"Give it up for Halle Mitchell, everyone!"
The crowd roared as the announcer directed the spotlight onto Halle, who smiled and waved to the audience as she climbed up onto the stage. She took a seat at the grand piano and drew in a deep breath, and she looked out into the audience. Her eyes cut
through the crowd and looked straight back at those waiting in the green room, and she locked eyes with her mother. She gulped nervously as her eyes wandered over to Brad, who shot her an encouraging grin and a thumbs up.
This was terrifying. She had never once stood up to her mother before, and now she was going to rebel for the first time...in front of a live audience.
Halle cleared her head and thought up the perfect song to play as she began running her fingers over the piano keys, beginning to sing King of Anything.
"Keep drinkin' coffee stare me down across the table, while I look outside. So many things I'd say if only I were able, but I just keep quiet and count the cars that pass by..." Halle's melodic voice rang out through the hall, and she looked straight
at her mother as she continued to sing. "You've got opinions man, we're all entitled to 'em, but I never asked. So let me thank you for your time and try to not waste any more of mine, get out of here fast." She let a little smirk find its way
to her lips as her confidence grew, and the song continued. "I hate to break it to you, babe, but I'm not drowning. There's no one here to save..." Halle took in a deep breath before beginning the chorus, noticing her mother's face in the crowd grow
more and more red with anger. "Who cares if you disagree? You are not me. Who made you king of anything? So you dare tell me who to be? Who died and made you king of anything?" Halle closed her eyes and smiled as a huge weight seemed to lift from
her shoulders, and as she put all of her heart and soul into her singing as her voice grew louder, she continued to play the piano. "You sound so innocent, all full of good intent, you swear you know best. But you expect me to jump up on board with
you and ride off into your delusional sunset." She looked up from the piano and stared directly into her mother's eyes out in the crowd, attempting to get her point across. "I'm not the one who's lost, with no direction oh, but you'll never see. You're
so busy makin' maps with my name on them in all caps. You've got the talkin' down, just not the listening. And who cares if you disagree? You are not me. Who made you king of anything? So you dare tell me who to be? Who died and made you king of anything?"
Halle's angry, passionate singing voice calmed down to a quieter, melancholy tone as a dark, saddened look crossed her face. "All my life I've tried to make everybody happy while I just hurt and hide, waitin' for someone to tell me it's my turn to
decide..." Her confidence boosted as she felt the lyrics were the story of her life, and she gallantly looked out into the crowd again. "Who cares if you disagree? You are not me. Who made you king of anything? So you dare tell me who to be? Who died
and made you king of anything? Who cares if you disagree? You are not me. Who made you king of anything? So you dare tell me who to be? Who died and made you king of anything?" Halle hit the last key on the piano as the song came to a close, and she
watched as her mother glared at her intensely from the crowd and she finished singing the last line. "Let me hold your crown, babe."
The crowd had no inkling of Halle's ulterior motive for singing that song, but they loved it. Her fan base only seemed to grow as everyone in the audience clapped, cheered, and roared with words of approval, and the young brunette elegantly descended
from the stage.
There... She did it. She stood up to her mother.
...and now it was time to face the consequences of that.
"Halle Mitchell...!" Georgiana raged, balling her hands into fists as her daughter stepped back into the green room. "What on earth were you thinking!? How could you, embarrassing me like this in front of our guests!?"
Halle's eyes dejectedly flickered to the ground for a brief moment, and then she looked up at her mother's angry expression. "Mom... Don't you get it? I've been trying to tell you this all along... I don't want you to tell me how to live my life. I'm
tired of you trying to make me into someone I'm not." She sighed, tightening her fists in anger. "I don't want to marry into the Livingston family and settle down, I want to continue my work as a detective and live my own life...!"
"That's enough." Georgiana cut her off with a blank expression, holding up one hand to silence her. "I've had enough of this nonsense."
"Mom...!" Halle widened her eyes in shock, nearly shouting at her in surprise.
Second Unit awkwardly watched this argument ensue from the sidelines, trying to figure out just when was a good time to step in and break it up. But... Well, there really didn't seem to be an opening for that at all, so everyone just watched as the tension
grew and the two women's voices got louder and louder. Brad awkwardly closed the door to the green room in fear of the guests hearing, having a feeling this was not going to be pretty.
"This really isn't the place to be having this conversation, dear." Georgiana leveled her malevolent glare at Halle, crossing her frail, bony arms tightly a less her chest.
"Well, when else am I going to get a chance to talk to you!?" Halle scoffed in disbelief as a pained look came across her face. "I feel like the only time I can actually grab your attention and get you to listen to me is if I go up on stage and sing a
song about it!" She shouted her exasperation, trying to get her mother to listen with no avail.
Georgiana seemed to miss the point completely as she simply rose a thin eyebrow in Halle's direction. "And there will be great consequences for your reckless actions regarding that later." She sighed and pressed two fingers to her temple, closing her
eyes in utmost disappointment. "I cannot believe you had the audacity to go up on stage just now and flaunt your impropriety to our stockholders and party guests..."
"Impropriety!?" Halle dropped her jaw at that stab to her heart.
"Halle, I've had enough of this." Georgiana shook her eyes with a disappointed expression written all over her face, and she instantly put on a face that made her look like she was the victim in all of this. "Can't you see what strain your childish behavior
has put upon your mother...?"
Halle threw her head back and scoffed derisively. "The strain put on you...? Are you kidding me!? How about the strain put on me!" She placed her hand over her chest, shooting Georgiana an intense glare. "You've never once cared about what
I want, and you've always forced me to bend to your will no matter the situation!" Her face softened a little as she stared off at a wall thoughtfully. "And in the past, I've always complied with your wishes, but now..."
"But now what, Halle?" Georgiana narrowed her eyes, completely fed up with her daughter's rebellious behavior this evening.
"...I'm sorry, but I can't give up my job as a detective." Halle said the words that all of Second Unit wanted to hear, and she rose her head up to meet Georgiana's stare. "I care about this too much, and being a detective is just who I am. If I ever
gave that up, then... I would just die."
"Halle, stop talking such nonsense! I listened to your father and allowed you to pursue this career, but don't you think you've played detective long enough?" Georgiana huffed and crossed her arms as she stared at Halle in bewilderment. "It's about time
you finally came back home, dear."
"Played detective...?" Halle slowly let those hurtful words roll off her tongue as she looked at her mother. "Mom, I was never doing this just for fun, I am completely serious about this career."
Georgiana rolled her eyes and couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's silly exclamation. "Hah, don't be so daft! People like us don't even have to work to provide for ourselves. Your skills will be utilized much more at home, especially after you marry
Ferris..."
"For the last time, I am not going to marry him!" Halle interrupted Georgiana, cutting her mother off mid-sentence.
Georgiana paused for a moment in shock before quickly growing angry again. "Stop being so stubborn. You will listen to what I say. I'm not asking, this is an order."
"No." Halle balled her hands up into tight fists and knitted her brows together. "I won't listen to this any more! Mom, I have no intention of getting married any time soon, and I most certainly will not agree to an arranged marriage. If I am ever going
to get married, it will be to someone I love, and most certainly not someone you have set me up with."
Georgiana took offense to that as she took a step back in shock. "Now what is that supposed to mean!?"
"I can't expect you to understand..." Halle looked off to the side depressingly as a grave look crossed her face. "You've never once cared for me in your entire life as your daughter, or even as a human being, so I can't possibly expect you to understand
me..."
Georgiana almost looked hurt at that stab to her ego. "Now that's just not true... Of course I have! That's exactly why I set up this marriage, because I care about your future!"
"No, Mom." Halle looked directly through Georgiana's eyes with a soul-penetrating stare. "All you care about is what benefits my future can bring to you."
"Halle...!" Georgiana dropped her jaw so hard it almost looked like it would have snapped off and clattered to the floor.
"Just stop! I'm fed up with this, you pretending that you have no idea what I'm talking about...!" Halle angrily waved her arms in front of her body in a protective X. "You have always just seen me as a useless pawn on your chess board of lies and deceit
and nothing more." She looked completely heartbroken as that feeling of neglect her mother had bestowed upon her as a child came crawling back. "Brad has always been your favorite... I wasn't even supposed to be born! It's always been this way! I've
always felt like you have always resented me for merely existing, as if I'm some sort of burden on you..."
"Don't be ridiculous." Georgiana rolled her eyes.
"I'm not!" Halle snapped at her.
"Umm..." Brad and Akihiro simultaneously tried to cut into the argument and break it up, only to be cut off by the two arguing women at the same time.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Halle and Georgiana snapped at the two boys in unison.
Akihiro and Brad both zipped their lips as they awkwardly averted their gaze from being yelled at so suddenly.
"You've never once been my mother." Halle appeared to be more lonely and heartbroken rather than angry as she looked to Georgiana for some sort of explanation. "A mother is supposed to care for and love her daughter, support her, and be there
for her... But all you ever did when I was a child was shut me in a room with my tutor and have me practice piano, work on my singing, or focus on my studies..." Her shoulders slumped as she began remembering her lonely childhood that she had tried
so hard to forget. "You always pressured me to go to an upper-class private school, and if it weren't for Brad pushing the whole public school idea, I would have been stuck in that awful place for all of high school." Halle rose her gaze from the
floor and looked at Georgiana as she continued to speak. "You constantly neglected me, never showed me any love or affection, and the only time I ever saw you smile was when you were praising Brad on his latest achievements..." Something inside of
her suddenly just snapped, and she angrily glared at her mother as she prepared to use her trump card. "The only time I can actually remember you somewhat caring for me as your daughter was before what happened on my ninth birthday..."
"Halle, stop." Georgiana flashed her a hateful, warning glare as she held up a hand to silence her. "That's enough. We don't need to discuss that in front of our...audience."
Halle just rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Typical. Even now, you're still trying to protect your image."
The guys in Second Unit all shot each other fleeting glances. Yachigusa seemed very uncomfortable to be witnessing this argument, and Asano was just annoyed by all the yelling and just wanted it to stop. Kyobashi was aggravated by two-faced women like
Georgiana in general, and despite the fact that Tennoji was pissed at Halle for not telling him the truth about her background, and that his own girlfriend Sam lied to him about it too, he couldn't help but sympathize with Halle as her mother berated
her ruthlessly in front of everyone. Kirisawa was on edge and looking for an opening to break up this argument, and Hanai stood dumbfounded in silence as he processed just how horrible his partner's childhood had been and how bad her parents acted
towards to her. She had suffered through so much, and yet... She had managed to rise above it all and become such a strong woman.
Not that he would ever tell her that in a million years, of course.
Georgiana awkwardly shifted her weight from one leg to the other as she kept up her pretentious attitude. "...well, what do you know about being a mother, anyways!? You've never had any children of your own, let alone even be in a relationship."
Halle was almost stunned that Georgiana had completely forgotten about her only granddaughter. "...Mom, are you forgetting about Ellie?"
"What about her?" Georgiana looked Halle up and down with a look of disgust. "She's your brother's child, not yours. Meredith is Ellie's real mother."
Halle let out a sharp breath in exasperation. "Ellie doesn't even remember Meredith! She was two when she passed away!"
Georgiana raised an eyebrow as she shot a thousand daggers at Halle with her judgmental stare. "So, what? That just automatically makes you Meredith's replacement?"
Halle just shook her head no as she frowned depressingly. "No, of course not... But I'm the closest thing she has to a mother."
Georgiana stiffened her posture as she was nearly pushed over the edge with irritation, getting on her last nerve. "You are not her mother."
That sharp tongue-lashing delivered by Georgiana shot two people through the heart as soon as she said it. Halle was one of them for sure, but the other...
Was Hanai.
Hanai stared onward in shock at Georgiana as he pictured Ellie's innocent, smiling face in his mind, and how Halle was the one who always put that smile there. He remembered how well the two of them got along and acted just like a real mother and daughter,
despite each of their hardships. He knew how hard Halle worked to raise Ellie and give her the life she deserved, and to have those efforts just be discredited and ignored by Georgiana was...awful. Halle worked her ass off to be a mother-like
figure to Ellie, and Georgiana dismissed it just like that?
Watching all of this just made Hanai feel bad for his partner. No wonder Halle was so damn secretive about her private life...
Halle's eyes watered ever so slightly as her lip quivered from her mother's harsh words, and she dug her nails into the palms of her hands as she angrily shouted at Georgiana. "Well I'm more of a mother to her than you ever were to me...!"
Time seemed to slow down entirely as Georgiana's face twisted in pain from that insult, and she drew her hand back. Everyone shouted altogether in protest as Georgiana brought her hand forwards with great force and slapped her hand right across Halle's
face with a deafening crack.
...wow, I actually wrote something. Shocking, right? XD I'm sorry guys, I've just been so busy lately. Well, here's an update for you!
...what a horrible place to stop though, right? XD I'm sorryyyyyyy... I don't mean to leave you with terrible cliffhangers, but it just sort of...happens.
Georgiana... WHAT A BITCHHHHHHHH! Am I right? Holy crap... Writing this chapter was almost painful for me because of that heated argument...phew.
Anywho, look forward to the next chapter! It's chapter 4/4 of this arc, and your patience will be worth it once you get to read this!
Song credit: "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles (I don't own the lyrics, she does)
Read, review, and enjoy! :)