Godfather

9

The day finally came when Luke and Daisy Jane were finally leaving Australia and relocating to Los Angeles, California.

Luke, although not feeling the anxiety of the move anymore, was now feeling the anxiety of the plane ride. Daisy was only but a few years old and she'd never been on a plane before, so he didn't really know how she was going to act. Especially on a flight this long. But, for her sake, he did his best at keeping his spirits up.

"You excited, baby?" He asked, holding her hand as they wheeled their luggage behind them.

Daisy just giggled and tried to keep up with his large steps, content with her little game. Lag a little, and then race up to his level. Luke hadn't even noticed she was doing it.

"Baby."

"What?"

"I asked you a question."

"Oh." She spoke, smile still on her face. "What is it?"

"I asked if you were excited," He repeated. "For the plane ride."

"Yes." She responded.

"Good!" He beamed. "It's going to be so cool, baby. We're gonna be up in the clouds like Supergirl!"

Daisy nodded and continued smiling, holding her Luke's hand tightly. Truth was that she was only really excited for Luke, not for the plane. She couldn't have given less of a care about some dumb old plane. She knew as long as he was there, she would be just fine.

Luke, on the other hand, couldn't have possibly given more cares about the plane. He was still stressing out. He kept running through all the possibilities of what could happen to them on the plane. For all he knew, there could be a plane crash, there could be a huge storm (even though he had checked the weather dozens of times), there could be an outbreak of some disease that only infects children, and his biggest anxiety out of them all, Daisy could be that annoying little girl that cried the whole time. He knew that Daisy had been through a lot, and that this move wasn't ideal, and he was just petrified that it would finally all sink in while they were on the plane. He didn't want to be that dad, and he didn't want his baby to be that kid. Especially with his status as a person of notability.

Then it hit him.

He'd just referred to himself as her dad.

"Oh my god," He muttered to himself, eyes wide. "What did I just do?"

"What?" Daisy asked, looking up at him through her thick eyelashes — something she'd inherited from her real father.

"Nothing, baby," He quickly spoke, sending her a tight-lipped smile. "Just forget about it."

And that was all it took for her to do just that: forget about it.

Luke, on the other hand, was now freaking out even more as they entered the hallway to board the plane. Hell, he was breaking a sweat at that point. He just couldn't believe that he'd done that. That he called himself her dad, knowing damn well that his dead best friend was her real father. He was ashamed of himself, and he knew that the feeling wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

Boarding the flight, Luke made his way to his and Daisy's first class seats, putting their bags in the overhead compartments before sitting down. Daisy was quite enthused by it all, and even though she knew she was going to miss her home, she found herself having fun. She was ecstatic about the fact that she and Luke had their own little corner, and that she didn't have to deal with anyone else, and Luke had told her earlier that the seats turned into beds!

"Sit down, baby," Luke spoke softly, pulling her out of her thoughts.

She didn't even realise that she was standing up on the chair.

"The flight's going to take off soon."

And that, it did. After the flight attendant told them to buckle up and went through all of the safety procedures (which Luke quizzed Daisy on afterword), they were off. The turbulence bothered Daisy a little bit, getting a few whimpers, but it was nothing that a few coos couldn't fix.

The real trouble for Luke, however, was not Daisy's reaction from plane ride. In fact, he really had nothing to worry about when it came to her and planes. She was a good flyer, as it turns out. What the trouble was was a little more... internal.

He was freaking out and there really wasn't anything he could do about it. Normally, he'd go outside, work out, maybe even smoke a cigarette or talk to one of the boys. But he couldn't do that. He was trapped in a large flying piece of metal thousands of feet in the air with a toddler sleeping next to him. He couldn't drink, seeing as Daisy was there, and he didn't want to do anything else that may give him a bad image as a f— legal guardian.

So, Luke did what he did best. He wrote out his feelings, penning them down on a piece of paper, and worked them out. He didn't exactly know where he what he was going to do with the song, seeing as it was a new level of vulnerability that his band hadn't really ever touched on. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that he was doing something that helped him get through what he was going through at the moment. What mattered was that Daisy was sleeping and that it was quiet and that he could be alone while everyone else slept. What mattered was that he wasn't Daisy's father, he never was, and he never will be.

Finishing up the last lyric of the song written on the thin, folded piece of paper, Luke tucked it into his jean pockets and turned off his little light, allowing himself to finally get some rest.

And when he woke up, he was home. Back in the city he loved that was filled with his closest friends and the band that gave him everything he had. Now, it held something else.

His beautiful baby girl.