Chapter Eight- Are You My Daddy?

Sark sat across from the school, watching the girls that filed out its doors. Paris was somewhere among them, waiting for Chloe or Derrick to come up and pick her up. Sark watched for her, unable to discern her head of golden hair from all the others, but it was near impossible to tell from where he sat which one was Paris.

He was going against his promise to Chloe by being here. She had made him swear that he would leave Paris alone, but, after seeing her in person, Sark just knew that he had to talk with her again, had to see her one last time.

Slowly, the crowd of girls began to thin until there was only one left. She sat on the steps that led into the school, a yellow backpack next to her saddle shoe clad feet. She stood and began to make her way towards the park and where Sark sat. As she approached something in his gut told Sark that this was her, his daughter. He held his breath, waiting to see if his feeling was right.

"So, you're my dad." Paris stood in front of him, arms crossed in front of her chest as she surveyed him. She looked so much like her mother right then.

"Guess I am." He replied, not even surprised that she had figured it out. Paris nodded her head in acceptance and sat on the swing beside Sark. They looked at each other for a few seconds, neither one speaking.

"How come you never visited?" She wasn't emotional, far from it actually. She simply wanted answers.

"I was in jail." Sark answered, knowing that he could never lie to his own daughter.

"Oh." She didn't seem at all surprised by his answer. Silence overtook them once more.

"She still loves you, you know." Paris's eyes were focused on her shoes, which scuffed at the dirt beneath the swing. Sark felt his heart quicken at her words. He took in a deep breath, hoping to calm his nerves.

"She does?" Paris looked at him, her blonde hair falling into her eyes.

"Yeah, she does. But she's not leaving Derrick. Mom's too into keeping her promises to go back on her own wedding vows."

"Oh." Sark's heart fell.

"Do you still love her?"

"With all my heart."

"Sometimes I wish that she hadn't gotten married," Paris spoke softly, "I used to have this fantasy about you coming to find us and sweeping Mom off her feet and then you two would get married and we'd all be one happy family." Sark looked at her, her eyes distant as she recalled her fantasy.

"I wish that too." He said, "I wish that too."

It was the middle of the nigh and Chloe's fingers were flying over the keys of her laptop as she wrote. With everything that had been going on recently, she needed to immerse herself in something familiar, something that she could control. Sark's reappearance in her life had sparked something within her as well, her creativity had been triggered when he had first stepped back into her life.

Her current book was a sequel to her very first one. There had been numerous books after that one, but something inside of Chloe had wanted to write a sequel, even before Sark had come back. Maybe it was her wishful thinking that had inspired the sequel, her hope that Sark would come back had prompted the writing. But, lately, she had been stuck in a rut. At least, until Julian Sark stood on her doorstep.

The phone rang. Chloe reached for it absentmindedly.

"Hello?" She said, shouldering the receiver as she continued to write.

"Chloe, please don't hang up." Syd's voice came through the line. "Please," she begged, "we have to talk."

"Talk about what Mother? Talk about how you lied to me? Yeah, okay, let's talk about that." Chloe snapped.

"I'm sorry about that Chloe," Sydney said, "but I only did it because I thought that that was what was best for you at the time."

"Yeah right Mom," Chloe scoffed, all thoughts off her writing now. "You lied and there's no excuse for that."

"Have you told Paris that Sark's her father?" Her mother's question made Chloe pause.

"I take it that's a no." Syd said when her daughter didn't reply. "Isn't that the same as a lie, Chloe? I'm sure Paris has asked about her father, did you ever tell her that he was in prison for being a terrorist? No, I doubt you have."

"Do not bring Paris into this." Chloe seethed, finding her voice. "I didn't tell her about Sark because I didn't think she was ready to know. But I was going to tell her when she was older."

"Of course you were," Syd said, her tone stating that she didn't believe Chloe at all. "Listen Chloe, we're not that different. I lied to protect you, to help you move on with your life. You lied to keep Paris from hating her father before she even knew him."

"At least I was going to tell her." Chloe spat, "That's more than I can say for you."

"But I did tell you." Sydney argued.

"I can't get into this right now." Chloe exclaimed, placing her head in her hand. "Just leave me alone." She hung up, and cried.

Paris opened the door and slunk inside, her backpack slung haphazardly over her right shoulder. She'd spent all afternoon, and almost all night, with her father the day before, then, well after midnight, she had snuck into Jade's room. Her friend had been awake, and Paris had told her everything.

The two girls formulated a plan that night, one that would get Paris what she wanted, her true family together. Sure Paris loved Derrick, but she wanted her real dad to be married to her mom.

"Paris, is that you?" Chloe walked out into the living room, still dressed in her pajamas even though it was almost noon. "Did you have fun at Jade's?"

"Oh yeah," Paris said quickly, making her way towards her bedroom, "we had loads of fun."

"That's good." Chloe seemed distant to Paris as she went into the kitchen and poured herself another cup of coffee. The young girl's eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right with her mom.

Derrick came into the living room, busy tying his tie. He was dressed in a carefully tailored suit and wore expensive Italian loafers.

That's it, Paris thought, that's why Mom is weird.

Usually, Derrick didn't wear suits, choosing instead to dress in nice pants and a nice button up shirt. But, on the rare occasion that he needed to wear a suit, Chloe always became weird. Paris had no clue why, but Chloe always seemed to be off in her own world whenever Derrick wore a suit, like she was thinking about something that had happened in the past.

Paris shrugged mentally and headed into her room after greeting her dad with a kiss. She had some work to do.

Another chapter finished! Yippee! Lol. Sorry if it was too short, but I find it easier to write short chapters than long ones. Anyways, please tell me what you thought of this chapter.

Sarks-Girl-89: Unfortunately, my sources tell me that I was wrong. Sark will not be coming back for the season finale. Sorry.

le Citron: I agree with you. This season just hasn't been the same without Sark. I hope he comes back for next season. (crosses fingers)

Masta D: The Derrick situation will be resolved within the next few chapters, hopefully. I already know what is going to happen (I've known since I first started writing this) so it shouldn't be too much longer before it happens.

M.B, freakygirl, Lil Aussie Alias Chick, sarkalias12, the different person, and Marie: Thank you all for reviewing this story. It really means a lot to me.