Protégé
A/N: Things are getting heavy, slight TW for mentions of an unpleasant childhood but nothing specific or super detailed.
A/N 2: IMPORTANT NOTE, I accidentally posted an unfinished chapter the first time for the previous Chapter (52), if you read this on the night of Tuesday April 4th then you may need to reread the ending of Chapter 52 again! My sincere apologies!
Disclaimer: I'm just taking these character's for a spin.
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Chapter 53
Monday Night, Serena Benson's Apartment, Manhattan, Summer 2013
"Are you just going to stand there?" Serena asked as she sat on her couch.
"God, Mother this place is a mess! What happened to your house keeper?" Olivia looked around her apartment, there were books piled on almost every surface, most of them collecting dust. Their home hadn't changed much since her childhood, there were dishes scattered amongst the books, and a musty smell that permeated every corner of the room. It was another reason she never had friends over growing up, that and Serena's strict rules on who she could play with, left Olivia to have a very lonely childhood. The only difference she could make out was the lack of partly finished bottles of alcohol gracing the surface of every piece of carpet, and furniture, that unmistakable scent would forever be seared into her brain, along with some of her Mother's more forceful lessons. The term 'everybody leaves,' still bounced around in her skull even now.
"She quit what can I say? Did you really come here to discuss the cleanliness of my home? I thought you'd have more important things you wanted to get off your chest," Serena drawled as she turned on the TV again, keeping the volume on low.
Olivia rolled her eyes, and scratched her eyebrow with her thumb, she deposited her purse on a dusty end table, "Well I'm glad I have your full attention Mother."
Olivia crossed her arms over her chest, her work blouse pulling tight across her breasts and abdomen.
Serena snorted, "I'm surprised you've managed to even hold that young man's attention for this long, you've certainly packed on the pounds my dear. Which only confirms my earlier suspicions, at least in the past he would have used you for your body, now he's using you for your wallet."
Olivia threw her hands in the air, "My God, can you make up your mind Mother? One minute I'm too good for him, and the next he's too good for me-"
"You watch your tone young lady!" Serena warned in a serious tone, as she pointed her finger at her.
"What do you want Mother?" Olivia asked as she sat atop a bar stool, "What's the endgame here? Do you even understand what would happen if you went to my boss with this? Because you wouldn't just be screwing Elliot, you'd be screwing me too."
"I'm not screwing you Olivia, I'm loving you, protecting you from getting hurt, after all only a Mother could ever love a person like you. And not only am I protecting you from getting hurt by another man, but I'm getting you away from that horrible job too," Serena gave her daughter a warm smile, "Darling all I want is the best for you."
She stood up, and slowly approached her daughter. Once she was a foot away she cupped her cheek, "And that is not Elliot."
Olivia closed her eyes, "Mother if you do this nobody in NYPD will touch me."
Serena chuckled darkly, "That's entirely my goal darling."
"Wouldn't you rather he leave you now than 6 months, or a year down the road? Once he's drained your bank accounts, and milked you for all you've worked for? Because deep down you know I'm right sweetheart, people always leave, especially you Olivia, when they find out who you come from… What you come from, who you really are," Serena spoke softly, in a sickening sweet voice, trying to draw her in, protect her from the leeching man who had attached himself to her.
"Come now Olivia this doesn't have to be hard, ditch the boy before you do something you truly can not take back, God forbid you bought a place together, we'd never be able to get rid of him," Serena spun on the spot and headed back to the couch.
She picked up a clear tumbler with a brown liquid sloshing around some ice cubes, "I mean truly darling aside from a good lay, what on Earth do you see in him? What kind of future could the two of you possibly have? No, no Olivia, it's decided, I've let you have your fun, but it's done now, I raised you better than that."
Olivia finally opened her eyes, after hearing her Mother utter the same words she said earlier.
Olivia stood up straight, "You? You raised me? Leaving me to fend for myself on weekends when I was a child, while you went off on a bender, that was raising me? Or how about bringing strange men home, and drinking until you passed out, leaving me alone with them? But I'm sure you did all those things to teach me, to make me a tougher, stronger, and a more cynical, weary, independent person right?"
Serena squinted her eyes as her daughter approached her.
"Well you certainly didn't make it easy, but yes I did the best with what I was given, you are half monster after all-"
"I am nothing like that man, and I thank God for that every day, but I am also nothing like you Mother," Olivia stated.
"Oh you don't have to point that out to me, don't think I didn't try-"
"And I am beyond thankful that I am nothing like you either," Olivia paused trying to keep herself in check.
"Just what exactly is that suppose to mean you ungrateful little bi-"
"I'm not who I am because of you, I am who I am today despite you. And that is a smart, beautiful, happy, brave, independent woman," Olivia declared proudly, "And I have Elliot who tells me that every single day. I don't need a man Mother, but I choose to want that man."
"Not for his looks, or age, but for the way he makes me feel, the way he lifts me up on my darkest days, he doesn't want to be with me just for the good times, he wants to be with me 'til the end of time, and even longer than that, through the good and bad," Olivia could feel the moisture building up in her eyes.
"Tell me darling, when did I become the villain, the antagonist in your story?" Serena questioned, shocked by the backbone her daughter was suddenly displaying.
"Mother I will always be sorry for the horror you went through the night I was conceived, but what happened to you doesn't have to define my origin story, I am a person, a human being aside from the way I was brought onto this Earth," Olivia was trying desperately to get her Mother to understand her.
"If it weren't for me you wouldn't even be here-"
Olivia cut her off, "Yes Mother I know how biology works."
"Child you haven't a clue, I meant that if the same thing took place today, I would've been able to safely and legally abort you," Serena sneered as she took another long sip of her drink.
"Wow, I understand now why you've treated me the way you have my entire life," Olivia picked up her purse, and moved to walk past her Mother, while dropping a black and white photo on her lap.
"I was conceived through a heinous, painful act, that's why you hate me. And maybe I was naïve, but this baby that I'm carrying, my child, was conceived by an act of emotional intimacy, love, and passion, a joining of two separated souls together, I thought since this baby was going to come into this world through a positive experience, that maybe you could have loved them, in a way you could never love me. That every time you look at them your heart, and soul weren't filled with an insurmountable amount of hate, and rage. But I guess at the end of the day that's asking too much, that you'll never be able to love anything that's connected to me. Really gives the phrase fruit from the poisoned tree a new meaning hmmm?"
"Congratulations Serena, you're going to be a grandmother!" Olivia sighed sadly as she breezed by the stunned woman who hadn't made a sound since Olivia's confession, "I just hope both their parents are still employed whenever they arrive, 'cause God knows I don't have a family to rely on, for anything."
Olivia didn't look back as she opened the door to her childhood home, and pulled it closed behind her.
She was sure there was some kinda twisted fate at play, that she would reveal to her Mother that there would be another Benson child, carrying her blood, her DNA. She had confessed that a baby she so badly wanted, a baby she already loved, was coming into the world soon, in her childhood home, where she had been unwanted, and so unloved.
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Elliot pounded on the door, he could hear the TV from where he stood, and wasn't sure if they could even hear his knocking when the door suddenly opened, revealing a bewildered, and confused figure.
"What the hell are you doing here?" they asked, as Elliot gulped loudly, still catching his breath from Serena's ultimatum, and racing out of the precinct.
"Pl-please I need your help," Elliot pleaded.
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A/N: Sorry for the delay, surgery was a royal fck up, have to go in again, and my amazing beta/fiancé was suppose to post this last wknd but forgot my login. Please be patient I'm down to one arm. Oy please no spoilers, I think I'm 2 episodes behind too.
A/N 2: Can you guess who Elliot has turned to for help? Let me know who you want it to be and/or who you think it is in the comments/reviews.
