"Really? Wow, I wonder what happened? Hey, I have to tell you something... earlier today.. Theresa and Karen ran into each other..." Dawn started.
"They did... what happened?" Aaron said.
"Well, Theresa told me they were yelling at each other and then out of no where Karen asked if it was about Nick... Theresa was surprised by this and they just sat down talking... they've agreed to get a long with each other and Theresa told me she's glad Nick has Karen, she said she'd rather have her with Nick than anyone else. Weird huh?" Dawn explained.
"Yeah, well at least we don't have to worry about that anymore.." Aaron said relieved.
"I'm sorry I haven't gotten to hang out with you lately.. I've been busy with my family."
"It's okay Dawn I understand, with you moving here we have all the time in the world now."
"I love you Aaron," Dawn confessed.
"I love you too." Aaron said. "My mom is looking at me funny so I better go check on Nick and Karen, she's worried too."
"Alright... bye!" Dawn said.
Aaron walked up the stairs and knocked on the door, there was no response considering the music was on loudly, he figured they didn't want to be interrupted. But there was no yelling so he went back downstairs to tell his mom that they were okay and that he was sleeping in the den because he knew he wouldn't be allowed into his room again for the night.
Meanwhile, Brian walked along the streets as the moon was beginning to take over the sunlight. 'What a mess, this has gotten into. I hope Karen has luck getting through to nick.' He took a deep breathe of the fresh air and started to head home. 'Maybe I should stay away from her for awhile, let her and Nick mend things up.' As he walked into the door, he saw Kevin and Howie. They looked serious. "What's wrong?" he asked concerned.
"Brian, we just got a phone call.... from Karen's stepfather.. he wants her back home... if he doesn't get her back.... he's going to sue us..." Kevin explained.
"What? How did he find out where she was?"
"Apparently, he saw Karen at the park today and followed her home. He went to the cops and they traced the address as ours..." Howie said.
"But he can't do that. She's 18 and he...." Brian stopped himself before saying something that he was trusted not to tell anyone. "He can't.. What now?"
"Well, he wants Karen to be home by tomorrow night or else he's going to sue us. Brian, we can't let the media hear about this or our reputation is going to be ruined." Kevin said.
"That's going to be hard to do," Brian said. "I'm not letting him take her away from us, she's an adult she can do whatever she wants."
"Technically she's still in his care, she is illegal. She can leave when she turns 19." Howie explained.
"Whoop-de-do-da!" Brian said. "Her birthday is in a couple of months, he can't do nothing."
"Well, he still has the right to sue, she is still under his care. We should just send her back home and she can leave once she turns 19. It's only a couple of months right?" Howie said.
"No, she can't go back to him, he has been terrible to her.. she's staying with us and that's final." Brian said defending her.
"Brian we can't let the media find out about this." Kevin said.
"I don't care, she belongs here with us not that maniac." Brian yelled. "No matter what the media finds out we have to be there for her to the end, she needs us, she can't be left with her father even if it's for a few months, she's not going to survive."
"Brian, calm down. What are you talking about? Where is she right now?" Kevin asked.
"At Nick's."
"Well, maybe we should call her and tell her what's going on?" Howie suggested.
"No, not tonight, maybe in the morning." he said knowing that she had enough problems for the night.
"But she needs to know." Howie said.
"NO! KEV, LISTEN TO ME, NOT TONIGHT." Brian pushed.
Kevin was startled by his cousin's reaction as he backed away. The three continued to sit there in silence figuring out what to do.
Back at the hotel, Dawn was filling Theresa in on what happened at Aaron's house with Nick and Karen. "I hope they're doing okay." Theresa said. She truly meant it, if anything Nick deserved to be happy and whatever hurts him, hurts her. Karen made him the happiest ever since he met her and Theresa realized that she was out of the picture but could still be there as friends.
"Theresa, I'm really glad you guys decided to be friends, if anything, we can all hang out now without any tension."
"Yeah..." she was still thinking about Karen and Nick, 'Maybe Karen told him that she talked to me and he didn't like the idea that I was friends with her after what I had done..... No, it's not that. It can't be...' "Umm.. Dawn, can we call her and hang out with her tomorrow..?"
"Sure, we'll call her in the morning..." Dawn smiled. "Good night Theresa." Dawn said going to bed.
"Good night!" Theresa said happily as she was glad that she had cleared up any tension with anyone, except Nick.
The next day, Nick woke up seeing Karen still asleep in his arms. 'It really happened, I'm glad I wasn't dreaming, she was great...' he said. He gently kissed her on the forehead. He saw her smile.
She slowly opened her eyes, "I wasn't dreaming was I?" she said to him smiling.
"No you aren't." he told her. "Karen? Did I hurt you last night?" he was worried because he remembered what her stepfather did to her.
"No you didn't..." Karen whispered.
He put his arm around her bare waist. "I'm glad..." he started to kiss her.
"Nick? Yesterday I ran into Theresa..."
"You did?" He was caught by surprise as he looked at her.
"Yeah we talked things through and we decided to try to be friends."
"That's good, I knew you could make people love you, she had no right to say anything to you anyways. You deserve to be treated like a queen....."
Karen laughed. She laid on top of him as they kissed heavily. She was glad that he had forgiven her. She backed away and kissed his chest. She laid on him as she placed her head under his chin.
Nick held her tightly. "I don't want this moment to end."
"Neither do I..." Karen said.
Just then, Nick's mother yelled out to him. "NICK!!! Kevin's on the phone."
"I guess we spoke too soon..."
"I'm going to take a quick shower," she said grabbing her stuff and a robe she saw hanging on Nick's door and went into his bathroom.
Nick gazed at her curvacious body...."NICK!!!" his mother yelled again.
"OKAY MOM, I GOT IT." he said picking up the line in his room. "Hello?"
"Nick? You need to get Karen over here as soon as you can." Kevin strictly said to him.
"Why? What happened?"
"Just get her here NOW!!" Kevin said strictly. "We'll explain when you guys get here."
"Okay..." Nick quickly got up and put some clothes on as he went to knock on the bathroom door. "Karen?" he turned the doorknob and it opend. She had left the door unlocked. "Karen?" he stood there watching her take her shower.
"Nick, are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to join me?" she said seductively.
Nick started to unbutton his pants when he remembered what Kevin had said. "Karen, you need to hurry up, Kevin just called and he wants us over there right now."
"Why? Is everyone alright?"
"He said he'd explain when we got there."
Karen turned off the water. "Okay give me a couple of seconds," she said.
"Alright.." Nick said going back into his room and getting dressed.
The two got their things together and left in a rush.
Aaron sat there wondering what was going on. 'Man, why do I always get left out?'
Back at Brian's place, Brian was pacing back and forth, he hadn't had any sleep all night long. Kevin was getting worried about him. All summer, he's been through so much, now this... Kevin begged him to go to sleep but Brian ignored him and kept pacing.
"Bri, I called Nick, they're on their way over right now." Kevin informed him. "Can you please sit down?"
Brian ignored him and continued his pacing.
Ding! Dong! Howie rushed to the door, hoping to see Karen and Nick, but it was only A.J. "What's going on?" A.J. asked worried as he saw serious looks on all three of their faces. "Did someone die?" he asked.
"No, something serious just happened.. we'll explain when Nick and Karen get here..." Kevin said.
"Ok--"
Ding! Dong! Howie ran to open the door again. "What's going on?" Nick asked. "Kevin sounded serious on the phone."
Brian stopped in his tracks and looked at Karen with worried eyes. Karen looked at him and knew right away something was wrong. Nick noticed this and begged Kevin to tell them.
"You need to sit down... both of you... A.J. too!" Kevin said.
They sat down as Karen held onto Nick's hand tightly.
"Well, last night, Karen..." Kevin began. He walked over and kneeled down in front of her holding her hand, his instinct told him that he had to protect her as his little sister, "....your stepfather phoned..."
"What? Are you sure?" Karen gasped. She sat there stunned.
"Yes, and he wants you to be back home by midnight tonight or else he's going to sue us for keeping you away from him..." Howie continued. "I didn't know you had a stepfather Karen..."
"But he can't do that.." Nick said. "It's already 12:00 pm, she's not leaving."
"Technically he can.." Kevin said. "She's still illegal, she's only 18 and he still has legal parental rights on her.."
"But she turns 19 in a few months..." Nick said.
By this time, Karen started to cry uncontrollably. A.J. was comforting her as Nick was asking Kevin all these questions. "How did he find her?"
"He saw her in the park yesterday and followed her home, he then went to the cops and got information on our house..." Howie said.
"He followed her???" he looked over at Karen who was crying into A.J.'s arms. "No, he can't take her away from us, not after what he's done!"
"Okay, one minute here, you and Brian keep saying that she can't go back to him after how he's treated her, please tell us what you're talking about here. Maybe we can fight this and win." Kevin asked strictly.
Karen looked at everyone. Then at Brian, then at Nick. They both nodded their heads. She straightened herself up and told her story. "...ever since my mom married this guy, he's raped me every night when my mother fell asleep...then when my mom died, I thought he changed but he continued to rape me until I ran away... he's abused me and my mother ever since he met us..." Nick held her helplessly in his arms as she continued to cry.
A.J., Howie and Kevin stood there stunned. "Why didn't you tell us this before?" asked A.J.
"I thought I could put it behind me without baring my problems on you guys, I've already put so much on your shoulders." Karen explained. "But I guess.." she cried harder.
Brian just stood there looking at her wanting to hold her and comfort her. But he knew he couldn't.
"What are we going to do?" Nick asked.
"Brian, Howie and I talked about it last night." Kevin started. "The media is going to ruin our reputation once her stepfather tells his side of the story, but we were influenced..." he said looking over at Brian. "...and after hearing Karen's story, we are going to be behind her 100% and we're going to fight for this."
"Karen, we're not going to let you go back to that monster.. if he sues us, we'll fight as hard as we can and win this fight in court.." Howie said positively. "He should have been in jail a long time ago."
"Yes, you're a part of this family now and whatever you have to go through, you have us to back you up." A.J. piped in.
"Yeah, we're going to finally put this man in jail." Nick said.
Karen looked at Brian, but Brian didn't say a word. He wanted so much to say something, but he was too hurt to. He just sat down and nodded his head agreeing to what the others had said.
The six of them sat there in silence. Mostly shock from the news and the story they heard. At some moments, Brian would steal a glance at Karen and Karen would do the same. Nick noticed this and held her tightly. Karen laid her head on his chest as he was breathing heavily from anger and he was scared of losing her.
The phone broke the silence. Ring! Ring! Kevin got up to pick up the phone. "Oh hey Dawn," he said trying to cheer up. Everyone was listening to him talk. "Umm.. Karen? Not right now, something just happened and... no.. no she's fine... I don't think she'd be up for shopping today.... uh huh... sure if you want to come over... yes, we need all the support right now... I'll explain when you get here.. K bye!" he hung up the phone and told everyone that Theresa and Dawn were coming over. They were worried about them all.
"Oh no, Theresa?" A.J. moaned. "She's just going to fight with Karen again."
"No, A.J. They worked things out.." Nick said.
Everyone was surprised by this. "Really?" They all asked. Karen nodded.
Just then the phone rang again. Howie got up to pick up the phone. "Hello... no... she's not coming back with you Mr. Walsh..."
Brian heard this and took the phone away from Howie. "You know what? You have no right to do this. She doesn't belong to you. After everything you've put her through you deserve to be in jail... I don't care if she's suppose to be at your house in 6 hours, what are you going to do about it....NO! She's staying here with us, GO AHEAD! sue us, I'm telling you we're going to win this fight..." and he hung up the phone, everyone looked at him in shock, even Karen, she had never seen him angry before.
Silence ran through the room again. The phone rang again. Brian was going to pick up the phone. He was ready to snap, but Kevin grabbed it before him. "Hello? Yes.. Mr. Walsh, she is here... No, I don't think she wants to talk to you... Mr.Walsh please stop harassing us with these phone calls.. you can go to the police do whatever you want, but we're going to bring this to court and I'm telling you, we're going to win this fight..."
Ding! Dong! Howie went to get the door. "Hey Theresa! Hey Dawn! Everyone's in the family room."
When the two walked in everyone was in a daze, with serious looks on their face and listening to Kevin on the phone. They were worried. Theresa looked at Karen and Nick, 'Good, their okay..' She went to sit down by A.J.. Then she got startled as she heard Kevin yell.
"Mr. Walsh, you can't have Karen, we're not going to let you take her, she is in good hands now, why can't we just talk out a compromise or something... NO!!!" he yelled. "Take it to the meda, take it to anyone who cares, you aren't her real father... I don't care if her mother left you in charge... you should have taken good care of her, but it's your loss isn't it... you should really leave us alone!" Kevin warned.
Theresa and Dawn looked at each other with worried eyes. Then they looked at Karen who was crying in the arms of Nick. 'What's going on?' Dawn asked herself.
Brian was angered now and he tried to grab the phone away from Kevin. But Kevin wouldn't let him. Brian left and went into the family room with the cordless phone. Kevin knew he couldn't stop him so he just put down the other phone. "Mr. Walsh, listen to me here. You don't have to be such an ass okay? You can go to the cops and do whatever you want, but until then, just fuck off! Karen doesn't want to be with you and she's happy here with us.... No I'm not going to calm down, just quit calling here. We don't need you..." Brian had snapped. "Mr. Walsh, fucking go to hell, if you need someone to fuck.... why don't you go find someone who's around your age to screw with? Not some innocent child...."
Nick got up and went to calm Brian down. Brian pushed him away. A.J. comforted Karen as she continued to cry. Her sobs were growing loudly and she was scared. "BRIAN?! STOP! Put the phone down, don't let him get to you..." Nick said trying to grab the phone.
Brian wouldn't listen as he continued to yell into the phone, "I swear if I find you I oughta..." but Nick grabbed the phone away and hung up. Howie and Kevin went around the house unplugging every phone they could find.
"Brian, sit, calm down! You're not helping any of us here being angry." Nick said.
Theresa and Dawn were speechless as Kevin tried to fill them in. They were distracted by the angered Nick. Karen looked over at Brian with eyes of sadness. 'He's doing his best to protect me without coming close to me or talking to me...'
Theresa sat there watching Karen crying heavily, she got up and gave her a hug which surprised everyone in the room, but she didn't care. "Karen?" Theresa started. "I'm here for you, you're here with all of us, you're father isn't going to take you away now," she said as she continued to comfort Karen as Nick was trying to calm his buddy down.
A.J. called Amanda to let her know he couldn't make it for their date that night because of what was going on, she understood completely and she immediately called Leigh Anne and explained the situation. "Yeah, I'll come pick you up right now," Amanda said. They wanted to be there to help out their friends.
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