Quinn stared at her childhood home, feeling the knot in her stomach as she stared at the stately colonial house. She licks her lips nervously, this was supposed to be her home, and yet it felt like she was walking into a battle with demons.

It was silly of course that her hands felt heavy, and were slick with sweat. It was her mother, the woman who had given birth to her, and had been a decent mother to her. She wasn't some succubus, or a man-eating monster. It was just her mother. The woman who had stood by her father as he ripped their family apart.

If her Aunt Cassandra wasn't being nearly impossible about this, she wouldn't be here. Her parents had taken her twin sister away and condemned her. They had stolen away her life and left Charlie trying to pick up the pieces, and try and be an adult. She still didn't quite know how to make it up to Charlie, if paying for dinner was enough to build a relationship with her sister, then it was a price she was willing to pay.

Taking a shaky breath, she steps onto the stepping stones toward the front door. The sooner she dealt with this situation, the sooner she could leave. Maybe she could check in with Charlie and take her to dinner, and then if she could get tickets, she'd stop at one of Rachel's shows.

It's not long before she finds herself standing at the large stately doors and shifts uncomfortably before reaching for the knocker and using it to knock on the door. She had a key, but this wasn't her home anymore, and she didn't want her mother getting any ideas.

It takes a moment, a far longer moment before the door opens and Quinn's surprised to see her mother opening the door. They had always had people for that sort of thing, people who took care of the house. But now that she took a closer look it was evident to see that the lawn wasn't as pristine as it had once been, and that the entrance way didn't look nearly as impressive as it once did. "Mom," Quinn mumbles looking away as her mother pulls her into a hug and she can smell the scotch that lingered on her mother's breath, causing her to cringe.

"You came home!" There was a cheery note in Judy's voice, "Sorry for the mess, but with your father demoted—certain privileges and perks were taken away. We lost the help, if your father was still making his salary, we could have hired someone—but they slashed that as well." Judy pulls away so she can look at Quinn, she smiles and begins to pull her daughter into the home. "It doesn't matter of course, Charlie is on the television again, she's down in California battling the fires."

Quinn's face twisted at the comment, "Now you care about her well-being?" When her mother stops suddenly, she nearly crashes into her, but manages to avoid the collision. As far as she was concerned her mother was just as guilty as her father was. "Did you watch the videos? They have hundreds upon hundreds of hours of video of her and if she wasn't alone, she was being abused by the Templars."

"Stop it," Judy's voice breaks a bit, as she turns to look at her daughter. "Stop it."

"Stop what? Telling the truth? This family failed her. You failed her; you should have done more to protect her. Dad, I get. It's not surprising, but you were a good mom. You supported me; how could you have let them take away one of your children?"

"It wasn't—" Judy swallows, "It wasn't supposed to be—she was magic touched and she was dangerous. She needed to be separated from the family, she was powerful Quinn, now imagine that power in a child who could barely talk, and was at the age where temper tantrums were common. She could have killed you. It was never supposed to be this long. He told me she'd come back once it was safe. I never thought about it, I thought he would take care of her. I thought she'd be safe."

Quinn scoffs, "Just let him handle it? Grandpa didn't raise you to depend on him. Fuck, everyone thinks that he was the reason that I got to where I am, but he only gave me the opportunity, it was up to me to succeed. And that was only the first few missions, so people could know who I was. Everything after that I've earned. I've bled for—" Quinn takes a deep breath trying to calm herself. Yelling at her mother wouldn't change the past. "She wasn't safe. I don't think she ever felt safe, they broke her, they were cruel to her, they treated her like a monster. It's no wonder she doesn't trust anyone, it's no wonder she doesn't want to meet anyone else from the family."

Judy froze, "You've met her?"

Quinn narrowed her eyes; she could hear the almost hopeful lilt in her mother's voice. "We have the same face. Honestly, I think its more curiosity on her part, and because she makes me pay after dragging me to fancy restaurants." She stops, she'd said to much about her twin and she doubted that Charlie would appreciate it. "We're working on our relationship, that's all you need to know. I'm only here because you need to lay off Aunt Cassie's back. She doesn't appreciate being mothered by you."

Judy didn't say anything immediately before turning to look back at the television, "Do you think I don't think of her every day? You think that I don't see her on television and I'm not proud of her? For everything that she has accomplished. You think I don't feel a tremendous amount of guilt Quinn? I do. About everything, do you know how many times I've just wanted to tell you? Or how often I looked at your father and simply hated him for what he had done?"

"Then you should have—"

"I should have left? Without her? He lied to me as well. He took my baby away from me, and yes, I agreed to it. I agreed because it was dangerous and we didn't have any other choice. As much as you want to insist otherwise, we didn't Quinn. My mistake was not visiting her every day, was not checking in on her. Was not being her advocate, and for letting him just control everything."

"You just went along with it?"

"You did the same for most of your life, it's just the way things were." Judy says, there was a tiredness to her voice. Before Quinn can argue with her some more. "It doesn't matter anymore Quinn; we've already separated and the lawyers are already beginning to divvy up the assets."

And just like that all of Quinn's anger evaporates, and she's left feeling empty. She hadn't expected that, she didn't know what she had expected, but it was clear that her perfect little family was nothing more than a lie. Yelling at her mother wouldn't change how she felt, being away hadn't fixed her trust issues, or allowed her to properly process the fact that her family had lied to her. "So, what now?"

Judy sighed, "I just want to watch her on television," Judy said as simply as she could. It was probably the closest she'd ever get to her youngest child. "I did prepare something, nothing fancy. I haven't really felt like being much of a homemaker these days. But perhaps we can watch it together?"

Quinn hesitates for a moment before nodding, she didn't have to talk if they were just watching television.

Judy smiles, and moves to the living room, and taking a seat where the television was already on, the news still playing Charlie's dramatic footage.

It takes Quinn a moment before she takes a seat as far from her mother as she can possibly while still seated on the same couch. "No sound?" She prompts after watching the news anchor talking, but noting there was no sound being emitted from the television.

"They spent the past week, saying all sorts of terrible things about her, because she didn't help. I just switched off the sound so I could watch her." A small tired smile flits across her face for a moment. "I've been paying attention to your life too, the news that I can get anyway. I'm proud of you too. I'm glad that you're no longer being held back."

She had always suspected that it was her father who had held her back, but to have her mother openly admit it, stung. Even if there was a mild sense of vindication, she had gotten to where she was in spite of him. "I'm sure it was for my own good."

Judy sighed it was clear that she didn't really want to talk about her soon to be ex-husband but Quinn needed to understand. "I think—he thinks that he has the best intentions and that his reasoning is sound. He didn't want anyone to look at you and see nepotism. But I know he wanted you to surpass him, and you've done that in three short years."

Quinn turned her attention back to the television, not quite knowing how to respond for a brief moment. "He was wrong. About everything."

Judy nodded wordlessly, "When you called, I got excited and I got you a small gift. I didn't do it to buy your affection, or to make things right. I just want to help. Your Aunt Cassandra said you had been interested in this Broadway production so I made some calls and got you the best seats in the house." She reaches for her purse and pulls out two tickets and looks at Quinn. "I hope they're the right ones."

Quinn stares at the tickets in her mother's hand, she had wanted to go see Rachel in Gypsy. She had heard that Rachel had gotten cast as the adult Louise. It had been met with rave reviews and—Quinn turns to her mother. "What's the catch?"

"There is no catch. I did this because I know how important Rachel is too you."

Quinn's breath catches for a moment, "You know?"

"I've always known. You're not very good at hiding things from me." Judy smiles. "I read that I was supposed to wait for you to come out to me. But given the circumstances—" Judy trails off and shrugs her shoulders.

Quinn hesitates for a moment, she really wanted to go see Rachel perform. More than anything and if her mother bought tickets then she knew that they would be the best seats. She glances at them and notes that they're in the orchestra section and she was in the front row. Rachel would be able to see her. "Thank you."

It's the first genuine smile that Judy gives her and she nods before returning to the television, where the action looks to be over.