Austin Carlile Is My Father? (#Wattys2015)

Austin Carlile Is My Father? (Written By Friskyhands)

Beanie146: So I was meaning to do this for a while. This is the original author's parts before I stepped in to take over the story. Her parts are 'Austin Carlile Is My Father?' to 'The Flood Part One'. Enjoy! 

So I've read a few stories where teenagers get adopted by band members and I wanted to try my hand it it. For the purposes of this story Austin is 30 years old and it is set in current time.

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Austin's PoV
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Austin clicked the tiny login button on his LCD MacBook screen in his Orange County home. The light hurt his eyes, it was nearing 1 am, but he had gotten a shocking email on his iPhone that he couldn't open the attachment from, and it was too important to wait till morning. He hoped it was just an overzealous fan, but the address it was sent from was extremely official. He read it again to make sure he wasn't dreaming it.

"Dear Mr Austin Carlile,

Last week Lucy Sumner Francis passed away in her Ohio home, leaving behind her 14-year-old daughter. It has been since confirmed that you are her paternal father. You will be required to take custody of your daughter as soon as possible, as she is flying into California tomorrow. If you have any concerns please contact us at the number below between the hours of 9AM and 6PM. Please reply ASAP.

Kinda regards,
Diane Butcher"

They probably predicted that he wouldn't believe it, so several scans of legal documents were attached, including her plane tickets telling him where to find her. It showed her name as Sienna Francis, another with Diana Butcher's name in fine ink, plane arriving at 3 the next afternoon. Sienna's birth certificate was there too, he clicked on the image to enlarge it. Crap. She was born in 1998, making him a father at 16.

It made sense now why Lucy had left so fast without a goodbye. They had known each other for a month before doing the dirty, another month and she was gone. Her parents had said they had a fight and she moved to her Grandmother's house on the other side of the state, Austin had thought nothing of it. Several people he knew had done that. Lucy's parents were ashamed their daughter was pregnant, and it made it less complicated for her to just take off. He didn't feel any sadness towards her death, most likely because he barely knew her and they hadn't talked in years, he felt more sorry for Sienna, he knew what it was like to lose your mother.

Austin ran his fingers through his hair, lanky limbs shaking. There was no way they could expect him to look after a teenage daughter, did they know he was on tour, living in a RV with four other men the majority of the year? He couldn't raise a daughter like that, especially a teenager, who needed friends, security and a good place to study for exams. How would she attend school if she was travelling the country?

They couldn't just dump a child into his care, could they? How the fuck did Child Safety get his email in the first place? It wasn't like he didn't want to know her, he definitely wanted to, but he just wasn't in the right place. What would his bandmates say to a teenage girl on their bus 24/7? They were used to getting drunk, walking around naked and doing taboo shit all over the place, they would not be happy about this.

Austin quickly realised he was worrying too much and calmed down. He could call them the next day and explain his situation, surely Sienna had other relatives somewhere? He could visit her every once and awhile now he knew she existed. This problem could be easily solved, he was just expecting the worst. He had a daughter! Wow. Part of him in another human being. He always wanted kids, he just hoped it would happen when he had someone to love them with, to be there when he couldn't be. However that wasn't the case, and he was going to make the most of his situation. He picked up his phone and dialled Alan.

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Sienna's PoV
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Somewhere miles and miles away Sienna Francis was lying in a foster home staring at the underside of the bunk above her. She had been put here until they found a place for her to live. Her Mom's funeral had been today, it was both mentally and physically exhausting for her. Since her mother's parents had died in a car crash and they had no other relatives it was small, only her and about 20 other people. Sienna had gone with her mother's best friend, who had emotionally sobbed; 'If I could I would take you in myself'. They both knew this wasn't true, she hated Vanessa's guts, and Vanessa hated hers, but they were united over her mother's death, it was purely for show.
Sienna had stood for hours in a borrowed black dress that was too tight in the wrong places, and way too short, her being a freaky 5"10 for only 14 years of age, still growing, and Vanessa only a mere 5"4. Frowning, she had checked herself in the mirror before she left Vanessa's house. Her mid-length almost black hair was wavy as usual, her cheek bones still high and nose still too flat. The only different in her appearance was her eyes, they seemed deeper and full of sorrow, like they had seen things a teenager wasn't meant to.

The funeral had lasted for two hours, all standing on their feet. She had been asked to say a few words but she couldn't do her mother justice. She wanted to see her mother's face one last time, but it was closed casket, apparently the burns she had received from the house fire were too severe. She didn't want to think about it. Sienna had opted out of the drinks and food after the funeral, instead asking to be dropped off at the foster home again. She ran upstairs and peeled off the dress, changing into her only remaining pair of skinny jeans and a plain white t shirt purchased from Walmart. The dress was shoved into an impatient Vanessa's hands and Sienna ran away before she could hear any fake words of sympathy.

Now she lay in her bed silently crying and remember all the small things, like how sometimes if she'd had a really tough day her Mom would instead of cooking a proper dinner, whip up pancakes, and they would watch their favourite movies together. Things like that made her heart ache. And when her Mom found the death threats in her bag, instead of telling her to suck it up she pulled her out of school and started her up on correspondence. They didn't have much, but they were happy.

"Sienna!" She heard the foster mother yell up the stairs, she didn't bother learning the woman's name. "Mrs Butcher is here'" Sighing Sienna rolled off her bed and dried her eyes. She couldn't even have 5 minutes alone. By the time she had trudged down the stairs the matron like Mrs Butcher was tapping her foot impatiently. Honestly, she had just returned from her mothers funeral, didn't she deserve a break?

"We've found your father."
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Woo, there we go. Little cliffy. I have the next 3 chapters drafted up, so I'll be uploading them every few days, depending on the response to this chapter.