March 30, 2012

Derek Morgan glanced at his fourteen year old daughter, Sailor Amsel, for what he knew had to be the hundredth time.

Her hair was down. For most teenage girls this was nothing, but Sailor tended to use her hair. On a normal day it was up in a ponytail out of her way, as she put it. When she was bored, she braided it for something to do. And when she was upset about something it came down, and she used it as a shield for her face.

Punctuating his theory was the fact that she was glaring out the car window, with her MP3 player blaring into her ears via ear buds.

"Isn't that loud?" he asked, trying to break the icy wall that his daughter had put up around herself.

She either ignored him or didn't hear him. More than likely, she didn't hear him because she was ignoring him.

"Sailor!"

Nothing.

He blew his breath out between his lips and when they stopped at a stop sign he reached across the console and pulled the ear bud out of her ear.

"What?" his daughter's tone edged on snappish.

"What's going on?" he asked, choosing to cut to the chase.

"Going on?"

"Something's bothering you. What is it?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"Don't profile me."

"Your hair's down. It's not profiling. It's a dead giveaway. I know you."

She turned to glare at him.

"You can talk to me about anything, kiddo."

"A. You know nothing about me. B. You have enough to worry about. My stuff doesn't matter."

"Excuse me?" Derek wasn't sure which of her points he should address first. Probably the latter. "You matter to me. Okay? If there's something going on in your pretty little head, talk to me about it. I'm here for you."

She turned back to the window and said flatly, "No you're not."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She whirled back towards him. "It means you've never been there for me! Not now, not ever!"

"Whoa, where is this coming from?"

"I'm pretty sure the fact has been a looming cloud my whole life." She retorted.

"But I'm here now. I didn't know about you then, but I do now, and I'm here."

"Are you? Really? What about Rich's birthday? Where were you then? You were barely there when Fay was born! And me…" she released a mirthless laugh and turned back away.

"Sailor, I can't help when a case does or doesn't come in, and I'm sorry you feel that way. It's something we all have to adjust to."

"That's not it!" Sailor practically whined. "I know that. I'm fine with that."

"But you just said…"

"I know what I said! What I meant was… why her?"

"Her who?"

"Fay."

Derek tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "You mean… before you came here."

"Yeah." Sailor whispered, all the fight in her suddenly out the window.

"I don't know, kid. I don't know why your mom didn't tell me about you."

"She said that she'd only seen you once. That night."

"Yeah."

"She could've looked you up." Sailor thought aloud. "It's just not fair."

Derek laid a hand on his daughter's jean-clad knee. "Yeah, I know. But we're together now. That's what matters."

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