Always His Baby

Chapter 5
Party

Chapter Description: Sheridan finds herself enjoying the kids party a little too much.

After school, Sammy’s mum is there to meet her daughter, Sheridan and their other friends at the gate. Everyone is excited about Sammy’s sister Emma’s birthday party and have spent most of the afternoon class deciding what games they’re going to play. Sheridan too had found herself strangely excited. It was nice to be around friends who were so happy and bubbly rather than constantly moody and sulking. The perks of being a child, she supposed. Their joy was incredibly infectious.

Sheridan is about to follow the both of them when she suddenly lingers at the gate, feeling rather uncertain and glancing around at all the other parents come to greet their children.

"What’s wrong, Sheri?" Sammy asks, holding her friend’s hand.

Sheri bites her lip; "I...I think I’m ’sposed to wait here for someone."

"Who? Your dad knows you’re coming to my house after school. Robin knows as well." Sammy assures.

Sheridan feels a little off. Did Dad really know about all of this? And he agreed to it? That must mean he’s as sucked into believing in the false reality as the rest of them are. She had tried not to hope for anything different. It really was just her, alone in the world, with her teenage memories.

She really needs to get to a police station. Why hadn’t she tried to escape during lunch-time? It had gone so quick when they had been talking about the party which did sound loads of fun.

And once Sammy and the rest of the girls begin to talk about it again, Sheridan soon forgets about where she’s supposed to be going.

An hour later, she’s sat at the dinner table in Sammy’s house, dressed in her Princess Jasmine outfit, with a stuffed tiger clutched in her arms. Jasmine isn’t complete without Raja after all. They’re playing musical chairs now, something which had sounded rather tedious to Sheridan when one of the girls had first suggested it. But after two people went out before her, Sheri started to find it strangely addictive. Just like the jump-rope. She grinned at Sammy, who was Princess Belle for today, the both of them still in and hoping to make it to the end.

Sammy and Emma’s dad is in charge of the C-D player and presses the button again; "Time to move, girls!"

"I am the music man!

I play the pia-"

Sheridan jumps up out of the seat and moves around the table, giggling with everyone else, until Sammy’s dad turns the music off and she rushes to a seat.

Another girl is taken out and it’s just her and Sammy left.

She wants to win but she doesn’t mind now if Sammy wins instead. She already won the skipping rope after all and Sammy had been so nice to her today. She’d felt as if she had been the new girl at school, being so lost and confused, maybe acting a little nasty out of a defence mechanism but Sammy had seen through it and still invited her to play. She was a good friend.

After musical chairs, it’s time for cake and they all sing Happy Birthday to Emma. Sheridan hopes that her dad lets her have a birthday party this nice where she gets a pretty cake, lots of balloons and gets to invite all her friends so they can dress up again and play fun games. Maybe Daddy would take them somewhere special like the beach or, if she asked really nicely, Disneyland itself! Everyone from school would want to come then...

Except. They would all look a bit silly, being little kids going to a sixteen year olds birthday at a place like that...And she doubted Tess, Jake and her other big friends would want to come to. They’d rather go to a boring, noisy nightclub and get drunk which wasn’t nearly as fun as this.

Sheridan suddenly pauses, half-way through eating her cake. The dizzy joy in her eyes begins to fade.

Sammy’s mum touches her hair; "What’s the matter, honey? Don’t you like the cake?"

Sheridan spits it back out onto the plate.

"No!" She suddenly shouts; "No, I don’t want it! I don’t want any of this stupid kiddie stuff!"

The thought of Jake snaps her out of whatever delusion she seemed to be under and she remembered who she was. What she was supposed to be. The other girls are staring at her, mouths open and full of cake, looking a little afraid. Sheridan sees them all in their silly Princess costumes and realises she looks just as silly as any of them. She throws the toy tiger to the floor and immediately tries to pull off her costume, tearing it a little.

Sammy’s mum’s hands are on her, trying to keep her still though her efforts are in vain as Sheridan begins to thrash against her.

"Sheri, honey, stop it! That isn’t your costume, it’s Sammy’s! You must not ruin it."

"I don’t care, you stupid bitch, I want it off!" Sheridan shouts.

The girls gasp again and one of them starts crying. Not that Sheridan cared. They were all just babies.

Sammy’s mum grabs Sheridan’s hand and pulls her into the kitchen, away from the rest of the girls, while Sammy’s dad tries to get things back to normal by putting the music on and telling the girls to finish their cake so they can play another game. Sammy tries to go after Sheridan but her dad tells her to leave her for a bit.

"Now, Sheridan Tyler, we do not use language like that in this house. Just as I know your daddy wouldn’t like it in your house either. He’d be ever so cross with you." Their mum rebukes, closing the kitchen door.

"Sod what my bloody dad wants!" Sheridan yells back, finally stripping the costume off of her and being left in her white vest, knickers and socks. "I’m fifteen years old and I shouldn’t be here, playing with a bunch of little kids at a stupid party."

Sammy’s mum raises an eyebrow; "Fifteen, huh? Well you’re acting like a five year old. No, even younger. Not the big, smart and well-behaved big girl that I know you are. Now, you don’t have to wear the costume if you don’t want to, but you are going to have to apologize to my daughter for ripping it. And to Emma for spoiling her party. Will you be a big girl and do that?"

Sheridan’s lips turned into a vicious smirk as she glared up at the woman and crossed her arms.

"What the hell do you think?" She practically spits back.

A furious look crossed the woman’s face and it was clear she was having to hold back from giving the child a good slap. At the same time, looking rather horrified by the obnoxious words that were coming out of the usually darling girl’s mouth.

She straightened up, seeming ever so tall again, and Sheridan had to fight the intimidation of being so tiny and knowing she should do exactly what Grown Ups told her. She was a Grown Up after all. Almost.

"Very well. You can stay in here while everyone else is having fun until your father comes to pick you up." The mother says, crossly; "I won’t let you spoil Emma’s day anymore."

Sheridan just stands there in her underwear and scowls after the woman as she leaves, shutting the door behind her. She’s fuming, breathing heavily, wanting to scream and kick anything she could find. But she knew she had to think clearly. This was the perfect time to make her escape now that she was finally left alone and away from all those snivelling brats.

They weren’t her real friends. This wasn’t were she belonged. She ran for the back door and tried to open it only to find it locked. Climbing up on the kitchen work-tops and trying to budge the sealed windows also proves hopeless. She tries smashing through the glass using the toaster or the kettle but the double glazing combined with her weakened muscles means she can barely make a scratch.

And the phone is off the base and in the other room. She really’s trapped in here. In ’time-out’.

The thought breaks through the bubbling anger and she crumbles, jumping down off the work-tops and curling up in a ball on the floor, burying her head in her arms and fighting the urge to cry. Only babies cry. Only stupid little girls cry and she’s neither of those. She hears the music and continued giggling in the other room and fights back the strange envy she feels inside. The wish to be back with them rather than in here on her own.

No.

She’s fifteen. A teenager. Almost old enough to move out. She has a boyfriend. A life of her own. Not one that revolved around skipping ropes and Disney costumes and childish games. She needs to get that life of hers back. Somehow.

But how? It feels so damn hopeless.

The door opens at last, after what feels like hours though probably isn’t that long, and Sheridan looks up at last. Sammy’s mum stands in the door, her face looking a little less angry now but still not completely forgiven for the words said earlier and Sheridan’s behaviour.

"Somone’s come to take you home." She says, stepping aside. And there is Dad standing in the threshold.

Sheridan’s heart almost leaps out of her chest.

She stands up and is about to run over, wanting to wrap her arms around his legs and cry out all of her problems to him so that he can make it all better just like Daddy always does. But then she sees the disappointed look on his face and it cuts her down, taking all words from her.

"Come on, young lady. We’re going home." He says, sternly, a warning tone in his voice.

Sheridan wants to cry right there but she doesn’t.

She keeps her head bowed and walks forward as if on Death Row. Dad takes her hand, his grip tight to show he’s in control, and he leads her out of the house, through the party that’s close to finishing. The girls are now on the sofa, watching Madagascar, Emma sat in her dad’s lap and glaring at Sheridan a bit. Sheri struggled not to let it bother her. Sammy just looks on, a little sad.

Dad makes her stand in front of the others, in her vest and knickers, making some of them giggle and her cheeks burn with humiliation.

"What do you say to everyone else after your little tantrum, Missy?" Dad prompts, touching her shoulder.

Sheri takes a deep breath. She didn’t want to prolong this.

"Sorry." She says in a tiny voice.

There’s no response from the other girls. Not even Sammy. Sheridan doesn’t look up for one. She doesn’t know why she feels so guilty when she had every right to kick off like that after what has been done to her. What no one else can possibly understand.

Dad takes her hand again and leads her towards the door, apologizing to Sammy and Emma’s parents, promising to ’sort his girl out’. They then leave.

Sheridan shivers at the cold air and being so exposed. She wishes she’d been allowed to change back into her school uniform, as wrong as it is. Before Dad can drag her back to the car, she stops and tugs on his hands, determined to have her say before he forces her back to a life of regressed childhood.

"Look. I know you won’t believe me." She starts, tears brewing in her eyes, trying to sound as mature as she can; "You think I’m just a little kid, like everyone else, but I’m not. I’m a teenager. Or I was until this morning when I woke up like this. I don’t understand how or why because none of it makes sense and everyone thinks it’s just a stupid game but it’s not and maybe it is real and I’m just losing my mind but I can’t-"

"Shh, shh, darling." Dad’s stern voice suddenly shifts to his usual soothing tone as he kneels down in front of her; "I know, okay? I know you’re telling the truth. I believe you. Honest."

Sheridan blinks in shock. She really hadn’t been expecting that.

"You...Y-you do?" Her eyes begin to water again.

"Of course. You really think it would be so easy for me to forget you waking me up at six in the morning with that terrible music and hogging the bathroom for two hours?" Dad chides, lightly and Sheridan giggles as she sobs.

She can’t believe Dad believes her. Dad remembers. She feels like she should have known that he would. Her heart swells. Why hadn’t she just gone looking for Dad in the first place like her initial instincts had told her?

Dad clicks his tongue at the tears of relief running down her face and he hugs her tight. Sheridan melts into his warm, strong arms, her little hands clutching at his shirt. She lets down all of her defences, shuddering in his arms as the tears continue to fall and she never wants him to let her go ever again.

"I was so scared, Dad." She confesses, getting his shirt ever so wet; "I thought I was going mad. A-and when I started to like to act like a little girl, I...I didn’t know what to do!"

"Shh, I know, Princess. I know." He rocks her against him, his hand stroking her pigtails; "Dad’s here. Dad will sort it all out. That’s what I’ve been trying to find out all day. Why I didn’t come for you sooner. I knew something was wrong. I still haven’t worked out what happened but I will. I promise. Dad will make it all better."

She nods against him, truly believing him, trusting him as she does no one else in the world. Dad fixes everything.

He holds her for a little longer until she calms down.

Then he wraps his jacket around her, bundling her up against the cold and taking her into the car, letting her ride up front with him. Sheridan smiles with gratitude as he buckles her seat-belt. Well, she is a big girl after all and Dad knows it. He smiles back at her, tapping her nose and giving her a wink which makes her giggle again before he starts the car. Taking her home at last.