©JRF2016
"Dad," Charlie says, "Now that Conner's staying with Rachel, there's an empty cell." He stares at the floor and then looks back up at Reid, "You think I could move in there?"
"Not so fast, kid, you trying to get away from me?"
"I'm too old to share a room with my little sister, and my dad. This place is safe and I won't be that far away."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Reid nervously chuckles. He looks at his son who is growing up whether he likes it or not and he picks up a duffle bag throwing it over to Charlie. Charlie quickly packs his stuff into that bag and runs to the cell that Conner had been sleeping in and he flops down on the bed and starts reading a comic. I walk by and see him stretched out and I stand in the door but he doesn't notice me. "Someone's gotten way too comfortable, way too quick. Guess your dad gave in and let you have your own room after all," he looks up from his comic and grins before turning back to his reading.
I walk into my cell and Reid walks in right behind me and sits down on the bed with Grace. He looks over at me. "You mind watching Gracie for me today, I know how much she loves you," I smile up at him.
"Of course," I respond as he hands her over to me.
"I'm going out with Darrick on this run today."
"Be careful out there and watch each other's backs." Reid nods and pushes himself off the bed. I walk outside beside Reid with Grace in my arms and Conner walks over. "I never get tired of seeing you holding a baby in your arms; just wish it wasn't some other dude's kid." I look at him funny. "That's not what I meant, I just wish it was our kid in your arms." Conner looks over at Reid now, "You think you could use one more on this run?"
The three men had been walking for a while when Conner finally speaks. "We're gettin' nowhere we should split up." Darrick and Reid look at each other. "We got calls we can use, we'll still be close enough we'll be able to hear if one of us is in a jam." Darrick looks at Reid and then back his brother and nods.
"If anything happens just yell." Reid nods and the three of them take our separate paths.
Reid had been walking for what seemed like an eternity with no signs of anything. He hears a twig snap behind him and spins around and points his gun at a bush. There was no one there. "Hello?" He whispers, "Is anyone there?" He hears some more rustling in the bush and creeps over to it.
"Fuck," he hears someone mutter. He asks again, "Who's there?" Slowly a little girl slides out of the bush. "Are you alone? Where's your parents?" She stares at Reid with her haunting blue eyes. There was something familiar about those eyes but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. She still didn't say anything just keeps piercing him with those icy blue eyes. Reid holds out a hand for her to shake, "My name's Reid, what's yours? How old are you?" She rolls her eyes.
"Fuck, dude you ask a lot of questions."
Reid shrugs, "And you've got a mouth on you." She rolls her eyes again as she turns her back to Reid. She mumbles something that he couldn't understand. "What was that?"
"I shouldn't be talking to you, you know, you being a stranger, and a man. You could like, take me off and rape me or something, that's what they always told you about talking to strangers. But, you look pretty harmless to me, you got a group somewhere?" She asks as Reid notices how brave she had gotten so quickly. He puts his hand on her shoulder and she flinches at first and then turns her head up to look at him. He nods.
"My name's Riley. My mom got bit and I don't know where my dad is."
"You wanna come back with me. We've got a big group, even got kids your age." She nods at Reid and he could swear he could see a faint shimmer in her eyes at the mention of kids her age. "I'm out here hunting with two other guys from our group, we'll meet up with them and head back okay?" She nods. Reid whistles and waits for a reply from Darrick and Conner to know which direction to go to meet up with them. That signal doesn't come they wait for a while but it is going to be getting dark and Reid really doesn't want to be out her with a kid in the dark. It's dangerous enough as it is without having to worry about keeping a child safe too. "Maybe they already headed back, let's just go."
When we get back to the prison Darrick is at the gate. He slides is open, "Damn, man. I'm glad to see you. We thought we had lost ya. Who's this?" He finally asks when he sees the little girl.
"Riley," Reid tells him, "Her mom got bit and she was separated from her dad. She's gonna stay here with us now." Darrickheads inside slapping his brother on the back as he passed him. Reid feels that same jealousy rise up in histhroat as Conner walks up with his arm around Rachel. He waves them over as he looks down at Riley who now has a big smile on her face. "Daddy!" She screams and takes off running into Conner's arms. I step away from him just staring at him trying to figure out what is going on, why was she calling him daddy? "Daddy, I can't believe you're still alive! I missed you." She drops her head, "Mama got bit, I had to," she starts sniffling and Conner pulls her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry baby. Daddy's here now though." Conner's eyes get wide as he realizes I'm still standing beside him. He stands up looking into my eyes. "Babe, um, I guess I have some explaining to do." I shake my head at him. I was trying to do the math in my head. This girl had to be about ten. That means he had her before this all went down, while we were still together, but she isn't my daughter.
He introduced her to the rest of the group and then I showed her to an empty cell next to Charlie's. "Charlie is right next door. I'm sure you two will get along famously, you're about the same age." She drops her bag on the floor and sits down on the bed. She keeps her gaze down on the floor, "Is my daddy gonna stay with me?" I shrug and walk back to the others. Conner wraps an arm around me. "She asked if you're going to stay with her in that cell?" I look up at him, "She's your daughter right? I'm sure she's scared, been out there for who knows how long on her own. She needs her daddy." Conner kisses me on the top of my head and smiles. "You're an amazing woman you know that?"
"Uh huh," I say as all emotion has drained out of me. I was angry because the math was telling me that he cheated on me. He had a kid with some other woman that he never said a word about and by the way she ran into his arms today he didn't just leave her. He had built a life, a relationship with his daughter and I had no clue she ever even existed. I felt so betrayed. Conner walks off to go see his daughter and Reid steps up behind me. "You okay?" I look up at him and shake my head.
"I'm pissed. He's never, ever mentioned his daughter to me." I look down at my feet, "She's what, ten? She was born way before I lost him. He knew about her when we were together, he had a relationship with her." Reid puts an arm around me and pulls me into a hug. He doesn't say anything, he just holds me. "I'm sure he has a good explanation for this." Reid says defending Conner. I look up at him in disbelief, "I know, I can't believe I'm sticking up for him either, but you should at least give him a chance to explain. It's only fair, right?" He finally speaks to me and now he smiles and leans in resting his forehead on mine, "But I hope it's not a good excuse because I'm going to be there to pick up the pieces." I give him a light shove and shake my head before heading off to my cell. I walk by Riley's cell and she is sitting on the bed with her knees drawn to her chest staring at a picture. I walk up and saw that it was a picture of Gwyn, my best friend. I recognized the picture; it was one I had taken a long time ago. "Why do you have that picture? Who is she to you?"
"Fuck!" She jumped up startled, "Lady, do you always sneak up on people like that?" She shoves the picture into her pocket and looks up at me. I ask her again, "Do you know her?" She shakes her head and drops her gaze to the floor. "She's my mom," she mumbles, "This was her favorite picture." She sighs, "My mom gave me that picture, told me that her very best friend in the whole world took it. She said that she didn't talk to her anymore because she did something bad and if her friend knew what she had done that her friend would hate her forever." That sealed it, I had my answer and I didn't need to hear it from Conner. He slept with my best friend and got her pregnant. I could feel myself getting angry but I had to keep my cool. I couldn't take this out on a child, she had no choice in this and he is her daddy. "Well, you have your dad now. Where is he anyway?" She shrugs.
"He didn't stay, does he hate me," she asks.
"Conner's a good man," I choked out, "he doesn't hate you. I bet he's excited to know you're alive and healthy and now he has you back."
I walk with her to our room; he was sitting on the bed. "Hey," I say causing him to look up at me. Riley walks up to him. He sees the picture in her hand and then looks up at me again, "Did you see this?" I nod. "I screwed up, I loved her. I should have told you but I was chicken but she's gone now and I still have our daughter. Can you forgive me for that and let us move on as a family?" I didn't know what to tell him. Riley looks at me now, "You're going to be my new mom?" Conner looks at his daughter and whispers to her before he grins up at me.
"Well," he said, "Are you gonna join us mama?" I cock my head to the side and stare at him. I want to punch him in his stupid face right now. I can't do this 'mama' thing. Not knowing that she is my best friend's love child with the man that I loved. "I can't do this," I say glaring down at him now, "We need to talk about things before I make any kind of decision here." I storm out and down the hall. Reid grabs my arm as I breeze by his room. "You need to talk to someone?" I throw myself into his arms and let the tears flow. Reid rubs his hand across my back as he leads me into his room. "Her mother was my best friend, he cheated on me. Here I was trying to be loyal to him and he never was." Reid rocks me in his arms as Gracie crawls over to us. She puts her arms up in the air.
"Ma Ma." I start crying even harder. I have two little girls now wanting to call me mama and neither of them is mine. I could feel better about Gracie because at least Reid didn't cheat on me to have her. I knew she was part of the package from day one. Riley, she was never supposed to be part of the package with Conner. He has a kid with my best friend and now that she's gone he expects me to raise her. Charlie walks in on my weak moment and I feel Reid moving slightly. I look at him through my tears and see him pointing to Grace asking Charlie to take her for a little while. I notice the smile on his face as he picks up his baby sister. Reid slides us both back on the bed holding me tight in his arms as I cry on his shoulder and cry myself to sleep.
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