Author's note: Between revision (pah!), collecting 80s cartoon's theme tunes (woo!), playing on Neopets (yay!) getting robbed (boo!), throwing shoes through windows (shhh…), correcting Bex's erratic speech-marking (contagious!) and telling people how sexy Ralph Raccoon is (don't ask), I ACTUALLY MANAGED TO GET THIS DONE!
Rimmer paced in his room trying to figure out what to do. He'd never been in this situation before and he had sort of hoped he never would. But here he was. And he was stuck. A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought. He wouldn't have answered it if it hadn't sounded so urgent. Maybe Lister was running away from one of his many girlfriends…
"Gemma!" he cried.
"Hi," she said, tears smeared on her cheeks.
"What on earth happened?" Rimmer asked.
"My sister 'happened'," she said angrily, "I hate her!"
"Why? What did she do?"
"She had an argument with my mum," Rimmer froze at the mention of Nicole, but let Gemma continue, "because…well, first of all because she pierced her lip, but that spiralled into a huge row about, well, pretty much everything. Faiyre got annoyed that Mum's never around, then Mum complained that Faiyre was being unreasonable, then Fayire threatened to leave and…" she paused to wipe away a stray tear, "and Mum didn't stop her."
"So then you left?" Rimmer said.
"Well…Faiyre said something about…about my father. He…he…he wasn't Faiyre's father. Just mine."
"That's not so bad, Gemma," Rimmer comforted her.
"You're only saying that because you have no idea what it feels like! You know who your father is!"
Rimmer broke eye contact with Gemma. The truth was, he had never been certain if his father actually was his father. His mother had always had a thing for his Uncle Frank, and he knew that she had had sex with him. More than once. There was a remote possibility…
Rimmer shook his head firmly; he didn't like to think about it.
"I'm never going back," Gemma mumbled.
"What?" Rimmer asked sharply, "You have to go back! It's your home!"
"SOME HOME!" Gemma yelled, "A sister that walked out, a mother that lies, no father! Sorry for being pedantic but I'd like a home that was a bit more 'homey' than that."
"Gem, go home and talk to your mother. She adores you. You and your sister. I'm sure she'd want to talk things over."
"How do you know? You don't know her."
Rimmer grimaced. It was time to come clean.
"Your mother's been seeing someone, hasn't she? She did tell you?"
"Yessss…" Gemma could predict his next sentence to the very stutter.
"Well, you see, er, that would be…well, me."
Gemma was stunned into silence.
"Gemma?" Rimmer asked tentatively after she hadn't spoken for eight minutes.
"No," Gemma replied distantly, "No, you can't be. M-mum said she was in love with…with whoever it is. Can't be you…"
Rimmer just looked at her. She wiped away the tears that had swelled in her eyes.
"Oh, God," she whimpered, "this is bad."
"Why?"
"She's gonna flip out. When she finds out we've both been lying to her-"
"Hey, hey!" Rimmer comforted her, "I'm sure she'll be fine about it."
"Oh, yeah!" Gemma said sarcastically burying her face in her hands. After a little while she re-emerged, "Maybe she doesn't need to find out. We don't need to tell her, right?"
"Gemma, I really think we should."
Gemma sighed despairingly and hit her fist against the wall.
"Gemma," Rimmer continued, "Loving someone means being totally one hundred percent honest with them."
Gemma spluttered with ironic laughter, "Yeah right! Neither one of us has told my mum about this tutoring thing. You didn't tell me you were going out with my mum! She didn't tell me about my real father! Honesty isn't always the best policy and you know it."
"That's not true! Look how awkward all the lies have made each of our lives! We're constantly tip-toeing around each other trying not to get caught. And it's hard because we spend so much time together."
"Mum doesn't spend all that much time with me…" Gemma mumbled.
"Gem, that's a different issue. Let's focus," he paced the room for a bit then said calmly, "Let's just tell her everything. Then she can make her own decision."
"Decision about what?"
"About…everything."
Rimmer hoped she wouldn't make the decision he was imagining in his head. He couldn't bear never seeing her again.
Nicole opened the door to her daughter. She smiled apologetically, "Gemma, honey, I'm so so so sorry. I just-"
"Mum, can I just say something?"
Nicole nodded.
"I…I need to confess something. I haven't been going to after-school catch-up sessions. Well, technically I have, but they're not really authorised."
"What?" Nicole screeched, "Well, who's been running these so-called 'sessions'?"
Rimmer stepped sheepishly into the doorframe.
"Arn! What a surprise! Oh, sorry, Gemma this is Arnold Rimmer. He's the man that-"
"You've been seeing," she finished, "I know. Mum, he's the one that…well…he's been-"
"It was me, Nikki," Rimmer took over, "I've been tutoring Gemma after school."
"What?" Nicole repeated, "Were either of you ever going to tell me this?"
"We're telling you now," Gemma said, "I just found out that he's the guy you've been seeing. The one…the one you're in love with."
Both Rimmer and Nicole squirmed with awkwardness.
"I can't believe this!" Nicole exclaimed, "Gem, you lied to me! You both lied to me!"
"Well, you lied to me!" Gemma retorted.
"Gemma, we'll further this conversation in the morning. Right now I want you to go to bed."
"No! I want to sort this out now!"
"Gemma, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Go to bed!"
After a moment's indecision and a reassuring nod from Rimmer she eventually trudged off to her room, slammed the door and pressed her ear up against it.
"I'm so sorry, Nikki," Rimmer said sincerely, tentatively placing a hand on her shoulder, "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"It's sickening," Nicole said shrugging him off, "How could anyone take a child into their home and not tell anyone? Not even their parents! It's…it's just wrong!"
"Nik, it wasn't like that."
"Like what?"
"Like…like what you're thinking."
"I'm not thinking anything!"
"I think you are! I think you're thinking that I'm thinking of…hang on I've lost track…"
Nicole folded her arms impatiently.
"Look," Rimmer said conclusively, "I would never hurt Gemma in any way. I really do care about her a lot. I felt like a father to her long before I found out she was your daughter. I mean, not saying that I want to actually be her father, I just…I…smeg!" Rimmer cursed. He would have to get better at saying long sentences around Nicole if he had any chance with her left at all.
"I understand what you're saying," Nicole said quietly, "and it is a relief to hear. But…I just can't trust you any more."
As far as conversations went, Rimmer had had better.
"Nicole, please, we can make this work, I know we can!"
"I don't-"
"Please?" he pleaded, "I love you. More than I thought was possible."
Nicole fought back the tears, "I love you too. At least, I did. Now I'm not so sure."
"God…" Rimmer whispered.
"Maybe we can be friends," Nicole said softly and slowly as though she was forcing the words out of her mouth.
"What?" Rimmer asked.
"I need to be in a relationship that offers me more security than this. I'm sorry."
Rimmer was stunned into silence.
"I think it goes without saying," Nicole continued, "That I don't want you to see Gemma again. If I hear any more about this little after-school tea parties I'm going to alert the authorities."
There was a ghostly silence.
"I really am sorry," Nicole repeated.
"Not as sorry as I am," Rimmer murmured before turning round and walking out the door.
Nicole gently pushed open the door to her daughter's room.
"Listen, Gem, I'm only doing this for you own good. I've just told Arnold now I'm telling you. You're not to-"
"See him ever again, I know," Gemma ended the sentence whilst covering her face with her pillow.
"Good. Well, goodnight."
"Yeah…" Gemma muttered. She waited about an hour after she heard her mother close her bedroom door then got up, hastily grabbing the first piece of clothing she found and pulling it on.
The next morning Nicole opened Gemma's door to find no sign of her anywhere. She sighed and mumbled to herself, "No prizes for guessing where she is."