H2O- Just Add Water Going Off Script

Goodbye Daddy

When Cleo got home, her dad was standing on the front steps, his arms folded.

"Cleo, do you mind telling me where you've been?"

Cleo didn't bother trying to answer. Instead, she went and wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling into his chest. She felt tears streak down her face.

"Cleo-"

"I love you. You're the best dad I could have ever have asked for." She pulled back and gave Don a watery smile before heading into the house.

Her eyes still red, Cleo saw Kim sitting at the kitchen table doing homework.

She smiled and went to stand beside Kim. "You need some help with that?"

Kim looked startled. Cleo had never offered to help her with homework before. "Um.... Sure."

Cleo pulled up a chair and sat down next to Kim, patiently instructing her on the complicated equations. She didn't even look up when Don passed by, looking curiously at Cleo.

Kim cracked.

"And see, since x=45.9, y= 23. And so-"

"What is going on!?" Kim screeched.

Don stepped into the room. "I'd like to know that too. Cleo, you haven't been the same since you disappeared. What's going on?"

Cleo shook her head.

Don took her hand. "Just please tell me what happened while you were gone. Please."

Cleo looked up at her family for what could be the last time, and thrust herself into their arms.

"I love you so much. Please never forget that."

"Cleo-"

"Goodnight Dad. Night Kimmie."

Cleo barely managed to make it to her room before she collapsed, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

Emma had locked herself in her bedroom. She didn't want her parents or Elliot coming in. She could barely hold it together as it was. She knew that if she saw them again, she would lose her nerve and never be able to leave.

But she couldn't leave without giving them a message to remember her by. She opened her journal, the one she had said she loved too much to ever write in, and picked up her pencil.

She set down the car keys she had been fiddling with.

Rikki didn't think she could do it.

She was silent over dinner, but her dad had plenty to say, so that wasn't the issue. No, the problem was that she nearly lost it when her dad said,

"You know Rikki, the only reason I work so hard is for you. So you can have a good life; a better one than I have had. I want the best for you."

She stood up and grasped Terry, squeezing him tight. "Thanks dad. I love you."

"I love you too Rikki." Terry whispered in her ear. He let go, and Rikki retreated up the stairs to prepare.

It was going to be a long night.