11. Father Failure
Friday after noon Gabrielle was on her way to meet her grandfather. She was slightly nervous, though of course not showing it. Besides nervous, she was also amused. She wasn't sure how Roger did it, but he'd made sure she got the after noon of from school. Gaby entered the restaurant and hung up her black trench coat in the wardrobe. When that was all set, she entered the actual restaurant and found Roger already at a table for two. She walked over and smiled a calm, confidant smile. 'Hello grandfather.'
Roger stood up and shook his granddaughter's hand. 'Hello Gabrielle. I'm pleased to see you could make it.' they both sat down and ordered a drink as the waiter stopped by.
'Yes, how could I not? You settled everything, thank you.', Gabrielle replied in her best and most polite English.
'Of course I did. '.
Gaby took a look at the menu and wondered what would be appropriate and English enough to eat in such an occasion. She still found it rather strange to be here, and definitely wasn't exactly fond of this cold, English, distant man who was said to be family, especially because of what he did, and was still doing, to her father, but she'd come to the conclusion that it was best to play the game of politeness along. And Gabrielle was very good at the game of politeness, she'd been raised with it, and just like her mother, she hardly lost control. Yet when she did, it wasn't pretty.
'Grandfather, with all respect, but I'd appreciate it if you'd get to the point now.', she said, getting impatient, and, curious.
'The point, yes, indeed. Well, Gabrielle, considering my son's personality and past failures, you must understand my expectations of his child he made together with an evil Wolfram & Hart lawyer weren't exactly too high. But, I must admit, you surprised me. You appear to be a kind, intelligent young lady, and even though it's possible you got one or two of your good qualities from your parents, I'm almost positive that you inherited them from me.', Roger said. Gaby tried very hard to remain calm as he said these unacceptable things about Wesley, and couldn't in the least be flattered by his words about her.
'Your point, grandfather?'.
'Now, I did some research on that school of yours, and I came to the conclusion that you have more skills and brains than those.. ordinary teenagers.'
'So you're saying my school isn't good enough?', Gaby couldn't help but frown .Her school wasn't his business at all. This was almost funny, had it not been so serious.
'For you it isn't, indeed. Therefore I'm offering you a chance.', Roger continued.
'A chance…'.
'To a better education. I happen to know an excellent boarding school in London. The education level is a lot higher than on your recent school, and there are more subjects, which is also in your advantage. '.
'That all sounds very good, but I don't understand… Why are you willing to pay for my extremely expensive education?', Gaby questioned, her confusion not at all less yet.
'That's very easy. My son hasn't reached the goal I had in mind for him, and I think you can. I realize the Watcher's Council no longer exists, but that's not exactly the kind of profession I had in mind for you.', her grandfather explained.
'And what exactly did you have in mind for me?', Gaby inquired, starting to wonder if he found she actually had a say in this.
'I'll leave that up to you, though I'm sure you will make a good choice on that front, but that's for later concern.'.
'You want me to do this education, become something fancy, so you can show off with me as your intelligent granddaughter.', Gaby stated, ordering a salad as the waiter came along again.
'Maybe. But why would you care? Dear, this is a great opportunity. If I were you I would take it and stop questioning why you got it.', Mr. Wyndam-Pryce advised her, as he ordered something for lunch as well.
'What makes you think I want this? '.
'Of course you want this. You're a Wyndam-Pryce.
'True, but I'm also a Morgan. '. . Gabrielle took a little sip from her drink. 'I don't want to leave Los Angeles, or my parents, or my new friends.', she continued.
'They're just people, they'll always be here. This is about your future.', Roger said, unable to understand the value she put in other people. 'You're my granddaughter. I want you to keep up the good family reputation, because my son didn't, and why wouldn't you?'.
'You expect me to make a decision about this right now? '.
'I don't see why not, but all right, I'll give you some time. I would like to hear your final answer by next Friday night.'. Roger handed her his card that also had his phone number on it, so she'd be able to call him about her decision. 'Think about it. Consider your options, and then call me. Yes?'.
Gabrielle took the card and put it in her purse, meanwhile her eyes never left her grandfather's eyes. 'I'll think about it. I appreciate your offer.'. She stood up, without even having touched her salad. 'Thanks for the lunch.'. Without any other words or good-byes, Gaby walked off, casually, heels clicking on the floor. Once she was outside again, getting in a cab, she thought of what had just happened. What 'had' just happened? 'Okay, let's get everything straight here.', she said to no one in particular, though she saw the driver glance at her. 'My grandfather shows up to meet me. That part is understandable. Then, he offers me a no doubt inhumanly expensive education in England, because he wants me to keep up the Wyndam-Pryce reputation, because, according to him, my father didn't, and I'm the only one left.'.
The cab driver frowned. 'Sounds interesting.'.
'Sure does. It's rather annoying too, though. '. Gabrielle got out of the cab when they arrived at her destination and she paid the driver, including a generous tip. She walked over to Wesley's apartment and opened the door with her key. Before she had said something, she heard voices. Her parents' voices, which was strange, because especially Lilah was supposed to be at work.
'I'm telling you, she's going to find out some day!', Gaby heard her mother say. What was going on? Who was that she, was it Gaby? If so, what couldn't she find out?
'You can't keep lying to her forever, you know!', Lilah continued.
'We've started this together, Lilah, and we'll continue this together.'. That was Wesley's voice. Gabrielle got more confused every second, and couldn't help but walk in on them to announce her presence. After all, if this was indeed about her she had all the right to know what was going on.
'Continue 'what', together, dad?', she inquired, crossing her arms in a 'don't mess with me' way.
'Gabrielle… I didn't… How long have you been standing there?'. Wesley froze the moment he saw his daughter. Lilah had been right after all, this was something else in his life he'd done wrong… a decision he'd made somewhere in his panic with bad consequences. Was he really the disappointment and failure his father had always said he was?
'Long enough to know something's up, and you're going to tell me what it is.', Gaby replied.
Lilah sighed, she didn't feel like playing this game along anymore, so decided it was up to her to come clean. 'We lied to you. Your father and I spent a night together, yes, but that's all it was. We don't have a relationship, and we're sorry we made you think that we did.'. That may have sounded a bit harsh, but tact had never been Lilah's thing. She found it was a waste of time that on the whole didn't make the slightest difference. Tact was for softies, and softies did 'not' include Lilah Morgan.
Gabrielle couldn't believe what her mother had just said. They'd been lying to her the whole time! Okay, in her heart she'd known it had been a lie, it had just been too good to be true, but still, they'd had no right to lie to her at all! It just wasn't fair. Gaby felt the tears well up in her eyes. God, how she wished she had other, normal, parents right now.
'Gabrielle, I'm sorry..', Wesley said. He'd broken her heart after all now…
'I can't believe you! Both of you! ', Gaby exclaimed, tears running down her face, and her mascara started to run. Damn, she'd bought it to be waterproof, she'd make a complaint about that later.
'We did it for your own good, darling.', Lilah said, trying to calm her daughter down. Maybe she'd partly caused this, but still, she hated to see her girl in pain, even though she'd caused so much more pain to many others on a daily basis.
'Don't give me that crap! This is all your fault! I hate you! Both of you! ', Gaby yelled. She couldn't stand seeing her parents any longer now, so she turned around and ran off to her room, slamming the door behind her like any other teen after a fight with her parents. She sat down on the bed, totally not the calm girl she usually was. She didn't care though, she'd been hurt, betrayed, by the two people in this world she loved the most, who were supposed to guide her through this world, show her what's right and what's wrong. But not by lying to her! Or by betraying their own daughter! Well, she didn't want to be their daughter anymore. Not like this.
Wesley sat on the couch, head in his hands, staring into the nothing. Lilah was pacing through the living-room and stopped every now and then to check her watch, making sure it wasn't time yet to go attend her next meeting.
'It's my fault.', Wesley finally said, not giving up the staring. Lilah stopped her pacing and turned to look at him.
'Well, I could deny that to make you feel better, but then I'd be lying.'.
'Thank you Lilah.'.
'Honestly, Wes, I'd love to sit by you, hold your hand, and show my soft side, or whatever, but we both know where that would lead to; us having sex. Irresponsible, passionate, sex. That was fine, 17 years ago, it was great, even. But we have different lives now, we have a daughter. A daughter who got hurt because of something 'we' did. So, let's not go there again shall we? ', Lilah said, realizing very well that it wasn't 'just' Wesley's fault that Gabrielle was upset, but that was something she didn't like to admit.
'You're right..', Wesley said, trading his stare into the nothing for a glance at his ex-lover. 'Maybe you should go check on her.', he continued, worried about his daughter.
'Me? Why do I have to? I hate talking to upset people.', Lilah complained, again, being reminded of her lack of tact.
'I don't think Gabrielle will be very happy to see me under these circumstances.'.
'Yea… I don't think so either.'. Lilah sighed, and went over to her daughter's room. She knocked softly, but clear enough for Gaby to hear her. 'Gabrielle, it's me. Can I come in?'.
'Go away!', came the angry reply from the other side of the door. Gaby just wanted to be alone, she didn't want to see anyone, especially not her mother. She blamed Lilah the most, simply because she wasn't used to having a father. Now she did, and she wasn't ready to be mad at him, she wanted to trust him like she never really trusted her mother. She'd been disappointed by her so often. Lilah had never been there when Gaby had had school performances, or sports days. And now this… Gaby just couldn't bring herself to blame Wesley.
'Gaby, I just want to talk about this. This was never our intention.', Lilah said.
'Of course not. You just lied to me about something extremely important, knowing I'd sooner or later get hurt.'.
'I know, believe me.. Gabrielle, can I come in now? It's not very comfortable talking to a closed door.'.
'You should have thought of that before all these lied.'. Gaby quietly sobbed.
'Just let me in.. please?', Lilah added, a little impatient.
'Door's open.'.
Lilah entered her daughter's room, cursing herself for actually thinking the door was locked. Gaby was laying on her bed, clutching a what looked like a teddy bear. 'Aren't you a little too old for a teddy bear?'.
'Aren't you a little old to play games like this? To play mommy and daddy?'.
Lilah sighed and sat down on the edge of her daughter's bed. 'Play, Gabrielle?'.
Gaby sat up, facing her mom now. 'Come on, mother, we both know what I mean. You were never there. You never helped me with my homework, you never came on sports days, and on parent – teacher nights you sent the nanny.'.
Lilah walked over to the window, glancing at the outside-world that didn't have to deal with this issues. 'I know… I know I'm a bad mother, and.. I'm sorry.'. This was probably the hardest conversation in her entire life, she had to face the consequences of playing her role, and she didn't like what she saw at all. 'I'm sorry for never spending time with you. '. She took a deep breath. 'And I'm sorry for not being a good mother.'. Lilah hadn't noticed until now that she was crying.
Gabrielle stared at the wall. 'Yea, well, can't change that anymore now can you? At least there are some people who apparently care about me. Or who at least don't pretend to do so!'.
Lilah turned away from the window. 'I care about you.'
'I talked to Roger. He offered me an education on some expensive boarding school in England, because he wants me to keep up the good family name or whatever. At first I thought it was all big non sense but you know what, mom? I think I'm going. It's not like I have a reason to stay here!', Gaby cried, ignoring her mother's last comment. Lilah stayed quiet for a while, thinking these words over. 'If you really think that, then maybe you really should.', she then said angrily, and walked off, knowing that she should have stayed and talked Gabrielle out of this, should have promised her to be a better person, a better mom, from on. Should have taken away her pain… but she couldn't. Lilah couldn't handle the confrontation with herself, not yet.
'What's wrong?', Wesley inquired after he noticed Lilah heading for the door, about to leave.
'Our daughter, that's what's wrong.', she angrily replied. Anger was easier to show than pain. She walked off, slamming the door closed behind her. Wesley winced slightly and walked over to Gabrielle's room. He knocked once on the side of the still open door to let her know that he was there. 'Hey.. Can I come in?', he asked softly, wanting to find out what had made Lilah so angry. Gabrielle shrugged, she'd actually wanted to be alone, but Wesley was okay.
'You know I'm sorry… I was wrong when I assumed what I did was right.', Wesley said, sitting down on a chair.
'You were wrong… But I'm not mad at you, not the way I should be.', Gaby told him.
'So you're mad at your mother instead?', Wesley inquired, getting up from the chair and taking place on the bed behind his daughter instead. He held her in his arms for a while as he listened to her telling everything; everything what had just happened, and also what had happened with his father during lunch.
'You know maybe you could have told your mother how you feel with a little bit more tact…', Wesley carefully suggested as he gently stroked Gaby's hair. He felt sorry for Lilah but understood his daughter's anger.
'I could have…', Gaby nodded. 'Should have, maybe. But didn't.
'' We can go talk to her later. Let's leave her alone for a while first, that's probably what's best. So… what did you think of your grandfather's proposition?', Wesley inquired. He would hate to see his daughter leave after only knowing her for such a short time, and especially if she'd leave for England, the country in which he once had a most awkward childhood, but he was also aware that Gabrielle was old enough to make her own choices, so if she wanted to go to London he'd have to respect her choice.
'I don't know.. I told mom I wanted to go because… when she was here , and I was angry, I did want to go, but now I don't know, dad.'. Gaby said the truth, she honestly didn't know what she wanted. She was just feeling incredibly tired from all today's emotions.
Wesley smiled and held her close, continuing to stroke her hair in a soothing motion. 'You don't have to decide right away.', he told her. If she'd wanted to go, he would let her go. Wesley would do everything, anything, as long as he didn't look like his father.