Not much excitement happened in Freya Bowen's life, that is until she discovers she has a long lost cousin from the UK. Her excitement to finally meet some family outside of her father was unfathomable, but would that be skewed with meeting his fell...
FREYA'S FINGERS DRUMMED AGAINST HER STEERING WHEEL AS SHE SAT AT A RED LIGHT.
She was only about a minute out from the hospital, and she'd rehearsed what she wanted to say to her dad about a million times at this point. She pondered his responses and ultimately knew in a million different words he was going to tell her he didn't say anything to protect her.
As she parked just outside the entrance she took a deep breath. James stood right outside the doors, waving to her as he took his final drag from his cigarette. He jogs his way over to her passenger side, lifting the back of food to slide into the seat. "Hope you don't mind, I'd prefer to escape the hospital for a little bit and figured this would be best for privacy. You know how Tina can be when we eat up there."
Freya let out a laugh at his last sentence. Tina could in fact be a nosy little thing. Any word of drama or gossip was likely to come from Tina, she sniffed it out like a hound.
"Fine by me, I don't wanna show my face to Tina for a bit anyways after the other day. Though you know she's probably already talking about it." James grimaced, regretfully nodding in agreement.
James reached into the bag, passing Freya their straws while he went to sort out their food. Out of spite, Freya had grabbed McDonald's today instead of the huge juicy burger from the small hidden gem of a restaurant that was Harry's. Her way of telling him that he wasn't getting out of this as easily as he's used to with his dad best friend privileges.
"I'm so sorry I forgot to rain check our last lunch, Aron had called me last minute and said they'd needed help — just some stupid leaky faucet and I figured I'd save them some bucks and just-"
"Dad, you were bringing them blood bags." Freya wasn't in the mood to entertain his scenarios she was sure he'd rehearsed just for moments such as these. James's eyes doubled in size momentarily before he quickly pulled a neutral face again, scrunching his brows in confusion.
"Freya, what? What are you talking about?" He takes a sip of his Mountain Dew, swallowing harder than he meant to due to his anxiety.
"You ditched me for lunch to bring Aron and the boys blood bags. Which is fine and wouldn't bug me if it weren't for the fact that you hid this giant secret from me about my "cousin"." She angrily threw her hands up to use finger quotes.
James let out a sigh, running a hand down his face in defeat. He wasn't sure how or why she suddenly knew, but he knew there was no way to gaslight her back into being oblivious about it.
"It was to protect you." Freya mimicked his last two words, matching his unamused expression as he turned to her.
"How is it protecting me to introduce me to a vampire, family or not, let me get close to him and his friends and not tell me about it?" Her rage in which she'd calmed to still waters before arriving was building into large stormy waves — ready to burst through the dam of her control and wash over everything once again with every word that left her trembling lips.
James wasn't sure what to say in that very moment. He just sat still like if he'd moved it would cost him his life. He stared at her with bewilderment in his eyes and his mouth agape.
"You wanna know how I found out?" Freya spat out bitterly. She didn't even give James the chance to answer before she continued. "Eve had fallen over while we were drunk at their place. Slashed her leg on something pretty good and if it weren't for Desmond, either her or both of us could be dead right now."
She waved her hands around in frustration as she spoke, her throat growing tight at the memory of the snarls and snapping of teeth. The howls of anger and pure hunger as Desmond had somehow shoved the group of hungry vampires back into the house and away from the trembling and confused girls.
"But you tell me again, exactly how you were keeping me safe." She grabbed at her hair, tugging for a moment before turning away from her father. As hard as she tried to keep them at bay, tears began to run down her cheeks. James blinked a couple times as he took in the information she'd given him. His heart swelling in guilt and anger with himself for not even thinking about that as an outcome.
"Freya, I-"
"Fucking exactly, dad." She scoffed at him, shaking her head as she used her flannel sleeve to wipe at her eyes.
"Freya Elizabeth, let me finish." He snapped momentarily. His daughter was fiercely headstrong once she'd set her mind to something. A trait he adored until he was on the opposite side of it.
"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that was how you found out, I can only imagine how scared you two must have been. The way Aron had explained it to me was that it was best the less people knew, they live in a world much different than ours. You holding the knowledge you do now puts you in danger, people will target you because of the knowledge alone."
"And they wouldn't have targeted me regardless knowing we're family? And what people may have done thinking I'm lying about having no knowledge of it? At least this way I can be prepared." James sighed, once again a missing piece he hadn't considered.
"Freya, I'm sorry. This is bigger than us. I hadn't thought of all the outcomes." His face fell in guilt and disappointment in himself. All her life, all James has wanted to do was keep his precious daughter safe. And the fact that he nearly failed because of doing what had thought was best was eating him alive. "I love you. I never kept anything from you to hurt you."
Freya deflated, her anger beginning to dwindle as she processes his side. She leans herself over the center console and wraps her arms around her dad, laying her head on his shoulder. He leans his head on top of hers, bringing a hand up to squeeze her arm in a return hug.
"I know. I love you too, dad. I'm sorry." Freya pulls away looking at the clock with a frown. "Shall we eat? You've only got ten minutes left."
"I am starved, but I think they can go a little bit longer without me in there." He winks at her before sifting the burgers out of the bag with a smile.
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