Disclaimer: Nope, don't own 'em. Want 'em, but know it won't happen... maybe... possibly? *shakes head disappointedly*.
Author's Note: For some of the details of Daisy's past, I wasn't sure, and I don't have all the episodes handy, so bear with me. If I get the details wrong, either ignore it, or just let me know in a review, but no flaming garbage!!! By the way, I had to change some of your history. You'll see. Just go along with it.
She took a deep breath as she closed in on Peter's office. She knew she was in for a lecture. She walked in a smiled to herself at what she saw.
Two chairs, back to back, with Peter sitting at his desk, looking out the window.
"I'm glad to see you're prepared," Daisy said dryly. Peter jumped up from his desk.
"Have a seat, Miss Lipenowski," Peter replied indicating the chairs. There was a lot of tension in the air, but neither acknowledged it, or made any indication of it. Daisy sat down on the chair looking out the windows. Peter sat on the other, which was facing the door and windows into the hall.
"So, when are the 20 questions going to come?" she asked dryly.
"Do you want to tell me how you feel about it?"
"Question one," she replied with a slight smirk. "My answer is the same as when you asked this after my mom died. My father's dead. Any close family I may have had is gone now. I'm all alone."
"You're never alone. Don't allow yourself to be alone. My mother always used to tell me something, and it really stuck. She said: "Don't be alone, not in your head, or in your heart. It's too easy to get lost.'" When she didn't reply, he continued. "Trust me, Dais, you don't want to get lost. And you're never alone. You will never be alone in this world, until your family quits on you."
"They have quit! They bailed on me the second they brought me into this world," she spat out. Her voice was starting to crack from emotion. Peter shook his head to himself.
"I don't mean your biological family, I mean your Horizon family. Daisy, they are your family."
A silent tear rolled down her face at this comment. She thought of the Cliffhangers: Shelby, Scott, Jules, Ezra, and Auggie. But most of all, she thought about David. He'd been there for her last night. He'd be there for her when they graduated, when she'd be lost. They were special friends, but even more than that.
"Daisy, I know you don't want to talk about this-" but she cut him off.
"I'm going to the funeral. You taught me that I'd regret it if I didn't go to my mother's funeral, and in a way, I'm glad I did go. It allowed me to say good-bye, one last time. I want to go to my father's funeral."
"Okay," he said quietly.
"I just have one condition," she said, as she stood up and turned to Peter. He did the same.
"And that would be?"
"Shelby and David come along."
"David? Are you sure, Dais?"
"Yes, if he doesn't come, I'm not going." Peter nodded his head understandingly.
"Your choice, so long as you know what you're doing." She nodded. "Alright, I'll let Sophie know. Go and tell Shel and David."
"Thanks, Peter," she said, turned on her heal, and was gone.
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"Hey, how'd it go?" Sophie asked, walking into Peter's office a little while later.
"Uh, well enough. You have a road-trip coming up."
"She's going to the funeral?" Sophie asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, and she came to the decision all by herself. She's really grown," Peter said, obviously impressed.
"Is Shelby coming again?"
"Uh... yeah, there's also a twist this time." Sophie raised her eyebrows again. "David's coming too."
"You're joking!" she said, rather loudly.
"Nope. Daisy insisted. She knows what she's doing. I think she really likes him."
"Who would've guessed?"
"I would've! I saw them together last night. I was doing my rounds. I saw you tell her and leave her alone to think. Then, to my utter amazement, the first place she went was the guys' dorm. At first, I thought she was going to get Shelby, but she stayed outside. She just knocked on a window, said something and went to the docks. About two seconds later, David came out of the dorm, and went to meet her. He comforted her," Peter explained.
"Are you serious?" Sophie asked, a smile forming on her lips.
"Yep, they stayed like that quite a while. Nothing happened. They didn't even make-out! He just held her for about two hours."
"That is so sweet! I didn't think David was capable."
"You have to remember, Soph, we don't know the real David. He still has a pretty tough mask up. I have a pretty good feeling that only Daisy knows the real him. Maybe some of the Cliffhanger guys, but I'd be quite surprised if it were the case."
"Yeah, me too."
"Alright, go get ready. You're leaving tomorrow. Hitting the road! I'll get Roger to watch over your group." Sophie nodded. She then kissed her husband and left to pack.
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"Shelby?" Daisy yelled, knocking on the door to Shelby and Scott's room. It was now a Friday afternoon, and classes had long since ended.
"Yeah?" Shelby asked, coming to the door.
"Shelby, I have something to talk to you about. Come on, it's important," Daisy said. She had a lot of hurt in her eyes, and Shelby could tell this was not good news.
"Scott? I need to go," Shelby yelled out to Scott. "Apparently Daisy has big news, and I need to hear it. I'll see ya later."
"Yeah," he whispered into her hair as she hugged him. "Alright, see ya later!" With that, Shelby left.
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"So, what's up?" Shelby asked as they walked across campus and came to sit on the edge of the docks.
"Shel, my dad died," Daisy whispered.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Daisy! Are you alright?" she asked empathetically. Daisy nodded. She was trying her best to hold back the tears.
"The funeral is in two days, same as where my mom's was," she said, tears now flowing down her face. Shelby re-arranged her sitting position on the docks so she could hug Daisy. When she let go, Daisy continued. "I want you both to come."
"Of course, anything," Shelby said.
"I'll be there," David said, holding her hand. He gave her a small smile. She couldn't bring herself to smile, but her eyes had so much thankfulness in them that he understood perfectly.
"In that case," she said, regaining composure. "You guys've got to pack. We're leaving tomorrow," she explained.
"Alright," Shelby said, as they all got up. "I'll see you later. Take care of her, David," she said, giving Daisy a hug, and David a wave.
"No worries," he yelled to her retreating figure. "Are you sure you're fine?" he asked quietly, slipping his hands on her waist comfortingly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just gonna have a hard time of it."
"But... I thought you hated your dad. I mean, didn't you end up here because you tried to kill him?" he asked, a little uncomfortable.
"Yeah, but he died from alcohol poisoning! He had a problem with alcohol ever since I was born. He was supposed to be in rehab. He was supposed to be dealing with his problem!" she yelled, tears now streaming down the sides of her face.
"Daisy... I'm really sorry!" he said, pulling her into a hug.
"So am I," she whispered into his neck as he held her. Suddenly, it began to rain, but neither budged. Daisy needed some time to let it all out, and David was there for her when she did.
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Shelby got back to her room right before the rain started. She unlocked the door and walked in. Scott wasn't there at that time. She took her backpack out from under the bed and began packing.
Scott walked in and, at what he saw, he got a horrified expression.
"Shel, what are you doing?" he asked, hurt present in his voice.
"Scott, Daisy's dad died," she said, walking to him and hugging him. She started to cry. Her best friend was in so much pain, and she couldn't do a thing about it, this time. She felt so helpless. What did Daisy do to deserve this?
"It's okay Shel. Everything will be fine, don't worry," he said, calming her. "So, you're going to the funeral?"
"Yeah," she whispered, collecting herself and beginning to pack again. Scott began to help her. He knew she had to do this, and he wasn't going to ask her to stay when he knew how much she cared for Daisy.
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Daisy and David sat in the back seat of Peter and Sophie's car, while Shelby sat in the front passenger seat with Sophie driving. David never let go of Daisy's hand. Shelby slept most of the ride, and Sophie was quiet. She didn't want to push Daisy to talk about anything just yet, besides, she'd already talked to Peter about it. David never slept; he just stared at Daisy the entire time. He knew next to nothing about her past and the same situation applied to her, about him. Daisy knew he wanted to know about her, but frankly, she didn't know if she could tell yet. She'd told them all about how her parents were alcoholics and how her dad had threatened physical abuse, but she'd never told them all the stuff that had happened before then.
Daisy just stared out the window, avoiding David's questioning eyes. She didn't want to tell them now. She just couldn't deal if she'd had to go back into those painful memories. She knew, however, that she'd have to tell them eventually. As she'd once told Shelby, it's like poison, it eats you up inside. She wanted to spit it all out, all that horrible poison. She just didn't know how.
They were nearing the end of their trip. Daisy was starting to recognize some of the buildings and even some people as they drove through Chicago. Suddenly they pulled up in front of a big building, which looked to be a church. Here we go, Daisy thought.
"Okay, gang, out of the car," Sophie called. Shelby woke with a start. David just looked out of the door. They seemed to be in a rather rich neighborhood.
"You lived here?" he asked, rather amazed. The entire street was filled with huge house upon huge house.
"Define 'live,'" Daisy replied dryly, stepping out of the car.
"Wow, these houses are huge," Shelby said. Her family's house had been a rather run down small house. The houses around here were more than huge: they were beautiful.
"Yeah, where the tormented souls live." Shelby just smirked at her friend, slipped her arm around Daisy's shoulders and they all walked into the church.
During the ceremony all four of them wore rather blank expressions. At the end of burial, they were walking out of the cemetery, when a small man approached Daisy.
"Would you, by chance, be Miss Lipenowski?" he asked. He was short, a little chubby and balding. He wore thick black glasses.
"Let me guess, you're the lawyer," Shelby said. He looked at her, his eyes narrow, and nodded.
"Yes, I'm Daisy."
"Look, I know this may be kind of painful, but you'll have to go through your stuff up at the house. Your aunt Melina will be up there to go through anything else, but she felt that you should be able to decide what happens to your own belongings," he explained.
Daisy looked at Sophie. She gave her an encouraging nod. Daisy turned back to the man and nodded. "Okay, but my friends come with me." The man nodded.
"By the way, I'm John Morrisson. Here's my card." He handed her a small slip of paper. "If you need any help at all, or have any questions, give me a call, I'll be in my office all afternoon, until 7." Daisy nodded, and he left.
They all piled into Sophie's car and drove down the road. They stopped in front of a four-story house. It had a gigantic front porch.
"Home sweet home," Daisy whispered. They all got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Daisy immediately went to one of the potted plants and dug around in the earth for a little while. Finally she got up, satisfaction written on her face. Then the expression turned to disgust. "He never changed."
She opened the door and walked in. the other three followed silently. Right away, Daisy climbed the stairs, went down the hall, and stopped. She was in front of a white door. She reached for the handle, but couldn't bring herself to touch it. She turned around, slid down the side of the door, and balled up. Sophie went to calm her down.
"You know, hunny, you don't have to do this. We can go back to Horizon. However, I really think you should go through with this. It may be painful, but you'll regret it if you don't."
Daisy just nodded. When she got up, her eyes were red, but she looked resolutely. She opened the door and went in. She closed the door behind her. She looked around; the memories flowed freely now. Tears started running from her eyes and she made no effort to stop them. She walked the short distance to her bed, grabbing one of her stuffed bears on the way. She lay down, looked up at the ceiling and thought. She thought about her dad.
She remembered how hard it had been for her to find something to trigger the tears she wanted to shed for her mother. Somehow, she hadn't needed as much help with her father.
I guess I always thought he'd get better, she thought. I always thought he'd try, for me. But he didn't! He couldn't take that one last step and stop. His stupid alcohol was more important to him... than his own daughter. I thought he'd see what had happened to mom and he would've stopped. But even that wasn't enough. I wasn't enough.
There was a knock on the door and David's head appeared. He didn't say anything, just walked over to her and lay beside her on the bed.
"You all right," he asked.
"Yeah, just memories."
"I know what you mean. Do you want any help?"
"Where are the other two?" she asked.
"They decided it was getting too late not to eat, so they went off to get some food. It took quite a while to convince Shelby that I wouldn't do any harm."
Daisy let out a short chuckle. "All right, gotten far enough down memory lane, lets see what we've got."
They both got up, off the bed, and began going through her stuff. They started by throwing out all her junk and any garbage. Then they got into the books. They made a pile for those she wanted to keep and one for those she didn't want. There were hardly any that she didn't want. Then they went through her CD's. She didn't have that much so it went by quickly. She had a lot of soundtracks, David noted, from films such as "Life as a House" and "Moulin Rouge". So Daisy did have a sappier side to her. He smiled to himself. Next, they got to her movie collection. Here, they had quite a few laughs at what they found.
Despite the image she put out, Daisy had a rather happy and romantic taste for movies. First of all, she had practically the entire Disney collection. Then, she had a few adapted movies such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Anne of Green Gables". She also had a few actions like "The Fifth Element" and "Indiana Jones".
When they really enjoyed themselves was when they arrived at her "classics" section. This section had "Star Wars," "The Sound of Music," "Monty Python," "Jurassic Park," "Titanic," and "The Wizard of Oz". David laughed at some of the movies she had.
"What?" she asked indignantly as he picked up "The Little Mermaid."
"Oh, I just never thought that you, Daisy Graves, would own 'The Little Mermaid,' let alone some of these other ones."
"I know. I got mainly all of these when I was little. Some are newer than others, but very few are newer than 2 years or so. I loved movies, as did my parents. But they mainly like them for the sole reason that they kept me out of the way," she said bitterly. David just looked away and his eyes landed on her dresser.
"Hey, how about we go through your clothes next."
"Nope it's my turn now," Shelby said, entering the room. "David, Sophie wants to talk to you. Apparently we don't get away from our one-on-ones... even when we're a thousand miles away from Horizon," she said smirking.
"Oh great," David sighed. "See ya later Dais." He gave her a kiss and went to find Sophie.
"How are you holding up?" she asked. She couldn't hide anything from Shelby. Her eyes welled up; she shook her head, and held out her arms for a hug. Shelby sat down beside her and hugged her, letting Daisy cry on her shoulder. She rubbed her back saying: "It's going to be okay, Dais. I know it will. Don't worry. It's okay." Daisy finally collected herself and nodded.
"I know. It's just that I feel so alone."
"Listen, Daisy, you'll never be alone. Never! So long as I'm around; so long as David's around; and so long as the Cliffhanger's are around, you will never be alone. You will always have people who love you and just want the best for you. And I know for a fact that your father loved you deeply. He may not have shown it the right way, but he did love you. I believe that with every fiber of my being! Don't ever believe otherwise."
"Thanks," she said. She hugged Shelby.
"So, what do we have to do?"
"Well, David and I went through my books, CD's, movies. We just have my clothes, teddy bears, and miscellaneous things."
"Miscellaneous?" Shelby asked, a little confused.
"Yeah, you know, pictures, letters, random notes and papers," she explained. "And then we're done."
"Alrighty, let's get to it then."
They went through her clothes, but Daisy had most of the ones she liked at Horizon so it went quickly. She didn't own that many teddy bears, so that too went quickly. What did take a while was the "miscellaneous" stuff.
This is where it got tough. Daisy found her diaries. She stopped writing the first time she was abused, verbally speaking that is, by her father. They also found a stack of letters.
"Daisy? Why do you have all these?" Shelby asked, showing her the stack of letters.
"Oh my gosh. I never thought I'd see these again."
"Who are they from?"
At this time, David walked in. "Oh, are we having share-time?" he asked, sitting next to Daisy. "What's up?"
"Well, Shelby just found this stack of letters. I thought I'd never see these again. I'm in total shock."
"What are they from?" Shelby asked again.
"When I was young, like seven years old or so, we went to Germany. We lived there for a four of years. These are all letters from my friend back there. He had a lot of problems. One of them was the fact that his parents were alcoholics. We got on because of that at the beginning. When we left, he had a hard time dealing. We were each other's confidants. We wrote to each other like every day. It was kind of hard to get the days straight, but we figured it out. At the end, right before I came to Horizon, his letters started getting more and more spaced out. Each one was scarier than the last."
"Scarier? What do you mean?" Shelby asked.
"I thought he was becoming suicidal. His father kept beating him up. He'd run several times from home. I started getting really worried. He was using."
"What?" David asked, this time.
"Uh, coke and heroine, I think. I'm no expert on drugs, but that's what I gathered." The whole time she'd told her story, she'd been calmly looking over her letters while she talked. Now her voice started cracking from emotion. "The night before I left for Horizon, I got one last letter. What scared me is it wasn't from Josh. It was from..." Here she broke down. Shelby and David looked at each other. David tried to hold her hand, but she pulled away. He looked at Shelby, confusion and hurt written in his eyes. Shelby looked confused as well.
"Dais?" she asked softly. "Are you okay, hunny?"
"It was from his mother. Josh had run several days before. He'd ODed in a motel room. He was dead."
"Daisy!" Shelby said, tears running her face. They all stood up and Shelby and David wrapped their arms around Daisy. They just stood there, hugging her.
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"So, how'd it go?" Peter asked Sophie when she walked into his office, mere minutes after their arrival back at Horizon.
"Well, I'd say. She opened up. It was tough on her though."
"That bad huh?"
"Well, not because of the funeral, but because right afterward, Mr. Morrisson, her dad's solicitor, comes up to us and tells her that she has to go through her stuff back at the house. She did it, knowing she didn't have to. I think it was a little much all at one time. I don't know what happened, but we left David with her while Shelby and I went to get food. When we got back, Shelby went to help her out and David had a little one-on-one with me. He just told me that they went through her books, CD's, and movies, and that Daisy's not the girl she makes herself out to be. He went back up after that. An hour or so later, I went up to tell them we ought to get going and I found David and Shelby hugging a crying Daisy. They wouldn't tell me what happened, but Daisy looked relieved of something."
"Well, I'd say you did a good job. Even though you didn't find out what happened, you helped Daisy open-up. I'm very proud of you!" he said, smirking and getting up. "Welcome home!" He gave her a kiss. "Alright, you head-on home, I'll do bed-checks and meet you there in about an hour."
"Thanks, I need a shower."
Author's Note: For some of the details of Daisy's past, I wasn't sure, and I don't have all the episodes handy, so bear with me. If I get the details wrong, either ignore it, or just let me know in a review, but no flaming garbage!!! By the way, I had to change some of your history. You'll see. Just go along with it.
She took a deep breath as she closed in on Peter's office. She knew she was in for a lecture. She walked in a smiled to herself at what she saw.
Two chairs, back to back, with Peter sitting at his desk, looking out the window.
"I'm glad to see you're prepared," Daisy said dryly. Peter jumped up from his desk.
"Have a seat, Miss Lipenowski," Peter replied indicating the chairs. There was a lot of tension in the air, but neither acknowledged it, or made any indication of it. Daisy sat down on the chair looking out the windows. Peter sat on the other, which was facing the door and windows into the hall.
"So, when are the 20 questions going to come?" she asked dryly.
"Do you want to tell me how you feel about it?"
"Question one," she replied with a slight smirk. "My answer is the same as when you asked this after my mom died. My father's dead. Any close family I may have had is gone now. I'm all alone."
"You're never alone. Don't allow yourself to be alone. My mother always used to tell me something, and it really stuck. She said: "Don't be alone, not in your head, or in your heart. It's too easy to get lost.'" When she didn't reply, he continued. "Trust me, Dais, you don't want to get lost. And you're never alone. You will never be alone in this world, until your family quits on you."
"They have quit! They bailed on me the second they brought me into this world," she spat out. Her voice was starting to crack from emotion. Peter shook his head to himself.
"I don't mean your biological family, I mean your Horizon family. Daisy, they are your family."
A silent tear rolled down her face at this comment. She thought of the Cliffhangers: Shelby, Scott, Jules, Ezra, and Auggie. But most of all, she thought about David. He'd been there for her last night. He'd be there for her when they graduated, when she'd be lost. They were special friends, but even more than that.
"Daisy, I know you don't want to talk about this-" but she cut him off.
"I'm going to the funeral. You taught me that I'd regret it if I didn't go to my mother's funeral, and in a way, I'm glad I did go. It allowed me to say good-bye, one last time. I want to go to my father's funeral."
"Okay," he said quietly.
"I just have one condition," she said, as she stood up and turned to Peter. He did the same.
"And that would be?"
"Shelby and David come along."
"David? Are you sure, Dais?"
"Yes, if he doesn't come, I'm not going." Peter nodded his head understandingly.
"Your choice, so long as you know what you're doing." She nodded. "Alright, I'll let Sophie know. Go and tell Shel and David."
"Thanks, Peter," she said, turned on her heal, and was gone.
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"Hey, how'd it go?" Sophie asked, walking into Peter's office a little while later.
"Uh, well enough. You have a road-trip coming up."
"She's going to the funeral?" Sophie asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, and she came to the decision all by herself. She's really grown," Peter said, obviously impressed.
"Is Shelby coming again?"
"Uh... yeah, there's also a twist this time." Sophie raised her eyebrows again. "David's coming too."
"You're joking!" she said, rather loudly.
"Nope. Daisy insisted. She knows what she's doing. I think she really likes him."
"Who would've guessed?"
"I would've! I saw them together last night. I was doing my rounds. I saw you tell her and leave her alone to think. Then, to my utter amazement, the first place she went was the guys' dorm. At first, I thought she was going to get Shelby, but she stayed outside. She just knocked on a window, said something and went to the docks. About two seconds later, David came out of the dorm, and went to meet her. He comforted her," Peter explained.
"Are you serious?" Sophie asked, a smile forming on her lips.
"Yep, they stayed like that quite a while. Nothing happened. They didn't even make-out! He just held her for about two hours."
"That is so sweet! I didn't think David was capable."
"You have to remember, Soph, we don't know the real David. He still has a pretty tough mask up. I have a pretty good feeling that only Daisy knows the real him. Maybe some of the Cliffhanger guys, but I'd be quite surprised if it were the case."
"Yeah, me too."
"Alright, go get ready. You're leaving tomorrow. Hitting the road! I'll get Roger to watch over your group." Sophie nodded. She then kissed her husband and left to pack.
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"Shelby?" Daisy yelled, knocking on the door to Shelby and Scott's room. It was now a Friday afternoon, and classes had long since ended.
"Yeah?" Shelby asked, coming to the door.
"Shelby, I have something to talk to you about. Come on, it's important," Daisy said. She had a lot of hurt in her eyes, and Shelby could tell this was not good news.
"Scott? I need to go," Shelby yelled out to Scott. "Apparently Daisy has big news, and I need to hear it. I'll see ya later."
"Yeah," he whispered into her hair as she hugged him. "Alright, see ya later!" With that, Shelby left.
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"So, what's up?" Shelby asked as they walked across campus and came to sit on the edge of the docks.
"Shel, my dad died," Daisy whispered.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Daisy! Are you alright?" she asked empathetically. Daisy nodded. She was trying her best to hold back the tears.
"The funeral is in two days, same as where my mom's was," she said, tears now flowing down her face. Shelby re-arranged her sitting position on the docks so she could hug Daisy. When she let go, Daisy continued. "I want you both to come."
"Of course, anything," Shelby said.
"I'll be there," David said, holding her hand. He gave her a small smile. She couldn't bring herself to smile, but her eyes had so much thankfulness in them that he understood perfectly.
"In that case," she said, regaining composure. "You guys've got to pack. We're leaving tomorrow," she explained.
"Alright," Shelby said, as they all got up. "I'll see you later. Take care of her, David," she said, giving Daisy a hug, and David a wave.
"No worries," he yelled to her retreating figure. "Are you sure you're fine?" he asked quietly, slipping his hands on her waist comfortingly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just gonna have a hard time of it."
"But... I thought you hated your dad. I mean, didn't you end up here because you tried to kill him?" he asked, a little uncomfortable.
"Yeah, but he died from alcohol poisoning! He had a problem with alcohol ever since I was born. He was supposed to be in rehab. He was supposed to be dealing with his problem!" she yelled, tears now streaming down the sides of her face.
"Daisy... I'm really sorry!" he said, pulling her into a hug.
"So am I," she whispered into his neck as he held her. Suddenly, it began to rain, but neither budged. Daisy needed some time to let it all out, and David was there for her when she did.
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Shelby got back to her room right before the rain started. She unlocked the door and walked in. Scott wasn't there at that time. She took her backpack out from under the bed and began packing.
Scott walked in and, at what he saw, he got a horrified expression.
"Shel, what are you doing?" he asked, hurt present in his voice.
"Scott, Daisy's dad died," she said, walking to him and hugging him. She started to cry. Her best friend was in so much pain, and she couldn't do a thing about it, this time. She felt so helpless. What did Daisy do to deserve this?
"It's okay Shel. Everything will be fine, don't worry," he said, calming her. "So, you're going to the funeral?"
"Yeah," she whispered, collecting herself and beginning to pack again. Scott began to help her. He knew she had to do this, and he wasn't going to ask her to stay when he knew how much she cared for Daisy.
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Daisy and David sat in the back seat of Peter and Sophie's car, while Shelby sat in the front passenger seat with Sophie driving. David never let go of Daisy's hand. Shelby slept most of the ride, and Sophie was quiet. She didn't want to push Daisy to talk about anything just yet, besides, she'd already talked to Peter about it. David never slept; he just stared at Daisy the entire time. He knew next to nothing about her past and the same situation applied to her, about him. Daisy knew he wanted to know about her, but frankly, she didn't know if she could tell yet. She'd told them all about how her parents were alcoholics and how her dad had threatened physical abuse, but she'd never told them all the stuff that had happened before then.
Daisy just stared out the window, avoiding David's questioning eyes. She didn't want to tell them now. She just couldn't deal if she'd had to go back into those painful memories. She knew, however, that she'd have to tell them eventually. As she'd once told Shelby, it's like poison, it eats you up inside. She wanted to spit it all out, all that horrible poison. She just didn't know how.
They were nearing the end of their trip. Daisy was starting to recognize some of the buildings and even some people as they drove through Chicago. Suddenly they pulled up in front of a big building, which looked to be a church. Here we go, Daisy thought.
"Okay, gang, out of the car," Sophie called. Shelby woke with a start. David just looked out of the door. They seemed to be in a rather rich neighborhood.
"You lived here?" he asked, rather amazed. The entire street was filled with huge house upon huge house.
"Define 'live,'" Daisy replied dryly, stepping out of the car.
"Wow, these houses are huge," Shelby said. Her family's house had been a rather run down small house. The houses around here were more than huge: they were beautiful.
"Yeah, where the tormented souls live." Shelby just smirked at her friend, slipped her arm around Daisy's shoulders and they all walked into the church.
During the ceremony all four of them wore rather blank expressions. At the end of burial, they were walking out of the cemetery, when a small man approached Daisy.
"Would you, by chance, be Miss Lipenowski?" he asked. He was short, a little chubby and balding. He wore thick black glasses.
"Let me guess, you're the lawyer," Shelby said. He looked at her, his eyes narrow, and nodded.
"Yes, I'm Daisy."
"Look, I know this may be kind of painful, but you'll have to go through your stuff up at the house. Your aunt Melina will be up there to go through anything else, but she felt that you should be able to decide what happens to your own belongings," he explained.
Daisy looked at Sophie. She gave her an encouraging nod. Daisy turned back to the man and nodded. "Okay, but my friends come with me." The man nodded.
"By the way, I'm John Morrisson. Here's my card." He handed her a small slip of paper. "If you need any help at all, or have any questions, give me a call, I'll be in my office all afternoon, until 7." Daisy nodded, and he left.
They all piled into Sophie's car and drove down the road. They stopped in front of a four-story house. It had a gigantic front porch.
"Home sweet home," Daisy whispered. They all got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Daisy immediately went to one of the potted plants and dug around in the earth for a little while. Finally she got up, satisfaction written on her face. Then the expression turned to disgust. "He never changed."
She opened the door and walked in. the other three followed silently. Right away, Daisy climbed the stairs, went down the hall, and stopped. She was in front of a white door. She reached for the handle, but couldn't bring herself to touch it. She turned around, slid down the side of the door, and balled up. Sophie went to calm her down.
"You know, hunny, you don't have to do this. We can go back to Horizon. However, I really think you should go through with this. It may be painful, but you'll regret it if you don't."
Daisy just nodded. When she got up, her eyes were red, but she looked resolutely. She opened the door and went in. She closed the door behind her. She looked around; the memories flowed freely now. Tears started running from her eyes and she made no effort to stop them. She walked the short distance to her bed, grabbing one of her stuffed bears on the way. She lay down, looked up at the ceiling and thought. She thought about her dad.
She remembered how hard it had been for her to find something to trigger the tears she wanted to shed for her mother. Somehow, she hadn't needed as much help with her father.
I guess I always thought he'd get better, she thought. I always thought he'd try, for me. But he didn't! He couldn't take that one last step and stop. His stupid alcohol was more important to him... than his own daughter. I thought he'd see what had happened to mom and he would've stopped. But even that wasn't enough. I wasn't enough.
There was a knock on the door and David's head appeared. He didn't say anything, just walked over to her and lay beside her on the bed.
"You all right," he asked.
"Yeah, just memories."
"I know what you mean. Do you want any help?"
"Where are the other two?" she asked.
"They decided it was getting too late not to eat, so they went off to get some food. It took quite a while to convince Shelby that I wouldn't do any harm."
Daisy let out a short chuckle. "All right, gotten far enough down memory lane, lets see what we've got."
They both got up, off the bed, and began going through her stuff. They started by throwing out all her junk and any garbage. Then they got into the books. They made a pile for those she wanted to keep and one for those she didn't want. There were hardly any that she didn't want. Then they went through her CD's. She didn't have that much so it went by quickly. She had a lot of soundtracks, David noted, from films such as "Life as a House" and "Moulin Rouge". So Daisy did have a sappier side to her. He smiled to himself. Next, they got to her movie collection. Here, they had quite a few laughs at what they found.
Despite the image she put out, Daisy had a rather happy and romantic taste for movies. First of all, she had practically the entire Disney collection. Then, she had a few adapted movies such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Anne of Green Gables". She also had a few actions like "The Fifth Element" and "Indiana Jones".
When they really enjoyed themselves was when they arrived at her "classics" section. This section had "Star Wars," "The Sound of Music," "Monty Python," "Jurassic Park," "Titanic," and "The Wizard of Oz". David laughed at some of the movies she had.
"What?" she asked indignantly as he picked up "The Little Mermaid."
"Oh, I just never thought that you, Daisy Graves, would own 'The Little Mermaid,' let alone some of these other ones."
"I know. I got mainly all of these when I was little. Some are newer than others, but very few are newer than 2 years or so. I loved movies, as did my parents. But they mainly like them for the sole reason that they kept me out of the way," she said bitterly. David just looked away and his eyes landed on her dresser.
"Hey, how about we go through your clothes next."
"Nope it's my turn now," Shelby said, entering the room. "David, Sophie wants to talk to you. Apparently we don't get away from our one-on-ones... even when we're a thousand miles away from Horizon," she said smirking.
"Oh great," David sighed. "See ya later Dais." He gave her a kiss and went to find Sophie.
"How are you holding up?" she asked. She couldn't hide anything from Shelby. Her eyes welled up; she shook her head, and held out her arms for a hug. Shelby sat down beside her and hugged her, letting Daisy cry on her shoulder. She rubbed her back saying: "It's going to be okay, Dais. I know it will. Don't worry. It's okay." Daisy finally collected herself and nodded.
"I know. It's just that I feel so alone."
"Listen, Daisy, you'll never be alone. Never! So long as I'm around; so long as David's around; and so long as the Cliffhanger's are around, you will never be alone. You will always have people who love you and just want the best for you. And I know for a fact that your father loved you deeply. He may not have shown it the right way, but he did love you. I believe that with every fiber of my being! Don't ever believe otherwise."
"Thanks," she said. She hugged Shelby.
"So, what do we have to do?"
"Well, David and I went through my books, CD's, movies. We just have my clothes, teddy bears, and miscellaneous things."
"Miscellaneous?" Shelby asked, a little confused.
"Yeah, you know, pictures, letters, random notes and papers," she explained. "And then we're done."
"Alrighty, let's get to it then."
They went through her clothes, but Daisy had most of the ones she liked at Horizon so it went quickly. She didn't own that many teddy bears, so that too went quickly. What did take a while was the "miscellaneous" stuff.
This is where it got tough. Daisy found her diaries. She stopped writing the first time she was abused, verbally speaking that is, by her father. They also found a stack of letters.
"Daisy? Why do you have all these?" Shelby asked, showing her the stack of letters.
"Oh my gosh. I never thought I'd see these again."
"Who are they from?"
At this time, David walked in. "Oh, are we having share-time?" he asked, sitting next to Daisy. "What's up?"
"Well, Shelby just found this stack of letters. I thought I'd never see these again. I'm in total shock."
"What are they from?" Shelby asked again.
"When I was young, like seven years old or so, we went to Germany. We lived there for a four of years. These are all letters from my friend back there. He had a lot of problems. One of them was the fact that his parents were alcoholics. We got on because of that at the beginning. When we left, he had a hard time dealing. We were each other's confidants. We wrote to each other like every day. It was kind of hard to get the days straight, but we figured it out. At the end, right before I came to Horizon, his letters started getting more and more spaced out. Each one was scarier than the last."
"Scarier? What do you mean?" Shelby asked.
"I thought he was becoming suicidal. His father kept beating him up. He'd run several times from home. I started getting really worried. He was using."
"What?" David asked, this time.
"Uh, coke and heroine, I think. I'm no expert on drugs, but that's what I gathered." The whole time she'd told her story, she'd been calmly looking over her letters while she talked. Now her voice started cracking from emotion. "The night before I left for Horizon, I got one last letter. What scared me is it wasn't from Josh. It was from..." Here she broke down. Shelby and David looked at each other. David tried to hold her hand, but she pulled away. He looked at Shelby, confusion and hurt written in his eyes. Shelby looked confused as well.
"Dais?" she asked softly. "Are you okay, hunny?"
"It was from his mother. Josh had run several days before. He'd ODed in a motel room. He was dead."
"Daisy!" Shelby said, tears running her face. They all stood up and Shelby and David wrapped their arms around Daisy. They just stood there, hugging her.
********************************************************************************
"So, how'd it go?" Peter asked Sophie when she walked into his office, mere minutes after their arrival back at Horizon.
"Well, I'd say. She opened up. It was tough on her though."
"That bad huh?"
"Well, not because of the funeral, but because right afterward, Mr. Morrisson, her dad's solicitor, comes up to us and tells her that she has to go through her stuff back at the house. She did it, knowing she didn't have to. I think it was a little much all at one time. I don't know what happened, but we left David with her while Shelby and I went to get food. When we got back, Shelby went to help her out and David had a little one-on-one with me. He just told me that they went through her books, CD's, and movies, and that Daisy's not the girl she makes herself out to be. He went back up after that. An hour or so later, I went up to tell them we ought to get going and I found David and Shelby hugging a crying Daisy. They wouldn't tell me what happened, but Daisy looked relieved of something."
"Well, I'd say you did a good job. Even though you didn't find out what happened, you helped Daisy open-up. I'm very proud of you!" he said, smirking and getting up. "Welcome home!" He gave her a kiss. "Alright, you head-on home, I'll do bed-checks and meet you there in about an hour."
"Thanks, I need a shower."