Who: Bobby and Penelope What: Kidplot When: Feb 12 Where: Finstock's Apartment Rating: low
Bobby was having a morning. Waking up and walking into the living room with your boxers on only to find a teenage girl standing there looking entirely grossed out was not the best way to start your weekend morning. He managed to put on a robe, but changing had completely left his mind once the girl had said who she was.
“What do you mean you’re my kid?”
She shrugged and crossed her arms as she sat on the couch. “Just like I said. I’m your kid. From home, anyway. This apartment sucks way more than back home.”
Bobby blinked and then rubbed his forehead. He had a headache. “I don’t have a kid from back home.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Bobby gave her a ‘oh, come on’ look since that wasn’t what he meant and somehow he knew that she knew that. His mind worked overtime. “Okay, so maybe you’re my kid in another reality. Who’s your mom anyway?”
This got another shrug. “Dunno. You never say. You always avoid the question.”
“Great. Just great.” Finstock grumbled at himself. That’s when he heard the door and headed toward it automatically. “Tell me you at least play lacrosse like a beast.”
The girl made a face. “Gross. I hate lacrosse.”
Bobby had been in mid-door-opening so Penelope unfortunately got an exciting “You what?!” He hadn’t even realized she was there since he turned around to look at his apparent daughter.
He must be getting Punk’d. Did they still punk people?
–
This wasn’t the first time Penelope dealt with a random potential future child arriving in town, so she hadn’t panicked when she woke up to find an additional teenager in her house. After checking in that Penny was okay, she took her daughter to meet her dad. Well, so Bobby could meet her. She hadn’t called ahead, but she did stop to pick up coffee and donuts, so at least she wasn’t showing up empty handed.
She blinked in confusion at his greeting and then looked past him to see yet another teenage girl standing in his living room. “You didn’t tell me you had a sister,” she said to the girl with her.
“Because I don’t,” she replied, “I mean, unless you count Penny, but she’s usually a lot older. Hey, Dad.” His confusion didn’t phase her one bit and she pushed past both of her parents and immediately flopped down on the sofa.
*
Finstock finally realized someone was actually at the door and blinked when he saw Penelope and then saw another teenage girl. He already had a feeling what this meant before the girl said hi to him, but it was still really weird to hear. Two people calling him dad.
“Diamond is from Beacon Hills.” He looked at Penelope with a wild look of ‘why does my somehow kid have a stripper name?! though he managed not to say it out loud. He’d probably circle back to that question out loud at some point, hopefully when Diamond wasn’t around.
“Your names not Sapphire, is it?” He looked at the new daughter. He heard Diamond say ‘ew’ and had to resist the urge to roll his eyes so hard.
–
Penelope’s eyes widened when he mentioned his other daughter’s name and that she was from home. That wasn’t something she had personally experienced. All of her potential future children were from Madison Valley.
“No, it’s Meredith,” she said, her voice dripping with disdain as she gave her pseudo sister a once over. “How do you play lacrosse with those nails?” she asked.
This was going to make things very interesting. Garcia was glad she grabbed an extra coffee. It was supposed to be hers because she felt like it was a two coffee sort of day, but she certainly didn’t want to leave Diamond out. “I brought coffee and donuts,” she said. “Why don’t we sit down and get to know the girls?”
*
"Ew, I definitely don't play."
"Oh now there's ew with that." Finstock managed to mumble it, but it'd be loud enough for Penelope to hear. He definitely preferred Meredith. Meredith did not scream glitter and tasseled pasties.
"Doughnuts and coffee, you're a life saver." Even if it was a little weird somehow because of the situation, he still leaned into kiss Penelope both as a thank you and a greeting.
He took a seat and grabbed a powdered doughnut. He needed the extra sugar to digest what the hell was going on. "Seeing as you're an expert of this place and you're not losing it completely I'm going to guess this isn't a new phenomena." But why, though, he had to wonder.
He turned to Meredith. "I'm assuming you're from here." Diamond he already knew. He glanced over to her to find she was pulling off the plain bottom of one of the doughnuts and not touching the glazed and sprinkled side. Of course she wasn't.
–
Meredith made a faux disgusted face when her dad kissed her mom, but she didn’t say anything since she was far more interested in the other teenage girl who was apparently her sister. Sort of. She was used to weird things so it didn’t phase her all that much.
“Yeah, and I’ve seen all kinds of weird stuff, so time travel isn’t really that bad,” she said. “So if you don’t play lacrosse, what do you do?” she asked Diamond.
While she hadn’t been here as long as some people, Penelope had at least been through this before. “Yeah, this is one of the things that’s happened before,” she said. “It’s definitely temporary.” Their daughter was pretty cool though. “So who’s Diamond’s mom?”
*
Diamond looked at her face sister who she thought needed to exfoliate a little more, but she didn’t say it. Instead, she shrugged. “I like shopping. Window, mostly, since dad’s just a teacher so he doesn’t make any money, but I can usually flirt my way into getting guys to buy me things sometimes.” She leaned forward a little, dropping her voice in a conspiratorial tone. “Do you really play lacrosse or just saying that to make him happy?” Diamond clearly thought that Meredith was playing the sport out of duress or something.
“Apparently, I have no idea.” He looked Penelope with one of those ‘my life is messed up’ expressions. “I can’t tell by the way she answers if I don’t actually know or if I know and I just won’t tell her. Honestly, it could be either. But I did get out of her that I’d been sober for less time than I actually am.” Well, unless you counted that forced relapse. “So chances are the not-knowing is pretty good.”
—
It somehow seemed impossible that he wouldn’t know who her mother was, unless he’d been far more of a player than she would have guessed and whoever it was left the baby in a basket on his doorstep. Penelope wasn’t going to think too hard about it though, especially since the girl seemed like kind of a handful.
“Well, I’d be happy to take Diamond shopping if you want to play some lacrosse with Meredith,” she offered. Sports were definitely not her thing at all and she knew that any athletic ability their daughter had was courtesy of her father.
Meredith frowned at her half sister. “I really play. It’s fun. The boys are all afraid of me.” Partly because she was the coach’s kid, but also because she was a really good player.
*
“Shopping would one hundred percent be welcomed.” He’d make this up to Penelope at some point, but Diamond wasn’t a terrible kid, just not the personality type that really matched Finstock. Maybe this was part of the rebellious phase or maybe she was like whoever her mom was.
Bobby turned automatically when he heard Meredith and said, “That’s my –” He caught himself “- girls. Good on both of you.” Okay, he knew that was a bad catch, but whatever.
So Bobby distracted “Pizza later?”
–
Penelope nodded. “Pizza sounds good,” she agreed. “Come on, Diamond. Let’s go do some damage with your dad’s credit cards.” She flashed Bobby a grin that communicated she wouldn’t let the girl go too crazy.
“You two have fun.” Lacrosse wasn’t her thing either, so she had no problem taking out her boyfriend’s other daughter. God this place gave her a headache sometimes.
*
“Remember I’m just a teacher!” Which was his way of saying he didn’t have a lot of money. He knew Penelope knew that, but this was a reminder to Diamond who also probably knew this.
He turned as the door closed and offered Meredith an awkward smile. Well, he might as well try to get to know this daughter too. The fact she was his and Penelope’s made it feel a lot less scary somehow.