A/N: Here we go guys, the big moment! HAHAH I'm pumped because the next few chapters are pretty action packed :) so this will be a DOUBLE UPDATE! OH! I went there! OMG by the way EXAMS ARE DONE, MY BTR CD'S ARE 4 DAYS AWAY and BIG TIME SINGLE IS ON IN AN HOUR AND A HALF! OK enough of my weirdness, onto reviews.
REVIEWS:
Chey21: You're welcome I hope you like the song, I really love it, and hopefully I'll post the fanfic soon :)
8412: I hope the others' reactions, especially James and Katie's aren't too out of character, but tell me what you think.
Chapter 11- Secrets Revealed
Jo was breathing heavily as the opened the door at the end of their second flight of stairs, and she cursed under her breath; it had been about two days and she was already getting less fit. Kendall stopped a few paces ahead of her; he was always faster than she was, and he made his way back to her, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking into her chocolate brown eyes.
"You OK?" he asked gently.
"Yeah," she put a hand on her lower back "Thanks, Kendall," he smiled, taking her hand, and they approached the apartment.
Logan looked up from his book report as the door opened, he watched as Kendall entered the room, holding the door open for Jo. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her; she obviously hadn't had any sleep recently, and she looked as though she had been crying. Logan closed his book, looking around to see that Carlos and James, miraculously, had noticed the mood and were silently looking through sheet music.
Kendall led Jo, who was still clutching his hand for dear life and trying to mask her tears, to the middle of the living room. He let go of her hand for a moment, darting to tap Logan on the shoulder,
"What's up with Jo?" Logan asked "She doesn't look too good,"
"She's fine," Kendall replied dismissively, "Where's mom and Katie?"
"She took Katie shopping," Logan looked up at Kendall, his eyes searching for any hint of truth in Kendall's face "What's really up with Jo? She looks like she's been crying, Kendall,"
"Grab Carlos and James, and we'll tell you," a look of confusion flashed across the raven haired boy's features for a moment, and Logan got up, sitting between Carlos and James on the couch , leaning in to talk to them. Kendall's eyes scanned the room and he found Jo standing in the kitchen, a class of water in her hand, she looked even paler than she did before.
"Hey," he said gently "we can wait if you want, we don't have to tell them now if you're not ready, they'll understand."
"No, it's fine—" Jo stopped as Katie and Mrs Knight bustled through the door. Kendall left her standing there, clutching her water for a moment, darting over to his mother and sister. She swallowed the lump in her throat as he led them over to the couch.
"What's the matter, Kendall?" his mother asked as he guided her to the couch and she sat beside Logan, turning to him immediately to ask him.
"What's going on Big Brother?" Katie looked at him sceptically as she sat beside Carlos, and Kendall tried to supress a nervous laugh that came out as a high pitched cough; she thought he was messing with her! Sometimes, Kendall forgot how young his sister was –how she was only twelve. He pushed these thoughts out of his head; she was his sister, there was no way he was leaving her out of this. He turned back to the kitchen to see that Jo had set down her glass of water and was giving herself a whispered pep talk. It was then that Kendall realised what he was doing to her; that he was forcing her to tell his family a secret she barely had time to comprehend herself. A small voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Logan told him that she had agreed to come, when she could have gone back to her apartment, but Kendall ignored it, approaching the counter and leaning on it.
"Are you OK?" he asked her "If you're not ready, you don't have to –"
"I'm fine—"
"OK, well, do you want me to tell them, because you already told me?"
"If you don't mind," she said quietly "I'm sorry, Kendall,"
"Will you quit apologizing? I know this isn't expected," he paused, smiling as her eyes filled with sparkling tears. "but, we can get through this, OK, together," he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, taking her hand; he felt her shaking beside him as they walked, slowly towards the couch.
"You give really good pep talks," she smiled shakily as they made their way to stand in front of the TV.
"I've been told," he replied, kissing her head again and ignoring the fake gagging noises and giggles that erupted from Carlos and Katie. He saw Jo brace herself beside him as they stood in front of the others. Kendall took a deep breath, and began to speak. "Mom, Katie, guys, uh, Jo and I have something to tell you all." he watched as all eyes in the room flicked to Jo and back to Kendall again. "Uh, well, it's kinda hard to explain." he and Jo shared a nervous look, and she nodded encouragingly. "Uh, well, the other day, uh, It was our anniversary, and I planned a big dinner and everything, and she, uh, spent the night here, but she didn't come to school today, and then she called, and she said that she wanted me to meet her in the lobby, where we just came from –" He stopped, looking at Jo, who rolled her eyes; he was stalling and he knew it.
"What's the point of this?" his sister asked impatiently.
"Katie!" his mom scolded before turning her full attention to her son, smiling expectantly. Kendall gulped down the lump in his throat and spoke, surprised at how calm his words came out,
"She told me she's pregnant," he looked around at the range of expressions in front of him; his mother had her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking; Logan was harder to read, he looked unsure of how to react as he fiddled with a button at the bottom of his shirt; Carlos was smiling, but he tried to mask it as he looked around at the others' serious or grave expressions.
Kendall couldn't decide whose reaction broke his heart more as his gaze found James and his sister; James avoided his gaze, but Kendall spotted the disappointment in the brunette's eyes; it was a mixed with a hint of grim smugness as Kendall looked into James's usually kind hazel eyes. Katie gazed up her big brother, her expression a mixture of confusion and disappointment; Kendall sighed, stepping forward and reaching out to take her hand, but his heart ached as she shied away from him, her eyes shining with tears as she got up and ran to her room, the lock clicking loudly as she shut him out. He heard Jo give a gasping sob beside him as he ran to his sister's room, pausing at the door, his hand on the doorknob, "Katie?"
"Go away," the words pierced Kendall's heart like a knife, and he struggled to keep his voice steady yet again as he called his sister "Katie, please—" he froze, for his little sister had opened her bedroom door, her face stained with tears, and let him in, slamming the door behind him.
"How did this happen?" she asked in a small voice as the two sat opposite each other on her small bed.
"Well, when two people love each other very much—"
"Kendall!" she snapped, but it came out as more of a sob, her tiny fists slamming against his chest as she hit him with all her might. "Why did this happen?" she asked as a fresh batch of tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Kendall sighed, pulling his baby sister into a safe embrace; she was stiff in his arms, and he made to let her go, putting firm hands on her thin shoulders, but she gripped his shirt, sinking into his chest, sobbing. He wrapped his long arms around her small frame, stroking her hair as she continued to cry.
"Hey," pushing her away from to look into her ear stained face "since when did you cry? I thought you were tough," he smiled slightly, but it faded as she looked up at him with watery eyes.
"Kendall, I'm serious! Why is Jo going to have a baby? What did you do? Mom's gonna kill you!"
"Listen, Katie," he hesitated, trying to find the right words "It was our anniversary, you know that, and we were both ready for it, so we just – you know? I mean, we didn't plan for her to be pregnant," his sister flinched at the word "it just happened, but we're eighteen now, so we're adults technically, and we'll be able to take care of it, I know we will,"
"Mom was 23 when she had you, Kendall," Katie pointed out; her small voice had returned as she tried to comprehend everything her big brother had told her.
"I know, Katie, but I couldn't dream of getting rid of it, and I know we'll manage to raise it right. What does it matter how old a child's parents are if they're willing to love and cherish it for all of its life?" Katie's eyes filled with tears again and Kendall sighed, "I'm sorry, Katie, we made a mistake, I know that, but please don't hate me, or Jo, OK?" his sister shrugged and he got up, deciding it was best to leave her alone. Kendall made his way into the living room to see his mother and Jo where he had left them, sobbing, Logan was talking quietly with Carlos at the counter, and James was fixing himself a soda. Kendall had messed up telling them, he knew it, it wasn't right for him to blurt out his girlfriend's biggest secret to everyone! Kendall looked up to find that Carlos had gotten up to talk to James, and that Logan was walking over to Kendall, his hands clasped together.
"Wow, some secret, huh?" he said with the air of someone commenting on the weather as he rubbed the back of his neck, like he always did when he was nervous.
"I messed up big time, didn't I?"
"No, you didn't, you just gotta let them get used to it,," Logan said wisely "But, uh, you might wanna check on Jo," he indicated to the petite blonde, who was sitting on the arm of the couch, taking hesitant looks at Mrs Knight, only to have her look the other way. Kendall sighed, patting Logan's arm as me made his way to the couch,
"Hey," he said gently to Jo, he barely registered his mother getting up and leaving the room in his peripheral vision; it hurt that he'd done this to her, but right now, Jo was more important to him. "Don't worry about my mom, OK? She'll get over it—"
"No she won't!" Jo cried, and Logan got up, leaving the two of them alone "We hurt her, Kendall, I don't know what we can do to make it right!"
"You mean what I can do? She's my mom, I'm the one who messed up, I hurt her so it's my problem to fix, Jo, you don't have to worry about anything, OK?"
"Kendall, it's my problem, too! We're in this together, OK? You're stuck with me and this baby now, we're a family, and there's nothing you can do to get rid of us." Jo said defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest. Kendall chuckled,
"Well, it's a good thing I love you, then, isn't it?"
A/N: Oops, turned out longer than I thought, still gonna double update though :) What did u guys think? Were they too out of character? If so I'm really sorry, please tell me honestly what you think.
