"even through we're going through it
and it makes you feel alone
just know that I would die for you
baby I would die for you".

"so all of that happened yesterday?! oh my god" julianne said in shock as iman was telling her what happened.

"yeah" iman sighed, she was still very stressed about it. jianni was in her room right now and roman was asleep in their room, it was just her and julianne in the kitchen talking over coffee.

"it broke my heart. jianni was crying most of the way home, roman was a mess, I was a mess. it made me so upset that all of that had to happen in front of her, that's the last thing I wanted".

"I remember you telling me about his parents when I first started working for y'all..... racist bastards" julianne scoffed. "they came to the sister's party ready to cause drama, a damn shame".

"I called summer this morning to apologize because I felt so bad. she didn't deserve that, especially after she worked so hard to get back into our good graces" iman told her. "I was even gonna tell her yesterday that we forgave her, instead I had to tell it on the phone".

"they ruined it all, now poor jianni got that in her memory" julianne sighed. iman started to blink her eyes to hold back tears. that was the worse thing that she could had in her memory right now.

iman heard some footsteps coming from the hallway and she walked out to see who it could've been. she looked out and saw that it was roman, he just woke up.

"is jianni awake?" roman asked her.

"yeah, she's in her room" iman told him.

"if I go in there right now to apologize, do you think she'll forgive me?" roman wondered.

"just tell her the truth, without scaring her even more though" iman told him.

"alright... here goes nothing" he sighed.

iman leaned in and gave him a kiss, just like he would do whenever she was nervous. she could sense his nervousness through his facial expressions, which was such a sight considering that roman was rarely ever like this. iman couldn't even pin point the last time he was legit nervous for something, let alone nervous to talk to his own daughter.

"I love you" she told him, just like he would tell her.

"I love you too" he chuckled. "nice to know you learned something from me".

iman laughed at him and he proceeded to go to jianni's room. jianni was currently playing with her barbie dolls and dreamhouse as a my little pony: friendship is magic episode was playing on the tv in the background. roman smiled at how happy she was right now, hopefully it wouldn't change as she realized that he was in the room.

"hi jianni" he said.

jianni put down her dolls and turned around at roman. she didn't say anything or do anything, but in her face she still looked scared. she didn't forget or get over it at all.

"hi babygirl, what are you doing?" he asked her as he walked further into her room. she still didn't say anything.

there was silence in the room. jianni was still looking at roman and roman was looking at her. he didn't even know how he was going to apologize to her if she was still afraid. with iman it was easier because she would always cave in or clap back at him, but he couldn't do this with jianni.

"daddy... why did you do that?" jianni asked him. he didn't even have to ask "do what?".

"..... I did it to protect you and mommy" roman told her.

"that person was a bad person, and he was not being nice to you or mommy and it made me very, very angry. I took my anger out on that person and unfortunately you had to see it".

"and i'm so sorry babygirl. I would never want to scare you or make you feel like you need to be scared of me" roman continued to explain. "i'm your father, and you will always have me".

"daddy, please don't do it again" jianni told him.

"trust me babygirl, I won't" roman said. well, just not in front of her at least. he was still gonna fuck anyone up that talked ill on her and/or iman.

"so... we cool again twin?".

"yes!" she exclaimed, giving him a hug. roman then gave her a kiss on the cheek and she giggled.

"y'know what jianni, how about we go out today! where do you wanna go?!" roman asked her.

"the disney store!" she exclaimed.

"knew you would say that" roman chuckled. he personally hated the disney store but, anything for his daughter right?

"okay so i'm going to make you a quick breakfast and then we're gonna get dressed and i'll take you okay?!".

"yay!" she squealed.

they walked out of the room and went into the kitchen where iman and julianne were still talking.

"momma daddy's taking me to the disney store today!" jianni told her.

"awww that's sweet babydoll" iman smiled. she was really happy jianni was good again and most of all, not afraid of roman.

"i'm gonna make her breakfast real quick and then we're gonna get dressed and go" roman told her.

"bribing our daughter with forgiveness?" iman mumbled.

"no one is bribing iman.... she forgave me and THEN I asked her what she wanted to do today and she chose the disney store. I don't have to bribe people for anything!" roman told her.

"you bribe me all the time!" iman chuckled.

"at least it's a good bribe that ends with you moaning out my name" he smirked. "love that for me". iman rolled her eyes at his cockiness.

"cmon jianni! what do you want for breakfast?".

"pancakes!" she exclaimed as she ran to the living room.

"that man is such a menace" julianne chuckled, and iman rolled her eyes again and laughed.

later in the day iman was in the kitchen eating a sandwich when she heard the keys dangling in the door, meaning that roman and jianni were back from times square. the front door opened and jianni ran through the house in excitement of her afternoon with her father.

"momma we're back and daddy got me so many things!" jianni told her.

"what did he get you?" iman asked.

roman walked into the kitchen with multiple bags in his hands, looking bewildered at how much jianni can truly want. she had him buying dolls, dress up costumes, and stuffed animals of all of her favorite characters and princesses, definitely taking advantage of her father. iman laughed at him, especially since usually it's her or julianne that takes jianni out on toy binges like this.

"the amount of princess shit I had to buy.... don't ever make me watch those movies ever again" roman said putting the bags on the ground.

"I know that receipt was long" iman chuckled.

"momma daddy also said that we can go to chuck e cheese today! with you and julie!" jianni told her.

"wow you're really going all out today huh?" iman said.

"I keep my promises" he shrugged.

"momma you and julie have to get ready for chuck e cheese!" jianni exclaimed.

"okay babydoll I will, I will" iman laughed.

"wait.... what are we getting ready for?" julianne wondered as she walked into the kitchen.

"we're going to chuck e cheese today" iman told her.

"this isn't a three family thing?" julianne asked.

"no jianni wants you to come" iman said. "and julianne you know you're family so".

"oh... okay then, guess i'll be getting ready" she said, walking to the back to get herself together. iman followed and went into her bedroom to get ready for the day.

"you're the best daddy ever! thank you!" jianni said to roman, giving him a big hug.

"I love you babygirl" he said, kissing her forehead.

about two and a half hours later they all arrived at the chuck e cheese in jersey city. jianni led the way, running into the place as the adults followed. since roman was basically spoiling jianni for the day he paid for everything. they got what they needed and went to a booth.

"iman why couldn't we go to the one in queens instead of coming out thirty minutes to another state?" roman asked her.

"you know I don't like that one" she scoffed.

"okay and? it's the closest one to manhattan, don't forget i'm the one that's driving my car back and forth and you know I hate wasting gas" he groaned.

"it's not wasting anything if you were the one that was making promises to your daughter" she said. "remember... you keep your promises right?".

"besides, I wanted to come to this one for two reasons. for one, I really like this one and it's better than the one in queens, and secondly....".

right on cue walked in iman's parents, together at that. when jianni saw them she immediately ran over and gave her grandparents a hug.

"hi my baby!" tonya exclaimed as she gave jianni a kiss on the cheek.

"hey ma, daddy" iman said, greeting her parents.

"hi iman, and hi to my other grandbaby still cooking!" tonya said rubbing on iman's pregnant belly.

"is it a boy?" darnell asked his daughter.

"I don't know yet I have a couple more weeks before I find out" iman told him.

"like it matters, she's having another girl" tonya said.

"I want a grandson" darnell said back.

"I want A SON" roman said, joining the three.

"..... hello roman" tonya said to him.

"hi tonya, darnell" he said.

"surprised you're joining us today.... you weren't busy at "work"?" tonya wondered.

"nope, when you're the boss you can give yourself the day off" roman told her.

"that's nice, spending time with your daughter and your wife. I know iman's happy" tonya said.

"I am... and i'm also happy that you two came together" iman smirked and both of their facial expressions changed. darnell widened his eyes and tonya started to look away, meanwhile iman had a huge smile on her face.

"oh for the love of god...." tonya sighed.

while jianni was playing around in the jungle gym, the adults were sitting down eating and talking to each other. well, it was mostly iman grilling her parents about why they came into chuck e cheese together.

"is it so hard to believe that we just happened to arrive at the same time?! it can happen! things aren't always planned iman" tonya said.

"you know how I know you two came together?" iman asked her.

"tell me" tonya scoffed.

"daddy, where's your car?" iman wondered.

darnell was silent and was just looking around, eating his wings. tonya gave him a dirty look for him to make up a lie but he still didn't say anything.

"tell her where your car is darnell" tonya muttered to him.

"tonya just tell the girl the truth, there's no reason for us to lie" darnell told her.

"of course you're no help" tonya sighed. "but whatever".

"so.... for the past few weeks, i've been.... staying with your father, at his house. we're.....".

iman was hearing all of the words that she wanted to hear and a huge smile went on her face.

"we're working on our relationship, and there's a chance of us getting back together" darnell came in and said.

"I knew it!" iman exclaimed. "about damn time!".

"should've known, I saw them dancing together at your party" julianne chuckled.

"she denies it all the time but your mother still loves me, she's always loved me" darnell said, wrapping his arm around her.

"you just don't end up like us okay?" tonya told iman.

"trust me, she won't" roman said as he also wrapped his arm around iman. "she's never leaving my side".

"I don't know if that's good or if that's what we really want" darnell said, which caused for iman to give him a look and for tonya to hit his arm.

"aye roman already know how I feel about him. i'm glad that he hasn't been on any bullshit lately but, he already know. we've had that conversation multiple times".

"and everything is good in our household" roman added.

"yes, yes it is" iman said.

"momma can I play on the games with my friend?!" jianni asked iman. she just got back from the jungle gym area and it seemed like she met a girl while in there. the girl was behind her.

"you met a friend?" iman wondered.

"what kind of friend?" roman added.

"her name is ally and we wanna play!" jianni told them.

"okay... where's ally's mommy?" iman asked her.

"she's over there" jianni said, pointing to the white woman that was ally's mother. she was sitting with another woman that looked to be her wife and ally's second mother and they waved at the two.

"oh okay" iman said. "roman help her put her sneakers on and give her the tokens".

"so you're not gonna introduce yourself to this girl's mother?" tonya asked her.

"that's what i'm saying, jianni meeting random people in this sweaty place, calling them her friends and we don't even know her parents" roman added. "you or julianne never gave her the "don't talk to strangers talk"?".

"isn't that your job as her father?" julianne asked him, which caused him to go silent.

"roman she's four, four year olds always meet random kids at parks and stuff and they play together for the day until they have to leave. it's just like meeting friends at school" iman explained.

"you still should go speak to her mother, jianni calling that little girl her friend and shit" darnell told her. "she don't even know the real definition of friend".

"can y'all relax? I know how to parent my child" iman said. "roman pass her the tokens so I can take her over there".

roman gave jianni the tokens and iman took jianni and ally to the arcade games. after that, she sat with ally's mothers to talk and meet them.

"she's gonna be such a suburban mom" tonya chuckled.

"she already is" roman scoffed. "just wait until jianni hits elementary school... my house is gonna be full of kids having play dates or jianni going to play dates".

"yeah roman, it's called raising a child! don't you do it?" julianne said very sarcastically.

"I do and I do it well, got another one to raise in about seven months" roman shot back.

"so you argue with her too?" darnell asked him, which caused for roman and julianne to go silent.

"that house is full of dysfunction" tonya said.

"no offense tonya and I know it's not my place but.... aren't you trying to get back into a dysfunctional relationship?" roman said back to her. darnell immediately stopped eating his food and gave roman a look, and so did tonya.

"you're not right roman" julianne said.

"no he is, but he's still none of his business" tonya scoffed and roman had a huge smirk on his face, drinking his drink in the process.

the day at chuck e cheese came to an end as jianni was at the prize counter with her tickets, calculating to get a prize with the amount that she won. she ended up getting small prizes, but she had a fun day regardless so it didn't matter.

"where y'all going now?" tonya asked iman.

"home, jianni got school in the morning she gotta go home and get ready for bed" iman told her.

"how about y'all come over the house? we can hang out for a bit" darnell suggested.

"yes momma I wanna go to grandma and grandpa's house!" jianni exclaimed.

"jianni's bedtime is eight though and I don't wanna keep her out after that cause then she'll be tired and cranky with an attitude" iman said.

"no I won't! i'm fine momma!" she said.

"iman we only seen her every few months anyways let's just spend some time now" tonya pleaded.

"way to make me feel bad for not bringing her around more" iman said in her head. it was true though, she did feel guilty for not having jianni see her grandparents more. she should be seeing them a lot more than she does.

"you fine with going over their house?" iman asked roman.

"it's cool, jianni wants to go and it's clearly her day so" roman said.

"you too julianne?" iman asked.

"it's your parents iman, we better be going over there" julianne told her.

"alright okay, we're coming" iman said, which made jianni cheer in excitement and her parents smile.

everyone got in their cars and drove nine minutes to darnell's house. iman always felt at home whenever she came here, she remembered moving to this house when she was six after living in an apartment for the first five years of her life. so many memories were in this house, family functions, birthday parties (that included jianni's fourth one), and even her "first time". a nostalgic feeling ran through, and she loved it all the time. jersey city will forever be home.

"daddy where do you keep the home videos?" iman asked her father.

"under the tv in the cabinet" he told her.

"can we watch the one when your dad was a werewolf for halloween and he scared you and you started crying?" roman laughed.

"no you fool, i'm playing our documentary! remember? what we made for jianni while I was pregnant leading up to her birth?" iman told him.

"they have a copy of this?" he wondered.

"yes I have a copy and both of my parents do, I don't think we've ever shown jianni this" iman said. "so let's show her now".

"you're gonna be blubbering like a baby in a minute" roman chuckled.

"and I will wipe my tears with your hoodie" iman smiled.

she took out the home video that was titled "welcome to the world babygirl" and she put it in the dvd player that her father still owned.

"momma what's this?" jianni asked her.

"this is the video that daddy and I made for you when you were in my belly!" iman told her.

"and I made the same for your mommy" tonya added.

"baby documentaries run in the family basically" roman chuckled.

"yeah... i've started making videos for baby number two as well" iman grinned.

the video started and it began with a clip of iman from the day after she found out she was pregnant.

"so.... yesterday I got, probably the biggest news that i've ever gotten in my life.... i'm pregnant!".

the rest of the video went on as it went through iman's monthly pregnancy journey. from the first doctor's appointment to when she went to kanye west's yeezy fashion show at madison square garden with roman at eighteen weeks to the constant cravings, the many doctor's appointments, and the baby shower. it also showed everyone talking about the baby and how much iman and roman loved each other. she was starting to get emotional as the video went on. jianni was amazed at it all, seeing that she was once a fetus in her mom's belly.

"I loved this" tonya whispered as it was on the maternity shoot that iman had for jianni. the theme was blossoms and iman had on a beautiful light pink gown and was surrounding by blossoms, looking so elegant.

"I loved this too" roman smiled.

"and you don't love anything" iman cried jokingly.

"you looked so pretty momma" jianni told her.

"thank you babydoll" iman said, kissing her cheek.

it ended off with the day that iman gave birth, july eighteenth two thousand and sixteen at seven fifteen pm. a nice summer evening, and as the sun went down, a baby came up.

the video ended with iman holding baby jianni in her arms as roman was right by her side playing with her little foot.

"we did it... our babygirl is here" iman said tearfully in the video.

"isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful" roman was singing in the video which caused iman to laugh at him.

"it's the first song that came to mind!".

"well... she is lovely and beautiful" iman smiled, and she kissed roman to end the video.

iman was left in tears after watching the video and jianni was looking at her mom in awe. she was in awe of the whole thing, seeing how she was born was so fascinating, especially at four years old. she will never forget this one.

"goddamn iman you got me sweating in my eyes too" tonya chuckled, fanning her eyes from any attempted tears.

"i'm always crying ma you know that" iman said. "that video always gets me, I love it so much".

"the greatest day of my life" roman added, hugging jianni.

"i've never seen that video before and i'm crying like a baby right now" julianne sniffled. "that was so beautiful".

"you wanna cry more tears? let's watch iman's, tonya's really gonna be sobbing" darnell laughed.

"oh god that one always makes me cry!" tonya exclaimed and everyone laughed.

they did watch iman's and spent about another hour at the house until they went back to new york and back home. when they got home, they got jianni ready for bed and then iman and roman took showers, put their pajamas on, and went into the living room to watch movies.

"today was so, so much better than yesterday" iman said to him.

"i'm glad it was, i'm also glad that your parents aren't pricks" roman added.

"i'm glad that jianni isn't afraid of you like you thought, I told you babe, you're her father. she loves you" iman told him.

"and I will always love her, and you" he said. "i'd do literally anything for y'all, I mean everything I say when I say that I would kill, fight, do anything for you two. y'all are the most important people in my life".

"that's why I told you last night that you're our hero" iman smiled.

"... I love you iman" roman told her, kissing her passionately in the process.

she kissed him back and roman laid her down on the couch as the two began to make out with each other.

"are we even gonna watch this movie?" iman laughed.

roman grabbed the remote and turned it off and continued to kiss her.

"shit like this is why you're expecting a second child" she chuckled.

"i'd have a million with you baby" he said and she smiled, kissing him back afterwards.

after the events of yesterday and how it effected all three of them, it was a blessing that today was a better day. roman genuinely cared for the people that he loved, which was everything to iman considering that he's very guarded with that emotion. he's not that guarded anymore, and it was so refreshing and it felt so damn good.

regardless of whoever left his circle or entered it, the standard remained the same... iman and jianni were the top two, and the people that he would do anything for.