Authors Note: Hey guys, this has been written for the writing challenge. It's a story about Karen/Keith, and it's my first grow up fic, so tell me what you guys think!
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Where's my Happy Ending?
It was a beautiful day, and the garden behind Deb's house was decorated in flowers and rose petals. White chairs circled around the wooden gazebo where the two were supposed to be wed. Each seat was filled, and the groom was already standing at the gazebo with the priest, waiting for his bride.
Suddenly, music began to play, as Haley walked down the aisle in a light pink dress, by herself with white flowers in her hand. She smiled at the groom, before taking her place next to the priest, and the groom smiled back.
Then the piano started to play a new tune, announcing the arrival of the bride.
She walked down the aisle with a beautiful creamy colored dress that Brooke had designed her, with Lucas on her side. Her hair up and her face radiant.
She smiled up at her groom, and he smiled back mouthing "I love you Karen," and she, mouthed an "I love you." Their smiles grew wider, as Lucas stopped to hug his Mom before letting her walk up 2 more steps towards the wooden polished gazebo, but with every step she took, it seemed that the gazebo was farther away. His smile faded, as did hers, and she began to run, but she kept getting farther and farther away from where she wanted to be. She cried for him, as he cried for her, and then boom, she heard a gun shot.
Karen suddenly jolted up from her nightmare, in a cold sweat. Her heart was beating fast, and her mind was running a mile a minute. Her heart clenched as she thought about the reality of her dream, and she then let out a sob.
She slowly got out of bed, and picked up the robe that was near her bed. She put it on before wrapping it around her tired body. She then slipped on her soft navy blue slippers before walking out of her bedroom, and making her way into the kitchen. She opened her refrigerator and took out a bottle of milk, and poured it into a pot, and turned the stove on. She then made her way to her wooden cupboard, and took out the last mug in it, and instantly dropped it when she saw which one she had picked out.
That's when she collapsed onto the ground, and began to cry, cry for her loss that was only a year ago.
She put her face in her hands and began to sob quietly, trying to regain her composure. And once her tears had dried she began to pick up the broken pieces of the white mug. And as she picked up the pieces, she could see the faint color of blue writing, and immediately remembered the man that had once used that mug every morning since she could remember.
Once she had cleared all the pieces she put them in a plastic bag, and made her way over to the garbage can in her kitchen. She held the bag over the garbage, and tried dropping the bag inside, but her fingers just wouldn't let go.
She just couldn't let go
She sighed, and put the bag on the counter, and walked over to the now hot pot of milk. Suddenly, her movements stopped when she heard a loud cry coming from a nearby room. She then hurriedly put the milk into a bottle, and ran into the room where the cry had come from.
"I'm here baby, I'm here!" She said, before she picked up the crying baby out of his crib, and held him. "Shh, it's ok, Mommy's here DJ…" She told her baby. She then walked over to a rocking chair that she had put in the room, and sat down. She held the baby for a few minutes before she directed the bottle towards his mouth. He sucked the milk out of the bottle like a hungry kid, and she smiled down at him. "Someone's hungry this morning!" She said, slightly laughing. She caressed his brown locks with one of her hands and sighed. "You know, you look so much like your father." She told him, and tears formed in her eyes. "He would've loved to meet you…" She choked as the boy's big brown curious eyes stared up at her. "Oh Keith." She whispered as she looked down at her son. "I miss you…so much." She said, and stared at the boy on her lap. "You're so much like him too, you know?" She said while smiling at him.
And when she finally done feeding him, after quite some time, she put him back into his crib so that he could fall back asleep.
When she stepped back into her room, she walked over to her dresser, and opened the top drawer. She pulled out some clothes, looking for something, and when she finally found it, she looked at it with a heavy heart.
It was a picture of him
Of him, with her
It was a picture of her and Keith at the Breast Cancer Benefit concert that was held at her club, TRIC. She was sitting on his lap, and his arms were wrapped around her waist. She was smiling, and he was whispering that he loved her in her ear.
Neither noticed the flash of the camera, because they were so wrapped up in each other.
She stared at the picture before holding it close, close to her heart. She closed her eyes once again, and let herself get lost in the thoughts of him.
She remembered all the times he was there for her, when no one else was. She remembered all the times where she thought of him as Lucas's real father.
She remembered him as the love of her life.
She stared at the picture once again, as new thoughts plagued her mind, like what could have been. Thoughts of how different life would be with him, thoughts of how great it would've been for DJ to meet his father, to have one. She especially wondered how Keith would've reacted if she had told him that she was pregnant with his first child. Of course, he thought of Lucas as his child, she knew that, but it would've been different, and she wondered about it countless times.
But mostly, she thought of how much time she had wasted without him. Of course they had been great friends, but she hated the fact that she had spent many years without him as her boyfriend, or even without him as her Husband.
She now remembered the day that someone had told her what she had already thought. But he telling her was a confirmation; it was her fault that they had wasted so much time apart.
Flashback
Karen opened the door in her robe, and saw Whitey standing on the other side.
"You gonna let an old man stand out here in the cold or are you gonna ask me in?" He asked her. She opened the door wider for him to come in.
"Suit yourself." She replied and walked back into her living room as Whitey sighed and followed.
"Karen, I know what you're going through, I lost the love of my life too."
"But you had Camilla for a lifetime, I had Keith for a few weeks." She answered him harshly.
"Who's fault was that!" He answered her, and she slapped him across his face.
End Flashback
Karen let out another sob as she remembered, and she could feel her eyes tearing, as she tried hard to fight the tears away.
But as she started at the picture once again, she began to feel guilty. She hadn't gone to visit his grave since the day of his funeral, and obviously DJ had never gone.
Suddenly, she got up and walked to the dresser and picked out the same black ensemble that she had worn only a year ago. It was like she had no control of her body, as it led her to her son's room to get him changed.
Minutes later, Karen was found on the streets of Tree Hill pushing a stroller.
Her body was numb as she moved down the street, and over to the nearby cemetery. It wasn't until she was only a couple of feet away from his grave that she realized where she was, and what she was about to do.
Her heart was suddenly beating fast, and her hands gripped the stroller tighter. She briefly closed her eyes, encouraging herself to keep moving, and as she got closer, the faster the beat of her heart was.
She felt like her heart was going to explode at the rate it was going.
When she made it to the grave, Karen was already on her knees, with tears streaming down her face.
"God Keith, I love you so much!" She said, as her tears fell to the floor. "I'm so sorry for not coming to see you as often as I should've…" She whispered brokenly. She was then interrupted by the wailing of her son, and she immediately stood up, and picked him out of the stroller to hold him.
Once he had calmed down, he turned his head to the side and looked at the grave that belonged to his father. His arms stretched out towards the grave, silently asking his mother to bring the curious boy closer. She obliged hesitantly seeing as how he was only a few months old.
As the baby got nearer, he touched the stone, fascinated. He began to go over the lettering that read "Keith Scott" in big bold letters.
Karen tried to wipe some of her tears away with her shoulder as she smiled at her boy. "Keith, meet David Jose Scott. Your son…" And at the mention of his name, DJ turned to his mother, and she pulled him closer. Tears were falling, and the boy in her arms looked at her, and his little hands touched her wet cheeks. It was his way of asking her not to cry, and she smiled through her tears.
Later on, she had noticed that he was slowly falling asleep, and she put him in his stroller so that he could be more comfortable.
As she put him down, she looked around, and silently asked Keith for a sign. Immediately a light breeze blew around Karen, urging her to turn around, and once she did, she saw him.
He was walking towards her, while she stood their frozen.
"Keith?" She whispered when he came close. He nodded, and looked down at DJ.
"I've been watching him," he started. "He's beautiful Karen, the way I always thought that our kids would look." He turned to look at her and smiled, and her heart was pounding, and her cheeks were glistening with wet tears. "I miss you…" He whispered, as he looked at her. She looked at him, still unbelieving of that was going on, before answering.
"I miss you too, Keith." She whispered as she stared into his eyes, "I love you." She croaked out, and he nodded.
"I don't think I've ever loved a woman more than I love you Karen." He walked over to her, and wiped her tears away, "And that will never change." She nodded slowly, fighting away the tears that threatened to fall. "You've got to let go." He finally whispered after some time. "You have to forget…" He started before she shook her head furiously.
"You're the love of my life Keith! The father of my children! I can't just forget you! I mean, I think about you constantly, wishing everyday that you were here with me, wishing everyday that you could be here with your son…both of them."
He stepped closer to her, before hugging her tightly, and without any hesitation, she wrapped her arms around him.
"I am with you Karen, I'm with him too. I'm always around." He told her as he pulled away from the hug and stared into her eyes. "I will always love you…" He said as he began to disappear.
"NO!" she screamed. "Don't go! Please Keith!" She cried screaming louder. "What happened to our happy ending?" She asked him, but he had already left.
He was already gone
And that's when she knew, that she would never get her happy ending, because, this was just life. It wasn't fair, but it was life.
And for her, it would be a life without her soul mate, a life without him.