He could see the panic settling in her eyes, and the way she just sat there and stared at him, shocked and terrified, almost made him want to go back to ignoring the issue. But he couldn’t do that. He’d pretended the problem wasn’t there up until now, but he could not do it anymore. Not with Charlee. He watched her, his keen eyes analyzing and interpreting every movement, every shift in her eyes, and he didn’t like what he was seeing. She was so out of it, his little girl, and watching her like this was the worst torture of all. Whatever drug she’d taken, it had some nasty side effects.
Paranoia, anxiety, dizziness, cold sweat. Of course, it wasn’t that Jonah couldn’t find out what she’d taken, and how much, but he’d prefer not to put his daughter through that whole ordeal when she was already this far out there, so he’d asked her instead, hoping with everything inside him that she would actually tell him the truth, that she would actually face up to her actions and take responsibility. He needed her to be on board with him right now so very desperately, because if he could keep Charlee home, perhaps he could find a less horrible way to let Victoria know her daughter was hooked on drugs, because he really couldn’t see that one going down in any good way.
"Daddy, I..." his daughter began, and Jonah felt relieved almost instantly, his eyes softening as he prepared to hear whatever she had to tell him, but then something in her eyes changed, something in her voice, as she continued, “I’m not taking drugs, I swear. I just had a little too much to drink last night. It was an accident. It won’t happen again. I promise.” Jonathon frowned slightly, disappointment painting itself across his features. Disappointment and sadness. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked up at him, trying to sell him her lie. She really was putting on a show, wasn’t she? He crime boss sighed deeply, shaking his head slowly. Normally he would’ve been angry, and he was, but mostly he was disappointed in her, and anger wouldn’t do him any good.
He and Vicky had always done their best to make it known to their children that lying to your parents, is among the worst things you can do. Jonah especially could never quite accept people lying to him. In his business he had plenty of it, so when lies occurred within his family as well, it had a tendency to become a little bit too much for him. There were certain limits the crime boss did not like crossed, and this was one of the most firmly drawn ones. Charlee should know that, and he figured that she did, but then… she wasn’t quite herself right now, was she? No, he could barely recognize the girl in front of him right now.
“Charlee,” he then finally said, his voice still patient, but more reprimanding, a slight sliver of warming in the calm, otherwise gentle, voice. “I told you: don’t lie to me. You know better than that.” Then he rubbed his neck slowly with the palm of his hand, the lack of sleep finally hitting him like a wrecking ball. “Now, will you please tell me what you took, and how much?” He inquired once more, giving her a second chance to tell him the truth. He would send her to the hospital if he had to, but he’d really rather not. Why was parenthood so difficult sometimes? He needed Victoria there with him, yet at the same time he knew that would only make things that much more challenging.