Parenthood'z Nightmare

CHAPTER X - Homecoming

"So why don't we begin with how you've been coping Mr Gainsborough, or would you prefer first name terms?"

Sephiroth's foot twitched relentlessly as he sat on the beige couch in the lime green room.

The therapist, a Doctor Timpany, sat opposite him on a soft coral arm chair.

Oriental plants were placed on the indenture of the wall where the lime green walls met the bay window, its white blinds, half shut, cast a soft glow on the room as the wintry afternoon sunlight attempted to glow through the heavy clouds and pierce the window.

"Just tell her the truth." Posie prompted, sat beside him on the sofa. No matter how many times he shook his head, she just wouldn't leave.

"Sephiroth is fine." True, Gainsborough was better than Sephiroth Hojo, but Gainsborough had been his wife's choice of surname when they married, it carried a sort of nostalgic ambience with it, and hearing it aloud often felt like sacrilege.

"Well Sephiroth, how have you been?" She softly asked.

He frowned, confused and untrusting he moved his head to the side and peered out the corners of his eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"Raising a child is tiring, let alone under these circumstances, how do you feel you've handled things?"

Sephiroth's mind progressed back three days.

...

Taking your child home (from hospital) is supposedly every parent's dream, no matter the circumstances. It's a moment viewed as a new start, a better beginning, but as Sephiroth poked and pushed his squealing daughter into the evil stroller and tried to tie her up with the straps; the future appeared bleaker than any other parent may have viewed it.

"I don't like it either!" He answered her shrieks. The straps eventually clicked together and he began steering her home, feeling he was the embodiment of conspicuousness.

Unable to walk until her feet were healed, Sephiroth vowed to throw the stroller into the Lifestream as soon as Alice could stand on her own two feet. It was a neon pink contraption designed to humiliate parent and child. It had a mind of its own, rolling into corners rather than around them, which only made parenting a greater challenge.

Alice's cries soon stopped and she became so quiet Sephiroth found himself leaning over the handles to see if she was well, either that or wriggled free when the left wheel had done that strange spin that sent the entire chair off course. But Alice was still there; well wrapped in a coat, scarf and hat, hugging Pancake and gazing at the world he steered her through.

She quietened when they entered Sector 8's milder locations; busy with people and cars.

She squinted at the low winter sun, flinched at the passing people, stared at the passing pet dogs and other children. Sephiroth then realised that she may have never seen another child before, he was both wrought with dread and curiosity when he thought of introducing her to... other children... he shook his head to dismiss the image of his house full of them during some pink-struck Cissnei planned birthday party.

Alice seemed to recognise the fountain in the plaza as a landmark of home. Springing to life a little more she leant out of her chair to observe it and reached into its misty spray while Sephiroth cursed at the stroller wheels spinning on the polished tile ground.

In his apartment building he left the stroller at the bottom of the stairs, too frustrated to deal with it any further.

"You're home!" A single voice yelled as he opened the door.