Because Mom Wasn't Enough

Please don't leave

Vic's POV

"Jo, wait!" I yelled after her as I ran to catch up. "Jo, please don't leave again!" I called. I was probably waking up everyone on the floor, but I didn't care. She just made it to the elevator and dove in before it closed. I sighed repeatedly poking the button to get a second one down here. It finally showed up and I went in, pressing the button for the lobby. I turned around and the guys came in after me.

"Vic, what's going on? Why were you screaming?" Mike asked, tiredly.

"Jo got mad and ran out again." I sighed. The elevator doors opened and we ran out into the lobby. It was empty except for the women behind the counter.

"Vic, how did you lose her again?" Jaime asked.

"I didn't lose her!" I snapped. The lady jumped and I smiled at her apologetically.

"Well, something must have happened." He said. "Why was she mad?"

"She...said that we care too much." I mumbled. "Excuse me, did a girl just run out of here a minute ago?" I asked the lady.

"Yes, but I don't know which way she went." The lady asked nervously.

"We care too much?" Mike asked. I nodded. I ran out of the hotel enterance and scanned the area.

"Jo!!" I screamed, cupping my mouth with my hands. Mike put a hand on my shoulder.

"Vic, we aren't going to find her this late at night."

"JO!!!" I called again. "Mike, we have to look for her!"

"Come on bro, how far is she going to get by morning?" Jaime asked. I spun around to face him.

"Have you forgotten!? She got from Texas to San Francisco in a night. She might not even be in the state by now!" I screamed at him. He put his hands up in defence. I looked to Tony in desperation.

"I'm with you Vic, we can at least try." He said. I grinned and hugged him.

"Thank you Tone." I stepped back.

"That little girl means a lot to me. Plus she's hurt. She's family, you don't abandon family." He said. Jaime sighed and nodded. He wrapped an arm around Tony and kissed his cheek. I turned to Mike before I got the pleasure of seeing them start fucking on the street.

"Bro, I'm with you. I'm always with you. Let's go." He said. I sighed in relief, knowing I had everyone on my side. I pulled out my phone and showed them a map of the city.

"Tony, Jaime, you two go this way." I said pointing to the left. "Mike and I will go right, and we'll circle up to the other side of the city. We can meet at the bridge and come back down here." I said, guiding them through on the map. They nodded and Mike and I turned to search for Jo. We walked in silence for a few minutes. The roads and sidewalks were always lit by the neon lights all around in the shop windows, or on the sides of buildings. I continuously glanced around the street. I craned my neck to see over people which didn't work. Mike chuckled and I looked up at him, annoyed.

"Need a lift there shorty?" He asked. I rolled my eyes and shoved him.

"Why aren't you taking this seriously Mike!? That's your niece! My daughter! She was just shot, and you're laughing at the fact that she ran away!?" I snapped.

"No Vic! I'm laughing at the fact that she could run away! She's the strongest little fucker I've ever seen. If she can run, then we know she's at least got that on her side."

"And how is that supposed to help us now?" I asked, my temper rising.

"Because Vic, Her crazy ass brother is out looking for her, and she's out here alone."

"Well, she has a gun..." I muttered.

"Really? Well then, that too. What even happened back there between you two?" I sighed and shrugged.

"In the car she said something like we shouldn't care about her so much and it was just tense. Then at the hotel she said that she was taking our attention away from the band and stuff that she thought was more important. I don't know. I told her that she would always be more important and then she took her gun and said she was 'going 'out' then left."

"Just 'going out?'" Mike asked. I nodded. "Vic, that doesn't mean she's leaving! She was probably just upset and in the heat of the moment said some things. She probably needed to cool off and decided to look out for Danny."

"How do you know?" I asked, skeptical of Mike's theory. He shrugged.

"I don't know anything for sure, except that she does really care about you. I think she was just mad. Jo is probably just going to show up back at the hotel later. I doubt she's in any trouble, Vic." I sighed. We had just arrived at the bridge where we were going to meet Tony and Jaime. They were already there and we caught up to them.

"Hey, guys...I think we better just head back." I said.

"Are you sure? We could still look around a little." Jaime suggested. I shook my head.

"She might already be back. I'll try calling her again, but I don't think she'll answer." I took out my phone as we started walking back to the hotel. I dialed her number and waited for the ringing. It rang six times, and went dead. She wouldn't answer me. I went through all the possible scenarios that could have possibly occurred. I wondered why she kept leaving. I wondered why she didn't want me to care. How could I not care? That's my daughter.

It was almost morning by the time we got back to the hotel. We were leaving the next day, with or without Jo. It broke my heart knowing that, but we had to get home. I knew it probably wouldn't be too hard for Jo to find her way back to San Diego considering how well she seemed to know every city we went to. I called her one more time before going to bed.

"Hey, this is Jo, leave a message since I obviously have better things to do than talk to you." He voice mail said.

"Uh, hey Jo. It's me, I just...wanted to let you know that we're leaving tomorrow. I--uh, I don't know. I just want you to come home. I miss you. Call me...if you can...bye..." I said into the phone. I hung up and tossed it on the bed. Jo never came back and I couldn't stop worrying about her. I sighed and tried to fall asleep considering I had been up all night.