Daughter. DAUGHTER. A human being composed of half of his genetic make-up. His very own flesh and blood- HIS DAUGHTER? The conversation concluded with Ms. Pauling informing Scout that his ma would be bringing his long lost child with her this weekend when she came to visit. Wonderful.
He sat there for what felt like hours assessing the situation. It was unfathomable to him. It couldn’t have been- NO. IT COULDN’T BE. The Graduation party at Ricky Moore’s house, Scout remembered now. That was the night he lost his virginity. He never really “counted” that night because everyone was so drunk, but he remembered going with Janet to the back bedroom and taking off her shirt. The rest was a blur. A big, fat, hazy, stupid blur. He was mortified, he couldn’t even be slightly proud that he got someone on the first try. He prayed that it was a misunderstanding… a mistake… that Janet was the sluttiest virgin ever and she had sex with someone else that night, he would’ve taken anything! Give ‘em armies of robot clones in the middle of the desert, give ‘em sentient bread filled with radioactive tumors, give ‘em a suitcase filled with TNT, but don’t give him this!
There was a knock at the door, “Scout?! Did you break the phone AGAIN?!” it was the Spy. He barged in without an invitation, ready to shoot the pathetic merc in the head for busting the speaker in the telephone for the third time this month, but much to his surprise nothing was broken. “Well, I hope I wasn’t interrupting something!” He turned away to laugh boisterously, expecting the young merc to retort with a sub-par insult.
But there was nothing.
“You look glum, what’s the matter? Did the phone sex operator put you on hold again?” He guffawed loudly awaiting Scout’s reply to no avail, “Oh lighten up, that was a good line.”
Scout hadn’t even recognized Spy’s presence until that moment, “Huh? Oh, yeah… good… good one.”
“Not that I care all that much,” Spy wheeled over another office chair and took a seat, “but why so glum, dear comrade?” he pulled from his breast pocket a fresh cigarette and lit it up.
No use in hiding it, Scout figured, “I just found out today… that I’m a dad.” it almost hurt to say it aloud.
The Spy didn’t even pause to take a drag from his cigarette, he too was in disbelief, “...You? A FATHER? Scout, you can barely find your way to the right base most days!”
“Yeah, yeah, make your jokes.” he scoffed.
“I apologize, but it is the truth.”
“Okay, enough! … My ma is visiting this weekend and she’s bringin’ her along…”
A ring of smoke escaped the Spy’s lips, “Her?”
“Melissa… my daughter.” those words made him want to gag, how could he let this happen?
“A daughter, eh?” He drummed his finger on the side of the chair, “How does Ms. Pauling feel about this?”
“I don’t know- look, it was back in high school, okay?! It was a party and we were drunk and I didn’t know what I was doing!” Scout clenched his fists, “I just-”
“You must not have any regrets.” Spy put his hand on his shoulder, “You cannot change what happened that day, no one can. You will have to face the choices you made for the rest of your life, the very least you can do is make the best of it.”
As much as he hated to believe anything the Spy said, he was right.
YOU ARE READING
Family Time #1: Scout
Fanfiction[This story is the first story in the Family Time series based off of the Daddy Fortress AU by tumblr-user paperfrays] Scout spends time with his long lost child, Melissa, at Red Base. Hilarity and endearing awkwardness ensues. Mostly awkwardness.
