Use it on Ashley

You know that your relationship with Linda wouldn't need any fixing if it wasn't for Ashley, so why not fix the root of the problem? Lucky for you, Ashley has a morning ritual, that involves drinking a glass of orange juice. She also wakes up early, so you know you need to hurry up.

You go to the kitchen and check the orange juice bottle in the fridge. The amount of juice in the bottle is too high; It would water it down and the serum could lose effect. You rinse most of the bottle into the sink so that only about a glass of juice is left. Then you pour the serum into the bottle and close the fridge.

In this second, Ashley enters the room, wearing the plain white shirt she slept in, and some sweatpants. Even in this get-up and without make-up she looks beautiful. You step aside and quickly make some coffee for yourself while she rolls her eyes at you and grabs a glass from the cupboard.

You: "Good Morning, Ashley."

Ashley (grunts): "..."

You: "Talkative as always I see."

Ashley: "What do you expect after yesterday?"

You: "I just want us to get along somehow."

Ashley: "Well, you don't achieve that by shouting."

You: "I know. That's why I thought we could try something else."

You sit down with your coffee at the table. Ashley conveys her feelings for you with one simple facial expression: Her classic resting bitch face.

Then she takes a sip of her orange juice. She moves to puts her glass down, but stops mid-air. She lifts it right back up again to gulp down the entire glass. One of the special ingredients of the serum caused this effect. She puts the empty glass down and pours milk into her cereal.

You: "I just want to talk things over, okay?"

Ashley: "I don't think so, Adam."

You: "Maybe you hear me out first?"

Ashley: "I don't care what you havasay... Huh?"

And with that Ashley's eyes go blank while her mouth hangs open. She seems completely unresponsive, but you know better. You start the timer on your watch.

You: "Can you hear me, Ashley?"

Ashley (softly): "Yes..."

You: "Listen very carefully now, Ashley. Just listen to my voice and obey."

Ashley: "Listen and obey..."

You look at your entranced stepdaughter and take a deep breath.