The Most Likely Pair (Completed)

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AXE'S POV

"Hey Dad...I'm back." I walk into dad's sterile hospital room. 

"Hey, there's my Princess..." he rasps, smiling behind his mouth mask thingy (I have no idea what they are called, I know that painters use them).

"I got your favorite pudding Dad." I walk toward his bed with a grin.

He smiles weakly. "That's my girl." He says taking hold of the tapioca pudding cup and straw in my hands. "How was school? Have you spoken to your mom today?"

I look over at him awkwardly. "Yea...well sort of." 

He slumps on his bed and puts his pudding down on the metal side table. "Princess, come here." He says motioning for me to come to him.

I walk toward my fragile looking father. 

It sucks that we haven't talked in so many years. And when I finally decide that I forgive him, and find him. He's like this. I am such a horrible daughter. I should have been here with him all along. Why would my mother not tell me he was sick, and that he's been living in the hospital she works at for the past few months? 

"I'm sorry Daddy." I say looking at him wishing things were different.

"Oh, Princess.  He says to me reaching for me with teary eyes. "I know these aren't the best circumstances, and that we both wish things were different. Heck, I wish I wouldn't have stopped trying to reach you. But...it's like every attempt was...I just...I'm so sorry Princess." He says holding me weakly against his chest. "I love you so much, and I always have. It wasn't your fault or your mother's. It was me. I was...am different. And I know it is a sensitive subject. And you ask me every day, how I got like...like this..." He says in a somber tone. "I guess it's just karma. The choices I made, and who I ultimately became because of those choices.  But, I guess...you'll find out sooner or later. And I would rather you found out from me.

It was ten years ago...

I left in a huff, driving like a madman toward the bar. I was hurt, confused, conflicted...so I just decided to drink away my problems.  I'd been seeing someone. I was having an affair for the past two months. Your mother and I had grown apart by then. We were no longer...intimate. She was always working at the hospital and I'd been busy at the office: constantly traveling. As I'm sure you don't remember all of this since most of your time was spent at Connor and Gabrielle's with your best friend little Connor." He smiles behind his mask at the memory of Walez and I as kids. "You two were inseparable; always getting into all kinds of mischief together. I realize now that I missed quite a bit of your growing stages at that point. But, I never once stopped missing you. I had pictures of you in my brief case, on my phone, in my laptop. You were, and still are my little Princess, no matter how old you get." He looks at me like he's seeing a little girl. He presses his cheek my forehead, and smiles at me.

"Anyways, as I stated the affair had been going on for the past two months.  I was happy..." he looks at me with pain filled eyes. "...with him." He swallows and shakes his head regretfully. "I...I told your mother a few nights before the final argument. Every night we would argue about it over and over again. I told her that I was willing to go to therapy and whatever else she wanted to fix our severely damaged relationship...for you.  And every night, she'd cast me off like some leper. I just wanted to know if she still loved me. If she was willing to at least attempt to work on us. I figured that was why I'd been with Simon. He paid attention to me. We talked for hours, laughed...he was...perfect." My father smiles fondly before looking away from me. "I...I am so sorry Princess. I wasn't thinking about you when it happened. I was just so tired of being ignored and set aside by your mother. I guess my first course of action should have been to talk to your mother before finding companionship in someone else.  We could have gone to marriage counseling or I don't know...something."