Traitor

Two

"Ugh, stop," Ariana grumbled as Liz threw a pillow at her. "Don't you have a home? Go bug someone there."

"There's no one to bug there."

"You have a whole ass husband, Elizabeth."

"He knows I'm over here."

"Well why is he calling me instead of you then?" Ariana asked as she answered her phone. "Yes Mike, she's with me."

"That's nice, I just need to know what she gives the baby for her teething fevers," Liz's husband Michael said.

"Tylenol. Read the instructions, should say to give her 2.5 milliliters."

"What's wrong with my daughter?" Liz asked.

"She has a fever. When was the last time you gave her Tylenol?"

"This morning around 9:00 or 10:00."

"She's safe to have another dose then. Just give her the 2.5 milliliters and a teether, she'll probably end up falling asleep if you give her a bottle so she has a full belly."

"Alright cool, thanks," Michael said before hanging up.

"My poor baby," Ariana said as she pouted. "I hate it when she doesn't feel good."

"You act like you pushed her out," Liz said.

"I was there when she was pushed out and your water broke on my brand new red bottoms, so I feel like I have equal parental rights to Baby Ari."

"For the love of god, you're gonna confuse her if you keep calling her that when the rest of us call her Renee."

"Well then you should have named her Renee Ariana instead of Ariana Renee. She's forever Baby Ari. Deal with it."

*

*

*

"Momma Ari, is sex a death sentence?"

Ariana looked at Frankie's daughter with furrowed eyebrows. "What the hell is your father teaching you?"

"Nothing. He won't talk to me about it."

"Come here," she said, putting her phone down and holding her arms open.

The eleven year old walked to her aunt who was sitting on the couch and sat in her lap, snuggling into her.

"Sex is not a death sentence," Ariana said. "Your dads just trying to scare you into not having it."

"Well if he won't talk to me about it, how do I know I haven't already had it?"

Ariana stared at her for a few seconds. "Julia Joan Grande, have you been having sex?"

"No! I don't think so..."

"How do you not know?"

"Because no one will tell me what sex is, I don't know anything about it."

"Has a boy put his penis in your vagina?"

"Ew, no," Julia shuttered.

"Then you haven't had sex. And hopefully you won't be for another few years."

"What's so bad about it?"

"Well... it's not bad as a whole, but there are some bad consequences. Like STDs, an unwanted pregnancy."

"Is that why you gave me to Daddy? Cause you didn't want me?"

Ariana looked at her for a few seconds, not knowing quite what to say.

Julia knew that Ariana was biologically her mother. That was why she called her Momma Ari. She'd grown up knowing Ariana was her mother, but she never truly understood why she had to live with her uncle, who she called Dad.

It was a sensitive subject for Ariana because she felt bad for not raising Julia as her daughter but as her niece instead. She couldn't express how grateful she was that Frankie agreed to take her in as his daughter.

"Mommy?" Julia asked.

"Hm?"

"Is that why you gave me to Daddy? Cause you didn't want me?"

"No... it wasn't that I didn't want you honey, it was more like... I couldn't mentally or emotionally handle a baby," Ariana said. "Physically, financially, sure I could've handled it, but... I wasn't okay mentally and I didn't know how long I would be not okay and I didn't want you to suffer. So Daddy agreed to raise you until I was ready... and I guess we just never got around to discussing the living situation again. As soon as I felt like I was okay, something bad happened and... we just never revisited it."

"Was the bad thing the bomb that went off in Manchester?"

Ariana nodded. "Mhm..."

"And then Petey leaving."

"Kind of."

"And losing Uncle Mac... I miss him."

Ariana's eyes watered as she rested her head on Julia's shoulder, wrapping her arms around her waist. "I miss him too, baby. Every single day."

"Is that why you haven't had a boyfriend?"

"Not completely, but... that's part of it."

"Well whatever you do, please don't ever, ever marry Uncle Justin, I'm sick of him cheating during Monopoly."

Ariana chuckled, kissing Julia's head. "Don't worry. Justin is the last person I would marry."