Just as she thought.
Lainey was abused.
Chapter Three: Just Ride it Out
A/N: There is some abuse in this chapter, because, unfortunately, it has to get worse before it can get better.
"Where the hell have you been?"
Lainey's head turned in the direction her mother and cringed both inwardly and outwardly.
She had been hoping that the woman would've been too drunk to notice her coming through the door.
"Well? Are you going to stand there looking like an idiot or are you going to answer my question?" She demanded, putting her hands on her hips.
Lainey's nose wrinkled at the overwhelming smell of alcohol in the room.
There were a few bottles of beer on the table and one in her mother's hand.
"I was with Peter."
She figured that if her mother knew she was with a family friend, then she wouldn't overreact.
But she was sadly mistaken.
"Who the hell is Peter?" The older woman took a swig from the bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand.
"Peter Parker…..Don't you remember? Peter and May? We used to have dinner together."
The muscles in Allison Taylor's face scrunched together as she thought about what Lainey had just told her.
"What were you two doing?"
Lainey didn't really know what to tell her.
What if Peter didn't want anyone to know about him and the Avengers?
"We went into the city and had dinner together."
"With who?"
The tension was growing in the air. Lainey knew that she had to say something before she made the situation a whole lot worse than it should be, so she told her mother the truth.
"We had dinner at the Avengers Tower."
And even though it was the truth, Allison didn't believe a word that came out of her mouth.
"Yeah, and I had brunch with the Queen of England." She set the bottle down on the counter.
An audible 'thud' was heard once the glass and the marble top connected.
Things were not looking good for Lainey.
Her heart raced inside of her chest as she fumbled for things to say.
But nothing came.
"You know, most parents have kids who don't lie to them every time they open up their mouths. Why can't you be like that?" Allison laughed.
But there wasn't anything funny going on.
"I'm sorry, I'll go do my homework." Lainey gave up trying to plead her case and made her way to her room.
But before she could make it, Allison grabbed her arm and yanked her back towards her.
The grip she had on the girl was tight enough to get a reaction out of her, but Lainey grit her teeth and tried to block out the pain.
Her mother's eyes bore into her own, making sure Lainey knew just how angry she was.
As if the lack of circulation in her arm wasn't any indication.
"I'm not finished with you yet."
Here it comes.
Lainey knew what was going to happen after the bitter words left her mother's mouth, so she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.
But the odds were not in her favor.
"I trusted you enough to tell me the truth, but apparently I've been too lenient with you."
A gasp escaped Lainey's throat as Allison shoved her up against the wall behind her. Her back took a hard hit before she hit the ground from the impact.
But she refused to cry. She had been through this enough times to know that if she didn't make a sound, her mother would eventually tire herself out and leave her alone to pass out on the couch or something.
Just ride it out. She thought to herself as she stood back up, keeping a considerable distance between her and her seething mother.
"Where did I go wrong? I raised you right! I taught you good morals! And you still end up a worthless hood rat!"
"Mom I-"
A slap to the face by a hand covered in rings was all it took to get Lainey to shut her mouth. A familiar thick liquid ran down her nose and a metallic taste hit her tongue.
But Lainey didn't dare spit it out.
You'll be okay. Just ride it out.
"I'm sick and tired of you acting as if you own the place!" Another slap.
Everything will be alright. You'll see. She always does stuff like this. She doesn't mean it.
"How much more of this do I have to put up with? Do you want me to snap?"
The wind was knocked out of the brunette when her mother reeled an arm back and punched her right in the stomach.
Her body trembled involuntarily as another hit landed before she could catch her breath.
All her muscles constricted and her legs gave out, sending her cashing onto the wooden floor below.
It'll be over soon. I promise.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You think the kid's being abused?" Sam asked once everything was out in the open.
Steve had called an emergency meeting to discuss his suspicions. He told everyone exactly what happened during the car ride a few hours prior and insisted that they gather as much information and evidence as they could to help.
"I don't think, I know. You didn't see her face Sam. She thought I was going to attack her or something. Someone is hurting her, I just don't know who."
"Well she isn't going to tell us anything, so what are we going to do?" Bruce asked.
He really wanted to help the girl. He thought she was so sweet and so unlike most girls her age. She had seemed so happy with them, he didn't want that to change.
"We can stop by her house and see if she's alright." Wanda suggested.
"If what you're saying is true, and she is being abused, then we really can't go barging in her apartment no matter how much we want to. It won't help her at all. It's just going to make it worse." Tony spoke up, typing away at something on his laptop.
He was right.
What if they went in there to help, and whoever was hurting Lainey would just get angry and take it out on her the minute they were alone again.
That meant calling the police was out of the question too.
"I found something that will help." Natasha turned her laptop around so they all could see and read the file she had read before she was called down.
"Her mother?" Steve looked horrified.
His eyebrows had shot up high on his forehead and his eyes were as big as saucers. Even when he thought he had adjusted to the new ways of life in this century, something came along and proved that he still had a lot to learn.
What kind of mother did something like this to their own flesh and blood?
Their own child?
"Her mother." The redhead confirmed. "And it looks like someone found out and called the police, but Lainey and her mother denied everything."
"Why didn't she say anything?" Wanda asked, wishing that she had spoken up sooner after she went through Lainey's mind.
Maybe she could have prevented all of this.
Maybe, instead of looking for ways to help save Lainey from the one person who should be taking care of her, they would be sitting around watching a movie or playing a few games.
She couldn't help but feel that part of this was her fault.
"She's afraid of her mother. She probably thought that if she spoke up, her mother would hurt her. I bet she ended up worse off than ever anyway. The thing that doesn't make sense is the fact that the case was dropped, just like that." Natasha snapped her fingers together tp prove the point she was making.
"Even if they both denied the allegations, there should've been an investigation. Something just isn't right." Tony ran a hand over his face. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. get my suit ready."
"He's right. Suit up. We've got a girl to help." Steve spoke, determination crossing his features as he stood up.
Lainey remained on the floor, curled into herself, hoping that her mother would just leave her be.
But it seemed like with every hit the woman landed, the angrier she became.
Lainey didn't know how much more she could take.
Her throat was sore from all the screaming she had done and her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from all the tears that she couldn't stop from spilling over.
And to top it all off, she getting tired. Her eyes just wouldn't stop fluttering closed no matter how valiant her attempts were to keep them open.
Just ride it out. It'll be over soon. Everything will be okay….It'll be okay.
Lainey's eyes fluttered close for the last time as the pain in her body reached a peak, and she knew no more.
A/N: Yay! The Avengers to the rescue! This chapter was a little challenging to write because of all the things I wanted to hint at without giving anything away. What do you think is going on behind the court cases? Although the Avengers know, Lainey isn't out of the woods yet! Hopefully, I'll manage to make these chapters longer. Stay tuned! :)