Should Have Known

This Can't Be Real

I walked hurriedly onto the bus, it was freezing cold outside and a bunch of fangirls had been stalking following me for the past half hour or so. But of course being on tour and not knowing where the fuck I actually was, it was hard to get away from them.

''Padge, here this came for you this morning.'' Matt said simply, handing me a letter. I nodded and took it from him with shivering hands, I really needed to wear warmer clothes, it was unnaturally cold right now. I tore the envelope opened and unfolded the neatly folded sheet of clean white paper.

'Dear Mr. Paget,
We are writing to you to inform you that your daughter, Elizabeth Paget has been taken into our care as her mother passed away a number of weeks ago. In her will she had written your address and that she wishes for Elizabeth to go into your care if anything were to happen to her. We would greatly appreciate if you could reply or visit our center as soon as is possible. You can find the address on the back of this letter, call the number for more details.

Your sincerely, London children's home managers.'


''Padge are you alright?'' Moose asked from where he was sitting in the corner of the bus knitting as usual. That guy has a serious obsession will wool. But I have to admit, the gloves he gave me were pretty good when Winter struck the God forsaken valley we come from, Bridgend. I swear, when you got to the depths of Winter, it was like you were in the fucking Antarctic. Do I bitch about the cold too much..?

''Woah you're gone pale as fuck.'' Jay stated looking worried, that was saying a lot for Jay, he usually just had a cheeky grin plastered over his face, a trait that his little girl, Abigail had inherited in all its glory.

''You guys were fucking with me... right?'' I asked holding the letter up in my hand, my voice cracking and not just from cold anymore.

''What do you mean?'' Matt asked taking it from me, he stuck his glasses on and folded it out straight. I will never understand why women think he looks hot with those specs on, it makes him look like he's a 17 year old math geek... again. He read down through it and he too, went pale.

''One of you wrote this right?'' He asked the other two who were waiting impatiently for their turn to read it, his voice quieter than usual.

''Wrote what?'' Jay frowned as he snatched the paper from Matt. His patience which was minimal at the best of times obviously draining away quickly not knowing what the two of us knew.

''Holy fuck.'' He whispered handing it to Moose who reluctantly put his needles down.

''You have a kid? Never thought to mention that to us, huh?'' Moose asked looking slightly hurt.

''I don't have a fucking kid! How could I?'' I snapped, my temper, which I never usually showed, rising to its limit.

''Sorry.'' I mumbled catching the surprised looks on their faces. I never snapped at peopleever. So I suppose if I was in their shoes I'd be shocked too.

''Call the number, see that they say.'' Matt suggested taking his glasses off and folding them back into their little case he always seemed to have around.

''Yeah, can I borrow your phone?'' I asked standing up, mine had been lost three days earlier when Jay accidentally pushed me into a fucking lake. Something which they cleverly planned, Moose even caught it on camera and had the indecency to put it on our website. Well at least I had reached internet fame now...

''Thanks,'' I mumbled walking off the bus with his phone and the letter.

''Hello?'' Someone answered in a chirpy tone, something which wouldn't usually have irritated me even in the slightest, but right now went through my fucking head.

''Eh hi, it's... Michael Paget. I eh, got a letter from you.''

''Oh I see, thank you for getting back to us so soon.''

''No problem, listen I think there's been some kind of... mistake,''

''How so?''

''Well I don't have a daughter, and to my knowledge there isn't even a chance I could have one.''

''Does the name Caroline Roper mean anything to you?''


I froze, of course, why hadn't I thought of it. Caroline. We had gone out for a few years when I was a teenager, she left without any trace though, maybe 15 years ago, she left me heartbroken and without so much as a goodbye. I never heard anything from her since, now I know why.

''What time can I call to the center?'' I asked my voice getting shakier and shakier as tears threatened to form in my eyes.

''Anytime that suits you, our doors are always open.'' The woman said sounding kind. I quickly said my goodbye's and hung up stuffing the letter into my back pocket and walked back onto the bus.
'
'Caroline.'' I mumbled to the three guys who had faces that read they wanted to know what had happened.

''Caroline? As in your Caroline? The one who left when we w-'' Matt started but I cut him off before he got a chance to finish.

''Who the fuck else?'' I snapped burying my head in my hands as I sunk down into the couch.

''Are you going to find her?'' Matt asked walking over to sit beside me, trying to comfort me I suspect.

''Do I have a choice? My own daughter is out there with no one but me to take her.'' I sighed, not even bothering to lift my head from their place in my hands.

''C'mon we'll take my car,'' Jay said leading us all off the bus. ''Why do you have your car?'' I asked slightly confused, we had been on tour for at least five months so I didn't see how he could or why he would, have his car here now.

''Well it's not exactly mine, but I'm sure it's owner wouldn't mind.'' He smirked slipping into the drivers seat with us piling in after him.

''Can I help you?'' A smiling woman at the front desk of the children's home asked. I handed her letter and she smiled sadly.

''Poor girl, she'll be delighted to see you.'' The woman mumbled leading me down a corridor with the guys following closely.

''I'm sorry, only two people can come in.'' She sighed, looking annoyed herself with the rules of this place, ''Feel free to stay in the waiting room though.''

''Matt, can you come with me?'' I asked looking at my best friend who still looked paler than usual. ''You sure you want me mate?'' He asked looking unsure, I just nodded quickly.

''Right this way, sorry about all the walking,'' She apologized to us we turned down yet another corridor. We had been walking for at least five minutes now, passing lots of kids, some of who recognized us but were too shy to do anything but wave.

''Here we are, please do understand that she may be shy.'' The woman smiled before opening a door to a bleak looking room which had three beds, a desk, a window, a guitar and some toys, a wardrobe and a few sets of drawers contained in it.

I gazed around and found two young girls, hardly past the age of fourteen, sitting crossed legged on one of the beds painting their nails and gossiping about something. I knew at first glance that neither of them were mine, they were too pristine and normal looking to be related to me.

One was blonde with perfectly applied makeup and a shirt with some boy band I didn't recognize printed on it. There were way too many boy bands these days, in my opinion anyway. The second girl was much similar only with a dirty blonde shade to her hair and an ordinary pink jumper on.

''Where is she?'' I mumbled still looking at the other two, who seemed to know we were famous but were still trying to figure out who we were. A real confidence boost.

''Em Padge?'' Matt asked staring at something I was oblivious to.

''Mmm.'' I mumbled as a response. I looked over to where he was staring and saw her. Sitting on one of the beds looking straight at both of us was the girl I had been looking for. She was completely and utterly like her mother, but she had a mixture of my features too. She had the same colour hair and eyes as me, and our facial structures were almost identical. She had red highlights at the front of her hair with a red bandanna tied as a headband around her head. She had her ears pierced multiple times and wore the same smile her mother had all these years ago.

I have a daughter...
♠ ♠ ♠
My first ever one shot!

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