Ayoluwa followed Quincy through the tall professional building located in downtown L.A.

The cubicle was an ugly beige color and the pathways between them were thin.

"How long do I have again?" Ayoluwa quickened her pace to better trail the lanky boy.

"Thirty minutes." Quincy replied in a curt tone as he led her to the end of a hall to a closed door with the name 'Alicia Turner ESQ.' engraved.

"Mom?" Quincy lightly tapped his fingers on the door.

"Come in." An aged feminine voice called out.

Alicia Turner was an extremely impressive woman and it showed by the several diplomas and achievements framed on the wall.

Alicia stood and dusted off her power suit before extending her hand towards Ayoluwa.

"Thank you so much for squeezing me in again. I know you're a very busy woman." Ayoluwa gave the woman a firm handshake.

"It's not a problem. What can I do for you today?" Alicia sat and then gestured for the two to settle in the chairs in front of her desk.

"I decided to go forward with pursuing custody." Ayoluwa stated.

Alicia nodded as she rose and opened a filing cabinet near the right side of her desk, "What's the basis of this custody case?"

"Um... Being a deadbeat parent?" Ayoluwa tried.

"No abuse? Physical, mental, emotional?" Alicia replied.

"I mean... Not having your parents around has to have some emotional or mental trauma, right?" Ayoluwa said, as she rubbed one braided up loc between her fingers.

Alicia pursed her lips and sat back down with a couple of papers, "So here's the thing first and foremost, you can't pursue custody since you aren't a biological parent of the child. You can however, try for guardianship."

"What's the difference?" Ayoluwa asked.

"Custody is for parents, guardianship is for everyone else." Alicia explained, folding her hands.

"So pursuing guardianship... Will that take away all of the parents' parental rights?" Ayoluwa inquired.

Alicia sighed, "Ayo, I like you. You and my son have been friends for a long time. I like Camille and Lauryn is a sweetheart. So," Alicia paused.

"So, I'm gonna be really honest with you right now. I don't think that you would win in a court right now."

Ayoluwa stared at Alicia, "You said that I would."

"Mmm, no. What I said was that you have a case. A case doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna win." Alicia replied.

Ayoluwa blinked a couple of times and Alicia continued, "There's no sign of physical abuse. You haven't determined if Lauryn's mental and emotional state are somehow being affected... I think the best way is to do what you've been doing."

"Which is letting Imani and Jamal come and in out when they want to? Not when it's best for Lauryn?" Ayoluwa challenged.

"I know that this is hard to hear and that this isn't what you want to hear but what if you pursue guardianship and Imani decides to move away? Quincy's told me how spiteful she can be."

Ayoluwa sighed at her words, "So just... Just do nothing?"

"Not nothing. You're doing an amazing job of raising her by yourself now. The state of California has a 96.3 percent rate of awarding custody to the mother of the child except in extreme cases. You don't want to create a situation where you have to go against your sister, because you will lose. I'm truly sorry to say this, but there's nothing really that I can do."

Ayoluwa slumped a little but nodded and rose to extend her hand again, "Well thank you for your time anyway."

"Of course," The phone rang on her desk and Alicia let go to answer the call.

Quincy gave her a comforting pat on her shoulder as he reclined further into his chair.

Ayoluwa gently opened the door as not to make a sound, closed it just as softly, then took off down the hall.

Only when she reached her car parked outside of the law firm, did Ayoluwa finally break down.

Hot tears of anger and disappointment streamed down her face as she sat in the driver's seat.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Ayoluwa cursed as she slammed her fist onto the steering wheel multiple times.

Her phone beeped several times from the cup holder, indicating a FaceTime call.

When she glanced at the screen, she saw that it was Dior.

Not wanting to cause worry, Ayoluwa wiped her face as much as she could with her hands then answered.

"Hello?" Ayoluwa asked.

"Yo, are you home? Ayo," Dior looked deeper into the camera, "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Ayoluwa lied, rubbing her right eye a little bit more.

"I just... Found out some news. I don't really feel like company right now." Ayoluwa replied softly.

"Yeah? Fuck that. Lemme call Shaqir and Bronny."

"Dior-." Ayoluwa tried to say but the boy had hung up before she could object.

Ayoluwa sighed then turned the Bluetooth on in her car.

Seconds later, the bass from Put That On Everything by Brandy could be felt throughout the car.

When Ayoluwa got home, a half hour later, she was extremely drained from crying.

She recognized Shareef's car parked in her driveway and groaned as she parked her own car on the street in front of her house.

"Man, I do not feel like dealing with all these niggas today." Ayoluwa murmured as she stuck her key into the door and unlocked it.

But sure enough, Dior, Bronny, Shaqir, Shareef and another tall light skin boy with hazel eyes were sitting on her black couch in the living room, watching old Powerpuff Girls reruns.

Lauryn was sitting in between Shareef and Bronny, making Ayoluwa pause in the doorway, "Where's the babysitter I hired? Who let you in?"

"Oh yeah, I got rid of her. Don't worry I paid her," Shareef replied.

Ayoluwa closed the door then dug into her purse for her wallet, pulling out a single hundred dollar bill, "Here."

"Nah," Shareef said.

"Take it," Ayoluwa insisted, stuffing the money into his hand then sat next to Bronny.

Lauryn climbed over the boy's laps to wrap her arms around Ayoluwa's neck.

Ayoluwa's eyes fell on the unidentifiable boy, "Who are you?"

"Oh, my bad. This is Mikey. Me and him were chilling when Dior called me." Bronny explained.

"Oh. Hi." Ayoluwa said simply as Lauryn tightened her hold and Ayoluwa put one hand on the little girl's back.

Mikey nodded at her, "What's up?"

"Aight so," Dior looked to Shareef who nodded, "We trying to do a trip to Lake Tahoe after school is over. Would you be down?"

Ayoluwa opened her mouth about to say no when Shaqir interrupted her, "We would watch Lauryn. You don't need to get a babysitter."

"I don't know guys. It's kinda last minute, graduation is in two weeks." Ayoluwa pointed out.

"It would only be a couple of days. Like three at the very least." Dior replied.

Ayoluwa pursed her lips, "I guess a few days away wouldn't kill me."

"Right!" Shaqir exclaimed.

"Shhhh!" Lauryn exclaimed as she pointed to the screen.

Ayoluwa snickered softly a little then grew sad again.

All Ayoluwa wanted to do was give her niece the world, and it was breaking her heart that she was unable to properly do so.

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