AN: The first of several side-stories I'm porting over from Spacebattles. This was originally written by anothvortex. Shared here with his permission.

Side-Story: A Cry for Healing

Emma tensed as a shadow covered the paper she had been working on. Her therapist had been encouraging her to express her fears and pain as much as possible. Shouting and screaming had been her first thoughts, before art was brought up. Seeing what her repression had caused, the teenager had reluctantly agreed. While she could not write worth a damn, her eye for color and detail made her fairly good at sketching, especially with colored pencils. Right now, she was actually fairly happy with her rendition of two little kids jumping on a bed. It brought back good memories before life had gotten so wrong.

The pictures that brought up the bad memories tended to be locked away, or set on fire when proper supervision could be arranged.

However, upon looking up and seeing her mother's face, Emma felt herself relax. Her father had attempted to drop in on her treatment sessions a couple of times, and the resulting fights ensured he would be sleeping on the couch until she was thirty five or made an out patient. Whichever came first. "Hi mom. What brings you by?" Mindful of the rules that she and her therapist had agreed upon, the girl shifted to make room. Boundaries were important after all.

Taking the offered seat, Zoe Barnes smiled a small, sad little smile. "I had some free time and asked your therapist if it would be okay for me to make a surprise visit. I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Then the older woman saw her drawing and started to tear up.

The Emma who had to be strong to survive her trauma mentally shouted about how pathetic and weak the woman was for crying over a dumb drawing.

The Emma who had gone too far and wanted to get better told that voice to fuck off, even as she pushed the sketch closer towards her mother's shaking hands.

They sat like that for a while before the teenager finally found the courage to speak again. "Mom, can you do something for me? Please?"

The woman's gaze turned pensive. In the early days of treatment, Emma had been a rollercoaster of jumbled emotions. Occasionally, she would make grand spectacles of requesting her freedom, only to spit out countless ugly, dirty things when denied. There had been far too much pain from those tantrums to prevent concerns when hearing such a phrase. However, they had both learned balance and things were better for it. "I'll listen, but no promises, Emma."

Swallowing, the redhead turned to her picture. "The doctor already explained why I shouldn't talk to Taylor right now. I get that, really I do! But, I'm worried. I'm worried she doesn't really have anyone to look after her needs right now, not with how things are. So, could you check on her, please?"

That request formed a pit of ice in her stomach. Zoe was certain that, once she eventually met her maker and was reunited with Annette in the afterlife, there were going to be very ugly words. Just seeing Taylor right now brought up feelings of self loathing that she could not yet face. But, she would never say such a thing to the girl who was wallowing in even more darkness. Not that directly anyways. "Emma, sweety, you know that Taylor is a Ward. She's out on patrols, and has the whole PRT to support her. Alan also made sure that everything she wanted would be outlined in that contract. You don't have to worry about her, I promise."

The teen looked away for a moment, but when she made eye contact again her eyes were both red and wet. "The PRT doesn't care at all about the people they have, just their powers. Otherwise, Sophia would never have been accepted. They'll use Taylor up and spit her out without a care in the world. A contract means shit if both sides can't enforce it. So please, at least make sure they aren't working her into the ground? For me?"

With that desperate cry, Zoe knew she had no choice but to try. Hopefully, she would find the strength sooner rather than later. Emma needed at least one parent she could rely on.