Betrayed
Summary: Clare Edwards finally confronts her father about how she feels, about his cheating.
A/N: I can't help but wonder about how Clare would confront her father about what she found on her parents' divorce papers. Hopefully, we'll get to see this in the second half of season eleven, considering we didn't see Randall at all in the first half.
This is a oneshot.
Clare Edwards sighed loudly and rolled her eyes as she combed her slender fingers through her hair. Today was the first day in about five months, that she would be seeing her father. He didn't know that she knew about his cheating. No one except Jake and Alli did. She hadn't even told her mom. For a few months, her father had been away on some type of business trip in America. Then, a couple of weeks ago, he'd finally come back. She had refused to see him then, even going as far as to throw away the gifts that he'd brought back for her. She knew that it might seem harsh, but she'd gone without even a phone call from him during his entire trip. She was still really upset about the divorce papers and she didn't feel like hearing his lies. He could act like she was important to him all that he wanted, but she didn't believe it. If it was true, he'd have never cheated on her mom. He'd have never destroyed their family. She was broken from her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door and her father's voice as Glen answered it so that Helen didn't have to.
Steeling herself, Clare prayed silently and then, with shaking hands stepped out of the bathroom. As she walked past Jake's bedroom door, it opened and he walked out, embracing her comfortingly, resting his chin on the top of her head. She leaned into his chest with a sigh, burrowing her face in his plaid shirt and squeezing her bright blue eyes shut. Her slender arms wrapped around his waist tightly as she breathed in his scent.
"You okay?" Jake asked softly, pulling away from her a little bit to stare down into his eyes.
Clare tried to smile reassuringly but she failed and shook her head. "I don't know how to act around him." She said in a soft whisper. "I'm just so angry at him for what he did."
Jake sighed softly, listening closely to make sure that his dad, Helen, and Clare's father were still talking, before he leaned down to peck her on the lips. "Maybe you should talk to him about it. Tell him how you feel and that you know what he did."
She stared up at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Well how exactly do I even go about that? Clearly, he and mom didn't want me knowing the real reason behind the divorce. He'll probably get mad and act like it's my fault." She said. voice cracking with emotion.
He smiled down at her sadly, and brought her into his room so that they could sit down on the edge of his bed. "I'm sure he wouldn't blame you. And besides, you deserve some answers. You deserve to know why he did what he did. I can tell that the whole thing bothers you, even though you don't like to talk about it, much."
Clare gave him a sad grin and leaned in to softly press her lips to his, before pulling away. "Thank you for listening to my problems, Jake." She told him, just as there was a knock on the door. Pulling away from him, Clare stared at the door as it opened, revealing her mom standing there.
Helen glanced at her daughter and Jake suspiciously, before saying, "Clare, your father's downstairs waiting for you. I told him that you'd be down in a few minutes."
"Okay, mom." The teen in question said, standing up and following her mother out of the room, reluctantly. Before she was out the door, she turned her head to smile at her boyfriend/stepbrother before walking out of the room.
Clare rolled her eyes and slid into the passenger's side of her father's car, slamming the door angrily, and leaning her head against the window.
"So...Clare-Bear, how have you been? You never called me back, these past few weeks." Randall said to his daughter, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes.
Clare growled under his breath at his act and didn't answer, content in sitting here in this uncomfortable silence. She wished that he'd get a clue.
Randall frowned slightly at his daughter's behavior as he pulled into a small, italian restaurant that he knew used to be Clare's favorite when she was younger. "Come on, Clare. Get out of the car. Maybe you'll feel better and will actually talk to me once you get some food in you." He got out of the car, quickly, waiting for his little girl to get out as well so that they could head in.
"Fat chance." Clare hissed under her breath as she got out of the car, clenching her fists to her sides.
Inside the restaurant, they took a seat at the table that the hostess had led them to and waited for a waitress to come and ask them what they wanted to drink. Clare stayed silent as she flipped through her menu, even though she already knew what she was going to get. She was trying to avoid the chance of conversation as much as possible. She knew that she should just take her boyfriend's suggestion and confront her father about the fact that he cheated, but she didn't know how. Seeing him, acting as if he'd done nothing wrong, just made her angrier.
"Hi, my name's Cathy, could I get you two something to drink?" A pretty, brunette waitress asked, beaming at the two of them with dark brown eyes as she held her notepad. She didn't seem to realise that she'd just stepped into an uncomfortable situation as she began to twirl her hair around a finger, with one hand on her hip.
Clare rolled her eye as her dad smiled stupidly at the woman, as she touched his arm flirtatiously. It was disgusting what he was doing. The waitress was probably only about eight years older than Darcy. Mumbling what she wanted to drink, she turned her head away, quickly.
"So, what have you been doing, Clare?" Her father asked of her, once the waitress had left to go get their drinks.
"Nothing, really." She answered shortly.
"Come on, Clare. Why won't you talk to me?" Randall asked after the waitress came back with their drinks and then left the table again after taking their order.
"Why are you acting as if you didn't do anything wrong?" Clare bit back, glaring back at him with icy blue eyes.
Randall gave her a confused look.
"You cheated on mom. You're the reason our family fell apart!" Clare almost yelled, slamming her small fists into the table, ignoring the pain.
He looked at her with confusion written all over his face. He and Helen had decided to keep the specifics of the divorce away from Clare. "How did you know?" He asked.
Clare shook her head in disbelief at his question and gave a bitter laugh. "It doesn't matter, does it? You're not even sorry for it. I'm gonna go." She grabbed her purse and stalked out of the restaurant, leaving her father sitting there as she called Jake to come pick her up.
Next/last part: Clare tells her mom about what she knows. Clare and her dad have a much needed conversation.
