Genetics

I do not believe we can blame genetics for adultery, homosexuality, dishonesty and other character flaws - Jerry Falwell

Serena was sat on the couch in the den when Olivia arrived home, giving her daughter little to no hope of avoiding her and shielding her ripped blouse, bloodied nose and black eye from her view. Serena knew it, and mores to the point, Olivia knew it, throwing her keys down on the counter and then stepping into the room and into her mothers intimidating glare.

"Well?" Serena said questioningly, and then sat back, waiting for her daughter to explain herself.

Olivia sat down beside her mother, a sulky expression on her face.

"This principal called you?"

Serena nodded, "He did. Told me my daughter had been brawling in class. What's wrong with you Olivia?"

Her daughter glared at her, through an eye she could now barely see through. Serena got to her feet, heading to the kitchen and returning with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel which she handed to her daughter to use as a cold compress. Then she sat back, waiting for an answer to her earlier question.

"Genetics. Genetics is what's wrong with me."

Serena felt her heart sink. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting Olivia to offer up by way of an excuse - some kind of a spat over a boy maybe - but anything would have been preferable to that. To 'genetics'. It was the 'get out of jail free card' that she'd hoped her daughter would never dream of using, certainly not at the age of 14.

But, as she was then to discover, Olivia wasn't making excuses, and genetics wasn't an excuse, it was an explanation.

"We were talking about genetics. In science class." She took the peas away from her eye for a moment and looked at her mom, "Suzie Chesterton said that cheats give birth to cheats, and liars give birth to liars, and queers give birth to queers."

Serena held her hand up to stop her daughter in her tracks, "Gay people darling, not queers." It was a moot point, and one that was rather pointless, but if nothing else it stalled the conversation slightly, because she had a good idea where it was going and she wasn't sure she was ready to face it.

Olivia shrugged, "Fine, gay people then. Stupid either way. Gays can't have kids." She was chewing her bottom lip nervously and Serena was convinced she knew the reason why. She got to her feet, went to the drinks cabinet and poured herself a large measure of Scotch, "What else did she say?" She kept her back to her daughter, not wanting to see her face as she said 'it'.

"She said rapists father rapists."

There was a long silence, where Serena sensed she should be saying something helpful, but failing to find the words instead just knocked back her drink instead, before turning back to her daughter, although keeping her gazed fixed anywhere but her face; the wallpaper, the ceiling, anything to avoid looking at her. Eventually she found words. Not satisfactory ones, but words all the same.

"That's ridiculous darling. You shouldn't listen to a word she says."

"I didn't." Olivia said, plainly, simply, "I just thumped her."

And although Serena was furious with her daughter for getting sent home from school and appearing with a perfectly decent shirt ripped to shreds, she almost wanted to applaud the truculent little madam for putting bigoted Suzie Chesterton in her place. That said, once she'd poured herself a second drink and turned to face her daughter again, the last thing she needed to see was what she did.

The tears.

She sighed, "Olivia. Stop it. Pull yourself together."

Her daughter sniffled, as said tears trickled down her cheeks. "I got suspended mom. For three days."

Serena sipped her drink, "Well what do you expect darling? You assaulted a fellow student."

More sniffling, more tears, which in truth were starting to grate on Serena. Olivia was very good at feeling sorry for herself when it suited her, she never took into account what effect her little sulks were having on her. It wasn't like she'd really needed the genetics debate thrust in her face any more than Olivia did. Less so in fact.

"The principal said I'm a bully. That I'm aggressive and that I do stuff without thinking." Her daughter let out a sob, then dropped her bombshell, "I am like 'him' aren't I?"

It was the 'him' that did it, that resulted in the second drink being tipped down her throat and a third following. It was hard enough having to face the child he'd left her with every day, without said child ramming the existence of the bastard down her throat courtesy of her teenage angst. She looked at her daughter,

"You'll only be like him if you let yourself be." She said, coolly and calmly, but she could see the hurt in Olivia's eyes so turned away again, heading back to the drinks trolley, the whisky, before telling her harshly, "Go to your room."

"Mom…" She was still whinging, crying, making a show of herself. It was pathetic and Serena had reached the point where she couldn't face another minute of it, "Get to your room. Now."

She heard footsteps behind her, and when she turned round the room was empty. Good. Just the way she liked it. She reached out, picked up the bottle of liquor, taking it to the sofa with her.

It was going to be a long night.

*** L&OSVU *** L&OSVU *** L&OSVU *** L&OSVU ***

In her room Olivia tossed herself down on her bed, the cold hard words of Suzie, the principal and her mother flying around her head, torturing her, hurting her, making it impossible for her to breath. Before she knew it, she was sobbing, consumed by it all. Drained by it all.

It had always been like this. Ever since grade school, kindergarten even. She'd never fitted it. She'd been the dirty one, the one with no daddy, the one whose mom was never sober, the angry one, the one kids whispered about in the halls. And now this…

And the worst thing was that no one fought her corner, no one looked after her, no one was there for her when things got really bad. And why? Because the one person who should have been doing those things was the woman in the den, the woman who as she cried was climbing into the whisky bottle.

The woman who should have loved her, but who, thanks to genetics, was the one who hated her most of all…