Prompt:Stranger
Although Rose is happy that she's finally getting to know her father, she can't help but feel a little sad too. Even though they are extremely alike and get along for the most part, he did miss out on her childhood, a time when she really needed him. Because he entered her life so late in the game, she worries that no matter how much time they spend together, they will never be able to bridge that gap.
It frustrates her that Abe just can't seem to grasp the concept that his frequent questions about the years he missed make her prickly and standoffish, because there's not much she can tell him, and the inquiries only remind her of all the things she missed out on. She has no stories of childhood birthday parties with her mother or trips to the zoo—once she was delivered to the Academy, she was essentially an orphan. Alberta Petrov was the one who taught her to tie her shoes and helped her learn to read—not Janine Hathaway—and she was the one who came running in the night when nightmares about her mother leaving her behind had her screaming out in her sleep. Later on, when she got older, it was Lissa's mom who taught her the things a young girl needs to know about makeup and boys and the importance of self-worth. But no matter how many times she mentions those things, Abe seems unable to process the fact that Janine is as much a stranger to their daughter as he is.
She is really trying to put aside all the anger and resentment that has built up over the last eighteen years, but deep down she knows that a part of her will always harbor a grudge over being deprived of the family she longed for as a child. And no matter how hard she tries, when people ask her about her family, Eric and Rhea Dragomir are the first people who come to mind, followed closely by the memory of Alberta wiping away her tears and softly singing her to sleep.