I will share the short story of how this happened.
Met a cute girl at a bar w/ her boyfriend - waved at her from across the bar because I had seen her before - she waved me over and I said hi to her and her then boyfriend. Throughout the night, she and I talked - I bought both of them drinks, trying to be nice. We got to talking and she told me she had 3 kids and missed them and wanted them back - told me she wasn't dating the guy she was with - that they had broken up recently and she had got in an argument with him earlier that day and punched him in the face.
I offer to give her a ride home if she needs (I'm on my motorcycle, but told her I would go get my car) - she says it's fine, she'll be okay - gets my number.
We text and I told her it was good talking to her yadda yadda and hope she's okay. I was going through a breakup and looking for a quick rebound and she was cute - 105 lbs, 5'3, blonde, etc.
Anyway, I went to a movie with her - ended up going home w/ her and we slept together. A few weeks in and we're at a bar together and some guy starts hitting on her so I decided to ask her out and make it official.
Fast forward and she is staying over at my place longer and longer (she ran her own "small cleaning business" w/ her ex - they would clean houses and she didn't have a car so when she stopped talking to him she also lost her job). She would stay at my place and apply for jobs, and she landed one - retail, shit pay, terrible job. I started taking her to work every day and picking her up.
Fast forward and I'm moving and she wants to move in with me, so we get a place together. She gets a better job and I take her to work every day ... I'm driving ALL the time - having to leave super early to take her, having to leave early from my job to pick her up, etc.
Eventually I go with her and cosign on a car - put $2000 down for her ... she gets a car. She talks to the kids step mom and asks me if I am okay with them coming over to visit for a weekend. Of course I tell her yes - I know she misses them.
I get to meet them, cute kids and stuff, they don't have much in the way of technology at their stepmom's house and I am a HUGE PC gamer so I introduce them to what life is all about.
They come over, play video games, love it - we hangout, go to arcades, mini golf, different place every other weekend. It's fun - I enjoy giving to others and making kids happy is especially fun.
Relationship starts getting rocky and girlfriend and I are getting into some pretty intense fights. I tell her when the lease is up, I'm out. We makeup and get another place together - the fights get crazy, but we spend a lot of time going to clubs and partying - my friends come over and we lan and play SC2 and I'm having a decent time.
A couple months before our lease is up, step mom tells us that she is getting a divorce from the kid's heroin addict father. She asks if my gf will be taking the kids back and my gf says yes, of course. I tell her I won't be joining her (I'm not ready for all that) and she starts looking at small, 3 bedroom apartments in shady neighborhoods.
I go look at these places with her and I realize that she can barely afford them and they are not very safe ... and they're tiny. I offer to help her pay part of the rent on a house. It wasn't a lot of money for me and they would all have a nice place to live.
We find a house and it is really nice - I have never rented a house and it is cool to be in it, so I offer to help her move her things in and get settled. I decide I will stay there with her for a short time until the kids move in so she isn't alone every night - I really do love her.
A few weeks before the kids move in, I get drunk with her and her sister to celebrate and we both end up in jail (she was supposed to drive the short distance to our house, but she was more drunk than me so I drove [stupid - I know, I was an idiot]. I had my concealed handgun on me when we were arrested (I have my license) and I am facing a class A misdemeanor. The kids move in, but I am worried I will be in jail or facing a year of probation - it takes 100% of my energy and worry - completely trumps the kids moving in.
The kids are moving in - I am talking with a lawyer; worrying about court, but I help get their rooms setup; I put one of my computer's in the boy's room, TV in the girl's room, get a couple beds, etc.
I poured tons of money into my lawyer and he kept delaying and delaying the court stuff...
Anyway, FINALLY, the judgement is made and the charge is reduced to a class C misdemeanor (disorderly). I breathe a huge sigh of relief, but realize at this point that I have been living with my gf and kids for 6 months. I love them all, they love me, and it's really not all that bad... I would never have imagined myself in this situation, but here I am.
I keep telling myself that when the lease is up, I will leave ... but the longer I have been here, the harder it is to imagine it. Anyway, that's the story of the last 3 years of my life (I'm 27).