Fast Car

The Lamborghnini streaked down the empty highway, weaving from lane to lane.

"OhmygodohmygodohmyGOD! I am soooo grounded!" Faith laughed nervously. She was breathing heavily and could feel her heart racing in her chest. Her knuckles were turning white from how tightly she was holding the steering wheel. Having never driven before, she was afraid to end up in a car wreck or worse.

"So did you really mean it about buying me a car, Uncle Neil? Or did you just say that to bug my ma?" Not that the girl minded if it had just been a joke. The look on her mother's face was priceless.

[Continued in Comments]

Battered, Not Broken

Her mother had been on the phone constantly since Uncle Gareth landed in the hospital for a second time. This come-back tour hadn't been going as well as hoped, leaving the woman distracted and a little stressed. Adjusting the hood of her jacket and a pair of newly-bought sunglasses, Faith took a minute to watch her mother pace worriedly back and forth beside the tour bus, then tried to slip into the vehicle unnoticed.

The woman's hand shot out and grabbed her, just as the girl brushed past. Faith winced at the pain on her arm from the pressure on a hidden bruise.

"Where d'ya think you're going, young lady? You've been avoiding me all day. Now what is going on?" Her mother asked as she hung up her cel. She looked her daughter up and down. "What's with the get-up? You're not famous enough to be ducking from the paparazzi now, are ya?" A tiny smirk tickled at the corner of the woman's mouth, amused at her own joke, before disappearing again in a mother's worried frown.

Sighing, Faith reluctantly removed her sunglasses and lowered her hood. A trail of bruises lined one side of her face.

"I'm fine, Ma," the girl growled, before her mother could utter a word of panic. "Some bastard kid tried to mug me this morning, that's all."

To Faith's surprise, her mother said nothing as her hand gently reached up and turned the girl's head to take a closer look at the bruises. But Faith could see the worry screaming in her mother's eyes.

"You're... not mad, Ma?"

Her mother shrugged, still looking at the injuries. "It's not your fault, love. These things happen. More often than they should with government incompetence, but they happen." She sighed, "I'm just glad you're okay. I..." Her voice began to shake, as tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

Faith frowned with concern. "Ma? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," the woman wiped her eyes, and tried to smile. The crack in her voice betrayed her feelings. "Just the thought of losing anyone else... again... especially you..."

The girl hid her annoyance and put on her best, comforting smile. Admittedly, it had been a frightening experience, but except for the bruises she really was completely fine. Her attacker had it worse with the broken nose she had given him. Faith had only hidden her injuries, so she wouldn't worry her mother.

"It's okay, Ma. I'm okay." She wrapped her arms around her mother and cringed as a shot of pain erupted up from the bruises on her back when the woman returned the hug. "I'm alright, Ma. I'm right here."

"I know, love. I know," her mother whispered, as if it were a struggle to speak.

Faith held her breath, hoping her mother wouldn't hold her any tighter.

Starting Over...

"Ma? Are you sure about this?"

First it was the trip to City Hall. Now this.

"You remember the last time you tried starting over, right, Ma?" Not that Faith didn't want her mother to finally pull herself together. She just didn't want her mother to have another false start like last time, and end up even lower than when she had begun.

Her mother smiled. Not the weak smile the girl remembered seeing growing up with the reclusive woman. Not the half-hearted smile her mother used when she didn't feel like smiling at all, but didn't want to let on that she didn't, which until now had been every day for the last three years.

It was a closed, tight smile, a small one that only showed at the corners of her lips. A tiny, guarded smile that seemed to be afraid to show itself, in case the reason for its existence was snuffed like a blown-out candle. But the smile reached her mother's eyes, which was something Faith had never seen before today. It was a smile that wanted to be sincere but was afraid to be.

"Seriously, Ma, are you sure?" she asked as she followed her mother across the vast and empty condo. It was big, too big for just her and her mother, taking up an entire two floors of the building, and being unfurnished made it feel that much bigger. "Can we even afford this place? I mean, you haven't toured in years. Shouldn't you like wait or something?"

"Listen to you," Faith's mother laughed as she stopped to stare out one of the large full windows that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. "You'd think I was the irresponsible teenager while you're the mature adult. Since when was there a role-reversal?"

Since you began sulking, whining and being sorry for yourself, the girl thought, but said nothing. She merely shrugged.

"Come check out the view, love," the woman said as she waved over to her daughter. Faith came over reluctantly, uninterested in the view until she actually saw it.

"Holy shit."

"Watch your language, young lady!"

"Sorry, Ma," she muttered, caught by surprise. Her mother had never cared about her language before. Faith looked at her, confused, but her mother's attention was already back on the vista before them.

The new condo was located high on the building, giving a breathtaking view of the surrounding area. Before them lay the crisp blue of the ocean, flanked by the pale sands of the beach. Dark mountainous islands lay in the distance before the endless waters melted into sky.

"I actually wanted a beach house like your Uncle Neil's place, but there wasn't anything for sale. So I figured a beach-side condo was the next best thing. Oh, by the way," she pointed out the window to a group of houses by the water some distance up the beach, "Your uncle's house should be out there somewhere. About an hour or so from here." She smirked, "Though you could get there in about half that if you ran."

Faith groaned, and her muscles ached instinctively at the mention of running. "Seriously, did Uncle Neil slip something in your coffee when you two went running that day?" Every day since, her mother had woken her up, so they could go running together every morning.

The woman smiled as she turned away from the window to inspect the rest of their new home. "Nah, he just gave me something I needed."

"Which is what?" Faith hated when her mother got cryptic.

"A friend."

The girl wondered how her mother's smile could seem happy and sad at the same time.