Parental Bond

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned Mortal Kombat or any of the characters. (Honestly, why would I be writing fanfiction if I did?)

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating, guys. I got a little side-tracked by 'Broken' and then the Mortal Kombat X mobile game was released for download here in the states and I'm still super duper distracted by that but I'm back with another oneshot that I hope you all enjoy. I also would like to thank everyone for reviewing and supporting this series; you guys are amazing!

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"Look, mom I'm fine. Really," Cassie insisted, rolling her eyes as Sonya buzzed around her hospital bed like some frazzled mother hen. "It's just a flesh wound."

Her mother stiffened behind her where she had been fluffing her pillow. "A flesh wound wouldn't have gotten you admitted to the hospital," she reminded sternly. "You were shot."

"In the leg."

"Twice."

Cassie sighed. She knew she wasn't going to win this round.

Shaking her head, Sonya perched herself on the edge of the bed and, taking her daughter's hand in hers, said: "Maybe I should back out of my mission-"

"Oh no," Cassie cut in, gently squeezing the fingers wrapped around hers in reassurance. "You are going. There's no reason for you to opt out, I am fine." Sonya opened her mouth to argue but Cassie forged on forcefully. "I'm being released tomorrow and after a couple of days of those exercises the physical therapist recommended I'll be good as new."

"What about the house? Have you even thought about how you'll navigate the stairs alone?"

"I can stay downstairs on the couch," she offered with a small smile. "No stairs for me."

"The couch is way too small. You need to stretch out to heal properly."

"Okay, no big drama. I can stay in yours and dad's old room."

"And who will take care of you while I'm gone?"

Blue eyes narrowed. "I can take care of myself."

"Food?"

"I can cook," Cassie grumbled childishly.

Sonya crossed her arms. "Two minutes in the microwave isn't cooking." A pause and then: "If you won't let me stay and take care of you then I'm calling your father."

Cassie's eyes widened in alarm and she immediately began to protest. "That's low, mom. Besides you can't call daddy, he's in California."

"I'm sure he'll come back to check in on you while I'm gone," her mother assured, stroking her cheek gently. "Anything for his little warrior princess."

"But mom," she whined. "Daddy doesn't exactly...know about all of this."

Sonya's brow creased disapprovingly as she stood and began to pace. "Why doesn't your father know?" she snapped testily. "How doesn't he know? You just talked to him yesterday."

Cassie actually had the grace to look sheepish as she sat, picking at a loose string on the front of her hospital gown. "I just haven't gotten around to telling him; I don't want to disturb him. He's working and you and I both know that he would rush home if he knew."

"I should have known," Sonya began, berating herself as she wore a hole in the floor. "I wondered why he hadn't called me to see how you were really doing."

"I am really fine, I promise! Have Kenshi or Jacqui or even Uncle Jax check in on me but please don't call daddy. I don't want him to worry."

Sonya's face softened at her daughter's plea and she retook her seat on the edge of the bed. "You know I would love to keep this secret for you," she began soothingly, even as her eyes begged Cassie to understand and forgive her next words. "But I can't lie to your father, even by omission. If the roles were reversed and I was away I would want Johnny to let me know what happened."

"But he worries so much already," Cassie argued desperately. "I don't want to burden him with this, not while he's on set. This is a big movie for him."

Part of Sonya completely understood her daughter's position. She was guilty of lying to Johnny and telling him half truths to protect him herself but she just couldn't lie to him about this. Cassie was the most important person in her ex husband's life and there was no way she could keep this from him.

Not to mention the inevitable rage she would have to contend with when he found out that she knew and didn't tell him. Because he would find out. He had a sixth sense when it came to his punkin.

"You know if I know Johnny Cage like I think I do," she began, tone creeping into 'guilt trip' territory. "I'm sure he's going to rank his daughter's well being high above filming Son of Dragon Fist."

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Johnny couldn't think of even one instance in the eighteen years since he became a father that he'd ever been well and truly angry with Cassie. Yes, there had been times when her recklessness irritated him or made him worry to the point of covering it with annoyance and aggravation but he couldn't remember a time when he'd actually been angry with her.

He was angry with her now.

Or maybe that wasn't the right choice of words. He wasn't necessarily angry with her, he was angry that she felt she couldn't tell him what was going on in her life. That she couldn't confide in him. He was angry with himself for being away when she needed him and he was angry as hell that she'd been shot and he'd somehow been left out of the loop.

He'd been in California a lot lately and he knew that, as a result, she and Sonya were growing closer. It was an amazing opportunity for the both of them to really connect and find some common ground. They'd never been overly close but that wasn't really a big surprise since he and Cassie had practically been attached at the hip since her birth. He thought his absence would be good for their relationship but never in a million years had he imagined that them becoming closer would shut him out.

He didn't know how to feel about that.

Cassie was his angel, the light of his life. She was the one person who had ever truly been his and, in a weird way, Cassie had even made the divorce easier on him. Though he'd lost Sonya, he still had a part of her in Cassie. Every time he looked at their daughter, he saw her. He could spoil her and dote on her and she distracted him from the pain. He didn't need alcohol or frivolous affairs with random women because Cassie and her eerie similarity to his ex wife kept him grounded. She reminded him of what he'd lost and what he hoped to get back one day.

What would he do if she now preferred Sonya to him?

What if they'd lost their ease and familiarity with each other?

It worried him to no end that she kept this from him and he couldn't help but feel anxious as he neared her hospital room. He had so many questions but he wasn't quite sure he wanted any answers.

Slowing to a stop outside her door, he paused to collect his thoughts but before he could fully prepare himself, the door opened.

"Hey," Sonya greeted, a weak smile on her tired face.

Johnny nodded, returning her smile warily. "Hey. How is she?"

"She's fine," she assured softly, reaching out to touch his arm. "It's really not as serious as it could have been. I just need to know that she's taken care of while I'm away on my mission. I probably shouldn't have bothered you-"

"She's my little girl," he cut in quickly. "It's no bother; this is what we signed on for, remember?"

She smiled and nodded, squeezing his forearm gently before retracting her hand. "She begged me to call Jax, and I know he'd be happy to watch after her...I trust Jax but there's only one person I can think of that will take care of her the way I would, maybe better."

Johnny sighed and slumped into a slouch against the wall beside her door. "Why didn't she tell me? Why didn't she want me?"

It broke Sonya's heart to see him in such pain. Cassie's attempt to soften the blow for her father had only made things worse; it made him feel unwanted.

"She'll be able to explain that better than I can," she soothed.

He nodded solemnly, scuffing the floor with his shoe.

"Just remember one thing before you go in there and end up saying something you regret: she loves you very much."

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Cracking the door open, Johnny stuck his head around the corner apprehensively. "Knock, knock."

Cassie looked up from where she was reading some random celebrity tabloid that held the promise of exclusive information on Son of Dragon Fist on the cover. She smiled as their eyes connected and, while her mouth was tense, lips forced into the action, her eyes shimmered with genuine happiness at seeing him standing there. "Hey, daddy."

He returned her grin and stepped inside, closing the door. "How are you feeling?" The question was insanely generic and his tone was strained.

What was he supposed to say?

If he'd been alerted at the time it had happened, he would have swooped in and saved the day like super dad. He would have known exactly what to do and exactly how to handle the situation but here, nearly a week later, he was like a brand new father in the nursery, holding his newborn awkwardly away from him for fear of doing it wrong.

The light in Cassie's eyes dimmed at the detached question. "I'm fine."

Why was this so hard?

"Good," he replied, stuffing his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. "Good."

They stared at each other for a long, uncomfortable moment and, as the air around them grew thick with tension, he began to pace at the foot of her bed.

"So uh, I was thinking I'd take you back home and we'd stay at the house while you're recovering," he explained awkwardly, looking anywhere but at her. "You know, until your mom gets back and can take over."

She nodded, a small frown marring her pretty features.

"Unless you think you'd be more comfortable at the condo, that is," he amended quickly at her pout.

She shook her head, blonde bangs falling into her eyes, shielding their disappointment from his view. "No, the house is fine." She paused as he nodded before hastily adding: "Unless the condo is more convenient for you, of course."

"No, no. The house is fine."

Silence once again settled over the usually chatty pair as he paced and she resumed reading her tabloid with a forced nonchalance. As seconds turned into minutes, his agitated movements became more sporadic as doubts, questions and fears crept into his mind and corrupted what he knew in his heart to be true.

She was his baby and she loved him, even her mother said so; he just had to remember that.

Though seemingly engrossed in her magazine, Cassie paid no attention to the details of her father's movie or the interviews of his costars. Her main focus was on the man himself as he moved from one side of the room to the other and back without even sparing her a glance.

Sighing, she forcefully set her magazine down on the bed beside her. "Look, I know you're angry with me," she began in the no nonsense tone her mother used when she was in general-mode, hoping that drawing from her mother's strength would somehow cushion the blow of guilt she felt at displeasing him. "I swear the guy was incapacitated when Jacqui and I left to sweep the room."

Pausing mid-stride, he turned disbelieving eyes to her.

"I know that's no excuse and we should have had another officer with us to watch him while we did our check but there just wasn't time, we were too far ahead of the other teams. We called for backup but it would have taken them half an hour to get there and we needed to move in immediately-"

Sometime during the course of her story, her voice began to fade into the background as he tuned her out. He honestly didn't mean to but he just couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe her.

She really was her mother's daughter.

"You honestly think I care about whether or not you followed military protocol?" he cut in, sounding just as dumbfounded as he felt.

She looked up, startled at his interruption. "Well yeah," she drawled unsurely, hand unconsciously finding the loose string on the front of her hospital gown. "That was the first thing mom wanted to know."

Shaking his head, he came to sit beside her on the bed. "Let's get a couple of things straight," he started sternly. "I think by now we can both confidently say that your mom has...unique ways of dealing with emotional situations."

She laughed a little, looking down at the string she currently twirled between her forefinger and thumb. "Yeah, no kidding."

"That doesn't mean that she doesn't love you, she's just not comfortable with the whole feelings thing. She covers up her gushy center with questions, pretending she doesn't care when she really does. I'm also not your mom," he reminded gently. "I don't give a damn about protocol, the chain of command or the price of eggs in China." He paused to let that sink into her hard head before continuing. "I love you and my main concern is that you're okay. Truly, honest to god okay."

She smiled weakly, turning watery eyes to him. "I am okay. Honest to god."

He nodded, returning her smile. "Good. Now my second concern is why the hell didn't you tell me before now? We've talked on the phone every single day since I've been in California and it took me a week to be invited into the loop about this."

She opened her mouth to no doubt make an excuse but he forged on.

"And I didn't even hear about it from you. Hell, I'd probably still be on set, clueless as ever if Sonya hadn't had a mission."

Cassie shook her head and put a hand on her father's arm to curb his anger. "It's not mom's fault," she began sincerely. "I'm the one who kept this from you. She didn't know that I hadn't told you and I promise you she reamed me out when she found out."

"Why?"

"I didn't want to bother you."

His mouth dropped open.

"This movie is huge for your career and I knew that you would immediately come home if I told you what happened, even if I assured you I was fine."

He shook his head in disbelief and took her hand. "You are the most important person in my entire world," he informed, squeezing her hand to bring her attention back to him when she would have looked away. "That means that you are more important than any movie, business deal or mission. I would gladly walk away from Son of Dragon Fist and not look back if you needed or wanted me to."

"But I don't want or need you to, that's why I didn't tell you," she defended, picking up her abandoned tabloid with her free hand and waving it in front of his face. "You made the front page without even trying. Your comeback is going to be so explosive." Readjusting their hands so that their palms were aligned, she threaded her fingers through his much larger ones. Squeezing his hand, she smiled. "You wanted to prove to the world that you've still got it and that you've always had it and you are and I am so proud of you. There is no way that I would want to ruin that for you by taking you away from work."

Sighing, Johnny motioned for her to slide over and make room. Moving so that he was beside her, he wrapped her in his arms, reclining them back against the pillows. "You crazy girl." He laughed.

"What's so funny?" she wondered, leaning her head on his shoulder and laughing a bit herself.

"Nothing, you just remind me so much of your mother." He pulled her closer and kissed her temple. "Do you know that I didn't know she was pregnant with you for almost six months?"

Looking up at him, she cocked a brow disbelievingly. "Bullshit."

"No it's the truth," he insisted, laughing again. "I was filming 24 Karate Gold on location in Okinawa. When we first started filming, I was trying to come back to the states every chance I got but it was expensive and tiring. I was already working long days and spending hours on a plane just put me in a terrible mood. Then when I got home I couldn't stay awake long enough to eat let alone spend any time with your mom," he explained, a faraway look in his eyes.

It was like just telling the story took him back to that time, that place. Despite the intense fatigue he spoke of, she could tell he was remembering the events of his story with fondness and she could only attribute that to the fact that they were memories of when he and her mother were still together.

He was always a bit different when he thought of their marriage.

"She eventually told me that she understood that I had to be away for long absences sometimes and that it was okay if I couldn't come home all the time."

Another laugh escaped him and she could feel it rumble through his body. It was comforting, he was comforting. This is what she'd needed all week: her daddy.

"I think she was secretly just tired of my bad attitude so we did the long-distance thing for the rest of the movie. Talked on the phone every day, just like you and I do now." He dropped another kiss to the top of her head. "Imagine my surprise when I come home after the movie wrapped to find my wife five months and two and a half weeks pregnant. I was so angry that, after the initial yelling match, I don't think I talked to her for a week."

Cassie suddenly sat up, whipping her head around to look at him. "This isn't your subtle way of telling me I'm going to get the silent treatment, is it? Because you know how much I hate the silent treatment, dad."

He shook his head, an earsplitting grin on his face. "No, I'm not going to give you the silent treatment. It just never fails to surprise me how much you can be like your mom. She said the exact same thing when I asked her why she didn't tell me we were having a baby." He paused, expression morphing into something decidedly serious. "The one thing that I could never make your mom understand, the thing that I need you to understand, is that fame doesn't mean anything to me anymore. I mean it's nice and all but I could go back to being John Carlton in a heartbeat and it wouldn't bother me a bit as long as I still had you and your mom."

She smiled, the reality that he still included her mom as an important and vital part of his life not escaping her notice.

"Capiche?"

She nodded, settling back against him, her head returning to his shoulder. "Capiche."

"So what's this I hear about you begging for your mom to call Uncle Jax to look after you?" he inquired with a teasing glare.

She shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't want to bother you."

Johnny scoffed, affronted. "But Jax? Really? I am infinitely more fun and besides, you wouldn't be able to watch our traditional Get Well-Cage Marathon with him around. He just doesn't appreciate good entertainment."

Cassie just closed her eyes, still smiling as her father continued to tell her how much better he was than her uncle. How could she ever think her recovery would be complete without him here with her?

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