Taylor Ever After?

Cloudy with a chance of Veronica

++Present Day++

Ms. Lisa and Karen are having coffee in a corner booth in the cafeteria of the hospital.

"Mom, what should I do about this? Aaron is being weird, Zac is refusing to meet Zion and the girls have all been distant lately. I feel like my entire world is being turned into an episode of catfish or something."

"Karen, right now you need to focus on you and Zion. Let everything else work itself in due time. Just focus on you and my grandson."

"Ma, I hear you but it isn't that easy! How am I supposed to raise Zion without his father? He's supposed to be here. He's supposed to be with me!" Karen said fighting back tears.

Ms. Lisa is careful with her next words. "Karen. What exactly did Zac say? Did he say that he wasn't going to be a father to Zion?"

The tears Karen had been fighting finally fell. "He said he's not doing anything for him until he gets a DNA test done. He's treating me like some random bitch! As if I'm not the reason he wasn't homeless and hungry these last three years. I gave him everything momma!"

"Well if you know that he is the father and you want him to be part of this why not give him the test? Don't you want this to be over?"

"Ma, yes I want it to be over but it's the principal! He's treating me like I did something wrong to him! I wasn't the one out there cheating and bringing him home shit. I always forgave him! "He's out here living his best life and just moved on with this bitch like the last three years meant nothing to him.

"Baby, you left him. And rightfully so. Look, You don't know this, Hell maybe you do but the last time I spoke with Zax he told me that he was willing to do anything he could to get you back, He was serious babe. And the next time I saw you there was a light skinned man with his tongue down your throat in the middle of the street. I don't know what happened between the two of you but I know you. I know there's no way that man walked away from you without you pushing him away. He was sprung. So Karen talk to me like you talk to me, not like you talk to the girls." Ms. Lisa was soft yet stern with her daughter.

Karen stared at her mother in disbelief. She knew her mother was going to be on the side of truth and facts even if that meant not siding with her own daughter. Karen hung her head in shame.

"Pick your head up! There's nothing to be ashamed about. You loved a man, and you got hurt. You're still hurting and that's fine baby, but you made your choice. The best choice for you. Now you have to stand in that choice. I know its hard to see him be happy and move on, especially knowing that's it hurting you. But Karen, he's gone. The only thing you can do is figure out how to amicably co-parent with him. And be cordial with Fatima. Aht!" Lisa raises her hand to stop the words ready to leap from Karen's lips. "Yes, you're going to have to tolerate Fatima, She's clearly going to be part of y'all lives.

Karen takes a sip from her coffee cup taking in all her mother's advice. She knows that Fatima is the reason she and Zion are still alive and she's going to be grateful for that forever, but she still doesn't like her. And now that it Aaron's results prove that Zac is the father, she's not ready to give up on getting him back. When Karen was pregnant, they came to an unspoken agreement. Karen would lay off Zac and not interfere with his relationship. She loved Aaron but she wasn't in love with Aaron. She felt bad for stringing him along but she was hoping that her feelings for him got stronger in the time they spent together during her pregnancy. Logical Karen knows that Aaron is the best choice for her and her son. He's reliable, dependable and he loves her unconditionally. He loves Zion even though he knows he isn't his father. But Karen just cant get her heart and her brain on the same page