Generations: The Long Game

The Argument

Mia drove to Char's office as requested but she still had no idea what she had done. She thought about her behavior over the course of the last few weeks. Okay maybe she had pushed Siobhan's buttons a little bit. And Marjorie's. And Autumn's. There was that one rather biting text to Reecy. Crap it could be anything. Old habits die hard. She smirked.

She no more than walked into the office before Char slammed the door behind her.

"Amelia May Roberts!" The whole given name. Yeah, she wasn't sure why she was here, but she definitely stuffed up.

"You told a nineteen-year-old girl she could use our home and insinuated that it was for a potential sexual escapade with her boyfriend? She is nineteen, Amelia!"

"Yeah, Char, she is nineteen. Nineteen going on twenty. Well old enough to have sex if and when she wants to. Would you rather they do it in the car in some shady car park? Or maybe sneak into the nursery like Aut and Winter used to? She is nineteen and he is nineteen. They are probably doing it anyway, sweetheart."

"They aren't... they haven't yet." Mia just stood there for a moment. "Not at all? Not ever?" Charlotte shook her head.

"Char, I didn't know that. I never would have ..." she trailed off. "I wouldn't try to push her into it. I just wrongly assumed they may need a safe place to be alone. You and Marjorie and Reece look at her almost as your "other" child. I don't see her that way. I struggled with Carly in the beginning, and you know that, but when she stepped up for the girls after Jack and then for me during my pregnancy, she became a friend Char. I would protect her like she was our own, but I don't feel motherly toward her."

"Even still, Mia, she is a young woman on the verge of exploring her sexuality and instead of having a conversation with her, you offered her a place for a little afternoon delight!"

"Char, I have already said I just didn't want them doing it in shady places. I will talk to her. I will make it right, but when they are in town, I stand by them having access to our home. I don't want her ruining her life with indecent exposure charges or worse the two of them getting attacked because they aren't paying attention to their surroundings."

"I don't care about the house, Mia, but her safety includes her mental health and your assumption could have been detrimental. What if she wasn't ready and she felt pushed in to it? It could have set up a whole lifetime of issues regarding her sexuality. I think you definitely should talk to her." She looked at the time. "Oh shit! We need to get the children and head to Marjorie and Reece's for the announcement party.

Mia tried to pull her into a hug, but she was not ready yet and shooed her away. "Okay, Char, I'll go get the boys from the rooms, and you go collect the girls. We can meet at Reece's." She started to walk out of the office, but stopped at the door. "I am sorry, you know."

Char looked up from her desk. "Mia, I know. I am too. I love you."