Chapter Text
I walked home from the bus stop with a smile on my face. The rest of my night with Taylor had been incredible. Even though I hadn't shared her dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread, I just enjoyed spending the time with her. Shockingly, I had enjoyed our version of Star Wars better than Aleph's, even with the stupid twist around Jar Jar. Taylor had been amused by my reaction to that one.
After that we showered, sadly not together, then got ready for bed. For Taylor that apparently meant thirty minutes of hair care while I lay on the bed, wrapped in one of her old sweaters. Watching her work was hypnotic though, or maybe I had just been sleepy and in love. Either way, in what felt like no time at all I had her arms wrapped around me and we were drifting off to sleep.
The morning after had been, well a little weird really. Whatever spell we had been under the night before wore off and we were back to being a couple of awkward introverts. Breakfast had been a quiet, but fairly comfortable affair. I had left soon after, reluctantly kissing Taylor goodbye. Now I had a dozen messages on my phone that I'd pointedly ignored until now.
A block from my house, I sighed and opened them. Sure enough it was a series of texts from my mom, and a couple from Vicky. I knew I could expect a hell of a lecture, considering their tone. I'd done nothing wrong though...that I'd be telling Carol about anyway. I was still uncomfortable with what I'd done, despite not feeling hungry for the first time that I could remember. Taylor had assured me again and again that she had enjoyed, but I still felt conflicted.
I strode up the path to my home, sighing when I reached the door. It was almost noon on a Sunday. I'd already missed Mass, and Mom was guaranteed to be waiting for me inside. I really didn't want to go, I'd rather go spend three days straight at the hospital than walk through the door of my house. Well sadly, that wasn't an option. I took a deep breath, gripped the knob, and pushed my way inside...and smacked face first into the door with a dull 'thud'. Fucking ow! I dug in my pocket for my keys and had just shoved them in the lock when it suddenly unlocked on its own and swung open.
“Amelia.” Of course it was Carol... “Welcome home. Did you have a good night out?” I couldn't read her tone, and that scared me.
“Yeah,” I replied, keeping my voice neutral.
“Good,” she replied flatly, turning around. “Then come in. We need to debrief you.” Debrief?
I walked in and took off my shoes in the entrance. I caught the faint murmurs of a quiet conversation and entered the living room. As though someone had thrown a switch, everyone looked at me as I stepped into the room. Almost the whole team was here, besides Eric for some reason. Crystal and Victoria both looked irritated, Uncle Neil and Aunt Sarah only glanced my way briefly before returning to whatever conversation they'd been having, Mom glared at me from her armchair, and Dad was totally asleep on the couch.
“Mark,” she snapped, and Dad jolted awake.
“Oh, hey kiddo,” he said, stretching out and yawning. “When did you get home?”
“Just now,” I replied, cautiously eyeing the other members of New Wave. “What's up?”
“'What's up' is that we need to know where you were,” Carol said with an edge in her voice. “And to remind you of how to tell us in the future.”
“What?” I narrowed my eyes, confused. “I did tell you. I told everyone, I guess except Auntie Sarah and Uncle Neil.”
“You told us you were going to a 'friend's',” Carol countered. “And then, after you were already late coming home, suddenly said you were staying the night.”
“Yeah, and?” I asked. I had told them as soon as Taylor offered, what more did they want?
“You can't simply change plans on a whim,” Carol bit out. “We had to scramble an overnight schedule, on top of our obligations to the Protectorate.”
“Well, I'm sorry, okay?” I said with a huff. It's not like anything was going to happen to me... “But you knew as soon as me. I did everything I could. I'll try and not let it happen again.”
“Oh you don't need to worry about that,” Carol said gravely. “You're grounded.”
“What?”
“For at least two weeks. School, hospital, and home, that's it.”
“That's bullshit!”
“Language,” Carol snapped. “Amelia if it had slipped your mind to tell us last night or if we had been tied down with an emergency, you could have been killed.” I felt the temperature in the room drop and I lowered my gaze.
“It's not like that,” I protested weakly.
“No I suppose you wouldn't think so,” Carol muttered. “It's been decided anyway. Now then, you and I need to talk about this girl you're seeing.”
“Oh my god.”
“Everyone else, I hope this has been a valuable reminder of the importance of following procedure.” She looked at Vicky and Crystal in turn. “See you at our regularly scheduled family night on Wednesday.”
Aunt Sarah gathered her family and, with a quick farewell, headed out the door. Victoria headed up to her room, as did Dad though a little slower. After a couple minutes though, it was just me shifting awkwardly on the couch and my mom glaring at me. Whatever she wanted to talk about, it probably wasn't going to be easy or pleasant.
“So,” Carol began after a moment. “You're gay.”
I burst out in unexpected laughter. I really couldn't help myself, the way she said it so deadpan just got to me. She continued to glare as tears leaked from the corners of my eyes and I doubled over. I gasped desperately for air, it really wasn't funny. If anything, the way she said it was kind of shitty. But holy shit.
“Sorry,” I said, struggling to catch my breath. “I just-- whooo.”
“This is a serious matter.”
“Okay, okay.” I took a deep breath and held it for half a minute before slowly letting it go. “Um. I guess?”
“You 'guess'?” She arched a brow.
“I mean, I am,” I said quickly. “I just...I don't know.” I shrugged. I couldn't really tell her the only girls I'd ever been attracted to were ones I fed on.
“Mhm.” Mom didn't sound convinced. “Are you planning on being public about this?” I narrowed my eyes.
“What do you mean?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“I mean that you're a Catholic lesbian in the hometown of the largest gang of Nazi animals in America.” Her tone had an edge and she had a point, but...
“So, what?” I asked, cocking my head. “You want me to not date her publicly?”
“I'd rather you not date her at all,” she countered coldly, then muttered almost too quiet to hear. “Your sister is quite enough.” I frowned.
“Well...” I trailed off, sputtering a little. “I want to date her.” I crossed my arms. “I can't like, not be gay.”
“Your sexuality is your own issue.” Her eyes narrowed. “I only care when it endangers m— our family.” It was subtle, but I caught the slip. “Invite her to dinner on Tuesday, we need to meet her sooner rather than later.” I stiffened.
“What? Why?” I didn't want her anywhere near my family. That would ruin the whole point of this relationship!
“It's normal for a parent to want to know who their child is dating.” She crossed her arms. “I've already made sure she doesn't have a patrol scheduled. She can come for five-thirty, we'll have lasagna.”
“Wh— you looked at her patrol schedule?”
“I did a standard background check,” Mom retorted. “The schedule was something Victoria learned, and shared. When you need to be on standby all night, you have a lot of time for research.”
“Oh my god she's going to hate me.” I held my head in my hands. “Mom can you just please be normal if you're going to make her come over? Or like, not normal, nice.”
“Amelia Clair,” she snapped, and I winced. “Do not talk back to me when you've already pushed things this much. Stay in your room til dinner, if I so much as hear your door open it'll be three weeks. Do you understand?” I bit my tongue and just nodded, really not wanting to dig myself deeper. “Go.”
I did, quietly heading up the stairs and shutting my door behind me silently. I went to my closet and stripped the now deeply uncomfortable dress and skirts, pulled my blouse over my head, and undid my garters and bra so fast I scratched my back with the hooks. My stockings came off and I promptly turned, took two steps forward, and collapsed face-down onto my bed.
My duvet muffled the groan that escaped my throat. That fucking sucked. I mean, it was worth it ultimately, and I wasn't going to stop seeing Taylor, but still. Victoria didn't have this much trouble with dating, hell she didn't seem to have any. Of course, she was the golden child and I was me. I got scrutiny because I needed it.
Did I really anymore? I mean, Taylor would keep me in check for as long as she stuck around. After she inevitably broke up with her parasitic girlfriend, a thought that made my stomach twist, I'd go back to the bloodbank. I could live off that, I'd been doing that for a good chunk of my life as it was. It wasn't glamorous, but it would keep me healing until...
Yeah, I definitely needed scrutiny, because one day I would snap for real. It wouldn't be a girl with a bottomless well either, I would hurt someone, kill someone. That would be it for Panacea the healer, all that would be left was Amelia the demon.
I sighed. I really shouldn't have missed Mass this morning. Taking the sacraments always made me feel just the slightest bit cleaner, like it was actually washing away blood with blood. I hadn't told the priest, only because I didn't want him to freak out and think I was crazy. They weren't supposed to but...
With a huff, I rolled over and got out of bed. I dug through my pile of discarded clothes til I found my phone, then tossed it on the bed. I took a couple minutes to hang my skirts and pinafore back up, then grabbed a pink and orange sweater and pulled it over my head. I hopped back on my mattress and scooped up my phone, tapped Taylor's number, and began typing.
'hey so mom wants u to come over for dinner tues and i don't think u have a choice' I hit send, then rapidly began typing again. 'sry, tht sounds shity but thts wat she said'
Better to just get it over with instead of laying in bed moping about myself. I did plenty of that as it was, and indulging in self-flagellation was sinful. Rather than returning to freaking out on my bed, I rose and tried to tidy things a little. It wasn't bad by any means, I just hadn't had the chance to put things where they needed to go for a while.
My laundry was sorted between colours and brights, handwashed things set aside for later. I took the hamper of colourful clothes and walked over to the door, then stopped. Shit, right, laundry after dinner then. I put the hampers by the door so I didn't forget, then stood at the center of my room, tapping my foot. My phone buzzed on my bed and I practically pounced on it, opening the message without pause.
'Tuesday is fine. Should I dress up?' I read it three times just to make sure she said what she actually said.
'i think tht would b good, she's kinda a pain' I tossed my phone back on the bed and stood, then turned around when it buzzed after just a second.
'How so?' I sighed and pressed the button to call. She picked up before the first ring was done. “What?”
“Sorry I just...” I pursed my lips. “I'm going to break my thumbs if I try texting it.” The other end of the line was silent for a moment.
“Okay,” Taylor said flatly. “Go ahead.”
I explained coming home, getting grounded, then getting grilled about us. I decided to avoid the interrogation about my sexuality, I really didn’t want to think about why Carol had been so damn interested. Once I was done, I flopped back on my bed and shut my eyes. Taylor was probably annoyed by all my whining, judging by her silence at least. I wished she’d just say something instead of leaving me to ruminate.
“That sucks,” Taylor said at last. “Sorry you had to deal with it. Your mom sounds…” She trailed off, but I got it.
“Yeah, she is,” I snorted. “It’ll be fine probably, she’d never do anything to make us look bad. Might be a bit of an interrogation so um, sorry in advance.”
“Well...I want to be your girlfriend, so I’ll just have to deal.” My heart skipped a beat and my mouth dried in an instant. “Hey, you still there?”
“Sorry, I just…” I found a smile spreading over my lips. “Thanks. I want to be your girlfriend too.” There was a long, awkward silence. “Sorry. Um, see you Tuesday.”
I stabbed the ‘disconnect’ button and tossed my phone aside. It sounded better coming from Taylor, when I said it it just sounded weird. Hopefully wasn’t too bothered, but the silence hadn’t left me much hope of that. If she showed up Tuesday… Oh Hell, I hadn’t sent her my address. I grabbed my phone and quickly sent off a text, apologizing and letting her know where I lived. After that I laid back, phone resting on my chest. It buzzed and I glimpsed at the text, smiling.
‘See you Tuesday <3’