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*****
Watching the way Phinney vanished, Calvin Johnson was momentarily startled, but his mind quickly returned to the boy's words. Tomorrow, he would see his daughter.
"Clean up... right, I need to clean up properly."
Looking around at the filthy environment of his clinic, Calvin snapped into action. He muttered to himself incessantly, his large hands trembling with an excitement he couldn't quite contain.
Back at home, Phinney sat Skye down and broke the news.
"You really found him?"
Skye was just as electrified. After searching for so long, the prospect of finally meeting her biological father filled her with a mixture of intense longing and bone-deep anxiety.
"Phinney, do you think... do you think he'll like me?" Skye asked, nervously tugging at her hair, her face clouded with worry.
"Relax. He's been half-mad with missing you for years. You could be twice as ugly and he wouldn't care," Phinney replied, rolling his eyes with his usual bluntness.
It wasn't exactly the "tender" reassurance she was looking for. Skye shot him an annoyed glare before retreating to her room to start her own preparations, fussing over what to wear and how to present herself for the morning.
The night passed in a blur of restless anticipation. The next morning, a visibly tense Skye arrived at the clinic with Phinney.
"He lives here?"
Skye looked at the dilapidated building and the suspicious glares of the local thugs they'd passed on the way. A wave of sadness and guilt washed over her.
"Let's just go in," Phinney said, stepping forward to knock on the door.
"Go away! I'm not seeing patients today!" Calvin's gruff, irritable voice exploded from inside. He had clearly mistaken Phinney for one of the local hoodlums or junkies looking for a fix.
"It's me!" Phinney shouted back.
The sound of frantic clattering and crashing echoed from within. Moments later, the door swung open.
Standing there was a transformed Calvin Johnson. He wore a crisp white suit, his hair was neatly combed, and his face was scrubbed clean. He looked at Phinney and Skye with a nervous, hopeful smile.
When his eyes landed on Skye, a kaleidoscope of emotions flickered across his face: shock, joy, terror, and a profound sense of being overwhelmed.
"You're... you're early. Come in, please, come in."
Calvin didn't dare claim her immediately. He hurriedly ushered them into the clinic. While the place was significantly tidier than the day before, one day of cleaning couldn't fix the fundamental decay of the building. Neither Skye nor Phinney cared.
Skye's gaze was locked on the man. This was the father she had spent years tracking through fragmented files and dead ends. Now that he was standing in front of her, the words she had rehearsed seemed to vanish.
"What can I get you? Tea? Coffee? I bought a lot of different drinks... if you don't like those, I can go get more!" Calvin babbled, wringing his hands. He kept trying to look at Skye, but every time their eyes met, he would flinch and look away like a shy child.
"It's okay," Phinney said, deciding to break the ice for the two of them. He turned to Skye. "Skye, this is your father, Calvin Johnson."
Calvin's body went rigid. He finally forced himself to look directly at Skye, offering a smile that he clearly intended to be gentle but looked more like a mask of pure tension. He stood ramrod straight, his hands pressed tightly against his sides.
"How... how have you been all these years?"
Skye realized she wasn't as prepared as she thought. Even the simple act of calling him "Dad" felt like a mountain she wasn't ready to climb just yet.
"I've been... alright, I suppose," Calvin stammered. Then, his voice softening with concern, he asked, "And you? You must have suffered so much."
Phinney rolled his eyes internally. Since joining the Halsey household, Skye had "suffered" through nothing but home-cooked meals and sibling bickering. If she hadn't gained her vibrational powers, she probably would have gained twenty pounds from his mom's cooking.
"No, I haven't," Skye said softly, her voice full of sincerity. "They've been very good to me."
Even though he'd heard it from Phinney the day before, hearing it from Skye's own lips brought Calvin a profound sense of relief—and a sharp, hidden pang of sorrow for the time he'd lost.
Calvin shook off the melancholy. "Phinney mentioned you go by 'Skye' now?"
"Yeah. I picked it for myself." Skye looked a bit embarrassed. When she first arrived at the Halseys', she hadn't expected to stay, so she had stubbornly insisted they call her Skye to keep her distance. By the time she became part of the family, she was used to it.
"Actually... your mother and I gave you a very beautiful name."
Calvin looked at her tentatively. He was a man who could fly into a murderous rage at the drop of a hat, yet here he was, speaking as softly as possible, terrified that a loud noise might scare her away.
"Really? What was it?" Skye asked, her face lighting up. She had no particular attachment to her current name and had always secretly wished she had a name given by her parents, like everyone else.
As they spoke, Skye instinctively reached out and tucked her arm into Calvin's. His entire body stiffened at the contact, but his heart swelled with a happiness he hadn't felt in decades.
Phinney stepped back, giving them space. He watched from across the room as the two of them began to talk in earnest. Calvin started recounting stories of her infancy and the happy times before the tragedy struck.
They talked for the entire morning. The initial awkwardness melted away, replaced by the natural bond of a father and daughter.
"Phinney, thank you," Skye said, walking over to him with Calvin in tow.
Calvin looked at Phinney and gave a stiff, slightly awkward nod of thanks. After listening to Skye talk for hours—where roughly 80% of her stories involved Phinney—he couldn't help but feel a tiny, irrational spark of fatherly jealousy.
"I can't wait to find Mom," Skye said dreamily. "Then we can finally be a real family again."
Calvin shared that longing, but when he caught Phinney's eye, he remembered their conversation from the day before. He looked at Skye's radiant, hopeful face and resolved that, no matter what it took, he would help Jiaying find her way back to the woman she once was.
Just as they were discussing where to go for lunch, a sharp knock sounded at the clinic door.
Calvin's first instinct was to roar a dismissal, but he caught himself. Suppressing his temper for Skye's sake, he said in a normal voice, "Sorry, the clinic is closed today. Please go elsewhere."
"Dr. Cal, it's me!" a woman's voice called out from the other side. Without waiting for an invitation, she pushed the door open and walked in.
She froze when she saw Phinney and Skye, but when her eyes landed on the clean-shaven, suit-wearing Calvin, she looked like she'd just seen a ghost.
(End of Chapter)