Ella was panicking. Now that Dan knows the truth, he would take away Lilly from her. Dan was not a bad person, but her emotions were not letting her think straight.

The doorbell rang again, which made Ella stand as still as a rock. The bell rang again, and she slowly went towards the door and opened it. At first, it relieved her to find Tim instead of Dan but then disappointed that Dan didn’t want to meet his own daughter.

“Can I come in?” He asked her softly, to which she nodded and shifted to give him some space to enter her house.

“What happened to your eyes?” She asked in concern.

“Well, Rosey’s brother was right about going through hell if I tried to hit on his sister.” He chuckled.

“Give her some time. She didn’t have that glorious experience in the past with boys.”

Tim was about to reply when he saw a little girl sitting on the couch watching Simpson on TV.

“Can I meet her?” He asked her excitedly, to which she nodded again.

“Lilly. Come here, dear. I want you to meet someone.” Ella called her daughter. “Lilly, this is my friend Tim from school. Say hello to him.” Ella explained to her.

“Hello” Lilly greeted Tim with a big smile.

Tim could see so many similarities between Dan and his daughter. He was right. Lilly was Dan’s daughter. Dan always loved the name Lilly, and he once told Ella about naming their daughter Lilly in the future and knowing her she would never name her kid anything else unless the kid is not Dan’s.

“Hi, Lilly. How are you?” Tim kneeled down and greeted her back.

“I am good. So, you and mommy good friends?” Lilly asked him with excitement.

“Yes. In fact, we were best friends.” He said while giving a glance at Ella. 

“Lilly, it’s your bedtime. You need to sleep.” Ella knew that she and Tim both needed to have a private conversation.

Lilly pouted, clearly didn’t want to sleep. 

“Lilly, how about you go and sleep now and soon I will tell you all about your mom’s childhood days and secrets.” She nodded excitedly and went upstairs.

“Okay, uncle Timmy.” which causes him to have a warm feeling in his heart. God, he could get used to being called uncle from this munchkin. 

“I will wait until she is asleep,” Tim told her.

Ella went upstairs and tucked her daughter in, and about fifteen minutes later came downstairs.

“This is the reason why you didn’t pursue your career as a doctor,” Tim stated, coming straight to the point.

“Yes. I couldn’t have done that to her. I know the feeling of being abandoned. Going after my dream would have meant to give up on Lilly and I didn’t want to abandon her.”

“Why didn’t you tell Dan? He would have helped you.”

“I wanted to, but...” She gave a long sigh.

“Why I feel there is more to this story.” Ella didn’t give Tim an explanation, and he respected that.

“Ella, you know Dan is an idiot. He thinks Lilly is not his kid but your and Ron’s.” he chuckled.

It shocked Ella to hear this. “But that’s not possible. Ron and I are just friends and Ron like Kristy, not me.”

“Well, that conversation in the car didn’t help, you know.”

“Oh god. I thought you guys knew we were fooling around. It was just to get back at Candice and it wasn’t even my idea.”

“Well, I thought so, but not Dan. You guys need to talk.”

“I know and I will,” Ella stated.

Tim hugged her and left, but not before whispering and kissed her cheeks, “Everything is going to be alright.”

Tim was shocked to see Dan in the current state. Dan was beyond drunk and was lying on the couch with blood-covered on his left knuckles. Misery was clearly seen in his eyes. God only knows how much he drank. He should have known not to leave him alone, but it was necessary to see Ella at that moment.

Tim went towards Dan and bandaged his hand and let him sleep.

In the morning, Dan’s head was aching. 

“This results from drinking.” Tim came out of the blue and handed him medicine.

“You cannot blame me.” He mumbled.

“You are an idiot, Dan,” Tim stated.

Dan was so furious all over again, “I am being stupid. Ella is stupid. She is having a kid with that good-for-nothing doctor who is trying to set her up with that Blaze guy and using his own kid to get one of her future wife’s friend Kristy. Who does that?” He yelled.

“Are you even listening to yourself? Goddamit Dan. Stop assuming things and open your eyes and you will see the truth by yourself.” Tim shouted at him and went into his room angrily and slammed the door shut.

Dan was being an idiot and was never like this, but from the day he has seen Ella again after six-years, he couldn’t think straight. Still, Tim couldn’t blame him. He was after all in love with Ella.

Dan sat on the couch, holding his head in both of his hands. His eyes were closed and he could clearly see the picture of Lilly in his mind. Now that if he thinks about it, Lilly looked nothing like Ron in fact, she looked a mixture of him and Ella. How could he had been so stupid? Lilly was his and Ella’s daughter. He even heard her calling Ron uncle when she came downstairs to go with him to the park.

The picture was becoming clear. This is the reason why she left her dream of becoming a doctor. She couldn’t let her daughter suffer like her. Bellatrix and Ella’s relationship was never strong. He didn’t even know that they were not related; no wonder Bella never treated Ella properly.

But why did Ella hide this truth? Instead of telling him about Lilly, she ran away. He would have helped her and stayed beside her in every step. He loves her after all.

Dan understood what Tim was trying to say. There was more to the story. Ella was not the kind of girl to hide these things. He knew Ella, she would have confronted him. She knew that he adored kids and would have been happy. He needs to talk to her, but before that, he needs to meet his... their daughter.

A smile formed on his face. His daughter. Ella and his daughter Lilly. No wonder Ella named their daughter Lilly.