This story is canceled. It was a mutual decision between the two of us. To those looking forward to Roxanne's fight with the Sabbat, I apologize. There is a plot summary below for anyone who is curious.
Chapter 15
Talia's birthday
Owen fixed his tie and looked in the mirror. Talia's guests would arrive soon. After they picked Talia up from Adriana's house, they spent the week sightseeing, lazing around the cabin, and hiking. The Friday before her birthday, he realized something was nagging at him. He only figured it out after Talia was already in bed. In the morning, he told them suspected Talia wasn't aging like a human anymore. Talia had gotten upset and yelled at him, unconsciously bringing out her claws. He grabbed her hands to stop her from swinging them.
"How're you doing?" Roxanne asked, leaning against the doorframe.
She had a heated argument with Talia when the teen tried to hit her father, and warned her to keep her hands to herself and start showing more respect. It wasn't like Owen could know that Talia wouldn't have been able to age, and violence wouldn't solve her situation. They yelled at each other, Roxanne had to run into the forest and let off some steam before things could get bad. She punched the mountain's side so hard, the vampire was able to create a cave. Roxanne was back to the cabin the night after, but things were tense for the next few days before the birthday party.
"I'm fine." Owen turned to face her. "Roxanne, are you okay?"
"Just peachy." She sighed. " I'll roam around the cabin during the birthday party, I don't trust the Gangrel clan. Not completely."
"Alright. Just come in when it's time to open presents. I don't want you to miss that." He said.
"Yeah, yeah..."
Owen walked to her and held her in his arms. He sighed deeply. "I don't know what to do."
"Maybe you could actually start discipline her..." Roxanne disentangled from his hug and looked at him in the eyes. "Owen: do you think it's normal for a daughter to punch her own father?"
"It wasn't her fault. Grounding her didn't work and I don't want to spank her." His lips twisted in a disturbed frown.
"Then what? Are you going to let her treat you however she likes? Treating you as a punching bag whenever she's upset? We're her parents. Not her best friends. Which means that sometimes we have to be severe." She argued.
"Roxanne, let's at least talk to the others first." He said firmly.
"Alright. Fine. But I'm warning you: if she ever dares to lay one finger on you, me Fox or David...I won't stand still." And with that, Roxanne walked out of the bedroom.
Owen felt a hot ball of guilt in his stomach. He didn't want to be a point of contention for Roxanne or Talia. Being a parent was hard. Talia was sitting in her room. She was in trouble with her parents, she knew that. The when was killing her. The offer to move into her inherited property was looking much more appealing now. Talia had been left alone after the fight with Roxanne, snapping at Xanatos. But she regretted it. She wanted someone to comfort her.
Once downstairs, Roxanne found Xanatos checking out the decorations for the party, but he didn't look exactly happy.
"You okay?" She asked him.
"What do you think?" Xanatos replied snarkily.
The vampire raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "I already got an aggressive teenager in this house, I don't need another one."
Xanatos sighed. "I apologize for my attitude, but...Talia snapped at me. She's still upset about what happened a couple of days ago. Today we should've celebrated Thanksgiving, but...she chose to eat in her room, Owen did the same...and me and Fox ended up alone in the dining room."
"I know. Owen told me. Sorry if it didn't go as planned..." Roxanne said.
"Honestly, I'm not used to unplanned situations...maybe the hotel would've been a better idea." He frowned.
"Nonsense. By the way, we'll have to talk about our snappy teen daughter soon. Tell Fox, too." She added.
"Where are you going?" Xanatos asked.
"Out." Roxanne said, slamming the door.
David shook his head and finished with the decorations. A car pulled into the driveway. That was the cab with Talia's friends. Xanatos went out to pay the man. The teens pulled out their bags from the trunk. Adri was only one that looked familiar to him. There was a teen boy with blond hair. The other two were girls. One had shoulder length, chestnut brown hair, blue green eyes. The other had ombre hair and hazel eyes.
"Hi, Mr. Xanatos." Adri waved.
"Hello Adriana. Welcome all of you, please come in, make yourselves comfortable." David managed a smile as he accompanied the teens inside.
"Woah...dude, this place's, like, huge." The boy said, looking around the luxurious living room.
"Don't drool too much, Justin, we don't want a lake in the middle of the room." The brunette smirked.
"Where's Talia?" The girl with ombre hair asked.
"Guys, we forgot to introduce you to each other." Adri realized.
"I'm Caity." She smiled politely.
"Hey, I'm Justin." The boy said.
"And I'm Seirra." The other brunette waved.
Owen heard the car pull in then leave. He went to Talia's room. "Talia, your friends are here. Come down and greet them."
He heard a soft mumble as he went downstairs. Fox was resting before dinner. Xanatos and the teens were standing in the middle of the living room. Talia came down a few moments later. Gone was the dark cloud of anger and stubbornness from her face, replaced with a bright smile. He almost believed there was nothing wrong. She hugged Adri.
"Hey, girl! Long time no see." The boy, Justin, said grinning and playfully punching her shoulder.
"Brady!" Talia grinned and punched him back.
"How've you been, Tai?" Caity asked.
"It's been fine for the most part. C'mon, we'll take your bags up to my room." Talia grabbed one.
"Sooo...David Xanatos, uh?" Sierra said casually as she went upstairs with the others.
"That is a long complicated story I don't want to get into right now." Talia pushed her door open.
They put their bags away and unpacked a few things. Pillows, sleeping bags. Talia noticed a package of brownies in Caity's bag. She tucked them deeper under Caity's clothes.
"Hey, man, thanks for earlier." She whispered.
"No problem, but uh, why-" Caity was interrupted by Adri.
"Tai, where do we put your presents?" Adri asked.
"Downstairs, I guess." Talia said.
They went back down. Owen and Xanatos were talking. Her guests put the presents down with the others then they decided to go to the basement. Caity and Justin gravitated toward the ping pong table. Talia sat on the couch, Adri sat next to her. Sierra watched Justin and Caity play for a bit.
"Hey, Tai. You doing ok?" Adri asked softly.
"Tell 'em I changed my mind." She answered.
Adri blinked owlishly. "What happened? D-"
"Something else. I'll tell you later." Talia got up. "Hey, it's my turn now!"
"I was wondering when you'd stop talking with Adri." Justin grinned.
"Yeah, whatever." Talia took a paddle from Caity.
They played a few rounds. Talia's reflexes were much better than the last time she had seen her friends. Owen called them up for dinner. It was personal pizzas. They had several different toppings out to chose from. The teens made their pizza on flatbread and Xanatos cooked them in the oven. They sat in the living room and ate.
Xanatos, Fox, Owen ate in the dining room. Fox ate a bowl of chicken noodle soup. A movie played in the background. Talia wasn't going to eat her normal proportions, even with the snacks and desserts. Her friends would notice and she just didn't really feel like asking Owen to cook her another one. Her stomach demanded more, it had gotten too used to being full. She wasn't sure why she wasn't tubbier by this point. It had to go somewhere...
After dinner, Roxanne came back inside. She hung in the far corner of the room. Talia realized she could ruin Caity's surprise. Talia used her magic and buried the brownies outside, under the car. They moved to the dining room; Talia was sat in middle. Fox took a few pictures. Talia kept the confusion off of her face. She didn't think they wanted to keep any mementos of this birthday.
Owen brought her cake in. It was chocolate with flowers on it. He lit the candles and they sang to her. Talia blew them out and wished, even though she knew it was unlikely. They ate the cake then it was present time. Talia was unenthused by the prospect of losing of her presents when all her friends left. Her birthday was much more fun before all this happened. A blue package was set in front of her. She tore it open. It was a stuffed pony.
"Who's it from?" Sierra asked.
"Uh, Fox." She looked at the tag.
Talia set it aside. She spent a little more time looking the gifts, reading the tags. Owen had gotten her a music box. Roxanne gave her a book called Mystery on Taboga Island by Patricia Maloney Markun. Xanatos' gift was in an envelope. At first Talia thought it was money, but it turned out to be a ticket to the AC/DC tour. She mustered up a smile. Money would have been better. This was just rubbing salt in the wound.
Adri's gift was in a big bag. She made her a photo album of her and their friends, along with blanket and souvenirs from her trip to the beach. Talia hugged her. Justin joked about setting the bar high. Caity elbowed him in the ribs. Sierra made her a bracelet. It was purple, pink and white. Caity bought her a copy of Clueless. Justin gotten her a few books in Enchanted Forest Chronicles series by Patricia C. Wrede.
Roxanne left as soon as Talia was done opening her presents. Owen watched her go. Talia tried not to let it bother her. They hadn't talked since the fight and she shouldn't have hoped it would end just because it was her birthday. Xanatos and Fox went to bed. Owen cleaned up. Talia took the others to her room. She made a beeline for Caity's bag, taking the brownies out.
"Woah, you brought edibles out here?" Justin asked.
"I figured Tai would want them." She shrugged.
"I do." Talia ate one.
"Hey, save some for us." Sierra snatched it from her.
They ate the brownies and changed into their pajamas. It awhile for them to feel the effects, but it worked. Talia felt relaxed for the first time in a week. They caught up and cracked jokes. Owen only reminded them once to keep it down. Talia and Justin raided the cupboard for snacks.
Around 1 in morning, they slowly began to fall asleep. Adri had not forgotten her promise to tell her what happened. So, she told her everything. How she wouldn't age anymore, getting upset and shouting at Owen, the fight that ensued. Xanatos turned his attention to Fox, pampering her and taking her out. Roxanne couldn't stand being near her. Adri tried to comfort her, saying that it would be fine. Talia took her hugs and fell asleep. The next day, everyone packed up and waited for their parents. One by one, they left. Xanatos decided that that they would go home as well. They flew back to New York that night.
Plot summary
(Keep in mind I do not know what Roxane's character progression would have been.)
Talia would have been punished for yelling at Roxanne and the others. Then she would have gotten anger management classes for her temper.
Roxanne would fight with the Sabbat and win. (Obviously.)
During the Gathering, Talia would see Puck stand up to Oberon and realize running away from your problems doesn't do any good. And she would learn not to be so hard on her parents.
After the Gathering, the Xanatoses and friends would have some encounters with other vampires and supernatural creatures.
Owen and Roxanne would get married.
Roxanne's plot summary
She and the Prince would've organized a plan to defeat the Sabbat in New York. While Roxanne distracted them, T and some others would've blown the base up. She would've survived, miraculously. Irene would've tried to convince her to take power in New York in the name of the Brujah clan, killing all the Ventrue vampires and anyone who wouldn't submit. Also, she would've tried to convince Roxanne to embrace Talia and use her incredible power against their enemies. Irene wanted to exploit Talia and her powers and use her as a weapon against enemies, like other vampires, werewolves, hunters. They would've had a fight, of course, but Roxanne would be defeated. At that point, maybe Talia could've destroyed Irene and heal Roxanne.
