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turned to full blast. It strengthened her, strangely enough.

Ben watched as they strolled down the narrow sidewalk to the door. He knew she sounded different on the phone from how she was that morning, and as much trouble as he'd gotten them in, he was relieved that she seemed to have talked it out with Damon, and he brought her back to her senses.

That didn't change the fact that he was about ready to punch him. He knew Damon's car, as he'd seen it many times, and the last thing he expected to see as he watched them speak briefly in the car was him...doing that with his sister. 

He knew that - obviously - they did that kind of stuff, but he'd never had the displeasure of witnessing it himself. He didn't like it. In fact it made him angry.

Of course, Ben had hardly noticed the fact that his father had gone dead still, lost in his own thoughts, so when he finally looked up as the door opened, he caught his father's murderous gaze. 

Oh no. He thought, eyes widening. He saw it too.

He was glad, in that moment, for the fact that Maria was pinning him into the booth, as he looked at Damon as if he wanted go valting over the table at him. 

"So," Damon began, standing with his arm securely around Libia, who was staring at her father with a gaze that would kill a lesser man. "I take it you're the famous "dad" I've heard so much about."

And without a word, he knudged Maria, and she took their daughter from his lap where she scrawled away - oblivious. Maria stood for him to slide out of the booth, and he did so, slowly and calculatingly.

He took three steps to where Damon stood, and Damon knew what he was going to do before anyone else - except maybe Ben - did, as he dropped his arm from around Libia's shoulder and pushed her behind him slightly.

And he did exactly as he expected. The punch was so vicious that it knocked Damon back. It rang through the shop, a low thud that resounded in Libia's ears. She stumbled back, trying to catch Damon as best she could to keep him from falling too hard. The patrons of the shop began to murmur in alarmed voices, and one of the employees ran to the back of the shop.

"Dad!" She shrilled, too shocked to say anymore, and he cut her off, anyway.

"You stay away from my daughter," He told him, voice deadly calm, "You low down delinquent."

Libia ignored his words, carefully examining his face as she was knelt down beside him. He looked at her, long and hard, before turning his gaze back to his father with a challenging smirk. "You're gonna have to do more than that," He lifted his hand to his bleeding nose, "That is, if you really want me to stay away from her."

Libia knew that this whole feud was foolish. His father obviously had seen them kissing, and with all of the stuff that he had just been fed, he was in a blind rage. 

"You stop right there!" Libia said, her voice steely and trembling with anger as he took a step forward.

Her father looked at her, his eyes narrowing. 

"And you! I really thought you were more responsible than this, Libia. I genuinely thought that your knew better than to-,"

"To what?" She snapped, cutting him off, "To be my own person? Or perhaps you thought that I would always be the mediator between you and mom's fucked up situation. Maybe you thought I'd always be under both of your thumbs for the rest of my life, cleaning up the mess that you both left behind."

Seeing Damon hurt didn't exactly lift her mood. Her hands were trembling with anger as she carefully brought his face a little to the left to examine the bruise that was forming above his cheekbone. He pulled them away from his face, staying the shaking with his own steady fingers, and carefully standing on his feet, pulling her up with him.

Her father was staring at Libia with a slightly surprised expression. Both Maria and Ben were standing there waiting to jump in if he made another move towards Damon. 

"Libia, you're too good for this," He said to her, ignoring Damon completely this time. "You deserve better."

Libia blinked in bewildered amazement, processing what her father just said. Her mind spun with anger as she clenched her hand around Damon's.

"Did you really just-"

"No, Libia," Damon murmured, cutting her off with a gentle voice. She looked at him in confusion, anger still boiling under the surface. He smiled at her, and it was a little sad. "He's right."

They all stared at Damon, eyes widening in surprise. Even her father froze at the adoring look he held for her - like she was his one and only source of happiness.

"What? Damon, what are you-," She tried again, but he lifted a hand to her face, silencing her.

"You could do better than me. You deserve better than me - so much better."

"Damon," She protested, this time angry at him. "Don't you dare say another word!"

"Libia," He murmured, turning to face her fully, and, to her father's surprise, ignoring everyone else as he let a small grin appear on his face, staring down at her. "I love you."

Her anger was suddenly stunted, eyebrows raising and glare dissapating. "I love you too," She replied, head tilting. She was left wondering why he suddenly felt the need to say those words, when he let her go and turned back to her father.

"Shall we go somewhere else to talk? Seeing as the manager may be on his way to kick us out."

Her father, anger stunted slightly by the surprise, glanced around as he suddenly remembered where he was. He turned around to look at his wife, who held their daughter in her arms. She sucked her thumb as she watched her father with clear and intelligent eyes. Even as a child she reminded him of Libia.

"Yes," He agreed, suddenly reaching up to rub his neck in shame. "Let's...take a walk. Ben, will you stay with Maria for a while?" He asked him, and Ben blinked, glancing at the woman.

She smiled kindly at him, and he realized with a jolt that he couldn't hate her, nor his half sister. He never did. She was a human being who got caught up in a lot of drama thanks to their dad, but she was a sweet woman none the less. 

"Yeah," He hesitated, and then murmured, "I'm sure we can talk about...like...baseball or something." 

His father ignored his nonsensical muttering, glancing at his wife and child once more before walking past the two and leaving the cafe.

They glanced at each other with a look that showed a mixture of relief and apprehension for what was to come, before quickly following him out.

***

So, yeah. It's been a while. A week and a half. Yeah. Sorry for not updating in a while. I've had stuff happening and my cat ran away so we've been looking for him. He came back though! Yay!

Anyway guys, Q/A time!

So what do you think of the news about Libia's mother? What will Libia say when she finds out?

What do you think of her dad's wife? And the little girl? You may not have much of an opinion right now, but I promise you'll see more of them in the chapters to come, and you'll get to know the little girl a lot more. She's freaking adorbs.

I'm bad at relationships between main and side characters so I'm sorry Vivi and her friends are kind of...vague. In revising this story once it's finished I'm going to add a lot more detail to their relationship.

Anyway, I love y'all! Hope you enjoyed and if you find any problems like grammatical or spelling errors please let me know! This chapter is unedited as always so bear with me. c;

Chapter Twenty Two.

 

Libia stared at her father's back as they walked down the peaceful sidewalk. It was lightly cloudy that morning, and Libia still felt the need for a jacket, but it seemed that to most, this was a good day, as there were people shopping in the strip mall across the street, and browsing the restaraunts for a nice place. Libia's father led them into a park. There was no playground for children in the large park area, but the sidewalk created a complete circle all the way around, and trees dotted the middle, where picnic tables were strewn about.

He hadn't spoken a word, nor did he look at them when he turned into the park. He simply stared at the ground in front of him with his hands in his pockets.

He cut off of the path and made his way over to a picnic table. Damon and Libia glanced at each other, before hesitantly following him.

 He finally looked at them as they settled down across from him. He really examined Libia's face this time, and noticed that despite the tenseness of her forehead and the nervous set of her lips, she looked different somehow. It was strange, like something you didn't notice until it was gone - her eyes were lighter, and she seemed to stand straighter. Ben had said she had changed but...he hadn't mentioned how much.

And then he looked at Damon, the blondie who seemed too big for his britches, at least that's how he saw him. That confident grin he gave him after he punched him - like it was something he was used to. He just didn't trust him. After all, he'd gone and gotten Libia  a tattoo, and she'd ridden on his motorcycle. How do you trust a kid like that with your pride and joy?

"Libia," He murmured, turning back to his daughter.

The leftover anger from before still hung over the air, and Libia now felt a little guilty for the words she'd said back in the cafe. She knew she was right, but it was still a harsh way to say it. She watched as he struggled for the right words.

"I won't try to dictate your life anymore," He said, causing Libia's eyes to widen in surprise. "You're right, you're an adult now. But I won't accept him," He pointed at Damon, "Until I can be sure that he isn't going to ruin your life."

Libia opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand, "Moving on - I want to talk to you about your mother."

Letting herself relax slightly at the change of conversation, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What about her?"

"Your brother explained to me what she said to you. And I think it's time I explain my side of the story."

Libia felt a pang of doubt enter her system as her mother's words once again repeated in her head - this isn't you. She swallowed thickly. 

"Your side?" She asked, and they both noticed that her voice was slightly off.

"Yes. The other reason I left."

She felt nervous suddenly, as if she were standing on a ledge, trying to hold onto anything as not to fall. She wanted to cover her ears, and she didn't know why. 

"You had another reason?"

"One that...might be a little hard to swallow," He reached up to rub