Brave New World: Stargirl

Chapter 12

"Mom, we need to talk." Courtney said angrily as she barged into the kitchen to find her mother cooking dinner.

"Courtney, what's wrong and where have you been?" Barbara asked, since she'd been worried sick.

"You don't have the right to ask questions. Right now it's my turn to ask them." Courtney said.

"Excuse me young lady." Barbara asked.

"How could you lie to me about who my father is?" Courtney said, stunning Barbara.

"What are you talking about?" Barbara asked, desperately trying to deny it.

"Don't play dumb. If you must know, something happened today at school that you can ask Pat about later, but it ended with him taking me and Yolanda to the old JSA's headquarters where we found some kind of device that revealed that my father was Starman, like I thought." Courtney said.

"Wait, you brought Yolanda into this madness?" Barbara asked, trying to deflect the conversation, but Courtney would have none of it.

"You lied to me my whole life. Told me that my father was a deadbeat who didn't care about me when in reality, he died trying to save the world. So tell me, why did you lie to me?" Courtney asked and Barbara could tell that no matter how much she wanted Courtney to let go of this, she wouldn't until she got some answers.

"When I met Sylvester, I was going through a very rough patch in my life. I was trapped in a marriage to a man I no longer loved, if I ever did at all. I met Sylvester in a bar. He was kind and sweet and funny and he swept me off my feet. For the first time in years, I felt truly happy." Barbara said.

"So you slept with him." Courtney said bluntly.

"Yes. In a moment of weakness and I regretted it as soon as I did, since while I may have cared about Sylvester, he made it clear that we couldn't be anything more than friends and I was still a married woman. When I found out I was pregnant with you, I knew that there was a chance that you were his daughter." Barbara said.

"Did you tell him?" Courtney asked.

"No, I didn't want anyone to know that I'd had an affair, so I passed you off as Sam's daughter, even putting his name on your birth certificate." Barbara admitted.

"So you lied to me my whole life to protect yourself and your reputation. I had a right to know." Courtney said.

"Courtney, in my defense, I did not know about Sylvester's activities as Starman until you found the staff." Barbara said.

"Why should I believe anything you say to me anymore? I can't trust you anymore. And I don't know if I ever will again. Barbara." Courtney said, refusing to call her mom in her anger and Barbara flinched at the sound of Courtney calling her by her name before watching her daughter walk out.

"I really am sorry about all this Barb." Pat said.

"It's not your fault Pat, as much as I wish I could blame it on you, I always knew there was a chance she'd find out the truth. I just deluded myself into thinking that I'd be able to make her understand." Barbara said as Pat placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Courtney will come around eventually, she just needs time and the best thing you can do for her right now is to give it to her. You're her mother and you've been there for her whenever she's needed you. She'll come around." Pat said.

"I don't know if she will Pat and I don't blame her. I told myself that I was protecting her by not telling her the truth, but now I realize that I was just protecting myself." Barbara said.

"Personally, I think you made the right call, even if it wasn't for the reasons you intended." Pat said.

"Really?" Barbara asked and Pat nodded.