Cynthia and I spent all afternoon making sure his party would be great. Cynthia invited all of her and John's closest friends with children and we ordered a cake and decorations to be delivered.

We had also managed to get the swelling of my eye down to a minimum. Cynthia gave me some makeup to cover the discolouration in my eye and gave me a old pair of John's sunglasses to use to hide my eye from my uncle.

I had gotten back to the flat later on in the day with the glasses on and thankfully Brian wasn't home just yet so I decided to do some cleaning up around the flat to soften the blow if he were to find out about the massive bruise I had gotten from Pattie.

As I was emptying out the pockets of one of my sweaters, I pulled out Frank's crumpled business card I had shoved in the bottom after learning I had a half sister. I pursed my lips as I ran my fingers across the name, deep in thought.

I took about an hour contemplating before finally deciding to call him again. I needed some closure and I knew it was gnawing at my conscious each second I didn't speak to him, knowing he wanted to talk to me and finally give me answers.

I dialed the number and waited anxiously for someone to pick up.

"Hello, Green Law Firm, how may I help you?" The same receptionist asked sombrely making me hold my breath.

"Hello, can I talk to Mr. Green?" I asked the same way I had last time, realizing I should've disguised my voice in some way.

"Is this, Poppy? Mr. Green's daughter?" Her voice suddenly became elated, sounding excited to hear my voice.

"Erm, yes?" I spoke apprehensively, in puzzlement.

"Oh, brilliant! Mr. Green told me about you after you had called the other day, I'm so, so sorry miss." She sounded desperate for reassurance.

"It's alright," I spoke slowly feeling a little uneasy.

"-may I speak to him?" I continued hearing nothing from her end of the line.

"Yes, Of course, one moment." She exclaimed before transferring me over.

I waited a few moments before he picked up.

"Penelope?" He sounded nervous as he picked up.

"Yes?" I replied shortly, unsure of how to handle speaking to him. I didn't mean to sound so cold as I just had, but it was like instincts.

"Oh, I'm so glad you called again! I wanted to ask you if you would want to go for lunch, but I-I can do dinner tonight, if you're available-" He spoke with urgency as if I were about to hang up.

"Sure." I replied quietly.

I heard a sigh of relief from the other end of the line.

"I'll have my driver pick you up at around six?" He asked.

"Alright." I replied hearing the door open to the apartment, turning around and seeing Brian.

My heart stopped but I soon remembered my black eye was barely noticeable with the amount of cover up I had put on and the swelling had gone down drastically since this morning.

"Who's that?" My uncle mouthed to me, pointing at the phone.

"My Father." I mouthed back.

"What's the address I tell him to pick you up at?" Frank asked joyfully.

I gave him the address as my uncle motioned to give over the phone to him.

I shook my head wide eyed in fear.

He walked over and swiftly pried the telephone from my hands, putting it up to his ear.

"Hello Frank." He spoke flatly, making me moan and stomp to the couch, throwing myself down into it over dramatically.

"You are?" Brian raised his eyebrows.

"She did?" He looked over at me in shock.

"Alright Frank. But I'm agreeing for Poppy, she deserves to know why her father hasn't been there for her for twenty years of her life." My uncle stated passive aggressively with his teeth gritted.

"Bye Frank." He ended abruptly, hanging up.

"Thank you." I spoke softly as I sat up, trying to grin at his understanding.

He nodded looking down to the ground, then walking over to the kitchen silently.

I watched him before getting up myself curiously and following, Brian had seemed really down lately.

"Brian?" I asked softly as I saw him beginning to look through the mail.

He looked up at me wordlessly.

"Did I, do something to upset you?" I asked meekly walking to the other side of the counter across from him.

He sighed shaking his head.

"No." He replied kindly, his eyes softening as they met mine.

"You really want to know?" He inquired, frowning slightly.

I nodded looking to him attentively, unsure of what was going on.

He took a deep breath.

"With your father coming into your life again, it's made me realize that maybe having him will mean, needing me less."  He looked down to his hands as he fiddled with letters.

"Brian that's crazy." I reached out grabbing one of his hands.

"We've already spent two years apart Poppy. I just got you back, I don't want to lose you to him." Brian spoke holding my hand tightly.

"You will never lose me Brian. I'll always need you." I smiled, watching his spirits lift.

"I love you." He cracked a smiled.

"I love you too Bri." I spoke walking around the counter and bringing him into a hug.

"Can I tell you something, and you have to promise not to be mad?" I winced over Brian's shoulder, knowing since he was so truthful with me I would feel terrible not to be truthful with him as well.

"Sure." He said pulling away from the hug to look at me uneasily, having to have thought about if for a moment.

I grabbed a cloth that was on the counter and quickly ran it under water in the sink next to me, carefully wiping away the makeup around my eye.

"What the hell happened?" He cupped my face in his hands, examining the deep purple and red bruising around my eye closely.

"Pattie." I sighed in embarrassment.

"She didn't." He gasped.

"It was a mess, she was drunk, it's not a big deal." I took his hands and lowered them from my face.

"Not a big deal?" He said unable to form a complete sentence in bafflement.

"No, it's not Brian, and please, please don't say anything you'll regret to anyone. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go get ready." I nodded awkwardly slipping away to my room.

                     ______________

After two hours it had come time and I had seen the driver pull up to the apartment building. I rushed out of the apartment reassuring Brian once more everything was completely fine and that I loved him very much before I left and got into the elevator, putting on some eye makeup in a compact mirror as the elevator stopped at the third floor.

I nearly dropped the compact when George came into the elevator wearing a plain white shirt and jeans, a wildly different outfit that he'd usually wear these days.

He had dark bags underneath his eyes from lack of sleep and his face twisted into a look anxiousness as he saw me.

I closed the mirror and put the lid back on my makeup, putting them back in my purse once the elevator doors began to shut.

"I'm really sorry." He looked to me after a moment with sorrow in his eyes.

"You didn't do anything wrong." I looked back to him with a small smile, wanting to keep the conversation on the surface without getting too deep.

His eyes dropped to the ground, deep in thought.

"I was actually going right now to meet my father." I grinned hopping to change the subject and lighten the mood.

"Really?" A small grin peaked on his lips as his eyes lifted back up to me.

I nodded.

"I'm kind of freaking out about it." I chuckled although I felt like I could break down into tears.

"If you need to talk about it, I'll always be here." He grinned speaking sincerely.

"Well, What are you doing now?" I asked anxiously, meaning for it to sound like a joke but came out as more of a serious inquiry.

He raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I was just going to grab something to eat." He replied shrugging, examining me quietly out of the corner of his eye.

"Could you come with me? We're meeting for dinner." I completely blurted without thinking, looking back to him, slightly wide eyed.

I held my breath as the elevator grew silent for a moment. I realized how strange it was for me to ask, but he was the only one other than my uncle that knew about my father, he was there when I had first met my father, he knew about him just as much as I did.

"I'd love to." He replied softly to my surprise. I let out the breath I had been keeping in.

"Really?" I asked joyfully as the elevator doors open.

He nodded with a grin as he looked down at me.

I smiled as we walked together to the sleek black car waiting for the both of us in front of the building.

The driver got out and opened the door for the both of us, George letting me get in and slide over first, than George got in beside me.

"Thank you for doing this." I put my hand on his that was placed on the seat between us and smiled up at him after we had both gotten in and we started to drive.

He returned the smile.

"I would do it anytime you ask." His grin seemed to falter slightly, as if he were thinking about something that was bothering him.

I retracted my hand and looked out the car window fearfully, I wasn't sure what to expect from this meeting with my father, but I was glad I would have George by my side to help me get through it.