Still Here

Chapter Eleven

"Daddy, Daddy, look!" Shiloh squealed getting up from her spot on the floor. She skipped to Aubrey's desk where he was doing some very important work.

"Yes?"

"I drew us!"

He finished typing an email and turned to his daughter who was bursting with pride. She handed the piece of paper to him and patiently awaited his input.

Shiloh drew the best stick figures Aubrey had ever seen and he didn't think that because she was his daughter.

"That's you," she informed him, pointing to a stick figure with a well drawn beard.

"Wow, that looks just like me," Aubrey chuckled, admiring himself in stick figure form.

"You can keep it."

"I will, thank you."

Aubrey taped the drawing right under the framed Canadian flag on the wall. It tied the room together.

"Hey, I brought you some coffee," Donovan said, entering Aubrey's office.

"Thanks, I was just about to go get some."

Donovan nodded and looked over at Shiloh who had settled back in her spot on the floor to draw another picture, glanced at Aubrey and then back at little Shiloh. He had an idea of who she might be to him but he didn't want to say anything and be wrong.

"Who's this?" he inquired, smiling when Shiloh looked up at him.

"This is Shiloh. My daughter."

"You have a daughter?"

Aubrey gazed at Shiloh for a minute before a grinning and nodding slightly. "Yeah. I do. Come say hi, baby."

Shiloh stood to her feet and scampered over to Aubrey. She didn't want to look Donovan in the eye just yet.

"Say hi, Shiloh," Aubrey cooed, playing with her little curls.

Shiloh shook her head and hid behind Aubrey's swivel chair. He looked at Donovan and shrugged.

"She's a little on the shy side," Aubrey said scooping Shiloh up. "Let's get to work."

The only other man Shiloh was comfortable being held by was Ryan and no one could figure out why. Aubrey thought it was because they were cousins but Shiloh didn't even want her grandfather to hold her. She just really likes Ryan and Ryan didn't mind.

"Why you hoggin' the baby?" Party asked not impressed with all the love Shiloh was giving Ryan.

"I'm not hogging her, she just likes me," Ryan said peppering kisses all over Shiloh's face.

"She won't even look at me," Party complained.

"Grown women won't even look at you so this shouldn't feel any different," Aubrey joked.

"Shut up. Y'all know that's a lie!" Party exclaimed attempting to get Shiloh to look at him.

"Leave her alone. She doesn't want you." Ryan cuddled Shiloh close to his chest and spun around in his chair.

"Let's get to work because this might get out of hand," Aubrey laughed.

"You started it bringing the kid in here." Party stepped into the sound booth and put his headphones on.

"Hey, how was school yesterday? And why isn't she in school right now?" Noel inquired in a hushed tone.

"We'll talk about that later," Aubrey replied. He didn't want to talk about his daughter when she was in the same room.

"She got kicked out on the first day?!" Chubbs hissed.

"I said we'll talk about it later," Aubrey repeated.

"You need to teach you child some manners," Chubbs mumbled.

"While you teach her manners, teach yourself some," Aubrey shot back.

Chubbs put his hands up in surrender and kept quiet. Noel struggled to stifle his laughter.

"Can we record please?" Party asked through the intercom.

"Yes. Playback."

♤♤♤

The room was awkwardly quiet after Aubrey told his friends what happened yesterday. They couldn't believe Aubrey's little girl had a social anxiety.

"That's insane," Noel whispered.

"I'm really sorry, Aubs," Party said also in a whisper. Shiloh was in the studio's restroom and Aubrey didn't want her to hear anything they were saying.

"It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault but I wish she liked school and stuff," Aubrey sighed. "They said she's afraid of being of afraid and she doesn't like being places by herself. I mean, I'm surprised she's in the bathroom with the door closed."

"She just cries all the time or what?" Ryan inquired.

"Yeah. She says she can't breathe and stuff like that. It's terrifying to watch. I want to do something to help her but I can't. It's mostly in her head, you know?"

"So she's crazy?"

Aubrey slowly turned to look at Chubbs who didn't seem to feel bad about his comment at all. However, it did make Aubrey boil over with anger.

"Crazy?" he hissed. "My daughter is not crazy."

"You said it's in her head," Chubbs countered.

"I understand that but just because it's in her head doesn't mean she's mentally insane. I can't believe you would say that!"

"Aubs, calm down," Ryan said, trying to soothe his cousin back into his seat.

"You know what? If you're gonna tell me to calm down when there's something wrong with my daughter, everyone one of you can leave. You don't understand how much this hurts me," Aubrey growled, shooing Ryan's hand away from him.

"Um, Mr. Graham?" Donovan said, lightly tapping Aubrey's shoulder. He didn't want to make him more upset.

"What?"

"Shiloh's calling you."

"Go," Aubrey ordered to everyone but Donovan. "I've had enough of all of you today."

"But I didn't do nothin'!" Party laughed.

"Y'all, he wants you out. Go." Donovan was beginning to feel Aubrey's pain.

Aubrey went to tend to his daughter as Donovan made sure the room was cleared. He knew something was wrong with those guys and today was proof of his theory.

"I'm sorry about Shiloh, man," he said later that day. Shiloh was sound asleep in Aubrey's arms. All the crying she did for half an hour wore her out.

"Thanks for understanding," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "I hate seeing her afraid of everything."

"I was thinking we were gonna have to call 911 with the way she talking," Donovan said thinking about Shiloh claiming she couldn't breathe.

"It's scary, I know. I think she can breathe but she's just crying so much. I fuckin' hate this man. I just want her to be normal." Aubrey held his daughter a little tighter.

"We all have our challenges. And this is one y'all are gonna have to live with. You'll make it though. You always do."

A/N: I'm back! I'm not dead lol I've just been working on other stuff. Hopefully updates will be more frequent...