Aftermath of the Last Kiss

Before long, Legacy had reached the cusp of womanhood at the tender age of twelve, and Andy was dealing with her hitting puberty. She’d started sprouting breasts at the age of ten, something his own mother, and even Ash’s grandmother, recalled happening to them at that age. She hadn’t really started suffering from the hormones until recently, but her mood-swings were getting worse and worse.

One afternoon after finishing her schoolwork for the day, the adolescent girl disappeared into her room and said she wanted to be alone. Considering that he himself went through periods when he just wanted to be alone, particularly on the dates of when he’d had his first date with and proposed to his beloved Outlaw and their anniversary, he didn’t really question it. Besides, he’d woken up with a migraine that made him feel like someone was trying to split his skull open with a pickax and couldn’t deal with her at the moment. It was all he could do to coordinate possibly getting back in the studio with the guys, and they were irritating him enough.

When he went to check on her later that evening before starting dinner, she refused to open her door. Still in no mood to deal with her childishness, Andy found the key to her door and unlocked it, wanting to know she was all right. She still had no clue why Ash wasn’t around, and that he feared for her safety as a result, but she knew better than to lock her door. Why she’d done so this time was a mystery, and it was one that, despite the pain in his head, he was determined to get to the bottom of.

“Daddy!” Legacy gasped, bolting up from where she lay on her bed. “I told you not to come in here!”

“I wanted to be sure you were all right,” he said, sitting down beside her. “You know how much I worry about you.”

“Stop it! It’s not like I’m a baby anymore!” she snapped. It was obvious she was still in the midst of a mood-swing.

Those words brought back memories that he tried so hard to forget, and tears welled up in his eyes. “I know you’re not a baby anymore, but you’ll always be my baby.”

“I wanna be left alone,” the adolescent girl grumbled.

“Princess, I know there’s something bothering you,” Andy told her. “Maybe if you tell me what’s wrong, I can help.”

“You can’t help with this,” she answered, rolling over so that her back was turned to him.

“And what makes you think that?” he asked curiously, cocking a brow.

“Because you can’t help with girl problems!” Legacy snapped.

“Who’s to say that I can’t?” he asked. “I might not be a special man like your mama, but I lived with him long enough to learn a thing or two.”

She stayed silent for a few moments before finally rolling back over to face him. Without going into too much detail since it was so embarrassing for her, she told him how she’d come to realize that she’d started her first period that morning. Andy hummed thoughtfully, knowing that the majority of her mood-swing was hormonally-based, and that if she experienced the same kind of pain Ash had while having a period, it was no wonder she was so snappy right now. He made it clear that, embarrassing as it might be, she could come to him if she needed anything in regards to that.

Legacy merely blushed like a tomato at the thought of going to her daddy for help with what she considered “girl problems”, but he did have a point. She’d known for years that her mama was a man like him, but that he’d been a special man. She was still too young to understand what it meant to be a hermaphrodite, so he hadn’t bothered explaining it to her just yet.

He rubbed her back the same way he used to rub his sweetheart’s when he’d had a backache, period-induced or no, as he explained some of the things he’d learned from him. He’d learned real quick that, because of his hormones being different from his own, Ash’d been prone to worse mood-swings than this when he was PMS’ing, and that he’d basically just left him alone or treaded lightly during those times. He also told her that while on his period, his beloved Outlaw had really bad cramps, so bad that he’d usually stay in bed for two or three days without getting up for anything but trips to the bathroom because it hurt too badly to move. Most times, even getting some sleep while on his period was hard because of the pain.

Andy told her that one of the tricks he’d figured out to help relieve the pain since he didn’t like taking medicine for it was back rubs when he was around. If he was in the studio for the day since his sweetheart couldn’t do much in that condition, he’d use a heating pad since it relaxed his muscles and made them feel better. They were simple little tricks that she could use if she felt the need, but she seemed like Ash had and would rather tough it out as much as she could.

“Just remember that I’m always here for you, Princess,” he said softly, gently kissing her temple. “You can come to me for anything.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” Legacy answered, smiling at him slightly. “And I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

“It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to,” Andy told her. “Trust me, your mama was a thousand times worse than this when he got his periods.”

“I bet he’d still be that way,” the adolescent girl chuckled.

“Probably so,” he agreed, chuckling as well. “He’d probably be throwing the pillows of our bed at me and screaming to get out one minute, then begging me to come back and rub his back for him the next.”

“Did he ever do that?” she asked curiously.

“A few times. Anytime he threw something at me like that, he always made sure it was something soft so he wouldn’t hurt me.” He sighed sadly at the memory.

“I didn’t mean to make you sad, Daddy,” Legacy told him.

“It’s okay, Princess.” He kissed her temple again. “It’s just little things that remind me of him, whether you cause me to remember or not.”

“I don’t like seeing you sad, though.” She pouted just as adorably as Ash had.

“Trust me, I’m not as sad as I used to be.” Andy smiled at her. “Yeah, I miss your mama lots and wish he were still here, but it’s easier to live with now.”

“I bet. Uncle Jinxx told me that a couple years after Mama left, he, my aunts and uncles, Katie, Jenni, and Logan all came over, and it was all they could do to get you to laugh.” She frowned at the thought.

“That’s because it’d only been two years since we…lost your mama,” he told her, sighing as he remembered the second anniversary of his sweetheart’s death. “He hadn’t been gone that long and I was still adjusting to not being able to hold him in my arms anymore. That, and I didn’t really have time to grieve properly since I had to take care of you.”

“But now it’s easier since it’s been… How many years, Daddy?” Legacy asked.

“Eleven, Princess. Eleven long years without your mama. Actually, it’ll be twelve in June,” he answered.

“I’m just glad to know that, even though he’s been gone for so long, you still love Mama to bits like you did before he left,” she said.

With tears welling up in his eyes at the memories of his beloved husband, Andy wrapped his arms around his daughter, the only thing he had left of him, and held her tightly. She grunted in discomfort when he pressed their chests together too roughly, and he immediately loosened his grip. It wasn’t hard for him to figure out her breasts, small as they were, were tender since the same thing had happened to Ash numerous times.

It wasn’t long before she finally fell asleep in his arms, and he decided to leave her be while he cooked dinner for the two of them. She may not be in as much pain as he remembered his Outlaw being in from her period, but it was still probably bad enough that she hadn’t slept very well the night before. Like the two of them, she could be pretty grumpy when she was sleep deprived, especially if she was in some kind of pain on top of it, and he knew the nap could do her some good. He was just glad to know what was wrong and, since it was a natural process she was bound to go through sooner or later, that she was safe.

He gently kissed her temple once again as he tucked her in, knowing that she had a penchant for getting cold in her sleep, before leaving her room. Recalling those memories of Ash had hurt, but he’d done so in the hopes of doing something to help his beloved daughter, and considered that a good reason. He sighed softly as he pulled her door closed behind him, leaving it cracked as he always did, and headed to the kitchen. One of these days his own time would come, and he’d be reunited with his Outlaw on the other side once again.

Notes