A/N

Lay sat in the bathroom crying her heart out, she couldn't believe how Key had just spoken to her. At their daughters birthday party at that, she just wanted to leave and be far away from all this bullshit. She wasn't though.

She calmed herself down and splashed her face with water careful not to get her freshly done hair wet. She patted her face dry applied some lipgloss.

Leaving the bathroom she accidentally bumped into a hard body almost knocking her over completely.

"My bad shorty. You okay?" He asked, and boy was he a fine ass man. Lay smiled up at him, their eyes catching each other's. For a first time since they first met Lay had felt a warmness in her body.

"Yes thank you, you here for the birthday party?" Lay asked, she had never seen him before and she damn sure didn't invite him.

"I'm Leah's brother, Kai. Sumn like security." His smile lit up the entire room and even made Lay smile a little bit.

"Okay cool. Well, I have to get back to my daughters party but, thank you for your help." Lay smiled small, he nodded his head.

"I'm sure I'll see you around." He nodded at her and she walked off, but he knew he would see her again.

"Hey bestie you okay?" Jasmine asked, her stomach visibly showing in her little outfit.

"Yeah I'm doing fine thank you, did you talk to Von?" Lay asked, Marlee was cool with seeing Jasmine but as far as seeing Vonny, Lay herself would probably kill him.

"I beat his ass. I'm so sorry about that." The two of them hugged and then walked into the party venue again. Jasmine put her gift on the table and helped herself to some food.

Lay scoped the party for her daughter, who was currently throwing a fit looking for her mom. Lay was going to have to break her out of that because with them living separately, she was going to have to get used to it.

Quickly she walked over to her and picked her up even though she weighed more than her weight limit.

"You sleepy mama?" Lay asked as Eli laid her head on her shoulder, Keisha and her bestfriend Mimi made her way over to her as she patted Eli's bottom. She was sleep within seconds.

"You need me to take her?" Keisha asked, "If I sit down it'll be okay, I'm starting to cramp though." Lay sat down in an empty chair.

"I wanted to introduce you to Mimi." Lay held her hand out for her to shake.

"Nice to meet you and thank you for coming." Mimi declined her handshake but gave her a hug instead.

"I've heard plenty about you. It's nice to put a face with a name." Mimi said, Chalynn shied away.

"Oh, good things I hope." She mumbled adjusting in her seat.

"Well, it was nice meeting you love. Keisha, do you want another drink, Lay?" Mimi asked her, Keisha nodded her head yes.

"No ma'am. Thank you." Lay replied, Mimi went to grab them drinks and Keisha sat down next to Lay.

"I would love to speak to you after the party." Chalynn already knew what it was about and she did not want to be lectured.

*

Somehow Marlee and Ronny had taken over the games and everybody was outside having a blast. They were currently playing egg and spoon race, even the adults were playing and having fun.

Eventually Eli woke up from her nap and went back to the party. Lay was just glad because there was a little more than an hour left of the party and then she wouldn't have to be bothered with any of these people until she felt like it.

She swore up and down nobody would see her unborn child. Mimi's comment as well as Keisha's made her wonder if they knew what she had done. Probably.

"This your kid birthday party but you're sitting in the chair looking all sad. Wassup wit that?" Kai asked Lay drawing her from out of her own thoughts.

"Chile, my baby dad is not making this easy." Lay rolled her eyes, she was over this entire party. Her feet along with her feelings hurt.

"Don't let him get you down. She only turns one, once." Kai nudged her causing her to smile at him.

"There's that beautiful smile." The smile that lit up Lays face pissed Key off. He wasn't ready to see her talk to other niggas, and he damn sure didn't want her moving on from him.

Key watched the interaction intensely, first of all, who was this nigga? Who even invited his ass and did he know who he was talking to?

"Dada." Eli stated wobbling up to him, "Up, up." Key reached down to pick her up and she clapped her hands. Lay took her attention away from Kai and watched as Eli walked over to her father. Seeing him step up and interact with her more made her heart skip a beat.

Out the corner of his eye Key saw Lay watching the two of them with a small smile,

Aubree and India walked over to Key and a had a small interaction before Key handed Elianna to Aubree but not before he planted a soft kiss on her lips. Chalynn's small smile turned into a frown so deep that you would've thought her face hurt. She was completely fuming, she had just told this man how she felt about that and he did it anyways.

Usually, she wasn't a 'confrontational' person but being blatantly disrespected brought out another side of her.

"Excuse me." Lay said to Kai, pushing her chair back, her chest heaved up and down. She was so angry that her insides were twisted up and she felt as though she was going to puke.

Mimi tapped Keisha's shoulder to get her attention to the situation, causing her to get up from her seat. Keisha held back, to see if the Chalynn she had only met once was going to appear.

Marlee caught wind of her, "Aw shit." She mumbled assessing the situation. Aubree had no way of knowing she was holding Elianna against Lays wishes so she wasn't her target but the smirk on Keys face told Lay everything she needed to know.

"I need to talk to you. Neow." She huffed visibly upset, not once did she even acknowledge Aubree or India all she saw was red. But Aubree was looking at Lay like she was crazy.

"For what?" He chuckled, Lay was beyond pissed now. Once again he was making a fool out of her in public.

Chalynn jabbed her acrylic painted finger nail into his chest rather harshly. "Now!"

"Ow damn. C'mon girl." Key rubbed his chest and followed Lay into the hallway. On her way out she advised the Dj to turn up the music.

"Are you fucking dumb. I literally just told you not to let her hold my child and then you do it anyways. I outta smack the shit outta you Markeyvius." She rolled her neck at him.

"So I can't have somebody I been knew hold her, but you can fuck my homie?" He asked inching closer to her.

"You mad cause I fucked Black but you literally fucked somebody that you told me not to worry about. The next day. Left me, pregnant and told me to get rid of it. You just as grimy as me. I did it because I was tired of you hurting me. You needed to hurt just like me." She yelled back at him, not backing down from. She was so mad she wanted to swing on him.

"You miss me, you want me to come home and shit but you smiling in another nigga face at our daughter birthday party. You a hoe Chalynn. I should've been peeped game as soon as I found out you used to hoe for Bryson. You crossed a line with Black that you can't come back from. We done." Their eyes started to water as soon as he said the last few words to her. She would never know how much those words hurt to say to her but he was serious.

"Man fuck you Markeyvius. All them late nights that I came to your house to calm you down. Stuck beside you after you fucked me over and over and over again. I make one mistake and I'm a hoe." She didn't realize how badly she was crying.

"On the real. We don't need to talk unless it got sumn to do with our kids and I mean that. Ion fuck wit you no more."

"I hope my next nigga can show me what it feel like to be loved, cause this entire time was nun but hurt. I hate you. On my son. I hope he don't turn out like you." Lay knew exactly what buttons to push, Markeyvius grabbed Lay up by her shirt and pushed her against the wall.

"I'll kill any nigga you bring near my kids. On my son, Lay." He whispered coldly.

"Markeyvius, let her go." His mother spoke calmly, tugging on his arm. Mimi assisted Keisha with trying to get him to let her shirt go

"Come on Key, think about Eli. She wouldn't want to see you hemming up her mom." Mimi rubbed his shoulder.

Key released her and instinctively Lay swung her hand and smacked the fuck out of him. Mimi gasped as she heard Chalynn's hand connect with her nephews cheek.

"Ouu .." Mimi covered her mouth and looked to Keisha who was just as shocked as Key was.

"Go get my fucking child and stop playing with me." She yelled at him as he was about to charge at her, King and Marcus held him back. She hadn't realized how much of a crowd had came into the hallway.

"Now Chalynn, I've defended you countless times. But you've crossed the line putting your hands on my son." Keisha put her hand on her hip and the other one in pointed Lays face.

"Come on KeKe." Mimi tried to get Keisha to move but she was livid. Now that everybody was ganging up on her, Marlee came to her defense. She stood in between Keisha and Lay.

"I wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for you trying to hook me up with your sorry ass son. I break my back for that nigga all the fucking time. You ain't hear him doggin me all day? Treatin me like some random bitch off the street. You'll never see yo son. Ever. I mean that shit." Lay yelled passed Keisha.

"Come on Lay, that's Ms. Keisha. Calm down. And no disrespect Ms. Keisha, remove yo finger from my sister face." Marlee said in a polite warning tone, she loved her like a mother but she herself was crossing some boundaries. Keisha removed her finger and began to walk away.

"We've all said and done some things we regret right now. We gone take Key outside and calm him down, you do the same thing." Mimi said to Lay before walking with Keisha to her son.

"We done." He said walking the opposite way with his family. His cheek was red and throbbing from where she had slapped him.

Lay watched as he walked down the hallway and when he looked back at her with the coldest look in his eyes. She knew she had lost him, forever.

Lay was left alone in the hallway after the entire altercation. She slid down the wall and for the second time that day she began to cry. Her life was in shambles. She was pregnant by a man she hated, was legally responsible for his child that she had grown to love. Marlee would deal with the damage when they got home but now she was enjoying Ronny.

"Hey friend." Lay looked up to see Stacey, "Oh Stacey, I'm a terrible person. Who destroys their child's birthday party like that." Lay looked over at Stacey who sat next to her. She pulled her into a tight hug and let her know that everything was going to be okay.

"Listen, I'm the last person to judge. You can't keep going back to him and doing this to yourself. I didn't know you were pregnant too, Lay. All this extra stress in the beginning of your first pregnancy is very dangerous. You're going to need a friend and if you need one, you've got one in me." Stacey rubbed her back, Lay soaked up everything that she was saying to her.

She was going to take her up on her offer, now that her and Markeyvius were officially done she was going to need a friend. Jasmine had her own things going on and couldn't be there like she used to be.

"Thank you Stacey. I know you have your own things going on but, my first Lamaze class is next weekend if you're free to come?" Lay asked, "I can do that." Stacey nodded her head, she could tell she was going to be a good chunk of Lays support system for her pregnancy.

"Now come on. You're too pretty, to be outside of this amazing party crying. Let's get you cleaned up so we can wrap this thing up with cake and gifts." Lay giggled, "I would love that."

Outside of the venue Key and King, along with Keisha and Mimi stood around trying to get him to calm down.

"Y'all gotta stop this. Just leave each other alone." Keisha stated, she was so stressed she had lit her pre rolled joint.

"She started it." Key shrugged his shoulders trying to calm down.

"Damn, she fucked Black?" King asked in disbelief, Key nodded his head. King shook his head, that was some unforgivable shit he couldn't believe Lay did that. He understood now why he was treating her that way.

"I seen you, being petty. You knew she was going to go off on your ass. Markeyvius if you keep stressing her out like this. She's gone lose that baby. You shouldn't be putting your hands on a woman period." His mother warned passing her joint to Mimi.

"Fuck her." He waved it off, but he knew when he was going to cry in the car. They were officially that toxic couple. There was no coming back from this.

"You coo mane?" King asked putting his hand on Key's shoulder.

"I just need a second." Key walked off down the street letting them watch him walk away.

When he got down the street he called somebody he looked up to, Dolph. He was away for his music so he couldn't be at the party.

"Wassup Key?" Dolph's voice came through the face time audio. Markeyvius caught his cousin up on the shit that had just transpired, he knew that if anybody understood he would. Mia had put the paws on his ass before so he chuckled when he heard Lay slapped him.

"Nigga that shit ain't funny, she lucky she carrying my seed." He shook his head, he couldn't believe Dolph was laughing at him.

"Run that shit back?" Dolph raised his eyebrow, "Yea, we got a baby on the way." Key sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

"First, congrats lil nigga. Secondly, it's bout time for you to step up bruh. You got another baby on the way and you still out here doing crazy shit? You can't put your hands on a woman. Period. Especially, not one that's carrying your baby. That shit she did with Black wasn't coo at all but you know Lay. Talking down on her, talking about her, how that make you look? Especially to your daughter. You know why you fell in love wit her. You don't gotta fuck wit her on the same level but, your kids are more important than anything." Dolph preached to Key, not wanting to admit his cousin was right he playfully rolled his eyes.

"Aight. You right nigga. You right. I'll apologize .. eventually. I gotta get back to my lil girl party though. I'll holla at you, be safe out there." Even though he wanted Dolph to get hyped like him, Key knew he was right.

"Stay up."

*

When the two groups finally reconvened for the party. Eli was walking around like nothing had happened.

"Baby girl." Lay scooped her up in her arms, she cheesed showing her two little teeth. She took her over to the DJ booth and grabbed the microphone.

"Excuse me. We're going to do cake and ice cream now and then gifts so that we can all leave. I want to thank all of you for coming to our daughters birthday party and thank y'all for keeping her away from the negativity. I didn't birth you and I wasn't there for the first part of your life but I'm here now and I promise to protect you from everything I can. I love you Eli." Lay kissed her cheek and Eli grabbed the mic.

"luv u, mommy." Eli's little voice caused the crowd to say 'aww' and do a slight laugh. The DJ took the microphone back.

"Marlee can you grab the high chair from the car?" Lay asked but she noticed it was already near the cake table. She set Eli down and buckled her in.

"Uncle Key, where is my daddy?" Dreamy asked him, he looked around but he didn't see him .. or India.

"I'm not sure baby. Hey Ronny, you seen Marcus?" Key asked her, she shook her head no. Aubree had a feeling that it had something to do with India.

"I'll go get him." Ronny left the venue and went to look for Marcus. "I'll come with you." King was curious too.

"Can we get a picture with the parents?" The photographer asked, the two of them looked at each other and then at the baby.

"Sure." They stood close enough that they could get the baby in the picture. They plastered fake smiles on their faces and went their separate ways of the high chair.

Lay grabbed the smash cake from the table and lit the candles. Everybody gathered around the her high chair and was about to sing happy birthday. People turned their heads as they heard yelling. Lay sighed deeply, she was ready to go home.

Thanksgiving was a few days away and she was going to need to decompress before she could go around people. If she wanted to be bothered at all.

Deciding to just continue with her daughters party they sung happy birthday.

The photographer got pictures of her smashing her cake into her face.

"Mommy have some?" Lay asked pretending to eat some of her food.

"No!" She yelled slapping Lay's hand.

"That's right tell her ass no." Key boasted, she decided to ignore him because there was no way she was gonna get outta her character again.

After everybody else got their cake, Lay moved it right along and cleaned Eli up so they could get the gifts together. Soon after Ronny and King walked back into the room. Marcus came back in to grab Dream and say bye to everybody.

Lay gave Dreamy a goody bag before they headed out. She was jealous of how they were leaving, that was her complete mood.

"Okay we're going to start gifts." Keisha rolled the gift table over to where everybody was at and handed Lay the first gift.

"It's from Ms. Stacey, Eli." Key helped her open the gift up, she had a few Doc Mcstuffins toys and a few books about natural hair and loving her black genuine self. Inside the book was a sweet note and two tickets to Disney Land fell out.

"You didn't !" Lay squealed with excitement, she had just told Stacey last week how she wanted to get away with Eli for a little bit.

"I did. For Christmas." Stacey beamed that's the most she had seen Lay smile today.

"Thats wassup Stacey, thank you." Key appreciated the gift, now he knew she would have a nice Christmas he was trying to go on na trip too.

The next gift was from her Gigi, she got her some tickets to Legoland and a bouncy house.

"Can you say thank you gigi?"

"Tank youuuu." Eli kicked her little feet and threw the tickets in the floor. Lay bent over to pick them up.

"This one is from Ms. Aubree." Lay said reading the tag on the gift bag. Elianna quickly ripped up the bag and found the contents inside.

"Ouu Eli, look at you. You got a designer bag, go head girl." Lay smiled and put the bag on Eli's shoulder. She immediately started posing like the lil diva she is. Key smiled at Aubree.

"Thank you, Aubree." Lay smiled genuinely at her and Key thanked her as well. Eli was too busy showing off her little purse.

"This one is from one of your favorite uncles."