Wow thanks for the reviews, alerts and to everyone who has read this so far! To answer one reviewers question, Jake does exist in this story, but so far I have wanted to focus on Josh,Phil,Shannon and Caitlin. The youngest Harris brother will be making an appearance fairly soon but not yet. LONG chapter ahead to make up for how long it's taken me to update! Cuteness, sadness, fighting and memories ahead, please review and make me happy, thanks all! :)))

Chapter Eight

'Thanks daddy.'

Hearing those words made everything stop and his past flashed before his eyes. He finally realised what was important and it wasn't fishing, it wasn't fucking around with random women and partying hard, it was her. His beautiful, strong, brave little girl, everything he'd ever wanted was right here in this room. He had his daughter and the woman he loved, he didn't ever need to be anywhere else, hearing those words had changed his life forever.

'Josh, are you alright?' Shannon's voice brought him out of his temporary coma and he looked up at her and smiled.

'Yeah, I'm perfect,' he looked at his daughter who was smiling at him intently and before he could stop himself, he reached out and took his hand in hers.

'We've got a lot to catch up on,' he smiled at his daughter as he leaned forward and touched her face with his free hand. 'You're so beautiful Caitlin, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.'

'Mommy's beautiful too isn't she?' Josh turned to look at Shannon who was watching the scene with tears in her eyes.

'Your mom's a woman…'

'So is she the most beautiful woman you've seen?' Caitlin smirked, knowing full well that she had her father cornered.

'Caitlin…'

'Yeah, she is,' Josh answered his daughter before Shannon could stop him.

Shannon immediately felt her cheeks burning and she was well aware that she was blushing.

'Mommy, why are you blushing?' Caitlin was too quick, FAR too quick for her own good and now Josh was looking at her too.

'I'm not blushing honey, it's boiling in here! Isn't anyone else warm?' Shannon fanned herself as she tried desperately to drain the colour from her face.

'Nope, just you mommy, I'm cold. You know daddy, mommy hasn't dated anyone in a long time, you should take her out…'

'Caitlin! Your daddy is here to see you, he's not here to talk about me or listen to you trying to fix me up with a date. Now, I'm gonna go and get some water, does anyone want anything?' Shannon had to get out of here, she'd never been so fucking embarrassed in her entire life.

Both Josh and Caitlin shook their heads and watched as Shannon made her way out of the room. As soon as she was gone, Josh decided that it would be best to change the subject given Shannon's reaction.

'So, your mom told me that you like soccer?' Caitlin's eyes lit up when he mentioned this.

'I used to be so awesome before this stupid cancer came, I scored five goals in one match before, you should have seen me!' Josh's heart swelled with pride as his daughter started to speak about her love of soccer and how good she had been at it.

She was beautiful, intelligent, funny, she was everything that he'd ever wanted in a daughter and his nerves were gone completely. He wanted to remain at her side all day every day, he was never letting her go, ever. And if he had his way, he was never letting her mother go either.

When Shannon walked back into the room she couldn't help but smile. Caitlin was talking away to Josh like she'd known him all her life and she could see that Josh was loving every moment, she knew that he would.

She continued to watch from the doorway as father and daughter got to know each other, she'd never seen Josh look so content before and it warmed every inch of her. She only regretted that she hadn't told Josh sooner, if Caitlin didn't get better there wouldn't be many more times like this.

'I want to know about you and mom…'

Josh immediately looked at Shannon for help, he didn't know how much he should say or even what he should say.

Shannon had been expecting Caitlin to ask questions about her and Josh, not necessarily so soon but it was no shock to her that Caitlin wanted to know about them. She took a seat next to her bed and looked at Josh before starting to answer their daughter's question as best she could.

'Well, your dad and I met in Middle School, we were only a couple of years older than you are now, we started dating when we were fifteen and you came along a couple of years later…'

'Did you love each other?'

The question lingered in the air as Shannon and Josh looked at each other, both of them knew the answer, the truth was they still felt the same way about each other as they had back in High School but neither one of them had the guts to actually say it.

'Yes we did, very much,' Shannon looked at her daughter who just looked more confused by her answer.

'Then why did you break up?'

Josh smiled, she might take after him in the looks department but she had her mom's brains.

'Sometimes a relationship just doesn't work out, when you're older and you're dating boys, you'll understand…'

'Do you still love each other?'

Shannon bowed her head slightly, this was a complicated question to try and answer. If she said no then she'd be lying but if she said yes, that opened up a big can of worms. She was about to answer when someone coughed from the door, Shannon turned to see her mother standing with her arms folded leaning up against the door frame.

She'd told her mother to stay away, this day was for Josh but of course she just HAD to come and cause a fucking scene.

'Well hello there Joshua, long time no see,' her mother shot Josh a hateful look before she moved into the room.

'Hi grandma, my daddy's come to see me!' Shannon looked at her mother and silently pleaded with her not to say anything bad.

'Don't expect him to stay honey, he never wanted you before…'

'MOM! We're leaving, NOW!' Shannon got to her feet and began to push her mother out of the room before she could say anything else. She should have known that she'd make an appearance here today, she hated Josh so much that she would do anything to ruin his time with Caitlin and send him back to Seattle with his tail between his legs.

'What did she mean? You didn't want me?' Caitlin asked as soon as Shannon and her mother were out of the room.

Josh knew that he wouldn't be able to explain himself to a ten year old girl, she was too young to understand what had happened, what could he say? 'I told your mother to get rid of you?' If he said that then she'd never want to see him again and he was not going to let that happen.

'I did want you, I was just scared Caitlin. We were so young…'

'Do you love me?' The sad look on her face made Josh's whole body hurt.

'More than you know,' he gathered the courage to lean forward and plant a kiss on her forehead. Instead of letting her go, he wrapped his arms around her and held her small frame in his arms.

Nothing had ever compared to this and nothing ever would. He had his little girl safe in his arms and he never wanted to let her go.

'What the hell were you even thinking mom? Josh is her father, he has every right to see his own daughter!' Shannon had escorted her mother out of the hospital, she wanted to make sure that they were as far away from Caitlin as possible when she had it out with her. She was furious, absolutely furious about her mother's appearance.

'He gave up that right when he told you to kill her! I think she has a right to know what kind of man her father is!'

'Her father is a good man! She likes him mom, she likes him a lot and I am not about to tear them apart and I won't let YOU tear them apart either!'

'You're sleeping with him aren't you?' That's why you're being so nice about him!'

'Oh mom….'

'I should have known! That little trip to Alaska, you were probably cavorting with him as soon as you saw him! What did he do? Get you a cheap motel room for the night and buy you a Taco Bell to 'romance' you?'

'Will you just stop it! There's nothing going on between us, nothing at all!'

'YOU told me that eleven years ago when I found that used condom in your room. 'It was one of my friend's mommy, I let them use my room, I would never do something so sinful'. You were a wicked girl and now you're a wicked, horrible woman!'

Before Shannon could control herself she let the palm of her hand strike her mother's cheek. Her mother screamed as soon as she felt the contact, she'd hit her hard but not hard enough to explain the wailing and crying noises her mother was now making.

People outside the hospital all looked on as Shannon's mother stumbled away from her. Shannon knew that there was no point in trying to talk to her now, she would scream and tell her to leave her alone and all she wanted to do was get back to her daughter.

Shannon watched as her mother staggered away from her, as soon as she reached her car she went back inside and gave angry glares to the strangers gawping at her, not that she gave a flying fuck what they thought about the scene that had played out in front of them, it was up to her and her mom to sort their shit out.

By the time she reached Caitlin's room again she was still shaking with anger, when she opened the door to her room, the sight before her took all the anger away.

Caitlin was lying on her bed safely wrapped in Josh's arms, he was so enraptured by his daughter that he didn't even notice that Shannon was back in the room, he was too busy stroking his sleeping daughter's face and drinking in the features that he was seeing up close for the first time.

'Someone looks happy,' Shannon whispered as she moved into the room. She had the biggest fucking grin on her face, Josh would probably think she was fucking crazy, well she was crazy but he kind of knew that already.

'Happiest man on planet earth right now,' he smiled back at the mother of his child.

He watched as Shannon took a seat in the chair next to Caitlin's bed and couldn't seem to take his eyes off her as she leaned back and closed her eyes. She still managed to take his breath away, even after all these years. He'd tried so hard to forget her, to bury her memory but she wouldn't be buried. His old feelings had come rushing back and all of a sudden, he felt like he was seventeen all over again.

Shannon felt her eyelids beginning to open and her first instinct was to try and close them again. She was so tired, most nights she wasn't able to sleep because of everything that she had on her mind so it was a relief that she'd finally managed to close her eyes. She snapped them open pretty quickly when she remembered where she had fallen asleep though, she woke up to find Josh's brown eyes staring straight back at her and yet again she felt a blush creep onto her pale cheeks.

'How long was I out for?' She asked, hoping to break the spell that seemed to be falling over them. It had only been a day and already she was beginning to regret the promise that she'd made to Phil about staying away from his son.

'Not long, about twenty minutes or so, she's out like a light,' Josh nodded to Caitlin who was soundly asleep with a smile on her face.

She slept a lot lately, hardly a surprise considering how much energy was being sapped from her body thanks to the cancer cells eating away at her.

'I could do with something to eat and drink, do you think we can leave her for a while?' Josh asked, hoping that he could get some alone time with Shannon to talk things over, there were a lot of things that he needed to ask.

'I usually leave for a couple of hours when she's asleep, I can take you back to the hotel and pick you up again later if you like? I need to try and talk to my mom…'

'I thought you talked to her downstairs?' Josh asked, he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

'We didn't talk, I kind of might have hit her…'

Josh laughed, Shannon definitely had not changed one little bit. He remembered all too well how many times she'd used her fists to warn women off him, she was a girl that never liked other women getting too close and Josh had had to hold her back many, many times to stop her from clawing people's eyes out.

'Why don't both of us go back to the hotel, not to my room or anything like that, we could have lunch at the bar…'

'I don't think that that's a good idea Joshua…'

'Don't you think I deserve some answers after all these years Shannon? I have things I wanna ask you, for a start you need to tell me when I'm gonna have this blood test and what I'm gonna have to do if I am a match, I couldn't make sense of that paperwork you gave me, you were always the intelligent one,' Josh smiled and he could see Shannon's lips quirk into a little smile.

'Are you buying this lunch? You're staying at a pretty upmarket hotel…'

'I'll pay for it if you agree to be completely honest with me. That a deal?' He could tell by the look on her face that he'd broken her down, it never took much for him to do that.

'Agreed, let's hope you don't have a swarm of bees waiting for you when we get there,' she rolled her eyes as she imagined a crowd of blonde, busty women pushing their tits up and pouting to get his attention.

'Bees?' Josh quirked his head as he got up gently from beside his daughter.

'They suck your pollen from you, sting you, make your dick all swollen then leave nasty red blotches all over it,' she smirked before she leaned down to press a gentle kiss on her daughter's head. 'Daddy and I will be back later beautiful, have a good sleep my darling.'

Shannon walked out of the room first, giving Josh the chance to have a private moment with his daughter.

'I'm taking your mom out on that date sweetie, well sorta. Between you and me, I think I might be able to make us a family, like we should have been from the start. I'll be back later honey, I'm never leaving you, I'm here no matter what happens so fight sweetie cos I'm gonna fight so hard for you and for your mom, I promise.'

Josh whispered the words into her ear, he had no idea whether she could hear them or whether she was too lost in her dreams to hear what he was saying but he felt the need to say those words to her anyway. He meant every single one of them and he was going to do everything he could to try and make her better whilst making Shannon his again. He planted a kiss on her lips and one on her forehead before he quietly made his way out of the room and into the corridor where Shannon was waiting for him.

They walked out of the hospital in silence and spent most of the ride to the hotel talking about Caitlin and what she liked and disliked. Josh wanted to know everything about his daughter, he knew it would take time but he would get there eventually and he was going to make up for every single year that he'd been away from her.

When they reached the hotel, Shannon parked the car before they both made their way inside to the bar where Josh had spent a few hours last night. It was fairly dark inside but the décor was modern and chic, much like most of the other bars in the area.

There were not many people inside but Shannon made her way over to the corner where they would be well out of earshot, she didn't really want anyone to hear their conversation, she guessed that some of Josh's questions would get personal and she wanted some level of privacy at least.

'Want a beer? They have Stella here, your favourite,' Josh glanced up from the menu and Shannon shook her head.

'Not when I'm driving, I'll just have a sparkling water thanks, I'm trying to lose some weight…'

'Are you fucking kidding me? What weight? You're slimmer now than you were when we were seventeen!' Josh exclaimed, how could she even THINK that there was anything wrong with how she looked?

'Still lost none of that charm huh?' Shannon smirked.

'I'm not feeding you a bullshit line Shannon, I'm being fucking serious here!' She sighed heavily, she really didn't want to get into the reasons for why she was so obsessed with her weight and her body, it was all too long winded and complicated and she wasn't here to talk about herself anyway, she was here to answer his questions and talk about their little girl.

'Look, don't worry about me okay? I'm a big girl Josh, I can take care of myself. I came here to answer your questions so fire away,' she changed the subject quickly, another thing that Josh was used to, she really had not changed one fucking bit.

'Well, I wanna know more about the test thing and everything that will happen if I'm a match for Caitlin, I'll do anything, absolutely anything that I need to do, I just need to know a bit more about it I guess, for my own peace of mind you know?' Josh said, hoping that he didn't sound too terrible. His main concern was Caitlin but he had to know what to expect.

'You don't sound terrible at all Josh, it's only natural that you want to know what you might have to go through. I spoke to the Doctor looking after Caitlin this morning, I should have told you but with everything that happened….it was the last thing on my mind. Her name's Claire and she's been amazing, she can see you at one tomorrow afternoon. You'll have a blood test and they'll take a swab from your cheek, she'll quiz you about your health, take your weight, kind of like having a full physical exam you know? The results of the tests should be in in a few days, if you are a match then you'll have to have a small operation to remove some bone marrow from your hip bone. You'll be in hospital for a couple of days to recover and you might be in a bit of pain but I'll do my best to take care of you…'

'I'm not worried about me Shannon, all I want to know is, if I am a match and I can do this, will Caitlin be alright?'

'I want to say yes Josh, I want to say that this will save her life and she will be fine but even if this transplant is a success, the chances of her relapsing are high but she's a fighter Josh. She's been so brave and she's tougher than anybody I know, I'm not just saying that because she's my daughter…I, WE have to think that she'll make it through this, if I start to think that she won't then I don't think I could carry on. She's my world and I know you've just met her, but I think you felt the same as soon as she called you 'daddy',' Josh could feel his eyes beginning to water again and he could see that Shannon was fighting hard to hold herself together.

He reached his hand across the table and wrapped his fingers around hers.

'I'll do everything that I can, I mean it Shannon. No more parties, no more drinking, no more fucking around, I'll give up everything if it makes her better, everything,' Shannon smiled, she knew Josh well enough to know that he meant every word that he said and once again, her resolve began to falter.

'Everything I said at the hospital, the part about you being the mo…'

'Oh I see you've found ANOTHER little WHORE to fuck around with pretty quickly!'

Josh's eyes snapped to the side of the table where the woman from last night was standing with her chest puffed out and her arms placed firmly on her bony hips. Shannon immediately pulled her hand from his and sent a hateful glare to the woman who returned it back with as much venom as she could considering her face was frozen.

'And who the FUCK are you BITCH? This is a PRIVATE conversation, who invited your herpes ridden pussy to join us?' Shannon snapped, her resolve was now fully up again. The night before he was fucking meeting his daughter, THIS is what he had been doing? Fucking around with skanky whores when he should have been getting some rest!

'At least I don't look like a beached whale honey, did they pull you out of the sea in a net this morning?'

Before Josh could stop her, Shannon got up and launched herself with such force at the woman that the cutlery, glasses, everything fell from the table as she pulled on her hair extensions so hard that clumps began coming out in her hands.

'I'M THE WHALE HUH? FUNNY CONSIDERING YOUR NICKNAME'S FREE FUCKING WILLY, COS GUYS DON'T HAVE TO EVEN BUY YOU A DRINK BEFORE YOU SUCK THEIR DICKS FOR FREE!'

'SHANNON!' Josh managed to grab Shannon and pull her off the woman who quickly got up off the floor and ran away, there was no way that she could beat Shannon when she was in a rage like this.

Josh kept a firm hold on Shannon as she flailed in his arms, after a few minutes she began to calm down and as soon as she had, he let her go. She immediately picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder, she didn't even look at Josh as she spoke.

'Find your own way to the hospital this afternoon, enjoy your lunch Joshua.'

She wanted to get as far away from his as possible. She'd been falling under his spell again but now she had been dragged back out of it. He didn't want her, he didn't love her, he probably never had, he was just a fucking great bullshitter. She was more angry with herself for letting herself start to fall for him all over again and she should have known better, she wasn't a dumb teenager anymore!

Josh sat on the floor of the bar and watched as Shannon stormed off. He knew that there was no point in following her, what could he say? He'd been a complete ass last night and he'd been caught out, he should have stayed in his room and now everything was fucking ruined. He'd been so close, SO fucking close to telling her just how he'd felt over these past ten years. He wanted to explain why he'd acted like he had, why he'd done what he'd done but now she would never believe what he had to say and all because he couldn't keep his fucking dick in his pants last night.

After a few minutes he realised that every fucker in the bar was staring open mouthed at him, he'd been so busy thinking about Shannon that he hadn't even noticed. When he came back to reality, he quickly got up and headed back to his room where he could lock himself away for a few hours.

He had fucked up big time, big time.