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((Backdating to before Thanksgiving 2022 cuz RL and brain just not playing nice))

It was before Thanksgiving but honestly that meant it would be less crowded for holiday shopping, or at least holiday browsing, which was a boon for Dessie. She disliked people in general and crowds specifically. Especially when she was several months pregnant and there were some particularly dense humans who thought it was ok to touch a baby bump without the mother’s permission. She had seen things like that on TV or mentioned on the web, but Dessie never expected it to happen to her until it did, at least the woman who decided she was allowed to touch a stranger just got away with a slapped hand and not a black eye. Either way it still soured Dessie on going out in public, but she was going stir crazy in her apartment. There were only so many times that walking in the park, or down to the local corner store, was going to cut it.

So, deciding to kill a few birds with one stone she asked her…. Stepfather? Father’s boyfriend? Father’s partner?... whatever he was called. Dessie asked Yatora out for some early holiday shopping, that way she got some shopping done, got to go out with the added benefit of having someone there who could help keep others from bothering, and become more familiar with Yatora since he was still pretty new to her all things considered. He seemed to be a good guy, he really cared for Xander and Aeisha, let alone the kids, but she never was great at trusting people. However, for Xander’s sake she was trying. Hence this shopping trip… kind of. Somewhat.

Or at least that had been the plan until she got a call from Rose. Her aunt needed her at the store, just to cover for an hour, maybe two, as a manager, because something came up that she needed to take care of. All Dessie would have to do was sit in the back room and play on her phone, if someone needed a boss, she would need to get all the relevant info and pass it on to Rose when she came back, if Dessie herself couldn’t handle it at the time. Nothing was expected, nothing should happen, so the young woman had no issues assisting her aunt. A quick text to Yatora let him know what was going on, their planned meet up would now be at the store and in a few hours rather than fairly soon.

If only she knew just how wrong her ‘nothing should happen’ thought was. If only she knew.

—

“Phina Fiona's” He muttered, his attention glued to his phone as he manipulated the map application. Left, right, up, down, zoom in, zoom out. He was lost. He was so, so lost. It was a long shot anyway but he wasn’t going to give up. He had to find her. He just had to. Too much was at stake for him to give up now. Not after he came so far and lost so much.

Dessie spent the majority of her time in the back sketching, she had a few commissions that she should be working on but the urge to go out had put them on the backburner, but now that she was at the store waiting for Rose there was really no time like the present. At least to get the concept sketch figured out. It was quiet, with nothing to do other than sit there as the staff had everything under control.

When she got the text from Yatora, Dessie didn’t do much more than give him a thumbs up and a ‘im in the back’ before going back to sketching. She wanted to get this idea out while it was still fresh in her mind.
—
It had taken him a while, the entire city was just a maze to him, but he had eventually found the right place. After a moment to collect himself the young man made his way inside, after holding the door open for a few customers, one with a little one in a pram. After a moment to calm his racing nerves he stepped into the boutique. He spent a moment or two looking around before making his hesitant way to the counter where one of the staff was waiting.

“Pardon me,” His voice carried the unmistakable tone of Britain in it. “I was hoping I could request a manager or supervisor please.” He was polite, calm as could be, but that simple request made the slightly more happy customer service smile fade from the young woman behind the counter’s face. As anyone who worked in the service industry knew, asking for the manager was rarely a good thing.

“Can I ask what you need them for?” She asked, weary about the Brit’s problem that would require the boss. She had no recollection of him being in here before, granted that didn’t mean he hadn’t been. Just that she wasn’t here for it.

“Oh yes, of course. I was hoping to give the manager a letter to pass onto the owner.” When the girl raised a brow in silent question the young man seemed to become a bit more flustered and started to ramble some. “You see I know the owner’s niece or at least I did. We are… were, friends in college and I really need to talk to Dessie and I was hoping that Ms. Jacobs could help me with that.”

And now the employee wanted to just straight up frown but was doing her best to keep a neutral face. Nope. Just one giant NOPE on this one. So many red flags on this fellow he was practically swimming in them. “If you will wait here a few moments I’ll see if they are available,” and stepped away from the counter before making her way to the back. No way in hell was she going to get the heavily pregnant Dessie. More like warn the other woman about the strange man… and maybe get one of the more scary male relatives to show up.

Dessie was getting up when one of the workers knocked lightly on the office door. It didn’t take long for her to explain what was going on and even less time for Dessie to bring up the cameras. She knew who was standing there. She knew and if the look on her face was anything to go by she wasn’t happy to see him.

“Should I call the cops… or Ms Lilly?” the worker offered, holding up her cellphone.

“No need to go nuclear on him. I know him, he won't hurt me,” physically at least she silently added even as she shook her head at the offer for backup. “I’ll take care of him. Just distract him for a moment please.” She needed time to get her head in the right place in order to deal with him. The other woman nodded and headed back out to the store to do as Dessie asked.

The blonde took a moment to compose herself before she waddled out the staff only door and saw him talking to the worker. Pale blue eyes quickly took in the rest of the store, glad that there weren't any other customers there as this was likely to be messy, her gaze did pause a moment when she saw not only Yatora but also Damien standing in the back. Well that wasn’t great. It could have been worse though. She gave a slight shake of her head to let the two males know she could handle this before she turned her full focus on the young man in front of the counter. “Nate,” his name practically froze the air even as she came to a stop some distance from him, her arms crossed.

The young man turned from the chat he was having towards the familiar, yet cold, voice calling his name. She was there. Dessie. Standing there in all her glory. All her very pregnant glory! His eyes took her figure in even as a smile broke out on his face. “Dess,” He took a half step towards her but came to a stop, both because of the look on her face and because he knew she didn’t like being touched without permission first. He didn’t understand why she looked mad but he didn't hesitate to go down on one knee with one hand on his heart while the other was out stretched, “I might not have a ring but Desdemona, my love, my heart, my stars and moon, mother of my child, will you marry me?”

She gaped at him for a moment before her eyes narrowed and she practically hissed, “you have got to be kidding me? Now? After all this time? Get out. You had your chance months ago but you never reached out. I made sure your mother got the letter, ******** I paid extra to require a damn signature! So I know you got it! Nothing. Not even a damn email, tweet, or DM. Not a peep and now you show up? Get. Out!”

Dessie winced and placed a protective hand on her belly, hunching slightly as she waited for the flash of pain to pass. She had wanted to say more but apparently her shouting was making her daughter unhappy. She waved away the concerned chattering of the worker and just ignored Nate but a glance over at the door had her speaking up. The two men standing there needed to know she was ok, or all hell was going to break loose. “I’m fine, she just has a wicked kick and apparently doesn’t like me yelling.”

Nate just gapped at Dessie, this was not the reaction he had expected. Nor was the information she had dropped but all that went out of his head when he saw the blonde wince in pain. He surged to his feet to go to her but hesitated when he got the cold shoulder. He really didn’t understand anything. “She? A girl? I’m going to have a daughter?”

“My daughter,” Dessie hissed only to wince again as the kid kicked her once more. Blue eyes bounced between the duo at the door and the young man who was starting to look like a kicked puppy. With a sigh Dessie turned away from him and took a few steps away only to stop when the butterfly touch to her hand had her spinning around to slap at his reaching hand. “Do. Not. Touch. Me.” She bit out the words, doing her best to keep her temper in check. And the tears

“Dessie… Why did you mean earlier? What letter?” He practically begged, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “Please.”

Her only response to that was to turn away, “Ask your mother.” She paused in front of Yatora and Damien, smiling sheepishly even as she did her best to blink away the dampness that was in her eyes. “Guess I can’t bribe either of you to keep quiet about this could I?” A finger gently caressed her little sister’s cheek. “Can I hold her?” Dessie kept her voice low but anyone who could read body language could see that she was hurt, especially since she wouldn’t look either of them in the eyes. Honestly she just wanted to go home and hide under the covers. Forget about going out, forget about the man standing there gapping at her, forget about everything. “Please?”

Dessie couldn’t help it, she laughed at Damien’s offer. It might not have been the brightest of laughs but it was a laugh nonetheless. “As tempting as it is, let's not. Not yet at least.” She was just joking on the ‘not yet’ side of things of course. As much as she disliked Nate right then she wouldn’t ask anyone in her family to take on that kind of burden for her. “Besides, he might be useful later.” She doubted that but even as much as she wanted him gone right then there was a part of her, a very, very small part of her, that found him showing up like this kind of romantic. A real life rom-com moment.

“I know.” She smiled, a bit weakly but happier than she had been, at Yatora as she took the young baby. Dessie cuddled the little girl and gave her a light kiss on her forehead. “I’m ok Yatora. Really. I just need some time.” She nodded towards the door and asked her little sister, “We are going to sit outside and look at the cars going past aren't we Mirabelle?” It was a way of letting the two grown men know that she was getting some air but wasn’t going far. Even better since there was a bench outside that gave her a perfect spot to rest and process what just happened. Completely ignoring her name being called out behind her.

Nate had hesitated to follow Dessie as she approached the two men, one of whom looked like he wanted his head, but when she cradled the offered baby and started to head for the door he started to follow her. “Dessie, hold on!” He stopped just out of reach of the two, obviously family, males. “Pardon me, I’ll just…” He wanted to pass them but even he wasn’t stupid enough to go between them to directly chase after Dessie. Not with the vibe he got off of the one guy, his comment about making him disappear was a joke that any protective male figure would say but… some small part of him wondered if maybe it wasn’t so much of an empty threat.

Nate got a particular look on his face as he was clearly denied passage, it was a look that anyone who knew him knew that he was starting to dig his heels in, a mulish look. He was a rather stubborn Brit and didn’t particularly like being told that he couldn’t pass in order to talk to Dessie. Especially since he had traveled halfway around the world to find her. Literally. He had given up everything. His job, his apartment, his money. Everything. He eyed the one man, and opened his mouth to say something, likely something that would have gotten him in deeper trouble when the other guy spoke up. It wasn’t so much that he denied him passage but that he brought up Dessie.

Green eyes shifted from the duo keeping him inside towards the figure he saw on the bench outside. It was that view that had him sigh and nod. “For now,” he agreed with the one man. “We do need to talk though but you're right. It can wait.” For now, he added silently once more. There was too much on the line for the discussions to be tabled for long. Besides, it was Dessie. It had always been Dessie. Ever since he saw her deck a rugby player who couldn’t figure out what the word ‘no’ ment. Now he just had to convince her of that. Once again his attention turned towards the two males, rather than the woman outside, and introduced himself. “I’m Nathaniel Whitfield.” He would have offered his hand but the one fellow still looked like he might actually be more bite then just bark. “I am, was, Dessie’s friend from college,” he wasn’t entirely sure if their friendship was still there, not after her reaction today. “And I’m the baby’s father.” Of that he was certain and would fight anyone or anything to be part of both of their lives, in whatever manner Dessie would let him.



“Bella look, blue truck.” The blonde pointed out the truck that drove past, hugging the infant and pointing out another car, doing her best to ignore the person and problem she left in the store. Why was he here? Why now? He had such a long time to reach out. Every chance to say something. Dessie fell quiet as she got lost in her own thoughts, until the sound of a passing car horn made her flinch and realize that she was brooding. Something she didn’t want to do. Too many thoughts, too many worries… too many unanswered questions. “What do you think Bella? Should I give him a chance? Do I have to?”