Leanne's POV

It’s the day of Ryan and Annabelle’s christening and I’m still feeling weird about my decision. Michael thinks it was a good idea for me to invite Carley and David, but I’m still unsure. I don’t hate them or think anything badly about them because I know none of this is their fault. Carley was just 17 when she had me, just like I was with Ryan and Annabelle and I can’t imagine the pain she must have gone through when my dad took me from her.

I understand it must have been painful for my mom not being able to have a baby of her own and I’ve tried to defend what my dad did, but there’s nothing that excuses what they did. There’s many women out there that can’t have children, but they don’t do what they did. There’s adoption, surrogate, IVF and a whole bunch of stuff they could have done, but instead they chose to just take a new born baby away from its sleeping mother and there’s nothing that excuses what they did, but dispite what they did I still love them and I can't see Carley and David as my mom and dad.

I'm in my room and Michael walks in. "Are you ready to go?" He asks, coming over and joins me on the bed and I shake my head. "It wasn't supposed to be this way" I mutter "They should be here. This is a huge thing. Just like our wedding day, but instead I'm.." I pause and take a deep breath, trying not to cry and Michael wraps his arms around me.

"I can't hate them" I mutter. "Who?"

"My mom and dad or who ever they really were. I've tried but I just.."

"They were your parents" he cuts me off "And nobody expects you to hate them. Ryan and Anna loved you and raised you as their own and they gave you a childhood full of happiness and love and nobody can ever take that away or replace that" he says softly. "What am I supposed to do? I feel horrible for Carley and David, I truly do but... I don't know" I mumble that last part. "Their not your mom and dad?" He says softly and I nod and he pulls me in closer to him. "I do wanna get to know them, but whenever I talk to them I just feel guilty. Like taking their side over my mom and dad's and everytime I feel like I'm betraying them and..."

"But your not betraying anybody" he shakes his head "I know I tried to hide this from you before but..."

"It would have made it easier"

"But.." he continues. "I was wrong to do that. Yes it would have made things easier. Just like it made it easier when Carley told you she lied and just adopted you to your parents, but just because it was easier doesn't mean it was right for any of us to lie to you. And maybe all this could actually be a good thing"

"How can any of this be a good thing?" I frown confused. "When your parents died, who did you have to take care of you?"

"Just my aunt Mary. You know that" I frown confused. "And how do you think they'd have felt knowing that their baby girl was being abused and manipulated the way that you were being?"

"They would have been heartbroken" I mumble. "And now? You have me and many others around you, who love you and wanna take care of you and want you in their lives. Would they be heartbroken about that?"

"No" I mumble. "But what does that have to do with Carley and David? I'm not a scared 15 year old little girl anymore. I don't need them to take care of me. "But you still need them" he says softly. "When I took you home with me, I did everything I could to make you happy and take care of you but I couldn't give you what you needed the most"

"What do you mean?" I frown confused. "I could take care of you by making sure you were safe and fed and had a warm roof over your head and an education, but I couldn't give you everything you needed... I could never be a father to you and that's what you needed the most. You needed a mother and father and you still do" he says softly and I dont say anything.

"And deep down you know you need them too don't you?" He asks and I nod slightly. "Can I still go to visit their grave?" I mutter and he nods. "Of course, but only if you want to"

"I still wanna go" I nod and he smiles and nods slightly. "Ok, well you finish getting ready and we'll drive down together" he smiles and pecks my lips then leaves to let me finish getting dressed.

****

Carley's POV

"You sure I look ok?" I ask nervously, checking myself out in the car mirror. "You'll look fine" Kayde rolls his eyes. "It's their babies christening. Their not gonna care what your hair and makeup looks like" David says, getting out of the car. "No, but they'll care if we walk into their house looking like 3 hobos off the streets" I frown and straighten his tie then walk over to the house and see a bunch of cars parked in the drive way.

"I didn't know so many people would be here" I say nervously. "Michael did mention he had a big family" David shrugs and walks over to the house and knocks on the door. "Just relax. She asked us to me here remember?" He smiles slightly and I smile back the same way and take a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.

We stand waiting for a few moments then eventually a very intimidating, yet elderly looking man opens the door.

"Hi, we're um.. we're..."

"We're here for the christening" David cuts me off. "We're um.. Leanne um.. we're friends of..."

"Carley and David?" The man cuts me off from my rambling and I nod and he moves aside to let us in.

"I'm Joesph. Michael's father" he says, putting his hand out. "David" David smiles, shaking his hand. "And this is my wife Carley and our son Kayde"

"Leanne and Michael are just upstairs getting the twins ready" Joesph says. "Is TJ here yet?" Kayde asks and Joesph points towards the living room And Kayde walks away and leaves David and I with Joesph. He's being polite, but for some reason I can't help but feel intimidated by him.

"Maybe we should go into the kitchen... It's a little quieter there" he says in a serious tone and David and so follow him.

"Now we're alone" he says, closing the kitchen door and walks over to us. "I wanna talk to you about all this"

"What do you mean?" I ask confused. "All this.. you two being here today and..."

"Which Leanne invited us" David cuts in. "I already know that, but wanna know what your planning after this" he says suspiciously. "What do you mean?" I frown confused. "Leanne's already been through enough heartache in such a short period of time and..."

"We know. We know all about the stuff with Mary and the self harming and the fire and..."

"So you'll understand why me and my family are hesitant about more people coming into her life?" He cuts me off. "We have no intentions of hurting or harming her in any way" David cuts in. "We understand she's been through many traumatic events, but so have we. We had our baby girl snatched from us when she was just a few hours old. We didn't even have a photo or anything of her and we've spent 18 years searching for her and praying she's still alive and now we finally have and it kills us knowing what our baby went through"

"Which you know my son wasn't to blame for?"

"Of course not. He saved her from that evil monster and he brought her back to us. I admit apart if me hates that he played apart in what happened to her, but I can see he truly loves her and I believe him when he said he didn't know her age or that she was being forced to be at that place"

"And you?" Joesph turns to me and I don't say anything.

"My son has done everything for that girl. Even risked his own life to save her's. If your going to give him a hard time or try and turn Leanne against..."

"I won't" I cut him off. "I understand you being protective of your son and it's pretty obvious your protective of Leanne too and I completely understand your worried, but I swear to you. We have no intention harming or turning Leanne against anybody, especially her husband and father of her children. I swear. All we want is the chance to get to know our daughter and have her in our lives" I say sincerely and he nods, not saying anything for a moment.

"If either of you do even the slightest thing to hurt either of them it'll be the last thing you ever do. Do you understand?" he says sternly and we both nod.

As much as I didn't appreciate Michael's father talking to David and I this way. I can see he's very protective of his family and it's clear to see that Michael and his family loves Leanne and will do anything to protect her.

****
Leanne's POV

Michael hasn't mentioned my parents or Carley and David since our talk earlier this morning, but I've been thinking about it over and over. Even when I went to visit my parents grave, I spoke with them about it.

The last few times I went, I felt like I was slowly losing them more because I could no longer see their faces or hear their voice, but this time was different. I didn't even have to say anything and all these images and flash backs of them kept happening.

They weren't any important moments in my life, but they kept saying the same thing. I had a flash back of the time our car broke down in the middle of nowhere and my dad smiling and saying 'Look on the bright side. Now we all get to have a camp out' we had to sleep in the car that night because the rain was so bad we couldn't see anything around us, but the whole night we sat making up stories.

And there was a flash back of when I got sick and had to leave school early. I remember being really upset because it was the day our school was going to the zoo on a school trip and I remember my mom smiling and telling me 'Look on the bright side. Now we get to have a family snuggle day, watching movies and all go to the zoo on the weekend'

I had many more flashback while I was there, and in everyone my mom and dad would say 'look on the bright side' and they would always say that and look for the good in every bad situation and whenever I'd get upset they'd always be there and remind me that despite all the bad in the world, there's also alot of good and everything happens for a reason and they were right. Thing's were awful for me when they died and I was trapped in a world in didn't even know existed, but if I hadn't been there then I never would have met Michael and I wouldn't have Ryan and Annabelle.

I was heartbroken when I found out my grandmother was still alive and nobody had told me, but I got to see her again before she passed away and I got to say goodbye to her.

It was also when Michael first found out about Carley and David and maybe there's a bright side here too. Even though I invited them here today, I was still unsure if I should have and didn't know if I truly wanted to see them, but after visiting my mom and dad's grave, the whole drive home I kept thinking of them telling me to look on the bright side and everything happens for a reason and maybe there is a bright side to all of this and maybe Carley and David coming into my life was supposed to happen, but I'll never know for sure unless I let go of my fears and take a chance and let them into my life.

****
Michael's POV

After getting the twins ready, I went down stairs with them to let Leanne finish getting ready and after a while of talking with everybody, I go back upstairs to see what's taking her so long.

"You still not ready?" I ask, going into the bedroom and she's sitting on the edge of the bed. "You Ok?"

"Mhm" she nods. "I was just thinking about something" she mumbles and I sit beside her and she tells me about her flash backs when we were at Ryan and Anna's grave.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier too. When you said you tried to me a father to me"

"That probably didn't come out right" I scrunch my face slightly, realising how weird and creepy I must have sounded. "I didn't mean to weird you out or anything"

"It didn't weird me out" she shakes her head. "You did try and me a parent to me at first"

"Because that's what you needed, but I couldn't give that to you. I can be your husband and your best friend and anything else, but I can never be a parent to you" I say softly "But there's two people downstairs that can be" I add in the same soft tone and she nods.

"I'm scared" she whispers and I wrap my arms around her. "What are you scared off?"

"I'm scared that if I trust them then.. I don't know.. every time they talk to me. I feel scared their gonna do something" she says nervously. "And you have every right to feel scared. Especially after what you've been through. Anybody who'd been through what you have would be scared to trust someone again. But you can't go through the rest of your life being scared. Those two people down their love you and they spent 18 painful years trying to find you. They just want a chance to be apart of your life. Their not gonna take you away or try and harm you" I say softly and she doesn't answer.

"Is there something else that scares you?" I ask and she nods. "They seem nice and kind, but I'm scared their really not. Alot of people are nice on the outside, but you don't always know what's on the inside"

"There's only one way for you to find out" I say softly and she nods nervously and stands up. "Are you sure you ready for this?" I ask and she doesn't say anything for a moment.

"I'm ready" she nods nervously and I take her hand and we go downstairs and Carley and David are standing, talking to one another in the hallway and there's and moment of silence between the 4 of us when Leanne and I walk downstairs and Leanne looks at them both nervously for a moment then smiles slightly and walks over and wraps her arms around Carley and David.