Family is not an important thing, it's everything

-Michael J. Fox

Chapter 21: Mother and Daughter

"You're late… again!" Lily said as she knocked Jolene's sword to the ground, a sense of deja vu coming to me, and threw her wooden swords to the ground.

"Sorry Lily, wanna go shopping?" I asked out of the blue, to which Lily looked at me quizzically.

"Shopping? Why would I need to go shopping?" Lily asked confused.

"Well… don't girls like to go shopping for clothes or anything?"

Lily just laughed, "Lemme ask you somethin', do you like to go shopping?"

"No."

"Well I am your daughter, so what makes you think that I would like that? Besides, we both know I'm not your typical girly girl," she said putting her hands to her hips.

"Have mercy on your mirror Lily! It suffers enough looking at you already, don't make it look at you in pink!" Ryan taunted sitting in his tree.

Lily looked at me with a smirk and held up one of her wooden short swords and threw it at the tree, more specifically at Ryan, which hit its target. I couldn't help but laugh when I heard an "OW!" followed by the sight of a boy falling to the grass, and a thick book falling on him just for good effect.

"You really are my daughter. Nice throw," I said as I raised my open hand. Lily gave me a genuine smile and a high five. Ryan stomped over to us and stopped when he was in front of Lily, the wooden weapon grasped in his hand tightly.

"Was that really necessary? That hurt." He asked frowning. Lily called him a baby and went in to take her weapon back only for him to hold it our of her reach. "Was it?" He asked again. I silently shifted over to where Jolene was standing as she watched the two from behind Ryan.

"You called me ugly," she mumbled.

"It was a joke," he exasperated as he handed Lily her weapon, "besides we both know you're very pretty." He said. Over Ryan's shoulder I saw Lily blush a little, I decided to tease her so I made a heart with my hands, making her face even redder.

"Mom is taking me shopping now, see you later." She said as she walked around Ryan and towards me.

"But Lily… I thought you didn't-"

"I changed my mind. I think I saw something in the marketplace I want. Let's go!" Lily said getting behind me and pushing me towards said area. Ryan looked confused, but shrugged it off.

"You don't want me to come with you?" He asked in concern.

"I trust my mom now, so I think we'll spend some quality time with one another. Y'know, mother and daughter bonding, that sorta stuff. See ya!" She excused and called. I looked back at Ryan, who seemed a little worried, but said nothing as he waved goodbye. We walked down the hill that lead to the rest of the kingdom and I had us stop.

"What was that about?" I asked with a cheeky smile.

"Look… didn't you want to go shopping with me or something?"

"Well we can go after lunch," I offered. To which Lily shrugged and said sure and started walking with me down the rest of the hill.

"I'm guessing we're not going to Mila's, are we?" Lily asked jokingly, to which I stopped again and looked at her slightly irritated. "Too soon?"

"No. Any other restaurants?" I avoided not wanting to bring up the waitress.

"I could think of a few…"

Pretty soon we were sitting in a moderately nice restaurant that serves sandwiches. The restaurant's empty as of now, it's just me Lily and the owner/chef who's in his office. I got myself a tuna sandwich while Lily surprisingly got a chicken salad. She ate… proper to say the least. Instead of gobbling down the sandwich in one bite, she took little nibbles. She also used a napkin to get rid of the crumbs on her even sat up straight, how can people do that for a long time? I've tried and it hurt.

"Why do you only eat fish?" Lily asked breaking the silence.

"You've only seen me eat two times," I stated.

"Well both times you've gotten fish."

"Fair enough. Well I spent my whole life at sea, and I really like the taste of fish. The taste is comforting to me, like a bite of home," I said then took a bite of my sandwich. Lily did the same. "So tell me why you're eating like… this?" I said while waving my hand in a circular motion indicating her posture and everything. "Like a princess."

"I am a princess, I should be eating like this. I tend to eat messily when Ryan's around just to screw with 'em." Lily stated. Her eyes widened slightly like she let something slip and was worried I'd take advantage, which I totally am. I gave her my trademark wink and smirk.

"I would ask why you have so many personalities around certain people, but I'm more interested about Ryan. More specifically… what you think about him."

"Mom," she whined like any embarrased girl.

"What? We can share some mother and daughter secrets, can't we?"

"Well…" she trailed not knowing what to say.

"Y'know, your dad was the cutest ten year old across the seas. Oh boy, I had a huge crush on him, and I mean huge. After… some stuff happened he joined my crew and we ended up becoming best of friends. I was pretty possessive, making sure to keep him away from all the girls that kept staring at him, which was pretty much all the girls alive. Not to mention he was such a sweetheart which made my crush even worse."

"You really like my dad huh?" Lily questioned leaning on the table in interest.

"Yeah… still do. But enough of that. Tell me what you think about Ryan."

"Well… he's cute I'll give him that but, he doesn't like fighting much. He'd rather stick his nose in a book. I don't like reading, it's a bore." Lily gossiped slightly annoyed.

"Well you two seem to enjoy each other's company, doesn't look like you two get bored of each other. You two argue in a cute way… reminds me of the old days."

"Of you and Dad?" My daughter questioned.

"Yeah, like me and your dad…" I said dreamily thinking back.

"So what are we gonna do about you and Dad? I don't think that my cute girl act will even make him second think about saying no to going out with you," Lily said laying back into her seat and crossing her arms in a thoughtful manner. My mood immediately saddened at this.

"Um, about that… I don't think that your dad's ever gonna even consider going out with me," I said seriously, with a sad expression.

"Oh, does it have to do anything with last night?" She asked looking up at me.

"Care to tell me what you heard last night?" I asked smugly. To which she didn't even try to fake innocence but gave me a cheeky smile in return.

"Well I actually didn't hear much, from my dad that is. He wasn't talking loud enough for me to hear, but you were. By Din, that was honestly sad to listen to! I honestly didn't wanna listen in because you sounded so sad and heartbroken." She then looked at me as if she said something wrong, I just waved it off and said it was fine. She sent me a look asking if it's fine to go on.

"It's fine Lily, I want to know what you thought about what you heard." I reassured.

"I remember the sound a something being pushed against a… wall? What happened there?"

"I tried to kiss your dad," I confessed.

"That didn't go well then huh?" I shook my head and we both went into silence.

"To make matters worse, this morning-"

"What did I tell you not to do this morning?" Lily abruptly interrupted, not in a joking manner but rather irritated.

"Not to do anything stupid.," I quoted.

Lily shook her head and sighed. "So what exactly did you do?"

"Well as soon as your dad saw me, he told me to get out."

"Great start," Lily said sarcastically, to which I shrugged and shook my head.

"Yeah, and then he accused me of stealing the food and plate you gave me. I told him that you gave me a room and he didn't believe me. It wasn't until I told him you gave me the eggs that he remembered you asking for extra eggs or something along the lines like that. I tried talking to him but he said he didn't want to talk, sadly I didn't listen. And… I told him I still love him."

I looked at Lily who I expected to give me a look or a snarky remark, instead she just gave me this look that told me to continue. She seemed serious, like this matters to her. Not something that she could just push aside and joke about like she normally would.

"He pushed me against a wall, I knew he was angry but that hurt more than last night. We… we were so close to each other, and I couldn't help myself. That's when I kissed him."

Lily's eyes widened at this, but she remained silent. If she wanted to say something I know she would've said it by now. But she's apparently speechless.

"The next thing I knew, he pushed me off and called me a whore. He told me he'd never love me again."

Tears silently rolled down my cheeks, I couldn't help it. The thought of Link never even giving me the time of day, never looking at me with a real smile, never even considering getting back together, are nightmarish thoughts that I don't want to become a reality. Yet they are.

I heard a chair scoot back and felt gentle arms being wrapped around my neck in a comforting hug. Lily held me close, I can feel her heart pounding next to mine. Without hesitation I hugged her back and welcomed her embrace gratefully. We both said nothing, just taking comfort in each other's arms. I don't know how long we stayed like this, nobody came in and interrupted the moment nor did the manager come to check on us, but we hesitantly left our embrace. Lily stood in front of me, while I remained in my chair.

"You're just like your dad," I told her. She tilted her head a little bit questioningly, her arms still draped on my shoulders.

"Your dad would always comfort people who need it. Whether or not if he likes them, knows them, understands what's happened… he'll always be there. You don't really know much about me, yet you act like I've been here with you for years."

"Well… no matter what I say or what happens I can't deny that you're my mom. I guess I'm stuck with you and you're stuck with me. I want us to be close, and not just so you could end up with Dad again. After all these years the one person to beat me in a fight is the Maiden of the Seas that isn't to be messed with, that apparently loves my dad. And she's my mom? I couldn't be happier. I wanna be like you. I don't want dad to push you away, I don't want to lose you. I want you in my life. I want all of us to be a family."

The way she called me mom, it gave me this feeling of love I haven't felt in years. I feel like I belong with her, like I need her in my life. Like her, I want to be a part of her life. I lurched forward to consume her in another hug, to which she happily welcomed and returned.

"Now screw the shopping idea and let's go to the training area, you've gotta keep your end of the bargain." Lily said jokingly as she left my embrace.

"How could I refuse my daughter? You ready to get your butt kicked again?" I asked in the same tone. Lily gave me a smile that resembled one much like her father and I happily gave my own in return. I got up and left a red rupee on the table for the meal, while Lily swiped my sandwich off the plate and ate the rest in one quick bite. We both laughed at her appetite.

While walking out of the restaurant, I noticed the sign on the front of the door said 'closed'. A smile spread across my face at the act of kindness that a total stranger gave… actually it might just be because special princess treatment.

But then I realized that nobody treats Lily like a princess. As we walked through the crowds, hand in hand, nobody seemed to greet the her with a 'your highness' as you would expect. Instead they all politely gave her a smile and a wave of the hand, Lily doing the same.

Another thing I noticed was that the people who I've recognized as the ones who would stare at me like I just robbed them of all their possessions, gave a quick glance at Lily along with our connected hands, and would give me a kind smile. To which I did the same as my daughter and returned the deed, still holding my little girl's hand.

Author's Note

So the ending and emotional parts of the chapter need major editing. I'm hoping to get myself an editor soon to help me with my story. I promise I'll continue to try my hardest to make the rest of the story as great as I possibly can.

Despite my awful writing I'm so grateful for the support I've received. Thank you all again for your support, whether you've been with me since the beginning or have just skipped the last chapter to see where the story is as of now and has just started to read it doesn't matter to me. Support is support, doesn't matter who it's from.

Please REVIEW and tell me what you thought of the chapter. It means a lot and I like to know what my readers think of the story so far. See ya Monday!