The Nerd and The Bully

049. A Lot of Things

~ Ashton's POV ~

CiCi carried the bags while I was carrying Coco. The little stinker had insisted on going to the mall for new toys. We also shopped for some new clothes for her as well. It was a long walk to the car.

"Coco?" I call and she hums. "Did you have fun?" I ask her.

"Yeah and I got new toys!" She exclaims. I chuckle.

"I know you got new toys." I say. "Who do you like more. Me or CiCi?" I ask her.

She giggles. "You." She says and I chuckle and kiss her cheek. This kid is so cute, I swear.

CiCi looks back at us. "Chlo-bug, who bakes you cookies all the time?" She asks.

"You, CiCi." Chloe responds with a giggle.

We were at the car and I opened the trunk so CiCi could set the bags in. While she did that, I placed Chloe in her little car seat. "Can you do it?" I ask because to be honest, I'm clueless when it comes to strapping a kid in their car seat.

"I am big girl." She says and I chuckle and let her strap herself in like the big girl she is. Soon, CiCi comes and sits in the passenger seat.

"Where to next?" I ask her.

"Where do you wanna go next, Chloe?" CiCi asks my little bean in the back seat.

"I wanna go to the park!" She says.

I chuckle. "To the park we go." I say and drive to the public park. It was a 3 minute drive. Believe when I say that it's around the corner.

There wasn't many kids so I was kinda glad. CiCi and I watch Chloe running around having fun. I sit next to her. She looks at me. "Hi." She says.

"Hey." I kiss her cheek. "I enjoy spending time with her. She's my little bean, I'm calling her that now." I say and she giggles.

"You guys have the cutest bond." She says. "Should we call our friends to see if they wanna come as well? Chloe did ask about them." She says.

"Yeah, if you want to." I tell her and she nods.

After a couple of minutes, our friends get here. We both greet all of them and then we sat at the bench watching Chloe. "So why did you call us here?" AJ asks. I chuckle. "I was in the middle of a good game."

Gracie giggles. "Chloe wanted to see you guys." She says. "Chlo-bug!" She calls her over. I look and Chloe looks excited to see everyone.

"Chase!" She yells and runs to him. She hugs his legs and he picks her up hugging her. "CiCi said you come."

"Since when did she start calling you CiCi?" AJ asks.

"Ever since she heard you guys saying it. She repeats what she hears." CiCi tells them. AJ has a look on his face like he's about to do something dumb. He leans over and whispers something in Chloe's ear and she giggles.

"Uncle Ash has a poop stain on his pants." She says and starts bursting out in laughter. Oh fuck no, he didn't.

~Gracia's POV~

We were all laughing. Ash chases AJ around the park and soon catches him in a tackle. They were both wrestling on the dirt and all we did was stare and laugh. Soon, they had cut it out and walked back over to us.

"AJ, why would you tell her that?" I ask him.

AJ laughs. "You shouldn't have told me that she repeats everything." He says. "Chloe, what does Ash have again?" He asks her.

"Poop stain!" She yells.

Ash grabs her from Chase and tickles her, making her laugh wildly. He stops and sits her on his lap. "Let's take a little break from running." He says. "Who wants ice cream?" He asks.

"Me! Me! I do! I do!" Chloe raises her hand. I chuckle. "I want a cherry sour pop, uncle Ash." She says.

He chuckles. "Alright, come on." He picks her up and they walk to the ice cream shop next to us.

"He's so great with kids." AJ says. "You know it's weird because he never was a fan of kids after his wicked stepmother and her wicked children but with Chloe, it's different." He says.

Chase chuckles. "Yeah. He posts her all the time, calling her his little bean. It's actually pretty cute, to be honest. Seeing Ash's soft side."

"I can't wait until we have kids of our own someday." I say. "I know how happy he would be and how much of a great father he would be." I say.

Rena chuckles behind me. "Yeah, a Grashton baby. I can imagine how cute that baby would be." She says.

Gwen chuckles behind us. "Look ahead." She says. We all look and see Chloe giggling while Ash carries her on his back.

Soon after a whole hour, it was time for us to leave. Ash drove Chloe and I back to my house. He kisses my lips before we walk inside the house. Callie was sitting on the couch.

"Hey, mommy!" Chloe runs and sits on Callie's lap. "We had so much fun and we bought new toys and I got ice cream." She says.

"That's nice, Coco. Go wash up for dinner." She says and Chloe nods and runs upstairs. I realize something is wrong with Callie.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask her. She nods her head but I know she's lying. "Callie, I'm being serious. What's wrong? Is it mom or dad?" I ask her, starting to get a bit worried.

She chuckles. "No, I'm sure they're okay. It's something else." She says. She takes deep breaths. "I ran into Chloe's dad today." She says.

I gasp. "What happened?" I asked, sitting next to her.

She chuckles. "He said he wanted to see her. I don't know if I want to allow that though." She said. "He hasn't been there for five years, why does he wanna be here now?"

"Guilt." I say. "He's probably guilty that he hasn't been there all those years." I tell her. "You have full custody over her so you can make the decision at the end of the day. But make a wise one." I say and she nods. "I'm gonna go wash up for dinner as well." I tell her.

I walk upstairs and washed my hands and walked back down. Callie said she already ate so I just made me and Chloe's food. After we both ate, she was tired so Callie had walked upstairs with her to put her in bed.

I cleaned up the kitchen and walked back upstairs after. I took a shower and got ready for bed. After today, I am getting tired. I laid down and turned on the tv.

~

I woke up by my phone ringing. I grabbed it and saw that it was Ash. Why is he calling at this time? I answered and placed the phone to my ear. "Ash?"

"- He's gone, Gracie. He's gone." He says and starts sobbing.

"Who's gone? What happened, Ash?" I ask him. I sat up in bed and got up to put clothes on.

"- My dad. He had a stroke and heart attack. He's gone." He says.

"Oh, baby." I say. "I'm coming to you right now. Okay? I'm coming to you right now." There was no answer. The phone then hung up. Callie comes in, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?" She asks.

"Ash's dad passed." I tell her. "I have to go to him." I say.

Her eyes turned sad. "Yeah, go ahead." She says. She hugs me. "Tell Ash that I hope everything will be okay." She says.

I nod. I walked out of the house and rode my bike to his. I got to his house. Austin's car was here. I knocked on the door. Austin opened it. "Austin, I heard." I hug him. He sniffles from above me. "Is Ash here?" I ask.

"No, he- he just walked out." He says. "I don't know where he's going."

Oh, Ash. I hope you're okay.

~~
A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! So... Ash's father passed away, RIP to him. Stay tuned for the next chapter! Comment your thoughts and vote! Thanks for reading!