#bergen_county

A long pause.

"Don't fuck with my life again."

She raises a brow and lifts her chin, "Adam. I should not have done what I did. But you're not the one I owe an apology too. "

"Whatever." He heads for his room.

She takes a long drink of her coffee and looks very troubled. Very troubled indeed.

Adam logs out of Knight's Heart for the night and settles back to read on his lap top, his forehead furrowed in effort.

About 20 minutes, there is a knock on his door

He doesn't respond.

"Adam, I'm coming in" His father says

Seconds pass.. giving him time to verbally respond

Adam closes up the laptop and shoves it under his bedclothes. "Fine. Come in."

And in he comes.

"Son. I know you're upset with your mother," he says "She's upset with herself. She has tried to make amends."

"Ok."

"No, it's not okay."

He says "I am told you are upset because someone was 'fucking' with YOUR life?"

"Yeah."

He looks at him, "And you don't see anything wrong with that attitude or that behavior on your part?"

"No. Pretty sure you're going to explain it, though."

"The fact that I have to explain it means you're nearly as close to being a grown up as I hoped. " His dad says "For someone who is so desperate to to be respected , I would think you would realize to get it you have to give it. "

"Give.... really?" Disbelieving. "I'll keep an eye out for respect, see if I recognize it. Be sure to copy it when I find some."

A BROW "Really? You know a lot of t eenage boys allowed to run a business by their parents, trusted to help with patrols that could lead to actual combat, and a sex life like yours? Reeaallly? Do tell. Because even Zane has had more lilmits on him than you"

"I'm not running a business; Sally Mae is. You know a lot of 'teenage boys' who can see your horns? 'Cause I'm pretty sure if you do, they patrol and get in fights. And my sex life is none of your business."

"One, you're her partner, so the point stands. Most teenage boys have to get a permit to taxi.. oh wait, NOT LEGAL at your age. But we trust you to do it and do it well.. hence respect among other things IS given. Two, no, not all Wilder Boys Patrol... Zane doesn't do the regular patrols and while he'll right of rescue he doesn't loop around looking for trouble. Jimmy sure doesn't. But you have trained hard and prepared and so we worry, but we let you do it ..but apparently you're blind to THAT respect to. And 3? your sex life is EVERYone's business it seems because you chase after women like they were interchangeable to you. I've seen dogs try to hump fewer legs than you do, but that's a lack of respect to the ladies you know not us I suppose. The point is, you've been given plenty of respect but your'e not giving any. Your mother ties two girls up, and you're not saying that's wrong because it was overboard to those girls- no, you are mad because your mother has 'fucked' with your life. You don't respect your mother or I, you don't respect the girls you claim to care so much about. "

Adam pops out of bed to stand. "Most -Fae- couldn't get INTO a regular taxi, much less use it to do what I do. Mortal 'legal' doesn't even come into it. And I -finally- managed to earn respect from the -Chief- to patrol and do the things I've done.... but yeah, you 'let' me do it. And as for ...." his eyes flash, fists clench, and his chin sets ".... not that I have to explain myself to you but I -like- women. -All- women, yeah. And some of them like me back. And when that works out, what's wrong with it?? What's wrong with complimenting, and flirting, and seeing where it goes?"

"As for what mom did.... fine. I'll tell you. It was -beyond- fucked up. Slut-shaming them? -Stripping- them and tying them up? What the sweet -fuck-, man??? Who -does- that!??! Overboard? OVERBOARD? It was so fucking far past that..... I thought Beltaine was supposed to be special, like, spring and new stuff and love and yeah, sex too, and then she does -that-??? There's -no- reason I can think of to do that, man, POOKA wouldn't do that for a -joke-.

"And then I find out it was her, and it was because of what she thinks they did to me? -I- chose to go over there, -I- chose to drink. They rolled me. Fine. Lesson learned, twice. But, not that anyone asked, I'd already decided I wasn't interested in them and I wasn't going to go over to see them any more. I knew that after the last time I was there, weeks ago.

"-My- actions, -My- choices, -My- life..... and now everyone's seen what she did to them, and it was because of what she thought they did to me. Fucking great."

He raises a brow, and looks at those first clench, then says "Son, it's one thing to date different girls on different nights, but you flirt right in front of the girl you came in with. You make the girl you are with feel like she's just another doll that caught your attention and now you want to play with the next one. You make them feel great to get them to like you, and once you do, you make them feel like shit whether you mean to or not. Congratulations, you are prince charming but not so sincere.... and if they get hurt by that, you have them dump you, give yourself a victory lap for how understanding you are when you actually haven't learned a damn thing." A brow "And as for your mom, she agreed with you first off waht she did was wrong. She is trying to make amends... and oddly, SLUT was not a word on those banners.. TEASE Shaming maybe but, sementics. You know damn good and well the reason your mother did it was she was pissed they were Bill Cosbying you with booze and who knows what else, and then robbing you blind. And you KNOW if your mother got mickeyed by someone and robbed you'd be on the warpath, and without satyr passion behind it either. Your mom was wrong. She said she was wrong. She's trying to fix it. And you cussin at her helped the situation HOW? It didn't help your mother see the error of her ways. She already did. It didn't help the Sisters. No, Adam, let's not pretend. You did that to make YOU feel better. And it's a very understandable urge, but doesn't speak of maturity."

He rises from his seat.

"Piper and I understand each other." Heatedly "And if you're talking about Dagmar, well, we're cool now. You weren't even FAE when all that happened so don't pretend you understand it, and don't talk about what you don't understand.

"Ok, fine, she did what she did to make herself feel better and I did what I did to make myself feel better. Good?" he snaps.