Parental Guidance

The following chapter is written in 3rd Person POV, following Cassie.

“It’s okay. We did it, baby. Everything’s going to be alright.” Jay assures Cassie repeatedly, continuing to rub her back as he does.

After hearing Jay tell her those reassuring words, and with her nose being clogged up from sobbing, Cassie finally takes the actual sigh of relief that she’s been wanting to take since she heard that all the traits they’ve been needing to buy have finally been bought.

“I’m sorry that everyone did all these crazy things because of me.” Cassie tells Jay while still sobbing on his chest.

“Don’t ever blame yourself for that.” Jay tells her, kissing her on the forehead. “You are not to blame for your dad—” Jay starts to assure Cassie, before Cassie corrects him about one detail.

“You’re my dad. Not him. He’ll always be a stranger to me.” Cassie tells him, looking into his eyes as she does, although his face is blurred by her tears.

“Right.” Jay just agrees with a smile, wiping away Cassie’s tears with his thumbs so she can see him clearly. “That being said, you’re not to blame for Mr. Hoffman wanting to take you away from me. You are not to blame for Mr. Hoffman exiling Becca away from the city. You are not to blame for any of this.” Jay continues.

“You are the one to thank for convincing your mom to not go through with Mr. Hoffman’s plans though, and thanks to what you and Becca help set in motion; maybe he doesn’t have to be a stranger to you.” Jay adds, taking Cassie by surprise.

“I don’t want anything to do with him.” Cassie tells Jay adamantly.

“That’s your choice to make, baby; but at least now, you can finally make that choice.” Jay points out. “I love that you consider me your dad, but I’ve always known you were curious about who your biological father was. How you’ve wondered if maybe you and your mom would be closer if you had the kind of family set-up Stella had.” Jay adds, getting a curious look from Cassie, as she definitely didn’t tell him about that before. “Stella told me.” Jay explains, getting Cassie to roll her eyes playfully, but smiling all the same.

“I think you just talking to your mom proves you never needed the magic to get that parental love from your mom. You just needed to make her finally listen to what you’ve always wanted from her. That proves it’s never too late, baby. So whenever the time comes that you have to talk to Mr. Hoffman, maybe consider the choice that he doesn’t have to be a stranger to you anymore. Maybe you can make him listen to what you want out of him too. It doesn’t have to be the first time you see each other again, but maybe somewhere down the line.” Jay tells her, before looking deeply into Cassie’s eyes, hoping she understands where he’s coming from.

“Because I’ll never fully move on unless I know I’ve given it a shot, right? Because I can’t have this dark cloud continuously looming over my head?” Cassie asks Jay teasingly, remembering what he told Stella back when he tried to convince her to make amends with her mom.

“Something like that.” Jay answers, with a chuckle. “And before you say I should practice what I preach, that’s why I said ‘somewhere down the line’.” Jay adds, making Cassie chuckle.

“I’ll take it under advisement.” Cassie jokingly answers, before placing her hand to caress Jay’s cheek, staring deeply into his eyes.

“I love you.” Cassie tells him. Just as sincere as the first time she said it to him… maybe even moreso.

“I love you too, Cassie.” Jay replies, before he initiates a sweet kiss.

As they break away their lips from each other, Cassie rests her head on Jay’s chest once more, hugging him tightly. Almost as if she never wants to let him go. Trying to convey to him that she’ll always need him.

Jay returns the hug, but in a much warmer and comforting way. A way for him to say she doesn’t need to hold as tight as she does, as he’ll always be there for her.

…

The two stay like this for a few minutes, with Jay just allowing the young girl to catch her breath from sobbing so much; only for the moment to be broken up by Cassie’s phone ringing for a call. Jay lets her go to allow Cassie to answer her phone. Cassie wipes her nose with the back of her hand, before taking her phone out to see who’s calling.

“Mom? What’s up?” Cassie greets her mother after accepting the call.

“Hey, babe. I need to see you.” Sylvie tells her ominously.

“Why? What’s wrong? Did Mister Hoffman call you?” Cassie asks in worry, and Jay can’t help but be worried by the question he hears from Cassie.

“No. It’s not that. I just wanted to say goodbye in person. The beau bought me a ticket to Greece where he’s staying now. He said we can hide away in his yacht he’s renting until this whole thing with Avi blows over. Frank’s going to drive me to the airport in a few, so I wanted to meet you in person before I go. Are you at the hotel now?” Sylvie tells her.

What her mother is telling her makes no sense to Cassie, as they both agreed that staying here in the city where they can both face him and talk with him together was the plan. Her gut is telling her that something’s up for her mom to suddenly bail on that plan; but she doesn’t want to telegraph what she’s thinking to both her mother and Jay, so as to not make both of them worry.

“No. We’re all out tonight. We can meet you at the BnB though if it’s this urgent.” Cassie tells her, not wanting to argue against the plan her mom just suggested, and wanting to see where she goes with it.

“Oh! I wouldn’t want to bother the others from their night out. Are you okay to come alone?” Sylvie curiously asks, telegraphing that something’s definitely up with her request for Cassie to come alone.

“Of course.” Cassie answers.

“Perfect! I’m still packing, so I can’t leave the BnB yet. Where are you now?” Sylvie asks.

“I’m in a place called the Gold Room. It’s just a few blocks away from where you’re staying actually. I can walk it.” Cassie tells her.

“No~, that’s not necessary. Frank can pick you up. Can you wait for him?” Sylvie asks.

“Of course. I’ll see you in a bit, mom.” Cassie tells her calmly, not hinting to her mother of her worry.

“Okay. Love you, babe. I’ll see you in a few.” Sylvie tells her, before dropping the call.

“Sylvie wants to meet? What happened?” Jay asks in worry.

“I think something’s up with mom. She wants to meet me alone at the BnB. I think Mr. Hoffman got to her somehow.” Cassie informs him.

“What!? That’s…” Jay reacts in shock. “Maybe it’s a more positive move? It should be in support of you, right? Now that I bought the Supportive Parent trait for you.” Jay switches from shock, to a more analytical expression.

“Maybe.” Cassie says skeptically.

“I’ll check the app to see if anything’s changed for Sylvie, or you, or Mr. Hoffman.” Jay tells Cassie, before checking his own phone. “Nothing’s changed in terms of points. Trait recommendations for you four are mostly for my own self-improvement to better myself in your eyes I would say.” Jay updates Cassie.

“What about Becca?” Cassie then asks, as a reminder to Jay that Becca’s recommended traits were also part of this morning’s considerations.

“Oh, uh~, yeah. There’s an update on Becca.” Jay updates Cassie ominously. “Now she’s being recommended ‘No More Enemies’. Supportive Parents is still her top most recommended though.” Jay explains.

“Are you completely bankrupt on points?” Cassie asks.

“Not completely, but not enough to buy her ‘No More Enemies’. Currently, I only have 25 Friendship Points left.” Jay answers. “Why?” Jay then asks.

“I think you should buy the Supportive Parents for her too. We can’t risk not listening to the app when, even after we bought the Family Comes First trait, it’s still recommending it to her. Even recommending that ‘No More Enemies’ one now. It has to be connected.” Cassie argues.

“It’s not our call to make, Cassie. Becca forbade me to buy that for her without her permission. I can’t break her trust like that.” Jay explains.

“I understand where you’re coming from, but you did it for Maddy, right? You made it your call. So make it your call now. Let’s just not tell Becca.” Cassie argues.

“That was different! Maddy had no idea about the app at the time! Plus, when I made that call, I had every intention of telling her about it once she found out about the app; which I did.” Jay counters, very defensive about his prior decision to magically meddle with the O’Briens’ family problems without their consent.

“Cassie, please, listen to what you’re suggesting.” Jay pleads with her. “You’re telling me to betray Becca’s specific request, and also suggesting that I deceive her by hiding it afterwards. I can’t do that to Becca.” Jay explains his stance.

“We’re both hiding that you bought the ‘Infertile’ trait from Stella, aren’t we?” Cassie continues to argue.

“You know why I did that. I am hiding it from my daughter because it’s the only way Stella and I both get what we want without anyone getting hurt. She gets to have that risk she’s looking for, and I can finally give her that without worrying about it myself. What about buying this for Becca against her specific request and hiding it from her will make her get what she wants, when it’s the exact opposite of her request? She doesn’t want her father to respect her wishes through magic. She wants to earn it. I will not take that opportunity away from her.” Jay says adamantly, almost sounding angry with his explanation.

“I-I’m sorry. You’re right. I didn’t mean to…” Cassie immediately apologizes, feeling the guilt she felt earlier, when she started blaming herself for forcing things on the group just to try and solve the problem.

“No, baby. I’m sorry for being unable to control my voice. I know I sounded angry. It’s my own underlying guilt rearing its ugly head for some of the stuff I’ve done that I’m still trying to rationalize is okay when it’s probably not.” Jay apologizes as well.

“No! No! You’re right. I’m trying to problem solve again, and not caring how the problem gets solved. You’re right. I’m sorry. You’re right. We succeeded with our plan, and now we get to see if it actually worked. You’re right.” Cassie argues with obvious anxiety, as she definitely doesn’t want to continue undermining the loving moment she and Jay just had with an argument where she already knows she’s in the wrong.

“Say ‘you’re right’ one more time and I’ll believe you.” Jay jokes, getting a slap on the chest from Cassie.

It’s at this time that a Rolls Royce stops right in front of the Gold Room that grabs both Jay and Cassie’s attention. Becca’s driver, Frank, steps out of the vehicle and greets both of them, before opening the door to the back seat for Cassie.

“You want me to come with you? I’ll just stay outside, you can message me if something’s up, and I’ll be right there.” Jay offers.

“No. I don't think you need to.” Cassie answers. “If my gut’s right, then we’ve done everything we could to handle it. Now, all that’s left is for us to let the magic do its thing and see what happens. I’m going to stop overthinking it and just go see what happens.” Cassie adds in a whisper, so Frank can’t hear, before giving Jay a kiss on the lips. “Plus, you need to take care of the others. I’ll be fine. I’m just meeting a parent who just recently started to support me.” Cassie assures him. Jay can’t help but smile proudly at Cassie’s maturity.

“Say goodbye to them for me.” Cassie adds, and Jay gives him a nod in understanding, as she has her head turned towards the window of the Gold Room, and watches the girls inside just talking casually. She then focuses on a sleeping Stella, her head resting on Brooke’s shoulder.

“Just know you don’t have to handle it alone, baby. Call us if you need us.” Jay tells her, before kissing her on the forehead lovingly.

“I will.” Cassie replies, The two finally separate, and Cassie walks towards the car. She stops just before entering the car, and turns around to look back at Jay.

“Besides, what could go wrong?”