A couple days passed, and after taking some time to cool down, Zac finally got the nerve to go see Kate. He knew she had probably already heard about the baby from Natalie, and he would just get screamed at for not being honest with her himself. But even if that was all that happened, he knew he deserved it. He knocked on the door, and waited nervously.
" Who is it?" He heard his daughter Junia call out, from the other side of the door.
" It's your dad." He called out. " Could I please come in and see my beautiful little girl?"
Junia threw the door open, and threw her arms around him. " Hi daddy." She held onto him tightly. " I have missed you."
" I have missed you so much." He kissed her on the cheek, hugging her back. " I'm sorry I haven't called or been by sooner, honey. There is just... a lot going on."
" There always is, daddy." She looked him sadly as she pulled out of the hug. " Mommy has been so depressed, and she won't even tell me why."
He swept a strand of hair out of her eyes. " I need to talk to her about it first, and then we will sit down with you and tell you what's going on." He kissed her on the forehead. " Will you go get her for me?"
She nodded, and ran back inside to get her mom. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. It felt like half an hour went by before Kate came into the room, with Junia right behind her.
Kate looked at him for a second, then turned to their daughter. " I need to talk to your father alone. Will you please go to your room?"
Hesitantly, Junia did as she was asked. But she moved slowly, and Zac finally had to speak up. " Junia, I know you want to know what is going on. But this is something me and your mom need to talk about privately first. So please hurry it along."
Tears came to Junia's eyes, and she looked back at her parents one last time before going up the last few steps and into her room.
Now that he was alone with Kate, he wasn't sure what to say. He stood there for a moment, just looking at her. When he finally spoke up, he stammered on his words. " I... I've been... thinking of you, and I... I know you've probablly..."
" Yes, I have heard. Natalie came to me almost right away." She spoke angrily. " Unlike you." She stepped up to him, and delivered a good slap to his face. " I should have heard it from you! Not from my best friend!"
He was shocked when she slapped him. Never in a million years had he ever thought that she could raise her hands to him. He knew he deserved it though. Tears came to his eyes anyway, and he nodded. " Your right. I was totally in the wrong." He looked at her sadly. " I know it is no excuse, but I was nervous to tell you. I was... afraid you would hate me."
" I wish I could hate you, Zachary! That is all I want to do!" She screamed at him. " I am so mad at you! You just keep hurting me, and yet I don't leave because I want us to work this out! But every time I think the blows are over, they just keep coming!"
" I know. And I feel so stupid, Kate. You were the best thing that ever happened to me." He let his tears fall as he looked into her eyes painfully. " I am so sorry that I hurt you. You have to know that was never my intention."
" I know it wasn't." She softened a little, tears coming to her eyes as well. " But you have. It's all you've done the last few months."
All he wanted to do was take her into his arms and hold her. He wanted to comfort her so bad that it hurt. " I honestly did not know until a few days ago that she was even pregnant. She kept it hidden from me even, and I... I don't know what is going to happen. She seems to want the baby, which I don't understand why." He sat down on the couch, looking up at Kate. " I'm willing to help her financially, but I do not want her. You are the only one I want to be with."
" Then you need to find a way to prove it to me. Because until I know for a fact that you really want us to be together, I can't take you back." She took one more look at him, and started to walk out of the room.
" What about Junia? I... I told her we would let her know what's going on." He asked.
" I need more time." Wiping away her own tears with the back of her hand, she didn't bother to look his way again. " Come back tomorrow and we can tell her then."
He watched her leave the room, and sat there for another minute. As he looked around the room, he began to realize just how bad the situation had gotten. He wasn't sure what he could do to prove how much he loved her. But he would figure it out, he was sure of that.
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Natalie sat at the doctor's office with Christopher a day later, waiting on test results. It seemed as though he had been sick a lot lately for the last month, something he had tried to hide from them for awhile. But finally he realized he wasn't getting any better. He told Natalie he thought he needed to see a doctor, and there they were. Taylor was in the studio with his brother's, as they were finally trying to get back on track with their music. At least the best they could, without fighting. She wondered how it was going, and was about to give Taylor a call when the doctor came into the room.
Clearing this throat before he spoke, he looked from Christopher to Natalie. " I am sorry to have to tell you this, but..."
Natalie bit her lip nervously. " What's wrong with him? Is it serious?" She interrupted the doctor.
" It seems to me that he has leukemia." The doctor sighed. " He should have come to you sooner about this. I'm not saying it's anywhere beyond treatment, but it will be if we don't do something about it now."
Christopher looked at the doctor blankly, shocked and confused by the doctor's diagnosis. He looked from him to Natalie, then back to him.
Natalie felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. Christopher may not have been her son biologicially, but she loved him like another son. He was a big part of her life, and she couldn't stand the thought of losing him. " Are... are you sure?"
" Yes. Now as I understand it, just from things I have heard from around, things seem to be pretty complicated right now for your family. But I need you to gather them up and discuss treatment options right away." He handed her some pamphlets on forms of treatment that were possible for Christopher. " These are the one's that would work best for him. It is important to start on a course of action right away. Please do not wait." He went on to further discuss how bad off the leukemia was, and even gave Christopher a lecture on waiting so long to tell anybody he felt sick.
Natalie right off the bat told him where he could go, as she didn't feel Christopher needed a lecture after just learning he was sicker than he thought. She let him know they would do what was needed with another doctor, and they left.
