My Baby, My Darling.

"What do you mean?" Ben furrowed his eyebrows and turned around so that he was facing me.

I breathed evenly. "I think you need to tell-"

He shook his head, letting out a low chuckle as his head dropped to the ground. "Look, no disrespect to you and your relationship with my brother, but you have no idea what you're talking about."

"So you mean to tell me that Monica's baby isn't...?" I scoffed and courageously raised an eyebrow, still not believing him. "What were you two fighting about in his apartment that day?"

"Look, I think you need to talk to Dexter. You have questions that I'm not really qualified to answer." He muttered, letting out a breath of air and letting his eyes drop to the floor as he rubbed the back of his neck. The same tired look was plastered onto his face, this time giving a vibe of defeat. "My brother is good at a lot of things, and if I recall correctly from my past experiences, hiding things from people he cares about is one of them."

I licked over my lips, pushing a few strands of hair out of my face before fixating my gaze on him. "Forgive me for saying this, Ben, but I'm finding it hard to believe you."

"Monica...she told you that I'm Lydia's father, huh?" He furrowed his eyebrows in concern, crossing his arms over his chest as if in deep thought. I could sense that he wasn't stuttering in his speech or carrying himself in an arrogant manner out of some sort of guilt, but rather confusion. "I guess things really don't change. Does Dexter know about all of this?"

I cleared my throat, readying to tell Ben about my encounter with Monica at the diner and how I hadn't told his brother yet when I spotted Dexter rounding the corner with a grin on his face. His smile faltered slightly when his eyes landed on Ben and his pace quickened as he moved to stand at my side, wrapping an arm around my waist with ease.

"What's going on here?" Dexter smiled lightly as his gaze traveled between Ben and I.

"A little miscommunication, that's all." Ben smirked, his eyes landing on me.

"Yeah." I nodded, furrowing my eyebrows as I stared at Ben's concerned expression. His eyes sent me a hidden message as if to tell me that I should press Dexter for answers because I somehow played a role in this situation. I turned my gaze towards Dexter standing beside me, and quickly shielded my confusion with a small smile, pecking his lips. "Just catching up."

"Ben." Dexter directed a formal stare towards his brother, the same look that he's been giving numerous guests at this party. "Rachel was looking for you in the kitchen. Something about the German beer that you love."

Ben nodded, murmuring a quick happy birthday to Dexter before excusing himself and disappearing towards the large swinging door at the end of the hallway.

"Are you ready to go?" His fixed his gaze on me, still slightly distracted.

"Dexter," I let out a breath of air, narrowing my eyes slightly "what happened between you and Ben?"

"Nothing." He scoffed, smirking lightly.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes at him. "Bullshit."

"Look, does it really matter? It was just a little sibling scuffle, like I told you." He laughed half-heartedly, intertwining our fingers as he led me towards the front door.

"It matters, Dex." I stopped, whispering harshly and grabbing his attention as we stood in the foyer where a few guests were mingling nearby. Their conversations were out to a halt as their attention turned towards Dexter and I. Dexter licked over his lips and sent them a small smile, forcing the guests to look away and continue their conversations.

He shot me a confused look, closing the distance between us as not to cause a scene. "It's really no big deal, baby. It was just a few money issues involving our dad."

"So you can honestly tell me it had nothing to do with Monica?" I raised an eyebrow, still whispering.

"Monica?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

I scoffed, "Yes, Dexter. Monica, your ex-fiancé, Monica." A few guests glanced in our direction and paused for a moment before continuing with their conversation.

He dipped his head low, whispering so that his breath was tickling my face. "Baby, did Ben say something to you?"

I narrowed my eyes, searching his features as if his expression would give me answers. "Should Ben have said something to me? Is there something I should know, Dexter?"

More guests turned their attention towards us, standing in the middle of the foyer and bickering silently. Dexter rubbed the back of his neck and sent everyone the same formal smile he'd been flashing all night. It was at that moment that I realized the facade he presented to strangers and how easily he plastered it onto his face. It made me wonder how many times he hid his own emotions in front of me.

"I'd rather we not have this discussion in front of my father's business associates." He spoke calmly, averting his eyes from my own.

He hastily slipped his hand in mine again and led me out the front door, down the driveway towards his car and opened the passenger door for me. It wasn't until Dexter pulled onto the main road that I decided to end the tense silence filling the car.

"I don't want to fight with you." I spoke honestly, staring out the window as Dexter focused his gaze on the road ahead, his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed his jaw clench and unclench and attempt to steady his breathing.

"Then, don't." He spoke simply, impassively. His shield was up.

I sighed, rolling my eyes as I turned to face him. "Dammit, Dexter. You can't keep doing this. You keep...shielding your past from me, putting this barrier around who you used to be and shutting me out everytime I get past your comfort zone. You did this at the lake house, and you're doing it again. I can't be in the dark about every little thing."

He was quiet, his beautifully chiseled features staring out onto the road. I knew he could hear me, that he absorbed every word that came out of my mouth and was silently analyzing my diction or how I stressed certain words as opposed to others.

I took his silence as an opportunity to continue. "I met her, you know? I met Lydia. Monica was eating at the diner the same time I was in there a few weeks ago and I somehow ended up holding Lydia...in my arms."

Dexter remained quiet beside me, his eyes never leaving the road to steal at least a glance in my direction.

"She fucking looks like you, Dexter. Will you explain that to me?"

His Jeep came to a stop in front of a familiar warehouse, the same warehouse where he took me on our first date. I hadn't been paying attention as to where he was driving, so I didn't notice that we'd slowed to a stop in front of his mother's rock arena.

"Why are we here?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, looking out my window.

He cleared his throat from beside me, readying to speak. I turned to face him and he grabbed my hand over the middle console, looking into my eyes with the same expression he used when he was thinking very hard about something. I always found this demeanor attractive on him, but right now it only confused me.

His eyes bore into my own as he began to speak, enhancing the clarity and conviction of his words. "I will tell you what you need to know, answer all of your questions. Please, just go inside with me and I'll explain everything."

"Is there something wrong with out here?" I scoffed, still irritated by his forced silence during the twenty minute car ride.

He licked over his lips, pleading with his eyes. I closed my eyes and attempted to steady my breathing. I knew yelling at him wouldn't do us any good. When I opened my eyes, I was met with his grey orbs, staring intently at me in a focused manner. I nodded slowly and began to unbuckle my seatbelt.

"Come on, then." I nodded towards him and hopped out of the passenger side of his Jeep.

"I never told you how my mom ended up at this place, did I?" He said to me as he began flipping on switches in the managers room. The arena came to life as the fluorescent lights illuminated the expanse of the warehouse.

I shook my head, sitting down on a nearby mat and leaning against a colorful rock wall. His features remained focused as he moved to sit down next to me, elbow to elbow.

"My grandpa, my mom's dad, was a millionaire. He wasn't Bill Gates status or anything, but he had money. And my mom hated him for it, how he always tried to buy her affection and flaunted his money wherever he went. He was pretty much a prick of a father to her and an even more terrible husband to my grandma. So she left at her very first opportunity and married my dad, who was the complete opposite of my grandfather. When she met him, he was going to school to be a pilot, you know. Can you believe that? My dad wanted to be a pilot." He scoffed, rubbing the back of his head as he became enraptured by his own thoughts.

"And after Annie was born, they hit a really rough spot, economically. My dad had to drop out of Aviation school and my mom was working two jobs. My grandfather ended up helping them out, brought my dad into the business and forced my mom to stop working altogether. That was his way of maintaining control. It wasn't easy for my mom, giving in like that. It was the source of a majority of the fights between her and my dad. It wasn't until Annie got really sick, she had pneumonia not too long after she turned 1. That's what broke her. For a long time, she resented my dad for becoming exactly like her father. Hell, even I resented him sometimes. My grandpa was a third degree asshole, and my dad practically became his protege, taking over the company once my grandfather died. My mom took a job here when Annie started school. She refused to be one of those stay-at-home moms, she loved adventure. Sometimes, after we got out of school, the three of us would come here and hang out with her. I knew this place up and down, every square inch. It wasn't exactly conventional for a 6-year-old to be wandering around a place like this, but it like being at home. Everyone here loved her, and they loved the three of us just the same."

I nodded, placing my hand on his and offering a small smile.

"When she died, everything went to shit. It's like she was the glue that kept everything stable, kept it all from falling apart. It happened slowly. Annie got involved with the wrong crowd and partied way too much. Ben became my father's lap dog and eventually his spitting image, set to take over my grandfather's company one day. And I stopped caring about everything altogether, making up for what I lacked in emotion by immersing myself in school. Monica was my lifeline, she became my only sign of humanity and vulnerability. I was with her for so long, it became more of a routine than actual affection. I didn't realize I was driving her away, or maybe I just didn't care..."

It was quiet for a while. His gaze stayed transfixed on the empty space in front of him. I squeezed his hand lightly to bring him back to reality. I licked over my lips and pushed a few strands of hair out of my face, gearing up for the information I was about to tell him.

"Dexter, Ben is Lydia's father."

"No, he isn't. That's what I wanted her to tell you." He let out a breath of air, shaking his head. I sat there, motionless as I examined his features, trying desperately to figure out what he was going to tell me, what he was hiding. "I promised you the truth. And the truth.. is that I'm Lydia's father."

That's when my hands went cold, rigid as I pulled the hand that previously rested on top of his and slapped him across the face, hard.