He Saved Me

Chp 67

Paris's POV
     I understood what Daddy was saying. I guess it was silly of me to be jealous of a child. She's probably so hurt from the way I treated her this past month or two. God I'm such piece of shit! "Paris...?" Daddy called out. I snapped out of my thoughts, and stared at him. I couldn't find the right words to speak. Overwhelmed by the chaos in my head... and in my heart, I broke down into tears. How could I be so stupid? "Hey... come on sweetheart, shh," Daddy cooed.
     Daddy pulled me into a tight hug, resting my head on his chest. God, I missed this so much. We stayed like this till my sobs turned into sniffles. I felt a surge of guilt and sadness. I guess the realization of my stupidity hit me all at once. "I-I'm so sorry. I feel like crap now. I-I-I..." I stuttered. I could barely get the sentence out before I broke down crying again.

Michael's POV
     I'm glad we're making progress with Paris, but her crying is starting to worry me. The girl could barely breathe, let alone get any words out. I looked at Rachel, hoping she could help me out. She took the cue and spoke up. "Maybe it's time for a little break. Let's gather our thoughts, and meet back in my office in 30 minutes. Paris, it's time for your lunch anyway," she stated with a smile. I helped wipe off a few tears on my little girl's face, and stood up.
     "Michael, if it's okay with you, I'd like to speak to you privately please," Rachel said.
     "Oh sure," I replied. I kissed Paris's forehead and sent her on her way. Rachel and I both took a seat.
     "Paris is doing a great job so far. But it's not going to be pretty. Withdrawal can be very hard, as you may know pretty well," she explained. I furrowed my brows, not quite understanding what she meant.
     "As I may know? As I may know what?" I asked.
     "About withdrawals. I mean I'm sure you had a tough time with yours," she replied.
     "Listen I-" I began before she cut me off.
     "I mean it was all over the news... ohh I didn't mean to offend you! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. I could tell it was genuine. I kept my composure as I always do.
     "Well, you shouldn't believe everything you see on the news. Especially about celebrities. Most of that junk is fabricated anyways," I said matter-of-factly. I gave her a faint smile, hoping this awkward conversation was now over.
     "I guess what I'm trying to say is that, things might get ugly for a bit. The sudden urge to cry, mood swings, paranoia... it all comes with it. So don't worry yourself too much. She will get through this. She's a strong girl," Rachel smiled.
     "I guess you could say she gets it from me," I said with straight face. Within a few seconds, we both burst into giggles over my corny joke. I'm glad we lightened the mood in this room. Hopefully, Paris will be in better spirits too. We spent rest of the time after lunch, talking about Paris's treatment. She's going to need an even bigger support system at home from my understanding. We spent a lot of time talking about the problems we had in our relationship, along with bad influence her new friends had on her. We were finally getting down to the nitty gritty details of it all.
Eventually it was time for me to leave. But truth be told, I didn't want to. Although I was completely exhausted at this point, I missed my little Paris so much. I couldn't just leave her. However, Rachel consoled me that I'd be back within a week. "Don't worry Michael, she's in good hands," she said with a smile. "How about for our next session, you bring in the other kids. I'm sure Paris misses them."
I looked at Paris, trying to get a feel of her mood. I don't want to add fuel to the fire. If she needs this time away from her siblings to get better, so be it. But to my surprise she nodded her head. "You can bring them, I actually do want to see them," she said meekly. I couldn't help but smile. She's making an effort, and that's all I could hope for right now.
"Will do mama," I said with a kiss to her forehead. "I'll be back next week. I love you so much Paris," I said as I held her close to me. I don't care how grown my babies get. There's no better feeling than holding them in my arms. And with that I left the rehab center. It was slowly starting to get dark, and I knew my other 3 were probably waiting eagerly for me at home.
I felt better but sad at the same time. I'm happy Paris is making progress. And I'm happy shes willing to make an effort to change her relationship with Mia. But I'm sad that she's even in this situation to begin with. People will probably think she gets it from me, just like her counselor. I shook those thoughts out of my head as I entered my home.
Lo and behold, my kids were fighting. What a surprise. Can you sense the sarcasm? "Give it back!" Mia screamed. Blanket was towering over her, holding something in his hands. "I SAID GIVE IT BACK!" she screamed even louder this time.
"Hey!" I yelled across the room. "Inside voice please."
"Well you're not using your inside voice," said Mia with an eye roll in my direction. The attitude in this girl...
"Watch it. And lose the attitude," I warned. She rolled her eyes again, but I decided to ignore it. I was far too exhausted to have to deal with Mia's defiance at the moment. I was about to walk up the stairs when I heard Blanket speak up.
"Wait till Dad sees this. You're so dead," Blanket said.
"Shut up Blanket!" Mia whisper yelled. Great. Now I have to go deal with this. I let out a sigh and turned back around.
"Wait till Dad sees what?" I questioned. I crossed my arms and prayed they'd give me an answer quick. Mia gave Blanket a death stare, while he had a smirk plastered on his face. God, I already hate where this is going. He's about to snitch on Mia. As much as I want to know what's going on, I hate that I'm gonna have to deal with this whole "tattletale" situation.
"This," stated Blanket as he showed me what he was holding in his hand. It was an iPhone.
"What is this?" I asked confused. "Whose phone is that?" Blanket was about to say something, but Mia cut him off.
"Ugh no one's Daddy, let us be," she exclaimed in worry.
"Mia, I'm not talking to you," I said with a finger pointed at her. I'm starting to get real tired of her arrogance. She looked down and started playing with the hem of her t-shirt. "I'm not going to ask again. Whose phone is that?"
"It's Mia's," Blanket blurted out.
"WHAT?!?!" I yelled. "Where the hell did you get a phone?!"