"Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence
{Kay Versus Grace):
Fuming, Kay Bennett stared at her mother's retreating form. Kay's nasty words had just caused the older woman to break down in tears and run away from the vindictive situation that had arisen in her own living room.
"How dare you, Kay!" Sam, Kay's father, had bellowed. "How can you say that to your mother? I am so disappointed in you. This isn't how I raised you to be, Kay. Not at all." Shaking his head, he walked out the door hoping the fresh air would calm his nerves.
"Daddy..." Kay called out to him apologetically, but to no avail. The door closed shut with a bang behind him, causing Kay to regret what she had just done. Sure she meant every word she had spewed out at her mother but seeing the look of distress on her father's face was what she was most regretful for.
Kay stared at the shut door, the tears forming in her eyes. Before they could fall down her face, she felt a tugging at the side of her shirt.
"Kay, does this mean you're on our side?" Ivy Winthrop, asked. Propped in her wheelchair, she barely reached the height of Kay's waist. But that did not mean she was a defenseless creature, far from it. She had been living in the Bennett's home for a few weeks now, hoping for any chance she could get to snag Sam away from his wife Grace. And it looks like she had just found herself a new ally, one who would actually be willing to help her out.
Kay first looked at Ivy, then turned to stare petulantly at David Hastings, who was leaning against the wall, looking reluctant with everything that was going on. Kay could tell David had no interest in helping Ivy out, but she also knew that he couldn't get out of it since she was blackmailing him.
Offering no answer, Kay began to strategize another plan to separate her parents; in her own way letting Ivy know the answer she sought for.
"Ok, first off," Kay began to tell the home wreckers before her, "you," she pointed to David, "go in there and help her out. Pretend like you care, which I'm sure you already do so it should come naturally. I'll try to go and get Daddy to come inside, and you," now she turned to Ivy, "sweet talk him."
Ivy grinned. She liked Kay; she wondered what had once made her think that she would be her enemy. But then again, not every teenage girl was trying to break up her parents. Ivy laughed at the irony of it all.
Sighing, David sauntered off. When is this going to end, he thought dejectedly to himself. I hate this scheming and lying. I just want to be with Grace.
* Perfect by nature
Icons of self indulgence
Just what we all need
More lies about our world that
Never was and never will be
Have you no shame? Don't you see me?
You know you've got everybody fooled *
Kay had managed to get her father to come inside. Around the same time, in the Bennett kitchen, Grace was crying her eyes out, and wondering why Sam hadn't come to her rescue. She looked over at the door, thinking that if she wished hard enough, Sam would walk through those doors, hold her in his arms, and whisper sweet nothings to her. But in his place came David, her first husband.
"I'm sorry Grace," he said, sitting down next to her on the table. He wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I don't know why she's saying all this. Is she right?" she stared at him, waiting to hear his take on all of it. "Am I a.... bitch?" The words were so strange coming out of her mouth, but that didn't mean that it wasn't who she was. Right?
"Of course not," David protested. He began to put his arms around her, right at the moment that she stood up.
"Bitch or not, I will not stand for this. I don't deserve to be treated like that." She began to make her way out of the kitchen, with David hot on her heels.
In the living room, Kay was watching Ivy try to comfort a distraught Sam. But Sam knew Ivy. She would play it like she cared, just so she could win some bonus points with him. It wasn't going to work this time.
Sam was still seeing red, so he let Kay have it.
"I don't want to hear you say anything like that ever again, do you hear me?" he cried. "She's your mother and she loves you."
"She doesn't, Daddy. Why can't you see it?"
Sam fumed in anger, but remained silent.
"You keep hoping she's still the same wife you once had. That's why you're siding with her. But she isn't and you know it. Ever since Charity came into our lives, Grace hasn't been the same."
"Don't you call her Grace. You call her mom!"
"Daddy she hasn't been my mother for the past three years."
"What are you talking about!?"
"Moms are supposed to love their daughters. Not call them evil tramps and the like. Their supposed to want us to be happy, not directly try to cause us misery."
"She's never done that!" Sam shouted.
"Yes, she has!" Kay shouted back. "Yes, she has! From the day everyone found out I loved Miguel she's been trying to make sure I stay away from him. She doesn't want me to be happy. All she cares about is her niece, Little Miss Perfection."
Just then Grace, who had taken a minute to compose herself before facing her daughter again, walked to where the others were.
"Oh and here she is now!" Kay sneered. "Little Mrs. Perfection." She sent a deadly glare at her mother.
*Look here, she comes now
Bow down and stare in wonder!
Oh how we love you!
No flaws when you're pretending
But know I know she
Never was and never will be
You don't know how you've betrayed me
Somehow you've got everybody fooled*
Grace's face turned to stone as she warningly told Kay to back off.
"You're such a fake!" Kay blasted. "You damn hypocrite...."
"Kay that's enough," Sam said before Grace could say anything to defend herself.
Grace looked at her estranged daughter. She had just walked in through that door with a strong, alive spirit inside of her, hoping that the conflict between her and Kay could be overcome. But that didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon.
"Why are you telling David to sign the annulment papers all of a sudden, huh Mom?" Kay taunted. "Why is it ok now for him to risk eternal damnation? You, a devout, honest Christian, are actually giving him the green light to lie to the church, to God and to himself?"
"I," Grace began to sputter. "I -" Building the courage inside of herself, she stated what she was thinking. "It's none of your business."
"No?" Kay asked, shrugging. "I think it is. How do you expect me to watch you do this and still be a honest person myself?! After all, you set the example. Do you want Miguel to just lie too? Pretend like he didn't get me pregnant? Pretend like this baby growing inside of me," she clutched her stomach, "is not real and never will be? Do you want him to lie to himself and to me just so he can get what he wants, just like you?" Kay turned to look at David. "David looks like we have something in common." She chuckled in spite of herself.
The rest of the audience in the living room that day was quiet as they listened intently to Grace and Kay go at blow after verbal blow. Even pacifist Sam was watching World War III take place in his own home.
* Without the mask where will you hide?
Can't find yourself lost in your lies... *
"You can go ahead and act like all is good, that you are trying to set a good example for me by not sharing your bed with Daddy, but it's only because you don't want him in your bed, isn't it? You want David. But then you go and ask him to sign the annulment papers just so you can juggle both men. Am I wrong, Mother?" She sneered, narrowing her eyes scornfully.
Ivy's mouth dropped to the floor, or at least to the wheels on her chair. Kay had gone too far with that statement. If Kay was her daughter and had pulled that remark on her, well, she wouldn't know what she'd do. She turned to stare at Grace, waiting to see how she would react to all of this.
Grace's feelings on Kay's words was similar to that of Ivy's. Kay had no right to talk about that, and she most definitely wouldn't get away with it! In one quick motion, Grace pulled her hand up towards Kay's face, and a second later, the vibrating sound of a loud slap could be heard a few feet away from where the others were standing, horrified.
An average person would have dropped her guard down, apologizing profusely and crying. But Kay did none of these things. Instead, she laughed. She stared into her mother's eyes and began to laugh. A laugh growing stronger by the second, generating one angry stare and three baffled expressions.
* I know the truth now
I know who you are
And I don't love you anymore
Never was and never will be
You don't know how you've betrayed me
Somehow you've got everybody fooled
Never was and never will be
You're not real and you can't save me
Somehow now you're everybody's fool *
Grace had never slapped anyone before her whole life, that much everyone knew. After she had raised her hand towards Kay, she was viewed differently by the others.
"See now everyone knows the true Grace Bennett, or should I say Hastings," she said, laughing derisively. "You've been playing all of us for idiots, but now the joke is on you. You're an idiot, Mother. Now everyone knows what you are capable of. You're not above slapping your daughter to teach her that loving her best male friend is wrong, much less telling the truth. The cold hard truth. You're not playing these games because you can't decide who you love more. You're doing it because of the thrill. You love that two men are vying for your attention. Well you know what? You don't deserve them, and they don't deserve your bullshit."
Kay paused for a second to glimpse at the features of the other people in the room. Ivy looked smug, David horrified, her father's face she couldn't read, even though it should have been the easiest to, and finally Grace: she looked like her life had crashed down right in front of her very eyes. In a way, it had.
"Needless to say, I'm motherless now. We both know that nothing will ever be the same between us again. I'm off now." Without so much as a backwards glance at the person who had been her mother for most of her life so far, she walked away, sending a small nod towards her father, before stepping out of her old home, and going over to Tabitha's.
Ivy and David left as well; concocting another plan to use against Sam and Grace. Not like they noticed - they were too caught up with what had just took place.
Sam looked at Grace, neither having spoken the past few minutes.
Grace noticed a dark glint in his eyes, and she instantly knew deep down, that Kay was right. Nothing was ever going to be the same again, with anything.
The End
{a/n: what did you all think? I hope you liked it. I love the song and I thought the situation fit it perfectly, especially with what is going on on the show lately. R/R.}