Rachel continued driving with no direction in mind. Her mind was in a fog. From the moment Stacy mentioned Kenzi was trying to figure out who her father was, she felt detached. It had taken awhile to assure Stacy that she was fine after the crying jag. Her sister didn't believe her but she finally relented and left; getting in to her own car to head to her shop, Dream Cakes.  Rachel had spent another hour in Java Up's parking lot before backing from the space and leaving.

Eventually she ended up I-55 heading north. No destination in mind, she kept driving. The radio was still off from when she turned it down so her and Stacy could talk. It wouldn't have mattered it was on or not, she wouldn't hear the music. There was just a roar in her ears. She felt numb. The scenery passed her by but she didn't notice.

Her mind wouldn't turn off. McKenzie had been searching for her father and she hadn't asked her questions. She kept it a secret. Some how she came to the conclusion that JC was her father. The road blurred in front of her as tears welled in her eyes at the thought. Turning on the blinker, she got off at the next exit, needing to get off the road. Emotions were bubbling over.

The area looked familiar and she tried to recall the directions to the lake her family had spent many summers at. Thirty minutes later she was pulling off the main road and heading back through the trees. She stopped at the rangers hut and paid the minimal parking fee and followed the winding road until it spilled into a small parking lot. There was a smattering of cars in the spots. She could see kids running around on the playground. Climbing from the car, she made her way down the path until it opened up onto the shoreline of Lake Grenada.

Every summer her family would pile into the car and make the two and half hour drive north to the lake where they would spent a whole week camping. Their days were filled with fun on the lake whether it was swimming or taking out the paddle boats or the canoes. They played in the sand on the shoreline and held contests on whose sandcastle was the best. There were plenty of hours on the playground, which looked much different today than she remembered it being, and plenty of hours trampling through the hiking paths. She, Lance, and Stacy always running ahead while their parents followed slowly behind them, holding hands. Nights were filled with campfires and ghost stories and roasting marshmallows for s'mores. She wished she had remembered this place when they were planning things to do. They could have piled in their cars and camped out on the lake, if not for the week a couple days at least or they could have come up for the day.

Rachel walked through the sand down the shoreline under she saw the entrance to a trail. It eventually ran into another trail that people caught from the parking lot. She walked along the path, passing a few people who were out exercising. She wasn't dressed for the occasion, wearing black leggings, a t-shirt, and a cardigan. On her feet were sandals. Definitely not conduit to a hike. It was less of a hike and more of an amble walk.

She reached an opening where there was a small water fall. It was always a popular area for people to gather around. A bench sat off to the side and Rachel walked over to claim it before someone else could sit down. Once she was seated, she leaned her elbows on her knees and buried her head in her hands. The tears started once again and she cried softly hoping not to alert the other patrons. The last thing she wanted was someone to come over and check on her.

Kenzi thought JC was her father. Rachel's heart broke, knowing that she was going to have to break her daughter's heart and tell her the truth. JC was not her father. She wondered what the information would do to the relationship Kenzi and JC had forged. Did Kenzi make the relationship with JC because she thought he was her father? Was that the reason she was constantly talking to him, inviting him to her activities? The reason she was okay with Rachel having a relationship with him was she thought he was her father?

What would happen when Rachel told her daughter the truth? What would happen with JC and McKenzie's relationship? What would happen with her own relationship with JC?  JC being McKenzie's father was something she had wished for heavily. No matter how much she wished or how hard she wished, didn't make it the case. If everything she dreamed up went to plan, JC would have been McKenzie's father. But it didn't and he wasn't.

There was nothing she could do to change what had happened. Her mom had told her that eventually McKenzie would start asking about her father. Rachel had hoped it had never happened, but she should have known better. After all, who knew her daughter better than she did? Apparently, she didn't know her very well. McKenzie had been able to keep her search for her father a secret. Stacy had been right. When McKenzie would eventually come to her, Rachel would have been completely blindsided. She wasn't sure she would have been able to answer any questions. She hadn't even been able to get through a simple science question about blood.

She groaned remembering the assignment and how JC had told her McKenzie had asked what his blood type was. ‘For a science project' JC had told her. Her daughter had lied. She asked JC what his blood type was so she could compare it to her own blood type. It was all beginning to make sense. The blood type questions and all the old photos that had suddenly made a reappearance. The sudden interest McKenzie had about NSYNC and how she paid closer attention to the stories Rachel would tell her or Lance.

How could she have missed this?  Rachel knew that answer. She missed it because she didn't want to see it. If she could ignore everything pertaining to McKenzie's paternity, the better. Her head was stuck so far in the sand she wasn't sure it was even possible to extract it.

She had to now. She had to go back home and talk to McKenzie. She had to tell her daughter that JC was not her father. Then she had to tell her who her father was. Finally she had to tell her family exactly what happened all those years ago.

*~*

"Anything?"

"No," Lance sighed staring out the window at the street hoping to see his sister coming down the road. It was empty.

"Damnit," Stacy cursed softly from the backroom of her bakery. After she had spoken to Rachel that morning, she had sent a text to Lance an hour or later asking about her, she'd been surprised to learn that Rachel hadn't returned. She tried texting her sister, but had gotten no response. She even tried calling, but it rang into voicemail.

"She's not answer anyone's calls. She's not responding to texts... I even called JC and she's not answering him either. What the hell did you talk about Stacy? What did you tell her?"

"I was trying to help her," Stacy was offended. She never set out to hurt her sister. She would never do that. "I should have invited Mom this morning as well. I should have known how Rachel would have responded. I just... I just wanted to help."

"I know," Lance sighed. It was nearing five and no one had heard from Rachel since she left to meet Stacy for coffee. There were no big plans scheduled for the day since Stacy had been needed at her bakery, but with Rachel missing, they all stayed home waiting for her to arrive. She never did. Jim had even called a friend of his on the police department asking if there was a sign of Diane's vehicle. Sometimes living in a small town paid off.

"How's Kenzi?"

"Worried. We all are."

"I know."

"What did you tell her?"

"Lance..."

"Damnit Stacy," Lance exploded. "Whatever you told her sent her running and you keeping it a secret is not helping."

"Lance!" Lance turned around at his mother's scolding.  "Yelling at Stacy isn't going to solve this. We're all worried. We just need to be patient. Rachel will return. We're gonna be here when she does. We're gonna be here for her."

"Hey, Rachel's beeping in on me!" Stacy's voice came over the phone line. "Hang on, let me get this."

"Rachel just called Stacy," Lance told his mom. When his sister returned home he was gonna throttle her. How dare she does this to them.

"Oh thank God," Diane said closing her eyes. She said a little prayer in her mind.

"Lance?"

"Yeah?" Lance said hearing Stacy come back.

"I need you to drive Kenzi over to my place. She's gonna spend the night."

"What's going on? Where's Rachel?"

"She's on her way. She's about an hour out. She wants to talk to all of us when she gets back but doesn't want the kids to be there. They are going to stay at my house. I'll get Ford's mother to stay with them until Ford and I get home. I'm getting ready to close up shop here and I'll be there. I'll let Ford know to head straight there after work."

"What's going on?"

"I don't know Lance. I really don't. She just said she needs to talk to all of us and asked if I knew someone who could watch Kenzi."

"Alright. I see you in a bit." Lance hung up the phone and relayed what he knew to his mother.

"This doesn't sound good."

"No. It doesn't."

*~*

‘Have you heard anything from Rachel yet?' JC sent the text to Lance. His leg was bouncing, a nervous habit that didn't happen too often. He'd been trying to get ahold of Rachel all afternoon since Lance had asked him if he had heard from her.

‘She called Stacy and said she was on her way.'

"Thank God," JC said out loud. As the hours passed, his worry grew when no one had heard from Rachel. ‘She say what's going on?'

‘No.' ‘She wants to talk to all of us when she gets here. I took Kenzi over to Stacy's. Ford's mother is going to watch the kids.'

‘Any idea what she wants to talk about?' JC wished Rachel would call him. Once again he found himself wishing he was in Mississippi. Something big was happening. Something big enough to send Rachel running and being out of communication all day.

‘Not a clue.'

That wasn't what JC had wanted to hear. Stacy wouldn't even tell them what she had needed to speak to Rachel about. That irritated him to no end. Whatever Stacy had told Rachel had caused this. He wished she would have mentioned what it was. He knew Lance wished the same. JC didn't even have any guesses as to what Rachel needed to talk about. To not want any of the kids around... JC sighed. He wanted to be there.

‘I'm worried.' JC looked down to see Lance's incoming text.

‘So I am.'

*~*

Rachel pulled in to the driveway seeing not only her father's vehicle and the rental Lance had gotten from the airport but Ford's truck and Stacy's SUV. She parked her mother's car in its normal spot and turned the key. The engine died leaving her in silence. Her stomach was churning and she was fairly certain it had tied itself in knots on the drive back to her parents. In an effort to delay what was about to happen, she stopped off and filled up her mother's gas tank.

Sitting in the car was only delaying the inevitable. Nothing was going to stop the conversation from happening. She either did it now or she waited until Kenzi approached her and did it then. Until that happened, she would on pins and needles and worrying herself sick as she waited for the foot to drop. Climbing from the car she walked slowly up the walk and onto the porch where she pushed the door open. She was met immediately.

"Oh thank God!" Diane wrapped her daughter in her arms. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" She told her sternly before pulling her daughter back into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry Momma." She felt her voice crack and tightened the hold she had on her mom. How she wished she could rewind time and be small enough to where she could crawl into her mother's lap and have her make all the hurts go away.

"Where were you?" Diane let her daughter go. Her heart broke seeing the tear stain tracks on her face and the red swollen eyes.

"Lake Grenada."

"Why on earth did you drive all the way up there?"

Rachel shrugged. "I hadn't planned on it. Just kind of where I ended up." Looking past her mother, she saw everyone gathered: her father, Lance, Michael, Stacy, and Ford. She swallowed roughly and crossed her arms in an effort to comfort herself. Her mother wrapped an around her shoulders.

"You wanna go freshen up?"

Rachel shook her head slowly. "No. This is already hard enough. Can we go sit down?"

"Of course," Diane led her daughter into the living room where everyone took a seat. She tried to pull her daughter down next to her, but Rachel shook her head choosing to remain standing. She hated it. Everyone was sitting and Rachel stood in the middle of the living room looking like she was facing a firing squad.

"I owe you guys an explanation," Rachel began. She looked at her parents sitting on the couch and Michael sitting next to them. Ford and Stacy sat on the love seat with Lance on the recliner. Her eyes met Lance and she felt them fill with tears. She forced herself to look away and found that she couldn't meet the eyes of anyone. "I should have told you guys this a long time ago but I couldn't. At first...I couldn't... then it was...just too hard. I didn't want to think about it." Her voice broke again and she reached up wiping the tears away.

Lance leaned forward, sitting on the edge of the chair. He was poised to jump and go to his sister. She looked so lonely standing up there by herself and it shouldn't be like this. She shouldn't be up there on her own. She should be sitting with them.

"I know you guys have questions about who McKenzie's father is," she could feel the room freeze. A family secret was about to be revealed.  "I know you probably thought it was one of the guys...It's not."

Lance knew that was the case. He knew the only possibility would have been JC. JC's reaction upon finding out Rachel was pregnant had told him that wasn't the case.