Chapter contains talks of abortion.
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Rosie was trying to get all the kids out of the house. It had been a few months since Hayley had passed out and a lot had happened to everyone in that time. Hayley had gone and got her abortion. Their mom was slowly getting better. She was still in hospital, but the treatment had been working and she had the tumor removed and that surgery went well but it was still a long road to recovery.
"Come on. Lets go." Rosie said putting a hat on Kara's head.
Hayley groaned "Do I really have to come with?"
Rosie looked at her. "Yes. You do. We are giving dad and papa some time alone." This was true but there was an ulterior motive to Rosie's plan. One she did not plan on telling Hayley till later.
Hayley sighed.
"Come on. Its going to be fun." Rosie said.
Hayley nodded and got dressed and the seven of them headed out.
Rosie took them all to an ice rink not far from home. They all got skates, helmets and padding on before starting to skate.
Rosie and Hayley skated slowly next to each other. "How are you feeling?"
"I don't know." Hayley said "Physically I'm okay. Mentally I'm glad I'm in therapy."
Rosie nodded "Yeah. Therapy really does wonders if its with the right person."
"Yeah. I love my therapist. She is the easiest person to talk to. Zero judgement." Hayley said
"She call you out on any bullshit yet?" Rosie asked with a smirk.
Hayley chuckled "No. I guess she doesn't do that."
"Maybe. Maybe there hasn't been any to call you on yet." Rosie said chuckling as well
"Maybe." Hayley said
"You saw your mom yesterday. How is she doing?" Rosie asked
"She's doing better. Tired but her body is doing its job." Hayley said
"Good." Rosie said, "Does she have any memory loss?"
"She did at first. But she has it all back now." Hayley said "That's been hard for her. To remember the things she did. How she treated papa and the things she allowed with me."
Rosie nodded "But she wasn't herself. Its not her fault." Rosie said
"I agree but she has been working through all that." Hayley said
Rosie nodded "I get it. Sometimes even when things aren't our fault we still can blame ourselves."
Meanwhile at home. Dave and Hunter were watching a movie when there was a knock on the door. Hunter paused the movie and Dave went and answered the door.
"Hello Pierce. The girls aren't here right now." Dave said
"Actually I am here to talk to you and Mr. Maddox." Pierce said
Dave raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Come on in." Dave said. "Hunt. Pierce is here. Needs to talk to the two of us." He called out.
Hunter came and the three of them sat down in the office. Sascha was jumping all over Pierce who chuckled and pet him a bit.
"What's up?" Hunter asked him
"I know you have rules for Hals dating, and I would never want to disrespect that. Which is why I am coming to the two of you before talking to her. I was wondering if you would bend those rules a bit and allow me to take her on a date. My plan would be to take her to a nice dinner and than the arcade." Pierce said wanting to cover all the bases.
Hunter let out a breath. Dave looked up at him. He had been backing Hunter up when it came to the girls dating and that wasn't going to change.
Hunter had actually just had a conversation with his ex wife about this. She had brought it up. She was the one who wanted to discuss if they were going to change the rules. Hayley had talked about Pierce enough that Helen had started to realize that their daughter was falling in love and while it scared her she knew it just meant she was getting older. Helen had told Hunter that she was leaving the decision up to him and Dave. It was going to be awhile before she was able to really parent the girls again with everything going on and she didn't think it was fair. Hunter had told her he didn't want to make the decision without her when it came to their girls, but Helen told him that she trusted he would make the right decision.
Hayley was now fifteen. Less than a year to being sixteen. And having not allowed her to date had caused more issues than the rule was worth in Hunter's mind. And he knew Pierce. He knew he was a good guy.
"Pierce why don't you go wait in the library. Let us talk." Hunter said
Pierce nodded and did so Sascha following him
Hunter looked at Dave. "What do you think?"
"I think I have always left this decision up to you and Helen." Dave said
"Yes but you know about the conversation she and I had." Hunter said
"I do." Dave said
"So. What do you think?" Hunter asked
"I think she has matured a lot in the last few months." Dave said, "And I don't think that maturity will change much in less than a year."
Hunter let out a breath.
"She is growing up. We cant stop that no matter how much we want to." Dave said
Hunter chuckled. "You sure?" He asked
"Yeah. Pretty sure." Dave said with a chuckle
Hunter got up and called Pierce to come back in.
Pierce came back in and sat back down.
"Okay. Yes. You have our permission to ask her out. What she decides is up to her." Hunter said
"Yes. Of course." Pierce said, "Thank you." He said
"But know you hurt her there will be hell to pay." Dave said
"Completely understand." Pierce said
"Did you know that we would be here alone today?" Dave asked
"Um. Yes." Pierce said
Hunter chuckled "Rosie and you planned this?"
"Yes…" Pierce said
Dave smirked and shook his head.
"You are welcome to stay and wait for them to get back but don't know when that will be." Hunter said
"Thank you but I actually have work in about an hour." Pierce said
"Oh. You got a job. Where?" Dave asked
"McDonalds." Pierce said
"Good place to start." Dave said
They said their goodbyes and Pierce left.
Sascha whined when he left.
Dave and Hunter looked at each other.
"Are we going to tell Hayley she is allowed to date or let Pierce tell her he talked to us?" Hunter asked
"We can tell her she is allowed to date but we need to know who and all the details about where a date is taking her." Dave said
Hunter nodded and went and pet the dog. "He will visit again. I am sure of it."
"And I assume someone has had the sex talk with her?" Dave asked
"I think Helen has but we can go over everything again with her." Hunter said
Dave nodded.
"You had to do that all with Rosie on your own didn't you." Hunter said
"I did. But I do know she has spoken to Emily about it too." Dave said "I don't know if I have ever mentioned it to you because of everything you have had going on. But she is now on the pill." Dave said
"You didn't. But when I was picking up laundry in her room a few weeks ago I noticed the little envelope on her bedside table." Hunter said, "I figured if they are doing that she is at least being responsible and didn't think to bring it up."
Dave nodded. "Well she did talk to me about it before hand, but I know she has done everything a woman is supposed to do. Gotten a gynecologist. Gone on the pill." He said letting out a breath when he was done.
"You okay?" Hunter asked
"I just. I wish we could stop them all growing up." Dave said
Hunter nodded "Yup. But as you said. We cant. And its our job as parents to make sure they are handling this big decisions the right way and it seems Rosie is doing everything right. And we know Nolan is a good man."
"Yes. She has been very mature about the whole thing. And yes Nolan is a good man doesn't mean I think they are ready. But I don't get to make that decision." Dave said
Hunter nodded. "Do we know that they are for sure sexually active?"
"No. She told me it had been a discussion and she wanted to be prepared in case it comes up suddenly." Dave said
"So. You can just tell yourself they aren't, and she is just preparing for when it does happen." Hunter said
Dave nodded "But isn't that a little naïve?"
"Well you -don't know for sure. You can just not think about it." Hunter said
Dave nodded "How about we do pizza for dinner?"
Hunter smiled knowing he wanted to change the subject. "Homemade? Yours is so much better."
Dave chuckled "Yes. I think we can arrange that."
They went to the kitchen and started to pull out everything to make pizza dough.
A little bit later the front door opened, and the quietness was gone. Rosie came into the kitchen and grabbed an ice pack. Sascha following her with concern.
"Who got hurt?" Dave asked
"Me. And not really hurt. Just sore." Rosie said
"Where?" Hunter asked
"My shoulder." Rosie asked
"How did your shoulder get sore skating?" Hunter asked
"Kara was having a hard time staying up and was getting frustrated, so I was helping her, and some stupid preteen boys were not paying attention skating backwards trying to show off for some girl and one of them ran into me and to avoid falling on top of Kara I had to twist and landed on her shoulder instead of my butt." Rosie said
Dave and Hunter nodded.
"I'm fine. I'm sure its not broken or anything." Rosie said
"Can I see?" Hunter asked
Rosie took her hoodie off and pushed the sleeve of her t-shirt off her shoulder to show him.
"It does look a bit swollen." Hunter said
"Promise its just sore." Rosie said
"That's the same shoulder you hurt a few months ago rock climbing." Dave said
"Yes it is." Rosie said putting the ice pack on in.
"Massage therapy helped that right?" Hunter asked
"Yes." Rosie said, "I'm sure I will be fine after a couple treatments on it again."
"Good." Dave said
"How was your afternoon?" Rosie asked them
"Pretty quiet. It was nice." Dave said
"Thank you for doing that taking them to give us some time alone." Hunter said going back to working on the pizza with a smirk where she couldn't see.
Rosie nodded. "No one came by?" She asked
"Was someone supposed to?" Dave asked
Rosie sighed "I cant tell if you are messing with me or not…."
Hunter chuckled. "Yes. We had a certain teenager come by to talk to us"
Rosie nodded. "You upset with me?"
"Because you didn't tell us what was really going on?" Dave asked
"Yes…" Rosie said
"Well. Was it your idea or his?" Dave asked
"Kind of both. He wanted to talk to you both about it directly. I just helped him figure out how to do it when no one else was here." Rosie said
Dave nodded.
"We are not upset with you no." Hunter said
"But you do not tell Hals anything." Dave said
"I wont." Rosie said, "You going to tell me what you have decided?"
"No." Dave said, "Go rest keep the ice on your shoulder."
Rosie nodded and went and sat in the living room with the ice pack on her shoulder. Sascha jumped on the couch with her.
"Will you just leave me alone!" Maddy screeched coming in to the living room being followed by Kara.
Rosie looked up. "Kara are you bugging her?"
"I just wanna play!" Kara said
"Well why don't you go see if someone else wants to play." Rosie said
Kara went off and Maddy slumped onto the couch next to Rosie and Sascha. Sascha started to sniff Maddy all over.
"You okay?" Rosie asked her
"Just tired. And my stomach hurts." Maddy said
"What kind hurt? Like getting a flu or something?" Rosie asked
"No. Its lower than that. I don't know. Just feels weird and uncomfortable." Maddy said
"O-oh." Rosie said
"What? You know what it is?" Maddy asked
"Well. Maybe. Anyone ever talked to you about menstruation or periods?" Rosie asked
"No." Maddy said
Rosie took a breath. She didn't know what to do here. She wanted to help, and she knew it could be awkward for girls to talk to their dads about. And she was sure Helen would talk to her about it maybe she just hadn't yet. Maddy was only nine and it was little on the earlier side for it to start. Even with having a really shitty mother figure in her life. Beatrice had talked to her about it when she was ten to prepare her. She was twelve when it had started for her.
She looked up and saw Hunter standing in the doorway of the living room. He had heard Maddy screech and had come to see what the problem was and over heard the conversation.
"You can tell her if you want. Helen would have done so in a year or so. If you do not want to send her my way." Hunter told Rosie before walking away.
Rosie nodded.
"Tell me what?" Maddy asked
Rosie got up. "Come with me." Rosie said
Maddy and Rosie went up to Rosie's room where Rosie closed the door and went to her bathroom and grabbed a pad, panty liner and a tampon from under her counter and the diva cup package from a drawer and went and sat down on her window seat with Maddy.
"Okay. Well you're growing up. And part of maturing as a woman is we get a menstrual cycle. Or period is the more common term. It happens usually about once a month. Although that can vary from woman to woman. Its completely normal. We bleed a little from our vagina. You can use different things to catch the blood. There are pads or tampons. Or menstrual cups. You will likely want to start with pads or tampons. Doesn't matter what you use whatever you are comfortable with." Rosie said "It will last anywhere from three days to seven days. Probably will be on the shorter end when you first get it, and it will change as you get older and the hormones in the body change." Rosie said
"Wait. Bleeding and its normal?" Maddy asked
"Yup. It means our body is getting ready to be ready to carry babies. I know it seems strange to start it so early. But at one point in history it was normal for girls your age to be having babies. Its not common anymore but its just when the body starts getting ready." Rosie said
Maddy nodded. "Why did no one tell me about it yet?" Maddy asked
"Well. Papa made it seem like your mom would have told you when you were ten. She probably didn't think yours would start so soon. Not that there is anything wrong with it starting anytime. The youngest usually is around eight. Some don't start to till they are teenagers. But I think twelve is the average so maybe she figured yours wouldn't start till later and didn't need to tell you till a little later." Rosie said "I didn't think about telling you. I have never had to talk to anyone about it, so I didn't think about it. Its so normal to me now. And it will be to you in time."
She held up the things she had from the bathroom.
"So this is a pad." She said opening it up. "To use it you open it and stick this part to your underwear. Some pads like this one have wings and you remove the protective part and wrap them around the bottom of your underwear. Do you understand?" Rosie asked
Maddy nodded. "I think so."
"Good. And how often you change them depends on heavy your flow is and what size of pads you use. If you end up with a really heavy cycle you will want to use a heavier flow pad. You will figure out what works for you. But you don't want to keep them on for to long four to eight hours is usually how often. If you need to change it more than once every two hours you might want to talk to a doctor. But don't worry you shouldn't have that problem. But if you do tell your mom or papa or dad or me and we will help you figure it out." Rosie said, "This is a tampon." Rosie said than explain to her how to use it.
Maddy's eyes went wide. "Really? That's so weird."
"It does seem a little at first but if you use them it comes second nature. If you choose to use this do not go more than six hours without changing it. You do not want to leave it in more than that even if it isn't fully soaked through. If you leave it in to long it can cause infection and if your period is really heavy you might want to use a panty liner with a tampon. Which is basically just a really thin pad. Leaks do happen sometimes no matter what you use. Don't wear white on the bottom when you have your period or around the time it might start trust me. Trust me its just better to avoid white around that time. Usually it happens around the same time every month. It's a cycle. So every week your body is in a different part of the cycle only when its your week of menstruation will you bleed." Rosie said
Maddy pointed to the dixie cup "What's that?"
"It's a menstrual cup. You probably wont want to start with this." Rosie explained to her how it works. "This is what I use. But when I started I used only pads. Eventually I used tampons too. The good thing about tampons or a menstrual cup is you can swim with them. When you have your period you cant swim unless you use a tampon or menstrual cup." Rosie said
Maddy nodded.
"I know its a lot of information. If you have any questions you can ask me. If you want to use a tampon and need help learning how to put it in I can help you when that time comes. This is completely normal for woman. Oh and you will have weird symptoms. Like the cramping. Mood swings. You might break out with pimples. Headaches." Rosie said listing all the possible symptoms. "You probably wont have all of them. And some are more common than others." Rosie said
Maddy nodded
"Any questions you can come to me. Or your mom or any older female in your life. We have all gone through this. We all know how weird it can seem at first." Rosie said
Maddy nodded again. "Has Hals and Cals started theirs?"
"Hals for sure yes not sure about Cals." Rosie said, "But I'm guessing that she has probably been told about it."
"Will Kenzie start hers the same time as me because we are twin?" Maddy asked
"Um. No. Twins or not you are two different people. So when she starts hers it will be normal for her. And if Cals hasn't yet its okay too. She will when her body is ready." Rosie said
"Is there an age you have to start it by before it becomes bad?" Maddy asked
"Um. Well it kind of depend in the woman. Young woman who are really active. Like those who are heavily involved in sports. Like teen girls trying to go to the olympics for gymnastics and train everyday for hours a day sometime don't start their period till they are done with gymnastics. But if you don't start it by the time you are sixteen I think that is something you would want to talk to a doctor about." Rosie said
Maddy nodded
"I always have pads and tampons under the sink in my bathroom. If you need them you can come get them. But just tell dad or papa what you need, and they will get them for you." Rosie said. "And if you ever want to try a menstrual cup you can get them a bunch of places. I got mine from the pharmacy. But that is something that it is for use by one person. You do not share those. I can help you make a little period kit to keep in your backpack with a few things. If you are at school and it starts, and you don't have anything you can go to the nurses office she will have pads and maybe tampons. And if the cramps or headaches or overall discomfort is to much you can uses advil. Or a heat pad on the area on your tummy that hurts. Drink lots of water."
Maddy nodded.
"I think that covers just about everything but any questions you can ask." Rosie said
Maddy let out a breath. "Okay."
"I know its a lot." Rosie said "So just take things one step at a time. I can take you to the pharmacy tomorrow and help you pick out what you want to start with and help you get stuff to keep in your backpack."
"Okay." Maddy said
Rosie opened her arms.
Maddy hugged her and Rosie hugged her back "Its completely normal and it means you are growing up."
Maddy smiled "Does that mean I get to know more about how babies are made?"
"Um. Ask papa about that." Rosie said that was not a conversation she was going to have with her.
Maddy nodded. "Okay."
"Now how are the cramps?" Rosie asked
"Seem to be okay right now." Maddy said
"Okay." Rosie said and they both left her room and Rosie went back downstairs and put the ice pack in the freezer.
"Everything went okay?" Hunter asked
"Yes." Rosie said
"Okay." Hunter said, "Thank you for being so willing to talk to her about it."
Rosie smiled "Of course. Her mom cant right now and I'm the big sister least I can do to help. When I was starting I never would have gone to the man who I thought was my father it was to weird. Now its completely normal for me to ask you or dad to get me stuff if I need it but I get its weird at first."
Hunter smiled and nodded.
"And there are things that you just will never understand." Rosie said
Hunter chuckled "Yes. This is true."
"But I did tell her if she needs things she can ask you. And I'm going to take her to help her pick out what she wants to use and get a few things to keep in her backpack" Rosie said
Hunter nodded. "Okay. I will give you my card to get those things. You should not have to pay for those things."
Rosie nodded. "I don't mind but if you insist I can use the credit card dad gave me."
"I do." Hunter said
"Okay." Rosie said
Dinner was served a bit later and they all sat down to eat. As they were finishing eating. Hunter and Dave took Hayley into the office.
"Okay. After much discussion. We have decided you are allowed to date." Hunter said
"But the same rules apply as they do for Rosie. We need to know who you are dating. And we need to know where you are going. School and your other commitments come first." Dave said
Hayley got a big smile. "Yes! Okay! Of course." She said. She was willing to do whatever they said.
"And if it comes to a point where you are ready to be sexually active you need to use every kind of protection you can get. The pill we will help you get if you need us to. But still use condoms." Dave said
Hayley nodded. "Okay. I will when that time comes."
"That's it." Hunter said
"Thank you!" Hayley said getting up and hugging them both. "Does mom know?"
"I'll make sure she does. She will be okay with it." Hunter said hugging her before she hugged Dave.
Hayley smiled and nodded "Okay."
"So go on. Tell Pierce you can." Dave said with a smile.
Hayley squeed and left the office and went up to her room.
Hunter let out a breath. "I am not ready for this…"
"Yes you are." Dave said kissing him. "Because you and Helen raised a good kid. She will make the right decisions for her."
"You have done a lot of help with that raising the last year." Hunter said
Dave smiled "I hope I have had a positive affect."
"You have. Honestly. I don't think we would have gotten through the last few months without you. And without Rosie." Hunter said
"Well. I'm glad we were both able to help. And I don't think Rosie and I would have made it through the last year without all of you." Dave said
Hunter smiled. "Come on. Lets do a movie night."
Dave and Hunter called everyone to come for a movie. They all went into the living room and cuddled up together on the new sectional and put on a disney movie. Sascha climbed up and laid her entire body across Rosie and Maddy who both just chuckled and pet him.