"Life changed by one night"

Explanation of the story:

I know Kay's real name is Kathleen Elizabeth Bennett, but in this fic her name is Katie Bennett. Only Miguel refers to her as Kay.

Katie has never told Miguel how she feels about him.

Miguel and Charity have been going out for almost four years.

The truth came out about John's paternity, but it still affects Grace. She still is in love with David Hastings, first husband or not.

Noah has returned from college and lives and works in Harmony. He is dating Whitney Russell.

Hank is going out with Gwen Hotchkiss.

Ivy is still in love with Sam Bennett. She had nothing to do with the whole mess of David being "Grace's first husband." David did that on his own.

Prologue:

I know one may be quick to judge

How life can be completely changed

By one night

But what is life in the first place?

It is a set of nights

One of them may weigh more heavily

Than others

That night weighed greatly

On the heart, the mind

The soul.

It was a night

Never to be forgotten

In the lives of many.

* Now on to the story! *

Chapter 1:

Katie "Kay" Bennett was in her family's kitchen on a Saturday morning, eating breakfast by herself. Hank was at work as was her father. Jessica and Noah were still asleep while her mother was probably tending to the gift shop she owned. It was 10:30 am. Katie had nothing planned for the day, which was pretty unusual of her since she was the kind of person who always knew what she wanted to do.

Just then Katie's cousin, Charity Standish came down the stairs into the kitchen at the exact same time that Charity's boyfriend, Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald entered the house through the unlocked back door.

"Hey," he nodded towards Katie before going over to his girlfriend and giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"Hi, Miguel," Katie brightened just at seeing him standing before her.

"I didn't expect you here so early, Miguel," Charity said as he kissed her. "I thought we were going to the picnic later on."

"We are," he responded. "But I wanted to see you now."

Charity didn't know what to say. Earlier on in their relationship, she would have loved to hear him say things like that. It used to make her day. But now? Well, she didn't know how she felt exactly. Sure she still cared deeply for Miguel, but she was wondering how much can you love a person if you were disappointed to see them here when they didn't have to be?

"Oh, that's sweet, Miguel," she forced out.

"You guys are going on a picnic?" Katie asked the couple standing before her, popping Charity's bubbles of thoughts.

"Yeah, why?" Miguel asked her curiously.

"I hear it's going to rain today. And tomorrow." came Katie's bored reply. She stared at the two people in front of her. Miguel looked disappointed. Katie detected a look of relief cross Charity's face, which instantly made her incredulous. What does that look mean? Katie wondered to herself.

She was hoping that that look on Charity's face meant that she was getting sick of Miguel. So then Katie could make her move onto him. Katie loved him with all her might, even though she had suffered through watching Miguel and Charity be in love for almost four years now.

Miguel's the only man I love, Katie told herself. Hopefully Charity will break up with him and I can get the green light to comfort him in my arms.

"Dammitt," Miguel muttered, causing Katie to get out of her little reverie.

Charity let out a disappointed sigh, which seemed very phony from Katie's point of view. "Listen, Miguel," she told him. "Maybe it's for the best. I have a big paper due Monday morning. I should work on that." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and quickly trudged upstairs before Miguel even knew what had happened.

Katie watched all of this, feeling very happy. Things seemed to be going her way. Miguel was free for the rest of the day. And she still didn't have anything to do. So why not spend some time with her very best friend?

"So Kay," Miguel began to say, sitting next to her, at the same time Katie said, "So Miguel." Miguel was the only person who called Katie, Kay.

They laughed.

"We always used to do that," Miguel remarked. "Say and think the same things at the same time."

"I'm glad to see we still do that," Katie said, looking at him.

"Me too," he answered in a barely audible voice.

______________________________________________________________________________

Charity stepped into her room, closing the door shut behind her.

"Wooph," she let out a fresh breath of air. "Thanks to Katie, I don't have to go on that lame picnic with Miguel."

She walked over to her bed, sitting down, and letting her thoughts take over.

Lately she had felt that something had been off about her relationship with Miguel. She couldn't remember why she previously used to think that they were forever meant to be. She wasn't comfortable with him anymore. The spark wasn't there. His kisses didn't send tingles down her spine the way they used to.

Picking up a photo frame of her and Miguel at the carnival where the first met, Charity sighed. "Where did we go wrong, Miguel? When did I start to stop loving you?"

______________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile downstairs, Katie and Miguel were sharing a good laugh, as they remembered all of the good (and bad) times they had spent with each other on rainy days, just like the one that was supposed to occur today.

John Hastings, the guy that Katie, Jessica and Noah had thought to be their half-brother, entered the house, having come from the B&B that his "mother" owned.

"Hi, Miguel," John said. Averting his eyes as he sat down, John acknowledged the girl he had thought to be his half sister. "Katie..."

Miguel said a hi back, while Katie's facial expressions, which had just been that of amusement, turned into a frown.

"What are you doing here, John?" she asked him petulantly. She didn't see why a stranger, who ended up not having any familial ties to her at all, still had the right to come to this house as if it were his very own.

"Mom told me to come over and help myself to breakfast," he answered defiantly.

"Mom?" Katie uttered, not believing his audacity to still refer to her mother that way. "Don't you mean Grace Bennett? She's not your mumsy-wumsy anymore Johnny boy."

"Katie...." John began to say before Miguel grabbed her hand and silently mouthed to her to calm down.

Katie looked at Miguel and shook her head in wonder. "Sorry, Miguel, but come on, you know I'm right! You know it! If you had a half-brother pop into your life after 18 years, only to find out that it was all a lie, would you still be nice to him?"

"Well..." Miguel started to say.

"You never were nice to me in the first place, Katie!" John exclaimed, sizing her up. He slammed his fist down on the table in anger.

"Then that's a good thing that I didn't let you find a spot in my life so then I wouldn't feel upset to find out that you aren't my half-brother!"

"You know Ethan is your half-brother, too," John remarked. "And I don't see you treating him the way you do me."

"That's because he really is my half-brother," Katie blasted out. "And that's something I can't say for you." She gave him a disdainful look.

"I don't know why you hate me so much!" John retaliated, shaking his head in wonder.

"You want to know, John?!" Katie replied, her anger rising. She knew she was pushing his buttons, but she didn't care. He needed a hard dose of reality as far as she was concerned.

Miguel watched the two of them with their Ping-Pong motion like argument. Katie was getting too angry. He had to stop this before it got worse.

"Why don't you tell me your stupid reasons as to why you hate me," John told her. He crossed his arms in cocky satisfaction, because as far as he was concerned, Katie didn't have any reason to hate him. She always seemed like a drama queen to him, and this time was no different.

"I will. But let's see...where do I start? You come into my life, and my family's life, rocking everything that we had created the past 17 years. My Mother, who I wasn't that close to anyway, starts to drift more and more apart from me, just because she has 'a new son' now. But you know what? All you are is a replacement of the brother I would have had if my mother had not miscarried while pregnant. That's all you are. A replacement - and not even a valid one. My mother doesn't want to be with my father anymore because of you and David. Thank you so much for breaking up my family. They were my rock, John. And you and your con artist of a father took it away the second you two stepped into Harmony."

"I'm not a replacement," John answered, standing up, his eyes shooting daggers at Katie. "And I'm sorry that your family didn't survive through this. But if you remember, I didn't have a mother growing up. And since you didn't love your mother the way you should, God did the right thing and handed her over to me. To someone who was lovable and would respect and treat her the way she ought to be treated."

"You son of a bitch!" Katie cried out, almost lunging at John. She wanted to tear his lights out. Miguel restrained her right before she could punch him squarely in the jaw.

"Kay, come on, just relax," Miguel coaxed, pushing her away from John. He was surprised to see his best friend get so upset. He had never heard Katie cuss before.

"Miguel, please, just leave me alone," Katie ordered, through gritted teeth.

"No, Kay," Miguel said, grabbing her arm. "You're too mad now. You're saying things you don't mean. Come on, just forget about this. John," Miguel said, turning to look at him, "Maybe you should leave."

John nodded, liking the effect his words had had on Katie. He smiled in an unfriendly way at his 'half-sister' before he walked out of the house that once used to be a home.