Reunion (Worm AU)
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Chapter One
- Pronouns
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"Good morning, Rose."
"Good morning, Mom."
Rose yawned as she spoke, sluggishly moving over to her chair and slumping down in it. She yawned again, rubbing at her eyes and blinking slowly as she stared down at the empty spot on the table. I watched with amusement as she then forced herself back up and wandered over to the cabinet and fridge, getting a bowl of cereal and a cup of yogurt. This time when she sat back down, there was actually some food for her to eat.
"Did you have trouble sleeping, dear?" I asked, having finished the rest of my breakfast while she had been getting hers together.
"No," Rose said, shaking her head and glancing up at me.
"Did you stay up late because you were reading a book?" I asked in the same tone as before.
"…No," Rose said, with the look on her face enough to show that she was lying, never mind all of the many, many other things that would have proven it.
"Ah, so the reason the light was on in your bedroom last night when I went to go and use the bathroom was because…" I said encouragingly, staring at her and making sure not to show my amusement.
"I was, um, I was," Rose was a pretty awful liar, especially when she was flustered. A hell of a lot better than the alternative, of course and it was pretty amusing, I had to say. I kept my face level as I looked at her. "I was…"
"The truth is usually the best option," I remarked mildly. "Especially when the other person already knows it."
"Fine," Rose whined, slumping down in her chair. "I was rereading the first Maggie Holt book and it was just so good and I lost track of time."
"And you still have school today," I said. "I hope you don't have any tests that you need to take, though."
Rose shook her head back and forth at that, which was good. I hid my smile behind a sip of tea, looking at her again.
I was lucky to have a daughter like Rose, I knew. She was sweet, she was cute, she was smart, if she wasn't obedient, then at least it was at the minor things like staying up late to read instead of anything bad. Yes, having a daughter in general might have been a real pain, especially when I had to juggle her and college but having Rose in specific was easily one of the best parts of my life, no question there.
There was a lot of me in her and I wasn't just talking about how she needed glasses or had black hair that would have been curly if she didn't keep it at one step above a buzz cut. There was also the intelligence that shone through and just might be the element of her that I was the most proud of.
Of course, she hadn't been a virgin birth. Most people thought that her dark skin was because she spent so much time out under the sun, running and laughing and chasing and getting chased. Which wasn't wrong, exactly, but even if she was as much of a bookworm as I was (a very high bar to clear, I had to admit!) she would still have pretty dark skin. And her lower face, especially about the chin and jawline, that didn't come from me at all. Which was all for the better, really. She was cute now and I was sure that once she hit puberty, she would become beautiful.
Still, after ten years living with her, it was hard for me to think of any way that I could want to improve on my daughter. I stared at her as I finished my cup of tea, smiling at just how good she was. I wouldn't want to trade her for anything in the world.
"So how was the book, anyway?" I asked, leaning back in my chair and smiling at her.
"Just as good as the third time!" Rose said with a grin as she flicked her gaze between me and her food.
"Good to hear," I said with a smile and a nod. "The fourth book is coming out soon, isn't it?"
"Finally," Rose said with a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes. Jeez, I wonder where she had picked that up from. "It's been forever!"
It was a pretty slow release schedule for a line of children's books. More importantly…
"And I did some asking around and apparently Wit's End Books is going to be having a little celebration when it comes out at the end of the month," I said, feeling secretly delighted with how Rose was steadily brightening up as she hung on every word I was saying. "There's even going to be someone dressed up as Maggie coming to it."
"Really?" Rose asked, leaning forward until her face was practically in her cereal bowl. "Can we go, Mom? Can we?"
"I hope that we can," I said with a nod. "If your grades stay good enough, Rose." Rose made a face at that and I made sure not to show how amused I was by it. "So that means no more staying up way too late, got it?"
"Yes, Mom," Rose said with a sigh. Then she brightened up again. "But if I do, we can go?"
"Yes," I said with a nod. "And I'll even buy the new book for you instead of you having to pay for it yourself."
"Yes!" Rose said, making a fist and smiling. That got a chuckle out of me. "Don't worry, Mom, you're going to have nothing to worry about. Trust me."
I was pretty sure that she was quite right. Rose's grades, when she wasn't so tired she walked into the wrong classroom, were generally very good, with nothing at all that I could possibly complain about or make her study more. And if she had a carrot like this dangling in front of her, I was sure that from now till the day after the book event, she'd be bringing home straight A's. And plenty of reminders about what I had promised her and how much she was looking forward to going, too.
Well, bribing her to get better grades wasn't the only reason I had mentioned all of this. It wasn't even the main one. The big reason I was doing this was because she liked it. And did a mother need a reason to dote on her daughter? No, of course not. I smiled against at Rose and answered her questions about times and everything.
"Got anything going on after school today?" I asked as I stood up to ferry my breakfast dishes over to the dishwasher.
"Just hanging out with my friends," Rose said, shaking her head as she drained the last of the milk from her bowl. "Maddy's mom will give me a ride home."
"Alright," I said, nodding and making a few mental adjustments to my schedule. "I expect that I'll be back around the usual time, alright?"
Rose nodded and I smiled down at her, ruffling her hair and making her grumble and shift her head from side to side. I had to laugh at that. And now it was time for me to get ready for another day of work. Nothing too unusual for me today, I was thinking. Just the usual round of work, work and then, for a change, some more work. Or possibly a meeting.
Alright, so it wasn't all that exciting but I still enjoyed doing it all. And that was what counted, right? And I could at least have some time with Rose, too, more than some of the other single parents got with their kids that I knew. That was even more important.
A short time later, I was dropping Rose off at the front of Cedar Creek Elementary, waving goodbye to her as she made a beeline towards her friends. I smiled as I watched her go and then turned and headed all of one block over to Raging River High School. The naming sense of this school district was thematic but that was about as far as I could go with my good feelings towards it.
More importantly, it was where I had my job as an English teacher. I expected that I'd have Rose as my student one day, assuming that we stayed here for the next five years or so. I hoped that we would. She had good friends here and I had found myself liking living in Maine, even if the first few winters had been a real shock to the system after Brockton Bay.
So, a few hours of teaching my current class with the usual proportion of slackers, average students and the gifted, then about an equal amount of time taking care of the other half of teaching. Preparing materials, grading papers, attending meetings, having one on ones with students, all of that. It was a lot of work and it didn't pay that well, with the respect owed to teachers being a more general idea ascribed to the abstract notion of teaching than any particular teacher. But I still liked it and I hoped that I was doing a good job of it, too.
So it came as a real shock to the system when I got out of my car and blinked, seeing a black woman standing near the side door to the school. I knew all the teachers and staff, of course, and she wasn't one of them. There weren't that many black kids in Maine, either, not even in what was laughably called the big city, though there was something familiar about her. Had I met her at a parent-teacher night or something?
She certainly seemed to recognize me as she kept on looking over the parking lot. I could see her square her shoulders even from this distance as she looked at me and she held herself still as I approached. I wracked my brain, trying to figure out who she was and an answer just wasn't coming to me.
Finally, we were standing in front of one another. I cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting to get some kind of clue that would help me make sense of this all.
"Taylor Hebert?" The woman asked, her voice gruff and thick.
"Yes, I'm her," I said with a nod, my eyes narrowing behind my glasses as I stared at her. "And who are… Sophia Hess?"
"Yeah," Sophia said with a nod of her head, looking out over the parking lot for a second before focusing on me again. "Been a long time, huh?"
I didn't know how to respond to that so I didn't respond at all. I just blinked and stared at her some more, feeling, well, shocked was the only word for it.
Sophia looked different from how I had remembered her. Which only made sense, neither of us were teenagers anymore. Her face was… sharper, I supposed, with a lot more lines on it, especially around the eyes. Hell, I could see a few lines of grey in her black hair. She was dressed decently, not terribly sharp and not sloppy, either. I was really shocked to realize that I was actually taller than she was, by a few inches. In my memory, she always loomed over me and I had to wonder when that had stopped being the case.
"Why are you here?" I asked, shaking my head. "Wait, how are you here?"
"Rose has some social media accounts, even if you don't," Sophia said with a defensive shrug. "I never forgot what her name was, so it's easy enough to find her. And then you."
"I…" I rubbed my forehead, feeling completely thrown off-balance all of a sudden. "Okay, I don't want to have this conversation out here," whatever this conversation was going to be. "You're in luck, my free period is the first one of the day. My classroom, right now."
I quickly led her through the halls of the high school and into my classroom. There were so many emotions churning around in my stomach that I didn't know what I was feeling right now. I shook my head as I closed the door behind me and strode over to my desk, sitting down behind it. That, at least, helped get me into a more comfortable mindset and anchor myself.
Sophia stood awkwardly in front of my desk, quite a bit like a troublesome student I had called up. That helped with my mindset as well. I took a deep breath, held it for a few moments and then slowly let it out as I stared at her.
"Alright," I said after a failed attempt to gather my thoughts. "I bet that you're here for a reason, so let's hear it."
"You make it sound so sinister and complex," Sophia said with a shrug. "I'm here because I want to be with my daughter. It's as simple as that."
"Your daughter," I said flatly.
"Yes, Rose Hebert," Sophia said with a hard little edge in her voice. "Don't try and screw with me, Taylor, I know that she's my daughter. She looks a bit like me even if she's about five shades lighter on the skin than I am. And nine months after that party in May? Come on, don't try to deny it."
Yes, well, I had always known that Sophia had been Rose's other parent. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out, when she was the only person that I had ever gotten creampied by, never mind the whole 'giving birth nine months after you had sex with her'. It was just that, well… well, booze explained a lot of poor choices in life and having sex with Sophia had always been one of those poor choices, that had never been in question.
The only real upside to it all had been that, for one, she had been just as drunk as me at the graduation afterparty so there had never been any question of consent. We had both been dumb, drunk and horny, enough to do a stupid fling with someone that neither of us would ever have been attracted to if we had been sober.
And for another, that night at the party had been the last time I had ever seen Sophia. Even once I had learned that I was pregnant and instantly realized who had done it to me, I hadn't known how to get in touch with Sophia and I hadn't wanted to. I had already been out of the state at college, riding a scholarship and I had no idea where Sophia had gone or what she had been up to. And that had been just fine by me, not something worth regretting at all.
And yet, here Sophia was, standing in front of me, looking a bit worried, a bit guilty and a bit… was that excitement? Anticipation? I really couldn't tell.
"I never told you that I was pregnant," I said after a moment of thought. "How on earth did you find out Rose to even start stalking her online?"
"It's not stalking when it's for a good purpose," Sophia said, something that was just so ridiculous I couldn't even bring myself to roll my eyes at it. "Anyway, there was the tenth graduation anniversary for Winslow High a few months ago." Right, there must have been. I hadn't gotten an invitation, hadn't thought of it and even now when I was reminded of it, wasn't feeling the faintest hint of a loss over it. "I went to it and I got to chatting with Jessie Smith." I vaguely recalled her from both high school and college but couldn't put much to the name beyond a vague sense of distaste. "She mentioned that you spent pretty much the first year of college pregnant and, well," I was treated to the unique sight of Sophia Hess searching for a tactful way to put something, which was very strange indeed, "knowing you, I figured that the odds were pretty good I had been the one to do it."
And what do you know, that was tactful. By her standards, at least. I nodded, pretty sure that I was able to fill in the blanks from here.
"So you did some digging, asked around and…"
"And when I saw that photo Rose posted of her birthday party last year, it was just so obvious that she was my daughter," Sophia said with a nod. "You never met my little brother but if you had… yeah, he has a white father and the two of them…" she held her hands so close together that they were practically touching. "She's mine, I know it."
"Alright, yes, she is your daughter," I said, leaning back in my seat and pressing my fingers together. "And what of it?"
"What do you mean, what of it?" Sophia asked with a hard note to her voice. "She's my daughter, Taylor! I might have missed the first ten years of her life but that doesn't mean I want to miss the rest of it!"
Never would have pegged Sophia as the type to be overflowing with paternal affection. On the other hand, it was completely impossible for me to think of any other reason that she would come up here.
"We've done pretty well, just the two of us for the past ten years," I said, speaking my mind and not really caring how Sophia took it. "And I'd say that the worst is behind us, now that I don't need to worry about changing diapers and getting my coursework done."
"I'm not saying that you need to be happy to see me, Hebert," Sophia said, leaning forward and resting her hands on my desk. "I'm saying that I want to be part of my daughter's life."
And did Rose want to have her other parent in her life? She had asked several times about who had been her father but I'd always been able to give an explanation that was light on details like a name or how I'd known them. And she had never seemed that upset about it, either. Hell, it wasn't like some of her friends had two parents, after all.
"What have you been doing the past ten years, anyway?" I asked, pulling my mind off of one train of thought and putting it onto another.
"Work," Sophia said, which was a statement that was so vague that it was completely useless. I rolled my eyes and Sophia scowled. "It's decent-paying work, too. And I can swing a transfer up here if it means that I can see Rose. Live with her, even."
"What, under the same roof as me?" I asked with a much more mild tone than I felt. "Just because I'm not throwing a stapler at your head doesn't mean I'm happy to see you, Sophia. You made the first two years of high school an outright hell for me and laying off in the second half didn't begin to make up for it."
"I'm not saying that we should kiss and make up and that I'll be moving into your bedroom, god damn it," Sophia said, leaning forward. "I'm saying that I found out I have a daughter and that I want to make the most of it. Understand?"
I did understand, I just wasn't sure how to take any of it. In more ways of the word than one. I fixed her with my best long, penetrating stare, though it worked on my students a lot better than her. Worked at all, really, she just shrugged it off as she stared right back at me.
"I suppose…" I rubbed the bridge of my nose, "I suppose that I can talk to Rose and tell her that her other parent-."
"Other mother," Sophia said with a firm nod of her head.
"Fine, sure, her other mother has turned up out of the blue," I said, not bothering to hide the distaste in my voice at the whole idea, "and see how she responds. And I'll let you know how she takes it if you give me your phone number." Sophia nodded and pulled out her phone but before she could start rattling off digits I held up a hand. "And if she doesn't want to talk to you, then that's that, understand? You don't show up at our house, you don't grab her after school to take her out for ice cream, you just leave, got it?"
A whole bunch of expressions passed over Sophia's face and I wasn't pleased with a single one of them. I kept on staring up at her, my face hard and fixed as I looked at her. After a long moment, she nodded.
"Fine, if that's the way you want to be about it, then that's how it's going to be," she said.
I didn't think that I believed her when she said that. And how exactly was I going to call her onto the carpet for that? Nothing came to mind and I supposed I would have to worry more about how she might respond if Rose said no if Rose said no. For now, I would pretend that I was taking her at her word, just like how she was pretending to cut contact with Rose if that was what she wanted.
"In that case…" what I needed was a good few hours to think this all over, get my head on straight and maybe talk it out with a few of my friends to figure out how to approach this. Both with Sophia and with Rose. "In that case, give me your phone number. And then beat it, I've got a class coming in…" I looked up at the clock, "pretty soon and I need to get ready."
Sophia recited her phone number and I entered it into my own phone. After she put it away, she stared down at me for a while longer. Her face was twitching and I could see the tension written all over her.
"When will I be hearing from you?" She finally said. "How long is this going to take?"
"I'm not going to pretend that I never heard from you, if that's what you mean," I said with a shake of my head. "But I'm not going to drop everything, go over to Rose's school and pull her out to have a chat with her, got it. Are you going to be around here for long?"
"I've got some time off I'm owed," Sophia said. "The rest of the week, though I'll need to be back by Sunday night."
What kind of job did she have, anyway? That would be a question to be asked if she actually ended up sticking around, I supposed. For now, knowing that I didn't need to come up with a way to handle this by dinner tonight was a relief.
Though I certainly couldn't just put it off and hope that it would go away, either. I was pretty damn sure that if I tried that, I'd be hearing a knock at the door in a few days and see Sophia standing on the doorstop.
"Like I said, I'll talk it out with Rose and see what she wants to have happen," I said.
There was no question about what I wanted to have happen. That was pretty damn plain. And it was just as obvious that Sophia didn't feel any different. Only bothering after she had found out she had knocked me up? Yeah, she was no more interested in me than I was interested in her.
"Alright," Sophia said, taking a deep breath. "I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you, Taylor."
Damn, Sophia Hess thanking me? It was like something out of some alternate reality.
I watched her leave and kept on staring at the door long after it had closed. Well, damn, what was I supposed to do about all of this, huh? Really, what was the game plan here? I frowned and drummed my fingers on my desk, any thought of preparing for second period long since driven out of my head.
I certainly didn't need Sophia back in my life and I didn't think that Rose did either. But did she want her other mother? That was a question that she was going to have to be the one to answer. I just couldn't, I flat out wasn't capable of providing that answer for her. Damn it, as much as I'd like to put it off, this was going to have to be a conversation we'd have tonight, huh? After dinner, at least, but still.
As for any further plans… well, I was quite glad to put off any consideration of them until I knew what Rose wanted. Maybe that was a bit cowardly or sloppy of me but I couldn't bring myself to care. Anyway, I had other things that I needed to take care of today. Like doing my actual job, that would be a pretty good idea, wouldn't it?
Taking a deep breath, I did my best to gather all of these concerns and worries that had suddenly been dumped on me and push them into a corner of my mind that I could lock up tight and avoid thinking about. In less than an hour, we'd be deep into Hamlet and I had better make sure that I was thinking about Hamlet, too.
The one question that had slipped my grasp and was still lingering in my mind was how the hell was I going to break any of this to Rose, huh?
"Good morning, Mom."
Rose yawned as she spoke, sluggishly moving over to her chair and slumping down in it. She yawned again, rubbing at her eyes and blinking slowly as she stared down at the empty spot on the table. I watched with amusement as she then forced herself back up and wandered over to the cabinet and fridge, getting a bowl of cereal and a cup of yogurt. This time when she sat back down, there was actually some food for her to eat.
"Did you have trouble sleeping, dear?" I asked, having finished the rest of my breakfast while she had been getting hers together.
"No," Rose said, shaking her head and glancing up at me.
"Did you stay up late because you were reading a book?" I asked in the same tone as before.
"…No," Rose said, with the look on her face enough to show that she was lying, never mind all of the many, many other things that would have proven it.
"Ah, so the reason the light was on in your bedroom last night when I went to go and use the bathroom was because…" I said encouragingly, staring at her and making sure not to show my amusement.
"I was, um, I was," Rose was a pretty awful liar, especially when she was flustered. A hell of a lot better than the alternative, of course and it was pretty amusing, I had to say. I kept my face level as I looked at her. "I was…"
"The truth is usually the best option," I remarked mildly. "Especially when the other person already knows it."
"Fine," Rose whined, slumping down in her chair. "I was rereading the first Maggie Holt book and it was just so good and I lost track of time."
"And you still have school today," I said. "I hope you don't have any tests that you need to take, though."
Rose shook her head back and forth at that, which was good. I hid my smile behind a sip of tea, looking at her again.
I was lucky to have a daughter like Rose, I knew. She was sweet, she was cute, she was smart, if she wasn't obedient, then at least it was at the minor things like staying up late to read instead of anything bad. Yes, having a daughter in general might have been a real pain, especially when I had to juggle her and college but having Rose in specific was easily one of the best parts of my life, no question there.
There was a lot of me in her and I wasn't just talking about how she needed glasses or had black hair that would have been curly if she didn't keep it at one step above a buzz cut. There was also the intelligence that shone through and just might be the element of her that I was the most proud of.
Of course, she hadn't been a virgin birth. Most people thought that her dark skin was because she spent so much time out under the sun, running and laughing and chasing and getting chased. Which wasn't wrong, exactly, but even if she was as much of a bookworm as I was (a very high bar to clear, I had to admit!) she would still have pretty dark skin. And her lower face, especially about the chin and jawline, that didn't come from me at all. Which was all for the better, really. She was cute now and I was sure that once she hit puberty, she would become beautiful.
Still, after ten years living with her, it was hard for me to think of any way that I could want to improve on my daughter. I stared at her as I finished my cup of tea, smiling at just how good she was. I wouldn't want to trade her for anything in the world.
"So how was the book, anyway?" I asked, leaning back in my chair and smiling at her.
"Just as good as the third time!" Rose said with a grin as she flicked her gaze between me and her food.
"Good to hear," I said with a smile and a nod. "The fourth book is coming out soon, isn't it?"
"Finally," Rose said with a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes. Jeez, I wonder where she had picked that up from. "It's been forever!"
It was a pretty slow release schedule for a line of children's books. More importantly…
"And I did some asking around and apparently Wit's End Books is going to be having a little celebration when it comes out at the end of the month," I said, feeling secretly delighted with how Rose was steadily brightening up as she hung on every word I was saying. "There's even going to be someone dressed up as Maggie coming to it."
"Really?" Rose asked, leaning forward until her face was practically in her cereal bowl. "Can we go, Mom? Can we?"
"I hope that we can," I said with a nod. "If your grades stay good enough, Rose." Rose made a face at that and I made sure not to show how amused I was by it. "So that means no more staying up way too late, got it?"
"Yes, Mom," Rose said with a sigh. Then she brightened up again. "But if I do, we can go?"
"Yes," I said with a nod. "And I'll even buy the new book for you instead of you having to pay for it yourself."
"Yes!" Rose said, making a fist and smiling. That got a chuckle out of me. "Don't worry, Mom, you're going to have nothing to worry about. Trust me."
I was pretty sure that she was quite right. Rose's grades, when she wasn't so tired she walked into the wrong classroom, were generally very good, with nothing at all that I could possibly complain about or make her study more. And if she had a carrot like this dangling in front of her, I was sure that from now till the day after the book event, she'd be bringing home straight A's. And plenty of reminders about what I had promised her and how much she was looking forward to going, too.
Well, bribing her to get better grades wasn't the only reason I had mentioned all of this. It wasn't even the main one. The big reason I was doing this was because she liked it. And did a mother need a reason to dote on her daughter? No, of course not. I smiled against at Rose and answered her questions about times and everything.
"Got anything going on after school today?" I asked as I stood up to ferry my breakfast dishes over to the dishwasher.
"Just hanging out with my friends," Rose said, shaking her head as she drained the last of the milk from her bowl. "Maddy's mom will give me a ride home."
"Alright," I said, nodding and making a few mental adjustments to my schedule. "I expect that I'll be back around the usual time, alright?"
Rose nodded and I smiled down at her, ruffling her hair and making her grumble and shift her head from side to side. I had to laugh at that. And now it was time for me to get ready for another day of work. Nothing too unusual for me today, I was thinking. Just the usual round of work, work and then, for a change, some more work. Or possibly a meeting.
Alright, so it wasn't all that exciting but I still enjoyed doing it all. And that was what counted, right? And I could at least have some time with Rose, too, more than some of the other single parents got with their kids that I knew. That was even more important.
A short time later, I was dropping Rose off at the front of Cedar Creek Elementary, waving goodbye to her as she made a beeline towards her friends. I smiled as I watched her go and then turned and headed all of one block over to Raging River High School. The naming sense of this school district was thematic but that was about as far as I could go with my good feelings towards it.
More importantly, it was where I had my job as an English teacher. I expected that I'd have Rose as my student one day, assuming that we stayed here for the next five years or so. I hoped that we would. She had good friends here and I had found myself liking living in Maine, even if the first few winters had been a real shock to the system after Brockton Bay.
So, a few hours of teaching my current class with the usual proportion of slackers, average students and the gifted, then about an equal amount of time taking care of the other half of teaching. Preparing materials, grading papers, attending meetings, having one on ones with students, all of that. It was a lot of work and it didn't pay that well, with the respect owed to teachers being a more general idea ascribed to the abstract notion of teaching than any particular teacher. But I still liked it and I hoped that I was doing a good job of it, too.
So it came as a real shock to the system when I got out of my car and blinked, seeing a black woman standing near the side door to the school. I knew all the teachers and staff, of course, and she wasn't one of them. There weren't that many black kids in Maine, either, not even in what was laughably called the big city, though there was something familiar about her. Had I met her at a parent-teacher night or something?
She certainly seemed to recognize me as she kept on looking over the parking lot. I could see her square her shoulders even from this distance as she looked at me and she held herself still as I approached. I wracked my brain, trying to figure out who she was and an answer just wasn't coming to me.
Finally, we were standing in front of one another. I cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting to get some kind of clue that would help me make sense of this all.
"Taylor Hebert?" The woman asked, her voice gruff and thick.
"Yes, I'm her," I said with a nod, my eyes narrowing behind my glasses as I stared at her. "And who are… Sophia Hess?"
"Yeah," Sophia said with a nod of her head, looking out over the parking lot for a second before focusing on me again. "Been a long time, huh?"
I didn't know how to respond to that so I didn't respond at all. I just blinked and stared at her some more, feeling, well, shocked was the only word for it.
Sophia looked different from how I had remembered her. Which only made sense, neither of us were teenagers anymore. Her face was… sharper, I supposed, with a lot more lines on it, especially around the eyes. Hell, I could see a few lines of grey in her black hair. She was dressed decently, not terribly sharp and not sloppy, either. I was really shocked to realize that I was actually taller than she was, by a few inches. In my memory, she always loomed over me and I had to wonder when that had stopped being the case.
"Why are you here?" I asked, shaking my head. "Wait, how are you here?"
"Rose has some social media accounts, even if you don't," Sophia said with a defensive shrug. "I never forgot what her name was, so it's easy enough to find her. And then you."
"I…" I rubbed my forehead, feeling completely thrown off-balance all of a sudden. "Okay, I don't want to have this conversation out here," whatever this conversation was going to be. "You're in luck, my free period is the first one of the day. My classroom, right now."
I quickly led her through the halls of the high school and into my classroom. There were so many emotions churning around in my stomach that I didn't know what I was feeling right now. I shook my head as I closed the door behind me and strode over to my desk, sitting down behind it. That, at least, helped get me into a more comfortable mindset and anchor myself.
Sophia stood awkwardly in front of my desk, quite a bit like a troublesome student I had called up. That helped with my mindset as well. I took a deep breath, held it for a few moments and then slowly let it out as I stared at her.
"Alright," I said after a failed attempt to gather my thoughts. "I bet that you're here for a reason, so let's hear it."
"You make it sound so sinister and complex," Sophia said with a shrug. "I'm here because I want to be with my daughter. It's as simple as that."
"Your daughter," I said flatly.
"Yes, Rose Hebert," Sophia said with a hard little edge in her voice. "Don't try and screw with me, Taylor, I know that she's my daughter. She looks a bit like me even if she's about five shades lighter on the skin than I am. And nine months after that party in May? Come on, don't try to deny it."
Yes, well, I had always known that Sophia had been Rose's other parent. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out, when she was the only person that I had ever gotten creampied by, never mind the whole 'giving birth nine months after you had sex with her'. It was just that, well… well, booze explained a lot of poor choices in life and having sex with Sophia had always been one of those poor choices, that had never been in question.
The only real upside to it all had been that, for one, she had been just as drunk as me at the graduation afterparty so there had never been any question of consent. We had both been dumb, drunk and horny, enough to do a stupid fling with someone that neither of us would ever have been attracted to if we had been sober.
And for another, that night at the party had been the last time I had ever seen Sophia. Even once I had learned that I was pregnant and instantly realized who had done it to me, I hadn't known how to get in touch with Sophia and I hadn't wanted to. I had already been out of the state at college, riding a scholarship and I had no idea where Sophia had gone or what she had been up to. And that had been just fine by me, not something worth regretting at all.
And yet, here Sophia was, standing in front of me, looking a bit worried, a bit guilty and a bit… was that excitement? Anticipation? I really couldn't tell.
"I never told you that I was pregnant," I said after a moment of thought. "How on earth did you find out Rose to even start stalking her online?"
"It's not stalking when it's for a good purpose," Sophia said, something that was just so ridiculous I couldn't even bring myself to roll my eyes at it. "Anyway, there was the tenth graduation anniversary for Winslow High a few months ago." Right, there must have been. I hadn't gotten an invitation, hadn't thought of it and even now when I was reminded of it, wasn't feeling the faintest hint of a loss over it. "I went to it and I got to chatting with Jessie Smith." I vaguely recalled her from both high school and college but couldn't put much to the name beyond a vague sense of distaste. "She mentioned that you spent pretty much the first year of college pregnant and, well," I was treated to the unique sight of Sophia Hess searching for a tactful way to put something, which was very strange indeed, "knowing you, I figured that the odds were pretty good I had been the one to do it."
And what do you know, that was tactful. By her standards, at least. I nodded, pretty sure that I was able to fill in the blanks from here.
"So you did some digging, asked around and…"
"And when I saw that photo Rose posted of her birthday party last year, it was just so obvious that she was my daughter," Sophia said with a nod. "You never met my little brother but if you had… yeah, he has a white father and the two of them…" she held her hands so close together that they were practically touching. "She's mine, I know it."
"Alright, yes, she is your daughter," I said, leaning back in my seat and pressing my fingers together. "And what of it?"
"What do you mean, what of it?" Sophia asked with a hard note to her voice. "She's my daughter, Taylor! I might have missed the first ten years of her life but that doesn't mean I want to miss the rest of it!"
Never would have pegged Sophia as the type to be overflowing with paternal affection. On the other hand, it was completely impossible for me to think of any other reason that she would come up here.
"We've done pretty well, just the two of us for the past ten years," I said, speaking my mind and not really caring how Sophia took it. "And I'd say that the worst is behind us, now that I don't need to worry about changing diapers and getting my coursework done."
"I'm not saying that you need to be happy to see me, Hebert," Sophia said, leaning forward and resting her hands on my desk. "I'm saying that I want to be part of my daughter's life."
And did Rose want to have her other parent in her life? She had asked several times about who had been her father but I'd always been able to give an explanation that was light on details like a name or how I'd known them. And she had never seemed that upset about it, either. Hell, it wasn't like some of her friends had two parents, after all.
"What have you been doing the past ten years, anyway?" I asked, pulling my mind off of one train of thought and putting it onto another.
"Work," Sophia said, which was a statement that was so vague that it was completely useless. I rolled my eyes and Sophia scowled. "It's decent-paying work, too. And I can swing a transfer up here if it means that I can see Rose. Live with her, even."
"What, under the same roof as me?" I asked with a much more mild tone than I felt. "Just because I'm not throwing a stapler at your head doesn't mean I'm happy to see you, Sophia. You made the first two years of high school an outright hell for me and laying off in the second half didn't begin to make up for it."
"I'm not saying that we should kiss and make up and that I'll be moving into your bedroom, god damn it," Sophia said, leaning forward. "I'm saying that I found out I have a daughter and that I want to make the most of it. Understand?"
I did understand, I just wasn't sure how to take any of it. In more ways of the word than one. I fixed her with my best long, penetrating stare, though it worked on my students a lot better than her. Worked at all, really, she just shrugged it off as she stared right back at me.
"I suppose…" I rubbed the bridge of my nose, "I suppose that I can talk to Rose and tell her that her other parent-."
"Other mother," Sophia said with a firm nod of her head.
"Fine, sure, her other mother has turned up out of the blue," I said, not bothering to hide the distaste in my voice at the whole idea, "and see how she responds. And I'll let you know how she takes it if you give me your phone number." Sophia nodded and pulled out her phone but before she could start rattling off digits I held up a hand. "And if she doesn't want to talk to you, then that's that, understand? You don't show up at our house, you don't grab her after school to take her out for ice cream, you just leave, got it?"
A whole bunch of expressions passed over Sophia's face and I wasn't pleased with a single one of them. I kept on staring up at her, my face hard and fixed as I looked at her. After a long moment, she nodded.
"Fine, if that's the way you want to be about it, then that's how it's going to be," she said.
I didn't think that I believed her when she said that. And how exactly was I going to call her onto the carpet for that? Nothing came to mind and I supposed I would have to worry more about how she might respond if Rose said no if Rose said no. For now, I would pretend that I was taking her at her word, just like how she was pretending to cut contact with Rose if that was what she wanted.
"In that case…" what I needed was a good few hours to think this all over, get my head on straight and maybe talk it out with a few of my friends to figure out how to approach this. Both with Sophia and with Rose. "In that case, give me your phone number. And then beat it, I've got a class coming in…" I looked up at the clock, "pretty soon and I need to get ready."
Sophia recited her phone number and I entered it into my own phone. After she put it away, she stared down at me for a while longer. Her face was twitching and I could see the tension written all over her.
"When will I be hearing from you?" She finally said. "How long is this going to take?"
"I'm not going to pretend that I never heard from you, if that's what you mean," I said with a shake of my head. "But I'm not going to drop everything, go over to Rose's school and pull her out to have a chat with her, got it. Are you going to be around here for long?"
"I've got some time off I'm owed," Sophia said. "The rest of the week, though I'll need to be back by Sunday night."
What kind of job did she have, anyway? That would be a question to be asked if she actually ended up sticking around, I supposed. For now, knowing that I didn't need to come up with a way to handle this by dinner tonight was a relief.
Though I certainly couldn't just put it off and hope that it would go away, either. I was pretty damn sure that if I tried that, I'd be hearing a knock at the door in a few days and see Sophia standing on the doorstop.
"Like I said, I'll talk it out with Rose and see what she wants to have happen," I said.
There was no question about what I wanted to have happen. That was pretty damn plain. And it was just as obvious that Sophia didn't feel any different. Only bothering after she had found out she had knocked me up? Yeah, she was no more interested in me than I was interested in her.
"Alright," Sophia said, taking a deep breath. "I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you, Taylor."
Damn, Sophia Hess thanking me? It was like something out of some alternate reality.
I watched her leave and kept on staring at the door long after it had closed. Well, damn, what was I supposed to do about all of this, huh? Really, what was the game plan here? I frowned and drummed my fingers on my desk, any thought of preparing for second period long since driven out of my head.
I certainly didn't need Sophia back in my life and I didn't think that Rose did either. But did she want her other mother? That was a question that she was going to have to be the one to answer. I just couldn't, I flat out wasn't capable of providing that answer for her. Damn it, as much as I'd like to put it off, this was going to have to be a conversation we'd have tonight, huh? After dinner, at least, but still.
As for any further plans… well, I was quite glad to put off any consideration of them until I knew what Rose wanted. Maybe that was a bit cowardly or sloppy of me but I couldn't bring myself to care. Anyway, I had other things that I needed to take care of today. Like doing my actual job, that would be a pretty good idea, wouldn't it?
Taking a deep breath, I did my best to gather all of these concerns and worries that had suddenly been dumped on me and push them into a corner of my mind that I could lock up tight and avoid thinking about. In less than an hour, we'd be deep into Hamlet and I had better make sure that I was thinking about Hamlet, too.
The one question that had slipped my grasp and was still lingering in my mind was how the hell was I going to break any of this to Rose, huh?
- Pronouns
- He
The big difference is that two years into high school, Taylor wasn't shoved into the locker. The trio did something less bad but still awful, the PRT noticed and cared enough to get Sophia to mostly back off of Taylor for the remaining two years.
Oh, and the Endbringers and Scion either don't exist or aren't as much of a threat, because they really don't fit the story here and they cast too long of a shadow over the setting.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Which is really when Worm was at its best.
- Pronouns
- He
I've written many long Worm stories (that can't be posted here) and I think Scion, Endbringers and the S9 have appeared in one of them. They make the entire story about them in a way that's quite difficult to pull back from.
Chapter Two
- Pronouns
- He
Reunion Chapter Two
It was a good thing that entering grades into the computer didn't need much actual thinking, because my thoughts were swirling around in my head and constantly chasing each other. I couldn't even manage to complete one thought before the next was intruding and demanding that I consider it. I had managed to force all my worries about Hess showing up down into the back of my brain during my classes but now that my students were gone and the school was shutting down, I really couldn't avoid them.
So it was quite the relief when my phone buzzed against my thigh. I fished it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen. And that was even better.
"Hello," I said, smiling and leaning back in my chair as I held the phone to my ear.
"Hey, Taylor," my girlfriend said, making my smile broaden at the sound of her voice. "How are things?"
"Better now that I'm talking to you, Missy," I said, closing my eyes and nodding.
"Long day at school, huh?" Missy said with a chuckle. "My condolences."
"No, the kids were just themselves," I said, rolling my eyes as Missy said 'ouch'. "It's something else, actually."
"I've got time to listen if you want to talk about it," Missy said.
"Uh… give me some time to get my thoughts together," I said, as if I hadn't spent hours and hours trying and failing how to put any of this into words. "You called me for a reason, right?"
"Yep," Missy said. "I finally got my schedule nailed to the wall, so I can confirm, finally, that I'm off on Friday after one in the afternoon and that I don't need to clock in until Saturday at ten thirty."
"You really need to find a job with better hours, dear," I said, shaking my head back and forth.
"What can I say?" Missy asked in a tired voice. "It's what I can do."
I grunted at that, disagreeing but not wanting to get into the weeds of this again. It would be one thing if she was actually working hand in glove with the heroes of the local Protectorate branch. But just working for a consulting firm that worked with the PRT, that many steps removed? I just didn't see how she could find that to be worth the strange, irregular hours that got dropped on her without any warning at all.
"Anyway, I'm only twenty-four, so it's not like I'm some old fogey who needs nine hours of sleep or else they can't remember their name," Missy said briskly. "Back to the point. I'm free on Friday night. What about you?"
"I… think I will be," I said, mentally crossing Friday night off for a possible time for Rose to meet Sophia. "Yeah, I think I want to spend some time with you."
"What, you need to cuddle with me? Seriously, Taylor, what's up?"
"I…" I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts, staring down at my desk.
There were a few photos there. Me, Dad, Rose, a very old photo of me the same age as Rose right now with Dad and Mom. And one of Missy, looking very serious and mature in a photo that only showed her from the chest up.
Mostly because if a photo showed her entire body and provided a sense of scale, it would be kind of hard to see her as a mature adult. One time when she had taken Rose out shopping, a clerk had thought that the two of them were friends. Which, well, yes, was true. But the woman had thought that Rose and Missy were the same age and had thought that Rose was exactly as old as she was.
Rose had found it hilarious and even I hadn't been able to keep a straight face when she had recounted it to me. Missy had found it a lot less amusing, though I had brought her out of her sulk eventually. I smiled at the memory, looking down at the serious blonde face staring back up at me from behind the glass screen.
"Have I ever told you about how Rose was born?" I asked finally.
"No, I always figured it was in the hospital," Missy said, being a smart-alec. "Was there something about the birth or do you mean that there's something up with who got you pregnant?"
"Yeah, that's the one," I said, rubbing my head. Man, I was not on top of my game right now. "Back in Brockton Bay, during the high school graduation party, I got drunk and ended up, well, having sex with a girl named Sophia Hess." I paused. "Missy, you alright?"
"Yeah, some water went down the wrong tube," Missy said in a strangled voice. "Never mind, go on."
"Right, well," I rubbed my forehead, "I never saw her again after the party and that was fine by me. But now she's back and she wants to meet Rose. And I'm just not sure what to do."
"That's… a toughy, yeah," Missy said in a slightly stunned voice. "Um. Does Rose know about this yet?"
"No, I haven't seen her since I met Sophia," I said, drumming my fingers on my desktop. "And I'm not sure what to tell her. Okay, no, I know what to tell her, I just don't know how to tell her."
"Um," Missy said, humming on the other end of the line. "I don't remember all that much of what my parents told me when they announced they were getting divorced but I could try to call something up. And then you do the opposite of it?"
"The opposite of getting a divorce would be saying that I'm dating someone and I already had that talk with Rose over you three years ago," I said, rolling my eyes. "No, I'm thinking… God, I don't know what to think."
"I only start work at eight tonight," Missy offered. "I can swing over to your place and help you out if you want someone else there to help talk things through with Rose."
"Thank you, but no," I said, staring off into the distance. "Though talking things over with you is helping me, Missy."
"It's just one of the many services I offer to all of the beautiful women in my life, stop sounding like a cat trying to swallow a live pig, Taylor."
"Sorry, sorry," I said, smiling widely as I waved my hand back and forth in a gesture that Missy couldn't possibly see. "But, uh, thanks."
"Any time, baby," Missy said. "I'll plan to stay the night on Friday and bring a bottle of wine?"
"That sounds very nice, yes, whatever way this ends up going," I said with a nod. "Thanks, Missy, you're a gem."
"Just remember you said that the next time I have to cancel a date because someone couldn't make it," Missy said with a snort. "Oh, on that note, things might be getting a bit easier on that front, since we're finally getting some more help."
"That is very nice to hear," I said with a nod and a smile. "They ask too much of you, really."
"It's all stuff I can afford to give," Missy said and I could see her shrugging in my mind's eye. "Anyway, any more help I can give you on the whole Sophia-Rose line?"
"No, talking it out with you has helped me," I said. "Settled my nerves at the very least. Thanks, Missy."
"Not a problem," Missy said. "And hey, I've seen a lot of nasty shit develop over kids and former relationships. If Sophia gives you some trouble, you just let me know. I'll kick her ass for you."
I made sure not to sound amused. Missy didn't look it but despite how small she was, she was pretty damn strong. She could certainly kick my ass and routinely ran both me and Rose into the ground whenever we did anything physical. Going up against Sophia… well, it could work out quite nicely for me, let me work out some teenage frustrations second-hand.
"I'll keep that in mind but I really hope it doesn't come down to that, Missy," I said after a moment. "Thanks for the offer, though."
"Anytime," Missy said. "And I'll see you on Friday, Taylor."
I smiled as I put the phone away. Yeah, that had helped my head get put back on in a much better space. Even if I couldn't figure out how to put this all to Rose, at least I could feel confident in my ignorance as I had the talk with her.
But before that happened, there were a few minor things that I needed to take care of. Like doing my job, for example. Probably would be a good idea to take care of making sure that my students got the education that they deserved, wouldn't it?
***
Dinner was over and done with and that meant that I really couldn't put this off any longer, could I? At least the hot food had put me in a good enough mood to help avoid any resurgence of worries about what exactly what was going to happen with all of this.
"Rose, do you have a moment?" I asked as I closed the fridge door on the leftovers and turned to look at her.
"Yes?" Rose asked, straightening up and closing her book as she looked at me.
I gestured her over to the living room and sat down on the recliner while she took the couch. I was starting to feel some butterflies in my stomach despite my best efforts but I knew that it would be a good idea to get this over and done with, as soon as possible.
"Rose," I said, taking a deep breath and deciding that if I couldn't figure out the best way to put it I might as well just go ahead and do it. "There's something I want to talk to you about."
"What?" Rose asked, looking kind of nervous and a bit guilty. Had she done something she didn't want me to know about? Well, it didn't matter right now.
"Your other mother contacted me today at school," I said, folding my hands in my lap to hide how tightly I was squeezing down on my fingers or how my legs felt like every muscle in them was a solid knot. "She just found out about you recently and she wants to meet you."
"She- she does?" Rose asked, blinking several times as her mouth fell open. "I mean, um, who is she? What is she like? When does she want to meet me?"
"Her name is Sophia Hess, a girl that I knew in high school," I said, taking a deep breath and making sure that I clearly enunciated each word to hide how I was feeling over this all. "I haven't seen her in ten years, so I can't say for sure what she's like now." She had better damn well improved even compared to the last two years of high school if she wanted me to let her keep on seeing Rose but that was a question for later. "As for meeting you, that's up for you to decide, Rose. Nobody else."
"I, um, okay," Rose said, blinking and looking kind of lost. I couldn't blame her in the slightest for that. "She really is my other parent?"
"I'm sure of it, yes," I said with a nod. "Absolutely." I paused. "She hasn't contacted you or anything, has she?"
"No, I've never heard of her before at all," Rose said, shaking her head quickly. "But I want to. I want to meet her." She swallowed and rubbed her thighs with her hands, sliding her palms back and forth against her jeans. "Do you think that she's going to like me, Mom?"
"If she has any sense at all, she's going to love you," I said with a smile, though I wasn't sure just how much I liked that thought. Whatever, focus on Rose right now. "For a lot of different reasons."
Rose let out a pleased giggle and nodded. She still looked kind of nervous and I reached over to pat her shoulder.
"And don't worry, I'll be there when you meet with her," I added. I certainly wasn't going to let Hess spend time around my kid without me keeping an eye on things.
"Right, okay, um," Rose looked kind of lost and I felt bad for dumping so much on her so suddenly. But I just hadn't been able to think of a better way to break any of this to her so this was just the way that it had to be. "I… okay." She rubbed her face and I patted her on the shoulder. "What do I do, Mom?"
"Tell me when you'd like to meet her and where and I can set something up," I said calmly.
"I won't be able to focus at all in school thinking about this," Rose said, suddenly sounding calm, though I could hear the concern and nerves underneath the veneer. "Tomorrow after school? Would that be alright?"
"If it works for you, that's the important thing," I said, mentally running through my own schedule. "At four, then?" I got a nod. "And where?"
"Um, should it be here?" Rose asked, looking down at her feet and then around the living room. "No, you're going to make me clean up if we have a guest coming over," I rolled my eyes and didn't try to hide it. "Alan's Café?"
"Because you need an excuse to go to Alan's," I said with a chuckle. "Yes, that works fine, Rose. I'll pick you up after you get out and we'll head over there. Sound like a plan?"
Rose nodded with a severe look of determination on her face. It was pretty cute and I reached over to pat her on the head. She whined and squirmed at that, which was even more adorable and I found myself laughing. Though the worries about Hess and everything to do with her wasn't that far away from my thoughts, weighing me down as I considered Rose and Sophia actually getting along and Rose wanting to see more of her.
I'd cross that bride when I came to it and who could say? Maybe Rose would see Sophia as I saw her and not want anything to do with her any more. I couldn't say I was opposed to that idea, though I also knew that I'd have to let Rose be the one to make that decision, that I couldn't fill her head with stories about just what Sophia was like, even if every last one of them was true.
Actually, there wasn't anyone that I wanted to share those stories with, not Rose, not Dad, not Missy. Not even with myself. I grunted and pushed those thoughts away, instead focusing on Rose and looking down at her.
"Um, should I wear something fancy?" Rose asked, looking down at her jeans and sweater. "Change in the car on the way there?"
"If you want to," I said. "I don't know if Sophia will be dressing up and I'll just be wearing my normal teaching clothes."
"I will," Rose said with a firm nod. "My red dress. I'll go and get it ready."
There was a classis case of displacement activity to my eyes. I didn't say anything as she popped off of the couch and headed for her bedroom. Instead, I just leaned my head backwards and let out a deep, deep sigh, rubbing my eyes as I thought about… a whole bunch of stuff at once and wasn't able to come to a conclusion about any of it.
Well, one thing I could do was fish my phone out and let Sophia know when and where. Ugh, who would ever have thought that I'd have Sophia Hess's number in my phone? I shook my head and pushed that thought away.
After all, it had been ten years. I certainly wasn't the dumbass I had been as a teen and who knew? Maybe Sophia had improved as well. I let myself think that stranger things had happened before pushing that thought away. I wasn't going to go into this meeting with unrestrained smiles and utter guilelessness but being bitter and meanspirited and looking for a weak point in every single remark wasn't going to be any better either. God knows I had met plenty of unpleasant people since Sophia and Winslow High and I had kept my cool there with them. I could do the same with her.
***
Sophia looked down and smirked at the text message she had gotten. Alder Street at four, huh? Yeah, that was easily doable for her. She fired off a reply and tucked the phone back into one of her inner pockets, then leaned back against the wall.
So this was Protectorate East North North, huh? She'd been spoiled for size back down in Brockton Bay. This wasn't even a very special building, either. It had just gotten handed over from the city police when they moved their headquarters into a newer building.
Oh well, she was here and maybe all those enemies she had made back in the Bay wouldn't be following her up here with those whiny complaints about how she acted and how she actually made a difference on the streets. And even if they did… hell, Sophia had family here now and that could really help things out.
"Shadow Stalker," a firm voice said in front of her.
"Eh?" Sophia said, drawing her mind to the present. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you down there, Outreach."
"Cute, real cute," Outreach said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, bumping her gauntlets against her breastplate. "I'd say it's a pleasure to have another cape joining us but I think we both know that's a lie."
If you knew that Outreach had been Vista, it was easy enough to see the carryover of some design elements in her costume. The visor that covered the upper half of her head, for instance, even going way above where her eyes would be. And a few linings of the forest green that she had used to wear, too.
And the height, of course. If Missy had gotten two inches since Sophia had last seen her, she sure hadn't gotten three. Well, some women were just destined to be short forever. Oh well. She looked serious enough in her brown and gold costume, some armor scattered over her body that, to Sophia's eye, looked like it had been chosen by Marketing for visual appeal than because it did a good job of actually protecting the body underneath it. That was probably responsible for the thickness Outreach had around her torso, a sign of a bulletproof vest hidden away out of sight, where it couldn't spoil the illusion that all capes could walk through a hail of gunfire without worry.
Sophia herself had a much more direct line of connection to her first Shadow Stalker costume, still all in black except for the white, scowling mask. Bits and pieces could get replaced or swapped out as needed and by now she didn't think that there was a single original element left in her costume but it was still the costume that Shadow Stalker wore. There just wasn't anything that you could really mess with, huh? Sophia had lucked out, coming up with this whole look back in her independent days and there was no need to mess with it now. Her armor was just some light stuff to keep her knees from getting scraped up sliding along concrete or whatever. If someone pulled a gun on her, she'd just go intangible and feel the bullets whiffing through her shadow before she stabbed the bastard.
"It's rejoining more than anything," Sophia agreed. "Partial reunion of the surviving elements of the Brockton Bay Wards, what an occasion."
Outreach stared up at Sophia through her opaque visor. Sophia stared right back down. Outreach might be thinking that she was some hot shit, now that she was the lead cape for the miniscule team that made up East North North but Sophia was never going to forget seeing Vista in front of her. Hell, she was going to make sure that Outreach never forgot Vista, that Sophia had seen her when Missy was even shorter than she was now and had been the baby of the team who needed to suck it up and take orders from everyone else.
"I've been looking over your records from East North East," Outreach said, pacing up and down in the small conference room. "Piggot and Dalton were willing to turn a blind eye to how you work because they thought that the situation in Brockton Bay was just that bad but that is not going to fly here, understand?"
"Crooks are crooks everywhere," Sophia said with a shrug, though there was another word that was a lot more fitting than crooks. "Same things work on all of them."
"Like hell you will," Outreach said flatly. "You're going to be following this," she picked up a thick manual and tossed it at Sophia. She caught it and glanced down at the title. Regulations for Proper Conduct in Public-Facing Duties. Ugh, the big book of rules, "to the letter and if I find you going off-script to have some of your sick fun, you're gone, got it?"
"My probation ended almost a decade ago, Outreach," Sophia said, a hell of a lot more calmly than she felt. "Don't try to hang this over me."
"We might not have a lot of capes working here in Portland, especially not adult capes," Outreach said, turning around and facing Sophia, holding her hands behind her back, "but that doesn't mean we're so short-staffed that we can't afford to lose you, Shadow Stalker. You work within the rules or you're gone, off to freeze your ass up in Manitoba."
Well damn, looks like little Missy was finally acting… well, there were quite a few ways that Sophia could describe this all as but the most complimentary way that she could say without laughing was that Missy was finally acting like the hardass she had tried to be at times back in the Wards. Though she had been so small and cute then that nobody at all, Wards or adults, had taken her remotely seriously.
Sophia was generally in favor of people committing, it was just a real pain in the ass when they were committing to making her life tougher. But fine. Fine. Missy thought that the bad guys here in were little lost lambs who had gone astray and just needed some gentle love taps to get them back on course?
Sophia would play along and let it all go to shit, as it certainly would, sooner or later. Then she'd step in and prove what really worked, how you really needed to act to get the vermin into line and not harassing the poor, innocent, willfully helpless sheep that filled the city and the suburbs.
"I'll be good, I'll be good," Sophia said, raising her hands in what might have been a conciliatory gesture if she had put any effort into it. "I asked to come up here, didn't I? I didn't get farmed out to pasture because I'm in trouble or anything."
"And if you didn't have qualified immunity, your ass would be in civil court every day of the week," Outreach muttered. "And why did you decide to come up here, when it's so quiet and peaceful?"
There was something strange in the tone she used for that and Sophia tilted her head to the side as she stared down at what was supposed to be her leader. There was some meaning there but what? What could Outreach know about Sophia's real reasons for transferring up here? It sure as hell wasn't like Sophia had been unburdening herself onto others about finding her daughter.
"There's more to the world than just Brockton Bay," Sophia said at last, "and if I couldn't score a goodwill ambassador slot," Outreach's face twitched, "to Europe or something, then heading to a different state, at least, is worth something. Anyway, I can handle the cold better than the heat, so I don't want to head further south or anything."
"Right," Outreach said, seeming to buy what was said. "Well, you're here and I'm sure that I can make good use of you."
"How lewd," Sophia said with a smirk, which only grew at the disgusted sound that Outreach made. "And trust me, I'm planning to make the most of my time here as well. Believe me on that."
"I'll have to until you start producing results," Outreach countered. She tapped the manual that Sophia had already set aside. "And you damn well know what results I'm looking for, understand?"
"Yeah, yeah, you made that plenty clear already," Sophia said, feeling secure in rolling her eyes underneath her mask where nobody could see it. Not that she would have paused without the mask, either. "You make it sound like I'm some sort of serial killer or something."
"While it has been legally determined that you're not," Outreach said. "Now, are you ready to go out on patrol while I familiarize you with the surrounding area?"
"Sure, just like old times," Sophia said with a snort. "At least we'll be covering plenty of ground with you laying the path."
Outreach nodded at that and turned on her heel, striding for the door. Sophia watched her go before shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
Well, hell, Sophia hadn't much enjoyed her time inside of the Rig back down south, either. The real thrill of being Shadow Stalker was out on the streets, anyway. And the real thrill of being Sophia Hess…
Well, meeting Rose might not be a thrill, exactly, but Sophia was still damn well looking forward to it and hoping for the best. Getting a connection with her daughter, getting to see her daughter for the very first time… that made Sophia's heart and stomach do some things that it normally wouldn't do. She took a deep breath as she walked behind Outreach, forcing herself to play it cool and keep it together.
Taylor was going to be there as well, which was… a thing, alright. That meeting this morning had gone… well, Sophia hadn't been sure how it was going to before actually opening her mouth to talk to Hebert. But it hadn't ended in a screaming match with one or both of them getting tossed out the building by security, so hey, it was on the upper end of the scale for Sophia meeting with one of her exes.
Really, Taylor not wanting to start things back up with Sophia was for the best. Just how drunk had Sophia been that night, to think that there was anything remotely fuckable about Taylor? It wasn't just the looks, Sophia could look past the looks (ah ha ha) it was more… everything about Taylor meant that nobody with any brains would want to stick their dick in that.
And Sophia had and if it hadn't been for Rose (which was another sign of how drunk Sophia had been, that she hadn't worn a condom), she'd be quite happy to keep on doing what she had for almost the past decade and shoving any thoughts of the graduation party after she and Emma had split up to find their own fun into a dark hole in her mind. But she had gotten herself a daughter and now… now Sophia was going to be with her daughter, however that ended up working out.
Hell, Sophia had even made sure that the apartment she was renting had a room that could be turned into a spare bedroom, just in case things went really well and Rose ended up spending every other weekend at Sophia's place. Sophia wasn't sure just what that would be like or even what kind of person Rose was. Her social media accounts were pretty damn sparse, though not the utter void that Taylor's had been when Sophia had tried to find anything about her.
Well, that café meeting was in less than twenty hours, so the time would pass pretty damn quick. And then… and then Sophia would be getting introduced to her daughter and seeing just what kind of kid she had. A pity that she was only coming in now, a decade later, but better late than never.
Maybe Sophia should offer Taylor a few thousand bucks as an apology for never chipping in with buying baby food and new clothes and stuff? Or would that seem too much like a bribe, trying to buy her way into Taylor's good books instead of managing it on her own strengths?
Ugh, who would ever have thought that Sophia would be interested in getting into Taylor's good books? Even during the second half of high school, after Emma and Madison and Sophia had stopped having their fun with Taylor, Sophia had never once given a damn what Taylor thought of her or anything. Changing that was going to be weird, especially with all the years since where Taylor had never once crossed Sophia's mind.
A whole lot more was changing in Sophia's life than just moving to a new city. She thought that she was up for all of it but she'd just have to wait and see if she really was. And what all the future really would hold for her, too.
But hell, she was Sophia Hess! Shadow Stalker! If anyone could handle what was coming at her, it would certainly be her.
That wasn't even in question.
I noticed that too, and
Classic
I would be utterly pissed if Taylor dump Missy just because Sophia mess with her through her daughter or something urgh!
Kid might want her bio mums back together enough to screw up Taylor's relationship with Missy, kids can do stupid things.
Hopefully Missy keep her identity/relationship hidden long enough to break Sophia when she carry out whatever plan she in that head of her, any bets that what Sophia going to do finally triggers Taylor?
Kid might want her bio mums back together enough to screw up Taylor's relationship with Missy, kids can do stupid things.
Hopefully Missy keep her identity/relationship hidden long enough to break Sophia when she carry out whatever plan she in that head of her, any bets that what Sophia going to do finally triggers Taylor?
- Pronouns
- He
There won't be a chapter this month but I do have some comments about the current situation of characters who probably won't appear in the story. If they do end up appearing, I fully reserve the right to change anything said below.
Grue is a cape for hire, doing odd-jobs and long-term contracts up and down New England. Has a good reputation as a solo hire and has worked for heroes sometimes as well as villains.
Regent is probably an old alias for Le Marionnettiste of The Carnivale operating in New Orleans.
Hellhound is still serving her prison sentence with no chance of parole or even being let out of solitary.
Tattletale just vanished one day, with nobody seeing her or any girl with a similar powerset since.
Victoria Stanfield is juggling two careers as both Starstruck, one of the few willingly unmasked capes in the Protectorate, and as a professor of parahuman science and couldn't be happier with her life.
Dinah Alcott continues to be a missing-persons cold case with no new leads discovered in the past decade.
Grue is a cape for hire, doing odd-jobs and long-term contracts up and down New England. Has a good reputation as a solo hire and has worked for heroes sometimes as well as villains.
Regent is probably an old alias for Le Marionnettiste of The Carnivale operating in New Orleans.
Hellhound is still serving her prison sentence with no chance of parole or even being let out of solitary.
Tattletale just vanished one day, with nobody seeing her or any girl with a similar powerset since.
Victoria Stanfield is juggling two careers as both Starstruck, one of the few willingly unmasked capes in the Protectorate, and as a professor of parahuman science and couldn't be happier with her life.
Dinah Alcott continues to be a missing-persons cold case with no new leads discovered in the past decade.
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KindredVoid
Shard Whisperer
jesus christ that's dark.
Chapter Three
- Pronouns
- He
Reunion Chapter Three
It had been an hour since she had climbed into bed and she still wasn't feeling tired. If she hadn't been caught this morning (which felt like it had happened five months ago), she would have grabbed a book and started reading. She would still have felt unsettled and worried but then at least she'd have something to distract her with.
But who knew what Mom would say if she caught Rose staying up late to read two nights in a row? Instead of just staying up late. Rose sighed again and squirmed around underneath her sheets, trying to find someplace comfortable for her to lie.
And knowing that the comfort of the bed wasn't the problem. It was tomorrow, meeting her other mother. Hearing pretty much the first thing about her other mother for the first time in her life.
Mom had never much told Rose about how she had been made, who Mom had been with. Mostly, it had come couched in the form of stories about heroes who made what seemed like a mistake only for it to turn out for the best, later on. Sometimes Mom had actually laid the point out, that she hadn't been expecting Rose but that she wouldn't trade her for anything.
So Rose's other mother… she sighed again and squirmed some more. It wasn't like this was a completely foreign idea to her. Even beyond the weird situations she came across in her books, a couple of her friends were divorced or remarried and Rose had seen from a pretty close viewpoint how that sort of thing could go, the way that adults could treat one another after a bad breakup.
Rose was sure that Mom would be able to take care of herself. She always could. But what about Rose? That was the big thought, the one that kept on coming to Rose and kept her squirming around underneath her sheets, sighing heavily as she looked around the darkened confines of her room.
Would she be proud of Rose? Would they get along? Rose had always wondered just what kind of person her other mother would be and the thought that in eighteen hours or so, she'd get to find out just kept on filling her head. Would she be someone really cool who went off on secret missions and stuff? Someone who had roamed around the entire country and had all kinds of interesting stories to tell?
Or would she be a lot more like Mike's dad, who Mike only saw because a court order let his dad see him every other weekend? Rose really, really hoped not. Well, she'd find out in… she glanced at the clock and sighed again, before shifting to her other side to stare at the wall there.
And what about Missy? Or Miss Missy when Rose was safely out of swatting range (not very difficult at all with her short arms!). She liked Missy. And not just because Missy was a lot easier to talk into buying stuff for Rose than Mom was! Fun stuff, that was, not just new clothes or lined paper for school. Rose liked movie night when Missy came over, even if she had to make sure that her door was closed later on so she didn't have to hear any sounds from Mom's bedroom.
Would losing Missy in exchange for gaining her other mother be a good tradeoff? Was that something that was even possible to happen? Mom hadn't seemed wild about all of this after dinner and Rose had trouble guessing just what Mom had been thinking about.
And… and Rose had gotten into bed an hour and a half ago and she still didn't feel any closer to sleep.
***
"You okay, Rose?" Mom asked, patting Rose's shoulder as she parked the car.
"I'm fine, Mom," Rose said, making sure not to rub her tired eyes in front of her mom. "Let's go!"
Mom looked at her as she turned the car off and then nodded. Rose quickly hopped out of her seat, sidling out along the side from the truck that had been parked very close to their own car. Then she was out on the sidewalk in front of the café. Rose took a deep breath as she looked at the windows of the place, peering inside. She didn't see anyone who looked like half of her but that was about it.
Rose glanced down at the floral dress she was wearing. Mom had brought it with her today, keeping it in her car so that Rose could change after school. She normally never wore this sort of thing, especially if there was any chance at all of getting to run around while shouting her head off. But today, for this, it really seemed like the right thing to wear.
Mom was dressed up nicely as well, though it was a very formal look, very astute and formal. Rose was kind of surprised that Mom was wearing anything other than her usual teaching clothes. Rose glanced up at Mom and resisted the urge to take her hand. Rose was a big girl, she could meet her other parent all on her own, without anyone needing to support her. She hoped.
Rose stepped inside of the café and looked around. Raul the waiter was already heading for them, a pair of menus clutched in his hand. Rose smiled at him and glanced up at Mom. She was barely looking at him, instead looking at a booth near the back of the café.
"No thanks, the person we're meeting is already here," Mom said, squeezing Rose's shoulder and heading down the aisle.
Rose quickly started after her and then outpaced her. Her legs might be shorter but she could put a lot more energy into them. She quickly arrived at the table and saw the woman looking back at them.
She was black, a lot blacker than Rose was. And she was… Rose took another moment to look at her and get her thoughts in order to decide just what she was seeing and how she felt about it.
A lot like Mom, her other mother was pretty slender, though it was hard to tell how tall she was when she was sitting down with a table hiding everything below the stomach. Her face was thin, too, lots of hard lines around the cheeks and nose and jaw. Her eyes, though… it was hard to read everything that was in her eyes.
She was more normally dressed than both Mom or Rose were. The tight t-shirt she was wearing showed off a lot of her arms, including how well-muscled they were. And were those a few scars along her arms, running against the lean, well-defined muscle? Rose thought that they were.
Rose realized that she was staring and that Mom had stopped right behind her. Blushing, Rose quickly slipped into the bench opposite her other mother (she still had no idea at all if she should be using her name or a title) and sat up straight, making sure that her shoulders were squared as the two of them exchanged looks.
"Sophia," Mom said, sitting down next to Rose.
"Taylor," the… black woman? Rose really needed to decide what to call her, said, nodding to Mom. "And you're Rose, huh?"
The smile she turned on Rose was a lot warmer and softer. Her face seemed to brighten to. Not really becoming softer but being a lot more welcoming. Rose felt some of her worries still as she nodded back.
"Yes and it's a pleasure to meet you… Mother," Rose said, finally settling on something to call her because she needed to say something.
"Wow, first time I've ever been called that," Mother said, shaking her head back and forth as her smile grew a bit rueful. "Sound strange."
"Should I have said something else?" Rose asked, feeling a pulse of worry flowing through her as her eyes widened.
"No, that's fine," Mother said as Mom shook her head. "With all the stuff I have to get used to here, hearing someone calling me Mother is going to be the easiest of it all."
Rose nodded and then glanced up at Raul as he appeared to take their drinks. Tea for Mom, coffee for Mother and… well, Rose had been inclined to order a Shirley Temple like usual but maybe that was too kiddish to have in front of Mother for the very first time? She quickly swapped her order to some hot chocolate, even though it really wasn't cold enough outside to need that.
"Settling into town alright?" Mom asked casually as she crossed her arms across her chest and stared at Mother.
"Finding things to be just fine," Mother said with a nod. "Though I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff to see that won't make it into any of the guides." She turned to look at Rose and smiled. "Like you."
She reached over and rubbed Rose's hair with her hand. Rose giggled nervously and flicked her eyes up at Mom. Mom didn't look that pleased but she didn't actually say anything.
"I… I'm happy to meet you, Mother," Rose said. "It will be nice getting to know you."
"Same here, trust me," Mother said. "Real shock to the system to find out that I had a kid. Especially one as cute as you."
Rose smile was more genuine at that and she straightened up. She glanced up at Raul as he reappeared with a tray of drinks. And… and so much for looking mature and everything. Normally she was pretty glad to have those colored sprinkles in her hot chocolate but right now that wasn't the look that she was going for. It was too late to say otherwise, though. It would just draw even more attention.
Rose wrapped her hands around the mug and felt the heat radiating through the ceramic and into her fingers. And if she kept on holding onto it like this for long, she'd be feeling the whipped cream running down her fingers as well as it melted.
"So what do you do for fun?" Mother asked, pouring some cream into her cup of coffee.
"Oh, lot's of things," Rose said. "Um, I really like the Maggie Holt books and Mom and I are going to an event for them at the end of the month. And I like playing around with my friends. You know, tag, hide and seek, just running around with them."
"Ever thought about joining track?" Mother asked. "I was on the team in high school and I really got a lot out of it."
"I don't know," Rose said. "Running around and feeling the blood moving is a lot of fun but all the rules and stuff…"
"Trust me, I know all about stupid rules that people say you have to follow," Mother said with a snort and a nod. "The trick is finding out what rules they care enough about to enforce and then seeing if you need to follow even them."
"Sophia!" Mom snapped next to Rose, making her start. She didn't often hear Mom using that tone of voice with her, never mind anyone else. "Watch it."
"Yeah, because following along and doing everything you're told is how you're going to get anything good out of life," Mother said, rolling her eyes and making a scoffing sound. "You get what you take, not what you're given."
Rose… really didn't know what to say to that and she didn't like the looks on either of their faces as they glared at each other. She looked down at her mug and took a sip of the whipped cream, pressing some of the sprinkles up against the top of her mouth and feeling them melt.
Raul, thankfully, came by with a cheery question about if they were ready to order. Rose hadn't even looked at the menu but she still knew what she liked from here. A blue cheese burger, that got Mother to shoot her a glance of surprise. Mom followed up with a request for a chicken cabbage salad and Mother glanced at the menu before settling on the French dip.
The distraction let things calm down and Rose breathed out a sigh of relief as Mom and Mother both stared at each other instead of actually saying anything. Then Mother turned her eye to Rose again and Rose had to straighten up and swallow hard as she got herself ready for what was going to come next.
"I hope you have a lot of friends?" Mother asked.
"Yeah, I do," Rose said with a nod. "There's Mike and Sandra and the twins and there's lot more that I like talking to at school, even if we don't go over to each other's houses."
"That's good to hear," Mother said. "School's better when you've got some people around to have fun with."
Mom stirred next to Rose and crossed her arms over her chest, but she didn't actually say anything. Rose glanced at Mom and wondered if this was about her own students.
"So, um, how did you and Mom meet?" Rose asked.
"Oh, we'd known each other at high school for all four years," Mother said, casually waving a hand. "She was just one of those faces you saw around, you know?"
It was hard to think of Mom as just being another student at school, though Rose had to admit that she really knew about fifty of her fellow students as anything other than a name and a face. She nodded along, glancing up at Mom and swallowing at the outright glare that Mom was sending Mother's way.
"Anyway, after we graduated, we both, uh…" Mother looked down at Rose with a faint look of worry. "You know about babies and all that, right? Conception?"
"With, uh, you know, the, um, stuff," Rose said, gesturing with her hands and keenly aware of how many other people were around the three of them right now. "Yeah!" She finished with a squeak and only looked a little less embarrassed than Mother did.
"Right, then I don't need to explain to you how that all happened," Mother said. "Anyway, we were both really glad to be done with high school," Mom snorted at that and gave a tight nod. "And we ended up celebrating with one another."
Rose nodded and quickly decided that she didn't need any more details about that sort of thing. That stuff just wasn't interesting as it was, though apparently that would change in a few years. And trying to add Mom to it just made it all so much worse, nothing that Rose wanted to think about in any way at all.
"Can't believe what happened from that," Mother said, half to herself as she shook her head and stared down at Rose. "Still, can't say that it's a bad outcome, hm?" She smiled at Rose. "You're quite the cute little thing, you know?"
"Yeah," Rose said, giggling and blushing. "Mom and Missy tell me that all the time."
"Who's Missy?" Mother asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Missy Birion, my girlfriend," Mom said, her eyes narrowing at Mother. "You know her?"
"I… yes, I do, actually," Mother said, sounding rather shocked. "We, uh, work together. At the same company."
"You work for IDS, too?" Mom asked, looking surprised. "Huh. How about that."
"Yeah, was real lucky that they had a branch office up here to work with the local Protectorate," Mother said, leaning back in her seat. "Slotted right on in. Huh. Really is strange to think that we have another connection like that."
"Oh, that's cool," Rose said, smiling and feeling some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "Do you like her? I love her. She's a lot of fun to hang out with."
"Never would have thought I'd hear that about- Missy," Mother said, shaking her head back and forth. "But you live and learn, don't you?" She paused at that. "Speaking of that, how are your grades? With your mother being a teacher and all."
"They're good enough," Rose said with a nod, hoping that Mom wouldn't comment that they could be better. "Especially in English."
"Yeah, that was where I got some of my best grades, too," Mother said with a matching nod. "Math and Science, I don't think I've ever used a quarter of the stuff I learned there. But English, History and Spanish, yeah, those are a lot better. Let you understand what other people are saying." She snorted. "In more ways than one."
"I was thinking I'd take French next year," Rose said. "And maybe Chinese when I get into high school."
"Tri-lingual?" Mother asked, her eyebrows raising. "Damn, that's impressive, if you can pull it off. Most of the Spanish I remember comes from the street, not the book. Same with some Japanese and some Chinese, too."
"Never would have thought that you'd spend much time hanging around the wannabe-ABB types," Mom said. "Not the scene your friends would have liked."
"I had a life outside of Winslow," Mother said, waving her hand dismissively. "Anyway, enough about me," she looked at Rose again. "I might have missed the first ten years, Rose, but I'm aiming to make up for lost time."
"I… like the sound of that," Rose said, giving Mother a quick smile. "It should be really nice to get to meet you and learn more about you."
"And there's stuff I ought to be teaching you," Mother said. "Stuff that just wouldn't occur to Taylor."
Rose had no idea what that sort of stuff was. She glanced at Mom for help but going by Mom's worried look, she was just as lost as Rose. And a lot more concerned.
"Stop sucking on that lemon," Mother said with a snort as she stared at Mom. "Don't worry, it's just going to be the stuff that a girl like Rose should know."
"We'll talk about this later," Mom said after a minute. 'When Rose isn't around' wasn't actually said but Rose could guess that Mother was hearing it just as clearly as she was. "For now… well, it looks like the food is here."
It was! Rose eagerly took her plate and munched on her fries as she waited for the burger to cool off enough to bite into. She looked over at Mother as she grabbed a second napkin to place underneath her bowl of oiju or however you were supposed to pronounce the brown dip that came with her sandwich. And Mom was munching her way through her salad already.
"So you and Missy will be working together a lot?" Rose asked. "If you just got here and already know her, that is?"
"Uh, yeah, we're both working in the same department," Mother said, looking up from dipping her beef sandwich into the bowl. "She's-" Mother was obviously about to say something but then stopped and shook her head. "She's not the biggest girl around but she sure can make a room feel pretty small, you know?"
Mom was giving Mother a strange look at that and Rose wondered if there was some joke that she wasn't getting. She couldn't figure out what it might be, though, so she just nodded and bit into her burger. Mm, always a good choice here, even if Mom usually reminded her that blue cheese was cheese that had been left to rot.
"So I'm guessing you're not on any sports teams or the like?" Mother asked, getting a shake of Rose's head as she chewed the meat, cheese and bread. "That's a pity. I wouldn't mind coming to watch you at a game or match."
"I mean, sometimes we kick a soccer ball around at Legion Park," Rose said doubtfully. "But that's not really a game. We just do it until we get tired and want to do something else."
"I hear ya," Mother said with a nod. "Well, if you ever want to come over to my place, we can shoot some hoops or play baseball or whatever."
"I wouldn't mind visiting your apartment some time," Mom said casually as she pushed her salad around on her plate. "See how you're living."
Mother gave Mom a look at that but didn't say anything. She just nodded sharply and then turned back to Rose.
"Or if Taylor doesn't want to leave you alone with me," Rose was looking at Mom as she said that and saw the expression that appeared on Mom's face and it wasn't a very nice one, "we could always go see a movie or something."
"That would be nice," Rose said, both because of how good the idea sounded in its own right and because it seemed like something that Mom would be a lot less… um, less about. "Right, Mom?"
"I… yes, that sounds fine," Mom said, nodding her head.
"And don't worry, I'll even pay for the tickets and a bucket of popcorn," Mother said, waving her hand. "Heck, we can do that tonight if you want, after dinner here."
Rose glanced at Mom again and spent the next few seconds chewing through the mouthful of her food while her brain worked as quickly as it could. Did she want to spend more time with Mother right now and get to know her or did she want to have some time to think this all over and absorb everything that had happened today?
Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Rose nodded and swallowed a bit faster than she really should have. She coughed and took a deep gulp of hot chocolate, rubbing her throat as she did so. Both Mom and Mother were looking at her as she straightened up and she flashed them a guilty smile.
"That sounds like a lot of fun," Rose said with a nod. "I wouldn't mind going tonight. I don't have very much homework, after all."
"I… suppose we could," Mom said with a slow nod. "There's a multiplex at the mall about ten minutes to the north of us." She frowned. "No idea what's playing, though."
"If it's a multisceeen deal, we should be able to find something worthwhile," Mother said with a shrug. "I'm guessing anything above PG-13 is a no?"
"Of course," Mom said flatly. Rose decided not to mention what she and Liddy sometimes watched when they were over at her house. "Which should still leave us plenty of options."
Man, it had been a while since Rose had been to see a movie. Mom didn't often feel like going with how expensive they could be for two people with food and… man, had the last one really been over winter break? Rose certainly couldn't remember an earlier time than that. She had no idea at all what the three of them would be seeing but whatever it might be would have to be good, right? Well… okay, Rose knew that wasn't true but at least some popcorn and a pop would help make even a bad movie a lot better.
The conversation lapped for a bit as the three of them kept on eating their food. Rose was actually pretty hungry, having skipped any snacks after school since she knew that she'd be having an earlier dinner than normal here at Alan's. And it looked like she'd be having even more food at the theater, too!
"So how are you liking Portland, Mother?" Rose asked.
"Still pretty new and all," Mother said, wiping her face with her napkin. Man, was there a clean way to have French dip? "But I think I'm settling in pretty well. Been going for drives and walks around the place when I get the time."
"I know some good book stores that you could visit," Rose said eagerly. "And there's this ice cream place by the river, it's really good."
"What, Ice Jewel or something?" Mother asked with a frown. "Yeah, I think I saw that in one of the guide books I flipped through."
"Yeah, that's the one," Rose said with a nod. "Lots of tourists visit it, too, but if you don't go in the summer, it's not too crowded."
"It's pretty nice," Mom said, agreeing. "Good mint flavors there."
"I'll have to check it out sometime," Mother said, looking at Rose and giving her a smile. "You can tell me what the best flavors are."
"Hehehe, I'll need to try them all to figure out what the best ones are," Rose said, licking her lips as she thought about the two dozen different flavors that were there. And she could only remember trying half a dozen of them. "You get paid a lot at Design Solutions?"
"I just put two months down and a security deposit on an apartment," Mother said with a snort. "Whatever allowance your mom is giving you is going to stay as your income."
"Ah," Rose giggled. She glanced up at Mom and saw a fond smile directed her way, which helped her feel a lot better about this. "Alright, then."
Mother had finished her French dip and was working on the small bowl of grapes and strawberries that had come with it. She popped one into her mouth and her jaw worked for a moment before she swallowed.
"But at least when Christmas and your birthday roll around, you should be seeing some more presents waiting for you," Mother said. "Though if we, uh, did it in June…" she counted on her fingers for a moment. "Hell, I must have missed your birthday, huh?"
"Oh well," Rose said with a shrug. "There's always next year."
"Yeah," Mother said. "And ten years I've missed. Don't expect an entire decade all at once, Rose, but let me know what you like and I'll see about making up for twenty missed parties."
"Um… thanks, Other Mother," Rose said brightly, not feeling the need to turn down the chance for more presents. What should she even ask for?
Mother snorted at that. When Rose looked at her questioningly, she shook her head and smiled.
"Sorry, just remembered some Earth Aleph movie I watched, oh, about a decade ago. Had a cute girl like you in it having to deal with an Other Mother. Called…" she frowned, drumming her fingers on the tabletop. "Can't remember, really. Anyway, just struck a memory. Stick with Mother, alright, if Taylor's going to be Mom."
"Okay, sure," Rose said, glancing at Mom and getting a shrug in return. "If that's what you want."
"What I want is you, Rose," Mother said with a shake of her head and a sigh. "Learning I had a daughter, that's one major surprise." She gave Rose a smile. "But trust me, now that I know about you, things are going to be different. Going to be better. I'll make sure to teach you all the things that you should know about."
"That's something I've already got well in hand, Sophia," Mom said flatly, her salad not more than half-touched. "You don't need to worry about that."
"Yeah, well, there's things that you talk about and then there's things that should actually happen," Mother said, locking eyes with Mom for a long moment before glancing down at Rose. "But…" she smiled. "We can have that all out later, can't we? Right now, I'm thinking we should head on out and see what kind of movie is the most appealing."
"Um, yes," Rose said, nodding quickly, not sure she was understanding everything that was going on with Mom and Mother. "Do you know how to get to the mall from here?"
"I'll just swing in behind your car," Mother said. "Though…" she chuckled. "It's a big mall, where we're going?" Rose nodded. "Maybe they'll have a place that sells motorcycle stuff. Get you fitted for a helmet, so you can ride along with me."
"You have a motorcycle?" Rose asked, her jaw dropping. The only other person she knew who had a bike was Mike's older brother and he was at college. "That's so cool!"
"Damn- darn right it is," Mother said with a nod and a smirk. "Get you a helmet, get you some leathers and-."
"Absolutely not," Mom said in a flat, hard tone, ice cold, colder than Rose almost ever heard from her. "Rose is getting on a motorcycle over my dead body. I don't even think it's legal for a ten-year old to ride one."
"Legality is what you make of it," Mother said, rolling her eyes and waving her hand. "But fine, fine, I won't show her how fast I can go down the highway at midnight." She winked at Rose. "The answer is pretty damn fast, by the way."
Rose nodded and almost smiled before she realized that Mom was looking down at her and that smiling really wouldn't be a good idea right now. Instead, she nodded seriously and tried to look like she wasn't at all interested in that. She wasn't sure if she managed to convince either one of them of that but… hey, maybe by the time they got home, so much would have happened that Mom would have forgotten all about the motorcycle!
That had worked like, maybe twice in all of Rose's years but that was still a lot better than never working! And to get her mind off of that…
"So, the movie?" Rose asked brightly.
"The bill first, ladies," Raul said from the side, slipping the piece of paper onto the table. "Rose, it's good to see you again," he said, giving Rose a smile. "And your mother and…" he looked at Sophia blankly.
"Her other mother," Sophia said with a smile. "I reckon we'll be seeing a lot of each other, if this is Rose's favorite diner."
It was. Rose nodded at that, gave Raul a smile and quickly finished off the last few fries still on her plate. She looked between Mom and Mother as they paid for their meals and smiled.
Rose had a good feeling about having her other mother back in her life.
Fool, will be interesting to see Rose face the consequences of her bad choices considering what Sophia will take her into, break that rose tinted glasses in time.
I doubt Taylor can stop Rose considering what teenagers are like when seeing something shining and new in her life.
I doubt Taylor can stop Rose considering what teenagers are like when seeing something shining and new in her life.
I'm more worried about Sophia trying to put Rose in a situation where she second-triggers. Intentionally.
Edit: derp, I meant second-gen trigger.
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I don't think there have been any signs Rose or Taylor are even Parahumans at this point? Kinda hard to have the second trigger if there hasn't even been a first one.
... she's Shadow Stalker's kid...
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
that would be a second Generation trigger, not a second trigger
Derp. Thanks for the catch. My bad.