"My birthday is in two weeks!" Kash sang, as she exited the bathroom. They were both off work for the day, and she had just finished her shower. Luckily, it was Friday, so they planned on staying up late and doing whatever they wanted. "Whatchu gon buy me?" she asked, grabbing her bottle of lotion off his dresser.

"Dick in a box," he chuckled and her jaw dropped, making him laugh harder. "Why you keep asking me? I'm not gon give you no serious answer Sadé." It was true, she'd been asking him since the first day of April what her gift was going to be, and he hadn't answered her question in the slightest.

He of course had something planned, after all this was their first birthday that they'd be spending together as a couple.

It'd soon be a full five months since they started dating, but it felt so much longer. He knew by the time their first anniversary came, it would already feel like years had passed.

"Siah, I'm hungry," Kash sighed, after she was done pouting about her present. "Feed me,"

"We ate before we came in the house, Sadé, how you hungry already?" he turned slightly to face her as she was moisturizing her legs. "What, you ain't eat at work?"

"I did! I just have a big appetite today, and I am starving nearly to death," she spoke dramatically and he shook his head. "You don't believe me?"

"Whatchu wanna eat, girl," he chuckled, pulling his phone out and handing it to her so she could look through uber eats.

"Aww look at me on your homescreen," she cooed. "Oh—Mr. Frank just texted you, papa," she said, showing him the text which just asked if he could come through the shop tomorrow around 4.

"Tell him Ima be there," Siah nodded, grabbing his remote to flip through some Disney+ options. There was so much on here he got overwhelmed and ended up watching a Marvel movie he'd seen a million times already.

Kash scrolled aimlessly through uber eats until she found something she wanted, and of course Kasiah wouldn't turn food down, so after that they were both just waiting on their late night dinner to arrive downstairs.

"Baby, how's your mama?" he asked, glancing over at her watching the movie intently.

"Chile she over it, but that baby is not moving," Kash chuckled. Bianca was currently two days past her due date for her daughter, and very tired of being pregnant at this point. She was eagerly waiting for the day when her water broke and she could meet her baby.

"Crazy how Prince and them had their baby first," he chuckled and Sadé laughed while nodding in agreement. "He doing better right?"

Prince had his son—Amir, which meant prince of course, about a week and a half ago. His full name was Amir Jace, and he was precious. Although he was born full term, he was having problems latching and he didn't like taking the bottle so the doctors wanted to keep him overnight just in case.

"He's doing so good, look," Kash showed a picture that her brother sent and Siah cracked a smile seeing the baby laughing. "My mama need to hurry up, na' I wanna meet my bestie," she cheesed.

"I just know that baby never gon hear the word no from you in her life," he chuckled.

"Of course not! I'm big sister I was born to spoil," she said.

They continued talking until their food finally arrived, and they both ate like they'd never had food before, quickly too. This put an immediate stop in their plans to stay up late and do whatever they wanted—because within thirty minutes the itis set in and Siah didn't even turn the tv off before they were both checked out.

The next day, as promised, Siah drove up to the garage around four, Kash in the passenger. She said she didn't want to come inside so he left her the keys and jogged toward the door, not missing Khyren's car pulling in right after.

"Hey my boy," Mr. Frank smiled as he entered.

"Hey bossman," Siah smiled. He was forever appreciative to Mr. Frank, he gave him his first opportunity out of trade school to be an actual mechanic, not to just watch or to shadow but gain real life experience that other shops weren't giving.

He paid extremely well and the boys got raises every year plus their Christmas bonus and tips they always got to keep in full. Kasiah knew he was blessed with his job, he and Khyren couldn't ask for anything better. 

Speaking of Khy, he waltzed in with a yawn shortly after Siah did, greeting Mr. Frank as well.

"Thank y'all two for coming on such short notice," Frank started as the guys sat in their usual lunch spots inside the garage. "Na' y'all know I'm gettin' old. I can't keep this place up as good as I used to, it's gettin' to be a lot for an old man," he prefaced.

Siah's eyes widened. He was actually kind of scared of what was coming next. Of course he and Khy had talked about what they'd do of the shop ever got closed down, but for some reason they never thought they'd actually be seeing it happen.

"And y'all know this place is my pride and joy, I can't see it going down because of me," he continued, and the boys nodded understandingly. "All I got is my two girls, and they off living life with their own families, they can't come back here just to run this place for me,"

It seemed from there, both boys were just bracing for impact.

"So I talked it over with my wife, and the girls. We think it's best to do what's best for the garage...and y'all are the best thing that walked through them two doors in a long while," he smiled warmly.

Siah and Khy's eyes widened and they looked at each other before looking back at Mr. Frank.

"We? You mean us?" Khy gestured between them. "W-well what can we do?" he wondered.

"I wanna pass my garage down to you boys to run," he said, and their jaws dropped in addition to their eyes being twice their original size, making Mr. Frank laugh. "Is it that shocking?"

"Yes!" they both replied.

"We thought you was finna shut down shop!" Siah threw his hands up. "You—you positive we the ones you wanna—"

"Of course. Y'all are the most responsible of all my tech's, you learn fast, take well to criticism, you cam snag customers like nobody's business too. I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather see in that office than you two boys," he spoke fondly.

For some reason their brains could not fully register what Mr. Frank was saying until he dangled keys in front of them, and then Khy was on his feet, a huge smile gracing his face. Bigger than any smile Kasiah had seen from him in weeks.

"Are you for real?! Thank you so much man this means so much," Khy said, still grinning. Siah stood up as well, shaking both of his hands.

"I really appreciate this, I still can't believe it," Siah chuckled. "So-so we're gonna be like...the managers?" he asked to get a clearer understanding since Khyren was no help at the moment.

"Exactly. I'm retiring and who knows where my wife is gon wanna go. So I can't really be around to help y'all but I'm always a phone call away. Y'all gon be handling payroll, any renovations we need done, hiring and firing, finances and bills and such. Of course if y'all still wanna do mechanic work you're free to, but y'all will be tackling managerial duties," he nodded.

"Wow," Siah chuckled. He couldn't believe he was getting this opportunity so young. He figured he'd have to be as old as Mr. Frank before he could save enough to have his own garage. "Thank you so much Mr. Frank," he repeated.

"I should be thanking y'all. I know my place gon be in some good hands and that's why I chose you. Keep bein' the dependable young men y'all are, it's gon take you real far in the world," he told them and they nodded along. "I'm gon leave y'all to celebrate or whatever it is y'all do, we gon talk some more on Monday morning,"

"Yes sir," they both nodded and he handed Khy the keys and walked out the front door.

As soon as they heard it close, they were dapping each other up and Khy was nearly bouncing off the walls in excitement.

"Can you believe this shit?! Man I can't believe this," he shook his head with a huge grin.

"No I can't," Siah laughed. "We really finna run this whole shit. How you think everybody gon react? It's still a few old niggas here you know they'on like being told what to do," he chuckled.

"Man fuck them. They can get right or get left you feel me?" he smirked and Siah bursted into laughter.

They could tell, even with the hardships that would come—this would be a lot of fun.

Khy's phone rang in the midst of their celebration, and he told Siah to hold on, since his dad was calling. While he was out of the room, Siah called his own father to tell him the news, and he couldn't wait to tell Sadé.

"Yes, I am so happy for them!" Sadé cheesed and she, Nevaeh, and Aryn walked through the large baby section of the target they were at. The girls had a mini shopping trip today, just to catch up with each other.

Every time Sadé saw a baby section anywhere, she had to buy something for her sister, it never failed. "Ooh, this set is cute," she cooed, grabbing a set of onesies and matching bibs. "My mama gon be sick of me," she chuckled.

"So, they're gonna be like running the whole garage?" Vaeh asked and Kash nodded, pushing the cart down to the Décor section. "That's so cool! Not my cousin in law a business owner at 23," she smirked referring to Khyren.

"Right! I'm proud of them, they wouldn't have gotten this far if Mr. Frank didn't recognize their work and their work ethic. They deserve it," she said and Aryn agreed. "Y'all think Siah gon be mad if I buy these pillows for his apartment?" she asked, picking some up as they browsed.

"He gon make this exact face," Aryn snickered, and gave the straightest face imaginable, and tilted her head to the side, making Kash erupt into laughter because of the accuracy. "He gon be like 'Sadé you know this my apartment right?'"

"Bitch I hate you," Kash continued to laugh and put the pillows back. She couldn't lie she had an itch to decorate all over Siah's place, but it was just that—Kasiah's place. She had done her room at her dad's house to death, and redone it a million times over the years, his apartment was a blank canvas that was just waiting on her to bless it.

After they were done in target, the girls moved on to another store that Nevaeh wanted to go into, and they just followed her around, allowing her to browse herself. She had been doing much much better, although sometimes sadness about her situation still crept up on her, she didn't allow it to overtake her, and had been focusing more on work and bettering herself.

She had picked a few things out and the girls were on their way to the register when Sadé felt someone staring. She hated...more like despised being stared at, so she turned around to mean mug whoever it was so they'd stop, when she was greeted with Jerrell. The absolute last face she was expecting to see today or any other day for that matter.

After she blocked all his social media it was like he disappeared, and she forgot that didn't apply in real life too. So to see him now, was not only shocking, but slightly aggravating.

"Kash? You oka—oh I know you fuckin' lying," Aryn spat. "Fuck is he lookin' at?"

"Let's just go, I'on have time for this today," she sighed,  trying not to allow this to ruin her mood. As badly as she wanted to say it didn't effect her, it did. It didn't make her sad, or want to cry, it just made her angry, and made her want to curse and yell.

Vaeh caught wind of the situation and agreed to meet the girls in the food court after paying for her stuff, so that's where Aryn and Sadé went, and were now eating cinnabons.

"Hopefully that's the last time I see his bitch ass," she huffed, stuffing some of the cinnamon roll in her mouth. "I wouldn't have even gotten so irritated if he wasn't fuckin staring at me!"

"Yeah I understand. He gon have to keep them ugly ass eyes to his ugly ass self," Aryn teased, trying to make Sadé laugh, which worked. "Don't let him ruin our good day, pooh,"

"I won't, I won't," she sighed. "Let's go get pretzels after this or some real food because a bitch is hungry,"  she chuckled. "Vaeh better hurry up before I eat her cinn—oh mama's calling," she paused, picking her phone up.

"Hey baby mama," she cheesed.

"Hey sweetheart, it's Lamarr," he chuckled.

"Oh! Hello step father," she laughed. "What's up? Mama okay?"

"Yeah, she just wanted me to call you, your grandma's on her way too, she said hurry up," he said and she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Uh...hurry up to what?" she asked in a perplexed tone. That could honestly mean a multitude of things, it was her mom they were talking about after all.

"Oh! Sorry, she's dilated! Like 8 centimeters and—"

"What?! Why didn't you lead with that?!" she shot up from her chair as Nevaeh approached them and she and Aryn both looked confused. "We gotta go to my mama's house, she's in labor—y'all got the pool up and everything?" she asked Lamarr as the girls rushed around.

"Yup, just waiting on you," he said, sounding awfully calm, in comparison to Kash's panic. "It'll be okay, she dilated really fast, her water didn't even—oh damn, okay hurry up,"

"Oh my gosh," she whined as they rushed to the car.

"I'm here!" she huffed as everyone in the room looked over at her. "Did I miss it?! Where's the baby?!" she fervently looked around the room, yet her mother was still very pregnant. "Oh, good," she sighed in relief.

Bianca decided on having a home water birth, and had a doula as well as a nurse here for her to help her along. She wanted to do everything naturally, and give birth in an environment that was comfortable and safe for not only her, but her baby.

There was a pool, and the atmosphere was warm and calm, there was soft music playing in the background and suddenly Kash could see why Lamarr was so calm when he called her. There was no room for panic and stress in an environment like this.

"Have you been pushing, mama?" Kash asked, grabbing her mom's hand.

"Mhm, but it looks like she stubborn like you," she teased and Kash laughed. "They say it's not much longer though, I'm glad you made it baby," she smiled, but it dropped once another contraction hit and in that instant Bianca started pushing again.

"Oh wow," Kash gasped as the doula was instantly by her side and Lamarr was at the other side. "I-is that—"

"I see hair, mom," the doula grinned and Kash's eyes widened, but she couldn't look away. She had never seen anyone give birth in real time.

The next ten minutes were a blur, as Bianca continued to push and push, Kash literally watched her baby sister being born and brought into the world. The loud cries echoed off the walls in the house, and everyone was about to cry, it seemed.

"Oh my goodness," Sadé gasped, covering her mouth when her mom held the baby, and her face was toward Kash, red from screaming but calm now, just resting as everyone around celebrated her arrival. "Hi sister," she cheesed.

Hours later, after holding the baby a million times and taking a million pictures, Kash was walking back into her boyfriends apartment with a grin on her face.

"Hey baby! Oh—hey y'all," she waved at Khy and Donny. "Y'all wanna see pictures of the baby?!" she asked eagerly.

"Yeah let us see," Khy nodded and she eagerly ran over and sat between he and Siah on the couch, going to her photos app.

"Uh, gimme my damn kiss," Kasiah interrupted, making Donny stifle a laugh. "Shut the hell up,"

"Sorry, papa," she giggled, turning to press a kiss to his lips. "Okay, here's the princess! Her name is Skai Journee, isn't she precious," she cooed, scrolling through the pictures.

"She look so squishy," Donny commented and as badly as they did want to, everyone laughed.

"Congratulations to you mama, I know she happy that baby is out, she look hella relieved," Siah said and she nodded in agreement. Bianca was far too through being with child.

After showing the pictures, she got comfortable on the couch, under Kasiah's arm of course, and decided to mind their business for a little while.

"So uh, I actually came here to talk to y'all," Khy said. "I'm glad you back too, Sadé. Y'all know how me and Ava decided to have time apart allat, so I been staying wit' my dad from then, I'on know if it'd be productive to sleep in there, even if we not there at the same time," he explained, and Kash already knew all this, since they both lived with Donovan.

"This shit gon be harder than I thought," he huffed, rubbing his hand down his face.

"It'll be aight bro, we know it hurts now, but it'll get better soon, you know we here for you," Adonis said, causing everyone to agree. "It's gon be a long process but you not by yourself,"

"I appreciate y'all," he nodded.

"Of couse, Bubba," she smiled.

"But I say that,