Between Us.

| Finale. |

6 months later.

- - -

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Arika! Happy birthday to you." The few people scattered at the 2 year old's birthday party sung to her as she looked over at the 'Doc McStuffin' cake in front of her in awe.

"Make a wish and blow out the candles, princess." Luis's voice spoke, staring at his baby girl lovingly as she attempted to puff out her cheeks and blow the little balls of flames wildly. (Of course though, her father had to come behind her and actually do it.)

"Yay!" The partygoers, which consisted of Rikki, Stephen, Jamie, Luis, Lucas, a few of Luis's family members and a couple of daycare friends all cheered. Jamie stood up from her seat at the table, passing out paper plates to the few guests as Arika climbed out of her chair and made her way over to her mother.

"Ma-ma." Her small voice cooed, as she pulled on the hem of her mother's summer dress.

Rikki turned to her, pausing her conversation with one of Luis's cousins to tend to her child. "Yes baby?"

"Me want cake! Cake! Cake!" Her daughter mumbled what she wanted, making Rikki laugh loudly and run a hand through her curls.

"You can have a piece of cake, baby. Go ask your daddy to cut you a piece."

"Okay," Arika squealed, running over to Luis and climbing on his lap again. "Daddy!"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Luis put down his half full bottle of beer, his eyes focused on his little girl supportively.

Arika tooted her lips out, the cutest puppy dog face on display. "Me want cake."

"Anything for my princess." Luis answered, lifting her up and swinging her on his hip as he strolled over to the other side of the table to begin cutting the cake that was once again put on the table.

"He really loves her." A voice sounded behind Rikki, as she turned to Jamie.

Rikki smiled, glancing over at Luis who was now back in his seat, with Arika on his lap eating her cake messily. "You think so?"

"Mhm," Jamie sipped her lemonade. "All he ever wanted was a little girl. And you gave him that."

Rikki nodded, glad to see that her and Jamie were finally on good speaking terms and that the young woman could speak about Luis fathering Jailyn without getting teary-eyed. Jamie was just happy to see him happy and Lucas as well, now that he was a big brother. She and Luis still weren't together again, but they were more civil towards each other now for Lucas sake and the fact that her and Rikki had peaced things fully up and were decent friends again.

"Hey," Stephen came rushing in from the front, a large gift bag in his hand as he had just popped up. "Sorry I'm late."

"Steve!" Arika screamed, hopping down from Luis's lap and jumping into Stephen's arms quickly.

"Hey, angel." Stephen chuckled, adjusting the little girl in his arms.

"It's my birfday." Arika informed him, nodding her head as Stephen smiled.

"I know, I brought you a gift." He placed her back down on the ground, pulling something out of his bag. It was a fake 'Doc McStuffin' computer designed to help children with math, language arts and other school related things.

After finding out that he wasn't Arika's biological father, Stephen still continued to be a major part in her life.
He kept his promise of always being there for Rikki and the young girl and even took the title of Arika's godfather.

With him and Rikki romantically, Stephen kept himself at a distance for a bit after finding the results out, indicating that even though he still loved Rikki, he was going to stay with Lauren. But soon enough, Stephen didn't stick to that commitment as he called off their wedding before he made a big mistake. And even though he did that, that didn't mean that he wanted to be with Rikki. He knew better. And she had to work for it.

"Tank you, Steve." Arika gave him a wet kiss on the cheek as she grabbed the computer and ran over to Lucas. Lucas, now 16, was a terrific big brother to Arika. And had completely changed from his rebellious stage as he was growing into a fine young man.

"Want me to help you, Ari?" He questioned, as the little girl nodded her head and allowed him to pull her on his lap.

"Hey," Stephen's cool voice spoke as he came behind Rikki, tapping her on the shoulder. "I'm here."

"Late." Rikki retorted back quickly, as Jamie rolled her eyes and walked away unamused. Here they go with the "I want to fuck you again" flirting.

"But here. Don't get sassy with me, Miss Satana. Or I will have to deny your PTO day." Stephen responded, grabbing a bottle of water from the cooler besides him.
Along with their newfound friendship, Stephen gave another Rikki another chance at a job. Currently, she worked as a San Deigo substitute teacher again but now at the elementary school. It was more than clear that Rikki did not do well with teenagers.

"Come on, let's take a picture now that you're here." Rikki changed the subject as Stephen nodded his head and followed her over to the party table. She picked up a camera, passing it to one of the guests as she glanced over at Jamie and Luis and beckoned for them to come over. They took the hint, Luis greeting Stephen as he followed the couple around Arika and Lucas.

"Picture, Ari." Rikki told her daughter, who watched as her big brother slowly shut the toy computer.

"Say cheese." Whoever was taking the picture called out, as everyone plastered smiles on their faces. The flash beamed, and the picture quickly came out as Stephen was into antiques and it was a old fashioned Polaroid camera.

"Thank you." Rikki thanked Luis's distant cousin as she took the picture from him.

Stephen waltzed over, peering down at the picture. "It came out great."

"Yeah, I'm going to hang it up. Our happy family." She giggled, as Stephen joined in the laugh with her.

"Yeah, our happy and dysfunctional family," Stephen corrected, wiggling his eyebrows. "If only they knew the truth."

"Shush, let's just keep that between us." Rikki placed a finger over her lips, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Stephen nodded, smiling a bit. "Yeah. Just between us."

*********

The end. Who was the daddy? Ion know. Anyway, pictures of the main characters and book trailer to the side. Baby Arika was played by my lil cousin <3 who is now 6. Thanks everyone! c;