Fighter

3

In the middle of the night Alicia started to cry. Carefully I unwrapped myself form Amanda and got up to tend to our daughter. Once I picked her up Alicia stopped crying. She just looked at me with her bright blue eyes and smiled. I brought her over to the changing table and changed her diaper before bringing her downstairs to feed her.

Amanda has already pumped a lot of breast milk so during the night I could take care of Alicia without waking my wife. Cassie followed us downstairs and sat at my feet while I watched late night TV while feeding our daughter. She didn't eat much and when she was done we watched the last few minutes of an episode of Modern Family before I took her back upstairs.

Cassie stayed downstairs while I returned to our bedroom. After putting Alicia down again I noticed Amanda hasn't moved from her spot. She must really be out cold. Once I rejoined her in bed it didn't take me that long to fall asleep again.

When I woke up the second time, Cassie was the only one joining me in bed. Amanda must already be awake. Slowly I got out of bed and took a shower before walking downstairs. Looking around I only saw Cassie sitting by the back door. I went over to her and quickly let her out.

I went out onto the deck and took in some morning sun. Just as I was about to go back inside I found Amanda sitting on the swing with Alicia on her lap. I smiled at my wife, who raised Alicia's little hand to wave at me. Walking over to them I sat next to my wife.

"How are you doing daddy?" Amanda asked with a smirk.

My cheeks flushed at the mention of my bedroom nickname. I looked at her to see her beautiful make-up free face and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Fine, how's our princess?" I asked.

"She's amazing, hasn't cried at all. Did she cry last night?" Amanda asked.

"Yes she did but I took care of her mami." I said throwing her nickname back at her.

Amanda only laughed and leaned into me. We relaxed outside for a little bit longer before going inside. The strong Australian sun is making its presence known. Once back inside Amanda told me she needed to run to the restaurant for a little bit to settle the menu for the next month. Amelia is going to take her so I had nothing to work about.

I just agreed to it and settled onto the couch with Alicia. Amelia came over a few minutes later to take Amanda into town while I pulled out Sophia's business card from my pocket. I looked at it for a minute before pulling out my cell phone.

"Hello?" She answered on the second ring.

"Sophia? It's Veronica." I said.

"Nice to hear from you Scar. How's the little one?" Sophia asked.

"She's great so far, would you want to come over and catch up?" I asked.

"Now?" She asked.

"If you're free." I answered.

"I'll be there in about 20 minutes." She said.

She never even gave me the chance to answer her before she hung up the phone. I'm guessing she knows where we live then. True to her word though, Sophia knocked on the door twenty minutes later. I let her in and we took a seat on the couch. Cassie was a bit wary of Sophia and stayed close to Alicia's crib, almost like she is protecting her.

As we sat on the couch she pulled pulled out a file from her coat and placed it on the coffee table. We caught up on everything that has happened since I last talked to her. Sophia told me that she is still teaching at NYU and is obviously still with the FBI.

The agency still has her at NYU because she has a lot of goof connection there. We talked about the FBI for a few minutes before she changed the subject. From what I've learned about Sophia is that she never talks about herself for too long.

But never the less she pressed me about my life. I told her about my job and my new studio along with the joy I have found in becoming a new parent. Whenever the thought of Alicia comes to mind a huge smile invades my face and there isn't anything I can do to get it off.

After talking about my little girl for a while I brought her over to Sophia. Cassie was following us and her eyes never left Alicia. As I placed Alicia in Sophia's arms tears came to her eyes. It was then that she told me she couldn't have kids of her own.

We bonded over that for a few minutes. I revealed to her that because of my fighting past, the damage and trauma my body has endured I wouldn't be able to have my own children. After the first try failed, I thought that I should get myself checked over just in case things didn't go well with Amanda. My doctor did a lot of tests when I explained my history.

When she got all of the results back she called me back into her office to explained them all. With so many blows to the stomach area any pregnancy I'd have would be high risk, not only for the baby but also for myself. The complication and the likely hood I wouldn't be able to carry a child to full term are what suggested her to say that in the best benefit of my own health is that I should not try to conceive a child.

It took a little while to wrap my head around that even though my body is made specifically for having children, I couldn't. When I told Amanda about it I cried for the first time in a long time. She just held onto me as I tried to control my emotions. The next day Amanda and I tried again and now we have Alicia.

A few more minutes went by before I took Alicia back to her crib so Sophia and I could really talk. When she put that folder on the table I knew that she is also her for business.

"So what is that?" I asked nodding to the folder.

"Something I want to bring to your attention." Sophia said and handed me the folder.

Opening it up I found pictures of people. The first two are older members of the family and the last one is Joe with Isabella.

"What's going on Sophia?" I asked looking over the few other pieces of paper.

"I believe that Joe is about to be forcibly removed as Boss, and Isabella will be taken out as well."

The first time since Alicia came into the world the smile left my face and a frown took over.  

A/N: Sorry that it's a little bit late and a bit short but this sets up the story and i have been super busy lately. 

Next chapter will be a bit longer. 

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~Amanda