Through Time Again

Ch.33 Just Like Ross

Anet wants to tell her mom about her dad's impending visit.

Lauren sits outside the dressing room, waiting to see Anet's gown.

"Do you need a hand?"

"No thanks."

Mom knew about Dad traveling through time this whole time! And she led me to believe he'd run out on us. That he was possibly dead. Everyone here is a liar! The only people I can trust is Grandpa and Olivier.

She peeks out the dressing room. Lauren texting—probably Perry. The thought caused her stomach to lurch in disgust.

She understands. But it doesn't mean she needed to approve. This isn't who her mom was—or who she's supposed to be.

"Anet?"

She steps out onto the dais.

"Oh Anet! You look absolutely gorgeous!"

"I'm not feelin' it."

She disappears behind the curtain.

"Is everything okay, Anet?"

"I'm fine. I just wanna go home now."

~•~

Below the penthouse...

"Are you coming up?" Anet asks.

"I have a few- errands to run."

That sick lurch. "Ugh!" She gets out showing her disgust.

"Anet Grace!"

"Don't 'Anet Grace' me, Mom. I get it. You've reached the point where the lines have blurred."

Slam!

Lauren steps out of the Porsche. "Excuse me, young lady! You want to explain that remark?"

Irritated, annoyed, beyond the point of caring, "I know about you and Perry."

Lauren's face pales.

Anet walks away.

~

Upstairs...
Anet never felt so alone. Her mother screwing Perry Maggio while her Dad is being ripped around time—albeit she did it to protect that truth... but she had no reason to go to him as often as she did.

And then there's Jay. The man she had been in love with and about to marry... was a dirty, lying, no-good rat! Everything she thought he wasn't.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

"Grandpa Lucas?"

"Anet. He's here."

"I'm on my way!"

The elevator door opens. "On your way where?"

"I thought you were on your way to suck up to Perry."

"Anet. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? Sorry you got caught?"

"I want you to understand why—,"

"Save it. I don't want to hear it." Exasperated breath. "Mom I'm not mad at you. This isn't your fault. It's... just the price for dealing with the Maggios. If Dad were here I know things would be different..."

"What's the matter, Anet?"

Anet leans against the window frame. Staring at the city below. Jay was becoming like this version of his dad. She was becoming like this version of her mom.

"...I've never slept with Jay."

"Is that what you're worried about? I suppose it's only natural the day before you're wedding... I guess any mother should be relieved their daughter has been saving herself. But I am surprised."

"I'm not a virgin, Mom." She wishes her mom would stop trying to sound like things were about to be better.

Lauren sits. "This sounds important. Tell me."

Anet sits beside her mother. The memory had been bothering her for months now. She'd gone through the same thing in both timelines. The only difference, she didn't lose her Mom to a horrible death... but she did lose her to the Torelli-Maggios and their twisted games.

"After Dad died, you were so withdrawn that I may as well have lost you too. I was so angry. So angry that you guys weren't ever there for me! That we couldn't just be a family!"

Lauren nods. Encouraging her to continue.

Anet spares no imagery as she shares the story.

Lauren takes it in. Guilt shades her cheeks.

Inhale. Exhale.

"When it was all over, I felt emptier than I had before. That emptiness consumed me for weeks... Sometimes, I still feel that same emptiness."

Lauren looks down.

"After that, I decided I didn't want to share what should be intimate and special with just anyone. And that maybe people like Grandpa Lucas and Grandma Charlotte had the right thing going for them; waiting 'til marriage didn't sound so bad when I looked at them. And if I never touched a hard drink again, then maybe I'd increase my chances of never getting into that position again. "

Silence.

Inhale. Exhale.

"But I understand now the game that we're playing. That sometimes we have to put our moral fantasies aside. I understand that's what you've been doing with Perry." The name grated against her teeth.

"Anet! You don't have to be like me. I did all that to protect you. Jay loves you, Anet. He waited this long for you! I don't think he'd ever look at another woman!"

"I'm not in love with Jay Maggio, Mother. I'm giving up the one I want most to be with, to entangle myself with a Maggio I don't want to be with. And I'm doing it for my family."

"Oh, Anet don't—,"

"It's too late. But I promise, you won't have to get on your knees for Perry Maggio again. If it works out just right, you'll be happy again. Maybe we'll get to be a family again."

"Anet, what're you saying?"

Anet drew her mother into an embrace.

"Goodbye."

~•~

Lauren paces. Cell phone in hand.

"Please pick up, Anet!"

No answer.

"Oh God!" She swears. Scrolls through her contacts. Thumb hovers over Jay.

She knows her daughter grew up to be more like Ross than her. If Anet was anything like Lauren, she would've stayed and investigated all possibilities to achieve the best life possible here.

But no.

Ross. He had a problem with the way the world was. He always went on about how he felt this life he had felt out of place!

Then this Olivier springs up out of nowhere and feeds into Ross's ridiculous thoughts!

But God! how she loved that man! She had believed in him in whatever he put his mind to!

And then she lost him...

And now... she's about to lose her daughter—again!

"Should I have told her I knew about the time machine? Could I have convinced her to stay with me and live her life here?"

She doubts it. Ross and Anet always dreamed of fulfilling a purpose much bigger than themselves.

Lauren taps Jay's number.

"Hello?"

"Jay." She manages to maintain her calm. "Anet... she's leaving."

~•~

Anet speeds from the big city, making it to the Peters Ranch in record time!

She couldn't get out of the car fast enough when she see the front door open.

"DAD!"