No More Games

"I liked Josh." Joanne frowned, sitting with Rey on her couch the next night as Rey nodded.

"Yeah, I liked him too." Rey said, "But I'm… I'm not in the right frame of mind to date." She shrugged, "So it's unfair to him if I just strung him along. It's better just to end things here." She nodded to herself.

"As long as it's what you want." Joanne nodded, "How is it going with your parents?" She asked.

"Surprisingly good." Rey nodded, "They're actually really nice people."

"Why did you ever think they wouldn't be?" Joanne laughed a little.

"Well I don't know, I guess the stigma around leaving me made me think they were terrible people." Rey shrugged, "My mom is super successful. Business woman goals." Rey nodded, "My dad is… sweet and funny." She nodded, "And I got a little sister who is hilarious." Rey said as Joanne smiled.

"Sounds like the perfect family." Joanne nudged her as Rey smiled.

"Well I wouldn't go that far." Rey shook her head, "I'm still getting to know them."

"What's their deal? Are they together or-"

"No, well… I don't know, honestly. I think there's something going on." Rey nodded, "My dad is divorced. Mom is trying to get a divorce." She said as Joanne nodded, "I think they still love each other." She said.

"Well of course they will. They have you." Joanne nodded.

"That doesn't mean they love each other." Rey laughed a little, "I don't know, I think there's still feelings there." She nodded, "Of course it's not my place to get involved. I'm just trying to know them as my mom and dad." She nodded.

"Are you inviting them to your party?" Joanne smiled.

"What party?" Rey turned to her.

"Your birthday party. The one I told you I was planning." Joanne nodded.

"You were being serious about that?" Rey questioned with worry.

"Yes." Joanne laughed.

"I don't like parties." Rey shook her head.

"Come on, it'll be fun. I've already invited everyone." Joanne nodded.

"Who the hell is everyone?" Rey laughed a little.

"Like… Hooter people, school friends, our prostitute friends-"

"You're kidding, right?" Rey shook her head.

"No." Joanne shrugged, "What?"

"You're ridiculous." Rey laughed, "I'm only turning twenty. It's not a big deal."

"Hey, every birthday is a birthday worth celebrating." Joanne smiled, "And this is the first birthday you have your parents, so I think you should… find a nice outfit and just deal with it. Think of all the presents." She nodded as Rey shook her head.

"I will think about it." Rey nodded.

"I'm not giving you a choice." Joanne scoffed.

"I do have something exciting to tell you that might be worth celebrating." Rey smiled, reaching over for her computer.

"Oh, God. What did you do?" Joanne cringed.

"I… applied for college." Rey turned her computer around to show her the email as Joanne gasped.

"Oh my God, seriously?" Joanne smiled, taking the computer from her and looking at the confirmation email.

"Yeah. I'll get a response within a week." Rey nodded, "Medicine and nursing." She said.

"I can't believe you finally did it." Joanne smiled.

"Me neither." Rey laughed a little, "But why can't I? The worst that happens is I don't get in. I'll get over it. I shouldn't give up on something without trying it." She shrugged.

"Are your parents putting some motivation voodoo on you?" Joanne laughed, "Why the sudden urge to apply?" She asked.

"I don't know, I just… I want to start doing things for myself. I've spent a lot of my life trying to cater for other people, do what other people want me to… I'm putting myself first now." Rey nodded.

"Such a woman." Joanne shook her head with pride as Rey laughed, "I'm so happy for you." She smiled, sitting the computer over and toppling over her friend to give her a hug as they laughed, "I bet you get in." She nodded, sitting back up.

"I hope so." Rey nodded.

"I'm excited for you." Joanne clapped, "Even more reason to have your birthday party."

"I haven't gotten accepted yet." Rey laughed, "Don't hype me up to fail." She rolled her eyes, "I haven't told anyone so… keep it quiet. I'll only tell people if I've been accepted."

"Ok, but it's so exciting." Joanne smiled, "You're right, you do need to put yourself first. Do what you want to do." She said, "Does this mean you'll leave Hooters?" She frowned suddenly.

"No, I'll just be cutting my shifts down." Rey smiled, "I couldn't leave the best job in the world." She exaggerated as Joanne smiled.

"Damn right." Joanne nodded, "Well my fingers and toes are all crossed for you." She smiled.

"I actually feel like my life is coming together." Rey shook her head, "I can't believe how much my opinions changed on my parents. I hated them when I first saw them."

"Well you got to know them and more of the story." Joanne shrugged.

"Yeah and I'm… I don't blame them for what they did." Rey nodded, "I think back to my life when I was seventeen… I wouldn't know what to do with a baby either." She said with horror, "They wanted best for me and… it didn't pull through but the intentions were there." Rey nodded, "I just want to know them and maybe… maybe they can actually be a part of my life now."

"Of course they can. It's a working progress." Joanne smiled, "And you got a little sister too. We can take her out shopping and dress her up." She nodded excitedly.

"Ok, she's not a toy." Rey laughed.

"It'd be fun. She'd love it." Joanne said, "You can still be a fun big sister, even if you're ten thousand years older." She said as Rey scoffed.

"I will be." Rey nodded, "It's just… one step at a time right now, and it's going really well." She said.

"Good. I'm glad." Joanne nodded, "It's what you deserve." She said as Rey smiled.

"You're still my mom, dad, sister, best friend, aunt, uncle, cousin all in one." Rey winked.

"Oh, I know I am." Joanne smiled, "Let's order some food." She nodded.

Punk sat at a picnic bench in the swing park which he was meeting Chrissy and his daughter in. He wasn't going to decline a visit with his daughter. He was past the stage of angry with Chrissy for what she had done to him with their child. He just wanted to somehow make up for the times that were lost.

He knew she had her own selfish reasons for taking off with Lily. He was a terrible husband, he couldn't have agreed more, but that never meant he was going to fail as a father the way she suspected. Up until now, he had been in and out of her life, courtesy of Chrissy's different change in moods, but he hadn't saw Lily in months.

Having Rey in his life now, seeing Amelia every day with AJ, it made him miss his youngest daughter even more, and he had to miss her in silence in fear of what people would think of him. He hadn't even told Bob he had another kid.

He looked up and noticed Chrissy entering the park with Lily holding her hand. He stood up immediately. She was getting so big but still was respectfully short. She had dark hair and his eyes which he noticed the second he held her. She had her mother's pretty features, he wouldn't deny it. With all due respect to her, Chrissy was a good mother. He knew Lily loved her, but he hated that he was the parent that never seemed to be there for her. He wasn't sure he'd forgive his ex-wife for that.

He suddenly noticed as she began running towards to him, smiling to himself as he dropped to one knee.

"Hi, daddy!" Lily yelled excitedly on her way running towards him as Punk chuckled, catching her and squeezing her tightly.

"Hey, baby." Punk smiled, lifting her up and hugging her tightly as Chrissy made her way over with folded arms, "Hey, how are you?" Punk asked Lily, putting her back down, "You're getting so big."

"Yeah, I'm growing." Lily agreed with him as she stood on her tip toes as Punk nodded and smiled, "It's my birthday this week." She told him as he nodded.

"I know. You're gonna be four. That's so old." He exaggerated.

"It is?" Lily smiled, "Not as old as you, though." She nodded.

"Yeah, not quite." Punk laughed a little, "I like your hat. You wear that specially for me?" Punk asked, referring to the cubs beanie she had on.

"It was the first thing in my closet." Lily shrugged, "I normally wear my unicorns one." She nodded.

"I see." Punk smiled, "So what you got planned for your birthday?" Punk asked her, sitting down on the bench.

"I'm having a party in my house." Lily nodded, "Can you please come? You never come to my house."

"I uh…" He looked over to Chrissy.

"Lil, daddy is busy on your birthday but he's gonna see you some time after it, ok?" Chrissy nodded as Lily looked over to her, "He'll see you after your birthday." She nodded to her as Lily made a face.

"Why not on my birthday?" Lily questioned, "Can't you be not busy?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hey, I promise we'll do something cool after. Just me and you, for your birthday." Punk nodded.

"But then it won't be my birthday." Lily shook her head.

"I know but we can still make it for your birthday, right?" Punk nodded as Lily scuffed her converse off the grass and looked down.

"Can I go play?" She turned to her mother.

"Yeah, on you go." Chrissy nodded to her as Lily ran away to play as Punk took his cap off and ran his hand through his hair with a sigh.

"The novelty of me in her life is starting to wear off." Punk nodded to Chrissy, "And I can't not to blame you for it." He said, "She's getting used to me not being there." He said as Chrissy looked down, "What'd I ever do to you for you to do this to me? Huh?" Punk questioned.

"How about divorcing me?" Chrissy shrugged.

"You were in agreement for the divorce." Punk said, "And it was the best thing for us. We could have still co-parented. That was the plan."

"I didn't want that for Lily." Chrissy said.

"Oh, so your solution was to just block me out from her life? I miss so much with her." Punk shook his head, looking across at Lily, "And she's gonna start making her mind up on me and she's gonna hate me for not being there." He said, "But it's you who is causing all of this." He stood up as Chrissy looked across at him.

"I'm sorry." Chrissy nodded.

"Oh, you're sorry?" Punk shook his head.

"I am." Chrissy said, "It was never my place. She's your daughter too." She nodded, "And I promise from now on… we can… we can do this thing together." She said.

"You expect me to believe that is sincere? I find it hilarious that you suddenly appear with all of this when you see me with April. You're using this to get her out of my life but it's not gonna work. My relationship with Lily no longer has anything to do with you." Punk made clear.

"I'm trying to apologise to you right now. Just accept it." Chrissy rolled her eyes.

"Apologise for taking my daughter from me?" Punk asked, "Sorry I'm not up to accepting it right away." He said as Chrissy sighed.

"What else do you want me to do?" Chrissy asked him, "Yeah, you're right. Maybe I am a little jealous. I saw you with April, I know that you're getting to know your other daughter-"

"Yeah, my other daughter who I've only just met. I'm not really doing good as a father right now. One of my daughters barely even knows me and the other is starting to forget me." He said, looking over to Lily as Chrissy sighed.

"She'll never forget you. I talk about you all the time. She actually talks about you all the time." Chrissy nodded, "She loves you." She nodded.

"Then enough with the games. She's a kid. She doesn't deserve to be the weapon we used to score points against each other. We had a good time, it didn't work out, but we have something amazing out of it and I deserve to see her just like you do." Punk said as Chrissy nodded.

"You're right." Chrissy said, "I'm… I'm sorry." She nodded as Punk looked at her. At this point, he wasn't after an apology. He just wanted to be given the chance to be a dad to his daughter.

"So I can see her without you threatening me with court?" Punk questioned as Chrissy nodded.

"We can arrange for her to see you more. She'd really like that." Chrissy said as Punk nodded.

"Ok." Punk nodded, "I'm not gonna say thank you. I shouldn't have to." He rolled his eyes as Chrissy just nodded, "Excuse me." He said, walking away from her and over to the swings where Lily was.

"Push me, please." Lily nodded, "My legs can't reach." She swung them back and forth as Punk smiled.

"Ok, you ready?" Punk smiled, standing behind her.

"Yes, go go." Lily smiled excitedly as he pushed her on the swings whilst Chrissy sat on the bench watching how big her daughter's smile was when her father was around.