I'm never gonna give up on you.

24. She is only a child

"Dad?" JB whispered hoping that FP will hear her. It was 2 in the morning when Jellybean carefully walked out of her bedroom. Her nightmares had been harrowing her for a long time, but this one was even more demonic and scary.

She slowly made her way towards the stairs. She tried to keep quiet but suddenly she stumbled against the commode and threw off the keys. Jellybean almost jumped out of her skin hearing the noise and tried her best not to scream.

"Dad." The girl said louder than reaching for the keys to place them back onto the commode. Jellybean turned around hearing that someone is opening the door from the other bedroom.

"Honey, what are you doing awake?" JB heard Alice's quiet and sleepy voice. The woman came closer to her as she tied up a robe around her lacy nightgown.

"Did you have another nightmare?" Alice asked her softly placing her hand on the girl's shoulder. All Jellybean wanted was to cuddle with her to feel that she isn't alone.

Suddenly she reminded herself of her talk with Gladys. Her mother finally had called her back and apologized to her that she had been selfish. She asked JB if she wants to visit her in Toledo and the girl was over the moon.

The girl had already discussed it with her father and he agreed that she could go to Toledo and spent some time with Gladys. Maybe she had made a lot of mistakes and let all of them down, but she was her mother after all.

Gladys had also confessed, that she would love to come back and rebuild their family. For Jellybean, it was a chance to finally have a family back together. She had always dreamed about having all of them close at hand.

"I want to talk with dad," Jellybean said stepping back from Alice so that she couldn't have her hand on JB's shoulder anymore. The girl couldn't let the moment of weakness to take over her plan.

"FP has a night shift and he will be back in the morning. I will make you some tea so that you will calm down a little." The woman said and left her alone for a little while. The anger was growing inside JB and she knew exactly what she would do next.

Didn't want to waste the time, Jellybean rushed towards her bedroom and put on some clothes. She grabbed her phone and was about to leave the room again when she bumped into Alice, who was holding a cup of tea for her.

"Come on, I will stay with you as long as you will want to." Alice encouraged, reaching for her hand to lead her to the bedroom. Her eyes grew wider as she saw that JB changed her pajamas into her daily clothes.

"What do you think you are going to do?" The woman raised her voice as she realized what JB is about to do. The girl immediately pulled her palm out of her embrace. Rolling her eyes, she silently went downstairs.

"Don't even think about it, young lady." Alice was starting to be more and more furious every second but tried to stay calm as much as she could. She followed JB and stood in front of the door so that the girl couldn't get out of the house.

"Go to the bed," Alice said with her voice as cold as stone looking at the girl who was putting her shoes on. The middle of the night wasn't the perfect time for discussions and negotiations.

"You may be fucking with my dad, but you are not my mother!" Jellybean yelled at her looking straight into her wide open ocean blue orbs. Alice was standing speechless once she heard Jellybean's words and seeing her leaving the house.

"Jellybean, you better come back, right now!" Alice shouted at her once she realized, that Jellybean went out of, but the girl was running down the street. She reached to for the car keys and quickly get into the car.

"Maybe, you are right, I'm not your mother. But I care about you so fucking much as I care about my children." Alice murmured to herself while turning the engine on and drove away from the ramp.

***

Alice closed the door behind her as she walked down the house. She had been driving around the town for the past three hours to find Jellybean. Unfortunately, she hadn't found her.

She went deeper into the living room with her eyes filled with tears. She was worried about JB, even though she had been acting like a rude bitch for the past few weeks. She was ripped out of her thoughts once she saw FP walking back and forth.

"Save it, Alice! Jellybean is sleeping upstairs." He almost yelled at her when he saw that she was about to open her mouth. It didn't matter for her. The only thing that mattered was that JB is saved.

"Thank God," Alice whispered with her eyes closed while slowly sitting down onto the couch and buried her face in her hands. She felt relieved, but when she looked upon FP, she knew that the real fight will just begin.

"Care to explain yourself?" FP asked harshly crossing his arms on his chest. The truth was that he hadn't felt so terrified about someone for a long time and tried to know what happened between them.

"Excuse me?" Alice laughed with disbelieved at his words. Was he attacking her because his daughter went out in the middle of the night, despite She banned her to do so?

Meanwhile, they started to argue, Jellybean quietly went out of her bedroom to hear them fighting. She wanted to know if her plan worked and if there is a chance for them to break up so that Gladys could come back.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Something could've happened to her!" He shouted at Alice when she stood up to face him. The tension between them was growing with every second.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but your daughter was the one, who went out without my permission." Alice scoffed and he shook his head with disbelief. She was watching his nervous movements while he was still walking back and forth the room.

"She's only a child Alice! My child!" He raised his voice at her again. In FP's eyes blaming his baby girl for what had happened was the dumbest thing she could say in this situation.

"But why should you even care about her, right?" He didn't give her a chance to respond. Her eyes filled with tears immediately when she heard his words, which hurt her so badly.

Jellybean's heart started to beat faster once she heard her father's question. It was the moment that could change everything. She was waiting for Alice to respond and suddenly heard her weeping.

"You are both so fucking blind, FP. I love her as my own child care about her so fucking much even though you may think that I don't give a fuck about her and ..." Alice yelled at him crying, but she couldn't finish the sentence because of the pain she felt in her chest.

"Alice, what's going on?" FP asked worriedly as he saw her face turning pale. She slowly sat down on the couch afraid that she could faint. She was still crying, but this time it was caused by the pain.

She hadn't felt it for some time and thought that it was a one-time thing, but now she had doubts. She was unsuccessfully trying to regulate her breathing. Last time she had felt the pain it hadn't been as strong as it was now.

"Don't touch me. I just need to take some rest." Alice said quietly once she felt FP's palm on her shoulder. When the ache decreased a little bit, she carefully made her way to the bedroom.

Once JB heard that someone is walking upstairs, she went into her bedroom and climbed onto the bed. Her cheeks were wet because of the tears streaming down her face.

Alice was right, the girl had been blind. She was the one who cares about her. Maybe Gladys had truly changed herself, maybe not, but was that all worth to hurt Alice so much? She was about to find it out soon.