A Conversation With A Father

[jadedgiantess]

His phone call catches her on the cab ride back to the hotel. She's surprised, but picks up.

"Dad, is something wrong?"

Comments

[justretirement.livejournal.com]

"Only that I'm at your doorstep and no one is answering when I hit the little call button thing. Am I hitting the wrong button?"

The sound of the buzzer repeats carries across the connection. He stands staring at the contraption and wonders why she doesn't just buy one of the houses he knows are in the city.

[jadedgiantess.livejournal.com]

"Oh, jeeze, dad," she feels a sharp pang of guilt and amusement in the same breath. "I'm in DC until tomorrow. Did you get a hotel, or were you planning on staying with me? If it's the latter, my landlord can give you a key if I just call him."

[justretirement.livejournal.com]

"Weezie is never going to let me forget this. She told me I should have called first," there's a faint laughter in his voice. He loves his wife for her humor and her strength. "But she made me get a hotel room. So I'll be alright until you get home. Do I at least get to pick you up?"

[jadedgiantess.livejournal.com]

The sense of humor helped. Her dad's sense of humor always helped. Especially when she was going to have to tell him, something bad "...Walter is going to do it. But I want you to stay over with me once I get in. It'll be really good to see you, dad." She can hear the stress in her own voice, and the relief of having a parent around.

[justretirement.livejournal.com]

"Jenny? What's wrong, baby?" It breaks his heart every time he hears even a hint of pain in her. She tries to hide it all and protect him. She's been trying to protect him since the day her mother died. Like she decided if she couldn't protect her mother, she had to make it up by protecting him, and, with time, everyone else.