Genre: Fluff, Parent, maybe a bit of angst?
Summary: Dan left three years ago, leaving Phil and their eight year old daughter behind, but now he’s back. Should he have stayed away?
She nodded at me and then gave me a hug before disappearing with her classmates into the classroom.
"I can’t believe she’s leaving primary school."
"I know, It seems only yesterday she was starting nursery."
I nodded and smiled at my Mum and Pj who had come with me, when Dan left Pj basically came and lived with us for about half a year until I got back on my feet. I spent most of that year in my bedroom in tears unless Emily asked me to do something. After a couple more minutes the music that Emily had been humming for the past month. I got out my phone and stood up and then turned to the door that the classes were coming out of. Emily was the seventh person to emerge and upon seeing us and grinned slightly and then turned back to the benches that they were going to sit on for the rest of the ‘ceremony’. Twenty minutes into the performance someone sat behind me, Em was getting ready to go up and accept the certificate of graduation soon so I wasn’t really paying attention.
She stood up and straightened out the dress that Louise had taken her shopping a while back to get especially for tonight. She got up on stage and turned to the head teacher who had the certificate. I heard a camera click behind me and frowned, Pj and my Mum were sat next to me so who was taking pictures of my daughter. I turned around and froze, I was met with a face that I hadn’t seen in three years, a face that broke my heart.
"Phil turn around, we can deal with him after right now you need to watch Em."
I nodded and turned around and tried to fight back the tears that were threatening to fall. Em was looking at me confusedly, I shrugged and smiled weakly at her; she frowned and then walked off the stage for another person to come on.
"What the hell are you doing here, you left."
"I don’t want to hear your stupid apologies!"
"I just wanted to see our daughter."
"Don’t you dare call her your daughter, she doesn’t remember you and she isn’t going to."
"No. You don’t deserve that, she was so confused when you left and I’m not having that now."
"Don’t you say you had no choice, you have a choice in everything; now you’re going to get your stuff and leave. You aren’t going to speak to Em and you aren’t going to talk to my Mum or Pj."
"Em go back in there please."
"That makes no sense, you’re not my-wait a second I’ve seen pictures of you aren’t you the one that-"
"Em please go in there, Peej?"
"But-is he who he says he is? Is he my other Dad?"
"Then where’s he been for the whole of my life?"
"He left when you were eight."
"Wait so all those memories of you locking yourself away crying weren’t dreams? And Uncle Peej did come and live with us?"
"Then I want to know why the hell you left and broke my Dad’s heart.”
"Don’t you tell me to watch my language, you’ve not been here for god knows how many years; you don’t know me, you may be my blood Dad but in no way do I class you as my Dad."
"Em come in here with me and Grandma."
"No, I want to know why whatever his name is left us and broke my Dad’s heart."
"Emily Catherine Lester! Go in there right now with your Uncle or I’ll ground you in front of your friends."
"It’s not like I actually go outside anyway."
"Alright don’t speak to your Dad that way, leave these two to sort it out between them, come on. Phil, If you need me shout okay?"
He nodded and steered Emily into the hall where everyone was and I turned back to Dan who was stood leaning against the railing.
"Why now? It’s been three years and you could have come back at any point so why now?"
"I don’t know, I made a friend recently and she told me to get off my arse and go and see my kid so thats what I did and…it wasn’t really the welcome I was expecting."
"What’d you expect? You leave a kid for three years and they tend to forget about you. You upset a kids parent, you’re in their bad books for a while."
"Yeah-huh-she’s definitely strong willed."
"She gets that from you, I see a lot of you in her if I’m honest."
"Well, she has your hair and eyes, and she’s very sarcastic and well just some of the things she does makes me compare her to you."
"Well I’d like to see her, you know build that relationship up?"
"You can see her for an hour a week, with me or Peej, you miss one of those sessions and you’re done."
