Chapter Twelve

By the time Lucy and Katherine came back it was after midnight. She knew that this would definitely get her out of seeing them, but on the car ride back Lucy admitted something to her mother. "Mom...can you do me a favor?" Lucy asked her. She had thought about this for the last hour during the car ride, and knew it was something she needed to do. "Of course Lulu. What is it?" Katherine asked her as she kept her eyes on the road. "Next time Mr. Delfino comes over, would you mind telling him that I don't want to see him anymore?" Lucy said to her. She was back to calling him Mr. Delfino instead of her father. She knew she didn't belong, and it would be better for everyone if they pretended they weren't related.

"Lulu...why don't you want to see him anymore?" Katherine asked her daughter, she was now worried about her. For the last hour she had been so quiet. "I think it would be better if I stayed away from him...the other day when I went on a walk I heard them arguing about me. I think it would be best if I just stayed away, I don't want to break up their family...besides I just don't belong. I'm a burden, a reminder to Mrs. Delfino that you two were together. So please...can you make sure he gets this message?" she asked. Katherine's heart broke when she heard this. She knew deep down she did want to see him, but she felt like she didn't belong with them and that she was just a burden.

"Okay...I'll tell him." Katherine agreed. The rest of the car ride was silent as Lucy silently cried to herself. Once they got home Lucy had gotten ready and went straight to bed. The next day Katherine had written a note and stuck it to Susan and Mike's door. It said that Lucy no longer wanted to see him and that it would be best if they just pretended that Lucy was someone else's daughter. That these were Lucy's wishes and not her own. Mike had opened the door and saw the note when he went to deliver Lucy's present. He thought it was Katherine again so he marched over to her house, but no one answered the door.

He then decided to go over to Bree's test kitchen and see Katherine thinking that Lucy was there, and if she wasn't, he would at least get to speak with Katherine. Once he walked in he noticed Katherine in the kitchen and walked over to her. "I thought we had a deal Katherine. You were going to let me see Lucy, now you're pulling this crap?" he said as he slammed the note down. "Oh good you got my note." Katherine said without looking up from what she was doing. "Katherine, you will let me see Lucy or I will take you to court." Mike demanded. "I am more than willing to let you see her, but she doesn't want anything to do with you anymore. She told me herself last night." Katherine informed him, still not looking up.

"What do you mean she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore?" he asked her. "Just what I said, she wants nothing to do with you." Katherine replied, still working on her recipe. "Can you explain why at least?" Mike asked. "Because she heard you and Susan arguing the other day while on her walk. She knows Susan is only pretending to like her and so is MJ, that she is a burden to you and your family and that she doesn't want to break you up. That she is just a reminder that we were together once. She knows she doesn't belong. She thinks it's best if she stays away." Katherine explained as she added ingredients to what she was cooking.

"Damn it, so that's why she's been avoiding me. I'll go have a talk with her." he said as he headed back to Katherine's. Once he arrived Mike knocked on the door, but Lucy didn't answer. Dylan and Lila had left that morning leaving Lucy home alone, which Mike couldn't believe she would do, especially with the frequency of her seizures. "Lucy? I know you're in there! Come on answer the door!" he said as he knocked again, but Lucy wasn't answering. "Lucy I'm coming in!" he said to her as he tried to open the front door, but it was locked. Lucy was in the backyard doing some gardening with her earbuds in. She hadn't done any gardening in a while, and it was pretty nice here year round so she could do gardening year round.

Mike then went back to the test kitchen to see Katherine again. "She's not answering the door." Mike told her. "Oh, she's gardening out back. Lulu wanted to plant some fruits and so I let her. That's why the window's open, so I can hear Midna if she starts barking to let me know if there is a seizure so I can get over there." Katherine said. "Well she would be able to hear me if that were the case." Mike told Katherine. "She probably has her earbuds in...and she's probably doing it to avoid you. You can go into the backyard if you'd like." Katherine told him as she continued to cook. "Thanks." he said as he headed back to Katherine's house and went into the backyard.

Lucy was singing softly to herself as she worked on planting the raspberry bush. She had also planted her own rose bushes as her Aunt Lily had taught her how to do them and she told her mom that she could get them to look even better than her father's. While his were impressive, Lucy wanted nothing to do with him anymore and so she wanted to outdo him. She wasn't going to ruin his family. Mike went into the backyard and found Lucy now planting new vegetable seeds for her mother for her garden. "Doing a little bit of gardening I see?" he asked. Lucy had seen him come over out of the corner of her eye, but she couldn't hear him, and even if she could she was still pretending to ignore him.

"Lucy, come on, stop ignoring me. I need to know why you don't want anything to do with me anymore." Mike told her, but Lucy wasn't listening. She continued to sing softly to herself as she worked on planting each seed. "Lucy this is ridiculous, I know you're upset, just tell me what's wrong?" he asked her. Lucy finished planting the seeds and got up to work on something else. That was then he remembered that Lucy was listening to music. He tapped on her shoulder, which should have made her jump, it usually did, but she did nothing, she showed no emotion. Once her back was turned to him she had begun crying, and had stopped singing.

Mike tried to spin her around to face him. He saw her tear stained cheeks, and she looked away before dropping the gardening tools and running inside, locking the door behind her. She went upstairs to her room and locked that door as well, barricading the door shut with her bookshelf so that no one could get in. Mike tried to follow her, but she had locked the back door as well. He sighed and left the present near the backdoor, and then went home. Once Lucy saw him leave she unbarricaded the door and went back outside. She saw the gift. It was an easel, but Lucy couldn't accept it. She quietly walked back over to his house and returned it with a note that said she didn't want it and to please never come near her again. Lucy then went home and went back to gardening while she cried.

"So did Lucy like her gift?" Susan asked him as she ate a sandwich. "I don't know...she wouldn't speak to me. Katherine left me this note that said that she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. I thought Katherine was just trying to get me to stop seeing Lucy, but when I finally saw Lucy she ignored me. I turned her around to face me and I saw her crying, and she ran inside locking the door behind her. She thinks you and MJ hate her and that she doesn't want to ruin our family. She heard us arguing the other day about her too. She thinks she's a burden and it's best if she stays away." Mike explained.

"I don't hate her...I hate the way I found this out. I hate that Katherine never told us what had happened. And I hate that she has been abused, but I don't hate her." Susan explained with a sigh. "Look, why don't you come with me to poker night, Katherine's hosting this time, she won't expect it and you can talk to her then." Susan suggested as she looked at him. "I'll try, but I don't know what good it will do." Mike told her. He then went outside to get something out of his truck and saw his gift to her sitting next to Susan's chair. He then noticed the note taped to it. Picking up the note he carefully read it's contents. "I'm sorry I can't accept this, please, pretend I don't exist and leave me alone." the note said.

He came storming in and set the easel down. "Isn't that Lucy's gift?" Susan asked him. "Yeah, she won't accept it and again she wants me to leave her alone, to pretend that she doesn't exist. I don't know what to do. I just know she's really upset and I don't know how to get through to her." Mike replied. "We'll talk to her when I go over for poker. It'll be fine Mike." Susan reassured him. "I hope so..." he replied. Soon it was time for the poker game. Mike and Susan both headed over to Katherine's in hopes to speak with Lucy. "Mike? Sorry this is a women's only poker game." Katherine informed him. "I'm here to see Lucy." Mike told her. "Oh well she's in the shower right now, but you can wait for her if you'd like." Katherine told him. Mike took a seat and waited for Lucy to come out of the bathroom.

Lucy sang to herself in the shower to stop herself from crying, she was singing Just Give Me a Reason by Pink, doing both parts of the song by herself. Once she was finished she quietly opened the door and tiptoed to her room, locking it behind her and shoving the bookcase in front of the door. She knew it was stupid because what if she had a seizure, but she just wanted to be alone. Mike heard the water turn off and headed upstairs, but Lucy had shut the door behind her. He knocked on the door hoping that maybe now that Lucy had had some time to calm down she would be more willing to speak with him, but he was wrong. He heard something being moved and tried to open the door as Lucy got dressed again, but the door was locked.

"Come on Lucy, open the door. We need to talk." Mike said as he knocked on the door, but Lucy wasn't answering. "Lucy! Come on talk to me! Why are you so upset?" Mike asked her. He then noticed a key above the door to unlock it. He grabbed it and pushed it in the lock, unlocking the door. He placed the key back and opened the door, but it hit a bookcase. Lucy was at her desk getting ready to stream. She ignored her father and put on the VR headset to begin her stream. "Hey guys. Welcome in. We'll get started with Zenith here in a sec." Lucy told them as millions of people were tuning into her stream.

"Yeah so I've been gone for a while due to things happening in my personal life. I'd explain, but it's messy, anyway I have moved, the internet is much better here so the stream should be more stable. What's that noise you here? Oh it's nothing, just ignore that." Lucy said to them. "Why am I called PsychoMantis? Cause Metal Gear Solid is awesome." Lucy replied to some of her viewers. Mike had been trying to talk to her, but she was obviously ignoring him still, so he listened in to what she was saying. He heard her mention a name as well as the word Twitch so Mike grabbed his phone and searched for Twitch and her username. It came up with a stream to where he saw millions of viewers turning into Lucy's stream. He then noticed her YouTube page and clicked on the link, she had over one hundred and fifty million subscribers.

Mike went back to the stream and saw that in order to speak he had to create an account, so he did, without mentioning his name. However he couldn't get through because the messages were going by way too quickly, even in slow mode. He knew that MJ had this game and a Quest 2 so he quickly went home to borrow it. He created a new user while watching her stream and logged into the server she was in, just barely making the cut before the server was full. He went through the tutorial and learned how to play before trying to find his daughter in game. He was starting to get motion sick though while playing, even with the comfort settings adjusted.

"Now where is she?" Mike said out loud as he looked for her. "Who are you looking for?" another user asked him. "Wait, you can hear me?" he asked. "Yeah, all VR headsets have a mic." the other user said. "I'm looking for PsychoMantis, do you know where she is?" he asked the other user who was a guy. "Oh PsychoMantis, she's in the newb area playing on the new class leveling up. Her character's username is Aranea. A. the guy said as he spelled out her character's name. "Thanks." Mike said. "You seem a little old to be flirting with a kid man." the guy said. "I'm not flirting with her, she's my daughter and she's ignoring me...I'm trying to talk to her." Mike replied. "Oh gotcha, well she's leveling up her Cyber Ninja right now and is streaming so you might want to make sure you don't spout any personal info so her stalkers can track her down." the other user said. "She has stalkers?" Mike asked, he was rather angry at this. "Every streamer and YouTuber does dude." the guy said before fast traveling away. Mike went to the first area he was able to go and looked around for Lucy.

"If anyone else wants to join my party I'll send you an invite, we can get more EXP that way." Lucy offered. "How about I join?" Mike said to her. Lucy didn't recognize his voice right away, no it would take a while before she fully put two and two together, but she was suspicious, she knew she had heard that voice before. "Sure I guess, let me send you a party invite." Lucy said as she sent him an invite. "Any other takers?" she asked, but no one else really wanted to join. "So what do you want me to do?" Mike asked her. "What quests do you have? Did you speak to Mika?" Lucy asked him. "Mika? You mean that girl by the bridge?" he asked her. "Yeah, you're new aren't you?" Lucy asked.

"You could say that. Actually the reason I'm here is because we need to talk. I want to know why you're so upset and why you don't want to see me anymore. At least talk to me Lucy." Mike insisted. Lucy knew she had recognized his voice. "Mom already told you...now please leave me alone." she said before blocking him. "Lucy? Lucy!" he said before he took off the headset and put it back. He was angry, he couldn't believe that Lucy was just going to ignore him, they had been getting along so well until today, and she was just freezing him out because she had heard their fight.

People were asking Lucy who that was she blocked. "No one, just someone I asked to leave me alone." Lucy replied on stream. They kept telling Lucy that she should give him a chance, but Lucy said it was better for everyone if they just ignored each other. Mike continued to watch the stream, and it was a good thing that he was because a few moments later Lucy collapsed to the floor and started seizing. Mike stood up and ran over to Katherine's. "Here to try to talk to her again?" Katherine asked. "Lucy's having a seizure and there is a bookcase blocking the door. I'm going to try to get it out of the way." Mike said as he ran upstairs. He pushed at the door until the bookcase fell over and ran inside, jumping over the knocked over bookcase. He ran over to Lucy and continued to time the seizure.

However this was a seizure that was going to go over the five minute mark and once it did he called for an ambulance. "911 what is your emergency?" the operator asked. "My daughter, she's having a seizure, it's been over five minutes, I need help now!" Mike said to the operator. "Sir, where are you located?" the operator asked. "4356 Wisteria Lane. Please you need to hurry, she's going to get brain damage!" he said as he looked at Lucy who was still seizing. Katherine had run into the room. "Oh no, Lulu!" she said as she ran over to Lucy. Katherine took over timing the seizure while Mike got the bookcase and it's contents out of the way of the door.

Susan opened the door for the paramedics so they could hurry upstairs and get Lucy. They placed her on a gurney and took her outside to the ambulance. "Ma'am do you want to ride with your daughter?" they asked Katherine. "I'll go with her. Katherine I'll meet you at the hospital alright?" Mike said as he climbed in. Katherine agreed and got in her car while the others followed behind her. They had to make sure that Lucy was alright. After all she could have brain damage from the seizure.