ғᴏᴏᴛsᴛᴇᴘs | ᴋᴍ ✔︎

Mother To Mother

"It's funny how the warning signs can feel like they're butterflies."
- HALSEY

Pamela sat on the plush couch, nothing seperating her from her daughter but a coffee table. She had only been in Florida for a few days but it had been plagued with worries. Alex hadn't been herself, the panic attacks had proven that, so too had the nightmares.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" She finally asks her daughter.
Pamela had to take Alex out for coffee simply to get a moment alone with her daughter without Jeri interrupting. Studying her, it was clear to see that Alex wasn't coping - Pamela just didn't know with what.

"I don't know where to start," Alex admits, taking her mother by surprise. Pam had been expecting the usual 'nothing, I'm fine' routine.

"Just speak, baby. It'll all come out."

Wasting a little time, Alex took a long, slow sip of her coffee before placing the cup back down, taking a long, deep breath and finally letting all her worries pour out. They were simple - is Orlando the place for her? Should she be getting married? What wasn't clear to Alex, but was definitely clear to Pam, was that all her worries - in one way or another - revolved around Cody.

"I just...I feel like a failure," Alex continues to ramble while her mother patiently waits for her to be finished. "She doesn't need me, not anymore. I don't feel like her mother, it's like I...I don't know. What have I really done for her? What have I taught her? Nothing and it's just so–"

Sensing the end of Alex's rant, Pamela smiles softly at her daughter.

"Why are you smiling? Did you not hear anything I just said?" Alex demands.

"I did. Did you?" Pamela asks, the smile on her face only growing.

"What?"

"You sound so much like her. Alex, the truth is, you're trying so hard to see something, that you can't see what's staring you in the face. And that thing is that you and Cody are so alike it's surreal."

Taking a moment, Alex remembers the panic attack Cody had when Jack and Tobin had tried to stop her from leaving.

"I know it's hard, you wanted to watch your baby girl grow up, and that was taken away from you, it was taken away from all of us but if you think you're nothing to her, that you have nothing to offer your daughter - you, my dear, are so very mistaken." Alex tried not to wince at her mother's stern tone. It's a tone she only usually heard directed at the Chaotic Jeri, but now it was her turn. "You think you never taught her anything worthwhile? Alex, you taught her what a real family is, what a real mother is. Do you forget where she grew up? Who she grew up with? You taught her that mother's don't do that to their children, they save them from that. You taught her that Jack isn't the only person she can depend on and when she was using, you taught her that no matter how lost and alone she feels, that you will always love her."

By now Alex felt ridiculous but Pamela didn't cease with her assault on her daughter's negative thoughts, not even when the tears starting to build up in Alex's eyes.

"You showed her what real freedom is, you got her out of that house. Baby, you saved her. So you didn't teach her to read and write, you didn't buy her her first pair of cleats or her first soccer ball, so what? You did buy her her first car, a car that she loves like a child. You helped pay her rent when she first moved to London before her paychecks started rolling in. I bet she doesn't know that you still to this day try and give Tobin money for rent because she let Cody stay with her. Alex, material things are all well and good but the most important piece of advice I can give you - one mother to another - is that being there for your child goes further than buying them things. You are Cody's mother. You gave her life, you gave her the freedom she was denied, and you taught her she can do anything and be anything she wants."

Alex didn't care where she was, didn't care that she was grown, she stood from her seat and threw herself in her mother's arms. The only thought ringing in her head - 'I'm Cody's mother.'"

"This was your idea for date night?" Cody grins at Kristie who was standing behind the brunette and slightly to the side.

"Uh...yeah?" Mewis mumbled, she was nervous and the question from Cody made her second guess her choice, no matter how much Sam and Syd had both told her it was a good idea. "We can leave if you want."

Leaning on the bat, Cody's grin softened into a small smile as she took in the sight of a flustered Kristie. She didn't hate the idea, being stuck in a car for days was taking it's toll and she would be lying through her teeth if she told Kristie she would rather be sitting in a restaurant eating dinner.

Instead, she closed the distance until she was in front of the blonde, and cupped her face in her hands, the bat abandonded, and pulled Kristie in slowly until their lips met in a soft but reassuring kiss.

"I love it."

Pulling back slightly, but not far enough to remove her hands from Cody's waist, Kristie stared at the brunette, "Really?"

"Really," Cody chuckled at the confused expression on her date's face. She had been craving Kristie lately, and to be with her now was definitely satisfying. She wanted to stay in her arms forever, but she stepped back. "I've been stuck in a car with a hyper child who just wants to eat, sleep and run around. And Zeus, too."

The two spent the next hour taking turns in the batting cage, the competitiveness in both of their natures took over but only added to the fun, for Cody it was far better than being stuck in a stuffy restaurant.

"Do you want to come back to mine?" Kristie asked, standing in front of Cody, her arms on either side of the brunette, anchoring her in place. Not that Cody cared as she wrapped her arms around Kristie's neck, and between fevered kisses, light groping and some very unsubtle grinding, Cody muttered out a small, breathless 'yes'."

During the drive back to the blonde's, Cody shot off a text to her friend, letting her know that she would be with Kristie and not to worry about her. She knew that Jack needed some time alone with Rachel. Unable to wait until they got to Kristie's, Cody leaned over the console to leave open-mouthed kisses on her date's neck.

Cody had been so focused on leaving a trail of hickey after hickey on Kristie's neck that she didn't notice they'd arrived until Kristie killed the engine and grabbed the brunette's face to pull her in for a heated kiss - the kind that they hadn't shared before.

They each fumbled to remove their seatbelts and clumsily fall out of the car, before Kristie grabs Cody's hand and drags her inside. She barely closes the front door before she pushes the brunette up against it, focusing her attack on Cody's neck as they begin to remove their jackets. Shoes are kicked off carelessly before Cody's lifted off the ground and carried to the kitchen where she's placed on the table.

"Where you eat, really?" Cody breathes out, loving the way Kristie sucked at the skin of her collarbone.

"Well. I am about to eat," Mewis husked into the brunette's ear, her teeth grazing the shell of Cody's ear, smirking when the brunette moans.

Cody pulls Kristie's shirt off over her head, wrapping her legs around the blonde, pulling her closer before her shirt follows Kristie's.

Knock, knock.

"Ignore it." Kristie groans, undoing the button of Cody's pants and sliding her hand in. Any words Cody was about to utter to the unknown visitor was lost in her moaning.

Her hips bucking and the harshness of her kisses on Kristie's lips portrayed the urgency and her want, but the knocking didn't stop.

"Cody...Cody, are you there?"

"That's Jack." Cody groaned, any other time she would tell her best friend, who she loved so much, to fuck off. But something told Cody she should answer the door. So she watched as Kristie took her hand out of her pants and sucked her fingers only adding to her frustration. Standing to button her pants and throw a shirt on, she grumbled, "Cockblocking should be illegal."

"You know," Kristie smiled as her eyes raked the length of Cody's body, she pulled the only other shirt available over her head. Cody turned, waiting for the blonde to finish her thought, "You look good in my clothes."

Looking down at her body, Cody found that the blonde was right, she had grabbed Kristie's shirt in her rush. Winking at her date, she turns to the door and opens it, finding her best friend broken.

"Jack." Cody mumbled, the concern for her best friend dropped from her voice.

"Cody..." Jack trailed off as tear fall from her eyes. No words were needed between the two, they never really were. Kristie watched in concern, Jack had become her friend too during her time in Houston, and seeing her so distraught brought a tear to her eyes. She watched as Jack threw herself into Cody's arms.

"I'll get the beer."