Quinn, Nate and James were sitting in the hospital cafeteria the next morning,
"Quinn, have you talked to Mac's father again?" She shook her head, why he was so insistent on this she didn't know. She glanced at her brother before answering,
"No, I haven't." James sighed and Quinn beat him to the punch,
"Look James, I don't want to talk about it. Not now, ok please." He shook his head,
"Fine, that's it. I won't ask anymore but when we're married I'm adopting Mac and that's all there is to it." She held her head down as he stood up,
"I have to go to work." She nodded and was a little hurt when he didn't offer her a goodbye kiss. She knew he loved her though, just the fact that he was there. He only stopped by to have breakfast with her before leaving for work.
"When are you going to tell him Nick is the father?" She lifted her head quickly and looked at him wide-eyed,
"What? Nick's not..who told you that?" He sat back in his chair, his arms crossed,
"Nick did so don't deny it." She threw her napkin down. He hadn't done shit for MacKenzie now he was coming in and disrupting things, altering decisions that she had made without consulting her first. She was not ready for her family, for the world to know that MacKenzie was Nick's daughter and he had no right to tell anyone, at least not anyone close to her. If he wanted to tell his friends then he could but he had no right to bother the orders of things in her life.
"How long have you known?" He stared at her,
"Since yesterday. Why haven't you told James?" She knew she should tell him, knew she should have told him a long time ago. He probably deserved to know more than Nick did.
"I don't know. At first I wasn't ready to tell anyone. Then Nick and Larry stopped by the house about a month ago and I didn't tell him then. I should have I know, but I didn't and then I was just nervous. I knew he would be mad about me keeping it from him while Nick was at my house." Nate snorted,
"You think?" She looked at him sternly,
"Don't ok? I'm not in the mood."He shook his head and raised his hands,
"Oh no, don't get attitude with me. This is your bed, now you lie in it. You need to tell him and you need to do it today. If he finds out from someone else he's going to be pissed." She crossed her eyes and glared at him,
"And just who is he going to find out from?" He shrugged as he went back to eating,
"I don't know sis. You never know."He was such a pain in the ass sometimes. I remember when I took our dad's car without permission and scratched it. He said our parents would be mad if they found out. I asked him how would they find out and he simply responded with,
"You never know. Sometimes these things just slip out." Of course he told them and I was punished for a month. My parents took my personal phone line out of my room, I couldn't go out with my friends and I even missed a party I helped plan.
"Nate please ok? Just don't say anything. I will tell him when the time is right." He nodded,
"Ok, but you do know time is running out right?" I looked at him for a moment before playing with my spoon in my oatmeal. Time was running out and my nerve wasn't getting any stronger.
Quinn was sitting on one of the benches on the hospital grounds waiting for Chris to pick up the phone,
"Hello?" She could tell by the deadpan way she answered the phone that she knew it was Quinn,
"Hi Chris, it's Quinn."
"Uh-huh." Damn, give a girl a break she thought. Besides, her sleeping with Nick affected Chris' life in no way. Quinn couldn't understand why Chris was being so harsh with her. It didn't matter anyway, that wasn't why she was calling,
"I'm calling because Mac is sick. She's in the hospital." Chris' demeanor immediately changed,
"Oh my God is she ok? How long has she been in the hospital?" That question it was the one that always brought pain to her heart and tears to her eyes,
"She needs surgery. It was supposed to be today but she was too weak or something about not enough oxygen. There's something wrong with her heart. We've been here a few days." She wiped the tears as they fell hard and fast,
"Oh Quinn man I'm sorry. And I was sitting here being pissed about Nick and Mac is sick. Wait, does Nick know?" She nodded her head and whimpered,
"Yes, he knows, he's here." She sighed,
"Good guy." Quinn rolled her eyes, why burst the bubble for her. Besides, it wasn't about letting everyone know how much of a prick Nick was, that wasn't the important thing. MacKenzie was all that mattered.
"Quinn, I'm sorry for getting mad at you about sleeping with Nick." She didn't care,
"It doesn't matter Chris, none of it does."
"I'm going to take a week off and come down there. It'll be a couple of days. I'll be there probably Friday night." Hearing that Chris was coming to be with her and Mac only made her cry more but it was from happiness and gratitude for her friend's loyalty,
"Thanks."
"No problem." She wiped her nose with one of the tissues that were in the little bag that she kept with her at all times,
"I love you Chris."
"I love you too Quinn. Give Mac a kiss for me."
"I will." She hung up and cried until she couldn't cry anymore, until her entire face hurt.
They were all sitting in the waiting room. Quinn, Nate, their parents, James, Elliott, Nick, his friend Josh and Larry when a picture of Nick appeared on one of side of the screen and the other four members of the group appeared on the other side. They all watched as the report basically said that Nick left the group after a loud argument just hours before the first Toronto concert and that there had been reports on the radio that morning that he had been spotted in Miami.Quinn looked over at Nick, his eyes were concentrating on the floor or his feet, anywhere except where he may have to make eye contact with him. Her father spoke up,
"That's you?" She watched as Nick looked up at her father and nodded,
"Yes, yes sir." Robert Garner nodded,
"You left your tour to be here for my daughter and my granddauhter?" Quinn cringed, this was it, this was where surely everyone would figure out what was going on. She glanced over at Nate who gave her a knowing look,
"Um yes sir." Robert nodded,
"You're a good friend to my daughter. Thank you for being here. Mac's own father isn't even here." She could hear Elliott grunt but he was next to her and she was sure no one else heard it. She wondered if this was it? Would Nick go ahead and admit he was Mac's father?Nick shrugged uncomfortably and answered,
"Uh, it was nothing, I wanted to be here." Elliott's grunt was a little louder that time and she couldn't blame him. Nick took it a little too far with that comment. She rolled her eyes, she may not have known what finally made him decide to come but it was still too late as far as she was concerned.
Chapter 45
Reunited
Stories
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