Wilhelmina gets home at a quarter til eleven. She finds Sydney's bedroom empty. She walks down the hall to her own room, and finds her daughter sprawled out across her bed on her stomach. She carefully sits down on the bed.

Sydney wears a pair of white boxers with pink hearts on them, and a pink camisole. She has her hair bound in a loose pony tail. Her left hand lays under her face. Wilhelmina watches in silence as her chest rises and falls. She places her hand on Sydney's back, between her shoulder blades.

"What are you doing in here?" she asks softly.

"Leave me alone!"

"You're in my bed."

"Go away," Sydney frowns.

"Sydney please..." Wilhelmina tries to reason.

Sydney rolls over onto her back. She laces her fingers, and cradles her head in them. "What?" the girl growls.

"Why are you in here?"

"I don't know," she shrugs.

"Are you going to talk to me, or not?"

"Why should I? You hate talking. You hate listening to what I have to say. Why should I share anything with you? I'm just wasting my breath, because you're always right, and I'm always wrong."

"I'll admit that I'm not good when it comes to feelings, but I need you to talk to me."

"Why? Give me one good reason that I should tell you anything. You don't love me, you never have."

"Whoa! Back up. That's not true, and you know it."

"Do I?"

"I'm sorry that I haven't been a good mother."

"Stop apologizing, and do something about it."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Stop with all the bullshit."

"Watch it," Wilhelmina warns.

"Stop treating me like a child, but expecting me to act like an adult. I'm not an adult."

"I know," her voice softens.

Sydney sits up. She crosses her legs, and her arms. She stares at her mother, on the verge of tears, saying nothing. Wilhelmina moves to the end of the bed. Sydney looks through her.

"Tell me what I need to do," Wilhelmina begs.

"I shouldn't have to tell you. You're the parent."

"I don't know how to handle you. I never have."

"That's apparent."

"I don't know what you want from me."

"You should figure it out."

"Sydney I'm so sorry for all the mistakes that I've made. I can't change them, or take them back, but if I could I would do it."

"You're never going to understand."

"Understand what?"

"How you make me feel."

"Not unless you tell me."

"You should know. How did your parents make you feel?"

"Unwanted. When I was ten or eleven I would pretend that I was an orphan, that my parents had died, because that would be... it would have been easier."

"You don't think that I feel the same?"

"How would I know? You never talk to me."

"You're never around. Mom... you just sent me away. I'm obviously not good enough for you..."

"Why would you think that?"

"You're ashamed of me. You've never mentioned me to anyone. You barely even call me. You don't want me, you don't love me..."

"I love you. I'm sorry if I've ever made you feel, even for a moment, that I don't love you. I love you more than anything else on this earth. I just have a hard time saying it. I would move heaven and earth for you."

"I don't believe you," Sydney answers, fighting back tears.

"I know that you don't understand."

"No, I don't. You say that you were trying to protect me, but I can't see how. I'm miserable. I hate being so far away. Some days I wish that you were dead."

Wilhelmina stares at her daughter in silence, allowing her words to sink in. "You wish that you never had to be around me. You wish that you knew who your father was, and you could live with him. Sydney if that's what you really want, I'll make it happen. If you think that is going to make things better, if that is going to make you happier, then that is what I will do."

"Why do you refuse to tell me who he is?"

"Because I love you."

"I don't understand."

"I don't want anyone to hurt you. Maybe I've gone about it the wrong way. I thought that by locking you away from the world that no one could ever hurt you, but now I see that I'm the one who's hurt you most."

Sydney's jaw tightens, and she wipes a single tear from her face. Without a word, without any notice, Wilhelmina's arms snake around her. They hold her tightly. Wilhelmina pets her head. Sydney's arms loosen, and embrace Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina whispers, "I'm sorry that I haven't told you enough, but I love you. I am proud of you. I'm so proud of the person you've become despite every mistake that I've made. I'm sorry that I make you miserable."

"Tell me," she begs.

Wilhelmina lets go of her. She wipes the tears from Sydney's face with her thumb.

"Listen to me."

"I am listening," Sydney answers.

"I didn't tell anyone about you because I didn't want them to know about you, not because I'm ashamed of you."

"Are you ashamed of me?"

"Why would I be ashamed of you?"

"I don't know," she shrugs.

"I'm not ashamed of you. I handled things very badly, and I didn't know how to change the circumstances. I didn't want to tell anyone because I was afraid of what they would say. People can be cruel. It was selfish, I was trying to protect myself from being hurt. I didn't want people to constantly question my motives. Things are very different now than they were then."

"How so?"

"I'm a different person. Sydney I didn't tell anyone about you because I didn't want your father to find out. I still don't think that I want him to know."

"Why not? You think that he won't want me?"

"Originally, I was worried about that. He was young, and immature. He wasn't ready to be a parent. I'm still not sure that he is, but he has grown up quite a bit."

"Why do I get the feeling that there is something you're not telling me?"

"The situation with him is very complicated. I didn't want to throw you into the middle of it. Things between your father and I have always been very tense, there has always been, and will probably always be a lot of tension. We usually...almost never see eye to eye. He doesn't care for me all that much. I would never what his feelings toward me to affect his relationship with you."