My Father's Daughter

Seven

Vic's POV

"Audrey? You awake Sweetie?" I walked into the bunk room to check to see if Audrey was up yet. It was almost noon, even Mike was up already. I slid back the curtain to her bunk and there she was, sleeping peacefully. I sat on the edge of her bed, not wanting to wake her up, and wishing I could just sit there forever knowing my baby was safe. I pulled back the blankets a little since they were tucked up around her neck. Her breath was steady, but heavy. I rubbed her side, but stopped when I noticed something. Audrey's shirt had some small reddish brown lines on it, like something had bled throught it. I slowly lifted her shirt and squeezed my eyes shut when I saw her scars. I noticed that her eyes looked puffy and her face was red. She had been crying. I sighed and rubbed her arm to wake her up. "Audrey? Wake up Baby." Her eyes fluttered open and she shifted so she was facing me.

"Hi, Vic." She said. I smiled.

"Hey sleepy head. It's lunch time, you hungry?" She grinned and nodded as she sat up next to me.

"What are we having?" She asked me in a groggy voice.

"Whatever you want, we were going to walk somewhere."

"Okay, I just need to get dressed."

"Audrey? Before you do, can we talk?" I asked her.

"About what?" I sighed and pulled her onto my lap. She flinched when I touched her side, although she tried to hide it.

"That." She looked up at me.

"Huh?"

"Hun, your whole side is scarred." Audrey sighed and leaned her head on my chest. "Don't try to tell me you got attacked by badgers, I made that one up." I squeezed her hand and she giggled halfheartedly. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"What would I have said? 'Hey Dad, I hurt myself to make it not hurt so bad'?" I shook my head.

"When did you start this?" She shrugged.

"I think it was a year and a half ago or something..." I pulled her closer to me being careful of her fresh cuts. This girl was so perfect; she was kind and smart and beautiful, why would she do this?

"Baby, what made you want to hurt yourself?" I rested my chin on the top of her head.

"Um..." She started. She shuddered and I knew I was reopening old wounds.

"Please tell me?" I begged her. She took a deep breath and continued.

"When my brother got sick...that was hard. Then, um, school got really stressful. Mom started pressuring me to get a job so I could make money for his treatment..." I closed my eyes as I listened to her story. Audrey sniffled and I felt her tears start to soak into my shirt. God, she was trying so hard to be strong... "I hated school...I was just always singled out for having the sick brother...and when he d-died..." I adjusted my hold on her so I was hugging her.

"Shhh..." I hummed in her ear as she cried. "You're okay..." I started humming A Match Into Water and rubbed her shoulder. I wiped away her tears when she started to calm down. "Audrey, please talk to me."

"I-I'm so-sorry..." She whispered.

"I'm not mad. Can you do something for me?"

"I'll try to st-stop." I shook my head.

"No Baby, I'm going to help you." She nodded into my shoulder. "Can you give me everything you use?" I saw her squeeze her eyes shut like she felt so confused. I squeezed her hand and she reached under the mattress and pulled out a box of razors. "Is this it?" She nodded. I didn't really believe her since she didn't seem so sure about stopping, but I didn't pester her about it. "Now promise me you're going to come to me whenever something's wrong?" She nodded again. "Good, I don't want my baby girl to be hurt. I'm going to get rid of these and I never want to see them again." Audrey wrapped her arms around my neck and I held her.

"I'm sorry I'm such a bad daughter. Please don't leave me!" I was shocked she would even say that. What hurt her so bad she feels like I wouldn't keep her?

"Audrey. I am never going to leave you. I love you so much. I will do anything for you hun, you're going to be begging to get away from me soon. You're not a bad daughter. You're the best daughter anyone could ever ask for. I need you to believe that as much as I do." She wiped away a few stray tears.

"Okay..." She sighed into my shoulder. I pulled her away so I could see her. She immediately dropped her head but I lifted her chin so she would make eye contact with me.

"I wanted to have custody over you so I would know what was going on in your life. This doesn't change anything, I still want to be here. And I want you to tell me about everything that's not perfect so I can make it better okay?"

"Okay. But...Vic?"

"Mhm?"

"A-Are you going to tell anyone?"

"Do you want me to?" She shook her head.

"I don't think fans would take it well..."

"Well I'm not going to announce it to the world silly!...But what about the guys?" Her eyes darted around and she was pale. "I'm not going to if you don't want me to, I just think it might be better to have more than just me hanging around who you would feel comfortable talking to."

"Would they hate me?" I shook my head.

"No they would never hate you. They don't have to know right now, you can wait."

"Alright..."

"Alright. I don't know about you, but I'm starving!" Her face lit up and she smiled excitedly. "Okay, go get dressed and come out when you're ready." She slid off my lap and I went out to the front lounge where the guys were waiting.

"That took forever." Jaime groaned.

"Oh, we were, uh, just talking. Audrey's getting dressed."

"Tell me when we're leaving." Tony said as he poke at his phone screen.

"Hey, Vic? Can I talk to you for a sec?" Mike asked. I nodded and he led me outside. "You okay?"

"Uh huh, yeah, why?" Mike sighed.

"Is Audrey okay?" I did't want to lie straight to his face, but Audrey asked me not to tell him.

"Yeah, she's fine too. Why, what are you getting at?"

"Vic, I could hear her crying, and your shoulder has tear stains on it. What's going on? Why won't you tell me?"

"Nothing's wrong, she just...misses her friends." Mike didn't look convinced but the guys and Audrey came running out of the bus screaming. Jaime was giving Audrey a piggyback ride and she looked terrified. Mike shot me a look as if to say that we weren't done talking. I sighed, and ran after Tony, Jaime, and Audrey.

"Jaime put her down! Don't kill my daughter!" I cried. Jaime stopped and put her down and we all walked to a burger place to get lunch. Of course, Tony got a salad. We ate quickly, I don't think anyone had eaten anything yet today since we all slept late.

"So Audrey." Mike started. " Do you miss your friends back home?" Fuck you to hell, Mike.

"Um...not really. I mean a little but this is more fun so texting is sufficient." She said simply. Mike glared at me since he knew I had lied to him. I looked down at my plate. I just needed to talk to Audrey alone before I talk to Mike. I'm not going to tell him anything Audrey doesn't want me to.