Title: Business of lies

Rating: PG-13 (Although might turn R in later chapters)

Pairing: NONE (at the moment)

Author's note: I intended for the first chapter to be short to just start it off. I really hope you enjoy the next chapter. Hopefully more people will read this story but thanks to my first reviewer! (Check out my other Nip/Tuck fic "Should of asked him to stay.")

Christian felt all the air rush out of the room and he couldn't breath. This was like a nightmare. He thought. As if he wasn't being punished enough for being Matt's father. This had to be some kind of joke. "This is a joke right? Who put you up to this? It was Sean right?" Christian saw what he swore was a mixture of anger and hurt.

"Listen." she began. "I have driven for the last three days just to get here. I promise you that this is no joke." Christian looked around. They were beginning to draw a crowd. "Let's take this into my office." He grabbed her arm and started to lead her to his office.

The girl walked inside and sat in one of the chairs. Christian settled himself in the chair behind his desk. He folded his hands and laid them on the desk. "You're my daughter? I'm sorry but the last time I checked I didn't have a daughter." He could tell by the look in her eyes that every word he uttered was hurting her.

He himself couldn't even understand why he was being such a bastard. She slid a piece of paper across the table. If he was looking at it right it was a birth certificate. It had his signature on it. He felt a groan starting in his throat.

"My mother's name is Alexia Whannell. Do you remember her?" Christian remembered her alright. She was a fling that had turned into a month of dating. When she had told him she was pregnant he didn't believe that it was his. He was very careful. He had signed the certificate when the baby was born just to get the woman to leave him alone. He hadn't heard from her since then.

From what Christian could remember she had been a cruel woman. Christian started to choke on his words. As he opened his mouth Sean came bursting through the door. "Christian your never going to believe this." He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the girl sitting there. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know that you were in a meeting."

Sean turned to go but Christian stopped him. "No Sean. It's ok." Sean turned around and sort of just stood there. "Sean." Christian stood up out of his seat. He walked over and took the girl by the hand. Christian saw the odd look on Sean's face as he laid eyes on the girl. "Sean this is Alex Troy. My daughter."

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Alex sat back in her car and let out a deep sigh. She was still shaking. She tried to steady her hands as she turned on the ignition. She had been shocked when she had first laid eyes on Christian. She looked exactly like him. He seemed a little arrogant to her. In some ways he was exactly as her mother had described him to be.

But considering her mother never spoke highly of him she hoped she was wrong. Ever since she was a little girl all she wanted was to know her father. As she got older she found that he wasn't that hard to track down. Alex slowly drove down the road to find the cheapest motel around.

Tomorrow she planned to go apartment shopping. She had waited all her life to get away from her mother. Now she was determined to stay away. She had grown up in Oregon most of her life. So Miami, Florida was just a tad bit different. She was nervous as hell and really felt out of place.

Soon she came across a motel. It looked kind of seedy but it would have to do. She had close to five thousand dollars saved up and really needed to save it for apartment hunting tomorrow. She was planning on going after lunch with Christian. He had sort of hurried her out of there but he told her to stop by his apartment tomorrow and they'd have lunch.

Her head was spinning by the time she opened the door to her room. The room looked as if no one had been in it for months. She was scared the bed would break if she sat on it. She had to laugh. She desperately needed a shower. As she opened the door to the bathroom she sighed. At least the bathroom was clean.

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Christian opened the door to his apartment with a shaking hand. He was still trying to process the events of today through his brain. His head was swimming. Yesterday he didn't have a care in the world and today he had a daughter.

He remembered her mother. It was whole event that he had tried to push out of his life. And he had been successful. Now he was just stupid. After the day at the hospital he had never seen nor heard from her again. Not until this girl had shown up at the office. But he couldn't deny it. Alex was his daughter. But just to be sure he would get a test.

He had promised to take her out to lunch tomorrow and he was nervous as hell. He stripped himself of his clothing and headed towards the bathroom. He sighed as he felt the hot water splash over his naked body. He still couldn't steady the shaking of his hands. He didn't know why.

He had never been this unnerved before. After what seemed like a lifetime he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. As soon as he did he heard a sharp knock at the door. Quickly he wrapped a towel around his waist and went to answer the door.

Christian opened the door to find Sean standing there. Sean pushed past him and walked into the middle of the living room. "Sure Sean. You can come in." Sean looked back over at him and shot him an annoyed look. "So the secrets just keep coming out of your life huh Christian?" Now Christian was the one who wanted to be annoyed.

"I didn't keep her a secret from you Sean. I didn't even know about her until today. Why are you so mad anyway?" Sean gave him a defeated look. "I don't know. I just felt like I should be mad." Sean sighed and sat down on Christian's couch. "I know I should ask if she's legitimate but I don't think we even need to think about that one."

Christian smirked slightly. "I know." He heard Sean sigh again. "So what are you going to do?" Christian rubbed his temple as he thought about this. "Obviously I'm still going to get her and me tested. Just to be safe. But I'm taking her out to lunch tomorrow. I can find out more about her then." Sean smiled slightly. "So your going to try and act like a father?" Christian had to laugh at this one. "Yeah I guess. It seems to be a recurring theme in my life."

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Alex looked at herself over again in the mirror. She wore a snug black shirt and a pair of faded jeans. She wanted to look nice today. She glanced over at the clock. 11:30 a.m. She looked at herself one last time and headed out for the car.

Alex nervously looked at the piece of paper with his address. She pulled up next to the curb and turned off her car. Her heart felt as if it was going to leap right out of her chest. "Calm down Alex. You already went through the hard part yesterday. Today should be a piece of cake."

Alex reassured herself one last time and headed to go find his apartment. As she reached the door she felt her heart sink. She could tell even from the outside that the place was nice. Considering where she had come from she really felt like trailer trash.

Quickly she knocked on the door and waited. Slowly the door opened and Christian stood before her neatly dressed in a black suit with a wine colored shirt. Now she really felt like trailer trash. "Hi." was all she could seem to mutter. "Are you ready?" A slight smile spread across his face. He was trying to be charming. "Sure." he grabbed her hand and lead her to his car.

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Next Alex found herself in an extremely nice restaurant. Had she already mentioned she felt like trailer trash? "I suddenly feel really underdressed. You didn't have to do this you know. I would have been impressed if you had taken me to Burger King."

Christian laughed slightly. "No. It was the least that I could do. I felt as if I acted like a bit of a jerk yesterday." Alex almost choked on her water. "You sort of did." Christian looked at her again. "So how did you find me?"

Alex looked back up at him with her big blue eyes. "My mother told me that you lived in Miami. She said you ran a practice. It really wasn't that hard to find you." Christian looked at her more intensely. "How old are you?" Alex sighed. "I just turned twenty." The rest of the lunch pretty much was like this. He asked her questions and she answered them.

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Christian had insisted on tagging alone with her while she went apartment hunting. He also insisted that he knew a guy and could show her a really nice apartment.

Alex walked into the apartment and her jaw dropped. This place was way too nice. She could never afford it. "How much?" Christian asked the guy. "I,900 a month." Alex looked back at Christian. "I'm sorry but I could never afford this." Christian only smiled. "We'll take it." he told the guy. "Christian." she started. "Don't worry about it. I'll pay the rent."

Alex looked at him weird. She had known him for less than a day and he was already buying her an apartment. She couldn't even call him dad yet and he was already buying her things. "Christian you really don't have to do this." He only smiled at her. "Consider it your welcome home present."

Again she looked at him oddly. He certainly wasn't acting the way that her mother had described him. "And is that where I am?" Christian smiled again and nodded his head. "Now, how about a job? I could use a new receptionist."

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Christian arrived at work the next morning only to walk by his very befuddled receptionist. He could only laugh. He had never liked her anyway. Christian walked past the reception desk and smiled at Alex. And then he ran right smack into Sean.

"Your late. We have surgery in less than two hours. And you have a consultation waiting in your office." Sean seemed more aggravated than usual. "Calm down partner. I have it all under control."

Christian walked down the hall and opened the door to the office. "I'm sorry I'm late Mrs. Sutherland." Christian sat down behind his desk and smiled at his patient. "Now Mrs. Sutherland. Tell me what you don't like about yourself."