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Dess ducked as a shoe came flying past her head. All across the yard and pool there was clothes scattered everywhere. She could hear shouting but it wasn't loud enough for her to know who it was.

"Whatchu sneaking in my house for?" Hassan asked sitting on one of the pool chairs. Dess jumped out of fear and put her hand on her chest.

"Hassan what the fuck is wrong with you? Why you out here?" Dess questioned panting.

"I swear to God Hassan you're gonna get the fuck out of my house!" Naala screamed from the balcony throwing more of his stuff down.

"Cuz of that," Hassan said taking a pull from his blunt.

"What did you do?" Dess asked with a chuckle. All his clothes were swimming in the pool and he was sat down acting unbothered.

"You got me pregnant now I'm all fat and ugly, and then you're liking bitches pictures on Instagram," Naala shouted, throwing a shoe at him.

"Now why would you do that?" Dess laughed dodging the shoe. "Got my sis about burst a blood vessel,"

"Give her about 5 seconds, she's been doing this for 30 minutes now. She gon be tired soon," Hassan shrugged leaning back.

Like clockwork, Naala's shouting stopped and she was no longer throwing stuff off the balcony.

"Baby?" Hassan shouted loud enough for her to hear,

"Mmm?" Naala said softly,

"You're crying?" Hassan said nudging Dess,

"Well yeah Hassan because you made me look crazy, and now I'm upset," Naala cried sitting on the floor. "You want someone like Kim Kardashian, I don't look like her,"

"Oh lord," Dess shook her head. "I'm gonna go up there,"

"Nah wait," Hassan warned taking another pull of his blunt.

"Go and fuck her then you nasty bitch!" Naala shouted again, this time with tears running down her face. "I'm gonna stay here with your kids, on my own Hassan,"

"There we go," Hassan mumbled closing her eyes. "That baby has to be the devil Desiree cuz that's what I've been living with,"

"It's the hormones," Dess defended. "And your nonchalant attitude doesn't help,"

Naala came down the steps and out of the house, holding Hassan's phone.

"Hey Dess," Naala sighed. "Read that," She said shoving the phone into her hand.

"It says jaydacheaves started a live video," Dess read out slowly.

"Does Drew follow other women on Instagram?" Naala sniffed. "Because Hassan wants to leave me for every fucking model he sees,"

Hassan smacked his teeth and looked off, "Naala go back upstairs and don't bring her into your mess,"

"Lala I don't think he does," Dess said handing her back the phone.

"Then ask him where he was last night, because he wasn't with me," Naala said sitting down in his lap. Hassan shook his head at her, here she was shouting at him and telling him to leave but she was sitting on his lap.

"He went out with Drew I don't know where they went," Dess replied truthfully. This was all very comical to her.

"Don't touch me," Naala snapped moving Hassan's hand from her growing belly. She had made 5 months today and she was highly irritable, which explains her flux in emotions.

"We're going out," Naala said taking Dess' hand to help her up. "You want to disappear all night so can I," Naala frowned.

"It's 9am," Hassan squinted at her. "If you don't go and sit your pregnant ass in that house,"

"We're going out," Dess repeated. "Maybe it will do her some good," Dess said lowly to Hassan.

"Leave the card at home," Hassan said making Naala huff.

"What if I wanna buy something?" Naala whined,

"Dess go up there and tell me if she needs to buy anything else," Hassan nodded at Dess. Naala tutted and tried to walk away from him.

"Stop stressing my son out," Hassan said rubbing her stomach.

"We don't know if it's a boy yet," Naala mumbled leaning into him.

"Get over this little attitude," Hassan spoke firmly kissing her cheek. Naala blushed and turned her face towards him.

"Ok daddy," Naala answered making Dess laugh at the two of them.

"I don't know who's worse at this point," Dess spoke hiking her purse up her shoulder.

"What are you about to get into?" Hassan asked the both of them.

"Shopping," Naala answered standing up to her feet. "And then I'm gonna get Saint from Amir,"

"Why can't he drop him off? You don't need to be going by there," Hassan smacked his teeth, "Why do you wanna go there?"

"Can we not do this right now?" Naala said quietly due to Dess being behind them.

"Just go get my son Naala," Hassan said with attitude, "Cos you're about to piss me off," Dess watched them in silence, she had never seen them fight and it was awkward to watch.

"Okay don't start being mean Hassan," Naala frowned, "You don't have to hurt my feelings to get your point across,"

Instead of continuing to argue, Naala took Dess' arm and led her into the house.

"Let me get my purse," Naala mumbled walking up the steps as fast as she could. Dess followed her and their bedroom was a like a bomb had hit it.

"What's all this for?" Dess said pointing to all the shopping bags.

"For the baby," Naala answered walking into her closet. "I went a bit overboard,"

"A bit?" Dess commented moving around the bags. "Why are you shopping so much?"

"I'm anxious," Naala admitted. She shopped when she felt anxious and recently her anxiety had been on ten.

"About Hassan?" Dess asked inquisitively,

"About everything, Hassan, the baby, my other kids," Naala trailed off. "Also Amir has been hinting at moving away from New York, I can't let him take my babies out of the state,"

"Y'all need to reach a common ground, maybe when you see him today, talk everything through. No distractions, no arguing just talk. Y'all are parents before anything, it's becoming toxic on y'all kids," Dess preached.

"You want your girls growing up thinking this is how a man is meant to treat them?" Dess continued. "They'll only hate you, because you left,"

"I didn't leave because I wanted to," Naala replied quickly. "I couldn't take the abuse anymore,"

"But you willingly stayed for the abuse Naala," Dess said truthfully. "Look I'm an honest person and you're my friend so I'm gonna tell you how it is. You let him treat you badly but you never left, you can't blame him for everything,"

"Now that you've finally left you say it's because of the abuse but you know that's not true. It's because you have no more fight left Naala," Dess finished. "Now I'm not here to judge you, but you need to make things right,"

"How?" Naala sighed sitting on the edge of her bed. "I hear you Dess, trust me I do but Amir doesn't want us to make things right."

"Then you tell the judge," Dess shrugged. "You have the resources, you just need to learn how to use them,"

Naala thought about everything Dess had just said and she couldn't find a fault. Dess was right, she was hiding behind the idea of the abuse than the truth, she never wanted to leave him.

"Thank you," Naala breathed out. "For everything, you've really been a true friend and I don't have many of those," Naala added.

"You're a good person Naala, people have taken advantage of that but I'm not like that," Dess replied with a smile. "Plus you're my sister wife now, no getting rid of you,"

Naala broke out into a big smile and walked over to her, hugging her as tight as her stomach would let her.

"Maybe no more shopping?" Naala muttered when they pulled apart.

"I think that's a good idea," Dess laughed kicking one of the shopping bags to the side.

~~

Dave opened the door wide enough for Naala to step into the house. He was holding Mariah on his shoulder, who was half asleep.

"Her heads slipping," Naala pointed out when she was in the house. Dave cut his eyes at her and then proceeded to fix her head on his shoulder.

"Saint isn't ready to leave yet," Dave spoke looking Naala up and down. She was sporting an all in one jumpsuit, with an oversized baby blue varsity jacket. On her feet, were her baby blue Nike Dunks. She had her hair down and the ends slightly curled.

Naala looked good and Dave couldn't help but to stare at her round stomach.

"That's okay, I wanted to talk to you first," Naala said softly, "Can I sit?" She pointed to the couch.

"This was your house, you picked this couch out," Dave reminded her making Naala look around awkwardly. She didn't see this as her home, she saw it as her hell.

"I forgot how good pregnancy looked on you," Dave addressed her, shifting Mariah in his arms.

"What's her name?" Naala asked changing the subject.

"Mariah Sophia Brewster," Dave answered proudly, rubbing her head.

Naala looked away from him, she felt strange. He had used the exact same initials they decided on for Malia, those were going to be the initials they used for any children they had after her.

"Nice," Naala mumbled. "Anyway, I wanted to discuss joint custody,"

"Ain't gonna happen," Dave shut her down immediately. "I don't trust you enough for that, sorry,"

"But I've proved to you that I'm capable. I go to therapy twice a week, I stay on my meds." Naala defended herself.

"When was the last time you heard the voices?" Dave asked with a raised eyebrow. When Naala took long to answer he got exactly what he knew he would. "That's exactly why they're with me,"

"Do you enjoy seeing me in pain?" Naala questioned him calmly. "Because I feel like you can't function without seeing me hurt,"

"Here we go," Dave mumbled to himself.

"I'm a better person, I've changed." Naala said louder than before. "I don't know how much more I need to prove to you,"

"How are you gonna juggle looking after them with a new baby?" Dave responded.

"The same way I did it when I had Phat, I've had a new baby before," Naala said with a frown as she rubbed her stomach.

"I'll think about it, I still don't trust you. Remember when you left Saint in a car on our drive?" Dave said bringing up one of Naala's previous episodes. "Or when you almost drowned Malia?"

"Those were mistakes," Naala said her eyes clouding with tears. "I would never hurt them," She said shaking her head.

"But you did, remember?" Dave taunted her. He knew exactly how to pick at her and no matter how strong Naala thought she was, mentally, she was still weak.

"You got in the bath and you took Phat with you," Dave went on to explain.

"Because she needed a bath," Naala muttered with her eyes closed. Her hands were shaking as she rubbed her thighs anxiously. "It was to make her better, to stop her crying,"

"She almost died Naala, she was 4 weeks old," Dave replied holding Mariah out to her. "She was smaller than this and you tried to kill her,"

"No I didn't do that!" Naala snapped standing up from the couch. "I didn't do that so stop it," She repeated wiping her face.

"You're not well," Dave told her. "We can all see it, the doctors can too. That's why they keep upping your meds,"

"Where's Saint? I want to leave now," Naala said clearing her throat. "Get my son, I want to go,"

"You can't even say you're well because you're not Naala," Dave continued.

"Okay I get it," Naala said softly, "I get it so please stop and get my son so we can go home,"

"Hassan isn't here to save you," Dave smirked. "If I say sit down, you're gonna sit."

"Saint!" Naala shouted. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable and was regretting trying to have an adult conversation with him.

"Malia's mommy?" Malia asked coming down the stairs.

"Come say hi to your mama," Dave said to Malia. He wanted her to shun Naala just like how Sinai and Maniya was. He wanted to show Naala that they were on his side.

"Missed you mommy," Malia sighed. "I can come with you?"

Naala bit her lip and stared blankly at Malia, with the way she was feeling, she wasn't sure.

"I don't think you can Phat," Naala whispered. "Mommy isn't feeling too good,"

"What's wrong with you?" Saint asked coming down to hug her waist. "The baby's making you sick?" He asked affectionately.

Saint always took the lead to be his mom's caregiver when his dad wasn't around, that's what Hassan had instilled in him.

"Yeah it's the baby," Naala replied. "Malia I promise I'll come back for you tomorrow okay?"

"Not tomorrow, now," Malia frowned. She couldn't understand why Saint got to go with Naala and she had to stay back.

"Malia she doesn't care about you," Dave said putting Mariah down in her bouncer. "She doesn't want you around her,"

"Amir don't say things like that," Naala said turning to him. "You know it's hard for her to understand things, don't cloud her thoughts,"

"Mommy doesn't care about Malia?" Malia repeated standing back. "No one cares about Malia?"

"No no, I care about you Malia, I do," Naala rushed out pulling her hand. "Mommy loves you so much but sometimes I love you too much and I don't want to hurt you again,"

After Dave reminded her of her episodes, Naala felt incapable of looking after her children.

"You've never hurt me," Malia said quietly. Naala lifted her up and hugged her.

"Are you sure you should be carrying her?" Dave asked genuinely,

"Don't come any closer Amir," Naala said putting her hand up. "I don't want to let you go my angel," Naala teared up.

"I want to keep you in my arms forever and never let you go but I'm not well," Naala added, her eyes connecting with Dave's. "I'm not well enough to take care of all of you,"

Naala was beginning to believe everything Dave ever said to her.

"Okay that's enough," Dave said taking Malia out of Naala's arms.

"Don't cry mommy." Saint frowned holding her hand.

"Let's go," Naala muttered to him leading him to the door.

"Love wait," Dave said reaching out to touch her which caused Naala to jump.

"Amir please I'm not in the mood to fight, I have things to do," Naala huffed holding Saint's hand tighter.

"I wanna make sure you're okay," He mumbled using the pads of his thumbs to wipe her tears away. On cue, Mariah started to wail loudly.

"Your baby needs you," Naala cleared her throat opening the front door and letting her and Saint out.

~~

"Slow down," Naala moaned holding onto the sheets tightly. Hassan leaned down and kissed her neck, picking up the pace.

"Oh my God," Naala panted as tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. "Baby I can't do it," She cried out pushing him back.

"You want me to stop?" Hassan whispered in her ear, sucking on it gently.

"No don't stop," Naala moaned wrapping her arm around his neck. "Don't stop,"

Hassan sped up his pace but then started going slowly, hitting her spot repeatedly. When her legs began to shake, Hassan sped up again making Naala squirt all over him.

"Fuck," Hassan groaned releasing himself in her. He took a breath and looked down at Naala. "Can I go now?" He said pulling out of her.

"That's why you did that?" Naala said with a frown. "So you can go and sell drugs? Really Hassan?"

"I told you I have a meeting," He spoke rubbing her thigh. Naala hated his work, she didn't think it was safe.

"I thought you were done with this," Naala commented. "You promised that when I had the baby -"

"I never promised that," Hassan interjected. "I don't wanna fight with you baby, I'll be back soon," He said leaning down to kiss her lips.

"Please be careful San," Naala spoke softly rubbing the back of his head.

"I will, sleep." Hassan ordered kissing her again. "I'll be back before you know it and then I can rub your feet just how you like it,"

"Pinky swear?" Naala half smiled with her finger out. Hassan wrapped his finger around hers and kissed her hand repeatedly.

"I love you Naala," Hassan spoke looking deep into her eyes. His words penetrating through her heart and making it swell.

"I love you too San," Naala replied returning his glare.

"My keys," He mumbled rolling over in the bed. Naala sighed and reached over to her nightstand and picked it up, handing them to him.

"Be safe, and text me when you're done," Naala said sitting up in the bed.

"I gotchu," Hassan chuckled before he got out of the bed and went to get dressed, leaving after kissing both her and Saint goodnight.

Hassan sat in his car, rolling up a blunt while he waited. He checked the time and smacked his teeth when he saw someone tapping on his window.

"Bert what I told you about touching my car?" Hassan fussed winding his window down.

"You got a dollar for me Ace?" Bert smiled his usual toothless grin.

"I ain't got a dollar for you. What you did with the money I gave you last week?" Hassan questioned as he finished rolling up his blunt.

"You know," Bert itched his neck. "How else am I gonna survive man?"

Hassan sighed and reached in his glove box and took out a 20 dollar bill. "That's all I'm giving you. Go get you something to eat,"

Hassan couldn't watch him suffer, he wasn't like that.

"Preciate it, where's that pretty little brown thang you be fucking with?" Bert said licking his lips.

"Go on 'fore I shoot your ass," Hassan laughed before winding the window up. He couldn't wait to tell Naala all about it.

"Where the fuck is this nigga?" Hassan huffed sending Drew another text to say he's outside.

Before he could press send, he heard the tugging of his car door. Unlocking the car, Drew slide in and rubbed his hands together.

"Sorry, your baby moms is crazy," Drew said blowing into his hands.

"They all are," Hassan responded. "What took you so long?"

"I'm guessing Naala got into Desiree's head cuz she don't believe that we're always together." Drew replied.

"Man Naala's hormonal ass don't believe nothing," Hassan answered. "I had to promise to rub her nasty ass feet when I get home just so she could give me my keys,"

"I'm starting to think Desiree's pregnant cuz she be doing crazy shit like that too," Drew confessed. "Last night, she ain't go to sleep cuz she swore I was talking to another bitch,"

"Who you was talking to?" Hassan asked pulling off,

"My mama!" Drew exclaimed, "She's bugging, I'm happy you called me bout this meeting,"

"Women," Hassan shook his head. "You got the money though?"

"All here," Drew said lifting the bag onto his lap. "You sure they're legit?"

"I hope so if not I'm killing all their asses," Hassan muttered.

Back at home, Naala tossed and turned in her bed, not able to get the thoughts out of her head.

"Naala! You can't hear me?" Dave shouted in her face. Naala could hear him but she couldn't speak. She was soaking wet, her clothes clung to her body as she shook from the cold.

She was droning out his shouting and also Malia's cries. Everything had gotten on top of Naala. She was looking after a newborn baby with no support, mainly because her husband didn't live with her.