinn as she crossed in front of the television again.

She jumped back and glared at Papi before sticking out her tongue.

Then, she was looking at me as she held her phone in her hand.

"So, I have to go." She said, and the three of us, in unison, all groaned.

"Why?" We protested.

She looked at the three of us with a barely contained grin.

"Beth and my mother are very upset that I'm here without them."

"Are you going to pick them up? Can I come?" I shrieked...needing to suddenly put some distance between me and my parents...even if it was to go two blocks only to come back.

QUINN'S POV

An hour later we sat hunkered down in Antonio's rarely used theater room, Beth sitting between me and Vanessa on the couch as we launched into a Disney movie at Beth's request.

Sweet Lord, how I hate Disney movies, but the fact that I was watching it with all the people that I loved meant that I would happily watch Frozen yet again.

Beth was singing almost immediately, and to my surprise, Santana, who was sitting just in front of me between my mother and hers, sang every word.

It had been so long since I heard her sing in person...so long since I closed my eyes and enjoyed the way her voice made every nerve ending in my body come alive.

"Are you sleeping?" Beth asked me a moment later, and I shook my head, not bothering to open my eyes.

"No...I'm listening."

"To the movie or Santana?"

Very astute...this kid.

"Both."

"I like her voice. She sounds awesome." Beth said excitedly...probably louder than she thought she did.

And then the room went silent, and Santana's head popped up over the back of her chair...she looked just as excited as Beth did every single time we watched this damned movie.

"Do you want to watch the sing-along version? We could have a competition...unless you guys are chicken?" She teased, and all of a sudden, we were splitting off into teams because there was no way she was calling me a chicken and getting away with it.

Suddenly, the prospect of watching this movie didn't seem so bad...

What was happening today?

Have we all gone mad?

Santana wouldn't be back in Philly for a whole week because, she was flying to Los Angeles to help Mercedes with some producing.

Me and Beth stayed at Antonio's with her all night, and then I dropped Beth off with Puck's mother for the day, before taking Santana to the airport myself.

"You didn't have to do this, Q."

"I know but I wanted to."

"Yesterday was so fun, do you think Beth will be okay waiting another week for our sleepover weekend?"

"She'll be fine."

"Will you be okay, waiting?"

"Nope, I'm going to be miserable without you."

"Seriously?"

"Vanessa stole my summer break. Beth is home, and then Vanessa is going to school…so I literally got a week to myself this whole summer."

"Get used to it, Q, you're about to have a baby."

"I know."

"You are running out of time to talk to her parents and Biff."

"I know, that's what we are going to do this week."

"Good."

"Have fun in L.A., bring me back something and tell Mercy that I miss her like crazy."

"She misses you too. When she's not on me about how I need to sing more, she's asking me when I'm going to make an honest woman out of you."

"Tell her that I agree." I winked, and Santana groaned.

"Two years, Q."

"I know."

"Trust me, I wish it was less, but I made the goal and I promised myself I'd stick to it."

"You know, I've also done rehab, and one thing I remember was to make small tangible goals, and two years does not seem small."

"I know, my sponsor made me promise to reevaluate my goals after 6 months to make sure they still align with my life."

"So six months?"

"Yes. If at six months, something changes, then I will reevaluate, but for now it's two years."

I rolled my eyes and then pulled her into a tight hug before watching her head into the airport.

When I was back in my car, I set a reminder when she reached her six months.

Christmas.

"Are you ready for this, V?" I held the sides of her face and tried my best to keep her from having another panic attack.

"No." She said, her eyes wide in panic as she tried to breathe. "I thought Biff would be the hard one, but I was wrong. He signed those papers like it was nothing. These are my parents, why do I feel so terrified?"

"You're not alone. I'm here with you, put it all on me. Okay?"

"You're still sure?" She asked, and I nodded.

"Yes."

"Mama, is everything okay?" Beth said as she came into the living room wearing the sundress that I had picked out for her.

I brushed away the last few tears that remained on Vanessa's face before looking over at Beth.

"Yes, sweets, Vanessa is just nervous. It will be alright, why don't you go peak outside and see if Uncle Jake is here yet, please?"

She smiled and nodded, "Of course, Mama." She looked up at Vanessa, ready to say something that I'm sure would have been encouraging had Vanessa been in the frame of mind to hear it, but she wasn't.

"Go ahead, sweets. I've got everything under control."

"Is your brother going to give you crap for this?" I asked Jake as he slid a ring on my finger, a simple gold band that he had borrowed from his prop department...one that matched the one he was wearing. "Or Kitty?"

"Puck doesn't think I'd ever stand a chance with you so he's not worried and Kitty doesn't need to know about this. It's better that way."

"You're sure?" I asked as Vanessa and Beth walked ahead of us towards a towering front door.

Jake took my hand into his and then pulled it up to his lips. "No worries. I'm happy to do this favor for you."

"Thanks, Jake. You're the best pseudo brother-in-law/husband that a girl could ask for."

Vanessa had already knocked on the door by the time that I was paying attention.

Her mother opened the door, her face shining bright when she saw her daughter standing on the doorstep.

Unlike me, she had warned her parents that she was showing up today with company, so she looked prepared for us.

For this situation to work in Vanessa's favor, we didn't want to ruffle any feathers.

As far as they knew, she was a virgin who had never looked at alcohol in her life, and while I wasn't able to preserve that idea in my parents' minds, I wouldn't be the one to ruin that for Vanessa's parents.

It amazed me, though, that at 22, she was just as afraid of her parents as I was at 15.

"So he didn't sleep with my daughter to get her pregnant, correct?" Vanessa's father Abel asked us.

He had sent Vanessa and Beth off to the kitchen with his wife while he drilled me and Jake about the circumstances of Vanessa being pregnant.

Abel was a big, imposing man, who, from the stories Vanessa has told me, is a really big teddy bear once he trusts you.

"That's correct. Jake and I...we waited for marriage to consummate, and he's been a faithful man. After hurting my back, pregnancy is something that I may not be able to handle, which is why we were grateful that Vanessa offered to do this."

"Young man?"

"Yes sir?"

"You were able to accept her with a child already?" Abel asked Jake, looking surprised that he was willing to touch an unclean woman.

Jake sat up a little straighter and squeezed my hand a little tighter.

"Actually, sir, that's what attracted me to her even more. I was raised with a strong faith, and I believe that everyone deserves a second chance, Quinn has been every bit the perfect God fearing wife and I want nothing more than to build a family with her." Jake was really selling it as he looked at me with such intensity and conviction before looking at Abel.

If I didn't know that he was training to be a dancer/actor, I'd think that he actually believed these things.

"That's very noble of you, young man." Abel stood up, and so did Jake. They shook hands and maintained eye contact for a long moment before they both smiled, and Abel patted him on the back. "Let's break bread and toast the new life that you two are bringing into this world, yes?"

And just like that, it seemed the storm that Vanessa was waiting for wasn't going to come.

I just hoped God would forgive me for such a whopping lie.

SANTANA'S POV

"Let me get this straight, you used Puck's little brother so that they wouldn't question why you didn't choose a white surrogate?"

Quinn laughed, and Vanessa leaned forward from the backseat.

"Yes and let me tell you, they are so happy that I'm still a virgin and that I'm helping a needing God-fearing couple."

"Oh yea? You guys put God in it...that's not laying it on too thick, is it?"

"Nah. I made Quinn go to church with me the next day so that we could pray over it, just to cover our bases."

Quinn looked back at Vanessa and smiled. "My favorite part of that whole time was how Vanessa's parents kept calling her Gumdrop the whole afternoon because as a kid she got a whole bag of them stuck in her hair."

"No way!" I cackled and saw how annoyed Vanessa was as she sat in my back seat, fuming.

"That was VERY traumatizing, thank you very much! They shaved my head two days before the start of kindergarten. I was a pariah!"

Vanessa looked tired as she rested back against the elevator wall with her head on Quinn's shoulder.

She was now showing more since I last saw her over a week ago. It was hard to believe that in just a few short months, she'd be handing that baby over to Quinn.

In the meantime, she would be down here in Maryland, living alone while she goes back and forth to classes.

The idea of it makes me nervous, especially since she's going to be living off-campus in a one-bedroom apartment all alone.

This wasn't even my kid, and I was already excited about it, which meant that I was overly protective of a baby that really had no connection to me...yet.

"You okay?" Quinn asked, looking over at me with concern.

"Just anxious about Vanessa...are you sure you're going to be okay all by yourself?" I asked her.

Vanessa rubbed her stomach and then smiled softly.

"I'll be surrounded by doctors and nurses all day long, I'm not the only person from school that lives in this building. Trust me, I'll be fine."

"And if she isn't, I will be down here in a flash." Quinn followed up.

"Yes. WE will be."

Quinn looked at me, and I nodded.

I had already decided...two years of a hiatus from sex didn't mean that I didn't want to lay the groundwork to be a part of her family. To be a second parent to Beth and the new baby.

"Oh this is exciting! My baby is bringing you two back together!" Vanessa said, suddenly alert as she clapped her hands together and looked back and forth between me and Quinn. "The kid is going to be so excited about this!"

Quinn looked at her sharply, "Don't you dare tell Beth a thing!"

"I wouldn't dream of it, Q."

And just like that, Vanessa's bubble burst, and she deflated a bit, but she still winked at me when Quinn wasn't looking.

"Did you mean it?" Quinn asked once we were headed back to Philly.

"I've been thinking about the celibacy thing, Q and talking to my sponsor about it."

"And?" She said, looking hopeful.

"I still want to wait."

"Oh." She said, sounding disappointed.

"But...I think we shouldn't put our relationship on hold. I think we should date, take it slow and then maybe when we get married in a few years...then we can go all the way."

"You...wait...you want to marry me?" She stuttered, and I rolled my eyes.

"Of course I do, but I don't want to rush it. I want it to happen naturally." I reached for her hand, and she responded immediately.

"So how long do we 'just date' before we make it official?" She asked, sounding nervous.

"Like I said before, I want to make it to six months sober...Christmas Day and then we can tell Beth and whoever else you want. How's that sound?"

"It sounds like a plan...a really good plan."

"In the meantime, I have a request."

Surprisingly, this was the hard part of the conversation.

"Okay?"

"I asked this of my parents and Mercedes, and Sam and Rachel because shit, she needed this before me but definitely now...there's meetings for family and friends of addicts...I'd like it if you went a few times...even take Beth if you're comfortable with that."

"Ummm...why so many people?"

"I think if everyone around Finn knew what he was into...knew the signs, that there's a greater chance that he'd be alive. In rehab we talked about surrounding ourselves with a network of accountability and that by having one...you stand a greater chance of staying sober."

"That makes sense."

"I want to stay sober, Q. I want to live, and I want you to know that, I'm so committed to you and the kids. I love you guys so much."

"Okay. I'll go and see how it is...then maybe I'll take Beth but...I want YOU to be the one to tell her about the addiction...or at least be there with me."

"Absolutely." I said, swallowing back the nerves that I suddenly had, thinking about having to admit something so real to Beth. She was growing up in the city. There was no way she didn't know what drugs were and how dangerous they were.

Bad people do drugs...at least, that's the impression I had always been given as a child; the last thing I wanted was for her to think that I was a bad person.

Even though that's exactly how I felt after that night.

"It's going to be alright, Princess, I've got your back. We can get through this together and Beth will ALWAYS love you just like I will."