Baby steps - A TNS Fanfiction

Why?

"No! No, we have to make sure she's okay!"

"I don't know how you found about it- hell, I don't even want to know, but we need to walk away."

"If she really is being blackmailed..."

"For heaven's sake Piper!" Finn suddenly smacked the palm of his hand against the steering wheel. "My dad. My dad, the one person in this god forsaken family who ever cared about how I felt is lying in a hospital bed dying, and I'm out here spying on my sister to see if she's doing drugs instead of saying goodbye to him!"

Piper fell silent, looking at her lap in shame. Tears fell down his face, and his shoulders shook.

"I'm sorry."

"I know Pipes, I know baby. It's just.. I love him so much I can't lose him." She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed softly.

"Let's go then."

End of Flashback

"What do you want?"

"Not so much as a hello?"

"Hello?"

"Hello." She replied, staring back at him with equally blue eyes. "I came here to talk."

"I don't really want to talk."

"What? So you can forgive your ex girlfriend for ditching you but you can't forgive your own mother?"

Finn stared at her. "You've done far worse things than she ever did."

"Like what? What have I done that is really so terrible? Everything I did was to make sure that you and Beatrice had your best chance at life, just for both of you to throw it all away!"

His mother stood there, looking distraught, angry, and frustrated.

"And I came here to tell you, that she's ruining both of your lives again."

"She's not ruining anyone's life."

"As we speak, Grace is building up hope that her parents are going to get back together. What happens when she leaves the second it gets too much? From a parent to a parent, you know that this isn't a healthy way to grow up."

"So what? Do I just send Piper packing and tell her that she can't see her daughter anymore?"

"Yes!"

"You're sick."

He tried to shut the door in her face, but something stopped him.

"You know I'm right Finn."

And that's why I hate you.

Flashback

"Dad!" Finn called, running down the driveway as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Hey kiddo!" His dad bent down and swung the ten year old around in the air, before setting him down as his daughter through her arms around his neck.

"We missed you Daddy."

"I missed you too, both of you." He looked up and grinned at his wife. "And you Shirley."

She rolled her eyes. "Me and Finn need to go to his dance competition and drop him off in a bit."

"I'll take him, I bought tickets online!"

"But you just got back!"

"Well, we can all go, and then get ice cream afterwards, how does that sound?"

"Yeah!" Beatrice and Finn cheered, and turned their pleading eyes up to their mum. "Pleeeeaaase."

"Oh alright then. But we can't come to every performance Finn. It's too expensive."

End of Flashback

"Mummy?"

"Hm?" Piper looked back up at Grace, who had previously been folding a napkin into a paper aeroplane.

"Is Grandma Deb your mummy?"

"Yep, she is."

"And is Grandma Shirley Daddy's mummy?"

"Yes..." Suddenly, she didn't like where the conversation was going.

"Why do you and Daddy like Grandma Deb but not Grandma Shirley?"

"We had a bit of a falling out, before you were born, Grace."

"Why?"

"She didn't like me dating your Daddy."

"Why?"

Because I was pregnant with you.

"I'm not sure exactly, but she didn't think I was a good fit for him."

"Did she tell you that?"

"Not exactly.."

"Then how did you know?"

"The way she acted I suppose."

"So do you not like her then?"

"What gives you that impression?" Don't use sarcasm on children, Piper. They might not understand-

"Well, I don't know, maybe because you used a naughty word when you heard about her?"

"Oh, um-"

"I do understand sarcasm you know."

"I just realized that." She smiled, and Grace returned the smile before sipping her hot chocolate as though she were interviewing her.

"Oh, look! Miss Bain! Miss Bain! Hello!" The small child suddenly started waving across the cafe, much to Piper's alarm.

Amy caught sight of Grace and waved back, but upon seeing Piper her smile vanished, and she got her coffee and left.

"Mummy?"

"Yes?"

"Why does nobody like you? I mean, I like you, and I think Daddy does too, although you do make him sad sometimes. But everyone else seems to really not like you."

"I upset them all a long time ago, but it's a bit complicated."

"That's not fair! You got lost in New York and took a long time to find home again. It's not your fault."

But it is. It's all my fault.

A/N

The flashbacks jump around in time, so they go in a reverse order. Flashback 1 was after Grace was born;

Flashback 2 was a few months before she was born;

And flashback 3 was when Finn was younger.