Disclaimer: Anything related to TNA or anyone else clearly doesn't belong to the writers of this story. This is written purely for entertainment purposes. If TNA is willing, though, the writers of this story would very much love to own any of the TNA-owned people mentioned within this story. That is all.
A/N: Okay, so I didn't exactly get Phoenix's permission to post a new chapter, but you know what? I'm rebelling against the damn authority. That's right, Phoenix! Ha ha! Hi, I'm Lizzie, I've emerged from the shadows for this rare appearance and I'm the fellow freak that's co-writing this story. Two twisted minds coming together and the inner workings of our twisted personalities explode onto your computer screen. Or whatever. Now, read on and excuse me while I go roast some old Barbie dolls over an open fire... 'The Dark One' Lizzie
"KADY!"
All three of them looked up and Kady let out a groan when she saw her very distraught mother rushing towards her. During the first few days she was away from her new job, she called Jarrett to explain the family emergency, and to her surprise he actually bought it. Barely. Just behind Lily, Chris was striding forward with a very pissed off look on his face. Sterling smirked when he saw Kady's reaction to her parents, and Danny wisely decided to scoot out of the way and stay out of it entirely. Jenna watched from behind the counter and tensed up.
"Oh great," Kady muttered and stood up just as Lily and Chris reached them. "Oh, wait! Concerned parents? My mistake - I mistook you for my mom and dad!"
Danny's jaw dropped at that revelation, and was more stunned than anything. His best friend's father was professional wrestler, Chris Harris? For so long he had to put up with Kady's rantings about how she hated her mother for not telling her about who her dad was, and now, within a week of moving to Florida, she had both her parents standing before her. And Danny being somewhat of a wrestling fan, the fact that it was TNA star Chris Harris made the situation even more weird.
Meanwhile, Jenna skeptically looked on. She and Lily were never on the best terms, dating back to high school, but forced themselves into coexistence for the sake of their children. It was an uneasy coexistence. Of course, she knew about Chris and Lily... it was hard not to know given the close-knit community they all grew up in. To see them together now, and with Kadence - to say that she was shocked was an understatement.
Kady moved to leave, but as she walked past Chris, he reached out and gripped her arm, effectively stopping her from going any further. "Hey!" she yelled, not giving a damn who was listening or about creating a disturbance, and shoved Chris but his strength rendered her efforts fruitless. "FUCK OFF!"
He let go of her arm just as Lily pulled the child into her arms and sobbed openly, though Kady didn't (as expected) return the hug. A few seconds later, Lily pulled away to study her child. Chris stood back, obviously uncomfortable – what the hell would he say? Or, more specifically, what could he justifiably say to Kady? On one hand, he is her father by natural right. On the other hand, he was never in her life and thus some people would say that he gave up his right to be a father the moment he walked away. Kady didn't bother to push her mother away, or do anything to actively antagonize the situation, except roll her eyes in an act of complete indifference.
"Baby, I'm so happy your safe," Lily whispered, and then in a 180 degree spin, she slapped Kady upside the head and the fourteen-year-old goth child reeled back.
"What the--? What was that for!"
"You've gotta be kidding..." she heard Chris mutter and decided to ignore him.
"I swear, Kadence Myers you are gonna be the God damn death of me," Lily snapped and cupped Kady's face between her hands, at the same time inspecting Kady's physical condition. "You really are!"
"Really? Wow, then maybe this wasn't all such a bad thing after all!" Kady retorted sarcastically; that very comment that even took her fellow anti-socialites, Sterling and Danny, off guard and the other few patrons of the diner gasped and whispered to each other about how this girl was speaking to her mother. Lily took a step back in shock, and Chris became enraged further. Now he really hated not having been there to stop this train wreck from happening. Before Lily had a chance to regain her composure, he again grabbed Kady's arm and pulled her to the entrance of the diner.
"Let me go!" she screamed at him, kicking and punching him with all her strength.
Chris had obviously sustained worse attacks in the ring so it didn't bother him and he practically kicked down the door and pushed Kady outside, again much to the shock of the patrons and other people in or around the diner, Lily included – and she followed her daughter and ex boyfriend outside. Understandably they were attracting a bit of an audience, and Danny and his mother were next to follow them out. Sterling followed as well, but kept a distance away. Chris let go of Kady again when they were about thirty or so feet away from the diner and she spun around and attempted to hit him as hard as she could, but he was too quick and caught her at her wrists before she connected with him.
"You fucking asshole, what the hell is your problem?" Kady wasn't about to stand down to him.
"My problem? You wanna know what my problem is, little girl?" he challenged, stepping closer to her. His sheer imposing stature was enough to get Kady to back off just a little bit, but she remained as defiant as ever. Chris suddenly had a feeling of sympathy for his ex girlfriend, now having a bit of an understanding as to what she had to deal with everyday. "Other than now knowing just how much trouble you can get yourself into, in one day? You speak to your mother like that again, and you'll know for yourself how much trouble you can get in. Get it?"
"Oh, so now you're gonna be a father to me? Who the hell gave you that right?"
Lily stood not to far away now, feeling paralyzed and helpless to stop this impending explosion between father and daughter. Things were going to have to be said, and the emotions were running high. She looked back at Jenna who simply shrugged, and Danny had a kind of stoned expression. Standing to the side, and a far bit further away, by a car, another person was watching whom she could only assume to be that Sterling James Keenan person Chris had told her about earlier.
"You did!" Chris yelled at her, infuriated even more by the obvious lack of respect that this kid – his kid – had for not just Lily, but for everyone in general. "Because it's become damn clear to me in just one fucking day that you need me here. God damn it, Kady! What the hell happened to you?"
"What happened to me? YOU! You left!" Kady screamed hysterically. "You left me to live off her lies! You left me, Chris. And you wonder why I'm so screwed up? Look at what you left me to deal with. You left me! You left me!"
Lily knew she should step in, but at the same time it had to come to this, sooner or later. And the reason they were so angry at each other was all because of her actions, and it became evident since they both blamed her. Jenna told her son to stay where he was and then she walked over to where Lily was standing, and leaned in close to her.
"Are you just going to stand there and let them go at each other like that?"
"Do you think I got a choice?" Lily replied, angrily. "It was gonna come to this sooner or later..."
"Jesus, Lil! Since when were you going to tell her about Chris?"
"It happened by accident, Jenna! It's a long story..."
Kadence wanted nothing to do with the man in front of her, or her mother anymore – Jenna and Danny were more of a family to her than her real parents ever were. She felt more betrayed by them now than ever before, and to think of the nerve Chris had to impose parental authority over her now? He had thirteen years to make amends and he screwed up every chance he had. Was his absence the reason she turned out the way she did? Not entirely. But there was not even a foundation for which trust could be built between them now; it was too late in her mind. She hated her mother for lying to her face time and time again. She hated her mother for forcing her to move to Florida. And she hated herself for having met Chris. All her life she wanted to know her father but now, when she was presented with the opportunity to do so, she didn't want it. The betrayal was too much for her to ignore.
"I hate you," she whispered, looking directly into his eyes and meaning every word. "I don't ever want to know you, you bastard. I thought I wanted to, but I don't. You want to know why I'm like this, Chris? Take a good long fucking look in the mirror and you'll have your answer!"
Never had any of them heard such hateful words come from the mouth, the soul of a young child, but there it was. And the only thing worse than hearing the words, but seeing the full impact and belief of them in her eyes. Chris turned away momentarily to regain his strength which he had been gradually losing and looked back at Lily who was now with Jenna. Yeah, he remembered Jenna all too well, more specifically the fighting she and Lily used to get into at school.
Jenna was more with the outcast clique while Lily had always been the preppy girl, so right away their differences became an issue. Sometimes Jenna could be so cruel and the pranks she pulled so mean that it would reduce Lily to tears and she'd literally run from the school, and he'd always go after her. So it was odd to see them standing together now, but it was not of his concern. He met Lily's sad eyes, and could tell she was on the edge of giving up – all the years of dealing with a troubled child not withstanding, there was only so much she could put up with now.
"Kady, you have no idea—" he started to reply but paused to think about what he could say to her. Nothing was going to calm her down or make her believe whatever it is he did say. "You hate us, I get that. This isn't the way to deal with it, though..."
"How am I supposed to deal with it? Tell me! I didn't expect any of this shit to happen. I don't want it. As far as I'm concerned, you and mom can go straight to hell!" Kady didn't bother to hide the tears and hoped she was making them both feel guilty for what they'd done to her. Having her parents together was worse than having them apart, something that she had already learned in these few hours she had seen them together. If they weren't at each other's throats, they were trying to convince Kady that she shouldn't be at their throats for what they were doing.
"Say that again," he dared her, in a whisper. Even the big bad 'Wildcat' Chris Harris was having trouble keeping the tears away; no parent liked to hear their child say such horrible words. "Go on, Kady. Say it again."
Getting back some of her shattered confidence, Kady took one more step up to him. "You and mom can go to HELL!"
Even Danny had never seen the usually indifferent, cynical Kady Myers with so much passion in her voice, it was as if she had momentarily become an entirely different person. Of course, seeing your father for the first time ever after fourteen years was a legitimate reason for her to get passionate about it. Kady finally tore away from her icy gaze that was locked onto Chris, and over his shoulder to where Danny was standing.
"Hey, freak!" she called, returning somewhat to her normal state of mind. "Let's go!"
Kady shoved past Chris, who barely registered that she had moved at all, and went to meet up with Danny; Sterling watching her with caution all the time – not once did his eyes leave her. She was a lot angrier than even he anticipated; she took him completely by surprise with the absolutely horrible attitude she had. As Kady walked by her mother, Lily made a quick reach out and wrapped her fingers tightly around Kady's wrist; the teen suddenly stopped and turned around.
"What the hell are you doing? Let me go!" Kady tried to jerk her wrist away, but Lily held on – this was the angriest she had ever been with her daughter. Sure, she wasn't particularly fond of Chris but at least he was making an effort, and Kady's attitude had pushed her to breaking point. "Let me go, I hate you! Stupid bitch!"
SLAP
Kady stumbled back in surprise, and Danny almost passed out at what he just saw. Jenna gasped in horror, and Sterling couldn't remain distant and uninvolved and came closer to the group, stopping about ten feet behind Kady. Lily just slapped her own daughter, pretty damn hard too. But the woman, who had tears streaming in rivers down her cheeks, stared coldly at Kady whom she loved more than anything. Chris took a couple of steps forward, not believing what just happened and Lily blinked several times, breathing deeply. Mother and daughter stared at each other, and Kady rubbed the sore spot where Lily had hit her – as much as she thought that Lily didn't give a damn about her, she never expected that she would get, in her mind, physically abused. She scowled and then lunged at Lily who reacted just in time and jumped out of the way.
"YOU FUCKING GOD DAMN BITCH! I HATE YOU! GO TO HELL AND DIE!" Kady sobbed, and before she could successfully launch herself at Lily again, Sterling jumped forward and picked her up by the waist; her arms and legs swinging and kicking wildly at her mother.
Chris rushed to Lily's side and, in a protective move, pulled her away from Kady's psychotic outburst. Jenna pulled her son away from what was happening. By now, a small crowd of maybe six or seven people had gathered around the diner to see what the fuss was about. Once he knew Kady couldn't reach Lily, who was now crying hysterically and had sunk to the ground, he turned his attention to the guy who was holding Kady and snapped into action once more. Ignoring Kady's rantings and physical out lashings, he pulled her out of Sterling's arms. Chris wasn't stupid enough to let her go, knowing full well that she would do something incredibly stupid, and held her with one arm quite effectively.
"I HOPE YOU CAN SLEEP NOW, MOM!" Kady screamed. "You go to sleep now, knowing you hit your only daughter!"
"Jenna!" Chris called to the woman who was still dumbfounded by what just happened. "Damn it... JENNA!"
"What?"
"Take Kady to your house. Can she stay there for a while?"
Afraid of pissing him off further, she replied with a quick nod and whispered for Danny to go tell the manager what was happening, and he complied and got Kady's stuff from Sterling's car with his permission. In one day, Kady and Lily's lives had gone straight to hell and there was a lot to answer for. Jenna approached Kady and whispered some words into her ear, presumably to implore her to calm down. Both Chris and Lily were heartbroken at the pain their daughter was going through, all because of their idiocy in not putting her interests first.
Jenna managed to only just get the girl to calm down and pulled on her arm, pulling Kady in the direction of her car; the gothic hardcore facade fading from her with each sob and tear. After she was gone, the small crowd started to break up and soon only Lily, Chris and Sterling remained in the parking lot. With the exception of Lily's crying, there was only silence; none of them knowing how to react to what had turned out to be an extremely screwed up day. To say the least.
"You drove Kady here?" Chris finally found some words to speak, and directed them at Sterling.
"She needed help," came the reply. "She's a smart fucking kid, Chris. More than you give her credit for."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. About halfway here, she missed the damn bus and decided to hitch the rest of the way. I pulled up," Sterling explained, leaning against a light pole. "She ditched my offer and went for a less scary looking guy. Smart. At the time."
Chris went back to Lily to make sure she was okay, but at the same time he kept note of where Sterling was. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"What that means, Harris, is that the asshole turned out to be not so clean cut after all. The motherfucker tried to move on Kadence."
Simultaneously Lily and Chris looked up at him in horror.
"What?" Lily whimpered. Sterling crossed his arms; his expression hardened.
"You know what I mean. She's just lucky I was trailing them and saw the dude turn off the highway. I would've killed him but she asked me to get her out of there."
Chris exhaled and fell backwards onto the ground, exhausted. No longer could he keep his emotions hidden and wiped the tears from his eyes. To his great surprise, Lily moved to rest against him. Her breathing changed in depth to hyperventilation, and she struggled to get air into her lungs. The drama of the week put to rest any hostilities they had for each other and Chris let her into his arms to calm her down. He remembered from years ago the breathing troubles she used to get when she became too stressed. Once upon a time she'd had to take medication for it.
"Look, I'll leave you guys to do whatever shit you need to do, I'm out of here. I'll be checking into the nearest motel or whatever I can find." Before they got a chance to respond, Sterling had disappeared almost as quickly as he had appeared in the first place.
Now it was just Chris and Lily remaining, left to their own devices. It was strange to have the woman he truly detested back in his arms and the funniest thing of all was that she really had not changed much since the last time. That's not to suggest anything of the sort that the same old feelings remained, but it was still a comfort. For Lily, the comfort was now the possibility of not having to carry the burden of Kady's troubles all on her own shoulders anymore. That reason alone was almost enough to ease her into the idea that Chris being back in their lives might not be a bad thing at all, but it was too soon to tell. Lily's barriers to him were breaking down, he could tell, though she still wouldn't let anyone else know how much pain she was in; thats what happened after he left – Lily clammed up.
"I can't deal with this anymore, Chris," she said, softly. "It's too hard... I swear to God, I tried."
"I know," he replied, equally as soft. "We both fucked up with her, Lil... I know it's not all your fault."
"I've never seen her so angry. I didn't mean to hit her, I—"
"Lily, do me a favor and shut up for a second," Chris interrupted and ran his fingers through his hair, sighing dejectedly. "I know you didn't mean it, okay? Anyway... I guess... I'm the one who should be sorry. And I am."
She wasn't looking at him, however heard the sincerity with which he spoke, indicating more than regret for what he did.
As much as she wanted to, she couldn't hate him for what he did. Walking out. Lily didn't exactly put him in the best position, and what was killing her most of all now was that it took putting Kady through so much turmoil to get them to be at peace with each other. "Somehow, I don't think this has to do with just what happened today though," he added.
Lily sat up and moved a couple inches away from him after noticing how close they had been. "No. You're right. It's been happening for too long... and I let it happen. I don't know what we're gonna do with her anymore."
Chris pushed himself up off the ground and brushed the dirt off his clothes. Just as he helped Lily to her feet, his cell phone went off. He groaned and chuckled bitterly, a feeling shared by her, and took out the phone.
"Shit," he muttered upon seeing who the caller was on Caller ID.
"Who?"
"James."
"Oh."
"James?" he answered it with apprehension.
"Dude, where the hell are you?" his partner's voice bellowed. Okay, he was mad. Probably drunk too. "I totally got jumped by the Naturals in the ring during training, not to mention the help they got from Levy... bastard! I swear I'll fuck him up when I can actually stand up properly again."
Uh oh. James had no idea that Chris wasn't actually in the state anymore, or that he'd hopped a flight back to Kentucky. The flight from Florida had taken around two hours, not to mention the countless hours he and Lily spent trying to find their troublesome teen once they were actually there.
"You've been hitting the bottle again," Chris assumed. "Nice one. Idiot."
"No... well, not much. Chase Stevens split my head wide open. I'm gonna get that bastard when he's not expecting it. 15 stitches. I'm gonna wake up with a God damn headache tomorrow, something I don't need considering we're up against Team 3D. Which brings me back to my original question... where the hell are you?"
"You don't wanna know, James."
"Oh, yes I do!" he insisted. "And you know you're gonna tell me, so get it over with, partner."
"Long story," Understandably Chris wasn't going to go into details. "I'm with Lily."
James sat up from his position of laying down on the bed in his hotel room with sparked curiousity. Now, he thought, he's been gone with her for four days... so what would Chris be doing with his ex...? Well, knowing Chris, a few things came to mind but James decided to play it safe and not test his partner's patience futher. Even he wasn't that stupid... except when he was trashed. "You're with your ex? Uh... doing what, exactly?"
"Not what you think, moron. Seriously, how much have you had to drink tonight?"
"You know I'm just playin'."
"Uh huh."
"Chris," James did his best to take on a serious tone. "Where are you two? Three days ago you call and cancel our part on the show that night; no one's heard a word from you since; Jarrett's wondering what the hell is up with you. I think the only reason he's not having a psychotic breakdown is because of your track record. But dude... people are starting to talk..."
"Already?"
"Well it didn't take long for those few incidents to get around, you know. You and Jarrett's new assistant are the talk of the locker rooms."
Chris shook his head in disgust, and made a silent promise to beat the shit out of his partner when he got back to Florida, knowing James would've had a big role in letting the gossip spread. Lily watched him intently.
"Just what I don't need," Chris replied. "Man, things are so fucked right now. Which reminds me... you're gonna have to tell Jarrett I won't be able to make the show tonight."
Silence.
"James?"
"Please tell me it's the booze thats impairing my hearing and you didn't just say that."
"I'm sorry, James."
James didn't believe what his tag partner was telling him, and thought that it had to be Chris playing another one of his pathetic pranks again. "Where are you?"
"Kentucky."
James paused again to absorb this new information. "Are you fucking kidding me, Harris?"
"Kady ran away, man. She hopped a damn coach to come back here to get back at Lily and me. So Lil and I got a plane back, we had to wait three days for her to get here. Not to mention the disturbing fact that she hitched a ride with Sterling James Keenan, of all people!"
"Really?"
"Yes! So you get why I've been kinda distracted?"
As Chris bantered back and forth with James, Lily wrapped her arms around herself to preserve heat; the night bringing with it a coldness she wasn't expecting. Chris looked at her, noticing her impatience and the visible desire to get into the warmth – she had been having a rough past few days, maybe even more so than he was because she'd had to live with Kady for all fourteen years.
"Chris, I—"
"I gotta go. Tell Jarrett it's a family emergency and to call me himself or whatever but I can't be there tomorrow."
"You forget it's my ass that'll get kicked!"
"James, this is my daughter's life we're talking about!" Chris snapped, impatiently. "It's no fucking contest."
"Yeah, I get it. Don't worry, I'll take care of it okay?"
A few seconds later Chris ended the call and turned back to Lily, who was now staring up at the stars, wondering why it had taken Chris so long to see that Kady's life was more important than wrestling. Chris remembered that she had always been intrigued by the stars for as long as he had known her, going all the way back to when they met in their junior year of high school.
One thing that made them friends to begin with was her constantly changing interests and the curious nature she had once possessed, though now it looked to be a part of her personality that died a long time ago. In it's place grew the need for her to protect Kady as well as keep her out of trouble. Chris joined her and shoved the phone into his back pocket and, for a few minutes, he let her stare into the sky as she remained unconcerned about his presence. There was nothing worse than losing a daughter, especially when it's by your own hand. Lily wouldn't be surprised if Kady slipped into a world where they could never reach her again (I.E. gangs, drugs, or whatever) and she was almost certain it was on Chris' mind too.
"Do you think..." her quiet voice broke through the wall of silence like a sledgehammer. "That she'll ever forgive us?"
"Let's put it this way – would you?"
"Point taken," she agreed, and yawned. "What time is it?"
Chris checked his watch. "9:05. Tired?"
"Very."
There was not so much awkwardness as there was confusion as to how to deal with each other now. They were past the anger stage, and the denial, so they were most likely in the 'acceptance' stage of all this. There was nothing they could do about it now, and if they hadn't already, they were at least on the very edge of losing Kady for good. Chris removed his jacket and offered it to Lily, as an act of peace. At first she was hesitant to accept, not sure if she was ready to accept Chris even on a friendly level rather than one of an uneasy truce, but he shook it at her as encouragement and, after a few seconds of deliberation, she took the jacket and slipped it over her shoulders.
"Thanks," she whispered. "I suppose this means we're cool with each other, right?"
"After thirteen years? Hell no," he replied with a smirk. "But I think we can at least live with each other... not in that way, but you know..." he added when she narrowed her eyes at him.
It was the first light moment between them in so long, it was refreshing from the torture they'd inflicted on each other viciously over the last several days. Lily closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, holding the fresh, crisp air in her lungs for as long as possible and savored the clean taste that she already missed about Kentucky. Chris watched her, amused at her behavior.
"Come on, it's freezing..." he tapped her arm and nodded to the rental car they'd hired at the airport a few days earlier.
"Aw, big bad Chris Harris can't take the cold?" Lily teased, lightly punching him but followed him anyway.
"You wanna be picking a fight with me?"
"One thing I know about you, Harris... you ain't that tough with women."
"Women? True. You? Tough as nails, baby."
"Ooh, that was harsh."
The drive back to the motel was short, uneventful and dull; they didn't say a thing to each other but tuned in to the local radio station that killed any awkward silence that could arise. Remembering Kady as an innocent little girl in her ballet outfit as a five year old and then comparing it with what Lily saw tonight; it was a startling contrast – you would never recognize the baby Kadence compared with the teenage one. That could be pretty much applied to all teenagers, but it was like Kady wanted to disown her entire past. After arriving back at the motel, they stopped just outside Lily's room.
"We need to talk about how we're going to deal with her, Lil..." he told the inevitable truth.
"I know. But... it's not like we're gonna be able to do anything tonight though, right?" she told him with a small laugh to ease the tension. "We don't have to make this harder than it is, Chris. We both moved on ages ago but I don't think we ever prepared ourselves for something like this happening. Maybe that's where we screwed up," she smiled slyly. "We wanted so badly to forget each other that we didn't even think about what would happen when Kady grew up."
"You nailed it," Chris agreed.
"Don't worry," Lily continued with a bit more confidence. "I doubt I'll hate you forever. One day you may even deserve to be forgiven."
"Getting a little cocky there, aren't ya?" he joked.
"Yeah, well it's a change of mental scenery, I guess."
The two of them then said their good night's and parted ways; Lily unlocking her motel room door and slipping inside, closing it behind her straight away. Chris stared after her for a few seconds and then walked to his room. Now was the time to think of what to do about Kady. Little did they know that she was doing the exact same thing about them.
"I can't fucking believe them! How dare they try to act like me being fucked up is my own fault! How the hell did they even know where I was, anyway?" Kady yelled, pacing around the living room of Jenna and Danny's house. Jenna was standing in the doorway to the kitchen and Danny was sitting on one of the couches, his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry, Kady. Your mom called me when she got here a few days ago and said you were on your way. She asked me to call her if you made an appearance, so I called her after I told Danny you were here. I wish I hadn't now." Jenna told her honestly. Kady turned and glared at her. How could she do that? Wasn't Jenna supposed to be on her side?
"I really can't believe this shit! They have the nerve to gang up on me in public. Mom has the fucking gall to hit me. God, they make me so angry!" Kady fumed.
"Really? We couldn't tell." Danny piped up from the couch. Kady had been repeating the same things over and over since they got back to the house. It was really starting to grate on his nerves.
"Shut up, Danny. I don't need shit from you as well." Kady told him, continuing to pace as she rubbed a hand over the spot that her mother had slapped earlier before pushing her hand through her short hair.
"They'll get what's coming to them, I swear." Kady vowed. Jenna sighed out loud and moved into the living room to stand in front of Kady, who was now standing in front of the fireplace.
"Kady, you need to calm down. All this anger isn't going to get anyone anywhere. Maybe you should try seeing things from their point of view, yeah?" Jenna tried, figuring she should attempt to put an adult spin on things. Normally, she just let Kady and Danny be themselves.
"Their side? You act like they're together or something! They're not, you know! They're just trying to make my life worse than it already was. I won't have it! I won't!" Kady screamed, grabbing a vase off the mantelpiece and throwing it straight down at the floor to emphasize her point. Jenna had finally had enough.
"Danny, could you take her outside for a bit? Maybe she'll cool down out there." She urged her son as she knelt to clean up the mess.
Danny got off the couch and, with a sigh, grabbed Kady by her shoulders, pushing her in front of him through the kitchen and out the back door. Once they were outside, Danny let her go and led the way over to the edge of a creek that ran through the property. He and Kady used to play in the creek when they were younger, if it got hot enough. Now, Danny sat down on the bank and started tossing clumps of dirt and grass into the steady flowing water. Kady followed suit and sat down heavily next to him, breathing in the cool night air as much as her stressed out state would let her.
"You went a little overboard in there." Danny stated quietly, wondering what reaction it would garner from his volatile friend.
"Well, I apologize if my imperfect world is suddenly crashing down around me and it happens to spill over into your perfect world. Heaven forbid you should cut me some slack." Kady retorted, slowly calming down now that she was in familiar surroundings with her best friend.
"I'll cut you some slack if you cut my mom some. She's just trying to help." Danny pointed out defensively. He and his mother were considerably closer than Kady was to her family.
"Yeah, I know. I'll apologize for the vase later. I didn't mean to go that far. I just... I don't know what to do now. I'm... so incredibly lost." Kady admitted, knowing that Danny would listen without casting judgment on her.
"It's a messed up situation, no doubt. But... what is it that they want, really?" Danny asked, wondering if Kady had thought about the situation as much as he had, given his outsider status.
He'd been in the perfect position to be a quiet observer of the goings on and he'd formed his own opinion of what Chris Harris and Lily Myers each wanted for his best friend. He was sure they'd both be surprised to learn that they wanted the same thing. He just needed for Kady to see it first, to give her the edge on them.
"Hell if I know." Kady shrugged, grabbing a handful of grass and pulling it from the earth, dirt still clinging to the roots. She waved the clump backwards and forwards for a while before letting it go so that it sailed into the creek, landing with a splash.
"They want you to be happy and well adjusted. For lack of a better term, they want you to be normal." Danny offered. Kady thought it over and nodded, knowing that that was what it all came down to, in the end.
"Pity I think I am normal then, isn't it." Kady spoke wryly. Danny laughed.
"You're the most normal person I know, besides my mother. But, that's not the point. You keep saying you want to get some kind of revenge on them, right?" Danny paused, wondering if he should really continue.
"Of course. I want them to realize exactly what they've done to me." Kady agreed. Danny smiled.
"How did you work the prank on old McNaulty? What made it so great?" Danny pushed, trying to get her to come to the realization herself. The prank on their principal was really the best example he could come up with.
"I don't know... I guess I let him think I'd chilled out, or whatever, and then hit him with it when he wasn't expecting it." Kady shrugged, not seeing the point.
"Exactly. You lulled him into a false sense of security. You played him. Imagine the impact you'd have if you tried the same thing on your parents." Danny smiled, having to spell it out more than he thought he would.
"I see where you're going with this, and I think I like it. So... I chill out around mom and Chris, let them think every thing's going to work out, and then hit them with something when they least expect it? Brilliant and surprisingly easy." Kady finally smiled, a weight lifting off her shoulders slightly.
"Well, as the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold." Danny laughed. Kady took a deep breath, finally able to let it calm her completely.
"I guess I need to work on playing nice then, huh?" She smiled awkwardly, not liking the thought of giving her parents what they wanted. In the grand scheme of things, though, she'd show them. She'd make them feel everything she did - the anger, the hate, the confusion. Then they'd know what they'd done to her.
"It might help." Danny shrugged. Kady nodded, happy with the plan of action.
"So... when, and how, does this niceness start?" She wondered. Danny shot her a sideways glance before getting to his feet. He offered Kady his hands and helped her to her feet as he spoke next.
"Starts now, by cleaning you up. You look awful, even for a freak." He teased as they walked back towards the house.
"You know, I told your mother it was you that led me astray most of the time but I don't think she believed me." Kady told him as they reached the back door.
"That's cos I'm an angel." Danny smirked, knowing all too well that Kady had helped him pull of a lot of stunts, only for her to end up in trouble with Lily while his own mother just laughed and said something about kids being kids.
"Whatever! Freak." Kadence mumbled as he let her into the house.
"And proud of it." Danny shot back without missing a beat.
Kady laughed slightly before they walked into the living room. Jenna was sitting on the couch, a cup of coffee in her hands. Danny made an excuse about having to set up the spare bed in his room for Kady and left quickly, leaving Kady to make amends with his mother.
"Feeling better?" Jenna asked softly.
"Much. I... I shouldn't have broken the vase. It was stupid of me. I'll replace it." Kady told her, getting straight to the point.
"Don't worry about it. I think it was a gift from your mother last Christmas." Jenna winked. Kady smiled genuinely, spotting the age old rivalry between Jenna and Lily behind Jenna's words.
"Well, I think I should get cleaned up and then crawl into bed. The insanity isn't over yet and think the sleep might actually do me good." Kady figured.
"Alright, hon. Night." Jenna smiled.
Kady waved a hand in her direction before heading towards the bathroom. Once she was there, she locked the door behind herself and took a long look in the mirror. Danny hadn't been kidding when he'd said she looked awful. Her eyes were puffy and stained by the mascara and eye liner that had pooled into the trails that now ran down her cheeks. She had to admit, the look could've worked if she'd actually meant for it to happen. It looked rather... bad, otherwise.
Kadence grabbed a washcloth from the sink and ran it under the hot water before using it to scrub away the makeup. As her face got cleaner, an idea of how to act 'nice' was forming in her head. She knew her mother hated seeing her with so much makeup on. There were always comments made about how pretty she was, that she didn't need it all. That had been why Kady had started wearing her make up heavier and darker. Now, though, she wondered if maybe she should start slowly easing off the makeup. It would be a visual way for her mother and Chris to see that she was 'making an effort' or whatever.
Mulling the idea over, Kady grabbed a comb off the bench and quickly put it through her disheveled hair. When she was satisfied that she looked as tidy as she was going to, she unlocked the door and made her way to Danny's room. He'd dumped her gym bag and backpack on the floor beside her bed earlier and was now fussing around, making sure he'd cleared all his junk off the bed so she could sleep in it.
"Do I look more human now?" Kady asked, startling her friend. He spun around and looked her over.
"Unfortunately, yeah." He nodded. Kady laughed and opened her gym bag before digging through it to find something to sleep in.
"I wish this week had never happened. I mean, I'm glad I got to see you and your mom again, and that I met Sterling – he was okay, but... everything else sucked royally." Kady commented as she tossed things out of her bag.
"The suckitude is going to continue for a while. At least until you hit them with whatever it is that you end up deciding to do." Danny pointed out.
"I know. Fuck, I hate this. I really, really hate this." Kady mused as she slumped down onto the bed. Danny sat beside her quietly.
"Look at it this way... at least you know who to hate. Before, you hated your mother for not telling you who your father was. Now you have a valid reason to be angry. Chris fucking Harris? You messed up in a past life or some shit to end up with him." Danny joked, shaking his head.
"If that's the case, my next life is going to be worse. I ain't done messing up in this one yet." Kadence laughed before she grabbed her sleepwear and went back to the bathroom to change.
That night, sleep came surprisingly easily to Kady. Her dreams were haunted by images of Mark, Sterling beating Mark, angry Chris Harris and that slap that her mother had delivered the last time they'd seen each other. To say she slept like a baby would be incorrect. She tossed and turned, crying out in her sleep several times. Danny knew her subconscious was probably catching up with her now so didn't bother trying to wake her. It had to happen and she'd need all the sleep she could get tohelp her through the next few days.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Lily stood under the steaming hot water in the shower, washing out the conditioner she had massaged into her hair two minutes earlier. People say showers or baths are relaxing and can soothe tensions, but for her it was only barely working. The strange feeling of knowing that Chris - the Chris Harris whom she detested more than anyone on the planet – was in the room next door to hers, and also knowing that her daughter officially wanted her to get out of her life... it was all too much for her to bear. Lily burst into tears and leaned back against the wall of the shower; her tears becoming indistinct from the water that mixed with the soap suds of the conditioner.
She closed her eyes to keep the water from getting in and felt around for the taps and promptly turned the shower off. She stepped out from behind the shower curtain and onto the rug; shivering at the change in temperature against her skin and reached for the towel, wrapping the soft material around her body. Lily's cries had turned into soft sobs, like they always did when she couldn't hold her pain in any longer. Always had she resisted crying in public or even aloud, for fear of getting unwanted attention even though now she was alone in a stupid motel. She then wrapped another towel around her hair and looked in the mirror – the woman staring back at her appeared at least ten years older than she really was. Kady had successfully sucked the life out of Lily at least twenty times over, and physically it was showing.
"Damn it, Kady..." Lily whispered and walked out of the bathroom.
The dim lighting reflected her dark, depressed state of mind and she flopped down on her bed, letting the built up in her lungs escape. The quietness of the room was then quickly destroyed when a sudden, loud, yet muffled eruption of music came blaring from the room next to hers, which she knew to be Chris'. The walls were paper thin and so it didn't make much difference to her; and she rolled her eyes and groaned. One thing that could automatically tell that Kady was Chris' daughter – their love of insane music pumped up to top volume, with no regard for who or what was disturbed in the process. He must have turned the television up as far as it would go without breaking it.
"Damn it, Chris..."
With no more energy to do anything; Lily remained lying on the bed wrapped in only her towel, but managed to reach up and grab a nice soft pillow and pressed it to her head, making a mental note to kill Chris as soon as they decided on how to get Kady back. The pillow did absolutely nothing to drown out the heavy music, though finally fatigue had set in to the point where she did not give a damn anymore. Her wet hair clung to her face and neck, creating an itching sensation which forced her to sit up just enough. She twirled her hair and pouted her lips, her mind wandering to different things.
Mainly, the thought that perhaps none of this was a mistake to begin with... after four days of having Chris back in their lives (very reluctantly), she noticed how there was already a difference in Kady. There was a passion there that for years Lily believed to be lost, or worse... dead... in her daughter, but from the looks and sounds of her confrontation with her father that night, there was still a fire in Kady that burned when it came to Chris. That could only mean one thing... that she cared. Or at least, that's what Lily wanted to believe.
But, for now, the blaring sound of that music was pounding her head like a sledgehammer, and she sat up.
"CHRIS!" she screamed as loudly as she could. She waited a few seconds but got no reply and so she stood up.
Realizingthat she still only had a relatively thin piece of material that covered her body, Lily jumped across her bed to her small suitcase that lay wide open on the other side and knelt down. As she went through it to find something to put on, someone started banging on her door and she stood back up straight, just able to keep the towel around her as the door burst open and in stormed, looking extremely pissed off... Sterling?
"TURN THAT GOD DAMN MUSIC—" he started, but stopped and his jaw dropped upon seeing a barely covered up Lily Myers screaming and grabbing at some random items of clothing, trying to cover herself. All he could see was the outline of her slender shape, all the other parts were pretty much covered as they should be and, for a brief second, he simply stood there gaping.
"Okay," he added, embarrassment hitting him now. "Wrong room..."
"WHAT THE HELL? GET OUT!" Lily screamed, totally humiliated and wanted so badly to throw something at the gawking young man in front of her, but to do so would risk even further embarrassment. Sterling shook himself back to reality and struggled to think of, let alone say, a coherent sentence. "What the fuck are you waiting for?"
"Sorry, I'm gone!" he replied, defensively, and couldn't help but stare for another second longer and then backed out of the room in fear that an irrational, naked woman could do more harm to him than ten wrestling opponents could do all at once. Lily managed to grab a hold of an ashtray that was on the side table and threw it as hard as she could in Sterling's direction but he closed the door and the glass item shattered on impact. On the other side of the door, Sterling needed a few moments before he could get a grasp on what just happened and, in total style, he smirked in remembering the sight of Lily rushing to keep herself covered.
"Damn..." he muttered with amusement.
No more than ten seconds later, he arrived at the right door from where the music was coming from that had disturbed his sleep to begin with, and seeing that it was right next door to Lily's room, the automatic assumption was that it was Chris Harris who was causing the disturbance. He slammed his hand against the door, ready to break it down.
"DAMN IT, HARRIS!" he yelled, ready to take the guy on if he continued to be a pain in the ass. "TURN DOWN THE MUSIC!"
A few seconds later, the volume of the music lowered significantly and then the door opened and Chris stepped forward, wearing jeans but minus his shirt; his hair was wet and so suggested that he too had just got out of the shower. More annoyed than anything, he leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms.
"What d'you want?" he huffed.
"A little fucking peace would be nice, given how many hours I spent driving your kid here," Sterling retorted, his attitude nothing more than a reflection of his personality. "Is that too much to ask or should we resort to taking this outside?"
"Whatever," was the reply. Chris was in no mood to argue and wanted to go bed; but from the look on Sterling's face, the kid wasn't gonna let it happen without getting what he wanted. "Fine. Done. I'll keep it down. Anything else?"
The exchange was short and to the point and neither of them had any intention of dealing with each other anymore than they had to. Sterling had little chance to reply when Lily's door flew open and she walked out, ready to give the bastard a piece of her mind but stopped she saw who he was talking too. Now she was wearing her pajama bottoms and a tank top, enough for her to be comfortable stepping outside in. The two men stared at her, and she returned the stare with more confusion. Lily then ran back inside her room and slammed the door shut, and they heard locking sounds from behind the door, indicating that she wasn't prepared to come out again.
"What's her problem?" Chris wondered, curiosity replacing hostility.
"Yeah, uh... I don't know. I kinda walked in on her, naked."
"What?"
"She was covered with a towel," Sterling added, seeing Chris tense a little. "But um... yeah. Got kinda awkward. Now I think she's too embarrassed to be in fifty feet of me. Don't know why though, she's got nothing to be ashamed of from what I could see—"
"Keep going and your head goes through the wall..." Chris warned before Sterling could finish his thoughts which were usually freakish and off-the-wall creepy anyway. The younger man laughed and stepped back.
"Sorry, sorry... I forgot you guys have a history or whatever. Anyway, I need some shut eye before I throw myself off a building from sleep deprivation." he turned to leave and only took two steps and looked over his shoulder. "Man, to think you willingly left her? Insane..." he added, a mischievous glint in his eyes and walked back to his room, leaving Chris to restrain himself from beating the hell out of him.
A/N: I know, a kind of longer chapter, but I figured you would enjoy more. Now please leave a review and I must now run before Phoenix catches and kills me. She's the one that is supposed to post the chapters, so I'm stepping on her toes (in heels!) by doing this. But please let us know what you think! Reviews are always welcome.
