"Clutterbucket?" Shawn's eyes grow dark.
"Yes, Mara's father." The man repeats. The man himself was no match for Shawn. He had a head of brown hair and certainly looked like a man Katy would have gone for, but the man laked something that Shawn had.
"What are you doing here?" Katy hissed. "You have no right to show up here and -"
"I came to check on Maya." Clutterbucket interrupts. Katy feels anger boil inside of her.
"You wanted to check up on her?!" Katy starts to get in his face and Shawn lets her. "After seventeen years you decide to show up?! Who the hell do you think you are?!" Her face is red with anger. "What about all those times she was sick?! What about all those times she was crying at night?!"
Clutterbucket looks at her fiercely. "I've heard about your mothering skills. I could say the same about you -"
Shawn grabs the man by his shirt and throws him against the wall. "Shawn!" He heard Katy say behind him. His eyes were red and he wanted to hurt the man.
"You don't deserve to be around Maya!" Shawn growls. "You left her and now you want to be around her?"
"I came here because I saw how irresponsible her 'parents' were!" Clutterbucket shouts. "Honestly! Katy didn't give a damn about her and you two let her almost drown! It's time I put my foot down and take her away -"
"She's an adult! She can make her own decisions and she's none of your concern! If you wanted to be her father and be in her life then you shouldn't have left a mother and her daughter alone!" Shawn shouts. Katy swallows. This is the angriest she's ever seen Shawn. Shawn backs off, letting Clutterbucket go, but he holds his gaze. "You're not getting near my daughter. Ever. So just turn around, and walk away."
Shawn turns away to walk back over to the group, when Clutterbucket makes another comment. "I'll leave . . . But you say Maya's an adult, so when she gets better, I'll let her make the choice of whether or not she'd like to see me." Shawn turns slowly and Katy takes his hand in hers, not wanting Shawn to run over and do something stupid to her ex - husband.
The gang watch as the man leaves, but they know that it won't be the last they'd be seeing of him.
"You don't have to see him." Katy tells Maya as her daughter sits on the couch watching tv. It had just been this morning they'd flown in from Florida and Maya was released from the hospital. "Not if you don't want to."
Shawn and Maya stand and block Maya's vision of the tv. "Maya. Listen, baby." Katy pleads. "He wants to take you away from us because he thinks that we're bad parents."
This catches Maya's attention. She turns the tv off and sighs. "I . . . I don't know. I want to see him, but at the same time . . . I don't know." She looks to her parents and sighs. "I need . . . I need to be alone." She stands up and heads to her room, shutting the door lightly.
"Shawn, what are we going to do?" Katy asks, looking up at the tall man.
"We can't do anything." Shawn sighs. "Other than make sure, that whatever Maya decides, we're going to be there for her."
Maya sits in her room, her knees pulled to her chest and her eyes tear stained. She looks towards her window and then to her bedroom door. She slowly opens the window and steps out onto the cold fire escape, making her own escape towards someone she knew she could help her.
"Maya? What are you doing here?" Andrew says as he lifts up his window to let her in. Despite the hot days, the night was freezing tonight. He quickly grabs her and helps her into his room. His hands rub up and down her shoulders. "You're freezing - Are you okay?"
Maya nods slowly. She sits down on his bed and sniffs. "I . . . I don't know."
Andrew sits down next to her. "Maya . . . Tell me what it is. Whatever it is, I can help you."
Maya lets a tear fall down her face and she buries her face into her hands. "Its my dad."
"Oh." Andrew says as he finally understands. "Do you need anything?"
Maya slowly looks up, a lump in her throat forming. "I . . ." That's when she breaks down and Andrew doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her.
"It's okay . . . It's okay, honey." He places a kiss on her head and strokes her hair slowly. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"It's . . ." Maya takes in a shaky breath. "He wants me to meet him again, but I don't know if I can handle it."
"Of course not. No one likes going through these kinds of things by themselves." Andrew tells her. He leans back against his headboard and she rests her head against his shoulder, her hand over his heart. She felt at home in his embrace and she sniffs once again.
"He's my biological dad though . . . He wants to take me away from Shawn and my mom . . . And I don't want that. I don't want to be near him . . . But at the same time I want him to answer all these questions I've had all these years." Maya explains. Andrew looks at her and sighs.
"Maya . . . If it were my dad I'd feel the same way. I never knew him either . . . But what do you really need to get closure? What do you need?" Andrew's last sentence hits her hard.
"I need to know why he left . . . And I need to tell him that after I see him, I never want to see him again . . . That Shawn is my father and I never want to be away from my family." Maya sits up and looks down at him. Andrew sits up on his elbows and their faces are a few inches apart.
"Okay . . . Then that's what you need." He whispers. His breath is minty and Maya loved his scent. "I'll even go with you if I have to."
Maya smiles slowly. "Thank you." She whispers. She soon finds herself asleep in Andrew's arms once again.
Their fingers lock together as they stood on the steps of an apartment building. Andrew and Maya tence as the door opens and it opens slowly. A woman with long red hair opens the door.
"Oh, hello." The woman smiles. "You must be Maya." Maya wants to run and hide at the fact the woman knew her. "I've heard so much about you. Please, come in."
The apartment was huge and fancy looking. Two other people, a boy and a girl, are seen reading and playing video games in the living room. The look up, the boy giving a friendly smile and the girl giving Maya an angry look. "Amanda, Jason, this is Maya. John's other daughter."
Amanda's eyes were on Andrew more than they were on Maya, and she seemed to look a little too long, making Andrew shift uncomfortably. Jason smiles brightly and walks up to Maya. He sticks out his hand and says, "Hi Maya. I'm Jason, nice to meet you."
Maya nods and Amanda stay on the couch, reading. Her eyes tear away from the teenaged girl when footsteps are heard entering the room. She knew this person without even knowing his name,
"Maya!" He beams, opening his arms for her. "Come give your dad a hug. For old times sake."
Maya stays in her place and crosses her arms over her chest. "I came to talk to you."
The man looks disappointed and sighs. He drops his arms saying, "Yes. I know."
"Don't let her, Dad." Amanda snickers.
"How about we go into the study, where it's a little more private?" The man suggests. Maya takes a deep breath and glances at Andrew and he gives her a small nod. Maya follows the man into the book covered room and takes a seat at his desk.
His place is behind his desk and she sits across from him. "My." He begins. "You truly are a beautiful young woman. You remind me so much of Katy when she was your age . . . Drink?" He holds up a glass of whisky, to which Maya shakes her head to.
"Where were you all those years?" Her question catches him off guard. He sighs loudly after pouring himself a drink. He leans back and folds his hands together.
"Maya . . . I left." He answers. "I left because . . . I wasn't ready to handle that kind of world. I wasn't ready to handle a baby . . . So, I left. I went to college and got married again. I had two beautiful kids and now I'm running a successful business."
"So . . . You chickened out and now you're crawling back because I'm older and not a child anymore?" MAya now stands, glaring at him. "You come crawling back because now that I'm older and an adult and you don't have to take care of me and you can just watch me go off and succeed? You come crawling back because now you know what you missed. You're coming to me because you are not a man!"
Clutterbucket stands up. "Maya, that's not true! I came crawling back because I saw how much of a screw up your mother and 'dad' are and you shouldn't be near that kind of influence!"
Maya's hand meets his cheek. "My parents are not the screw ups!" Her voice is loud. "Because of you, I blamed my mother for driving you away! Now, I'm starting to think she's better off without you! Because of you, I blamed myself for everything wrong that had to do with my mother and men! Because of you, my mother didn't know what to do until I was fourteen!" Maya's rage after all these years is now surfacing. "You're the screw up! You come back trying to tell my parents that they don't know how to raise me, well you weren't there for my whole life! You come and say that my parents are the screw ups, but because of you, because of you, I have those 'screw ups!' They're my parents . . . And let me tell you . . ." She takes a deep breath. "My parents are screw ups, but they're better parents in five seconds then you are ever going to be in your entire lifetime!" With that Maya marches to the door.
"Stay away from me, and stay away from my family." She slams the door in her face and drags Andrew out of the apartment.
Second update today. I hope you guys enjoyed and I'd love to hear what you thought of it. Also, I picked the song Because of You by Kelly Clarkson because I feel like it really does fit Maya and her dad's relationship. Anyway, let me know what you think. Thanks. :)