Is the title dramatic enough? lol
Here's a book of all my various plot bunnies! All of my bastard children that I'll never legitimize. Most are posted on my Tumblr (lots born from a 'create a character on the spot' or the 'if they had a kid' games t...
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Wendy Cody, Laurel Somerset & Joe Somerset
Wendy is Smurf's firstborn and she always told little Wendy that her father was an octopus, all quick hands and sticky, tricky fingers which made sense since Wendy ended up being the best pickpocket in the family. Of course, she gets into trouble all the time but she's always been too fast to actually get caught – until she's sixteen. But the detective that nabs her, much to her surprise, takes it easy on her. He's not a fan of Smurf or in her pocket like some others in the precinct, but the rumors about how she gets her money and raises her kids isn't exactly a state secret. So this detective – an older black guy called Joe Somerset – makes her a deal: he can book her and she'll likely be tried as an adult, which would mean jail time as opposed to juvie, or she can do public service as penance and he'll throw her arrest out thus keeping her record clean. She jumps at the chance but immediately regrets it when he makes her work for him.
It starts as just picking up food and coffee for detectives, cleaning up around the station, washing the cars and other menial tasks until he starts trusting her more. He starts letting her file cases away, deliver mail, files and evidence to other detectives, and various other important tasks. And Wendy enjoys the work! She likes going to the station after school, which she normally skipped but Somerset started following her to make sure she actually went (and he found out she skipped in the middle of the day once, somehow, so she just gave up), and she really likes hanging out with Somerset, too. He's different than every other adult she's ever met because he doesn't treat her like a burden or an asset or someone he has to butter up to bang her mom. He actually gets to know her and jokes with her, helps her with her homework, and helps her get a real job at the beach as a lifeguard.
Eventually, Wendy decides that she wants more than what she has. Smurf always told her that if she wanted something she had to take it for herself. It never occurred to her that she could earn the things she wanted. And she never dreamed that she'd get to keep 100% of what she earned, as opposed to Smurf taking mostly everything for herself and leaving her just enough to get by. So Wendy starts hunting for an answer and goes to a lawyer she's taken coffee to way too many times at the station for help. The answer: emancipation. The lawyer tells her that she meets the basic requirements: she's at least fourteen, she doesn't want to live with her parent/guardian, she can handle her own money and has a legal way to make it. But the difficulty is proving that Smurf won't mind her emancipation and that, ultimately, it would be good for her. Leaving her little brothers wouldn't be easy but Wendy knows she has to get out of that house, get away from Smurf, if she wants any kind of chance at having the life she knows she wants and deserves – her life.
"Smurf, if you ever loved me, or even cared about me just a little bit, then sign the damn papers and let me go."
"Or what? What are you gonna do? You gonna blackmail me? Tell your friend the detective about what we do, what you do? Oh, baby, you should know better than to try something like that."
