My Empire of Dirt

Don't Let The Madness Change Us

Elias nearly choked on his water when Johnny spoke those words. "Are you serious?" He asked, making Vivian turn around to look at him in confusion.

"I- yeah, I am. I can't keep running away from things and uh-" Johnny paused. Fuck, fuck, fuck. "I'm not gonna be like my father anymore." He whispered softly, trying to ignore the way Lily tensed in his lap and stared intently at him.

'Fucking what now?' Lily wanted to scream, what the fuck was Johnny talking about.

Elias let out a breath and looked at Vivian, giving her a nod and a smile before he spoke again. "You are nothing like that deadbeat piece of shit, Johnny. You actually wanted to give Faith a chance at a good life because you thought you couldn't give it to her yourself, I think Her and Viv will be very happy about you wanting to see her."

Vivian nearly dropped the squash she was holding when the older man spoke. Faith was finally getting to have her father in her life, she just hoped that it wasn't a strange phase and that Johnny was actually there for the long haul. Faith didn't deserve to get jerked around like that.

Johnny nodded slightly, choking back tears at the reassuring words. "Ok... I gotta go, I'll talk to you soon." He said, his voice thick with emotion as he struggled not to cry.

"Alright Johnny, bye." Elias said then hung up, sitting his phone on the table with a smile. "I'm guessing you get the jest of what's happening?" He asked the young woman.

"Yeah, when do you think he'll want to see her? When he gets home?" Vivian said, moving to sit across from him.

"I don't know, he might want you guys to fly down for a weekend while he's at the beach house, I'll have to ask him later." Elias replied.

"Mama!" Faith cried over the baby monitor.

"I need to get her before she tries to houdini herself out of the crib again." Vivian laughed, ever since Faith had learned how to crawl and stand on her own, she had been trying to escape her crib.

"I'm surprised you even know who Houdini is." Elias snorted, taking a sip of his water.

"I'm twenty-one, not four, asshole!" She called as she walked into the makeshift nursery.

Vivian and Faith living with Elias was only a temporary thing until Vivian could find a job, and an apartment, but she didn't mind, Elias was surprisingly very easy to live with, despite how grumpy he may seem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Whose Faith?" The singer had expected the question, but it was still jarring to hear his daughter's name come from the bassist.

Lily had about a thousand questions, but that seemed like the best place to start. Johnny's eyes were red and glassy, and the hand on her hip trembled from his attempts to keep his emotions under control.

"My daughter." Johnny replied quietly, there was no point in beating around the bush or lying, she probably could've put it together herself anyway.

"Your what?" Lily hissed, moving off of his lap as she stared gobsmacked at him.

Obviously it made sense based on the things he had said to Elias over the phone, but it was still shocking.

Johnny sighed and ran a hand over his face. "The girl from the tour bus that I fucked when I was fucked up on coke, she got pregnant." He explained, closing his eyes as his mind wandered back to that night, fuzzy from all the drugs he had taken. Johnny couldn't remember everything but he remembered enough.

"Holy fuck." Lily whispered, sitting down on the edge of the desk, shock evident on her face as she processed the information. "How long have you known about her?" She asked softly.