Work Text:
She taps her feet against the floor and stares at a scratch (probably from her) on the wall. Dad is talking to her slow and calculated, the way he does when he's really pissed. She rolls her eyes so far into the back of her head she sees her brain. She hears his sharp intake of breath and watches as he tries (unsuccessfully if you ask her) to calm down.
"What have we said, Rebecca? What have we said about you going out with that boy late at night? How do you think his parents feel, huh? Knowing that he's out that late with a girl two years older than him?" Dad demands. The "alpha" goes unsaid but understood. He's angry but she doesn't care. She ignores him. It's not his fucking business anyway.
"Listen to me, and listen close. When your father gets back, we're going to sit down and discuss this." Oh fuck. If Papa knows. Shit. She'll never get out of it. He'll beat her ass. Literally. She grinds her teeth together and digs her heel into the floor. "Go up to your room." He says and steps aside, a sigh of disappointment leaving him.
-
She sit in her room and flicks through tumblr. She's too antsy to focus on any of the serious discussions that are always on her dashboard. She has Beyoncé playing her ear and she's texting her Josh, her Omega. She tries to pretend that she doesn't hear Dad come into her room.
Dad comes up and tugs an earphone out of her ear. "Hey. You're father's home. Come downstairs." It's a command. She twitches and stands to follow him downstairs, leaving her phone on her bed.
Papa is sitting on the couch with his arms crossed over his chest. He looks irritated. Of course, Papa always looks irritated when he gets home from work. She sits across from him on the rocking chair that she often sees in picture albums. It's her rocking chair.
Papa shifts into Dad when he sits down next to him. It's subtle. It took her years to figure out what he was doing. Every time Dad or Papa sat down next to each other they'd shift into each other. Papa looks at her for a long time. "You wanna tell me what the fuck-" Dad smacks Papa's arm, "is going on?" He looks at her expectantly.
"Dad is upset that I'm still seeing Josh."
"No," Dad corrects, "Dad is upset that you're still seeing Josh too late after we've both talked to you about it." She huffs. Papa raises an eyebrow at her. She shrinks back into the chair.
"So you're still sneaking out to see Josh, huh?" Papa takes a deep and massages his eyes with his fingers. "I swear Rebecca," He starts but he doesn't finish.
"You and Dad have been together since Dad was fifteen!" She insists because really. There's no reason for them to be so upset.
"Yeah and Dad and I didn't have parents so how bout that?" Papa shoots back.
"Josh and I are being safe; I don't know what the issue is!" What is so wrong about her seeing her Omega after 9:00?
"I don't give a shit about the sex, Rebecca! I care that you're sneaking around! Just have sex in the time limit we give you! There's no reason for neither you nor Josh to be out that late." Papa says and he doesn't leave room for discussion. She glares off to the side.
"I don't get why. We're not doing anything wrong." She huffs.
"Yeah and how do you know?" Papa shakes his head. Dad grabs his hand and pulls it into his lap. Papa's thumb presses against Dad's wedding band. "Just go to your room, Rebecca. You're not gonna listen so just go to your room." She feels the anger build in her chest. It rises and it presses against her skin.
Why should she take orders from some fucking Omega? She shouldn't. He's nothing. He's just a fucking breeder. Nothing compared to her. "How about you get off my case!" She growls.
Everything stops. Papa freezes and Dad looks at her angrily. She can see Dad's Alpha burning behind his eyes. She notices Papa moving to press his hand against Dad's chest. "Ian." Papa murmurs softly. Dad grabs Papa's hand.
"Get to your room." Dad says and this time she goes. She doesn't know what just happened. She doesn't know what Dad is so upset and Papa so… defeated.
-
Mickey sits for a long while and doesn't move. He doesn't move because Rebecca, his daughter, should not be allowed to talk to him like that. She shouldn't have the capability to use The Voice in the first place.
Ian is no better. He can still hear the gentle rumble of a growl from Ian's chest. Ian's standing, pacing. He's angry. He knows the Alpha wants to go up there and rip Rebecca to shreds but the father inside Ian refuses to allow it. Thus the anxious pacing.
"Ian." Mickey calls and Ian stops. "Stop fucking pacing, seriously." Ian collapses next to Mickey.
"What do you wanna do?" He asks.
"I don't know. Ask her what the hell she's thinking." Mickey retorts with a snort and leans back. "This is definitely not what I want to be dealing with."
Ian takes his hand and massages his palm. "Sorry."
He shakes his head, "Jesus does this happen to people?"
"You know she doesn't mean it. Probably doesn't even know what it means." Ian murmurs.
"She's seventeen. I'm sure she has some sort of idea." He snorts.
Ian hums, "You and her… you've always been closer. She connects with you so go and… I dunno. Just got figure it out."
He stands and wipes his hands on his jeans. "Don't break anything while I'm gone." Ian shoots him a look.
-
Rebecca is sitting against the headboard of her bed. She's on her phone but obviously not focused. She doesn't look up. She keeps her eyes trained to the screen. "You wanna tell me what's going on?" He asks.
She looks up at him and shrugs. "I dunno."
"Do you mean you don't know what's going on or you don't know if you wanna talk about it?"
"I don't know what's going on." She clarifies.
"Alright. You wanna talk about it?" She nods. He sits on the edge of her bed. "You know the Alpha/Beta/Omega stuff, obviously. You know how that works. But there's this thing. It's… rare. You got it from your dad.
"Alphas can sometimes use this… I dunno, this tone that just makes their bonded Omega do whatever the hell they want. It's not usual. It's not something you should ever use, either. It takes away free will and all that. No one wants to be in a situation where they have no control."
"So I… did that to you?" She asks.
"No. I'm not your Omega. I'm an Omega. I don't why you… I don't know why you tried to use it on me. It's something scientific and I'm shit at science."
"You're good at math." She puts in and he grins.
"Exactly. So I just wanted you to know why… why your dad and I acted so weird." He says.
"So Dad got upset because I tried to make you do something?"
"Dad got upset because his Alpha felt you were challenging him."
"But I obviously wasn't." She insists.
"I know. He knows that too. It's just a basic biology thing probably." She smiles at him.
"I'm sorry. I won't do it again. To anyone."
"Good, good. It's gotten your dad in some deep shit so…" She huffs a little laugh. "Don't forget to apologize to Dad." She nods.
-
Rebecca comes, shyly, into the kitchen as he stirs the pasta (something he picked up from Fiona). She smiles at him apologetically. "I'm sorry. I know you and Papa are just trying to look out for me. And I didn't know I was… you know." Ian turns around.
"It's okay. Don't do again. I don't think I can promise anything good’ll happen if it does." She laughs but it's not a joke.
"What is it?" She asks and he knows she's referring to The Voice.
"I don't know, but we'll figure it out." He promises.