Mother-Daughter Confrontation

“Who is it, Dad?” You hear Stella ask from the couch.

“Where’s my daughter?” Your surprise visitor asks. Before you can even answer, you hear another shout from the couch.

“Mom!?” You hear a shout of surprise.

“Baby!” The visitor shouts back.

“It’s nice to see you again Sylvie.” You finally greet her, as polite as you can, before inviting her inside.

Sylvie looks like she hasn’t aged a day since you last saw her. Hell, she looks even younger now with her more sophisticated and cleaner look. You can even see what Mr. Hoffman observed last night, Sylvie and Cassie do have a striking resemblance. It just wasn’t as obvious to you since Sylvie used to style herself differently.

Now though, she has a new and much better haircut, and she’s no longer rocking the blonde hair she used to go with back in the day, and instead has a much closer color to Cassie’s; her makeup is much more neutral, compared to the more striking colors she preferred back then; her clothes are obviously designer brands without screaming they’re designer by being plastered with their logos, like the ones she used to prefer. Sylvie has obviously updated her looks with the times, and has very much benefited from it… or maybe you’re just saying that since she looks a lot like Cassie does now.

“Just like old times huh, Jay? You, babysitting my daughter…” Sylvie says with a pleasant chuckle as she enters your apartment.

“And you, picking her up the day after you left her because you were out partying.” You say, a lot more passive-aggressively than you intended. You just can’t control it now that you have a much clearer idea about how Cassie feels about her mom.

“Except now she’s been here for two weeks. So not exactly like old times, but I see what you mean.” You add to try and hide your passive-aggressiveness, returning the pleasant laugh she gave earlier to make it seem like you’re only joking.

“Yeah~! Now I can party a lot longer.” Sylvie jokes, unaware of the passive-aggressiveness. Even more blissfully unaware that that behavior is exactly why Cassie has issues with her. It seems that Sylvie only updated her appearance, but not her personality.

“I’ve been calling you!” Cassie shouts as she sees her mother.

“What’s with the aggressiveness, babe? I just didn’t want to ruin the surprise. I was already on my way here when you started calling.” Sylvie explains to Cassie.

“Oh? What brings you by, Sylvie?” You ask her.

“What do you mean ‘what brings me by’? I’m here to pick up my daughter.” Sylvie answers you.

“WHAT!?” Cassie and Stella react in shock.

“I gave you two weeks to stay here, babe. Don’t you remember?” Sylvie asks Cassie.

“You gave me the entire summer!” Cassie shouts her answer.

“What are you talking about? What kind of mother am I to allow you to do that?” Sylvie asks Cassie, and you can see Cassie’s boiling rage being held just below the surface, as she tries her best not to tell Sylvie what kind of mother she thinks she is.

“You think it’s fine to leech off of our old neighbors for an entire summer? That’s completely unacceptable.” Sylvie argues with Cassie.

“She’s not leeching, Ms. Jones. I invited her—” Stella chimes in, but Sylvie raises her free hand towards Stella to signal that she should stop talking.

“I know you invited her, Stella; but an invitation doesn’t change the fact that I also only allowed her two weeks to stay here before we go back home.” Sylvie tells Stella.

“BULLSHIT!” Cassie finally explodes.

“Don’t gaslight me, mom! I’m not ten anymore! I’m not that timid little girl that does whatever you tell her to either! Do you think I’m stupid!? You think I don’t know when you’re lying to me!? You say you’re here to surprise me, but suddenly you were always supposed to pick me up after two weeks? Pick a lie, mom!” Cassie accuses her mother.

“First of all, the surprise I was referring to was getting here early. We agreed I’ll pick you up later to—” Sylvie tries to explain calmly, but Cassie cuts her off.

“Stop lying to me! Just stop! It’s getting pathetic.” Cassie coldly tells her mother.

“Since when do you talk back to me, young lady? Just because you’ve been in college for a year doesn’t give you the right—” Sylvie says, trying to be authoritative, but failing miserably in doing so.

“Doesn’t give me a right!? DOESN’T GIVE ME THE RIGHT!?” Cassie says loudly as tears begin to release from her eyes.

“What gives you the right to hide who my father is from me!? What gives you the right to come here and pretend like getting rid of me for the summer isn’t the exact FUCKING thing you wanted!?” Cassie shouts at her.

Sylvie just has her mouth agape as a reaction. Unsure how to address her daughter’s emotional outburst. Sylvie even gasps in offense before looking at you and Stella in confusion, gesturing towards you and Stella with her free hand that she wants you guys to explain what’s going on with her daughter.

Unlike Sylvie though, you and Stella know exactly how to handle the situation. The two of you stand on either side of Cassie, with Stella wrapping her arms around Cassie’s waist, while you wrap your arm around shoulders to comfort her. Sylvie blinks repeatedly as she tries to process what her next step should be, and takes a deep breath through her nose, while rubbing her temple.

“What the fuck have you been telling my daughter!?” Sylvie accuses you.

“Don’t bring Jay into this! It’s not him who told me about—” Cassie tells her mother, before Sylvie interrupts her with a question.

“Jay?” Sylvie cuts off Cassie. “Since when has he been ‘Jay’ to you and not just ‘Mr. Craig’, your babysitter? Is there something going on here?” Sylvie asks accusingly. You’re pretty sure you’re not hiding your guilty look to Sylvie at all as she stares at you for an explanation, as you realize that this conversation is now about you and Cassie having to admit your relationship to her. Even though you have no problems admitting it to her, you’re pretty sure the revelation won’t lead to a positive reaction from Sylvie after seeing Cassie’s hostility towards her.

That being said, you know you need to tell Sylvie that you’re dating her daughter. So you take a gulp of your saliva and prepare yourself to man up. At least, before Cassie lets out a manic laugh. You glance towards her and see a crazy look in her eyes, as she laughs while she stares at Sylvie.

“So that’s why you’re here. It’s finally making sense.” Cassie says out loud. “Mr. Hoffman told you.” Cassie accuses her mother.

“Told me what exactly?” Sylvie asks her.

“That Jay’s my boyfriend.” Cassie admits to her mother without fear.

…

“You and I are leaving. Get your things.” Sylvie commands Cassie.

It’s this reaction that you finally see what Cassie’s been accusing her mother of from the beginning. You glance at Stella, who is also already looking at you when you do, and you both have the same look after hearing Sylvie’s reaction. A look of realization.

Oh, she knows. She definitely fucking knew that information already.

Even though Sylvie tries to play it off like she’s shocked to hear about your relationship with her daughter, there isn’t any indication in her reaction that she’s trying to process the news like it’s new information.

“Is that why you’re here, Ms. Jones? You don’t approve of my Dad’s and Cassie’s relationship?” Stella asks Sylvie.

“You think!?” Sylvie rhetorically asks Stella as an answer.

“No.” Cassie defiantly, but calmly, tells her mother.

“GET. YOUR. THINGS.” Sylvie repeats more forcefully.

“No.” Cassie repeats.

“You know, I hoped to fucking God that what Avi told me was a lie. Whether he was lying or not, I couldn’t allow you to keep staying here. I would not allow myself to risk it… because I’ve seen the signs since you were a kid.” Sylvie finally admits.

“I won’t leave this apartment without you with me, babe.” Sylvie tells her daughter. A phrase familiar to both you and Stella, as it’s the exact same one she used to tell Cassie when she was young, whenever Cassie tried to stay with you and Stella longer. Only this time, you’re not there to help convince Cassie to go back home with her mother.

Still, Cassie doesn’t budge.

“No.” She tells her mother, crossing her arms in defiance. Weirdly enough, Cassie even has a smug smile on her face.

“I didn’t want to do this, babe.” Sylvie says ominously. “I wanted to do this peacefully. I wanted to pretend that this was a fun visit before asking you to go. Even if that failed, I thought I could rely on you just doing what I say, like you always do, and getting the fuck out of here without any problems; without me having to resort to underhanded tactics.” Sylvie adds.

“I don’t know who you’re trying to fool with this—” Cassie smugly addresses her mother, before getting interrupted by a question from her.

“Your boyfriend was your babysitter since you were a fucking six year old, while he was a full grown adult with a job. You know what normal society calls that? You know what the implication of that will do to his career when it becomes public information?” Sylvie not so subtly threatens.

The exact same smug smile that Cassie had, creeps along Sylvie’s face too. A smile that appears after she glances towards you, making you a hundred percent sure that the fear and guilt you’re feeling after hearing her threat is undeniable in your facial expression.

You may not have intended this progression of your relationship with Cassie when you were babysitting her all those years ago, but you yourself admitted to it a couple of days ago that you feel some guilt over it now that you’re acting on your feelings for her despite your history together.

Unintentionally or not… you made that young girl fall in love with you… to be sexually attracted towards you… and you used it to your advantage.

Fuck.

“Dad!” Stella shouts, snapping you out of your guilt trip. “Say something!” Stella adds forcefully.

“Get. Your. Things.” Sylvie repeats. She says it a lot more calmly this time, as if the discussion is already over.

Except… the discussion isn’t over.

Whatever fucking guilt you may feel for possibly grooming Cassie is miniscule compared to how you genuinely love Cassie as the woman she is now. Not just as your girlfriend, but as your daughter too.

You’re suddenly reminded of Paige’s advice a couple of days ago, about leaning into the familial aspect of your relationship with Cassie to make it less weird to the eyes of the world. If you can get away with it with Stella, you can hopefully get away with it with Cassie too.

Still, that’s not important right now. If it doesn’t work later on, then you’ll figure it out later. What’s more important is you not letting Cassie go without a fight.

“You want to threaten me, Sylvie? Go fucking ahead. Do it.” You tell Sylvie defiantly. “I’ll risk my career before I allow you to **** your own daughter to do whatever you want. You want a fight? You have it.” You tell her confidently, letting go of holding Cassie in your arm, but standing between her and Sylvie instead. Straightening your back and puffing up your chest as much as you could, trying to be as imposing as possible.

The reaction on Sylvie’s face isn’t exactly the one you expected. Sylvie isn’t necessarily afraid or panicked by your display; just shocked and confused that you’re not the pushover she used to know too.

“That’s unnecessary, Daddy.” Cassie says from behind you, placing a hand on your shoulder.

“I got this.”