06-04-2019, 06:24 PM
Helen turned and gave a combination smile and sigh.
"Good idea." She lit one and started walking toward the next alcove toward her room. I followed along. "And if I haven't said it enough yet, Susan, thank you for everything."
"You've done enough thanking and apologizing the past couple days." I told her. "I'm just happy you're back. Cool story you were telling them."
"It's a work-in-progress." Helen replied with a smile. She then gave a little laugh. "Speaking of stories, still loving how you dealt with Lucinda. Don't worry about her, I'll take care of it."
"No," I told Helen. "That's ok, I can handle her. She's just another arrogant bitch like the customers I dealt with for years. I do have a question, though: Why don't you just go into to the Board Room a couple times a week and go 'Ok, everyone, tell me your schemes?'"
Helen smiled again.
"That's a question with a multi-part answer, and it sounds like you got some of it already. There's the fact that their plans are usually so pedestrian that I see them coming a mile away, that most of them amount to "get more money and/or power" and tend to be otherwise harmless, the fact that as their Contessa, boss, and Matriarch of La Familia, I DO possess some small obligation to look after them; that it keeps them at each other's throats and too occupied to make a serious play for the throne, and lastly, they're Maria's family and I AM trying to do better, Susan."
That shocked me. Of all the reasons I could think why Helen wouldn't just make her world that much easier to deal with, "attempted morality" was not one I'd expected. Troy's always explained it to me as "Helen's never really been evil, she's just unfettered by principles." Not accepting the easy answer because it IS the easy answer felt more like a course Troy would take.
"Well, don't think you need any more redemption or forgiveness from me, Helen. Because I've seen what you deal with every day and it's all yours."
She held her cigarette away from me with her left hand while reaching over to give me a one-armed hug with her right. We reached the alcove nearest to her bedroom and walked over to the couch.
"Thanks. And we all knew you could handle it, Susan. I don't know if you've talked to Suzy-Q yet, but when she said 'Lucinda' and 'reception for the twins,' I went 'Ok, yeah, she's going to have some kind of Religious Poison Pill gift to try and foist on us where I'm fucked if I accept and she gets to die on the cross for my sins if I refuse.' And I told Suzy-Q that if you think you need help, that you should throw a wrench in things and somehow make sure she doesn't get to give it. Your somehow was better than what I would have come up with."
"Maria figured all that out, too." I told her. "Quicker than she let on, I think."
"She's already a great Contessa." Helen answered, taking a drag of her cigarette. "I sometimes re-watch the video of her first address to the nation after I was attacked. And the way she handled it, that whole 'I can't sit here and hold your hand, I have to go be your Contessa' thing?" Helen took another puff before putting it out in the ash tray. "I was worried that I wouldn't be a good parent. I forgot that I'd been doing it for nine years already, and I think I may have accidentally done an OK job."
"You've done an amazing job there, Helen." I said, taking hold of her hand. "And you'll do two more. Which you won't be doing alone. Too many people already love those boys too much to allow that. I'm certainly one." I sighed and looked into her eyes.
"And too many people love you, too, Helen."
It wasn't our first "real" kiss that followed. That happened, depending on who you ask, either in our dining room back in Federal Way or in Helen's head during that first visit from Suzy-Q. This was the first that was happening between both of us in the real world. The first where we were truly alone, and the first that didn't need to stop any time soon, so it didn't. I wasn't entirely sure why we hadn't before now, just that I hadn't felt ready. Maybe it was seeing what La Familia makes her deal with that did it, maybe it was having her back with us, but I felt ready now.
I stood up, took Helen's hand again, and looked over to her bedroom door.
"Take me to bed, Petalouda." I told her. She smiled.
Helen's bed really is the most comfortable in the world.
"Good idea." She lit one and started walking toward the next alcove toward her room. I followed along. "And if I haven't said it enough yet, Susan, thank you for everything."
"You've done enough thanking and apologizing the past couple days." I told her. "I'm just happy you're back. Cool story you were telling them."
"It's a work-in-progress." Helen replied with a smile. She then gave a little laugh. "Speaking of stories, still loving how you dealt with Lucinda. Don't worry about her, I'll take care of it."
"No," I told Helen. "That's ok, I can handle her. She's just another arrogant bitch like the customers I dealt with for years. I do have a question, though: Why don't you just go into to the Board Room a couple times a week and go 'Ok, everyone, tell me your schemes?'"
Helen smiled again.
"That's a question with a multi-part answer, and it sounds like you got some of it already. There's the fact that their plans are usually so pedestrian that I see them coming a mile away, that most of them amount to "get more money and/or power" and tend to be otherwise harmless, the fact that as their Contessa, boss, and Matriarch of La Familia, I DO possess some small obligation to look after them; that it keeps them at each other's throats and too occupied to make a serious play for the throne, and lastly, they're Maria's family and I AM trying to do better, Susan."
That shocked me. Of all the reasons I could think why Helen wouldn't just make her world that much easier to deal with, "attempted morality" was not one I'd expected. Troy's always explained it to me as "Helen's never really been evil, she's just unfettered by principles." Not accepting the easy answer because it IS the easy answer felt more like a course Troy would take.
"Well, don't think you need any more redemption or forgiveness from me, Helen. Because I've seen what you deal with every day and it's all yours."
She held her cigarette away from me with her left hand while reaching over to give me a one-armed hug with her right. We reached the alcove nearest to her bedroom and walked over to the couch.
"Thanks. And we all knew you could handle it, Susan. I don't know if you've talked to Suzy-Q yet, but when she said 'Lucinda' and 'reception for the twins,' I went 'Ok, yeah, she's going to have some kind of Religious Poison Pill gift to try and foist on us where I'm fucked if I accept and she gets to die on the cross for my sins if I refuse.' And I told Suzy-Q that if you think you need help, that you should throw a wrench in things and somehow make sure she doesn't get to give it. Your somehow was better than what I would have come up with."
"Maria figured all that out, too." I told her. "Quicker than she let on, I think."
"She's already a great Contessa." Helen answered, taking a drag of her cigarette. "I sometimes re-watch the video of her first address to the nation after I was attacked. And the way she handled it, that whole 'I can't sit here and hold your hand, I have to go be your Contessa' thing?" Helen took another puff before putting it out in the ash tray. "I was worried that I wouldn't be a good parent. I forgot that I'd been doing it for nine years already, and I think I may have accidentally done an OK job."
"You've done an amazing job there, Helen." I said, taking hold of her hand. "And you'll do two more. Which you won't be doing alone. Too many people already love those boys too much to allow that. I'm certainly one." I sighed and looked into her eyes.
"And too many people love you, too, Helen."
It wasn't our first "real" kiss that followed. That happened, depending on who you ask, either in our dining room back in Federal Way or in Helen's head during that first visit from Suzy-Q. This was the first that was happening between both of us in the real world. The first where we were truly alone, and the first that didn't need to stop any time soon, so it didn't. I wasn't entirely sure why we hadn't before now, just that I hadn't felt ready. Maybe it was seeing what La Familia makes her deal with that did it, maybe it was having her back with us, but I felt ready now.
I stood up, took Helen's hand again, and looked over to her bedroom door.
"Take me to bed, Petalouda." I told her. She smiled.
Helen's bed really is the most comfortable in the world.
Like, Comment and Give Rating.
![[+]](https://xossipy.com/themes/sharepoint/collapse_collapsed.png)