If stories had anniversaries, this would be the diamond chapter. Seventy-five chapters, who would have ever thought it? Definitely not me!

This chapter is kind of all over the place, and it actually takes place the same night, but an idea came to me and I just had to go with it, and I think if you make it to the end of the chapter, you’ll be glad you did.

DerekJordan/Jitsy/Dasey/Sendra/JennaWhitney/??

Derek shut the door to Whitney’s room and paused for a moment, digging the palms of his hands into his eyes, rubbing them hard. Casey had often teased him when the kids were younger, telling him that he was going to pay for his raising when the kids got older and he was beginning to think that her words were very prophetic.

Gage had been so easy to raise. Sure he was your typical ornery boy, and there was that one time he had to bail him and Jordan out of jail their senior year, but that was kid’s stuff.

Jenna had been the biggest test so far, but that was probably because she was the one that acted the most like him. She was free spirited and high strung, but she was still a good girl. Sure she’d had her problems, but they had come through them and he was very proud of the person she was becoming.

And then there was Whitney, his sweet, innocent Whitney. His never cause a minute’s trouble, Whitney. Never in a million years did he expect to have to go find her in a situation like that. And that’s probably why he reacted the way he did. Chasing down Gage or Jenna in that situation seemed plausible to him, but not his baby. She had never given them one minute of grief and had always been the first in line to follow orders and obey.

And that’s why this had literally knocked him for a loop. It wasn’t even conceivable in his mind that Whitney was capable of being so deceptive. That’s why he had to believe that Cam was such a bad influence on her. There was no other explanation to be found, or at least it was the explanation that made the most sense to him and made him feel better. If he could blame it on Cam, then he could keep that picture of his baby in his mind for a little bit longer.

He had had a one track mind the last few hours but suddenly another realization hit him head on. He was supposed to be flying out in just a few hours for New York to be with Gage. He saw no way to leave the situation at home, but at the same time, the thought of not being there when his son needed him the most, absolutely killed him. There was only one solution and it wasn’t the one he wanted, but if he couldn’t go, he was going to make sure that someone who cared about Gage would be there for him.

Walking across the hall, he knocked slightly on the door before pushing it open just enough so he could whisper, “Jordan?”

He heard the rustling of covers and feet padding over to the door.

Jordan pulled the door open and stepped out in the hall with Derek, closing the door behind him quietly, as not to wake Jenna.

“I’m really sorry to wake you up,” Derek began. “I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t absolutely necessary.”

“I actually wasn’t asleep. I’m still all worked up after trying to calm Bitsy down. She was basically inconsolable after she had to tattle on Whitney. I didn’t think I was ever going to get her to calm down and go back to sleep.”

“Oh,” Derek said, suddenly realizing that his plan might not work. If Jenna was that upset, there was probably no way that Jordan would want to leave her.

“What did you need?” Jordan asked, reading his father-in-law’s expression and knowing that he had something to ask him.

“Listen, if you don’t want to do this, just tell me no. I mean it, Jenna comes first with you and that’s how I want it. Did you talk to Gage yesterday?” Derek asked.

Jordan shook his head yes. “He called and told me what was happening with his coach and that you were coming to the game today.”

“That’s right; I was planning on catching a plane this morning and flying to New York. But now with this whole Cam and Whit thing, I just don’t see how I can go.”

“And you want to know if I’ll go for you?” Jordan said, asking the question for him.

“Yah, that’s about it. Like I said, Jenna comes first and if you don’t want to leave her, I totally understand.”

”No, it’ll be fine. You were just turning around and flying back in tonight weren’t you?”

”I was supposed to be at the airport and head back home at eleven, do you think that’ll be a problem?”

“It shouldn’t be. Just let me go tell Jenna what’s going on and make sure that she doesn’t care. If you don’t hear back from me, just know that I’m going, okay?”

“Thank you Jordan, you don’t have any idea how much this means to me. I’ve got to get this whole mess dealt with now. It’s not something I can put off.”

”I understand. You’ve helped me a million times Derek so it’s the least I can do. But I expect you to keep an eye on Jenna too. That’s the only problem I have. I know I hover too much, but they mean everything to me. Just keep an eye on her and watch what she eats. Try to keep her out of our room as much as possible, because I don’t want her to be alone. In fact, I’m going to suggest that she and Chloe go do something tomorrow. Why don’t you do the same thing?”

”I will. I’m sure that Chloe feels neglected about right now, so we’ll play on that.”

“Alright, I’m going to talk to Jenna. Unless you hear back from me, know that I’m packing my stuff and heading for the airport.”

Derek reached over and placed a hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “You’re a good man Jordan Hart and I’m very lucky that Jenna has someone like you.”

Jordan grinned at the words and thought that there wasn’t probably a more coveted compliment that he could receive. But he also thought about his sister-in-law and the boy he knew loved her. “Thanks Derek. But I’m not the only guy that loves one of your daughters. I know what they did was wrong, but Cameron is crazy about Whitney.”

Derek started to reply but Jordan held up his hand, showing that he wanted to finish his thought. “You’re in a really sticky situation right now. No matter how mad you are at Cam, you can’t bring that onto the ice.”

Derek raised his eyebrows at the words and Jordan hoped that he wasn’t over stepping his boundaries. “I’m not saying you will, but to me, that would be the natural thing to do. Just make sure that your feelings over this, don’t spill out towards him on the ice. He’s amazing and he deserves his shot. Don’t take that away from him.”

”When did you get to be so wise?” Derek asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “It must come from being in this house. I guess I soak it up from Casey,” he teased.

“Yah, that’s definitely where it comes from,” he said with a smile. “And speaking of Case, I pretty much bit her head off tonight at the hotel, so I’ve got some groveling to do.”

“I don’t envy you at all,” he said as he reached for the door knob. “I think I’ll go in here and talk to my wife. I’ll probably get a much better reception than you.”

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Jordan crept back into the room, shutting the door behind him. When he reached the bed, he slid in and wrapped his arms securely around his wife. “Hey Sweetie, wake up. We need to talk.”

He felt Jenna dig deeper in against him and mumble some incoherent phrase.

“Jen,” he said as he nuzzled her ear, “you’ve to wake up. I need to ask you something.”

“Hmm,” she said as she rolled over to face him, snuggling deep into his chest.

If he lived to be a thousand, he’d never get tired of the feeling of her in his arms. Moving his hand under her chin, he lifted her face and bending down, placed a soft kiss on her lips. Then rubbing his nose against hers he whispered again, “Wake up Baby, we need to talk.”

“What?” she asked sleepily, her eyes fluttering half open.

“With everything going on with Whitney, your dad wants me to fly to New York for Gage’s game tomorrow. What do you think?” he asked as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

“Go,” she said as she snuggled into him once again.

“Are you even going to remember this in the morning when you wake up and I’m not here?” he asked as he pulled away from her slightly.

He felt her fingers begin to run up and down his bare back as she placed a kiss on his chest and he realized that she was more awake then he had originally thought. This thought was solidified when the kiss to his chest became more, as she worked her way up his chest and neck. When she reached his ear she whispered, “Maybe we should make sure there’s something to remember.”

His whole body literally shook at her words and the way she delivered them. He was totally and completely consumed by her and he couldn’t ever imagine denying her anything she wanted, especially this.

Before she knew what was happening, he had removed the shirt she was wearing, an old high school one of his. Rolling her over, he now hovered above her. His eyes grazed over her body hungrily, stopping for a moment at the tiny bump forming in her stomach. His eyes immediately softened and he leaned down and brushed his lips across it.

He heard her gasp and felt her arch her back slightly and he smiled before placing a kiss there. Then moving back up, he placed his elbows on either side of her head and brought his face close to hers before telling her, “You’ll remember, I promise.”

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When Derek walked into their room he knew immediately that Casey was unhappy with him. She was lying in bed, her back turned to him, facing the night stand.

He quickly laid his pants and shirt over the chair and headed straight for the bed, knowing that he wanted to get this fixed as soon as possible.

“Hey,” he said as he slid under the cover, moving over to her side and spooning up against her.

He felt her stiffen and knew that was a very bad sign. “Listen, I’m sorry for the way I treated you at the hotel. I should have never bitten your head off like that. She’s your daughter too and you should have just as much say so as I do,” he said as he ran his hand up and down her arm.

He was shocked when she quickly flipped over and he was even more so when he saw how her eyes were flashing at him. “Oh really, well that’s good to know, because it seems to me like I don’t have a say so at all. Don’t you think it would have been nice to have at least consulted me before you doled out her punishment? Evidently, I don’t have a say so at all.”

“Case…” he began.

“Don’t Case me,” she said. “We’ve got to show a united front in front of Whitney so I didn’t say anything, but I’m letting you know right now, I don’t agree with how you handled this and I’m not happy about it at all. So if you’ll please remove your hands from me, I’m going to turn over and go sleep. I’m exhausted.”

Derek opened his mouth to say something but she held her hand up so show that she didn’t want to hear anything else he had to say at the moment. So he nodded at her before moving over to his side of the bed. He could probably count on one hand the times that they had gone to bed mad at each other in the last twenty-three years and he really didn’t remember a time when she seemed this mad. Of course she hadn’t been pregnant any of those other times, but still, he had a feeling that this had nothing to do with hormones and everything to do with the fact that she was just madder than mad at him right now.

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When they had gotten home, they went straight up the stairs. The ride home had been totally silent and that didn’t change as they entered the house.

Once in their room, Kendra moved to wrap her arms around her husband. “This sucks,” she said as she placed her head on his chest.

Leaning down, he placed a kiss on the top of her head, “That Ken, might be the understatement of the century. I don’t see anyway for this to turn out good. You know how Derek is when he gets like this; you can’t talk to him. I’m sure he’s already spouted off all these rules without even thinking things through. If I would have done to Cam what I wanted to in the heat of the moment, he wouldn’t be seeing daylight for years, but that’s not the way you do it.”

“Well, I think he was being absolutely ridiculous,” Kendra said as he pulled away from her husband. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him towards the bed. Once situated, she snuggled into his chest. “Has he suddenly forgotten who he is? He was the biggest player to ever walk to the halls of that high school and now he wants to go all 'holier than thou' on our son?”

“Kendra, if I’d found out that Addison was doing something like that, I have to admit, I would have reacted differently than I did knowing it was Cameron. When it’s your little girl, that’s exactly what you think about. You think about how you were in high school, and then this big knot of dread starts forming in the pit of your stomach knowing that there are hundreds just like you walking around out there, waiting to pounce on your daughter.”

“Sam, that’s sexist.”

“It might be, but it’s the truth.”

“Well, I think the vehicle thing you threw out there is pretty harsh. And with your work schedule, guess who’s going to be the one running him everywhere? I have a life and a career too, Sam. I can’t be dropping everything to get him where he needs to go all the time.”

“Then what do you suggest?” he asked.

“I suggest that we ground him to the house. He goes to school, he goes to practice and he comes home. That’s it, he doesn’t do anything else. He’s eighteen years old Sam and he’ll be gone before we know it. I say we ground him through Christmas Break. That’s about seven weeks.”

“What do you think about his phone and his computer?”

“I don’t want him out in his vehicle without his phone and I really don’t care about the computer. I’m almost positive that Whitney won’t have either one of those things, so I don’t think he’ll be able to talk to her anyway.”

“Alright, he’s home bound until January first. Though I’m not sure how much punishment that is. We both know that if he can’t be with Whitney, he’d probably just be hanging around here anyway.”

”But that’s just it Sam, that’s his real punishment. There’s absolutely nothing we can do to him that’s worse than not being with Whitney. Did you see him in that hotel room? My heart broke for that boy.”

“I know; me too. I’m going to have to go over and try to talk to Derek tomorrow.”

“Good luck with that one, I think I’ll stay here.”

”That’s probably a pretty good idea,” he said as he moved to kiss her.

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Jenna had tossed and turned for the thirty minutes since Jordan left. All she could think about was Whitney and what had happened. Looking over at the clock, she saw that it was only four thirty, but she knew it was no use. If she didn’t go across the hall and check on Whitney, she was never going to get any rest and she was probably going to go crazy.

She grabbed her phone off the night stand in case Jordan tried to reach her before he boarded the plane and made her way over to Whitney’s room. She didn’t bother to knock. Instead, she opened it slightly and saw she was awake. Even though she was face down on the bed, she knew this by the way her shoulders were shaking while she cried.

Jenna shut the door behind her and made her way over to the bed. Sitting down, she reached her hand out and placed it on Whitney’s shoulder. “Whit?” she simply asked.

Whitney turned her head slightly so she could see Jenna, but she didn’t say anything.

“I’m so sorry Whitney. Daddy called and he said he was going to have a stroke if I didn’t tell him and I panicked and…”

“It’s not your fault. I did what I did and I got caught. You did the right thing,” she said as she sat up and faced her sister.

“But I still feel horrible. How bad was it?” she asked.

“I wasn’t here when you told Daddy about you and Jordan and the baby, but I can’t imagine that it was any worse. He’s furious. I’m totally grounded until my birthday in six weeks. No phone, no debit card, no computer and no Cam. I can’t even see him at school. Daddy’s making me eat lunch in his office every day. He’s taking me to school and Mom’s picking me up.”

“That bad, huh?” Jenna asked.

“There was a time in the hotel room when I thought he was physically going to hurt him. I’ve never seen Daddy act like that, ever.”

“Maybe the six weeks will go by fast,” Jenna offered up.

“Yah right, thanks for trying, but we both no that’s not going to happen.” Whitney said with a roll of her eyes. “I can’t imagine not being with him Jen. I don’t know how I’ll survive,” she said as she started to tear up again. “What if he finds someone else? What if he won’t wait for me? I don’t even know how I’ll ever talk to him. Daddy’s at school with us and he’ll be watching us like a hawk.”

Jenna’s eyes brightened, “I’ll help you,” she said almost giddily.

“How can you help me? Plus, I don’t want you getting in trouble too.”

”In case you don’t remember, I’m a married woman, so I can’t get in trouble. Daddy might be disappointed in me if he finds out, but he can’t punish me. Besides, we won’t get caught.”

“How can you help me?” Whitney asked once again.

Jenna held her cell phone up in her hand. “Jordan had my phone switched over to his account, which means Daddy won’t see the bill. There’s no way for him to know who uses this phone or who it calls or texts. You can use my phone to talk to him.”

Whitney’s eyes brightened and a huge smile came over her pretty face. “Can I use it right now?” she asked excitedly.

“Sure! I’ll go over to my room and leave the door open. If I see Mom or Daddy in the hallway I’ll keep them occupied. You call Cam and when you get through, bring me the phone back. Tell him he can text me if he needs to tell you something, but that it would probably be best if you were the one that calls him.”

Whitney reached over and threw her arms around her sister. “Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me.”

“Yah I do. I remember what it was like when I thought Daddy was going to throw Jordan out of the house. I was devastated. I hate the fact that I won’t get to see him until late tonight. I can’t imagine not getting to talk to him or spend time with him for that long. I really feel bad about what happened and I want to help you.”

She held the phone out to her sister and Whitney eagerly took it. “I’ll bring it back to you as soon as I get off. I just hope that his parents haven’t taken his phone away.”

”Well, there’s only one way to find out, call,” she said as she got up to leave the room.

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Cam lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, just like he had for the last several hours. He had tried to call Whitney’s phone as soon as he had gotten to his room, but it went directly to her voicemail and he was almost certain at that point that she didn’t have it. If she had, she would have had it on so he could call her.

He kept replaying the whole horrible nightmare over and over again in his head. He had gone from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in mere moments. The look on Whitney’s face was one he’d never forget for as long as he lived. But more than that, the feeling he felt when she had moved away from his touch as she walked by him to leave, was something that still ached through his whole body.

She was literally his life. He knew it sounded stupid and cliché but he couldn’t help it. His whole life revolved around her. He had fallen so hard and so fast and now he felt like the rug had been pulled out from under him.

He was startled from his thoughts by the buzzing of his phone. Glancing at the clock on his wall, he realized that it was fifteen till five and he felt his heart clinch at the thought that maybe it was her. When he grabbed the phone he was slightly disappointed to see the number that popped up.

Flipping open the phone he asked, “Jenna?”

“No, it’s me,” said the voice on the other end.

“Oh God,” he said as he felt a wave of relief shoot straight through him. “I tried your phone earlier, but it went straight to voicemail.”

”I don’t have a phone anymore, or a computer or a debit card, at least not until my birthday in six weeks.”

“So you’re grounded?” he asked, still marveling at the idea that he was actually getting to talk to her.

“I’m not sure that grounded is a harsh enough word. Not only do I not have any of those things, Daddy drives me to school and Mom picks me up.”

“At least we can eat lunch together,” he said optimistically.

“No we can’t. I’ll be eating lunch in my daddy’s office for the next six weeks. But he was generous enough to offer to buy Addie and Ian’s lunch so I wouldn’t have to eat alone,” she added sarcastically.

“You’re kidding. We can’t spend any time together at all?”

“No,” she said, the nerves and stress showing through in her voice. “They told me I needed to re-evaluate the type up affect and hold you had over me.”

A wave of hurt washed over him, knowing that’s what Derek and Casey thought of him. They weren’t just Whitney’s parents, they were his godparents, and to know they thought so little of him, it killed him.

“We can be together after the six weeks though, right? They’re not keeping us apart forever?” he asked anxiously.

“I don’t know Cam. I’ve never seen him like that before. He was so mad. But he told me that he was even more hurt that I would do something like that behind his back. They trusted me and let them down.”

Cameron could here the anguish in her voice and he felt a sudden fear sweep through him. “You don’t want to break up do you? Please don’t break up with me,” he begged. He didn’t care how desperate or needy he sounded, whatever it took to make sure that she was still his, was worth it.

“No, I love you Cam. I was afraid that you wouldn’t wait for me,” she told him honestly.

“Are you crazy? I’ll wait for you as long as I need too. I’ve laid here and ran the whole thing over and over again through my head. And the worst part of it all, was when I reached out to you and you stepped away when you were leaving. I’ve been scared to death ever since then that you’d think I wasn’t worth it.”

“I was just afraid that my dad would look back and see me. I wanted to throw my arms around you and just have you hold me. I already miss you so much,” she said she began to cry.

“Please don’t cry Whitney. I can’t stand it when you cry and knowing that I can’t be there to make it better kills me. We’re going to make it through this and we’re going to be together. If you love me half as much as I love you, then we’ll be just fine,” he said, trying to give her something besides her grief to hold on to.

“I love you so much,” she said in a broken voice.

“Me too Baby, me too. You just hang in there okay and know that I’m thinking about your ever minute. Even if we can’t talk to each other and say it, we know how we feel about each other and that’ll just have to get us through.”

“Oh no,” Whitney said excitedly, realizing that she hadn’t told him everything yet. “Jenna’s going to let us use her phone. She’s on Jordan’s plan now so Daddy doesn’t know anything about what happens with it. She said if you needed to tell me something to text her. And she said that I could call you. Do you think you’ll have a phone?” she asked, suddenly realizing that it wouldn’t work if his parents took his phone away from him.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. But I don’t think it’s going to be as harsh over here as it is at your place. My parents said they were going to sleep on it and then we’d talk about it in the morning. I’ll text Jenna and let her know if I still have my phone. If I don’t, I’ll have Addie do it. But I really think I’ll get to keep it.”

”I hope so,” she said softly.

“Me too,” he said.

“I guess I better get this back to Jenna. She’s on the look out for Mom and Dad, but I don’t want to ruin this, so we’re going to have to be careful.”

”I’ll just let you call the shots. You call me when you can, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed. “I miss you already,” she said solemnly.

“I miss you too. But we’re going to make it through this. It’s going to be horrible to see you in the hall and not be able to talk to you or touch you. I can’t imagine going that long with holding your hand or kissing you. I’m so sorry I caused this.”

”I don’t want to hear you blame yourself again. I already told my dad that I didn’t want to hear him blame you one more time. I agreed to it Cam. If I hadn’t wanted to do it, I would have told you no. The only thing I regret is that we got caught,” she said almost shyly.

“Just do what your parent’s say and I’ll let Jenna know what’s happening on my end tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed. “I better get off now, like I said, I don’t want to get caught already. I have a feeling this is the only thing that’s going to keep me going for the next six weeks.”

“Me too, Whit. Just keep reminding yourself how much I love you and that this won’t last forever, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied once again. “Hopefully, I’ll talk to you again later. You won’t mind me calling you in the middle of the night will you? It’ll probably be the only time I get a chance.”

“I don’t care what time you call, just call,” he reassured her.

“Okay, I guess I’m really getting off this time,” she said. “I love you, Cam.”

“Love you too, Whit. Good night,” he added before closing his phone.

It was amazing what one phone call could do to change your outlook on things. She still loved him and she still wanted to be with him. That’s all that mattered. He would take the blame and the anger and the punishment and he wouldn’t bat an eye, because she loved him and she wanted to be with him and that’s all that mattered in the end.

I hope you liked it and remember, you keep reviewing and I keep updating. I think that’s a fair trade!