Cassidy Family Reunion

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

Sean and Terry have a nice father daughter chat. Except for the part where it's at all nice. Sean tries but Terry is tired of giving him chances. Shouting and accusations ensue.

Backdated like a crazy backdating thing all the way to June 27.



You're the grown-up. Sean reminded himself, as he knocked on the door of his daughter's room with some trepidation. He'd spotted Illyana downstairs earlier, so he was pretty sure that she'd be on her own in there, and they'd both been putting this off too long...

"Theresa? It's me. Can I come in?"

It's Terry. Still. All my life. Out loud all she said was, "Would you go away if I said no?" She scowled around her room wondering where the hell her roommates were when she needed them. To say that the last thing she wanted to do was have a heart to heart with her father was a slight exaggeration but only because the last thing she wanted was to live with him. Of course, the latter appeared to be happening so perhaps it wasn't an exaggeration at all.

"Probably not, no. But I'd feel awful stupid hanging round in the corridor all afternoon, and I could do without a public shouting match." Still, he didn't open the door. He was only going to push so far.

She couldn't have cared less about how stupid he felt but the idea that he wasn't going away made her give up--he was at least as stubborn as she. "Fine. Come in, then. Watch your step. We don't know how much of Jubilee's laundry is alive." She didn't bother to sit up, she could see the door perfectly well from where she was lying her bed.

He opened the door, and stepped carefully into the room, glancing at Jubilee's laundry pile. "Jaysis, I see what you mean. Has it killed anyone yet?" He put a bit of space between him and the worst of the chaos. "So. Here we are then." He looked back to his daughter, suddenly at a loss for what to say. "How're yeh?"

She shrugged, "Not so far. 'Yana claims it tried to though." She thought about offering him a chair then shrugged again, "I'm fine. Is this going to be one of those really awkward trying to connect with Terry talks that always end up with me throwing things and you leaving for another assignment?" Terry tucked her hands under her head, the very picture of casual insolence.

Sean frowned in response. "I don't know. I retired already, sure, so I don't think I'll be leaving for another assignment this time round. D'yeh think yeh can manage to keep from throwing things for long enough for us to actually have a conversation now?" His expression lightened a bit.

"I didn't want to count on our talk not driving you back to your job. I won't throw anything if you don't make me angry." She sat up and leaned back on her elbows. It was always strange to be in the same room as her father even though they'd managed to live together for almost a year. "What did you want to talk about?"

"About us tryin' to make a decent go of things. Seeing if we can't live under one roof without taking the damn thing off with shouting, like we did last time. You're all the family I've left, and yeh're ma'd've skinned the pair've us alive if she'd seen us carrying on like we did. I owe yez both better than that." He looked away, not wanting her to see the look in his eyes.

Of course, he only wanted to get to know her for her mother's sake. It's all her ever wanted from her. He never saw her, even when he was looking at her. "It's a big house. We can probably manage to stay out of each other's way. Alison takes care of my voice lessons so you don't have to bother with that. It can be just like it's always been. We'll send cards on Christmas and birthdays," she responded sarcastically. "Why change a good system?"

"Because it's not a good system." It was an effort of will not to raise his voice. "Because I think Miss Blaire wants me to help with your lessons anyway, now I'm here, but mostly because Charles and the rest've your teachers keep telling me what a remarkable wee girl you are, and jaysis, but I'd like a chance to see that for myself."

Terry sat up abruptly and swung her legs to the floor. "Now you want to get to know me? I'm almost sixteen." She folded her arms, hands fisted. "You can't just show up and try to be my dad now that you're done with your own life! You're too late! I don't want you to get to know me." Terry had no problems raising her voice though she was careful not to put any power behind it. Too many of these fights had ended up needing replacement windows.

"Done with me own life? Is that what yeh think? Did it not cross your mind that maybe getting to know you was a bit more important to me than anything else I had goin' on? But yeh don't just quit a job like mine was?" He wasn't shouting. He was talking loudly for emphasis. Still, better to quiet down a little. "You don't need to tell me that I've been no kind of father to yeh, and yeh've no idea how sorry I am for that, but I'm only human. Yeh were as much of a shock to me as I was to you - I thought yeh were dead for the love of god, and it took me too many years to get over that to just turn around and get everything right first try. And I'm sorry if that's not good enough for yeh, but yeh've not exactly gone out of your way to make it easy on me, either."

"I don't have to be easy on you! Do you know who you are to me? What 'Dad' means to me?" Her voice broke and she had to take a couple deep breaths before she could go on, "You're the one who took away the person who really loved me and raised me. I had a life and a family. You aren't it." She looked away from him, knowing she'd gone too far but unwilling to take it back.

Sean was silent for a while. When he spoke again, every word was spat out from between gritted teeth. "Where'd'yeh get the nerve Theresa Cassidy? To talk to me about Tom Cassidy like that, like he's some kind of man? Tom fuckin' Cassidy, who doesn't know what the fuckin' word love even means, who never did me and mine anything but hurt, when I never did anything but treat him like a brother?"

Sean turned for the door.

"We'll talk again. When we've both calmed down a bit. Whether you like it or not, we're stuck with each other, and I'm damned if I'm going to give up on getting to know me own daughter."

"There you go, running away again," she hissed because it was better than crying. "Uncle Tom loved me. He never treated me like an obligation or a chore. He never hurt me." Her voice shrank to a whisper, "You just don't understand." She flung herself face down into her pillow, not wanting to see him walk away from her again.

Sean hesitated by the door, but didn't look round. Then he walked out, not bothering to close the door, grateful there was no-one in the hall to see the tears standing in his eyes.



Thanks to Alan for the cut text.