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Alex pulled into his driveway and frowned. Not only was Rory home but her boyfriend Jordan was here as well. He climbed out of the car and headed inside wondering how she was going to explain forgetting to pick up her cousin from school. He opened the front door and dropped his keys on the table. A quick look into the kitchen revealed she had also forgotten to take the chicken breasts out of the freezer. Pinching the bridge of his nose he walked towards her room. He noticed the door was closed, yet another thing that wasn’t supposed to happen.
He knocked softly and opened the door. “Rory, you didn’t…” his voice trailed off at the scene in front of him. His sixteen year old daughter was obviously naked as was her boyfriend.
Jordan noticed him first. “Oh shit!”
Alex reached to the floor and threw Jordan’s pants at him. “Oh shit, is right. I think it’s time to go home.” His voice was calm, way too calm for the situation. Jordan jumped off the bed and clumsily pulled on his pants. It would have been humorous if he hadn’t glanced back to the bed to see his daughter holding the sheet around herself.
“What the hell, Daddy?”
Alex raised an eyebrow and took a deep breath. “Get dressed, I’ll be in the living room.”
Jordan turned to give Rory a kiss goodbye. Alex’s glare stopped him. “Seriously? You might want to think that through.”
Jordan nodded and raced past Alex and out of the house without a word.
“Five minutes, Aurora.” Alex said, closing her door behind him.
Rory pulled on her clothes and stomped into the living room, eyes blazing. “You embarrassed me!”
Alex turned to her. “I embarrassed you? What do you think you were doing in there?”
Rory put her hands on her hips and scoffed. “The same thing you and Dad do almost every night.”
“You’re not ready.” Alex stated simply.
“Yes, I am. I’ve thought it through and it’s what I want.”
“You are too young to know if you’re ready or not. If you want to talk…”
Rory cut him off. “You and Dad were my age when you first had sex.”
“No, we weren’t and it was different with us.” Alex argued.
Rory rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know you were cosmic soulmates. And you were barely seventeen.”
“Did you just roll your eyes at me?”
“Jordan is going to break up with me over this! You’ve ruined everything!” Rory sobbed.
“If he breaks up with you over this then he’s not worth it.”
“How do you know if he’s worth it? He could be my soulmate!”
“I’m sure he’s not.” Alex countered.
“You don’t know that! He could be!” Rory protested flopping on the sofa. “All my friends are going to laugh at me.”
“If they laugh they’re not your friends. I think we need to talk about this calmly.” Alex sat across from her on the recliner.
“There’s nothing to talk about. I wanted to have sex and you interrupted. I bet mom wouldn’t have done that!” Rory spat out.
“Isobel?” Alex laughed. “You think things would have been different if she had caught you? Oh boy, you do not know your aunt very well.”
“She wouldn’t have embarrassed me! She wouldn’t have a double standard! You and Dad have sex all the time!”
“And we are adults! Married adults! You are still a child…”
“I am not a child! I’m a woman!“ Rory shouted.
Alex prayed for patience. He tilted his head. “You are still a teenager. I can see you’re upset so maybe we table this discussion until you’ve calmed down.”
“I’m not discussing this with you! I’ve made my decision and the next chance I get I’m having sex with my boyfriend. That is unless he breaks up with me.”
“No, you’re not.” Alex said calmly.
“You can’t tell me what to do!” Rory yelled.
“Yes, I can. I’m your father and as long as you live in my house you will follow my rules! You are not having sex with your boyfriend!” Alex inwardly cringed at his words, he sounded like Jesse.
Rory crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Alex again. “You are NOT my real father so…”
Alex sucked in his breath. “Excuse me?”
“Dad is my father and Aunt Isobel is my mother. I don’t have to listen to you.”
Alex felt like he’d been stabbed in the heart. Logically, he knew Rory was hurt and lashing out. He had expected the whole ‘you’re not my father’ line eventually but it still gutted him. He pushed his hurt down and held out his hand. “Give me your phone.”
Rory scowled and reached into her pocket. “You’re taking my phone because I want to have sex? How is that fair?”
Alex unlocked it and looked at the screen. “No, I’m taking it because of this.” He turned the phone around to show her the dozen missed calls from both Isobel and her cousin’s school. “You forgot to pick up Lulu. While you were busy being grown up enough to have sex, your six year old cousin was waiting for you to pick her up from school. You’re lucky I was consulting in town today or Isobel would have had to leave an important meeting to go get her.”
Rory paled but didn’t back down. “Then I guess it all worked out. Lulu’s fine. Can I have my phone back now?”
“No, you didn’t do something you were supposed to so I think I’ll keep it for a week.” Alex set the phone on the coffee table.
Rory raised her hand and pulled it towards her. Alex snatched it out of the air and put it in his pocket. “Would you like to make it two weeks?”
“You are the worst father ever! Did you have a kid just so you could ruin their life?” Rory sobbed.
Alex took a deep breath and stood up. He wasn’t so far removed from his teenage self that he didn’t realize Rory was hurt and she didn’t mean what she said but a small part of him thought maybe she was right, maybe he was the worst father ever. “Your father will be home soon. Please take the chicken out of the freezer. I’ll be in the studio.”
***
Michael found Alex sitting on the chair in the music studio, guitar in his lap. “Hey, baby, you okay?”
Alex looked up and shook his head. “No. I screwed up today and now our daughter hates me.”
Michael pulled a stool over and sat in front of him. He gently took the guitar out of his hands and placed in on the stand. “She doesn’t hate you.”
“No, I think she actually does. She said and I quote ‘you are the worst father ever.’ I’m turning into my father.”
“No, you aren’t.” Michael said emphatically. “Our daughter is a drama queen. But why do you think you’re turning into your father?”
Alex looked up at Michael, tears in his eyes. “Because I gave her the whole ‘this is my house and you’ll follow my rules’ speech. The moment those words came out of my mouth I thought of all the times he said them, right before he beat the shit out of me. What if this is how it started with him? What if…”
Michael put up his hand. “Stop. You will never turn into Jesse. He was an abusive asshole. You are the literal definition of an amazing father.”
“Did she tell you everything?”
“Yup. Even the argument that they could be soulmates like us.”
Alex shrugged. “Maybe they are, we don’t know. I mean he’s a nice kid and he treats her well.”
Michael chuckled. “They’re not.”
“How do you know?”
Michael raised an eyebrow and Alex groaned. “I thought we talked about this. We agreed not use any powers on our kid or her friends.”
“I didn’t but apparently Isobel can see the tether without even trying and there is no tether between Rory and Jordan. He’s just a guy trying to have sex with our daughter. I’m glad you told her she can’t see him anymore.”
Alex frowned. “I never told her that. I just asked him to leave so I could talk to her.”
“So, you didn’t threaten him? You didn’t pick up the closest object to you and hit him? You didn’t I don’t know, call our daughter a pervert or anything?”
“What the fuck, Michael? Why the hell would I do any of those things? I’m not a…”
“Monster? No, baby, you’re not. You’re a loving father who saw your sixteen year old daughter about to do something she isn’t ready for. Tell me what were you thinking when you walked in on them?”
Alex let out a breath. “My first thought? I looked at them and thought ‘oh, sweetheart, you’re not ready for this’ then I thought about sending her to a convent until she’s thirty. Look, I know she’s going to have sex but she’s not ready. And I’m not saying that because she’s my little girl, I’m saying it because I think she thinks everyone is having sex.”
Michael pulled Alex onto his lap and rested his chin on his head. “I agree.”
“With which part?”
“She’s going to a convent until she’s thirty.”
Alex laughed.
“With the last part. She thinks this is what you have to do to keep a boyfriend. She thinks because we connected and had sex so young that it’s normal. But it’s not. We’re totally different people in different circumstances. And once she calms down she’ll realize that.”
“Maybe but I still think I handled everything wrong. I even took away her phone.”
“You took away her phone because she forgot to pick up Lulu and the chicken is still frozen. I’m going to order a pizza and then we’re going to talk about this together.”
Alex shifted off of Michael. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being the voice of reason, for reminding me that I’m nothing like my father, for loving me.”
Michael pulled Alex close. “I will never stop loving you.”
Alex smiled and kissed him.
A knock on the doorframe interrupted their kiss. “Can I come in?”
“Of course, Rory.” Michael moved to let her in the room.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I said some really hurtful things that I didn’t mean. I was embarrassed and frustrated that you still think I’m a little girl.”
Alex nodded. “I’m sorry, too. I have to remember that even though you are my little girl you’re growing up.”
“I don’t want to break up with Jordan.”
“You don’t have to but there’s going to be some rules. No having him here when no one is home and the door always stays open. You can have your phone back but it’s going to be locked down. You can text and call that’s it.” Alex said.
Rory sighed and looked to Michael. “Dad! Really?”
Michael nodded. “Yes, really. Not only did you forget to pick up Lulu but you used your powers on your father. You’re lucky you’re getting it back at all. And we are going to have a talk about the whole sex thing. We’re not saying you’ll never be ready to have sex but you aren’t ready now. I know you think you are but I don’t want you to look back on your first time and regret that you gave something away that you can never get back. If Jordan cares about you, he’ll wait. You just turned sixteen, maybe give it a year or two?”
“But you and Daddy…” Rory started.
Alex opened his mouth but Michael put up his hand. “Let me.” He pulled Rory over and they sat on the sofa. “Your father and I had a very different life growing up than you had. We didn’t have the love and support you do, we were so alone. He gave me a warm place to stay and that was everything to me. We connected, yes, like something cosmic and yes, we’ve figured out that we are soulmates. But you and Jordan…I don’t think you are. And I’m not saying you have to wait until you find your soulmate but don’t have sex because that’s what we did. Because you know the rest of the story…it took a long time for us to be happy. Enjoy your time with your friends, have fun, and you’ll know when you’re truly ready. I promise.”
Rory looked from Michael to Alex. “You really think I’ll know?”
Alex nodded. “You’ll know. Look, we like Jordan, we really do and I’m not going to make things awkward when he comes over next but I don’t think he’s the one.”
Rory looked down at her hands. “He’s not, I can’t see the tether like I do with you and Dad. I only said he might be to kinda justify everything. And before you say anything, he didn’t pressure me. I told him I wanted to. But maybe I’m not so sure now. Maybe I would like to talk about it.”
Michael jumped up. “Okay, let me order that pizza.”
Rory waited until Michael left the room before turning to Alex. “I love you, Daddy. You’re the best father a girl could have and it’s okay if you still think I’m you’re little girl.”
Alex pulled her into a hug. “Always, baby, always.”