Trait
Summary: ..Cont. of Strangeling.. After the play rehearsal, Molly explains why she keeps Rick's paranormal interest a secret; Fi wonders about her family history with magic.
A/N: This is like a yearly thing with me…just when I think I'm over this show, it pulls me back in. At least this time I wasn't inspired to do an epic. Well, I was, but I'm not putting myself through that again.
So, just wanted to tell everyone that both seasons 1 and 2 are now completely on Youtube. Enjoy them while you can before the Evil Mouse (coughDisneycough) shuts it down. It was through watching "Strangeling," my favorite episode, over and over that I was inspired to write this continuation.
Enjoy!
"Girls, keep it down in there!" Melinda called across the open space. The adults sat in the kitchen, which was only divided from the living room by a long bar. Fi could be seen on her laptop with the twins sitting on either side of her, their noses almost pressing against the computer screen, the teen's website and recent experiences the exclusive topics of conversation. The trio would've been in one of the girls' rooms, but once arrived, Fi barely had enough time to unzip her laptop case before the girls dragged her over to someplace where she could sit and log on.
When rehearsal ended and take-out dinner eaten, the crew on the Molly Phillips Tour bus decided to swing by Melinda's house. Of course Melinda had offered to let her family, along with the Bells, stay for the week they'd be in Seattle. But Molly had argued that six people were a few too many guests, especially with Melinda working on the play. To compromise and placate Maggie and Miranda's desires to spend as much time with Fi as possible, the group agreed to spend the first night sleeping over before going to a hotel the next day.
The adults shared amused looks while they heard snippets of dialogue – "dragon," "magic book," and "witch" being the most repeated phrases.
Taking a sip of her coffee, Irene shook her head. "Sounds like I missed an exciting afternoon."
"Nah, it was nothing," Ned assured her. "Jack and Clu were messing around with special effects on set and tricked Fi into thinking she'd turned Jack into some sort of dragon.. Don't worry, I gave both of 'em a stern lecture while we were waiting for you to come with the bus."
Chuckling, Melinda glanced back at the girls. "I don't think you'll ever be able to persuade them that it was just a joke. They're convinced that Fi's a witch, despite that I keep arguing she's just a normal human being."
"Well, I don't know if I would go that far…" Ned remarked, earning him a laugh from Melinda and a small "don't talk about Fi that way in front of Molly" glare from his wife.
However, Molly wasn't even paying attention. While the other three adults continued to chat as they finished off their cups of coffee, she remained silent and contemplative. Melinda and Ned were just about finished with one cup, while Irene was almost done with her second.
But Molly had been nursing hers for the past hour they'd been talking. She knew if she drank any more than half a cup she'd be up all night – she always did have a low tolerance for caffeine, and Melinda hadn't made a pot of decaf.
Not that she'd need any help lying awake in her bed until morning. Where had Rick gotten that magic book from? And why did he drop it off at Melinda's?
She was positive that her daughter was wondering the same thing, and would contemplate it more when twin voices weren't talking at her a mile a minute. But she could easily assume that Fi's reasoning would be very different from her own. Molly was sure her daughter's head was buzzing with ideas, maybe that her father got the book from witches, or that he himself had some sort of magical ability. Or maybe Fi would begin to wonder if the book had belonged to one of Molly's relatives, since Fi believed her maternal ancestors to be witches themselves.
Of course that was ridiculous. Yet so typically Fi.
No, Molly's reasoning was more realistic. She wouldn't deny that spell books existed. But they were literature, a collection of poems thought by some to invoke power. That was all.
But Rick must not have thought so. When she'd first seen her late husband skimming through the book, he'd been hesitant to show her what it was. At that point in their marriage, his paranormal interests were becoming more and more prominent. And causing more and more fights. He knew she'd have a fit at the next incident, so he'd played down the find, quickly putting it away whenever she entered the room. But after he came home a little too late one night with the book in hand, they'd fought over what he'd been doing, his answers evasive. The book was gone from the house the next day.
Well now she knew where it went.
And once again it was in the possession of one of her immediate family members. Fi had no way of knowing that history was repeating itself. She never would, if Molly had a say in it. If she knew about it, this thing, this odd trait, that plagued her family would spin out of her maintained control.
Sure, Fi was into it now, but if she ever knew of the connection she shared…all hell would break loose. Fi would go deeper and deeper into it, to a point where no one would be able to save her.
Molly had seen it happen once. And she never wanted to see it again
But she hadn't factored in Melinda. Molly forgot that Rick's sister had no clue that Fi still didn't know. Luckily no harm had been done…so far She'd need to do something soon to make sure none would..
"Mol?"
At Irene's call, Molly picked her head up and gave her a weak smile. "Yeah?"
"Are you okay?" Irene asked. "You've been quieter than usual."
Ned scoffed. "Nothing about her has been usual today." The remark was accompanied by a warning look, reminding Molly that he'd noticed the several odd exchanges while backstage…and would be asking questions later.
Molly lowered her eyes like a scolded child. She'd have to do some quick thinking to get Ned's mind off this.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Irene asked. She shared a bewildered look with Melinda, but only received an indiscernible glance in return. "What did I miss? Is there some big secret I'm not being let in on?"
Almost predictably, Melinda remarked, "I'll say."
"Melinda!" Molly hissed.
"I still don't get why they don't know. Especially why Fi doesn't know," Melinda began, either unaware of or ignoring the death glare Molly was giving her. "It's not anything to be ashamed of. Everyone has a hobby…Rick's was just a little, shall we say, strange…"
"All right, that's it! In the den, now!' Molly seethed, taking Melinda by the wrist and dragging her out of the room. Leaving Ned and Irene understandably bewildered.
Molly and Melinda headed toward the back of the kitchen, made a left into the hallway underneath the stairs, and ended up in a decent-sized play room. Overstuffed furniture, a worn coffee table and plush carpeting filled the space, accompanied by a large television and the family computer.
While Molly made a determined effort to calm down, Melinda asked, "What was that about?" Her calm bewilderment was a sharp contrast to Molly's rising fury..
"What were you thinking?" Molly demanded.
Still confused, Melinda replied, "About what? I don't get it…"
"With Ned and Irene right there…With Fi, Fi in the next room!" Molly ranted, her voice as high as she dared to make it. "And you going on about Rick's 'hobby'…is that all you think it was? Don't you get it?"
Melinda gave her a blank stare in return. Then, slowly, her eyes widened in shock. "Oh my God…you…you're hiding it from her, aren't you? From Jack? From…everyone?"
"Yes, everyone," Molly answered. "And no one will ever find out."
The stare Molly received was mixed with Melinda's persistent confusion and now a hint of anger. "I don't get it…are you embarrassed of him? Are you worried that people will think he was crazy if you tell?"
Molly stood there with her mouth open in enraged disbelief. "Do you really think that of me? That I was ashamed of him? How could you…you just don't know what it was like."
"So now you're trying to justify being ashamed of your late husband?" Melinda asked.
"No! I never was, I've never been ashamed of him in my entire life! You're wrong, so wrong…" Molly trailed off, shaking her head and leaning against the arm of a club chair. "Y-you…you weren't…you just weren't there. You didn't see it take him over…consume him…destroy him."
The dark tone of Molly's voice had Melinda staring in surprised horror. "N-no, I suppose I wasn't. I'm sorry, Molly. I never realized how deep this went."
"Neither did we."
Molly and Melinda glanced up at the doorway to see Irene and Ned standing there. Both were stunned and hurt. Her eyes narrowed, Irene continued, "But then again, we probably would've had some clue if we'd known about it at all."
"What are you doing here?" Molly spat, trying to keep herself from falling apart. The painstakingly constructed wall around her secret was about to blow up before her eyes. And there was nothing she could do to stop it. A burning fear was mounting in her heart, old worries adding on to new, nightmares resurfacing…
Taken aback by her anger, Ned carefully said, "We heard shouting. Don't worry, Fiona didn't hear a thing. We were just coming to see if we could help calm your tempers, and…we overheard. If it helps, I had some inkling of what was going on after we talked today, and your face when Melinda handed over the Book…Molly, I'm so sorry."
"Me too," Irene said. But she was clearly angered – Molly hadn't trusted Irene, who was supposed to be her best friend, enough to share this huge secret. "But…why? So, Rick searched for the paranormal too. Why the secrecy?"
Molly felt like a deer caught in the headlights. How could she possibly even begin to explain? By then, Melinda, Irene, and Ned stood in a line, partially blocking the door. There was no way she was getting out of there without giving them something.
"He…he had the interest before we even met," Molly began. In her mind, she blocked out the stares of her friends and family. It would be easier that way. "At first, I was like Melinda – I thought it was a quirk, something that Rick would dig into every now and then when there weren't enough singing gigs to keep him busy. But as the years passed, it became painfully obvious that I had been very wrong. This 'quirk' was fast turning into an obsession. Or, maybe it had been an obsession all along, but he never allowed me to see it.
"Time wore on, and as we became more comfortable around each other, he started including me in his investigations. At least, he tried to. He'd come home with wild stories about witches, aliens, ghosts, vampires…everything regular people think are pure fairy tale, he'd claim to run into. And…" Molly paused to catch her breath. "And…I believed him. Sometimes.
"I didn't become obsessed with it like he did, but it got to the point where arguing about the believability of one of his stories…it just got too hard. It got easier to believe him. And not only because our marriage wouldn't be able to take the constant fighting for long, but…but because I've seen things too. With Rick, it was unavoidable that I'd see…things that could not be explained away, no matter how hard I tried." Molly shook her head, the memories making her smile. "I remember one time where he was convinced I had some psychic ability. When I made the mistake of suggesting he call up an estranged cousin right before she had a near-fatal heart attack. There were other instances too, but that was his main argument. Let me tell you, I've questioned my sanity back then more times than I could count."
Her audience had remained silent, listening to her story with shock and awe. Clearing her throat, Irene asked, "I don't understand. How could all this be going on, and Ned and I have no clue about it? Or anyone else on the tour?"
"Rick…was very secretive about his hobby. In the later years, at least," Molly answered. "He'd told me in his younger years that he'd share his theories with anyone who listened, but a lifetime of being laughed at or thought insane taught him to be careful about who he trusted." Molly hesitated at that and sighed. "Just like Fi. But that was a good thing. I'm sure he would've been officially labeled with some psychological disease had he not learned that maybe not everyone has a mind as wide open as his."
"Well, I can't say that you're wrong about that," Ned confessed. "Not when we don't believe Fiona now."
Melinda nodded. "I remember that. I'm sure if Rick had grown up in this time, he'd have a website like Fi's. He was so intent on finding out 'the truth' and telling it to the world."
A contemplative look on her face, Irene asked, "So what happened? How'd you go from on the verge of turning into a believer, to…now? You don't budge an inch when it comes to anything Fi tells you."
Molly let out a deep breath. "I never completely went over to his side. There was always this…rationalizing voice in my head. I just couldn't be okay with it. We were coasting along pretty well even then, both satisfied with the compromises we were making. But then…then he started talking about demons. And evil spirits. And…and how he believed that a demon was targeting him and his family. That I'd need to go over to his side and support him if there was to be any chance of surviving.
"So that's when I lost it," Molly continued, guilt-ridden and mourning for what could've been. "Something in me snapped. Somehow my brain worked it out that if I pretended ignorance, went back to my old beliefs that none of it existed, everything would go back to normal. It was easier to think that all this danger was only a figment of Rick's imagination. Eventually, it got to the point where I started believing that my faith in Rick's stories was a total lapse in my sanity. To this day, I still try to convince myself of that all the time.
"But Rick didn't let it go when I did. The shift caused so many fights that…he retreated into his world, claiming that he was 'on to something' and needed to spend all his time doing research. In my mind, I convinced myself that he was just upset that I'd dropped support of his hobby, and would get over it once he stopped sulking." Molly nearly choked at that, feeling tears form in her eyes. "And that was how we left it. Next thing I know, the police are coming to my door."
Finally looking up at her friends and Melinda, she said, "And that's why Fi can never know. Becoming wrapped up in that world only causes pain. She'll lose everyone around her if she pursues this. If she knew Rick did the same thing, it would validate her very dangerous passion. She'd hold on to it and never let it go…until it destroys her. Until it kills her."
Wiping a tear from her eye, she stood up and noticed that Irene was now crying into Ned's shoulder. Ned himself was looking teary-eyed. Melinda went over and wrapped Molly in a comforting hug. "I'm so sorry," Melinda whispered. "I should've been there for you."
"There was nothing you could've done," Molly assured her as they broke apart. Turning to her friends, she explained, "Fi cannot know. She needs to learn to stop this before it affects her for the rest of her life. Or at least learn to keep this a secret. We can't encourage her."
Irene and Ned traded glances, but eventually nodded. "I don't like keeping this from Fiona," Ned confessed. "But it's for her own good."
"Though I doubt Fi would ever see it that way," Irene said.
"I'm not expecting her to," Molly replied. "Her opinion on the situation doesn't matter. What matters is keeping her safe."
A/N: Part II, Fi's thoughts on the recent developments, will be posted soon!