Chapter 8

Daniel was sitting in the living room with Andrea snuggled into his arms fast asleep, he was about to get up to take her to her crib when he heard the front door open, Daniel couldn't help but furrow his brows a little - Carter was supposed to be out and no one else had keys to get into the house.

So he took a peak at the doorway and there stood Carter, his hair and jacket were finally dry, but he seemed a little defeated as he took off his shoes as he hung up his keys.

"Carter?" Daniel asked softly, but Carter heard him, Carter smiled a little and walked over to Daniel, "you're back early" Daniel said surprised.

"Yeah... let's just say I think my relationship is heading for the pits of hell" Carter replied in a hushed voice, Daniel looked at Carter a bit surprised at his words.

"Let me go put Andy down, and we can talk" Daniel said and once Carter nodded Daniel went to his room and placed Andrea down in her crib and then headed back to the living room.

"So... crash and burn?" Daniel asked, and all Carter could do was sigh.

"Yeah, uh I think it's more like a complete implosion" Carter said a little hopelessly, "At least I brought the food home, so I guess we have one win for the day, lunch" Carter joked as he held up the food.

"Let's eat, and I will tell you about the wonders of my date," Carter said as he walked towards the kitchen to heat up their food.

It took a few minutes but once their food was warm they grabbed two glasses for the wine and took their food and headed to the living room.

"I think she might actually break off the whole engagement? And somehow rather than feeling sad about it, I am feeling somewhat relieved" Carter said, taking a sip of his wine.

Daniel was a little surprised, "What exactly happened?" he asked Carter.

"Hmm, she was already pissed at me because I wasn't sure how to speak to her since I didn't want to upset her, and then she asked if it was about you and once again she said things she shouldn't, and I defended you, and she got even more pissed at me for defending you, and it just ended up in a big fight... she threw me with a glass full of water" Carter said a little flabbergasted as he thought back to the whole scene Angela had made.

"Wait, so she just blew up on you again?" Daniel asked in shock. 'Did she want Carter to leave her? Was that her plan? To keep arguing and yelling at him until he eventually just broke off the engagement?' Daniel thought to himself.

"Yeah, I couldn't even tell her what I wanted before she just started blowing up on me again, it's hopeless honestly, I think I seriously need to rethink the whole relationship," Carter said, a little annoyed as he took a bite of his food.

"I don't get it honestly, if she is really unhappy... and all she does is fight why doesn't she end things, I don't mean anything bad about it" Daniel said the last part in a hurry when he realized his thoughts had been spoken aloud.

Carter shook his head a little and smiled at Daniel, "It's fine, you aren't wrong Danny" Carter spoke and shrugged, "Honestly if she is really that upset with me, I'm not sure why she hasn't left yet, at first she really didn't find faults in anything but since we got engaged she seems to have gotten angry about everything, but when I wanted her to move in before she didn't want to but now that you're living here it seems like she is suddenly finding issue with it" Carter said, he felt a little annoyed.

It wasn't as if he was the one causing the issues, he hated that she always made Daniel the villain especially if she didn't get her way with things, and her sudden urge to argue lately has made him feel quite depressed because it kept feeling like he was doing everything wrong and that nothing he did was good enough... he was feeling quite hopeless about everything.

Daniel could tell his friend had a lot of thoughts so instead of complicating them more he decided to stay silent, he didn't want his opinion to play into Carter's decisions about his relationship, so instead he sat and listened to Carter rant about everything as they drank the wine and ate.

Once they were done eating, the two collected up the dishes and Daniel offered to wash them and Carter offered to put them away. 

"I was thinking about calling Abigail tonight" Daniel said as he placed the dish he just washed on the drying rack.

"Hmm, tell me when you are calling, and I will sit with you, and we can both speak to her" Carter told him as he took the dish.

"Will do, if it's okay I want to invite her for dinner tomorrow night, it's the weekend, so I don't think she will have classes, though she said she works part-time, so she might be working" Daniel said.

"Sounds like a good idea, she can see Andrea again, and we can find out how we can help her out, and we can learn more about Andy" Carter said while nodding.

"Exactly plus, I want her to be part of Andy's life if she wants to be, I can't imagine it was easy to give her up, and I am sure she gave Andy to me since I was someone who is close by, so I want to at least try to keep her around in any way she would like" Daniel said with a small smile.

Carter mirrored his smile, as much as Daniel seemed to not be close to his family it seemed that he truly cared a lot about his younger sister, it made him think of the times his older brother would take care of him whenever he got sick and their parents were at work, though it wasn't exactly on the same level as entrusting your child to your brother.

As day turned to night and after caring for Andrea, Daniel and Carter found themselves in the living room once again, Daniel held his phone in his hand with his finger hovering over Abigail's contact, after a few seconds he pressed it. It rang for a few seconds and then there was a small click.

"Hello? Danny?" Abigail's voice rang through the speaker, Daniel couldn't help but smile.

"Hello Abi, sorry it took me so long to contact you" Daniel said in an apologetic tone.

"Hmmm It's okay Danny, I also have to apologize, I am sorry for just leaving Andy with you without notice" She said, both Daniel and Carter could tell she felt bad for what she did.

"It's okay... I- I mean we are actually calling about Andy" Daniel said as he looked at Carter.

"We?" Abigail asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah, my friend's helping me with Andy, I am currently living with him" Daniel explained.

"Oh I see, I am sorry" Abigail said, Daniel could tell she felt bad about everything.

"It's okay Abs, the reason we are calling, we would like to know if you wanted to join us for dinner tomorrow night? I would like to know more about Andy and her father, and most of all I want to know how you are holding up as well, but I feel it isn't appropriate to talk about all this over the phone" Daniel explained, there was a bit of silence on the other side of the line.

"Are you sure it would be okay for me to come over after what I did?" Abigail asked, Daniel hummed a little.

"You will always be welcome, Abigail," Carter exclaimed.

"Thank you... then if you could send me the address and time, I will be sure to visit tomorrow" She said, Daniel could tell she was smiling, he couldn't help but feel that maybe their invite was a good thing - maybe it could help her a little with everything.