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3

  
  mackenzie unbuckles the baby's car seat from johnny's jeep as he, darius, and hayden carry the newly bought baby furniture into her house. her moms  car is parked in the driveway, meaning that shes come home. annie and nadia bring in the bags full of clothes and necessities such as diapers, pacifiers, bottles, and other baby needs.

     "kenzie? is that you?" melissa calls from the top of the staircase.
 
     the middle aged woman comes rushing down the steps, opening her arms for her tired looking daughter to collapse into. and mackenzie does because she's glad to finally see her mom after months of her being gone. although her mom and dad often leave mackenzie for long periods of time, it doesn't make the girl love them any less.

     "where's the baby?" melissa whispers into mackenzies ear, still hugging her tight.

     pulling away, mackenzie smiles, looking at annie who hold the car seat in her hands. she nods, walking toward the mother daughter duo, handing over the baby to mackenzie who peeks inside before turning the car seat around.

      melissa gasps in delight, her eyes prickling with tears. she's acting as if she has never seen a baby before when in fact, she's had two of her own.

       "oh isn't she precious! what's her name?" she asks, her eyes fixated on the sleeping baby.

     "we uh, haven't picked one" nadia tells her.

      melissa creases her newly waxed eyebrows at her daughter, confused as to why the child has no name. she's was born two days ago.

      "not to worry, we'll pick one later" melissa says matter of factly. she turns her head at the sound of hayden hitting a box off of the wall. she scowls at the curly haired boy.

        "sorry!" he apologises, still fearful of mackenzie's mother. he has been since he was a little boy.

         "you boys take all that furniture into maddies old bedroom, she can use the guest room when she comes home for the holidays" melissa smiles, shooing the three of them upstairs.

      mackenzie glances at nadia and annie who look just as bewildered as she is. surely melissa doesn't think that the baby will be here for much longer than a few days. the nurse told them social services would be in contact soon. they'll take the baby and give her a proper home with a proper family. she can't live with mackenzie her whole life.

      "mom, the baby isn't mine. i can't keep her" mackenzie reminds her mother as she walks into the living room, taking a seat on the couch with maliboo curled up on her lap.

    melissa rolls her eyes at the naive girl in front of her. she takes a sip from the glass of whiskey next to her.

      "but what if i were to keep her. i could adopt her you know" melissa shrugs, annoying mackenzie more.

    annie and nadia take a seat, having a feeling that they're going to enjoy the show that's about to happen. nadia cradles the baby, gushing over how cute she is.

      mackenzie scoffs at her mothers comment. please, melissa can't even be a mother to mackenzie and maddie never mind a baby.

     "you're never here long enough to be a mom" mackenzie replies, her voice spiteful.

      narrowing her eyes, melissa points a finger at her youngest child.

      "watch your tone missy! i'm more than capable of being a mother, and im also more than capable of working from home if needs be" melissa states.

      contorting her eyebrows in confusion, mackenzie tilts her head to the side.

       "what do you mean work from home? since when have you been able to do that?" mackenzie questions, feeling a burning fire in the pit of her stomach.

     knowing that she probably shouldn't have said that, melissa dips her head, mumbling her next words.
   
       "since you were born".

     nadia and annie gasp, knowing exactly what this means. mackenzie shakes her head, looking at her mother with disgust. all this time, she could have been at home with her daughters, raising them and looking after them, being a mom to them but instead she chose not to. instead, melissa chose to be as far away from her own daughters as possible.

     not being able to look at her face, mackenzie turns around. she takes the baby from nadia and stomps upstairs, she stops in the doorway to maddies old bedroom. all of her things have been moved into the guest bedroom and already, the baby's crib, a soft rocking chair, stuffed animals, a diaper tower, and drawers have been put in. the room is still it's light shade of pink that maddie painted it years ago.

      "what do you think kenzie?" darius asks, standing back to admire their work.

      hayden stands beside him proudly, also looking at the good work they've managed to achieve. it didn't take as long as they thought and most of the stuff was already built anyway. mackenzie- still teary eyed after her mother's confession- nods her head, feeling the baby wriggle a little in her arms. she looks at the two boys, noticing that they're missing someone.

      "where's john?" mackenzie asks, her voice hoarse. darius and hayden notice the sadness in her tone.

     "he's grabbing something from the car but he'll be back up soon, do you need anything?" hayden asks, now noticing her glossy eyes.

     she thinks for a moment about how to word what she wants to say without coming off as rude.

    "could...could you maybe give me a minute please?i promise to let you come back and finish with whatever it is you still have to do but i need to change her diaper and-"

     "of course kenzie, don't worry" darius smiles sympathetically, leading hayden out of the room.

     before leaving, hayden leans in and kisses the top of mackenzies forehead, side hugging her small frame. he doesn't like seeing one of his best friends upset.

      when she's finally alone with just the baby, mackenzie closes the door and puts the baby onto her diaper tower. she begins to change her diaper, watching as the wide awake child looks around in wonder.

        "you and i are going to have so much fun mais mais".

  mackenzie stops in her tracks when she realises what she said.

    mais mais?

      she finishes up quickly before taking the baby and laying her in her crib. mackenzie sits down on the rocking chair that sits beside the crib.

      "maisy" she whispers, the baby clutching onto mackenzie's pinky finger with her whole hand.
         
         the brunette smiles, knowing that the baby likes the name.

         "i love you" mackenzie smiles. "and i know that i won't have you for long but i promise, i'm going to be the best temporary mommy that i can be for you. my little mais mais".

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i experienced major
writers block for DAYS