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Author's Chapter Notes:

Thank you to everyone who reviewed "First Impressions". I promise to answer all your questions and hope you guys keep reading, and enjoying, this one!

“C’mon buddy, you’ve gotta stop fidgeting.” AJ said, pleading with his son as he tried to change his diaper. “Everybody’s downstairs waiting to celebrate with you.”

His son stared up at him with a grin and continued to wiggle around.

 “I guess you’re going to be like your dad, fashionably late.”

 He smiled down at Ryan who kept yelling “dada, dada”. He loved his son so much and wouldn’t trade the time he got to spend with him but dealing with Michelle was tough. Watching his son play with the chain around his neck, his heart ached a little. He had pictured having these moments with Kat but she had decided to leave instead of trying to work it out. It was a struggle to deal with that on a daily basis and the only thing that got him through it was Ryan.

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 “Isn’t that like the 15th drink she’s had tonight?” Leighanne whispered to Kristen.

 Both women watched as Michelle staggered around playing with her phone and ignoring everyone around her. The only time she had taken an interest in anyone was when Nick showed up. She crawled all over him before Howie was able to save him and get him outside.

 “I think it’s more like the 20th!” Leigh said joining the two women. “I cannot stand her. I don’t even like being in the same room as that woman!”

 No one in that house liked Michelle any more than Leigh did. The guys were uncomfortable around her, she rubbed the women the wrong way and they all hated watching AJ walk around on eggshells trying to please her.

 “I know AJ loves Ryan but what the hell made him decide to take them as a package deal?” Nick interjected, creeping back in behind the couch. “I feel like I have to be a freaking ninja around here!”

 Leighanne laughed. “I feel for you honey. If only you weren’t so tall.”

 “It’s not about me being tall; it’s about her being fucking crazy!”

 “Where is AJ?” Brian whispered quietly as he, Howie and Kevin joined everyone else. The only person missing was Denise and she should be there at any moment.

 “He’s trying to get Ryan cleaned up. Apparently, Michelle, being the mother of the year, left him by himself in the living room with a sippy cup full of juice. She hadn’t bothered to notice that the cover wasn’t on and it went all over Ryan and the sofa. AJ found him sitting in the juice when he got home.”

 “It’s fucking sad when you can’t leave a baby with his mother!” Nick said. “AJ doesn’t just have one baby, he has two!”

 “At least we love the little one!” Denise added. She overhead the conversation as she was coming in. “Does she even know that we’re all here?”

 “She knows that Nick is.” Kristen replied. “Other than that, I don’t think she gives a damn. She hasn’t put her phone or drink down once tonight. We’re taking bets on how many she’s had already. Care to make a wager?”

 Denise just shook her head. She was thrilled to have a grandson and to see her son happy about being a father but she was not crazy about Michelle. Respecting that she was her grandson’s mother often meant that Denise had to bite her tongue.

 “Finally.” Howie said with a sigh of relief as he watched AJ come down the stairs. “Now we can get this party moving along.”

 “I’m telling you Howie, no matter how much you love J, if she’s starts, I’m leaving.” Leigh made her point crystal clear and everyone could understand how she felt.

 “Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that she can behave for a little while.” Brian added.

 “Bri, you know I love you right?” Nick asked and Brian shook his head. “But all this looking for the good in people is wasted on her. There is nothing good in or about her.”

 “Hi everybody.” AJ said making his rounds to say hello. Ryan bounced along on his dad’s hip shouting “HI!HI!HI!HI!HI!”

 Denise was reaching for her grandson when she heard Michelle yell. “Make him be quiet! He’s too loud! I can’t hear!”

 “He’s a baby Michelle. They’re loud.” Leighanne hissed.

 “Nobody asked you blondie!” Michelle shouted sticking her finger in Leighanne’s face. “I’m his mother, I decide if he’s too loud.”

 As composed as Leighanne could be, Kristen had to grab her arm before she hauled off and decked Michelle.

 “You don’t have to be rude Michelle.” AJ said. “Let’s just try to get along for one freaking day for Ryan’s sake.”

 “Oh my god!” Michelle screamed. “It’s always about him! Ryan this, ryan that!” She walked outside still screaming about the baby.

 After seeing tears form in her grandson’s eyes, Denise took him back upstairs and was going to put him down for bed.

 “I fucking hate her AJ!” Kristen yelled. “I don’t know what fucking rock she crawled out from underneath but none of us can deal with her anymore!”

 “Calm down Kristen.” Kevin said quietly, trying to settle everyone down.

 “I’m not going to calm down! She’s a bitch!”

Howie was about to say something when Michelle came storming back in.

 “I’m leaving!” she yelled, stumbling around waving her phone. “Get Ryan up. We’re leaving.”

 “You can’t leave Michelle, you can barely stand.” AJ said trying to reason with her.

 “Yeah well Claudia will be here in a minute and she’ll take us. Go get Ryan!”

 “No. You can do whatever the hell you want but you’re not going anywhere with my son.”

 Michelle turned to face him with an evil look on her face. “He’s not yours!”