Chapter Two

It's pretty damned odd, though, really. I mean, I'd been here a couple days, and aside from just running amok and working on getting myself together for when I actually had a match (as the Eternal Mr. T said, "I pity the fool who walks into this…")

But I hadn't seen my Dad yet. Well – is that necessarily a bad thing? I mean, with the way things had been lately, and this 'respect' bit…
I was starting to wonder if a confrontation was a good thing or not.

Then again, am I one to jump ship because I think something might be a tad difficult? Of course not – that's why I'm the way I am, and the original badass –
Well, okay, so I'm not. I'm actually sensitive and like sunsets and all that crap, but…
Does it pay to be girly in this organization? Sometimes – but not a lot.

Maybe – I'm just tensed up – that could be it. I really want to get to talk to my Dad, and kind of…well, part of me really doesn't want to threaten to kick his ass. Partially because…well, because he's my father. That's why.
Yes, see me be sentimental.

Part of me, though, keeps wandering to other things, other people…
Who am I kidding? That ass. Okay…and the guy attached to it. I mean, I'd seen him around, and the more I saw, the more I liked. It's not that he was really my type, because…
Let's get real, people, the boy is probably high on a little more than life. But that's just me being horrible.
Or he could be on drugs.
Let's put him on something, and get into my skivvy bits…

And that bit of SoCo's naughty thoughts was brought to you by your neighborhood friendly pothead and…ahem.

But…I'm heading down the hallway, now, toward the parking garage, where I'm assuming my dad would be – tinkering with the bike. Always the bike. Sometimes, I think that's why he left Mama an' me that Christmas…
But hey, maybe it was a dream you gotta follow, and I can certainly understand that. Look where a dream has me at the moment.

But…there's the bike. And…there he was, back to me.
"Dad?"

My voice was softer than it usually was, and I kicked myself internally for not being a hardass about this.
I wanted a hug.
I wanted to hide.
I wanted…

"Can you at least look at your little girl?"