Status: Complete ♥

Not Important

One

Sitting next to her older brother at the dinner table, Briana laughed as he nudged her shoulder playfully and glanced around at the people currently surrounding her. Today was her sixteenth birthday and when asked what she wanted to do, she had requested a simple family meal.

As always, Danny had made sure that everything was extra special and that Briana had a great time. She had just blown out the candles on her cake when the front door opened and their mom stumbled in.

“Mom,” Danny said, getting up and walking over to where she was standing, “what are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to celebrate my little girl’s birthday,” their mom replied. “Not that I received an invitation. Were you afraid that I’d make you look bad in front of the family?”

“I was afraid. I was afraid that you would actually show up and ruin Bree’s birthday... and wouldn’t you know - my worst fears have come true.”

“I have a right to spend time with my daughter...”

“This isn’t about you,” Danny shouted. “Today is about Bree. It was supposed to be the one day that she didn’t have to deal with your crap and you still managed to make yourself the center of attention.”

“How dare you...”

“It wasn’t Danny’s decision to not invite you,” Bree mumbled. “It was mine.”

“Why?” Their mom asked.

“There are so many reasons, but I guess the main reason is because I never know which version of you we’re going to encounter,” Bree admitted with a shrug. “Alcohol changes you - it turns you into some sort of monster and you keep blaming everyone else for your behavior, but the only person to blame is yourself. Ever since dad was redeployed, Danny has been the one looking after me and making sure that I was okay because he actually noticed how much I’ve been struggling.”

“Oh yeah, good old Danny boy...”

“Oh my god,” Danny stated in exasperation. “This isn’t about me; this is about your daughter and how she feels. Did you know that she cries herself to sleep every night because she misses dad? Did you know that she has nightmares about him dying?”

“Why did nobody tell me how bad things had gotten?” Came another voice from the front door.

“Dad!” Briana cried as she ran towards him and threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his neck as he held her tight.

“Happy birthday, baby girl,” their dad whispered as Danny joined them. “Now, what did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Briana answered quietly without hesitation, taking Danny’s hand and smiling over at him. “It’s not important...”
♠ ♠ ♠
I don't know what this is... I just wrote and this it what came out!!