My hips swayed slightly as I lightly bounced a sleeping Gracie. Her arms were slung around my neck as she snoozed away, Ashton behind me getting ready.

This morning we were meeting with our lawyer at the social services office with Holly. Gracie was going to go through her first round of questioning as to how we cared for her and if she liked us.

But last night Ashton, Ann, and myself sat down with Ender to explain to him what was happening. He was devastated like the rest of us and we all held him while he cried, Ashton eventually carrying him down the hall to Ann's room so he could sleep there with her.

I felt like our family was falling apart piece by piece, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Hey, it's time to get her ready." Ashton said softly behind me and I nodded.

Last night had been a rough night for Ashton as well. Gracie had slept in our bed with us and I woke up to find Ashton sitting up, his head in his hands as he cried.

Yes I had seen him cry before, the time we almost broke up and the day I surprised him by adding his name to Gracie's birth certificate, but I had never seen him cry like this.

Gracie never woke up as I held onto Ashton as he clutched onto me, his tears hitting my skin, breaking my heart.

"Okay, come on princess." Ashton took Gracie from me, her brown eyes opening. "It's time for you to get dressed." He wrapped her in his arms as he took her over to her suitcase, finding a dress for her to wear.

"Daddy, I want pink." She sleepily pointed at her suitcase.

"You want your pink dress? Okay, baby." He kissed her cheek making her smile.

We got her in her dress and shoes and I then braided her hair how she liked, the three of us now ready.

We went downstairs for breakfast which Gracie was excited about but I noticed both Ashton and I didn't eat much.

After that we got in the car, Ashton and I on each side of Gracie, smiling at her as she "sang" along to the radio and I found the tears welling up in my eyes again.

Once we arrived at the social services building we were supposed to be meeting our lawyer outside, and I saw an older man in a nice suit, dark brown hair and blue tie waiting for us along with his briefcase.

"Mr. Irwin." The man stepped forward and shook Ashton's hand.

"Mr. Jackson, nice to meet you. This is my fiancé Carter and then Gracie." Ashton introduced me and the child in my arms.

"It's very nice to meet you both, I wish it was for better circumstances. Now inside they will put me in the room with Gracie and the social worker that will be interviewing her and the social worker in charge of Gracie's previous case before it was settled, Holly Baker. You will both be watching the interview through a window and we will be recording this for the judge to see."

"Okay." I said, Ashton nodding.

"Then let's go." Mr. Jackson said and led us into the building. We were directed down a series of hallways and doors until we arrived at the place where they would be conducting the interview.

Holly Baker was waiting along with another woman named Jane who was apparently conducting the interview who we shook hands with before they took Gracie inside the room.

She panicked at this and they let her out so we could hug her and tell her it was okay to go in before she actually did.

"And they have the nerve to want to give her to someone else." Ashton growled as we watched Gracie sit down next to Mr. Jackson and Holly Baker through the window.

I took his hand and a deep breath.

"Please tell me everything's going to be okay." He whispered. I had never seen him so vulnerable and scared before, he was terrified of what might happen, as was I.

But normally it was him comforting me, but I forgot that sometimes he needed comforting as well.

"Everything will be fine." I squeezed his hand tightly.

"Gracie, my name is Ms. Jane and I'm going to be asking you some questions about you and your parents, okay?" Jane said to Gracie and she nodded. "Good. So can you tell me how old you are Gracie?"

"Four." Gracie answered, her thumb in her mouth.

"And can you tell me where you live?"

"Haven Harbour." She said it slowly. We had been practicing on how to say it and I told her to say it slow so she could get it right, and listening to her do it made me smile.

"Do you know where you are now?"

"Daddy say we in London." She said to Jane.

"Gracie, do you call Ashton and Halle, Mommy and Daddy?" Jane asked and Gracie nodded. "Can you tell me why?"

"Because they Mommy and Daddy." Gracie shrugged her little shoulders.

"Oh my god she's just like you, doing that little shrug thing." Ashton breathed next to me and I squeezed his hand again.

"Can you tell me why they are Mommy and Daddy?" Jane asked Gracie.

"They Mommy Daddy because they Mommy Daddy." She said and I let out a tiny laugh.

"What does Ashton do that makes him your Daddy?" Jane continued.

"He give me kisses and cuddles!" Gracie smiled, her thumb still between her lips and Mr. Carrots in her other hand.

"What else does he do? Does he play games with you?"

"Mhmm." Gracie nodded. "Me and Daddy play tea party and he wear princess crown!"

"Okay, now can you tell me why Halle is your Mommy?"

"Because she gives me cuddles and kisses and plays with me!" She laughed at Jane.

"Good. Now can you tell me if your Mommy and Daddy have you take naps?"

"Yes!" Gracie nodded.

"And who gives you a bath?"

"Mommy Daddy." Gracie shrugged again.

"Now do Mommy and Daddy help you learn things like your colours and words?"

"Mhmm." Gracie nodded. "We practice animals and colours and abc's!"

"Are they good at teaching you?"

"Mhmm. Daddy make silly noises at animals and Mommy give me kisses if I say right colour!" She giggled her adorable laugh.

"What happens if you don't say the right colour?" Jane asked and I could see she was looking for something in Gracie's answers. 

"Mommy Daddy say oops try again!"

"So do your Mommy and Daddy ever get mad at you?"

Ashton huffed in annoyance.

"When I bad girl." Gracie said.

"What do they do when you're a bad girl?"

"I go timeout."

"And why have you gone to timeout before Gracie?"

"Because I cry when Mommy Daddy say no."

"I see." Jane said. "Does it make you mad when they say no?"

Gracie nodded.

"What do they tell you no about?"

"Daddy say no candy at bedtime so I cry."

I noticed Holly smile at this.

"So Gracie, do you like living with your Mommy and Daddy?"

"Yes!" Gracie laughed.

"Would you want to live somewhere else?"

"Princess castle!" She said enthusiastically and Ashton and I both started to laugh.

"Would you want Mommy and Daddy to live there too?"

"Yes! And Ender, and Grandma, and Bear, and Uncle Lukey, and Uncle Mikey, and Uncle Caly, and Aunt Ari, and Uncle Jason, and Aunt Becca and Uncle Harry!" She listed off every single person she could think of.

"Why would you want them to be with you?"

"Because I love Mommy Daddy." She smiled. "And Mommy Daddy love me."

"So would you want a new Mommy and Daddy?" Jane then asked and my breath caught in my throat as I waited for Gracie to answer.

"I want my Mommy Daddy now."

"You want the Mommy and Daddy you have now?"

"Mhmm! I love them."

"You don't want to leave the Mommy and Daddy you have now?"

"No." Gracie shook her head.

"Okay, I have all I need." Jane said and they brought Gracie back in to the room with us.

"I do good?" Gracie ran up to us.

"Did you do good?" Ashton laughed and picked her up as Gracie smiled. She tapped his hand with hers and he took her little hand up in his strong one, bringing it up to his face so he could kiss it.

"Love you munchkin." He then kissed her cheek.

"I give you kiss!" She said and kissed Ashton's nose. "And I give Mommy kiss!" She then leaned over and I stepped closer so she could give me a kiss as well.

"Aren't you sweet." I smiled. "I love you."

"Love you Mommy." She smiled.

After this we were taken from the room and into Holly Bakers office along with Mr. Jackson."

"I have been in contact with Mr. Ramone, and he has been informed the legal battle will be taking place, but I will be requesting that Gracie stay with the Irwin-Chase family until the case is closed and the judge has made a decision." Holly said.

"We will need some questions from you as well." Mr. Jackson told her.

"You're on our side?" I asked her.

"I am on the side of the child's best interest. But, yes. I have been asked to speak of behalf of the parents I deem most fit to care for Gracie, and I believe that it is you two. So I will be also speaking on Gracie's behalf and on the behalf of the Greater London Social Services." Holly answered.

"Thank you." I breathed and gave her a smile.

"It wasn't a hard decision." She said.

"What does that mean?" Ashton asked.

"Well the reason I felt so comfortable leaving Gracie with a couple as young as you are is because of the amount of experience Halle had in caring for children by herself. Mr. Ramone doesn't have any experience dealing with children."

"Will that help our case?" I asked Mr. Jackson.

"Yes. It should. So will statements from family members or close friends to praise both the character of you and Mr. Irwin." He replied. "Now I have Mr. Ramone's profile and I believe we should go through it together.

He pulled a thick folder from his briefcase and opened it to, a picture of the man who wanted to take my child away paper clipped to the top page.

He looked somewhat like my child but he didn't. His hair was the same colour but his skin was much more tan in pigment than Gracie who had a fair complexion when she wasn't sun kissed.

His eyes were blue and and he seemed to have a much more muscle-packed build than I would have expected.

Then I noticed something.

The bars with the height numbers behind them.

"He was in jail?!" I exclaimed.

"For six months on a robbery charge. He's been out for two years now, one on no probation. He will most likely have someone from his legal team express that he is a changed man and is ready to care for his child."

"She's not his child." Ashton said darkly. "She never will be."

"What about the fact that we legally adopted Gracie? I mean our names are on her birth certificate. She has Ashton's last name." I asked.

"His lawyers will most likely put in an appeal for her birth certificate to be changed as well to
put Robert Ramones name on it alongside his full custody suit." Mr. Jackson said.

"So it will either help us or hurt us." I sighed.

"It's whatever the judge decides. Now I have been able to speed this process along since I know you both won't be in London long enough for the length that most child custody cases take, and I know Mr. Irwin has expressed how he doesn't wish to have the media involved, so we will have the parent interviews with the judge scheduled as quickly as we can. Ms. Baker will also be preparing her statement for the judge to give on the day set for the court hearing."

"What do you think our chances are?" I asked next.

"Every case is a fifty-fifty percent. It's all up to the judge. He could believe that Mr. Ramone is ready to take on the care of a child or he could not, but we will do everything we can to keep Gracie with you."

We thanked them and then left the office, getting in the car where I called Ender and told him to get ready for lunch.

Once at the hotel Gracie was hyper as we walked through the halls, jumping up and down.

"Gracie hold my hand please." Ashton reached out for her and she took it. "Hyper little thing." He chuckled.

When we got to the door he opened it and led Gracie and I in, the three of us waking into the room to see not only Ann and Ender waiting for us, but surprisingly Ari and Jason as well.

"Oh my god what are you doing here!" I rushed forward to hug Ari who tackled me in a tight hug.

"Ann called. We wanted to be here for you."

"You didn't have to do that."

"Yes we did." She smiled. "How could I not? You're my best friend, and I love you, Gracie and Ashton to the ends of the earth."

"Thank you." I breathed.

Ari let me go so she could hug Ashton and I could hug Jason, then they went to hug Gracie.

"Aunt Ari!" She grinned as Ari picked her up.

"Hi! How's my favourite niece?"

"Good." Gracie smiled and I laughed at her answer.

"Hey there little Gracie." Jason then took her from Ari to hug her.

"So do you guys wanna go get lunch?" I asked.

"Sure." Ari smiled.

Ashton took Gracie from Jason and he carried her out of the room and I took Ender's hand as we left.

We left the hotel and got into the car, arriving at a restaurant shortly.

"Car are you wearing more makeup or something?" Ari asked me as we sat down at our table, Gracie crawling into Ashton's lap as she sat between us.

"No, why?" I asked her.

"You just look a little brighter, I don't know it's like you have a glow."

"It's from my halo." I retorted sarcastically and Ashton snorted next to me.

"We all know that's not true." He said.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to marry you?" I looked at him, a sarcastic smirk on my face and his.

"Yes." He then smiled before leaning down to kiss me. "I love you."

"Love you too." I smiled up at him.

"Kissy!" Gracie tugged on Ashton's shirt.

"You want a kiss too?" He smiled down at her. "Come here."

He leaned down to kiss at her cheek, making her grin widely and cheekily.

"I love you." He kissed her cheek once more.

"Daddy loves Gracie!" She giggled. "And Gracie loves Daddy!"

"To the moon and stars and beyond." He smiled, hugging her to him while the rest of us watched in bittersweet adoration.

If Robert Ramone was to win the custody battle against us and take Gracie away, I didn't know if Ashton would be able to take it, but neither would the rest of us.

She was his little girl. She was the reason he was a father. She had him wrapped around her finger like no one else.

I looked over at them to see Ender playing peek-a-boo with Gracie, Ashton laughing at the two of them.

This was my family, and I had to keep it that way.

My phone beeping in my pocket stirred me from my thoughts and I reached for it, looking to see a text from Harry.

'How did the interview go today?'

'It went well.'

'Want to get together tomorrow? Maybe get something to eat?' He replied.

'Yeah. That sounds nice.'

'I'll meet you at 12. I'll send you the address.'

I set my phone down and then rejoined the conversation.

"So how are the wedding plans going?" I asked Ari.

"Oh my gosh so you know how I was going to do lily's for the flowers? Well I'm going to do pink roses now and I need to order the bridesmaid dresses and-" She continued on a long monologue of her wedding details.

I found myself forcing myself to listen, my mind wandering to the situation with Gracie.

I think Ashton could tell I was losing attention in the conversation and would squeeze my hand every time I started to drift off.

After lunch Ashton offered to show Ari and Jason around while Ann took the kids back to the hotel so Gracie could nap and Ender could have his lesson.

"So how are you guys doing?" Ari asked us as we walked down the streets.

"Not good." Ashton answered, his hand holding mine. "It's been tough to come to terms with."

"What are you going to tell Gracie?" Jason asked.

"Well she hasn't asked any questions yet. I think I'd like to not tell her anything unless necessary." I said.

"Are you going to take her to the doctor still to ask about the whole breastfeeding thing?" Ari asked.

"I don't feel like with everything going on that we should." I sighed.

"But maybe the doctor will say that you should and it could be a good reason for the judge to keep her with you." She said and I nodded.

"I just- I don't even know if I can. I don't want to breastfeed my four year old. Besides, she hasn't tried recently, I think she's gotten past that phase she's in."

"It might be something to look into though." Ashton said next to me.

"Let's discuss this with our lawyer first." I sighed again. "I don't want to do anything to jeopardise our case."

"I agree." He nodded.

"Ash can we grab a coffee, please?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah, are you feeling okay?" He gave me a concerned glance.

"I just need some caffeine." I gave him a little smile.

We found a cafe and Ari and I got the table while the boys went to get our coffees.

"So how are you handling all of this?" She asked me and I sighed.

"I just- I just don't understand what I did to make all of these things go wrong in my life. It's like the heartbreak will never end. And Ashton's been great at supporting me and comforting me but he's hurting too and I feel awful because how could I possibly help him when I can't even help myself. And I just can't help but wonder if she really does leave, if it will be what ends us."

"Have you talked to Ashton about this?" She asked me softly.

"No. He's so wrapped up in the case, I don't want to say anything. He's worried enough about Gracie."

"Yes but he's also worried about you Carter. Why do you think we're here? This is really stressful and he's scared this might be the thing that does you in. You had another seizure Car and he doesn't want you to have another one, and neither do the rest of us. That's why me, Ann, and Jason are here. You need support, both you and Ashton do. You're not in this alone, you have us, and we're here to help you."

I kept my eyes looking out the window.

"I just want everything to go back to the way it was before."

Ari was silent but moments later a cinnamon latte was placed in front of me and I looked up to see Ashton taking the seat next to me, a coffee in his hand as well.

Jason sat down next to Ari and I felt Ashton's hand come rest on my back. He rubbed my back for a moment before slipping it around my waist.

"You feeling okay baby?" He leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"Physically or mentally?" I looked at him and saw him nod in understanding.

"Let's go see a movie tonight, just you and me." He said and I nodded.

Ashton leaned his head against mine as we sat at the table with our friends, him placing the occasional kiss to my hair.

I reached over to hold his hand, playing with his fingers to distract myself.

We were each trying to comfort each other without being obvious about it but I could feel his body relax at my touch, and I knew mine did the same at his.

Ashton and I needed to have tonight to talk to each other and get things out before we went into this court battle fists flying.

--

I'll have the next part up soon.

Writing these chapters is so sad :(

Anyways, comment and vote if you'd like!

Much love xx -M