Chapter 24
A few days later, Lucy is alone inside of her apartment. Natsu is working at his pizza delivery job so she has some time to herself. She is currently taking a break from writing, her laptop off to the side on the couch. With remote in hand, she is flipping through channels in attempt to find something interesting.
A chef is cooking some chicken. There are after affects of a three car accident. A Golden Retriever family of four is driving around in a vehicle. A man is flipping a house to sell.
Lucy checks her recordings in case there is something worthwhile there. She skips over the shows Natsu has for the ones she will prefer. "It's like he already lives here…" she muses.
She has debated inviting him to live with her, but has held off for now. They have not been dating long in the grand scheme of things and she does not want to rush anything. She wants to avoid the chance of scaring him off if he thinks she is rushing their relationship. Besides, neither of them has been in a relationship before let alone a serious one.
Someone raps on the door twice, and Lucy turns to look. Thinking it is a package delivery person, she gets up and walks over to the door. When she opens it, she discovers she is wrong.
Just outside the doorway is a tall man dressed in a black tailcoat suit. He has short-kept, white hair and facial hair in the form of trimmed beard. Dark sunglasses cover his eyes.
"Capricorn," Lucy manages to say after a moment. She had not been expecting to see him.
He bows at the hip. "Miss Lucy."
"What are you doing here? Uh, not that I'm not happy to see you or anything."
"Your father wishes to see you." Then removes his sunglasses so he can look directly at her. "He was involved in an accident."
The car accident on the news flashes through her mind. "What?" she whispers.
"He is in somewhat critical condition," he informs her. "He has been fading in and out of consciousness, but he always says your name when he is awake."
Lucy may not be close to her father, but she can still care about him as a human being. She does have some happy memories because of him. She is alive because of him. "Can you take me to him?" she asks, not giving it a second thought.
"The car is out front."
"Let me go put on shoes." She hurries off to her bedroom to find a pair to wear. She is wearing a cami and jeans so finding a pair of flats is easy enough. After grabbing a purse, Lucy sends Natsu a quick text in case he tries reaching her when he is free.
Lucy: I have to go to the hospital.
Rather than later at the hospital, she turns her phone on mute now before slipping it into her purse. Then she grabs her keys before leaving her bedroom and returning to Capricorn. They step out into the hallway, and Lucy locks up her apartment.
x-X-x
At the hospital, Lucy and Capricorn are standing outside of Jude's closed hospital room door. She is nervous. It has been years since she last spoke with her father, but here she is.
"If you like, I can accompany you inside," Capricorn offers.
"I'd like that," she admits.
"Do you want to enter first?"
She merely nods and takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. Mentally preparing herself, Lucy slowly opens the door and steps inside. She walks further into the room and stops at the foot of the bed.
Jude is propped up on the bed with his eyes closed. There are some scratches from glass. Bandages are wrapped around his head and it seems his left arm is broken. Rather than wearing his typical full suit, he is in a hospital gown that has a diamond pattern to it. He is hooked up to some beeping machines and an IV. It is all a surreal sight for Lucy to take in.
She snaps back to reality when she hears Capricorn close the door behind him. Feeling as though she is wading through water, she walks over to stand on Jude's right side. "Hey," she says softly.
His dark eyes flutter open and focus on her. "Layla…" he murmurs, a faint smile on his lips.
Lucy's jaw tightens up and a ball forms in her throat. "No, it's me. Lucy."
His smile grows a little bit. "Lucy. My Lucy."
"Hi, Dad."
"I've always wanted to see you again. I've missed you."
"I've missed you, too."
"My little girl…" Jude's eyes begin to close. "My little Lucy…"
She looks at Capricorn who is standing next to a wall, keeping out of the way. "Am I allowed to stay?"
"You may do whatever you like, Miss Lucy," he replies. "No one else is to enter the room besides those from the hospital and us."
"What about paparazzi?"
"We are keeping them at bay for now."
"Do they know what happened?"
"The car accident has been covered by the news, but we are trying to ensure Mr. Jude's name stays out of it."
"I guess certain people don't need to know about the president of Heartfilia Enterprise in this case."
"But we made sure his daughter knew."
Lucy softly smiles. "Thank you. I'm glad I was told. I wouldn't have known otherwise." Then she looks back at her resting father.
"I'm sure he wanted you to know. The two of you may have had a falling out, but he has done his best to keep tabs on you."
"Is that how you knew about my apartment?"
"And then some."
"And then some?" She looks back at Capricorn. "What else does he know?"
"He owns every book you have written so far."
Her eyes grow wide with surprise. Lucy looks back and forth between Jude and Capricorn before finally stopping at Capricorn. "What?" she whispers.
"He enjoys the works you publish under the penname of Ashley," he continues. "Every copy he owns is signed by you as well. And"- Capricorn stops speaking for a moment-"Are you well, Miss Lucy?"
She sniffles. "Of course."
"But you are crying."
That explains why her cheeks feel wet. She uses the back of her hand to wipe away her fallen tears. "Why hasn't he said anything to me before?"
Capricorn approaches her with a handkerchief in hand. "Stubbornness is something that you have inherited from him."
A weak grin tugs at her lips and she takes it from him to use. "Thank you."
"I doubt he will tell you this, but he was an absolute wreck after you left the manor. He had thought he lost you forever, much like he lost your mother."
"I guess we just needed a break from each other," Lucy muses. "Blow off some steam for a few years."
The room falls silent. The only sounds heard are steady beeps coming from some machines.
"Do you believe the father and daughter relationship can be reestablished?" Capricorn asks after a moment.
"I hope so. Well, I don't see why not. It'll be something for us to work at once he's awake."
"Perhaps giving him a few days will be best. When he is more like himself."
She nods in agreement. "Was he involved in that three car accident?"
"Yes. Some driver ran a red light and crashed into his vehicle. Then he hit another one from the force of the collision."
"Is everyone involved okay?"
"I am not sure actually. Mr. Jude's health has been my top priority since the accident occurred. I believe there are not any deaths."
Lucy looks down at her father. "At least things aren't worse for him…"
"Indeed."
She looks back at Capricorn. "How will the company be with him gone?"
"Things will run smoothly as possible. Competitors will be left out of the loop. Those who need to know updates about his condition will be kept informed."
"That's how he'll want things to be."
"Rightly so."
Lucy keeps going back to the fact her father reads her works and knows about it. "Capricorn?"
"Yes?"
"How does he know about my books? How does he even know I'm Ashley?"
"You always enjoyed writing stories as a child and Ashley had been the name of your imaginary friend. After you had left the manor and a new author published as Ashley came up, it was easy for him to connect the dots." Capricorn smiles a little bit. "After you published the first one, he bought a bookshelf to hold it. It's been a growing collection ever since."
Now Lucy might cry again.
"He still does care about you. He just does not want to possibly lose you a second time."
She dabs away at her newly formed tears. "I don't want that either."
Someone knocks on the door.
"You may enter," Capricorn says.
A nurse with dark skin enters the room. "I'm just here to check vitals."
"Don't let us get in your way," Lucy assures her.
"Are you okay, miss?" the nurse questions.
She nods. "I'm just happy is all. They're happy tears."
A/N Part 1: At least there wasn't a cliff hanger for an ending haha :P Sooo I decided to go with this arc for now. A bit more to come for sure. Clear things up. PS. If you guys read RPRT, it was only time for Lucy to visit Jude in the hospital :P
A/N Part 2: Also, because I reached 1k followers for MTAP, I published a one-shot called Spontaneous! As of now, I'll continue it if I can come up with a decent plot for it. Or maybe I'll focus on it after CAF or MTAP is finished… But in case some of y'all haven't read it, I'd suggest checking it out!
Jessyka Lyn: Woo! At least it wasn't stretched out haha
Craycraynalufan: Thank you for understanding :) Means a lot!
Aya Rose: Natsu is incredibly sweet :D And thank you :)
Craycraynalufan: Always yay NaLu! :D
Guest: Yay, I'm happy you enjoyed it! I thought of it as fans of Ashley saw photos and posted. Some started spreading nasty and false rumors. Think of like when Millianna happened to run into Lucy at the mall!
Army4life: Haha, nope! No breakup for NaLu in this fic! They're safe!
Anon: Gah, thank you so much! And good, some of that was supposed to be light on the humor! Thanks again for reading :D
Anonymous Guest: Woo, I'm happy you think so! Yay, any review is good! They typically cheer me up :D (tbh, I have nooo clue)
