A/N: I love all sorts of reviews; if they are good, or sad, happy or bad I don't care I love them all!!! Thanks for all of your reviews!!! I just wish I could get like the 112 everyone else has LOL….but hey I'm not popular but getting almost 5 in one day was like buying candy in a candy store!!
A/N: Sadly I don't own 7th Heaven but the story is original and is mine and I also own everyone else except for the following—Annie, Eric, Mary, Sarah, Matt, Kevin, Carlos, Simon, Ruthie, David & Sam, Sergeant Michaels, Ben, Patty-Mary, Carlos & Mary's first child (I do own the name though), Kevin's Mom & Step Dad's name and anyone else I forgot.
A/N: I'm not sure if there is anything called the National White Blood Registry…so I just made it up in case there wasn't!
Katelyn was really upset…she just got back from the ticket agent when it was announced that her flight would be delayed for another two hours due to the weather. She was all set and ready to fly in to Glen Oak, California but as usual her crappy luck her flight got delayed. Since the airplane never left the gate they let all the passengers off and they got back into the airport terminal. She figured if she headed straight for the ticket booth somehow one of the ticket agents would be able to help her. Except what she didn't figure out what everyone else had the same idea as she did.
When she got to the ticket booth the ticket agent took one look at her and said "I'm sorry honey…all the flights are booked up…you will just have to wait until your flight becomes un-delayed" and with that she put up a CLOSED sign on the counter and walked away.
Katelyn just glared at the ticket agent while she walked over towards the nearest pay phone and picked it up. She decided that she should call her mom and Stephen before she ventured out towards California. She had her cell phone with her but she really didn't want to use any of her minutes until she was actually in California. She picked up the phone receiver and punched in her calling card number and then waiting until the computer voice told her to punch in the number of where she wished to call. She punched in her home phone number and waited as the phone rang once, then twice and then it continued to ring. She started to get worried until she heard someone pick up the phone.
"Hel…hello?" asked a sleepy voice on the other line.
"Mom? It's Katelyn…I'm sorry if I woke you up…I forgot all about the time difference" she choked out trying hard not to cry.
"Katelyn…thank god…your father and I were getting worried about you…we were hoping that you would have called when you landed in California" her mother told her softly trying hard not to wake up her husband who was sleeping next to her.
"I'm not in California right now…I'm still stuck in Colorado…my plane got delayed because of the weather…hopefully I should be on my way there but it's not like you really care because if you did I wouldn't be on my way to a place I've never been to before " Katelyn replied angrily towards her mother.
"Katie…please…we should have talked before you left…We shouldn't have just sent you out there" she exclaimed before getting interrupted by Katelyn.
"You think? Maybe next time you will think twice about that…oh wait you don't have to worry about there being a next time right mom? Because from what you told me all my brother and sisters are really Dad's" Katelyn shot back in attack mode.
"Katie…I'm not going to argue with you on the phone…it's almost 1 am in the morning here and I'm beat…I'm glad that you called and told your father and I where you are right now… call one of us tomorrow when you get to Glen Oak…oh and have you called Mitchell at all? " Monica told her daughter covering her mouth to yawn.
"No, not yet…I'm going to wait until I get there to use my cell phone minutes…Fine…Goodnight" Katelyn said sarcastically as she slammed the phone down and walked away towards the gate where she would be boarding the plane…again for the second time to an unknown city.
Back in New York City, Monica hung up the phone with tears starting to brim at her eyes. Her oldest daughter was upset with her for not telling her the truth earlier…but to be honest Monica didn't even know either up until a few months ago.
~*~*~Flashback Begins~*~*~
"Monica, I'm sorry but neither your daughter nor your husband are a match…" the doctor told her honestly as he looked into her patients eyes that were filling up with tears.
"Is there anything else that we can do? Test other family members?" Monica asked her doctor as she gripped the side of the chair…her Leukemia had come back and this time it was back with a vengeance.
"I'm sorry Monica…the only thing that we can do is check the National White Blood Registry to see if anyone is a match with you…but that's the best we can do while you go through Chemotherapy again" Dr. Ross who also happened to be a family friend told her.
. "I don't want to go through Chemotherapy again…I want to try something different…what about radiation?" she asked breathing a little bit each time.
"I'm sorry Monica…your cancer has progressed a lot more this time than what we had originally thought…Chemotherapy is the only way to go…and because of how fast the cancer is spreading …I'm afraid that you only have a year or so…even that to live Monica…I'm sorry" her doctor told her leaving her all alone in the room to take in what was just told.
~*~*~Flashback Ends~*~*~
She choked back the tears thinking about what had happened only a few short months ago when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her shoulders.
"Oh Stephen" she cried out loud "What have I done?" she asked her husband of more than 27 years.
"You haven't done anything wrong Mon…it was her choice to go out there…not yours" he stated simply holding her in his arms. "All you did was tell her the truth and told her where she could find him" he said soothing to her as he stroked her hair. Surprisingly he wasn't upset with Monica…how could he be? She had given him seven beautiful and healthy children through out their marriage. Even though they had just recently found out that Katelyn wasn't his, he didn't care…he had raised her for all of her life and nothing was going to change…not now…not ever.
~*~*~*Flashback Begins~*~*~
"This can't be right" 22-year-old Monica thought to herself panicking as she looked at the little white stick that held the bright pink plus sign. She slowly slumped down the wall starting to sob…she hadn't been dating Stephen more than two months when they decided to sleep together…now what would he think? She thought to herself letting the tears flow freely down her face when she heard the apartment door being open…Stephen was home and now she would have to face the music. She slowly got herself off of the bathroom floor hoping that she wouldn't get dizzy like she had been feeling lately and walked out into the hallway where she got the biggest surprise of them all…there was Stephen with about 6 red, white and pink balloons and almost two dozen pink, red, and white roses in his hands…He spotted her almost immediately and gave her one of his famous grins that she had fallen in love with.
"What are you doing standing in the hallway Mon? I've got my hands full and your just standing there crying" he told her teasingly as she walked forward and took the balloons and roses out of his hands and turned around and placed them on their kitchen table. When she turned around she gasped…Stephen was on one knee with a small Jewelry box in his hand.
"Monica Anne Tharp…from the moment that I met you I knew that you were the one for me…and now all I'm asking from you is if you will be my wife" he told her taking the ring out of the box and grabbing a hold of the hand that was free.
"Oh Stephen" was all she could say before she wrapped her arms around his body.
"Do I take this as a yes?" he asked jokingly as she broke her embrace long enough to let him place the ring on her finger. They hugged for a long time as it seemed to Monica before they broke apart…she had completely forgotten about the test when suddenly Stephen grabbed both her hands and discovered it.
"Mon?" what is this? Are you?" he asked looking at the test and looking back at Monica in disbelief. Monica nodded her head and looked down at the floor in shame when she heard a huge yell coming from Stephen.
"Well I'll be damned! Not only am I marrying my soul mate I'm gonna be a daddy!" he exclaimed excitedly picking up Monica and swinging her around the room until she felt like she was going to be sick.
~*~*~Flashback Ends~*~*~
After a few moments of silence Monica began to wonder if she had anything wrong when she heard a deep sigh come from Stephen.
"What's wrong?" she asked him nuzzling the side of his neck as they laid back down on their king size bed.
"Nothing…I was just thinking…" he replied tiredly.
"About what?" she asked closing her eyes.
"The day I asked you to be my wife and when I found out I was going to be a dad" he said proudly as he stroked her hair lightly.
"Oh" she replied sinking farther and farther into a deep sleep. Her mind started to slip away as her memories came flooding back to her all at once…the day she met Paul, the day she met Stephen, the day Katelyn was born, the day she told Katelyn Stephen wasn't her dad…it seemed like her life was falling apart at the blink of an eye…and so was she.
~*~*~Flashback Begins~*~*~
"Hi, what can I get you boys to eat?" asked 20-year old Monica Tharp to a group of young men sitting at a table in Pete's Pizzeria.
"Nothing" replied a sandy blonde haired man who gave her a wink "Nothing but yourself darling" he repeated again drawing out his Texas southern drawl as he flashed his pearly white smile her way.
"Jack…just leave her alone…besides you already have a girl remember? I believe her name is Amanda" snapped the dark haired young man who was sitting next to the window.
"Damn" muttered the man they called Jack "I hate it when you are right Kinkirk…why am I friends with you again?" Jack argued giving him a deadly look.
"Because if I wasn't your friend you would be to busy dangling yourself in front of women looking stupid…I'm just here to save the day" the young guy replied smiling at Monica. Her heart melted as soon as he flashed his dark brown eyes up towards where she was standing she felt her legs go weak at the knees and at that moment she knew...she was going to spend the rest of her life with him
~*~*~Flashback Ends~*~*~
Back in Colorado, Katelyn was bored…she had let Mitchell pack her carryon bag which was a big mistake from the beginning but at the time she was just too angry at her mom to pack it herself. He had packed a few of her magazines and her book that she was reading when she met Lucy and Kevin. She stared at the backpack when she got the idea to use it as a pillow for the time being. She got off her chair and stretched out on the floor making sure to tuck her purse where no one would be able to rip it of. Her eyelids started to close and almost instantly she fell asleep.
~*~*~Flashback Begins~*~*~
"Mom…how come all my brothers and sisters have blonde hair and I have dark hair?" asked 16-year-old Katelyn one day when she came home from high school. Her science class had just started to learn about DNA and genes when they decided to do the Punnett Square in her class today where most of them learned how they got their eyes and hair color from their parents.
"I don't know Katelyn…why do you have green eyes and Michael, James, and Kyle have blue?" Monica asked standing at the kitchen sink washing sippy cups because 1-year-old Kyle had refused to drink from his bottle anymore.
~*~*~Flashback Ends~*~*~
Katelyn sat up after only a few minutes laying down on her backpack trying to take a short nap. Her head was starting to hurt her from lack of sleep…all she knew she wanted to do was board that stupid plane and fly into Glen Oak International Airport and hail a cab to take her to the nearest motel and just crash on the bed and sleep for as long as she could. She pulled her knees as close to her body as she could and just started to stare off into space. Soon her thoughts were stirring back and forth from the present to the past as her eyelids once again became too heavy and she drifted off to sleep.
~*~*~Flashback Begins~*~*~
"Katelyn…we need to talk…and we need to talk now" her mom told her the day she after she had gone to the doctor's office.
Katelyn started to panic…there was no way that Monica could have found out what her and Mitchell did which was almost three months ago…no one knew except for them two…"there's no way right?" she thought to herself as she slowly forced her body to move and meet her mom in her dad's office or what Allyson calls "the dungeon".
She closed the doors behind her so they would at least have some privacy before Michael came back from taking Meghan to the doctors…they were the two nosiest members of the family…they always had to know what was going on even though Michael was 23 and Meghan was 17. She sat down on the leather loveseat that her dad had bought a while back…and she forced herself to look at her mom.
"What was so important that you needed to talk to me about?" she asked softly also saying a silent prayer as well.
"Katelyn…you know how I have always said that honesty is always the best policy? And that you never should lie to anyone…even if you are trying to protect them?" her mom asked looking nervous.
"Yeah…but what does this have to do with us right now?" she asked giving her mom a strange look…this isn't exactly what she thought was going to happen but hey…if her mom wanted to avoid the subject for as long as possible it was her choice.
"Well…I haven't been completely honest with myself, you or even your dad…" Monica told her oldest daughter taking a deep breath before she spoke again.
"Katie…sweetie…remember all of those times you asked why you were always different from your brothers and sisters and I told you it was because God wanted you to be someone different? Or that time when you came home crying at 10-years-old because someone thought you were adopted because you didn't look like Michael or James?" Monica asked her oldest daughter.
"Yeah…but what does that have to do with right now?" she asked tucking her long dark hair behind her left ear. She watched as her mom got out of the leather desk chair and walks over to the two sets of drawers and open the bottom drawer of one that was hers. She withdrew an old, used looking envelope and sat back down in the chair again. She fiddled with it until she threw it on the desk and pushed it slowly towards her. Katelyn stared at the envelope for only a moment before she picked it up and carefully pulled the flap out and took what seemed like a clean piece of white computer paper out of the envelope until she flipped it over and it was reveled to be her birth certificate.
"What the heck?" she exclaimed almost jumping out her seat. "You dragged me in here to give me my damn birth certificate? I thought it was because you found out that Mitchell and I eloped three months ago and are mad as hell" she exclaimed glaring at her mom who looked stunned.
"You two did what?" she asked angrily completely forgetting the real reason that she wanted to talk to Katelyn.
"Whoops" was all Katelyn could say as she clamped her hand over her mouth…she let the cat out of the bag and now her mom was really mad because that wasn't the reason why she wanted to talk to her!
"Katelyn Adair Hepler…" her mom started to say before a wave of nausea came over her. She closed her eyes and counted to fifteen before she started to speak again. "Katelyn…that's not the reason why I wanted to talk to you but now that you have mentioned it…when your father comes home we will also discuss that as well…but I'm backtracking…about your birth certificate…the one that you are holding in your hand is the correct one" she said softly.
"The correct one? What are you talking about?" Katelyn asked strangely when she opened it and her eyes grew wide in shock…where her dad's name should have been…there was someone else's…someone whom she had never heard of before…Paul Kinkirk.
~*~*~Flashback Ends~*~*~
"Attention ladies and gentlemen" were the only words she heard when she was awoken by the announcement.
Katelyn groaned as she looked at her watch and saw that almost three hours had passed since she had fallen asleep. She slowly got to her feet and stretched out her tired, worn out body. She had been traveling for almost 24 hours if not more. She picked up her backpack and unzipped it to get her purse. She sat back down on the uncomfortable, black airline chairs and opened her purse to take her cell phone out. She turned it on and checked the time…it was 4 am her time and Mitchell wouldn't exactly be thrilled that she was calling now…but at least she was calling. She hit the speed dial button and waited for it to start ringing. She waited for the fourth ring before she was ready to give up with a groggy and a very pissed off voice answered the phone.
"Hello?" said the male voice.
"Hi" Katelyn replied softly with a small smile.
"Kat? Is that you?" Mitchell replied sounding more awake.
"Yeah…I'm sorry baby for calling so early…I just wanted to hear your voice" she replied biting her lip as hard as she could to keep herself from crying.
"Are you in California yet?" he asked turning the lamp on that was sitting on the nightstand next to their king size bed.
"No…not yet…my flight has been delayed because of the weather in Glen Oak" she replied looking around the airport to see if anything had changed.
"Oh…when do you think you will get there?" he asked getting out of bed and walking out of their bedroom and into the hallway and turning the light on so he could see.
"I'm not sure its only 1 am here so I'm sure I'll be there by morning" she replied standing up again and grabbing her backpack and purse and started to head towards the ticket counter where a line of people had started to gather. Mitchell stopped in front of a partially closed door and pushed it open. He softly walked into the partially decorated nursery that he was going to finish while Katelyn was gone. The walls were painted a soft pink with white trim at the top with the name Elizabeth on the opposite wall where the little girl lay asleep. He walked over towards the crib and stared down at their 4-month-old daughter and smiled down and slowly walked back out of the room.
"Mitch? Are you still there?" Katelyn asked after several minutes of nothing but silence.
"Yeah…I'm still here" he replied closing the door softly behind him leaving it open just enough to hear her when she wakes up…which would be any minute now.
"Why weren't you talking to me then?" she asked impatiently.
"I was checking on Lizzie…to see if she was still sleeping or not because she should be waking in…oh about 10 minutes" he replied walking down the stairs of their two story house and into the kitchen to start making a bottle.
"Mitch…if I had asked you before I came out here…would you have come with me?" she asked suddenly out of the blue.
"Katie…you know that I would have done anything you asked me to do in the blink of an eye" he replied.
"Good" she said shortly "because I think I'm going to need you" she whimpered quietly.
"Kat...you don't need me now…you know it and I know it…wait till you get there and see what happens" Mitchell told her taking the bottle out of the microwave.
"I know…I know…I just don't feel like being here alone" she yawned sleepily.
"I—"Mitchell started to say when he heard a big wail coming from upstairs. "Sweetie…I have to go…our alarm just went off" he joked talking about Elizabeth.
"So soon?" Katelyn replied sounding disappointed.
"Katie…" was all he had to say.
"All right…I'll call you when I get there…and Mitch? Give her a kiss for me ok?" she told him.
"I will…I love you Katie" he told her before hanging up the phone. "I love you to Mitch" she replied back hitting the off button on her cell phone.
She placed her cell phone back into her backpack and stood up straight only to observe that the line still hadn't gone down and she was still the last person in line. Almost an hour later she was back on the plane and headed towards the one place that would scare her the most…the one place where she would meet for the first time…a stranger.
A/N: powerchic- thanks for the reviews!
Jea- For a comment on my other story…you will have to wait and see what I do! I have it all planned out and I know what's going to happen next!
Imaweirdo- Thanks for the suggestion…if I would have made it all one chapter I think all of us would have died!! I tried to at least separate the paragraphs with two spaces but somehow it didn't work…I still don't understand fanfiction.net at all…if you think you can help me just send me an e-mail!
