Believe it or Not

Father's hands are lined with guilt

For tearing us apart

Guess it turned out in the end

Just look at where we are

-Nickelback - Too Bad



Chapter 1 - Too Bad



Three Weeks Later



"Sorry ma'am there is a limit of six of these." Alanna Morrison smiled as a woman came up to her till attempting to buy about thirty.



"There was no sign." The woman protested.



"It's in the flyer. I thought they'd put it on the sign as well, but we can only sell you six." Alanna replied.



"I'll ring them through as a separate order."



"I'm really not allowed to do that."



"If they do not put a sign up, then you will sell me as many as I want." Alanna got fed up and pulled out the flyer and pointed out the clearly written limit of six.



"I cannot sell you more than six."



"Let me talk to your supervisor." She demanded.



"Alright." She picked up the phone and had her supervisor come down to her till. "Would you mind if I take the next person in line while we wait for my supe..."



"No, you are not allowed to take the next customer. You are helping me and I will not wait. This is the worst service I have ever gotten. What is your name? I want to make a complaint." Alanna looked down at the name on her name tag, then looked back up to the angry customer, but she didn't reply to the lady. "Oh you! I have never..."



"What did you need help with Alanna?" Her supervisor Jane smiled as she turned to the lady who's face seemed to go red from the exhaustion of screaming at Alanna.



"I have been treated very badly by your cashier here. I want to make a formal complaint and she must be punished. I refuse to only buy six when the sign does not say anything about a limit. I need thirty of these, not six. Then she" she spat as she turned to Alanna who sighed. "has treated me worse than I could ever imagine, she wanted to ignore me all together and take the next person in line, then when I asked her name she refused to answer."



"We have limits for a reason ma'am and our flyer strictly states that we have the right to limit quantities, and since this particular item says only six, we will go by what the flyer states. On top of that, she only wanted to take the next person in line because she didn't want to get backed up and make the rest of the customers wait forever. And finally, she wears a name tag, if you needed to make a complaint, you should have looked at that." Alanna couldn't help but smile, Jane was very good at staying completely composed when dealing with a customer, and Alanna loved Jane because she also refused to deal with the crap that they all seemed to dish out so well.



"You are just as bad as her, and I can assure you I will get much better service at another store and I will never shop here again. How would you like it if I started to shop only at your greatest competitors?"



"Honestly ma'am, none of us will care in the least if you never come back." Jane replied as dignified as she could. The woman eyes bulged out of her head and she stormed out the doors, walking into them realizing that they were not automatic. Alanna burst into a fit of hysterics, thanked Jane and barely made it through the rest of her customers without falling on the ground laughing.



After she had finished with her line it was completely dead and she tidied up around her. She heard the elevator open behind her and Jane was there with one of the other cashiers who was supposed to be stationed at an upstairs till. "Alanna, Helen is going to be taking over for you, we....uh, just got a call from the hospital and a Dr. Stevens..."



"Mom?" Alanna whispered as she braced herself on the counter. "She was at home, she was fine when I left this morning. I know she was."



"He said that she called the ambulance herself and when they arrived she was unconscious in her room. They tried to save her in the ambulance but..." Alanna's arms gave out and she crashed onto her bottom on the mat under her feet. She began to sob and when her good friend tried to console her Alanna swatted her away. "Alanna, let me drive you somewhere, home, to the hospital, you need to go somewhere. Anywhere."



"I'll drive myself home..." She finally stopped sobbing to get a sentence out.



"Alanna are you sure."



"Ive been expecting this for six months, I just never thought it would be this hard. She was okay this morning, I talked to her, she said she felt very well and that after work we could go rent a movie or something. Oh my god... I don't know what to do." Her voice was just over a whisper as she continued to ramble on, Jane helped her up as Helen took over for Alanna and helped the customers who had gathered more to watch the scene rather than pay for their items.



Alanna drove herself home, but she hardly remembered it at all, and she had no idea how she made it there without crashing. The house felt empty, her mother's TV was still on playing the evening news on the channel she usually watched her soap operas on.



She walked around the house in a daze until she heard the phone ring, she didn't want to deal with anyone at the moment, but she saw the strange number from Washington on the caller ID. The same number had called weeks ago and her mother talked to whoever it was in private in another room. She picked up the phone. "Hello." She barely whispered



"Hello, may I please speak to Sarah?"



"Who is this?"



"Uh, well, I just need to speak to your mother."



"You can't. No one can. She's gone." Her voice broke halfway through the statement and she began to cry again.



"Oh....Alanna.....I'm so sorry....I uh, I don't know what to say to you, really...." He trailed off.



"Who is this, and how do you know me?" She screamed into the phone.



"I, well, Alanna I'm your father." He finally replied.





She dropped the phone and the slam of it hitting the floor was all she could hear. She just stared at it as she heard the man's voice, her father's voice, calling to her through the receiver. She picked it up and did the only thing she could think to do, she pressed the end button.



It's too bad, it's stupid

Too late, so wrong, so long

It's too bad we had no time to rewind

Let's walk, let's talk





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



She had been sitting on the floor for twelve minutes, Alanna knew this because the phone in her hand told her so. She couldn't do anything, her mother was gone and the man who had fathered her, who she had never known or even knew of, had called her, and the caller ID could connect her with that. It was a scary but exciting prospect, but why now, why when her entire life seemed to be falling completely apart. he number was from Washington, and that was where her mother had gone a few weeks back, she had gone to see him, to tell him about her because she was ready to die. Her mother was looking out for her, and she couldn't resent her for that. But she never asked for this.



As her thoughts all jumbled into a big mess Alanna flipped to the most recent call and pressed talk which redialed the number. On the first ring a voice, not the one from before answered. "Please identify yourself."



"uh, Alanna."



"Last name?"



"Morrison....someone just called me on this number, and we got well disconn..."



"Just the name is all we need , hold please."



Alanna sat dumbfounded, who treated people like this, even customers weren't that bad. Just as she was about to hang up. There was another voice.



"Hello?" The man from before, her father, was there.



"Hello...Uh, it's me...Ala..."



"I know, listen I am so sorry, your mother and I have been in touch since she came out to visit me and we were planning on letting you in on the information tonight, I had no idea that she was....I'm sorry." Alanna was dumbfounded, who talked like that?



"What's your name?" Alanna simply asked. "You know mine, it seems fair I know yours."



"It's a bit more complicated than that, you see, you probably already know me and..."



"I don't know anyone from Washington." She snapped back. What was she doing, no person should have to go through this much heartache in a matter of hours.



"My name is Matthew Tyler...I'm the president of the United States." Alanna dropped the phone again.



After a few seconds of complete disbelief she realized this was just some sick joke. Furious, she picked up the phone. "You jerk, do you think this is funny?? I just lost my mom how heartless are you? If you ever call this number again I'll call the cops." She hung up the phone again and sunk down and leaned against the kitchen cupboard behind her back.



Alanna had no idea how long she cried for, but eventually she slept and that was where she would spend her first and only night as a supposed orphan.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





"Madeline?" Matthew entered the bedroom he shared with his wife, he had been in his study since his daughter hung up the phone on him, he couldn't bring himself to call her back, but he sat hoping she would call him.



"Hey darling, where have you been I expected you up here almost half an hour ago." She smiled at her husband and he dreaded telling her the secret he'd hidden for three weeks. How could he tear apart the family he had worked so hard to give everything to, he hated hurting Madeline, and he knew she would be devastated, so would the girls. Their youngest, and only boy, Cody, who was six would be the easiest.



"There is something you need to know, something that has been digging at me for weeks. I haven't been able to tell you because it's been so hard to come to terms with it myself. First and foremost I want you to know that this could never change how I feel about you and our family..."



Madeline sat up in her bed. "What have you done...Are you having an affair?" She could almost see the perfect marriage that she loved so dearly slipping away.



"No! I love you and I would never hurt you like that. This is something that happened years ago, before we were engaged. do you remember when we broke up during college and I dated a girl for a few months before we got back together?"



"Yes..." She said slowly and cautiously.



"She was here three weeks ago, she's the woman I met with in my study on the Saturday. Sarah Morrison, as her name, and when we broke up, she, well....god how can I say it...She was pregnant." There it was, the big secret it was out in the open, a huge weight was gone from his chest, but a sinking feeling filled his stomach. "I have another daughter Madeline."



She couldn't speak, Madeleine had never felt more lost in her life, she prided herself on always being prepared for anything, you had to be as the first lady, but no woman could prepare herself for this. "A...Well...I...Another child Matthew?"



"I had no idea, she didn't even know about the baby until we were engaged and I was getting ready to begin my political career. I guess she panicked and didn't think she could tell me, so she kept it secret and now she felt that I deserved to know before she...She was sick, she had breast cancer, I've been in contact with her since she was here trying to figure out what to do, and I called today and Alanna answered, my daughter, and I found out that Sarah died earlier in the afternoon. I know that now more than ever you need answers from me, and I can tell you right now that I don't have them, I don't know what to do to keep my family comfortable, this will be a huge issue for all of us. And on top of everything I need to leave tonight."



"Leave? Where? What could possibly be more important than giving your family support right now? You drop this on me, and I'm sure soon enough, the kids and you plan to leave. Presidential obligations or not, we need you now."



"I know you need me but I have to go. As hard as it will be for you and the kids, I need to go to my daughter. She just lost her mother and no one should be alone for that."



"You are going to leave us to go be with her?? Matthew you've never met her, let her grieve with her friends and family, your family needs you here!"



"She's my daughter, and since I have not been able to be there for all the things in her life until now, I am going to be there for the most life changing experience she has ever had."



"What about your other four daughters? Your son? God how do you even know she is yours, this lady could have lied to you." He grabbed the photo album from his inside pocket, he'd carried it with him for the last three weeks. "Look at her."



"Not a chance." She turned away from the graduation picture he held for her to see



"Look at her! If that picture isn't nearly a replica of our daughters' graduation portraits I don't know what is. She has Devona's features, Noelle's eyes, Rebecca's smile, and Shelby's identical hair colour. All these things were inherited from me, you've said it yourself on many occasions. Alanna is most definitely their sister, my child, and I will be there for her when she needs me the most. So I am getting on my plane tonight and I'm flying to her home in Calgary Canada and I am going to be there for my daughter."



"Have you not thought about what this could do to your campaign? A bastard daughter, a Canadian bastard daughter? There is no way you will win the election next fall with that scandal over your head."



"Believe me, I have looked at every possible scenario over the last three weeks and I know that when it comes down to it, and I have to make a choice that will lose me a job or lose me my own child I would lose the job in a second. Four more years in power is not worth losing another twenty with my own flesh and blood."



"You plan to leave tonight?"



"Yes."



"Then you better go find your girls and tell them before they go to sleep, because I will not explain this to them. it is up to you. Cody's asleep and he will go along with whatever, I can tell him, but you will be the one to break your daughters hearts, I won't do it for you." She leaned over and turned her bedside light off. "They're watching a movie in their living room."



He left the room and headed up the stairs to the area of the house where his daughters spent most of their time. He knocked on the white wooden door that he could hear music behind.



"Come in."



He went inside and saw his daughters in front of their large TV screen watching the only movie they ever seemed to agree on, Grease. "Hey Daddy!" Devona glanced at their father.



"What are you doing here?" Shelby asked.



"I need to talk to the four of you and your mother and I think it's best I tell you all at the same time." Matthew replied.



"Okay, this can't be good." Noelle turned her head away from the screen to give him her full attention.



"First and foremost, this will change our lives, I'm not even sure how much, but things will change, and I believe you will probably be angry mostly at me when this is over, but I have made my decision and I plan to stick by it."



"Just tell us, we're old enough to here it without the g rated introduction." Rebecca added.



"Before we got engaged, your mom and I broke up for a period of about six months during my last year of university. I dated during that time, mostly one girl in particular and after the year was over, we went our separate ways, broke up, and son after I got back together with mom. Well, this other woman, Sarah, got pregnant, and never told me. You guys have a sister, an older sister named Alanna." The girls just sat without saying a word but he saw the looks on their faces turn confused and hurt. "I had no idea about her until three weeks ago when her mother came back into my life to tell me about our child. Sarah was sick with cancer and she died today. So I know that you guys really need to spend some time with me and talk about this, but I need to go see her and help her through this. I promise I will be here for you as soon as I get back and I know it isn't fair to leave you with this huge burden to think about for however long I'm gone, but I can't leave my daughter when she needs someone, I can't let her go through this alone."



"Whatever dad, you feel guilty because you never knew her, it's not your fault, you're not obligated to turn your life upside down to take care of a girl who wants nothing but her fifteen minutes of fame. Don't risk everything for someone who you don't know." Noelle got up and headed for the door



"She doesn't know who I am, when I tried to explain the truth to her tonight she hung up on me thinking it was a cruel joke. And I don't feel obligated to help her, or guilty for not being there, I just feel the need to meet my own daughter."



As Noelle left the room, Rebecca stood and began to follow. "It's fine Dad, it's just another thing for you to ignore us for. We're used to it, if it's not the presidency, it's Cody's tantrums and medication, now you can use the excuse of getting to know your illegitimate daughter as a way to not get to know us." She followed Noelle out the main doors.



"I don't ignore you guys..." He tried to reason with Rebecca as she stormed off, she was the oldest of the quadruplets and always came to the defense of Noelle who was the youngest and most headstrong.



"You don't mean to ignore us, and we get that four is an overwhelming number of teenage girls, but come on dad, you had to leave our graduation ceremony early because the president of some African country was taken hostage. The biggest day of our lives and you didn't even get to see us walk the stage live, you got a DVD made by your assistant. Somehow you manage to go to all of Cody's meetings with the psychologist, but you can't make it to one of my riding competitions, Rebecca's piano recitals, the game's Noelle cheers at, or Devona's Debates. But I'm so happy you manage to find the time to fly to see a girl you've never met. It's funny that you 'can't leave your daughter when she needs someone,' yet you've done a pretty awesome job of it with the four you have. I swear dad, we're here to make you look like a perfect parent, and we always want to make you happy with that, but the only time you even know we're alive is when we end up on TV or in a tabloid because we kissed a boy on a date or something."



You called the house from time to time

To make sure we're alive

But you weren't there

Right when I needed you the most

And now I dream about it

How it's so bad, it's so bad



Shelby left through a side door and it left Devona sitting on the couch by herself. She got up, turned the DVD off and put it back in the case, then into the entertainment cupboard without saying a word. Matthew waited to see if she had anything to say. "Devona?"



"I understand why you need to do this, they do too, but instead of just telling us about what you're going to do with this daughter of yours, maybe you should have asked us what we'd like you to do, or what we'd like to do. She's not just your daughter, she's also apparently our sister. Goodnight Dad, I'll see you when you get home." She turned the TV to the evening news and just as Matthew was about to leave the room she turned again. "It does hurt a bit though...you've made it clear a thousand times how we need to be on our best behaviour, and do nothing out of the ordinary this year to make sure you get your eight years of power. Yet with this girl who you know nothing about, you'd risk the ultimate scandal. I'm sure it's been hard for her to live without a dad for her whole life, but we've lived with an alderman, a mayor, a governor, and a president, why is she so special that you finally see the need to become a dad instead of a politician."