Private Finished Is My Mom Not Good Enough?

It was actually happening. Chloe was going to get away from her father. She had made plans with Pandora and with Malara already. The only thing left for Chloe to do was one of the most important - Amber needed to stop living at the mansion.

Amber seemed troubled, lately. Chloe blamed this on herself. She didn't think she had been a very good mother for Amber over the last month or so. That would change when this ordeal was behind them, she told herself. Getting Amber to move back in with Pandora would be tricky. She liked it here. She had a special bath and a bedroom to herself, and space for all of her books and toys. She would get to keep most of those.

It had become a rarity for Chloe to be home with Amber while they were both awake. Chloe used to be able to blame this on finals; she wondered if Amber knew those ended over a week ago. It was a little bit dark outside, but the lights were on in Amber's room. Chloe knocked on the door a few times before cracking the door open.

"Hey, Amber. Mind if I come in?"

"Yeah, I need to hug you." After closing the door behind her, Chloe knelt down and wrapped Amber in her arms. "I haven't been able to just, sit and talk with you enough. I'm sorry about that."

Chloe didn't want to jump straight into the move, yet. It might make Amber upset. Chloe didn't know how may more times she would get to sit down with her daughter and act like things were normal or okay.

"How have you been holding up? I've heard a lot has been happening out here in the real world."

Including one of Amber's sisters going to Juvie. Chloe still didn't know how to feel about the situation with Dalia. She'd rather hear about nice things, like how Amber's friends were doing at school - but she knew in her heart that it was going to come up.

Chloe wrapped her daughter in her arms, stroking her hair. "It's alright. Don't worry about my school stuff," she said. "You're more important than that to me than any of that."

She didn't realize how Amber had felt about Dalia. She also didn't know how much flak Pandora and the girls were catching for something they had nothing to do with. They just hugged while Chloe tried to think of something good to say. A part of Chloe wanted to congratulate Amber on her continually expanding vocabulary, but now probably wasn't the time.

"It really does suck," she decided. "You shouldn't be getting trouble for something Dalia did. But... I can't blame Dalia for snapping like she did, either." She pulled away enough to look Amber in the eyes. "Argenta was doing things like filling Dalia's locker with centipedes. Which... you know, that sort of thing hurts Dalia more than it would hurt me or you, because of how she ran into that centipede woman. It sort of... triggers really bad feelings for her."

Chloe paused for a moment. She was trying to make a really nuanced point to someone with the mind of a ten year old. And it probably wasn't worth it. Maybe she just felt guilty. She knew Dalia was going to get back at Argenta and didn't do anything to try to stop her. She didn't think Dalia would go that far.

"Who's been... treating you differently?" Chloe hoped the Blight boy would still be on good terms with her, at least. They had been really close.

Chloe was already coming up with something to say. It was a teachable moment, probably. Dalia was struggling a lot more, so she needed more help, and the people around her were doing their best to be fair with that in mind. There was probably a better way to say it, but that quickly became moot point.

At the last comment, Chloe's head tilted. "You think Pandora loves Dalia more than you? That... that doesn't sound right. What makes you say that?" She knew Pandora had a sort of perverse pride in Dalia's viciousness, when she was younger. But Chloe thought the parents had all agreed not to encourage this sort of thing.

"Oh, Amber... is that what this is about?" Chloe smiled a little bit, trying not to smile at all. This was so far off Chloe's radar, but it was a real relief that this wasn't anything more troubling. She sat back, crossing her legs.

"Let's talk about their marriage for a little bit, then. I love your mom, and I love Malara too. And... well, what do you think it means for them?" That would probably be the best place for them to start. They had let Amber and the spider girls see a bunch of Disney movies - that was probably where Amber got her idea of how marriage was supposed to work and it really didn't apply to Malara.