originally posted in:The New Dojo
He smiled slightly.
"You're right. I'm sure everything will turn out fine... Thanks for sticking by me, ad'ika."
English
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"Anything for you, father. I'm just happy you're not still upset. I can't bare to see people not smiling and being happy." She lets go and smiles back at him.
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"Well, it's hard to be upset with a daughter as awesome as you... How are you holding up with all this?" He asked, looking her in the eye to make sure she didn't lie to him.
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She sighs and looks down at the ground. "I just want to be a family again." A single tear runs gently down her cheek.
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This time it was his turn to comfort her, and he tightened the hug. "We will be, ad'ika. I promise." He hoped extremely hard that he could keep the promise.
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"You and mom are just...so unhappy now...." She sniffled and tried to fake a smile. "L-Lets try to be more happy."
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"You're right. Sorry I've been a downer recently." He attempted a joke.
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"Yeah, but that's not your fault." She grinned slightly and truthfully this time. "Mom has also been doing some rather...questionable things...."
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His smile disintegrated. "What do you mean?"
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"NO! You stopped smiling...." She sighed in defeat. "Well...she never takes her braids out, you know? And...well...now? Now she never keeps them in and she's weirdly way more mature looking and acts a bit more mature too. I want my normal mother back."
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Cannon didn't know all what this meant, but it felt like a punch to the gut. He slumped back with a heavy sigh, feeling more hurt and broken than he'd ever felt since he'd almost lost Iso to WM.
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"Father...? Father, why do you seem so hurt by that? Do you know something about why she's acting like this? It's so strange and and and...and...I dunno. She also seems to talk to a lot of guys now in what I presume is a flirty way, but she never seems happy doing it." Traci snickers a little. "She punched this one guy through a window that touched her and sent him so far that the guy landed in his convertible."
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"She's... Flirting?" He swallowed, muttering something incomprehensible in a language Traci had never heard.
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"Yeah, but she obviously means nothing by it. She never does anything beyond that and if a guy tries anything he usually ends up in the hospital." Traci tried to be cheerful to the best of her ability.
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That helped a little bit, bit he still felt like his heart had been torn out. "Does... Does she still have her ring?" He asked, though his voive was practically dead.
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"Yes! Yes she does!" Traci seemed more than ecstatic to have at least some good news. "It's on her night stand..." She quickly started to get upset again. "I saw her staring at it and crying one night while she was lying in bed...."
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He gave another sigh, his eyes squeezed shut for a moment. He wanted to be alone... No, he wanted his wife. He missed her so much...
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"I think she really misses you...." Traci hugged her father once again, burying her sad face into his chest. "I miss both of you together, trying to parent me and failing miserably." She joked, trying to lighten the mood.
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"Yeah..." He was about to cry at this point. "I miss that too... Manda I miss it so much..." A teat ran down his face, then another.
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"Please don't cry, father. If you cry then I'll cry and I'd hate it if we both cried. We should be happy! It's Father's Day....We should be celebrating....Instead I've just gone and made you so sad and upset." She nuzzled his chest.
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"I'm sorry Traci..." More tears flowed. "I just... I... I..." He lost it.
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"Father, you may as well let it all out. I'm here for you. I always am as your daughter." She kept a tight grip on him and let him cry.
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He burried his face in her shoulder and cried harder than he ever had before, his heart breaking beyond anything he'd ever felt.
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"We'll be together soon. We just....We just have to work on it! We'll get this family back together in no time! You could probably win back mom in a day!" She couldn't help speaking.
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"... Traci, I love you... But I don't think you're right." He trembled as he cried. "I lost her... I kriffing lost her."
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"You won't with that attitude!" Traci let go and got up on the table, looking down at Cannon. "You've got to rise up! When have you ever given up?! NEVER! So why start now?! You lost her, but she wants you! NEEDS you! She cries herself to sleep! Are you going to let the love of your life be miserable or stand up like a man and win her back?!"