And You And I

S217(U7): Mother loves her baby...

Author's note:

Right, chapter two of two. I don't have too much to say about this one, other than the chapter title is another lyric from Pink Floyd's The Wall (as a lot of the chapters involving Ann seem to be), however, this time it comes from The Thin Ice and not from Mother (seriously, I've milked that track for all but one of its suitable chapter title lyrics, which I'm saving for later). So, enjoy and I'll see you all at the end.

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Ann Possible had never considered herself a bad mother. Not even when she and her husband had been forced to work long, erratic hours and leave their young daughter in the care of her grandmother for extended periods, nor when her sons had injured themselves after copying one of Adrena Lynn's stunts. No, she'd always found some way of rationalising and explaining unfortunate situations that had befallen her children, which did not land herself in the crosshairs of the rifle labelled 'Bad Parent'. In fact, she had ample reason to be proud of her parenting skills and those of her husband's.

While her sons could be cheeky monkeys of the highest order at times, she had both spotted and nurtured their high intellect from an early age, resulting in them getting ready for their senior year of high school at only fourteen. She'd also supported their non-academic activities, such as playing soccer, too. And while they did not socialise with people other than themselves as much as she would like, that was an issue faced by the parents of most twins, although it in her case it became squared once you factored in her sons' genius-level intellects. Nevertheless, she and her husband had done a good job raising them.

Then there was her daughter, who had been a perfect straight-A student, with barely a blemish on her academic record and who'd had her pick of virtually any college in the country and many abroad. She'd also been captain of the cheer squad since the end of her freshman year and won multiple regional championships. Not only that, but Ann and her husband had instilled in Kim a strong moral code that she had taken to heart. And all of that was before considering the small matter of Kim having saved the world on countless occasions. Taking all that into consideration, she should have been proud that she had raised her daughter to be such a force for good in the world, right?

Ann sighed, her gaze drifting out of the kitchen window; it was raining. She was proud of Kim's phenomenal accomplishments. How could she not be? Yet at the same time, she'd recently begun to feel like the worst mother in the world. Her daughter's high-octane lifestyle resulted in her risking both her life and injury on a daily basis, the latter of which seemed to occur far more than the girl had ever let on. And over the past eighteen months, ever since she'd broken up with her boyfriend, Kim had slowly become more and more reclusive. To the point that Ann suspected she rarely saw anyone face to face that was not in some way related to her current mission. And she'd virtually given up on the idea of her daughter having some sort of social life. Regardless, as the girl's mother, she could not help but feel responsible for the current state of her daughter's life.

Over the past couple of weeks, ever since she'd released Kim from 'house arrest', memories of points where she could, no, should have intervened in her daughter's life, had played over and over again inside Ann's head. The aforementioned period where she'd been forced to leave Kim in the care of her grandmother being the starting point. If I'd only paid less attention to my career; to trying to build a stable future for my family and focused on the then and there, maybe I would have had a closer relationship with her... been there for her. And while she had thought it a great thing at the time, Kim learning to be so independent from such a young age had contributed a lot to how she had developed as she'd grown up. We encouraged her independence so much that by the time she'd reached high school, she probably could have lived by herself without much issue, assuming she learned to curtail her expenditure at Club Banana. Then there had been her 'babysitting website', something else they had wholeheartedly encouraged her to pursue.