Nothing is Final

A/N: This story is based off a challenge from Cyberauthor. The first chapter is some what short and doesn't reveal anything about the actual plot except for the setup, but after that things get better. I promise! Anyway enjoy the story and please give some feedback if you like it. Also, the story is in Spencer's POV. Cheers

Chapter 1: A literal deadline

'Ugh..I need to finish this proposal. Dad is going to kill me if I screw this up,' I thought as I glanced to my right and looked at the clock.

'11: 48 pm...Still have 9 hours and 12 minutes till the big show,' I thought as I stretched my arms in front of me and sighed. Still need to do the layouts and charts too, I reminded myself and scrunched my forehead at the thought. "God this is impossible!" I said in frustration and leaned my head back against the chair. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I heard the phone ringing in the distance.

"Who's calling at this hour?" I grumbled as I stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"Hello?" I said as I answered the telephone.

"Spencer!"

"Mom? Is that you?" I asked the caller.

"Spencer! Yes, it's me," my mother replied in a hysteria.

"Mom, what is it?" I asked, getting nervous from her tone.

"You need to get down here,"

"Where?" I replied completely clueless.

"To the hospital! Your father just had a heart attack," She replied as I felt my heart stop at her words. "Spencer? Did you hear what I said? You need to get down here as soon as possible. OK?"

I remained silent unable to answer her as my throat suddenly closed up. "Spencer?" my mother repeated.

"Yea-yeah. I'll be there as soon as I can," I chocked out as I hung up the phone and ran out the door, grabbing my keys and coat on the way.

It took me fifteen minutes to reach the hospital, and as I entered the hospital I was greeted by my Mother's worried and tear stricken face. "Spencer," she said at the sight of me and embraced me as I approached her.

"How's dad?" I asked staring up at her.

"I'm not sure. I haven't heard anything from the doctor since I arrived here," she answered as a tear rolled down her face.

"Every thing's going to be all right mom," I assured her as I wiped away her tear with my thumb. "Let's go sit in the waiting room. We can wait for the doctor there." I said as she nodded at my words and followed my lead to the small gray room at the end of the hall.

"Sit here," I said as I placed her in a seat. "I'll go get us some coffee."

She nodded at my words but remained silent as I walked out of the room and down the hall to the cafeteria. I slowly walked up to the lunch lady and ordered two coffees and a muffin.

"Your total comes to $3.21," the lady said as she handed me my orders. I grabbed the orders and handed her a five. "Keep the change," I said as I walked away and back to the waiting room. I stepped into the room finding my mother still in the same position that I left her in. "Mom," I said as I stood in front of her, offering a cup of coffee. "You should drink this. It might take a while till the doctor gets here," I suggested as she nodded her head and took the cup from my grasp. I sat down after handing her the coffee and sipped my own. 'I hope he's OK,' I thought to myself and bit my lip.

Seconds passed like minutes and minutes passed like hours but it wasn't until about 40 minutes after that the doctor showed up at the doorway.

"Mrs. Carlin?" A tall, gray haired man, wearing a green ER suit, questioned.

"Yes," my mother said and stood up. As did I.

"I'm sorry to inform you but... we lost Mr. Carlin," the man said quietly avoiding our eyes. My mother gasped and fell into the chair in shock. Sobbing immediately over coming her.

"We did everything that we could to save him, but it was too late," the man said and shifted his weight uncomfortably. "If you have any questions or need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you doctor, but I think we need some time alone," I said as I sat next to my mom and rubbed her back in a soothing method to calm her down. He nodded his head in understanding and quietly left the room.

"Shh...mom, don't cry. Everything will be OK," I said softly as I continued to rub her back. 'If only I could believe my own words,' I thought before closing my eyes and letting my own tears fall...

The next day we held a press conference announcing my father's death. The media was shocked at the sudden news of his death. Many asked what would happen to the company, and who would be taking over it. Of course it was obvious that I would be taking over it since I was his only daughter but our lawyer refuted the questions and stopped us from answering.

Immediately after the conference our lawyer held a meeting with us to announce my Father's will.

"Please sit down, Mrs. Carlin. And you too Miss Carlin, please sit" our lawyer said as he placed his briefcase on the table and opened the top.

"I have Mr. Carlin's will here," he said as he took out a small stack of papers and passed us each a bundle. "You each have a xerox copy to look over but I have the original. Please follow along as I read."

I grabbed a copy and glanced at the first page not bothering to look at the others as we would get to them soon.

"Please flip to page 3," our lawyer said and glanced at my mother. "Mrs. Paula Carlin is entitled to 40 of the stock hold for the Carlin Inc. along with 50 of the current savings in Mr. Carlin's bank account. The other 50 belongs to Miss. Spencer Carlin. Next, this can be found on page 7, the estate for the Mr. Carlin's 3 homes, one being located in New York City, New York and the other located in Paris, France belong to Mrs. Paula Carlin. And the last of the three homes, located in Los Angeles, California belongs to Miss. Spencer Carlin."

I followed along with our lawyer as he read and nodded in satisfaction.

"Who's name is the company under? Mine or Spencer's?" my mother questioned and glanced at our lawyer, then at me.

Good thing she asked, that completely slipped my mind, I thought to myself and mentally hit myself for forgetting. I quickly grasped the glass of water on my side and took a sip of water. I listened to him as he began to read, noticing his small fidgeting motions.

"Umm...please turn to page 13," our lawyer said and gave a small fidget once again as he turned the page, "the ownership and estate of the Carlin Inc. belongs to...umm..." he said nervously and stopped as he quickly wiped a sweat drop from his forehead.

"Please continue," I said as I continued to drink my water.

"Yes, do continue," my mother said as she was reading over the terms of her newly found estates in Paris and New York

"Umm, yes...as I was saying the ownership and estate of the Carlin Inc. belongs to..umm.." he stopped again this time glancing from the paper to my eyes.

"Why do you keep stopping? Is it hard to read the print or something? Is it blurry?" I questioned as I turned to the page he was reading aloud and briefly scanned the page looking for the specific paragraph. Finding the passage I began to read the paragraph to myself. "the ownership and estate of Carlin Inc," I mumbled to myself. "belongs to-"

I coughed at the name written and reread the paragraph over and over again not believing my eyes.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" my mother asked in concern. I started at her dumbfounded unable to utter a single word. I glanced at the paper once more to check if what I was reading was right. Still not believing what I read, I turned to our lawyer staring him dead in the eyes.

"Who the hell is Ashley Davies?!"

A/N: That's all for now. Now please be a responsible reader and review. Thanks.-Ayaka620