( 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗈𝗇𝖾 — 𝗉𝗂𝗅𝗈𝗍 )

Surprises — something Ben Wheeler would be all for. However, on the day his older brother moved into his apartment, his life was turned upside down when he found a baby left on the doormat to his home by a one night stand he had shared with a girl named Angela.

Of course, this had Ben panicking as he stood in his apartment, ranting to his two brothers and best friend and thankfully, Danny Wheeler came to the rescue by contacting his two best friends, Riley and Charlotte — especially if the latter of the two had her own experience with raising a child since she was eighteen years old.

"Ri-gantor?" Ben called to the blonde woman at the door, a smile of disbelief on his face.

"Ben-wetter!" Riley responded, imitating her best man-ish voice before the two shared a hug. The sound of her voice grabbing Brodie's attention as he smiled towards the door. "Is that Ri-gantor, I see? Look at you. You look amazing."

"How did that happen?" Brodie added once he pulled away from Riley.

"I may have lost a pound or two." Riley chuckled nervously, looking towards Brodie who responded with a laugh.

"Hundred." He added before flinching back at the sudden contact of what seemed to be a stuffed teddy bear hit his face. "Ow!"

"Score!" A familiar voice echoed from outside the apartment before they popped up from behind Riley with their fists in the air. "Now, where is she?" She stepped inside the apartment, clapping her hands excitedly.

Ben raised his brows. "Hi Ben. Oh, hello Charlie, how are you? I'm good, thank you. What about yourself? Well—" He piped up in a mocking tone, earning a pointed look from Charlotte.

"Do you want me to help you?" The brown-haired woman rhetorically asked, earning no response from Ben, giving her the answer. "Exactly. So, don't mock me, boy."

After a moment of their silent bickering, ignoring Brodie who had just introduced Riley and Tucker to each other, the baby — who they have learnt is called Emma, started to cry just as Ben went to approach.

"I didn't do anything." Ben raised his hands in the air, backing away from the baby as Charlotte walked past him with a grin at her lips as she looked at the baby. "Well, aren't one of you gonna pick her up?"

"Us?" Riley furrowed her brows at the four boys who stood behind the baby. "What, you guys see breasts and instantly think mommy?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes before looking down at the blue-eyed baby. "Come here, gorgeous." She smiled before taking the baby out of the seat and into her arms.

"Aw, angel. Believe us. We know how scary it is to wake up in a strange place." Riley told Emma before pursing her lips, turning her head to look at the four amused boys. "I'm just making conversation."

"Are you hungry? I bet you're hungry, huh?" The blonde-haired woman cooed before approaching the bag on the couch to look through it. "Let's see what you got— is this all you brought with you?"

"Well, that's okay. We can just send one of the boys out for provisions and— Oh I think somebody needs their diaper changed." Charlotte sighed while passing the baby over to Riley.

"I'll go to the store!" The new father offered to go almost instantly. "Charlie, come help us!" The Wright girl didn't have a chance to respond before Ben pulled her out of the apartment, being joined by Brodie and Tucker.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"I can't believe this is happening." Ben stared in disbelief at the baby bottles he has just picked up from the shelf. "I'm not ready to be a dad. What if Angela never comes back?"

The Wheeler boy turned around expecting to find Charlotte there to give him advice, but he was instead met with his best friend and twin brother who popped up from behind him, sampling the baby food.

"Oh, my God, taste this. Yo. Chicken, Carrots and Pasta. Okay? All in this little jar." Brodie laughed along with Tucker before chiming in. "It's like, gross, yet oddly delicious."

"Exactly!" Tucker laughed before noticing Ben's facial expression. "Come on, man. It's gonna be okay."

"How do you know?"

"I don't, but it's all I got." Tucker shrugged at him before taking another spoonful of the baby food in the jar and putting it to his mouth.

"I'm back! Sorry, I took so long." The three boys turned to see Charlotte approaching with a bunch of essentials in her arms. The brown-haired girl paused for a moment, her eyes searching through the items in their trolley, not missing what Brodie and Tucker were eating either. "Wow, okay. Ben, how old is Emma again?"

"That's a good question, Charlie." Ben started to say before going from when he first met the baby momma. "I met Angela at that party in the village... and we dated for maybe six weeks before we were... intimate. And she broke up with me pretty much right after that. I'm sure there was no correlation. So, we're into August now, and they take, like, nine months once they're up and running. So..."

"So... three months?" Charlotte interrupted the boys' counting, receiving a nod from Ben after a moment, repeating what she said. "Yes. She's three months old."

"Okay, I'm glad I'm here." Charlotte sighed as she looked down at the trolley, dumping the items from her arms into the cart before going through the boys' pile, making sure to pull out what Ben didn't need. "She doesn't even have any teeth yet, oh my goodness!"

"Uh oh, Mama Charlie alert."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

As Charlotte needed to be back at her apartment with her little brother, Riley was left to stay the night at the boys' apartment to help out with the baby.

Ben still wasn't ready the next day to spend time with Emma by himself — due to him leaving in a hurry that morning for his shift. However, once again a surprise was left at his apartment when he had rushed home after hearing from Danny about Angela's return, only to be left with adoption papers.

"So, I sign this and Emma has a new daddy?" Ben walked into the room with the adoption papers in his hands.

"Pretty much. The letter says they already have a family lined up." Riley informed Ben before someone knocked on the door.

"If I do this, if I let her go," Ben started to say as he went over to open the door, stopping by the table to continue. "I don't want to hear about it. I never want to talk about it again, okay?"

As soon as he opened the door, Ben was met with the familiar face that belonged to his mother who smiled. "Where is my precious little grand-baby?"

The tall blonde-haired woman ran in excitedly upon spotting the baby with Tucker as Ben groaned from behind her. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"I'm a grandma!"

Danny greeted his mother who simply waved him off, heading over to Emma as the three Wheeler siblings gathered together.

"Did you two tell her?" Ben asked his two siblings who instantly denied through their answer, Danny responding with. "I didn't even tell her I was here."

"Oh, I'll get to you." Bonnie turned around to look at her eldest son with a scolding look before looking back at Emma, taking her in her arms with a smile on her face. "Oh, she is just a big ol' pile of love."

"Yeah, I really don't think that's love that you're smelling." Tucker shook his head, disagreeing with Bonnie's comment.

"Okay, who wants to explain to me why I had to hear that I was a Grandma while I was getting my nails done?" Bonnie questioned, heading over to the couch. "That Jennifer Perrin couldn't wait to let me have it. Ever since that Fatpants daughter of hers got into law school she's just—" She cut herself off when Ben moved to the side, revealing Riley sat beside Charlotte. "Hi, Riley. I didn't see you there. You're so thin now, you should wear a bell."

"Is this duct tape?" Bonnie added after taking another look at Emma, making everyone look towards Tucker who was quick to defend. "We we're having a closure issue.

"Oh, what, you couldn't find a stapler? Honestly."

Ben sighed. "I can't sign those papers now. It's not gonna happen." And at Bonnie's question at the mention of papers, the boy went on to inform her about the new situation — not expecting for his mother to be relieved about him considering putting Emma up for adoption.

"Oh, Ben, Honey. You can't begin to understand the kind of sacrifice it takes to be a parent. Unlike Charlie over there. Look, when I married your father and I had you three, I had to put my dreams on hold."

"What dreams?" Brodie questioned.

"Being single and childless." Bonnie dramatically spoke before continuing. "Honey, I love you, but you can't raise this little girl. You haven't even finished raising yourself. You can't cook, you're barely paying your bills... Honey, I still buy your pants. This baby needs a grown-up. You gotta sign those papers."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Later that night, Charlotte was sat in the bar with Danny, catching up while the babysitter was back at the apartment with her four-year old brother.

"So, where's Riley?" Danny questioned the brown haired girl who hummed before putting her glass of soda to her mouth. "She texted me to say that she would be down soon."

Danny nodded before his eyes went wide. "Oh, speaking of her, did you know that she's in love with Brodie?"

At that, Charlotte almost choked on her drink — although not surprised by that piece of information. "Still? I guess it's come back now that she's seen him again."

Upon seeing the frown on Danny's face, Charlotte was quick to change the subject. "Um— so, I wonder how Ben's doing?"

"Who knows?"

"You do know he doesn't really want to give the baby up, right?" Charlotte tilted her head to the side as she told Danny who was quick to remind the woman. "If that were true, then why did he make that call?"

Charlotte sighed. "Because his entire family is telling him he can't do it. I felt the same way with Tommy at the beginning. But you all believed in me, especially Ben. And if nobody believes in him, how can he believe in himself?"

"He can't do it alone. And no offence to him, but you are a lot more mature." Danny sighed, shaking his head.

"You don't know that." Charlotte told him before reaching for her phone when it beeped. "Oh, it's the sitter." The woman grabbed her bag before standing up to her feet with Danny copying her actions. "You're going?"

"Yeah, the sitter's just messaged to say she has to leave early so I gotta go to Tommy." Charlotte informed the Wheeler boy. "Also, you might want to check up on your brother as your mom is about to leave him alone with the baby. And go easy on him, okay? He looks up to you and so does Brodie."

Danny smiled in amusement. "Well, they kind of have too."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes playfully. "Anyway, in their eyes, you have everything." The smile on her face was quick to fall at Danny's muttering response. "Not everything."

The Wright girl sighed deeply, knowing he was referring to Riley which made her frown. Before she could respond, her phone beeped once again due to a message she got from Riley.

"Apparently, Riley's going with Brodie to check on Ben." Charlotte said to Danny who shook his head, remembering what she told him moments prior. "Well, should we stop them? He's not going to believe in himself if any of us go in to help him."

"Yes. And we will get their faster if you—" The brown-haired woman smiled smugly, going to suggest when Danny interjected, giving her a knowing look. "You want me to give you a piggyback?"

"Duh!" Charlotte giggled, clapping her hands in excitement before she jumped on Danny's back once they stepped outside the bar and made their way back to their apartment building.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

As soon as Charlotte and Danny made it back to their apartment building, the former went into her apartment which was literally one door down from the boys', to talk to the babysitter who was prepared to leave.

"Is he okay?" Tommy's babysitter asked, stood in the doorway as she looked at a panting Danny who stood in front of Brodie and Riley.

"He's totally fine." Charlotte waved her off before doing the normal handover, receiving feedback from what Tommy has done and any concerns that she needed to know about. "Okay, thank you so much. You're absolutely amazing!"

"It's no problem. I'll see you soon?" The woman grinned at Charlotte who nodded in confirmation before walking into the apartment to check on Tommy, leaving the group outside to themselves who hid in the hallway, not wanting to wake up Tommy if they went inside Charlotte's apartment.

Standing in Tommy's room, Charlotte listened to Ben's voicemail of him pleading for her to help him but all she could was ignore him and hope that he could help Emma by himself during the night.

And he did. The pure sight of Ben playing with Emma on the couch the next morning made her smile with joy along with the others who followed her in.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah." Ben nodded, a smile at his lips. "I think I want do this. I can't let her go. I love her." He kissed on the forehead, missing the smiles on the others' faces as they watched the new father-daughter duo. "Did you guys hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah we heard you." Tucker nodded.

"You should probably call the agency. It's almost 7:00." Brodie reminded his brother.

"Come on, Mi Amor. Here we go." Tucker cooed as he picked Emma up. "Ooh, somebody could use a bath. Oh, you both could."

"I'm gonna get a bottle ready." Danny ruffled Ben's hair as he walked past, nodding at Ben's response. "But I want to give it to her, okay?"

"We're really gonna have to get on some kind of schedule though. For real." Tucker mentioned to Ben who furrowed his brows in question. "Well, we have a baby now so I mean, we kind of have to be adults."

Charlotte and Riley stood in the doorway with a soft smile as they watched the boys with Emma before shutting the door behind them.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

megan speaks!

ahhh! i hope you enjoyed reading this
first chapter!

let me know what you think of charlotte
so far and don't worry, you will see tommy soon!

thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33