But I was drawn into the pack and before long, they allowed me to join in and sing their song

To say that Amelia was overwhelmed by the intimidating atmosphere of Dakota standing in the hallway would be an understatement. And quite notable, as Amelia was not someone who intimidated easily.

But even she was given pause, seeing the twisted expression on the other woman’s face.

This was different from the last time the two of them had spoke, the other day. When Dakota had broken down into a fit of screaming when pushed to the brink by Amelia. And in that case, “Pushed to the brink” meant “Called out for her treatment of Sylvia” in a manner that was not at all distorted or rude.

It hadn’t seemed to matter.

Now, standing in front of Dakota once more, Amelia could see just how damaged the girl she’d once known as a child really was. There was an emptiness in Dakota’s eyes, like a hollow void lit by the fire of mania as her lips twisted into a broken smile. She was laughing, but there was no joy in her laughter, or even the cruelty of her usual sneers.

It was a laugh that rattled Amelia down to her cold core.

“Hey, Amelia…” Dakota ran her fingers along Amelia’s cheek, drawing freezing trails in her flawless skin. Her touch was like ice, but Amelia didn’t pull away, knowing that if she did it would be as if she were surrendering to the woman in front of her.

And that was out of the question.

But right now, she couldn’t respond to Dakota. Her mouth refused to move, and there was a lump in her throat that trembled and wouldn’t open. All she could do was stand there motionless as Dakota had her way with her.

Now a second hand joined the first, cradling Amelia’s face as Dakota gazed up into her eyes with that same twisted stare.

“You think of yourself as my mother right now… isn’t that right?” Dakota’s voice lacked the smoothness Amelia had come to associate with the unshakable host. It brought to mind when Dakota was a young girl and threw a temper tantrum, the way her voice trembled with frustration when confronted with things that she didn’t want to accept.

Dakota had never been good at that.

“Because of the transformation, right?” The host continued, tightening her grip on Amelia’s cheeks. Her nails dug into the older woman’s flesh; not enough to break the surface, or even hurt, but it was an insistent reminder that Dakota was there… and that she had Amelia tightly in her grasp.

Amelia could have pulled away. She was taller than the other woman, and Dakota’s mania left her quite open. She suspected that the twisted woman wouldn’t be able to react to anything properly in this state, almost like a mad beast.

But Amelia held her ground and didn’t give into her emotions. She could see the frantic need in Dakota’s eyes, she could hear the desperation in her voice…

And, most importantly, Dakota was correct.

In Amelia’s heart, she viewed the other woman as her child.

“That’s how it works, right? Anyone who’s had sex with Nick is your daughter… so I’m your daughter, right? Because I’ve had sex with him… I have, haven’t I? You can’t deny it… no one can deny it…” Her voice quivered with desperation, like she was scrambling for something to hold onto.

Amelia pitied her so much in that moment. Unable to bear looking at her any longer, she closed her eyes tightly-

“OPEN YOUR EYES!” Dakota’s roar snapped Amelia’s eyes open and a tremor shot through her body. She nearly collapsed as Dakota dug her nails tightly into her cheeks, and this time it DID hurt.

Dakota gasped for breath, her pale cheeks flushing with desperation. Her eyes rattled about in her skull as her mouth flapped open and closed until she finally clenched her teeth tightly together.

“You can’t… deny it…” Dakota hissed like steam into her ear.

“…I can’t,” Amelia said finally.

Just that response was enough, it appeared. Instantly Dakota seemed to relax, and a smile made its way onto her face as her grip lightened on Amelia’s cheeks. But Amelia noted that she still didn’t let her go.

“That’s right… mommy,” Dakota said, with all the cutting sarcasm and sardonic disdain she could pump into her voice. Her pale face twisted into a visage of cruelty and she sneered. “You have to love me… don’t you? That’s what a mother does… maternal affection… love… that’s the job of a mother… even if she can’t stand it. Even if she despises you, she has to love you, doesn’t she? Doesn’t she? Doesn’t she?!”

There were so many holes in Dakota’s logic that Amelia didn’t know where to start.

So she chose the most obvious one.

“I am not your mother, Dakota,” she harshly stated.

Dakota’s eyes widened as her pupils shrunk into pinpricks. Her mouth flopped open and she trembled for a moment, fingers digging in tightly.

Then she let Amelia go and stumbled back, as if the other woman’s words had overwhelmed her.

Amelia dusted herself off and adjusted her glasses, able to move again now that she was no longer in the grip of the twisted woman.

“In my heart, I can love you as my own child,” Amelia clarified. “But that does not make me a replacement for your mother.”

Dakota’s eye twitched and fury raced across her face. “Shut up,” she hissed, flexing her hands open and closed. “Stop talking about her…”

“Whatever twisted beliefs you hold about the duty of a mother, you are incorrect. A mother does not ‘have’ to love anyone. No one ‘has’ to love anyone. All people choose to love those that they love. Even a parent and child.”

“LIAR!” Dakota screamed, slamming her fist against the wall so hard that the door she was standing in front of swung open slightly. “LIAR! A mother ‘chooses’ to love their child!? You’re lying! I would never ‘choose’ this! YOU LIAR!”

The ramble of her voice clued Amelia onto what this was really about. It seems our confrontation before has triggered new emotions in Dakota. She seems to be looking at Sylvia and her relationship with that girl in a whole new light. Could that really be the case, then? Could it be that Dakota… really does love that child?

Normally, that was something to be happy about.

In this case, not so much.

Still, she needed to act quickly before Dakota’s instability got any worse. Amelia was a cautious woman by nature, but right now she couldn’t afford to be cautious. She had to confront Dakota directly, and show her just what she was dealing with.

“Even my transformation is the same,” Amelia insisted. “You’ve misunderstood completely, Dakota. I’m sorry.”

Dakota blinked. She was so confused by Amelia’s words that it actually sobered her up mid-breakdown, and she looked at the other woman incredulously.

“…Excuse me?” She snorted, shaking her head. “Your transformation? No, FUCK no, that’s not how it works! Those feelings of yours aren’t an option, Amelia! You fucking moron!”

Amelia was starting to get very tired with the constant cursing coming from the young woman in front of her. If Dakota really WAS like a daughter to her, then she was a daughter who needed her mouth washed out with soap.

“Just take a look,” Amelia said, calling up her screen. That was far easier than relying on her own words, which she had a tendency to use poorly.

• Maternal Instinct: Amelia views Nick as her son, even if they aren’t related by blood. And therefore, the women in Nick’s harem are a part of her family as well. She will now feel a motherly sense of affection towards any woman who is currently sexually active with Nick, and regard them as if they are also her own children. (MILF)

“Yeah, it’s just what I fucking said,” Dakota spat, not seeing what Amelia was getting at. “You’re **** to regard them as your own children-”

“Women who are currently sexually active with him,” Amelia interrupted her sharply. She narrowed her eyes. “That is the condition for my feelings, is it not? Any woman who is currently sexually active with Nicholas. So tell me, Dakota, do you believe that definition applies to you?”

Dakota’s mouth flopped open as Amelia’s words sank in. She stared at the other woman in muted shock for a couple moments before rage took its rightful place on her face once again. “That-! That is a semantic-!”

“You are not currently sexually active with him,” Amelia calmly pointed out. “You were at one point. Not anymore.”

“But I-!”

“So I am under NO obligation to view you as my own daughter,” Amelia said with succinct finality, looking firmly into the other woman’s eyes.

It stung, seeing Dakota recoil like she did. It looked as though the other woman was going to collapse into the floor and rot away.

But she recovered. She trembled, a broken laugh passing her lips once more as she staggered forward, and grabbed Amelia by the collar of her shirt.

“So that’s how it is… look at you… you found a loophole, I see… well… in that case… I suppose it can’t be helped, then.”

Amelia had a sinking suspicion that Dakota was about to twist the rules and find a “loophole” of her own.

Because she still couldn’t see.

I should have made things clearer. Perhaps that is my fault. Amelia was never the best when it came to putting her feelings into words.

“Dakota… my transformation did not turn you into my daughter. But I told you already. In my eyes, you ARE like a daughter to me.”

Silence hung in the air as Dakota’s laughter faded. She stood motionless, her hand at Amelia’s throat, and then she let her go, taking a step back as she looked at the older woman with an expression Amelia remembered from the woman’s childhood.

“Wait… you actually tuck Nick into bed every night?”

Amelia would never forget the look on that poor girl’s face when she first heard that. It was when she’d slept over at Nick’s house for the first time, and Amelia, determined to forge a relationship with her stepson, had tucked him into bed and wished him goodnight.

Dakota had given her such a confusing look that night, that Amelia had been at a loss how to respond. It was a look that said Dakota had never known such a thing could even be possible. As if a mother- even a stepmother- doting on their child and tucking them into bed was a completely foreign concept to the little girl.

Amelia had been so shaken by that look, she just nodded mutely.

And now she saw it again.

Dakota… I understand this is difficult for you to accept, but it is the truth.

“I still care about you, Dakota,” Amelia said gently, reaching out and cradling the other girl’s cheek now. “Even with everything you’ve done, I still see you as my own child. It has nothing to do with that transformation.”

Dakota trembled. For a second, Amelia wondered if she might cry. But instead, her face hardened into a snarl and she tore herself away from Amelia, staggering backwards and falling against the door, cracking it open just a bit more.

“No, that… you’re just trying to trick me!” She snapped as the door swung open a little wider behind her. “No way you could feel like that… about me… not by choice!”

Dakota couldn’t understand it. “No one would choose that… no one! I’m not… I…”

Amelia could see the turmoil upon the girl’s twisted expression, and wished that she could make this easier on her somehow. But sadly, that just wasn’t possible.

Dakota refused to accept reality, even when it was looking right at her. Even when it tried to comfort her with a mother’s touch.

“It could not have been a transformation,” Amelia said simply. “Because these feelings… I carried them tenderly in my heart long before I ever came to this island.”

“No… NO!” Dakota shook her head stubbornly, as if she could possibly know what was in Amelia’s heart better than the woman herself.

Ridiculous.

“You aren’t my daughter because you slept with my stepson,” Amelia stated. “To me, you are my daughter because I celebrated your birthday when your mother forgot it. Because I took you to buy clothes when you were getting too tall for your old clothing. Because I read you bedtime stories and tucked you in to sleep at night. No transformation made me do those things. No transformation made me feel that way about you. No transformation made me shed tears at your funeral, my heart breaking as if I had lost my own daughter.”

Amelia had always struggled to share her thoughts with the right words.

But this time, they just came out so naturally.

She’d been waiting a lifetime to say them.

Dakota gave her that face again. That face that didn’t understand anything.

Tears slowly trickled down her pale cheeks, her lips parting slightly to let out a deep sigh.

“You cried… for me?”

Amelia nodded. “Ask Nicholas,” she said. “He would never forget that day.”

Of course, they both knew that was unnecessary. Because Dakota knew that Amelia was telling the truth.

She just couldn’t accept it.

“So you ‘chose’ to see me as your daughter,” Dakota spat, her hands trembling once more. She clenched her fists and for a moment Amelia feared that she would be struck across the face.

“And that means… my mother… chose differently.”

Of course, Dakota already knew that.

Amelia looked somberly at the shaking girl, and sighed. “I am sorry that was the case,” she said gently, taking a step forward. “Not every parent… deserves their children.”

And then there are women like me. Incapable of having that happiness myself.

Dakota’s eyes flashed, and she looked sharply at Amelia.

It was then that the older woman realized her mistake.

“Not every parent deserves their children, huh?” Dakota spat venomously, leering at Amelia. Whatever trust the older woman had built with Dakota up until this point, it had all soured with just that statement. “I wonder… who could you be talking about there, huh?”

Amelia winced. As she’d feared, that was the heart of Dakota’s turmoil, wasn’t it?

Sylvia.

“I can ‘choose’ not to love her, right? Just like you chose to love me?” Dakota almost sneered at the idea. But she didn’t even have the strength to do that.

She just shook her head.

“So are you telling me I chose to feel this way!?” She suddenly roared, startling Amelia. She lunged forward and Amelia stumbled backwards, falling on her butt out of shock from the sudden and drastic shift in Dakota’s demeanor.

Now Dakota looked down at her, contempt in her eyes.

“I didn’t choose this,” she snarled, shaking her head slowly. She dug her fingers into her scalp in frustration as her other hand tugged on the fringe of hair dangling beside her face. “I didn’t, I… these feelings… they’re not me! I’m not like this… I’m not! I… I’m NOT!”

“Dakota…” Amelia **** herself to stand back up. She tore her eyes from the miserable, wretched sight in front of her, and in doing so, looked past Dakota at the room behind her.

It was a simple bedroom. Easy to overlook. But Amelia’s sharp eyes picked up on several meaningless bits of nothing. Like the seashells stored carefully on the desk, or the childish drawings plastered up on the walls, depicting a scribbled woman with dark hair next to another scribble with blonde.

“Dakota… who’s room is that?” Amelia asked, already guessing at the truth.

Dakota clicked her tongue contemptuously.

“Why are you here?” She growled. “Just to torment me? Fool me with your lies? As if I could ever choose to… feel this way… …No! I don’t accept it!”

She shook her head, stubborn as always.

“Maybe YOU could choose to love someone like me… but I don’t care about you at all, Amelia!” She spat out.

As if Amelia could believe such a hollow lie.

“Maybe not,” she said, deciding to humor Dakota regardless. “But I don’t need that love from you, Dakota.”

Dakota blinked, taken aback. “What… what?” She lowered her hands to her sides and slumped over, suddenly looking more tired than Amelia had ever seen her.

All except for her eyes.

Those eyes… they seemed to pierce through everything.

Amelia didn’t yield to those eyes. She stepped forward and met them directly, looking at the girl she loved as her daughter without fear in her heart.

“As a mother, I chose to love you because that is what my heart feels,” she said, placing her hand over her chest. “But a mother doesn’t need her children to reciprocate that love. I am satisfied… just loving you.”

Dakota clenched her teeth and grimaced.

“…How sweet,” she spat out, leering at her. “No, really. You’re satisfied just loving me? How the hell… could that ever be satisfying to you, huh!?”

From what Amelia knew of her, Dakota only loved one thing, and that was Nick. That was what she claimed.

But Amelia knew otherwise.

Now that she could see how shaken she was, how much their prior talk had rattled the damaged woman, she could say for certain that, even if Dakota didn’t consciously choose to do so, a part of her did love Sylvia.

She might never admit it. And she would likely cause her poor daughter quite a lot more grief and heartache in the process.

But… Amelia could see the truth now.

Just as Dakota loved Sylvia, she also still loved her own mother.

But having been rejected and abandoned by her so totally, she could never accept it. She would never acknowledge it.

She would just keep drowning in her own suffering if Amelia didn’t do something to help her.

“You can choose love,” Amelia said gently. “You don’t have to keep being trapped by this pain, Dakota. You CAN still choose to love other people. It isn’t too late.”

“What do you know?” Dakota spat. “You don’t even have a child of your own.”

It was a statement crafted to bring Amelia as much pain as possible. And as much as Amelia tried not to let the words of someone younger than her affect her, she had to acknowledge that it had worked.

But even if Dakota hurt her, she wouldn’t stop loving the damaged girl.

That was part of the choice she’d made, when she became a parent.