In the greenhouse, Cordelia Foxx was standing mixing liquids in all kinds of beakers. She felt someone run their hand over her blond ponytail. She jumped, dropping the beaker in her hand and watched it smash to the ground. She turned and came face to face with an older blonde.
"You dropped your cocktail" she laughed.
Cordelia: "I thought you were in Switzerland?"
Fiona: "Well I'm back, this Coven is falling apart and I'm her to do what I can to get it right"
Fiona: "Anyway, where is Amelia?" she asked, cutting straight to the information she really wanted and also to show Cordelia that there would be no arguing about her staying.
Cordelia: "I really wish you wouldn't come back" she answered dryly.
Fiona: "You may not want to see me but I can guarantee she will" she smiled knowingly.
Cordelia: "Yeah because she still believes you actually have good in you. She's young, she'll learn"
Fiona just looked at her still waiting for an answer to her original question and Cordelia sighed.
Cordelia: "She's in her room"
Fiona stubbed out the cigarette on the workbench and gave Cordelia a smirk before walking away.
When she entered the house the 12-Year-old was already running down the stairs with a smile on her face. She threw her arms around her tightly, breathing in the familiar scent of her perfume mixed with the smell of cigarettes comforted her.
Amelia: "Mama you're back!" she grinned.
Fiona: "Did you sense I was here?" she asked still holding the girl.
Amelia: "No I seen your car out front" she laughed but the laughter disappeared as quick as it came.
Amelia: "Don't be disappointed?" she said sadly taking a step back from her mother.
Fiona: "Sorry I just thought your powers would have grown more since the last time I was here. It's OK, come here" she answered pulling her back into her embrace.
Amelia was an empath. She could feel the emotions of others and it sometimes felt like more of a curse to her than a gift. The 12-year-old was the spitting image of her sister – it was not uncommon for her to be mistaken for Cordelia's daughter. She had been at the school and under the care of her sister since the age of 10 although her Mother did make frequent visits. Amelia and Fiona had a stronger relationship than what Fiona and Cordelia ever had. The Supreme hadn't planned on ever having another child but when she fell pregnant unexpectedly she swore she would try not to make the same mistakes with her.
Amelia: "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but why are you here? I thought you were in LA?" she asked with a puzzled expression.
Fiona: "You're correct I was. But I missed you, and this school isn't running the way it should. So I'm here long term"
Amelia: "Oh my god that's amazing! Don't get me wrong, I love Cordelia to pieces but I could use a break from her playing Mum. I hate that I have to stay away from you" she said sadly.
Fiona: "I know darling but it's for the best you know this" she said holding the girls chin.
Amelia: "I know; I know" she sighed, leaning back into Fiona.
Cordelia walked in and she couldn't help roll her eyes at her younger sister and mother. Perhaps it was jealousy that they did have a better relationship, or because she really did believe her Mother didn't care about anyone but herself.
Cordelia: "You should be going to bed Amelia; it's getting late" she instructed.
Amelia: "Mum's here now so surely it's up to her when I have to go to bed?" she said looking between the two.
Fiona: "It's the weekend, you can stay up longer. Go on upstairs, I'll be up shortly, we can get a game of gin" she said.
Amelia smiled: "Thanks Mum! I'll go get the cards out" she answered as she ran off.
Cordelia whipped around angrily to Fiona once Amelia was out of earshot.
Cordelia: "I wish you wouldn't undermine me like that" she hissed.
Fiona: "Oh get a grip, it's Friday night, it's not as if she's a nuisance anyway. We'll play cards and she'll go to bed – no big deal" she spat back.
Cordelia: "You left her under my care, when you come here and do this then it makes it harder for me when you leave again! Constantly having to argue with her because 'Mum would let me do this' is getting tiresome!"
Fiona: "Isn't it lucky I'm staying for a while then?" she smirked.
Cordelia: "Which will just make it even harder when you leave. You know I could just refuse to care for her any longer and you can take her with you if you decide to keep this up" she threatened.
Fiona: "Except we both know you wouldn't do that because you really believe that I am a horrible Mother, and you love her like you would your own" she smiled knowingly.
Cordelia shook her head angrily and walked away from the older blonde because she knew she couldn't argue her point. She was right. There's no way she would even think about allowing Fiona to take over full care of Amelia again. It was no secret that Cordelia and Amelias relationship was strained but there was no doubt about it that Cordelia loved that girl more than anything else in the world.
The next again evening Fiona was lying on top of her bed resting, she was getting tired more often than she used to. Her days of boozing and staying up all night were beginning to take their toll. The pounding had just stopped in her head and she could feel herself dozing off but her peace was shattered as she heard shouting coming from her two daughters from downstairs.
Fiona stormed down the stairs angrily, her heels clicking as she went. Despite being so tired she was wide eyed, the fire clear in her eyes.
Fiona: "What the hell is going on here?" she fumed looking between the two.
Amelia: "She's grounding me but it's not fair!" she whined and stomped her foot in a somewhat childish protest.
Cordelia: "Not fair? Not fair?! You stole from that store and now you're blatantly lying about. The police just brought her home" she said turning to Fiona. Her usually pale complexion was replaced with a pink face from yelling so much at her sister.
Amelia stepped back suddenly as she felt the surge of anger coming from her Mother before it even showed on her face. Fiona strode forwards towards her pointing her finger angrily.
Fiona: "You stupid girl! How many times have we to tell you that in order to keep us protected we draw as little attention to ourselves as possible!" she shouted still moving towards her.
Amelia kept moving backwards till her back hit the wall and her Mother was right in front of her. She had her face turned away as she screwed up her eyes in fear at what was about to happen.
Amelia: "I swear I didn't do it Mama" she whimpered as the tears managed to escape her tightly shut eyes.
Fiona: "Open your eyes and look at me" she snapped, as she bent down so that their eyes were at the same level.
Amelia did as she was asked and slowly moved her head around to look into the pair of brown eyes that were staring back at her. Fiona was so close that the girl could smell the bourbon and cigarettes on her breath. Her heart was beating hard and fast in her chest, her body tense waiting for her Mother to speak.
Fiona: "Tell me again that you didn't do it"
Amelia: "I swear Mama I would never do that!" she cried, her eyes wide with fear in case she didn't believe her.
Fiona: "Now tell me that you did do it" she spoke, her voice deathly calm.
Amelia: "But I didn't do it!" the young girl protested as the tears poured now from her eyes.
Fiona: "Just do as I ask Amelia" she snapped once again.
Amelia: "I did do it" she said quietly, because she was so reluctant.
Fiona stood up and sighed: "She didn't do it"
Amelias body visibly relaxed and Fiona put an arm around her, the girl melting into her embrace as her breathing slowed.
Fiona: "Go upstairs, calm yourself down and clean yourself up" she instructed as she broke apart and steered her to the bottom of the stairs. The youngest blonde nodded quietly and headed up.
Cordelia: "How can you be so sure that she was telling the truth?" she asked raising her eyebrows.
Fiona: "Her pupils dilate when she's telling a lie. She's been like that since she was a child" she answered back before heading to the liquor cabinet and pulling out a glass decanter filled with bourbon and depositing it into her glass.
Cordelia: "And you couldn't have told me that?"
Fiona chuckled: "You keep insisting that I am a terrible a mother and how much better off she is here with you but yet there is so much you don't know. If you paid that little bit more attention to her than making sure she has just her basic needs met then you'd know these things"
Cordelia: "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked angrily.
Fiona: "Oh please – she gets the essentials but when do you ever spend any time with her? You don't even show warmth to her. Yet you go on about how much better she is cared for here"
Fiona continued: "Do you know her favourite colour is yellow? Did you know that she likes to sleep hugging something – as a child it was a teddy bear and now she uses a pillow? Did you know that the only thing she is scared of more than disappointing me is disappointing you because despite everything you are still that girls' hero? I know you're pissed because your sister was brought up a lot differently to you, because I learnt a lot from the mistakes I made with you. And it's about damn time that you stop taking that out on her. It was my fault, not hers!"
She downed what was left of the bourbon and slammed down the empty glass before retreating upstairs, leaving Cordelia to swallow what her Mother had just told her. The woman slowly walked over to the sofa and sat down slowly as she placed her head in her hands. She felt a tear escape and roll down her cheek as she came to the awful realisation that everything Fiona Goode had just said, was true.
She walked upstairs and knocked on her sisters' room door before entering when she got no answer. Amelia was lying on the bed facing the window, she didn't even bother to turn to see who it was. Cordelia stood at the side of the bed for a moment before she eventually lay down onto her side, moulding her body against Amelia's and putting an arm around her tightly.
The absence of the scent of cigarette smoke made Amelia aware to the fact it was Cordelia. She tensed up at first but then relaxed, her older sister surprisingly relaxed too in the embrace.
Amelia: "You never hug me. Why are you hugging me?" she asked confused.
Cordelia: "Because I'm sorry" she answered sadly.
Amelia turned and faced the woman. Cordelia tucked a strand of blonde hair behind the girls' ear before placing a hand gently on her cheek and rubbing her thumb back and forward over it.
Amelia: "For what?"
Cordelia: "Well firstly for not believing you. But mostly, because of how awful I've been to you. Fiona has never done a lot of things right in her life but I can't deny that she has been a better mother to you than she ever was with me, and I've taken that out on you"
Amelia let out a small sigh: "I thought that maybe you just didn't want me here, that I was a burden. I can't feel your emotions like I do with everyone else"
Cordelia: "You never have, and never will be a burden to me. I love you more than anything else in this world sweetheart" she soothed.
Amelia: "I know it sucks that you have to take over the mother duties when Mom isn't around, and as much as I love her and hate being away from her, I know it's better that I'm here"
Amelia continued: "I'm not totally blind to it Delia, I can feel her emotions remember. I can feel when she's here for too long that she starts to resent me. She tries not to show it but I feel it. And her temper when she drinks, I swear I thought she was going to hit me" her voice caught in her throat at the latter end as her eyes welled up again remembering the fear.
Cordelia: "I just want what's best for you and I honestly believe sometimes that she is not it. She may have improved Amelia but she is still so selfish and you will never be her priority. But you'll always be mine"
Amelia gave a half-hearted smile: "I love you"
Cordelia pulled the girl in tightly and placed a kiss upon her head: "And I love you too kiddo, more than you'll ever know. I wish you could at least sense that"
Amelia: "I don't have to sense it. I believe you"