Like Mother, Like Daughter
Chapter 3. Trips Down Memory Lane
Author: twin who likes to travel
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The rest of Faith's family finds out what happened between her and Tara. This and a tragic accident cause secrets involving several family members and friends to be revealed. Obviously, not all of them will be good.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Reviews: I would like them. Constructive criticism is ok.
Author's notes: Words in italics are personal thoughts. The kids Denise talked about wanting at the end of the previous story are mentioned here. Matt and Denise ended up having twin girls, which they named Chloe and Elena
Later that night, Faith and Sarah's dorm room
When the girls had enough of dancing and drinking, they decided to call it a night. Their friends had watched Faith and Sarah during Faith's drunken ode to her friends, mostly Sarah though. They couldn't help but laugh a little at what was going on. Seeing the two girls grinding against each other while dancing between drinks was funny and a definite crowd pleaser among the male population there that night. The cheers they received led to some groping as well. Their friends even joined in on the fun a few times. Faith was tossing out "I love you." and compliments to all of them like it was going out of style. They gasped and laughed when Faith's ode ended with an almost kiss between Faith and Sarah.
After getting back to the dorm room, the group was an audience to Faith telling the rest of them goodbye before suddenly passing out on her bed. Sarah then said the same thing as she ordered all of them out and promised their friend was in good hands, figuratively speaking. Sarah paced up to her friend and helped her get more comfortable. She carefully changed Faith's clothes from the slightly revealing top and short skirt to a t-shirt and pajama pants. Well, she attempted to anyway. She had gotten the shirt on. When she tried to get her into the pajama pants, she was constantly pushed away. After the third try, she gave up and was thankful that the shirt was long enough to hide the underwear Faith had on. As she changed out of her own clothes into the same type of sleepwear, she was interrupted by her best friend.
"S-Sarah?"
"Yeah?"
"W-Would y-you s-sleep w-with m-me t-tonight?"
"Huh?"
"S-Sleep w-with m-me, j-just s-sleep. I d-don't w-want t-to b-be a-alone t-tonight," Faith pleaded in a choked up tone as a tear or two appeared on her cheeks.
"I don't know."
"P-Please."
"Ok, scoot over a bit."
Faith did as requested, but Sarah was still cautious as she climbed in beside her.
"Sarah."
"Yeah?"
"You're my best friend too."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome," Faith said as she positioned them on the bed so that Sarah was basically spooning her from behind and added before grabbing Sarah's arms and wrapping them around her stomach, "I love you, Sarah."
"Faith…," Sarah whispered after gulping at the feeling of being that close to the other girl.
"Sshh…"
"But…"
"Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow," Faith claimed before falling asleep.
"Are you still awake?" Sarah asked about five seconds later and sighed when there was no answer.
As she closed her eyes, Sarah tried to imagine what the nest morning would bring. There probably would be nausea, regret, apologizing, and more crying.
The next morning, around 11:00 AM
The girls awoke without the assistance of the nearby alarm clock. There was a gulp and a gasp from both girls when they noticed something. Somehow during their sleep, a few things had moved. The girls were still spooning, but now Faith's shirt was around her waist. The gulps had come at the feeling of Faith's underwear and some of her partially exposed butt pressed up against the front of Sarah's shorts. The gasps were from two sets of hands spread out across Faith's stomach under the shirt. The girls silently pulled away from each other and sat up on the bed slowly.
"Sorry," Sarah apologized while staring across the room at her own bed.
"Don't be. It's totally my fault. Uh, Sarah, why am I not wearing shorts or pajama pants? Not that I mind since it's just the two of us. I was just curious," Faith insisted as she gently placed her right hand on Sarah's left hand.
"Because…Because you wouldn't let me put them on you. I tried three times then gave up."
"What all happened last night?" Faith mumbled.
"What do you remember?"
"I remember getting into the club, drinking, and dancing. However, everything between the second drink and me asking you to sleep with me is kind of a blur," Faith announced and blushed when Sarah smirked at her, "I didn't kiss you or any of the other girls last night, did I?"
"No, you came pretty close a few times before and after that little ramble you went on. But you did do OTHER things."
"Like what?" Faith questioned nervously.
Sarah described everything. From all the drinking, how they danced, everything that Faith had said, and the almost kisses. Faith blushed bright red and Sarah laughed briefly after Faith found out that she had groped the hips and butts of four friends and had gotten the others to do the same to her.
"I really did all of that?"
"Uh huh. How do you feel now?"
"Well, I feel…," Faith tried to describe but was hit with a sudden need to throw up. Sarah caught this and immediately put the small trash can in front of Faith. She stepped away as Faith felt every little drop from their night out land in the trash can. Sarah almost turned green herself at the sight.
"Feel better now?" Sarah inquired as she handed Faith some breath mints.
"Yeah, except for the slight headache," Faith commented before swallowing a few of the mints, "You do know when I told you and the other girls last night that I loved you, I meant in a completely platonic kind of way?"
"Yeah, but do me a favor."
"Anything…I mean…"
"Don't ever drink that much again. You're cute when you're drunk. But it's clearly dangerous to get like that if you're not hanging out with us."
"I promise. I'm sorry if I embarrassed any of you. And that I wouldn't let you put more on me than a shirt."
"It's ok. We just got a little worried after the whole groping thing. It and rubbing up against each other did help us get free drinks the rest of the night and a few phone numbers though."
"Numbers, what numbers? I don't see any numbers. Are they on our phones or on paper?"
"On both of our phones. They're only there because I haven't taken the time to delete them yet. I'm getting ready to do that now," Sarah declared as she grabbed them.
"All of them. There's none you want to keep?"
"Not one."
"Why?"
"Because they were a bunch of drunk pigs. When they found out you're gay and I wasn't, they wanted to know if I ever thought about having a one time thing with you just to cure any curiosity I might have had. And if I did, could they watch. They were so pathetic, I'd have sex with you before them. I mean…"
Faith's gape had shut Sarah up abruptly.
"I know what you meant. And I wouldn't turn you down if you were serious. But I also remember what you said after…"
The memory of the event that brought on last night's night out instantly came back, and she fell into Sarah's open arms as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"It will get better, I promise," Sarah replied.
"You think so?"
"I know so." Nausea, check; regret, check; apologizing, double check; crying, a BIG check.
Tuesday; November 21st, 2034; around 8:00 AM, The girls' dorm room
Both girls were preparing to head home for their Thanksgiving break. They had talked about their plans but didn't bring up the few calls that Faith had received from Tara since the break up. The first had consisted of arguing and ended with an abrupt hang up. The second had been ignored and went straight to voicemail. Faith had listened to it before erasing it. Both had been followed by more crying from Faith. Sarah chose to not say anything and just held her while Faith cried, which Faith was happy about. As they were leaving, Faith noticed something was up with her roommate and hoped it wasn't about Tara.
"What's up, Sarah?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean it looks like you want to ask me something but are worried about it."
"No, I don't and I'm not," Sarah denied but caved after the unconvinced stare, "Alright, there is something."
"I knew it. You can ask me anything. As long as it's nothing about you know who."
"It's not," the other girl assured her before pausing for a few moments, "It's about your brother, Paul."
"Yeah."
"I've wanted to ask you this for awhile, but I thought it would weird you out and make it a little awkward between us."
"Even more than that Saturday morning after…you know?" Faith teased as her roommate rolled her eyes at her.
"Is Paul seeing anyone up at Stanford?"
"Not that I know of. Why, do you like him or something?" Faith quizzed and continued when all she got was a small smile, "You like my brother?"
"Kind of," Sarah revealed as a slight blush appeared on her face.
"But you've only talked to him a few times, and it wasn't for that long."
"Well, he was nice to me, he's smart, and quite a cutie," Sarah informed and groaned at the gawk Faith gave her while trying not to laugh at how amusing the chat was getting, "Just forget I said anything."
"I can't do that. I will find out for you, but isn't it kind of far between here and Palo Alto?"
"Well, he and I could see each other on the weekends and a few dates wouldn't hurt, would it?"
"I guess not," Faith agreed before peeking down at her watch, "We really need to be going now."
"You're right. Give me a hug, bestie."
Faith giggled as she hugged the other girl.
"Have fun, and tell your parents I said hi," Faith requested.
"You too."
The girls shared another hug before leaving in opposite directions.
Many hours later, the Alcott/Hennessy home, the family room
The twins arrived home to find their moms talking to Bridget, Rachel, and Chloe. They all saw that Faith was trying to hide something as she and her brother hugged each of them.
"Welcome home, you two, how were your flights?" Kerry announced as she started the interrogation.
"F-Fine," Faith answered for both of them.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" Nikki responded.
"N-Nothing," their daughter lied, which turned the attention to Paul since the twins were really close.
"She won't tell me anything," he muttered even though he had a really good idea what it was and held back the anger that was building inside.
"Where's Tara?" Rachel pried since none of them dared to bring that up yet.
"I DON'T know. And right now, I don't CARE."
"What happened between you two?" Nikki voiced cautiously.
"We broke up," Faith admitted before trying to avoid where this talk was leading to, "What are Aunt Bridget, Cousin Rachel, and Cousin Chloe doing here?"
Her parents sighed at Faith's attempt to move the topic away from her.
"We're here because we're making sure we have everything in order for the family Thanksgiving dinner. Your Grandma Cate is napping in Faith's bedroom," Bridget stated with what she hoped was a sweet smile.
"Sweetie, we all know you're in pain right now, but will you tell us what happened? We just want to help."
"I know, Mama," Faith confessed as she slowly sat down on the couch, joined almost instantly by her moms.
"Would you like us to leave? Because we can," Chloe offered, "We were finished anyway."
"No, all of you can stay," Faith confirmed.
"So?" Kerry murmured as she and Nikki each placed a hand on their daughter's knees.
"Tara ch-cheated on m-me with s-someone."
"What's the little bitch's name?" Paul growled, making all of them gaze at him for a moment.
"Adam."
"I thought she was gay?" Chloe interrupted.
"No, she's bi."
"Are you sure it wasn't a mistake and that he didn't surprise her with a kiss?" Kerry implied with a look of concern.
"When I see my girlfriend, I mean my EX-girlfriend, completely topless and straddling a guy on her bed while she's kissing him, it's no mistake. Oh, he didn't have a shirt on either, and his hands were up the back of her skirt."
The entire group was in complete shock and wasn't sure on what to say when Faith broke down seconds later.
"Oh, Faith, we're so…"
Kerry's comforting words were cut off by Faith.
"For awhile, I thought everything was going as close to perfect as I could ask for right now. Neither of us ever played the jealousy card. Well, except maybe for the first day when I checked out my roommate, Sarah. We were there when the other needed us. We gave each other space when they needed it. The first and last thing we always did when we saw each other was give the other a kiss and say how much we cared. And she threw it all away over some asshole, I can't believe she would cheat on me," Faith cried out before breaking down in her moms' arms again.
It was at that exact moment that their break up came rushing back to Kerry and Nikki. Bridget, Chloe, and Rachel saw this and became worried when Nikki suddenly got up and quickly walked to the master bedroom as she began to cry just as much as her daughter had began to do.
"MAMA, WHAT'S WRONG? Where are you going?" Faith prodded as her attention switched from herself to Nikki.
They watched and listened as the door to the master bedroom was closed just below a slam. The moods of the rest of the adults changed too. Kerry, Bridget, and Chloe were holding back tears. Rachel's were mixed with a slight touch of anger.
"Mom, why did Mama get so upset? I mean I know what happened was bad, but why did she react like that?"
"We should go," Bridget exclaimed as she rose from her seat.
"Unless, you want us to stay here while you go and talk to Nikki," Rachel suggested as she made the effort to let go of the anger for the twins' sake.
"No, I think I need to explain a few things to Faith and Paul, so they can understand. Besides, Nikki's going to need a few minutes to herself."
"A few things?" Chloe immediately repeated and gulped when she fully realized that some secrets were going to be brought up.
Her gulp was followed by one from Bridget and confusion from Faith and Paul.
"I'm going to tell you two some things, but I need you to promise me a few things as well," Kerry ordered.
"What's that?" the twins asked.
"That you won't think any less of your mama and me and not say anything to anyone outside of this home. Not everyone knows what I'm going to tell you."
"We won't," was promised in unison.
"Ok. For the first thing, none of your other cousins know except for Rick and CJ. When your mama was in college, her girlfriend cheated on her. What she did was worse than what Tara did to Faith."
"But we thought that the only girlfriend Mama had was you?"
"That's right, Faith."
'But that means you…you cheated on Mama."
"Unfortunately it does, Paul."
"Why did you cheat on her? Paul and I have seen how you two are around each other. Aunt Bridget told us once that you and Mama made her believe in the power of love."
Kerry shed a few tears before glancing at Bridget and explaining.
"Because I was young, stupid, and took her love for granted. I will NEVER forget the look of pain on her face when she broke up with me. I broke her heart. She took me back a year later. Since then, I show her EVERY day how grateful I am that she never stopped loving me and gave me another chance."
"You sure do, Beautiful. I'm s-sorry for what I said and did before going to our room."
"You don't need to be," Kerry asserted, "but I thought you were over it by now?"
"I will be from now on, I promise," Nikki pledged as she was pulled onto Kerry's lap, bringing smiles to everyone.
Paul focused on his sister and asked, "Did Tara explain why she cheated on you?"
"She said she was trying to make me jealous, but that it just got out of hand before she could stop it. Can you believe that crap? You remember how shy she was when I met her, and how I was the one that brought her out of her shell," Faith told them and paused briefly while her moms and brother nodded positively, "I guess that confidence went into overdrive sometime after we got to college. Around Halloween, she would occasionally get mad that I wouldn't get jealous when guys tried to hit on her. It didn't matter where it was on or off campus. She said that apparently I was too confident to think that anybody could steal her away from me. I told her that since I though we loved each other, I had no reason to worry, no matter what type of guy hit on her. I guess I was wrong. Before that started happening, I had thought once or twice that maybe she could be 'the one'. I don't know what to do."
"If she's going to be that way, you're better off without her," Paul determined.
Faith smirked and said, "That's the exactly what Sarah said. That reminds me; she wanted to know if you're seeing anyone up at Stanford."
"Why?"
"Because she kind of likes you. She thinks you're smart and quite a cutie. I think she's hoping you would want to go out with her sometime. Like maybe an upcoming weekend."
"I guess it would be ok. She does seem nice, smart, and funny. She's a hottie too."
"You don't have to tell me that, I already know. After all, I've seen her in only underwear a few times."
The rest of their family became relieved at the good news, but it wouldn't last too long.
"So what happened the year you were apart? I mean did either one of you go on any dates with other people," Faith babbled and became curious at what happened next.
Kerry and Nikki shared a small smirk with each other before looking at Bridget, Chloe, and Rachel.
"Well…um…your mama hooked up with a few girls and got revenge on me with one of them. I went on a few dates with a few different people. But I never quit thinking about her."
"How well did she know those other girls?" Faith interjected.
"One not so well, the other two I know really well."
"How well is really well?"
'The two I know really well are your Aunt Bridget and Cousin Chloe."
"Mama, are you saying to me and Paul that you and Aunt Bridget and you and Cousin Chloe…you know?"
"Yes. Like your mom said, you can't tell anyone else. The only ones who know are in this room; your cousin, Rick; and Denise and Matt."
"Which one helped you get revenge on Mom?"
"Me," Bridget confided about five seconds later.
"So Mom was referring to the breakup when she said only one thing came close to hurting as much as Grandpa dying before we got to meet him?"
"Yes, sweetie. Do you understand now why I got so upset?"
"Yes," the twins agreed before hugging both of their parents as Bridget and Chloe wiped away the tears from the corners of their eyes.
"Are you and Mom thinking that I should give Tara another chance since you gave Mom one? Because I don't know if I can forgive her."
"No, follow you heart. If it's telling you not to, don't. If it is, then do, but only when you're entirely sure. Either way, we'll support your decision."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
The twins smiled as their moms kissed each other softly for a moment.
"Hopefully, that's the only drama we have to deal with for awhile," Chloe sighed.
"You know you just jinxed it, Chlo."
"Don't be so superstitious, Rach. Like all of a sudden, the phone is going to ring with bad news."
"Exactly."
"Don't be cra…," Chloe tried to convince her but was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone, "That's just a coincidence."
They all observed as Chloe answered her phone hesitantly,
"Hi, Matt, how are you, Denise, and the…WHAT...OH MY GOD! H-How…Wh-When…I'm SO SORRY, Matt…Yeah, I'll tell them. And I'll let you know when I have all of the details."
Instantly after ending the call, Chloe let the tears come. She glimpsed at both Nikki and Rachel before falling into Rachel's arms and crying harder.
"Chlo, what's wrong? Talk to us," Nikki begged.
"Th-There w-was a b-big c-car accident."
"AND?" Nikki shouted.
"Chloe and Elena were in it."
"Are they o-ok?" Kerry cut in.
"N-No, they're d-dead. They were heading home from school when it happened."
"How bad was the accident?" Faith groaned as she once again put her problems aside for someone else.
"Did you see Final Destination 2?" Chloe asked and kept going when they all motioned that they had, "Imagine that, but with less fire and explosions."
"How many died?" Rachel gasped.
"Ten total: six others died on the scene with Chloe and Elena, one died on the ambulance ride to the hospital, and the last died shortly after getting there. The twins were at the end of the chain reaction. Witnesses said that if they could have dodged the car flipping over and over toward them, they might still be alive."
The rest of the women started to cry at picturing that while Paul held his distraught sister. The crying had woken Cate, who paced quietly toward the family room. After scanning the sad faces, Cate sat beside her daughter and instructed them to tell her what upset them. Kerry described the car accident between cries. Cate immediately hugged the redhead. Chloe then mentioned how the funeral plans for Chloe and Elena had been almost finalized. They were just waiting on when their friends could get down there if they wanted to go to the funeral.
After Chloe finished talking, Rachel questioned her, "What are you going to tell Michael? Your son is going to be devastated."
"I know Elena had a major crush on him and was possibly even falling for him. But isn't devastated saying a little much?"
"He never told you or Rick, did he?"
"Told us what?"
"That he really liked her too. He was developing feelings for her as well."
"Why didn't he tell us?"
"Because he was worried about how it would look for him to feel that way about a girl three years younger than him. He wasn't sure how all of us would react."
"Who else knew?"
"Your daughter, Chloe, Elena, Faith, and Paul."
Chloe quickly whipped her head around to the twins, who were still on the couch.
"Is she right?"
"Yes," the twins confessed with slight smiles.
"Is there something else you're not telling us? Because if there is, we want to know," Nikki demanded.
"Mama, it's something we promised to never tell anyone," Faith stated firmly.
"Who makes up this 'we' you're talking about?"
"Go ahead and tell them, sis, it's not that big of a deal anymore."
"Fine. You remember the last time Denise, Matt, Chloe, and Elena were up here? All of the adults went out together to celebrate Mom's birthday while we, Michael, Chloe, and Elena were hanging out here."
"You mean when Michael was fifteen, you two were thirteen, and Chloe and Elena were twelve?" Kerry guessed as all eyes were on the twins now.
"Yeah. Well, you see…I, Chloe, and Elena were hanging out in my room after watching a movie. Paul and Michael started watching some ball game. We were discussing the topic of kissing from what we saw in the movie and from you and Mama. They said how they had never been kissed. So I got the idea to have Michael and Paul join us. It was then we found out Michael and I were the only ones that had our first kisses so far. So after thinking about it for about five seconds, Chloe and Elena leaned over and kissed Paul and Michael. Chloe kissed Paul while Elena kissed Michael."
"Is that all, sweetie?"
"No, Mama, the girls also wanted to know what it felt like to kiss a girl after seeing you and Mom kissing. So...I kissed them too. It was only for a second though."
Bridget and Rachel laughed as Kerry, Nikki, and Chloe gawked and gasped at Faith, who seemed to like the reactions she got from all of them.
"Wait," Kerry exclaimed, "When was your first kiss and with who?"
"Mom," Faith groaned and admitted at her family's curious stare, "On my twelfth birthday. My best friend, Jason, was moving a few days after that. We knew that there was a good chance we'd never see each other again, alive anyway. His dad got that great job offer out west, and he had that heart problem. He told me that no matter how far away we would be from each other, I'd always be his best friend. Then he said that he had another birthday present to give me. When I tried to say that he didn't need to do that, he kissed me."
Faith blushed and gazed at them to see they were quietly encouraging her to go on.
"It was a perfect kiss. It wasn't awkward at all. He was gentle, didn't try to stick his tongue in my mouth, or try anything else. I'll always remember it."
"Why didn't you tell us, sweetie?"
"Because the first word out of your and Mom's mouth would have been, 'Aw!'"
"No, it wouldn't," Kerry lied poorly.
Faith rolled her eyes at the sight of Nikki smirking at Kerry and the other three women, who appeared to be saying that silently.
"Ok, maybe it would have. But could you really blame us? That was really sweet and cute, Faith."
"When he died a year later, I was crushed. My best friend was dead. It wasn't fair. HE WAS ONLY THIRTEEN!" Faith screamed before breaking down for the fourth time that day.
The rest watched while Faith was held by both Kerry and Nikki as more tears streamed down her cheeks. The next three months were really hard for most of the people in that room, Chloe and Rick's kids, and Rick. Kerry, Nikki, Chloe, Rick, and their four kids made the trip to Georgia for the funeral. The rest sent their condolences by the way of flowers.
The day after Thanksgiving, Faith had called Sarah to let her know that she was going to be gone a little longer than for just the holiday, why she was, and that she had given the number to Paul. When Faith had returned to her dorm room after the funeral, she was comforted by Sarah. Even though she was doing that, part of Sarah wanted to bring up the topic of her getting together with Paul. After enough time had passed, Sarah called Paul and set up a date for the following weekend.