A/N: most of the time Olivia speaks it's through a tablet set up for accessibility
The next day at the police station
"Missy didn't do so well last time Sam, I don't know if giving her a week is a good idea, she almost stabbed my wife and my daughter and my daughter is a nonverbal autistic" says Arnie
"how old is your daughter" asks Sam
"about the same age as Missy, they're both almost two years older than Shelby, what does her age have to do with anything" says Arnie
"who told you Missy attacked your daughter" asks Sam, getting to a point
"my wife, why" says Arnie, getting a little frustrated
"because I spoke to the facility, May and Shelby, all three said Missy is evasive and not aggressive in the slightest" says Sam
"why would my wife lie" asks Arnie
"maybe she's homophobic, the facility said that when Missy is calm she draws pictures of your daughter in flowing dresses and that she keeps the drawings nearby, they think she has feelings for your daughter" says Sam
"has there ever been a situation where Sam's evidence would make sense" asks Freddie
"a few occasions yeah, Olivia gets home from her autistic play group in a few minutes, they just had a sleepover, my wife already left for work, if you think it will help Missy, we can talk to Olivia when she gets here" says Arnie
"I think it will help yes, Melanie was told that May was completely unstable and would likely bite her, now that they're dating she's realized she was lied to and May thinks that Missy being in that facility, voluntarily locked away, that it's only making her condition worse, she doesn't want to lose her sister" says Sam
"if Olivia wants to help then we will go with you to the facility" says Arnie as Olivia shows up
"dad who are they" asks Olivia through her accessibility tablet
"we need to talk about Missy" says Arnie as Olivia perks up
"Mom….. lied" says Olivia
"what happened that day Olivia" asks Arnie as Olivia reverts to sign language
"why did she stop using her tablet" asks Sam as Arnie grits his teeth
"Missy kissed Olivia's cheek that day, her mother saw and got angry and hit them, her tablet is only good for short conversations, anything longer than a few words and it's useless, I'm only a single person, most of my wife's money goes to the house and I mostly take care of Olivia's needs, tech mostly, though she has come with me a few times to see Missy or to work with me" says Arnie
"Olivia. Love. Missy" says Olivia, tapping away at her tablet
"I always thought that non verbal autistics could talk a little bit, I've never seen one that couldn't" asks Freddie
"she can speak a little but not enough to hold a conversation, the nonverbal autistic diagnosis is a misnomer, she's nonverbal and autistic, a botched surgery after her class bus trip bus crashed where they had to fix arteries around her neck after one burst as a result of the accident, the surgeon decided that her vocal cords were affected somehow and without telling us 'repaired' them, her voice is a lot higher pitch than it used to be so she prefers not to speak a lot, she only recently got diagnosed as autistic and the doctor decided the not speaking thing was somehow linked to her being autistic, even though she said otherwise, anyway Olivia, would you like to go visit Missy and see if we can get her a week of freedom" says Arnie as Olivia's eyes widen with excitement
"PLEASE" says Olivia accidentally using yell mode on her tablet
"ok, let's go" says Arnie
45 minutes later at the facility
"this is an unexpected surprise, I haven't seen Olivia here in awhile" says Rene, pleasantly shocked
"my wife lied and said Missy attacked them, turns out Missy kissed Olivia on the cheek and my hopefully soon ex wife went nuts and hit them, also apparently Olivia likes Missy, as in loves" says Arnie
"fair enough, why are Samantha and Freddie here" says Rene
"May has requested that Missy be given a week freedom, no planned stuff other than where she can go, May feels that Missy being locked away, even willingly, that the Missy she knows will be gone soon, all she wants is a week to show Missy that the world isn't terrible, scary sure but not terrible" says Sam
"has May suddenly lost her agoraphobia, that doesn't sound like her" asks Rene shocked by this information
"she's not cured no, not by a longshot but being around Melanie all day every day has given her some confidence, though I wouldn't expect her to go anywhere far from Melanie's apartment alone" says Arnie
"and you think Missy being around Olivia for a week will make a difference" asks Rene, slightly skeptical of the proposed plan
"I mean I didn't think May would ever feel safe walking around, even with Melly, and yet she does feel safe now, I think it's worth a shot, a week isn't that long, my wife lied, her lie is the only reason once Missy was found she was even returned here, Missy has said before that she doesn't like it here but that it's the only place she has to go, I only brought her back because my wife said she was aggressive towards Olivia, Olivia staying safe is my top priority, had I known the true nature of what happened she never would have come back here" says Arnie
"do you not trust that we're taking care of her per your expectations" asks Rene
"no, I never said I didn't trust you, I said Missy doesn't trust you, she doesn't feel safe here but it's literally the only place she can retreat to since you revoked her travel rights based on information I took at face value, your clinical first policy scares her and she doesn't feel she can trust the doctors" says Arnie
"ok so how do you suggest we move forward with her care" asks Rene
"if she feels a romantic connection with Olivia I'd like her to spend as much time away from the facility as can be managed, I believe this week test should give all of us an idea of what is possible" says Arnie as Olivia looks at Rene expectantly
"ok Olivia looking at me like that is freaking me out" says Rene
"she's expecting you to go get Missy" says Arnie
"oh she's a bit combative today, Missy won't come here if I go get her, on these bad days she barricades herself in, she's somehow managed to reverse the door handle so it not locks from the inside, if you're right, if Olivia comes with me she might open up the door" says Rene
"sorry" says Olivia realizing she made a mistake
"what's wrong, why sorry" asks Rene as Olivia jabs at her tablet
"my. fault. Olivia's. Door handle. broken. Thought. Missy. Could. Help" says Olivia
"would you mind explaining" asks Rene
"Olivia tends to fight with her mother, she slams her bedroom door as a sign that we need to stay away until she calms down, well the last time was right before Missy came to visit, we bought Olivia a new door handle as the handle had literally snapped, however Olivia couldn't hold both sides to the door and tighten the screws so she waited till Missy showed up and asked for help, Missy helped her without issue, they were glued to each other for the entire time Missy was over" says Arnie
"and Missy was calm the entire time when she helped Olivia put the door handle on" asks Rene as Olivia taps calmly on her tablet
"Calm. Giggles. Cuddles" says Olivia
"giggles, I've only seen Missy giggle once, it doesn't happen often, ok, Olivia follow me" says Rene as Olivia hesitates and taps on her tablet
"Doctor. Safe" asks Olivia
"yes, I promise" says Arnie as Olivia follows Rene
"she doesn't trust doctors" asks Sam
"there are many doctors she doesn't trust but she generalizes to all doctors because she thinks they all act the same, her childhood hasn't been easy, especially since the issue with Missy isn't likely the first time my wife has lied to me about something when Olivia had a female friend over, over the past few years she's had dozens and my wife always finds reasons to remove them from the property, so that said I recommend they both stay at Melanie's or with Melanie and May for this week" says Arnie
"does her autistic play group have anything planned for this week" asks Sam
"no, they don't start back up again until the end of August, that sleepover was a mid summer get together" says Arnie as Rene and Olivia return with Missy
"who sent you" asks Missy, still very skeptical about whole situation
"my wife doesn't know about this Missy and if you have feelings for Olivia, she won't know because I'll divorce her" says Arnie as Missy calms down a little
"you'll ruin your family for my happiness" asks Missy
"good families don't attack their daughters friend over a cheek kiss, she was out of line and I have a feeling that you weren't the first to be removed from the house because of how you feel towards Olivia, many of Olivia's girly friends have been removed from house over the smallest things" says Arnie
"so how does this work, is this another planned down to the minute 'freedom' experiment" asks Missy
"no, you will have a week of freedom, all that has been planned is where to eat out and where you'll be sleeping, you could spend the entire week cuddling with Olivia for all I care, May is concerned that if you keep yourself isolated that you won't be the same Missy she knows soon, it scares her" says Sam
"I isolate because the world hates me, wait May's dating Melly right, is that where I'm staying" says Missy
"yes, you will be staying at Melly's apartment, though we are in the process of buying a house, there should be an extra room for you and Olivia, Melly's buying it" says Sam
"so a few days at the apartment then the rest at this house, I think I can handle that, with my meds and Liv by my side of course" says Missy, surprising even Rene with a plan
"I'm glad you have a plan Missy, though the only thing we require is that you continue taking your meds, you don't need a refill for three weeks so if this goes well we will extend your freedom from one week, to two then three but only if it goes well, if you need to come back at some point and Olivia is still with you then she can come here and when you are ready we would try again" says Rene
"wasn't your student doctor the one wanting me to stay here" asks Missy suspicious of the change in tone from Rene
"that was a decision based on evidence that you can't strive outside the facility, if the freedom experiment gives us new evidence then we will adjust as needed, now go, start your week of freedom" says Rene
"do you trust me, do you believe that I can do this, I know it's a stupid question but it's important to me that you as the head doctor have faith in me that I can overcome my fears" says Missy
"I've always believed it was possible, my team are good doctors but their skepticism about your ability to overcome your fears do in no way reflect my own, I hold hope that all my patients can overcome their mental health issues to some degree and at least try to become part of society again" says Rene
"faith in me is important, my mom was the only one who believed it was possible, when she lost custody of me and my sisters, I lost faith in myself, honestly I'm just glad that dad doesn't have custody rights anymore either, because he'd keep me in here whether I need to be or not" says Missy
"legally speaking Missy, you're an adult, a grown up human being, he lost his right to affect your life the day you turned eighteen, mental health issues or not, the only one left that he can claim to be allowed to influence is May and that clock is slowly ticking down as well, now let's go, May has a lunch planned at the apartment" says Sam as Missy basically melts into Olivia
"ok" says Missy
45 minutes later at Melanie's apartment
"you're late" says May
"yeah well Liv wanted to get me a fancy dress" says Missy, twirling in her new pink dress
"fair enough, have you kissed yet" asks Melanie pulling May down off that paranoia cliff
"only on the cheek, that's my deal for now, I want to see how the week goes first, the facility said they would extend my freedom experiment if this week goes well to two weeks then three, I assume we'll talk if I make it to three weeks, so what's for lunch" says Missy
"we made a bunch of sweets, the main meal is pasta salad as I know that's something you can eat, I wasn't expecting Olivia to show up" says May as Olivia taps on her tablet
"it's ok. I'll eat. whatever. you serve" says Olivia
"fair, though I should warn you Melly will find that tablet assistive talking a bit odd, I'll get you some food but let me talk to Melly before you do ok" says May as Olivia nods
"we'll probably be spending our time in whatever room you had for me anyway, unless you had meal outings planned" says Missy
"I did have a few outings planned this week, your bedroom is the third door on the right and the bathroom is opposite your bedroom, I'll go get your food, go get settled" says May as Olivia and Missy head to the room mentioned
"how is this any better than her being at the facility and who was the girl she brought" asks Melanie
"that girl is Arnie's daughter, she's autistic and thanks to a stupid, better than everyone surgeon, her voice is an octave-ish higher than it should be, she uses an assistive tablet that she uses to talk, as I understand it they're technically dating as of an hour ago based on a text from Sam" says May
"wait what happened to her that would require that kind of surgery" asks Melanie
"she was in a school bus a few years ago and it was a big crash, she got shards of glass in her collar bone, it affected a few veins, the surgeon decided WHILE she was on the operating table that her vocal cords were somehow affected, so he 'adjusted' them, no consent was given by anyone to go forward with the adjustment of her vocal cords, it literally causes her pain to speak" says May
"did Arnold do nothing" asks Melanie
"he spends most of his income on making sure that she has everything she needs, his wife, who in my opinion is simply a parasite leeching his energy, pays the house bills, he doesn't have enough to get her voice fixed and he's not sure that at this point she wants to get her voice fixed" says May
"did he sue the hospital" asks Melanie, seeing if there is anything she can do
"he did, they got a hundred grand, fifteen went to the lawyer, the rest went to that tablet and the computer that comes with it as well as a therapist coming to customize it to Olivia's needs, the surgeon was also fired and blacklisted so he can't do anything like that again, anyway we need to get them some food" says May
"ok, let's get their meal ready, after that we can let them rest, we have those plans for the restaurant tomorrow" says Melanie putting a plate together for Missy
"those plans were for when it was only Missy, let's push it off a few hours from the plan so we can see how they are together before we go out to lunch, Shelly wants updates" says May
"I find that Shelby is maybe a little too nosey, I think we should limit the updates to once a day for both you and Missy" says Melanie as they head over to Missy and Olivia's room and hand them the food then walk out
"I'm still adjusting Melly, I'd be worried if she didn't ask for mental health updates, besides in two days we'll all be living in the same house and she won't be so nervous, that's what that is, she's not being nosey, she's nervous" says May
"you're certain that it's just her nerves and not her wanting information on our daily lives" asks Melanie
"I've known Shelby all my life Melly, me being independent makes her nervous, me being out of the mental health facility makes her nervous, me being in a relationship makes her nervous, put yourself in her shoes, if Sam were experiencing everything I'm experiencing you wouldn't leave her alone either" says May
"I guess you have a point but I don't like how often she contacts you looking for updates" says Melanie
"she's not asking about our lives as a couple, she's simply asking if I've eaten or if I've had a shower or if I've had a nap lately, all things normally time controlled by the facility, things I haven't had to do on my own in five years, she wants to make sure I take care of myself and not spend every waking hour dishing out affection towards you and ignoring myself, she doesn't know I've mentioned at length my time issues or as Rene calls it Dyschronometria, she doesn't know what's in those pen pal letters, she's helping me by checking in because she doesn't know if you know about the time issues and she'd rather seem nosey than bring it up mere days after I got out of a mental health care facility, she will keep checking up on Missy so long as she's with Olivia because Missy will focus completely on Olivia and forget to eat or take her meds" says May
"does this happen often" asks Melanie
"only with girls who look like Olivia who are her age or older" says May
"wait so Olivia could just be one of those girls" asks Melanie
"I don't think you heard me, I said girls that look like Olivia, Olivia is the original but Missy never thought it could happen because of Arnie being a cop and his wife being homophobic so she would chase girls at the facility who looked even a little like her and yes she avoids children, she's not a perv" says May
"so she has a thing for girls like Olivia" asks Melanie
"Arnie's family is Alaskan, like native Alaskan, his family ties to Alaska go back a dozen generations at least, probably more, Missy doesn't know that, she just knows what is similar enough to Olivia to pique her interest, they're only a couple weeks apart, they met when they were five, Arnie and his wife came down to see us, Shelby was three and I was turning two, Missy was uninterested in everything, you couldn't get her to look at or do anything with food or snacks as treats, then Olivia arrived and suddenly Missy was interacting with someone without food or snacks, it was like a switch had been flipped, the moment they had to go back to Seattle, Missy was again uninterested in everything but food" says May
"you seem to also be food motivated" says Melanie
"yeah but both Shelly and I would interact with kids our age without food, Missy wouldn't, not without food, Shelly and I mostly needed snacks for pictures" says May
"I feel like Missy isn't her real name, what is it really" says Melanie
"it's Michelle, she hates it for some reason, she prefers people call her Missy, I expect you to respect her choice and not call her Michelle, just as you don't like me calling you Melly-pie, even though we're dating now and that it's an endearing term, I respect your choice, I expect you to do the same for Missy" says May
"that's fair I guess, I didn't think about it that way, wait it's awfully quiet in that room, did they finish their food and fall asleep already" says Melanie
"Missy is known for eating her food quickly and taking a nap, Olivia likes to nap in general, though I wouldn't be surprised if they have a little fun tonight" says May
"wait fun as in sex, I didn't know she was cleared for that kind of thing" asks Melanie
"I doubt she is but hey, if you only had a guaranteed week with me are you saying you wouldn't have fun in bed with me" says May
"well when you put it that way I can understand, do you think dating Olivia will help Missy be stable" asks Melanie
"I know it helps me dating you and I know whatever Carly and them decide will be best for Shelby, Missy twirled in that dress, Missy doesn't like dresses nor does she twirl, this shows me that Olivia chose an amazing dress that suits Missy perfectly, Missy likes how she looked in it and the fact that it was Olivia that got it for her speaks volumes, most people won't see it but Missy has already changed for the better" says May
"how has she changed" asks Melanie, wondering what life has been like for Missy
"just last week she was calling herself ugly, a month before that she accused her doctor of lying when he said she wasn't ugly and put her head through a few walls, she had been in isolation until last night when I warned Rene in advance that I wanted Missy out of there for a week, the thing is I can call her pretty all day and she won't bat an eye but when a pretty girl tells her she's pretty she freaks out and calls them liars, sometimes it matters who is saying things, her connection to Olivia is very strong, it's easy to say that being in a reciprocal romantic situation, whether they let themselves feel those emotions or not, Missy simply being around Olivia day and night for a week will absolutely have an impact" says May
"a good or bad impact" asks Melanie
"oh absolutely a positive one, Liv is an amazing person, there is only one person who would be better for Missy but she took her own life last year after being told she was becoming obsessed with Missy and was kept away from her, the suicide note had one sentence in it, 'you don't understand what love is', that one note shook the entire facility, rapid change happened, all of a sudden patients could date so long as they agreed to random room checks" says May
"wait so patients can have sex, I did not expect that" says Melanie
"they can but only after they've been cleared of all transferable infections, yes especially the sexual kind and the test is weekly, Missy never qualified because she never seemed to want to and removed herself from the program mere days after it began, anyway we should probably check in on Tori" says May
"I'm sorry who's Tori" asks Melanie
"the girl Freddie sent Sofía to so she could get away from her family, Tori's our cousin though not closely, Tori told me she'd call if she got to kiss Sofía, so far nothing" says May
"wait Tori likes Sofía, you've gotten calls from a Victoria Vega but never a Tori" says Melanie
"that's her, has she ever said anything" says May
"never much, mostly that she's nervous and that Sofía has been kicking butt since arriving, she says that she needs to talk to you" says Melanie
"how long ago" asks May
"yesterday morning and last night, you were asleep both times, the calls were like maybe two minutes, mainly her asking for you to call her back" says Melanie
"then let's call her back" says May as she dials Tori's number
"hey Maya what's up" asks Tori
"Melanie said you wanted to talk to me" says May motioning for Melanie to stay quiet
"does Sofía really like me, I can't seem to tell if she actually likes me, I've been to three matches just since she arrived, it's like they want to punish her for leaving Seattle, she has another fight tonight and she asked me not to go to this one, I thought we were connecting but now she's pushing me away" says Tori
"is she living at your place" asks May
"the apartment I just got into, yeah, I almost didn't get it, I don't make enough, Sofía arriving literally saved me as she was willing to split rent, I feel like she's resentful because she ends up having to pay most of the rent" says Tori
"Tori, she went there to be around you, not just to get away from her family, Freddie suggested it because he knew you were more or less bi curious and might be open to her liking you" says May
"but she barely talks to me" says Tori concerned
"she's nervous, trust me, you make the first move and she'll be all over you" says May
"are you sure" asks Tori
"absolutely, though she is a few years older than us, it does make her nervous and a little scared, especially because your dad is a cop that's next in line to be police chief" says May
"she's only two and a half years older than me and my dad doesn't care about who I date as long as he can do a criminal record check and he did one on Sofía a few years ago when I first showed interest in watching her MMA fights on TV, only after speaking to Sofía's manager did he allow me watch the fights in person" says Tori
"so he knows you like girls too" asks May
"oh he's known for a long time, apparently my closet was made of translucent glass I only confirmed it last week though, he was so relieved that he wasn't misreading the signs" says Tori
"how did you confirm it" asks May
"I went on a date with Cat, she's gay curious and wanted to see if her feeling was right, turns out we were both right" says Tori
"so you're also dating Cat then" asks May
"she knows my main interest is Sofía so she won't push her way in if Sofía isn't ok with that kind of thing but it is her hope that Sofía will be ok with it but so far we've only had that one test date to see if it was possible we both like girls, luckily we have graduated, they had the ceremony early because Jade has a play in Broadway next week and wouldn't have been able to attend and she's the pride and joy of Hollywood arts, she used to be so awful but she's grown to be a lot softer once people actually learned what her plays true meanings were" says Tori
"Sofía is quite open minded though because of the age gap that would exist she would require explicit written consent, she doesn't want love to be a scandal and a scandal like that because of the age gap between her and Cat would absolutely get her kicked out of the CFC" says May
"so how would that work" asks Tori
"Cat would have to be the one to write the consent letter, Sofía would only be allowed to sign it and your dad would have to be the witness, otherwise if the CFC finds out she's in a plural relationship with someone as young and seemingly airheaded as Cat without Cat having exclusively written the consent letter Sofía could be expelled from ever fighting the world over, even if its implied that Sofía had some say in how it's written could doom her" says May
"so how do we get that not to happen" asks Tori
"inform Cat ahead of time, the more words from her unique vocabulary are used the better it will look but it can't look like a child wrote it which is what the CFC will expect a letter Cat wrote to look like, Sofía can't know about it because she will let the CFC know that a letter is being written" says May
"the thing is Cat's too nervous to write a letter like that" says Tori
"honestly it's best if you both have one written up, just in case the CFC questions it" says May
"you really are the philosopher in the family" says Tori
"no I'm really not, I've just been around enough strict overly concerned adults that I know how to get around the rules, oh and when Sofía accepts the letters, which she will absolutely do, she will want to make sure that Cat doesn't enter the relationship until her birthday because she is technically only seventeen until her birthday and Sofía won't want to give the CFC any reason to deny her happiness" says May
"ok well then I have some chatting with Cat to do, I'll keep in touch" says Tori as she hangs up
"how well do you know Sofía exactly, those answers were a little too specific to be based on information from Shelby" says Melanie suddenly suspicious
"don't get like that, sure I sent letters to a few people, Sofía being one of them but Sofía would go for Shelby before she even considered me, you're absolutely the only one I sent love letters to" says May
"I guess that makes me feel a little better, what did you and Sofía talk about, I am curious" says Melanie
"a little of everything, she touched on her feelings for girls like Shelby but admitted that her cousin Josie has more intense feelings for Shelby, her feelings make her uncomfortable, the small crush on Shelby especially, she kept calling herself a potential creep or perv, even when I said that feelings are rarely ever truly one sided, she said it didn't matter to her, having feelings for girls barely younger than her made her feel creepy, that's when I brought up the whole consent to romantic relationships letter idea, she liked it a lot but she didn't know how to execute such an idea without making it look like she was pushing them to write it" says May
"ahh now I see, that's why you told Tori about it, so Sofía could get the letters so she doesn't risk her work and calm her nerves" says Melanie
"basically, I did tell Sofía that if I could possibly help without her knowing or having any knowledge of it then I would" says May
"well let's go watch a movie, let them have some privacy" says Melanie walking over to their bedroom and walking in
"knowing Olivia she'll want to thank us, Arnie isn't the type to blame someone for something that 'happened' to two people based on the word of one person, her mother likely made her lie about what really happened so don't lock the door, they might want to watch the movie with us if it's a movie Olivia or Missy likes" says May
"fair enough, now lay down babe, I'll start the movie" says Melanie
1 hour later as a knock is heard on the bedroom door
"come in" says Melanie as Olivia walks in
"I wanted to thank you" says Olivia speaking for the first time in two weeks
"thank us for what" asks May
"for getting Missy out of there, you saved us" says Olivia really straining to not grit her teeth over her voice not sounding like it used to
"she's not out of the woods just yet Liv, she has to make it through several weeks before they even consider letting her stay out of the facility and they're not certain she'll make it past two weeks" says May
"sorry, did I say us, I meant me" says Olivia
"what do you mean" asks Melanie confused by the phrasing
"mom made me lie, like she always does but it hit different this time, I didn't realize I loved Missy, not right away but the longer she was away from my side, the harder it got and the more I hated myself, today is the first day I've felt like myself since she went back to that facility, though I still hate how my voice sounds, though I have a question about edibles" says Olivia
"we don't have any here if that's what you're worried about" says Melanie
"no, I'm fine with edibles Missy wants to try them, she says that the meds make her stomach hurt if she doesn't eat food" says Olivia
"most meds require not being taken on an empty stomach, I don't think the facility will approve this" says Melanie
"no Melly, she's right, Missy is kind of known for making a fuss about meds and also having a sensitive stomach, you saw how I prepared her food, she's not complaining today and trust me we'd hear if she was having issues, your neighbors would be complaining and we'd never have gotten through that movie" says May
"doesn't the facility realize the connection between the two or are they that ignorant" asks Melanie
"orders aren't always followed, Missy is supposed to be given meds over an hour while she eats, most of the lower doctors and nurses on Rene's team see it as Missy whining and the process being a waste of time but they also don't report on not having followed the orders they were given so nobody really knows how badly she's treated medication wise, Rene visits twice a month but Missy is usually mistrusting of her by that point, Olivia, do you think you can give Missy her meds in the morning or would you rather I do it" says May
"if you do it the first time and I watch then I can do it, she's already a lot calmer, anyway I have to go snuggle her again, she's a real cuddler" says Olivia skipping off to her and Missy's assigned room
"I thought she would use the assistance tablet, her voice isn't at all freaky like you said it could be" says Melanie
"she can talk but she hates how she sounds, her voice used to be softer, more alluring, now because of that surgeon it's higher pitched and hurts her ears" says May
"so why did she use her voice then if it hurts her" asks Melanie
"when she talks it's to prove a point, there was a lot of emotion in her voice, she sounded in love, she sounded happy" says May
"I still don't really understand, I may be the better twin between Sam and I but some things still go way over my head" says Melanie
"she thinks we, mainly you control Missy's fate, she thinks we can convince the facility to outright give Missy her freedom and end this freedom trial nonsense as she sees it" says May
"but it was Shelby's idea, they're only here because we have the space" says Melanie
"that doesn't matter to Olivia, her and Shelby don't exactly get along anyway, as she sees it they're within your walls so you have a greater say in Missy's fate than anyone else" says May
"fair enough, why don't Olivia and Shelby get along" asks Melanie
"Olivia can hear electricity, Shelby made fun of her for it when we first moved here, Shelby has since herself begun to be able to hear electricity and has changed her stance and did apologize but Olivia is stubborn and doesn't believe that people can do a complete flip like that" says May
"but somehow Missy can, is she immune to Olivia's logic or something" asks Melanie
"no well you see she thinks that our dad did something to make Missy the way she is, so for Olivia it's not about changing Missy behavior, it's about working through trauma so Olivia doesn't see Missy's change in behavior as a flip" says May
"did your dad traumatize you or your sisters" asks Melanie
"if you're asking if he inappropriately touched us no, he was always distant, he was always working or at the casino, he was never there for us other than tucking us in before bed, that's why Missy hates him, she wishes he'd been a better dad and been there more than he was, mom was always the better parent but all the judge saw was income and dad had twice as much money, he never considered where that money came from, just that it existed and was a steady amount of money, the moment dad gambled all the money away the judge got pissed and returned custody to mom but we were essentially stuck here in Seattle, Shelby was in the CFC minors and Missy was in the mental health facility and the facility wouldn't transfer Missy, once she finds out we have a home here in Seattle she'll want to visit" says May
"could that trigger Missy" asks Melanie
"no, she has no problem with mom coming to visit so long as she doesn't try and move in, oh but we may have to keep Missy away from Shelby's room and ours, she tends to view personal space as relative and not a firm rule so she may barge in on Shelby at any moment on any day" says May
"I have a feeling that Olivia will keep her attention elsewhere" says Melanie
"maybe but that remains to be seen" says May