Work Text:
When Susie first came home with red-cried eyes and a cut on her face, she didn’t want to talk about it.
Alex slipped in full protective-mother-mode and wanted to know who did this to her daughter but she also nodded in understanding when Susie
just shook her head and cuddled closer to her.
Maggie and her shared many concerned glances that day. They knew, with school there naturally would come many complications but it still was hard to see their daughter struggling.
She was now in fourth grade and the worst thing they had heard about was a broken pencil or small clique wars. But Susie seemed right out scared.
The second time they had a battered nine-year-old on their doorstep, she wasn’t sad or scared, no, Susie was furious. It was pouring from her skin, obvious in every slammed door, chucked shoe or too firmly set down glass that day.
Still her mothers didn’t get any explanation. Just cuddles and watching Mulan on the couch in the evening.
Alex and Maggie generally agreed on not pressuring their kid into anything, not even into talking about bad stuff that happened to her. They just made sure Susie knew she had someone to rely on. This time they were ready to break that habit until one nights, their little daughter crawled into their bed, crying silently.
Both parents hugged her and after a few minutes, Susie spilled: At school a group of boys was targeting other kids, chasing them around the school grounds, stealing their lunches and beating them up.
Even though Susie was one of the smallest in her grade, she had tried to stand up to them and immediately became a victim too.
After wiping angrily at her tears, Susie suddenly brightened and looked up at her mothers. “You can teach me how to fight, right? You can teach me how to fight them!”
The couple looked at each other, indifferent. “Well…” “I mean…” “Violence isn’t always…” “Okay yes ,yes we’re helping you”
Alex looked a bit shocked when Maggie caved but it wasn’t like she hadn’t considered before to introduce her to some kind of sport that involved fighting. “I guess we could show you a few things. I can also ask your Autie Kara if she wants to help”
“Yes! Thank you” Susie threw her arms around her moms in happiness.
Alex wanted to start lightly. On a sunny afternoon she took Susie outside to a park that wasn’t too crowded and showed her a few beginner Judo moves. Nothing too harmful or complicated but enough to catch any unpractised attacker off guard.
Susie was practically bouncing with excitement and she loved the lessons with her mom so much that in addition she decided to join the local kickboxing club that Alex had shown her once.
Maggie’s methods were a bit more over the top. One day, when she picked Susie up from school and Alex was away for a conference, they drove to her former sports shooting facilities.
It wasn’t like Maggie wanted her daughter to shoot her bullies, god no, but there was something empowering about using a gun.
Susie glowed for a whole week after that experience and Maggie could barely stop her from telling everyone, including Alex.
The couple got to see the results shortly after they started helping their daughter when the moms were called to the school from an outraged principal.
Apparently, Susie had flipped one of the boys over her back and slammed him to the ground after he tried to hit her friend.
“Boys will be boys and I get that they can be a bit… rough sometimes but from a girl I would never expect such violence”, he said. “That was unacceptable”
Both Maggie and Alex were barely able to hold up their disappointed fronts until they left the school and high fived Susie proudly.