Nalaniangel24
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Waiting
Waiting
by Nalaniangel
rated G
Summary: Brennan's daughter sees her father for the first time.
AN: SEQUEL TO SECOND THOGUHTS. MUST READ SECOND THOUGHTS FIRST.
I am waiting for him. I'm tired of waiting; I've been doing it all my life. My mother told me my father was dead and I waited my whole life for her to take it back. I waited by her side while she died slowly of cancer.
She never told me she had lied. I found out on my own. I saw him in a picture of a team called Mutant X. He left when I was a baby, but I still know what he looks like. I'm a telepath; I've gone back to my birth in my minds eye. So I know what he's like, I know he would get drunk, I know he would yell at my mom, I know he left us, but I'm hoping he changed.
I called him and told him I was a New Mutant and that I needed help. It wasn't a lie, I did need help, but mostly I just needed him. But I didn't tell him that. I'm hoping that when he sees me, he'll know it's me, his daughter…
Suddenly, a chill runs down my spine, but it's replaced with warmth and I can feel myself getting nervous. It's my body's reaction to something my mind has found out, but that I'm not consciously aware of yet. I'm hoping it means that my father has arrived. I don't see him though, but that is because he is behind me.
"Are you Ikuyo?" a woman asks. I spin around to see a blonde haired woman, shorter than me, but well built. I'm unusually tall for being born of anyone, but especially of a short Japanese woman. She told me my father was very tall.
"Yes," I answered, curious as to whom she is. I was expecting my father.
"It's nice to meet you," she says, holding out her hand. "I'm Shalimar."
"Hi," I answer, shaking it. Still, though, I scan for him. "Did you come with someone?" I ask.
"Yeah, how did you know?" she asks. She automatically glances towards a clump of trees, then back at me. "His name is Brennan Mulwray," she tells me. "He didn't want to come over here, though. I don't know why."
"Ikuyo Mulwray," I whisper, trying out a name that could have been. I like how it sounds, but I would never dream of changing my last name. It was my mothers and it would be disrespectful of me to change it.
Shalimar looks at me strangely. "Lets go," she says, motioning for me to follow her.
To my delight she heads for the trees, where my father is. It's strange to know his name is Brennan Mulwray. For so long he's just been a face in my mind. I cannot hear yet in my mind's eye, so I did not know his name. But something is different. My father seemed so close and comforting. Brennan Mulwray sounds like a stranger. I try again to see him while I was a baby and I call him Brennan Mulwray in my head, but it doesn't fit. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe I'm not supposed to do this.
Before I know it, I'm slowing down. Shalimar is a few yards ahead of me before she realizes she's left me behind. She turns back around. "Is something wrong?" she asks.
"Very," I answer. I came here to see my father, but what I've gotten was Brennan Mulwray, a stranger and a man that I don't know. He's unfamiliar. I don't want to meet him anymore. I don't want him to see what he missed out on. I don't want to spend time with him. I don't want to because I don't care. I don't care if Brennan Mulwray knows me. I want my father to know me. Suddenly I know I don't have a father. My father is a person I made up in my head.
"Do you not want to come back with us?" Shalimar asks. I look at her, then past her into the gathering of trees. I look hard to find him and finally my eyes meet another pair. Brennan and I, my father and I, are finally seeing each other. It's been so long. With my telepathy I can sense that he wants to run to me and hug me, that he wants to love me and get to know me. I can sense that he wants to be my father. I look deep inside myself. Do I have those feelings to return?
I know without a doubt my answer. "Tell my father hello for me," I tell Shalimar. Her eyes widen as her knowledge of the man I know she loves is widened. Telepathy can have some advantages, though. I reach inside her mind and in a second I copy every memory she has of him onto me. From the second, I know he's changed and I can tell that maybe I can learn to love Brennan like I love my father. I can get to know him through Shalimar's memories, just like I got to know my father through my minds eye.
"Ok," she says absently, in shock, agreeing to pass on my message.
"And tell him that one day, I'll come back when I'm ready," I say. "And he can wait for me if he wants. I'm done waiting for him."
Finally, I walk away from him instead of him walking away from me. I know what he's thinking, hiding in the trees. His thoughts are easy to read. He's confused. Why is she walking away? My daughter… why is she leaving? Should I go after her?
I open his mind completely and force myself inside so that he can hear my voice. "I waited for you to come when I was all alone when my mother died, but you didn't. But I was confused. I thought you were someone you weren’t and now that I know you, so to speak, I have to learn to love you again. I know I will, though, I just have to sort it all out. So until then, you'll have to wait for me. But you have the advantage: I didn't know if you were coming back when you walked out on me, but you know I'm coming back, even though I'm walking away now. I will, I promise you."
I glance back again at Brennan. He's amazed, shocked, bewildered, and I can't help but let myself smile at this. In one afternoon, the tables turned. And it's his turn to wait for me.
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