Another chapter for you all! Warning of some language within the chapter.
The Scotts- Uncharted Territory
"Val, come on, you'll be late for school!" Riven shouted down the hall as Valerie had been in the bathroom for a while.
Riven swore that the minute that Musa let Valerie start wearing makeup, his oldest daughter had spent most of her mornings before school in the bathroom. But after fifteen minutes, Riven decided that Valerie had been pushing it. She needed to get to school. What was she doing? Rearranging her face? Valerie was already beautiful with her long, maroon hair and her blue eyes. Then again, Riven was extremely biased.
Putting the dirty bowls in the sink from Rhiannon's cereal and Roslyn's oatmeal, Riven sighed and called out to Valerie again.
"Valerie Scott, I know that you might not care if you are late but I don't think that Rhiannon and Roslyn want to be late. And I still have to drop off Alfie at preschool before I head to work and Helia is gonna kill me if I am late."
There still wasn't an answer coming from the first-floor bathroom.
Riven groaned before looking to his three ready children and walking out of the kitchen. He didn't have time for this. Musa had been out of town with her school's band program and he had been left alone to deal with their four children.
Everything had been running smoothly. Valerie spent most of her time in her room talking with Mireya over the phone about whatever it was twelve-year-olds talked about. Rhiannon and Roslyn spent time playing together in the basement for hours on end. And Alfie and Riven would spend time watching dragon competitions together. Mainly because Riven missed the thrill of training and riding dragons before he had been convinced, well told, by Musa to begin teaching strategy at Red Fountain.
But now, this morning threatened to derail their entire week. If Musa had been here, she would have stayed back and dealt with Valerie and Riven would have taken the other three children to school.
"Valerie Matlin Scott! I am serious! We need to get going now!" Riven sternly called out from the other end of the closed bathroom door.
"Just leave me here." Valerie replied, "I...I...I don't feel well."
Riven rolled his eyes and placed his hand on the knob of the bathroom door. He turned and noticed that the door had been locked.
"What have your mother and I said about locking doors?"
"Dad, can you please just leave me alone?!"
"You have to get to school!"
"I told you that I am not feeling well!"
Riven was really starting to get frustrated. Taking out his wallet from his back pocket, Riven pulled out his license and ran it down the space between the door and the frame. He wiggled it and heard the lock to the bathroom door click. He always knew that the delinquent days of his teenage years would come in handy. This was not the first locked door that he had ever faced.
"Dad!" Valerie shouted as Riven swung open the door and walked into the small bathroom.
"I am your dad, I have seen it all." Riven rolled his eyes but as his eyes focused in on his daughter, Riven tried his best not to have his jaw hit the floor completely.
Valerie was sat hunched over on the toilet, her pants and underwear in a pile on the floor with a large red stain on the bottom layers of her clothes.
"Dad! Get out! I told you that I don't feel well." Valerie yelled again before wincing in pain.
Oh no, Riven thought, it was happening. It was happening and Musa was not there.
"I'm so sorry," Riven replied as he backed away, "I...I...I uh...I'm going to drop off your siblings at school and tell your school that you won't be in today."
Riven hurried out of the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He inhaled and fell back on the closed door. Well, there went the smooth week without Musa. Riven couldn't even be upset because this was in nobody's control.
Valerie had gotten her first period and he was going to have to be the one to help her. He didn't know what to do. This was supposed to be something that Musa would help her with. Other than running to the store to get Musa some cheese and crackers for those "period cravings", Riven didn't know what to do. But first, he had to call Helia and tell him that he wasn't going to be in at work and get the other kids to school.
Pulling out his phone, Riven dialed Helia's number and placed the phone up to his ear.
"Good morning, Riven," Helia greeted on the other end of the line, "everything okay?"
Riven sighed, "Uh, yeah. I'm not going to be able to make it to work today."
"I thought that you said that everything was fine?" Helia asked.
"Things are fine, it's just that..." Riven looked down the hall for some reason as if he didn't want to get caught telling Helia what was happening with Valerie, "Val um, she uh, and Musa isn't here..."
"Ah, yes," Riven could hear Helia let out a soft chuckle, "Mireya got hers three months ago."
Riven now was talking to Helia as a friend and not as his boss, "Musa isn't here, Helia. Do you know what to do?"
"Check to see if Musa has anything that Valerie could use in the meantime and then head to the store with her after you take the others to school."
"I knew that this was going to happen one day but I thought that Musa was going to be here with her."
Helia sighed on the other end of the line, "The perks of having daughters. Hopefully, Valerie is a little better than Mireya. I love my daughter but Mireya can really be a little witch when her period comes around."
"Well," Riven chuckled, "Val and Mireya are like two peas in a pod."
"Then I wish you all the luck," Helia said, "and if I know you, Riven, this is going to be a walk in the park."
A walk in the park? Yeah right.
After Riven had taken Rhiannon, Roslyn, and Alfie to school, Riven had come back to Valerie still in the bathroom. It took a lot of coaxing to get her out of the bathroom and to convince her that he could help her. She didn't want him to be there, she wanted her mother. And honestly, Riven wished that Musa was there with her too. He didn't want to be there either.
But he was all she had.
He thought about calling Flora or Tecna to come and help but Valerie was his daughter and he had to step up. Anyone with a uterus had been going through this since the dawn of time, Riven could handle this. He has tamed dragons, menstruation would be a piece of cake.
But Valerie was his child and this must have been his punishment for all of the misdeeds of his past.
"I feel like my stomach is going to explode, dad!"
"Hurry up!"
"No! Dad! Are you dumb?! Don't touch my bloody underwear!"
"Dad! Water! I am going to pass out!"
"Dad!"
"Dad!"
"Dad!"
Riven was going to fight Helia. A walk in the park his ass.
Now, he and Valerie were in the middle of the drug store around the corner of their house. Valerie had showered and changed, Riven having given Valerie a pad from Musa's stash. There was no way that Riven was going to help Valerie with the intricacies of putting in a tampon. Riven had thrown Valerie's clothes in the washer, and the two set off to the store.
Riven had no clue that there were so many varieties of feminine hygiene products. He recognized the blue and white packaging of Musa's usual products but what would Valerie want or need? Riven pulled down a pack and took notice of the different numbers and the words "Super". He looked at another pack and noticed that the pack said, "Regular". There was "Light", "Overnight", and what the Hell was the difference between a pad and a panty liner?
There wasn't a fitting room for these kinds of things, right?
"Which one do you need?" Riven turned and asked Valerie who had returned to his side after running to gather what appeared to be every brand of pain killers from the pharmacy section.
"I don't know," Valerie replied as she dumped the medication in the small, red basket on Riven's arm, "this is my first time."
"Are you feeling more 'Super' or 'Regular'?"
"I think that is a super dumb question." Valerie rolled her eyes. "I told you I don't know."
It was.
"We'll get both," Riven sighed and put the pads into the basket, "maybe some 'Light', just to be sure."
Valerie scoffed as she began to walk away from her dad, "Whatever."
Riven looked over to Valerie who was wincing again with her hand on her lower abdomen.
"Val?" Riven placed a hand on her shoulder, "Val, are you okay?"
Valerie shook her head as she breathed in deeply, "No. I just want to go home."
Riven removed his hand from Valerie's shoulder, "Alright, let's check out."
Riven thought that the store was going to be the worst part of the day. But if he thought that he had been clueless in the store, he was even more clueless when they returned home.
"Dad," Valerie groaned as she lay curled up on the couch, "I. Don't. Feel. Well."
Each word had been emphasized with distinct stops, like she was trying to get it through Riven's head that she wasn't feeling well. He got it. His daughter was having a miserable time with her first period. And she was acting just like Musa.
"I understand that but unfortunately I can't help you with that. You have water and you took your medicine."
"Well, you can get me some food."
"I tried to make you some eggs and you said that they made you want to vomit."
"Then make me something else! Gosh, dad, this isn't rocket science!"
Yeah, rocket science was easier.
He was feeling so useless right now. Nothing that he was doing seemed to be correct. He really wished that Musa was here right now. She would know what to do. She always knew what to do and as usual, Riven was absolutely clueless. Could he wrangle dragons? Yeah. But something as simple as a period? Fuck if he knew what he was doing.
Defeated, Riven went back into the kitchen and tried to think of something that he could make for Valerie. The eggs had been a complete disaster. Oatmeal? Cereal? Grilled cheese? Hell, he would make her a complete steak dinner if she wanted it. Anything to help his daughter and get him some peace.
"Dad!" Valerie called from the living room, "Can you bring me some water?!"
At least she asked.
Riven grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filled it with water. He left the kitchen and entered the living room with the cup of water. He handed it to Valerie and she immediately turned up her nose.
"It isn't cold enough, dad."
"You didn't even drink it."
"It feels warm." Valerie groaned.
Riven loved his daughter. He really did. He loved all of his children more than anything but he had never wanted to strangle his daughter more than he wanted to at this moment. Saturday night could not come quickly enough.
Grabbing the water back from his daughter, Riven walked back into the kitchen and immediately dumped the water into the sink and slammed down the cup on the counter. Riven held his head down and fought the urge to yell and rip out his hair.
The last time he had gotten this frustrated was when Musa had become pregnant with Roslyn. Even then, Musa hadn't been that bad and he had learned quickly that she was not allowed to eat buffalo wings around her, which stunk when she was seven months pregnant during the Dragon Riding Championships and the guys came over to their house for the annual watch party.
God help the man who got-
Nope.
He was not going to think of his baby girl pregnant. It was bad enough that she had gotten her period, indicating that biologically she was ready to have children. He would kill whoever touched his baby girl in that way.
Taking a calming breath, Riven grabbed the cup and went to the refrigerator to get water that would hopefully be cold enough for his moody and hormonal daughter. He grabbed the cup of water and walked into the living room to see Valerie asleep on the couch.
Riven sighed and smiled, nice to see that his daughter had found some peace to fall asleep amidst the pain that she must have been feeling. The way that she had been yelling at him all morning, Riven could only imagine the pain that she was in. He would have to talk to Musa about that. Musa never complained of that much pain? Was it normal? He hated seeing Valerie in so much pain.
Setting the water on the coffee table in front of the couch, Riven grabbed the blanket from the edge of the couch and placed it gently over Valerie. She curled and settled underneath the soft blanket as Riven walked back into the kitchen to finish cleaning up from the breakfast that morning. With the whole Valerie getting her first period fiasco, Riven hadn't cleaned up from breakfast.
As he was cleaning, Riven turned on the small music player in the kitchen and began to play one of Musa's albums. Hearing his wife's voice always soothed him and made him feel better. It always surprised him how early on in their relationship she could ever think that he didn't support her. Then again, he had always been so stubborn. He thought that Valerie had gotten her current, hormone, fueled attitude from Musa, but he had to admit that he definitely had some influence.
Musa's voice and the sound of a soft guitar filled the kitchen as Riven rinsed out bowls and began filling up the dishwasher. As the dishes were done, Riven began to wipe down the counters and may have gotten a little carried away when he took it upon himself to clear out the refrigerator. If you had told him fifteen years ago that he would still be cleaning out a refrigerator filled with leftovers and washing cartoon-decorated bowls, he would have never believed it. He wouldn't have believed that Musa would have taken him back or that he would come to have four children with her, he would have checked that person into a psychiatric hospital.
But even with all of the commotion that came with four kids, especially one that had been yelling at him all morning, Riven would not trade it in for anything.
While cleaning out the refrigerator, Riven's eyes caught glimpse of a roll of cinnamon rolls. He smiled as he pulled it out of the refrigerator, remembering how much Valerie loved cinnamon rolls. When she was the only child who could eat solid food, they would sneak down in the morning to make cinnamon rolls as Musa slept, having been up all night with baby Rhiannon and then baby Roslyn.
Riven abandoned his task of cleaning and shutting the refrigerator. With the roll of cinnamon roll dough in his hands, Riven pulled out a sheet pan, preheated the oven, and popped open the container of cinnamon rolls. He hoped that Valerie wouldn't turn her nose at the cinnamon rolls as she did the eggs.
Placing the cinnamon rolls in the oven, Riven continued to clean. As Riven finished cleaning the refrigerator, he heard footsteps enter the kitchen, causing him to turn around. As he turned, Riven's heart sank as he looked at his daughter who looked to be on the verge of tears.
"Val?"
"I'm sorry, dad." Valerie stood and cried.
Riven dropped the towel that he had been cleaning with and ran over to his daughter. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as she cried. Again, nothing that he would have ever imagined doing when he was younger. But as much as he loved having his child in his arms, he wished that she wasn't crying.
"What do you have to be sorry for?"
"I was so mean to you. I know that you were only trying to do your best. Everything just really hurts, and I am embarrassed, and I made a mess of my clothes, and I just can't stop crying."
Riven sighed into a smile, "It is okay, Valerie. We all have those moments. I could see the pain that you were in and I am going to talk to your mother about what we can do to help you the next time around. You don't need to apologize for something that you cannot control."
"I wish mom were here."
"I do too, Val." Riven replied, "I am the one who is sorry. Sorry that you have me to experience your first...you know...with."
Valerie pulled away from her dad, wiped away her tears, and smiled at her father, "You did alright, dad."
"I did?"
Valerie nodded her head, "And you made me cinnamon rolls?"
"I made us cinnamon rolls," Riven laughed, "I think that we both deserved it. It's not making you want to vomit, does it?"
"No," Valerie replied, "but mom said that we can't have cinnamon rolls on a school-"
"Mom isn't here."
Riven smirked and saw Valerie give RIven a devilish smile back. Yep, she definitely was his child. But their smirks fell when Valerie bent over and clutched her abdomen.
"Go back to the couch and I will bring you a cinnamon roll." Riven instructed, "I left some water on the coffee table for you."
Valerie hobbled back into the living room, leaving Riven to finish cleaning with enough time to pull out the cinnamon rolls at the right time. He poured the icing on the cinnamon rolls before putting two on a plate. Riven picked up the plate, preparing to walk into the living room when he put the cinnamon rolls back on the sheet pan. He might as well bring them all in because he had a feeling that they were going to be eating the whole pan.
Riven walked the pan, and himself, into the living room where Valerie was seated on the couch. He was glad to see that she was not hunched over in pain. If today confirmed anything, it was that he really hated to see any of his children in pain.
"Here we are," Riven said as he sat down next to Valerie and placed the cinnamon rolls on the coffee table.
"No plates?"
Riven shook his head.
"Mom is gonna kill you if we spill on the couch."
Riven smiled as he picked up a cinnamon roll and took a bite, "Then we better not spill."
Valerie laughed as she picked up a cinnamon roll and took a bite. Riven snuck a glance at his daughter and wanted to cry. Seeing her eat that cinnamon roll made her look like the little girl who would eat cinnamon rolls with him years ago. But she wasn't. She was twelve and she was turning into a woman. It wasn't the blood or the attitude that made today difficult. Seeing Valerie eat made Riven realize that the hardest part of all of this was knowing that his little girl wasn't going to be his little girl for much longer.
"Dad?"
Riven was brought back to reality from his thoughts by the sound of his daughter's voice.
"What are you looking at?"
Riven took another bite, "Nothing. Just thinking."
"About?"
"How much I love you and love these cinnamon rolls."
Valerie laughed as she finished one roll and picked up another and the glass of water on the coffee table. Valerie let out a groan and placed the roll and water back down onto the table.
"What's wrong?" Riven asked, really hoping he hadn't missed the mark with the cinnamon rolls. She really seemed to like the first one. He didn't want to have to clean up vomit.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"This water is too warm."
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think! Hoping to get another chapter up soon so stay tuned!
