requested by anon on tumblr: Can you do a Mistelia one where Cordelia has a teenage daughter from her marriage with Hank? But he's gone, the coven is thriving, and Mistelia is married now. So Misty's the stepmom (sorta like your other fic with little April). But teen daughter develops separation anxiety from Cordelia, so Mistelia has to deal with that? Please and thank you!
warnings: none
word count: 3120
. . .
It all happened so fast that you and you're emotions weren't entirely on the same level just yet.
After you mother divorced your father, Hank, you figured that it was just going to be you and her for the rest of the time being. And you were okay with that. You've never really had friends, you studied and lived at Robichaux, rather than school. Any friend you had made along the way had just resulting in you crying on your mothers shoulder when they decided they didn't want you anymore.
But then Misty comes along. And slowly, those nights that she'll read you to sleep, or watch a movie with you, turns into greenhouse dates with Misty.
And your okay with that, because your mothers happy, and you haven't seen her smile like that in awhile. She can't just be by her daughters side for the rest of her life. She needs someone to love her, other than just her daughter.
But then they get married. And you're happy. Very happy, because you love Misty. She was good to you, and really clicked into your family. You loved the dress you got to wear, and the cake the wedding served. You loved how you and the girls got the academy to yourselves when they were on their honeymoon.
It was all so exhilarating, and you were too caught up in the moment to realize that Misty was now the one laying in your mothers arms.
As tonight, the moonlight shined down into your room, illuminating your tear stained face. You felt cold, empty. You wanted your mother to hold you asleep. It didn't matter how old you were. She always promised she would. But it seems that she has a new shiny toy, and you're just an old piece of plastic.
You knew she still loved you, but she was so caught up in Misty that she couldn't really feel the sudden stillness of when you did get the chance to hug her. Because Misty had already supplied her with so much warmth.
And she has nothing to worry about, as it's seems. You love Misty, you really do. Never once were you rude to her. Cordelia even caught the two of you dancing together at the wedding. She felt more like an actual mom, rather than a stepmom.
There were even times where you caught yourself calling her ma.
But you missed your real mom right now.
The air was too heavy tonight. You could hardly hear any of the other girls usual argument's, or their music playing too loud before Cordelia instructs them to shut it off at the late hour. You couldn't hear all of that over the sharp silence of the night.
That's why, you can hardly hear the knock on your door when it comes about. The person on the other side has to knock again for you to register it.
You wipe away the tears on your face. You supposed you could make an ocean out of them. Then you could sail away from whoever is trying to speak to you.
"Hey darlin, it's just me. I wanna talk." A thick southern accent cut through your door. Her voice stood up from the others. You knew who it was without a name.
"Come in" you said, and made no effort to pull your blankets back down. Your back was faced towards the door, and you squeezed your eyes shut to prevent more tears from falling.
"Ya alright?"
"I'm fine."
The bed dipped once Misty sat down. This was the one time you wanted to be alone. Away from the person that was taking away your mother from you, in a way.
In a big academy like this, it was starting to feel like you lived in an entirely different home from her.
"Um...I just wanted to check in with ya. Ya seemed a little...sad and distant lately." Misty was hesitant to speak, it was obvious.
"Ma, I said i'm fine."
Your own voice betrayed you. The crack throughout your sentence, and a quavering sound was a dead giveaway.
"Ya clearly not though. I just wanna help in case ya...I don't know, don't want to talk to ya 'real' mom about whatever's buggin' ya."
You covered your mouth to contain your own sob. It was no use, Misty saw you do it, and could hear the whine when you tried so hard to suppress it.
Misty brought her ring hand up to your face and moved away the hair sticking to your tears.
"All I wanna do is talk to mom, but I can't."
"Well, of course ya can. Ya know, ya mother loves ya more than anything" Misty assured.
"That's the problem, it doesn't feel like that because...because..." You couldn't even bring yourself to say it. Couldn't hurt Misty's feelings, when clearly all she wanted to do was help. You knew it wasn't intentional, taking Cordelia away from you.
"Oh, sweet pea, I- I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault" you said promptly, before she could get the wrong idea.
"It is. I didn't even realize."
"It's not. I just feel like...maybe it's because I'm getting older, she doesn't really care about me anymore. And now she has you, and you're like her everything."
"Well, i'm not her everything darlin. I don't want to be her everything because that means ya wouldn't be apart of her." Misty breathes in deeply, and chooses her next words carefully. "I think that ya mother has a big enough heart for us to split, but she has, and I will admit, caught up in all the extravaganza with the wedding, the honeymoon, the dates. It's a lot on everyone, and maybe we should've taken ya feelings into consideration, that's one of my biggest mistakes."
You fully turned your body around, and rested your head on Misty's lap. She started to play with your hair, and was careful to not tangle her rings in any strands.
"I love you so much, ma. You've really been a great stepmom, and I wouldn't change it. I wish mom would just hang out with me again" you said, a few tears dripping onto Misty's nightgown.
"I love ya too, baby. So much. Why don't we go talk to mom about this? She's just sitting in bed reading, i'm sure she won't mind."
You immediately shook away the idea. Confrontation was one of your fears, and having to talk about your feelings to her seemed worse when they were concerning her.
"No. I don't want her to be upset with me. Let's just keep this between us."
"If we keep this between us-"
"Then nothing will get fixed. I know. Mom tells me that all of the time" you finished for Misty. You just couldn't fathom the idea of being told that again. "But I just don't want her to think i'm being dramatic or sensitive or anything."
"Dramatic? Sensitive? Ya mother cried over an old people commercial last night, I don't think ya the sensitive one here." You laugh. You genuinely laugh, and it feel like old times. Sitting in bed while you're mother attempts to make you laugh after a hard cry. Except this time, it was Misty. This time, your mother was in the other room, probably not even thinking about you, you supposed.
"You're kidding? An old people commercial? She used to cry over the movie Frozen when I was little." Misty joined in on your laugh. It was before they got married that you would spend a lot of time with the both of them together. You and Misty would tease Cordelia endlessly over silly things like her sensitiveness.
"See? Come on, she'll understand. I can't say she won't cry when you talk to her but it won't be because she's angry, darlin" she blinked once, exhaled slowly, "I'll be right with ya."
Misty Day stood up and put her hand out towards you. She did it because she knew you would now feel obligated to go. She never pressures you to do anything you don't want, but it was for the better. Otherwise, you would wallow away in self pity, and she wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing the root cause.
"Fine" you sighed, loudly, just so she was aware that you were annoyed by this. However, she already knew, and didn't really care.
You grabbed Misty's hand, and her rings against your skin was cold. You could clearly pin out which one was the wedding ring, and it grounded you as to why you were doing this. It gave you a sort of direction as to where you wanted this conversation to go.
Misty walked you to the room over, and she didn't bother to knock. It was her room now anyways.
She never let go of your hand either, and Cordelia, with a book in the exact place Misty's said she was, looked up. At first glance, she seemed confused, but at the late hour, she was most importantly worried for you. She hoped, she prayed, that you weren't getting nightmares again.
"Y/n here needs to talk to ya" With a gentle hand, Misty nudges you towards your mother. You act as if she had just shoved you across the room.
"Ma? Really?" You looked back at her. You gave her a glare that could've caused a storm. However, Misty smiled at you. Cordelia sat there silent, and by now, her book was resting on her bedside table.
"Come sit, baby." She folded her legs beneath her, and patted the spot in front of her. Your feet hurt by the way you drag them across the floor as if you were in shackles. But you are trying to hold this off as long as possible.
When you finally sat in said spot, the bed slighted dipped, but evened out once you mimicked Cordelia's position.
You took a deep breath, but you still couldn't do it. "It's actually silly."
"Y/n, what did we just talk about?" Misty sat beside you now. She grabbed your hand again. Her voice held no malice, but she was still stern. She didn't want you to invalidate yourself, and began to feel worse.
"Honey, it's okay. I'm sure it's not silly. I'm here to listen to you." When your mother placed her warm hand on your knee, you now felt trapped. You could feel her too, wearing the wedding ring, as it burned through your flesh. You wanted to move away from that ring, but you didn't want to rub off an impression that you didn't want Cordelia.
"I just miss you, mom. I guess."
"You miss me?" She was clearly confused. She didn't sound upset, or annoyed, or even offended. She just didn't understand where you were coming from. How could you miss someone that you live in the same house as?
"I- I...never mind." You wanted to get up, but both of your mothers hands on you prevented you from doing so.
"No, sweetie, i'm just confused. I'm not upset with you, just help me understand."
"Um-" tears were prickling in your eyes. They burned your waterline. "I just feel like since you and Ma got married that...that you kind of forgot about me. I mean, i'm happy for you; that you've finally someone but I just-" you elicited another sigh tonight. It was clear to all that you were frustrated with yourself and the words that were refusing to form. Now, your cheeks were beginning to stain by salty tears.
Your mother, she reached for your cheek, doing no damage except holding her hand there. She erased your tears with her thumb. "I- I mean I know i'm getting older now, but I miss you. You know, it gets kind of lonely in this big academy sometimes. I miss when we used to spend every minute together. When I was like your little side kick."
"You'll always be my little side kick." Misty was right; she was crying. She laughed at the saying, because she used to call you that more than your own name. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" With her trembling lip, you felt awful. You knew she did that when she was truly upset.
"I didn't want to ruin everything with you and Ma. I love her a lot, I told her that. I guess I just came into this thinking it was going to be like...the three of us. I thought she was just going to be an addition to our little team, not my replacement."
You squeezed your eyes shut, feeling awful for saying it. "Oh god, baby. I'm so sorry" Your mother said. Misty didn't say anything, she brushed her thumb against your skin. That said enough. That was all you needed; just to know her feelings weren't hurt.
"I'm so so sorry" when you opened your eyes, you were being pulled into a hug by Cordelia. It was so tight, for the missing days and nights, but you almost felt like you couldn't breathe. You needed to only breathe after that confession. "She's not your replacement at all. Not ever. I'm so sorry that I made it feel that way for you" she breathed in deeply, and you could hear the sniffles and tears getting sucked in too. "I love her so much, but you're my daughter, honey. Nobody can ever take that place."
"I would never want to replace ya either, angel. I love ya and ya mother so much, but I don't want to break anything between ya two" Misty chimed in. You turned your head toward her, against your mothers chest. You grabbed Misty's hand again, because it got released when you were being pulled in for a hug.
"Come here" you said to her. You were motioning towards the hug. Misty Day caught onto that, and she wrapped her arms around the two of you.
"I feel...so awful" Cordelia admitted. You could hardly hear her. Her voice was muffled from the embrace. "I want to be a little family, the three of us together. I hate that it wasn't already, I hate myself for that."
"Don't hate yourself over it, mom."
"I can't help it, I made you feel-"
You didn't want the conversation to be sappy anymore. You loved your mother, but Misty could deal with Cordelia's tears later on. "You can make up for it by giving me a free day off of classes tomorrow."
"Y/n Goode-Day" She said, trying to sound stern, but her own smile in her voice betrayed her. Your last name got switched to Goode-Day when Cordelia and Misty got married. "You know how important your studies are."
"I know" you sat up, and both woman straighten themselves out. "I know that. But Zoe said I did amazing in her class yesterday. You can even ask her."
"I don't have to ask because I believe it." Your mother has always had way too much confidence in your powers. You didn't feel that they were all that great, but your mother, on the other hand, was constantly putting it in your head that you could possibly be the next supreme later in life.
"I don't know, Delia. I think ya should give her a day off. She got a perfect one hundred on the herbal test I gave out" Misty said to Cordelia, although, it was mostly directed towards you.
"I did?" Misty nodded at you. "Why didn't you tell me? Oh my god!"
Cordelia leaned in, she kissed your cheek as Misty started speaking again. "Ya don't get test scores until Monday like everyone else in the class, sweet pea. But I think this was a perfect time to tell ya, so i'm letting it slide."
"I'm so proud of you, baby." It seemed like everything was back to the good old ways. "How about we celebrate, hm? Tomorrow, a day out with just the three of us doing whatever you want to do."
"Really? Are you actually serious?"
"I'm actually serious," came Cordelia's confirmation. Her laughter was speaking louder than words.
You embraced your mother's again. "Thank you so much. Both of you."
It truly did go how Misty was expecting, and you knew she was going to tease you with 'I told you so' later on.
"Of course, my sweet girl."
When you pulled away once again, exhaustion hit you in a yawn and droopy eyes. It was late, but the two older woman didn't show it. They didn't want you to feel as if your emotions were disturbing their sleeping schedule. But Cordelia wasn't all that tired anyways. She was a night owl.
"How about you rest up? Busy day tomorrow." But you didn't want to rest up, you didn't want to wake up alone in your bed again.
By the face you made, the woman who had raised you knew exactly what it was that you were implying. She grinned from ear to ear. She thought that you thought you were too old for it, and she really did miss you falling asleep in her arms.
"Come on, there's enough room for you." She pulled the duvet down and you crawled in between the two women.
A blink later, they were both laying down as well. You were enclosed in this bed by the protection of their arms draped over you. "Night, darlin. Love ya" and then Cordelia, "Goodnight. I love you sweetheart."
At once, they kissed the side of you cheek. You shriek, and crinkled your face. Cordelia and Misty both laughed at you, because if you really didn't love it, then you wouldn't be laying here right now.
"Love you's too" you sighed, against the pillow. It smelled a mix of your mothers shampoo and Misty's natural rose scent. It was comforting to say the least. Much better than smelling alcohol when it was your father, or rather Hank, who occupied the other side of this bed instead.
It was the first night since, that you fell asleep genuinely happy. That you weren't 'waking up' in empty, dark rooms, to eventually shoot up out of bed and see just that. Tonight, you only thought about what the future held for this little family.