Contemplating The Statue™

"Hi, Mum."

"Hey Zeus, you okay?"

"Yeah. I wanted to talk to you."

"What is it, sweetie?"

"Well, I'm here on behalf of all of us. I kinda got nominated to do this."

"Well, that sounds important! Is everything okay?"

"...No. Tristan overheard you argue with Dad on the day we found out about Vincent."

"Oh no! Oh, I'm really sorry!"

"Don't be... It's his fault, not yours. Thing is... we don't feel safe any more. And we don't feel like you are either."

"Oh, honey..."

"We love you and we don't want anything to happen to you!"

"Zeus... I'll be okay, I promise."

"We want you to leave Dad. None of us wanna see him again. Even Tristan."

"Really? Oh my God, I've been so stupid... I'm so sorry for letting you all down."

"You didn't let us down. You've been great to us!"

"I love you all so much... Listen. I'm already a step ahead of you. I'm making plans for us to go, okay? I just didn't say anything yet to avoid worrying you. I don't want you near that man any longer than you need to be."

"Seriously?! That's great to hear! Where are we going?"

"I haven't decided yet. Somewhere really nice. Maybe we could pick together, hmm?"

"Yeah, we'd love to!"

"Ah yeah, keep it a secret from Julius. He's a bit too young to get it."

"Sure, no problem. Are you okay?"

"I feel better now. Stronger. We can do this. And I'll do my damn best to protect you all, no matter what..."

"You're in? Awesome. We're meeting up at ours at ten, if that's okay. Great! We'll see you there. Bye."

"Heath's up for it?"

"Damn right he is!"

"Fuck yeah. This is going to be great."

"Alright, I'm here. Ten boxes, right?"

"Hey Nyla. Yeah, that's right."

"Good. Hm, you two look like you're up to no good."

"Let's just say it involves a certain statue."

"Oh. I get you now. Well, have fun!"

"You don't like Tate either?"

"No. He sounds horrible. I've heard a lot from Roxxi."

"Urgh, I bet she had some things to say. Have you ever met him? School, wherever?"

"Oh, please. That implies he'd do anything that resembles childcare."

"Hah. Aria's right. I've never seen him there."

"Well, you're lucky. Let's hope it stays that way. How're you anyway?"

"Not bad. Might have to start limiting Feli's TV time though. She must have seen one of the soaps, because I overheard her playing dolls. Apparently one of them is sleeping with her boss for a promotion."

"Oh, shit! Does she even know what that means?"

"Nope. I asked her and she's still innocent about that, at least. Probably not for much longer though."

"Definitely not. She'll hear it all from school."

"Mm. That's what I'm worried about."

"Hey, it's fine. When I was her age one of my dolls was a serial killer."

"Oh."

"...I was a bit of a disturbed child, I must admit."

"Ha. It's okay. No, I'm worried about her finding out where babies come from. She'll probably start asking about her dad again."

"Damn... I'm sorry, Nyla."

"Thanks. It's for the best that she doesn't know him."

"Of course it is. What have you told her in the past?"

"That he's a bad man, and that's why we don't see him."

"You did the right thing. Hey, she might not have a dad but she's still got you. And that's great!"

"Aww. Thanks, Stan."

"Ain't no problem. Just tellin' you the truth."

"He's right. Feli's got a mum who loves her. It's more than I ever had, not that our family is anything to go by. And you're doing her a massive fucking favour by not having a piece of shit father in her life."

"I'm sorry. Yeah, you're right. Everything's turned out much better than I expected. I... hope Tate didn't affect you too badly."

"Thanks. I'm not gonna lie, he did a lot of damage... But he's not getting the better of me."