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robert

[closed - Robert]

By the time she gets back into town, her apartment is ready for her to move into and for that she's extremely grateful. It isn't that she's had a hard time staying with Les -- she's actually enjoyed it quite a bit -- but she likes her space, too. A feeling she's sure Les shares. Since Coop's party, things have felt better, they both seem a little more at ease around each other and she likes that, but she also knows neither of them are ready to be living together.

Her belongings are fairly limited, but she has them moved into the new place and it's only once she's settled, showered and changed that she heads out into Siren Cove once more. There's money in the small safe in her new place that she needs to deposit, though it's going into an account in another town under a different name and she has plans to make that day trip on the weekend, maybe with Les along for the ride. She can convince him just to get away with her for the day, drop in at the bank, make the deposit, and then spend the rest of the day with him.

It's not something she's ever given much thought to before, but thinking about plans with Les now makes her smile. She's distracted, glancing down at her phone, preparing to text him to ask if that's something he'd like to do, when she nearly walks into someone on the sidewalk.

"Sorry," she says, still distracted, doing her best to simply step aside.

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He'd seen Grace and Corry already (and Abigail, who had decided to show up as well) but apparently April had left town before he had a chance to meet with her. He wasn't sure if the two things were related, his arrival and her leaving, not like he was sure that Corry's leaving was because he was her.

When April got back he decided to meet with her as soon as possible, just in case she left again. Surprisingly enough, all he had to was just wait on the sidewalk just outside her apartment and she almost ran him over.

"That's alright," he told her, amused that she hadn't noticed who it was. Of course, it's been so long, would she even recognize him? She looked so much like her mother, well at least before her mother started taking so many drugs, it was almost painful. He'd seen her since she was a little girl, once in a while from a distance, but somehow he still expected her to be that same little girl he'd left all those years ago. "I suppose you not even noticing me after all these years has a certain humor to it."

April looks up at him, a frown pulling her brows together at his comment and she lowers her phone. He's speaking to her like he knows her, but she knows for a fact she's never met him before and it takes her longer than she'd like to put the pieces together. Corrine had texted her to warn her he was in town, but she'd been busy, she'd had things to take care of and the fact that he's here at all had completely slipped her mind.

Now that he's here in front of her, she isn't sure what to do.

For a long moment she simply looks at him, trying to see parts of herself in his face. They don't really look alike at all and she arches a brow at him as she takes a step back, putting some space between them. "So you'd be Robert, then," she says.

"I suppose it's a bit much to think you'd remember me," he said with a bit of a laugh, amused at the way she studied him. April looked too much like her mother to see any of Robert in her though, which was probably for the best. Out of all his kids though, she was the only one to take up the family trade, which was amusing. Even without him in her life, she'd chosen to become a con artist. He supposed that was one for nature over nurture.

"But yes, I'm Robert Flynn. I assume one of your sisters told you I was here?"

"One of them? Jesus Christ, there's more?" she asks and she's trying to hide the way her heart sinks at that news. It's bad enough having to deal with Corrine and Bach, bad enough having to stand face to face with the man who had apparently fathered her, but the idea that there are more people she's related to in this town makes the urge to run rise up stronger than ever.

This isn't what she wanted. And the only reason she hasn't left yet is Les.

"Corrine sent me a text," she says. "I was out of town, though if we're being honest, I wouldn't have come looking for you anyway."

"There's four of you in town for now. You, Corry, Grace and Abigail," he said. No doubt it was difficult to hear that she suddenly had all these siblings but Robert knew from experience that there was no easy way to tell that to someone. Mostly he just hoped that they didn't hate each other for it. So far he was pretty sure that all of their anger was directed toward him.

"And that's fine, I wouldn't expect you to have any reason to come find me. I do need to talk to you though. If you'll let me have my say, I promise I'll leave you alone after that."

It was not a promise he would likely keep, but he certainly wanted to be able to keep it. Mostly.

"I have a feeling your promises mean about as much as mine," April answers, watching him cautiously. Four. There's four of them in town. Five including Bach. She wants out. The apartment just behind her that she's claimed as her own for the next six months doesn't matter. The job she's agreed to take on helping Coop with his practice doesn't matter. In that moment, even Les doesn't matter. She needs to get out of here, she needs to put as much distance between these people and herself as she possibly can.

They're not her family. She doesn't have a family.

And yet she can't deny that she's curious about what he has to say. If she wasn't curious, she'd be long gone by now.

"So what is it then?" she asks. "You talk to me, but you can keep your promise, too. I don't need it."

"I'm well aware of what your promises are worth," he said with a laugh. While he hadn't been around much in her life he had still kept tabs on her. Watching was far, far easier than getting involved. "I'm particularly fond of the con you pulled on Richard Garfin. You're much smarter about it all than I was at your age. I could never resist trying to go big. Sometimes too big."

Than had been a hard earned lesson, one he probably wasn't through learning. He was smarter about it now, although probably still not as smart as she was. In an odd way, he was proud of her.

"But the reason I'm here is because in the middle of a deal I had an attack of conscience. I think it comes with getting old. But I stole something from a pair of dark witches. They're dumb and not very powerful magically but they're connected. They've threatened to go after my family unless I give them what they want."

Her eyebrows arches at the comment about her con, the specific of the name, and she doesn't understand what she feels in response to that. There's a faint sense of pride she doesn't know what to do with and something else, too. No one knows what she does, no one has ever known, that's why she's so good. But he knows.

And it sounds like he's proud of it.

"So are you going to give them what they want or am I in danger again because of something a parent I haven't seen since I was two years old has done?" she asks, trying to cover up the conflicting emotions.

"Don't look so surprised. It may not be the traditional scrapbook but I have a folder in a safe that has information on some of your more impressive cons through the years. I know I had nothing to do with any of it, but I'm proud of you and I hope you're proud of yourself."

She deserved every bit of praise and sense of pride she felt at what she did. She never hurt people that couldn't really afford it, one of his own rules when running cons. He probably should have carried that philosophy over to his family as well.

"And I'm not so terrible a father that I'd let you be hurt for something I did. I've made a lot of mistake and left you in a shitty situations but I've always tried to make sure you were safe growing up. Not that you needed it, you turned out a far better person than your mother and I were."

She doesn't know what to make of anything he's saying, but the thought that he has a file on her, even locked away in a safe, makes her nervous. No one knows what she does and that's how she likes it.

But he knows. He has records. She's already trying to decide if there's a way for her to get her hands on it.

"Oh, flattery now, huh?" she asks, but there's a faint smile curving one corner of her mouth. "So what's your plan? Let us know we're in danger or are you actually going to do something about it? I've had my share of unfortunately aimed attacks lately."

"You're welcome to call bullshit on anything I'm saying that's not true," he said with a smile. He hoped that she had a healthy view of her own talents and how well she used them. April was every bit the con-woman that Corry was the actress, not that he'd ever say that comparison out loud.

"And I'm going to take care of it. It should involve you at all but I thought it fair to let you know all the same."

He says he's going to take care of it and April has exactly zero reasons to trust him, but she also knows she doesn't want to get involved with anymore of her parents' messes. The fact that she's been confronted with both of them in their own ways over the past month is a little unsettling and she knows she's withdrawing from it to protect herself, but there doesn't seem to be any other options.

She's not getting involved in something that will get her hurt.

So she nods, then narrows her eyes slightly. "My mother died. Recently. Did you know?"

"I did hear about that," he said. April's mother and Robert got on like a house fire. There were initial sparks, it got really hot, but then everything they owned and cared was quickly destroyed. When she got heavily into drugs and the girls were taken away, there wasn't much reason for him to stay around after that. Not that he was ever around much in the first place.

"Not until it was too late to see her, although I doubt she would have wanted to see me. I don't think your sister knows but then again, she was too young to remember her."

"We both were," April answers, her voice tight. Her memories of her mother are basically non-existent and the only reason she knows about her death is because of the will and letter that had been delivered to her. She doesn't know her mother, doesn't know her sister and she certainly doesn't know this man standing in front of her.

"Guess she liked me better, though, because she left me all the money," she continues dryly. It's money she doesn't need and if he's actually followed her life as he says he has, then he knows that. He knows she's well off enough to have to actually hide most of her income from people so that they don't find out where it's come from.

"Or because your sister... she lives a very happy and normal life. As far as I know, she's never shown any interest in her biological family. I think the money would have been a burden," Robert said. Which had been the best thing for her, really. April had turned out well but Robert didn't think she would have been a very stabilizing influence.

"Neither have I," April says, her brow arching. It isn't entire true, she's wondered from time to time what it might be like to find her real family, the people who had fucked her over and abandoned her, but she's never gone looking for any of them. As far as she's been concerned, it's better this way. She doesn't need them and they clearly don't need her.

So far all it's gotten her is a destroyed apartment, a few death threats, a terrible night and Les injured. And some cash she really doesn't need or want. She could have paid those sirens off with it just to get them off her back, but it's the principle of the thing.

"But you never tried to have the sort of life that others would consider normal," Robert said. Maybe that was his fault, maybe in the short time he had been around he'd left too much of an impression on her for that. Damaged her too much or something. Although damaged would be doing her a discredit. As far as he could tell, April liked her life and was happy.

"Anyway. As soon as I take care of things I'll be out of your hair again and you'll never have to see me again if you don't want to."

Her jaw tenses and she wants to point out that she spent her life being shuffled through the foster care system, passed from one family to another. That she'd only avoided abused because she was a siren, that she'd learned early how to distinguish the men who genuinely wanted to help and those who looked at her even as a child as something to be possessed.

But she doesn't. She only smiles. "I appreciate the heads up," she says. She doesn't say anything about whether or not she wants to see him again because she honestly doesn't know.

"It's the least I can do," he said with a shrug, which was the truth. Robert wondered if there was more that she wanted to say, or maybe he was just unused to having a daughter that didn't want to yell at him or show him just how much she loathed him, that he wasn't quite sure what to do. If April was a complete stranger he would know what to do. If she was Corry, he'd know what to do. But she wasn't either of those things and he was a bit of a loss.

"Here's my number," he said, pulling out a card. It was simple; just his name, number and email address. "If you want to talk or if you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to reach out."

She should just drop the card, she thinks. Let it float down to the sidewalk as she strolls past him without a second glance, walk away from him without looking back because that's what he did to her. No matter what he said, no matter what tabs he kept on her, he never once let her know he was there and whatever information he has on her amounts to nothing.

She should just walk away because that's what he did to her. But she can't.

Taking the card, she glances at it and flips it over between two of her fingers before she drops it into a pocket of her purse. "We'll see," she says and then she steps past him.

At least she manages not to look back.

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[closed - Robert]

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