Part 5: House Hockey
I had been here now for almost a week now. I hadn't seen Leo since I had talked to Chris on top of the Golden Gate, I was glad for that. So I wasn't very happy when he orbed into the kitchen where I was helping my mother cook; or rather trying to help her cook. One thing was for certain I was never going to get a job as a four star chef. I had never known her; she had died less than two weeks after I was born. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, but it can be tough when you don't have a woman to spend time with and talk to about those things that you can feel embarrassed to talk about with a guy. Don't get me wrong; Chris was great and I could tell him anything, but it was nice to be able to talk to my mother about stuff. I was even calling her mom, the first few times I did it was kind of weird. I was just enjoying the time I had with her.
I had also become a little more at ease with myself and those around me; I wasn't sniping as much as I had. I still had a long way to go, but it was a start.
Needless to say I wasn't very happy when Leo orbed in and interrupted our little get together. He looked like he hadn't slept since I'd last seen him. Not my problem. I thought. I turned back to the chicken and turned the gas up higher under it; like it made any difference it was still going to be raw in the middle. What I didn't count on was the pan setting fire. Flames shot upward, engulfing me. I could hear Leo and mom shouting and then the fire went out.
"Are you alright, honey?" Mom asked me. She checked me over for signs of any burns and found none.
"I phased out, I'm fine. I told you that I was no good at cooking." I said accusingly.
"Anyone can cook if they put in the effort." She said.
"I don't like it, mom." I informed her.
"Okay, well cooking isn't for everyone." She said. Leo had been standing there all along, watching our interaction.
"Piper, would you mind giving me and Grace some time alone?" He asked. I looked up at that.
"She might not, but I do." I said. He didn't seem all that perturbed by my rudeness.
"I know. I don't blame you." He said. I gave him that look that all teenagers have probably given their parents a few times 'you have no idea'.
"Fine," I muttered. My mother glanced at me as she left he kitchen. I held out my hand.
"Coke." I said. A can of cola appeared in my hand. I wasn't so lazy that I couldn't be bothered walking over to refrigerator. To be honest I was doing it to annoy Leo and I figured this might do it. I was a little deflated when he didn't comment on it at all.
"You came here to talk, so talk." I said rudely. He flinched a little at my tone I felt a little guilty for them, but in my mind he deserved it. I popped open the can and took a sip, waiting for him to start speaking.
"I wanted to apologise." He said.
"What for?" I asked.
"For not being there for you when you needed me to be." He said.
"What are you talking about?" I asked. I hadn't said anything to him about what he had done to me in the future, so I didn't understand where he was going with this.
"I know what Wyatt did to you there. You asked me to help you and I didn't even listen to you, I'm sorry for that." He said.
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"After what happened a few days ago I asked Chris what it was that I had done that would make you hate me so much."
"Chris should have kept his mouth shut." I snapped.
"I want you to know that I would never do that to you." He even managed to make it sound like he meant it, but I knew better.
"You're forgetting something." I said.
"What's that?"
"You already did do it to me, so what I want to know is if you're trying to convince me or yourself."
"I…" He paused and started again.
"It's hard to admit that one of your own children could do that to someone."
"Do what exactly?" I wasn't going to even try making this any easier for him.
"Come on, you can say it. You found it hard to believe that your own son could torture, rape and generally make life an absolute living hell for someone. So instead you betrayed someone, you brought that person right back into the lions den and left them to fend for themselves. Because you didn't want to know. And not just anybody but your own daughter. That's what you you're trying to say, right Leo?" There was no way in hell I was going to call him dad. He mumbled something.
"You're going to have to speak up because I didn't quite catch that."
"Yes, but I wouldn't have put them quite in those words." He said a little louder.
"Yeah, but then you don't like having to deal with the truth, do you?" I asked sarcastically.
"And that's what I'm sorry for." He said. I shrugged my shoulders as if it didn't matter to me.
"Don't be, there's no reason for you to apologise. We all make choices in this life good and bad." I said. His shoulders slumped in obvious relief.
"That's good, I'm glad we talked this over." He said.
"You see what you don't get is that I don't need to forgive you, forgiving someone means that they've hurt us and I'll admit I hated you for what you did to me." I continued as if he hadn't said anything.
"It's okay to hate people. We all hate someone." He said. I smiled at him, a smile that held no warmth.
"I don't hate you. If people hurt you like you did me then you're not likely to want to like them very much, but I don't care anymore. I'm stuck here for the foreseeable future so I'm going to have to put up with you. Hating someone takes up a lot of energy, so I put in a lot of work into that in the last few days. I don't hate you anymore. I've become indifferent. You can do whatever it is you want, just do me a favour and don't do it around me." I stalked out of the kitchen and left him there on his own.