Generations: The Long Game

Unexpected

Mia sat in her normal chair and waited. She really couldn't blame Charlotte for making the appointment behind her back. She knew she had been a pain for just about everyone she encountered lately. She had even feared that Autumn might take her bat to the mustang a few times.

She started to fidget. She was already ten minutes late. Who did this person think they were to take part of her time. Her frustration was getting the best of her, but just as she was about to leave, she heard the door creak open.

"Reecy? What are you doing here?" She wondered if there was trouble. This wasn't a normal day or time for him to be coming to therapy. She knew most of them used Veronica, but they never bumped into each other like this. She had always been particularly good about separating their schedules so there were no awkward moments.

Reece looked to Veronica and then back to Mia. "Um, call me later and we can talk about it. I must get to the restaurant."

"Reece, wait are you okay?" She didn't really care why he was here, but his answer made her think there might be a real problem. She spent a lot of time and energy to appear aloof and uncaring, but she would never want him to suffer alone.

"Sorry, Mia, I have to go." He said as he escaped quickly from the office.

She followed right after him shouting back to Veronica that she would call and reschedule. She couldn't catch him. His stride was just too much larger than her own. Lucky for her she knew exactly where to find someone who couldn't run from her as easily, she thought.

She pulled into the car park and for just a moment a smile crossed her face. The memory of meeting Char and their time here hit her hard this time for some reason. Was it the excitement? Had Marjorie been right? Was she bored?

She shook the thought from her mind. She needed to find out what was wrong with Reece. She already knew that Marjorie wasn't going to give her the information easily, but it wouldn't stop her. When she caught wind of something her mind just couldn't let it go.

"Marjorie, can I speak to you?"

Marjorie looked up from her work, but after taking the day off to rest yesterday she really didn't have time for Mia's shit this morning. "What is it, Mia?"

"Look I know we seldom see eye to eye on anything, but I saw Reece at Veronica's this morning."

"And?"

"Marjorie, I am not here to pry, but you know apart from Char and the children Reece and Autie are all I have in the world. If there is something going on tell me. Please."

Marjorie's eyes shot up to meet the redhead's. She had never heard her utter that word before. "Okay, Mia, I will tell you. Right after you tell me what is going on with you. Maybe you and I have never been friends, and most of the time I love the banter as much as you do, but lately it has been more than banter. You're fooling yourself if you think we haven't all notice a shift in your behavior."

She thought about it for a moment. Opening up to Marjorie was not something that she found natural or had ever thought she would do. She drew a sharp breath in and then just let everything go with the exhale. "Marjorie, I don't really know. Maybe I am bored like you said. I don't feel bored, but I do miss all the drama this lot used to have. When we are home with the children I am content. Even that might just be the chaos. Three toddlers and a pre-teen can create enough of that for sure, and that doesn't even factor in Lucy's wild nature." Marjorie chuckled a little. Char had told her some of the stories.

"Mia we are all getting older, and we are all parents now or about to be" she thought of Carly. "Even still I don't think you have to actively seek the drama with this lot. Between everything that just happened with Winter and Carly's announcement we still have plenty of drama."

She thought about it for a moment. She wasn't wrong. If it wasn't the lack of drama, what was it? "I guess old habits die hard"

Marjorie looked into the redhead's eyes. "Mia, you spent decades trying to protect yourself, and only a few years trying to undo all that damage. Perhaps just give yourself more time to heal and trust the parts of yourself that already has. I know better than you might think how difficult that can be. Reece is struggling right now, but he recognized it and sought out Veronica on his own. I have to think that is progress in the right direction. Three years ago, you couldn't have bribed him to go to therapy. Don't get me wrong he still kept it to himself for far too long, but he got there in the end."

"What is he struggling with?"

"Your situation with the birth complications worried both of us. That was why we decided not to have another child. Then this little one made an appearance and now he is struggling not to see a dark outcome." She couldn't bring herself to say that he was convinced that she would die.

Mia stood abruptly. "Marjorie, I am going to go see him. You probably just did a better job at helping me figure out what is going on with me than Veronica would have. Thank you." With that she left. Marjorie was left sitting there, eyes wide. A "please" and "thank you" all in one day.

As Marjorie got herself back to work, she muttered to herself with a chuckle. "Having a heart to heart with Mia was definitely not on my bingo card for today."