Can't Get Over You, Can't Get Through to You

Brian's POV

"Daddy, where's Mama," Mariemaia asked as she walked down to the kitchen.

"Mama is at the Atruskia. She had some stuff to take care of," I answered, making French toast.

Nikki left early this morning when she got a call that she was needed at the Atruskia. As much as she didn't want to, she had to leave to take care of it. I told her that I'd take Mari for the day and that we would meet up with her later. Nikki just got mad because this was supposed to be her day off but she's the owner; if there's a problem, she has to be there.

That still didn't make her feel better.

"I thought that we all were going to spend the day together," Mari said, sitting on one of the stools in front of the counter.

"I know we were but Mama is the owner," I explained, "If something goes wrong, she has to be there."

Mari just sighed, obviously upset. I don't blame her but duty called Nikki.

"At least I'm here," I said, trying to make her feel better as I placed the French Toast on a plate.

"Yeah," Mari said, looking up at me and smiling, "I finally get my daddy around."

That just made me smile.

I love having a daughter, I really do. She makes everything so much fun in life. And Mari's just so well behaved; she doesn't really have fits or tantrums. She just pouts for a couple of minutes and then she's done. I absolutely love that about her.

"Daddy?"

"Hm," I asked, being snapped out of my thoughts.

"Do you like syrup that much," she pointed.

I looked down to see my my whole plate drenched in syrup. It even was dripping off the sides. I grabbed a napkin and began cleaning it. "No, not really," I laughed.

"Daddy's funny!"

After breakfast, I let Mari get her kitten and some other stuff so that we could spend the day together. Nikki called and said that she would be busy until noon. I guess something happened with the decorations for Tash and Jimmy's wedding and she's trying to fix it. And considering the wedding was in less than a week, Nikki had to get that done.

Speaking of the wedding, Tash had already ordered the bride's maid dresses. Actually she did it last night. The girls were over and ordered online. Jimmy had us guys scheduled for a tux fitting next week. He mentioned being Nikki's cousin and they said that they would get it done before the wedding. Its good having relations to Nicole Storm McCade.

"Daddy, is Grandpa Hunter at the Atruskia," Mari asked as she came down, carrying Snowball.

"Yeah. You want to visit him?"

I knew that she saw Hunter as a grandfather figure considering Nikki really didn't have any family left. He was her surrogate grandfather. From what I hear, he treated both Nikki and Mari as family. He'd take care of her whenever Nikki was doing school work or something and Mari was just fond of him.

"Please," she asked.

"Of course."

"Grandpa Hunter," Mari called as she ran towards him.

Hunter was sitting outside by the pool, reading and smoking. I'm honestly still in awe of being in his presence. This was the great Hunter S. Thompson and he was the surrogate grandfather to my daughter. It still amazed me.

He looked to see Mari hugging him and he picked her up, sitting her on his lap. "Hello, Mariemaia. What's the score?"

"I'm good, Grandpa Hunter," Mari said, "I'm spending the day with Daddy."

"Brian, sit down," Hunter said, looking at me, "I don't like it when people stand all the time."

"Yes, sir," I said, taking a seat next to him.

Mariemaia giggled a bit. She knew that I was a fan of Hunter's.

"So where is Nikki? I thought you were spending the day together," Hunter asked, looking around.

"She got called because something went stupid with the wedding decorations," I answered.

Hunter just nodded, "And I bet she was pissed."

"Yup."

Nikki's POV

I walked around the Atruskia, snarling under my breath. I was pissed that I had to leave at five in the morning just to find out what happened to the fucking decorations. Apparently, someone fucked up and put the wrong ones in the wrong places so I had to go hunt down the right ones and put them where they were supposed to be.

Those were the times that I almost wish that I was still on heroin. ALMOST. Then I could just escape the problems.

That's when I realized something. The only problems I've been having with my withdrawals is my lack of sleep, otherwise, I've been find. I stood in the elevator, thinking about it. Last time, I was moody and anti-social. Now, I'm just sleep deprived. I bit my lip, thinking about all the possibilities as to why this is so easy now.

As I walked outside to the pool, that's when it hit me. I was looking at the reason why this was so simple. Hunter, Mari, and Brian were all talking as they hung out by the pool. Brian was a bit nervous but then again, he was hanging with Hunter S. Thompson. He was hanging with one of his idols.

"Mama," Mari screamed as she ran towards me, hugging my legs.

I smiled as I picked her up and hugged her close to me. "Hi, Mari. How's my baby girl?"

"I'm good. Me and Daddy are hanging with Grandpa Hunter," she said as we walked towards him.

"I can see that. Sorry we couldn't have breakfast together," I said, sitting next to Brian, "Someone screwed up with the decorations and I had to go hunting for them."

Hunter laughed as he put out his cigarette. "Did you fix them?"

"Yeah. Took me all morning though."

"Well at least you fixed it. I'm getting lunch because I'm getting hungry," Hunter said, getting up and walking inside.

I waved a good-bye as I turned to Brian. "Sorry," I said.

He just smiled and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Its okay. You had things to do."

"You know," I said, as we got up to spend the rest of the day together as a family, "I was thinking about something."

"What were you thinking about," he asked.

"This time, withdrawals have been easy."

"That's good."

"I was trying to figure out why."

"And," Brian asked, looking at me as we got into the Hummer.

"I have you again and that's when I realized something."

"What?"

"You're my heroin."