Thank you so much for all the reviews! So sorry for the length of time it's taken me to update this, I have been so busy but this update is rather long. It's rather emotional too and a difficult read. Before you read, I feel like I need to address the situation with Phil in this story. It was never my intention to make him so disliked, he's trying to protect his son after he was left broken hearted, please don't think that I want him to be evil, I would never do that, as time goes on things will become clear I promise.

Please leave a review if you read as always, thank you all SO much! :)

***Edited Version***

Chapter Fourteen

'Well honey, today's the big day we've been talking about, how are you feeling?'

Shannon tried to sound as upbeat as possible about what lay in store for her young daughter. The past couple of weeks had been hard, really fucking hard. She'd seen the little strength that Caitlin had left in her young body all but disappear right in front of her very eyes. The chemotherapy had taken everything out of her, she'd been put on IV after IV to keep her fluid levels up because she couldn't keep anything down, not even one fucking glass of water.

She hadn't left her side since the treatment had increased, she'd had her little mini-meltdown outside the hospital a couple of weeks ago but now her game face was firmly back on and she was determined not to let it slip. She had to be strong, she had to give all the strength that she could to her daughter to keep her going because she was never letting her go, she was not going to bury her child.

'I feel tired mommy, I just wanna go to sleep,' Caitlin groaned as her small fingers tightened around her mother's.

Shannon stroked her forehead and tried as best as she could to comfort her.

'Then go to sleep baby.'

'But I wanna see daddy before he has surgery, I wanna give him Oscar for good luck,' Caitlin pointed to the teddy bear lying next to her in bed.

Oscar had been the first thing that Shannon had bought for her daughter and Caitlin had never let him out of her sight before. He'd been with her throughout the treatments, the pain and the sleep-ness nights.

'Daddy should be here soon, why don't you rest your eyes until he gets here? I can wake you up when he arrives,' Shannon watched as Caitlin yawned and nodded her head before she easily drifted off to sleep.

She continued to stroke her daughter's face as she slept, hoping that her touch offered her some form of comfort through all the pain and sickness that she was suffering right now. She just hoped and prayed that the transplant would work, if it didn't, she couldn't see how she would ever be able to survive in a world without her beautiful little girl in it.

'Josh the doc told you to stay here…'

'I promised Caitlin that I would see her before the surgery and I am not fucking breaking that promise so don't even try to stop me from leaving. I'll be back in five minutes, the doc won't even know I've been anywhere,' Josh huffed as he wrapped his dressing gown around himself, covering up the real sexy hospital gown that he was wearing in preparation for the procedure.

'I'd better come with you…'

'No you won't dad! I want five minutes alone with Caitlin and Shannon, is that too fucking much to ask?' Josh snapped at his father, he'd been pissed at him ever since he'd made Shannon cry with his fucking awful remark about her blood not being good enough to save Caitlin. He had since offered Shannon a half assed apology which she'd accepted but Josh knew that the apology wasn't sincere at all, Shannon probably knew too but she'd accepted just to save another fucking argument from happening all over again.

'If the doc comes back when I'm gone, just say I'm taking a piss or something,' Josh told his dad before leaving the room in a hurry, five minutes alone with his girls was just what he needed before going under.

He was more nervous than he thought he would be, he hadn't had that many surgical procedures before and the thought of being knocked out cold made him a little nervous. Sure he was fit and healthy so the chances of him making it through were pretty high but still, there was always a chance that something could go wrong. He had to see his girls just one more time, just in case.

He walked through the long corridors as quickly as he could, he didn't have much time to waste. He managed to make it to the room in five minutes and as soon as he got there Shannon's eyes met with his.

'Hi there,' Shannon wished that his eyes would stop boring into hers, it was like he was staring right into her soul each time he looked at her.

'Out like a light again huh?' Josh walked closer to the bed and stared at his brave little girl who was sleeping peacefully once again.

'I have to wake her up, she wants to see you before you have the surgery, she has something to give you,' Shannon said before she began to tickle Caitlin's face with her fingers as she whispered her name to get her to wake up.

Caitlin's eyes began to flicker open and Josh stood by her bedside, taking her hand in his as he smiled down at her. His nerves about the procedure were gone, if something was to go wrong he didn't care anymore, all that he cared about was his daughter getting better. He hadn't known her for that long but she was the best thing that had happened to him, she'd changed his life forever. Partying, drinking, fucking around, none of that mattered now, it would never matter again. He wanted to be a good father and a good role model to his daughter, he was going to change every single part of his life for her.

'Daddy you came,' Caitlin sighed as she woke up and smiled at him.

'I promised you that I would, I'll be back to see you tomorrow too, nothing will keep me away,' Shannon smiled hearing Josh's words, he had made such a big effort with Caitlin since he'd got here and the love that he had for her was written all over his face. It made her melt a little inside everytime she watched him with Caitlin, it made her wonder just how life would have been if she'd stayed in Seattle and told him that she was keeping their daughter.

'I want you to take Oscar with you, he'll look after you like he's looked after me,' Caitlin handed over her bear to Josh who took it but immediately tried to give it back to her.

'I can't take this from you sweetie, he needs to stay here to look after you, I'll be fine.'

'Please daddy, take him. You can give him back tomorrow when you come and see me, I want you to have him, please,' Josh looked at Shannon who nodded, he wasn't going to fight his daughter, she was too weak to fight right now.

'Thank you so much baby, I promise that I'll keep him safe. Everything is gonna be alright sweetie, I'll be back before you know it okay?'

Caitlin nodded and smiled weakly, Josh could see that she was forcing herself to stay awake and he wanted her to rest.

'I need to go back now before my doctor kicks my ass!' Josh laughed, before he leaned down and planted kisses on her forehead, cheeks, nose and lips. 'I love you so much sweetheart, so much.'

'I love you too daddy, thank you so much for doing this for me,' her words nearly made him break down on the spot but he managed to fight the tears off. He couldn't break down in front of her, he had to be strong now, he had to be a rock for her.

'Mommy, will you go with daddy and make sure he's okay?' Shannon looked at her daughter who had a slight smile on her face, despite being sick she still seemed determined to try and get her parents back together again.

'And what about you honey?' Shannon replied.

'I'll be fine, now go,' Josh smirked at his daughter, she was a bossy little madam at times, just like her mother.

Shannon wasn't going to argue with her so she planted a kiss on her head and got up to follow Josh out of the room. Their eyes met again as she closed the door behind them and they began to walk down the long corridor.

'Has your mom been to see her today?' Josh asked, Julia hadn't visited Caitlin once since he had been in town and he couldn't understand why someone would keep away from their very sick granddaughter for so fucking long.

'No and I don't expect her to come anytime soon Josh,' Shannon sighed, she wanted to love her mother, she really did but it was hard. She was a tough woman to love. 'She hates the fact that I went behind her back and brought you here, she thinks that the two of us are doing 'sinful' things to each other again. I talked to her a few nights ago and she won't come to see Caitlin unless you are gone and by gone I mean gone, as in back to Seattle gone.'

'Does your mom seriously fucking think that I'm gonna walk out of your lives now that I know about Caitlin? Jesus fucking Christ I knew she was fucking crazy but not that crazy!' Josh exclaimed, Shannon's mother had never liked him but the feeling was mutual. She'd treated Shannon like crap, always putting her down and shit, telling her she wasn't pretty enough or smart enough, no matter what Shannon did it was never right or good enough for her.

'I told her you weren't leaving and she went crazy, just as crazy as the night she found you hiding in my closet, you remember that?' Shannon smirked.

'I thought she was gonna hit me over the head with that Bible she had in her hands, I didn't get my freak on that night cos of her,' Josh smirked back, they had finished school early to get some time alone at her place and just as he had been about to put himself inside her they'd heard the front door slam.

'Yes you did, I sneaked out the window later on and we went to Steven's Pass in your car, we were almost caught by a cop,' Shannon stopped outside the door of Josh's room, she knew that Phil was inside and she didn't really want to see him right now.

'I thought that was another night? Come to think of it, there were a few nights that we were nearly caught by the law, we weren't exactly discreet were we?' Josh smiled, it was nice to talk about the past times they'd shared together. Each memory of those days brought a spark back into him that he never thought would appear again.

'We were horny teenagers, I would have fucked you in a dumpster if I'd had too,' Shannon smiled, there were so many good times, so many.

'Well, guess I'd better go back in and get into bed before the doc gets back and yells at me for not listening to him,' Josh sighed, as much as he wanted to stand here and reminisce for hours the time had come for them to part.

'I'll come down and see you later, is there anything I can bring you?'

'Just bring yourself, that'll be enough,' Shannon could feel herself blushing at his words, she wished that he didn't have the ability to do this to her.

'Well, good luck. Thank you Joshua, I'll never be able to repay you for what you're doing, I wish I could,' Josh smiled at her before he leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her smooth forehead.

'You don't have to thank me, she's our daughter Shannon, our little girl,' Shannon nodded, her skin was tingling from the kiss he'd just given her. His lips were still so soft and smooth, they felt so good against her skin, just like they had in the past.

'Take care, I'll be here when you get back, I promise,' Josh watched as Shannon walked away from him, he resisted the urge to call her back, if he did he would say far too much and he knew how fragile she was right now, telling her just how he felt about her might freak her out and he had to try and take things slowly. There was so much that he didn't know, that he didn't understand, they needed to build their friendship again before anything else could happen. They had to fill in the gaps and get to know each other all over again and Josh was determined to make that happen.

He was about to go back into the room to wait for the doctor when he heard his name being called, he turned around to see his doctor making his way towards him.

'We're ready for you Joshua,' the doc smiled at him.

Josh nodded and opened the door to his room to call his dad over for a quick hug.

'Good luck son, I'll be here when you get back, everything will be fine,' Josh smiled at his dad before he followed the doc a little way down the long corridor. They soon reached the surgical suite where Josh lay down on the bed and remained silent as the anaesthetist inserted a catheter into his hand ready for the anaesthetic.

'It'll be over before you know it,' she smiled at him as she prepared the drugs to knock him out.

He watched her as she placed the needle into the catheter and he drifted off into a world of his own, only one thing, one night, came into his mind as the anaesthetic sent him under.

He was sixteen years old again, it was just a few weeks after he'd given Shannon the promise ring that he'd had made for her and he'd just finished school.

'Dad? Jake? Where you at?' He yelled into the house but no one responded to his calls.

When he walked into the lounge he found a note scribbled in his father's writing.

'Gone to visit Sig, home later.'

Josh rolled his eyes, tonight his dad was meant to be helping him fix his stupid fucking car which was making a painful rattling noise but once again he'd been let down. He needed his car to be working, especially as the car seemed to be the only place that he and Shannon could spend time alone. Shannon had finally saved up enough money from her weekend job at the pizza parlour to buy herself a car but her mom hardly ever let her use it. They'd met up a couple of times since that night and they'd gone back to the same place to touch, kiss and explore each other.

He found himself thinking about her more and more, he wanted to be with her every minute of every fucking day but her stupid fucking mother was determined to try and keep them apart.

With his dad gone, he didn't have anything to do tonight. Without a car he was screwed, he could hardly walk over to Shannon's and ask to see her, her mom would slam the fucking door shut in his face. He threw himself down on the couch and put his leg up on the coffee table, as his leg hit the table he heard something fall on the ground and he sat up again to see what he'd knocked over.

As soon as he saw what was on the floor a smile appeared on his face. His dad had left his keys to the boat behind, he NEVER left his keys to the boat behind but today he'd evidently been in a hurry to leave and he must have forgotten about them.

He grabbed the keys and rushed upstairs to his room to log into his computer. It took a good fifteen minutes to load up and sign into MSN Messenger but it was worth the wait when he saw that Shannon was online. Before he could type out a message she had sent one to him.

'Thought you were meant to be working on your car tonight handsome? Xxx'

'Dad ditched me, fucker! Buttt, he left behind his keys to the boat sooo, can you sneak out? xxx'

'Hell yeah! Mom's just gone round to our new neighbours with a peach cobbler and her Bible, she'll be hours trying to convert them! I'll be there in ten minutes, see ya soon stud! Xxx'

Josh smiled as Shannon signed off, going to the boat was a risk, especially if his dad came back early and noticed that his keys were gone but it was a risk that he was willing to take.

He changed his clothes and sprayed plenty of cologne over himself, he knew that Shannon loved his cologne, she'd told him plenty of times. When he had changed, he went downstairs and was about to sit down on the couch when he heard a horn sounding from outside, Shannon had arrived sooner than he'd expected her to. He rushed out of the door without putting on a jacket or picking up his wallet, he wanted to get out quickly just in case his dad came back. He locked the house up and ran to Shannon's car, smiling at her and leaning over to plant a kiss on her lips as he jumped inside the passenger seat.

'Mom caught me sneaking out, she was leaving the neighbour's house as I was walking down the path, I've never moved so quickly in my entire fucking life!' Josh smirked at her as she drove away. 'You're gonna have to direct me, I have no idea where I'm meant to be going.'

'You've never been to the docks before?'

'Uh, no, there are far too many sinful, unholy men there that could rape me or murder me!'

Josh laughed as Shannon put her foot down on the accelerator and whizzed through the streets as quickly as possible. She seemed pretty eager to get to the boat, in all honesty he was pretty fucking eager to get there too. She looked good, she always looked fucking good and he wanted to run his hands over every inch of her all over again. He would never get tired of learning the secrets of her body, she was like a fucking drug to him except no drug had ever made him feel as good as she did.

They arrived at the docks forty minutes later, parking up in the parking lot nearest to where the Cornelia Marie was anchored up. As soon as they were out of the car, Josh grabbed her hand and began to lead them to the boat. It was getting dark already and the docks weren't a safe place to be at night, there were plenty of shady looking people hanging around and Josh wanted them to reach the safety of the boat as quickly as possible.

They managed to board the boat without anyone seeing them, at least Josh didn't think that anyone had seen them anyway. As soon as they got inside the galley Josh put on the light and Shannon began to look around, she'd never been on the Cornelia Marie before, she'd mentioned to him in the past that she wanted to see the boat and now she had her chance.

'It's bigger than I thought it would be, there are beds on here aren't there?'

'No Shannon, the guys like to sleep out on deck to feel really at one with the sea you know?' Shannon flipped him off before he walked over to her and pulled her into his arms, pressing his lips against hers before she had the chance to pull away.

'You're so fucking beautiful Shannon, I can't stop thinking about you, wanting you…' Josh trailed off as she let her soft hands caress his face.

'I want you so much Josh, you don't know how much I need you, how much I love you,' Shannon kept looking at him but he noticed her reach into her back pocket, he was about to ask what she was doing when she showed him what she had in her hand.

'Where did you get that?' He asked as she started to stroke his cheek.

'Sex Ed, we were given some a week ago, I stayed behind and asked for some more, I thought we might need them,' Josh could feel his cock twitching as she opened the wrapper and stared at him with lust so evident in her gaze.

'I'm ready for this Josh, I'm ready for you, make love to me,' her hands began to wander over him, hypnotising him and sending him into a daze.

He wanted to do this but he felt like a complete pussy because he was scared. He'd never taken a girls virginity before and he knew that he would hurt her and he didn't want to hurt her, he didn't want to cause her any pain at all, her hands stopped wandering over him, she could sense his fear.

'Don't you want to? I know I probably won't be all that good at first but I can learn…'

'Shannon it's not that baby, I just…I just don't wanna hurt you,' Josh knew that he sounded like a fool but he had to be honest with her, there was no point in lying.

He was shocked when he saw a beaming smile spread across her face, he had expected her to laugh at him and mock him for sounding like such a fucking idiot.

'I know it will hurt a little at first but I know that you'll be gentle, more importantly I know that you love me and you won't dump me as soon as you've had the goods. I want this and I'm not scared, don't be scared,' she pressed her lips against his again and the fear and panic seemed to leave his body. If she wasn't afraid then he shouldn't be either, they didn't say anything else, instead he took her hands and led her towards the stateroom.

He spent a while making sure that she was turned on, making sure that she was totally comfortable and ready for what they were about to do. They made love for just over fifteen minutes, not exactly long but he was amazed that he managed to last so long, she felt so good, he couldn't even describe how amazing it felt to meld their bodies together, to connect as one for that first time.

When they had finished, he held her body close to his, stroking her back as they both recovered from their climaxes. He finally managed to speak after what seemed like hours of silence.

'How do you feel?' She looked up at him and smiled.

'Fucking amazing,' he grinned back at her before planting a kiss on her forehead.

'I love you so much Shannon, so much.'

'Joshua, Joshua! Open your eyes! Time for you to wake up!'

Josh opened his eyes slowly, he was angry that someone had interrupted his dream, his perfect dream.

'It's all over now Josh, we're taking you back to the room so you can recover okay honey?'

Josh nodded groggily as a nurse stood over him and explained what was going on. He'd come through the procedure okay and his bone marrow had been harvested, now it was all down to Caitlin.

Well I hope you enjoyed folks, I didn't want to openly post smut featuring two sixteen year olds as I didn't know how people would react. I did write smut, if that makes me sick then so be it, but if you would like the unedited version featuring the smut then please drop me a PM or let me know in your review and I will send it to you, thank you! :)