It's a Girl!

Somehow I managed to fight my way through the crowd punching only a few people. Once I had made it out, I looked around for Roxanne. She wasn't anywhere in sight. I sighed and took off down the sidewalk I had seen her running around on. Again, no one. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, not bothering to check the caller ID.

"Tommy? It's Nikki. Roxanne's at my house. What's the story?" Nikki said quickly. I could barely make out a word he was saying.

"So she's at your house?"

"Yeah." He replied shortly.

"Okay, dude. I'll be right over. Sorry."

"No, it's fine. I missed her." He laughed softly. It was a Vince laugh. Uh-oh, Nikki was now laughing like a man-whore. I hung up and walked back to the car as quickly and stealthily as I could. I slipped into the driver's seat and drove down to the Sixx residence.

I jumped out of the car over to the front door. I must have pushed the doorbell seven times before Nikki answered. He looked like hell. His hair was a mess, his pants were unzipped, his shirt was unbuttoned-- he just looked like a hobo on a bad day.

"Hey, Tommy." He smiled. "Come on in, dude."

I walked into his abnormally neat house. "So, where's Roxanne?"

"She's out in the pool with the kids." He motioned out to the back, where Gunner had her in a headlock. "She gets along with them pretty well."

"Awesome." We walked into the kitchen. I sat down. "So, what have you all been doing?"

"Roxie and I... talked for a while, then she joined the kids outside."

"That's cool." I smiled. "Hey, would you mind telling me why you look like a homeless guy? Do you have a chick over or something?"

He chuckled. "I was just... you know... want a drink or something?" He opened the fridge and tossed me a beer.

"Way to change the subject." I laughed, popping the bottle-cap off. At that moment, Roxanne, Gunner, Decker, and Storm ran through the door, sliding all over the place. Frankie tumbled in after them.

"Hi, Tommy!" She waved. Roxanne walked over and hugged me.

"Hey, dad. What's up?"

"Nothing, just picking you up after our little adventure today." I ruffled her hair. She walked over to Nikki and slipped her arms around his waist.

Gunner slipped over to me. "Dad told us she's your kid." He said.

"He is correct." I nodded. "What are you guys doing out there?"

"We're trying to drown each other," Decker explained. "Boys vs. Girls."

"And we're winning." Storm proclaimed. Roxanne high-fived her before continuing to talk to Nikki in a low voice.

"Lies!" Gunner shouted. "You don't win until someone dies."

"No one's dying at my house." Nikki stepped in.

Gunner walked over and pulled Roxanne off of Nikki. "We will finish this once and for all." He demanded. They all galloped out the door and did flips off the diving-board into the pool again.

"Do they know what it's supposed to be shaped like?" I grinned.

"Nope, not yet. I think only Roxie knows. She asked me why it was so oddly shaped. Then I explained it to her."

"Yet she still goes in it."

"Come on, you know nobody refuses to jump into a pool in June." He laughed. "Anyway, you think Roxie could sleep over tonight? She could sleep in Gunner's extra bed."

I sighed. "Well, I guess that would work. Yeah, why not? I've got some stuff to do, anyway." I smiled. "Thanks, dude. You sure you could put up with her?"

"Of course. You know I adore that kid. It's no problem at all, man."

"Well, thanks again. I'm gonna go say goodbye to her and then I gotta get home, alright?" I got up and pushed the sliding glass door open. "Hey, Roxanne? Would you be alright with sleeping over here?"

"Yeah, of course." She climbed out of the pool and walked over to me. "Why?"

"I've just got a lot of shit to do and you would be bored out of your mind. I gotta go. See you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too." I turned back around, said goodbye to Nikki, then drove home. As soon as I opened my door, I grabbed the packet of Roxanne info and the phone. I was going to call Heather. I took a deep breath, dialed the number, and hung up. I tried again a few minutes later. This time, I didn't hang up. Even when she answered.

"Hello?"

"Heather, it's Tommy..." I said shyly. It had been fifteen years since we last talked.

"Oh, hi. How are you?" She asked, sounding bubbly and happy, just as I remembered her.

"I'm great, thanks," I muttered, getting weak in the knees. "How are you?"

"Awesome. Germany's pretty fantastic."

"Cool... hey, thanks for that little suprise you left me." I said, sitting on the couch. She fell silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Tommy. See, her grandparents are on vacation in Hawaii and her aunt's house is too small..."

I cut her off. "No, no. I actually mean it. Thanks."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean thank you for sending her here. I adore her. But why didn't you tell me we had a baby, Heather? I mean, I had a fucking hemorrhage when Roxanne showed up."

She sighed heavily. "I tried. When I found out, I called you every day. You never answered. And it was everywhere on the news... how could you not have known, Tommy? We were on like, twenty magazine covers."

I buried my face in my hands. "I don't know either, Heather. Every time I saw pictures of you anywhere I would just ignore them. I was fucking freaking out over us, dude." I explained.

"I understand," She replied softly. "How is she?"

"She's amazing," I said. "She's the best thing that's ever happened to me, I think."

"You have no clue how happy I am to hear that." Heather choked.

"You were, too." I added. We both went quiet, listening to the buzz of the phone lines.

"Hey, Tommy? I have to go-- we're going out to dinner. Talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

She giggled softly and she hung up. I exhaled deeply. Holy shit. I just fucking talked to Heather. And she was nice.

I wondered what Roxanne was doing over at Nikki's. She was probably helping Storm lock Decker in a closet or playing video games with Gunner or watching a movie with Nikki or something along the lines of that.

Someone knocked on the door. I peeked over and noticed Vince looking through the window with an angry expression on his face.

"Way to ditch me earlier, asshole!" He screamed. I just smiled and waved before going into my room to go get some fucking sleep.