Surprise

A/N: I just wanted to clarify something.  Some people said that Carter had seemed rather harsh to Julie.  He had been talking to Abby in the lounge privately when they had that spirited conversation.  Julie had merely heard it from outside the lounge. He hadn't meant for Julie to hear.

~*~

Julie was setting the table for dinner as Abby stirred a pot over the stove, stopping occasionally to taste a bit of it or tend to the pan that was warming in the oven.  They were chatting amiably about movies and celebrities and other nonsense topics.

"So, what grade are you in now, Julie?"

"Sixth."

"Do you like school?"

"Not particularly," Julie said with a grim smile. Abby chuckled.

"Junior high…" she said with a mocking sigh and Julie grinned as she placed the last fork around the table.

"Um, can I use your phone?" she asked as she remembered her promise to her father that she would call Marilyn.

"Sure," Abby said putting down the wooden spoon and wiping her hands on her apron, "There's one on the table in the hall. Here, I'll show you."

Julie followed Abby to the phone and Abby waited as she dialed.

"Hi, Marilyn. It's Julie."

"Oh, hey Julie! I was wondering when I was going to hear from you. Your dad said you were out for dinner."

"Yeah."

"What time do you think you'll be done?"

"Um, I'm not sure. I'll call you when we're done, I guess." 

Abby interjected, "I can give you a lift home if you need, Julie."

"I have a lift home, so I'll just call you a while before I come."

"Can I have the number where you are?"

"Um, yeah," she put her hand over the mouth piece, "What's your number?" she asked Abby.  She repeated the number Abby told her into the phone slowly as Marilyn copied down.

"Sounds good. Have fun and remember your manners." Julie made a face to Abby who grinned.

"I will say 'please' and 'thank-you'. Bye."

"Bye."

 "Thanks," Julie muttered to Abby as she laid the phone back on the cradle.

"No problem. That your step-mom?"

Julie chuckled scornfully before shaking her head 'no'.

"No. That's just Marilyn. She watches me. You know, makes my lunches and dinner. Spends the night."

"That's nice. I don't remember Richard working such long hours."

"He doesn't work anymore," Julie muttered, beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable, "Hey, we should probably check on that sauce that was on the stove. Wouldn't want it to burn."

Abby eyed Julie for a few seconds before nodding and turning back to the kitchen.

Julie sighed and followed.

Carter and Kaylie sauntered into the kitchen a few minutes later.

"Mmmm, smells good," he said, coming up behind Abby and putting his arms on her hips, planting a kiss on her neck.  Abby hit him playfully with a hand-towel that was sitting on the counter and Carter grinned happily before turning to take a seat at the table.

Julie was sitting across from him, watching and Kaylie, the little girl – Carter and Abby's daughter – was sitting beside Carter eyeing Julie.

~

Julie and Kaylie hadn't exactly gotten acquainted yet.  Apparently, it was some sort of Carter family ritual that Carter and Kaylie scamper off to spend time together while they waited for dinner to be ready because the minute they had walked in the door, Kaylie had hugged Abby and grabbed Carter's hand pulling him away – Abby watching happily from the doorway.

Julie had stood uncomfortably before Abby led her to the kitchen.  They had joked and talked and everything had eased up considerably as they prepared dinner.

~

The minute that Carter appeared at the kitchen door, though, Julie had fallen back into silence and become hesitant.

Abby brought the food to the table and took the seat on the other side of Carter.

"Pass up your plates," she said with a grin as she began to serve everyone in turn.

"This is good, Abby," Carter said after tasting it.

"Thank you," Abby replied, "Julie helped." Carter smiled at a stunned Julie and Julie smiled back.  She hadn't done anything aside from setting the table.  Abby took a seat and they all ate quietly for a while.

"Kaylie, I don't think you got introduced to our guest," Abby said pointedly, "This is Julie. Julie, this is Kaylie."

"Hi," Kaylie said with a grin.

"Hey," Julie responded with a mirrored grin.

Abby, seeing them next to each other for the first time looked from daughter to daughter and noticed the remarkable resemblance.  Both girls had taken after their mother.  Aside from their eyes – Julie's blue and Kaylie's brown, and their hair colour – Julie's curls were lighter- closer to Richard's blonde than Abby's brown and Kaylie's were a darker brown – Kaylie was a spitting image of Julie at that age. (There was a time when Richard had still sent pictures.  This stopped abruptly though, due to Abby's lack of responses.) She smiled proudly at them.  Two sisters meeting each other for the first time.

"I'm five," Kaylie stated, "My birthday was last week."

"Wow. Happy birthday."

"I got a new American Girl doll and a video and a necklace and lots of other stuff and I had a party."

Julie grinned. So the kid was a little spoiled, but she was still adorable.

"How old are you?" Kaylie asked curiously, picking up her cup with her pudgy fingers and taking a sip as Julie responded.

"Eleven."

Abby watched the interactions silently, letting the girls warm up to each other.  Kaylie was chatty and sincere, but Julie was a little hesitant, understandably so."

~*~
Dinner ended on a happy note.  The four of them were all discussing basketball – apparently Carter had turned Kaylie into a fan at the young age of three, taking her to games and keeping her updated on the score and player trades. Julie was a basketball fan, too, though she had fallen a little behind this season, being pre-occupied with her father.  Abby spent a good deal of the conversation trying to understand what they all found so amusing in the game, laughing as they all broke out at once describing the excitement and the anticipation and the competition.

She shrugged her shoulder with a grin and began to stack the plates, still not understand entirely what so appealing about men in tank tops running after a ball.

Carter rolled his eyes and stood up to clear.

"She's hopeless," he said mockingly and Kaylie giggled. Julie stood up to help Carter with the clearing up, but Abby interjected.

"No, it's okay, Julie. You helped set up.  Cleaning up is John's job." Carter sighed audibly as he took the plates to the kitchen and began stacking them in the dishwasher.

"It's the hard knock life," he said with a wink.

~

Julie, Kaylie and Abby were up in Kaylie's room as Kaylie entertained them with her dolls and chatter and Carter was downstairs doing 'foundation work' as Abby had called it, when the phone rang and the nanny came in.

"It's for Julie," she said with an expression of curiosity. Julie got up and shrugged, taking the portable phone from the woman.

"Hello?" she said.

"Julie?" It was Marilyn.  She was sniffing back tears.  Julie sat on the bed, surprised.  She knew this would come eventually.

"Yes?" she inquired, her voice shaking.

"It's your father.  You should come down to the hospital as soon as possible."

"Is he…." her voice broke and she took a deep breath, "Is he d—"

"Not yet. But it doesn't look good. The doctors called me in. Just get here as quickly as you can, okay?"

Abby was eyeing her curiously and Julie hung up the phone with shaky hands.

"Is everything okay?"

Julie shook her head, a tear falling down her cheek.  Kaylie came up behind Abby, confused.

"I need to go to the hospital," she stated simply as the tears flooded over and fell down her face more quickly.  Abby took a seat beside her and put a comforting arm around her daughter's shoulder.

"Okay," she said taking the phone from Julie, "I'll take you. Let's go."