Turned to instinct and obedience to God

Although Amelia’s skills had improved since that first gutter ball she threw, she still wasn’t knocking down as many pins as Nick was.

Nick actually felt kind of weird about it. All his life, his stepmother had been this vision of perfection, doing everything flawlessly and efficiently. (Okay, except for cooking.) Most people idolized their parents when they were little, but Nick’s view of his stepmother really hadn’t changed from the days when he thought she was infallible.

For the first time, though, he was actually beating her at something.

Amelia pinched her lips together tightly, her eyebrows furrowing as she stepped back from the line. Between two throws she’d only knocked down five pins. Not exactly a stellar performance.

Nick wasn’t amazing or anything either. He hadn’t managed to knock down more than eight pins on any frame. But his score was still higher than hers.

“You’re staring,” Amelia sharply pointed out, turning to look at him. She narrowed her eyes. “Why?” Her mood was inscrutable but her body language intimidated him. Nick braced himself, not sure how to answer.

“Err…”

“Is it my transformation again?” Amelia asked, looking down at her body. She relaxed a little upon learning that, no, she was not posing herself to seduce him while throwing bowling balls.

Obviously she wasn’t- that would mean she was letting her mind wander, and that certainly was not the case. No, Amelia was dedicating 100% of her mental energy to focusing on the perfect form for her bowling.

Why it wasn’t working could only be attributed to poor equipment.

“Sorry, Amelia, it’s not your transformation,” Nick said quickly, shaking his head. The less he thought about his stepmother’s body posing to seduce him, the better for both of them. “It’s just, I was surprised, that’s all. It feels like this is the first time I’ve ever beaten you at something.”

“That is certainly not the case,” Amelia assured him with a shake of her head. “There have been several instances in the past where you have beaten me at games and activities.”

Well, yeah. But that was a pretty small number of instances.

“You’re not going easy on me or anything, right?” Nick joked, trying to lighten the mood. His stepmother’s stare was making this really awkward.

His little attempt at a joke didn’t help matters, unfortunately.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Amelia scoffed. “I would never throw a match. What would be the point?” She shook her head incredulously.

“…I don’t know, to build up my self-esteem?” Nick shrugged. “To make me feel better? Don’t all parents do that? Let their kids win at board games and stuff?”

Amelia stared blankly at him. “…That would be counterproductive, we’ve discussed this already,” she bluntly replied. “A win must be earned. That is how self-esteem is built. If I just let you win all the time then winning wouldn’t mean anything to you.”

Nick couldn’t deny that. He had never felt prouder than when he beat his stepmother at a game of cards or backgammon, and yes, part of that was because she was such an indomitable opponent who would usually crush him. Which made the times when he was able to beat her feel all the more earned.

“This is the same reason we didn’t let you play soccer when you were a child,” Amelia scoffed. “A participation trophy isn’t worth the metal it’s made out of.”

On the other hand, he could also see that maybe his stepmother’s overbearing nature might have contributed slightly to some other problems he had.

“Nicholas, even when you were a child you were very sweet and generous,” Amelia said gently. The look in her eyes softened and Nick immediately realized they weren’t talking about his own track record with winning kiddie games with his stepmother.

She was talking about Dakota.

“…It’s different with her,” he muttered, looking away. “She… she needed to win. Way more than I ever did. It was all she had, those wins.”

Amelia slowly nodded, even though he could see in her eyes that she disagreed with him.

“I’m not going to say you were wrong to do what you did,” Amelia said gently, shaking her head. She drew closer to him, her voice dropping into a hushed whisper. “It was very sweet, how you would try to focus on your friend’s happiness.”

Nick winced. His heart stung, but he couldn’t say what he’d done had been wrong. Seeing the smile on Dakota’s face when she won a game of tag, it was just irreplaceable. For someone whose life was just one long string of disappointments and losses, getting a win meant everything to her.

He realized on some level that part of him was still treating Dakota like that little girl she used to be. She’d changed so drastically since then, but…

Was it so wrong of him to think that part of her was still there?

“…Amelia… I need to tell you something,” he said seriously. “It’s about Dakota.”

To Nick’s surprise, Amelia bristled. It wasn’t a reaction he expected, after all, they’d been talking about the host already.

“…What about?” Amelia finally asked.

“Okay… you’re probably going to tell me that this was a really stupid idea,” Nick said, putting that out there first in case Amelia assumed he had thought this through. “But just trust me, okay?”

As usual, his stepmother’s icy expression was unreadable.

“…I… I told Dakota earlier… that maybe we could go out together,” he said. “You know, on, like, a date. An actual date. Just the two of us. Even though she’s the host.”

Nick waited with bated breath for what Amelia had to say. But she was silent as the grave. Not only that, but she didn’t react physically at all, either. Not so much as a twitch of the eye. If Nick didn’t know any better, he would have thought someone put the world on pause.

…Actually, maybe Dakota had. That sure seemed like something that she would-

“A date?”

Nope, scratch that. Nick flinched, not expecting Amelia to just suddenly start talking, even if it was only two words.

The expression that crossed her face was perplexing. Like she was thinking about something serious but not telling him.

“When was this?” Amelia asked, adjusting her glasses.

Nick frowned. “It… it was right before you found me,” he said. “I was just saying goodbye to Gina when Dakota dropped in-”

“I see.” Another brusque answer. Amelia always had trouble conveying her feelings using words, but right now she seemed to be behaving particularly cryptically.

“What? Do… do you think that’s a bad idea?” Nick asked worriedly.

She bit her lip. A rare sign of doubt. She kept her eyes locked with his even as they turned hesitant. “…I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Nicholas… this is not my place to say. But I believe Dakota is in a difficult place right now.”

Nick remembered the way Dakota had been acting earlier, when she ran into him and Gina. So he wasn’t just overthinking things, something really was off with her.

“What do you mean?” He asked. If Dakota was spiraling that spelled trouble for all of them. And that was a lot more important than their date.

Amelia continued to chew on her lip. She looked **** now, more **** than Nick ever remembered her being. For the first time, it felt like she really didn’t have all the answers. Or any answers at all.

“I spoke with Dakota this morning,” Amelia revealed. “Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin decided to skip her scheduled lesson with me, so I found myself with some time on my hands. I was directed by that pink-haired assistant to find Dakota in one of the hotel’s empty rooms, and when we talked… she was far from courteous.”

That sure sounded like Dakota alright. But there had to be more to it than that. “Far from courteous” could mean a lot of things when it came to Amelia.

Unfortunately for Nick, that was as far as she went. She had assumed, incorrectly, that Nick would get the general idea of what had been discussed from that alone. A foolish assumption of course, but it was hardly the first time Amelia had made a misunderstanding like that.

If Nick chose to drop the subject there, that would be that. But luckily for him, he had no intention of doing so.

“What did she say?” Nick pressed, wondering what sort of breakdown Dakota could have had that would make even his stepmother concerned about her.

Amelia blinked. So he wanted specifics? She could do that. While Amelia was not the sort of person to reveal things that had been told to her in confidence, that was not the case with Dakota. Their relationship was too nebulous and fractured for consideration like that right now.

No- If her stepson was asking it was because he was worried about Dakota. Not just for her sake, but for the sake of everyone else. And Amelia had absolutely zero qualms with answering his questions in that case.

“I believe that she is dealing with difficulties involving a mother’s love,” Amelia revealed. “Both her relationship with her own mother, and her relationship with myself as well, as a surrogate mother to her.”

Nick’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait… what?”

He hardly ever thought about Dakota’s mother. He actively tried not to. It was a difficult part of her life that he knew she didn’t appreciate discussing, so he pretended as though she didn’t exist.

“You are surprised?” Amelia raised her eyebrow. “I have always treated Dakota as though she were my own child. Just as I have with you, Nicholas,” she said gently, reaching up and caressing his cheek.

Nick pulled away from her. “No, that’s not- not that!” He protested, shaking his head. “What do you mean Dakota is dealing with problems involving her mother?”

Amelia made a tight expression with her lips as Dakota’s **** face appeared in her mind again. The way she looked at her, that empty, hollow gaze…

“She is lonely,” Amelia uttered in a faint whisper, looking down. “She feels incredibly lonely and unloved.”

There were so many more things that Amelia could have said beyond that. Talking about how Dakota’s desire for a mother’s love influenced her in a bad way, or even bringing up her previous confrontation with Dakota when she’d spoken up for Sylvia’s sake. But those things never even occurred to her as things that needed to be brought up.

And with Nick none the wiser, those events passed right by, unmentioned.

“Is there anything else?” Amelia asked.

Nick bit his lip. That was already a lot to put on his shoulders. What did Amelia expect him to say here? With a sigh, he shook his head.

“So do you think I made the right choice, then?” He asked. “Telling her I wanted to go out on a date with her?”

Amelia frowned. “…I don’t know the answer to that question,” she honestly told him. “It could go well, or not. But what matters is that you made a choice from your heart, Nicholas.” She placed a hand over her chest. “Dakota certainly understood that.”

Nick nodded slowly. He just had to hope that she would appreciate it.

“…Okay,” he relented with a sigh. “I just wish I could help her.”

Of course, he knew that Dakota could hear every word he was saying right now. She could have been listening in on this whole conversation. If she wanted to weigh in and share her thoughts with him, nothing was stopping her.

The fact that she hadn’t… should he take that as a good sign? Or not?

Honestly, he didn’t know. He just had to hope that things would turn out for the best.

Unfortunately, with Dakota, they so rarely did.

“…Let us continue,” Amelia said, sensing the hesitation coming off of him. The game would take his mind off of the difficult things he was contemplating. “You were up next.”

“R-right,” Nick said, nodding. He stepped forward with his bowling ball in hand and swung it at the arranged pins.

“GUTTER BALL!” The machine declared.

He hadn’t even gotten close.

“…Sorry,” Nick said, hanging his head. “I guess I’m still a little psyched out from our conversation just now.”

The last thing he was thinking about was proper bowling form.

Amelia shook her head. “That is no reason to apologize,” she assured him. “This is just a game, after all. The result is not important, so long as you are having fun.”

The fact that she said that in complete deadpan kind of took a little something away from the argument. Nick decided not to say anything and just nodded.

“O-okay,” he relented, giving her an awkward smile. “Still, bowling really isn’t my thing.”

He took his second shot. At least he managed to shave off a few pins this time. But he still wasn’t really feeling the game.

Amelia, sensing the opportunity for a comeback, grabbed her bowling ball and stepped up next. Maybe she should have comforted her stepson some more, but she honestly did not know how to do that right now.

So all she could think to do was act as though everything was normal and hope they had a good time together.

Amelia stepped forward and swung her bowling ball, letting it go. For the first time, the bright blue ball rolled straight towards the pins! It smashed dead-center into the foremost pin, and brought most of them down along with it as it rolled right on through.

“Oh my gosh!” Nick’s face lit up in surprise. “Look at that, Amelia! You knocked down almost every pin in one go!”

“Indeed,” Amelia nodded, not mirroring her stepson’s excitement. She carried herself like such a performance was simply to be expected, even though two pins still remained standing.

They were the two pins furthest away from one another in the back row, standing up straight like the posts of a soccer goal.

Amelia looked from one pin to the next as she picked her ball up, and her eye twitched.

“Do you think you can knock both of them down?” Nick asked her. “It looks like a pretty tight shot, but I bet you could do it!”

If she did, it would be the first time today that one of them had managed to clear all the pins in a frame. Even if Amelia was his opponent, Nick still wanted that achievement for her.

Amelia opened her mouth to respond, ready to inform Nick of the physical impossibility of such a feat occurring, when she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from the stairs.

The two of them turned to see someone coming to join them on the bowling lanes, and unlike Amelia, she was wearing rented shoes.

Nick’s eyes widened. “Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin?” He questioned, surprised. She smiled at him, her eyes twinkling.

He was about to ask what she was doing here, but he got cut off.

“What are you doing here?” Amelia sharply asked the question that had almost made it to Nick’s lips. He turned to look at her in surprise.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked at Nick and batted her eyelashes innocently. She tilted her head to the side, ignoring Amelia’s question.

Irritation flickered across Amelia’s face. She stepped between the two of them and crossed her arms over her chest. Even if the mute assassin couldn’t answer her question with words, she could at least acknowledge Amelia’s presence!

But she seemed very intent on not doing that.

“You skipped out on our lesson,” Amelia reminded the assassin. “And now you’re here to bowl?” Somehow she doubted that the assassin was just here to brush up on her bowling techniques. No, she was obviously here because someone had got the word out that Nick was here, and she wanted to come see him.

And Amelia’s presence was basically an afterthought.

“Come on, Amelia, it’s okay,” Nick said, trying to mediate between the two of them. The cheeky smile on Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s lips was just irritating his stepmother more, he could tell that clearly. “I’m sure she’s just here to say hello, right?”

He turned and looked hopefully at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

She batted her eyelashes at him again in a sweet smile and turned to Amelia, nodding with what could be considered sincerity.

Nick wished she meant it, he really did.

“…Very well,” Amelia said, nodding. “You’ll be making up your lessons next week,” she warned the other woman, going back to her bowling stance.

Nick was glad she did- in doing so, she missed the way Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin rolled her eyes dismissively at her behind her back.

Why can’t you just get along? He silently wished for her. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was one of the trickiest women in his harem to make friends with.

Amelia swung her arm, aiming for a wild shot intended to knock one of the pins into the other. She knew there was next to no chance, but if she handled it well enough, then she might just be able to knock one of them down.

No such luck. The bowling ball rolled right between the two pins, leaving them untouched.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin doubled over in silent laughter.

Amelia shot her a look as she walked back to join them. “That is quite unsportsmanlike behavior,” she chastised the young woman. “A shot like that is rather difficult. Anyone would struggle trying to make it.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin scoffed silently and shrugged her shoulders. She hopped to her feet and walked over to the neighboring lane. She picked up a bright pink bowling ball with a sunny smile on her face, and flung it overhand across the room.

Nick watched in open-mouthed shock as the bowling ball sailed through the air like a cannon ball, crashing into the stack of pins hard enough to send them all flying. Some even ended up on the other lanes.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin cocked her hip to the side in a triumphant pose and smirked at Amelia. The older woman’s eye twitched.

“A throw like that is against the rules,” she chastised the cheating assassin, adjusting her glasses.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin showed how little she cared by sticking out her tongue and blowing a raspberry at her.

Nick sighed and hung his head. This was not exactly how he’d envisioned this date going.