Author Notes: Ok, I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to update this and it's even worse that I left you with a semi-cliffhanger. But here's the next chapter and I don't own any characters. I love the reviews, keep them coming.

Hidden Secrets: Chapter 3

"Oh my god." She said in shock. Her eyes never left the two girls standing on her doorstep. Nick's smile lessened and he looked at his old friend curiously.

"You know who we are?" Kayla asked.

Dana nodded and tried to hold back her tears. "This can't be happening." She said plainly and turned her glance to Nick.

He shrugged.

"Why did you bring them here?" She asked quietly.

"We wanted to meet you." Krystal responded even though Dana's question wasn't directed towards her.

"They came to Rittenhouse. They told us their story and I offered to bring them to you." Nick explained.

Dana looked from the girls to Nick and then back at the girls. They were all still standing in the doorway on the breezy evening. She didn't know what to say to them. Their big blue eyes stared at her in wonder and she did the same to them. Annie ran out from the kitchen.

"Mom!"

Dana broke her stare and turned towards her daughter. "What is it?"

"The oven is smoking." Annie said quietly.

Dana went wide-eyed and ran to the kitchen. Annie stood and stared at the three in the doorway.

"You can come in you know." She said politely and walked to the kitchen following the smoke trails.

Nick, Kayla, and Krystal followed the little red head into the kitchen and waved in front of their faces so they wouldn't breath in too much smoke. When it cleared enough for them to see, they saw Dana leaning over a pot full of black hardness.

"You never were that great of a cook." Nick commented with a laugh.

"Oh shut up Biancavilla."

"Wow, you just sounded like Dr. Campbell." He noted.

"Who?"

"Oh, nobody." He answered remembering that she didn't know Andy.

"Dinners ruined." Dana noted.

"Again?" Annie said with disappointment.

Dana looked at her annoyed and walked to the phone. "I hope you guys like Chinese." She said.

"So, we can stay for dinner?" Nick asked.

Dana stopped herself before dialing and looked at the people in her kitchen. The twins stood close to each other while Nick stood next to them. Annie had returned to her stool near the kitchen counter and she stood by the small desk on the opposite wall.

"Well, you're already here." She said after a slight pause and handed them the menu. She walked to Annie and ran her fingers through her hair. "Do you want your usual?"

Annie nodded. "Sweet and sour chicken." She reminded Dana.

"Ok." Dana smiled down at the little girl. "Don't worry about what to get, I'm paying. Just decide and tell me." She said to the twins and Nick. They nodded and then told her. She wrote the orders down on a spare piece of paper and then added her own.

Once she was done calling the restaurant and telling them she wanted delivery, she offered them something to drink. Nick had water while Kayla and Krystal had soda.

Dana approached her daughter and bent down to her level. "Annie, sweetie, why don't you go watch some television in my room so we can talk out here?"

The little girl looked around at them all and shrugged. "Ok mom." She said and ran down the hallway to Dana's room. Within a few seconds the door closed and Dana led them all to the living room to sit down.

Kayla and Krystal looked around the house and then at their biological mother. She was staring at them in wonder and they smiled at it.

"They look a lot like you don't they?" Nick asked unexpectedly.

The twins blushed and Dana turned her attention to them. She didn't respond to his question. She didn't want to believe this was happening. They sat in silence for awhile.

"What are your names?" Dana asked quickly.

"Krystal Marie."

"Kayla Whitney."

"Pretty." She commented in response. "So, I guess you wanted to meet me as soon as you turned eighteen........considering that was yesterday."

"You remembered?"

"How could I not?" Dana said. "Giving birth to you two wasn't exactly the most painless thing I ever did." They paused. "Physically anyway." She added. They paused again. "I guess you have tons of questions right?"

They nodded in unison.

"Well, let's get started...." Dana said and sat back on her couch with Nick at her side. She never looked at him. Instead she stared at the twins. They stared back in silence. "What do you want to know?" She asked plainly.

"Why did you abandon us?" Krystal asked.

Dana could hear the hurt in her tone. She didn't answer right away. Her mind raced at possible answers. Finally she spoke up. "I always wanted a baby." She stated slowly. Dana licked her lips in nervousness. "When I found out there were two of you........" She shook her head. "I just got scared......."

They looked at her in amazement and Nick did to.

"I couldn't handle it by myself and I knew I couldn't manage med. school and internship while raising two kids. I knew it was the horrible way out but it was done and it can't be undone no matter how much I regret it." She said and held back her tears.

"By yourself?" Kayla asked. "What happened to our father?"

"Sean?" Dana asked surprised. They nodded and she shook her head. "Sean Black split the second he found out I was pregnant. He was just an old high school flame that turned out to be an even bigger coward than I was."

Nick cleared his throat. "You told me about him." He stated. "You told me he was just a high school boyfriend. You failed to mention that he was the father of the two children you abandoned."

"He was a high school boyfriend that I hooked up with a few years after we graduated. I didn't expect it to happen or anything to come of it."

"Obviously something did." He said harshly.

Dana looked at him but then turned back to the girls after shrugging it off. "Like I said, I was scared and I didn't know what to do. Abortion wasn't a belief of mine so I ruled that out immediately." She stated not caring if they were too young to understand. "My parents despite their arguments helped me through my pregnancy and a few weeks after you were born I made the hardest decision of my life. I didn't abandon you because I wanted to, I abandon you because I didn't feel like I deserved you." She said wiping away a few tears.

"What?" Kayla asked confused.

"I loved you with all my heart even if you're father bailed on me and my family thought of me as.....less than respectable." She said, putting it decently. "My mind got the best of me and it over ruled my heart. I didn't know what kind of mother I would make or if I was ready to become one so I did it. I left you with an anonymous agency in a different town and disappeared for a few days after that. When I returned home I was....shunned...by my family but I got used to it. I finished med. school and went to Philadelphia to find my cure for Breast Cancer."

"You're were finding a cure for breast cancer?" Krystal asked curiously.

Dana nodded and semi-smiled. Kayla looked at her twin annoyed.

"Krystal." She said with a certain tone and her sister shut up. "How come you never came to find us?"

Dana took in a deep breath and looked back and forth from Kayla to Krystal. "My actions haunted me....up until tonight....I always wanted to come get you girls but everytime I thought about it, I pictured you two growing up together and playing in the park with your adoptive parents. My heart told me to find you but my mind over ruled it once again. I figured by then you had your own lives with wonderful parents who treated you right. I didn't want to break that up even though I wasn't even sure you did have it."

"We did." Krystal said. "We still do."

Dana nodded and wiped away another tear. "But you still came to meet me..." She said slowly in confusion. "Why? For answers?....Well you got them."

"Yeah, we did." Kayla answered and looked at her twin. "But we want more than that."

Dana looked at them curiously.

"We want to know you." Kayla said.

"And we want you in our lives." Krystal added.

She smiled. "And I want to know you to.......and I want to be in your lives." She responded as the doorbell rang. They paused and looked around. "That must be the food." She added and wiped away the last of her tears. She grabbed her wallet and headed towards the front door.

Annie came running out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Dana placed the bags on the counter.

"Mom?"

"Yeah?" Dana asked.

"Lu's awake." The little red head stated and smiled up at her mother.

"Thank you sweetie." Dana responded. She smiled down at the little girl and then headed down the hallway to get the baby. Nick followed her unexpectedly as the others dug into the food.

"You nicknamed her Lu?" He asked.

Dana jumped at his appearance and then chuckled to herself. "I couldn't resist." She stated and picked the infant up out of her crib.

Nick watched her cuddle the child in her arms before laying her down for a new diaper. "She's beautiful." He stated.

"Yeah. She is." Dana responded and started changing the baby.

"I'm sorry to have just sprung this on you Dana."

She nodded and looked at him in between the changing. "I'm actually glad you did Nick. I've been wanting to get that story out of my system for eighteen years."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me before."

"I didn't tell anybody. My father thought of me as a cheap slut and a coward so why wouldn't anybody else right?" She asked in pity of herself.

"I wouldn't have thought of you as that." Nick stated defensively. "I would have understood. I understand now Dana."

She looked at him and smiled while scooping Lu up in her arms again. "It doesn't matter. That was the past. Yeah, it sucked what I did and it sucked that I kept it from everybody but it's out now. I'm sure everyone at Rittenhouse knows as well right?"

Nick looked at her with guilt. "They told the story to all of us."

"Who's included in all?"

"Umm...Dr. Jackson." He started. Dana sighed at his name. "Dr. Delgado......Lana.....Peter......Andy."

"Who's Andy?"

"Oh, Dr. Andy Campbell. She's the doctor who took over your half of the clinic once you left."

"Is she nice?"

"You're changing the subject Dana." He stated.

"It was a simple question Nick." She responded and rocked Lu back and forth in her arms.

"Yes, she is. But she doesn't measure up to you."

Dana smiled. "And you still think that even after you found out about my real past?" She asked slowly.

Nick nodded. "Dana, I don't know quite how to tell you this....but....." He paused and she looked at him curiously. "I never got over you."

"What?"

"I loved you then and......I love you now." He stated slowly.

"Nick." She said plainly and turned away from him.

"Dana, I wasn't ready for marriage then or children for that matter but I've lived without you for as long as I can take."

She turned back to him and scrunched up her face in tears. "Don't." She said. "Don't do this Nick."

"I can't help it. I need you Dana......more than ever." He said and took the baby from her. He laid Lu back in her crib and brushed her cheek before he turned back to Dana.

She looked at him with wide eyes and started breathing heavily.

"I made the mistake of letting you get away from me once Dana Stowe, I'm not letting it happen again." He stated with a smile. She looked at him with nervousness in her eyes. "I know a lot is being put on your shoulders tonight but......I have to do this....now." He said. Nick kneeled down on one knee with the smile still on his face. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small golden ring with a single diamond resting in the middle. He held it up to her in his right hand and grabbed her hand with his other. "Will you marry me?"

Dana's jaw dropped at the sight of the ring and she gasped at his words. Her breath increased as she stared at it. Her mind raced as he waited for her to answer. She thought about the relationship they used to have and how she had always regretted leaving him behind. She held back her tears and licked her lips while sort of jumping up and down. She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat and then looked deeply into his eyes.

"I still love you to Nick....." She said. He looked at her with hope. She looked back with satisfaction. "Yes, I will marry you." She finished her statement and her tears started to spill. He slid the ring on Dana's left hand and looked at it before standing up straight before her. They stared into each other's eyes before embracing in a long hug. Nick pulled Dana's upper body slightly away from his and paused briefly before kissing her. She kissed him back in pleasure and her heart felt like it was lifting.

"I missed you." He said after breaking the kiss.

"I missed you to." She responded and touched her lips to his again.

After a few minutes of kissing and holding each other, Dana picked up Lu in her arms and they walked out of the bedroom. As they headed down the hallway he put his arm around her shoulder and she placed her free one around his waist. They came into the kitchen and caught everybody's attention. Kayla and Krystal stared at them curiously.

"Something's going on...." Kayla said quietly and Krystal nodded in agreement.

Dana and Nick both smiled and looked around at them all. "We're....engaged." Nick said.

Annie's eyes widen and she dropped her fork in confusion. She was too young to know what engaged meant but she did know that this man was holding her mother very closely. Kayla and Krystal stopped eating and looked at each other before looking back to the new couple in shock.

"Did we miss something?" Kayla asked in confusion.

Dana laughed and placed Luisa Lee in her high chair.

"How about we tell you the whole story over dinner?" Nick said and grabbed the Chinese food that he ordered. They all sat down at the kitchen table and ate as Dana and Nick explained their past together along with what had happened in her bedroom. Annie accepted Nick, having met him at Rittenhouse a while ago and liking him now. Kayla and Krystal told Dana their plans for the future and she was thrilled at each of their goals in life. She was reunited with her babies from eighteen years ago. And her babies were reunited with her. Now she would let her heart over rule her mind and live the rest of her life in happiness with everything she had always dreamed of.

End Hidden Secrets: Chapter 3

Ok, this story is now complete. I hope you guys liked the ending. I enjoyed writing it and getting reviews but I'm glad it's finished because now I have to move on to other current fics as well as new ideas. Thanks, bye.