A/N: I have recently started watching this show after many years so this is my first attempt at writing for this fandom. Any inaccuracies are unintentional. Thanks for reading and any comments you care to leave.

Her hand trembled as she picked up the receiver of the pay phone. And almost instantly she returned it to its base. She turned to her friends who were watching her with empathetic glances.

"Natalie, you don't have to do this." Blair said.

"Blair's right." Jo added. "I mean, I know that I wasn't even at Eastland yet when you were taking that dumb class, but I totally get why it would upset you, what with being adopted and all."

Tootie's eyes widened. "Jo!"

"What? I didn't say anything!" Jo shot back.

"No, it's all right, Jo. You're right. Taking that class was hard, but this…"

"Like I said…" Blair repeated. "You don't have to do this."

"But-."

"Natalie, your mother loves you." Mrs. Garrett said. "She picked you."

Natalie sighed. "I know. I keep trying to remember that."

"Well, whatever you decide, we're here for you."

Natalie smiled at her friend. "Thanks, Sue Ellen. All of you, actually. Well, here goes nothing." She picked up the receiver and dialed the number that she knew so well. When the phone began to ring, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

"Hello?"

"Mom? Um, this is Natalie."

"Natalie, sweetheart! What a wonderful surprise! I was just thinking about you!"

"You were?"

Her mom laughed. "Well, that's not really unusual. I think about you a lot. After all, you are my little girl!"

Natalie swallowed hard and blinked back tears. "I think about you a lot, too. In fact, that's why I'm calling."

"Well, I'm glad that you did. How's school?"

"It's fine."

"And your friends?"

Natalie's gaze moved across the kitchen to the faces who were watching her intently. "Oh, they're great, Mom. Jo, Blair, Sue Ann, Tootie…."

"I'm glad you have such good friends, Natalie. I know it's not easy making friends sometimes, and I-."

"Mom, there's something I have to tell you."

"All right. What is it?"

"Well, I don't think you're going to like it."

"Why don't you just tell me and we'll see about that?"

"Okay. We had to take a class at school and do a project on family trees. We had to research our family history. And, well, I…"

Blair reached for Natalie's hand and squeezed gently. "Go on…" She mouthed.

"That sounds interesting, Natalie. Is that what you wanted to tell me?"

"Well, there's a little more."

"Okay."

"I-I tried to find my birth mother. Or at least I wanted to."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Oh… I see."

"I'm sorry Mom. I know it was a dumb thing to do and I've never thought about doing that before. I just, well with everyone else researching their family histories, I guess I wanted to know mine too."

"Don't be sorry, Nat. It's a perfectly normal thing to be curious about your birth mother. I'm only sorry that we haven't talked about this before. But I want you to know that I love you very much."

"I love you too, Mom."

"I'll come and visit you very soon, all right?"

"I'd like that, Mom. Bye."

The moment that Natalie hung up the phone she turned to her friends and Mrs. Garrett. "Well, I did it."

"And we're so proud of you." Mrs. Garrett said.

Before Natalie could react, she was engulfed in a group hug. Oh how she loved her family… all of her family.

The End

A/N: I added Jo because I thought she should be included. =)