Will carried the DVDs, popcorn and the bag with her new frog in it as she followed Susan down the hall to their apartment, her mother carrying the ice cream. Will couldn't believe that Susan had not only bought her two brand new DVDs but also a stuffed frog. She had always loved frogs since being a little girl but Susan had pretty much destroyed every single one as time went by telling her she didn't deserve them.
If she didn't deserve them though why was there a ton of them in her room now as well as Susan having just bought her one, true it was a cheap one with an over inflated price but that didn't matter to Will. What mattered was that her mother had bought it for her as well as those two Princess Diaries movies.
"So did you enjoy lunch, honey?" Susan asked with a smile.
"I loved it." Will said unable to keep from smiling. Despite being attacked by Hay Lin her mother had protected her. Her mother had taken her out to a feast for lunch, bought her movies, a stuffed frog and bought enough junk food for an army for a girls night watching said movies. As much as she was afraid to admit having a good time as she knew as soon as she did it would all come crashing down. She couldn't help it. She took a chance to look at Susan's expression and couldn't find a trace of malice there, only a happy smile.
"I'm glad honey." Susan said taking both bags with one hand as she took the keys and unlocked the door.
"Did you enjoy your lunch?" Carol asked from behind the two causing them both to jump slightly. Will had to bite her lip from giggling as Susan clutched at her chest taking several deep breaths to calm down. She was afraid to laugh though because she didn't want to ruin the day by doing something that stupid and earning her mother's wrath.
"Yes Missus Wilson." Will said smiling shyly. It was still hard to believe that Mister Leary didn't live there but instead this seemingly kind elder woman.
"Please, Will, when did you get all formal with me." Carol said smiling, "We're all friends here…Family even, call me Carol."
"O-Okay, Carol." Will said stuttering a little as she was a little surprised. Here was someone asking her to be impolite and not refer to her by last name which was something a little shocking to the redhead. Heck, if Will pulled something like that normally it would usually result in at least a smack from her mother as soon as they were alone causing her to shudder realizing she just did it while Susan was standing next to her.
"Have fun tonight." Carol said eyeing the bags, "I can see you two aren't wasting time before having a girls night."
"Not at all, Carol." Susan said smiling as she opened the door, "I don't want to waste any time with Will now that I finally have her back."
"Well you two go have fun." Carol said as she went back into her apartment causing Will to freeze in fear knowing it was finally going to happen. The good time she was starting to have was about to end now thanks to her foolishness.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Susan asked gently obviously picking up on the fear in the redhead.
"A-Aren't you going to hit me?" Will asked softly, her eyes beginning to tear up a little as a shudder washed through her body anticipating the beating she was going to get.
"What?" Susan asked her jaw hanging open in shock, "For what?"
"You always at least smack me if I'm rude like that." Will said watching her feet unable to watch her mother's beautiful and happy face turn into the hideous angry face she was more familiar with.
"Okay, you want me to smack you I will." Susan sighed causing Will to squeeze her eyes shut tightly, a few tears escaping as she felt her mother's hand caress her cheek softly tilting her head up and something soft and moist brush across her forehead. "Was that good enough?"
Will's eyes snapped open to stare into the twinkling eyes of her mother though there was a sad look in them. "What was that?"
"I gave you a smack…or more of a peck." Susan said leaning in again, this time as Will kept her eyes open and kissed the redhead's right cheek, then the left one then the forehead again. Will started giggling a little despite herself as she backed away blushing slightly though she much preferred her mother's affectionate display in public over a beating any day.
"Y-You aren't going to hit me?" Will asked having to make sure as she watched her mother shake her head no.
"Honey, I promised you I would never hit you and I mean it." Susan sighed, "You are the most precious thing in my life."
"I…I'm sorry." Will sighed looking down again. She wanted to believe the woman but she couldn't bring herself to. Sure she actually felt a little safe at the moment but she knew it was bound to end sooner or later, most likely sooner.
"Don't be sorry, honey." Susan said, "Let's get this inside before it melts."
Will nodded and walked into the apartment as Susan closed the door behind them. She nervously looked back over her shoulder where Susan kicked off her shoes near the door and pulled her jacket of hanging it up. She didn't look angry or anything as she walked past Will and sat the bags she was carrying on the stand by the couch before coming back and taking Will's stuff making her sigh a little. She should have known she would never be able to keep them but the woman didn't start berating Will or anything. In fact Susan was gently helping Will take her jacket off before handing the stuff back to Will.
"Why don't you go put your new frog in your room and I'll be in a couple minutes." Susan said moving to pick back up the ice cream, "I'm going to put this away and I have to make a quick phone call."
"Okay." Will said as she kicked her shoes off next to Susan's not wanting to track anything into the apartment as they were a little muddy from the rain earlier. She quietly made her way back through the hallway to her door and for the first time noticed the doorknob was still on it. In fact there was a poster of a bunch of frogs saying 'Welcome to Frog Country' on the front of it bringing a slight giggle at how cute it was. She had never seen it before as well as most everything else in the room as she entered into the alien environment.
She dropped the movies on the desk before finding a spot on the dresser she pulled the frog from the bag and carefully removed the price tag dropping it in the small empty wastebasket. She gently sat the frog down on the dresser next to the CD player before noticing something sitting next to it. It was something that was electronic, that was for certain as she found a small latch and unfolded it finding a small screen on the upper half and what looked like a CD player on the bottom. Looking at the cover she saw stickers of frogs covering it but she found a symbol that had 'DVD Video' on. It was a portable DVD player! Since when did she have one of those.
Looking up she almost dropped the player as she noticed pictures she knew for certain she never posed for. There was a ton of pictures framing the mirror on the back of the dresser, most having her and one of the other girls laughing and smiling in the shot and a few with all five girls with huge grins on their faces. She dropped to her knees staring at the picture in shock, her legs giving out as tears started forming in her eyes as she couldn't deny how happy all five of them looked in the picture. Turning the picture over she saw in Hay Lin's intricate hand writing, 'Happy birthday Will, Love you' and there was the signatures of each of the girl's on it. They had never once celebrated a birthday with her much less wished her well on one as Susan never threw her a party for years and they never did.
"WILL!" Hay Lin screamed throwing herself at Will, throwing her arms around the redhead knocking them both to the ground.
She thought about the confrontation with the Asian girl from earlier and as scared as she was when the girl came flying at her Will was sure she seen the girl crying. She didn't even remember any pain except being knocked to the ground and some from being squeezed near to death.
"Oh god…We should have tried harder." Will remembered Hay Lin crying over Will's hysterics. Will's fingers became limp as the picture slid from her grasp and slowly fell to the floor.
"You fucking bitch, this is all your fault!" Cornelia screeched as Hay Lin and Irma painfully held Will's arms behind her back, Taranee yanking her hair back forcing her to look into the hateful glare the blonde was giving her.
"I'm sorry, please…God please stop it!" Will sobbed as her body ached with pain, each of the girls had taken turns hitting and kicking her before they finally dragged her to her feet and held her for the raging earth guardian.
"SHUT UP!" Cornelia seethed backhanding Will across the face as hard as she could actually knocking the redhead from the other girls' grasp and to the ground.
That didn't even happen very long ago and was how the girls were not like the smiling, friendly faces in that picture. That picture was wrong, it had to be, everything she's been through couldn't be a lie! She had the injuries to prove it, the memories of the hateful faces that should be in that picture of how the girls really are.
"Oh god…We should have tried harder."
Hay Lin sounded genuinely upset and caring for Will but she couldn't be, she hated the redhead as much as the others did. She blamed Will for all the trouble they had to go through as guardians.
"Like you? I can't even stand looking at you!" Hay Lin snarled angrily as she drove her foot into the prone body of the redhead on the ground, taking her turn with her. "If you never came here then none of this would have ever happened! God, I wish you were never born!"
"Will?" Susan asked drawing Will's attention from her thoughts as she felt herself being drawn into a protective and loving embrace. Giving into her pain Will dove into the welcoming arms and cried into the woman's shirt as she clutched at it as Susan rubbed her back, occasionally stroking her hair while rocking the two of them soothingly.
"Honey…What's wrong?" Susan asked after calming the redhead down.
"This…It's not real…" Will sniffed as Susan continued stroking Will's hair. "None of it is, it can't be..."
"It is honey, you're home now and no one is ever going to hurt you ever again." Susan said lovingly almost making Will want to believe her but she couldn't afford to. She knew that this was going to come crashing down soon but she wanted to try and enjoy it while she could.
"C-Can we go watch the movies now?" Will asked nervously, pulling back to see her mother's teary eyes. Susan was crying too, and she had several times when Will was upset today. It was something else Will couldn't understand but decided to try to put if off until later. She knew all this was wrong but she didn't care for the moment because she wanted to enjoy the brief respite from the hell that she knew was normal.
"Sure honey." Susan said running her hand through Will's hair one more time before kissing her forehead. Standing up Susan helped Will to her feet before going to the dresser pulling out a pair of blue pajamas with a frog pattern on them.
"What are those?" Will asked looking at the silk pajamas, admiring them. She loved the frog pattern and wished she had something like that until she realized they were too small for Susan who was moving over to help Will take her shirt off.
"Mom!" Will gasped in surprise.
"It' s okay honey, I'm going to help you get changed." Susan said as she was very careful about pulling the top over Will's head so not to cause the girl's sore ribs and battered back any more pain than necessary. Next she unhooked her bra and slid it off causing Will to shiver slightly as the woman slowly slid it off before helping pull her jeans off. "Okay honey, lay face down on the bed."
"Wh-Why?" Will asked fearing that for the first time it was going to be her own mother was going to be the one to force her into things she hated as she crossed her arms over her chest hiding herself.
"It'll be easier for me to put this on you." Susan said showing Will a tube of something, "I'm sorry if it will sting a little but the pharmacist told me it would help draw the soreness and ease the pain."
Will nodded slowly unsure to trust the woman as she climbed onto the bed and hid her face in the pillow praying silently that the woman didn't do anything else than that. She felt a coldness ooze onto her back before Susan started massaging it gently working the cream in causing a warm feeling as she did. The woman gently worked her way down her back and each leg covering all the bruising while being careful of the cuts there. After what seemed like an eternity Susan got up from the bed making Will to look up at her.
"Okay honey, you can get up now." Susan said smiling as she picked up the pajama bottoms as Will let climbed from the bed stiffly though she had to admit the soreness was fading a little. Will started to take the pajamas but Susan instead knelt and helped Will put each leg in them before pulling them up.
"You know I can dress myself." Will said a little unsteadily, blushing a little at having to be helped getting dressed.
"I know honey but the least bending and twisting the better as it will help keep your injuries from getting worse." Susan said as she took the top and helped Will slide one arm in at a time before picking up the discarded clothes as Will buttoned it up.
"Mom…Thank you…" Will said softly as Susan was about to leave the room.
"Your welcome honey, I'm going to throw these in the dirty clothes and change myself." Susan said, "I'll meet you in the living room."
Will watched the woman leave before picking the movies up and heading back to the living room and sitting on the couch waiting for her mother to come in. She kept thinking about how nice the woman was, how much she was acting like she loved Will but a part of her kept telling her it was a lie, it had to be.
"You ready honey?" Susan asked walking in wearing a solid pink set of pajamas which earned Will's nod. She never saw Susan wearing anything that modest before but had to admit it made the woman look much nicer than the stuff she remembered the woman wearing. "Okay, I'll make us some popcorn and be right back."
Will waited for what seemed like an eternity for Susan to come back after she started smelling the strong buttery smell wafting through the apartment from the kitchen causing Will to drool a little. She had never remembered eating something like what she was smelling as the only memories she had of popcorn was dry little pieces of white puffs. It didn't have much of a smell and had less of a taste but what she was smelling now couldn't be described.
Finally Susan had emerged from the kitchen carrying two buckets of popcorn and what looked like two twenty four ounce bottles of Mountain Dew that Cornelia always had in her apartment as her parents always bought those six packs of it. Will had tried it a few times when the first met and they seemed like they were going to be friends.
"So which one first?" Susan asked handing Will a bucket of popcorn and bottle of pop while setting her own on the coffee table. Will was looking at the yellow popcorn that had very little white on it as she inhaled the rich buttery smell.
"Huh?" Will asked looking up.
"Which movie do you want to watch first honey?" Susan asked softly while reaching down to pick up the DVD's off the small table.
"I don't know, I really want to see them all." Will sighed.
"We can watch them all tonight honey." Susan said smiling, "I do have to go to work in the morning but we still have plenty of time to fit all three in before it gets too late."
"Okay…How about the Matrix first then the Princess Diaries in order." Will said hopefully while earning a confused glance from Susan making her want to panic from doing something wrong until Susan nodded.
"Matrix it is but if you don't like it honey we can stop it early." Susan said softly as she turned on the television and put the disc into the DVD player before joining her daughter on the couch with the remote in hand.
"This is really good." Will said smiling brightly as she shoved another handful of popcorn into her mouth.
"Slow down honey, your going to choke." Susan laughed gently as she took a bite of her own popcorn as the menu came up. Susan moved the cursor to play movie and hit it causing the movie to start.
The next two hours was one surprise after another as Will had actually paid attention to the movie as if it was the first time she seen it. With the way things had gone all day that was almost to be expected. What wasn't expected was the way Will was drawn into the movie actually enjoying it and as the credits rolled Will leaned back happily.
"That was so awesome!" Will exclaimed, "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome honey." Susan said as the doorbell rang drawing the older woman's attention. "I'll be right back honey, I think I know who that is."
Will watched in confusion as Susan walked to the door and peaked out the peephole before smiling and sliding the chain off the door and unlocking the deadbolt. "Will, please wit right there."
"Huh?" Will asked under her breath as she saw Susan open the door still in her pajamas without a robe or anything. The redhead's blood ran cold as she saw who was standing there holding a pizza and a six pack of those Mountain Dews.
"Hey hun, I brought the stuff you wanted." Dean said handing Susan the Pizza box and pop as Susan leaned in and kissed Dean.
"Thanks Dean, I'm really sorry." Susan said sadly before kissing him again.
"Don't be, Susan." Dean said smiling as the two broke apart, "If Will is hurting like you said she doesn't need me hanging around right now. Besides you two should be spending some time alone. Just let her know that I love her and if she needs anything I'll be there for her."
"Thanks Dean, good night." Susan said as Dean said his goodbyes shutting the door behind him and locking it back up to Will's surprise and relief. Her mother wasn't going to let Dean stay the night which meant he wasn't going to touch her.
"Hey sweetie, I had Dean pick up your favorite pizza." Susan said sitting down the pizza and Mountain Dew on the coffee table as she went to change the movies. When she came back she giggled a little at seeing Will staring at the box but sighed sadly as she realized Will was too afraid to touch it before Susan said anything.
Sitting next to Will Susan started the movie and dropped the remote on the table next to the pizza box and opened it. "Dig in Will."
"Y-You sure?" Will asked nervously reaching hesitantly towards the pizza loaded with toppings.
"I'm sure." Susan said before Will attacked the pizza with gusto while they watched the next movie. They both enjoyed the movie, though Susan was sure Will liked it more while they ate the pizza. Actually, while Will finished off the pizza after Susan ate just one piece declining anymore.
The final movie started with Susan getting Will a huge bowl of ice cream, several scoops of both rocky road on top of a banana and with chocolate sauce and whipped cream that they already had. Susan got herself a small bowl of just one scoop of rocky road and a little whipped cream.
About halfway into the movie Will started yawning so Susan gently pulled her down on the couch letting the redhead use her lap as a pillow. Susan smiled as she gently stroked Will's hair as the redhead started drifting off to sleep.
"Mom…Even if you start hating me again tomorrow," Will yawned, "Thank you…Thank you so much for the best day in my life."
Susan couldn't help crying a little as Will obviously meant it, the younger girl having must have been through so much under that bastard's torture. If she ever had a chance Susan swore she would make that freak prince suffer everything Will had been through ten fold.
NOTES
Wow, another decently long chappie, I believe even a little longer than the last one. I hope I didn't draw everything out in it too long.
Philip Gipson: Thankies, Hope you liked the way they interacted in this chappie as well as some of Will's memories even if they were a little sad. I'll go more into what's going on with the refugees in a chappie soon but I don't want to give too much away just yet. Thankies, they are my specialties which is kind of sad in a way I guess. I'm trying to make a video for the other one and I'll try this one but I can't make any promises because it will be the first time I ever did anything like that, sorries.