I couldn't imagine raising a kid all by myself. Even though Chris wasn't living with me, he was still a lot of work whenever I visited him at Blake's. Got to hand it to the guy and his family for being able to put up with him frantic.

"Mommy, I really liked Auntie Lottie. Can you bring her again someday?" Chris asks me with a pouty face, thinking that I was going to say no.

Lottie had left a few minutes ago because she had to pick up groceries for her aunt. I was originally going to go with her but Chris had started throwing a tantrum and Blake was about to rip his hair out, not being able to manage him.

"Of course, she might come back later to pick me up so you can meet her again then" I ruffle his hair.

Blake sat there on the couch leaning back while looking at Chris and smiling at him. It was a smile that I don't see many teenaged boys hold. "You know, I wouldn't mind just adopting him" He leans towards my ear and whispers.

"Really?" I ask him, surprised "even the tantrums and everything?" I smile.

"Even the tantrums and everything" He nods. "Don't tell me you wouldn't"

I let out a small laugh. "Of course I would. But I want him to find his family"

After cleaning up all his toys, Chris comes and sits on the couch between Blake and me. "I'm hungry" He sinks on the couch as his stomach grumbled making Blake and I laugh. Chris pouted at our reaction and clutched his stomach.

"Ok, come on let's see what we got," Blake says as he gets up and walks towards the kitchen. When neither Chris nor I get up and follow him, he comes back and tells us to get up. Both Chris and I, too lazy to get up, sink in the couch. Blake throws Chris over his shoulders then grabs my arm and leads us to the kitchen.

Chris and I sat down on stools of the island counter while Blake tried to find something to eat. He checks the cabinets then makes his way over to the fridge. "Looks like we have..." He whips out his phone and dials a number, letting the fridge door close. "Ya, Hi. I'd like to order two large boxes of pizza. Extra cheese and pepperoni... I'll take a medium box of fries... Yes, that'll be all. Thank you" he ends the call.

"Looks like we have pizza and fries" I finish his sentence.

"Daddy, how long? I'm hungry!" Chris complains.

"Just a little while buddy. It'll be here soon" he answers.

"Hey what do you say we go out and play something until the pizza comes. It's really nice out" I suggest causing Chris's eyes to light up.

"Can we please play tag then?" He asks, Blake and I nod. "Ok then. Not it!"

"Not it!" That left Blake.

"Fine, I'll be it" He lets out a sigh.

Blake started counting to 10 while Chris and I ran away from him. When he was done counting, he ran after Chris first, making his cutest little giggles the only thing to be heard. Upon touching Chris, Blake falls tripping over Chris but shielding him in a way that he wouldn't get hurt. I quickly make my way over to the two boys to see if everything was ok.

"Are you guys ok?" I ask, concern very visible in my voice.

"Now daddy!" Chris yells and the next thing I know I'm lying on the ground with two boys hovering over me. Soon enough, Chris decided to pretend this was WWE as he got up and lightly jumped on me, making sure that he did not hurt me.

"1...2...3... Knock out!" Blake yells as he slams the ground with his hands. I couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"That wasn't fair. You guys scared me!" I sit up and cross my hands over my chest and pout, in hopes that maybe they'll feel bad.

"But Mommy! It was so funny!" Chris rolls over with laughter and before Blake does the same, I shove his face with my hand, making him fall back and doubling over in laughter.

Letting the boys have their fun, I got up and made my way inside the kitchen to get a glass of water when the bell rang.

"THE PIZZA'S HERE!" Chris yelled and ran to open the door with Blake following him.

I grabbed a few plates and glasses and set them on the table as Blake paid the delivery guy and brought the food in.

"That was quite fast" I comment as he puts the food on the table and seats Chris in a chair.

"And boy am I glad!" Chris licks his lips and rubs his hands together. Blake and I both laugh as I serve him a slice of pizza and some fries. "I want more"

"Finish that first and then you can have more. Otherwise, you're gonna waste food"

"And wasting food is bad" Chris finished my sentence which made me smile. Every kid should have morals. I plant a kiss on the side of his head and go eat my food. God, I feel so motherly.

I see Blake staring at me so I offer him a smile which he returns while shaking his head and continues to eat his pizza.

We all ate our meal quietly. No one said a word until Chris broke the silence.

"I'm full" he pushed his empty plate back and made his way to the washroom to wash his hands. Blake put his plate underneath Chris's and put it on the side of the kitchen sink, indicating that he was done too. He followed Chris to the bathroom to wash his hand and help Chris as well since he could not reach the tap.

Once I was done, I washed the dishes and cleaned up the table, putting the leftovers in the fridge, and might I add there was a lot.

When Blake came back with Chris, he was shocked that everything was cleaned up. "You didn't have to do that."

"Do what?" I ask him innocently.

He lets out a small laugh and answers "clean up. I was going to come back and do it"

"It's ok. I don't like having things messed up. They need to be done right away" I offer him a smile.

The bell rang and my eyes shift towards the stove clock which read 6:55 and I was shocked that I had spent the whole day here.

"That must be Lottie, she said she would come by around 7," I tell Blake, remembering her words. "Have you seen my phone?" I ask since that was the only belonging I had.

"Auntie!" Chris ran to the door as fast as his little legs could take him.

"I think you left it in Chris's room when he was showing you and Lottie his car bedsheet covers" He answers as he followed Chris to help him open the door.

I quickly made my way upstairs to Chris's room and found my phone laying there on his bed. I grabbed it and quickly made my way downstairs not wanting to make her wait.

When I got downstairs, I was dragged by Chris back to the living room. "Come on mommy!"

"This is Jackie. Jackie these are my parents, and my little brother, Lucas" Blake introduces me as soon as I get in the room. It took me a while to register what had just happened as I just stood there in front of a brunette lady with eyes that resembled Blakes and her skin a few shades darker than Blakes. She was literally drop-dead gorgeous.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I just kind of zoned out and took me a while to register what happened. I thought it was my friend. Sorry. I'm Jackie. It's nice to meet you" I smile at them and shake hands with each of the family members as Blake held a smile on his face knowing well that I had just embarrassed myself.

"It's nice to meet you too Jackie." Mr. Archer replied with a smile. He was a tall man with hair as dark as night and eyes the perfect sea blue that complimented his olive skin tone with a few wrinkles defining his ageing skin. He was still very good-looking. If anyone ever wondered why blake was so good-looking, one look at his parents and they would understand.

"So you're Chris's mom?" Lucas asks me.

"Temporarily, yes" I answer the 7-year-old Minnie version of Blake, who seemed that he will be quite beautiful when he's older. He was definitely going to have girls swooning over him, much like his older brother. They were beautiful as heck and could easily make anyone jealous by their looks.

"So does that mean Alexa's out of the picture?" Lucas pokes his elbow in Blake's stomach with a cheesy smile on his face, earning a slap at the back of his head from Blake.

"Blake!" Mrs. Archer scolded as I pursed my lips to hold back a smile.

"Grandma, Mommy and Daddy and I played tag today and I and Daddy scared mommy. It was funny! Mommy thought we got hurt!" Chris runs to sit on Mrs. Archer's lap as he tells her how his day went.

"I hope these two boys didn't cause you too much trouble" Mrs. Archer smiles at me upon hearing the trick that had been played on me.

"No, not at all" I smile at her. Before anyone could say anything else, my phone rang and I excused myself to go to another area to receive my call.

"Jackie, where are you?" My dad asks, worried.

"I'm at a friend's house. Are you home?" I still had not told my dad about Chris but I'm working to find the right time.

"Ya. You weren't home and there was no note. You weren't answering your calls and you weren't with Lottie so I got worried. Who's this friend by the way? Where does she live? Do I know her parents? What do her parents do? What-"

"Dad, relax. I'm coming home right now. I'll tell you everything. Ok?"

"Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No, I'm just going to call Lottie if not then I'll walk. It's not that far from here. You just make sure you eat properly. Ok? Bye" With that, I ended my call. That's my dad for you. Wanting to know every bit of detail of every 'new' friend.

I open my texts to text Lottie but see there is already a text from Lottie saying that she can't come until 9. I texted her that it was ok and that I'm going home right now.

So maybe I lied a bit to my dad about Blake's house being close but I guess that's fine. I really could use a walk after that pizza and fries.

I make my way back into the living room to see Chris teaching everyone hot potato.

"Mommy, come play," Chris says as soon as he sees me.

"No, I'm sorry. I need to get home" I tell him.

"Can I come?" Chris looks up at me with a bright smile. I bent down to his level and brush his hair out of his face with my fingers.

"I'm sorry, but not yet. I promise soon though ok?" I give him a small smile to which his smile drops to match mine and nods. I kiss his cheek and get up only to have Chris run upstairs. He was upset and it upset me. Why does his upsetness affect me?

Blake offered me a small smile, being able to tell that my mood had taken a turn to sad Ville. "I'll go talk to him," He says, getting up from his sitting beside his mom and running up the stairs. Blake knew I had not yet told my parents, he didn't know that my dad was both my mom and dad and it can be a bit difficult raising a teenaged daughter alone.

"Why can't you take him with you?" Lucas asks.

"Lucas could you give us a moment." Upon Mrs. Archer's words, Mr. Archer escorts Lucas out of the room.

Mrs. Archer motions me to sit beside her, where Blake was previously sitting. I do.

"What just happened?" She asks me.

"I don't know" she rubs my back in comfort.

"It's a mother's thing dear. It upsets a mother to see her child upset"

"But I'm not even his mom" Tears dared to slip out of my face, and I didn't know why. All I could see was Chris's smile dropping and him walking away over and over again.

"Honey, you don't have to be his biological mother for this to happen. And I know this is hard for you. A random kid comes out of nowhere and starts calling you mommy. A three-year-old kid who's still learning from right to wrong. It can be pressuring and stressful. Trust me I know. That was with Blake. Of course, your situation is different you're not even out of high school yet and Blake didn't pop from the sky and I actually had to go through the painful process of birth-" I let out a laugh.

"but what I'm trying to say is" she continued "things like this happen. They're inevitable once you get attached to a kid especially as a motherly figure. So don't worry about it because Chris still loves you. Not you as a mom but you as Jackie. And he will always come back to you"

"How do you know?" I ask her as I wipe my tears.

"Mother's instincts. And because he always talks bout what you and Blake do with him. What you do with him. He just wants to spend time with you"

"I want to too, but I haven't told my dad yet and I don't want him to freak out"

"Are you Reese West's daughter?" I nod.

She nods in understanding. Few people knew my dad. Those who knew my dad knew about my mom. I guess Mrs. Archer was one of them.

"Thank you, Mrs. Archer. I think I should go now. My dad's going to get worried" She nods in understanding and I make my way to the door when Blake stops me, keys in his hands.

"You wanna go call him?" He asks, waving the keys. In other words, he was giving me a ride.

I nod and make my way to his room.

"Chris?" I knock on the half-open door.

"You didn't leave yet?" He asks. I shake my head.

"You wanna drop me home with daddy?" His smile brightens at my offer and he quickly nods. I carry him downstairs while Blake had already started the car. Blake got out of the car, taking Chris from my arms and buckling him on his car seat while I sat shotgun.

"I love you, mommy. I just wanna spend more time with you" Chris says. I turn around to look back at him.

"I love you too baby and I want to spend time with you too but things are difficult right now." I reach out my hand to give his hand a small squeeze.

"We ready to go?" Blake asks as he sits in the car.

"YEAH!" Chris exclaims. "Wait. Daddy are you mad at mommy?" He asks seriously.

"No why?" Blake asks. I was confused myself.

"Cuz you don't kiss her after you sit in the car anymore and you don't tell her that you love her" Both Blake and my eyes raise in shock.

Really not wanting to play in this part I told Chris "your daddy and I aren't that close anymore."

"Really?" Blake asks me causing me to face him.

"Not close at all" I reply, Chris was giggling in the back with his tiny hands covering his tiny mouth.

"Oh, man! Here I thought we were getting somewhere" He smirks as he backs up the car from the driveway.

"Not even close" I reply as I face the front with a smile on my face.

"We got a cute pretend family" Blake whispers so Chris doesn't hear.

"So we'll leave it at pretend"

How far will this pretend go?