Flashbacks are in italics. This flashback was taken from Wash It All Away - Chapter 65: A Hope To Be Held.
65.2 - My Mom – My Piano Playing Hero
Spencer's PoV
"It wasn't easy for us. We came from completely different families. You know her adopted parents were hardcore Christians just like the Woods and mine were basically hippies. They didn't like me." Dad paced the room. "It drove us apart before we really even got together."
I sat up and hugged my pillow. "What happened?"
"We broke up," a flash of sadness crossed his features, "she left me for the captain of the lacrosse team because his parents made him go to church every Sunday. School ended, we graduated and a couple of years later we met up at a local club where I swept her right back in my arms."
"Hence Glen." I rolled my eyes and gagged. My dad lightly punched me on the shoulder and laughed. "So you two actually broke up for two years before getting back together?"
"It was hard at first, but we were a little older and understood a lot more. I knew I couldn't live without her." Dad chuckled and braced himself on my knee. "Want to hear something funny?"
"Uh, if it involves creepy parent sex, then no." I shuddered and he rolled his eyes.
"Your mom was with someone when I swept her off her feet."
"Huh?" I grinned. "You let her cheat?"
"She was with someone for about three months when we met up again."
"Poor guy." I shook my head with a smirk and dad raised an eyebrow at me. I raised one back in question.
"Poor gal."
"Oh." I laughed and then stopped. "What?!" I yelped and jumped up on my bed, "What?"
"What is the commotion in here?" The devil herself walked in with a hand on her hip. "You two really need to tone it down, Kyla and Aiden are downstairs with the baby and Spencer why are you looking at me like that?" She looked at me while I smirked at her and bounced off my bed. "What?"
"Spence…" Dad warned me and smiled lightly at his wife.
"You little whore." I said playfully and the look on my mother's face was priceless. I ignored her 'Spencer!' and closed the door so that both of my parents were trapped in my room with me. "So uh, dad and I were having an interesting conversation."
"Do I want to know?" Paula eyed her husband up and then glanced back at me. "Spencer, why are you looking at me like that?"
"What was her name?" I asked calmly, looking at my nails.
"Who?" She frowned in confusion. "God Spencer, I don't have time for your mind games right now."
Mind games.
Trying going through one with Ashley fucking Davies.
"The one you left for dad?" I asked innocently, beaming a smile at my parents as if I had just aced a hard test.
"Arthur!" Paula looked at him and shook her head.
"It's not that big of deal." He shrugged with a grin. "Come on, both of our daughters are gay, do you really think they're going to tease you?"
"Yes." I answered for her with an impish grin.
"Rachel Hunter." Paula said quietly. "We met first day of college, no big. Once your father entered the picture-"
"-again…"
"Did you tell her our whole love life?" She whipped her head around to look at my dad.
Ah, my parents were great at keeping my mind off my heartache.
Heartache.
"Ashley broke up with me today." I whispered.
I don't think silence could be that deafening but it hurt my ears when both of my parents stared at me.
"Yea, she broke up with me and called off the engagement."
"Engagement?!" My mom's eyes widened.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter now." I opened the door and pointed to the hallway. "I want to be alone now."
"Is that why you were asking about your mother and I?" My dad dropped down to eye level and lifted my chin with his fingers. I nodded slowly and he pressed a kiss to my temple. "I've never seen a love like yours and Ashley's, Spence. You two were meant to be."
"I don't think she feels the same way." I sighed and felt my chest grow heavy again.
"Even if she doesn't now," Paula interrupted us and patted my head, "she'll realize it."
--
Ashley's PoV
I was sitting down at the dining table while Spencer was outside playing street hockey with the girls. "You still make the best coffee Paula." I smiled at the blonde across from me.
"Oh thanks." She smiled and looked back down at her morning paper.
"Are you sure you don't want seconds?" Arthur smiled at me from the kitchen doorway with a small stack of pancakes.
"Thanks but I'm quite stuffed." I laughed and he nodded, disappearing into the room. I glanced up and noticed Paula looking at me with a tender expression. "What?"
"It's like you never really changed," she tilted her head just like Spencer would do and shuffled her chair closer to mine, "you're still my daughter's Ashley."
I blushed and cleared my throat, silently thanking her.
"Yet it looks like you've been through so much more," she whispered in a sad voice, her hand reaching out to touch mine. "How are you, Ashley?"
I think she noticed the look of shock meets sadness wash across my face and she squeezed my hand tightly. "I'm much better now, thank you." I managed to say after a few seconds of trying to gather my thoughts back. I still felt like I was that seventeen year old that would come over and have a few conversations with Mr. and Mrs. C while I waited for Spencer.
Only this time I didn't have to wait for Spencer. It was just me, a grown up with my girlfriend's parents to talk to at any time.
"Dylan is the most precious girl," Paula gushed with a big smile, "she's talked with me a few times on the phone but to actually see her and meet her, she's just amazing."
"Thank you." I blushed briefly and noticed Arthur standing in the kitchen doorway, a soft look. I felt like he was waiting for the perfect moment to interrupt us so I decided to take the initiative. "And thank you for getting Dylan into a great home."
Arthur put his head down with a small smile before making his way to sit down beside me. "I just want you to know that it wasn't my intention of keeping Dylan a secret from Spencer or from telling you where she was exactly."
"I know." I whispered quietly.
"The reason why I wanted it quiet while you were in your program was because I had heard you were progressing so well Ashley. That you were fighting the system with everything you had by playing by the rules and then checking yourself back in for reassurance."
He sounded so proud of me.
He sounded like my father when I told him that Alex and I released her first record independently. Raife was always the one to do things on his own so for me to have followed his footsteps made him proud.
"And as much as Spencer's a huge strength for you, I know that she could've been you're greatest weakness as well. If you knew where Dylan was going to be, I didn't want you to find yourself unworthy or guilty and falling backwards when you've fought so hard to be where you are now. You care what Spencer thinks about you and you would've worried what she thought of you."
He was right, I admit it. I think that if I knew what was going on, it'd scare me even more because I did care about what Spencer thought of me. I would've been scared that she'd me as a failure at not only a lover, but as a mother as well. She could've been my main fall even though the thoughts of her every day made me stronger.
"I get it Mr. C," I nodded slowly, "I don't hold a grudge against anyone. I've got my little girl back and I've gained an entire family back with her. If anything," I couldn't help but feel choked up, "I feel so damn lucky and so damn thankful that you did what you did."
"I need you to understand something," Arthur scratched his chin and looked over at his wife for what I assumed to be support before his gaze was back on me. "When Alex came to me after your accident and learning that Dylan was taken away from you, I tried to weigh the pros and cons in telling Spencer. I didn't want her involved because I wasn't sure how that would make you feel. I was able to pull some strings after her latest foster care home moved out of district and immediately went to Spencer. It was a huge risk."
Arthur stopped speaking when Spencer came in with her face coloured pink. "Having fun?"
"A blast." She grinned and slid into the seat next to me. "Alex, Carmen and Sammy took the girls for a bit, I hope you don't mind." She flashed me a soft look.
"No, not at all." I reached over and squeezed her hand.
"Spence, are you thirsty? You want a coffee?" Paula smiled at her daughter and got up from her chair, expecting Spencer to follow her.
"Sure, thanks Mom."
Paula eyed up her husband and when he shrugged, she just smiled and walked into the kitchen by herself.
"So am I interrupting anything?" Spencer bit her lip as she noticed the intense look on Mr. C's face. "Did you want me to go?" She started to get up from her chair when her Dad shook his head.
"I was just explaining to Ashley about how Dylan came into your care." Arthur scratched his forehead with his thumb and the father and daughter duo locked eyes. "I did everything I could to try and get her with you sooner, Spencer."
Spencer frowned slightly and swallowed. "Promise me?" She sounded slightly upset and sat up straighter. "I'm thankful Dad, really. I'll send you a lifetime's worth of thank you cards if you want them, but promise me you did everything in your power to get Dylan to me as quick as you could."
"Spencer, you know I'm not lying. She was out of my reach with the system while they were in Edmonton. You know I only have certain parts of Ontario to look after and I tried my best to keep in contact with whichever agency she was going through." Arthur stressed softly and it made my heart hurt.
The whole conversation was making me realize part of what Dylan went through while I wasn't around. How the hell could I have ever let my daughter be put in such a system?
Why couldn't I have thought rationally after hearing about my parents' death and allow one of the other parents to drive her home? Or catch a cab to pick her up?
Why?
"You don't know what Dylan went through in those homes." Spencer whispered sadly and she caught my eye briefly. "God Dad, you weren't there when she showed up in my office looking the way she did! How the hell could someone ever treat her like that?"
I knew Dylan went through really hard times but no one had really vocalized exactly what had happened to her. I promised her she could tell me when she was ready – and I respected Spencer for allowing her to do the same. At the same time, I wished she could tell me something.
"What?" I barely recognized my own voice, not realizing just how broken I sounded at the thought of my daughter being hurt in any way – because of me.
Spencer's head snapped to mine and she was quick to grab my hand, her other hand cupping my cheek. "She was beautiful Ash, just a little broken on the outside." I felt her gaze shift towards her father, "thank you for everything you did to get her to me," her lips pressed against the hand she was holding, "to us."
Paula chose that moment to interrupt us with another round of coffee. She smiled at the both of us and sighed, sitting down next to Spencer. "Didn't your father and I tell you that you'd be finding each other again someday?"
"Yeah," Spencer looked at me with a smile and let her thumb graze over my bottom lip, "and you were right."
I couldn't help but grin back and blush while Spencer checked me out in front of her parents.
"Well," Arthur got up and gave us both a hug, "I'm glad to see you two are happily in love and back together. We've missed you Ash, there was not a day that went by without us thinking about you."
"Yea," Paula placed a hand on my shoulder, "you made quite an impression on us Carlins and it seems you've already become a fast role model for Luc."
Spencer tilted her head to the side and we shared a confused look.
"What?" Spencer smiled uncertainly.
Paula grinned and walked over to the picture box that was located in the hallway closet. She tossed a perfectly well kept white envelope onto the table and raised her eyebrows, pushing it towards me.
I slowly took the folded piece of paper from inside and opened it up. Spencer leaned over my shoulder to get a better view and I heard her gasp while my eyes went wide.
There was yet another sketch of myself sitting at the piano that was stored in my basement. It wasn't like her other sketches, the one I was holding was more detailed, more pronounced and on the left side you could see a perfectly sketched picture of Spencer that was placed on top of the shiny black surface.
"She must've drawn that one of the morning's she spent the night." Spencer whispered, her finger sliding over the sketch portion of me. "Wow."
"Spence…" I moved my hand and noticed the little caption on the bottom in Lucas' neat printing. "My Mom, My Piano Playing Hero"
Oh God, I had tears in my eyes and I could tell Spencer's were watering up too.
"She mailed that to me last week. I'd show you the letter she wrote but it's rather personal and it should stay between grandmother and granddaughter." Paula winked and grabbed the drawing gently.
Lucas really loved me. She saw me as her mother.
I was so damn in love with my family.
--
Next time in Points Underneath:
"Hannah, I want you to meet this amazing woman right here." I stepped up next to Ashley and watched as Hannah studied the brunette. "Her name is Ashley."
"Ashley?" Hannah's cute brows furrowed and she grinned. "Are you my new mommy?"
I couldn't help but laugh at the cute look on Hannah's face and mortified ones on my brother and Ashley.
"No sweetheart," Glen nervously snickered, "Ashley is Auntie Spencer's girlfriend."
