Duties of a Father: 2

Farewell Cream!!!

"This can't be." Matt muttered these words over and over again as he looked at the letter. He just wanted to cry, he just wanted to break down... But he stayed strong. As he sat back in his chair he knew there was only one thing to do, as he phoned Chocolate to tell him the news he tried to stay strong for creams sake. He remembered when cream first arrived and what the situation was like and regretted ever saying those words to her. "Why did I say that would be an excellent idea?" he said as he rang chocolate at the hotel he was staying at with tears running down his face. The phone rang several times before he finally picked up.

"Hello?" Chocolate answered. Matt bravely said to him.

"Hey, I got the results."

"What they say?" he asked almost bursting in anticipation. Matt seemed surprised, chocolate asking what the results say? Didn't he get a copy of the results since he is the father? Matt could lie and say to him that he was the father but then that would be wrong, he always taught cream to tell the truth. As he remembered the time cream told a lie chocolate said to him. "Hello? Hello? Matt you there?" matt spaced out. He remembered when cream was playing ball in the house and matt told her several times not to. She bounced her orange ball around the house while matt was working things on the laptop working out a new schedule for his employees, as she bounced the ball around, it suddenly slipped out of her hands and bounced off the wall. As the ball bounced off the wall and into a priceless object, the glass smashed and shattered on the floor creams eyes became filled with worry and was starting to freak out a bit. Suddenly her worse fear came to life; her dad had heard the noise. As he quickly opened the door he shouted.

"What was that?" he sounded angry.

"Nothing!" cream shouted back trying to sound convincingly, as her voice trembled she heard footsteps coming down as she quickly tried to pick up the glass making sure she could hide them all, a small glass shard cut her finger. As she quietly moaned in pain licking away the blood her father walked in. as she hid her hand behind her back he asked her.

"What happened?"

"I don't know." She replied. Suddenly a drop of blood fell on the floor.

"Is your finger bleeding?" he said worriedly.

"No…" she said trying to cover up the blood with her foot matt looked at her with piecing blue eyes. She sighed and showed him her hand which was now bleeding quite a lot. As matt gently grabbed her arm he said as he led her into the kitchen.

"Come with me." Cream wondered what her daddy was going to do to her, as they reached the kitchen side, matt picked up a carving knife. The panic in creams eyes began to flicking like Maeve's fire, she thought matt was going to chop her finger off but she soon realized he wasn't, he was simply picking it up to put it away from creams range. As he opened the top cupboard he looked for some items he needed. As he sat cream down on a stool in the kitchen he looked at her finger.

"Okay first we need to check if there's any glass in there." He said as he examined her wound, as he looked he couldn't find any trace of glass. "Okay this next stage is going to sting." He said as he put liquid from an old diet cola bottle onto a ball of cotton wall. "This is called TLC, it's a disinfectant it kills 99.9% of all bacteria in the wound and stops the wound getting infected." As cream nodded following on matt said he gently placed the cotton wool of her finger she flinched and bit her lip from the pure pain of the sting, but with matt's comforting words "I know it stings, but it has to be done." She smiled. As he pulled the cotton wool away the sting started to fade, as he pulled a plaster with kittens on them he placed it over creams finger. "Okay, last stage before this is complete." He said as he lifted creams finger, as he brought it close to his lips, he kissed it. "A kiss to make it feel better." He said with a smile. Cream smiled back and apologized for lying. "Cream do you know why I want you to tell the truth?"

"Because lies bring chaos but truth brings order?"

"That's right, so from now on don't lie, okay?" he asked her with worried eyes.

"Okay dad, I promise." As matt came out of the flash back, he swallowed hard and said to chocolate.

"Can you come to the office at 3pm?"

"Why?" he asked.

"That's when cream finishes school, I think its time she learnt the truth." Meanwhile at school cream was in class just before the school bell rang, suddenly out of nowhere she sneezed.

"Bless you cream." Maeve said as she heard the noise. "Do you have a cold?"

"No…?" she replied. As cream went back to cleaning Jenny next to her said.

"Maybe someone's talking about you?"

"Really?" cream asked confused about a simple sneeze resulting in someone talking about her. "Then what happens when you get a chill down your spine." Cream asked. Before jenny could answer a voice behind her said.

"It means someone just put ice down your back." As cream looked at her back she said to Christy.

"No ones put ice down my back." She said as she turned back to clear the blackboard, suddenly Christy pulled out a tray of ice, which she had made up in the last lesson, as she quietly snuck behind cream ready to drop the ice down her back a flame surround the ice and turned it into water before she got even close. As it fell on the floor Maeve looked up and saw the water on the floor.

"Christy!" she shouted "Your ten years old, I think you can control your bladder problems." As Christy turned red she stormed out of the room with her two clone wannabes trailing behind. As the others laughed Cream looked at the floor she saw that it was just water, as she looked at Maeve, Maeve winked at her and showed her a small flame wrapping around her fingers. As the bell rang everyone ran out the doors to see there mums and dads cream stayed behind with maeve, since maeve was going to see matt for something, probably a dinner and a movie and long walk on the beach but she that would never happen because to her "Matt no fun." Was the phrase she used to describe him. Over the past few days matt has been worried over the results she wanted to be there to comfort him in case the news was bad. Cream noticed that her father's behavior was different from normal she was worried but she never showed to wards her dad. As Maeve grabbed her handbag she said to Cream with a smile "come on cream, let's go and see your dad."

"Okay." Cream replied with a smile. Maeve saw that cream would smile at the mention of her dad's name; she hoped that smile would stay for a long time to come. Back at the Office matt waited for creams real father and for cream, he sat in darkness holding in his hand a locket. The gold heart locket was a present from a mysterious person, inside was a picture of matt and cream when they were asleep in the office, so cute. Cream was fast asleep in matt's arms as her bunny ears lie on his shoulders, he wrapped his arms around her. It was the person's favorite photo. It was also matt's too. As he flipped the lid backwards and forwards, opening and closing matt sighed a sad sigh. He knew it was too good to be true from the moment cream entered his life at least good or bad, he was always have her around him. Suddenly a knock at the door was heard, as matt looked he sadly said

"Come in." as the door opened chocolate stepped in, as he slowly walked towards matt he said to matt.

"I know it must be devastating to find out the girl you had a bond with is not your daughter." As matt sighed he said to him.

"I called you here to discuss terms on the custody for cream."

"There will be no custody, cream is my daughter and according to the law any child under the age of eighteen must stay with their biological father/mother or guardian." The more words that came out of chocolates mouth the more matt became annoyed. It was like matt's work with cream meant nothing and was nothing. "Cream belongs with me and you owe me for when you slept with my wife." Suddenly a crash from outside was heard, a vase smashed on the floor. As matt rushed to the door and opened it he saw cream on the floor in tears. As matt bent down to help her up, creams which were blinded by hate and hurt towards matt she pushed him away and ran to the elevators screaming.

"You lied to me." As matt lay stunned by creams actions on the floor he suddenly got to his feet and went after her. As he ran after he yelled her name.

"Cream, Cream come back." But when matt reached the elevators the doors closed and matt had missed his chance. Last time this happened cream didn't know where to run in DX but now she knows all the routes, he had to stop her this time. As he ran to the exit of the stairs he flew down the metal railings and the marble stairs to reach the ground floor, 16 floors to do in five minutes to catch cream, this is what maeve meant by the power of the father. As matt ran past Maeve, Maeve spun and looked stunned to see matt running. As she ran after him she tried to catch up, but matt was on a man on a mission. As the lift doors opened cream ran for the exit but was quickly caught by matt. As she struggled to get out of his grip she yelled.

"Get off me; you lied to me all these years."

"Cream, if i knew I wasn't your real father don't you think i would have told you." As she slowly came to terms with matt she said quietly.

"Yes." As she slowly bent down to her knees she started to cry she doesn't know what is what anymore. As matt picked her up and cradled her in his arms he said to her.

"It's going to be alright. I promise." As matt held her tightly a small tear ran down his face and landed on her head. Later that night cream was packing her things into a pink suitcase and her first suitcase. As she packed away all her stuff she remembered the places she went to, she was quiet through dinner epically with her two dads there it was like being on trial. As she cried silently the tear drops feel onto her clothes as she packed them away, suddenly a knock came at the door. She ignored it. As the door opened slowly she ignored her dad coming in, she didn't care if it was matt or her real dad, they were both just as bad. One lies to her and the other disappears before she was born, then again that was both of them.

"Hey honey, you ok?" matt asked. She didn't answer why would she answer to him. He slowly crept towards her bed to help her, as he went to fold the clothes up for her she moved them away from him, she didn't want his help. As she slammed her clothes in angrily she refused to talk to him. "Listen cream, I know you don't want talk to me, not after what happened today, but just listen." He asked her "I never knew this day would come I really thought you were my daughter and to find out now your aren't….it doesn't change anything." Cream pretended to ignore him but listened anyway. "Cream, when I first saw you when that lady dropped you off, I never thought of you as scared little girl, I always thought of you as someone who can take care of themselves, believe me I know the feeling." Cream's ears picked up on the last sentence as she turned round she asked him confused.

"What do you mean, you know the feeling?" as matt swallowed hard he took out photo, not just any photo, the only photo of his mother. A beautiful pink haired woman with a warm smile holding a sleeping matt, cream was amazed that matt remembered her mother he never spoke about her before. "Wow she's beautiful, why haven't I seen her?" matt put the photo away and said sadly.

"Because she abandoned me." Cream never saw this side of her dad, a hurt and emotional person over his mother. "Last time I saw her was when I was six years old, just like you cream. Everything that happened to you happened to me as well when I was your age. If I had known from the beginning what happened to you I probably do everything I could to find your mum." As cream sat down next to him she hugged him and said.

"Even if you did find her, I'd still stay here with you." A tear rolled down matt watery eyes and landed on her, as she looked up to see cold salty eyes she stayed in Matt's arms and sighed. As she opened up her brown eyes she asked him. "Did you ever find her?" matt's clear blue eyes became deeper and darker as the pain of a choice he made long ago.

"There's a reason why I came into this room cream."

"And what's that dad?"

"I wanted to tell you why you should go with your real dad." Cream looked shocked.

"What do you mean?" as cream pulled away from matt he told her.

"When I was your age my father asked, "Matt I see your very sad, care to tell me why?" so I did." As matt remembered that day when he was ten he remembered looking out of his fathers office window and seeing all the small building around them. Matt's father's hair shined in the sun as he placed his white gloves on his son's shoulders and stood above him, proud to see where he was today. Not just a leader but a father as well, having a kid would earn bonus points with the ladies round the base. As looked out the window he said to matt.

"Matt, My boy your mother is somewhere out there." His voice was comforting but with a high authority to it.

"In The city?" said the young matt with hope in his eyes. His dad shook his head.

"No, out there, beyond the city, she could be anywhere, that's why today you get to make a birthday choice." Matt looked puzzled normally its birthday 'wish' why was this different.

"Don't you mean wish, dad?"

"No, son. Wishes don't come true; choices set you on a path, a path to whatever you heart desires." As matt stood over at the desk where his birthday cake was and stood above the flicking candles he stood there thinking what his choices were. As his dad turned off the lights he said to matt. "Okay son, these are your choices, in two years time you'll become an official member of the organization. You can either stay here with the organization or when you turn twelve you can look for your mother." Matt didn't know what to choose, as he came out of the memory cream asked.

"So what did you choose?" as matt said sadly.

"I chose to stay. And I haven't seen my mother in 22 years." Cream stroked her fathers hand and said.

"Why did you stay?"

"My dad said to me "A wise man once said; a frog that hops from one pond to another misses the single fly every time, the frog that stays in the same pond catches the fly." So I decided to be the frog and stay in the same pond." Cream shook her head, a simple proverb and matt stays in the city, but then again if he didn't he wouldn't have been here when she had no one else or met her mother. But matt knew more than he was letting on how he met creams mother. As matt got up he said to her "Now cream, its time for your birthday choice." Cream looked shocked she wondered why matt would bring this up. "Ok…" cream said in disarray "What are my choices?"

"You can stay with me and never find out why…or you go with your real dad and find out the truth, because honestly I can't give the answers you need." As he left the room cream sat on bed between two cases, it was almost like her two choices; her brown case the first case she had when she came to see matt was to stay with matt. While her new case that Maeve bought her just in case she went on holiday with maeve and matt was too busy to go was to go with her real dad and find out everything about why she was sent to matt, why her real dad suddenly came back and why all this happened in the first place. She didn't know what to do. As matt slowly came up the stairs with a cup of hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows, creams little pick me up epically with whipped cream on top, he called it cream coco. As he entered her room he saw cream looking really upset. "What's wrong honey?" as he put the cup down, cream looked at it then at him with her red eyes. Suddenly she could no longer hold her tears and she ran to matt and buried her head right into his chest. As matt held her tightly his coat became wet with her tears, she hoped this hug would never end. As night turned to day cream stood by the door with her two suitcases, she had made her choice. As her dad packed her bags into the car cream took one last look at the big house. As matt stood in the doorway he saw the dark clouds about to rain. Cream looked at the car she thought it was cold metal monster. She felt this way because it wasn't the car she used to drive around in with matt. The car was a family carrier, a 1992 Plymouth Voyager was waiting to leave. As cream waved good bye to the staff of the big house she ran to matt and hugged him once more.

"I'm going to Miss You." Cream said trying to be a brave girl for matt. As a few tears let out it began to rain. A few drops at first then it became harder, as matt pulled away he took off his coat and put in on cream. His organization coat given to cream was to symbolize a part of matt would always be with her, as she looked at the size it was too big for her, but she kept it on as she ran to the car. As she got in she slammed the door quickly because of the rain became heavier. Matt remained silent he couldn't say goodbye, for this was happening all over again. As chocolate walked over to him he said to matt.

"Thanks for looking after her."

"Your welcome." Matt said quietly. Just before they left chocolate gave matt a small card, as matt looked at the card he saw that it had an address on it for the north district.

"If you're ever in the north district come on by and say hi to cream and me." Matt nodded, as he got in the car the engines struggled to start almost like the car knew cream should stay with matt but it started up and went down the long drive way and indicated to turn right. Inside the car cream hugged matt's jacket tightly and felt warm the smell of matt was still fresh she hoped it would stay. As the car jerked right she drew on the window a heart and put matt's name in the middle, she was already missing him and she was only 50 feet away from him. As she started to feel sleepy she closed her eyes in the warm coat of matt. As she fell asleep a tear ran down her face, on the window a rain drop zig zagged through the heart. A broken heart displayed for the person she loved the most of who she'd be missing.