Notice - A KathNiel Story

Chapter 15

DJ ended up driving behind Kath, following her back to the hotel. He had dozens of missed calls from his manager, texts from him too, all demanding to know where he was - he had a magazine interview and photoshoot scheduled that he'd officially missed as they waited their turn in City Hall, but he didn't care about anything. He wanted to know more about Kath and his daughter. He was still in a state of shock about it all, but there was no way he was going to miss a single second of his daughters' life.

"Mommy, can I play in my room?" Riley asked and Kath nodded her head, able to tell by the tone of her voice that she just wanted to be alone for a little while - the revelation that DJ was her father was still taking a while to process.

"Of course you can, baby girl, I'll be here with DJ, okay? You can come and ask us anything you want." Kath assured her and Riley just nodded her head before heading across the hotel room and to the room that was hers, for the time being, holding her polar bear toy - she still had the sunglasses on.

"It's weird... being in a hotel and not having to be in your bedroom with the door open so your parents can hear if we're doing anything." DJ teased, following her into the living room and Kath let out a small laugh, sitting on the couch with him.

"I really am sorry that I never told you... about anything," Kath said.

"We're putting it right now. We're friends, I'll be there for Riley... and I'll be talking to my Mom about what she did." DJ said and Kath sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

"We were both in a bad place, DJ... if she hadn't have given me a number, I would have found one myself," Kath said, but DJ's expression remained just as determined.

"That doesn't excuse my Mom giving my seventeen-year-old girlfriend a phone number to a drug dealer, Kathryn... I'll be talking to her, okay?" DJ said and Kath hesitated before slowly nodding her head.

"I just don't want it to ruin your relationship with her."

"It needed work, to begin with." He mumbled. "I just can't believe you went through all this shit... all on your own."

"We're putting it right now." She reminded him and DJ let a small smile come to his lips.

"Yeah, we are... you think Riley is gonna be okay?"

"It's a lot for her to take in... it was only on Friday when it all started with the police, then yesterday we find you and today she's finding out the stranger she just met is her Dad. I have videos on my phone, though... my doctors' appointments, since as Alex wasn't allowed to come with me, and of her as a baby, photos..." She trailed off. "You can catch up."

"I look forward to it." He said honestly, going to say something but his phone started to ring again and he looked down, expecting it to be his manager but he sighed when he saw it was his Mom.

"Answer it." Kath encouraged and he hesitated before doing as he was told, holding the phone against his ear.

"Hi." He mumbled.

"Hey! What's wrong? I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner?" Karla said and DJ's whole body tensed, just hearing her voice. She'd known for years that Kath had an eating disorder, that she'd turned to self-medicating herself and she'd even helped Kath do it and she'd never said a word to him.

"Guess who I found in Walmart yesterday," DJ said, his voice cold and Kath stared down into her lap - she didn't want DJ's relationship with Karla to be ruined forever, not when Karla had seemingly gotten the help she needed too.

"Who?" Karla asked, confused.

"Kathryn," DJ revealed and the silence on Karla's side of the phone told him everything - she was nervous that he knew everything. "And you have a lot of explaining to do," DJ said, coldly.

"Daniel, listen to me, I was in a dark place and I wasn't thinking straight-"

"I don't wanna hear it now," DJ said, before hanging up the phone and he looked over at Kath as she looked up at him. "You're a therapist, right?"

"Yes."

"Can you... can you help me arrange a therapy session with my Mom? I know you can't be the therapist, but can you help arrange it?" DJ asked and Kath nodded her head, moving a little closer to him.

"I'll do all I can." She promised, the two of them leaning closer until their lips connected - their first kiss in over four years. They couldn't help but smile as they pulled away from each other and she handed him her phone. "Your homework - to catch up with Riley's life." She breathed.

"You don't need your phone?" He asked.

"Leave me your number and I'll use the hotel phone to arrange your therapy appointment... plus, it's an excuse for you to come back." She said with a small smile and DJ matched it.

"I don't need an excuse." He assured her, leaning in closer.

"Correct answer." She smiled, the two of them sharing another kiss.

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