Ashton's PoV:

"Dad, wake up! Car!" I felt my shoulder being shaken and I slowly opened my eyes to see Ender standing above me.

"What is it End?" I yawned.

"The social worker lady is here." He said and I sat up quickly, looking across the room to see Amanda Lang standing by the door.

"Crap." I stood up, realising I was in my boxers and a tee shirt, but it was a little late now and I walked over to her.

"I'm so sorry, I had no idea you were coming today." I reached out to shake her hand.

"No I didn't tell you, this is supposed to be a unexpected visit, the judge ordered it yesterday after hearing about Gracie's visit with her birth father."

"Oh okay." I nodded. "I uh- I guess I'll go wake up Carter."

She smiled and I went back over to the beds where I lightly shook Carters side to get her up.

"Hey, Amanda Lang is here for a surprise visit, the judge ordered it." I told her once she opened her eyes.

She sat up more and looked at Amanda before getting out of bed and going to say hello.

"What is she doing here?" Ender asked me.

"She's just here to watch us and see how we take care of Gracie and you."

He nodded.

"Now go get dressed."

Carter came back over to me, Amanda following.

"You have work today right?" Carter yawned.

"Yeah, but I'll call and cancel." I said and she nodded, her arms folded across her stomach to warm herself up.

I gave Carter a quick good morning peck on the lips before searching for sweatpants.

I pulled some on and then fixed my hair in the mirror above the dresser.

"Mommy." I turned around when I heard Gracie mumble.

"Good morning sweetheart." Carter walked over to the little girl who was buried in the blankets and lifted her up, resting her on her waist.

Gracie clung to Carter and rested her head on her moms shoulder as Carter walked around trying to get ready.

I went to get Gracie when Carter had to get dressed and held her in my arms, the little girl smiling.

"Good morning princess." I smiled at her.

"Morning Daddy." She hugged my neck and I kissed her cheek.

"Did you sleep good?"

"Mhmm." She nodded and then looked at Amanda, a whimper escaping her.

"No trip! No trip!" Gracie began to violently shake her head.

"Hey, shh...." I tried to calm her down. "You're not going on a trip, you're staying here with me and Mommy and Ender."

"I stay with you?"

"Mhmm." I smiled and she looked relieved. "Now let's pick out something for you to wear today."

We went to her suitcase where she and I went through the clothes until we settled on black leggings and a dark green shirt to go over it.

Carter came out of the bathroom now dressed and helped me dress Gracie.

"Mommy you braid my hair?" Gracie asked.

"What's the word we say when we want something?" Carter asked her.

"Pwease." Gracie smiled and Carter kissed her cheek before going to braid her hair.

Once hair was braided I called in for room service while putting on some morning cartoons for Gracie to watch.

"Does she typically watch cartoons every morning?" Amanda asked.

"It depends on the morning." I replied. "But she and I used to watch cartoons when she first arrived and that's how we kind of bonded so we like to watch the Disney shows together."

Amanda nodded and wrote something down on her notepad.

I sat down with Gracie who crawled over into my lap and watched the shows with her, Gracie singing the theme songs loudly.

When our food arrived we set it up at our table,
Carter pouring me some coffee. We asked Amanda to join but she said she'd already eaten so just watched as we all sat down to our meal.

"Say your prayers Gracie." Carter reminded her and Gracie folded her hands together while we watched her.

"Dear God, thank you for Mommy Daddy Ender Grandma. Thank you for my toys and dresses and cartoons and strawberries. Thanks you for my stuffies and blankey. I love you. Amen." Gracie said with her eyes closed and once she was done she opened her eyes and looked at us for approval, a grin squishing her little cheeks.

"Very nice." Carter smiled and Gracie giggled joyfully before watching Carter put things on her plate.

"Biscuit, Mommy!" Gracie said when Carter didn't put one on there.

"You can have one once you finish your other food." Carter told her and Gracie nodded.

We were almost done eating when there was a knock at the door and I went to go get it, Ari on the other side.

"Aunt Ari!" Gracie jumped out of her chair and ran to hug Ari.

"Good morning Gracie." Ari smiled and hugged her back before I sent Gracie back to her seat.

"Hey Jason and I were wondering if you guys wanted to go do some sight seeing today?" She asked as she walked in the room and then noticed Amanda Lang. "Oh, hi. I never got the chance to introduce myself. I'm Ari, Carters best friend."

"Nice to meet you." Amanda shook her hand. "I've read that you babysit Gracie and Ender."

"Yes. I'm the lucky girl who gets to watch these cuties when Carter and Ashton need someone
to." Ari smiled and ruffled Ender's hair.

"Sleepover!" Gracie exclaimed from where she was sitting, biscuit crumbs and strawberry stains on her face.

"Yeah, we had a sleepover and baked cupcakes." Ari laughed.

"Strawberry!"

"Yup, strawberry cupcakes." Ari smiled again.

"Are we allowed to go anywhere?" I asked Amanda.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Okay, then yeah let's go sight seeing." I said to Ari.

"I'll go tell Jason." She smiled and then left.

Gracie finished her breakfast and then Carter cleaned her up again before Ender and I went to get my mom and then join Ari, Jason, Carter, Gracie and Amanda downstairs.

We loaded up in a car and then set off, Ari googling places to go on her phone.

Gracie had blankey and bunny in her hands as she kicked her feet, smiling happily in the car.

"Daddy where we go?" She asked me since I was sitting right night to her.

"We're going to go exploring, are you excited?"

"Mhmm." She nodded.

She reached across the space between us to hold my hand and gave me a cheeky smile as she did as such, making me smile back at her.

"Daddy Gracie hold hands!" She grinned and everyone in the car laughed.

Ari took us around the city going from destination to destination, all of us getting out of the car to take pictures in front of castles, famous building, and historical monuments.

"Daddy spin me!" Gracie exclaimed as we stood with the crowd in front of Buckingham Palace and I picked her up under her arms and spun her in circles for a few moments, Gracie squealing happily.

Amanda stood there off to the side watching us and as I walked up to Carter she gave me a smile.

"Hey." I smiled at her and put my arm around her shoulders.

"She's happy." Carter looked at Gracie who was dancing while next to my mom who was clapping.

"I know." I kissed Carters temple. "So how about we go out tomorrow night just me and you?"

"I'd like that." She leaned her head on my arm.

We watched Gracie dance and then play around with Ender before they both ran up to us.

"Mommy!" Gracie reached up for Carter and my fiancé moved from under my arm to lift up our child.

"How about we go take some family pictures? Does that sound fun?" Carter asked her and Gracie cheered and I laughed, placing a hand on Ender's shoulder and following Carter over to Ari who took her phone and began snapping pictures of us.

The rest of our afternoon was spent sight seeing and exploring until the kids were dragging and Gracie was up in my arms asleep.

We took them back to the hotel where we tucked them into bed for a nap and then sat down at the table with Amanda.

"Well this is no doubt a much better visit then the one the other day." She commented and I gave Carter a hopeful smile.

"Are we allowed to ask what happened?" Carter asked Amanda.

"Well, that's one of the reasons why I'm here. The judge was curious to know why you knew she wouldn't do well being with Mr. Ramone." Amanda replied.

"Well," I looked at Carter when I spoke, "we just know her. We know how she would do with a stranger because we know her better than anyone."

"She's only been with us a short while, we know that, but we're her parents nonetheless. At her age she's so impressionable and fragile and after her mom died, her birth mom, she was traumatised, but now...now that she's with us, we've given her a family again...a family that's been there for her, not one that abandoned her and is just now coming back for all of the wrong reasons." Carter added.

Amanda nodded.

"You know," Carter laughed and shook her head, "I tried to keep Abby so present in Gracie's life like I kept my mom present in Ender's, but it's so hard to do that when I don't see Abby as her mother, I see myself."

My eyes widened as I looked at Carter and saw the tears welling up in her eyes.

Moving closer I put my hand on her back, trying to comfort her.

"I just hate this, I hate this so much."

She was trying so hard not to breakdown and I saw Amanda blink back watery eyes.

"Hey, deep breath." I told Carter in a soft voice.

"Sorry." She sniffled and I watched as she got up to get a tissue to dab at her eyes.

It was quiet for a long while after that until we heard Gracie begin to stir.

"Mommy." Gracie whined, sounding like she was about to cry. "I want cuddles."

Before Carter even got to her she was crying and I went over as well as Carter took Gracie to our bed and laid with her beneath the blanket.

Gracie tugged at Carters shirt in her tearful state and I lifted the blanket so Carter could carefully slip off her shirt and lay Gracie down on her chest.

I put the blanket back over them and watched as Gracie nestled into Carter, her cries settling.

"So these are Mommy cuddles." Amanda said and I saw her standing there writing notes on her notepad.

"We figured out that she likes to hear our heartbeats, and it's the only thing to settle her down."

"Whatever works." Amanda smiled.

"Shh...baby." Carter whispered to Gracie and then I heard her begin to hum the lullaby I sing for Gracie.

Gracie brought her thumb to her mouth at this and Carter smiled down at her lovingly.

This lasted for a bit until Gracie settled down completely and Carter got presentable again before taking Gracie to start playing with her.

Amanda stayed until after dinner, watching us with a more relaxed appearance and Gracie even hugged her goodbye when she left despite the fact she hadn't really spoken to her.

Once Amanda was gone we bathed Gracie and put her in the bed with Ender.

"Story!" Gracie smiled happily and I grabbed a book from her bag and sat down on the bed, Carter sitting with Ender and brushing her fingers over his face while holding him.

I read the story of Peter Pan out of the Disney story book we had and changed my voice for each character causing both Gracie and Ender to laugh.

Once I was finished with the story Carter and I kissed them both goodnight and tucked them in tightly before preparing for bed.

We were both standing at the bathroom counter as she washed her face and I brushed my hair when I spoke.

"What you said to Amanda today about not seeing Abby as Gracie's mom, did you mean that?"

She paused from moving the soap around her skin and dropped her head, her hands gripping the counter top.

"Yes." She spoke so quietly is was almost a whisper. "I know I shouldn't have said that but I couldn't hold it in anymore."

"No, Carter, I don't think that's a bad thing. I was just curious as to why you hadn't said anything about that to me."

"Because I know you feel the same way." She looked up at me, her grey eyes dark.

"I do." I nodded.

"Me telling Gracie that Abby is her mom is like telling you that I'm your mom, it's not possible. Like I just can't do that to her when Abby isn't her mother anymore." She took a breath and then continued. "It's like...sometimes I forget that we haven't been together since I was fifteen and we had Gracie together. I forget that I've only known her for a few months. It's like I can see it all in my head but then I remember none of its true." She bashfully admitted. "But I so desperately want it to be true."

"I know how you feel." I gave her a half smile. "Like I picture it in my head us in a hospital holding Gracie as a baby but I know that never happened."

"Exactly." She breathed, closing her eyes. "But I wish it did."

"You wish I got you pregnant at fifteen?" I chuckled.

"I wish she was ours." She opened her eyes again before the spoke, making the most sincere and heartbreaking eye contact with me she had ever made.

"Come here." I whispered and brought her into my arms, her pressing her still damp and soapy cheek against my tee shirt covered chest but I didn't care.

"Ashton, if we end up winning the case I want to tell her that she's ours." Carter murmured.

"We can do that." I hugged her tightly.

"I don't want her to know about the trial or anything."

"Okay." I nodded. "We can make that one of our demands; that if we win we want all articles, documents, reports, anything talking about her deleted so Gracie will never find out."

"Do you think we can do that?"

"We can try. That's all we can do." I spoke into her hair, Carter nodding.

"I love her so much." Carter nestled her head into my chest. "And I want to do whatever it takes to protect her."

"We will. I swear Carter we will do whatever we can to keep her home and make sure she never knows of this."

"That's what I want." She sniffled and I pressed my lips to the top of her head, holding them there.

I held her for a few more minutes until I pulled back so I could see her face.

"I love you, Car."

"I love you too." She gave me a little smile and leaned up to kiss me, her face still soapy and wet.

I placed my hands on the skin of her face as I kissed her, tasting her lips that I so enjoyed.

We broke the kiss, Carter hugging me once more before we finished getting ready for bed and then got beneath the covers of our hotel bed.

Carter curled herself into my embrace, my arms holding her tightly to me.

As I tried to fall asleep I thought about what we had decided tonight.

The decision to not tell Gracie about Abby and Mr. Ramone would be difficult to up keep.

I didn't know if it would be possible, but we could try.

I knew that today had been really good for our case. Hopefully this would be enough for the judge to see that we were the rightful parents and we would win, but we were going against Gracie's biological father, and that was tricky.

Letting out a sigh I shut my eyes tighter, eventually falling asleep.

What felt like only minutes later I was awoken by Carter violently shaking in my arms.

Immediately my eyes flew open and I sat back to see her having a seizure.

"Shit." I panicked and rushed to put her on her side.

"Ender! Ender!" I yelled, the boy springing up with wide eyes. "Go get the guys!"

He looked to see what was happening before jumping out of bed and sprinting out of the room and across the hall.

"Come on Car, settle down." I muttered as I tried to stabilise her.

Ender came running back in with Luke, Calum, and Michael tailing him.

"I'll call an ambulance." Calum went to the phone.

Michael came up to help me try and hold Carter still while Luke held onto Ender who began to freak out.

"Ambulance is on the way." Calum said.

In the next few minutes Carter stopped seizing, her body now limp, and I anxiously waited for the ambulance to arrive. We weren't too far away from the hospital and they arrived quickly, loading Carter up on a stretcher.

"Take the kids to my mom, and have them meet me at the hospital, someone go get Ari and Jason as well." I said as I yanked on shoes and jogged after the paramedics and followed them into the elevator then out to the back of the ambulance.

I ran down Carters medical problems with the paramedics who were checking her vitals and once we arrived at the hospital she was taken to a room for monitoring where I sat in a chair by her bed.

At least this time she hadn't hit her head.

Carters heart monitor was steady and constant in the room, that being the only noise until my mom along with Ari and Jason walked in.

"Is she okay?" My mom asked, her gaze staying on Carter as she walked.

"Yeah, just one seizure."

She nodded.

"What happened though?" Ari asked.

"I don't know. We were asleep and then all of the sudden I woke up to her having a seizure."

"But what caused it?"

"I don't know. She seemed good, happy even when we went to bed. We had a really good talk last night and everything was good."

"What did you talk about?" Jason asked as he sat down next to me.

"Carter said she wanted to put in our demands if we win the case that they get rid of all evidence that it even happened. She doesn't want Gracie to know she's adopted. And I told her I was okay with that."

"Do you think she meant that?" Ari raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah. She was pretty adamant about it." I said and then sighed. "Where are the kids?"

"Luke, Michael, and Calum have them, they were going to get them ready and bring them up in a bit." My mom said and I nodded.

Then I looked at us.

We were all in our pyjamas, Jason and I both in basketball shorts and tee shirts, Ari in sleep shorts and a tee and my mom in flannel pyjamas.

"I knew this was going to happen." I shook my head. "I should've kept her in the hospital like I originally planned."

"Ashton, you know that would have only made this worse." My mom cut in.

"Like this is any better?" I waved my hand at  Carters unconscious body. "I spend every second of my day half my mind worrying if I'm going to lose my daughter and the other half wondering if my fiancé is going to drop dead in front of me."

"Ashton!" My mother gasped.

"No! You don't get it!" I looked at her dead serious. "I had this whole life planned for us and Gracie and now it's all being taken away."

"Ashton you don't know if any of that is going to happen. Maybe your plans aren't being taken away, they're just going a little off course." Ari said.

"I just...I don't know what to do anymore. I'm supposed to be able to save my family, and I'm supposed to be able to help my fiancé and I can't. I'm failing."

"Ashton you're not failing."

"Look at her!" I gestured at Carter again.

"Is she still breathing?" Ari asked.

"What?"

"Is Carter still breathing?"

"Yes?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Then you haven't failed."

There was silence for a few minutes.

"I don't know how to live without her."

My mom placed a hand on my shoulder at my whispered words.

"Ashton?" I heard my name croaked out and my head snapped up to see Carter now with her eyes creaked open.

"Hey." I stood up and rushed to her side.

"Did I have another seizure?" She asked.

"Yeah." I gave her an apologetic smile.

"Why?"

"I don't know baby. That's what you need to tell me. What's stressing you out?"

"Ashton the list would be much easier if I told you what isn't stressing me out." She replied. "Now can you just come lay with me please?"

I nodded and got in the bed with her. She didn't have an IV in so she could wrap her arms around my waist as she hugged me.

So I wouldn't cry I buried my face in her hair, hoping that we could both provide a little comfort for each other.

--

And here we go again...

I'll have the next part up soon!

Much love xx-M