Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Red Band Society or any characters mentioned in this story.

AN: Thank you to all of you who have followed and favorited this story it means a lot and I'll keep writing with feedback like that! A special thanks to MPenrose, Katrina, AusllyRauraLover100, and Guest for reviewing the last chapter and giving me such positive words of encouragement.


Kara tapped her foot as she patiently, well not so patiently, waited for her laptop to finish loading and sipped on her decaf coffee from Starbucks.

She still had sunglasses on in the middle of the day. She was slightly hungover from a night of partying. She hasn't been one to get drunk since getting her new heart, but yesterday seemed to be an exception.

The ringing of her phone woke her from her lazy trance. And made the pounding in her head a little louder. The blonde groaned with an annoyed sighed as she pressed answer instead of ignore. "What?" She barked into the phone, not bothering to check the caller ID and find out who was actually calling her.

"Kara is it?" A low unfamiliar male voice spoke into the phone.

"Yes. Who the hell is this?" It wasn't a voice she even vaguely remembered.

"Brad." When she didn't immediately respond he continued. "From last night."

She inwardly rolled her eyes with annoyance as she recalled the events of last night.

She had shown up at a local bar with a few friends from work. After a few hours of throwing away every care she had in her body with dancing she sat at the bar and ordered a drink. Brad was the bartender there who flirted with her from behind the counter. He was tall, had light brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. He was easy on the eyes, that was the only part of the night she bothered remembering. That he was cute, not what he blabbed on and on about the entire evening. They had resorted to going back to Kara's apartment and hooked up. But by morning everything was fuzzy and achy so she ordered him out of her place and hoped to never hear from him again. This was a call she was definitely not expecting.

"Right, hi." She spoke hesitantly which was rare of her. She always held a certain wave of confidence around her. Maybe it was the early hour of the morning or the sound of his irritatingly chipper tone but everything was annoying her at the moment and she couldn't begin to fathom pretending to care about the conversation taking place. "How did you get this number anyway?"

"You wrote in on a napkin when I poured you the drink you ordered." He explained.

"Of course I did." She grumbled under her breath.

"I was just wondering if you were interested in seeing each other again?"

She groaned as she pressed her coffee to her forehead to try and stop the pounding in her brain. Did he seriously not get the purpose of a one-time drunken hook up? "I have a lot going on in the next couple weeks. Holidays and everything you know how that is."

"Well how about coffee sometime?"

He was persistent. She had to give him that much. "I don't think so."

"But-"

"Bye now."

With one exasperated click she had ended the call and set her phone down next to her.

She actually couldn't wait to be around her old friends at Ocean Park Hospital. Everyone in LA was starting to annoy the living day lights of her. A change of scenery and company was exactly what she needed at the moment.


"Okay I got all of your records faxed into our computer system so what seems to be the problem?" Dr. Taylor, a middle-aged blonde woman stepped into the doctor's office Leo and Emma were currently at.

They would have waited until they were back home to go to their normal doctor but there was no telling when they would be back in Chicago and California had some of the best specialists in the world.

"We are trying to get pregnant but so far no luck. We don't know why really." Leo explained for her with a confused glance.

"I see," The doctor commented as she clicked around on her computer until she found the correct medical history she was looking for, Emma's to be exact. "Emma is it? It says here you have a history of Anorexia?"

Emma slowly nodded before finally speaking. "Right, but it's been years since leaving the inpatient care I was under."

"Ocean Park hospital correct? Not to far from here."

"Yes. And they made sure to keep me there until my weight was healthy again." A few years ago she would be terrified if anyone was even close to bringing up her past with the illness. Now it was still hard, but speaking to a doctor about it was a lot easier than speaking to some stranger or her friends about it. "And I've only relapsed once since then."

"Twice."

"I'm sorry?" Now it was Dr. Taylor's turn to be confused as Leo's voice interrupted Emma's trail of thought.

"She's relapsed twice since leaving the hospital. One time at the start of college and the second time was at the beginning of last year."

"It's an every day battle." Emma sighed as she silently shot Leo a glare.

"I'm not saying that's the reason you are having trouble conceiving, with all the damage done to your body early on it could very well be a contributing factor. But if you were to continue trying and become pregnant it would be important to keep an extra close eye on you because even the most recovered Anorexics tend to be fearful of all the weight gain caused by a pregnancy. And it could endanger you as well as a potential baby."

The facial expressions on Emma and Leo were almost unreadable.

"Okay." It was Leo who spoke first, Emma still trying to process everything like she always tended to do.

"You have a lot to consider. And you don't need to make a decision right now." The older woman said in a calm voice, trying to lighten the stress of the situation.

"Thank you for letting us know." Emma whispered, eyes glued to the floor. Leo sighed before grabbing her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. No matter what they were in this together.

"If you want to look into adopting..." Dr. Taylor suggested as she listed different agencies and the advantages and disadvantages but everything sounded like background noise to Emma. She just nodded and pretended to be listening.

As selfish as it sounded she didn't want to adopt. She wanted to have Leo's baby. Their child. And now she might not be able to give Leo that without endangering everyone including herself.

After that the doctor had left and they were free to go. Walking towards the door Emma waited for Leo before she started towards the main lobby of the building.

"Let's just focus on getting married first." She whispered lightly as she turned to face him. "I want to be your wife more than anything."

"I think that sounds like an excellent idea."


Dash woke up with a startled jump at the sound of the buzzing alarm clock on his nightstand. "Damn." He cursed lightly under his breath as he scrambled to get out of bed. For some reason he had booked a semi-early flight. Sure 11 am wasn't that early to most, but security took a good chunk of time and if there was traffic even simply getting to the airport would be a pain.

"Why didn't anybody wake me?" He yelled out as he stepped into his half-kitchen even though it was no use. There was nobody but him. Sure he had been living alone for years now, but it was still lonely. He was at least used to Mae being around the apartment and seeing her face every morning for the past two years before they-

No.

He wouldn't go there. He wouldn't allow himself to think about her. Because once he started it would take a while for him to stop thinking about her.

He washed down some eggs with a glass of milk, a nice and easy breakfast before heading to the airport.

His took out his phone and sent a quick next to Leo before hoping in the shower.

Heading out to the airport soon. Will be in LA before you know it. Call me later brother, we'll catch up before everyone gets a chance to hog up all my attention.

He had heard from everyone it seemed regarding the reunion. Texts from Leo, emails from Emma and Charlie, phone calls from Jordi. The only person he hadn't heard from was Kara. Which he didn't really find as shocking as most would. Word from Charlie was she didn't contact many people, including the majority of the Red Banders, staying close only to her family, a few colleague from work and Hunter's sister Ashley.

Little man had told him that Kara still visited the cemetery weekly, that part of her still yearned for Hunter Cole. As romantic as that sounded to Dash it just sounded sad. It had been eight years. He figured Kara would attempt to move on in the slightest bit. And by that he didn't mean countless of meaningless flings with strangers she cared nothing about.

Then again, who was he to judge? He was anxious everytime someone dared to bring up Mae's name in conversation. He flirted at every chance he got but never took the leap into turning casual flirting into a nice conversation with a potential girlfriend. He was just as stuck in the past as Kara was.

And that needed to change. And fast.


Charlie thanked the cashier as he walked away from the counter at the local McDonald's. He wasn't one for fast food, or cheap breakfasts, but he had a weakness for the smell of good grease and craved the food he wasn't supplied at home. His mom had always been a bit of a health nut but over the years she had only allowed some of the junk food Nick had smuggled through the door actually allowed in the pantry.

He was about to leave when he kept his body get knocked to one side.

"Hey watch where you are-"

He was never usually snappy with people. But he had spent good money on his orange juice and now part of it was on the ground. Maybe he was spending a little too much time with Kara these days.

He glanced up at the intruder and was met with hazel eyes. Light and soft hazel eyes. Remorseful even. And a cute looking face to accompany her pretty hues.

"Oh my gosh I'm sorry!" A girl standing more on the short side, around 5'4 spoke out in a rushed tone as panic made its presence in the atmosphere. She had light brown hair and fair skin. And she was probably the prettiest girl, besides his mother of course, that he had ever seen before.

"That's okay. Not your fault. Totally my fault." Charlie stuttered out with an embarrassed laugh.

"Still I feel bad that I made you spill your drink. I can be so clumsy sometimes." The girl said through an equally embarrassed laugh of her own. Maybe they would both be able to just laugh off the situation and move on with their lives.

"I'm Charlie by the way."

"I'm Devon. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." He smiled as they shook hands with the ones they had available.

For some reason a nerve of boldness struck through his veins. "Maybe we could get a coffee sometime? You know to make up for the spilled drink?" He suggested with a shrug. 22 years old and he still managed to be so terribly awkward around girls, well women now.

"That sounds great."


Jordi walked out of the train station after finally landing in LA. He thought about flying there but that was simply too expensive. It had been so long since he had been to LA. He spent a majority of his time in Mexico with his family. It would be quite the change of atmosphere. He breathed in the familiar breezy air as he hauled a taxi. To where, he didn't know. He wasn't sure where to go now that he had arrived.

"Where to?" The taxi driver asked patiently once Jordi had gotten inside.

"Umm..." He had to think about that. Where would he go? He didn't know where Kara lived, Charlie was out of the question since he was staying with his parents, Emma and Leo were with Leo's parents and Dash wasn't even here yet. His brain raked for an answer, somewhere to go.

Taking a deep breath he finally remembered a familiar address and told the driver as the cab started finally moving.

Within 15 minutes he was in front of his destination and hesitantly getting out of the taxi.

He walked up to the gated house. It was tiny and fitting for the person who owned it.

Jordi rubbed his sweating palms as he knocked on the door. Once the door opened wide and he was met with the reassurance of a warm and familiar face, he finally let out a breath and gave a short smile.

"Jordi?"

"Hi Dr. McAndrew."


Either the actual reunion will take place next time or it'll be a two part chapter going into chapters 4+5. R and R please! And if anyone has any suggestions just PM me or send it in a review, I'd love to hear your guys feedback! :)