It was only a few days after Chris had deleted the messages he'd intended on sending to Piper that he'd mustered enough courage to take the elevator up to the floor of her apartment unit and ring the doorbell.

Standing in front of her door as he waited patiently, his eyes shifted from his feet to the apartment unit that was next to Piper's and he wondered if it was already vacant by now. Even if it was vacant, his mind however was not void of the memories he'd shared with the woman who'd—probably—formerly resided in that very apartment unit.

Chris heaved a quiet sigh and looked away, forcing the barrage of images out of his head before they moved to turn on the waterworks.

Dodger nudged at Chris' thigh, forcing the latter to turn his attention to him—something that Chris was grateful for but it didn't really help with his fidgeting and the thing was, he didn't even know why he was fidgeting.

"Cut it out, buddy," Chris muttered nervously after his furry companion nudged him in his thigh again.

Dodger tilted his head to the side a little and peered at his owner, almost looking like he was mocking Chris for being so damn jittery. Chris spared a glance at Dodger before his eyes swept over to the doorbell that rested at the bottom of the peephole.

Chris began rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, drumming his fingers against his left thigh as he looked around the empty corridor.

He wasn't sure if he should ring the doorbell and try his luck—because she was most probably out for a coffee run or she probably didn't hear him knock the first time—but when he noticed Dodger moving to lie on the ground after having waited for more than four minutes, he decided to ring it without much hesitation.

As soon as the sound of the doorbell resonated across Piper's apartment, a faint 'coming!' could be heard and soon enough, the door was being pulled open.

"Alright, Isaac! Go on, go find—Chris?" Piper asked with a surprised look in her eyes as soon as she came face-to-face with him. She noticed almost immediately that he wasn't alone and reached down to give Dodger a good pat on the head, beaming as she did so. "He's cute. What's his name?"

"Dodger," Chris replied, patting his furry companion as he cleared his throat. "I was, uh, out for a walk with Dodger when we passed by your building. So, I thought that I'd come here and... uh, you know, say hi."

Piper stared at him for a good moment before realization dawned upon her. "Ah, I forgot that you most probably do take Dodger on walks around here, considering the fact that," Piper gestured awkwardly towards the apartment unit that was right next to hers, "uh, well—you know, I know."

Chris chuckled nervously and gave her a weak nod, looking down at his feet. Piper noticed the change in his body language and instantly regretted bringing it up. She bit down on her bottom lip, bracing herself to apologize to him for reminding him of what had happened some two and a half weeks ago when little Isaac came running out of one of the rooms.

"I can't find him and I've looked everywhere!" Isaac whined as he wrapped his arms around Piper's torso, throwing her a pout.

Piper chuckled at the little boy's antics and carded her fingers through his mop of curly hair that in no way resembled his father's.

"Y-you have a kid—?" Chris asked, gesturing towards little Isaac.

"No, no. He's—"

"Pip, who's at the door? I can't possibly hide under the damn bed forever! My legs are killing me!"

Chris' eyes doubled in size as he peered at Piper curiously. "Husb—? "

"God, no! Ew—oh, my God. Chris, for God's sake—Jesus Christ. That's my brother," Piper deadpanned as she wrapped an arm around Isaac who was peering up at Chris. "You of all people should know that I just broke up with my ex. I wouldn't just impulsively marry any Tom, Dick or Harry just so I can get over my ex."

"Sorry, sorry—I'm really sorry for assuming. God, I shouldn't have assumed such a thing in the first place—" Chris rambled, screwing his eyes shut as he mentally slapped himself in the face for even assuming such a thing.

"I-it's fine, it's okay," Piper chuckled, brushing it off with a wave of her hand. "Do you wanna come in or something? It's pretty cold outside."

"Oh, no—it's okay. I should probably get going. Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and say hi. That's all," Chris said, letting out a soft chuckle as he began to take his leave, only for Piper to reach out to him to stop him in his tracks.

"Gosh, don't be silly. Come in, come in," Piper said, tugging Chris by his wrist as she sauntered into her apartment with Isaac still attached to her hip. "Luke, come out! We have a guest, so hide and seek sadly has to come to an end."

"Thank fucking God!" Luke yelled from the guest room, making Piper's eyes grow wide.

"Language, Luke!" Piper scolded her brother, covering Isaac's ears as she moved them to the living room before turning to Chris. "Just hang your coat on the rack and come sit with us. I promise we don't bite."

Chris nodded in response, softly thanking her as he unclipped Dodger's leash, letting his furry friend explore Piper's apartment with much curiosity.

"The next time we play hide and seek," Luke huffed, striding out of the guest bedroom before pointing at his sister who was heading into the kitchen, "you're hiding, Pip. Do you know how hard it was for me to shimmy my way out from under that low-rise bed?" Luke asked incredulously, earning a hearty giggle from Isaac. "My back was not made for this at—oh. Oh, hey. Chris, right?"

Chris turned to look at the man who was now standing by Piper's royal blue couch and felt his cheeks flush red. He felt like he was about to die from embarrassment because he couldn't believe he thought that the man in Piper's apartment was her husband when she herself had just gotten out of a horrible relationship.

He should have known it was her brother.

"Chris, this is my brother, Luke. And that adorable little boy over there, who was previously at the door with us, is Isaac." Piper offered Chris a warm drink and did the same with Luke and Isaac.

Luke threw his sister an offended look as he took a sip of his drink. "Why is it that Isaac is known as the 'adorable little boy' while I merely got the typical 'this is my brother' introduction?"

Chris chuckled into his drink and nearly choked as his eyes wandered over to Piper who was gaping at her lanky giant of a brother, though her mouth was curved into an amused smile. Piper playfully narrowed her eyes at Luke and was about to say something snarky when little Isaac piped up from the couch.

"That's because Aunty Piper likes me more! Isn't that right, Aunty Piper?" Isaac giggled, taking a careful sip of the drink Piper made him.

Luke feigned a pout while both Piper and Chris laughed at the little boy's innocent response, the three of them quietly sipping on their drinks as they basked in each other's company.

. . . . . .

"Sorry for barging in like this," Chris said, bringing the cups over to the kitchen just as Piper turned on the faucet to the sink.

Luke and Isaac were both taking a nap in the guest bedroom, the former having dozed off soon after Isaac. Piper walked into the bedroom earlier to draw the curtains for Isaac—because Luke almost always forgot about them—only to find them both fast asleep. Piper couldn't help but simper at the sight of the two of them; Luke had a book spread on his stomach while Isaac was snuggled up to him and Casper the bear.

Piper threw him an odd look and took the cups from him, thanking him before she placed them in the sink. "Why are you apologizing?"

"You're having, from what appears to be, family time with your brother and little Isaac. And I just showed up to your apartment unannounced, thinking that you might want to take a walk or something and have brunch together or something," Chris reasoned, looking down at his feet sheepishly.

Piper paused for a moment and turned off the faucet, dried her hands on the hand towel and turned to Chris. Despite having fully faced him, that didn't seem to get his attention. Instinctively, she placed her hand on his and got him to meet her eyes in the end.

"Thank you for thinking of me and for wanting to take a walk together and have brunch after," she said sincerely. "So, please don't apologize just because you think you showed up here unannounced. Sometimes, spontaneous plans are the best kind of plans, no?"

Chris' eyes lit up at her words as a warm smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Thank you, Piper."

"Stop thanking me," Piper playfully chastised. "I should be thanking you."

Chris furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What for?"

Piper drew in a deep breath, biting on the inside of her cheek out of sheer habit. "Isaac was really upset when he got here last night, after his dad dropped him off because he had a family emergency to attend to. We were trying to cheer him up earlier with a game of hide and seek but he still seemed really down until you showed up. He seems to have warmed up to you really quickly and that honestly doesn't happen very often when Isaac meets someone new."

"Isaac isn't Luke's son?" Chris furrowed his eyebrows.

"No," she chuckled lightly. "Luke doesn't even have a girlfriend. And no, Isaac isn't adopted either," Piper said humorously.

"Your other brother or sister's son, then? If you... have another brother or sister." Chris asked, chuckling lightly.

Piper simpered, shaking her head. "Isaac is Preston's son, a close friend of ours. See, Preston met his then girlfriend at a bar, about nine years back. They hit it off really well and Preston fell hard for her months later but what he didn't know was that she wasn't in love with him. She loved him, though I'm not sure to what extent, but she wasn't in love with him," Piper said, her eyes wandering over to Chris who was nodding in response.

"About eleven months to a year into their relationship, she got pregnant with Isaac. Preston was thrilled but she wasn't, not entirely. Still, she masked it up till the time Isaac was born. Luke and I could see that she wasn't as invested in Isaac as Preston was but he couldn't see that."

"She left him," Chris said despondently, holding Piper's gaze.

Piper nodded solemnly and let out a quiet sigh before glancing over her shoulder to make sure that Isaac wasn't standing behind them. "She did. Took off when Isaac was only three months old and left him in Preston's care. Preston was..." Piper trailed off, her eyes sweeping over to the basket of fruits that was right next to Chris, "...for a lack of a better word, crushed. No one could imagine the kind of pain he felt in that moment but Preston knew he had to get it together for Isaac, and he did. He sought help from his friends who are mothers themselves, colleagues and close friends—"

"You and Luke." Chris nodded in understanding.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Preston only has a few people within his inner circle and unfortunately, that includes neither his parents nor his extended family members. When Isaac was born and Preston broke the news to them, they scorned at him, told him that he really had to have a kid with someone they barely even knew because Pres never introduced her to them," Piper paused, heaving a deep sigh at the memory of it all as Chris' face was plagued with a look of sheer disbelief because of how unreasonable Preston's family members were.

"They turned him and Isaac away at a time when they needed them the most. Preston was more than crushed because not only did the woman he loved leave him and their son but his family were so hung up on their old-school views up to the point that they viewed Isaac as an illegitimate addition to the family."

"God..." Chris muttered in disbelief as he screwed his eyes shut, lowering his head.

Piper instinctively offered him a sad smile. "As Isaac gets older, he becomes more curious. So, each time Preston leaves for a family emergency, which has been quite frequent lately because his mother is ill, Isaac tends to get upset.

"And Preston can't tell him exactly where he's going so he makes up a white lie and tells the little one he has to be away for work. Preston is already away so often for filming that he rarely ever gets to see his own son, so you can imagine how much the little one yearns for his father's presence and vice versa."

"Does... Isaac ever ask about his mother?" Chris asked warily.

Piper lowered her head and sighed, pursing her lips. "Isaac is at the age where he starts questioning just about everything and he goes to school, so when he sees his friends' parents at the school gates, he wonders why he only has a father and no mother."

"If you don't mind me asking," Chris started, looking over to Piper warily but the latter only shook her head lightly, gesturing for him to go on. "Who takes care of Isaac when Preston's away?"

"Mine and Luke's godparents." Piper smiled lightly at the thought of them. "They live just an hour and a half away from us, away from the hustle and bustle of this city," Piper chuckled, though a despondent look still plagued the details of her face.

"Your godparents really are a godsend," Chris said.

A giggle slipped past Piper's lips as she turned to look at him once more with her elbows propped on the edge of the sink. "I'm not sure if you'd intentionally turned that into a pun or..."

"You can take it as a pun, if you'd like." Chris winked playfully, eliciting a hearty laugh from the petite woman beside him.

Despite having the urge to ask about her parents, Chris decided it was best that he held his tongue for now. After all, they'd only just gotten to know one another, with Piper sharing a little bit about her life and the ones closest to her more than Chris had expected.

He was truly glad and grateful that she trusted him so much as to willingly reveal such a personal matter despite what happened as well as having only known him for about three weeks or so.

"Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me about this, Piper," Chris spoke up after a while, the sincerity that was laced heavily in his voice was more than evident. "Just know that I will never betray your confidence, Preston's included."

Piper, despite usually being closed off to new friends and acquaintances, felt as though a small weight had been lifted off of her chest.

Aside from Hannah, no one knew of Preston's story and even if they asked (especially if they've seen Preston with Isaac), she usually brushed it off with a small 'let's change the subject' because she knew that Preston wouldn't trust them to not judge the predicament he was in.

And she knew that they'd start viewing Preston in a completely different light, which was not what she wanted for her dear friend either.

But for some reason, Chris emanated a strong sense of trust, honesty and empathy. So, when the question left his lips, Piper had little to no hesitation on telling him what had actually happened some nine years ago.

And right now, she was more than sure that Chris and Preston would get along should they ever meet in the near future.

"Thank you, Chris. Thank you for restoring the little faith that I once had in a lot of people."

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a/n; wew this was a long one but i really hope you liked it! this story is truly one of my fav stories to write so far & i sincerely can't wait to share with you guys what i have in store for these two!