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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 29, 2015 1:43:17 GMT
It had been a long and trying week. Month even, if he wanted to be entirely honest with himself. Brandon wasn't entirely sure what he thought he was going to accomplish by just showing up to Cooper's place. But with the news that had been thrown at him, with the understanding that he was on the cusp of his life changing, it seemed to make sense to seek on the only person he knew that could somehow relate. Alayna had dropped a bombshell on him, whether or not it was actually his problem to deal with. For all he knew, for all that he hoped, it wasn't his kid. But the reality was that it wasn't impossible.
And so when it came down to it, the only person that he knew that had a kid, who even knew how to handle being a father, was Cooper. At least Brandon hoped that he could provide some solid advice on what to do just in case things didn't go his way after all.
He knocked on the door to the hotel penthouse, hoping that he could at least come up with some sort of plan B.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 29, 2015 1:54:59 GMT
Melanie was the first one out of her seat on the couch, where the two of them were watching a movie, when the knock on the door came. "I'll get it! I'll get it! I'll get it!" she exclaimed as she ran around from the couch and to the door. Chuckling, Cooper stood up a bit more slowly and started on his way after her. "Bwandon!" she exclaimed, causing him to tick his own eyebrow up and walk a bit faster.
"Hey, man. Come on in," he greeted, stepping aside and pulling the door open a bit wider.
"Did you come to play?" Melanie asked curiously.
"Mel-Bell, I don't think he did. So how about you get some crayons and draw a new picture while Daddy and Brandon talk," he instructed. The four year old started to pout a bit, but one look at her father's expression and she mumbled a 'fine' under her breath and trudged off to go to the table to color.
The Penthouse itself had been designed, literally, with him in mind. It had a small kitchen, a room for him and his daughter and even a guest space for the nanny to stay if she ever needed to. But still, the living space was feeling much more cramped the more Melanie grew, so he was eager to sign the paperwork on the home he'd found for them. Gesturing Brandon further inside and closing the door behind him, he ran his hand through his hair. "Is everything all right? I've got to tell you, Brandon, if this is about work I prefer not to talk about that after hours," he admitted. "It's not fair to the kid."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 29, 2015 2:08:02 GMT
Brandon had smiled uncomfortably at Melanie, not able to help himself from thinking about whether or not this was going to be what his life soon became. A kid running to the door ahead of him, taking some sort of control over what their life was meant to be. He stopped inside of the penthouse and shook his head at Cooper, "No - no work," he promised. "I just ..." He was having a hard time finding the words to articulate exactly why he had come over in the first place. It still seemed a little unthinkable that he could possibly be in the other man's shoes anytime soon.
"Were you prepared for it? I mean - being a dad. I know you were married and things were ... normal. But, how did you know what to do?"
It was hard to say the words that he knew eventually needed to be said so instead he opted to try and figure out what he was supposed to do first. was he supposed to read books? Was he supposed to know what to do? Or was it going to be okay to flounder?
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 29, 2015 2:25:38 GMT
Cooper paused for a moment, looking at Brandon and trying to process the question that he was being asked. "You know, I was as prepared as I could be. I mean, we weren't trying to get pregnant at the time, but I was up for it. I read books during the pregnancy, tried to learn as much as I could. And the day Melanie was born, I held her in my arms and I thought - 'Well this is the best thing I'll ever do with my life.'" he nodded, grabbing a beer from the fridge and opening it. "You want one?" he offered.
"But, I'll be honest with you, Brandon. I had no idea what the hell I was doing."
"Bad word!" Melanie chirped from her chair.
"Sorry, Mel. But seriously, I had no idea. I had even less of an idea when it was me on my own. But I don't think that we're supposed to know, and so far she seems to be in one piece and I think I'm gonna keep her," he joked. Taking a pull from his beer bottle, he leaned against the kitchen counter. "Has Amber been to a doctor yet?"
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 29, 2015 2:45:07 GMT
He nodded to the offer of a beer. Any drink at all seemed like a wonderful idea if he was being entirely honest. He wanted to laugh dryly and let the other man know that if had been that easy he probably wouldn't have sought out advice so quickly. This was something that he would have rather kept under wraps for as long as possible. "Amber's not pregnant," he said, nodding. "It's, uh, it's Alayna. My former fiancee, I mean. And technically, she's already had the kid. She thinks it might be mine."
He didn't know how much he was supposed to share - the fact that he had already gotten Riley to help him with a paternity test, he knew what role Amber would help him play, and he even know what his ultimate game plan was going to be.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 29, 2015 2:58:18 GMT
Cooper opened a beer and handed it to Brandon, thinking over what he'd just been told. "Right, I remember her. She was...yeah. Hey, Melanie, do me a favor and go play in your room, yeah?" Cooper took another sip from his drink, waiting until the little girl scurried off. "You know, when Simone left and I came back with Melanie, my mother made me get a paternity test. I was stepping in for my father at the company and to her something didn't sit right about the way Simone had just left. I didn't do it, I know the truth. Kid is mine 100% without a doubt, I've got the baby pictures to compare side by side to prove it. But I guess it's a bit different for you, yeah?" Scratching the back of his head for a minute, he weighed out what he thought the best options were. "So, best case scenario is that the kid isn't actually yours and your life continues on as normal, maybe you're a bit more careful with birth control for a few months. Worst case scenario, you've got to decide what kind of father you want to be."
Cooper peeled at the label on his bottle, tilting his head slightly. "Well, what do you think?
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 29, 2015 3:07:50 GMT
Brandon sighed heavily and took a drink from the bottle he had just been handed. "I'm hoping that it leans in the direction of a best case scenario, but I'm trying to make sure I have my bases covered - just in case." As for what he thought, he really hadn't bothered to give it much thought at all as he had assumed from the get-go that he was going to find himself on the winning end of the battle. He just naturally assumed that Alayna and her kid would hole back up where they came from and he wouldn't have to worry about anything like this ever again. "I think that it's not going to be mine - but I'd be stupid if I wasn't prepared for the off-chance that it was."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 29, 2015 3:16:29 GMT
Cooper chuckled slightly and looked at Brandon. "So, that explains the question about being ready to be a father. No one's ready to be a father, Brandon. I don't think so anyway. It's a really tough thing - to be responsible for some kid and hope that you can turn them into a normal, functioning human being," he joked. "The best advice I ever got, when I wasn't sure I could handle raising Melanie on my own, was that I had two options: I could be like my parents, I could shove money at the problem, hire nannies, bury myself in my work and let the kid turn out the way we did, probably, or I could learn from that, teach her things that no one taught me growing up that I figured out the hard way so that she never had to do that herself." He chuckled for a second, "Actually it was Amber that told me that. I think that's why she takes to Melanie so much."
"Listen, if it turns out to be the worst case scenario by some slim probability, no one's going to blame you for taking the first way out. You can provide a kid a lot by just writing out a check and making sure that it goes towards the right things, but I'm pretty sure you've got a lot of people around if you wanted to take a more hands on approach. Myself included." He took a sip of his beer and shrugged. "But whichever you choose, everything changes after that. Because no matter what you're a dad. I think you can do it, but if it turns out you're right and the kid isn't yours, then you get to wait and maybe do it the right way when you're feeling more prepared."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 29, 2015 19:07:18 GMT
He was sure that there was a lot of validity to what Cooper was saying but every time he said the word dad his stomach dropped. Regardless of whether or not most people weren't ready for the responsibility, not knowing you even had to prepare mad the while situation that much worse. But the thought that he could go the way of his parents and try to make the problem go away by throwing money at it, that seemed like a double edged sword. If it was his kid and he ignored it, what was the chance that it would turn out to be better than he had been? Did he even trust Alayna to be a proper parent?
Cooper had mentioned the advice that he had gotten from Amber and Brandon immediately realized that this entire thing would have been so much different if it had been their kid instead. It probably wouldn't have been difficult to make what he assumed to be the right choice.
"Thanks. I didn't know who to really talk to about all of this. As supportive as Amber is, this is something that I'm not sure I want to have to discuss with her. At least not yet." He didn't think that his life with Amber would necessarily be the same with Alayna and some kid around, and he wasn't sure he was ready for things to change when they had just become so great. "Like I said, Riley's already working in the legal side of things so once we know more, we can figure out what we need to do."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 30, 2015 2:04:25 GMT
Cooper had to admit that if ten years ago, someone had told him he would be raising a four year old girl on his own and looking into purchasing a home more suitable to raise a child in - worrying about things like proximity to parks and schools and a space for her to do her homework one day, he would have laughed in their faces and gone back to doing whatever the hell he wanted. He knew that for some people, like Brandon, the idea of being a father and settling down with a family was one of those things that seemed like a far off thought, something he'd deal with later in life when he was ready. "It's not a bad gig, by the way," he added with a grin, taking a sip from his beer bottle. "It's weird, it's a big deal and have the time I don't even feel like I know what the hell I'm doing, but there are these moments where you hear your kid laugh and you think maybe you're doing okay, or when they meet you at the door when you come home from work like it's Christmas and you think you're doing better than okay." he nodded. "It's pretty good once you get the hang of it, or start to a bit anyway. I'm already planning to buy a shotgun when she starts dating, if the way she gets excited about seeing you is any indication, I'm going to need one," he joked.
At that moment, Melanie bounded back out into the kitchen. She struggled for a moment to climb onto one of the stools near the counter, making several huffing noises and exerting a lot of energy before she was finally seated before smiling up at both of them, but Cooper noted it was more specifically at Brandon. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a hearty laugh. "Play?" she asked hopefully.
"I don't know about all that, Mell-Bell, I think Brandon just came over to talk." When she only pouted, he reached out and ruffled her hair. "Stick that lower lip back in and I'll give you a snack."
He turned to Brandon, "You should talk to Amber about it, you know, just in case," he added. "She'd probably surprise you with whatever she had to say on the matter."
"Ambuh!" Melanie clapped. "I like playing with Ambuh and Cassie," she nodded before grinning at the cookies her father placed in front of her. "They know good songs and games."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 30, 2015 2:30:20 GMT
Brandon smiled back at Melanie as she climbed up on the stool. He supposed that if any kid of his ever turned about to be like Melanie, that the entire situation wouldn't have been so bad after all. Especially if Amber continued to display the affection for his kid the way that she displayed affection for the little girl wanting to play. He would have called Amber over in a heartbeat to keep the little girl company, and that realization, the realization that he would do whatever he could to make this little girl and Amber both happy, that made him feel as though maybe he wouldn't be so hopeless at the entire thing if things went opposite the way he hoped they would go. Maybe there was a chance that they, he and Amber, could have the stereotypical future together with kids and a house.
"Thank you again," he nodded. "I can get out of your hair if you'd like to spend some time with your daughter," he offered. And at the moment, he was kind of feeling like he needed to head back to the Penthouse and spend some time with Amber too.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 30, 2015 2:40:18 GMT
"No! Stay! Cookie?" Melanie offered out to Brandon.
Cooper chuckled at his daughter, shaking his head at her. "Brandon's gotta go home, kiddo," he told her. "But we'll see him soon, all right. Besides, you're going to be full of sugar and the last thing I want to do right now is give him a reason to be scared of kids again."
The four year old looked up at him with bright blue eyes and tilted her head in confusion before smiling and making a roaring noise. "Scary."
Shaking his head again, Cooper turned to Brandon. "Get out of here before she ropes us both into a tea party," he joked. "And I'm glad you came by. Never thought I'd be the one to talk to people about this, but that's not a bad gig either, so if you need to talk again or need anything else, you come by or call, yeah? You're welcome any time, I think Melanie agrees" Cooper thought that ten years prior he would also laugh in the face of anyone who told him that he'd be friendly with Brandon Finn or Amber Jacobs, but life was kind of funny that way. "I can walk you out."
"Bye-bye!" Melanie waved, her mouth half full of cookie.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 30, 2015 18:59:47 GMT
Brandon smiled at Melanie and waved at her, "Bye, Melanie."
He walked back to the door, nodding his agreement to call or stop by the next time he felt the need to have one of these weird heart-to-hearts. It was unusual for him to feel as though he could have any sort of serious conversation with a person outside of Amber, but he had to admit that he felt a lot better about everything now than he had an hour ago. "Thank you, again. The whole thing is just a weird situation. But I do appreciate your advice." Nodding, he thought briefly to his next steps, wondering if Riley had heard anything or if he should have started doing more to prepare himself, possibly even Amber, for whatever changes might be on the horizon. All he knew was that at the moment he wanted nothing more than to get home and just stop thinking about it for a while, so as he left Cooper's hotel penthouse, he knew that was truly looking forward to a nice relaxing night with Amber.
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