D.Torres – I slipped up in Chapter 1, Julie is Kate's stepsister. The error in Chapter 8 was because of my automatic spell check, it changed the word on me. Thanks for pointing them out and I've fixed both errors. As for when the chapters are set, 6 & 7 is late July, 8 is early August, and 9 & 10 is mid-August.

A/N – "Thoughts"

Chapter 9 – Don't Want To Let You Go

At least once a month over the summer, Mr. Gordon would drive up from Hill Ridge to San Francisco to spend the weekend with his family. This particular weekend, they were going out to dinner and Mr. and Mrs. Gordon had told Gordo to invite Kate to go with them. They wanted to get to know their son's new girlfriend better.

Kate knew that they already had the perceived image of her being a spoiled, rich girl and she was desperate to change that.

The dinner had gone relatively smoothly. They had basically grilled Kate about a variety of stuff, from high school and college plans to Gordo and her family. She could tell by their reactions to her answers, that she had impressed them a little and had started to change how they really saw her.

As they were driving home, Kate yawned and rested her head on Gordo's shoulder as they sat in the back seat. She was tired but happy.

Gordo smiled at her and kissed the top of her head. "You did good." he whispered to her. Gordo had been nervous about dinner when he reluctantly agreed to his parents offer. He was glad it had gone so well and that his parents had gotten a glimpse of the girl he saw.

Kate looked up at him and gave him a tired grin. Slipping her hand inside his, she intertwined their fingers and gently squeezed.

A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of the Sanders' apartment building. Gordo opened the door, got out first and then turned around to help her get out. As she walked up the steps in front of him, a small smile tugged at Gordo's lips as he followed. "You know, blue defiantly looks good on you."

As they stood on the stoop, Kate gave him another tired smiled. She had on a dark blue pantsuit with a light cream colored blouse and matching dark blue heels. "You just wanna get in my pants again." she teased.

"Well that's partially true," he shot back at her with a lopsided grin as he pulled at his tie. "But you do look beautiful." he told her and then gave her a small kiss.

"Gordo, I've been thinking. What's going to happen when we go back to Hill Ridge? This is your last week here but I don't want to let you go," Kate told him as she quickly grabbed his hands.

"Do we have to let it go?" Gordo asked her. He pretty much knew the answer but decided to ask anyway.

Kate fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. "We have to. In Hill Ridge, we live in two separate worlds and they don't interact well. I can't ask you to give up everything just for me and I can't either."

Gordo leaned up a little and kissed her forehead. Pulling back, he looked her in the eyes, "So then let's make it a week to remember."

Kate smiled at him and nodded her head. "Sounds fun."

"See you tomorrow?" Gordo asked with a grin.

Kate nodded her head and smiled, though sadly. She then slowly leaned in and gave Gordo a long goodnight kiss.

A few hours later, Gordo had just taken a shower and changed for bed. Deciding not to go straight to sleep, he headed towards the living room to watch tv for awhile. He couldn't stop thinking about how they only had a week left together.

As he was walking through the living room, someone started knocking on the door. "Its freakin eleven o'clock, who the hell would be here at this hour?" Just as he reached the door, the knocking increased. Looking through the peephole, "Kate?"

Opening the door, he just had to look at her to know something was wrong. "Kate?" Gordo quickly grabbed Kate's hand and brought her inside.

"Stupid bitch," Kate growled softly. Gordo just nodded and immediately knew what happened. He knew Kate had gotten into a fight with Annie, and by the look of her right now, Gordo knew it had been bad.

Her face was twisted into a scowl and her eyes were a little red with some faint mascara smears around them.

He slowly looked her over to make sure was physically alright and he tried not to smirk as he noticed she was wearing miss matched sweats, something neither the old Kate or the new Kate would do.

"She must've just thrown on whatever she could find and took off."

Kicking the door closed with his foot, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug. Kate immediately grabbed his shirt and pressed her face into the crook of his neck.

Hearing the commotion, Mrs. Gordon stood in the bedroom doorway and watched them. She smiled a little as she watched how Gordo tried to comfort Kate. Deciding to let Gordo handle it for now, she walked back into the bedroom.

"What's going on out there?" Mr. Gordon asked as he walked out of the bathroom and looked at his wife.

"Kate needed to talk to Gordo," was all she told him.

"At this hour?" he asked, then he noticed his wife's serious expression. "Should we," he started to ask but Mrs. Gordon cut him off.

"Let David handle it," she told him and Mr. Gordon nodded reluctantly.

In the living room, Gordo had brought Kate over to the couch and they sat down together. "What happened?" he asked as he brushed some hair away from her face and gently stroked her cheek.

Kate took a deep breath and as her hands clenched into fists, she leaned into Gordo. Tightening his hold around her, he gently rubbed her back.

"The stupid bitch started yelling at me cause I was supposed to watch Julie tonight. She didn't even tell me I was supposed to baby-sit or they were going out. I told them last week about dinner with your parents. Then whore called me the bastard daughter." She had started angrily but as she finished, she was completely upset.

Gordo shook his head in disgust and just held Kate as the tears started to fall. Taking a deep breath, Gordo didn't want to ask but he needed to know the answer, "Do they know you're not there?"

Kate just shook her head no. Sighing softly, he felt Kate bury her face in his shoulder. Reaching up, he gently stroked her hair.

Early that morning, Mrs. Gordon woke up, quietly got out of bed and walked out into the living room. Taking a quick look out the window, the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon.

Looking at the couch, Gordo was slouched down in a corner with Kate sprawled out on top of him. Kate was asleep but Gordo was still awake gently stroking the back of her head.

Walking around the end of the couch, Mrs. Gordon saw Gordo's tired eyes. Hearing his mom, he looked up at her. "She ok?" she whispered.

"Upset but ok," Gordo said then let out a huge yawn as he fought against his closing eyes.

"Go to sleep honey." Mrs. Gordon smiled as Gordo gave her a small, tired nod.

Gordo leaned his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. Within seconds, he was asleep. Mrs. Gordon grabbed an extra blanket and draped it over them. Giving her son a gentle and loving stroke on the head, Mrs. Gordon headed back to the bedroom.