A/N: Hey, there dear people :) next chapter has arrived! Not much to say about this one, excrept that its kinda long and I wrote almost the whole thing on a piece of scrap paper :)

Chapter 15: The Note

Kendall sat on the couch as Jo fetched fresh bandages from the medicine cabinet, and she came back, sitting on the edge of the couch.

"How much longer do we have to do this?" Kendall whined as Jo unwound the bandages.

"You big baby!" Jo smiled "It's not that bad for me, I get to see your abs every day,"

"Well, maybe you should return the favor," Kendall said, reaching over to pick up Jo's shirt.

"You know I don't have abs any more!" Jo chuckled, grabbing Kendall's hands and forcing him to pull down her shirt.

"Well," he murmured, sliding his hands onto her hips "you'll have to do something about that, won't you?" he winked and Jo scoffed.

"You have a baby and see how your body looks," she poked his arm.

"Well, you know I would," Kendall smirked "but there is the small factor that I am a guy,"

"Very funny," Jo said sarcastically "now, lift up your shirt,"

"Yes, ma'm," Kendall murmured seductively, slowly gripping the hem of his shirt and working it slowly up his torso.

"Kendall!" Jo hit his arm, chuckling slightly and fighting the urge to rip his shirt off him altogether. "That's not what I meant!" she pulled the bandages off his middle, and he winced as she ripped the tape off his skin.

Jo sighed; his normally toned and tight abdomen was covered in blueish purple splodges, and Jo ran her fingers gently over the muscles, caressing the bruises tenderly, transfixed at the the strong and beautiful, but pained vision in front of her. She blinked, shaking herself out of her state, and grabbed the bandages from behind her, holding the beginning of the material at his side, letting her grip slacken slightly as Kendall winced. She wound the bandage around his middle, her fingers skimming over his injured skin ever so gently as she reached the end of the material, and taped it together.

"Thanks," he murmured, putting his hand on her cheek.

"Anytime," she whispered, putting hers on top.

"I love you," he smiled "so much,"

"I love you, too," she mirrored his smile "always will," she leaned down to kiss him, putting her hands either side of him on the couch. She felt him deepen the kiss, and she pulled away "The doctor said take it easy," she smiled.

"I can't help it," he murmured his reply "I just love you so much," he kissed her again, beyond glad they were home alone. The quiet was short lived, however, because Carlos, James and Logan all burst into the apartment, talking loudly.

"Oh, sorry guys!" Carlos said, averting his eyes while Logan and James laughed.

"Carlos," Jo laughed "it's fine, I was just changing his bandages,"

"With your teeth?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No!" Jo laughed "Why are you guys back, anyway? I thought you were at rehearsal,"

"Yeah, well, now we're not," Logan smiled. "Now, can you two stay apart long enough to get off the couch, so we can play some Bio Hazard Battle Blast?"

"Sure," Jo said, "I should probably let Lacey out of her crib, anyway," she gently pushed herself off Kendall, gathering up the dirty bandages and putting them in the bin before heading into the bedroom while Kendall attempted to sit up.

The boys had been playing for half an hour now, and it felt just like old times, before anything had ever changed.

There was a knock at the door, and Logan got up to answer it, taking an envelope from Bitters before coming back down to the couch as Kendall paused the video game.

"Kendall," Logan said slowly looking up from the envelope. "It's for you," he handed it to him and Kendall opened it, reading the letter as Logan, Carlos and James all leaned over and read over his shoulder.

"Do you guys mind?" he asked, getting up and going to sit at the counter. His eyes traveled down the paper, his stomach dropping even more the further down he got.

'Dear Kendall,

You were right. I don't deserve to know your daughter. I would have liked to, but I don't deserve it, what I did was inexcusable. Jo's lucky to have you and your friends, and your mother is more of a mother than Bridget ever was to her. You're so lucky to have her, son, I'm so glad she turned out to be nothing like me or her mother. Jo will never forgive me for what I did to you, she's a lovely girl, but I went to far this time. I've got nothing in this town now, and before you blame yourself, don't even think about it, because this is my decision.

Tell Jo I died in a car crash or something, but let her read my obituary first.

You aren't a boy, Kendall, no boy cares for his family that much. If anything, you're more of a man that I ever was.

Take care of my baby girl, and yours, raise her to be just as wonderful as her parents.

Sincerely,

Mr Taylor.'

Kendall looked up from the envelope, at his three friends, who were all looking at him, patiently waiting for him to explain. He shook his head, his eyes flicking to the bedroom, were Jo was with Lacey, and handed them the note; they understood. The three boys read the note quickly and looked up, their expressions a mixture of shock and uncertainly.

"He's gonna-?" Carlos began quietly,

"Looks like he already has," Kendall nodded to the note in James' hands.

"What do we do?" Carlos asked.

"What he wants us to," Kendall sighed.

"You mean we're not gonna tell her?" James asked, eyes wide. Kendall shook his head,

"Not until she reads it for herself,"

"What if she finds out you knew?" Carlos asked.

"She won't trust you, anymore," Logan said "and relationships are nothing without trust,"

"Well, what am I gonna do, then?" Kendall ran a hand through his hair "If I tell her, then I'm betraying him, but if I don't tell her, then I'm betraying her, right?"

"Yeah," Logan said slowly "but if you don't tell her, you can't let her know you know, that way you won't be betraying her,"

"Yeah, but then he'll be betraying a dead guy," Carlos said nervously "and, I mean, what happens if you betray a dead guy?"

"Nothing!" Logan said "Just go get rid of this," he handed the note to Kendall "and just don't let Jo know you know,"

"Don't let me know you know what?" Jo asked, appearing in the doorway to the bedroom. There was a pause as Kendall looked around at the guys,

"That your dad's passed," Kendall sighed.

"What?" tears appeared in Jo's eyes and her voice shook. Kendall handed her the note, and she began to read, her eyes growing wider and more teary as she did.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, reaching out to take her hand, but she drew away from him, opening the door to the apartment and running out, leaving it wide open.

Jo ran from the apartment, unsure where she was going until she reached the familiar door of apartment 4J, knocking gently, the door opened to reveal Camille, Lucy and Stephanie, their welcoming expressions turning to concern as they took in her appearance.

"Can I stay with you guys for a while?" she asked shakily.

"Of course!" Camille exclaimed "What happened?" she asked, putting her arms around Jo and leading her into the apartment and onto the couch, Lucy and Stephanie close behind. Jo couldn't take it anymore;

"My dad's -dead!" she sobbed, burying her face in her hands "He killed himself because he felt bad about he felt bad about what he did, and he s-said I would never forgive him! It's all my fault!" she cried.

"Shh," Camille hushed while Stephanie rubbed Jo's back.

"It's not your fault," Camille said gently.

"Yeah," Stephanie added "you were right not to forgive him, what he did was cruel and wrong, and whatever could have done would have been so much worse,"

"By the sounds of it," Lucy said "this was what he wanted to do, and even if you'd known about it, you wouldn't have been able to stop him from doing it anyway."

"Lucy's right," Camille said "I know you don't wanna hear any of this, but I also know you'd never forgive him or yourself if he's gotten mad and violent again, something happened to Lacey or Kendall,"

"You're right," Jo said, her voice still shaking "but he's my dad! And he had the right to be mad at us, if I hadn't gotten pregnant, he-"

"Josephine Taylor!" Camille snapped "You can't berate yourself for having Lacey, just because your dad didn't approve! She is the best thing that happened to you, you said it yourself! And I won't let you criticize yourself about it!"

"You're right," Jo sniffled, resting her head on Camille's shoulder.

"Sorry, honey," Camille replied as Jo sobbed softly.

A/N: there we go guys, I'm not sure when the next chapter will ex be because I'm pretty busy this week, and then i go back to school, but I'll do my best to make it soon, k?