Author's note: I had completely forgotten about Chief Dodds, so I have since updated the chapters that mentioned Chief Muldrew and replaced his name with Dodds, as promised. This chapter picks up immediately where the last one left off. It is happier than the previous one, though no less frustrating. Just keep in mind that every amazing roller coaster has to have a few sharp curves, or else it would be a kiddie ride. Thank you for the awesome support that all of you have shown, and I look forward to reading your thoughts on this next chapter. It does contain mild swearing and disrespect (not between Casey and Olivia). As a quick note, despite how he may seem, Casey's father is verbally abusive, but he has never raised a hand to his wife or daughter. I cannot emphasize enough the fact that he is not a wife beater. That is key knowledge for this chapter. Let me know what you all think. Thank you for reading.
Casey stood in the foyer of her parents' home, seething. She had informed her mother that she would neither accept nor decline her offer, pending further conversation with her father. As Steven exited from the kitchen, carrying his newspaper and coffee, he stopped when he spotted Casey and Olivia. "Come back in to apologize?" he questioned.
Casey shook her head, folding her arms across her chest. "You need to understand one thing, Father. You are a former District Attorney, and you spent years drilling several things into me. You said that you can never get too close to people if you want to make it in the political world. You promised me that making the wrong friendships and falling for the wrong people would destroy all of my hopes, and my career. But throughout all of that, one lesson rang clear in my mind."
"Casey, please, this isn't the time or the place-"
Casey held up her hand. "I believe this is the perfect time, and the perfect place. You see, Sir, you were gone for so much of my life, spending your time campaigning or paying constituents, and when you weren't dealing with your political career, you were off being a suave military man. But you managed to teach me the art of argument. You told me it would make me a good attorney one day. But you know what? You taught me to argue too well. I am not going to sit here and take your criticism like I did when I was younger. I am no longer the little girl who craves Daddy's approval and shuts up just because she has everything she ever asks for. I am a grown woman with my own hopes and dreams, and I'll be damned if you take that from me."
Steven's mouth opened just a little. If it weren't for the visibly trembling liquid in his mug, Casey wouldn't have known whether he was even still alive. "Casey, please," he said quietly. "We didn't raise you to speak to your elders like this."
"I don't care how you raised me," Casey answered. "Let's examine your values, shall we? It's wrong for me to fall in love and want a family of my own. It's wrong for me to break off the engagement you planned for me before I was even born, like we live in the sixteenth century. But it's not wrong for you to sleep around with your secretary and pay her off when she got pregnant. It's not wrong for you to criticize every decision I ever made in my life, while couching it in faint praise and the occasional expensive gift. So, let's review, Dad. Are family values really that important to you?"
"Casey." This time it was Olivia, gently holding her hand on the small of Casey's back. Casey shrugged her off, her fury mounting with each second.
"I may not have gotten pregnant on my wedding night, and I may not be proud of how I did get this baby, but I will not stand here and be chastised for being such a naughty little Catholic girl. I have a life. I have feelings. I'm at the point in my life where, sure, it will break my heart if I have to cut all ties with you, but I will ultimately be happier." Casey looked away in disgust, then shook her head and forced herself to stare back at her father, giving him the very glare that was usually reserved for particularly grating defendants on the stand.
Steven slammed his coffee onto the end table behind him and folded his newspaper, tossing it onto the sofa. "Casey, this is getting rather outlandish," he stated calmly. "How dare you bring up my past in front of your mother. How dare you air this family's secrets in front of a stranger, a stranger of whom we will never approve? How dare you speak to your own father like this?"
"Olivia knows more than you think," Casey answered. "She knows everything about me. And you are seriously deluded if you believe your indiscretion is something Mom has ever forgotten about, or that it is the worst secret in this family. Truthfully, I would say it is one of the tamest. We may be old money, but we are certainly not immune from family secrets."
"To what do you refer?" her father questioned.
Clearly, he was suffering under the delusion that Casey was a scared little girl who thought her parents were madly in love and perfectly happy in their lives. "You don't want me to go there, Sir," she replied. "And I'm not going to go there, because, contrary to what some in this room may believe, I am capable of letting the past remain there. You are missing the entire point of my discussion. Where were you, months ago, when I was being stalked and harassed, albeit unknowingly? Where were you when my ex boyfriend and a man I prosecuted decided to torture me for revenge?"
"How dare you blame us for that? We called. You never answered the phone, or any of our messages. How dare you stand here before me, screaming at me for not caring about you, when it is your very decision making process that caused this issue?"
Casey shook her head. "I didn't call you because I had nothing to say, and you know why. But, in case your retirement has truly fried your brain that much, I will elaborate." She shifted on her feet. These days, it was getting harder to stand for long periods of time without getting dizzy, tired, or sore. "I don't care if you called. I never called back, because I wasn't in the mood to hear you tell me it was my fault. After all, that's what you said about Charlie. When he started getting sick, you told me I had to work harder to contain him, to keep him calm. And that night that the cops showed up at the doorstep, you only scolded me for using my position to get him off."
She stepped closer to her father, who, though several inches taller than herself, wasn't nearly as intimidating as he had been when she was younger. "You see, Sir, I will never understand your twisted logic. You stood there and said it was my fault for arguing with Charlie. All you cared about was what it would do to your political career to have a battered woman for a daughter. Sure, you bought me a new apartment, and an awesome car, but you were a stranger to me. You weren't my father. So no, I didn't tell you what was happening with me during the last few months, because I didn't want to hear you yell at me for giving the family a bad name. I could just hear your words now." Casey scoffed, then recited "Casey, what is this going to look like to the outside world to know that our daughter is into group sex and orgies?" She shook her head in disgust. "I wasn't going to listen to that. God forbid a former prosecutor and District Attorney understand what I was going through. Thank God you were a homicide prosecutor, because you never would have made it in the Special Victims Unit. All you care about is yourself!"
"I would have never accused you of being into orgies!"
"The hell you wouldn't have!" Casey cried back. "And even if you hadn't have, how was I supposed to know that it would have been the one time you would have been there for me? You can't buy my love anymore. I'm not a doormat any longer. I don't deserve that crap from my own freaking father!"
Steven slammed his fist down on the end table. "That is enough, young lady. I will not sit here and be berated my own child any longer. You can either apologize for your cruel words, and we can move on. Or you can get out of my home. Until you can re-embrace the Christian beliefs I thought we had instilled into you, you are no longer welcome here."
Casey allowed the words to sink in. She expected to feel devastated and heartbroken, but a surprising shock of relief coursed through her. If it was that easy for him to cut her out of her life, not caring about her happiness or even deigning to listen to her feelings, then she didn't need him. "Yes, Sir," she said, feeling her heart in throat, her contempt bubbling within her.
"Casey, honey, please stay. We can talk about this," her mother begged.
Casey shook her head. "No, Mom. We can't. We haven't been able to talk about things for a long time. I'm not going to apologize for falling in love or airing his dirty laundry. Go make another trophy child, Dad. I am finished." With that, Casey turned and stormed out, leaving her copies of the various house keys on the table beside the door.
Later that night, Casey laid awake quietly in Olivia's arms, listening to the quiet sound of the apartment heater. She sighed, burying her head in Olivia's chest. Olivia stroked her back soothingly. "Are you alright, baby?"
"No," Casey admitted, her heart breaking at that simple word. "My mom accepted you and my father practically threatened to smite us. It played out just how I thought, and I don't know how I feel about that. He might as well have called me the devil incarnate. It would have been more effective. I think he would rather I marry the baby's father, because hell, who cares if we slept together while we were drunk? At least the baby wouldn't be a bastard." The attorney felt the tears sting the back of her eyes.
"I know, baby. I know," Olivia murmured, continuing to massage Casey's back in soothing circles. "I'm sorry that I didn't say much. I didn't know what to say."
Casey nodded. "I know," she answered, sniffing as the first tear rolled out of her eyes and slid down her cheek. She reached to wipe it away, but Olivia had beaten her to it. "Thank you for going, though. I'm so sorry that he treated you like that. I really wanted them to accept you. I thought..if they could see how happy I was, they would find it in their hearts to care less about the politics and more about their only child's future." She rolled her eyes in the darkness. "What a novel idea," she whispered.
Olivia kissed the younger woman's forehead. "Maybe they will come around. But what are you going to do, now that you know?"
Casey knew the older woman was really asking whether she still wanted to marry her. But of course she did. "We are going to have the future we dreamed about together," she answered firmly. "I'm not the sixteen year old girl who needed my parents' approval to sleep with my boyfriend for the first time. I'm a grown woman, and I'm going to be truly happy for the first time in my life. And if that means I have to go to hell , well..." She looked up at Olivia and smiled gently. "At least I'll be in good company."