Confruntation
Cecily sat huddled in the corner, her heart raced as fear and panic overtook her. She was powerless to do anything, and the two people she cared about where out of her reach. She one person that was able to still her racing heart, the one she opened up to on her own, had run away from her. Once again the things she wanted were being torn from her grasp. Her mind raced with the events of the past week, all the joy and happiness with Daisy turned dark and bitter as the feeling of being abandoned creeped into her. No one wanted her, no one loved her, everyone would eventually leave her, it was only a matter of time.As the dark feeling of fear and abandonment coursed through her time seemed to stand still. She didn't know how much time had passed before a knock came at the door. The sound caused her to scream and push herself further into the corner as she fumbled with her phone ready to hit the panic button. She held her breath as the knock came again. "Li- Lilly?" she squeaked out softly."Cecily? It's me honey Raquel, Daisy's mother, I came as fast as I could after Lilly hung up sweet heart, it'll be okay. Can I come in?" the moose matron said from the other side of the door."G -Go away," She cried as she tried to choke back the sobs, "leave me alone.""Cecily, I don't know all of what happened, but Daisy called me just before she took off. She didn't run away from you honey, she ran from her father. Cecily, she loves you. and nothing will change that. She's... she's scared of what her dad might do to try and cause trouble for you and Lilly. That's why she ran, because she loves you so much she can't stand to think of Arnold doing anything to hurt you, or your mother.""She... She still left... everyone leaves me. You... You should just leave too." Cecily looked at the door and waited. Everyone that didn't want something from her left, she knew this moose would too."I'm not leaving Cecily. I promised Lilly I would stay with you until she found Daisy and came back. That's exactly what I intend to..." her words were cut off by and angry shout a short distance up the trail behind her as she tried to comfort the scared mouse girl."Where is the little bitch? God damn it Raquel you tell me where she is this
second or I'll slap the lies right out of your mouth," the hash, angry voice of Arnold Daniels roared out as he came towards his wife, his face red with the anger he felt."Oh dear lord, Cecily, no matter what you hear don't open this door," the moose woman said a moment before she turned to face her husband.As the moose woman pleaded the small mouses fingers tapped franticly at the panic button on the screen in her paws. reality faded to memory as she saw the horse lady huddled into the corner with her as the male pounded and screamed at the door. She had brought it all with her, and now into other peoples lives. Questions ran through her mind as the argument continued beyond her sight. 'Were they right? Am I the cause of it all? Am I nothing but trouble? Would the world be better off without me?' Reality faded around her as the confrontation continued.As the moose parents argued and screamed at each other the sound of a motorcycle pulling to a stop near by barely interrupted them. Neither of them moving away from the door as their loud angry voices nearly drowned out the sound. A few short moments later a third voice, more angry than the other two joined in the argument, a familiar voice to the mouse girl that she hadn't expected to hear."DAD! What the fuck are you doing here? Don't take shit out on mom because she's here. She's here because I let things spook me and ran. Now get the fuck away from that door or else." Daisy was furious at her father's attempt to force his way through the door past her mother."What I'm doing here is keeping my daughter from doing something she'll regret." Arnold turned to face her as he spoke. "Now get your ass to that car up there and stay out of this, I'll deal with that little tramp of a mou..."His words stopped as Daisy hit him squarely in the muzzle with the motorcycle helmet in her paw. "She is not a tramp you arrogant mother fucker. Don't you ever bad mouth her again to my face, or you won't have yours for long." As her father reeled from the impact Daisy pressed the advantage she had at the moment. "That girl in there isn't the cause of our problems you ass hole. You are!"Recovering slightly from the blow Arnold turned his eyes back to his daughter, his anger following close behind. "You little... do as your told or you'll suffer the same fate
as that little bitch..."Daisy dropped the helmet, grabbing her father by the shoulders and ramming him back against the wall."God damn it, stop calling her names like that, I won't let you bad mouth her. I swear to god I'll protect her from you even if it kills me. You stupid bastard, you think I don't know what you're really doing?" she asked, her voice rising to a screech. "The only fucking thing you're worried about is someone finding out your son is a god damn rapist and it tarnishing your fucking career. You don't give a rats fuck about any of us, we've never been anything but window dressing to make you look good. You never took the time to spend with your sons like you lie to people and tell them.""Daisy you shouldn't.." Raquel tried to interrupt."Don't even try to defend him mother," the moose girl said looking the older woman in the eyes as she spoke. "You know it's the truth, he doesn't even know where the fuck they go to school. He's never been at any practice for any of us. He only goes to the school functions that benefit him and his client list." As her father began to regain his bearings, trying to push himself against her to free himself she slammed him against the wall again. "I won't let you do this shit to us, not to Ralph, not to Zoe, and for God Damn sure not to the only person in my life I've ever loved enough to go against your stupid ass. I love that mouse girl, with all my heart she's my friend and my lover, and if you can't deal with that then go to hell!"In the shock filled encounter with their daughter, no one saw the liger return and rush the pair pinned to the wall. With all her strength and the added momentum she crashed into the younger moose throwing her to the sand. "You stay right there, mouse bait," she said as she turned to the moose man. She looked him in the eye as she stood in silence moment between him and his family. "I think you might want to leave... Sir." her cold star was not the anger or rage he had seen the other day, it was more collected and calculating. 'If not you want to step very far away from my girls before you try to talk to me. And right now I am the one you are going to deal with."Catching his breath as the liger spoke to him he turned to look her in the eyes, the cold stare she returned giving him a moments pause before he continued. As he moved away from the door, carefully staying out of the reach of his daughter
he locked eyes with the woman as he asked, "and just who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do about my own child?""Do you really want me to answer that? Are you ready for my answer to that? I've only know your family for a week, And it appals me to see where it has gone since I meet you at that first dinner." She maintained her position between him and his family as he moved. "I watch a man that was loved and respected by his children and wife turn into a thing they fear. I know more about what is going on with your Children than you do. They're afraid of you and what you want to do. The man that they looked up to, that supported them when they were young. Even if only for show, you did more for your daughter than anyone else. And now... they are running. They are jumping like rats from a sinking ship, and no one is to blame here but you. Every choice you have made in the past week has been little more than to save your own ass. Your worlds falling apart around you, and what do you do? You panic, you grasp frantically at the falling pieces. You make choices on what will look best for you, without looking at the damage it will cause for your family. Just thinking about the foolish choice you want to force on your son... I want to rip your heart out right here... Squeeze the life from your body, to save the lives of those you want to end without ever meeting. You want to know what's stopping me?" She pointed to the moose herm still seated in the sand, "She told menot to, she doesn't want to take the father from her brothers, or the grandfather from the next generation. You stand here breathing now because the one girl you want to tear from her first love outside your family would rather suffer with you hating her than make it easier for her to have what she wants. And you're too blinded by your own pride to see the love you're pushing away." She dropped her paw to her side, the cold stare melted away, "With everything you have done to your son's, to her, to your family, she still loves and respects you enough to want you to figure out how to fix what you've fucked."As the liger began to speak Arnold barely paid any attention, but as she continued to point out the flawed judgement, the terrible decisions he had made over the last few days alone he listened more closely. Every thing she said made sense, his judgment had been bad on so many things through the events of the past week, probably even longer than he wanted to admit to himself. Sighing heavily he looked at his daughter, "Daisy I... I'm sorry seems like such a useless thing to say." Looking to his wife he added, "Raquel, how, how did it get this bad?""Blindness on both our parts Arnold, too wrapped up in a career to pay enough attention to our own home and children. To a different degree I'm as guilty of it as you are." Looking over to the liger, the moose matron silently mouthed 'thank you', hoping that the woman understood what she was being thanked for. "Now the question is... what do we do about it? It's already too late to stop our eldest son Arnold. He's already set things in motion to take care of his own family," she said as Arnolds jaw dropped. "Yes dear, they are keeping the baby, and quite frankly I'm damn proud of my son for," she stole a quick glance at the liger, a grin on her face, "manning the fuck up and telling you where to get off."The liger looked at the male moose, a small spark of the rage she held back flashed in her eyes, "Of the three males in that room, there was only one man. and he was the youngest of them all. The only one willing to deal with his choices the right way, and not the easy way. And it was your son. Somewhere in that was something from you."As the voices quieted and the shouting and noise stopped, their attention was drawn to the door of the hut as it opened. The large ears of the small mouse flapped against the door jambs as she looked through the small space. Her tear soaked face moved through the small group until she meet the emerald eyes of the moose in the sand. With only the sound of the door swinging against the inner wall, the mouse transformed into a brown blur as her body shot like a rocket into the chest of her lover, knocking the air out of her. Silently the mouse squeezed her moose herm in her arms, wrapping the semi-agile tail around her waist. She buried her tear covered face into the thick soft fur of the girl. Daisy could feel her heart flutter like a butterfly in her tiny chest as they were forced together by the mouse.Gasping slightly for breath from the force of her lover's body, Daisy wrapped her arms around the mouse lovingly, pressing her tighter to her chest as their hearts beat wildly. Laying her muzzle on Sisy's small shoulder she whispered into the mouse's ear, just loud enough for everyone in the small group to hear. "I love you Sisy, I meant that as much the first time I said it as I do right now. I promised I would never leave you, I just needed some time to think is all. I'm sorry for scaring you, it won't happen again."As the two teens held one another Lilly turned to the moose partiach, the rage in her eyes rekindled as she spoke, "You're here to fix that? Who
are you saving? One month ago that kangaroo mouse cowered from everything, barely spoke a word. It took me a month for her to truly believe I was not going to abandon her. And your pride, you fear of what others might think or find out, you want to destroy everything your daughter has done for that girl by tearing them apart." She slowly took a step toward the moose as she spoke, "Those two... They... I will crush everything you are or even hope to be if you get in the way of that. You will have no safe haven from me. Because my girl has fallen in love with yours everything you do, every choice you make now affects her, and therefore is my business. If you can truly look at them right now, as they are after what you have seen and said here and say they are making a mistake, you are more of a fool than I thought." She paused, taking another step forward. "You have pushed them away, that one has come to me, because she Loves my girl. I will do anything to help her. Your pride be damned. Until you can accept that you have no control over this I will do everything in my power to keep them both out of your reach, and safe from your interfering."Speaking for the first time since the altercation began to grow violent, Raquel asked, "How do you propose we do that Lilly? Regardless of what her father says or does, I'm behind my daughter completely. What ever her decision is about their relationship or any other aspect of her life she has my full support. An if you don't like it Arnold," she said turning towards her husband, pulling out a sheaf of papers and waving them at him, " you can sign these right now and my children and I can find another place to live.""Regardless of his choice in this matter, Daisy is leaving this island with me," Her eyes locked on the moose man as she continued, "What she does after that is up to her. I, my family is moving as soon as we touchdown. Plans are already in motion. If she chooses I will take her with me.""I don't like this in the least," Arnold said before slumping down defeated, "but it's probably for the best. I still have to deal with Paul, and even thought I'm more convinced this woman should be committed, she does seem to know more about my own children than I do." Turning to his wife he added, "you don't need those Raquel. After seeing that," he paused pointing to the mouse and moose girls locked in an embrace, "I can't interfere, no matter what I may think Daisy is nearly an adult by law. Standing up to me proves she's more of a man than I am right now."Lilly turned from her defeated moose and looked to the teens that sat
in the sand. "It is your choice Daisy, one go, right here and now. You already told me what you want, now you need to tell them." Pushing herself back to look into the mouse's eyes for several long, silent moments she looked to her parents, then to the liger as she aske, "before I do, can I talk with you and my mother alone for a few minutes, well Sisy can tag along... oh hell dad would you mind..." she paused as she looked at her father, waiting for a reply. "I think I'll go look at that tree over there on the other side of the parking lot..." the moose man said as he walked away, leaving the group of women alone to talk.As soon as she was sure her father was out of hearing range the moose girl turned ot her mother, "Mom, I know you're gonna think I'm crazy but I want to be with Sisy, all of the time. The thought of being apart from her has been tearing me apart and I ...""I know dear," her mother replied softly, "it shows in your eyes how you feel about her. If that's what you want, the go. But you have to promise me you'll finish high school, and go to college.""I can promise the high school part, but I don't know if I'll be able to afford college on my own, but I'll try," she said honestly."You can afford it, you just don't know you can." As the words escaped her lips the moose matron smiled broadly, waiting for her daughter to pick up on the thought."Mom? I don't even have a job yet, how can I afford something like that?", Daisy asked, dumbfounded by her mother's comment. Lilly looked at the moose girl, "Jesus Christ, do we need to get you a 'between the lines' dictionary? You can't read shit. Your mother's been robbing your father blind setting you up for your future."Giggling at the ligers not altogether untrue statement she glanced at the woman for a moment, a sparkle in her eyes as she replied. "Not quite, though not completely untrue either. Yes like most marriages I have managed the household finances and his income. We both make a good living true enough. But Daisy you're an intelligent girl, haven't you wondered, even with our incomes how we send all three of our children to private schools?""Shit Ricky. She's still lost on college fund. and even a poor family can do that." As she spoke the liger dropped to sit in the sand near the two teens. "She may be bright , but she's not the sharpest tool in the Daniels shed.""True enough Lilly. You probably don't remember my father, your grandpa Drakar. You used to call him 'gramppy drak', which he thought was funny as hell. He set up a trust fund for all three of you kids a long time ago. I loved my father, but he was a strange man, or so I thought. Always investing money in what ever hair brained idea someone would tell him about. He wasn't as crazy as I thought. One of the reasons I had those papers in my paw wa that even without your dad I could take care of us just like we are without a problem. Honey to make a longer story short, you can afford college, and quite a bit more. The trust was set up so that no one could touch it until you were twenty five originally. But for reasons of his own he changed yours and Ralphs only a month before he passed away. Changing the age on yours to seventeen, and Ralphs to thirteen. It's yours to do with as you wish.""Hold on a second, Ricky. I know my legalees if not anywhere near Alex's, but that don't make any sense. Why such odd years?" Lilly looked up at the moose as she asked. "And it seems awfully damned convenient with all the shit that is happening.""I would agree with you completely, if he hadn't died when the boys were only two. When he told me about the changes all he would say is that the angels had shown him the kids would need it before he had planned for them to have it. Honestly, I thought he had gone off the deep end, but there was nothing I could do about it. The changes had been made to the trust funds and his will. After what has happened on this cruise, I can almost believe he had some kind of a vision or dream or something. There is one other stipulation though, and you need to know about it. The way he set them up it's not a free ride or a meal ticket. A set amount has to be used for college, the remainder is paid out in a monthly amount that he set when he started them. That changes when you do reach the original age of twenty five, if you have a degree or are near to completing one. Until then you have an allowance I guess you could call it."Staring at her mother as if she had just landed from another planet Daisy finally spoke, "so as long as I finish high school, and go to college I'm rich?"Giggling at her daughters suddenly perky mood she replied, "I don't remember saying that you were rich. It will pay for your education, and the monthly allowance will help, but you'll still have to stand on your own two hooves. The allowance isn't big, but it should more than take care of your insurance and gas for that hog of yours, which I assume is part of what you wanted to talk to us alone for?""OH, that, yea... I wanted to make sure that you knew I was planning on taking my car," as she looked at the liger she grinned sheepishly, "and if it's alright with Lilly, since I don't know really what her plans are..., if I can I want to take my 'hog' as mom calls it.""Your shit, your responsibility," the liger replied as she lay down in the sand, "whatever you bring with you you have to get there and maintain all required maintenance, registrations, licenses, and other legal requirements.""Well I'll have to see about the requirements when we get there I guess, and if I have to park it it gets parked and chained. But I'd really rather not leave it behind, it was left to me by grammpy drake. It's kind of how I remember him is by that bike. I'll get a trailer and haul it myself Lilly.""No shit. I don't have time to go out of our way to get your shit. We have a schedule to maintain.there is a week in Chicago cleaning out Alex's place. You're on your own with the move sweet cheeks.""Not a problem, it won't take me long to get my shit together, packed and loaded and be headed out once I hit home. I can do what I have to do and be in Chicago before yo leave out from there," the moose girl said as she looked the liger in the eyes."By the way, you owe me a new phone for that shit you pulled earlier. the fucking thing got crushed on the road when I had to chase you down." she looked at the mouse still silently clinging to the moose as if she would disappear the moment she let go, "And for what? A little 'I don't know what to do so I'll just leave it all' bull shit run. I should slap the shit out of you right here and now. You didn't see the look in her eyes when she heard your mother say you were running away.""Fine I owe you a phone, and I'll take care of it. And pay for the repairs to the
rented Gold Wing that you ripped the panel off of to get me to stop. I'm sorry for scaring Sisy and she and I will deal with that. I'm sure once she's settled she give me a head full for it. But I wasn't running to leave it all damn it. I was running to find a way to have what I really want." Squeezing the mouse in her lap a little tighter as she lay her muzzle on the top of the mouse's head she said, "to find a way to be with the only person I love more than my own mother. That's what I wa running for, and don't anyone ever forget it damn it. Sisy I'm so sorry that I let this shit get this far before I did something about it."For the first time since everything had begun, the small mouse spoke softly into her moose's fur, now wet with her tears, "You... you left me...you left me behind. You... you didn't even tell me and you left me behind." Cecily's body began to shiver once more in the moose's arms. "You said you'd never leave me. But you did." the small paws clenched at the fur beneath them. Almost as if she did not believe Daisy was actually in her arms she went on. "Like everyone else you left... you left me."Lilly looked at the Moose herm and said, "And now, dear girl, you have to fix, what you have broken." She then stood and looked at the older moose woman, "Well Ricky, I need consent to fly this girl out of here in the morning. I think these two need some time... alone."