FIANNA:

As I'm standing here surrounded by broken glass, holding my daughter, the last person I ever expected to see again appears in the doorway. Ashley looks absolutely shocked when he sees me, but after only a few seconds his expression changes to one of anger.

"What the hell do you think you were doing? Where the fuck do you get off, keeping my kid away from me?" he snarls.

"No, Ash, she's mine. You made it very clear that you weren't interested in being a parent, so don't try to pretend otherwise,"  I respond, as calmly as possible, because I don't want to raise my voice and scare Brenna.

"That's bullshit and you know it!" he bellows. " If I'd actually known that you were serious, you know I would've done whatever I needed to do to take care of my kid!"

"What kind of stupid excuse is that? Why would I say it if I wasn't serious? Honestly, Ash, if you're really that determined to try to bullshit everybody, I know you can come up with something better than that."

Brenna burrows her face into my neck and whimpers, and Andy grabs Ashley by the shoulder and says, "Dude, lighten up. You're scaring the kiddo, which is not cool!"

He snaps his head toward Andy, opening his mouth as if he's going to say something, then pulls in a deep breath and lets it back out, obviously trying to regain his composure.

"I'm sorry, cutie, I didn't mean to scare you. I won't yell anymore." he says, while still glaring daggers at me. "But this is going to stop, Fianna. I have the same rights that you do."

"Technically speaking, no, you don't," Miki informs him. "Your name isn't on the birth certificate, so you have no legal standing whatsoever."

"When the hell did you become a lawyer, Miki?" he snaps.

"I'm not, but my uncle is, and I worked a couple of summers in his office, so I do know what I'm talking about," she replies. "So you might as well get off your high horse and stop acting like your usual asshole self, 'cause that's not gonna fly here."

She then turns to Ryan, and says, "Babe, you have a decision to make here. Either this goes, or I do. And if I go, I won't be back." When she says this, I'm not sure which of us is more shocked, me or Ryan.

Ryan turns to Ash and says, "You need to go now, man. We'll talk about this later."

"I'm not fucking going anywhere until we get this shit straightened out!" Ashley retorts, his voice starting to raise again.

Miki gives him a nasty grin and says, "You have been asked to leave by the property owner. If I have to call the cops, you'll go to jail. Fuckin' test me if you think I won't do it, Purdy-boy!"

"Ash, come on! You are not helping yourself right now," Andy tells him. "This is not going to get you anywhere. We need to go, Ryan said he'll talk to you later. Give him a chance to straighten things out, OK"

He finally allows Andy to pull him out of the kitchen, but before he goes, he looks at me and says, "Don't think this is over, because it's not. Not by a long shot, Fi. Enjoy it while you can."

He and Andy start toward the door, and Juliet pauses for a second, then says, "We always wondered where you went, Fi. I'm glad to see that you're all right, and that baby is absolutely darling."

"It's nice to see you, Jules, and thanks for keeping her out of here earlier," I reply, and she turns to follow the guys out.

When we hear the sound of the car starting, Miki and I fill Ryan in on what happened back in LA, then Miki turns to me and says, "Well, he's gone now, hon. It's over with."

"No it isn't, Mik," I inform her. "For whatever reason, he's got it in his head that he wants to play daddy now, and he won't give up as long as he feels like we're keeping him from getting what he wants. That's what matters, after all. I'm just not looking forward to having to explain things to Brenna when he gets bored and decides he's not interested in her anymore, either."

        **********************************************************************

ASHLEY:

"What the fuck was that, dude? You two are taking her side!?" I shout as we get into my car, with Juliet driving, as they've both decided I'm not capable right now. And to be honest, they're probably right.

"No, we're not 'taking her side', Ash, but getting your ass arrested would kinda defeat your own purpose, dumbass!" Andy huffs in exasperation. "All that would do is prove to people that you can't be trusted to be around the kid. Is that what you want?"

"What I'd like to know is how you plan to get around the fact that you originally denied that she was yours, Ash?" Juliet inquires from the front seat.

"Fuck, Jules, you all know I didn't know she was fucking serious!" I yell in frustration, which just earns me a snort, and an eyeroll in the rearview mirror.

"But do you think you can actually convince a judge, or whoever, of that?" Andy queries.

How the hell did this even happen? Where the hell does she get off thinking she has any right to do this? No. Just fucking no! We'll damn well find out how much little Miss Miki knows about what my rights are. If they think they've got a chance of keeping me away from my daughter, they need to do some more thinking.

We get back to my house, and I can't fucking sit still, my nerves are completely shot. I would absolutely love a drink or six right now, but I want my head clear if Ryan calls, now that I've gotten the point that Andy made awhile ago, there's no way I'm gonna hand Fianna any more excuses to keep me away from Brenna.

Brenna. Pretty much what I would have expected, because her dad's name was Brendan, and she always said that if she had kids, she'd name the first one for him. I have no idea what her middle name is, but if Miki was telling the truth, and my name isn't on the birth certificate, that means that her name is Brenna Chandler, not Purdy. Damn, I hate that!

My phone rings, and I scramble to answer it. "Hello?"

"Ash, we need to talk," Ryan informs me. "Where are you right now?"

"We're at my place, I'll text you my address if you want to come over," I reply.

"Go ahead and send it as soon as I hang up, I'll be there in around thirty minutes or so."

He hangs up, and I text the address. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I can't help but hope that he's managed to get those two stubborn females to see reason. I guess I'll find out when he gets here.