"Puppy!" The two toddlers exclaimed excitedly toddling their way over to Peaches once Cassie had let them all inside. Cassie smiled a little, her eyes following them. Their innocent little faces lit up with joy oblivious to the harsh world around them. Cassie almost felt jealous.

Oh she would give anything to live in that oblivious little bubble again. The two small children with their tiny hands rubbing up against Peaches' soft fur had no clue what life was really like yet. They lived in their own little world right now carefree and happy. Cassie had to admit though that the young twins were quite adorable.

Cassie's smile didn't last long though when her eyes caught a glance to the side of her and she suddenly remembered who else was still there. "They're adorable aren't they?" Cassie heard, making her roll her eyes. She still couldn't stand the fact that he was here. He shouldn't be here right now.

"Yeah they look like I did when I was younger. You would know that if you had actually stayed." She refused to let down her guard around him. She wasn't a naive little girl anymore. The days of longing for her father to come back were long gone. Cassie was a grown adult now she knew better. "You're still on that?" Cassie heard again, causing her anger to rise as she could feel her body start to heat up.

"Yes I'm still on that! You left me before I was even born! Of course I'm not just going to get over that!" Cassie cried out. She couldn't believe he would try and act as though she was being ridiculous for her feelings. Cassie had spent so long working through her past issues and this situation was completely destroying all of that. The countless sleepless nights she would have dreaming of her father to come back for her.

How she would always hold out the hope that maybe he would regret his decision to leave and would come back and their family would be complete again. Every birthday she would spend waiting for a card or a message. Just anything to show that he cared. All of these things and yet none of them ever came. Over time after countless disappointments Cassie knew how ridiculous that was. He didn't care about her and he never would.

She honestly didn't know how much more she could take from this situation. "Cassie, I know that I messed up, I can't change the past. I'm here now though that has to count for something," Cassie's deadbeat father told her trying to get her to move past it all.

Cassie could feel her anger getting stronger with every word that would come out of his mouth.

How could he be saying these things to her?

It was all nonsense and meant nothing to her. She couldn't help but laugh at how he really thought he could just say these things and everything would magically be okay. Life didn't work that way.

"Yeah okay let's just forget the 23 years of abandonment. So how's life been," Cassie sarcastically told him, still not believing he was actually doing this. He acted as though he had just been gone for a few days and not 23 years. Cassie had never even met him until today.

She honestly didn't even know how he even knew where to find her. "Cassie, I've just been busy. I meant to reach out," Michael told Cassie. Looking over at him she just laughed again. "Yeah clearly so you actually stayed this time?" Cassie drily told her father. Her brown eyes made their way back over to the two little girls that were playing with Peaches.

The two of them taking turns throwing the peach squeaky toy that she had gotten for Peaches a little play on her namesake. Cassie had thought it was clever and couldn't resist buying it.

"Cassie please, I'm trying here. Can we just try to leave the past in the past," Cassie heard, bringing her attention away from the two little girls and back over to her sperm donor. Shaking her head in disbelief.

She knew she wasn't going to get anywhere with him. Clearly he didn't regret what he did and was just trying to act as though it never even happened. If Cassie wanted answers she was going to have to keep pushing.

"So what made you actually stay this time?" Cassie asked, still feeling hurt by everything. Her eyes transfixed themselves on the smaller two girls, a twinge of guilt filling her body. She knew that it was wrong to feel jealous. She was a grown woman and it wasn't their fault that the twins actually got their dad but she would be lying if she said it still didn't sting.

What had Cassie and her mom done differently to not get him to stay? Why did he stay for the twins but not them? Was she not good enough?

Cassie watched as Michael sighed looking over at the twins. The two young girls still in their own little world just playing with Peaches oblivious to everything else going on. "It's complicated," Michael replied, trying his best to change the subject.

"What's so complicated about that? You left before I was born yet you stayed for your other two. Why?" Cassie snapped back her arms crossed and her eyebrows, raising to the man who she still refused to see as her father.

"Like I said, it's complicated," Cassie heard yet again, causing her eyes to roll. She wasn't going to let him just get away with this, that easily. She wanted an explanation and she wasn't going to give up on that. She just didn't understand how it was possible for a man that left his pregnant wife 23 years ago to now be a single father of 2.

It made no sense to her. People didn't just change like that. This wasn't some fairytale movie where everyone gets a happy ending, this was real life. There had to be something else he was going for and Cassie was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"I still want to know how it's complicated," Cassie told Michael. She could see his frustration growing. His eyes closed as he let out another sigh. She knew he was getting more and more frustrated that she wasn't giving up.

"She's not in the picture. There are you happy now," Michael practically growled out at Cassie causing her to flinch back a little, falling into Luke's warm protective embrace at the tone of his voice. Cassie suddenly felt small like a terrified child again. The way his tone was harsh and cold sent her back in time to the countless revolving doors of boyfriends her mother used to have.

The way they would always find something to bark at her about. She could still remember the fear she would have in her tiny body every time she would hear that door creak open and the sounds of a man's deep rough voice followed by her mother's flirtatious giggles.

"You okay?" Luke asked in his calming yet protective voice that always seemed to fill Cassie with a sense of security. Cassie slowly nodded, coming back to reality again as she released herself from Luke's safe embrace.

"Look I don't really know who you think you are but you can't be talking to my wife like that," Luke snarled back having enough of seeing him hurting Cassie. Cassie had always been there for him when it came to his family it was his turn to return the favor.

"I just answered her question." "Well you could have done it in a better tone. You're the one in the wrong here, not her," "oh really?" "Really!"

Cassie watched the two argue out. Their voices both rising louder and louder the more they continued to speak. Cassie honestly didn't know whether to step in or just let them fight it out.

On one hand she knew that this was her battle to fight, but on the other hand she kinda liked having someone that loved her enough to fight for her like this. She knew that it sounded cheesy and she honestly couldn't believe she was thinking this way, but seeing the fire and the passion in Luke's face as he continued to protect her made her feel something she never thought she would ever feel.

"Ebie no cwy," a small squeaky voice called out, breaking Cassie from her trance. She quickly looked over to see the slightly smaller blue haired girl with tears now flowing down her cheeks. The other toddler holding her close to her the best she could with her small arms.

It was obvious that the blue haired girl wasn't the only one that was upset though. She could see the small tears starting to form in the other toddlers eyes. Cassie could feel her body tensing up the more the crying got louder.

Looking over she could see her husband and her sperm donor still very much into their fight. It was obvious neither one was paying attention to the crying toddlers nor ready to backdown. It was up to her. She didn't know how to react though.

She wasn't exactly the best with these kinds of situations. She was good with Spencer and her landlord's daughter but this was different. Spencer was a little older and so was her landlord's daughter. These were babies practically. They could barely even stand up straight right now without wobbling.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath letting the air fill her lungs Cassie slowly made her way over to the two crying girls knowing she had no choice.

"Hey it's okay. What's wrong?" Cassie whispered to the two of them in her best gentle voice. She didn't want to scare them more than they already were. "No wike the yew," the blue haired toddler cried out, clinging tighter to her twin who didn't say anything but seemed to be agreeing with her.

Of course it all made sense now. The two of them obviously wouldn't like the yelling and screaming. No small child would like that. Cassie looked over again to see that the two men were very much not backing down still. "Okay come on you wanna go for a little walk," Cassie asked the two of them, still trying her best to use a gentle calming tone.

It seemed to be working to Cassie's relief as the two of them slowly nodded and held up their small hands to her. Cassie watched them confused until it finally clicked what they wanted. Carefully Cassie took each of their small hands in her own with a smile making its way on her face before opening the door and walking out with them.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry on the long wait for this story. I've been a little busy lately with school stuff and I've kinda had a little trouble with my motivation and confidence lately, but I think I'm finally starting to get it back again. I'm hoping to have a lot more frequent updates again soon not just with this one but with all of mine as well and with my YouTube stories too for those that watch my YouTube videos. 💜💜
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Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please feel free to let me know what you thought with votes/comments as I always enjoy hearing what people think and it definitely helps to keep me motivated. And if you have any ideas or suggestions you would like to see happen in this story I would love to hear them as well. 💜💜