The door opened to reveal a man with his hair in a pony tail. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He asked, "Can I help you?" Sammie replied, "May I speak to a Mr. Hickenbottom? My name is Ms. Phillips and I have some important matters to discuss with him." The guy answered, "Mr. Hickenbottom is busy. My name's Paul. Maybe I can help you." Sammie stated, "Sir I'm very sorry but you can't help me. It's very important that I speak to Mr. Hickenbottom." Paul led them into the living room of Shawn's house. He said, "I'll see if he's not busy, if you will wait just a moment. May I inquire about your business?" Sammie replied, "I'm here on behalf of Ms. April Andrews." Paul's eyes widened and he walked out as smoothly but as quickly as possible.
Shaw was locked up in his office when Paul came banging on the door. Shawn said, "Paul I'm busy." Paul stated Shawn there is a Ms. Phillips downstairs saying an April Andrews sent her." Shawn opened the door and looked like a million bucks in his jeans, t-shit, & cowboy boots. Paul led him to the living room where he had Ms. Phillips and a young girl waiting. Shawn stuck his hand out to Ms. Phillips and Anika each saying, "Hello I'm Michael Hickenbottom, but please call me Shawn." Sammie shook his hand and stated, "I'm Samantha Phillips and this is Anika Andrews. Mr. Hickenbottom, I'm sorry to be the one to inform you of this but April Andrews passed away in a tragic car accident on September 17th. Anika was her daughter." Shawn looked at the girl and said, "I'm sorry about your mother sweetheart, but what does this have to do with me?" Sammie continued, "Shawn, Anika is your daughter. Here is her birth certificate, pictures, and an envelope I found with them. I guess that will explain everything." Shawn said, "Ms. Phillips can I see the pictures because from my recollection the only April I knew was an April Levesque not an April Andrews?" Sammie handed Shawn the pictures and there they were. It was a pic of April, Paul, and Shawn. He knew immediately that it was in fact Paul's sister who was April Andrews. Paul thought to himself I knew it. I knew it the minute I saw her that she looked just like Shawn and April. Anika looked up for the first time and when she did she recognized Paul from the hotel. She thought to herself, "Now I know why he was staring at me. I look a lot like this Shawn guy. Maybe they'll want me. If not maybe Randy will. There I go again thinking about my basketball buddy. I wonder what he's doing right now.
Meanwhile Randy finally found peace and quite from John. He started warming up for the show when he found his mind wondering to 'his angel'. He thought about her smile, her eyes, her curves, and her laugh. Those eyes were amazing. A minute later John came in complaining. He said, "Randy have you heard from Paul?" Randy shook his head and tried to concentrate on his warm up. He asked, "Why?" John replied, "Dude, Shawn or Paul haven't been heard from or seen yet and we have a promo tonight. Every time I call I get the voice mail." Randy looked at his watch and said, "JC they still have 5 hrs. Chill. Everyone knows it's not a good day for Shawn. Give them a break. I bet Paul's prolly getting him and coming here as we speak.
Shawn took the papers from Sammie and walked outside for a minute after excusing himself. He looked at the birth certificate and saw his name plain as day. Even if he wanted to argue that Anika wasn't his, he couldn't because she was a splitting image of him. He opened the envelope with his name on it. He read:
Shawny,
If you're reading this then you know that I've passed away. You also know about our daughter Anika. Look I had my reasons for leaving you years ago, and I've regretted it everyday. I really just didn't want to ruin your life by having a baby to tie you down. Yes I left after find out, but please don't punish our daughter. You know she starts looking more and more like you everyday. Please take care of her. You're all she has left. If you don't take care of her then who will? Tell Paulie and Steph I said I'm sorry and I love them. No matter how far apart our lives take us we will always be together. There was never anyone after you. You stole my heart and no one could ever get it from you. Once again I'm sorry. I've never stopped loving you and even in my after life I will still love you.
Love,
Your sunshine (April)
Shawn shed a tear and walked back into his house. He looked at a scared, lonely little girl who needed him, but more importantly he needed her. He felt for Anika. She looked up and for the first time looked at her father. She then averted her eyes back to the floor. Shawn said, "Ms. Phillips does Anika have her things with her?" Sammie replied, "Her belongings are at the hotel we're staying at." Shawn stated, "Well let's go get them and then she can come to work with me.