A Park Retreat (Ashley, Tag Alex.)

[Ashley Bolton]

Ashley first new thing for some time was currently sitting in the parking lot, with everything else going on some how the cheque hadn't been cancelled... he wondered whether the old man had known that his wife or someone else in his family had gone against his demands. Ashley's need for a new car to replace the piece of junk that had served him since his sons birth was quite desperate.

He was currently watching Kai as he slid down the slide, it wasn't that big so he only really need help on the steps. Their were plenty of people in the park, pretty much everyone was a lot older than he was... he had the size advantage over all of them so he didn't feel so under pressure or something. Their were kids on the swings which happened to be Kai's favourite or so he thought, so they were making use of the slide.

"Hey buddy." he said as the boy ran back to him. "Go around again huh." Ashley said to him he nodded. "Okay." Ashley said lifting him up. "You need to get big quicker, your heavy squirt." Ashley said to him Kai shook his head as he was placed back on his feet.

"You going to be short like your mommy?" he asked.

"Yes." Kai called back.

"At least I know what you want." Ashley muttered running a hand through his hair. "Now all we really need to know is what is going to happen with your mom and her idiotic father." he said to himself.

[Alex Bridgerton]

After her father and his goons left Alex stayed on the floor crying for a bit. That had been twice she had been hurt in the course of about three days. First the back hand on Monday and now this. Her dad might not have had his hand gripping her throat so hard, but he ordered it. She hoped there was no bruising left by the hand. Never in her life had she thought her father would be this cruel and mean. Sure he was a ruthless con man and business man, who cared about money and prestige, but this was different. He was turning into a monster who needed to be stopped.

Alex could either give into the threat or stop her father once and for all. He picked the wrong move threatening Kai. Alex had given into the threats before, now it was time to prove to her father shew as done giving in. He could hurt her and slap her all he wanted, but never threaten her son. She finally had the backbone she should of had a long time ago.

Alex called the local cops to inquire how to report her father, they told her to call the FBI fraud unit. She did. Of course all they said was they could look into it. So Alex promised proof. She called home. Alex had not spoken to her mother in a few weeks. "Hey mother. I am calling to tell you I need proof, of father's dirty dealing."

Her mother gasped, "Alexandra, how dare you say such a thing."

"Mother do not play innocent, we both are aware of father and the way he steals money. Mother he threatened my son, I will not have him dragging me home again. I will not leave me son. I will gather this proof with or without your help, but I am not hiding or cowering anymore mother." Alex said to her.

Her mother just sighed, "Alexandra....I am sorry." Thats all her mother said before she heard the click on the other line. Alex knew getting the proof from her mother would not work so instead she called the servants phone. The Butler, the one person in the world she knew hated her father more then she did right now. He gladly agreed to help.

Soon Alex would have the proof and soon her father would be gone. Alex decided to find Ash, warn him, talk to him. She called and was able to get out of his parents that he was at the park. Alex did apologize to them for everything. Then Alex headed to the park.

Alex drove to the park and immediately spotted Ashley. He was hard to miss. She approached just in time to hear his last bit of words. "I would not worry much longer. My father has finally crossed a line, and I promise you...the next few days, he will not be a problem after them."

[Ashley Bolton]

Ashley looked at her and smiled, "I'm not worried about your father, I've done nothing wrong, well accepting the large check which was from your mother may have been questionable but certainly not illegal." Ashley said to her with a smile on his face. "I'm dealing anyway, he hasn't gone near Kai that would lead to bloodshed... ie threaten him directly and he would be up on charges and being sued for a rather large sum of money." Ashley said as he helped Kai back up on the slide and turned to her. "The only thing his tactics almost made happen was your contact with Kai was at risk." he said with a sad smile.

Ashley turned to her slightly, he saw how upset she appeared to be. "When school is out for the summer, you and I will sit down and discuss the legal issues surrounding Kai. Ie formal and legal access to him, right now all you get is what ever I want it to be. Which isn't very fair." he said to her he turned and helped Kai out before the boy got more curious about what they were talking about. "Hopefully by which time your father will be long gone, and maybe your work out where your at with Greg..." Ashley said to her with a smile.

"Its kind of strange a year ago I might have killed Greg for even entertaining the idea of dating you. Actually I might still get the option if he hurts my babies mother." Ashley said with a grin. "When did this become just become about your father, and not about raising Kai and trying to work out how to make this work with out driving us both up the wall." Ashley asked her. "Hey buddy would you mind slowing down." Ashley said to Kai. "Your going to hurt yourself if you dont." he said though he thought it was inevitable.

[Alex Bridgerton]

Alex understood that. Her father was a dangerous man and just by evidence of what he said this afternoon she did not blame Ashley for thinking about cutting off contact, "It will take more then civil court to take care of my father, the man needs prison. He has done some very horrible things to people and he shall pay soon for that. I wont give him the chance to even get close to Kai. He came over to the house today, basically gave me the choice between here and there. I choose here, much to his dismay. I know my father...and he will get what he deserves, I am sick of sitting quietly by as he makes implied threats about the people I care about. I have already spoken with authorities." Alex said to Ashley. She was taking care of it.

She sighed and smiled as she heard him speak, "I would greatly appreciate that. But it is fair Ashley. It is beyond fair. You have raised Kai for two years by yourself. I may be his mother, but I did abandon him for those two years, and I have no excuses for what I did. All I can say is then I let my father control me and I regret that. I can never make up for those two years. But I am not going anywhere now. I am doing now what I should have done then and fighting for my son. Thank you though for saying that about custody, it means the world to me." Alex said. "Oh he will not be around after this weekend I assume."

Alex eyed Ashley and smiled a little, "Oh Gregory and I currently friends. I am not sure where that is headed if I am honest. Currently we are friends. I have been too focused on proving myself to be here for Kai, that going beyond friends is not on my mind. But I am thankful you would stand up for me if he were to hurt me. The same goes for you. If any woman you see hurts you, let me know, I will take her down as they say." Alex said with a laugh.

"I do miss you though. I am glad that the first guy I ever loved was you, but you maybe a hard man to replace." Alex said with a soft smile. Alex watched Kai and smiled. "Kai being a little adventurous are you...thats my boy, but be careful please." She said to her son as she gave him a quick hug.

[Ashley Bolton]

A ghost of a smile crossed his face as he watched Kai, he didn't comment for a while he just watched their son and helped him whenever needed.

"Thats when we step in and kiss it better or rub it better, he will always take a tumble doing something that he shouldn't be doing. The trouble is you can never stay mad at him, because he throws those damn puppy dog eyes at you. I think he gets that look from you by the way." Ashley said with a grin.

"You missed a lot sure, at least you never had to deal with the teething that was a killer I can tell you. He had some nasty diapers in the beginning to, you missed all the good things." Ashley said with a chuckle. "Now you get to deal with the bad stuff, like his first day at school, his first date, you know the stuff we all dread because its a sign of the kids getting older and so are we." Ashley said playfully. "Before you know it we'll be going grey and shouting on the touch lines at useless referees who cheat like hell." Ashley said to him with a grin on his face.

"I never stopped loving you, just a lot of stuff got in the way of it. I miss having you in my life that way to. But you should give Greg a shot, he is a good guy and his dad does wicked pizza. If you think you want to give us a shot then I think we should try if only for Kai's sake. Because I've been crazy in love with you since the second or third time I met you." Ashley added with a smile.

[Alex Bridgerton]

"Does that mean my puppy eyes still work on you..i will have to teach Kai more tricks." Alex said with a wink. "I plan to be there from now on. All the way from now until he is married with kids of his own. Which i hope not to see anytime soon." Alex laughed at the thought. She never thought she would be here, but she was. "i never though I would have a child so young, but i do not regret one bit of it. Kai is a good kid. You have taught him very well Ashely...I can never repay you for that."

Alex nodded, "I would have liked to have seen it all, but i will take your word for it. I will be here for now. for what he still has to go through." She was not going anywhere. No one was going to make her leave her son. Not her father. She was here to stay. America was her home now. "So you think our son will be a football player just like his dad huh...i must admit you are good on the field." She said. She had seen him a few times.

Alex looked at Ashely. "I like Gregory. However, is it fair for me to be with him, when I still love you." She had tried moving on, but the fact Ashley was admitting this was now making it hard. "i guess the big question is...can you forgive me enough to even warrant a second try? I can never take back what I did, but I can ask for you to forgive me cause I still love you too. I never stopped, I am not sure I will ever stop."

[Ashley Bolton]

Ashley looked at her, "I don't know yet, every time I think I'm getting close to an answer on this whole mess. It tends to get more murky. Forgiveness is pretty easy its getting past the last two years of loathing the very mention of your name or your name or your parents for that matter." Ashley said to her. "All I know is I still love you never stopped loving you, but where we go from there is a whole lot more difficult to answer than do I still care about you." Ashley said to her.

"I think I need to know that this can't work between us before I can move on to some other girl... I think we owe it to Kai to try and make this work. You left before we ever got a chance to try and be parents to him together." Ashley told her with a smile before leaning forward pressing his lips to hers in a kiss when he broke away from her his eyes turned to Kai, he thought about Lana feeling maybe a little guilty for what he was about to do. "I want to try to make this work, us work, this family work." Ashley said to her he turned to watch Kai with a smile. "I need to make this work." Ashley added.

[Alex Bridgerton]

Alex was floored to say the least. She half expected Ash to say something like I love you, but I just can't date you or something along those lines. Never had she expected him to actually say he wanted to give it a shot. A smiled appeared on her face as Ashley leaned over and kissed her. She kissed him back. Things were not like they once were. She was no longer that 15 year old with her first crush. "I have no idea what I did to deserve a guy like you or a son like Kai. I am one lucky lady." Alex said with a tiny laugh as she smiled at her son.

"It's a mess we will figure out together." Alex grabbed Ashley's hand. Alex needed to count her blessings, cause not many women got a second chance after what she did. She knew it too. This just meant she had to get rid of her father, cause as long as he was around things would never stop being a mess. And if he saw her right now, kissing Ashley, holding his hand, who knows how ballistic her father will have gone. "How about Kai, you and I all go out after the park. A family dinner, just the three of us, my treat." She had been saving money from her job. She could treat them all. Besides Ashley and Kai deserved it. Alex smiled looking at Kai. She was happy right now. They would finally have the chance to either make this work...or end the relationship by their own choosing.

"I just need you to know I truly am sorry for those two years. When I left I truly believed my father and his threats. I realize now it was the biggest regret I have. I know it will take time to remove all that I did for those two years, but I am thankful you are willing to give us a try. You make me happy Ashley. I want this to work as well."

[Ashley Bolton]

Ashley grinned, "I could murder a good burger or even a bad one, and I know that Kai won't ever say no to a good set of chicken nuggets." Ashley said to her with a grin on his face. "You sure you want to pay I think we can quite easily split it half and half." Ashley said to him.

"I think the fact that I just kissed you and said I would like to try again, says that I am ready to try and forgive you completely for what happened to years ago. You have shown that your trustworthy and your good round Kai, I happen to like you a lot so what do you say we try and leave what happened behind us and move forward. I mean if we keep bringing up the past we dont really have a chance to succeed right?" Ashley asked her. "I haven't completely forgotten the past but we need to work around it and move forward together." Ashley said to her.

Ashley turned to Kai and smiled at him, "Hey buddy how about we all go get a burger or something, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." he said to their son as he plucked him up of the ground. "Your mom and I are so hungry, so play or dinner or both?" he asked.

"Dinner." the boy yelled.

"Okay but this is our little secret grandma will be cross if she knows we had burgers or something that isn't her cooking." Ashley said to him. "You wouldn't want to get me into trouble now would you?" he asked with a smile.

[Alex Bridgerton]

"Nonsense, I insist I am the one whom pays the bill this evening." Alex told him. She was not going to split anything. This was her treat cause Ashley and Kai deserved it. "You have done so much already, it is time you are treated once in a while." Alex said with a smile. "We can always split half the next time we go on an outing, but for tonight, I am the one treating you both to a lovely meal." She said as she smiled at Kai too.

Alex agreed whole heartedly with Ashley's next statement. Yes the past would be left in the past, and they would move forward from here. It felt nice to know this and she would try and continue to prove to Ashley that she had changed for the better. Alex kissed Kai's cheek after Ashley picked him up. "Such a smart boy. Mommy is hungry herself, so let's go have a good meal. I could go for chicken." She said laughing.

"Now you getting into trouble Ashley...I do not see that happening one bit." Alex said laughing a little. She took his hand in hers and walked with him to the nearest restaurant. "But the secret is safe with us right Kai? We will keep daddy from getting into trouble."

The little boy just shook his head, "Ice cream too?" The little boy asked giving both his parents a look. Alex could not help but smile. "Now i wonder where he learned that word from." She took her seat and eyed Ashley.

Tag for wrap?