A/N: Hey, new story. This is going to be multichapter and I've already written the first five and I'm working on the sixth so review and I'll put them up quickly ;]. This is a pretty basic story set up that I've never really thought worked with but this ended up in my mind and I had to write it down. Each chapter will focus on a character. It's not POV and may not be completely about them but I'll stay with that particularly character throughout the chapter. I hope you enjoy it =]

Josh Hanner had been divorced for almost a year now. He and his ex-wife had been civil and were managing to be friends. There had been no wronged party, they just realised that their relationship wasn't working and it would be best for both of them if they separated. He still saw their daughter quite often. The one issue that was now presenting itself as Lauren, their daughter headed towards fifteen, was that she wanted to know about her birth father.

Josh was not in fact Lauren's biological father but they had never let that get in the way of their relationship. He and his ex-wife had met when she was nineteen and he was twenty-two and Laurey was three. They had been friends for a couple years before deciding to become something more. He had been a father figure to Lauren for a long time and he always treated her as his own. She too always saw him as her father, but he could understand that she wanted to know her roots and find out about her father, and he was all for that. It was Lauren's mother, however, who would not budge on the subject. She thought Lauren was too young and he knew that she didn't know what to expect of her daughter's father if he was to find out.

The way Josh saw it, was that if Lauren was old enough to know what she wanted then they should give her the chance to find it and if it went wrong and she got hurt, then she would still have her loving parents there to support her and help her through it. Josh had never known his father and when he went looking for him, his father turned him away. He had gotten over it with the help of his family, as had his ex-wife who had a similar experience. She didn't want her own daughter to go through that though.

Josh, a successful Broadway director, had recently stepped in to direct Chicago. The previous director had needed to pull out due to personal reasons and he had been asked to take over. They had an amazing cast and he had been working with them for the last three weeks and had finally built up the courage to go against his ex-wife.

As sometimes happened, a production would bring in a big Hollywood name to be on Broadway, sometimes this would go well and other times it could just be seen as disastrous stunt casting. Jesse St. James, however, had already proved his singing and dance prowess in a couple of movie musicals that had been incredibly successful. His acting and singing were flawless in his portrayal of Billy Flynn, which was lucky because Josh was quite hesitant of having too much interaction with him. The previous director had spent a lot of time with him and so Josh rarely needed to speak to him alone.

Today was different. He wasn't going to talk to Jesse about the show. Lauren had been staying with him since Thursday and it was now Saturday. She had been asking him to tell her about her father. She was quite insistent and he could tell that it was creating a rift between the mother and daughter. He had been up all night trying to decide if this was the right thing to do. He knew that his ex-wife would be furious. Despite her successful Broadway career she had managed to keep her daughter out of the spotlight, and a big reason for this was that she didn't want Jesse to find out about her.

Josh had asked to see Jesse and the man was standing in front of him now.

"Hey." He spoke.

"Hi. I need to talk to you about something."

"Is it the courtroom scene because there are a few kinks that I would-"

"It's not about the show." He interrupted him. He gestured to the seat next to him in the empty theatre. Jesse sat down but was obviously confused.

"If it's not about the show then what-"

"It's difficult. I'm still not sure if I'm doing the right thing. I'm going to have to ask you to be patient." He chuckled slightly. He was about to possibly change this man's life and he was asking for his patience.

"Um… the thing is, I don't know whether to ease in to it would be better."

"Can you just tell me?" Jesse asked, starting to get agitated.

Josh grimaced. "My step daughter, my ex-wife's daughter is yours."

Jesse stared at him, mouth wide open in shock, eyebrows contorted and frozen.

"What?" Jesse finally muttered.

"Lauren, Laurey" He corrected himself. "She's fourteen, almost fifteen and she's your biological daughter." He waited for it to sink in. He could see Jesse working it over in his head, figuring out the dates and realisation dawned on his face.

"Rachel?" He choked and Josh nodded.

"She doesn't know I'm doing this." He informed him. "She'll probably be mad as hell when she finds out but Laurey's been asking about you for a while now and I think she deserves some information."

"What does she know?"

"Only what Rachel's told her."

Jesse grimaced.

"She told her you guys dated, you were older, you broke up and then you went to college before she told you she was pregnant. She hasn't told Laurey anything else about you or your relationship." He told him and Jesse shifted in his seat, feeling a slight edge of judgement coming from the man next to him.

"So she doesn't know who I am?"

"Well she knows who you are obviously but she doesn't know who you are to her."

Jesse nodded trying to sort through the questions flying through his mind.

"How's Rachel?" He asked quietly after a few moments of silence.

"She's good. She's working hard, as usual."

"She can't have been happy to hear that you're working with me."

"I, uh, kind of haven't told her yet. It's a delicate balance we have at the moment."

Jesse laughed softly before asking. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you get divorced?"

"It just wasn't working. We probably should never have been anything more than friends but it seemed right at the time."

"You're risking a lot by telling me about Laurey." It wasn't a question, just an observation. "Why? I don't deserve it."

"Laurey does." He said simply. "And I know that it's causing problems between her and Rachel. She can't understand why Rachel won't just give her your name or tell her anything about you. I think once it's out in the open they'll have a better relationship too." He paused. "Would you like to meet her?"

"Laurey?" He asked and Josh could already tell what the answer would be. He nodded in response. "Yes. When?"

"Laurey's staying with me until Monday. I could talk to her tonight and bring her with me to rehearsal tomorrow. You could take her for a meal or a coffee or something."

"What about Rachel?" Jesse asked.

"I'll figure it out." He told her. "She's in Ohio for the weekend so you won't run into her or anything."

"Why didn't you just tell Laurey my name?" Jesse asked.

"Rachel's biggest fear is that you would turn her away. So I wanted to make sure that you were interested in meeting your daughter before I got Laurey's hopes up. "

"I'm not going to do what Shelby did." Jesse promised and despite the conversation, Josh was surprised at the sincerity that suddenly cut through Jesse's tone.

"Good. I'll talk to Laurey tonight. I can't make any promises. She might decide not to come but I'll see you tomorrow Jesse." Josh said and he walked away, leaving the actor in the seat to grasp the life changing news he had just been given.

Josh walked quickly back to his apartment. He walked in the door and saw Laurey sitting in front of the TV with her laptop resting on her knees. Josh laughed at the irony; she was watching a Jesse St. James film.

They ate dinner and talked about their days and Laurey went into her room to go to bed. Josh knocked on the door a few minutes later and went in. They had decorated the room together when he bought the apartment. They had both been nervous about what their relationship would become now that he was no longer with her mother and he wasn't technically her father but they had stayed close. Josh knew from experience that sometimes Rachel was a bit too much and sometimes you just needed to get away. That was what he gave her.

"You know what we were talking about last night?" He started.

"Yeah." She said. Unlike her mother, she was very much to the point.

"What if I told you that you could meet him, your father, tomorrow, if you wanted?"

"How?" She asked uncertainly.

"I'm working with him." He told her, he also still hadn't told her that he was directing Chicago.

"Like a lighting guy?" She raised an eyebrow and Josh suddenly saw Jesse in her. It was quite obvious really. She had Rachel's dark hair but it was curly like Jesse's, she had his green eyes and many of her expressions tonight, he had seen on Jesse at some point in the last few weeks. It was disconcerting. Almost as if it was confirming that he actually was her father, the same way you can see Rachel in her, you can see that the rest of her is Jesse St. James.

"No." He laughed. "One of the actors."

Laurey bit her lip, like Rachel would when she was nervous. Josh sensed her hesitation.

"I can walk out of the room right now and we can pretend that this conversation never happened."

"No we can't." She was blunt and suddenly, Josh started to regret his decision. Maybe Rachel was right, she was too young, she doesn't know what she wants yet. "Who is he?"

Josh looked up at her; there was no turning back now. "Jesse St. James." He spoke softly.

"As in the Jesse St. James?" She asked in shock.

"Yeah, I'm directing Chicago and he's playing Billy Flynn."

"Suddenly Mom refusing to watch any of his films makes so much more sense." She mused.

"That's all you have to say?" Josh teased.

"I don't know really. You said I could meet him?"

"Yeah. I spoke with him today, he wants to meet you."

"He does?"

"Yeah. He was shocked when I told him about you but he definitely wants to meet you."

"I do too." She told him.

"Okay tomorrow then. Sleep tight." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and walked out of the room.

He felt slightly guilty as he thought about Rachel. He had started what was undoubtedly going to be a very dramatic process but he consoled himself with the fact that he's sure Rachel needs it as much as Laurey does.