Mouse
Mouse had had enough. Faith and Zac were miserable. Faith had gone back to what she'd been doing before Zac, and Zac was just plain depressed. Mouse didn't like seeing her friends like this. It tended to annoy her, just a tad. And she knew who to talk to about it, and blame for it as well. She didn't know why Diana had such a problem, but Mouse decided it was time to go round and have a chat. She just couldn't stand sad mopey Zac or get the crap beaten out of her so her heart stops hurting Faith. She didn't want Faith to die. Diana was being prejudiced and close minded. Sure, Faith had problems, but who didn't? Mouse had her own fair share, and she had been accepted with more or less open arms. Wasn't right. Wasn't fair. She had to do something or go mad.
Mouse walked up to the Hanson door, and let herself in. She walked through the house slowly, looking for Diana. "Diana? I think we need to talk." Mouse folded her arms and lifted her chin, knowing Diana could feel her anger and somehow not really caring.
Diana
Diana looked up at the angry girl before her. She sighed. She wished Jane's dress sense hadn't been so... corrupted by Faith.
"Yes, honey, what about?" she asked, chopping the carrots.
Mouse
"Why do you hate Faith so much?" Mouse asked bluntly. She wasn't gonna act like her name this time round. She was...embracing her inner Faith. A small spark of amusement flared at the thought, and then she squashed it. Diana was making her friends miserable. Bad Diana. A very simple equation, really.
Diana
"I don't hate Faith," Diana replied. "But I do disapprove of her behaviour. I am quite relieved that she and Zac aren't seeing each other. He's got enough problems as it is."
Mouse
Mouse stared at her in disbelief. She just really didn't get it. "Do you disapprove of my behaviour? I hunt. I share minds and emotions with my wolf. Me and Faith are kinda the same. Why can you accept me, and not her?"
Diana
"Jane, honey, you and Faith are two completely different people. But I suppose my main concern is that she is so much older than Zac, and that she does sleep around. She has experience in areas that I don't want Zac to be exposed to... at least... not yet if at all," Diana said.
Mouse
Mouse laughed. "He's having a kid. I think there's not really all that much Faith has left to teach. She's older. So? Taylor's older then me. Four years, and a bit, I think. Faith's only about five years older then Zac." She shook her head. "Me and Faith ain't that different. Not really. Same bad history, same trust issues. She works them out differently to me though."
Diana
"Yes," Diana said quietly. "He's having a child. To a human girl, who, up until then, had no idea that aliens existed. So excuse me if I want to protect my son from any more mistakes."
Mouse
"You want to protect him. I get that. But can't you just see how miserable they both are?" Mouse put her hands to her head in frustration. "I don't like seeing my friends hurt. I really only have a few. You're hurting them, and you just don't see it! How can you be an empath and be so blind?!"
Diana
Diana put down the knife and gave Mouse a long, but confused, look.
"I know that Zac is upset at the moment - I was told that was because he and Caitlin broke up. Unfortunately, break ups are a part of life. Jane, empathy is about emotions, not figuring out what provokes them."
Diana paused.
"Faith is upset too? Is there something someone's not telling me?" she asked suspiciously.
Mouse
Mouse's eyes widened. Crap. And then her teeth gritted. "HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE?!" She clapped her hands to her forehead, anger blazing through her. Too much wolf in her, that was her problem. She reined back the anger and the impulse to do something physically with an effort of pure will. "Faith is gonna get herself killed, cos she just don't care anymore! Zac is going around under a dark cloud. Haven't you felt any of it? I know Zac is good at hiding things, but Faith is pretty much an open book. How can you *not* have felt it? Something? Even a whisper? You're hurting them by keeping them apart. They LOVE EACH OTHER! They won't admit to anyone, not even themselves, but somethings don't need words!" Mouse raised her hands in the air in frustration. "Faith goes out, deliberately looking to get the crap kicked out of her. She was in a coma a week ago. If you'd seen Zac with her..." Mouse shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. "You wouldn't have the heart to keep them apart. She woke up because of him. She would *die* to keep him safe. She would face down anything to keep him safe. He'd do the same. But because she's so worried about what you think, and he's the same, they ended it. She ended it. She shut him out. She's shutting everyone out, because get what? You locked her back into the place where it's easier not to care, cos when you don't care, you don't get hurt." Mouse felt the tears start to fall. "You're hurting my friends. I HATE that. I haven't had friends for the longest, longest time, and you're making them hurt. Can't you even try?"
Diana
Diana was silent for a long time.
"I haven't seen Faith for over a week, how could I know how she reacts? I'm sorry that she's taking it so bad, but she will get over him. And Zac will get over her. It's better that way."
Diana gave her a sad look.
"It drives me crazy that there is - as you called it - a dark cloud over Zac. I have sensed it. Everyone in this house has sensed it! He locks himself into him room and doesn't come out for hours on end. We've all tried talking to him. It's hard now, but he will get over her. And he will find someone else."
She sighed.
"I truly wish they had never met. Tell me, Jane, do you have any idea how it feels to see your son dancing with an other woman, their hands on each other's behinds, and all that... that lust rolling in waves from them and crashing all over you. It's not healthy. And what's more, the difference between you and Faith, Jane? Motivation. You befriended animals and broke into houses because you needed to survive. Faith doesn't sleep around out of a need to survive."
Mouse
"Crap," Mouse said angrily. She didn't usually swear, but this was getting her so frustrated. "Faith and I, we're really not that different. I survived my way. She survived hers. I could have so easy gone down her path. You have no idea. None. And you sent her back down into that. She was getting better. She had Zac, and a thought that maybe this time she wouldn't screw everything up. You made her see that no, that wasn't possible. Because of who she was, she was *destined* to screw everything up. And that ain't true." Mouse could have snarled. If she'd had Fafnir with her, she probably would have. "You're trying to protect him. I get that. It's a Pack thing as well. But this way...they might've broken up eventually. But they blame you now. You're the obstacle. You wanna protect him, but you're gonna end up driving him away. You want Zac back? Let him go. He'll come back then. You keep this up? He'll run and *never* come back. Maybe not today. Maybe not this month, or even this year, but I swear, I will help them both. My friends. I like you, Diana, but at the moment, I really don't respect you."
Diana
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Diana replied. "And I'm sorry you feel that way. And believe me, I know that... that Zac and I haven't seen eye to eye for a long time. I'm not sure when it started, and I hate that I'm being made out to be the villian just because I want what's best for my children."
Mouse
"Don't be self righteous and condescending with me!" Mouse growled. "I bet this is exactly what you did to Faith. No wonder she went out to get hurt. If you said anything like what I'm hearing, except I'm sure you were ever so polite about it, no wonder she decided to leave Zac. Before she got hurt again, because she knows how much he needs your approval. Kinda selfless for a girl you call a slut, right? And she hasn't been. Not lately." Mouse's hands curled into fists. "Zac is growing up. He and Faith...started as a bit of a fun thing, grew into so much more. I suggest you really look at them together sometime. And I don't mean glance, I mean *look*. If you'd seen him at the hospital with her..." Mouse shook her head. "So much. He loves her. She loves him. If you don't wanna be the villian, I suggest you stop acting like it. If you want what's best, you'll leave them be. If you can't give your blessing, can you at least just accept it? Love isn't brains. Love is something you can't define, you can't label, and you can't miss. They've got that. Can't you let them have it?"
Diana
"Jane, I would ask you not to tell me how to be a mother," Diana replied. "How I choose to interact with my children is my business. And that is what Zac is. A child. He's only 17, and I promise you, my dear, if I had known he had been having sex with Julie - or any other girl for that matter - I would have put a stop it that too. I know it's ahrd for him with all the music and the touring and so on and so forth for him to have a real, lasting relationship with a woman, but that's what I would like him to develop. Not a fling where lust is mistaken for love."
Mouse
"He's not a child. Not really any more, and growing less so. Age doesn't define maturity.I am not a child. I'm younger then Zac. I am an adult. I was an adult at the age of eight." Mouse started to back away. "And you don't get it. You haven't seen them, haven't talked to them...this isn't a fling. Do you think Zac would be so upset if it was? If you really, really think that's all it is, I could almost pity you. You're blinding yourself, Diana. And you're gonna end up losing him. What if's and regrets can poison a relationship quicker then almost anything else. You're making it so they happen. He's gonna go on like this and wonder, what if? What if you hadn't reacted this way? What could he have had with Faith? What could have they have been? And one day..." Mouse shook her head. "One day he'll blame you for it."
Diana
"Jane, I am not discussing this any further with you," Diana stated. "Now, would you like to stay for dinner?"
Mouse
"You can not talk about it however much you like, but it won't help. Zac's gonna get sadder and angrier, and Faith will probably get herself killed. If she does, you better watch out, cos I will know who to blame for some of it." Mouse knew her emotions were probably all jumbled, and possibly more then a little bit wolfish. It seemed that the more she felt things, she took refuge in her bond with Fafnir. "I think I really better not stay. And I hope you really think about what I've said, and don't just brush it off. Don't underestimate me, and don't ignore it cos it's not what you wanna hear." Mouse shook her head. "I just don't get how you can be so accepting of me, and then all get away to Faith. She's a good person. She's my friend. And you treat her like she was a disease." Mouse turned on her heel and stormed out. "I had enough of that myself to like watching it when it happens to my friends. Think Diana, you need to have a long hard think about what you really want. And what's important to you. Is this worth Zac's happiness and maybe a girl's life?" Mouse reached the door, opened it and slammed it behind her, still more then just a little bit angry and needing that physical expression of it.
Jessica
Jess dcouldn't take it any more. She walked into the room and stood in her mother's face, forcing her to back up against the wall.
"Listten up, Mother," she practically snarled. "You need to get over yourself. You can't protect any of us, you never could. You've never seen a single that happens to us. Did you know that Avie's almost as messed up as I am? Or how about the fact that I've been sneaking our of the house and going to raves wsince I was thirteen? Or tha fact that my tongue's been pierced for over a year. You didn't have a clue. Did you know that I've already had 6 boyfriends, and one of them abused me because I wouldn't sleep with him? huh? Did you know that? Did you know that out of the time I've spent with Faith and Mouse, they've each been more of a mother to me than you have? You see what you want to see, and you don't see what happens. You think you're so wonderful, that you have 7 perfect little angels. Oh, cut the crap, Mother. Faith makes Zac happier than I've ever seen him. Did you know he dreams about marrying her? Or that she dreams of settling down with him? Were you aware of this? No, because you aren't aware of anything that happens \more than 6 inches away from your perfect little nose. Just like you had no clue that I've been smoking sine I was 13, or that I've regularly hurt myself since I was 14. No, get off your high horse and get over it, or you won't just lose Zac, or Mouse, or Faith. You'll lose me. I'll leave and I'll be damned if I even look back." Jess spat in her mother's face and walked out the front door. It had been boiling up in her for ages, and it had all come out at once
Mouse
"You want time out, need a friend, come see me." Mouse touched Jessi's hand. "We'll go shopping. Or we can go to p3, with Faith. You need to leave? Come see me. Kitties have a lot of money. I beleive Nyx once told Dawn if she wanted a small country, they could buy it for her."
Jessica
Jessi glared hard eyes at her mother, practically boring holes through her skull. "I've been thinking of leaving for a long time. Professor Xavier says I can stay at the mansion, or I have a nice array of friends all around the world. I could keep moving if I so desired, and nobody would ever find me, unless I wanted them to. I could leave the hipocrisy behind in an insant." Jessi truly hoped her words were hurting her mother.
Diana
Diana stopped preparing dinner and gave her daughter a long stare.
"Well," she said almost sarcasstically, "there is nothing like being told you're a bad mother multiple times a day!"
Tears started pricking at her eyes.
"You know, I have always done the best I knew to look after you kids. For almost 23 years I have washed, cleaned, cooked, strived, laboured and sacrificed. I've tried my hardest to create a loving and happy home for you. I've done by best to keep you safe and encouraged you to explore your powers. In the beginning it was so much easier. The worst I had to worry about was you kids getting yourself some place dangerous or misusing your powers - like the time Ike tried to stop a car when he was three," she shook her head and wiped a tear from her eye. "I've tried! But now you kids have figured out ways of deceiving me, even with my telepathy. I feel like I don't know you kids any more! You sneak out and go behind my back. You never tell me you're dating someone - did it ever occur to you that I might like to meet and get to know these people? You keep shutting me out!"
She sniffed and took another look at dinner.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, but someone else is going to have to finish preparing dinner."
And Diana hurried out of the kitchen, and shut herself into her room where she had a good long cry.
Jessica
Jess watched her mother's back as she ran out of the room with a self-satisfied smirk. "Bitch." she said, lout enough for her mother to hear. Then she turned on her heals & grabbed Mouse's hand.
"Let's go do something fun. There's a rave tonight, want to go?"
Mouse
"Sure thing. Make you feel better, I'm all for it." Mouse smiled. "Go shopping again sometime? I want to gi and talk to Zac first. I knida havta tell him I told Diana about him and Faith."
Jessica
"Okay. But after that, we should go get Faith and Shakira and hit the mall."
Mouse
"Sounds like a plan." Mouse smiled at Jessi, then headed off to Zac's room. "I'm gonna go talk to your brother."
Jessica
"Otay." Jessi sat and waited. Before long, Mouse came back down and they headed out.
Zac
Zac had swiped one of the guitars from the garage and was playing it in his bedroom. Tears kept dripping down his cheeks. At first he mopped them away, but now he didn't care.
There was a knock on the door. Zac ignored it. He didn't want to talk to anyone.
Mouse
Mouse ignored the fact he didn't open the door, and opened it anyway. His sadness hit hre like a wave, and all her anger flared again. God, how could Diana not see how this was hurting her son? "Hi Zac. Um. I kinda yelled at your mom, a lot, and said some fairly nasty cutting things and now she knows about you and Faith, and I swear I didn't mean to, she just made me so angry, and if I ever find out what she said to Faith to make Faith all sad, especially if it was anything like what she said to me about Faith, there is gonna be serious trouble, and, and, and," Mouse took a breath becuase lack of air was becoming a problem, "she doesn't get it! How can she not? She's more practiced then me, and she's actually known what she was doing all her life. How can she accept me, and then turn around and treat Faith like that? And I'm going back into fight mode, which is what I seem to be doing lately a lot, and so I told your mom, please don't be mad? I *really* didn't mean to, but the stuff she said, I kinda lost control of my mouth."
Zac
Zac sighed.
"What does it matter if she knows? Faithy is gone. She doesn't want me any more. She won't have anything to do with me any more. I miss her so much!"
He paused.
"Wait... Mom said something to her?"
Mouse
"I tihnk so, cos she said she saw Faith a week ago, and very soon after that Faith decided to do the noble thing and leave. It's not that she doesn't want you anymore, she's decided she won't risk hurting you. I don't get how Diana can be so blind! Even I can see it, and I know less about people then anyone!" Mouse stepped inside the room, glad he was talking to her. "You two get his glow together. And I don't care what Diana says, it ain't just lust."
Zac
Zac looked up at her.
"I don't care if I get hurt. I just want her back," he whispered. "Why can't she see that?"
MOuse
Mouse could have growled. In fact she did. A rather primitive snarl of anger. "God, how can she not see it? You're both miserable, Faith is gonna get herself killed because she doesn't feel like hanging on without you. You're miserable without her. If Diana doesn't take a good look around and see what's beneath her nose, she's gonna lose what she's trying to protect."
Zac
Zac sighed and stared at the music paper on his desk.
"I miss her. I tried to talk to her, but she just... she just..."
Mouse
"She loves you. You love her. I so don't see what Diana's problem is. I so bet Diana said something..."
Zac
Zac paused and looked at Mouse.
"I love her and she loves me?" he repeated.
He considered this for a moment.
"I do..." he whispered. "Oh gosh... I do love her."
Mouse
"Why does no one around here listen to the empath? Diana doesn't believe me either. I know you two. You two are deeply, madly in love. Maybe even the forever kind. And sucks to Diana saying you're a child! She can kiss my ass." Mouse sat down on the bed with Zac. "She's afraid for you. But it doesn't give her the right to hurt you, and maybe end up the cause of Faith's death."
Zac
Zac gave Mouse a faint smile.
"Sometime people need to figure out their feelings for themselves," he said.
Then he paused.
"The cause of Faith's death? Mouse? What do you mean?"
Mouse
"Faith doesn't care what happens to her anymore. She goes out and gets hurt so she doesn't hurt inside. Or just to distract herself." Mouse traced the tatto lines around her wrist. "She's taking it out, me and Jessi took it in. Same deal, and it'll end up in the same place. Normally, I have a lot of respect for your mother, but this time...she can bite me. I don't wanna see Faith die. Screw your mother and what she thinks. She doesn't get it, and she sees Faith and goes 'slut, therefore not worthy of my child.' Screw that."
Zac
"I don't want to lose her," Zac said.
He stared at the music sheets and the guitar for a long moment.
"Mouse? I'm going to try and get her back. But I need your help."
Mouse
"Anything. Just ask." Mouse hugged him. "I told your mother if I had to, if you wanted, I'd help you run. Leave. I don't like seeing my friends hurt. I don't have very many."
Zac
Zac nodded.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do... I've used every romantic trick I know, maybe I should take a look at Ike's book. All I know is that..."
He paused and picked up his sheets of music.
"All I know is I'm going to finish this song."
Later - Mouse
"So, anything in particular you want to get? I'm bored, so I wanna get some new movies and some books..." Mouse said as they started walking.
Jessica
"Eh, I dunno. I just gotta get out of the house for a while. Oh, would you like to meet my boyfriend?"
Mouse
"Ok. Once more, is he someone your mother would have problems with?"
Jessica
Jess blushed. "He's the sweetest guy in the universe, but my mother wouldn't like him for two reasons: he looks like a goth/punk, and he's bi."
MOuse
"So? A person's lifestyle choice is just that, their choice. I want to see your mother's face if she ever meets him though. Please say you'll tell me when you're gonna have him around." Mouse grinned. "But again, I will need to give him the 'talk'. He hurts you, he hurts too. All simple."
Jessica
Jess grinned. "Adam seriously doesn't know how to hurt anybody. He's a complete pacifist, and he'd never do anything to break my heart. Actually, I also don't think that Mom would like that he's 17. " Jess smiled and winked.
Mouse
"God, what is *with* your mother? I'm 16, or thereabouts. Taylor is freaking 20." Mouse threw her hands up in frustration. "So hypocritical there are no words."
Jessica and Adam
"Mouse, calm down. We're here." Jessi rang the bell and a very attractive, effeminate-looking teenaged-bioy came to the door.
"Babe!" he said, kissing her.
"Adam, meet Mouse, Mouse Adam." Adam took Mouse's hand and kissed it.
"Charmed to meet you," he said, smiling.
Mouse
"Hey." Mouse smiled back. "Nice to meet you too, Adam. Good pick, Jessi." She turned to Jessi and grinned. "I can *not* wait to see your mother's face. She has a tendecy to judge by appearance," she explained.
Adam
Adam shrugged. "Most people do. I've gotten used to it. If people wanna see me as a bad boy, that's how they're going to see me, there's nothing I can do about it."
Mouse
"I wanna take him to meet Faith. They can compare how my partner's parents hate me cos of the way I look. What do you think, Jessi?" Mouse grinned. "Faith's pretty cool. Hey, Faf!" Fafnir loped up, and looked up at Adam calmly. "This is my wolf, Fafnir." She knelt down and roughed him up around the ears.
You left. Without me.
Sorry, Pack. Meet Adam.
Forgiven. Fafnir gripped Mouse's throat between his teeth for an instant. Worried, that's all. He licked up the side of her face.
"So. Adam, Fafnir. He doesn't bite...much."
Adam
Adam smiled, "No problem. Hellow, Fafnir," he said, patting him on the head. "He's a beautiful animal. I've never met a wolf before."
Mouse
"Not many people have. They're kinda rare, and not liking people very much."
You are so lucky I don't bite your hand off now. I'm not a dog, idiot. Mouse stifled a giggle.
"So. I'll see ya later, Jessi?"
Hunting! Let's go hunting!
Bit of blood and violence sounds good to me. "I might skip off with my wolf. Nice to meet you, Adam."
Jessica and Adam
And with that, Adam pulled Jessi inside to have his way with her.