Fireworks 3 and 4

Chapter Forty-Four

    "You made me wait three years."

    "You made me question who you even are." Mia sat across the living room from Drake, burying her face in just a handful of the flowers he'd filled her entire condo with.

    "Point taken."

    "You fucked up so bad that I'm going to look like a joke just for taking you back." She leaned forward and set the vase of flowers on the floor near her feet. Then she crossed her legs and leveled a stern gaze in his direction. "But you and I had an agreement. You and me. Against the industry, against the world. And...I love you. And I miss you. Whether or not you deserve that love, whether or not you deserve for me to miss you...that's a completely different story."

    "I understand." His face was blank and more than anything, she wanted to know what was going on in that head of his. More than anything, she wanted to know the man he really was.

    "So...you have a child."

    He nodded and looked down at his hands. "Yeah. I do."

    "Have you gotten to spend time with him?"

    "Some. He's walking already, talking a little bit, the last time I got to see him."

    "How often do you get to see him?" she asked curiously. The media had him painted as some kind of deadbeat and she was no longer close enough to him to know whether or not that was fact or fiction.

    His jaw tensed. "I used to get to visit him often, but now..." He shook his head. "She's trying to keep me from seeing him. Demanding more money from me."

    Mia crossed her arms over her chest. "On what grounds?"

    "She's trying to paint me as some distant celebrity who doesn't make the time to see his kid." He sounded helpless, and hearing him sound that way disturbed her. "She's the one keeping me from seeing him, then using it as an excuse to get more money out of me."

    "Yikes," Mia murmured. Baby mama drama. It was a phrase she never thought she'd wind up aligning with him.

    "He's asking for me now," Drake added, his eyes sad. "I heard him, on the phone while she was screaming at me."

    "My heart goes out to you, but a part of me also wants to scream at you for letting this happen to you," she ground out between clenched teeth. "How you were able to avoid that drama for so long and then all of a sudden..." But then she remembered just how he was able to fall into that trap. Reversing a procedure just so they'd be able to one day have a family of their own. She felt tears coming, but forced them away. I got caught up in whatever we had, she thought, looking at him. I made the mistake of thinking we were invincible when what we have is just as delicate as what an average couple has, if not more so. I could take him back and there would be hoards of Sophies out there, just praying that we split or that he slips and fucks up.

    "I know. Believe me."

    "For what it's worth, I am sorry that seeing your son is becoming more difficult. I know how much you love kids." I've gotten to see first-hand just how good you are with them, how much they love you, and that led me to dreaming about the family we'd have one day. More tears trying to form, but she wiped at her eyes. "And even though it will take work, I'm willing to try to move past this."

    "And my son?"

    The words broke her heart a little, because any son he'd have, he was supposed to have with her. "He's a part of you," she said with a small shrug. "So I'm sure I will come to love him as much as I love you."

    Relief washed over his face. "Thank you, Mia."

    "Yeah." Now it was her turn to stare down at her hands.

    "I'm sorry I hurt you," he apologized, his voice growing quiet. "In all of this, that is one of the things I regret most. That, and my attitude towards Sophie once I found out."

    A hardened look touched Mia's eyes.

    "That guy isn't me."

    "Are you sure about that?" she questioned, arching a slender brow at him.

    He chuckled and shook his head. "In all of the dreams I've had about having kids, I was happy to find out. I mean...it was you. You know? And we were both so happy. When she told me that she was pregnant, I just...snapped. I don't even know how to describe it, because the anger I felt controlled every aspect of me. It wasn't even anger, it was pure rage. At myself, for sleeping with her. At her for trapping me, which she did. But again at myself for letting her. At the entire situation, because I would have rather..." The sentence trailed off and he let it. "It's pointless to say what I would have rather had happen. What has happened has happened. And my baby boy is beautiful and I love him more than I love myself. I'm just...sorry that having him had to hurt you."

    "Thank you," she whispered, her voice choking up. "I think we should work our way to being back together slowly. Make sure it's what both of us even want."

    "It's definitely what I want," he said quickly.

    "I'm going to need time to adjust to all of this," she told him. "Your life is different now."

    "You're one of the first people that I've wanted to tell, but...I'm going to go after full custody," he announced.

    Her eyes widened. "Oh. Well, that's...good. Isn't it?"

    "If I get it," he said. "The courts are often sympathetic to the mother. Rightfully so. I get why. But... kids don't even know what money is. They don't even know how to comprehend how much they have, not when they're as young as he is. With how young he is, what he craves most is attention – from both of his parents. He's not getting that from me now and I don't want the lack of a father to shape his personality in a bad way. Not having my dad in my life shaped who I was a kid and even affects me now even though I'm a grown man. I don't want that for Adonis. I want to be involved. I want to spend time with him, play catch with him. All of that shit."

    "I hope you get that chance."

    "And I'd love for you to..." Another sentence that trailed off.

    Her chest grew tight. "I know."

    "I want you to meet him," he said, and a touch of excitement made his eyes sparkle. "He's adorable. He's got these eyes – it's like he's staring into your soul or something. They're this pretty blue color, and I don't even know where he got that from. But you could be talking quantum physics and he looks like he's understanding you, every step of the way." Ever the proud father.

    More emotions built up within her, but she nodded and smiled as he shifted into proud daddy mode. He's a daddy now, someone's father. She let that fact really sink in. If their attempt at reconnecting was a success, she was going to be someone's stepmother. It was a tough pill to swallow, even amidst his gleaming-eyed pride. "That's awesome," she offered meekly.

    He paused and settled back in the armchair. "Sorry."

    "No. Aubrey...You shouldn't have to hold back any of that stuff from me."

    "It probably just reminds you of my fuck-up," he said and he sounded so completely and utterly miserable, that her heart further broke into tiny little pieces.

    She stood up and walked over to him, knelt in front of him and rested her arms on top of his knees. "I love who you are when you talk about him," she said earnestly. "So...please. Tell me more about him."

    A smile broke out on his face and he leaned down to hug her. Then he proceeded to tell her so much about his son that she began to feel as if she'd met the kid herself.