Chapter Text
The first time Liam meets his daughter, he obviously isn't sure what to expect. But actually, there's a feeling of surrealism that he carries with him even on the way there, because despite his expectations otherwise, Fallon told him she was pretty okay with it. Even when it registered that the reason it happened was because of Landon, who she'd inadvertently (but literally) shot. Specifically, she'd come to understand that what Liam meant when he said the internship happened when he was studying abroad, was that it happened at the same time as his relationship with the mother of his child. Really, he was impressed she wasn't flying off the handle.
When he got the call from his ex-girlfriend, Cassandra, he'd been just as surprised with her as with Fallon. First of all, it hadn't occurred to him that she might have made her way from London to the U.S. But perhaps more importantly, it was a complete and utter shock to learn that she had not, in fact, given their child up for adoption.
No. Instead, his mother had paid Cassie off to keep quiet, when only Liam agreed to the adoption idea. To ensure that the child had whatever they needed, but also to prevent Liam's life from being intertwined with theirs, because of her belief that it would negatively affect him. Liam wasn't sure if he agreed or disagreed.
But it seemed that Landon had reached out to Cassie upon running into Liam again, and she had been relieved to have a way of contacting him without going through Laura. Knowing the sort of person that Cassie was, Liam wasn't taken aback to learn that she didn't blame him. He hadn't known, after all.
So here he is. Driving to meet an eleven-year-old girl on her birthday. He doesn't know if he needs to be, but there's a part of him that recognizes: he's terrified. What if she hates him, and he only makes things worse, or ruins his own daughter's birthday? Then what?
What he realizes he wants is a chance. Just a chance.
To know her, to be there for her should she need him. To learn about her childhood, and what she loves, and if they both hate the taste of this food or that one. He wants to know if there's somehow any part of him there besides just the genetics. Because wouldn't that be something?
Although there's a nagging feeling that he ought to have planned more or brought the girl a gift or something, he's already pulling up outside the building Cassandra wanted to meet at. It turns out to be a hotel in downtown Atlanta, which she and their daughter were staying at in order to meet him. He feels a little bad that they flew out to do so, and wasn't about to keep them waiting.
He walks inside and looks around, finding his way into the little cafe run within the hotel. As he turns his chin to look around, it's like a magnet pulls him straight to a little girl with reddish brown hair, and eyes that are like looking in a mirror. Liam knows full well he's staring but can't stop, because he is immediately sure that's his girl. Has to be.
He lifts his gaze to the woman behind her, and his eyes land on Cassandra, confirming for him what he already knew. It makes him wonder if he would've somehow known, had he met his daughter on his own, without the preparation. Unfortunately, he doubts that he would have. But, perhaps strangely, Liam knew that he loved the little girl already.
“Hi,” Cassie greets him, her nerves obvious in her tone. “Liam... this is Elise.”
Putting a face to a name is truly overwhelming in a way, and for a moment he actually feels himself getting emotional in a way he hasn't since Fallon revealed her secret to him about Trixie, or when she proposed. But he just finds himself crouching in front of his – his – little girl and holding a hand out for her to shake if she wants to.
“Hi, Elise,” he says, completely relieved when she takes his hand. “I'm so excited to meet you. And I'm sorry I haven't done so before. I wish I could have.”
“...S'okay,” Elise replies, all soft voice and sad eyes, and it breaks his heart on the spot.
Liam lifts his eyes to Cassie again, and he can feel how much this means for her, too. It's there in her eyes, like he's sure it is in his. “I told her,” Cassandra says, “how you didn't know. That it wasn't your fault.”
“It's not yours either, Cass.”
She nods, but there's something on her face that says she feels bad about it even so. Cassandra invites him over to a table, and he's totally surprised when Elise motions for him to sit on her side of the booth so she can sit next to him. More unusual to him is the way she stares at him as he answers their questions, like she's trying to see herself in him or like she's silently deciding if she wants him to be her father or not.
He definitely doesn't feel like a father, to be fair.
But by the end of their meal, it doesn't seem like they regret flying down to see him. But then, while Elise goes to the bathroom, Cassandra hints that she's worried about meeting the girl she's heard about from Landon, who was an absolute mess according to their mutual friend. His girlfriend, who she isn't sure will be a positive influence on her daughter.
Liam turns red, partly out of a sense of embarrassment that usually only showed up when Fallon did something to directly affect him. But the other part of it was an irritation that others didn't understand her. Yes, she'd been unquestionably out of patience with Landon, but on the other hand, he could look back and recognize that he'd continued to upset her more and more without actually meaning to do so. They'd both been in the wrong on that one.
“I understand how she can come off,” he begins slowly. “But you don't really have the full picture. When we met Landon...” Liam shakes his head, afraid of sounding like a flight risk now that he's finally feeling like he might be getting along with Elise. So yeah, maybe he lies a little. “When we met Landon, I'd been really unwell. And Fallon was terrified. She thought she was losing me, and she's... she's lost a lot. I'm not saying that she's always right, but if you knew her like I did, you'd at least know why she makes the choices she does.”
“And she's just... fine with you having a kid?” Cassandra tilts her head at him skeptically.
“I think you'd understand if I said she was scared. She found out from someone else trying to interfere with us and it... well. It was hard for her. But she's being really supportive. I'm actually really proud of her.” He shrugs one shoulder as he catches sight of Elise heading back through the tables to join them. “I'm not going to push you to let her meet Elise. I'm not. But she'd really appreciate it.”
“I'll consider it. But I want to talk to her first.”
“Of course.”
Liam turns to look at Elise as she reaches them, his concerned expression turning into a smile as she hops up next to him and grins at the both of them.
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When Fallon meets Elise for the first time a few weeks later, Cassie's close by but not hovering, which both Liam and Fallon appreciate. Though she pretends otherwise, Fallon is obviously scared just as Liam was, but for far more reasons than she thinks he realizes. Not only could Elise dislike him, but Cassie could. Or she could be terrible with the little girl because she's not used to being around children, and Liam could determine that she's not the sort of person he wants in his daughter's life.
Worse, he could decide he doesn't want her in his life if she messes it up too badly.
All in all, she can barely breathe as he waves her over to the table he and Elise are sitting at. When the little girl sees Fallon, her jaw drops and Fallon comes to an immediate, confused halt. She doesn't recognize Liam's daughter at all, so she doesn't know what the reaction is for.
What she does catch, however, is when Elise leans over the table to her father, pointing at Fallon and going, “That's who you're dating?”
Fallon's heart drops, her eyes widening as she glances around the room, subconsciously seeking out a look at Liam's ex in person. Cassandra's gaze meets Fallon's, but she just seems... nice? A little confused, maybe, but there doesn't seem to be anything hostile in her eyes.
“Yeah?” Liam replies, glancing back at Fallon and looking just as anxious.
But then Elise jumps out of her seat and rushes up to Fallon, who barely stops herself from taking a step back. “You're--” Elise starts, shaking her head as she stares up at Fallon. “You were on that cover! You're-- You're Fallon Carrington.”
“I.. Well, yes,” Fallon agrees, baffled. But, which cover? The one about her being a businesswoman of the year? Or something more recent, perhaps to do with her father's trial? That hadn't gone well, after all. She looks up at Liam as he approaches, reaching a hand out to cautiously touch Fallon's arm.
“Elise?” He asks, brow furrowing.
“That's so cool!”
Fallon's shoulders relax, sort of rolling back to help her stand up a little taller. “Oh. Well... You clearly know who I am,” she says to the little girl. “But how about you tell me about you, huh?” Her smile is completely genuine and flattered, and she can feel the way Liam steps closer and hugs her to him. She hopes it's approval, not just further worries.
Frankly, though she hadn't told him so before, Fallon had been pretty convinced that Liam was going to give her some kind of how-to before letting him meet his daughter. After all, she had never been good at holding her tongue. He hadn't, though, and she liked to believe that it was because he had some kind of faith in her, if only because this first meeting was quite literally make-or-break for them if it went exceptionally badly.
He walks her over and lets her slide into the booth first, opposite Elise. Though she prefers not to have to scoot, she obviously does so for him. She'd do just about anything for him, after all. Once he settles in, too, she reaches for his hand again, resting their entwined fingers atop his leg in a quiet request for support and stability.
Liam will tell her later that it's fascinating to watch Fallon with Elise. He'll tell her how he's impressed by how seriously she took it, how kind she was, and how he absolutely loved watching seeing the way she opened up, even with Cassandra watching them.
And he's not wrong. Over their meeting, she finds herself really liking Elise, and seeing so much of Liam in her despite the fact that they only met a few weeks before, and she actually stops thinking about the fact that they're in public, which she sometimes can't even do when it's just her and Liam out somewhere. She laughs out loud at Elise's sass, which is ironically similar to her own, back before Alexis left. And she begins relaxing her hold on Liam's hand as well, when she realizes that Elise doesn't know the whole truth about who she is. Perhaps one day the little girl will find out, but Fallon decides immediately that she'll be damned if she doesn't convince Liam's daughter that she's great before that day comes.
Fallon, though, can't stop looking in Cassandra's direction. They'd spoken over the phone, and via face time, but this is different. She's absolutely shocked that she was allowed to meet Elise before coming face to face with the girl's mother, but there's something to be said for Cassandra's respect for Liam and even for Fallon, despite the fact that Fallon isn't totally sure she deserves it. So when Elise asks what time it is and Liam tells her it's nearly four, they realize it's time for them all to get going.
Liam stands up and Fallon watches as Elise hugs him. Tight. Like she doesn't want to let him go again. And it makes Fallon's stomach turn a little to think about how she and Liam only flew out to see them for the weekend, in case Cassandra didn't approve and wanted them to leave. That, on top of Fallon's meetings as she attempted to really build the reputation of her magazine. After she made a conscious effort to be better, and let Liam write what he really wanted to, it had gone better than she'd expected, and the two of them were better than ever.
Nonetheless, she wonders in that moment whether she's really a good influence. She wonders if she'll make the wrong call, say the wrong thing, and inevitably upset Elise like she has everyone else. And what if she upsets Liam's daughter to the extent that she's hurt him in the past, and he takes her side? What if that makes him change his mind?
The fears are back like they'd never left, and Fallon realizes Liam is waiting for her to stand up as well. She puts on a smile that only Liam seems to notice is fake, and makes her way out of the booth so she can stand beside Liam and offer a hand to Elise.
The little girl blinks at Fallon, shakes her head, and steps forward to hug her father's girlfriend regardless of whether or not it's wanted.
And Fallon, much to her surprise, realizes that it's exactly what she'd hoped for when Liam started to wrap things up. The pleasant surprise lights up her face, and when she looks up at Liam, she sees the way he's beaming at her. Moreover, Cassandra walks up behind him, a small smile on her face as well. Fallon's arms carefully curl around Elise's shoulders in return.
"Elise," Cassie beckons as their hug breaks apart.
Fallon stands up a bit straighter, unsure what to do with herself, and clings on when Liam takes her hand. Cassandra hands Elise her phone and asks her to give them a minute, so Elise wanders off towards the front of the cafe, lingering within the door as she pulls up some app to play a game while she waits.
"Thank you," Fallon manages, knowing that's what Liam would want her to say. "For making time for this. I can't imagine it's easy to do."
"Liam made some convincing points over the last few weeks. And she obviously likes you. But I'm sure you know that I'm protective of her."
Fallon nods quickly. "Of course. ...She's really lucky to have a parent who so obviously cares as much as you do."
Liam squeezes her hand tightly, catching her underlying meaning, but doesn't get into it. Instead, he just smiles at the both of them. "It means a lot, Cassie. Seriously. If you need anything, or there's anything we can do for you two, let us know. Okay? Anything."
Cassandra nods, and a few pleasantries later, Cassie and Elise are on their way home, and Liam takes Fallon back to their hotel room. Relieved, a little shaken, and exhausted from the day, Fallon spends the rest of the evening just quietly ruminating on what happened while Liam gets some writing done. And when she finally asks how he feels, he just tells her that - although it's hard to tell so soon - he's pretty sure he hasn't felt this comfortable and complete in a long, long time. And although part of her wishes that she were enough on her own, Fallon's pretty sure she understands. And definitely can't blame him for feeling better now that he's finally gotten everything in his life a little more on track.