Finding Out
"What are you talking about?" Punk turned to Bob, shaking his head.
"That girl is your daughter." Bob nodded as Punk shook his head, "Yes. She is."
"She can't be." Punk shook his head. He refused to believe it. How someone he'd seen multiple times could be his daughter was just ridiculous. The more he thought about it, the more he remembered her face, he started to notice how alike she was to her mother. Her eyes, her hair, her ready to fight attitude.
"She is." Bob nodded, "And she knows about you and April. She just found out." He said as Punk placed his hands in his hair.
"It's really her? That's… that's my kid?" Punk shook his head as Bob nodded, "H-How? She's been here all this time? Walking around the streets and… and you never thought to tell me about this?"
"Phil, I was just protecting you and I was protecting her. She didn't want to know you or April so… I kept it to myself and I played the fool-"
"You are a fool. You should have told me. I mean, you should have told me the second you found her when she was little. I would have taken care of her-"
"You were still young and you were just getting yourself together. I didn't want to… open all that back for you, and it meant we would have to have called April and got her back. I kept her safe from a distance." Bob nodded.
"W-Where does she live?" Punk shook his head.
"Just a few blocks away from me." Bob said, "She's got her own place. Dropped out of school at 16. Has a job. She's… she's done well for herself." He nodded as Punk just shook his head, running his hands through his hair.
"She… She never got adopted? Ever?" Punk shook his head.
"No." Bob said, "She moved around foster homes with different foster parents. Moved around schools a lot too. Found it hard fitting in." He nodded, "So she went it alone."
"And… And she knows about me and April?" Punk asked as Bob nodded.
"I told her. I told her what happened but she's… well she's not very good listening. Takes that from someone I know." He smirked, "If she has her opinion, she's gonna stick by it."
"What's her opinion?" Punk shook his head.
"That she wants nothing to do with you or AJ. She just feels abandoned. Like you guys didn't want her." Bob sighed.
"Yeah well no kidding. I would hate me too if I was her." Punk shook his head, "She wasn't meant to stay in foster care. You were there when we talked to the woman about it all. She said she'd be adopted right away. That was the whole point of our decision. So she could have a mom and dad that could give her more than me and April could." Punk said as Bob nodded.
"I know, I don't know why she never got adopted." Bob shrugged, "I wish I could have told you sooner-"
"You could have. Nothing was stopping you." Punk said, "I mean… why are you just telling me now? She's almost twenty years old. What use am I to her now?" He questioned.
"You'd be surprised." Bob nodded, "I don't know I… I'm getting older, those chest pains kept happening, I just kept thinking about… not being able to see you with her at one point. I always thought it would happen but… I didn't think it'd be this late-"
"You had the power to tell me. You knew. But you wanted to what? Wait until your body stopped functioning? What the hell?" Punk shook his head.
"That's not what I mean. It just had me thinking more lately. And she's gonna need her parents. I don't care what she says. She's a strong girl but she's very easily lead-"
"You said it yourself. She wants nothing to do with us." Punk said, "April… she deserves to know all of this. The same way I do." Punk shook his head, "I… I have to tell her." He said as Bob nodded.
"She's staying at that hotel just by the strip." Bob said as Punk nodded, "Here, take this." He told him, extending the picture back to him as Punk walked across, taking the picture from him and looking at it.
All these years he'd only had his daughter's face as a baby to think about, and only wonders of what she might look like. Now he knew, he couldn't get her out of his head. How beautiful she was. How strong willed she seemed.
"Go on." Bob nodded as Punk left the hospital room as Bob rolled his head back on the pillow. He felt like the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
"You didn't have to walk me home. I… I'm not that drunk, really." Rey nodded to Josh, trying to find her apartment keys in her purse as he waited with her, "They're in here somewhere I know." She laughed to herself as Josh smiled.
"Let me have a look." Josh nodded, taking her purse and looking through it, finding the keys almost immediately as Rey just rolled her eyes, "Here we go." He nodded, handing them to her.
"Thank you." Rey smiled, unlocking the door and walking on in as Josh waited at the door. She turned around with confusion, "Well come in." She laughed a little as he walked into her apartment, "Sorry the place is a bit of a mess." She nodded.
"That's ok." Josh smiled, closing the door behind him.
"I'm a bit of a mess, to be honest." Rey laughed, "You know maybe… maybe I'm not really what you're looking for. If you heard the week I had… you'd go running." She said.
"Ok, try me." Josh smirked.
"Well I'm a foster kid but… I found out my real dad has been living just… five, ten minutes from me my whole life. The store owner I'm friends with, turns out I was born in his apartment, my parents are now both in town and I've saw and spoke to them both without realising they were actually my parents but now I know they're my parents but they don't know I'm their daughter." Rey said as Josh looked at her, letting out a nervous laugh.
"Ok, maybe… maybe that's a lot to take in." Josh nodded.
"Yeah, you think." Rey sighed, kicking her shoes off as Josh shrugged.
"We all got problems, though." He nodded, "You definitely… have a lot going on but that doesn't mean it'll be like that forever." He said.
"Yeah, because I'm not talking to them." Rey nodded, "I don't want anything to do with them." She shook her head.
"I've heard you say that quite a lot tonight to your friend. Sounds to me like you actually do want something to do with them. You just don't want to admit it because then you feel like you'll look weak." He nodded as Rey looked at him.
"Are you like… in my head or something?" Rey laughed as Josh smiled, "I mean I'm curious." She nodded, looking up at him, "God, I'm not making myself very attractive right now, am I? Complaining about all these problems." She shook her head as Josh laughed a little.
"No, I still think you're attractive, don't worry." Josh assured as Rey smiled, walking over to him and kissing him sweetly, deepening it quickly as she began to take her t-shirt off just as he stopped her.
"What?" Rey shook her head with confusion.
"N-Nothing I just… we don't have to right away." He assured her as she looked up at him. She wasn't used to anyone being as sweet and kind as he was, "I mean we haven't even gone out yet." He said as Rey nodded.
"Yeah, right." Rey nodded. She'd never been with a guy with such nice manners and gestures. To actually be able to win someone over without having to sleep with them, wasn't something she was used to. Maybe it was just the guys she always picked.
"I'd really like to take you out sometime, if you'd like?" Josh questioned.
"I would like that." Rey smiled and nodded, "Why don't you text me? I've saved your number so I won't ignore it this time." She promised as Josh chuckled and nodded.
"I will definitely do that." Josh smiled as Rey nodded, "I'll let you get some sleep. You sound like you've had a… a very stressful week." He nodded as she smiled.
"Yeah, thank you for noticing." Rey nodded, watching as he left her apartment, closing the door behind him as she smiled to herself.
"Oh, baby I miss you too." AJ smiled, lying in bed on facetime with her daughter before going to sleep, "Momma will be home soon." She nodded.
"Like soon tomorrow?" Amelia asked, holding the phone right up at her face causing AJ to smile.
"Not tomorrow but… the next day after that." AJ nodded.
"I wish it was tomorrow." Amelia sighed, "It's no fun here without you." She huffed, sitting on the couch with Spike.
"Haven't you been having fun with daddy?" AJ asked her.
"He's been busy working." Amelia huffed as AJ nodded slowly.
"Well I promise when I get home we'll do something fun together. Just the two of us." AJ smiled, "How does that sound?" She asked as Amelia nodded and smiled.
"Sounds good." Amelia smiled.
"How has school been?" She asked, suddenly hearing a knock at her bedroom door, looking up with confusion.
She got up from the bed, taking her phone with her whilst Amelia told her all about her time at school. She walked over to the door, looking through the peep hole as she saw Punk standing. She shook her head with confusion, looking back down at her phone.
"Baby, can I call you back? I just… I have to go do some work right now." AJ explained as Amelia nodded, hanging up on the call as AJ sat her phone over and walked over to the door, opening it up.
"Thank God you answered." Punk walked in frantically as AJ shook her head with confusion, shutting the door over.
"Phil, what are you doing here?" AJ shook her head.
"We uh… we need to talk." Punk nodded.
"Right now?" AJ questioned, "I was… I was about to go to sleep." She admitted.
"Reylissa never got adopted." Punk shook his head as AJ looked across at him, tilting her head slightly with confusion and shaking her head.
"What?" AJ shook her head.
"She never got adopted to any family." Punk said, "Bob found her when she was five, on the streets. She'd ran away from the foster care home where she was still living." He said as AJ stared at him like he was crazy, "Bob has watched her and he's known her all this time."
"W-What? Why would he know her? No… we… she got adopted. We gave her away to a… to a family who could give her more than us. That's why we did it." AJ shook her head.
"It never happened. She stayed in foster care the entire time." Punk said as AJ just stared at him blankly. Trying to take in this abrupt and new information.
"Bob told you this?" AJ asked.
"Yeah, just now." Punk nodded, "He's known her all this time. He's been watching her, talking to her, he said he didn't want to tell us because we… we were moving on." He said, "That girl, in the hospital… Sarah." Punk said as AJ stepped back and shook her head.
"No." AJ shook her head as Punk nodded, "No." AJ screwed her face up.
"That's our daughter." Punk nodded, "That's her, April." He nodded as AJ shook her head.
"No, why are you doing this? Why are you saying this to me?" AJ shook her head with agitation.
"It's the truth." Punk nodded, "It's her." He said, "All this time she's been… ten minutes away from me." He shook his head.
"Why wasn't she adopted?" AJ shook her head, "That's really her?" She questioned.
She thought back to the girl, they're daughter, with awe and surprise, thinking about her features, how beautiful she was but yet how distant she felt from everything. She couldn't believe that was really their daughter. Their baby girl that they held for just a few hours, with the hope that someone would love her and take good care of her. Only to find out that she had to take care of herself the entire time. It was devastating.
"It's her." Punk nodded, "She doesn't know why she wasn't adopted." Punk said, "She knows about us. Bob told her we're her parents and she came to my place, pretending she was someone else… she knows we're her mom and dad." Punk said as AJ placed her hand on her head, sitting down on the edge of the bed and looking up at him.
"Bob knew all this time?" AJ questioned as Punk nodded, "And she never got adopted? Ever?" She asked as Punk shook his head.
"Apparently she… wants nothing to do with us." Punk nodded as AJ looked up at him, "Bob said she's not gonna change her mind, she has her opinion on us and that's it."
"And what's her opinion?" AJ asked.
"She hates us." Punk shrugged as AJ looked down, burying her face in her hands, trying not to cry. She made a deal with herself to never cry again after splitting up with him. She'd cried too much, but this was surely an exception.
"She was meant to go and… have a family who could give her what we couldn't. That was why we did what we did." AJ cried, looking up at him as he nodded.
At the end of the day, they were always connected through this. She could never cry to her husband about this. He would never understand. But Phil did. Oh, how he always understood her.
"I know." Punk sighed, walking over and sitting down beside her on the bed as she cried and shook her head.
"Is that really our daughter?" AJ asked him as he nodded.
"That's her." Punk nodded, "She… She's done well for herself. She's got her own place, her own job, people around who care about her-"
"And no family." AJ cried, "The one thing I was so glad she'd have, turns out she never even had it?" She questioned as Punk placed his arm around her.
He really felt like a teen again. Embracing her and comforting her over their regrets and failures. It felt like nothing had really changed.
"Maybe we can… we can talk to her, tell her our version of the story." Punk nodded.
"I can't believe that's our daughter." AJ shook her head, lost in a trance. All these years wondering what and where her daughter was, now she finally had a face. A gorgeous face to match all her wondering. She just wished it could have been on happier circumstances.
