"So you guys understand why your mother and I split up right?" Robby asked throwing the basketball to his oldest son.
"Because you and Mom fought all the time." 7-year-old Gloria replied catching Tim's rebound.
"That's right." Robby replied.
"You and Mommy don't love each other anymore?" 4-year-old Stephan asked looking up at Robby.
"Not in the same way we used to." Robby replied.
"Do you love us Dada?" 3-year-old Diana asked.
"Oh baby, just because I don't care for your mother in the same way doesn't mean I care for you any less than I ever have." Robby replied dropping to his knees and pulling his children to him.
"Whose car is that?" Tim asked when the game resumed minutes later.
Robby turned away from the hoop and shaded his eyes to block out the sun. A short blonde woman stepped out of the car, a pair of sunglasses his her eyes, and her black pants and white shirt had a wrinkled appearance showing that she had traveled a long way. This was the woman he hadn't seen in over 10 years, but still reminded him of everything he could never have but would give everything for.
Robby jogged down the driveway, "Lucy? What's happened?"
Lucy set the sunglasses on her head revealing red eyes. "Robby we need to talk. It's important."
Robby nodded, "Guys let's head inside, you guys can watch a movie."
"All right!" Grace screeched, "It's my turn to pick the movie!"
"Can I get you anything?" Robby asked walking around the kitchen as Lucy sat silently, she had practiced the speech on the plane, but it had suddenly disappeared from her brain.
Lucy just shook her head.
"Luce something must be really bad if you flew all the way out here. Is it your parents?" When Lucy shook her head Robby continued, "Mary?"
"Meg." Lucy whispered.
"Your daughter?" Robby asked.
Lucy nodded again.
"Do you guys need a place you stay? If so we have a guest house around back you are welcome to use as long as you need it. I mean you're like a, well Meg's like my niece."
"That's what I came to talk to you about." Lucy stated her voice cracking.
"Staying in my guest house?" Robby asked. "You could have called." But deep down Robby knew Lucy wasn't talking about the guest house.
"Meg's not your niece." Lucy blurted.
Robby looked shocked, "Luce I know that we left on some bad terms but that doesn't mean I can't think of your daughter as my niece."
"She's not your niece she's your daughter!" Lucy exclaimed.
Robby's mouth seemed to try to be forming words, but to no avail. In a sudden burst, when Robby's mouth decided to connect with his mouth he yelled "My what?"
"You heard me." Lucy responded, she couldn't bring herself to say it again.
"How could you not tell me? In all these years?" Robby asked, his voice was still raised but more in surprise than anger.
"You were married! We both agreed that it was a mistake! It didn't mean anything! What was the point of me telling you? All it could have done was ruin your marriage. And there was no way I was going to do that!" Lucy yelled back.
"Joy and I are over anyway." Lucy was going to tell Robby she was sorry, but he gave her no time, "Why are you telling me this now? You didn't know about Joy and I. Nobody knew."
"Meg is really sick." Lucy replied her eyes welling with tears. "Her leukemia is back and she needs a bone marrow transplant, and the match is best if they there are siblings."
Robby's face was stony, no emotion showed.
"You may hate me forever!" Lucy cried, tears streaming down her cheeks, "But don't punish our daughter for a mistake I made!"
Robby seemed to come out of any trance he had been in. Dropping quickly to his knees he wrapped his arms around Lucy and held her for a long time. "How will we know if my children match?"
"A blood test." Lucy replied. "Please at least have them tested. If none of them match you can come back out here and return to your normal life, and forget about me and Meg."
"Tim and Gloria can take some time off school. Besides they haven't seen your parents since they were out here last." Robby replied.
"Robby I kind of have to warn you about something." Lucy said gripping the steering wheel of her car tightly.
Robby glanced over at Lucy, her knuckles and face had gone pale, they were finally returning to the neighborhood where the Camden's lived and Lucy looked terrified. "What?"
"Well you see, all these years, no one except Wilson and Mary have known who Meg's father is."
"Why didn't you tell them?" Robby asked, fearing that Lucy was ashamed of who Meg's father was.
"I didn't want to loose all the respect Mom and Dad have for you." Lucy replied quietly.
"Did you tell them you were coming to get me?" Robby asked, trying to figure out how he was going to explain himself to Annie and Eric.
"Not exactly. I was in such a rush to leave I didn't want to have to stop and explain it to them. I'm hoping they are going to leave the explaining until later, and not as soon as we walk in the door."
"Mom! Dad! I'm back!" Lucy called.
"Lucy, that was a short trip." Annie called as she rounded the corner she was bombarded by Robby's four children.
"Grandma! Grandma!" The kids said hugging Annie in turn.
"Robby you're…" Annie let her sentence trail.
"Yes, Mom, Robby is Meg's father. He didn't know either until I told him." Lucy replied.
Instead of an expression of anger Annie's had a smile on her face, "I'm glad."
"You're what?" Lucy asked stunned.
"For some reason that makes me happy." Annie replied.
"Timothy's a match." Matt announced 4 days later. "Now Robby are you sure Timothy's OK with going through with this? Because it's not going to be painless."
"I want to do it!" Timothy announced walking in on the adults. "She's my sister and I want to help her."
Timothy, Gloria, Stephan and Diana hit it off perfectly with Meg instantaneously. Meg was confused about something's, like why she had never met her father, but she was happy to have siblings; it had always bummed her out how all her cousins had siblings.
Robby and Lucy suited up a week later, they wore hospital garments over their clothes so as not to bring in any germs to infect Meg. When she had the bone marrow transplant they had had to destroy her immune system so it wouldn't attack Timothy's bone marrow.
Lucy couldn't stand seeing Meg looks so sick all the time, but she figured it would be all worth it in the end. When Meg was out of the hospital for good, thanks to her transplant.
When Robby and Lucy walked into the ICU hospital room Meg was asleep. Lucy walked quietly over, smoothed Meg's thick curls and kissed her gently on the forehead.
"Lucy get up!" Robby said pounding on Lucy's bedroom door.
Groggily Lucy jumped out of bed, her bedside clock red 3:45, pulling a robe on Lucy pulled open the door, "What's going on Robby?"
"The hospital called. Meg's rejecting Tim's bone marrow." Robby rushed the words and then dashed away to wake the kids up.
"Robby why is this happening?" Lucy asked pacing back and forth, "She was supposed to get out soon. She was healing. How can she be rejecting the bone marrow?"
Robby shook his head; he was wondering the same thing.
"Lucy! Robby!"
At the sound of Sara's voice Lucy whipped around, "Sara what's going on? Have you seen Matt?"
"Yeah, I came with Matt. He told me to tell you that just because she's going through rejection right now doesn't mean that the bone marrow will quit working."
"Is Meg going to be OK?" A bleary eyed Diana asked wandering over to her father.
"Meg is going to be fine." Robby reassured his youngest daughter scooping her into his arms.
"I've spent to much time in this waiting room, trying to be patient while I wait to find out if my daughter is going to be all right." Lucy spoke for the first time in half an hour.
"She is going to be all right." Robby replied fiercely.
"How do you know?" Lucy asked bitterly.
"Because I said so." Matt stated.
"She's going to be all right?" Lucy asked tears coming to her eyes.
"We had to change her anit-rejection medicine around, and pump her full of a lot of medicine. But she's fine. She wants to see both of you."
"How are you feeling Meg?" Lucy asked rushing into the hospital room with Robby.
"I know it's a total cliché." Meg gasped around the oxygen, "But like a bus ran over me.
"You look good to me." Robby smiled kissing his newly found daughter on the forehead.
"Yeah, and you have your hair this time." Lucy smiled. "And it's a new beginning."
4 months later
"Where is everybody?" Robby asked wandering down the stairs at Lucy's house his tux perfectly pressed.
"They are all over at Mary's." Lucy replied smoothing her gown.
"Do we have time before we have to be at the church?" Robby asked, "Because we have to talk."
Lucy glanced at the clock, "Yeah, we have about an hour. What did you have in mind?"
Both Lucy and Robby took a seat before Robby began talking, "School starts in a week."
Lucy nodded, "I know, Meg is so happy she will be able to start school on time."
"Yeah I know. But I need to go back to New York. Tim, Gloria and Stephan need to start school on time too."
"But Robby…" Lucy said searching for a reason that would make him stay.
"And we need to talk about Meg. Now that I know she exists I want to see her as much as possible." Robby said fiddling with the toast he had made himself.
"I know. She can come visit occasionally." Lucy replied.
"Good." Robby replied and then sighed when he dropped an edge his jellied toast on his white shirt.
"Robby." Lucy moaned walking over to him running a napkin under water she wiped at the jelly. "Just put the vest on over it…" Lucy's words trailed as she looked into Robby's deep eyes.
"Lucy look at me." Robby whispered as Lucy carefully pulled on her dress hoping not to wrinkle it more.
Lucy gulped and turned around ready to tell Robby it had been a mistake. "Lucy marry me." Robby whispered.
"Robby…." Lucy whispered "If this is because you're afraid you knocked me up again…"
"It has nothing to do with that Lucy, I've loved you since that night Meg was conceived."
"So have I." Lucy whispered.
"But you said…" Robby let his sentence trail.
"Yeah we made a mistake. But it is my favorite mistake." Lucy smiled, "And yes I'll marry you."
"Because you and Mom fought all the time." 7-year-old Gloria replied catching Tim's rebound.
"That's right." Robby replied.
"You and Mommy don't love each other anymore?" 4-year-old Stephan asked looking up at Robby.
"Not in the same way we used to." Robby replied.
"Do you love us Dada?" 3-year-old Diana asked.
"Oh baby, just because I don't care for your mother in the same way doesn't mean I care for you any less than I ever have." Robby replied dropping to his knees and pulling his children to him.
"Whose car is that?" Tim asked when the game resumed minutes later.
Robby turned away from the hoop and shaded his eyes to block out the sun. A short blonde woman stepped out of the car, a pair of sunglasses his her eyes, and her black pants and white shirt had a wrinkled appearance showing that she had traveled a long way. This was the woman he hadn't seen in over 10 years, but still reminded him of everything he could never have but would give everything for.
Robby jogged down the driveway, "Lucy? What's happened?"
Lucy set the sunglasses on her head revealing red eyes. "Robby we need to talk. It's important."
Robby nodded, "Guys let's head inside, you guys can watch a movie."
"All right!" Grace screeched, "It's my turn to pick the movie!"
"Can I get you anything?" Robby asked walking around the kitchen as Lucy sat silently, she had practiced the speech on the plane, but it had suddenly disappeared from her brain.
Lucy just shook her head.
"Luce something must be really bad if you flew all the way out here. Is it your parents?" When Lucy shook her head Robby continued, "Mary?"
"Meg." Lucy whispered.
"Your daughter?" Robby asked.
Lucy nodded again.
"Do you guys need a place you stay? If so we have a guest house around back you are welcome to use as long as you need it. I mean you're like a, well Meg's like my niece."
"That's what I came to talk to you about." Lucy stated her voice cracking.
"Staying in my guest house?" Robby asked. "You could have called." But deep down Robby knew Lucy wasn't talking about the guest house.
"Meg's not your niece." Lucy blurted.
Robby looked shocked, "Luce I know that we left on some bad terms but that doesn't mean I can't think of your daughter as my niece."
"She's not your niece she's your daughter!" Lucy exclaimed.
Robby's mouth seemed to try to be forming words, but to no avail. In a sudden burst, when Robby's mouth decided to connect with his mouth he yelled "My what?"
"You heard me." Lucy responded, she couldn't bring herself to say it again.
"How could you not tell me? In all these years?" Robby asked, his voice was still raised but more in surprise than anger.
"You were married! We both agreed that it was a mistake! It didn't mean anything! What was the point of me telling you? All it could have done was ruin your marriage. And there was no way I was going to do that!" Lucy yelled back.
"Joy and I are over anyway." Lucy was going to tell Robby she was sorry, but he gave her no time, "Why are you telling me this now? You didn't know about Joy and I. Nobody knew."
"Meg is really sick." Lucy replied her eyes welling with tears. "Her leukemia is back and she needs a bone marrow transplant, and the match is best if they there are siblings."
Robby's face was stony, no emotion showed.
"You may hate me forever!" Lucy cried, tears streaming down her cheeks, "But don't punish our daughter for a mistake I made!"
Robby seemed to come out of any trance he had been in. Dropping quickly to his knees he wrapped his arms around Lucy and held her for a long time. "How will we know if my children match?"
"A blood test." Lucy replied. "Please at least have them tested. If none of them match you can come back out here and return to your normal life, and forget about me and Meg."
"Tim and Gloria can take some time off school. Besides they haven't seen your parents since they were out here last." Robby replied.
"Robby I kind of have to warn you about something." Lucy said gripping the steering wheel of her car tightly.
Robby glanced over at Lucy, her knuckles and face had gone pale, they were finally returning to the neighborhood where the Camden's lived and Lucy looked terrified. "What?"
"Well you see, all these years, no one except Wilson and Mary have known who Meg's father is."
"Why didn't you tell them?" Robby asked, fearing that Lucy was ashamed of who Meg's father was.
"I didn't want to loose all the respect Mom and Dad have for you." Lucy replied quietly.
"Did you tell them you were coming to get me?" Robby asked, trying to figure out how he was going to explain himself to Annie and Eric.
"Not exactly. I was in such a rush to leave I didn't want to have to stop and explain it to them. I'm hoping they are going to leave the explaining until later, and not as soon as we walk in the door."
"Mom! Dad! I'm back!" Lucy called.
"Lucy, that was a short trip." Annie called as she rounded the corner she was bombarded by Robby's four children.
"Grandma! Grandma!" The kids said hugging Annie in turn.
"Robby you're…" Annie let her sentence trail.
"Yes, Mom, Robby is Meg's father. He didn't know either until I told him." Lucy replied.
Instead of an expression of anger Annie's had a smile on her face, "I'm glad."
"You're what?" Lucy asked stunned.
"For some reason that makes me happy." Annie replied.
"Timothy's a match." Matt announced 4 days later. "Now Robby are you sure Timothy's OK with going through with this? Because it's not going to be painless."
"I want to do it!" Timothy announced walking in on the adults. "She's my sister and I want to help her."
Timothy, Gloria, Stephan and Diana hit it off perfectly with Meg instantaneously. Meg was confused about something's, like why she had never met her father, but she was happy to have siblings; it had always bummed her out how all her cousins had siblings.
Robby and Lucy suited up a week later, they wore hospital garments over their clothes so as not to bring in any germs to infect Meg. When she had the bone marrow transplant they had had to destroy her immune system so it wouldn't attack Timothy's bone marrow.
Lucy couldn't stand seeing Meg looks so sick all the time, but she figured it would be all worth it in the end. When Meg was out of the hospital for good, thanks to her transplant.
When Robby and Lucy walked into the ICU hospital room Meg was asleep. Lucy walked quietly over, smoothed Meg's thick curls and kissed her gently on the forehead.
"Lucy get up!" Robby said pounding on Lucy's bedroom door.
Groggily Lucy jumped out of bed, her bedside clock red 3:45, pulling a robe on Lucy pulled open the door, "What's going on Robby?"
"The hospital called. Meg's rejecting Tim's bone marrow." Robby rushed the words and then dashed away to wake the kids up.
"Robby why is this happening?" Lucy asked pacing back and forth, "She was supposed to get out soon. She was healing. How can she be rejecting the bone marrow?"
Robby shook his head; he was wondering the same thing.
"Lucy! Robby!"
At the sound of Sara's voice Lucy whipped around, "Sara what's going on? Have you seen Matt?"
"Yeah, I came with Matt. He told me to tell you that just because she's going through rejection right now doesn't mean that the bone marrow will quit working."
"Is Meg going to be OK?" A bleary eyed Diana asked wandering over to her father.
"Meg is going to be fine." Robby reassured his youngest daughter scooping her into his arms.
"I've spent to much time in this waiting room, trying to be patient while I wait to find out if my daughter is going to be all right." Lucy spoke for the first time in half an hour.
"She is going to be all right." Robby replied fiercely.
"How do you know?" Lucy asked bitterly.
"Because I said so." Matt stated.
"She's going to be all right?" Lucy asked tears coming to her eyes.
"We had to change her anit-rejection medicine around, and pump her full of a lot of medicine. But she's fine. She wants to see both of you."
"How are you feeling Meg?" Lucy asked rushing into the hospital room with Robby.
"I know it's a total cliché." Meg gasped around the oxygen, "But like a bus ran over me.
"You look good to me." Robby smiled kissing his newly found daughter on the forehead.
"Yeah, and you have your hair this time." Lucy smiled. "And it's a new beginning."
4 months later
"Where is everybody?" Robby asked wandering down the stairs at Lucy's house his tux perfectly pressed.
"They are all over at Mary's." Lucy replied smoothing her gown.
"Do we have time before we have to be at the church?" Robby asked, "Because we have to talk."
Lucy glanced at the clock, "Yeah, we have about an hour. What did you have in mind?"
Both Lucy and Robby took a seat before Robby began talking, "School starts in a week."
Lucy nodded, "I know, Meg is so happy she will be able to start school on time."
"Yeah I know. But I need to go back to New York. Tim, Gloria and Stephan need to start school on time too."
"But Robby…" Lucy said searching for a reason that would make him stay.
"And we need to talk about Meg. Now that I know she exists I want to see her as much as possible." Robby said fiddling with the toast he had made himself.
"I know. She can come visit occasionally." Lucy replied.
"Good." Robby replied and then sighed when he dropped an edge his jellied toast on his white shirt.
"Robby." Lucy moaned walking over to him running a napkin under water she wiped at the jelly. "Just put the vest on over it…" Lucy's words trailed as she looked into Robby's deep eyes.
"Lucy look at me." Robby whispered as Lucy carefully pulled on her dress hoping not to wrinkle it more.
Lucy gulped and turned around ready to tell Robby it had been a mistake. "Lucy marry me." Robby whispered.
"Robby…." Lucy whispered "If this is because you're afraid you knocked me up again…"
"It has nothing to do with that Lucy, I've loved you since that night Meg was conceived."
"So have I." Lucy whispered.
"But you said…" Robby let his sentence trail.
"Yeah we made a mistake. But it is my favorite mistake." Lucy smiled, "And yes I'll marry you."