Rewritten

Carry That Weight

"Your turn to deal Ringo." George said as he passed him the deck of cards.

Ringo shuffled the decked and then quickly passed out seven cards to everyone. The five of them sat around a table a few days after the first show and were playing 500 Rummy.

It was getting late and it had been decided that this would be their last game for the night. AJ picked up first, and then put down the Three, Four, and Five of Clubs.

"Already?" John asked.

"You put down first thing every time!" Paul said.

"I told you guys, I'm the queen of this game." AJ smirked. She was right too. By the end of the game, AJ had won nine out of twelve.

"Alright, Queen, I'm going to bed." John stood up, kissed AJ on top of her head and left the room.

"Okay, later loser." She said, standing up to clean up the empty bottles of beer they had drank. The other went off to bed too, but George stayed behind. AJ put all the empty bottles in a bin by the side of the counter, then turned around to collect the cards when she noticed him.

"Oh, hey. You aren't running off to bed too? Don't you guys have another gig tomorrow?" AJ asked, putting the cards into a stack.

"I can see it in your eyes, AJ." George said suddenly, catching AJ off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"You're hiding something." George said quietly.

"Yeah, what's it I'm hiding then, George?" AJ said after putting the deck of cards back in the box. Now he had her full attention.

"I told you, I can see it in your eyes. You look like a mother."

"Sorry?" AJ asked, raising her eyebrows.

"You're really good at hiding it too, passing her off as your sister. I didn't realise at first, but then I started to pick it up. No wonder Lily looks so much like you, especially the eyes. But she's got red hair, who's she get that from?"

AJ had forgotten John was the only one to know about her red hair. She didn't bother explaining it to George though.

George was now confident he was correct, but he still kept his voice down.

"George," AJ started to say.

"I know it's true AJ, you don't have to lie. It's okay."

"No, it's not okay." AJ sat down. "I've been lying all this time and he deserves to know."

"Tell him." George said simply. At this point, they both knew they were talking about John.

"How?"

"Why?"

"Why what?" AJ asked.

"Why didn't you introduce her as your daughter in the first place?" George asked curiously.

"I feel," AJ pondered on her choice of words. How did she feel? "Ashamed, I guess?" She didn't really like talking about it, and didn't have the proper words to explain.

"Why? She's your daughter. Be proud of that." George told her.

"It's not that I'm not proud of her, George. Of course I'm proud of her. It's the fact her father's an asshole and she's never met him. I'm ashamed of what people would think of a fatherless girl." AJ admitted.

"Oh, but I think you've found a new father figure." George tilted his head in the direction of the hall that led to the room John was in.

"I don't know how to tell him, George. What if he doesn't take it well?"