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Piper and Leo packed up her things as he told her about town.Less than 800 people.Upstate New York.A town called New Rome…She didn't know why she was doing this or how long she'd be doing it.But she needed somewhere fast.So she was.She went with him that day in Leo's car, bidding the condo goodbye and leaving the keys with the disgusting court person she'd been working with.He smiled a despicable smile and told her to have a good day.She left the city.Leo told her a little about the area. Lots of forests. Close to a national park.He told her more about the family she was going to be living with.And she had heard briefly that there was a kid involved. She was about three and a half. She was a stay at home kid. The dad somehow stayed home too. Worked from home in this small ass place. Had a massive house and a massive yard and a massive place for her to play.She didn't mind.But he'd only mentioned a dad.And she clarified.“Wait…he's a single dad?”“Yep.”“Any…custody arrangements?”“Nonya.”“No like does the kid go back and forth? I feel like that's a valid question if I'm gonna be living there.”“Mother is nowhere to be found.”“Okay. And what's his job…um you said he had a pretty big place for me to live. Like the whole second floor was mine rent free? And the cat is fine?”“Yeah. He's a landlord. And he's got a cat.”“Why is it rent free for me? What's the catch?” She said suddenly suspicious.“He fucking owes me, okay?”They met eyes.“Seriously. This is a favor?”“Yes. Okay. I'm calling in my biggest family favor ever and he's calling it even as fuck.”“Okay…thank you.”They drove overnight. Taking turns. Arrived early. So early she was worried to piss the guy off. But they got there shortly after the guy had woken up and was making breakfast.She found him shirtless at the stove with an abundance of French toast next to him, a couple packs of bacon, and a thing of apple juice recently out of the fridge.Dad bod was not in this dude's vocabulary.He looked like a Roman gladiator.And he smelled like cologne, not deodorant.His little girl came bounding into the room in a coat and warm pants. She introduced herself as BB, like the gun. She was gone quickly as she came. Back into the backyard through the open screen door on the back porch. Their indoor outdoor cat walked up to Katroptis in her crate and tried to nuzzle her through it.He looked hardly older than a kitten.She looked terrified and hid at the back. He seemed ready to burst into a tiny ball of kitten tears.And hopped up onto the counter to whine to dad about being rejected by his new and not instantaneous friend…“Oh shut the fuck up Tempest she just drove like seven fucking hours. Go kill a bird or mouse for shiggles or something. Leo can you get the spray bottle and get this rat off the counter?”He picked it up and the thing went running back outside through an open window to clearly it's preferred human, the little three year old who immediately pet him in the frost covered grass and played with him with a twig and the tall husk of a flower that she literally yanked out of the ground in what looked like the dormant remnants of the garden at the back of the yard. She started making him jump and dance.The dad looked out the window, opened it, and hollered.“Stop destroying the fucking garden BB. I swear to God!”She pouted where she was at the back of the yard and dropped the flower husk allowing Tempest to pounce on it and destroy it.The dad rolled his eyes.Leo smiled introduced them.His name was Jason Grace.Jason gave her a small list, about half a sheet, to look over when she got a chance once her shit was inside.She moved her five boxes and small number of cat beds.He did not put on a shirt as she walked downstairs and sat down to read it with her poor cat cuddled on her lap. Katty clung to her. He claws digging into her jacket.Damn this kitchen was cold. How was he shirtless…It was a list of house rules for her.A curfew: 10 o'clock unless she got a night job.Requirement to keep her doors shut at night, keep quiet (like genuinely quiet not just not walking loudly) past his daughter's 8 o'clock bedtime, and keep her cats litter clean.Requirements to keep her space and communal spaces that she messed up tidy.And requirements to buy her own food once she had a job. Especially, since she was into that vegetarian stuff.She looked it over.Reasonable…She nodded to him.“Okay. Looks good.”He spoke curtly.“Also, I will not be allowing you to work at the gentlemans club outside of town.”She looked right at Leo.“I don't appreciate you giving him information on my job history you fucking jackass.”“Hey…it was…important info to him.”“Oh? Really now?”“Yes. Also, it's not a classy place. You could get herpes walking in the door.” Jason said matter of factly.She sighed.“I probably wouldn't make much there anyway. What's hiring?”“In service or in trades? You looking to switch to something that actually pays?” Jason asked.Fucking shit this dude was an ass.“I’m looking for a job I can get.”“The diner. They're hiring a full time waitress. You're pretty.”She looked right at his back. He hadn't even fucking looked at her when saying that? Seriously!?!Then she looked at Leo.They met eyes and he said just in plain English with them: please please put up with him.He hadn't said in seven hours in the car…that he didn't like this guy?His daughter bounded into the house, dropped her coat on the floor, and sat down on a chair that was like a booster and a high chair mixed together. Clearly only for her.“Coat off the floor, baby. You've got a hook. I know you're hungry.”She nodded without complaints and got down. She grabbed her coat and hung it by the hood on a little nail by the back door.She smiled at Piper and Leo as she went to climb back up.“Come pick your food, baby. Like at lunch.”She picked her plate, surprisingly a tiny glazed terra cotta plate, out of a cabinet on the lower section of the kitchen. Happily grabbed a fork from a little organizer in the cabinet too. Then stood onto a Montessori style step stool she hadn't noticed and grabbed her own food. He gently stopped her hand and pointed to a different plate of bacon.“Nope, that one's called facon. It's for Piper. Doesn't taste the same.”“What is it?”“It's not real meat. It's what people eat when they don't want to eat meat.”“She doesn't want bacon!?!” BB asked like it was a blow to the heart.He picked her up off the step stool and carried her to the chair.“Yep. Some people choose not to eat it, baby.”She looked at her bacon and stared at it.“Never me.” She said bluntly.“Really, I had no idea. You live off chicken nuggets and chef boyardee…” he mumbled.Leo chuckled as Piper sat there…absolutely speechless.He'd-he'd made her facon?After that interaction before…that didn't compute.He grabbed three adult plates that matched the toddler plate and even had little wavy designs on them and called them over. She picked hers up and found it light and easy to hold, with a little foot at the bottom to rest on so that it raised a little, plus a genuine signature of an artist.Sparky.The p and a combined into the picture of broken glasses and the y had a lightning bolt at the end.Something about it looked so so familiar.Maybe he was someone Rachel knew?Blast from the past that would be. This guy actually buying from a small-time artist?He saw her looking at them and looked close to chuckling.But, he just pointed out the facon again.Said there was another pack in the freezer.She thanked him and he probably smirked at the tone of her voice.She definitely sounded floored.The food tasted amazing.Shortly after, Leo headed out.Then Piper unpacked while her cat adjusted.Then…she passed out for about four hours.And…she was unfortunately awake right at dinner time having been asleep all afternoon meaning she would be unable to sleep well for most of the night…She'd be quietly tossing and turning all night starting at 8 o'clock to avoid waking a toddler.Fuck her life…She had dinner with them. He had a vegetarian freezer meal. About two weeks worth. In his deep freezer. Really…this guy was absolutely out of the zone of expectations…especially with that first interaction.She got back to her room and couldn't find her cat.She looked everywhere.Then she went looking in other places.The cat areas in the main room.Soon it was 8 o'clock and he looked at her.“I really need you to not be out…”“I can't find Katty. The back door isn't open right?” she whispered.He looked at her and chuckled.Opened the linen closet.And she was sitting at a higher height than she thought she could still jump at 17 years old.She breathed a heavy sigh of relief.He smiled and he looked at her as she calmly picked her up.She cuddled into her chest.As he walked off.“The basement is an option at this time of night, she can't hear the TV. I just never watch shit.”She nodded.She went down and found…they literally only had Disney+ and like one other thing.So she put on an old Disney show and he chuckled when he came down and walked into a side room.“Seriously, fucking Lion King?”“The music slaps.”“As hard as my dad.”She startled.“Ah…not used to weird retorts to lines like that?”“No…”“What? Never been beat?”“N-no…you…don't?”“No. I, in fact, am what most people consider a gentle parent. Though I hate the term.”“Okay. I-um-didn't mean to-”He chuckled, cutting her off and leaned on the wall.“Hun…do you feel uncomfortable around me?”She swallowed hard.His eyebrows raised and he walked over.“Anything I can do?”She suddenly spoke curtly.“Put on some damn clothes.”He looked down at his wife beater and sweats.He chuckled.“Damn…I feel attacked. In my own home no less?” He said.It sounded odd. Like, almost fucking flirty. Was it intended that way or did he have an odd whining voice?“It is a little odd to go around shirtless anywhere. An odd way to meet someone.”“Girl…you worked as a stripper…?”She looked at him like a deer in headlights and he cackled.She flipped him off and he composed himself.“Sorry that was rude. But no. This is how I dress here. Literally. Don't have other house clothes and, sorry, I will not go out and buy a new wardrobe for you.”He walked into the other room and she heard the weirdest of sounds. Like he was beating up a table.Like.Like beating one up.Over and over.Not loud, perse, but definitely hard.Was he boxing a stable object? What the fuck?Scared Katty so much she needed to go upstairs. And Piper just…didn't go to sleep for a while. But she didn't make any noise. She didn't want to wake the kid.But didn't know how him fucking doing that didn't?
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Jason woke up on the day rent was due to a notification in his system.Two people were late.Clarisse and Chris Rodriguez (and thereby their whole family). A constant struggle. It was like they never paid on time. Her and Chris were obstinate. Not to mention, their two kids frequently beat up other kids and Chris got into bar fights all the time.All around, they were just a public fucking nuisance.But you couldn't evict someone for that.You could evict them for breaking their contract this many times though. Because they were shit renters. Just didn't budget their time and money the right way. Always paid within a couple days. Pulled from another account, paid something else on a credit card, or borrowed from a family member (usually Ares).They'd just ticked their number to the number of offenses outlined in their contract as an eviction worthy number of late payments, though.He sighed.Typed up the eviction notice.Printed it out with dread.And went and stuck it in the mail box before breakfast.Yeah…he could post it to their door.No, he was just going to mail it to them.The next day, they were at his house.Oh the joy of being a small town landlord. Everyone knows where you live…He sent BB to her room and stepped outside.“Need something explained?”The screaming started.Like it started.Their kids in the car looked angry too.It was when Chris threw a punch his way that Jason blocked it and the guy ended up on the ground.“Nope. This is not a fucking bar fight. This is you guys being shit renters. Either get off my property or I'm calling the cops on your asses and your dad is not gonna be happy he did that on video, Clarisse.”She looked at Jason's front door, yanked her husband up by his shirt collar, then dragged him out cussing at his ass in epic ‘bitching out a stupid dude’ fashion…Jason rolled his eyes and walked in.He found BB sitting in the front window watching with Piper.“I swear to God, BB.”“You took him out!”“Yeah. He's stupid. Can't punch for shit.”“I can!”“Yeah. Because a girl should know how to. We've been over this.”Piper looked startled as BB ran off looking like a little boxer and pretended to fight invisible men in the backyard.Jason explained for her poor confused self what that situation was, that he'd needed to evict some people. Then he looked outside and chuckled.“Our tiny ass school does not have many sports, the only popular ones are boxing and swimming. They're both clubs not competitive.”“Let me guess…you don't swim very fast…”He chuckled.“Yes.”“Should I not get in a fight with your toddler?”He smirked and looked her over then teased.“Probably not, sweetie.”She sent him a glare.“Only guys I'm dating get to call me pet names.”He nodded and bit his lip.“My apologies.”He hollered off the screen porch to BB that he was taking a shower.He came out with no fucking shirt on just to tease her.Because it was fucking funny.They met eyes as he finished turning the laundry in nothing but jeans.She came up next to him in the little alcove it was in and pulled him in by his belt loops.“Teasing is very very rude.”“You look at me like you'd throw me cash if you had it when I look like this. It's hilarious.” He said with a smirk looking down the full probably 12 or 13 inches into her eyes.She sent him a glare.“I'm gonna make some lunch. Want something?” he said taking her hands off his belt loops gently and smirking at her.“I-I don't…know.”“Oh. Okay. You don't need to eat right now.”“You…”He turned his back.He felt her stare for a while as he grabbed stuff from the fridge and pantry.He made sandwiches.Three pb and js.“What jelly do you want for you pb and j, Ms. I can't talk around muscles?”She made a noise akin to a growl.Then said strawberry.He chuckled and put some on.He literally teased her for the rest of the day.Got his kid to bed.And found her forcibly leaning on his door.“I've got work to do…” he said with a smirk.She grabbed his belt loops again.She tried to reach his neck with her lips.Couldn't.She reached about his collar bone and gently kissed it.He chuckled.“Wow, you really are trying.”“You're teasing. You want to, you're just being an ass.” She whispered.“Yeah and you find it surprisingly hot.”She looked at him pissed and he walked off.She followed down the stairs and into his studio.Then froze.“Huh?”He also froze.No one had ever been in here.He recovered faster though.He sat down at the wheel.“Look. I've got like two or three orders to do tonight. I get that you really really want to fuck…but nope. Not gonna happen. I've got half a dinner set to trim and planters to work on. Plus some shit to toss in the kiln tonight. I'm sleeping on the couch. You do not want to fuck on a couch. Perhaps another night. Might I suggest…a vibrator?”She took a sharp intake and sent him a deadly glare that he retorted with a smirk.He picked up his glasses that he literally only needed to wear in here and she stared.She looked around as he picked up the first of the plates.“I…was not expecting this down here.”“What were you expecting? Workout room?”“Yeah…”He chuckled and started trimming.“Typical…”“Hey, you didn't say you were an artist. You just said you were a landlord.”“Yeah. Bet you totally didn't even think of it as a possibility though.”They met eyes as he finished by tapping the piece a few times and moved down the line. He got to the third before she spoke.“I-I didn't…you're correct. I'm sorry, that was rather…sexist.”He chuckled.“Damn. I wasn't expecting you to respond to that.”“So…the plates up there in the kitchen?”He finished the one he was working on and flipped this one over, showing her it was the same one as upstairs. Showing it to her and pointing to it sort of like she was an idiot for not noticing yet.“The signature one I sell.”“Do you primarily do earthenware?”“Ooo you know fancy names?” he said jokingly.Her eyebrows raised and she sighed loudly.He took a deep breath.She was getting pissed with his attitude.He was just…thrown off.People weren't nice about this.People weren't interested.People just…joked about it and made fun of it.He didn't let people in this room.“Sorry. Most people around here are pretty…rude about this. Like family included. Sometimes even your little friend Leo. I'm used to being an ass about this. Can we restart because I see you are…genuinely interested and I have fucked this up?”There was a bit of a pregnant pause. Legit lasted like 10 seconds.“Yes. We can. I see the walls up. I'm not offended by them.”He finished the one he was working on before speaking. Took a few deep breaths. He didn't know how to introduce this place. How do you introduce something like this? Everyone here knew. Everyone here thought it was fucking stupid.“This is the pottery studio and home to the second business run in this house. I sell ceramics online. Both glazed and unglazed earthenware, like you said there. Things like this plate set. The one upstairs. And a lot of glazed dinnerware. I'm decently popular in the upstate, New England, and East Coast area. Used to have this tiny YouTube channel where I taught about pottery and stuff…and I still have a lot of people from that follower list who follow my website and buy my stuff who live in this area. Most people around here, as in like family and town people, if they mention I do it…they will either jokingly say I'm making pots in my basement or, in the most fake voice possible, call me an ‘artist’. For household purposes. My daughter is not allowed in here yet, hence the baby gate both at the door and at the top of the stairs.”Piper seemed to process the rambling rant…then asked a question.“What types of pieces? I know to make dishes out of earthenware you need to glaze them. So what do you sell unglazed?”“Oh…um. You can just pick up the ancient ass card and scan the barcode. Used to go to shows before BB. Now I've just got a website up. I have the gallery there plus a shop and bio. I'm making a round of my mugs again because it's my most popular one and sells like wildfire. I have some customers who have sent me a picture of their cupboards with literally sets of four or more of the fuckers like they're gonna serve at a coffee house or something…”He knew he was smiling from the look on her face.She stood up and grabbed the card.She got to his website and blinked.“Wait…you know Rachel?”“Hm?”“You're Sparky. With the comic book style lightning strike. I know I recognize you know that I see your real logo. You know Dare. You're one of Rachel Elizabeth Dare’s online friends.”He blinked.“Yes…are you a friend of hers?”She chuckled and her tone changed. To a much more comfortable one. A happier and…he admitted, much much gayer one. If you could classify a tone as gay…“Dude, I'm her ex-girlfriend. I used to run her YouTube channel. We've talked via email more than once. And I have seen a much younger version of you in her video on rural artists in the East Coast area.”He swallowed.Hard.And looked up once he was done with the dinner set.He set up the kiln to fire for the shop drop.He got everything in it.They talked about Rachel and how she was doing, apparently they'd ended on decent terms but not kept in touch.They'd ended because of the stripper thing. Rachel couldn't handle having a ‘public’ muse. And Piper fucking hated the feeling of being owned.That tracked.Rachel was very very possessive of everything she loved. That went for her art. And her supplies. And her people.But…unfortunately that didn't go so well for actual people and romantic relationships.Rachel was doing great. Had a cool exhibition at a big modern art museum recently. Was doing fucking phenomenally. And her YouTube channel had taken off insanely during the pandemic. She'd also gotten into Tik Tok. Like…she was rich now. She was starting a podcast. Had asked Jason if he wanted to do an episode and he said he was open to the idea…he just needed way way advanced notice of the time he would be on and his mic set up was ancient so she'd need to be fine with that.She had offered to ship him a new mic if he shipped it back.Piper laughed at the offer.“Fucking shit that's so Rachel!”“I know, right?”“Like, I'll let you borrow my shit to make stuff better, as long you return it…”Piper smiled at him eventually and spoke once the kiln was on and he'd finished throwing the two medium planters. They were walking out and he opened the gate for her since it was a tall one and he didn't think her little legs could hike themselves over it…“You know, I think I could get used to vibing in that room.”He sent her a stern glance.“Other people do not normally enter my studio.”“Really? Because studios are cool. Fun places to vibe and talk and learn about people.”He blinked.He had never had anyone…want to come in.That was why no one entered it.She probably saw that in his eyes and her hand touched his.“If you don't want me in there it's okay…” she whispered leaning into his chest.His response wasn't really sensible…He just kissed her.Not a little kiss. Not something cute. It was passionate. And she smiled into it like she'd won some big prize. Hopped up a little as he picked her up.He held her gently and they fell onto the couch.They did…have sex on the couch.But not the super loud and wild kind it seemed like they were going to have before.No, this was….They were having the precursor to something much more.The full, like…clothes off, slow, sensual kind of sex.And it was something he had not done in a very very long time. Maybe ever?And as he fell asleep with their clothes strewn both under and around them, a blanket on top of them, and her head cuddled right into the crook of his neck…he felt something tugging in his chest that he was not used to after sex. Something he absolutely was not expecting. And something he wanted more of.When they woke up to the buzz of the kiln saying it was done with the bisque and would be cooling during the day.He smiled and kissed her hair gently, as the gate shook at the top of the stairs.“Daddy! Daddy! Piper is missing!”Jason chuckled and pulled on his pants, yawning while Piper scrambled for her clothes. Mumbling something akin to:“Fuck me for leaving the door open.”“No baby, she's down here. We were watching a movie.” he got to the stairs and cackled.She had a moving box she'd somehow gotten from the upstairs to the main floor and she had fucking trapped Katty in it.“What are you doing torturing her poor old cat by putting her in a box?”“She got in the box herself!”“She sure as shit didn't close the lid. Open it. Now. Do you see her poor terrified eyes peeking out of the handle?”There was a pause.“Oh?”“Let her out, little miss cat terrorist.”“Hey! I'm not a cat!”Piper walked up the stairs and helped her poor frightened cat back into reality once BB picked her up and set her little limp body on the ground. Jason apologized profusely to it.His kid moved on…pushing the box along the floor and skipping behind it singing some stupid rhyme about cats in boxes and hats on boxes. She sort of mixed it with the Super Cats theme song and Jason rolled his eyes. It sounded more like a tongue twister than a song, but whatever.“How…were we not awake to that?” Piper muttered.“Fuck if I know…I'm sorry Katty…” Jason said petting her gently.She cuddled into Piper contently and he sighed.“Your cat's freeze reaction really means she's never going outside…”“I think she shouldn't be allowed next to open doors in case they close and slam shut on her face…” she said bluntly.He blinked.“Damn, just tear into the terrorized little girl.”“I will. That was on her. She can get out of a barely closed cardboard box going that fucking slow down the hallway…”Jason couldn't stop laughing.She smiled down at her cat and kissed her head.“You're so pathetic.” She said in the sweetest voice possible.The cat nuzzled her like she had no idea what she was saying. Or just didn't care.They decided to go out to breakfast after quick showers.Mostly to get Piper that waitress application with Jason in the mix.He was related to the owner after all.They walked in and a very pregnant, very tired Cal greeted them.Piper recognized her and said hi.She smiled and said hi back.She asked for the application and Cal looked about ready to fall on the floor in sheer joy.She'd been working too much.Like…way too much.Her doctor had said as much.It was stressing them out.She needed to work at least less than 30 hours a week.Preferably less than 24.So…Piper filled out the application there and left Jason and Leo as her two references.Per usual, Jason got a ton of looks. A few glares. People here didn't like him.Cal was polite. She didn't mind him, he was pretty sure.BB was aware that people didn't like him. She behaved very well in public.She was sweet and used her yes’m and no ma'am’s. She was very good at making everyone know she was well behaved.It was still…very very annoying.To have those looks.The judgement.The looks that said he was being watched. Because of his dad and because of his previous behavior as a teen and child.Like…he got it. But no one talked to him here. He literally only had online friends. The people in this town didn't know shit.Jason got the call from Beck's wife, Silena, a little while later. She was the new owner of the Red Heart Inn (since Venus had left for Florida a little while ago). Since it had been an inn/bed and breakfast at some point she was actually the only other landlord in town. She had three, two bedroom apartments above the diner. They had a complex relationship with Jason as family via two routes (she was Drew's sister and his nephew's wife…). Plus they were competing landlords, but he won in that second regard. Hands down. He made more than her on that front, though her and Beck had a house about his size since they also owned two businesses. And…he knew through word of mouth that this was the first application to land on her desk.She needed her or Cal was going to have to get a less strenuous job for the end of her pregnancy. And that was really gonna fuck up her life.
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After seeing the diner and meeting the very much nervous, stressed, and wildly overworked Calypso…Piper wasn't sure if she wanted to work at that diner.But she got the job.She was there after a couple days for training.And the first thing the owner said was:“Excuse me, but are you a stripper or a waitress? That outfit has too much skin.”Piper's eyebrows raised.She looked down at her clothes.Hung up her jacket, which was in fact Jason's small flannel coat from when he was a teenager. She'd wanted to wear a coat she had that was very pretty, shiny, and her actual style. He'd taken one look, coughed, and pulled the old thing with a chuckle and one line.“You go out in that and people are gonna laugh around here, no one wears that shit. You can't even get it…”The thing was old. Looked like it was probably from when he was an early teenager. And it smelled like years in their coat closet. She didn't quite mind…did mind the tone he'd said it in and how he had chuckled after.He'd sounded like he'd be laughing about her willingness to look like a fool for days…she didn't like that in a partner.Piper looked at Silena and tilted her head.“I didn't know strippers wore jeans and shirts nowadays. But…been a sec
since I've been on the floor.”She sighed and looked right at her own tits when the line clearly didn't land the mark.“Listen. If you're offended by the dip, I'll wear something higher tomorrow, but I'd qualify the way you chose to say that as very very rude, ma'am.”They met eyes. Piper raised her eyebrows.The comment was ignored. Entirely.Cal trained her for a couple days then they started an odd mix of shift alternation. Piper worked mornings four days out of five open. She worked one afternoon shift. She also worked the morning rush on Sundays as the primary server and Cal worked the ‘back’ aka the bar and two tables.It was a lot the first week. She messed up a bit. But got in a swing by the end and people fucking loved her.And her outfits for the fucking record.Got her a fuckton of tips.As she was cashing out at the end of the day on Sunday, Cal leaned over and saw her total. She shrank a little and looked down at her belly.Piper looked at her.“I haven't seen that mischievous little brat since I came to town. Where is he?”“Oh. Leo?” She squeaked.“Yep. Leonidas Valdez. The impiest.”She chuckled then sighed.“He's been working or taking care of Dad.”“Is he available today?”“Not really, was just gonna go shopping in town…got some clothes to pick up. Some baby stuff. The works…”“What stores?”“Walmart, Target, Dollar store.”“Is there any way I could tag along? I need to pick up my own food now that I've got money…”She was being mischievous…Jason didn't make her pay rent.She had put over four hundred in savings in just this week.They went and grabbed a couple things at the dollar store. Basic pills. Then at Target Piper picked up a better pillow because Jason's was shit…Then at Walmart, she stuck close by her with her basket after grabbing her basic meal fixings and every little baby item she picked up, she stole and stuck in her basket.They made eye contact.“I see you.” She said bluntly.“Yes…”“This is probably fifty to seventy five dollars.”“I got it.”She pouted a little and looked like she could cry. Then nodded and allowed it to happen.She thanked her when they got in the car.Piper asked her if Cal was in need of anything for herself.She chuckled.“I needed to be working less. I need to have my feet up a couple hours a day…”“Oh hun…”“Yeah.”They headed back and Jason was out with BB, a rarity from what she'd seen since outdoor playtime seemed to be his relaxation time, but he looked like he was doing something in the side yard.“Oh. Daddy wondered where the fuck you were…” BB said as she got out.Cal cackled and looked at him. He wasn't even embarrassed.“Quit it with your vulgar mouth!”“She'll learn ‘em somewhere! Might as well learn to say ‘em right!” he hollered back at her.Piper chuckled and waved as she drove off shaking her head.BB ran up and looked at the pillow.“For your bed?”“Yes.”“Why?”“I like soft pillows.”“All pillows are soft…” BB said walking off to play with a neighborhood cat.Jason looked up from the pile he appeared to be organizing as she went off and stood up. Walked towards her even.“Beryl Grace! Not that one!” he said in as stern of a voice as she had ever heard him use.She frowned and her feet paused.The cat moved on.“We have talked about playing with Ms. Hera’s cat. Ms. Hera doesn't like it.”“Ms. Hera doesn't like you.”He chuckled.“You got that right. And she doesn't like you by extension. Sorry to say, she hates our guts. Get your grubby little hands away from her cat.”She nodded.She hopped into his front landscaping and just started going at the rocks with a bucket and cup.Jason asked her where she got a pillow and all that around here.“Oh, Cal and I went up to…wherever the Walmart and Target are.”“Ah. Depends which direction you went…”She nodded. She went in and started cooking a little.He walked in a little later and immediately took off the shirt he was wearing to be outside. He was just, apparently, always fucking warm or something because he couldn't stand to wear clothes…He smiled when he saw her in the kitchen.“Ah…you're a food prepper.”“Yes. I picked up my own set of boxes.”“I know. I sure as shit don't have bright pink freezer boxes anywhere in this place.”She chuckled.BB happily ate some chef boyardee or whatever was in the can and smelled like bad tomato sauce but happy childhoods. He made sure she had a cut up apple and some carrots he literally just dumped from the bag onto her plate and said in epic single dad fashion.“Dig in you little monkey. And keep the cat away from it.”Even handed her the spray bottle which she immediately turned toward herself and sprayed her shirt with it for fun. He laughed.“Whelp. Not bath night. I'll consider you clean.”Jason grabbed leftovers from what he'd made the night before for his dinner.BB slid into the playroom on the first floor and made mischief.Piper happily got her food into the fridge and freezer. Jason looked at her after a little bit.“Diner? Thoughts?”“I like the job…is the boss always so…rude?”“Silena? What's she doing? That's not like her?”“Keeps making comments on the outfits no matter what I wear. Pretty sure she's convinced I belong on a pole…”His eyes flared.Like legit.And she saw it, it was a kind of pissed off protectiveness that was pretty damn hot.“I'll mention it to her husband, Beck. He doesn't like that shit as much as I don't. Her mom did a lot of it.”“Beck…like Leo's brother?”“Yes.”“Damn…forgot about him.”“Have you met him?”“Yeah. He's the only one of his siblings ever to visit him in the city.”“Oh…wow. Didn't know he did.”“He did. A couple times. Was sweet. Stared a little too much at me while I was underage but he didn't know and I dressed like a total-”“Clarification on language in this house.” He said cutting her off.“Hm?” She said suddenly realizing he was a little ticked off.They met eyes.“Swear words. Including the f bomb. They are fine. Slurs and words that put people in a place of lower status due to physical, societal, or perceived power dynamics…not so much. So what you were about to say. Not allowed to be said around my daughter. Even though it was about yourself. Got it?”She nodded.“If you would like a more detailed list in private after bedtime, I will gladly give it to you.”She nodded.She was at the entrance to the basement in her pj's when BB was in bed and he sighed.He slid a hand on her hip and kissed her forehead.“Are you sneaking into my studio again?”“I heard you wedging. You're gonna throw…”“You want to watch me at the wheel don't you?”“I think pottery is oddly really hot. Is that weird?”“Yes. Really really weird.” he said like she was genuinely strange to him.“It shows off muscles really fucking well.”He blinked and looked at her. He clearly had words he was thinking of saying.None of them came out.He let her in.They talked about his rules regarding swearing in more detail. How he didn't want to teach her to casually degrade or use words that degraded others early in life.How this was a firm belief of his because his dad was open and vulgar in his use of both derogatory language and slurs.He had been raised by an aging, racist bigoted asshole. He wasn't going to make his kid have to rewrite their vocabulary in the way he did, especially when it was so hurtful to other people like his younger family members.She didn't realize how much older than Leo he was…He was four years older than…her.He was like seven years older than Leo.She quietly asked him a question eventually after a long and philosophical discussion on the ins and outs of making kids and how fucked up the process of raising them can end up.She looked at him and asked if he wanted another.He chuckled.“Yeah. I actually really like them.”She nodded. She waited for him to set down the piece he'd finished.“I don't mean to freak anyone out when I'm chasing them…but I want four.”They met eyes.He blinked.He thought. He sat down with more clay.“Define four.”For an 11:30 pm question. That made no fucking sense…“Four…children?”“Four of your own biological or would my previous child count?”She thought.She hadn't thought about having any step children. And she knew her immediate answer.“Including. I like kids close in age though. Like…in terms of my family, I always wanted all my kids to be under four or five years apart each time. Probably under two for the last two.”“Well…obviously. If you're gonna have a fucking gaggle.”She blinked at him sassily and he smiled.“You ever met a newborn?”“No…”He smirked. He stabilized the small piece he was working on and, after some concentration on it for about a minute, he looked at Piper with a smirk.“You ever seen one fresh?”“Why do I feel like I just signed up to see the freaky baby pictures…” she mumbled.“Everyone's got ‘em. And I'm done throwing.”He cleaned his hands, loaded and started the kiln with the plate order he needed to send off soon, and pulled out his phone.Picked Piper up easily to take her over the baby gate that he never opened. He simply stepped over it because of his 6 ft 5 self never needing to do anything normal like that.As he pulled up the pictures from her birth he chuckled. Said casually that none of them had her mom, Drew, in them. Drew hadn't wanted herself in them. She hadn't even wanted herself on the birth certificate, but the hospital had apparently insisted…He said Drew had never lived in this house. They'd been very very part time and not involved in the slightest. She'd been a college girl.Piper made some faces at the, admittedly, gross way babies look when they come out…and he made fun of her. Totally made fun of her.Said a few lines like ‘you want four fucking kids and this is the reaction?’He clearly thought this was just hilarious…He kissed her cheek and neck a lot.He laughed a lot too.She smacked his chest and leg a few times.When he got to the end of the pictures from that night he slid to the next album and smiled.“There are cuter ones. Want to see those?”“Yes, please. You're an asshole. You know that right?”He bit his lip.“I think I'm an asshole you rather like, though.” He whispered in her ear.She huffed.But cuddled in for a long long session of looking at baby pictures.
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The next morning, Piper woke up cuddled up in Jason's arms on the couch.She was very comfortable like that. The kiln was done.They could not hear any mischief or cat torturing upstairs.They…hadn't had any sex.They'd just looked at all the pictures on his phone and talked for literally hours about his daughter and how much he loved being a dad. And what his parenting style was.She had learned more about being a parent than she'd even thought was possible in such a short period of time.She hadn't thought about it that much before.She'd thought about finding a partner and having them.A bit about the philosophy part. She was interested in Montessori stuff. She'd recognized his Montessori style stuff around the house. The step stool, knives, and toy preferences.But…when it came to actual discipline. A true theory about how you talk to you kids. Help them grow. Help them become little independent and productive members of society.She'd not had a single thought on that yet.Her little heart had been so set on having them…she'd missed the part about raising them.And he hadn't been surprised by this. He knew a few people like that.Most of them were single. Most of them came from very happy childhoods.She had frowned a little at that. And the implications of what he'd meant by it.He was raising a child in a house…he'd probably been abused in.That was a form of pain she didn't want to imagine.As she stirred a little, he woke up too. Stretched.Said he was fucking hungry.She chuckled.“I want your French toast…”He smiled.“Good. Because I've got stale bread.”She looked at him surprised.“That's what you use?”“Yep. Stale bread makes it best. Come on. You're gonna help. You never get your hands dirty, princess.”Her mouth opened and closed.She didn't disagree.She just pouted.She failed miserably at cracking the eggs.He laughed his ass off at her.“You are in your late 20s and can't do a simple cooking task?”“I grew up with chefs, okay.”He startled and looked in her eyes.“Excuse me, what!?”They met eyes.“My father was a millionaire. He's been convicted of drug crimes and tax evasion…on a bit of a big scale. Leo didn't explain who I am?”“No!”She washed her hands and pulled out her phone.“Fuck you can be looked up?”“I've got a Wikipedia page. It's short.”“What the fuck!? Who is in my house?”She chuckled.She handed him the phone and he read about her history as Tristan McLean’s and Aphrodite’s only child.Her history as a child model.Her ‘fall from grace’ and time at the school for delinquents.And her father's arrest and conviction.They also mentioned she now worked as a stripper. No mention of her moving. Good no one had found out about that.He blinked.“Sorry, you are the child of a three time Oscar winner and a French supermodel.”“Oui.”He stared at her.“This is information I could have used to have sooner…”She chuckled.“Why? It's like…meh? Normal to me.”His arms wrapped around her a little.He possessively kissed her neck.“You are insane…back to the French toast.”She smirked.She found him on that Wikipedia page again later and she smirked.“What are you looking at?”“You were a child model?”“Yes.”“It says plus size…you're hardly plus size? You look like a fucking supermodel…”She chuckled.“Hun…you must know nothing about the modeling industry.”She sighed and sat down on his lap.She pointed to her tits and hips.“The second these guys made an appearance and I no longer looked androgynous and small, I was categorized as plus sized.”He blinked.Startled too.“That is absurd.”She shrugged.“They make bank as a stripper though. I'm sexy as fuck.”He bit his lip.“And, like, guys would pay a ton to get a lap dance from a former model. It was well known at my club who I was.”“That's a little…weird. Right?”“Yes. Normally you're anonymous.”He nodded.She got ready for work and happily went and did her one afternoon shift. It was the easy one. Not many people toward the end of the day. Mostly kids after school asking for milkshakes. That was cute. Genuinely.BB came in wanting a milkshake to share with Jason and said hi to Piper happily. Everyone startled. Wanted a hug even.Silena noted at the end of the day, after close, in a very awkward tone.“Um…is that…Jason's jacket?”About his flannel coat she was wearing.“Yep. I don't have any that are a good cover level for this weather.” she lied.“Ah…”They met eyes.“He's not known for dating…” Silena said quietly.She chuckled.“So I've gathered.”She spoke quietly after a few seconds, as Piper was about to walk out the door.“Um…for the record. Her very absent bitch of a mom…is my little sister. I should introduce myself. He comes over to me and Beck's for holidays and stuff for double reasons…”She blinked.“Oh. Okay. Pleasure to meet you more properly.”She swallowed hard and spoke in an awkward voice.“Sorry for the shitty attitude the first week.”She nodded.“You're forgiven.”She nodded.Word spread…fucking fast in this small ass town that her and Jason were together.From that diner to Leo to random people at the corner store.Everybody knew.It was wild…Leo came over for a visit to see Piper. They hung out and she thought it was going to fly by…then Jason came right as he was leaving. Leo stared at both of them for a few seconds before speaking.“What the hell, Jason?”“What? You stuck a model in my house?”Leo flipped him off as Piper cackled.“Well…whatever. Happy for you guys or whatever I'm supposed to say…”Jason chuckled as he headed out in a huff.“He really is a character…” he said, pulling Piper in with a smirk as BB slid in the back door with Tempest trailing her for a freshly blooming flower.Jason looked at her with a stern look.“Do I need to put a fence around that garden?”“Tempest knocked it down…”“You've taught your kitty such bad behavior.”“Hey!”“Get the flower back outside or it's going in the trash. I don't want petals and flower guts on the carpet when Tempest loses control and rips it from your tiny hand.”She ran back outside as fast as lightning and he chuckled.Piper smiled.“You really are so…different than the shit I've seen on gentle parents. I don't think I understood the concept.”He chuckled.“Most people don't. I set some pretty firm boundaries. Especially with my pushy and boundary breaking toddler.”She nodded.“Want a book?”She nodded.She was given a book by a woman she had not heard of but who also had a YouTube channel. She seemed to also have a podcast with another ‘gentle’ parent.Piper picked it up.She'd been raised by a single mom from a pretty young age. Then raised her first kid as a single mom for a while. Jason probably identified with this woman quite a bit.Her philosophy was built on trial and error. A lot of it. She was a convert to this type of parenting. And her takes on it were fascinating.Piper liked it.She wanted to learn more.Every time Jason passed Piper reading the book…she saw the smile.She saw the look in his eyes.She thought it was a bit of adoration.And she liked it…It was damn hot.She listened to the first through fifth episodes of their podcast in one night while she organized her room quietly on a night she was going to be off the next day.Jason looked at her the next morning as she was half asleep and sneaking over for his final cup of coffee to steal it.He grabbed her waist and whispered.“What were you up to?”“Reorganizing my room.”“Ah…and might I ask what's in the headphones right now?”“I’m…listening to stuff on Spotify.”He picked up her phone and chuckled.“You're so cute. You've listened to like seven episodes in 24 hours.”“Yes…”He let her take the coffee if she just put it on the speaker. He liked the podcast too and his daughter was allowed to listen to it.She even recognized their voices. Knew one of their names.The one who didn't write the book.She looked up their YouTube channels and realized…he probably got one of them a bit more.Also a single parent for a while. About their age. And, like he had said, had looked at their child when she was born and had known they could never hurt her.Came from very similar backgrounds.As she fell more and more into this fascination with…parenting.She watched Jason.She watched and she found she was just so head over heels.She wanted to spend time with him and BB just to get into the swing of…seeing kids in action.And knowing more about them as a family.And knowing, as time went on…how she fit in.And she loved that.She loved this.More than just for sex or romantic attraction or attention.She loved that Jason was so different than her first interactions with him.Yes. He just was an asshole sometimes.Yes. That seemed…odd that she was fine with it.But, as she got to know him, she saw the way he parented. She saw the small things he did that were so true to…something in his past.And she as Cal left for maternity leave, and Jason sent her and Leo a massive amount of money in gift card form to both Target and Walmart just as Piper started basically working the whole decreased open hours of the diner with a tiny bit covered by a high school student…Leo texted her a quiet message.‘am I missing something about my uncle…or did you ask for that?’She blinked thinking that was a pretty shitty thing to say.‘what do you mean?’‘he's never done anything that nice for me, Cal, or most people in our family…’She bit her lip.‘do you want me to ask?’‘maybe…I just don't, is it bad I don't want to owe?’She showed him the conversation.He sighed.“Okay. Gotta give you a history here.”She nodded.He told her a bit of a story. A shitty one.Of who he was before his daughter was born and how shitty he'd been about his family.Even as a landlord.He was an asshole.Treated people like shit. Acted really similar to his father. His dad had raised him as a single dad post his mother's suicide. He had been abusive as hell. Beat the living shit out of him for most of his life. Sworn at him from the time he was a toddler. Taught him to say racist shit for a lot of his life. His older sister had ditched this town at 18 because she was so sick of how much it sucked. And just, in general, his childhood been absolutely awful.And then at 79…Jason's dad had died and left the business, all the properties, and a fuck ton of money in a trust to Jason.He was 18 at the time.Jason was well known in town since as the complete asshole who had modernized the rent contracts. Made them more city-like. Even evicted a few people, like the Rodriguez family he'd just kicked out the other month.Their place had already been cleaned and rented to another family who wanted a bigger place. He was…well known.He was considered a complete asshole. He knew this.People had literally called CPS on him and his kid for picking her up during a temper tantrum in the parking lot of the grocery store before.The CPS worker had thought it was absolutely overkill and told him that the town needed to fuck off and leave him be. They knew this house. They knew his dad. His dad had been a well known person to have CPS called on him throughout all of Jason and his sisters childhoods.Nothing ever came of that either, but that was because of a shitty system at the time, not because nothing was to be found.So…all that to say, Jason had turned himself around. But his reputation was not. And probably never would be.He apologized for this at the end and Piper cuddled into him.“You know. The walls make more sense now. As do all the cameras outside.”He sighed.“Yeah…”She kissed his cheek.“What would you like me to tell Leo?”“I'm wishing him and Cal the best and I know the first few months suck financially.”She texted him that.He received a small and clearly startled thank you.Piper went over to their place to meet little baby Zaza, or Esperanza, a little while later. Jason drove her and BB wanted to get out, but Jason calmly told her newborns require a very calm and quiet environment so they were going to a park.She pouted and waved to Piper as she left.Leo opened the door and looked at Jason driving off.“Hey, girl.”“Hey. How are you doing?”“Good. First few weeks are going decently…for having a screaming crying potato of a human.”She chuckled, recalling those pictures of BB as a baby.She got to hold Zaza. She checked on both of them. Cal thanked her for doing so much at the diner.Then, Hephaestus, Jason's brother who had mostly just been watching TV...wheeled over in his electric wheelchair.“Jason is really doing much better, isn't he? Not just...being a good dad and stuff?”She looked at him.“I didn't know him before but I don't date guys who make me uncomfortable.”He nodded.“Okay. Please send a proper thank you for those gift cards. I know those initial ones were probably taken…out of context and seemed fake.”She nodded.“He expected as much. Said so.”Leo sat down and bit his lip. She gently patted his back.“You know…odd thing to mention, but remember Dare?”“Your old girl? The artsy one?”“Yeah. With the YouTube channel and the art studio in our two bedroom in Brooklyn?”He nodded.She chuckled.“Her and Jason are art buddies online.”He startled.“What?”“In case you didn't know…Jason is sort of an artist. Well known online in the ceramics community around here.”She tried not to be a little pissy about the look on his face when she said artist.“Anyway, talked to Dare again the other month on video chat. She's still as flighty and ditzy as ever.”She rolled her eyes and Leo sighed.“Well…small world I guess…”She chuckled.“At least the New York artist community is…”Cal looked at her and blinked.“So…if I heard that right…you're bi?”Piper chuckled.“Yes. And I've got a thing for the type of artists with their heads in the clouds.”Leo choked.“Yeah. That's a way of putting it. Dare also is a possessive little-”“Not saying bad things about my ex partners.”He sighed.“Yeah…”She smiled as Cal looked at the half asleep baby in her arms.“Well, she's gonna go down soon. You were gonna walk to the park, right dear?”“Yep, BB was very upset she couldn't join and is being distracted at the park down the block.”Hephaestus chuckled like he knew exactly how toddlers worked.Leo and Cal looked at her a little out of their depth.Piper just smiled…thinking of Jason playing with her on the playset and the look on his face as he played with his daughter. It was absolutely beautiful.
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They had reached the end of Cal's maternity leave when she and Piper were switching positions. They were going to an alternating schedule. Each taking half the mornings and half the afternoons. The diner was going back to full staffing and full hours.Piper liked it so much better.BB was enjoying the weather and those stupid flowers were starting to genuinely take over the back of the yard (Jason was pissed he had ever planted them…). They had gone from a small patch last year to a large swath this year. Fucking hell…But something was up.Piper was starting to have trouble in the morning and it was something that Jason absolutely had a feeling, in the pit of his stomach, that he knew what was going on.She was throwing up in the morning. Unable to eat breakfast. Needing to eat a big lunch when she got back or right before she left. She seemed highly distressed by it. Couldn't cook at all because of it. He had to learn her recipes to make sure she was getting some food in.He had it ready every day.He was like that.About four weeks into this though, he and BB needed to pick up BB’s nasal spray to prevent her god awful nosebleeds. They were at the pharmacy outside of town.And…He just went for it.He picked up a pregnancy test, a Dr. Pepper (her favorite soda), and a whole party sized bag of peanut M&M’s (the only candy he ever saw her willingly eat).He got back with BB in tow around the time Piper did.BB ran outside with a handful of M&M'sShe froze.“Holy shit.” She said, blinking a few times.He sighed.“So based on symptoms…chug or sip. But I believe someone needs to take a test, sweetie.”“But…I have a really long term IUD. Like…like 10 years.”“And…when was it put in?”She could not remember the fucking date.She checked her wallet where she diligently kept the card they give you for long-term birth control and squeaked a little.He kissed her cheek.She pouted. They cuddled once he'd warmed her lunch. She ate it in silence and sipped her Dr. Pepper with intense thought behind her eyes.He kissed her gently as she got back and set the timer.He walked in with her to see it and she pulled out the little instructions to read the test. He chuckled.“Piper…I can tell you the results without reading them…”“What…does it mean?”“It's like COVID test. Two is positive.”She squeaked.He kissed her neck.“Let's call. I know which doctor covered this area.”She sighed.They called. They were on hold for over 20 minutes, but eventually the receptionist picked up…She got in the following week with a male ob. The only one with openings. He was in a nearby ‘big’ town. About 10 thousand people. The only OB around and only really served their area. He had a small patient pool because of it but he was also a gynecologist for the immediate area (his town he lived in) so he had a full schedule in general. Just, his OB rotation was pretty lax…he only served like maybe 50 births a year. He actually fucking delivered your kid too. That was pretty rare in the area, from what Jason knew. He knew that nearby, you just ended up in the delivery room with some random OB you didn't know and they delivered.Will was there by the end of your labor. Had been with Drew despite it only taking like a couple hours from when they'd gotten there. He'd high tailed it when he'd heard.He was good. Jason liked him.And not just because Will was married to Jason's cousin, Nico.That was a side note…Will was a good doctor.Jason told her he knew him. Both personally and professionally. He would come along if it made her more comfortable.It did. She'd only ever seen female ob/gyns…So, the next week they hopped in the car for the 25 minute drive to that clinic. BB was excited. She liked that clinic, though she really only knew the pediatrician side. They always had fish tanks and all kinds of fun toys on the wall.And it was in the ‘big city with big parks’. When Piper saw the sign for 10 thousand people she chuckled and muttered.“Big city, eh?”Jason sent her a death glare in response.“You know the population of where you moved, right?”“Yeah. I can walk the length of the town in three damn minutes.”He smirked.Ended the discussion.They told BB they were not going to a park today but they would go to lunch out at a restaurant together as a family.They got to reception and BB immediately went to the fish tank instead. She was quiet. The whole floor hardly looked over. Her hands stayed off the glass like they were supposed to.Piper checked in and went to do the fun 'peeing in a cup’. Then, they sat on the proper side. BB followed and played with the toys on the wall instead of the fish.She eventually came over and sat in Piper's lap. Clearly sensing her anxiety.They cuddled and Piper gently kissed her head.They had a lot to go over at this appointment. She didn't get periods on this birth control. She had no clue when the gestation period was. She was going to need an ultrasound to even know an estimate of how old the kid was.They were called back.She had gained over six lbs.She was further along than he'd thought…But…she was underweight.He had no idea of that.She was previously a BMI of 17.9. She had just cracked 18 something.Yes…she had lovely hips and breasts…but she had just made it to a healthy weight.Like…she had been underweight. The nurse mentioned the happily and said she would mention it to the doctor and mark it in the chart as not flagged anymore.The nurse checked over her history. Looked at her iron supplement, her only medicine she should be taking. She was anemic? And had been underweight?Alarm bells were going off in his head and he didn't like them going off.He didn't like alarms going off at this moment.“You taking it?” the nurse asked.“Every couple days, I forget a lot…”She marked it as no with a nod.Piper stepped into the separate area behind the curtain as she changed. Jason checked with her where she wanted BB to sit while she had her exam. Because they were going to do an exam at this appointment probably.She said facing him was fine. They'd talked about not looking at Piper during it. She understood that she was supposed to be respectful and not look there.He nodded.The doctor came in.He said hello to Jason, said hi to BB too and he introduced himself to Piper as the person who caught BB when she came out. He also introduced himself as Jason's cousin's husband. The one they never saw because he literally lived like an hour away and never came home. Will apologized…again…for this. As he always did.That got a decent laugh in a scary moment for her clearly.They talked about the two positive pregnancy tests she'd had now. How she didn't have periods so she should do an ultrasound. They got her on the schedule for an hour and a half from now in the maternal ultrasound place here because they had an opening in the schedule.She would have lunch nearby, drink a lot of liquid, then go to the other door at this clinic.They talked a lot about her weight.She said a tiny bit about being a model and how she had not managed to gain weight since despite growing taller.He nodded.Said he was sending her to a dietician who did maternal health, but they would respect her request to stay vegetarian. Prescribed her a much stronger iron supplement to take with her lunch.Jason promised she would be taking it.She nodded.They talked about her symptoms and her weight gain. What that probably meant for the term but how they would know at the ultrasound. How he would like to see her back in two weeks for a follow up to discuss the ultrasound, since that was his next available that fit her schedule.They ate at a shawarma joint and she drank a full large soda.They came back and did the ultrasound.Jason entertained BB in his lap for it. She was getting very very bored. Wanted to walk around, but it was not appropriate. They bounced and played train: a game where he bounced his legs and moved her back and forth and the ‘stopped’ at different places like a magic train. Almost like Daniel Tiger’s trolley. It could be compared to that. It's sure as shit where he'd first gotten the idea…They were in the middle of a journey a fucking football stadium to get candy (his wild child, he loved her so much) when he finally looked up. It was close to the end. He thought he could probably see the size of the kid at least and guestimate based on his experience…with the rascal in his lap.And Jason's breath fucking stopped as he stared at the two separate probably fetus's?Piper could not see. Her and the nurse were talking about something quietly. Looked like a pleasant conversation.She looked anxious, but she didn't know why the nurse was being so diligent to keep her occupied…The nurse turned the screen at the end and Piper gulped.“Do twins run on your mom's side, dear?”She nodded.“Identical or fraternal?” She asked, opening a note for the doctor.“Fraternal…”She nodded.“Gotcha. Note in. Looks to me to be about two months in. But Dr. Solace will let you know.”They got a call on the way home asking to fit her in in an opening later that week in the afternoon…she was available that day so they set it up.He'd fit her in in a cancellation. A shorter appointment. It was clearly a gyno appointment that he was making work for them.Fuck he wanted to see her that soon?The dietician called soon after and they did a video appointment. They did a fridge and freezer tour a few mornings later and talked all about what she ate. They talked about how much more she needed to eat for twins. She sent her a ton of stuff to print out and a ton of information on new proteins and new foods to aim to add to her diet.Piper looked like she could cry at the end of it.Jason realized as he was playing with BB early that morning and trying not to listen that she didn't just not eat much.She only ate like five things.She ate safe foods…She probably, almost certainly, had some kind of eating disorder or had a history of one. And the simple guided questions that the dietician was asking before Piper had slid into their bedroom had led him to believe it was a pretty bad history.She cuddled into him quietly as he rubbed her back after the appointment. She didn't touch the info but said Jason could pick it up if he wanted to start making a grocery list. She went to work without talking about it in depth.He picked up the info and read it. Sorted it. And prepared himself for what was probably about to be a lot of work, a lot of stress, and one big balancing act. Working with Piper and helping not one…but now three damn kids get through life.
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As Jason read the paperwork Piper had been sent by the dietician, his heart sank…She'd been given info on anorexia and bulimia and their effects on health and pregnancy. Terrifying to think about on your own and it wasn't worded in a polite or informative way either. It was worded like the scariest shit ever.She'd also been given tables to aim for for foods. Variety in food intake that got her lots of vitamins, minerals, and plenty of food groups.He looked at them all and thought for BB’s whole (and very rare) couch nap. The first time she'd napped for more than 20 minutes in over two months. With Dora in the background, she had just passed out that day like she'd known he needed to do some damn hard work.He looked through the scary stuff and decided to summarize, not make her read it. He wrote down the big stuff in plain, non-inflammatory language to talk about. The symptoms to look out for and the possible things that they were watching to prevent.What mattered, not the scary shit that she couldn't control.Two pages talked about childhood and adolescent anorexia and bulimia just in general. Like that was in her chart as a diagnosis…And, as he learned that night. It was in her history.They did talk about it when she got home briefly and they made a shopping list after BB was in bed.She had been anorexic for much of her tween years when she was a model.Almost made it to end stage anorexia as an early teen. Which he looked up and saw was a damn terrifying thing to imagine a 14 year old being and feeling like…Then as she'd had her time in the modeling industry forcibly ended by her father, gone through intensive treatment for this problem and been fine for all of about a year...she'd entered a phase of bulimia. That had stopped when she'd ended up at the boarding school with Leo. She couldn't manage to keep throwing up in secret and found it highly embarrassing and triggering to be seen as ’that girl who always smelled like vomit’. She had rebounded into a short period of anorexia while she was at the school. Leo knew quite a bit about her eating and had been very helpful, sweet, and supportive of her in getting her to eat there.Then…she'd just found about five or six meals she could eat after she graduated.And she was branching out.She liked the food Jason cooked but only when he cooked it.She just…was terrified to try new foods.Jason held her that night. All night.As he contemplated going to the store with her and BB the next afternoon and probably seeing the fear in her eyes as she watched him pick out those new foods.She went to work the next morning, clearly happy to avoid this subject, and he modified his home recipes to fit the new foods. He made them kid friendly and her friendly.He took their processed stuff.The chef boyardee.The mac n cheese.The spaghettios.He got copycat or home made recipes that were quick and easy.Then he adjusted them to add more nutrients by adding shredded veggies or other random shit he'd figured out how to do when BB was a toddler.She'd outgrown the want for him to keep her veggies purees. She liked them crunchy.But sometimes you needed to get more nutrients into a dish and you just had to bullshit them in. What mattered was telling everyone what was in it.It took all fucking morning…Like, he had to adjust the sides he made. Look up cooking time for all the new foods they were adding and kid fun ways to prepare them. He got air fryer recipes for a lot of them because that was a favorite and it got a light amount of fats in…She needed fats.When she had looked at the list with him, she had said she didn't have a history of eating those…at all.He had to get oil, butter, and other high fat stuff in a woman who was recovering from anorexia.Wow. What the fuck was he going to do?He also came up with a couple adjustments to his simple meals. Figured out how to bread and fry (or just cook) tofu. And how to make a few other high protein options for her that were vegetarian. He got some good seasonings on the list that he didn't have that worked to add to these recipes.He worked like hell on this shit.BB sat down with him as he was making the recipes and asked what he was doing. She'd been playing alone or watching TV all day, a very unusual day for them, and she wanted to know why. He explained in a few short (and he thought good) sentences that he was coming up with things to cook. She asked why again. Typical three year old fashion…and he decided to finally do the explaining.“Piper is pregnant, do you know that word?”She shook her head.“She's got two little babies starting to grow in her.”She blinked.“Two?”“Twins. When a mom has two babies instead of one, they're called twins.”She nodded.She took a long second to think, then looked at all the words in front of him and asked what they said.He walked her through the changes to what they were eating. He believed in complete transparency with this. She needed to know what she was eating. No hiding stuff.She asked about their brain foods.What about what was going to make Piper happy at meals?And he knew.He just knew…she wasn't going to eat a damn cobbler, pie, cookie, or ice cream he had at the table.But they added a couple peanut butter cookies and a strawberry shortcake that BB hadn't eaten before. Strawberries were in season and Jason was feeling adventurous…They finalized the list of recipes and picked a few for the first week.Piper got home to one of her warmed meals with a couple berries on the side.He did ask that she please eat them.She agreed.It looked stressful for her.They went to the doctor's appointment to discuss the twins.Dr. Solace was highly concerned that she was almost 10 weeks along and had only gained 5.5 lbs with twins.He wanted her to see a therapist soon. He sent her a referral to a maternal one immediately. One who he said had training with body image problems and could do telehealth.They left with plenty of appointments scheduled and a lot of stress behind Piper's eyes.They went to the store and…BB held her hand.Genuinely held her hand.Then asked to climb in her arms, instead of sitting in the cart.As they cuddled, Piper seemed to calm ever so slightly.Jason melted a little as BB set her head on Piper's shoulder and kissed her neck. As Piper took deep breaths.As they cuddled. In the middle of a supermarket.The gentle and kind way his daughter was noticing just how fucking hard Piper was taking this.They picked up a lot of things that Piper was going to need to take a lot of work to eat. She needed to start getting a lot of very important nutrients like calcium (that she had almost completely cut out by cutting out most dairy products and rarely eating the vegetables that included it). And she needed to eat fats because babies needed that to grow. They needed to get her a lot of fuel for her body. Like…glucose and carbs and calories. Things that genuinely she had been avoiding for forever.She needed bread. She needed fruit. She needed high calorie and high sugar foods to keep her body running as these babies…took all her nutrients from her.And this had been explained to her.And it looked like it was softly killing her.Jason cooked a full meal that night. One with some of the new food and some of her favorites. It was a stir fry with tofu cooked in a rich and healthy oil. Alongside it was a serving of mixed fruit salad that BB helped make, some left over fruit cobbler for brain food, and a glass of milk.He modeled it after one of her meals. But…she'd never had a side with it. Just the stir fry with tofu. So he was giving her more food. And she needed to drink the milk to help with her calcium intake.She ate it all on autopilot except the cobbler. She had been told that was just the extra. It wasn't part of the meal, just the brain food. The extra if she was still hungry.BB absolutely loved it. She ate her portion and asked for more of the fruit and brain food.Jason smiled and grabbed her some.He didn't plate meals like Piper had her whole life and it seemed to throw her off.She got her whole meal on the same plate at the same time. Because he hated and purposely did not wish to put the ideas in BB’s head that were so absolutely prevalent in Piper's.And Piper asked after her first therapy session for something a little different.For her brain food (her dessert) on a separate plate.Not for it not to be there or be second but for it to just…be set aside a little.He did that for her.BB asked for it too. To be like mama. For hers to be on a tea plate since she got a smaller portion. So they adjusted it. She said she wanted her own little ‘special plate for her brain snacks’.What she called them.They were special snacks. Brain foods. She could eat them. She didn't have to avoid them. They were stuff she loved and that made her happy. Not necessarily perfectly nutritional and not the things she absolutely needed for her body.But she wanted them for her mind and that was important to respect.They also were very important for keeping kids fueled throughout the day. Genuinely. In her busy lifestyle. A little fruit cobbler and a package of fruit snacks was what kids ran on some days…After a week of eating the foods they had adjusted to and Piper genuinely gaining a little weight in a short amount of time…Jason noticed. He noticed the look in her eyes in the master bedroom mirror in the morning as she adjusted the spot her belt was finally.And as she took a deep breath with each time she pulled on a shirt.He saw her pick up her spoon that Sunday and try the left over strawberry shortcake on the second plate.She only had a bite.She didn't smile.But he and BB did.BB said in an excited voice that she was happy mama liked it today.And Piper nodded.As BB ran off for after dinner play time…Jason walked around the table and kissed Piper’s hair. As he had started doing. He just gave her a lot of support after every meal. But this time he just gently held her and kissed her hair a lot.Didn't say anything.From the way her head leaned into him, she got the message.
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It had been a month.A month of…twins.And Piper had been to three therapy sessions so far. And she was starting to see the point of the sessions again. Because she was getting to the communication level of it.Hestia was a simple woman. Calm about Piper's history. Did not show any sign of surprise when Piper said seemingly out of character things. Despite the first week her saying she was so excited to be pregnant.She was saying such heinous things:I don't want to eat for these babies.I don't want to eat for myself.I just can't stand this food.As the fourth session came along, her list included something that was honest and hurt:Jason feels…too kind.She almost immediately moved on to an update on an appointment.Hestia stopped her and asked her to explain in detail what the ‘too kind’ implied and meant.And…Piper did.And it hurt.He was too supportive of this. He didn't see what was behind it. He'd be mad if he knew what she was saying here. All these things she was saying and feeling. The things she was honestly, truly feeling about this.Hestia nodded along to the rant.And eventually spoke.“I think…we need to bring him here as a second ear. I wouldn't call it couples therapy. There is a way to categorize individual therapy with a family member or partner present. It's that he needs to hear something. You need to tell him things that are going unsaid. It's weighing on you and causing a lot of stress for you and your babies. It's making eating harder. I have an 8 o'clock session open next Tuesday. Does that work? That's BB’s bedtime right?”She nodded.On Tuesday, she had a little list.Jason was a little late, but the second he got there he curled up with her on the couch, the laptop open. Piper's eyes closed while she talked.And Hestia looked at him for a response when she was done. Piper didn't look at him.Jason was silent for a few seconds. Then he spoke.“I'm not going to say I was expecting all of that. Especially considering your hopes going in. But, changes because of mental health and the struggles involving it are natural. Can I talk a bit about me and parenting before and after pregnancy as an example?”She nodded.“My family, as in my siblings, my dad was dead when I got Drew pregnant. They all had this resounding opinion that stuck in my brain as we went through the pregnancy. The second I decided to keep her. And, later, in the months that Drew was deciding she was going to leave. People in my family were giving me a lot of advice. And I was listening. About discipline. About corporal punishment for toddlers and older kids. About…not what I do. About things that I never could fathom now. And I genuinely thought, as a single dad. As a single parent. I was never going to be able to make it through her life without those strategies…”Piper blinked. Genuinely startled by the confession.Jason took a deep breath and looked like the things he was about to say really fucking hurt. She held his hand.“But…about a month before her birth, one of those videos from that creator that you like so much scrolled across my feed. A makeup tutorial, I initially thought. I almost scrolled past. Then I realized it was talking about her helping a kid through a temper tantrum by talking to her and using parenting strategies that I had never fucking heard of. And I watched it…for about fifteen minutes. Just staring at it. Honestly close to tears, later I realized wishing I had been treated that way and realizing-I could not process that I had been about to treat a kid the way I was raised. Wondering why no one had told me that you could do anything like this. And I clicked on her page on Tik Tok. And then I got to her on YouTube. Then I got to a few other parents like her. And…in a month. I had said no to what they were telling me. I had an almost visceral reaction to hearing that you could, actually, treat a child with kindness, listen to and promote their understanding of their own feelings and…they can turn out to be a good kid. Because I had been openly told if I did anything like that they'd come out a whiny little brat who got walked all over in life. I was told that as a kid and I was told that when I became a parent. And…that wasn't true anymore. So, what I'm saying is, no. I'm not mad. I'm surprised. I was not expecting you to say that. But I have a feeling you weren't expecting me to say what I just said, were you?”She shook her head.He kissed her cheek.“So, how do you want to go about helping get through these thoughts and feelings? Because I got through mine all alone and, gotta admit, it fucking sucked. So I want to help you.”She swallowed hard and she saw a little smile on Hestia's face.She sniffled a little and Hestia helped them with a game plan. They came up with more positive things to do around food. More gentle and reassuring things to try. Piper didn't like most of them at first but agreed they were better than right now. And…she knew she honestly wasn't going to truly like anything. But it was an attempt and they were working on it.And when they tried allowing her more freedom.Allowing her to poke and prod at meals.Giving her more time.Letting her sit in Jason's lap.Giving her gentle back rubs and kisses for finishing parts that were hard.It was different.It didn't feel like she was…sitting across the table struggling.She was sitting right there being supported.And yes, it still fucking sucked.And yes, she saw her stomach grow exponentially.But she came up with a little thing to say as she gently touched it.A little hello to the two of them.It sometimes brought a couple tears to her eyes.Because it didn't feel like a real thing she was saying and it certainly wasn't a happy one.And she had wanted so badly for her to have a happy pregnancy. She'd wanted kids so badly.She loved them. She loved BB.Why was this so hard?She eventually got the question.From Cal.No one had dared ask it.But Cal slid up to her after a Sunday shift and quietly looked down.“Girl…I haven't wanted to ask…but am I gonna be pulling maternity coverage in a little while?”She bit her lip.She invited them and their little baby over.They looked at the second ultrasound pictures from 13 weeks that showed the fraternal twins.There were silent stares.Then Leo looked right at Jason.“Good aim, you little shit. How are you two feeling?”Piper chuckled.“Fuck off…you know I've got older brothers who are twins. You know Phobos and Deimos.” she mumbled.“Well, yeah. They're also complete jerks as I recall.”“They were raised rich as fuck in France…”“Omg that's racist.” Leo said scandalously. Clearly as a wildly weird joke.She coughed and laughed out loud as Cal smacked Leo's arm and Jason held in a good laugh too.Jason got a call from a tenant and headed out. Mentioned BB was in the backyard still.Piper said she'd keep an eye and ear out. Mostly on the garden.Leo looked at her.“Girl…how is your body and mind doing? We know your…proclivity to not eating is probably hitting hard.”She cuddled into him, putting Cal a little on edge but she saw the way she just collapsed and seemed to see something was dreadfully wrong.“Oh…ya know. A dietician, a lot of therapy, some supplements, and an intense diet change later the babies are okay.”Cal's eyes softened and Leo gently pet her hair.“I'm really sorry, Piper. Jason helping?”“A lot. I haven't made food in a month and it doesn't look like I'm going to have to for the foreseeable future.”He nodded.“I'm happy for you. He's a good egg.”She chuckled at the sentence.Jason came back texting someone.“Why must people be so bitchy over leaking sinks…? Like…you could have told me three weeks ago? I'm not inspecting your bathroom.” he muttered.Leo sighed.“Ares?”“Yes.”“He's been bitching about it at the diner and waiting for Piper to tell you.”“Well, she's not my secretary. He needs to be a fucking grown up and call me. Just because I kicked his daughter out for not paying rent on time doesn't mean he can be a straight up ass.”BB walked in with flowers stealthily and Jason met eyes with her.This time it was a little one.A bunch of violets from the back of the yard.Like two fistfuls.She was shooing Tempest away with her feet to stop him from jumping at them.“Daddy. Where's the short pot?”He met eyes with her.“Did we collect weeds?”“They're purple.”“They're blue, actually.”“Purple.” She corrected like he was a fucking idiot.He chuckled.He grabbed a tiny pot like she did this a lot in the summer.They filled it a little with water after Jason dumped a little plant food in.He indulged this girl so much…She rearranged them into a pretty clump.Then she carefully carried it to Piper and handed it to her.Piper smiled and Katty looked up at the flowers above her with interest from her place on Piper's lap.“Thank you, baby.”“Love you, mama.”She ran back outside followed closely by her cat and Jason went back to furiously texting someone. Leo and Cal smiled.“You've got a pot the right size for weeds?” Cal asked as Piper gently set it on the coffee table.“Hey…when you've got a kid who picks them and the skills to make one yourself…it just is easier than her bitching about having no place to put them. That's a last summer creation.”Leo chuckled.“You should sell it to all the poor parents out there with the same problem.”“I have. It's a popular one. Went like wildfire after I posted a ton of pictures of it full of violets on the website. A ton of people also requested one the right size for fully grown, if deseeded, dandelions so I've got one for those too.”“Do you still have that YouTube channel?”“Lol. It died with the baby, but I post epic pictures to the website for old fans and plenty of people are dedicated to my ceramics.”“Can I ask how much…you actually make with that?” Leo asked quietly.“Before taxes? Um…15k?”“O-oh…”“Including deductions and taxes…take it down to 13k. Not super lucrative. But…still makes something. Plus, it's fun. And totally got Piper with it and that like at least doubles the worth of the income for the year, I'd say?”“Only doubles, you asshole.” Piper mumbled.He smirked and chuckled.“Okay, how about quadruples considering…the twins?” She threw a pillow at him and he caught it with ease, laughing his ass off. It made her poor cat run up the stairs, though.As time went on, Piper slowly acclimated to the food. Probably over the first two months.People around town started talking about how she must be pregnant.Eventually, she mentioned her due date at work. Said she was going to need to take eight weeks off then come back part time because of her twins. Silena looked at the due date and chuckled.“Piper, that's literally right after the holidays…”“Oh. Yeah?”“We close from Christmas Eve to New Year's day…”“Oh?”She chuckled.“Well…let's fill out that FMLA paperwork for like…the second of January to the second of March? That sounds good for now?”She nodded.They got it set up. Six months out.She sent a congratulations and a smirk.“You know…twins? Fuck do those run in your family?”She nodded.“Girl, you excited or…worried?”“Bit of both?”She chuckled.“I’d be too. Afternoon shift only when you get back? No Sunday mornings?”She nodded.“Cal is gonna love the pay raise, just saying…”Piper cackled.“I mean…I sort of want to go down a little ahead of time. I'm fucking exhausted and we've got a good amount of money…”“Oh, okay? Want to start on the new schedule once I've got her confirmation? If she's got an appointment in the morning she might need it covered. Can I check with you via text for scheduling?”“Yes.”“Okay. Got it.”She got all of her days except for like two for the rest of her pregnancy changed to the shorter afternoon shift.She would still work the Sunday rush for a while but the small set of tables. Until they hired a part time high school kid.Cal smiled at her the next time they were closing and gave her a little hug at the end.“Girl, I feel like you are exhausted…”“I've been told twins can do that…” she deadpanned.She coughed.“Yeah…”“Well…I am proud of you for all you're doing with your health. Your babies are too. And, if you have any more after this, then the climb is going to be a lot less severe. You'll have done the rewrite. This is the hardest pregnancy on your mind that you're probably ever going to have, honey.”Something about the way she said that hit Piper.She talked about it in therapy.And Hestia nodded along while she talked.Then said a little bit herself.“You wanted more children and I feel like, stop me if I'm wrong, the beginning of this scared you stiff. You were terrified to continue. And hearing that…you might not be as scared as that initial shock to what the true reality is. So many women dislike, even feel trapped by pregnancy. Their body isn't theirs anymore. And so many women feel that their bodies specifically aren't treated like theirs anymore. Doctors, friends, families, strangers even. The response and respect is gone…or diminished. They are less than the fetus. They're less than the baby or babies. And when the babies are born, they're still…less than them. It is always and feels like it will always now be about the babies, not you as an individual and worthy being. And I feel like you were hit hard by that treatment. And it hurts. And it's allowed to hurt. Do you want to process that?”She nodded.Jason looked at her after the session and said a quiet statement.“Honey, you look like you've watched a trainwreck…”She blinked.“Sorta feel like it.”He nodded.“Want to cuddle?”She nodded.She mentioned…quietly…what they'd talked about.He kissed her gently.They talked about how much Drew hated pregnancy and ensured him that, due that that, he was about to hate being a parent in the first year of life.It got them talking about how he'd lost himself in parenting the first year of BB’s life.Come out on the other side needing to…find a person again. An unhealthy level of enveloping himself in an infant.Because he had wanted to feel, for once, like someone in the world loved and needed and cherished him.And he did. And it felt special. And he wanted to feel it always. He was very very attached to his daughter. But about the one year appointment, when he mentioned that he couldn't fathom giving her her own room and was considering just cosleeping when she was old enough, the pediatrician had looked at him and spoken bluntly, telling him that the perspective he was having was not healthy.Some people wouldn't have said that to him.Some people would have just said he was being really doting and loving and all in on being a dad.Some people would have even liked that a dad was that caring and wanted to actually be so involved in his child's life.But that doctor had seen right through it to the fucking place it came from.Sent him to his family medicine doctor.He'd gone to therapy.He had done a lot of appointments during naps that second year…So that she could sleep in a separate room and be so independent from him now. So that he could stay up and do art after she went to bed, because his first time walking back into that studio had not been successful. He'd gone back and slept outside her bedroom door. Genuinely. Just on the floor. Just in case she needed something.Because there was a point when the whole point of his life had been his child. Because of what he now understood as a visceral and poignant reaction to his childhood and a reality where he was the priority for no one.He wanted her to be his priority, to the detriment of himself.And upon hearing that. Piper sort of looked at him and spoke calmly, a few kisses on his cheek later.“You know…I never quite understood…the getting lost bit. I wanted kids. I wanted to be a mom. I love kids and want to care for them, but I knew that…wouldn't be me. Because I very much focus on…me.”“No offense…you have a relationship with yourself that comes from a place where you were looked at as worth something…” Jason said in an almost too blunt of tone to hear and not cry.She blinked.She kissed him right on the lips.And she cuddled him for the rest of the night.No arguing over shit she couldn't fix for him.Because…she couldn't fix that for him.And she never would.But she could make sure he didn't deal with it alone anymore.
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The months continued and they learned the twins were, in fact, fraternal. But, they were both girls.Jason prepared to be a guy in a house controlled by a bunch of wild and crazy daughters…He was excited about it. He loved having a daughter.Though…the thought of having three was slightly more scary.He made the announcement on his website that he was doing two more shop drops then signing off for a minimum of six months but probably more like a year.Just put the word ‘twins…’ as a single line in the post.Put up a call for any final orders before the paternity leave started.Got an influx.He and Piper hung out in the studio while he made things for a while. It was fun.Talked about names.Talked about BB her place in it all.They were wondering about her being there…But they were genuinely.Genuinely.Hesitant to leave her with anyone in town.Jason hadn't left her with anyone as a babysitter ever.Yes, partially because of his anxiety regarding the subject of leaving her.But also because no one respected his parenting style.And he would try asking Leo and Cal. They were open to it and very respectful of his choices. Had made that clear despite their different approach, but they had a 9 month old and no extra space.So…they did a little digging on child friendly birthing strategies.She was already very involved in the process of being there.They asked at the next prenatal appointment, the 28 week, if it was appropriate for a 4 ish year old to be there and BB blinked and spoke candidly.Clearly shocked.“I'm going to be there. I'm always with Daddy.”Everyone managed not to laugh at the sentence. Jason felt a sense of true guilt at the way she just…genuinely assumed that's what life was like.That shouldn't be what a kid's life was like. People didn't think that was a good thing.But Will spoke with a smile.“Well, I think she's on board with it. That's always the first question. Now…let's do a little age appropriate education and talk about the process while I'm here.” He talked about how Piper would be uncomfortable during delivery and labor. What that looked like. How she might yell out of pain or frustration. It might be startling because it's not how mama normally acted. How there were places she could go in the hospital with her dad to lay down if she was tired or if she needed a break from noise and people coming in and out of the room. There would be a lot of people. She thought about it once she was done.“And when the babies come…do they make noise…?”“Many do. They like to make their entrance known. They cry.”“And what do they look like?”“If you want to see your baby pictures later we can look…”“Me?” she asked stunned.“Yes, BB. I took pictures…” Jason deadpanned.Will coughed to cover a laugh.Jason and Piper officially got married. A courthouse wedding…but they didn't tell BB that's what they all aren't like because she was super super excited.They decided on a French name that Piper had been thinking about for a long time. One she liked for a girl.She liked Fawn, technically.But Thalia was the name Jason really wanted for one of the twins.And they talked for a while and she thought about other versions of Fawn and decided on Faunia. Because it just fit better for them to match in her eyes.Jason didn't much care as long as the names mattered, but Piper liked the symmetry of it.He checked with her.“If one of them turns out to be a boy…”“But they're girls?”“But, sometimes they mess up and whatnot. What's another name?”“Oh…um…one that fits with the theme?”“Or maybe starts with an F or starts with a T?”She thought and said unenthusiastically.“Tom. I always thought about naming a son after my grandfather…”He kissed her head.“I know you're very hopeful for it being two girls and I am too. I just don't want to be absolutely unprepared…”She nodded.They picked middle names too. They got everything ready.People in town called them helicopter parents for having BB there too…They didn't care. BB was very very excited.She wanted to hold the babies and shush them and be a very good big sister.She was very involved.It was sweet.She cooked things with Jason and Piper once Piper was doing well enough to cook too. She prepped for the baby room which was the old playroom.The playroom turned into the entire upstairs…They made a baby and a big girl playroom.She had a ton of fun. She got to pick her playroom and her paint color for it. Even got to pick the designs and stencils they got to paint on the walls. She asked for little clouds and stars that she wanted in yellow and light orange on the ceiling and around the freaking trim along it…He loved this girl so much that he obliged while she happily helped Piper roll out baby blue paint under the chair railing with a tarp down to catch all her drips and one of his high school boxing shirts on to cover down to literally her ankles. Once they had the shelves up and her small comfy chair. They put her sensory den up in the walk in closet. Then, she individually carried each of her small toys and boxes up the stairs and decided which spot it would go on the shelves. Jason helped her with the floor crates and big bins.Once it was done, she ran all around in her open floor and proceeded to dump it out and play for like a day and a half.He didn't make her do her clean up routine that day. Her ‘put away as you walk away’ routine. She was too enthralled…She loved it and he was fucking happy because they were taking her old playroom and changing it around in massive and epic fashion.It was no longer a playroom, it was about to be a nursery.
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It was going well, planning and working on the nursery. They'd, so far, only taken down the curtain for BB's alcove that had been her cozy sensory corner. Jason had filled the holes in the wall and they had repainted that one accent alcove lavender to hide the spackle holes in the off white paint. The rest of it was in the works because they had the cribs shipping here and they had the other furniture on the way. They'd taken a while to pick out a theme and decorations, but had them now.On a morning that Piper was sleeping in, one of many she loved to do that since her bump had gotten big enough to make it so that sleeping on the couch was a no go and Jason was rather frequently working late on his last few rounds of ‘freedom and art’ before he was a full time stay at home dad and landlord for the foreseeable future…Piper found her phone ringing.It rang with the normal ringtone and she saw an LA area code. Newest type. They type they handed new numbers.She picked up immediately.“Piper speaking.”“Hey, Pipes.” her dad said.Yep. She was right. New phone.“How are you doing? I was wondering if I'd get a call sometime with you having gotten out the other month.”“Yeah. I was waiting until I got settled and could invite you to move back in. I know you lost the condo in NYC. I'm really sorry about that, but I've got a new apartment in LA with enough room for at least two.”She startled.Almost recoiled.He clearly expected a ‘omg sounds great!’She calmly said.“Um…dad. I'm actually gonna be staying where I am.”He coughed.He spoke for a couple seconds. Clearly a: I've turned it around. Rehabilitated. No more drugs. No partying. And the fines are all good. Plus, just got cast in a big budget movie. He casually said a friend owed him one and was glad to help him out.Piper took a deep breath.She knew her dad. This could get ugly and she might cry after this phone call. He was one to be pissy when she switched how she lived her life. He'd done that with the stripping…he might do that with the country living now too.“Dad…you know I came with Leo to his dad's family's hometown when it all went down-”“Yes. I looked up New Rome. Don't tell me you're still somewhere with less than a thousand people? And with a guy you met at that shit school of yours for delinquents no less?”“Y-yeah, well, no. He's married. He has a kid-”“Who do you live with? A young woman?”She sighed.“Dad…I started living with a single dad named Jason and his three year old. One of Leo's relatives who lives and works in town-”“He doesn't make you take care of the kid does he?”“Dad, can I please talk for more than a sentence?”He sighed.He was silent.She closed her eyes and spoke.“He's a few years older than me. We could have been in high school together if we'd even been anywhere near each other and he's a really sweet guy and a really great dad. We hit it off after a little while of me being in town. And…about three months in, we found out I'd fucked up on my long-term birth control and-”“Piper McLean!”She sighed.That was his big dad voice. Not angry just…you fucked up big.“Yes. It was a big fuck up. But…I'm happy. I've got twins on the way and a pretty wedding band on my finger now.”He took a deep breath.There was silence for a little bit.Then he spoke.“Do you have pictures…of the ultrasounds and stuff? And maybe time to call or do a zoom or whatever you call those things?”She smiled a little.“Yeah, dad. I'll talk to Jason and text you. This number?”“Yeah.”“I'm starving…”“You haven't gotten up yet? It's like nearly noon there?”“Yes…”“Get up and go eat!”She chuckled and said a quick ‘I love you’ that he huffed out a reply to before the line clicked.She stepped out of the room and bumped straight into BB.“Hey, sweetie.”“Who were you calling…?”“My dad.”“You have a dad!?!”She smiled.“Yeah. Want to go talk about it with Daddy?”She nodded and they walked around the corner, past her cat perched in the linen closet, and into the kitchen where Piper met eyes with a very pissy Jason.“You've got two meals that are waiting. One is very cold.” he said sassily.“You've got a zoom date with your father in law.” she deadpanned.His eyes went wide and he looked about ready to drop a plate.“What's a father in law?” BB asked sitting down at the table on her chair.“My dad is called his father in law. Just a weird extra phrase that families use.” Piper said.BB nodded.She looked at them.“Why isn't he here? Where is he?”“California. Do you know…Los Angeles? Hollywood?”She nodded.“Where movies are!”“Yep. Where movies are.” Piper said far less excited.“Like Singing in the Rain!?!”She chuckled. Wondering why the fuck they'd watched that…“Yes…like Singing in the Rain.”“Cool! Why are you here and he's there?”“Because of a lot of reasons, but he had to go somewhere called prison a while ago and that is when I came to live with you. Because I didn't have a place to live and your dad offered me a place to stay.”Jason smirked like there was something else to it.She still did not know what the fucking piece that he ‘owed’ Leo was.Leo had said she wasn't finding out.She wanted to know now. She didn't like that smirk. It was his smug, arrogant, asshole smirk.They had lunch and talked about her dad. How she'd been raised by just a dad. How she'd been in really big cities until she'd come here.She did not explain that her dad was a movie star because all her dad's movies were adult movies. All wayyy too inappropriate.A ton of them had sex scenes for God's sake.Her dad had been voted sexiest man alive in her fucking lifetime.Now he was into action movies as a villian and whatnot but like…whatever.It was a beef of hers.She came from sexy people on both sides and it fucking sucked!About middle of the afternoon, she met eyes with Jason and spoke candidly as they (or more appropriately he) was building a pack n play.“Why am I here?”“Because I love you to the moon and back.” He said in an obfuscating fashion.“Why was I allowed in this house?”Jason sighed.“I may…or may not…have…”Jason coughed a little.“Turned Leo in.”She blinked.For a long time.“You turned him in. For…arson?”“Yes.”“For theft?”“Yes.”“For vandalism?”“Yes.”“And for…what reason?”“Other than it being on my fucking property?”She chuckled.“If it was just about it being on your fucking property, I wouldn't be here…”He rolled his eyes.“He flirted with my girlfriend.”She raised her eyebrows.“You ruined his life because he sweet talked a girl you were fucking?”“Hey…we were dating,” he said in a whiny voice.“You really used to be a petty asshole.”He made a sad sort of groan.“Yeah…”She chuckled.“I'm very glad the single dad life put you on the straight and narrow. I think my dad would be convincing me to walk away from you otherwise.” He dropped the screwdriver out of complete surprise and she cackled at the look on his face.
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It took them a little while to set up with Tristan, as he said Jason could call him.Jason still said sir when he picked up on zoom.That got a good long fucking laugh at his expense.BB joined in because she always laughed when Piper laughed.Jason kissed her hair and adjusted where she was sitting on his lap. Sighed a little.He hated dads but this one was hopefully going to be better than his…They walked around the house. BB showed off her playroom, then was distracted by it and Tristan chuckled.“You were like that.”“I was not.”“Yeah you were. You just don't remember those years.”She grumbled and Jason sighed.“I've been told they don't and it really makes me sad.“There are better, and worse, ones to come. Don't worry. You will remember them. And in the end. One of you hanging onto it is what matters.”He blinked.Why did that still fucking hurt?He wanted these memories of her bouncing around in the backyard teasing Tempest with flowers to be more than videos he pulled out on his phone for her to say at 30 years old in some exasperated tone ‘yeah dad, you always say I did that…’It almost made him want to cry…They got about half an hour with Tristan before he had to go. He said he'd call again soon.Piper looked at Jason when he was gone and spoke.“I saw how hard that hit was, even when he was trying to dull it. I'm sorry.”He nodded.That hit came right in time for them to plan BB's four year old birthday party.She asked for something that Jason…he didn't want to hate.It was what she wanted.She asked to give Daddy a morning off for her birthday. Something that he didn't know.Something he didn't love.He genuinely didn't like mornings off from his daughter.They made him uncomfortable to this day…He tried to power through it.He looked through some baby pictures when he started getting upset he wasn't seeing her.What was he going to do when she went to school?Yeah…it wasn't for like…a year and a half. She was the wrong age for the whole five year old at the beginning of kindergarten shit. She had an October birthday. She just barely missed the cut off and he wanted to keep her home so he wasn't going to fight it…But…he still just didn't want her to go at all.And that felt absolutely awful.About the time he smelled the cake coming out of the oven he snuck out of the bedroom and into the nursery to do some work.He had been barred from doing work. He was supposed to rest and relax. Like Piper did on her mornings off.Nope. He couldn't.He was going to piss her off so much.She found him easily. He left the door partially open. He was just taking tape off the baseboards and the chair rail.But Piper saw he was not doing well so she stopped the outburst and asked if he wanted a hug.He nodded.BB watched.She noted there were tear tracks on his face and asked about them. She asked why he was sad.He said he'd missed seeing them.She dragged him to the living room and cuddled him on the couch there while the cake cooled.Something about her being cuddled on his chest was the most calming thing in the world to him.He quietly sent a message to his family medicine doctor asking for a therapy referral to discuss his parenting issues again and received an a phone call a few days later setting up with his old therapist.Lots to catch up about.He'd thought this was…better than it was.He could do things again.He could actually do his art again.But when he thought about it…The thought of her wanting him to leave.The thought of her wanting him to not be there…Was the single scariest thing he had probably ever experienced in his adult life. If he didn't get this figured out now it would kill him as he was taking care of the twins while she went to elementary school.
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Piper watched as Jason started with his old therapist. It was an activity that required him to be away from BB and seemed to cause him an almost physical amount of pain. As a distraction they got plenty of onesies.They had a lot of neutral tones. They didn't need pink everything. Not necessary at all. But it was all still cute…There was this juxtaposition in their life.They were preparing for the twins. They were setting up the nursery happily.They were making sweet breakfasts.They were playing and planning and having lovely, sweet family time.He was taking care of BB with the same ease he always did.But his therapist had fit him in twice a week after the initial appointment.Like this was…emergent?And he had yet to explain why.Eventually…she asked and he had a little note he'd written a few sessions in.It wasn't long.But it was a note on the subject. He was not comfortable talking about it yet.As she read it, the picture became more clear.He genuinely was not comfortable be apart from BB. Frequently was balling his eyes out in therapy. Could not sit on the idea of going into another birth, let alone the birth of twins, without dealing with…the fact that his kids got to be away from him.He needed them to be independent.And while she was growing up perfectly independent.He…was not independent.He was too attached.And he was pretty sure it was the pandemic and the shit that had gone on in his childhood.And that he'd stopped therapy too early when her naps had stopped.But…there was someone here who could watch her now.He needed to work on this now.Or he was going to go through literal agony when she went to elementary school in just under two years.And that was so terrifying that he was doing it.She cuddled him a lot after reading that. She told him she was there if he wanted to talk to her.He didn't.He wanted to know BB was safe while he dealt with this bullshit.And he did. For over a month he had weeks and weeks of therapy at times Piper was home.Piper was thankful, with everything going on that no one in his family expected them anywhere for Thanksgiving. They made a meal themselves and had a fun time playing as a family. It was Piper's least favorite holiday for a myriad of reasons as a Cherokee woman and a former model…But…they had a fun and special family day detached from the history of it and focusing on the concept of gratitude and thankfulness for the little ears in the room. Then, they moved on to how they normally talked about those things because Jason really did focus on that always. He hated the idea that they were a single time of the year thing…Just as mid December rolled around they were at the final ultrasound. The one that showed if the head of each baby was in the right position for a vaginal birth…And…they were suddenly very fucking happy they'd talked about that second name.Because baby number two was suddenly and unexpectedly in the position to show off…being a boy.Tom and Thalia. Names newly re-decided.They were, sort of miraculously, good for a vaginal birth though…So it was a rush to buy and return and readjust and…fuck the lavender would do with a boy too?With like three weeks left until she was now scheduled to be induced and a week until Christmas. It was a lot. They had a lot of work to make things right in the clothing and decorations department.Because they didn't want to wrap a baby boy in frills on his way home…that was a little odd. Like…even in a modern house where BB genuinely was allowed to play with Jason's BB guns from the early 00s as a preschooler.They got about half the girl stuff, the stuff they didn't like as much, returned. They got a couple boy things ordered. They even got presents wrapped for the holidays in all this mess (though they mostly threw shit in bags and called it a day…).And as time ticked down and Jason went down to one therapy session a week. They settled in for Christmas together and Piper was literally…absolutely and completely content.—As Christmas Eve rolled around and BB was in bed…she slid into the nursery and quietly looked around.They wouldn't be in there for a bit.They had a double bassinet in the bedroom for them for the first while…But…still.It was…it was so pretty.And she wanted to just sit in there and rock on the antique rocker. The one that had been in this house since Jason's dad was a baby.Despite the history of it, Jason did love it.His mom had rocked him in it as a little kid. It was literally his only memories of her he had and, he had admitted, part of what got him through the early days with BB was rocking her in that chair and thinking about how he would never, ever, leave her like his mom chose to leave him.Deep dark shit her husband had been through as a child.He had insisted that they keep it despite the age of it. They'd asked Leo to fix up the seat a little over the past few months. Piper would never say no to a request like that.She was almost asleep, the dimmable lamp on the other side of the room only on its lowest setting, when Jason walked in from setting up Christmas.He chuckled and helped her up.“To bed with you. Santa has already been by and even the cats are napping. Pregnant women should most certainly be in bed.”“The cats are always napping. They're lazy as fuck.”He chuckled.They woke up the next morning to BB rushing in before the sun.5:04Fucking shit.“Santa came! Santa came!”“I'm so surprised…” Jason muttered sarcastically.They didn't do Santa for real…“No you're not. I know it was you. I just said that to trick you.” She said hopping onto his back and making him grunt.Piper watched him do a couple push ups with her on his back.On a bed.Just normal 5 am behavior of a formerly single dad with an energetic little girl…She agreed to get off of him if (and only if) he agreed to come make the egg nog French toast and they let mama sleep another half hour.She couldn't. Their laughter was too intoxicating…She got up after ten maybe fifteen minutes?She got out and BB ran over and put an ear on her tummy. A new favorite activity.“I think she's blowing bubbles.” she said.“I think they're kicking. Constantly.” Piper said bluntly.“Highly energetic babies…I make them.” Jason said.Piper smacked his back and he laughed out loud.“Yeah, you jerk.”“Hey. I got jumped on right there this morning!”“And proceeded to show off and laugh. Stop whining.”He kissed her cheek.They made French toast. The fancy kind. While BB played with her presents from ‘Santa’ which came unwrapped.They were these already opened puzzles this year that she had to attempt to complete before Jason finished breakfast.He purposely took extra long prepping the plates and she ran over right as he was placing the berries on them and screamed.“Beat you!” In the most obnoxious voice…He feigned offense and humility.Made her prove it while eating some fruit.She showed off her amazing puzzle skills.Then they ate.Ah…being a single parent. The parenting skills he had that no one would ever, ever be able to teach Piper…BB happily sat on her chair and looked at the high chairs in their boxes that had been shoved under the side of the table shoved up against the wall.“When do we put them together!?!”“A little while from now, baby. They're reclining, but we'll feed them in our arms for a bit.” Piper said.“They'll eat French toast in your arms…?”Jason smiled and did a quick explanation of how babies go through eating. Even pulled out his pictures of her eating solids for the first time.She looked up at him and blinked.“Why am I spitting it all over you?”“Because you didn't like it? I don't know…you couldn't tell me. Remember babies can't talk well until they're like two, but start saying things at about one. The second time I fed you that you didn't do it, so it was probably just that I fed it to you wrong.”She nodded.“When can I play with them?”“They'll start doing tummy time on mama and I pretty early. You can sing and play with rattles or other baby toys to entertain them when they're doing that. You can also play with me and mama with them while they're awake. You can't do physical play with them for a while. They won't be able to hold their heads up or sit up until it stops snowing outside. It won't be until next Christmas before they start walking and stuff, but they'll be playing in different ways before then. We can talk more about that. Remember, we saved some of their toys to open today and set out.”She nodded thoughtfully.They ate and put the plates in the kitchen sink.Then they went to the tree. Piper happily opened a few gifts from Jason that were really sweet.A couple bath bombs and a couple chocolates in her stocking.A movie they could watch together before the babies were born.A small set of slippers because she kept bitching about the cold stone floor in his studio.Jason got a cheesy t-shirt from Piper and BB that they'd found at Walmart. It had pots on it. The same color as the ones he made. That's all she knew about it. Didn't matter a lick that he didn't actually grow plants other than the solitary attempt at flowers he'd tried (that seemed to be returning with might every year…).Jason had also gotten an inappropriate gift from Piper. It was a funny sex toy…They may or may not have used it a couple times.They couldn't have much fun for a while, why not enjoy Christmas?BB happily opened her two main presents. They had one set of gift rules in this house.A gift for you and a gift to share.So her gift for her was massive…a set of foam blocks that expanded from the box.It would go right where this tree was when they took it down later.She yelped when the paper came off and screeched and said thank you.Jason smiled.Then she looked at the other ones.“What's to share?”“Open.”She opened it.Fake fucking flowers.She glared at her dad and said a sassy thank you to Jason. While he cackled.They opened the twins' presents. They got some play mats. One each. Which they explained to her were little areas for them to lay and play. They would be areas where BB would be able to reach her hand in to tickle or play with toys with them, but she could not go in herself.They also got a swing for the living room for both of them to share. And they got a pack n play for the living room that had a changing table top.Jason knew what he fucking needed.They, genuinely, took down the Christmas tree…This was BB and Jason's tradition.What the fuck? Literally right away? This confused the fuck out of her, but she let them. Even helped. It seemed to make BB so excited to take every last ornament down and, as Jason said at the end.“Okay, now that we cleaned that shit up. Time to play.”Okay…that explained their tiny ass tree that was shorter than Piper and the measly amount of ornaments.They weren't actually super huge on this holiday.She chuckled a bit as Jason slid the tree into the original box after undoing the tape on the big box to the cushions and letting BB go at it for a bit like it was personal entertainment. Once the tree and ornaments were set to be put up in the garage…Jason walked over and actually helped her. Pulling it the rest of the way out from where she had it about a quarter of the way and was just going at it.She was used to doing shit herself and nothing would stop her.She watched it expand with mounting anticipation as he held her. Then, he kicked it with his foot to make sure it was solid.And he literally dropped her onto the cushions.“What did you call those?” Piper asked, as she went ham on the things.He chuckled.“They're off brand versions of the nuggets. They have slightly different sized cushions and are cheaper. But they're basically just these washable play cushions you can make into fun forts and different shapes.”She nodded.“Daddy these are so cool!” She said as she made a tunnel to army crawl through and punched down a block on the other side.He chuckled.“I'm glad you like them BB.”Tempest walked over and crawled through the tunnel too and she laughed and slid up next to him to pet him. They laid down in the mini tunnel happily.Jason started chucking out wrapping paper that wasn't salvageable and preparing all the gifts for Beck and Silena's Christmas this afternoon.Piper took a couple videos of the chaos going on with BB and the cat behind her.She was taking the flowers and using them to try to train Tempest to go through an obstacle course?The cat was not pleased but playing along.It was fucking hilarious.Katty was watching from the newly unearthed couch that had been shoved in the corner to account for the three massive wrapped presents and loving the show as she lounged and napped.It was just…a scene. A sight to behold.Jason got in from taking the Christmas tree out to the back, unattached garage and asked what she was doing. Then looked. And chuckled.“Wow…cat obedience training.” He said sarcastically.“I don't think it's gonna work.” Piper said.“I think she's gonna get swatted.”“Yeah…”“Well…we'll laugh and she'll learn.”A frequent phrase of his.One she never would have expected.But it was so true…They put together the pack n play.They put to get her the swing.They got dressed and ready to go.They got to Silena and Beck's and Piper saw, with mounting pain…just how many fucking people were there…It's like they hosted half the fucking town.They owned this big house outside of town with a big front room and side room connected.It was mostly adults, a couple kids.BB happily carried in two presents and Jason carried in the third.Piper sat down next to Leo and he smirked.“Child labor?”“The best kind. She was very eager to bring in the present I was supposed to carry…”“Who did you get?”“Not saying.”“Come on, everyone says. I got BB. Even put the right name on it.”She chuckled.“Oh, this'll be good. So she'll actually respond this year.”“Yeah…you heard she didn't go up and Jason had to whisper her name to her last time?”“Yup. We've practiced.”“Damn.”They went around and passed out the presents to the kids first. As they reached the end of them, they got to a little one that they'd picked up and set down before, but Silena picked it up and looked it over, then looked at it again and said:“B…B…?”BB immediately ran up and happily thanked her with outstretched arms.And Piper realized…she didn't know her preferred name.For being her freaking aunt.She didn't actually know what she liked to be called. So it had thrown her for a loop.Her head fell a little as BB got back and she hopped right in Jason's lap happily squealing.“Daddy! Daddy! They said my name right!” He kissed her cheek and she waited patiently, unlike some of her older children in the family who had been scolded already for opening them.One of them literally had been smacked on the back of the head. What the hell…?She looked at it longingly and handed it to Piper to hold for her so she didn't peek.She kissed her cheek and said she'd keep it very safe until she got to hope it. Piper picked up hers. Then Jason got his. Leaving BB clinging to Piper’s leg waiting for his return.Then they opened them.They got little, impersonal things.Except BB.BB got a little T-shirt that said ‘best big sister ever’ with an image of a kid who looked remarkably like BB being chased by two little siblings.She hopped up and down and looked around.“W-who do I say thank you to?” She asked quietly.Jason quietly responded with an explanation of the event again. Reminding her that she didn't know who gave her it.“But…I really want to thank them. I really like it.”“We've been talking a lot about giving, baby. Let's talk about it some more when we go home and are getting dinner ready.”She nodded.She tried to play a little with her family members, but didn't like it. They didn't make her feel welcome.They apparently never did. She was the baby of the family and raised differently. She'd even been made fun of for the single dad part. They treated her very differently than most family would.Eventually, she walked over and asked to play with baby Zaza, who was sitting on Leo's lap clapping.He smiled.“Have you been learning how to play with babies?”She nodded.He pulled out a baby toy and they played together. She did excellently. Zaza loved it.When the cookies came out, Jason grabbed them a plate to share as a family and BB split one in half with Piper.She had picked up so quickly that Piper didn't like her brain food, but the sight of BB willingly splitting her own cookie in half gave off a different vibe in public. Got a few weird looks.She asked what sounded like a silly question to other people too.“Do the babies' brains need cookies too?”Jason chuckled.“Everyone needs a little sweet stuff sometimes. Babies included. But people are born with a preference for sweet things, so they want to eat that over other things when you give them it to begin with, so you have to start giving babies sweet stuff carefully. We talked about all that stuff with spoon feeding, right?”She nodded.“And me spitting all over your shirt.”He chuckled.“And you spitting all over my shirt. Yes. That's before babies start eating things like cookies. It's a long process growing up.”She nodded and looked at Zaza's wide eyes staring at the cookie in her hand. Probably liking the bright colors.She smiled but ate it silently as they made intense eye contact.Piper got a surprising text from Leo that afternoon.‘cal wants a book recommendation.’She stared at it for a little bit.‘on?’‘that parenting you two do.’She sent him links to all the shit that she had accessible easily and he sent back an emoji akin to a facepalm.‘i asked for a book’‘more can be learned from listening to stories and watching tik toks too…’A few hours later he sent her a thank you and said Cal was already hooked on the podcast.Piper chuckled.‘happened to me too…’ she sent back.