Austin Carlile Is My Father? (#Wattys2015)

I Still Feel You In My Bones

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Austin
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Sienna was still sniffling while the claymation styled movie played in the back lounge. Austin felt horrible that he didn't know how to comfort his daughter. He had read the letter Noah had left him and he know had a full understanding of what was happening with him and his family. Alex knew enough to give them some space, so she was reading in their bunk, but Austin knew that even if she was here, it would still be awkward as hell. The others were stumbling in, a few of them were drunk from the club, and once the count of everyone on the bus checked out, they were moving onto the next venue.

Austin checked his phone and saw that the people who weren't drunk on the bus, or who were sober enough to process information, had also written nice things about Sienna on twitter.

Also, a drunken Matt Nicholls wrote a lovely statement to Avery that took up more than four posts of basic nonsense saying how Sienna looked better in a prom dress than Avery ever will, which, of course, was a fact. A cold hard fact.

Austin folded his hands on his stomach, sitting next to his daughter, and twiddled his thumbs like a child. Sienna only coughed thickly into her arm.

"Do you know when the court date is?" Austin innocently asked. Sienna looked up at Austin, her ears turning red.

"Uh-no." She replied, sounding even more upset. Austin bit his lip and looked away, his body even more uncomfortable.

"Oh." He heard himself say. Sienna sighed loudly, much too loudly to be an innocent sigh, and Austin chewed at his lip, rubbing his face with his hand. Maybe if he counted number of Josh's things on the floor vs. the number of Josh's things on the couch, then it would be less awkward. So, he tried.

Shirt on floor, shorts on floor, jacket on couch, socks on couch, Vans on floor, hat on floor-

"Do you think he'll come back?" Sienna asked softly. Austin stopped his counting game. "Because I don't think he will."

While Austin was in the middle of stuttering up an answer trying so desperately to not offend his daughter, Sienna rolled her eyes and changed the question.

"Do you think he'll come back to me? I think I might have hurt him."

Austin scratched his eyebrow and looked at his daughter with concern. Was she really that worried about offending Noah? If anything, Noah seemed more worried about offending Sienna than the other way around.

Sienna's eyebrows were drawn together with worry and Austin frowned.

"No, no. He'll come back to you. I don't think he ever left you." Austin smiled carefully down at her as she sniffled again. "This thing with his parents and brother will blow over, but no matter what, I think he'll always be with you. He loves you, Si."

Sienna blushed a deep red and she looked down at her hands. Austin grinned and she curled up beside him, yawning. "Austin, what time is it?"

Austin would have made a witty remark, had it not been for the current situation she was in, but he found himself looking at the digital clock attached to the TV. "It's 3:20 in the mornin'." he murmured as the credits of the movie started to roll. Sienna yawned even louder and rested her body on Austin's. Austin started to fondly stroke his daughter's hair, trying to remember his life before Sienna came along. Uneventful, boring, more hangovers. Now that Sienna was in his life, it was something new everyday, he felt more responsible, and most of all, he loved being a father.

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Sienna
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She woke up when she heard the camera shutter.

"Fuck!" She heard someone hiss. "I thought it was on silent."

"Shut up, mate." replied another voice. "Birdy's still sleeping-"

"So is Austin." argued a third. Sienna groaned in the back of her throat, not wanting to wake up at the moment. She hoped by groaning, she might have gotten the intruders to leave. She felt arms, which were previously wrapped around her, tighten slightly as the person holding her heaved a great sigh after shifting around a little, pulling Sienna to the side a little bit to have her back press into the back of the couch and her face press into the chest of her father.

Austin had successfully pulled her from one side of him to the other and had wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer to him while her arms were resting against his chest, their legs a tangle of limbs. She didn't care, and he didn't seem to mind either. It was comfy as hell, and honestly, it was relieving that they were both tall and able to do this comfortably.

Sienna didn't realize she was drifting in and out of consciousness. Austin was now sleeping heavily again and Sienna tried to do the same, but found herself in that awful limbo of too tired to be awake, but too alert to be asleep.

She focused on Austin's steady breaths and his slightly uneven heartbeat to chase the alertness away from her-

"Do you think they would notice if we drew on their faces?" asked Tino's voice.

"Yes." sounded Dan's familiar chuckle. "They're not drunk, Tino."

"Well, sometimes Austin's a heavy sleeper." Tino retaliated.

"Shut up." Austin's voice startled Sienna, the raw-smothered-in-sleep voice cracking and rumbling in his chest. Although it was only two syllables, it was enough to make the boys know that Austin wasn't in the mood to wake up this early.

"Oooh! Carlile is gettin' sassy over here." Laughed Tino.

"Shut up, Tino." Sienna whined, her eyes still shut. Tino snickered.

"And he's been teachin' it to his kiddo too! This is fucking priceless."

Sienna swallowed hard and opened her eyes, smacking her lips and licking them with her tongue.

"Austin?" She croaked quietly.

"Mmmm?" Austin mumbled in response.

"Can we-can we-" She broke off by yawning and burying her face a little closer into his chest. "Can we kill him?"

"Hmmmm." Austin's thick morning voice breaking a little when he stifled a yawn. Yawns must be contagious, she thought to herself. "Mmmhmm."

"Fuck!" Tino yelped, and the sound of scrambling filled Sienna's ears and she felt Austin stretch and unwind his arms from her as he sat up, stretching. Sienna did the same, stretching and raising her arms above her head, shaking her head mid yawn. "Run!"

"You wanna kill him? Or do you want me to do it?" Austin asked, rubbing his eyes with the pads of his middle fingers. Sienna smirked, scratching her ear.

"You can." She gave him the honors and Austin stood up, his bones cracking audibly.

"Okay. I'll be back." Austin murmured, smirking smugly as he stalked out of the room. Sienna smiled after him as she heard Tino's shriek. She sat back, stretching again, and felt content, even with Noah's absence, Austin's effort to be there for her was making everything a thousand times better.

🐢🐙🐬🐢🐙🐬🐢🐙🐬🐢🐙🐬
So, I was reading a story and the author had a goal thingy and I thought that was pretty cool. So, I think I might start that.

Goal: 75+ votes and maybe 15+ comments?
*THIS ISN'T REQUIRED!! IM STILL GONNA UPDATE EVEN IF I DON'T REACH MY GOAL. IT'S JUST A PERSONAL WANT...THOUGHT ID CLEAR THAT UP FOR MY BOOHS*

You don't have to do this f you don't want to . I'm just curious t see if it works :)

Lots of love!

nina