Who: Linda, Kenny, Kenny’s twins What:mandated family therapy Where: Linda’s office When: the day before this Warnings:low Status: closed/completed g-doc
Kenny blamed the twins for their current predicament. They had been eating burgers at Hinkles the day before and as usual, the twins and Kenny were bickering. Apparently they had gotten too loud, loud enough for the owner at Hinkles to call the police. Now they were forced to attend family therapy by the court.
He and the twins were in the waiting room. He ignored them for the most part and instead was reading a pamphlet about anger management and wondered if he should give it to Haley or Hazel or whatever her name was. Oh, he didn't care about her and her issues. He just wanted to see what would happen if he gave it to her.
Lucas sat besides Riley across from their dad. He'd grown bored waiting for the therapist, so he threw a crumpled up paper at Kenny who just glared before continuing to read the anger management pamphlet.
Riley blamed Kenny for this, especially when she was missing a sale that Brooke had planned on taking her to, but now that wasn’t happening. She didn’t even remember what the bickering was about, but still, she knew it was very likely that Kenny was the one who started the bickering ordeal. Checking her watch, she groaned at how the sale was taking place and here she was in a waiting room that could use some color. Opening a magazine, she flipped through it and checked out the outfits, ignoring Kenny, who she wanted nothing to do with. He was the reason she was missing out on time with her mom! Lucas had nudged her before throwing the paper at Kenny, biting her lip to keep from laughing. "Don’t do that," she mumbled to him, nudging him before holding up the magazine as if Kenny couldn’t see them whispering. Whispering in her brother’s ear, "We play nice so the therapist can see how dad’s the problem." Pulling away, she put the magazine back down and returned to flipping through it. She looked very much like her mother in that moment. Linda didn’t know what to expect with the current family therapy session. She felt strongly that therapy shouldn’t be a punishment. Regardless, though, she had a session with a father and twins.
As soon as she opened the door, Linda immediately wished she had another mug of coffee and maybe a glass of wine. She looked longingly at her empty mug, before she forced a smile on her face. “Kenny, Riley, Lucas? I’m Linda, and you can come in.” Thankfully she had a couch like in her office at home, but also a chair to the side.
Once everyone sat, she asked, “I know therapy today wasn’t your choice, but why don’t you tell me about yourselves? Your relationship?”
"I'm bored," Lucas whispered back. At least Riley had magazines to read. There wasn't any that looked interesting to him. He leaned a bit closer to Riley and nodded slightly. "Play nice. Got it." He could do that. At least as long as they could until Kenny figured it out. Their dad could be quite observant when he wanted to be. Lucas wouldn't be surprised if he'd seen them whispering right now, even if it looked like he was too busy reading the pamphlet to notice.
Kenny heard their names and glanced up. Okay, the therapist was kinda hot in the nerdy librarian sort of way. He didn't really hide the fact that he was checking her out, something Lucas noticed and made him roll his eyes as the three headed into Linda's office and sat down.
Kenny spoke first. "My relationship? I'm single. Are you single, Doc? You're kind of cute." Yes, he knew that wasn't what she meant. But he wasn't going to take this seriously and decided to mess with her.
Before Riley could whisper back to her brother, the shrink was out and ready for them. This was still ridiculous! The only person who should be here was Kenny, especially to learn how to keep it in his freaking pants if he didn’t want the number of kids that always showed up for him. Riley knew their dad might catch on, but hopefully, they would have some time before that. At least Riley wasn’t going to turn on the water works like she mastered to get what she wanted from people. Even though, sadly, it never worked on mom or dad, both in their timeline and here. Riley hadn’t noticed Kenny; however, she noticed her brother rolling his eyes. That gave her a small clue as to what Kenny probably did, especially when she knew what he was like around here. That caused a shake of the head from Riley at the whole thing. When Kenny started, Riley glanced at her watch to see that it wasn’t even a minute into meeting the woman and already Kenny was going to start. "Gross! Please tell me you have better taste and don’t fall for that bs," Riley asked without even thinking to the woman.. Oh god, Riley hoped that she was correct about this woman, or she’d probably walk out. What were they going to do? She'd be gone in a few days most likely anyways! Sitting down next to her brother, Riley did what she always did, which was take control of the conversation. "I’m Riley, and this is my best friend and twin, Lucas. Then you have," she turned her head for a moment to Kenny, "my father from a different timeline, who is a bit of a jerk whenever we show up around here." Riley knew people saw the network, so she was pretty sure she didn’t need to explain how Kenny got when they showed up. Linda stared at Kenny without blinking for a few seconds. Oh. Yeah, she was definitely texting Cami and Lorna after this and hopefully one of them would go get a drink with her. Augh.
“I don’t think my relationship status has any bearing on our session.” To Riley she smiled. “Not to worry.” No wonder the kids needed fucking therapy.
“I’m happy to meet you, Riley and Lucas.” She smiled at the twins. To Kenny she said, “The jury’s out on how I feel about meeting you.”
“I”m sorry to hear your dad is a bit of a jerk. That must be difficult. Is he different in your timeline?” Because that would certainly have bearing on the rest of the session.
Lucas groaned while Kenny just snickered. "Yeah, please tell him to fu - I mean - stop. We don't need any more half siblings." Not that he didn't like them (well, he wasn't sure about Hazel. She did have anger issues and he wasn't surprised their dad thought so as well), but he really didn't want any more. They already had too many as it is.
Being the more quieter of the two, he was perfectly content with letting Riley speak. That didn't mean Lucas was completely silent, of course. He did speak up and answered questions. "Yeah, he's actually pretty cool in our timeline. But this one, he always cusses at us and says he wants to trade us for drugs or donuts or whatever."
Kenny nodded in agreement, not even bothering to deny it. "Speaking of which, do you want these two?" he asked Linda. "I'll trade you for whatever you have."
Riley was content with this woman for the moment, noticing her not falling for Kenny and his crap. She didn't have to walk on out, but she'd see if her views on Linda stayed the same. Riley was glad that her brother made sure to add the more part to his comment since she liked some of her half-siblings. The only one who scared her was Hazel, who she felt would probably do something to her if she pissed the other girl off. It was one of the reasons Hazel was the only half-sibling that she avoided. She crossed one leg over the other, letting her brother to answer the questions since she knew he wasn't always one to speak up. It's why they counted on one another. She wasn't about to interrupt her brother, especially when he was just answering some questions. "See, this is what we get every time we come around. I'm pretty sure he'd trade us to whoever without even a second thought. I don't think he has ever once said anything nice about seeing us around," she turned in her seat, looking at Kenny as if studying him for a moment before turning back to face Linda. "At least, I can't remember a single nice word coming out of his mouth about us. You could make a killing with all his kids, probably needing to sit down with you when here with this version of him." Linda wondered just how many kids showed up for Kenny, that the twins mentioned no more half-siblings. Hopefully they all had decent moms or those poor kids.
“I’m glad he’s cool in your timeline at least. And Kenny, you can’t keep trying to trade your kids. They’re not like fucking Pokemon cards. Plus, it obviously hurts them, so why do it? Why not just be nice for the few days they’re in town?” Linda’s head hurt, she wanted doughnuts now, and she honestly considered offering a free session to all of his kids.
“I’d rather listen to whatever you kids have to say instead of charging you.” Linda had no problem charging Kenny, of course.
Kenny just sat and listened with no expression on his face. When he was spoken to, he just shrugged. "You're right. Pokemon cards have more value." Lucas glared at his father. Unfortunately, he wasn't near Kenny, being on the other side of Riley. So he couldn't hit him, but he did nudge Riley to get her to do it if she wanted.
"Why would I be nice? They're only here for a week and they'll go back to their cool dad soon." To Kenny, it didn't really matter since they were only here for so long. "Also, they're fine. They always tell me to fuck off when I say shit to them. It's not like they ever cried or anything." Not that he knew about, anyway.
Riley knew what the nudge was about, but she wasn’t going to elbow him in front of Linda, knowing how that’d look. Instead, she glared at him with a look that she had seen her mother use more than enough times when the twins were in trouble or a fellow parent or teacher at the twin’s school was trying to talk bad about the twins. Everyone always backed down when she had that look though Riley hadn’t mastered it as well as her mother. However, it still sent the message of her being very annoyed with the individual, which was Kenny at the moment.
Losing the glare, she shook her head. “So what we need to cry for you to think twice about the shitty comments you make?” Riley asked before crossing her arms because yeah, she was never going to cry over something this version of her father did. “Because you and mom taught us to ignore what people say and tell them where to go, if they start with us. So we stick to that even if it’s towards our father in another timeline. Me more than Lucas because I have no problem telling someone to fuck off.” Riley told him, pushing a piece of her hair back. “Our mom isn’t like our mom, but she’s still nice to us. Is it that hard for you to be decent to us? We’re not asking you to be like the version we know, but don’t be such an ass.” Riley really wanted to kick his leg for being such a jerk, but she held back and didn’t do that. She didn’t want to be stuck here longer than needed, especially when she had hope to make the sale.
LInda, honestly, wouldn’t have blamed Riley for kicking her father, but she was still glad the teen didn’t. It would keep them all here longer than necessary.
“Your daughter does make a point. Even if they’re only here for a week, you’re still their father in some form. You matter to them.” Linda knew the session was almost done, but then turned to the twins.
“For what it’s worth? I’m sorry your dad here isn’t like your dad at home. I know what it’s like to be disappointed by a father.” Just ask Rory.
Guess it was a good thing Lucas wasn't anywhere near Kenny. He definitely would've kicked their dad if he had been able to reach. He also saw the look Riley gave Kenny and knew that she was very annoyed. Not surprising, Kenny wasn't bothered by it at all.
Kenny shrugged. "No, not really. I'd still make those shitty comments whether you cried or not." Which he was glad they didn't. The last thing he wanted to deal with was some overly sensitive kid who couldn't handle a bit of swearing. He never really knew what to do when someone cried. Maybe a long time ago he did, but not so much anymore.
"I doubt it," he spoke to Linda this time. He was getting bored and glanced at the clock. "Are we done here? Our time is almost up."
Riley already planned on kicking Kenny once they were out of the office and out of sight, so it wouldn’t force her to stay here even longer. Right now, though, she was proudly keeping her foot away from him, so she didn’t give into the desire to kick him for being such an ass. "It’s fine. After....how many times have we been back here now?" Her attention was drawn to Lucas for a moment, "Well, no matter the amount of times, we’ve learned to expect what we get, which is usually him trying to sell us or being an ass to us." It was nothing new with this version of their dad. Only this time, now they were being forced to talk about their feelings because their father had to draw attention to them. Yes, Riley meant it when she said that she blamed Kenny for this. Sighing, she rolled her eyes at Kenny’s reply about if they cried; however, she was not surprised at all. "I know I’m done," Riley replied, moving to the edge of the seat once they were told they could leave. "He’s not going to change no matter how long the session is or how many we have. Plus, I’m hoping to catch my mom for some shopping that she was doing." It was great to voice some of her feelings towards Kenny, but Riley knew this version of Kenny was still going to be an ass. She might as well make the most of her time here rather than be stuck in this damn office. Linda nodded. “I’ll sign the papers saying I saw you.” No sense in keeping them here. But she did plan on buying a bottle pf wine for the evening. This had given her a headache.
“Enjoy the rest of your day.” Linda was ready for more caffeine too.