Key's POV~ 

"Hey... I brought food..." I smiled once Corinne opened the door for me. I passed her the bag and

kissed her cheek, while hurriedly kicking off my shoes before looking at her eagerly. "Where's my

girl?"

She grinned and nodded toward the living room. "Imagine that. Me thinking that you were coming

to see me. Key is in the living room, playing and watching Peporo...She loves Peroro. It's her

favorite...." she shook her head as I followed her down the hall, hands on her shoulders as I

moved her forward. "Wow, Kibum.."

"Well, I want to get in there. She's all by herself, right." I said anxiously as I peeked over my ex's

shoulder, sighing in relief once I spotted my daughter safely tucked in a large playpen. She was

sitting on her bottom, toy in hand but her attention was on the television, utterly enthralled with

the little penguin on the screen. "Sorry.." I mumbled, offering Corinne an apologetic smile. "I

should have known that you wouldn't just leave her alone on the floor.."

"No.. That wouldn't  be wise. She's so curious, although some might say nosey. She's trying to

walk and into everything now." she laughed as she headed into the kitchen to unpack the food I'd

brought with me. I smiled as I alternated between watching my baby watch what was obviously

her favorite show and watching her mother mutter in Korean as she went through the takeaway

Korean food. "Oh god... jjajangmyeon... Yes, ddeokbokki... Kibum, you are the awesomest.." she

looked up with a grin as she unpacked the sides along with the rice.

"Didn't think I'd remember your favorites?" I grinned at her eye roll as I walked closer to the

playpen, where Keylee was now staring at me, since her show had gone off. "Oh.. So now appa

gets your attention? Now that your true love has gone away.." I hummed, squatting next to the

playpen. I laughed quietly as she pushed her toy off her lap to crawl to the edge of the pen. "Look

at you.." I gasped as she stood and reached for me, both arms high in the air. "Can I?" I looked

back at Corinne.

"You don't have to ask me if you can hold your own baby, Kibum.." Corinne said, smiling as I

lifted Keylee out and hugged her to my chest, the little girl staring at me. "You can hold her

anytime you want to... And.. Don't think I've forgotten that ddeokbokki is your favorite.. Not

mine." she finished setting the table and came into the living room with me and the baby.

"She's staring... She's not going to cry, is she?" I asked apprehensively, not knowing what I would

do if she actually started to cry. "I don't want her to be uncomfortable."

"Nah... She's pretty good with new people. She's just observing you. She's only seen you twice

and she's still a little unsure. She'll be used to you in no time.." she smiled sadly as she sat on the

couch. "I'm sorry about this. If I'd come back earlier, you wouldn't be a stranger to her.."

I sat on the couch with her, balancing the baby on my lap. "You did what you felt you had to, Ren.

I'm just sorry that I couldn't have been there more for the two of you. I understand why you left..

I do. But I still wish you would have told me what was happening. Even if you'd still decided to

leave, I could have come to see you in the States, or I could have helped more financially.." I

looked down at the baby since she was so quiet and smiled noticing that she was falling asleep on

me. "Speaking of finances.. I found my card that you left under my pillow.." I looked at her as I

settled back on the couch, wanting the baby to be comfortable as she now slept in my arms. "Why

won't you let me help?"

Corinne sighed, leaning back herself and lowered her voice so as not to disturb the baby. "It's not

that I don't want your help. I just know that people are going to think that I just want your

money. And that's not why I came back here, Kibum."

"Since when did we ever give a about what people thought, Corinne? It seems to me that if

other people's opinions meant all that much, we'd have never have gotten together in the first

place. How about this? How about you let me be Key's appa and help you take care of her? She's

my responsibilty too, and I feel left out even now. I'm looking around, seeing all these things,

knowing that you did everything by yourself." I said, trying not get frustrated enough to raise my

voice. "That's not fair. You weren't in that bed alone. You had help making her and you should

have help raising her."

"I'm sorry..." she said quietly, looking down at her hands. I could tell she was biting back tears

and I hated that I'd made her upset enough to cry. "I just... It's already going to be hard once

people know. I just wanted you to be able to tell them that I'm not some gold digger, knowing

that for sure yourself."

I looked over at her, pulling Keylee up my chest, her little head nuzzling my neck as I slid my

hand up and down her back. "I already know that. Other people's opinions of you or of this

situation just don't matter. This is between us. Key is our daughter and we should want the best

for her. Now, you're doing all you can for her. I think I deserve the same opportunity. And it's

not about us one upping each other, seeing who can do better by her. It's about us doing this

together as a team. "

She nodded, looking over at me with a watery smile. "You're right. I won't stop you from helping

anymore."

"Good... As long as we're understood. " I looked down at my daughter deep asleep, her long

eyelashes fanning out over plump cheeks. "Pretty girl.." I murmured, running a finger over her

nose before kissing it gently. "Is she down for the night?" I asked, glancing at the clock.

Corinne nodded as she reached out to the baby's hair. "Yeah, no matter where we are, at

8:30 pm, she's out like a little light." she smiled and stood, walking back into the hall. "Come on,

you can put her to bed." 

I stood as carefully as I could and followed Corinne to her bedroom, laying the baby on her bed

when she gestured to it. I sat on the edge, watching as she pulled a pair of footed pajamas out.

"She won't stay under her blanket.." she explained, holding up the yellow garment, printed with

puppies. "We call these her Jjongie jammies." she laughed as she sat the baby up and pulled her

out of her clothing before changing her diaper. 

I chuckled at the little joke, watching in amazement as she changed the baby quickly and

effiiciently, barely disturbing her. "Can I try?" I asked, ping the pajamas and looking at the

sleeping girl.

"Go ahead... The trick is to try to do it as quickly as possible.." she advised, sitting back to watch

me. "You have to get it on, pick her up and dump her.."

"Dump her?" I asked, an eyebrow lifted in surprise.

"That's my way of saying to roll her into her crib. Raina.. Well, she was watching me do this and

when I slid Key into her crib, she said it looked like I just dumped her in there... It stuck." she

laughed again. "C'mon.. You gotta just do it. If she wakes up, then she's up for the rest of the

night. She'll consider that a nap and be wide awake." she warned, laughing again as I moved

faster.

"There!" I looked at Keylee, happy with my work. I'd managed to slip her into her pajamas

without waking her and now I had to get her into her crib. Well. dump her.

Corinne shook her head as she stood to leave the room. I'm hungry. So once you're done staring

at her like some creepy stalker and you get her in bed, come and join me." she rolled her eyes

again, leaving me alone with the baby.

"OK, baby. Please have mercy on appa." I whispered as I lifted the still sleeping girl. "I'll never

hear the end of it if you wake up now..."

Corinne's POV~

"Get her down?" I looked up from my black beans and noodles with a smile as Kibum appeared in

the kitchen doorway. He looked extremely proud of himself, so maybe the question didn't even

need to be asked. "I take it from the look of pride plastered across your face, that our daughter is

safely sleeping?"

"Yep... I am the master of all appas.." he sat down, pulling my plate across to him. "You do know

that I, as eldest, was supposed to start eating first?" he quipped, snatching my chopsticks from

me to start eating.

"Hey... If you'd had let the true master put the baby down, you would have been able to start.." I

teased back, making myself another plate. I stood to get another bowl of rice, since he'd stolen

that as well. "And I can't wait until the master of appas has to change his first poopy diaper. I

wonder if you'll still be so smug once you smell what can come out of your daughter."

"It matters not the wretched stench..." Kibum said dramatically as he reached over to take my

water. "The master of appas shall always prevail."

"Whatever. I'm just looking forward to the day when the master of appas is faced with such a

catastrophe. When thou shalt runneth to the master of ummas to save you." I laughed, standing

to grab two juices from the fridge. "And what's with you taking my stuff, 'Bum? First my food,

then my water. What else are you planning to take tonight?" 

"I'll take what I want from you." he smirked, gazing boldly across the table at me. 

Well... That escalated fast.

"What makes you think you have that privilege?" I sat back, gaze just as bold as his.

"There's proof in the bedroom that I can get what I want from you, Corinne. Shall we test this

theory tonight as well?"

I looked down, unable to hold his gaze any longer. "No. We wouldn't want two babies to have

explain to the public, would we?" 

"I guess you're right..." he said quietly, finally tearing his gaze away before clearing his throat and

going back to eating. "So... What did your parents think of this? Did you live with them while you

were pregnant? Or did you live on your own?"

I smiled, relieved for the change of subject. "Well. When I first went back, they were fairly

surprised. I did show up without any notice and they did think I'd be gone for two years. So it's

fair to say that they were pretty shocked." I opened my juice to take a drink. "I actually went to

live with Raina, you remember her, right?" I continued at his nod. "I stayed with her for my first

months and then my parents thought it'd be best for me to come home during my last few weeks.

Dad was worried that I'd go into labor and not be able to get to the hospital. since Raina doesn't

have a car."

"Why'd you have to live with Raina? Were they mad at you?" he asked quietly, looking like he

hoped that wasn't the case.

I shook my head to assure him. "I wanted to stay with Raina. I knew my mom would just coddle

me and I didn't want that. They were never angry, just surprised, although we did discuss..." I

trailed off, knowing what I was about to say would probably shake him. "We talked about abortion

and a little about adoption. They just wanted me to explore all the possibilities before I made a

decision. We talked and then I made the only decision I could live with. I wanted to have her and

raise her."

"I'm glad you made that decision." he said softly. "And I'm sorry you had to go through everything

by yourself. I know.. You weren't really alone, but I should have been there for you. Do you know

I've been in America several times. I could have come to see you, or sent for you to come to me."

he took another bite of food before pushing it away. He took a long drink of his juice. "So...

Labor?"

"Hurts like hell.." I finished for him with wry grin. "I was in labor for about 16 hours before they

noticed that I wasn't progressing. They decided that I needed a c-section. You know? When they

take the baby out themselves?" I sighed. shrugging. "It wasn't pleasant, but I'd do it all over

again for her.

"I know you would. " Kibum said quietly, looking at me, a new admiration in his gaze.  "So what

made you decide to come back?"

"I came back because she was doing so much stuff. She was crawling and babbling and her teeth

were coming. I didn't want you to miss her first steps too. So... I contacted the school I'd had the

contract with to see if I could come back, once they said yes, I applied for her passport, waited

the 8 weeks for it to come back and brought my plane ticket. I packed us up and flew out a week

later."

"And your parents?" he asked again. "How did they feel about your coming to tell me?"

"They... Well... They were really upset that I hadn't told you before I left. They thought I should

have given you a chance to respond." I said, not looking at him because I knew what would be

there. An 'I told you so' look. "I'd actually thought about coming right before, so she'd be a

Korean citizen, but.."

"She is a Korean citizen... Because of me. If someone has a Korean parent, they're automatically

granted citizenship. That will make things much easier if you... Well, if you stay here." he said

with a soft smile. "So, she has dual citizenship." 

"I guess.." I drank the last of my juice and stood to clear our mess away. It didn't take very long

since we did it together. "You have to leave soon?"

"No. I've set aside this time since I don't know if I'll be able to see you two within the next few

days. I'm wrapping up alot of things, so I'll be very busy."

I grabbed his hand and dragging him into the living room, turning the lights off as we went. I

plopped down on the couch, pulling him down with me. "Thanks for coming over, Kibum."

"You're welcome. Thank you for letting me come over, Corinne." he smiled as he slid closer to

me, his hand grazing my face gently. 

"You're welcome. You know... You can come over anytime?" I leaned closer to him.

"I know. The lights in this room are pretty. Your face... You look beautiful in this lighting." he

looked up at the Christmas lights I'd strung around the room for Keylee's entertainment, before

turning his attention back to me and smiling as he ran his thumb over my bottom lip. 

"Only in this lighting?" I teased, brushing my lips across his slowly, feeling his hand tangle in my

hair. "And it's unbelievable that you speak of lights when you could be...." I trailed off as he

slanted his mouth over mine, humming softly as we kissed deeply.

'Kissing me.'

AN; Awww... Nothing like a little sweet "family" time. I decided no in this chapter because little Peroro is at the top and why whould I scar his little world by ting on the same page. Plus, baby is in the house. Maybe they should be alone when they come together again.

I hope you're enjoying this story as much as I am. The last time I felt this excited about a fic was when I was writing 'Just Friends'. I'm trying to get my mojo for 'Rules of Engagement' back, and it's coming. But very slowly. I'll finish it, I promise. But there's lots more drama to come in that one, so look forward to it!

Thanks for your support and don't forget to sub, comment and/or upvote, if you feel I deserve it.

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See you next Saturday! Talk to you soon!

~D