Alphabet City Everybody who comes to New York City has a dream. What is yours?

"I don't know." Jolie was becoming ever more frustrated with this bitch. "We can call DCFS and have them come get the kid. Do you have her number?" It was possible that he did, as he did seem to have handfuls of paper and she could only assume that was what he'd been looking for.

"Oh fuck." Jolie hadn't really thought too much about the girl in terms of her responsibility. Probably because she wasn't. "How do I know if she'd leave the kid? Maybe she would. People do weird shit like that all the time. Let's go look outside first, and see if she's there. She had...

Eli had been gone an awful long time and so, with a sigh, Jolie gathered her purse and stood up, going to see where he was. She found him staring at a back door. "She's not in the bathroom is she?" she wondered aloud to him. "Told you she was out of here. Let's go." She reached f...

"Hell no." Jolie's tone was reasonably measured, but her resolve was clear. "I'm not going in there with her. I don't care if she drowned."

Jolie simply raised a brow at him. As a twelve year old girl her biggest dread was in growing a beard. And goddamn if it hadn't started happening not too long after that. But she knew he was only being foolish and trying to make her smile. He didn't have it in him to be cruel. "It's fucking tak...

"God, I hope not," she agreed, relaxing a little more and leaning against him. "She looks like her too. Hope she's not a total bitch." For her part, she could care less whether or not Savannah heard her talking about her. Her feelings were no secret.

She bit on her lip delicately and settled into her chair as much as she was going to, gently bumping his hand with the corner of hers, asking him to take it, and watching Chloe across the room. Shit, she did look like Eli, especially when she was reading. "Maybe she won't be so bad," she s...

She put her fingers under his chin and turned his face toward hers, studying him carefully. There was nothing there that she hadn't seen before; he was still her Eli. "My exes aren't exactly a picnic either," she reminded him, thinking about when Brad had come after them a couple of years ...

She stared back at him. "I meant, I don't want any more ex-girlfriend drama and no more kids showing up, Eli. If she's yours we'll do it right, but I don't think I can handle any more, all right?"

"I don't care who you slept with," she assured him. "None of that past stuff makes any difference to me. It's the future I'm worried about. Should I be worrying?"

She closed her eyes and accepted his cheek kiss, swallowing hard. Why had she ever bought in this far with him? She was bound to get hurt and she knew that. She took a long moment and then just tried to be positive. "At least she's already half-grown," she answered in a mumble. "I'm n...

She sighed deeply, thinking about what she wanted to say before it came from her mouth this time. "I feel like she has us hostage," she told him. "And we can't do a goddamned thing to stop her. She just gets to say whatever the fuck she wants to just because she has a damned kid she s...

"You were drunk when you married me," she pointed out, but her voice was much softer. She really hated saying this shit, but again, she wasn't always in control when she was stressed like she was right now. "Was that the same?"

"Your mother's going to love this," she replied, shaking her head. "I suspect she'll have you two married off in no time flat." She was being unfair and she knew it, but she was stressed by now and wasn't really all that interested in fair. "She'll be so pleased to have a da...

Jolie stayed silent, seething as savannah walked away. Silent was her best option at this point and she knew it. Silence was better than embarrassing her husband much more today by telling this fucking bitch about herself any further. Once she was gone, she could feel herself relaxing significantly....

He was right to grab for her. If he hadn't put his hand on her knee at just that moment, Jolie surely would have flown over the table at that bitch! But her eyes shot daggers at the woman all the same. She was trying to keep it together and for Eli's sake she could do it, couldn't she? This bitch be...

"Eli. . ." She had nothing more to say to that. She wasn't going to make promises she couldn't keep. She sighed again and sat down on the other side of the table again, her eyes never leaving Savannah as if she worried that if she took her eyes off her she might do something ridiculous.

"Of course he does," she replied with a warm little smile. He seriously had no head for business, did he? A deep sigh followed as she looked in the direction he had just done and saw her sitting there. "Yeah, ok." She didn't want to, but surely she'd have to go back at some point...

"I can get Marcus's lawyer," she murmured, laying a hand on his arm gently. "If we find out that she's yours. And we'll set something up. We won't. . .Savannah won't be able to screw the kid over. Or us. If she's yours we'll figure out a way it can work, I guess." She had no idea...

It took her a long time to make a decision on that. Or, more to the point, it took her a long time to formulate a reply. She felt like she couldn't possibly stand still. "I-I. . . I'll do this with you," she finally said, her voice little more than a whisper. She loved him; that much was a...