Chapter Two


“Kayleigh, can you grab your suitcase, sweetie?”

After signing a few papers for temporary custody of the girl, Lance's lawyer had handed him the copy of the birth certificate for his records and a file folder of various other papers that he thought Lance might need for her care. Afterward, Mrs. Stanley had led the young girl out of the room by her hand, leaning down to make up the height difference between the two.

They had walked over to a space in the lobby by the couch against the wall, where three to four suitcases, including a smaller bright pink one, were stacked.

“Yes, Miss Leann,” the young girl said.

Mrs. Stanley smiled and watched as she ran over to the stack of suitcases.

“She has great manners for her age,” she said, looking at Lance.

“How old is she?” he asked.

“She's four years old,” she responded, moving to walk toward the suitcases, which he followed. “The poor girl. She has no one else in the world right now, and she's doing so well. I have no idea how she's doing it.”

“Does she have any...behavioral issues?” he asked hesitantly. “You know, that I should know about?”

“She has some bad dreams,” she responded. “Other than that, she's a wonderfully behaved little lady. Under the circumstances, I think it's to be expected, and it's surprising that's the only issues she has.”

“Was she...in the car?” he asked. “When her mother died?”

“No, thankfully,” Leann said quietly. “She was at daycare when it happened. She was immediately put into state custody by her daycare teacher when they were notified, because she had no other family to go to.”

“How long has she been in the state's custody?”

“A week,” she responded, lifting a suitcase from the stack in her hand. “It's taken a while to get everything sorted and draw up all the records and papers, it took a couple of days to find out how to contact you.”

He lifted the other two suitcases in his hands and looked at the little blonde girl, clutching her tiny pink suitcase in her own hands. She was clean, well-dressed, and well-behaved – but of course, he couldn't judge that that wasn't because she had been in the care of social workers for the past week. From the looks of it, her mother took care of her – she didn't look like she had been malnourished or mistreated in any way.

He couldn't imagine how frightened she had been, being in the care of strangers for the past week.

“You don't have a child safety seat, am I right, Mr. Bass?”

He snapped to attention when he heard Leann talking to him again.

“Yes...I mean, yes, that's right, I don't,” he said.

“I figured,” she said with a smile. She reached over a grabbed a child's booster seat from the couch. “Most men don't keep a spare one in their vehicle in case they get a call that they have a daughter. You can use this until you get your own suitable one, then you can bring it back to the agency.”

Leann turned to the little girl, looking down at her.

“Are you ready to go, Kayleigh?”

“Wait!” Kayleigh yelled. “I need Scooter!”

“Alright, well go get him sweetie,” Leann said. “We'll be right here waiting for you.”

Kayleigh sat her suitcase down on the ground next to her feet and next thing Lance knew, took off running to the conference room, off the lobby.

“Who's Scooter?” Lance asked.

“Her puppy,” Leann responded.

“Wait – puppy?” Lance said. “Ben didn't tell me that a dog came with the package. I can't take care of a dog and a child, too.”

“Mr. Bass, no need to worry--”

Leann was in the middle of stopping Lance when Kayleigh ran back into the room, clutching a knitted stuffed puppy dog toy under her arm.

“Got 'im, Miss Leann,” she said, going back to her place by her suitcase and picking it back up with her free hand. “I'm ready.”

Leann smiled at Lance. “As I was saying...Scooter is her puppy. Her friend. She carries him with her everywhere.”

“Oh thank God,” Lance said, releasing a breath.

“Are we all ready?” Leann said, looking between Lance and Kayleigh.

Kayleigh gave a confident nod and started walking off toward the door of the law office, and Leann followed quickly in tow, reminding Kayleigh to stay close to her and watch out for cars.

“As ready as I'll likely ever be,” Lance said as he grasped the suitcases and followed off toward them.


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“Now, all you have to do is buckle in the car's safety belt across her like this,” Leann said as she pulled the seat belt across young Kayleigh's chest in the back, demonstrating to Lance how it was done. The mechanism clicked. “And that's it. She has to ride in a booster seat until she's 80 pounds according to Florida state law, and she must always be riding in the back seat. Got that?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Lance responded, looking at the child buckled into his back seat.

“Everything else will probably come to you naturally,” she said, looking back at Kayleigh, holding her stuffed dog up. “Parenting is a tough job, but to tell you the truth a lot of it involves common sense and a good deal of morals. You'll know the right thing to do.”

“Yeah, but what if I don't?” Lance asked, shrugging his shoulders. “I mean, you take kids away from people all the time because they're not capable of parenting, right?”

“Remember when I said a lot of parenting involves common sense and good morals?” she asked. “Well, unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this world who have neither. If there were more people that did, I'm sure I wouldn't have a job.”

He lightly chuckled.

“You look like a good person, Mr. Bass,” she said. “I have faith that you can do it. I'm sure you'll manage fine. And I'll be there to help guide you, so whenever you need some help, give me a call.”

She reached into the pocket of her slacks and pulled out a business card and handed it to him.

“I'm in the office Monday through Friday until about five or six, and you can call me at home anytime after hours if you have a question or need help with anything.”

He glanced over the business card. “I have to say, Mrs. Stanley, I've heard a lot of bad things about social services. It's unexpected that you're this kind.”

“My sole interest is Kayleigh's health, safety, and well-being,” she responded. “As long as she is well taken care of, my job is done.”

She turned to Kayleigh with a smile.

“Kayleigh, are you ready to go with Mr. Bass?”

“Are you coming with us, Miss Leann?” she asked.

“No sweetie, I have to go take care of other kids now, but Mr. Bass will take good care of you and I'll see you again on Tuesday when I do my home visit, okay?”

“Okay,” Kayleigh said with a smile. “Bye, Miss Leann!”

“Bye, sweetheart,” Leann said, shutting the car door. Then she turned to Lance. “Is there anything else before I go?”

Lance wanted to respond that there were so many things; that he couldn't do this and she should take the girl back to live with her because he was incapable of being a good parent. But his heart broke for the little girl sitting in his back seat. He couldn't leave her behind.

“No, I think I'm okay,” he said, his confidence shaky.

“Okay,” she said with a smile. “Well then, I'll see you on Tuesday.”

He watched as Leann walked away toward the law office until she disappeared from his sight.

He was all alone now. With a four-year-old.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed his keys, opening his door and climbing into the seat before putting the keys into the ignition. When he looked up to buckle his belt, he caught a glance of Kayleigh in the rear view mirror.

“How're you doing, kid?” he asked.

“I'm okay,” she said quietly, shrugging and looking down at the stuffed dog in her lap.

Noticing her demeanor with him was unlike the one she had with Leann, his face fell slightly.

“It's just you and me now, okay?” he said. “I'm not real good at this, but I'm gonna try my hardest. I'm flyin' by the seat of my pants.”

“What's that mean?” she questioned, looking up at him.

“It's like...I don't know what I'm doing,” he responded. “Does that make sense?”

“Mmm-hmm,” she said with a slight nod.

“How about we go get you some new stuff?” he asked, turning the key in the ignition. “A bed to sleep in, something to put your clothes in – how's that sound?”

“Sounds good,” she said, turning her attention back to the dog in her lap.

“Alright then,” he said, shifting the car to move. “Let's get this show on the road.”

Lance was surprised that she was quiet the whole way to the store. If he didn't have her in his sights in his rearview mirror, he almost would have forgotten she was there several times. He was amazed that the whole twenty-minute drive, she entertained herself with the stuffed toy he only knew as “Scooter”.

Maybe this will be easier than I thought, he thought to himself.

He pulled into the parking lot of the Kids 'R' Us store, shutting off the ignition, and looked back at her.

“Ready to go?”

“Ready, Daddy.”

Lance froze pulling his keys out, and looked back at her in the mirror again.

“Kayleigh, I don't know about this 'Daddy' thing,” he said. “I don't want you to be disappointed if...things don't turn out the way you think they will.”

She looked up at him, puzzled. “What do you mean, Daddy?”

He narrowed his eyebrows. He forgot he was talking to a four-year-old.

“How about you call me something else for now, would that be okay?” he asked. “For now, at least.”

“What am I supposed to call you?” she asked.

“How about Lance?”

“Why would I call you that?”

He chuckled. “Because that's my name.”

“Okay,” she said, shrugging. “I'll call you Mister Lance. Is that okay?”

He smiled. “Yeah, that's good.”

After getting out of the car himself, he moved to the back passenger seat and opened it. He leaned in and unbuckled the seat belt and picked her up out of the booster seat, groaning at her weight before setting her down on the ground.

“What did Miss Leann feed you while you stayed with her, Kayleigh – lead?” he asked.

“She made me grilled cheese, and chicken, and rice, and yogurt, and chocolate milk...”

As he closed the door and quickly grabbed onto her hand so she wouldn't inadvertently get away from him, he chuckled.

“You're a little chatterbox, aren't you?” he asked.

“What's a chatterbox?”

“A little girl who likes to talk – a lot,” he responded.

“I like to talk,” she said, walking beside him. “Me and Miss Leann talked a lot while I was with her.”

“Oh yeah? What'd you guys talk about?” he asked.

“We talked about back home in Richman,” she said, and he had to smile at her mispronunciation. “And we talked about me and what I like to do for fun. I like to paint. Do you like to paint, Mister Lance?”

“Sometimes I like to paint,” he said. “What else did you talk about?”

“We talked a lot about what happened to mama,” she said, her voice growing solemn.

He couldn't help but let his smile fade slightly.

“What happened to mama, Kayleigh?”

Kayleigh sighed. “She went to Heaven.”

He sighed and pursed his lips.

“You know what, Kayleigh?” he said. “Little girls need toys. Do you want toys?”

As he had hoped, she immediately grew excited, her eyes lighting up.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” she yelled, jumping a few times before he led her in through the sliding doors of the store.

“Well, at least I have distractions down,” he said to himself as they walked through.

He watched Kayleigh's eyes grow large as she stepped inside the store, her eyes moving around to look at all the toys and things to play with. As he watched her reaction, it occurred to him that she was amazed because she had probably never been in one of these stores before. He could only assume that Lacey had been a single parent, and a young mother at only nineteen. She had probably worked difficult, minimum wage jobs to make ends meet, and after child care expenses, there probably hadn't been much money left over for expensive toys.

Why didn't she ever file for child support? he wondered to himself. If she proved to be his daughter, he would have done the right thing and made both of their lives a lot easier. But maybe she didn't think I would believe her, he thought.

And then it occurred to him – he probably wouldn't have. At the time, he probably would have passed her off as another fan wanting to capitalize off his money and fame. It wasn't as if there weren't plenty of fans who would have done the same thing – he thought that Justin would always be the target, since he was the most well-known and popular of them. He never thought he could be the one caught up in a “baby mama drama” as Joey or Justin would have called it.

He pulled out a shopping cart and lifted her up into the front seat, knowing that they would be here long enough that she would get bored and tired if he didn't. As he walked down the aisles with her quietly playing with her stuffed dog she had brought with her, he felt...overwhelmed. There was so much stuff, and almost all of it looked necessary or useful in one way or another. There was no way he could shop for her by himself.

There was only one person he could think to call on for his help.

“Hello?” Joey finally answered after three rings.

“Hey, 911, I have an emergency,” Lance said, looking down at Kayleigh. “You gotta help me out.”

“What's wrong?” Joey asked. “Are you in prison? Did you finally kill Chris? Where's the body? No wait, don't tell me.”

Lance chuckled. “No, Joe, I didn't kill Chris. I've got an...issue.”

“What kind of issue?”

“An issue that is about 3 feet tall, weighs about 40-some odd pounds, and calls me D-A-D-D-Y,” Lance said, spelling out the word.

“You've got a midget sugar mama?” Joey asked.

“You know, only your warped mind would come up with that one,” Lance said. “No, Joe. I have a kid.”

Joey laughed. “That's funny, Lance. Seriously, what's the issue?”

“Joey, I am serious. I have a kid.”

There was a long pause at the end of the line, and Lance held his phone out to make sure he hadn't lost connection. As he put the phone back to his ear, Joey started yelling.

You have a kid?

“Yeah,” Lance responded. “I've had a hell of a day.”

Ohhhhhhh,” Kayleigh said from her seat. “You said a bad word!”

Lance raised his eyebrows. “You didn't hear that, Kayleigh, got it?”

“Is that her?” Joey asked.

“Yeah, her name is Kayleigh,” Lance responded, putting the receiver back to his mouth. “Man, you gotta help me. I'm desperate. I don't know what the f...well, you know. I don't know what I'm doing here.”

“Hold the phone, pause, rewind,” Joey said. “How'd you get a kid?”

“'Cause I couldn't keep it in my pants,” Lance said, briefly covering Kayleigh's ears with his hands. “Apparently this girl I slept with like, four years ago had a kid and never contacted me. Now she's dead and...”

“Whoa hold on, she's dead?”

“Yeah, man, it's bad,” Lance said. “Now I'm the only family this kid has – that is, if I am her family. She's in my custody until they prove whether or not I'm actually her father.”

“Well, do you think you are?”

“Well, she looks a lot like me,” Lance said, looking over her features again. “But listen, I got bigger issues right now. I don't have anything for a kid, and I have to get some stuff for her while she's staying with me. The problem is, I have no idea what I need to take care of a four-year-old.”

“Well, you're gonna need a bed and bedding and some furniture if she's going to be staying with you for a while,” Joey said. “You got clothes for her?”

“She brought a few things with her, but I don't know how much.”

“You might want to pick her up a few extras, in case. Toys?”

“I was going to let her pick out a few things for herself, and she brought some with her.”

“Well pick up some basics – toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, pajamas, a comb – you should be set for a while. You can go back for the rest later as you think you need it, 'cause you don't know how long she'll be staying with you if she doesn't end up being yours.”

“I think I can do that,” Lance said, hoping he would remember that whole list. “What about like, diapers? Do four-year-olds need those?”

“Well, it depends...is she potty-trained?”

“Um...you know, I don't know.”

“Well, ask her,” Joey said.

Lance held the phone away from his mouth. “Kayleigh, are you potty-trained?”

“What's that mean?” she answered.

“Dude, she doesn't even know what that means,” Lance said, ignoring Kayleigh's question. “She's four.”

Joey sighed. “Let me talk to her.”

“Seriously?”

“Let me talk to her,” Joey repeated. “You can't do anything.”

Lance let out a frustrated sigh and pulled the phone away from his ear.

“Kayleigh, can you talk to my friend Joey for a second?” he said, holding the phone out to her.

She took the phone from him without a word, putting it up to her ear.

“Hello?...Hi Mister Joey...”

Lance stood and watched as there was a long pause, watching Kayleigh's expression.

“Yes, mama said I was a big girl...Okay, bye Mister Joey.”

She held the phone out to Lance again, immediately going back to playing with her toy.

“Yeah?” Lance said.

“Saved by the flush. She's potty-trained,” Joey said. “Jeez, Lance, that was so hard. I really had to beat it outta her there.”

“You don't have to be a smart a...leck,” Lance said, suddenly remembering that from now on he was in the presence of a human word sponge.

“Man, you're clueless,” Joey said. “Make sure to pick her up some underwear too. I'd pay good money to be there right now to see this.”

Lance narrowed his eyebrows as Joey snickered.

“Never thought I'd see the day that instead of shopping for women's lingerie, Lance Bass would be shopping for little girl's undies,” he said. “That sounds kinda creepy now that I actually say it.”

“Joey, do you have anything else that is going to help me, or can I hang up now?”

“Use your common sense,” Joey said. “If it's something she uses everyday, you should probably get it. If it's not, you can probably bypass it for now and come back to it later.”

“Common sense,” Lance said, remembering Leann's words to him this morning. “Yeah, seems like I'm going to need a lot of that for this, too.”

“You should probably pick up some of that while you're at it,” Joey said. “Pick up some for Chris, too. You can give it to him for Christmas.”

“God, bye Joey,” Lance said, finally frustrated enough to hang up.

Kayleigh looked up at him from the cart as he brought the phone down from his ear and sighed.

“We're gonna need a lot of help, kid,” he said as he started pushing the cart down the aisle again.



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Story Tags: daddyl lance