What A Girl Wants: With A Twist (BWWM)

I'm at a Payphone, Trying to Call Home

Normal POV

It was late at night at the Leopold Manor. After the chaos of the day,, everyone had retired to bed. All but Frederick who boarded himself up in his off, the only light in the dark room being his office lamp.

He was leaned back in his chair, his chin in his hand as he glared at the phone at the edge of his desk. His leg bouncing as he thought about what he may or may not do.

After a mental game of back and forth, Frederick surged forward and grabbed his office phone, dialing the number Aria had given him earlier that day. He quickly pressed the buttons in hopes of not chickening out for the fourth time. His heart was beating out his chest as he brought the phone to his ear.

It rang a few times and just when he was about to hang up-

"Hello?"

Frederick didn't speak.

"Who is this?"

He forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat before speaking,"Hello Memphis", he said, evening out his voice.

It's was quiet for a long moment and he thought she'd hung up on him,"I knew you would call", she finally answered; she suddenly sounded even more tired,"How is Aria?"

Frederick cleared his throat, sitting back in his chair,"She is fine, mother got her situated", he answered.

He could hear her sigh of relief through the phone,"Well that's good, I was worried sick when she didn't call."

Once again, the line had gone quiet; he was suddenly at a loss for words. That seemed to happen to him quite a lot as of late.

Frederick tugged at his hair before squeezing his eyes shut tight,"Why didn't you tell me?", he finally forced himself to ask,"Why didn't you tell me I had a 17 year old daughter walking around for all these years?"

Memphis sighed; she had expected this, but at the same time she wasn't ready for it,"Are we really going to do this now, Frederick."

"If not now than when?!", he boomed, slamming his fist down on his desk in anger, not caring for disrupting the others in the house,"Will I have to wait for you to disappear for another 17 years?"

"Me disappear?", she questioned,"If anyone disappeared it was you!", she spat matter of factly.

Frederick was baffled by her accusation,"Your blaming me for this? Honestly Memphis, did you even try to find me?" He had been reaching out for her for years to get nothing in return, but here she was saying it was all his fault!

"Yes, I did!", Memphis answered bitterly,"I wrote you letters, I called, emailed, faxed, everything you could think of only to get the same result over and over again!"

Frederick scoffed,"Apparently not, seeing as your daughter wound up on my door step!", he screamed.

"Our daughter Frederick", she corrected,"I didn't make her alone!"

"Look if having her there is such an issue then send her back; your campaign manager is probably coming up with some crazy ass story anyway", she said sharply. As much as it would hurt her to have her daughter go through what she went through, there was nothing she could do for her now.

"l know they're whispering in your ear already. Let me guess, they said I was some cash-grabbing harlot and just chose the first guy I could remember, right?", Memphis wasn't as naïve as she was before; she knew from experience how they treated people they saw as below them. Those people were cruel and heartless and she couldn't believe she had loved one of them once upon a time.

Frederick immediately began to backtrack his statement,"Mem-"

"No", she cut off, raising her voice slightly before lowering it again. "Listen Frederick, if you don't think Aria's yours then take a DNA test, but you, me and everyone else in that house can see that Aria is your daughter whether you like it or not."

Hearing those words, Frederick couldn't help but think about the whole conversation again. After hearing everyone repeatedly say that she was not his child, it felt different to have someone fight to let him know what they believed to be the truth, and for it to be Memphis made it much more eye opening.

With this in mind, he also thought about how much it would hurt the girl to ask for a DNA test. He still remembered the way her face dropped when they repeatedly told her it was impossible for them to be related. God, would he be able to handle it when they came out a match? The fact that he obviously knew it would also confirmed his suspension.

Frederick was pulled from his rampant thoughts by Memphis' sigh,"Look Frederick, its late and I'm too tired to deal with this right now."

His rebuttal died on his tongue when he considered what time it was in the States. He had obviously called her late at night with drama without a second thought. He glanced at his clock,"Your right", he answered simply, standing up from his chair,"I'll let you get your rest"

Memphis hummed in response before laying back down again,"Tell my baby I love her okay?"

"I will", he promised before hanging up the phone.