My Father's Daughter

Two

Vic's POV

"Ugh, that was a great show!" Jaime gushed as we all jumped back on the bus.

"I know! There was so much energy tonight." I said. I wiped the sweat from my face and grabbed a towel. "Dibs on the shower!" I ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind me before anyone could beat me there. I heard an array of groans in frustration and laughed as I turned on the shower. I made it quick so no one would start pissing off about me taking a long time even though I have the longest hair and should be allowed to take the longest shower.

I got dressed and left the bathroom. I glanced around the room and everyone was staring at me like someone had just died.

"God, it was just a shower why are you all so upset?"

"Uh, Vic?" Tony said. I turned back to him from the cabinets. I'm so hungry... "You know Abby? Audrey's mom?" I grinned to myself at the thought of my daughter and nodded. "Uh, well...she...was in a car accident a few days ago..." I spun around and stared at him.

"What? Oh my god, are they okay?" I asked frantically. Mike came over and patted my shoulder.

"Audrey's fine, but Abby...she was killed." Mike told me. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

"When did you guys find out?"

"They just called your phone. They said it was an emergency contact." Oh my gosh. Abby had been sending me pictures and information about Audrey for her whole life, but she didn't want me to see her because she didn't want Audrey knowing that I was in a band. Wait...Audrey!

"Did they say anything about how I can find her?"

"Who, Audrey? Yeah, they left a number. She's staying with a friend right now." Jaime said sliding a piece of paper across to me. I snatched it up and ripped my phone out of Tony's hand. I dialed the number as fast as possible.

"Vic, don't you think we should talk fir--" Mike started, but I shushed him.

"Mike, I'm not abandoning my daughter when I can take her." He sighed and I held the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" A woman's voice asked.

"Uh, hey, is this Mrs. Fisher?" I asked, reading the name on the slip of paper.

"Yes."

"Hi, I'm Vic. Um, I was told that Audrey Jones was staying with you...?"

"Yes she is. She just lost her mother. I don't mean to be rude, but what part of that concerns you?"

"Au-Audrey is my daughter. Abby was keeping me informed about her." I shut my eyes, thinking about my sweet little girl.

"Oh my gosh, uh okay."

"C-Could I speak to Audrey please?" I felt tears welling in my eyes. I had left the guys in the front lounge and gone to the back. I so badly wanted to hear my daughter's voice.

"Well, I don't know if that's such a good idea, Vic."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I don't know anything about you and there's probably a reason that Abby did not want you to meet her. I'm taking care of Audrey at the moment, and I have to look out for her. Why, did you want to get custody over her?"

"Yes! Yes, she's my daughter. You don't understand, the reason why I wasn't allowed to see her was--"

"You know what? How about you come here and we can talk? I think this would be better done in person."

"O-Okay. I'll actually be in the area in a few weeks, is that okay?"

"Yes, that's fine. I'll see you then, Vic." Then she hung up. I was leaning my forehead against the wall of the bus, staring down at my feet. I saw a water droplet fall and I rubbed my eyes, realizing that I was crying. Would I finally get to meet my daughter?

"Hey Vic?" Mike asked as he walked in. "So what's the plan?"

"We're going to be playing near Audrey in two weeks. I'm going to go see her and see if I can convince her to come live with us." Mike slapped me on the back.

"That's great! Did you talk to her?" I shook my head.

"The friends mother thinks that there's a good reason that I shouldn't be allowed to see her so she didn't want me talking to her until she knows more about me or something."

"Yeah, because you do kind of give off that child-abuser/rapist aura on first impressions. Watch out! He's bad, he's mean, he's five foot six, he's...DICK FUENTES!" He announced, standing up and acting all weird. I shoved him into the wall.

"Shut up! Don't act like that around my daughter, I don't want them thinking we're a bunch of creeps." I said holding back the laugh. He chuckled and nodded. I sighed, thinking about how I wouldn't see Audrey for a few days. Ugh, I wish I had gotten to meet her sooner. I just hope she doesn't hate me for never coming to see her.

"Hey, let's get out those old photos Abby sent you." Mike suggested noticing my sudden somber attitude. I nodded and pulled them out from under my bunk and sat back down with Mike. We flipped through the pictures looking at baby pictures, first day of school pictures, Halloween pictures, and other photos taken on various occasions showing her and her family (minus me) smiling and laughing. All days that I hadn't been there for. All the smiles and laughs I had missed.

"This is my favorite." I said, coming to a picture of Audrey sitting on a dock, looking out across the water. I flipped to the most recent picture. It was Audrey sititng in a tree with her knees curled up to her chest and her face buried into them. She had on a black sweatshirt and black jeans. She was always wearing black...

I looked back at earlier pictures and she wore yellow sundresses, and pink skirts, and green sandals. Why all of a sudden was she wearing black? I also noticed that she didn't seem as happy in more recent pictures. She slowly lost that bright smile that she had when she was a child. I didn't even know whether or not she had braces. What's wrong, Baby Girl? I wondered.