(Patton's POV)

I was rushing around the house trying to get a few more things straightened out before company gets here.  Fluffing pillows, washing dishes, and shoving remaining boxes into closets and under beds to keep them out of view.  There weren't too many more, just one of old books, one with picture frames, and one of clothes that all belonged to Logan, and a few boxes of clothes for Mia.  She didn't have much with her.  She had some clothes and a few pictures, but otherwise nothing.  Her old crib and dresser were far from nice, so we bought her new furniture.  She had some clothes, a few pictures, and a baby blanket with her; her grandparents claimed everything else in memory of their daughter.  Mia's mom didn't have much, but she did inherit a bit of her parents' will, which would hopefully buy her a new life.  I'm sure all the presents today will help.

I could see it already, my days of being my parents' favorite are over.  My hopes of them ever wanting to actually see me are flying out the window.  They're not technically grandparents yet and we're not technically parents yet, but it's all in the process.  I was just glad we live in Florida.  In some states, you have to be married for at least three years to joint adopt, and Logan and I are NOT there yet.  Fortunately, being soulmates does the trick here in Florida.  I know, I know, it sounds dumb.  How are you ready to adopt a kid, but not get married?  Well, in all honesty, we're not doing it for us.  I'm doing it because I love Mia and I don't want to watch her get thrown around the foster system her entire life, and Logan didn't disagree.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all foster parents are bad!  I know lots of great foster parents, but I also know a lot of not so pleasant stories, so I'd rather not risk it.  I was going to be Mia's dad whether Logan liked it or not, but Logan's the best so of course he likes it.

"Hey, Patton?" I heard him call from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Lo?"

"Chocolate cake or confetti cake?" he asked.  Ohhh tough call.  I flipping love confetti cake, but I think more people like chocolate.  Plus, Logan does the best chocolate cake.  He made if for Athena's birthday at the library and I got invited and Oh my God it was amazing.  Instead of frosting, he uses..... chocolate pudding.  I know.  Amazing.

"Ummmmm can you make a chocolate one and a little confetti one just for Mia to make a mess out of?" I asked sweetly.  I can get bites of the remains of confetti cake and still get chocolate cake. 

"Ok.  Can you come take her from me?" He called and I squeaked and threw the pillow I was rearranging on the couch and scampered to the kitchen.

I paused in the hall and tried to sneak a peek at the scene in the kitchen.  I didn't want to ruin it.  Mia was padding around the island in her pink onesie and Logan was supporting under her arms to keep her upright.  When she waddled to the full extent of Logan's reach she would turn around and waddle the other way.  She giggled happily to herself and Logan had a small smile tugging on his lips as he watched her.  At one point she turned towards him and grabbed his glasses.  He set her down so she was sitting and leaned back to fix his glasses.  Mia started to crawl around on the counter and Logan watched her and would pull her back anytime she got too close to the edge.  She turned to face the doorway and saw me despite my top stealth methods.

"Pap, pap, pap," she babbled and I couldn't keep myself from grinning.  I stepped out of the hall and made my way to the opposite side of the counter.

"How's my little girl?" I gushed and picked her up.

"Pap, pap, pap!" she continued and I giggled.  She's so cute, "Pap, pap, pap."

"When exactly are the guests getting here Patton?" Logan asked with a carton of eggs and a bowl of flour in his arms.

"Around six," I answered and held Mia on my hip.  Logan spun to see the clock on the wall.  1:00.

"Ok," He put the bowl down and started cracking eggs into it, "Do you want help cleaning up when this goes in the oven?" He offered without looking up from the bowl.

"Mmmm, nope.  I just shoved stuff out of sight for now," I chirped.  Logan raised his gaze questioningly, "It's future Patton's problem," I shrugged. Logan didn't seem convinced, but I left the kitchen to play with Mia.

Normally I would just play with her in the living room so she had more space to crawl around, but I just cleaned and was not going to clean again, so I brought her to her room. It was a nice space, not big, but a bit of blood sweat and tears later, it cleaned up nice. The walls are painted a pretty lavender color (suggested by Roman) with white trim. All of the furniture is silver-greyish and her crib had fairy-themed blankets in it, not that you could see them much over all the stuffed animals. The carpet was heathered white and grey. Wallpaper stickers of fairies and sparkles danced around the walls of the room and a flower night light was plugged into the wall.

I set Mia down and she started crawling towards the silver toy chest. She couldn't get anything out of it, but I took some out and she chose a few to bring back to the center of the room and play with. She was always smart like this. Other kids at the daycare center would take a toy, leave it, go get another one, play with it, leave it, repeat until all the toys were out and they were bored. Not Mia. She was smart enough to entertain herself with whatever toys she picked that day. She wasn't very good at sharing them. They were her toys for the day and no one else's. We were going to have to work on that, but for now, I'm not too worried.

Time passed as Mia repeatedly stacked blocks up and then would take the toy horse she had and knock it down.  Sometimes she would ignore the blocks and just play with the horse.  I was mostly there for supervision, but occasionally she would shove a stuffed bear in my direction and I would play with her. I loved it, and part of me wished she would have me play more, but I was also content to watch her. After an hour or two Logan came in and sat down next to us.  The new playmate put more pep into Mia and she ignored the toys just to play with us.  We played peek-a-boo, I would help Mia stand and walk and we would slowly chase Logan around the room, and eventually, we somehow got around to tickling Mia which lead to Logan tickling me and Mia laughing at us. 

After a while, I was exhausted and Mia's eyelids were drooping too.  We had a good routine going for us.  Mia was up at five in the morning every day which meant we were up shortly after.  I made sure to be at the school by 7:30 so I had to leave at seven. Logan always dropped Mia off before going to the hospital for work, and I would pick her up after I was finished at the school.  We got home aaaaaand nap time.  We were both always out by four and I usually was awake by the time Logan got home at 6.  Mia would wake up, playtime, dinner, more playtime, Mia goes to bed, then Logan and I watch a movie or just talk before going to sleep ourselves.  It really wasn't much.  It's routine and not always the most exciting, but we're happy like that.  As someone who has been shot, I don't need another big, high risk, story.  The little day-to-day adventures of having Logan and raising Mia are enough for me.

Anyways, where I was originally going with that, was that it is nap time.  My favorite time.  I love nap time.  I set up the playpen and fill it with pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals, and Mia falls asleep right away.  I pass out on the couch next to her.  Normally Logan isn't here, but I dragged him along today.  As usual, Mia was out like a light, but it took me a bit longer to fall asleep with Logan next to me because why would you want to miss out on the feeling of your soulmate cuddling you because you were stupid enough to fall asleep.  On the flip side, how can I stay awake when being pressed up next to Logan feels so warm and safe and comfy.  Despite my efforts, I felt my eyelids getting heavy and sleep started to cloud everything.

"You should be around for nap time more often," I murmured drowsily.

"I wish I could be.  This is nice," Logan whispered and rested his head against mine.

"Stupidwork," I grumbled, my words slurring together.  I felt Logan chuckle.

"Stupid work indeed," Logan agreed.

"This is the best," I could feel myself drifting farther and farther off, "I love you, Logan."

In hindsight, this was stupid for me to say.  Not because I didn't mean it, but because I wanted to be more awake to hear Logan say, "Love you too Pat."

I woke up to Logan's alarm on his phone, but Logan himself was gone.  Thank God he set one because I sure didn't.  I looked at the time.  5:30.  Guests should be here at any moment.  I got up and quickly combed my hair.  Mia was still asleep, but she was fine for now.  We wanted her to be awake while company was here; it was her party after all.  Logan was in the kitchen making last-minute adjustments to the food.

"It smells amazing Lo.  I'm sure everyone is going to love it," I said still half asleep.

"I'm simply making sure everything is satisfactory," He responded. I rolled my eyes. Satisfactory. Of course, it was satisfactory. It was party food. Taco in a bag. Not much to mess up, but of course, Logan had to make homemade salsa, guacamole, and queso dip to make up for the easy meal. Not that I'm complaining, the man makes a mean cheese dip, sometimes I just have to laugh at how much effort he puts into the little things.

"Well the guests are going to be here any minute so you should come relax for a while," I said and dragged him away from the food.

"Patton, we just took a two-hour nap," Logan blinked.

"Yes but I wanna relax and be awake for it this time," I whined and gave him the sweetest eyes I could pull. Logan looked at me with an amused half-smile on his face and then nodded. "Yayyyyyyyy," and I was pulling him out of the kitchen. Mia was still out cold in the playpen and drooling on a stuffed panda bear. "You think we're doing the right thing with her Logan?" I sat down on the couch and looked up at Logan who was still standing and looking over the playpen, "I mean, it all happened so fast, and I don't know if I can... do you think someone else could give her more?"

Logan shook his head but didn't shift his gaze from the little girl, "No Patton. She was going to end up somewhere and where would be better than here? She's with people who already know and love her, and there's no risk of her getting tossed around the system."

"Yeah I guess, but the timing wasn't the best. With me going to school and then you had to give up your job at the library, and I'm really sorry Lo," I sighed. Now Logan looked at me.

"Patton that's ridiculous. You being in school means you'll be getting paid more to give her a better life, and I always planned on putting my degree to use at the hospital, I just kept putting it off because I liked the routine at the library and it was in a tough spot. Now they have both Zach and Athena there they don't really need me and they'll both be getting paid more without my wage cutting into theirs." Logan argued.

"I miss Zach and Athena," I mumbled, "Are they coming tonight?"

"Yeah, they miss you too," Logan smiled.

I gave him a small smile in return.  "Sit dowwn," I whined and grabbed Logan's hand to pull him onto the couch.  "Relaxing now."

"Ok, ok.  Relaxing," Logan shifted more to get more comfortable on the couch. 

"We can do better at relaxing than that," I groaned and pushed him over so he was laying down.  I crawled over and he let out an 'oomph' as I laid down on top of him.  "That's better," I said, my voice muffled since my face was buried in his chest.

"Well breathing is a bit more difficult but sure," Logan chuckled, which felt weird on top of him. 

Which made me giggle, "That felt weird."

"You just giggled back, which also felt weird," Logan said matter-of-factly.

"Sorry," I giggled again.

"Stoooooooooop," Logan laughed.

"Sorry," more laughter. Soon enough we were a giggling, glowing pink mess on the couch.

"Alright, alright get off," Logan wheezed and rolled to the side. I shrieked as I fell off the couch. I kept giggling from the floor; Logan sat up and grinned at me from up on the couch. The moment was short-lived as Mia woke up and started crying.

"Look what you did!" I teased Logan and got up to pick Mia up out of the playpen.

"She's alright," Logan promised, "We were going to have to wake her up soon anyway.  If you want I'll take her and get her cleaned up a bit before company gets here," Logan offered.  I nodded and handed off Mia to him, and he put her on his hip.  I gave the still whimpering little girl a kiss on the cheek and then went on my tiptoes to kiss the man holding her.  I pulled away, but Logan leaned forward to let the kiss linger a little longer than I had planned.  I'm not complaining, but we had company coming in less than 15 minutes.

"Don't do that," I whined.

"Sorry?" Logan frowned.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong.  It was just too nice and we have company coming and a little girl to take care of," I gave him apologetic puppy eyes.

Logan turned his attention to Mia, "We might have to send you off with Grandma, won't we?" Logan huffed. 

I blew out a breath, "Wouldn't that be nice," I hummed and wrapped my arms around Logan's waist.  Logan smiled playfully and bent forward for another kiss and I was ready for it, but Mia decided otherwise.  She waved her arms around in front of our faces and then pushed at me.  Granted, she's only a year old so it didn't actually do much, but I played along with her and stepped back.

"You definitely have to go," Logan narrowed his eyes at Mia, but a smile seemed to tug at his mouth.  Mia blew raspberries at him and he returned the favor.

"Ok, ok you two.  Go get ready for company," I shook my head with a giggle.  Logan listened and went to Mia's room.  I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I picked up a pillow that had fallen off of the couch when Logan pushed me off.  Then the doorbell rang.  I rushed to the door and opened it to find my parents and Logan's mom.  My mother spoke up first.

"Oh Patton, have you met Logan's mother?  This is Nancy and she's wonderful!" She rambled.

"Yeah, Mom, I've met her before," I replied sheepishly.

"Isn't she wonderful?" my mother exclaimed.

"Yeah, she's awesome," I smiled.

"Your mother is amazing too, Patton," Nancy smiled back, "But there's nothing special about us.  Where's our baby girl?" she squealed and Mom nodded in agreement.

"Logan's just getting her cleaned up a bit.  They should be out any minute though.  Why don't you guys come inside and make yourselves comfortable," I stepped out of the way so the two moms could go inside with my dad trailing behind them.  He clapped me on the back as he went by.  "Do you guys want anything to drink?  We have tea, coffee, water, juice, anything?" I offered.

"I would love a cup of tea darling," Mom answered.

"Make that two," Dad added.

"Ok," I nodded, "Nancy?  Would you like anything?"

"Um, sure.  Tea sounds good if it's not too much work," she answered. 

"Of course!  Milk or sugar?"

"No thank you, dear," Nancy smiled.

And I was off to the kitchen to steep tea.  We had hot water ready to go, so I just had to grab tea leaves.  I filled up the mugs and stared at them on the counter waiting for them to be done. After a minute I heard a few gasps and squeals from the other room. Guessing Logan brought out Mia.

"Happy birthday baby girl!" I heard Nancy exclaim as I grabbed sugar for Dad's tea, "Oh Logan she's just darling," Nancy continued to gush.  I smiled to myself and my heart swelled at the moment.  I was making tea for my parents and hopefully future mother in law and I'm throwing a birthday party for my little girl with the best soulmate in the world. 

I brought the tea back out to the living room and my heart grew another size as I took in the scene.  Dad was sitting Mia up on his lap and a mom was on either side of him cooing at her.  Logan was seated next to his mother and smiling as he watched everyone fuss over Mia.  I gave Nancy and Mom their tea and set Dad's down on the coffee table since he was holding Mia.

"Patton, I don't think you're getting your daughter back any time soon.  Your mother might just steal her," Dad chuckled. 

"Hey!  She's going to have to fight me for her first," Nancy threw back. 

"I think we'll keep her," I replied with a laugh, "Maybe you guys can fight out who gets to babysit her first."

"Definitely call dibs!" Mom jumped and Nancy wasn't far behind.  I picked Mia up so Dad could drink his tea, and just as I was bracing for the two moms to attack me for her, the door rang, so I have her to Logan and he could deal with it.

I went down the hall to answer the door, and as soon as I had it a crack open, a ball of energy burst through and nearly knocked me down.  Fortunately, the mass of energy that would have taken me out, caught me in a hug just in time.

"Patton!  I haven't seen you in forever!  I've missed you so much!" Athena cried as she crushed me with her hug.

"It's good to see you too," I wheezed in response.  She must have heard the strain in my voice because she jumped away quickly.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!  I wasn't thinking.  Are you ok?" concern flushed her face.

"Oh, no, you didn't hurt me or anything!" I shook my head, "It's been months since I was hurt.  You're just stronger than you look.  I'm fine, really," I affirmed.  She didn't look entirely convinced, but she smiled again and began to jabber on about work and family and life.  I listened contently as she slowly made her way out of the entry hall and into the living room, but the relevance of my existence was diminished as she saw Mia, who was still in Logan's arms.

"Oh, my goodness baby girl!  I haven't seen you in forever either!" Athena rushed over and stole Mia from him in a very this-is-your-daughter-but-I'm-going-to-be-her-godmother-or-I'll-kill-everyone-and-then-myself-so-I-am-taking-her-and-I-don't-give-a-frick kinda way.  Logan blinked and looked down at his, now empty, arms and shrugged, but I'd never seen the look of betrayal so much as I saw on our mothers' faces.  Athena proceeded to spin and swing Mia around which made the baby laugh, but Logan went pale and didn't blink as he watched Mia in case he would have to catch her.  I walked over to him and put a hand on his arm to comfort the stressed-out dad.

"It's ok.  People spin their kids around all the time.  She's not going to drop her," I promised.

"It's not exactly safe," Logan responded without taking his eyes off of Mia.

"It's fun," I shrugged.

"I never said it isn't fun; I said it isn't safe."

"But it's fun," I repeated and Logan sucked in a breath that he didn't let out until Athena stopped, "See?  Mia's still here, isn't she?" I smirked, and Logan fell onto the couch and continued to watch Mia play on the floor with Athena.

Time passed and more people showed up.  First Roman and Virgil, then Missy and Pranks, and finally Zach, who Athena promptly punched in the arm for being late. We ate tacos, tales more, ate cake, and opened presents. Missy got her some baby clothes. Pranks got her a stuffed dog that sang lullabies when you pressed a button on it's paw. Virgil and Roman got her a fairy mobile to hang above her crib that would match her room. Mom and Dad got us a stroller that was full of bottles and diapers. Nancy gave her a baby blanket that had Mia's full name, her birthday, gotcha day, and a rose embroidered on it. Every thing was going so nicely. It was close to 10:30 now and we had put Mia to bed and broke out a few glasses of wine. Zach had to get home to his girlfriend, but everyone else was still here. Family and friend talking time.

"You boys are really doing good," Mom sighed and relaxed as she leaned against Dad.

"Absolutely," Nancy nodded and took a sip of her wine, "Mia's going to grow up to be an amazing girl thanks to you two." I looked up at Logan who was standing, leaning against the opposite wall.  He wasn't looking at me.  His gaze was towards the floor, but I could see him smiling to himself, and I felt more of the doubt that had been gnawing at me chip away. 

"And I'm so glad to finally have a grandkid," Mom grinned, "I've been waiting practically since you moved out."

"Moooom," I cringed, "I was not taking care of a kid at 19 and without a soulmate.  Even as it is, adopting Mia came a lot quicker than I had ever planned," I ran a hand through my hair. 

"Yeah, it's sad what happened to her.  I mean, I can't imagine growing up without my real parents," Pranks commented for the first time in a while, and at that Logan's attention snapped back up and he looked at his brother.  Pranks seemed to catch his error and hurried to correct himself, "I didn't mean that to sound like you guys won't do well enough.  It's just.. it's going to be a hard story to tell someday, and what if she tries to find her rea- her biological grandparents or if she thinks they just abandoned her... I'm sorry.  I'll stop talking," he looked down.

"They did," Logan said flatly.

"What do you mean?" Missy frowned.

"Her grandparents... They were supposed to take Mia in after their daughter's death, but they sent her off to the legal system instead," I explained, "I even invited them to her party tonight, but they said she wasn't theirs to take care of anymore.  I hope she doesn't go look for them when she's older.  I wouldn't want her to think she's not loved."

"That's awful," Missy shook her head, "even if they can't take care of her, you would think they'd want to at least stay in touch."

"But she doesn't need them," Nancy cut in, "I know you two will make sure she feels all the love a human can contain, and of course she'll have three grandparents dying to smother her with it." She finished and Mom and Dad nodded in agreement.

"And an uncle," Pranks added.

"Add two more to the uncle list," Roman spoke up and Virgil nodded.

"Aunties!" Missy and Athena chimed in unison.

"She'll be ok," Logan gave a small smile that didn't seem the most expressive, but at the same time delivered every message I could have needed to hear.

I swear to all things cute and fluffy in this world, I could have started crying there, but instead I said, "Logan and I have Thursday off; who wants to take her?" Now, I did start crying when all eight peoples' hands went in the air.  I laughed sheepishly and tried to swipe away the few tears that were falling out of my eyes.

"You guys can all fight it out," Logan answered for me.  He left his place on the wall and made his way over to me, pulled me out of my chair, and wrapped me up in a hug.  I squeezed back tightly and buried my face in his chest.  I let out a shaky breath as I felt him kiss my hair.

"We got lucky in the family department, didn't we?" I pulled back without letting go of him and looked at the crowd of loved ones talking amongst each other.

"Yes, yes we did," Logan agreed.

"Oh I know!" Mom exclaimed, "we can ask just meet at out house and all spend the day with her without her dads getting in the way!" A series of nods and murmurs in agreement went through the living room.  I smiled and rested my head back on Logan's chest. 

I can do this.  Of course, there'll be ups and downs.  Mia's going too grow up someday, and the world will never be perfect, but I know I can do this.  Not by myself, but I have parents and friends who I can count on.  I have Mia to make sure I get out of bed in the morning.  I have the kids at school to keep life interesting.  And I have someone to be at my side through it all.  Someone who'll love me forever and I'll love even longer.  Someone who's already been through the craziest experiences of my life with me.  I have a soulmate.  I have Logan.

Yeah, we can do this.

What's up everyone?  Yeah I know.  It's been forever since the last update and I'm really sorry about that, but long story short:  I suck.  There is no story.  I just haven't picked up my laptop to write in forever... sorry... but SURPRISE they adopted Mia!

what I was trying to get to was: that's the last official "chapter".  Yeah I know crazy.  There will of course be an epilogue and I am so excited to get it out because I have been planning this epilogue since the middle of July.  So it might be out right away, it might take forever... depends how picky I get with it because this story has really meant a lot to me and and people and readers I've seen mean a lot to me and I want to make sure I end it off right because it would destroy me to not give everything I have to this story.  A MASSIVE thank you to all the readers and people who comment!  You guys make my day and I appreciate you all so much!  I don't think you guys get how much it means to me to have people enjoy what I love to do... I would try to put it into words, but despite the author in me I try to be, I can't.  It's too much.

Love you all sooooooooooooooo much and I'll see you in the epilogue! <3