Forgotten

BOBS POV. *****4 HOURS LATER ******

"Cassie is one lucky girl in some ways but not so lucky in others," said the doc once he had finished running all the tests he needed to on Cassie.

"What do you mean?" I asked and he shook his head.

"She doesn't have appendicitis as was originally thought."

"Well that's great right?"

"No, it's not, not great at all. The pain she was feeling was caused by malnutrition, have you been neglecting her at all?" The doc raised his eyebrows and looked at me accusingly.

"I WHAT? Until yesterday I didn't even know she existed, she had been in her moms care, I had no contact with her and she was eating fine today," he wont believe that.

"I'm afraid to say I don't believe you Mr. Bryar. Clearly you have been mistreating your daughter and I will have to ca...."

"I would never even dream of mistreating her. I told you, I was informed yesterday that her mother had died and left me as their carer, until then I didn't even know they were even born."

"They?"

"Cassie has twin older brothers but that's not the point, I swear, ask their social worker, anybody who knows me or the kids, I didn't know them and they had always been told I was dead. Their mother killed herself, she gave them the best she could but they had so little I just..." My voice cracked and I felt myself tear up thinking of what they had been through just in the space of their short lives, it was more then most people would go through it their whole lifetime.

"Alright," the doc looked at me sympathetically now, clearly having changed his mind and started to believe that I was in fact, telling the truth.

"You need to ensure that she eats well, healthy things in small portions but often, even up to six or seven times a day. She needs to always feel full to allow her systems to adapt to a normal eating rate. She currently has the average size and weight of a six year old, and her BMI is dangerously low, this needs to be changed." I nodded as he explained and looked over to the small girl sleeping in the bed in the doctors office.

"Anything else I need to know?"

"Well there is one thing," he said, surveying her test results again, "My colleague who performed her CAT scan when they were checking for the appendicitis says that she has an abnormally large lung capacity, this could lead to breathing problems."

"If you don't mind me asking, how could it lead to problems if her lungs are bigger then they are meant to be?"

"She may feel short of breath when she tries to take a deep breath, her lungs will not fill all the way and she may panic. Just keep an eye on her, if she's in pain give her painkillers for it, I'm sure you know what you're doing," he smiled and I smiled back and then looked back at Cassie, sleeping peacefully.

"Well, thanks for all the help," I stood up and he stood up too.

"One more thing before you go Mr. Bryar, could you do one little thing for me?"

"Uh.. yeah sure what do you need?"

"My own daughter kind of never shuts up about you or your band, I recognized you from the posters on her wall, could you sign something for her?"

"If shes that crazy about the band, yeah sure I'll sign it," I smiled and he pulled out a little photo of his daughter from his wallet and handed me a pen from his desk. She looked about 13 to 15, dark hair just like his and green eyes.

"Whats her name?"

"Funnily enough, her name is also Cassie, she's not just crazy about the band, she seems obsessed by something called 'Bob Bryars solo project'." I grinned and almost burst out laughing remembering the day that all started and quickly signed the back of the picture.

'Hey Cassie, when the solo project comes out, I'll send you a free copy, although you might have to wait a while, love Bob Bryar xxx'. I gave back the picture and he smiled, slipping it back in his wallet.

"She looks to peaceful sleeping like that, I don't want to wake her up and make her walk to the car," I thought aloud and the doctor nodded.

"Carry her?" I shook my head.

"If I touch her she freaks out and I don't know why, something must have happened to her when she was younger." I looked at her sadly.

"If you're careful and don't wake her up, she'll never know. She was really scared when we were doing the tests on her, she kept crying and saying 'I want daddy' all the time, we almost came to get you."

"Really?"

"Yes, she was completely distraught at one point and kept saying 'I want daddy, go and get daddy'. I can only imagine what my daughter will say when I tell her you have kids, she might become a little less fixated then.."

"You can't tell her, nobody knows yet, we're arranging a press conference when the kids are ready because this is their decision, it will completely change their life, please, don't tell anyone."

He nodded.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't know, don't worry, I wont tell anyone."

"Thank you, thanks for all the help," he nodded and left the room. I gently picked Cassie up, the doc was right, she weighed practically nothing. I carefully carried her out to my car and put her in the front passenger seat, I buckled up her seat-belt and got in the drivers side and started the engine.

Twenty minutes later I parked the car on the driveway back at the house and got out, walking around to go and get Cassie out.

I got my house key, unlocked the door and wedged it open before walking back and getting Cassie and locking the car. I easily carried her limp body up the stairs to my room and lay her down on my bed, pulled off her shoes and tucked the blankets around her. I shut the curtains and looked back at her.

She looked so sweet, sleeping peacefully, her blond hair scattered around the pillow and her face completely relaxed. I leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Night sweetie," I said softly and left the room, turning off the light and closing the door before heading downstairs to see everyone else.

The twins practically piled on me, both looking extremely worried.

"How is she?" they demanded in unison. That's freaky, when they talk at the same time as each other like that.

"She's fine, just fine, she was asleep so I tucked her up in my bed, it's warmer up there then in the basement."

One of the twins breathed a sigh of relief, the other seemed angry.

"You left her up there, in the dark, on her own?"

"She's asleep, if she wants anything, she can come down and get it. When dinners done I have to get her up to eat it, the doctors said she has to eat, and healthy stuff too."

"What was wrong with her?" asked a worried looking Gee who was sat at the table talking to Frank and Mikey.

"She had stomach pains caused by malnutrition. She has to eat more, she's like the size and weight of a five or six year old."

"Oh my god! How the hell did that happen?"

"I know how it happened," said one twin.

"How?" I asked.

"In the home, she wouldn't eat the food, hardly any of it anyway. And at home with Mom, there was never enough to go around. Just make sure she has enough here," his eyes pleaded with me to take care of his sister, she obviously meant the world to them.

"I'll take good care of her; don't worry the doctors said she would be fine once she got her diet sorted out and started eating enough on a regular basis."

The twins sat back down next to Frank, Gee and Mikey and I rummaged through the fridge and cupboards for anything healthy to cook for dinner.

"You guys all hungry?' I asked to everyone sat at the table and they all nodded frantically.

"Alright well, Robbie and Josh, you have to eat healthy with your sister, you both look pretty skinny yourselves. I'll eat the good food cause I could use it, shift some of this," I patted my stomach,"You guys gonna eat with us or get your own shit?"

"We'll eat with you, we never eat healthy. You don't need it by the way, you're just fine the way you are," said Frank and I kind of half blushed.

I got about to making some proper food, one twin and Mikey helped me, the others except for Ray watched music on TV but thankfully none of our videos were on by the sound of it. We cooked a chicken Mikey had got and left in the fridge, he said he was going to try and make us eat it while we were here but I knew that we wouldn't have, we just get takeout but things have to change around here. We cooked boiled veg, carrots, peas, mash and broccoli and the twin mixed up some packet gravy found in the back of the cupboard and was very pleased with himself.

"I cooked the gravy," he grinned as we put out all the food on the table.

"Yep, from a packet," smirked Mikey and I snorted with laughter.

"Shut up! I've never cooked anything in my life and that was a good start!"

"Whatever you say," said the other twin, sitting down and starting to help himself to food.

"Oh wait a second guys, I need to go and get Ray and Cassie."

I ran upstairs to wake Cassie and pull Ray out of his room, he's been spending a lot of time in there recently. I reached the hallway and heard a sound so I kept listening. Ray was playing guitar, that was all, I thought I heard something else.

I knocked his door and the acoustic guitar stopped playing and Ray appeared a moment later.

"Mmm something smells good and like, not takeout?" he sniffed again and I nodded.

"Come down for dinner, real dinner not takeout."

"It's about time," he ran off downstairs and I walked over to my door to get Cassie.

I opened the door quietly and flicked on the light. She was still sound asleep.

"Cassie? sweetie wake up, dinners ready," I said softly as I got nearer to her. She didn't stir, I stood at the side of the bed then crouched down to her level. I touched her arm gently and she jumped a mile, waking up instantly.

"Sorry I made you jump baby, dinners ready, do you want to come down for some food?"

She smiled and nodded, pulling the blankets off and sitting up.

"How do you feel now?" I asked as we walked down the hallway together.

"I feels fine daddy, just hungry now."

"Let's go get you some food," I said and she bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. I followed her more slowly before sitting at my place, still reeling from what she had just said to me. I felt everything that had happened over the last few days sink in.

That was who I was now, that was me to them, 'daddy' as Cassie put it. I grinned without meaning to and Ray noticed.

"Whats got you so happy Bob?' he asked as he heaped mash onto his plate.

I shook my head and looked at the kids, they were my new reason to be happy.

[A/N sorry it's kinda been ages, was writing my other story XD. Comment please? Alex x.x.]