Bring Me To Life

Finding her voice

Ben's pov

I watched Violet storm out of the office crying and saw her go upstairs.

"What did you say to her?" I looked at Jenn, knowing Violet is sensitive and sometimes gets her feelings hurt.

"Babe, she asked and I told he-" Jenn tried to explain but I cut her off.

"No, we were supposed to do this as a team!" I snapped at her on accident.

"Don't yell at me! I was just trying to help!" She snapped back at me.

"I'm sorry. I- I'm sure she'll want to move in with her mom and leave us. It was a really difficult to reapir my relationship with her and now it seems like all the progress I made is going to be ruined. She will go back to being angry and resentful towards me." I sighed in frustration.

"Wow, hold on a second, don't blame me. My intentions were to tell her in hopes of her being okay with it. I mean you heard the director, she's practically done with high school. In all honesty, I highly doubt that Violet would go to such lengths as to completely cut off all communication with you." Jenn looked up at me and rubbed my arm softly.

"No Jenn, you don't understand what it is like for your daughter to be resentful towards you. It's the shittiest feeling in the world. I'm not saying this is your fault, but you could've waited instead of jumping the gun and telling MY daughter without me." I sighed and walked towards the door.

"What happened to "Our" kids?" Jenn said as she looked at me with disappointment.

"That changed when you did this without me." I looked back at her then left.

I went upstairs to go check on Violet and she was upset. I hugged her and looked at her as I took her glasses off her then wiped away her tears carefully. I looked at her and sighed.

"I am sorry for how Jennifer said it to you. I know you're upset with me, you have every right to do so. If you don't want to move and want us to wait until your winter formal in December, then we can." I said to her.

"Whose idea was it to move?" Violet said with a straight face after crying so much.

"Jennifer's.." I sighed softly.

"Did you even consider if we were willing to leave everything behind? Do you realize that we have young children who need stability and a regular routine? You can't just decide to move as if you were still caring for babies, not understanding the impact it has. My siblings and I have our whole lives here, formed important relationships and friendships that now feel broken and deserted. Dad, I'm sorry to tell you this but I've decided to stay here at this house. I believe I can take on the responsibility of getting myself to school and working at mom's place after my classes. Also, thanks to Jenn's cooking lessons, I can now cook my own meals. Don't worry, I can handle life on my own." Violet said.

"Jenn and I will have to discuss that..." I said softly.

"Discuss it?? Why?? I'm so over this. I don't want to be here anymore." Violet said annoyed and called her mom.

"Hello?" Jenn Garner responded.

"Mom! Dad and Jenn want to move to Georgia and they want me to go too! I don't want to go, can I stay with you until I finish senior year?" Violet asked.

"Yes but you won't have access to a car, you will need to use my car when it's available, you will have a 8pm curfew and you won't be allowed to have access to your phone on weekends." Jenn said.