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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 22, 2015 2:21:58 GMT
Cooper was living in a nightmare at the moment. Things had been going so well, really. Between his relationship with Madison, the new apartment for himself and Melanie - even work was going well. And then he'd shown up to pick Melanie up from pre-school and found a very familiar woman in her classroom, kneeling in front of his little girl and talking to her - Simone. He hadn't been sure how he felt about it.
For the first year that Simone had left, he had imagined the circumstances under which she might come back and he'd even considered forgiving her and taking her back for Melanie's sake. But there had been too many nights of his little girl waking up and crying for a mother that simply hadn't wanted to be there, and he thought he was doing fine on his own. He held most of his emotions in until the three of them arrived back at the apartment, behind prying eyes of other neighborhood parents. Of course, if he were thinking clearly about his daughter in that moment, he maybe wouldn't have gotten so heated with her at home. But it was when Simone had announced that she'd met someone new and wanted custody of Melanie back, that he'd flown off the handle.
Melanie, on the other hand, had found the family iPad and her big puffy pink headphones and was trying to distract herself from the loud noises, sitting in the hallway and coloring in one of her coloring books while her father yelled and she tried to keep track of how much money he had to put in the bad word jar.
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Post by Madison Benson on Sept 22, 2015 2:40:06 GMT
Despite the expectation that she and Cooper were supposed to be taking things slowly in their relationship, she felt as though there were certain things that seemed to be moving much more quickly than she anticipated. After Thanksgiving, she had realized how silly she was being by not telling her parents that she was seeing someone new. She had answered all of their questions in detail and had left the conversation feeling so much more relieved and comfortable with the situation than she had expected. Sure, they had their concerns over the fact that she was dating someone who had previously been married, as well as someone who was a father, but she tried her best to ensure that it wasn't a problem. In fact, with all of the emotions that she had been feeling toward Cooper and Melanie recently, she hadn't even thought to be concerned about what it might have meant to be a part of their small family. Her questions about the entire situation had finally been put to rest and now she was just happy, and maybe even excited about seeing where this all went.
Cooper had extended an invitation to stop by their apartment whenever she liked and she had been happy to take him up on her offer. Letting herself into the apartment, she found Cooper's voice to be angrily carrying through the place. She spotted Melanie hiding out in the hallway and frowned. Something wasn't going well, she just wasn't sure what it was until she heard an unfamiliar voice.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 22, 2015 2:50:15 GMT
Melanie looked up and spotted Madison, taking off her headphones quickly she scrambled to her feet and ran over to Madison, hugging the woman's legs tightly. She was glad Madison was here for two reasons - because Maddy made her dad happy and he definitely was not happy right then and because Madison was her friend and wouldn't let anyone take her away. "Daddy said lots of bad things," she said sadly.
Cooper, meanwhile, was pacing around the living room. "You've got to be shitting me," he spat out venomously. "You can't just show up like this - it's not fair to her, Simone. You left, you don't just get to pick and choose when you get to be a parent to her. I won't let you come around and confuse and upset my kid that way"
"She's my daughter, too, Cooper," Simone spoke calmly.
His eyes narrowed before he realized he heard Melanie speaking to someone, stepping out into the hallway, he looked up and saw Madison standing there, Melanie clinging to her. The sight broke his head. "Hi," he greeted her awkwardly. "Now really isn't the best time, Madison."
Simone seemed to have followed him out into the hallway, eyebrow raising as she took in the sight before her. She bent down. "Melanie, sweetie. Come to mommy."
Cooper winced, rounding on Simone. "You lost all rights to my daughter, when you packed your bags and left. If you think I won't drag your ass to court to keep you away from her, you've got another thing coming," he spat out almost venomously. He lowered his voice for Melanie's sake. "I used to not be a very nice man before you met me Simone, you don't want to meet that man. But I swear to God, I will ruin you if you come after my daughter."
Simone seemed unfazed, she glanced at Madison and cleared her throat. "Perhaps we should discuss this another time very soon, with my lawyer present."
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Post by Madison Benson on Sept 22, 2015 3:09:13 GMT
Madison smiled at Melanie softly, smoothing a hand over her hair softly. "I hear that," she told her with a nod. She winced a little at the tone that was coming from Cooper. He had never even raised his voice in front of her and he had certainly not used the kind of language that she was hearing from him. Things were bad, and she suddenly had no desire to do anything other than leave. She felt bad leaving Melanie there while all of the arguing continued to carry on and so she hesitated to excuse herself from the little girl. It would have broken her heart to have to pull Melanie's arms off of her to leave, but when Cooper stepped into view she felt even more compelled to step back out of the apartment. Nodding, she opened her mouth to say something but was taken aback by the sight of an unfamiliar woman. Her cheeks flushed when the woman spoke to Melanie and called herself "mommy". Maddy didn't know much about Cooper's ex-wife, but she knew enough to know that this wasn't her place or her argument to get involved in.
"I'm sorry, I was actually just leaving," she announced, still hesitating to separate herself from Melanie.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 22, 2015 3:17:38 GMT
Cooper frowned when Madison went to excuse herself, glowering at Simone for a moment before crossing the hallway to approach his girlfriend. "I'm really sorry about all of this," he insisted to her. "I didn't know that you were coming over and I definitely didn't know that she would..." His expression softened and he put his hand gently on the side of her face. "I'll explain everything to you soon, I promise," he nodded.
Melanie looked up at Madison sadly, not liking at all that she was leaving or that her dad still wasn't happy yet. She was confused, mainly.
He dropped his voice and looked at Madison. "I'm so sorry, I'll call you as soon as this is sorted. I love you," he assured her.
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Post by Madison Benson on Sept 22, 2015 3:35:32 GMT
"No, I'm sorry," Madison began, feeling torn between the idea of leaving as soon as possible, or offering to take Melanie out for a few hours while they sorted out whatever they needed to sort out. She wasn't sure that it was her place, and she certainly didn't want to give anyone any more reason to start yelling again. Looking up at Cooper she nodded, "I'm sorry, I should have called or let you know that I was coming."
She felt horrible now for coming over unannounced and for interrupting whatever was going on. Looking down at Melanie, she smiled at her sadly, "I'll see you soon, Mel," she promised the little girl, detaching herself and looking back up at Cooper for a second. "I love you too, and again, I'm so sorry," she frowned before walking back to the door and letting herself out.
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