Private - Tracey and me only

Hope hugged them "I missed you guys so much!!!"

Chad squeezed Jamie's hand again and wheeled himself forward a little.

"Hope why don't you go in with Grandma alright?" her Grandpa said as the two of them went inside. As soon as they were out of ear shot he blocked the door so they couldn't get back in. "I thought you said you weren't coming back her ever again." he said coldy "Whats with this, come to ask for money? A place to stay? From the looks of it I don't think I should give you anything."

Chad frowned. "Where the f*** do you get off talking to your daughter like that? What are you mad at her for? Having Hope? So... What, you love your granddaughter but not her mother? You want to raise Hope as your own daughter? What the f*** is your deal, old man?"

Jamie squeezed his shoulder desprately.
"First off you bring this DISRESPECTFUL man here. What am I supposed to pay his hospital bill? You, you ruined the best years of her life and you didn't even ATTEMPT to find her after we left. You know what rumors were spread around that school and that new one? That she was a slut! At such a young age!

"What the hell!? Of course I tried to find her! She's the best f***ing thing that ever happened to me, and now there's Hope, too. You think I want to drop my daughter off and not see her for months on end?"

"Dad, just stop please. We just need your help. Do it for Hope if not for us. She loves him." she said gently
"I'm not paying for more of his mistakes." her dad said.
"Well Goddamn it dad! He got in a car accident and I love him, can't you just accept the fact that maybe he wants to stick around since he's met Hope. If you want us to go poor and destitute fine, we'll just leave then. i thought you might want to save your granddaughter from not having the life you want her to have..."

"Am I the only one who thinks Hope isn't a g*ddamned mistake? Granted, I wasn't here to help raise her. But that's not my fault, either," he looked into her father's eyes, accusing him. "I'm not happy to leave my daughter here," he said, his voice more calm. "But I don't really have a choice. She doesn't need to see us stressing over money, or seeing me in extreme pain because we can't afford my pain meds, or your daughter crying because we can't afford a big Christmas for Hope like we want for her."

"Dad please....I know Hope has missed you guys....and don't deny you missed her too.....and I'll pay you back every cent...I promise, if you want me to pay interest...I'll pay that back to..."
"Now you listen to me, as far as I know, he's not apart of my family, so why should I care about his expenses? You wanted to live on your own without any help for us and thats exactly what you're gonna get." he said, "If you want to leave Hope here untill you get things back on your feet again fine but I'm not helping him out because he got reckless and got in a car accident." he said moving to close the door and walk back inside.
Jamie stuck her foot in the door before he closed it "He was not reckless alright? It happened during that blizzard! He slid through an intersection!!!"
"He shouldn't have been driving then!"
"Well maybe he was to chivalrous and wanted me to get home to my kid and dropped me off!!!" she yelled at him.
"Not my problem."

"It's Hope's problem as much as it is ours. She won't be able to see her parents until we get back on our feet, unless you bring her to us, which I can already see that you won't. So you can explain to her that Mommy and Daddy went to Neverland for a little while to try to take care of some things with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. You can explain to her, when she gets older, that you're the one who kept her parents from her, and how much we wanted to give to her but we couldn't. You can explain to her why you won't let her see Mommy and Daddy.

Her mom overheard the argument while she set Hope up with some TV and snacks, she went to her husband and pulled him aside. "Will you stop being so cruel!!! This is a chance to get our daughter back, at least see her, and our granddaughter! I miss having them in my life."

Jamie heard her mom say that and sniffed a little. "Forget it mom, dad's just a stubborn ass. He's not relenting. Just tell Hope we had to go to Neverland.....and we'll try to visit on the weekends if he'll even let us set foot through the door next time." she said and just turned around starting to walk to the car.

Chad nodded politely to her mother and stared her dad down before he turned around and wheeled himself back to the car.

She helped him into the car and put his wheel chair in the back seat and started driving again trying to not cry, she ended up winning that personal battle and pulled into Wal-marts parking lot and just started to sob. "Damn it Chad why does life have to suck so much!?"

Chad took her hand and pulled her to him, ignoring the pain it caused in his ribs as he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry on him. "I don't know, baby," he murmured, kissing her head.

"I thought he'd do it for Hope at least...." she cried burrying her head in his shoulder.

"We did do it for her," he told her softly, rubbing her back. "We didn't have a choice. She doesn't deserve the stress. And neither do you," he kissed her forehead. "I'm the one who grew up living day by day, dollar by dollar."

"We've never been apart from each other for little more than a day...she can't stand it and neither can I....." she sniffed "I don't know what to do..."

"We'll call her every night," he rubbed her back. "And if your mom sneaks mailing us a webcam, maybe we can video chat with her, too."

She nodded and just realized how much pain he was probably in because of her. "Oh god Chad, I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry!!" she said getting off of him. and wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

"It's okay," he pulled her back to him and kissed her cheek. "it didn't hurt that bad, really."

For awhile she just stayed like that liking the feeling of his arms around her.

He held her, kissing her cheek and her hair. "It's gonna be alright. We can do this," he murmured.

"I hope so..." she murmured.

"I've been through this before. We'll be okay. We'll move to my place, babysit Brianna a little more, eat a little less. It'll be fine."

She nodded "Lets...go your place then...Do you need anything from Wal-mart?" she asked trying to compose herself.