Thanks for the reviews so far, slightly emotional chapter ahead. Please leave a review, the more reviews the quicker I will update! :)

Chapter Two

'Josh Harris? Is he man enough to handle you darling?'

She turned around to see an older man shooting her a toothless grin and she had to stop herself from punching him in the face. She was in no mood to fuck around today, she just wanted to find Josh and get on the first plane out of here so she could get back to her daughter. She flipped the man off before she turned back around to the barmaid who was looking at her suspiciously.

'Look, I'm not here to cause any trouble. I just need to speak to him, it's important so if you know where he is, please tell me,' she changed her tone to try and get the barmaid to speak to her and it worked.

'He's over in the corner flirting with a group of girls, any trouble starts and I'll get the police here, understood?' The woman warned her and she shook her head in acknowledgement before she started to push her way through the crowd.

She pissed off more than a few people as she shoved and pushed people out of her way. She finally navigated her way through everyone and her heart began to race as she spotted him.

He had his back to her but she knew it was him, she would recognise those ears anywhere. He was chatting to some busty blonde who was twirling her hair around her finger as she spoke to him, she was evidently putty in his hands and he was going to be majorly pissed off when she jumped in and ruined his chances of getting laid.

She took a moment to gather herself before she decided to bite the bullet and walk over to him. She tapped his shoulder to get his attention and as soon as he turned around to face her, the glass of beer that he was holding in his hand dropped straight to the floor, smashing into tiny pieces in the process.

'Shannon?' His eyes widened as he stared at her in disbelief.

'Hi Joshua, long time no see,' she smiled back at him. Her heart began to race as she looked at him, she hadn't seen him for ten years and all of a sudden here he was standing right in front of her. Why the fuck was she feeling like a pile of mush right now?

'Wha, what are you doing here?' He stammered, his eyes never left hers as he spoke.

'I um, I need to talk to you Josh, it's important, really fucking important,' she replied, her skin began to blush when she realised that Josh wasn't the only person listening to what she had to say.

The women that he'd been flirting with were all shooting her evil looks as she stood waiting for Josh's response.

'This isn't really the place to talk, unless you don't mind people hearing your business that is,' Josh replied and Shannon shook her head.

'This needs to be done in private Josh, is there somewhere we can go?'

'Um, EXCUSE me, but I thought you said that WE were going back to the boat?' The girl that Josh had been chatting to suddenly piped up and Josh rolled his eyes.

'Yeah well, plans change honey,' Josh snapped back at her before he turned back around to face Shannon again. 'You ready?'

Before she could reply, out of the corner of her eye she could see someone making their way towards them. She turned slightly and came almost face to face with Josh's father, Phil.

'What the hell are you doing here?' He snapped, before she'd left she and Phil had gotten along pretty well but his reaction hardly surprised her.

She'd left town without telling anyone that she was going, Josh had only found out she'd gone because of a letter she'd written to him and posted the morning she left.

'Look, I have something important to discuss with Josh and you're not gonna stop me Phil….'

'Don't even THINK about taking her back to the boat with you, if she has anything to say, she can say it right here!' Phil glared at Josh who seemed to wilt under his father's gaze.

She looked around the room and she could see that most people were now watching and listening to what was going on. There was no way that she was breaking the news in front of so many people.

'Please, let's go outside. I can't do this in here,' she looked at Josh who returned her gaze.

'Okay.'

'Josh…'

'No dad it's fine! I'm a big boy, I can deal with this myself!' Josh snapped at his father who looked pretty pissed off. 'Follow me.'

Shannon followed Josh as he began to weave his way through the packed bar to the exit. She could feel her temperature rising and her fears growing as she realised that there was no going back now. She hadn't expected to feel all that much when she saw him, ten years had passed since their relationship ended and she'd convinced herself that she was completely over him but seeing him….old feelings began to resurface and that was NOT a good thing. She had to remember that she was here for one reason, for Caitlin.

Once they finally got outside, Josh walked a fair distance away from the bar until they were well out of earshot of anyone who happened to be hanging around outside. When they came to a stop, Josh looked at her nervously and bit down on his thick lower lip.

'I didn't think I'd see you again, you didn't even say goodbye,' Shannon's stomach dropped when she saw just how devastated he seemed to be, how the fuck was he going to feel when he knew the whole truth?

'I couldn't, it would have been too hard. I did what I thought was best…'

'Best for who Shannon? You'd just had an abortion and then suddenly you disappeared! Do you know just how much that fucked me up huh?'

'I can't turn back the fucking clock Josh! If I could then believe me I fucking would! You think it's been easy for me since I left? You moved on pretty quickly anyway, I heard all about your little fling with Emily,' Shannon snapped back at him, referring to her old friend back in Seattle that Josh had slept with just a few days after she'd left. She'd kept in contact with one of her best friends for a few years after moving to California and she had been told all about Josh's conquests.

'What? Was I supposed to live like a fucking monk when you were gone? You didn't even tell me where the fuck you had gone Shannon! You made it pretty fucking clear that you wanted nothing more to do with me and now here you are! What is it that you came back for? Money? Maybe you suddenly found out that I was on TV and you thought you'd come here and try to win me back again..'

Before she could stop herself she slapped him hard across the face.

'You wanna know why I'm here Joshua? I'm here for our daughter!' The words tumbled out of her mouth and Josh froze on the spot.

'Daughter?'

Shannon nodded her head and kept looking at him as he stared at her open mouthed.

'I left town because I was still pregnant Josh, I never had the abortion, I lied. I told my mom about the pregnancy and she decided that we had to leave…'

'But I went with you! You went to the appointment..'

'The nurse told you to leave the room Josh! I made my decision there and then that I was keeping the baby, with or without your support,' she replied, her heart was pounding against her chest so hard that she was sure that Josh could hear it.

'What's her name?' Josh asked after a few moments of silence. Shannon was surprised by how calm he was, she expected him to get angry, to hit her, to punch her…she hadn't expected this.

'Her name's Caitlin, do you want to see a picture?' Josh remained silent but nodded so Shannon reached into her backpack and pulled out her purse which contained a photo of her beautiful girl before the cancer had struck.

She walked towards Josh and handed him the photo of a smiling Caitlin in her bathing suit on the beach. Her long jet black hair sat just above her waist and her brown eyes twinkled in the sunlight. She looked a lot like Josh, there was no way that he could deny that she was his.

'Why didn't you tell me? Ten fucking years Shannon, she's fucking ten years old and I don't even fucking KNOW HER!'

Josh snapped before he threw the purse to the ground.

'I was scared Josh! I was seventeen years old and pregnant! When I told you, the first thing you said was that I should have an abortion! You were on the fucking phone to the clinic before I could even say anything else Josh! I didn't think you wanted to be a dad…'

'I would have fucking stood by you Shannon! Don't you think that I was scared too? Jesus Christ!'

Josh began to pace back and forth as Shannon braced herself to tell him about Caitlin's illness and why she was really here.

'I know you're angry and upset Josh but I'm here for a reason. Caitlin, she's sick Josh, really sick,' Shannon choked back tears as she thought about her little girl lying in a hospital bed surrounded by machines and weak from the illness slowly eating away at her little body.

'Sick? How sick?'

'She's got Leukaemia Josh and she needs help, she'll die if she doesn't get it, that's why I'm here.'

'I don't understand…..what kind of help?'

'She needs a bone marrow transplant Josh and she needs it as soon as possible. Mom and I got tested but we're not a match, it's a long shot but it's possible that you could be a match for her. I'm here to ask for your help Josh, I'll get down on my knees and beg if I have to, I can't lose her, she's my entire world Josh, please…'

'This is too fucking much to take in Shannon! First you turn up here completely out of the fucking blue, you tell me that I have a ten year old daughter that I know nothing about now you're telling me that she's sick and she needs my help? I need to think about this, I can't deal with this…'

'Josh there's not much time for you to think! I'm leaving tomorrow night to go back to California, if you come back with me you can see her, you can be part of her life Josh I won't stop you! She's beautiful, she's so much like you…'

'SHANNON JUST STOP OKAY?' Josh snapped before placing his hands on his head. 'You gonna be staying at the hotel tonight?'

She nodded, it was too cold to hang around outside all night and there was no way that she was going back into the bar.

'I'll come and find you tomorrow morning, I'm gonna go back to the boat and think about this, all of this,' Josh sighed heavily before he reached down to pick her purse up from the floor. He stared at the photo of Caitlin for a moment before he looked at Shannon again. 'Can I take this with me?'

Shannon nodded before she opened her backpack once again to pull out some papers that she'd printed off from the internet. They contained information about being a bone marrow donor and what to expect, she thought that Josh might want some more information about what she was asking him to do.

'They'll tell you all about the procedure, I know you haven't said yes but it'll help you to understand what you might have to do if you're a match. I know I've made mistakes Josh and I know that I hurt you but please, don't take your anger out on her, this isn't her fault Joshua,' Shannon prayed that he would listen and that in the end, he would do the right thing.

'I'll see you tomorrow,' Shannon watched as Josh walked away from her.

The urge to call him back, to get on her knees and beg him to help Caitlin was almost too much but she knew that she had to give him a little time alone to think things over. She'd just dropped two huge bombshells on him out of nowhere and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

She just hoped that he would do the right thing, there was nothing more that she could do other than to wait for his decision and pray that he would come back to California with her.