NOTES: I'm ALIVE. I've been REALLY REALLY REALLY busy. Aside from getting married I moved 10 hours away and didn't have a computer for a while so I haven't been able to type/upload my fics but I did write them out by hand a little and work on them. I'm back now and will most likely have fairly frequent updates. In other news we got a dog, a beagle/shepard mix we adopted from an animal rescue. Her name? Lilly. My guy wanted a name we could agree on so obviously he didn't agree on Evangeline but suggested Lilith, or Lily, so we agreed on Lily but he wanted to spell it "Lilly" so technically I got my way cuz she's kinda named after Evie Lilly AND my character of Lily, so haha honey, I WIN.
Lily looked at the girl before her in disbelief, raising an eyebrow. "James Ford has two, soon to be three children. Me, my brother Jamie and a baby girl on the way. If you're here for some kind of money, your scam isn't going to work."
"I'm not here as some kinda of scam, look, I've never met him. My Mom told him about me when he was in prison, then he took off and she never saw him again. Then a few years after I was born his plane went down. When I was nine my Mom told me all about him. She thinks he left me some money, we could never figure out who it was but all signs point to him. I don't want anything but to meet him, to say my thank you. Mom says I look like him and..." She looked at Lily and then took a deep breath, "Wow, you...you're my sister then."
"I'm not anybody's sister except James Ford Jr, so I have no idea who you are but this isn't funny," Lily growled.
"Ask him...just ask him if he'll see me," Clementine begged.
Lily sighed, her parents seemed to have too many secrets, and the girls shocking resemblance to James didn't help.
"I guess...I guess you can come in," Lily said softly, opening the front door wider and motioning for the girl to come in.
Clementine picked up her hot pink duffle bag from the stoop and walked in slowly, "Beautiful house," she smiled.
"So, how'd you find him?"
"When you guys were first discovered, it was all over the news. The was a hotline and you could call if you were family. I got ahold of some people, proved he was my Dad and they gave me the contact information. Mainly your publicist, Jenny," Clementine began. "Mom didn't want me coming."
"Funny, you see him on the news and yet you don't know about me? They plastered us kids everywhere...:"
"I wasn't paying much attention. Once I saw James Ford was one of the found survivors I jumped up and called the hot line, didn't pay attention to the details," Clementine shrugged.
"How old are you?" Lily asked.
"Sixteen, and you?"
"Almost twelve," Lily answered.
"And...your brother?"
"Six, the baby is due soon."
"Where's your Mom?"
"In prison, alright? What are you writing a biography? Geez," Lily groaned.
"Sorry," Clementine sighed. "That's right my Mom said something about go figure your father would get with a convict, I didn't get what she meant."
"That's not funny," Lily said, furiously.
"Sorry again." Clementine said sheepishly.
"What's in the bag?" Lily asked, pointing to Clementine's things.
"Who is writing the autobiography now?" Clementine smirked. "My stuff, I took a bus. My Mom doesn't know I'm here."
She pulled an MP3 player out of her pocket and wrapped the headphones around it so they wouldn't get tangled.
"How many gigs is that?" Lily asked, motioning towards the player.
"Sixty gigs," Clementine answered.
"Oh, cool," Lily responded.
"You don't seem twelve," Clementine commented, "You certainly don't act your age."
"Maybe you don't act yours," Lily shrugged.
Clementine gave a smirk resembling her fathers. "Testy thing, aren't you?"
"Just a little irritated," Lily groaned.
"Sorry for dropping in unexpectedly. My Mom will be pretty shocked when she realizes I'm not at Alyssa's house...but it's probably worse for you...Uhm...he never said anything about me?"
Lily shook her head, "No. I'm not upset that I didn't know...I'm stuck thinking about my mom, and if SHE knows."
"Lily?" James called out from the top of the stairs.
Lily's eyed widened a bit and she could tell that Clementine was getting nervous about meeting James.
James slowly made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen where the two girls stood, quietly.
"You got a new friend?" James asked, rummaging through the fridge.
"Dad, I thought you were going to bed," Lily sighed.
"Yeah well, I heard ya talkin' and I thought maybe you had a boy down here," James said, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. "Plus I'm startin' to feel like shit."
He looked over at Clementine and raised and eyebrow, "Do I know you?"
"I guess you could say that," Clementine shrugged, her voice was a bit shaky as if she doubted everything that slipped from her lips.
Lily just shook her head, disappointed in her father.
"My name is Clementine, Clementine Phillips...as in...CASSIDY PHILLIPS."
James spit water across the room and nearly fell off the stool he had just sat upon.
"Who paid you to do this, cuz this ain't funny," James said, staring at the girl.
"My free will," Clementine said.
James couldn't deny the resemblance if he wanted to, and looking over to Lily with her arms folded over her chest, he realized she noticed as well.
"Lily, go on upstairs and check on your brother," James said, his eyes lowering to the floor.
"And if I don't want to?" Lily asked.
"GO!" James said firmly.
Lily shook her head and him and took off towards the stairs. She couldn't believe her father and she hoped her mother knew about this all, she knew it would hit her hard, especially due to her current situation.
Lily made her way upstairs, slowed down as always by her cast. Tomorrow it would be taken off and she could run and jump around much easier. She opened her brother's door and peered inside, seeing only his disheveled hair peeking out from under his blanket. She turned away and then quickly turned back when she heard his sobs.
"Jamie?" She called out, curious as to why he would be crying.
Jamie threw the covers from over him and sat up as Lily turned on the light.
"Whats wrong?" Lily asked.
"Mommy," Jamie sobbed. "I miss Mommy and she's never comin' back, huh?"
Lily's eyes softened as she sat on the edge of the boys bed, bringing him in for a hug.
"She's coming back, she's coming back soon. I promise. I never break my promises right?" Lily asked. It had been a little while since Jamie cried over Kate and Lily knew then he would never stop as long as she was gone. As soon as it seemed like he could get through it, he'd break down again. Lily felt like breaking down every day and wished she was as young as Jamie so that she could do so without anyone thinking twice. But responsibility weighed heavily on her shoulders and she knew she had to double her age mentally.
"If you close your eyes and go to sleep, you'll see her in your dreams," Lily reminded him. She told him the same thing every night to help him stay positive. "Remember, look at the stars and she's looking to." Lily gave Jamie a kiss on the forehead and tucked him back into bed, quietly leaving his room and shutting the door behind her.
She stood at the stop of the stairs, listening to James talk quietly to Clementine. She couldn't make out his words and she felt lost, confused and angry enough to fuel an army.
James left the kitchen, startled a bit to see Lily standing at the top of the stairs.
"It's too late to call her Momma. She's gonna stay the night here," James said softly.
"Does Mom know?" Lily asked.
James hung his head in shame, "No, she doesn't."
"Good job Dad, real good job," Lily growled, going to her room and slamming the door behind her.
-----------------------------
"Katherine Austen, you have a visitor," Raymond, the morning guard said, tapping on the bars of her and Margos cell.
"Well, well," Margo smiled. "How could it be?"
Kate was curious herself, she wasn't expecting James or anyone for that matter.
Raymond unlocked her cell door and locked it behind her, guiding her to a small room.
"I'll be right outside," Raymond said, opening the door and ushering Kate inside.
James sat before her at the small table with a young girl at his side.
"James!" She exclaimed, surprised and happy to see him. "I didn't think I'd see you again until saturday."
"We gotta talk," he sighed.
Kate sat down slowly and eyed the girl who sat across from her.
"This is Clementine. She dropped by our has last night, looking for me. I know I've told you about Cassidy before an'...well, there's somethin' about Cassidy I sorta left out. Cassidy had a baby, my baby and this is that baby," James sighed.
"What?" Kate asked, obviously shocked.
"I don't got a good excuse as to why I never did tell ya," James said. Kate covered her moth in shock. "I knew all along and I never said anythin'."
"How...how old are you?" Kate asked Clementine.
"Sixteen," she answered.
"Don't think I cheated on you! She was BEFORE you, and never after, well...she couldn't be after and I'm not tryin' to just push it aside, freckles. I'm sayin' sorry and..."
Kate tried hard to gain her composure. "I always thought you told me everything James. You said I was the only person you could speak to and REALLY speak to. I know about your family, about prison...your poor mother...James...I..." Tears welled in her eyes and she struggled not to sob. "I decided to name this baby Brooke after your mother and..."
James finally leanred the name of his new daughter and was taken aback by raw emotion, she was naming her after his mother.
"I'm sorry. I'll say it until the day I die. I never thought I'd see her, sometimes I thought it was just a con, Cassidy tryin' to get me back. But she's real, and she's here."
Kate took a deep breath, "There's no sense living in the past. We've just got to go on," she said.
James nodded in agreement, before standing up and kneeling on the floor next to Kate. "You know all my secrets now. I swear you, I ain't got nothin' left."
Kate gently touched his cheek. She loved him more than words could express, and if their relationship proved anything, it was that they could move past the worst situations possible. And they would definately get past this.
James reached over and gently rubbed Kate's stomach. "Brooke...now that's a special name," he smiled.