thetorres-legacy

[thetorres-legacy]

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, Fuck Fuck, Fuck, Fuck. Amelia thought she was panicked before but this is on a whole other level. She was just there. She had her eye on her the whole time. Where could she have gone? God. This can't be happening.

Just when Amelia's about to spiral and lose her shit, she spots her and runs over. "Oh God! Lily! Oh baby, don't ever do that again!" She's about to scoop her up into her arms for a big hug when she realises that there's someone in front of her and Lily is chatting away to them.

"Oh I'm so sorry! I'm sorry, I had no idea she even left from the couch. I hope she wasn't too much a nuisance. She's a little babbler this one."

"It's alright. We had a very interesting conversation about dinosaurs. Who knew T-Rex's could be so entertaining?" They both laugh.

She takes this chance to observe the stranger. He's tall with long black hair. She studies his features. From his nose to his lips. The way his jaw is lined with stubble and the way the front pieces of hair frame his face.

She looks into his deep and expressive eyes. The way they study her back, They look like they could see into her soul. See all of her deep, dark secrets. She finds herself instantly attracted to him. This scares her. She hasn't felt this way about a person in so long.

She realises she's been staring at him for longer than what's deemed normal. She coughs and straightens up.

"Sorry I didn't catch your name. I'm Amelia, You are?"

"Blaine. It's very nice to meet you Amelia."

The way her name rolls off his tongue makes her melt. She shouldn't be feeling this way over a stranger. She gathers herself together and grabs Lily's hand.

"Well Blaine. We should get going now... Thank you for not kidnapping my daughter. Maybe I'll see you around"

"See you around Amelia."

[thetorres-legacy]

"I'm sorry you're struggling Dani, can you talk to anybody about it? Even if you don't want to talk to me about it, you should try talking to someone! I found that it really does help..."

"Yeah sure I guess... I'll get over it soon, I'm sure..."

"Is that all you wanted to see me for?"

"Well, yeah.. I missed my best friend and I was wondering if you also wanted to hang out since I have a free day and I have a shit ton of life updates to catch you up on but if you're busy it's okay..."

"Yeah I don't know. I'm really busy. I have a ton of Uni work to do and I'm kind of behind..."

"Oh... That's fine! We're all busy. I get it! Well I'll let you get to it then... I'll see you later?"

"Yeah... Bye." And before Amelia can get another word in, Daniela turns and leaves.

Amelia starts to panic a little. She's hurt and confused as to why Daniela would lie to her. She starts to wonder if she really did something wrong? Is she going to lose her friend over this? She breathes. She's fine. They will be fine. She's just going through a hard time.

Yep. That's it. Just a little blip. Daniela will get over it soon. Their friendship won't be ruined. Nothing can ruin what they have. Right? Right. She turns to the couch.

"Okay my little flower, It's time to go home now..." But Lily isn't there.

[thetorres-legacy]

"Hey, it's been a while haha..." Amelia doesn't know how to navigate this. It's awkward between them and it has never been awkward. She want's to go into their usual banter but she doesn't even know if they are at that place anymore. She doesn't understand what's happening.

"Yeah I guess..." The silence between them is almost painful. Amelia decides to just rip the band-aid off. This is her best fucking friend. If she can't talk to her about what's going on then who can?

"What's been going with you Dani? Like are you okay? Did something happen? Is it Uni? Have you been struggling with it? You know you can talk to me about it. You can talk to me about anything. I'm your best friend. You don't have to ghost me. I'm here for you."

"Are you though? Sorry I just... yeah maybe I am just struggling with uni..." Daniela can't look Amelia in the eye and Amelia can tell there's something she's not telling her. But she decides to leave it for now. She doesn't want to push her too hard.

[thetorres-legacy]

A couple of days later. Amelia needed to visit the campus of Foxbury to talk to her professor about her Term Paper. She also felt this would be the perfect opportunity to visit Daniela and find out what's going on with her, since she's free for the rest of the day after this.

She knocks on the door of her dorm and talks to one of her roommates to see if she's there. She waits in the common area for her, to come out. When Daniela eventually emerges out of her room, Amelia takes one look at her and knows she isn't doing well.

Daniela looked terrible. Her eyes were red and bloodshot. She had her hair in a topknot and she had sweats on. She never wears sweats. Amelia immediately felt bad for not coming sooner. Clearly something is going on with her friend and she feels terrible for not noticing.

"Hey..." She goes in for a hug but Daniela hesitates. That makes Amelia's heart drop. Dani has never refused a hug from her before. Even when they were kids and they had just met they clicked instantly.

She tries to think back to when they had last spoke to see if she had said anything that had hurt her. But she can't think of anything. Everything seemed normal. However Dani must've seen the look on her face or changed her mind because then she goes in for the hug.

They've hugged a million times before but for some reason this time feels different. Like she's saying goodbye and this thought scares Amelia but she pushes it to the back of her mind. This is just her mind playing tricks on her and she needs to focus on her friend right now.

[thetorres-legacy]

Lily spent the rest of the day eating cake, playing with her friends and new toys. Amelia smiled knowing that her baby was having fun and enjoying her newfound toddlerhood. But she felt sad that her best friend wasn't here to see it also. She wondered what was going on with her.

It isn't like her to miss events like this. Or to go months with no contact. She wondered if she did something wrong or if she's going through something right now. Either way she's going to get to the bottom of this.

[thetorres-legacy]

Lily as a toddler is seriously too cute

[thetorres-legacy]

Amelia helped Lily blow out the candles early so she could fully enjoy her party as a toddler. She was extremely emotional to see her baby girl growing up but happy to know that she is growing up to be a happy and healthy toddler.

[thetorres-legacy]

Today is Lily's Birthday. Amelia can't believe she is going to have a toddler. Where has the time gone? She feels like it was just yesterday that she was screaming in pain, scared out of her mind, not knowing what the future holds.

In just a few hours, her baby will no longer be a baby. Amelia get's extremely emotional at this. She doesn't want her baby to grow up. But that's life. It hurts but time moves forward and she has no choice but to move with it.

She spends the day making the most out of Lily's last moments as an infant. Teaching her how to walk, Reading her a book, Playing with her dollhouse. She even learnt how to stand, walking not being to far away now. She also took a ton of photos.

She got the house ready to have a small gathering to celebrate Lily's birthday. She would've invited her parent's but they just weren't at that point in their relationship yet. They did however facetime her to sing Lily a happy birthday.

She messaged the group for confirmation on their attendance to the party. They all rsvp'd yes except Daniela. To be honest she hasn't heard from her in months. She's getting pretty worried. This isn't like her. She makes a mental note to check on her soon. But today is about Lily.

Once everything is set up, it's time for the party! Kyra and Max have already aged up into toddlers and they are seriously too cute.

"Oh My Watcher! Look how big you two have gotten. The time is just flying by isn't it."

[thetorres-legacy]

The rest of the day was filled with life catchups. Amelia telling her parents what she's been up to these past 2 years, her pregnancy, her birth, Lily, her new school and friends. Every detail about her life that her parents missed out on she told them.

Amelia could visibly see the sadness on her parents faces when she would tell them about her struggles and hardships but also when she would tell them about her achievements. But if she was being totally honest. She was happy. She was glad they felt remorse.

She was glad that she wasn't the only one affected by their absence in her life. They apologised over and over and it was like music to her ears. But other than sadness, you could see pride in their eyes. When Amelia told them of her accomplishments, they smiled from ear to ear.

"We are so proud of you. I know we haven't said it before and we regret that so much. You deserve to know how proud we are to have you as our daughter."

Upon hearing this she teared up. She has waited all her life to hear them say this.

She bent herself backwards, just to hear these words. But now, when she's finally confident in herself and her self worth isn't dependant on her parents approval, is like the cherry on top. She didn't need this anymore but it was nice to hear.

"Can I hug you goodbye?"

Amelia was hesitant before but now she feels as though she has a step in the door towards having a relationship with her parents. They still have a long way to go before they're fully okay again but Amelia is optimistic. They will be okay.

"Yeah, Bye Dad."

[thetorres-legacy]

She's so caught up in the hug and the emotions of everything she doesn't realise there's another little person in the room with them. She starts to hear little mews that don't sound like Lily's and she moves her head a little to see a baby sitting a highchair.

"Oh hello."

She wipes her eyes on her sleeve and sniffles a little.

"You must be Maribel."

Amelia makes a gesture towards her and asks if she can hold her.

"Go Ahead." Tessa tells her with a smile on her face.

Tessa picks her up and hands her over to Amelia. She looks a little startled to be in a strangers arms but soon settles as Amelia rocks her.

"She's adorable..."

Amelia still can't believe this is happening. A sister?? Wow. This is a literal dream come true.

[thetorres-legacy]

They walk into the kitchen together. Amelia braces herself for whatever's about to come. Her father goes first.

"There's a someone here that would like to see you."

Tessa whips around with a slight look of shock which is quickly replaced with the brightest smile anyone has seen.

"Hi Baby."

Tessa starts to cry which makes Amelia cry too. Hearing her call her that again makes her so happy. She thought she'd never hear those words out of her mothers mouth again. Tessa starts to move forward.

"Can I hug you?"

Amelia thinks about it for a second and then nods.

They come together and Tessa starts to cry even more.

"I missed you so much, I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean any of it. I'm so sorry."

Amelia's heart leaps. She can't believe it. The words she's dreamed about for years. She's finally hearing them.

[thetorres-legacy]

"If you don't mind... I'd love to meet her..."

Amelia thinks about it for a second. But this is her dad and while she doesn't totally trust him. She's trusts him with this. She unhooks Lily from the back carrier and hands her carefully over to him.

Tears start to form in his eyes.

"Oh Amelia... She's beautiful.."

His voice cracks a little. Hearing how excited he is to meet her daughter makes her so emotional. She never thought this would happen in a million years and is so glad she took this chance.

"Well, your mother is in the kitchen, I'm sure she'd love to see you and Lily."

"Yeah, sure..."

She's immediately nervous again. She hasn't spoken to, heard or seen her mother in years and although this visit is going well she can't help but think the worst is going to happen.

[thetorres-legacy]

"Not much has changed huh."

Her dad chuckles.

"Well you know your mother and I. We aren't suckers for change. A couple things have changed though. Not necessarily for the better."

There's a hint of sadness to his tone and Amelia understands what he means.

They stay silent for a moment longer before he speaks again.

"We really are sorry, I know that word doesn't mean much but we promise we will spend the rest of our lives making it up to you and your baby. We miss you so so much and we want a relationship with our grandbaby."

"We also don't want you to miss out on having a relationship with your sister. We know you've always wanted a sibling when you were younger and better late than never right?"

Amelia smiles at his words. She remembers begging her parents for a sibling most Christmases and birthdays.

"I can't wait to meet her. What's her name?"

"Maribel."

"That's beautiful."

"What's... What's your little one's name?"

"Her name is Lily."

"That's a lovely name."

[thetorres-legacy]

She sees the tears start to well up in his eyes. He takes another step forward and she can see that he has something playing on his mind but he hesitates and ultimately decides not to act on it.

"Hi Amelia."

He smiles. It's warm, welcoming. Nothing like the cold snarl he had the day he kicked her out.

"Come in, I shouldn't have you standing out here in the cold."

His words come out in a sort of fast nervous mumble. Amelia relaxes a little.

Knowing that he is nervous about this meeting, she lets herself feel a glimmer of hope. Maybe this won't be so bad after all. Maybe they really are apologetic and want to have a relationship again. Maybe she can have her parents back and Lily can have grandparents.

Amelia looks around the big spacious house where she grew up and waves of nostalgia hit her hard. She can't believe she's back here. After 2 years it's exactly the same yet so different. It's no longer home.

The realisation hits her like a train. It's no longer home. Was it ever a home? She thinks about her years spent in these walls. How her parent's were almost never here. How she'd stay out late to avoid coming home to an empty house. She'd dread coming back here. It was never a home.

She realises now that her home was never a place. It was never within these four walls. It was always with a person. Her family. Her friends. This realisation is like a weight lifted off her shoulders. She feels less scared of this visit and is more open to forgiveness.

[thetorres-legacy]

Her Father answers the door. Amelia halts. Seeing him for the first time in 2 years, the feeling is surreal. He looks exactly the same yet so different. His hair is a little longer, he has more grey hairs and the bags under his eyes are significantly darker.

One look at his face brings all the memories flooding back. Memories of her childhood rushed through her. But the memory of her getting kicked out was always at the forefront of her mind.

She watched his face move through many emotions. Confusion, Happiness, Sadness and a longing she couldn't quite place. He stepped closer but then hesitated as if he wasn't quite sure what to do. She tracked his movements. Watched as his eyes took in the tiny human behind her.

His eyes grew wider at the sight of Lily. She realised this was the first time he'd seen her. The silence between them was starting to become unbearable. So she broke it.

"Hi Dad."

[thetorres-legacy]

A few weeks later, She is standing outside her parent's front door. She talked it out with Solange and made her decision. She wants closure. Whether she and Lily have a relationship with them at all depends on how this goes. She wants this to work. These are her parents after all.

As she goes to ring the doorbell, a million thoughts run through Amelia's mind. This is the first time she'll be seeing her parents in 2 years and they have a new baby? Will they accept her and Lily? Will they apologise? Will they ever be able to have a relationship again?

She takes a deep breath in and rings the doorbell. She's doing this for her and Lily. The worst thing that could happen is that she doesn't have a relationship with her parents ever again and she's already lived through this once. She can do it again.

[thetorres-legacy]

So she facetimes Zoe. By this point Amelia and Zoe are almost as close as Her and Dani. Having such a similar background and story, they bonded more on that common ground and Amelia feels like she would understand what she is going through right now.

She recites the whole conversation to Zoe. "I don't know how to feel about any of this. I- I think I'm going crazy. This is INSANE. They kicked me out!!! They- They called me a whore, they didn't want me as their daughter anymore. But I miss them, Oh I miss them so much."

"I shouldn't miss them but I do. They're my parents, I love them but they don't love me or do they? I don't know what to think anymore. I don't know if I want them around Lily. I don't know what to do." She paces up and down, going through her thoughts while Zoe patiently listens.

At the end of her rant, Zoe finally speaks.

"I think... If I were in your position... I would want to meet with them. At least get a little bit of closure on everything that happened and decide whether you want them in your and Lily's life. And if not for you, do it for Lily."

"Lily deserves to know at least some of her Grandparents."

"You're right, I just have a lot to think over. Thank you for helping me through this. I'd knew you'd understand."

"Anytime Mels, I'll talk to you later, I have a date with Sophie."