A/N: Here's chapter 19! Enjoy!
'We've just got to get it over with!' Mason tried to tell his sister.
'I know. She's really going to hate us! She definitely not going to believe us!' Olivia was worried about what knowing Stan was alive would do to Karen.
'It can't be that bad. If she doesn't believe you, get her to speak to Uncle Will. She'll have to believe it if another adult is telling her. Then, she can't say that it's just your minds wandering off.' Elliot was so naïve as to what they were worrying about.
'What's the worst she can really do?' Mason had secretly realised that he'd managed to leave it down to Olivia to tell Karen.
'That's what I'm worried about. I don't know!' Olivia was honestly panicking.
'The sooner you start, the sooner it's over.' Elliot tried to reassure her.
'Okay. You're right.' Olivia was preparing herself. 'Karen, can we talk to you?' Olivia asked as she walked downstairs.
'I'm really sorry, honey. Not just now. That was Uncle Will on the telephone. He says he needs to see us all urgently so we're going over there right now.' Karen sounded just as panicked as Olivia had earlier. 'Go get your shoes.'
'Good, maybe Uncle Will's going to tell her.' Olivia sounded relieved but worried at the same time.
'Hurry up, we gotta go!' Karen yelled up the stairs.
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When Karen, Olivia, Mason and Elliot arrived at Will's apartment, the Walker family were immediately asked to sit down.
'Will, what's wrong?' Karen was worried. It wasn't often Will looked as worked up as he did at that moment.
'There's something I need to tell you guys.' Will wasn't going to let on that Olivia definitely knew what he was about to tell them. 'Stan… is alive.' Will had thought it would be best to make the announcement short and sweet. Olivia and Mason watched as Karen's mouth nearly hit the floor in shock.
'No he's not. He's dead.' Karen managed to say after about three minutes.
'No Karen. He is alive.' Will tried to convince her.
'No he's not! You're lying.' Karen protested.
'Karen. He's not lying.' Olivia jumped in.
'Of course he is. I went to your dad's funeral.' Karen refused to believe what she was being told.
'Karen, I saw Dad today.' Olivia tried to convince her.
'But….' Karen tried to think of something to try to convince the others Stan was not alive.
'Karen, why would we lie to you about that?' Mason pointed out something that Karen really knew but didn't want to believe. Karen didn't speak for over five minutes after Mason asked the obvious question.
'Karen, we didn't mean to upset you. We tried to tell you earlier. But then you said we had go come here.' Olivia informed her.
'Why did he fake his own death?' Karen asked Olivia and Mason. Olivia and Mason both looked at Will, hoping he knew the answer.
'Why doesn't he answer that question himself?' As Will said this Stan appeared from one of the bedrooms. Olivia looked as the colour instantly drained from Karen's face. Karen hadn't seen Stan for nearly three years. She hadn't seen him much during the divorce proceedings; everything had been dealt with through lawyers.
'Hi.' Stan opened. 'Good opener!' Olivia sarcastically thought to herself.
'Hi.' Mason replied back. He though it would have been rude not to. Both Karen and Olivia took it as if he was saying 'Hi' on behalf of all of them.
'Why did you fake your death?' Karen asked the question they were all dying to know.
'There's a lot for me to explain.' Stan answered while taking a seat
'Get on with it then.' Olivia hadn't meant to say that. It just slipped out of her mouth. Elliot looked at Olivia as if to say, 'I bet you wish you hadn't done that.'
'Two years ago, I had to run away. There was somebody at the prison.' Stan was cut off by Grace.
'Yeah, Lorraine!' Grace had to shut her mouth when she realised Will and Jack were both giving her evil looks.
'Continue.' Karen numbly said.
'He threatened to kill the people I loved because I…' Stan tried to think of something. Olivia and Mason could tell he was lying. 'I stole his ham!' Stan sounded pleased that he'd thought of something. Jack couldn't help but scoff when he heard Stan's lame excuse. 'I didn't want him to hurt you. Any of you.' Stan said this while looking at Karen. 'I got Lorraine to tell everybody that I died of a heart attack. She bribed the funeral director to carry out a fake funeral.' Karen suddenly realised that she had never seen a death certificate. 'I went into hiding in the Caribbean. As soon as I knew that it was safe to come out of hiding, I returned.' Stan concluded his dishonest explanation. Olivia and Mason hadn't believed a single word of it. Mason watched Karen as she tried to make sense of everything Stan had said. Jack didn't wait for her to finish working it out before he started to rip Stan apart.
'So, who were you in the Caribbean with again Stan?' Jack sarcastically asked.
'I was there by myself.' Stan gave him a look as if to say 'Shut up.'
'Really? Because I thought you said earlier that you were there with Lorraine.' Grace mockingly asked.
Before Stan had a chance to respond to Grace's comment, Jack jumped in and asked, 'Tell me. Is it true that you faked your death to your children because you wanted to live in the Caribbean with your mistress and you didn't want to take them?' Olivia's face went from a neutral expression to one of complete horror and disgust.
'Excuse me?' Mason asked on her behalf. Nobody in the room had noticed that Karen was sobbing.
'You faked your death to get away from us?' Olivia added to Mason's question. 'Wait a minute. I know what you're playing at here! You split up from Lorraine, didn't you?' Olivia didn't give Stan a chance to respond. 'You've got no money because Karen got it all when you died! Now you want Karen to take you back! Not because you're sorry for everything that you did to her, it's because you want to be rich again! Am I right?' Olivia was asking a rhetorical question. At this point, Karen stood up and walked over to Stan.
'I never want to see you again. Stay away from me. And the kids.' Karen knew she couldn't forgive him for this. She ran out the door and made her way toward the elevator.
'You heard the woman. Don't ever bother us again!' Mason said through gritted teeth, before he and Olivia followed Karen out the door.
'Karen, are you okay?' Olivia asked. Karen didn't answer. She just hugged her two stepchildren and sobbed.
'What do you think?' Mason sarcastically, but quietly said to Olivia.
'I don't think I can forgive him for this. I can't forgive him this time. I'm sorry' Karen said through heavy sobs.
'Don't be sorry.' Mason told her.
'No one is expecting you to forgive him. We aren't going to.' Olivia tried to reassure Karen.
'I can't believe he would do this.' Karen was sobbing extremely hard.
'We know. We know.' Mason said in a comforting tone.
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As soon as they arrived back at the Walker penthouse, Karen went directly upstairs and to her room.
'Do you think she'll be alright?' Mason asked in a concerned tone.
'She will be eventually. We're just going to have to help her. A lot.' Olivia replied, in the same worried tone. How little did they know.
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Neither Mason nor Olivia had managed to get much sleep that night. They both kept thinking about how Stan had betrayed them as a father. They were both worried about how Karen was going to take everything.
'She'll be all right.' Mason and Olivia both thought out loud to themselves in their own rooms.
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'Hey! Morning!' Mason said in a much cheerier tone than how he felt.
'Hey. You get much sleep last night?' Olivia asked while slumping her self down on a chair at the kitchen table.
'No. You?'
'Nah. Do you know if Karen did?'
'I've not a clue.' Mason answered quietly.
---
Half an hour later, Mason and Olivia were still sitting at the kitchen table.
'I'm going to go for a shower, okay?' Olivia gave her excuse for leaving the table.
'Yeah sure.' Mason answered. He decided to go and play a video game.
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Olivia walked by Karen's room as she headed toward the shower room.
'Karen. Are you okay?' Olivia decided to check on her. 'Must have got herself to sleep.' Olivia thought to herself when she got no answer.
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It had been an hour since Olivia had headed for a shower. Mason had decided to also go for a shower after she'd left to dry her hair. Mason and Olivia hadn't seen or heard from Karen in the whole hour.
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Half an hour after that Mason was back downstairs in the kitchen. Olivia was still doing her hair. Still no sign of Karen.
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Fifteen minutes later Olivia had finished straightening her hair. She went back down stairs, expecting to see both Karen and Mason at the table.
'Hey. Karen not up yet?' Olivia sounded slightly surprised not to see her up yet.
'No. I haven't seen her at all this morning.' Mason sounded slightly worried. 'Do you think we should check on her?'
Olivia was pouring a glass of orange juice. 'Exactly what I'm just going to do.' Olivia headed straight up stairs.
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'Karen, are you okay?' Olivia was standing outside Karen's door. 'I've brought some orange juice for you.' Olivia tried again when she got no answer. 'Karen, would you just answer me?' Still no answer. 'I'm coming in, okay?' Worry was clearly evident in Olivia's voice.
'Oh my god!'
A/N: Cliffhanger! Hope you don't hate me after the next two chapters! Thanks to Panema, karengrciewalker, keisha4, Lindsey Grissom and anyone else who reviewed the few chapters. Big thanks to Linds for all the help she gave me on this chap. You're great, hunny! I'll be updating soon (hopefully!) Enjoy!