Author's POV

Madison rolls her eyes.

Again.

And Again.

She huffs, scrolling through Instagram, not really taking her Mum's attitude seriously.

New Follower

"Finlay?" She frowns, giggling. "What is this a muscle off?" She howls out in laughter, commenting on one of his pictures.

'Your page reminds me of meatless Mondays.' She giggles further, creeping his page.

1 New Message Request.

She giggles; already knowing whom it was before even checking.

'Don't be rude and give me your number.' Finlay sends.

'Your insta page has to be a joke.' She replies.

'Your insta page must be a joke too. You're a big fan of Cheryl and Kimberley?'

She rolls her eyes, 'You're a dumb ass'

'I know. Now give me your number.'

Before she even gets the chance to reply, Kimberley barges into her room, without a knock or a tap to the door.

"Phone." She puts her hand out, waiting for Madison to hand it over.

"Er... No." Madison scoffs.

"Don't make me – take – it –right – out – of – your – hand." Kimberley speaks, as she struggles to yank the phone out of Madison's hand. "Give it here!"

"STOP!"

"I said give it!" Kimberley tanks it right out of her daughter's hand, taking a deep breath. "You're grounded."

"I hate you!"

"I hate me too sometimes. But guess what? I still have to live with me and so do you." Kimberley gives her a sarcastic smile; "Dinner will be at six. You will be down in the kitchen helping prepare. So go change and come down—"

"Nah. Pass." Madison relaxes back into her bed, resting her arms behind her head and sighing mockingly.

"Well," Kimberley laughs, remaining stood at the door. "If you don't come down then I'll have to drag you down." With that she walks out.

Madison groans, slamming her hands and feet into the plush bed. She knew her Mum was trying – and winning – at winding her up. That's exactly what it was; they each aspired to wind each other up. Kimberley had a better way of hiding it where as Madison's irritation went straight through the roof.

"Mam!" The teen stomps her way down the stairs, "Mammy!" She whines, dragging her feet towards the smirking Geordie, she whines some more, burying her face against Cheryl's chest.

"What is it?" Cheryl shakes her head, making eye contact with her own smirking wife.

"Tell her." Madison whines some more.

"I understand that you misinterpreted what your Mam was telling me," Kimberley begins, collecting the ingredients for tonight's meal. "But that doesn't give you the right to just up and leave – were you even planning to come back home if we didn't come looking for you?" She questions, already knowing the answer.

Madison whines in reply, face still buried in her Mam's arms.

"Well?" Kimberley stands behind her daughter, waiting for a proper reply.

"Mammy tell her." The teen's words muffle against the fabric of Cheryl's jumper.

"I'm not getting involved. You did attempt to run away sweets—"

"But you knew where I was—"

"That—"

"So it doesn't count, Mammy. Please – I need my phone." The teen pulls away, whines never-ending.

"Madison." Kimberley speaks firmly, "You're not getting your way. So I suggest you suck it up and do your time—"

"Why don't you just lock me up in my room instead?!" She challenges her Mum.

"I should—"

"Alright you two!" Cheryl silences them, "Enough."

Madison huffs; a scowl remaining to her expression as she walks around the breakfast bar and sits herself on a stool.

"Now." The Geordie sighs, "Lets cook this meal and try to get along—"

"I don't want to cook—"

"Well you have no choice."

"But.. But Mam." Madison whines, spreading her arms across the counter and putting her head down. "I think I'm dying."

"Try and get something done before you go dying on us." Kimberley shoots back, siding over a bow of vegetables.

"Cut them and put them on a baking tray."

Madison frowns, standing to her feet and silently getting a knife to do as she's been told.

They all mutely work on tonight's meal. The awkward tension is soon broken with Madison's giggles.

"What is it cheeky?" Cheryl asks, smiling at her daughter.

"Nothing." The teen replies, giggling.

"Weirdo." Kimberley suppresses her smirk, and turns to her wife. "Baby can you set the oven please."

Madison continues to giggle.

"Are you high?"

"Yeah." She lies, getting a tut from Kimberley.

"Could you possibly get it together and slide over that tray?"

The teen shrugs, cutting the last vegetable and doing as she's told.

"I just think it's funny," Madison begins.

"What is it you find so amusing?" Kimberley replies, not really giving her daughter much attention.

"That this is the first time I ever get grounded and I haven't even been living with you both for that long." She shrugs, a smirk still playing on her lips. "Even when I lived with Mum and Dad, they never grounded me once—"

"Well Cruella's disciplining is much more different than ours—"

"So you both agreed to grounding me?" She asks, now looking at Cheryl.

"You have to try and understand—" Cheryl begins, but of course Madison had a few things to say.

"No. It's you both that don't understand, you think you understand me but you don't! You don't understand that I need an outlet when I'm feeling unwanted or unloved." She takes a deep breath, "You don't care to understand where I'm coming from. Yous two are just playing parenting on me—"

"You don't know a single thing," Cheryl hisses. "You are the one that ran off and didn't give a flying fcuk about what you left behind! You didn't care to ask what you overheard. Instead you selfishly picked yourself up and left. You left." She emotionally speaks; Kimberley stands to the side, allowing her wife take the part of telling their daughter exactly what occurred.

"I left for a reason—"

"And what was that reason? Tell us. What was the reason you just left? What? You overheard us tell your Mum that your Dad is a selfish bastard!?"

Madison gulps, "Don't talk about him like that." She stands up for him.

"You don't know a single thing." Cheryl releases a long sigh, running her fingers through her brown locks. "You left us behind and ran off. You didn't care if I lost me mind looking for you or if your Mum lost hers along with mine. You didn't see us. You didn't see what happened after you left! You didn't care. How do you expect us to show you a little sympathy when you don't give a sh*t. You are selfish!"

Madison remains silent, her words caught in her tight throat.

"You think we don't understand you. That's all you have to say? You don't care to hear what we have to tell you? All you have to say is Clara and Connor haven't grounded you before? That's because they didn't give a fcuk about you!" Cheryl shouts, unable to contain herself any longer.

"Stop." Madison stands to her feet, ready to walkout.

"What?" Cheryl shouts to her daughter, with the teens back to her. "You're going to walkout again?" She breathes, heavily. "You don't care what I have to say?" She points to her chest, the emotions sounding through her voice. "You yet again have surprised us Madison. You just keep surprising us!"

Madison turns around, "What have I surprised you with?" The teens own eyes now watering. "You knew before you even took me back that I was a runner! That's all I ever will be. Don't expect me to stick around for long." With those heart-stopping words, the teen walks out of the kitchen and returns to her bedroom.

"I c-can't believe her Kimba. I can't b-believe her." The Geordie cries, falling straight into her wife's arms.

"Give her a minute to calm down. You know she's a hothead." Kimberley sighs softly, stroking her wife's back lovingly.

"She's such a s-stubborn cow." Cheryl sniffles, burying her face into the crook of her wife's neck.

"Do you want me to go up and talk to her, love?" She asks, pulling the emotional Geordie back. She smiles at the emotions lingering in her eyes. "I don't like seeing you this way." Kimberley pouts, placing a sweet kiss to Cheryl's lips.

"She's not going to listen to either of us."

"Well," Kimberley pulls them apart. "It's worth a try. Why don't you set the dinner table? I'll be done with her by then."

"Don't you go spanking her now." Cheryl giggles, "Please. I don't want her running off again."

"Don't worry. I'll be sweet as can be." She laughs, walking about of the kitchen and heading straight up to their daughters bedroom.

She knocks. Waiting for an answer.

Another knock.

Another.

Another.

"When someone doesn't answer to the first knock it means they don't want to be bothered!" Madison shouts from the other side of the door.

"Well that's too bad. I'm just going to keep knocking until you open." And that's exactly what she did, knocking and knocking and knocking—

"What!?" Madison abruptly opens the door, eyes red from the crying she'd been doing.

"Can I come in—"

"What do you think—"

"Yes? Aw thank you." Kimberley takes a hold of her daughter's hand and shuts the door behind her. "Come on. We're going to have a nice chat."

"I don't want to talk." Madison stubbornly remains standing as Kimberley takes a seat on the sofa.

"Ah. Too bad again, love." She takes a hold of her daughter's waist and sits her down atop of her lap.

"I said I don't—"

"You can fight and squirm until the cows come home. But you're not going anywhere, so quit it."

Madison breathes heavily, a scowl playing to her expression, as she remains sat on her mother's lap.

Kimberley adjusts them on the sofa, never releasing the stubborn teen.

"Why do you say sh*t like that?" She begins. "Why do you like to say hurtful crap to your Mam just to hurt her?"

"I didn't say anything hurtful. It's not my fault the truth hurts."

"Could you possibly stop being rude for five minutes? And just hear me out."

The teen doesn't respond, giving the blonde the go.

"Your Mam and I were worried sick about you." She tries again, "Look at me Mado. Please. Listen to me for once."

And that's what Madison does exactly, she listens.

"You say Clara and Connor have never grounded you?"

The teen nods.

"Did you ever maybe think that they didn't care? That keeping you around the house would mean more responsibility for them? That maybe they let everything you did, whether it was bad or good, just slip past them without a single fcuk?" She furthers her questions.

"I don't know."

"Your Mam and I care. But it seems that you don't care – please let me speak." Kimberley stops her daughter from interrupting. "Your Mam and I care immensely for you, and you telling your Mam that crap you did downstairs was the last thing I would have ever imagined you to say. I thought you cared about us enough to stay. To just stay and listen to what we have to say." She lectures her. "You say you love us and go running off proving everything you had ever told us to be wrong."

"I—"

"You can speak at the end," Kimberley's voice always remains mellow and soft. "Let me just say my part."

Silence.

"Your Mam at times babies you because she's scared you're going to leave. That you're not going to be happy with the new life we've provided for you. But I wont have any of that anymore. If you're going to have an attitude and say ridiculous crap then guess what?" She rhetorically asks, "There will be consequences. I'm sorry but I wont have that anymore. There will be rules. If all you're going to do is throw the love we've given you back in our faces, then, Madison, I'm sorry but for once in your life you're going to have to own up to your actions."

Silence.

"Understood?"

Silence.

"Madison, babe." She takes a gentle hold of the teens chin and notices the tears skidding down her cheeks. "Why are you crying?" She asks, wiping the tears for her.

"B-Because." Madison hiccups. "I ca-can't change myself. Rome wasn't b-built in a d-day you know." She cries. "You expect me to be you-your perfect Madison in a single day—"

"Hey now I didn't say that. I don't want perfect Madison. I want an understanding Madison. I want my Madison. The one I first met, the one that gave me attitude but still gave me an ear. She still understood. She still wanted our time and our love—"

"I-I still want that." Madison falls into her Mothers arms, wrapping her arms tightly around Kimberley's slim waist.

"Then why don't you ever ask. Ask us before picking up and just leaving. Running off like you don't care about what we will go through. Ask us what you heard. Ask us why your Mam said that. Try and get an understanding. She has so much love for you." Kimberley holds her tightly.

"You don't know the mess your Mam was before you came into our lives. You don't know the tears she cried for you each and every night. You don't know the constant fighting her and I went through because you weren't here. Like this. Right now." She takes a deep breath, "You need to understand that we would die for you. We would die protecting you. We would go to the ends of the earth just for you.... And when you do sh*t like run off... it makes us ever question if you ever loved us in return."

"No Mum, I swear I love yous." Madison sniffs, arms growing tighter around the blonde. "I promise."

"Then go down and talk to your Mam about all of this—"

"No—"

"Mado—"

"No. I.. I can't. She wouldn't want to hear it anyways."

Kimberley smirks, knowing her daughter was too stubborn to go down.

"Alright. Then don't." she taps the teen's backside, getting her to stand back up to her feet. "We're all still going to have dinner. So come down."

She'll come around at her own time. Kimberley mentally thinks, walking out of her daughter's bedroom and returning back down to Cheryl.

"Did she listen?" Cheryl asks, instantly.

Kimberley shrugs in reply, "You know how she is.. I can never tell if she was actually listening to anything I was telling her." She shrugs once more, helping her wife bring the hot food into the dinning room.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Kimba." Cheryl sighs softly, "I sometimes feel like we're getting somewhere with her, and other days I just feel like we're back to square one." She was hoping to contain her emotions, but whenever she was in the blondes presents, it seemed that all her walls came crumbling down.

"Do you know what she told me?"

"Probably something cheeky." The Geordie laughs lightly, although nothing was remotely funny about the situation they were currently in.

"She told me that Rome wasn't built in a day.. Meaning, she does want to work on herself, but she needs time. We need to be patient with her baby, we need to give her as much time as she needs." She pulls her wife in for a cuddle, standing in the middle of their large dinning room area.

"We need to be patient. She'll come around, that's all she needs is time."

"I've got all the time in the world for her." Cheryl whispers, softly.

They share a sweet smile, their love radiating with just a single look into each other's eyes.

"Then that's exactly what we'll do – now give me a kiss." Kimberley pulls her in closer, "I've missed your lips." Their lips mingle and fit perfectly together. They each enjoy this blissful moment, selfishly in love with each other.

Their life was a roller coaster of a million emotions, some lows but plenty of highs they were forever thankful for. One high in their life was Madison, although she needed a spanking, Kimberley had thought, she was the best thing to ever happen for them.

The teen decides to return and join their little family. She was stubborn of course, so she chose not to communicate and sit herself down on the table.

"Oh?" Kimberley notices their daughter for the first time. "Are you waiting for us to serve you?" She asks, half joking.

Cheryl smirks, standing beside her wife.

The teen shrugs in reply.

"Is that a yes or a no or a maybe?" The blonde continues to poke fun.

Another shrug.

"Sweets do you want to come help us in the kitchen?" Cheryl takes a different approach.

Madison shakes her head, keeping her focus on the empty plate set in front of her.

"Well, I wasn't really asking—"

"I'm sitting here like you asked," Madison speaks, never meeting her mother's eyes. "Isn't that what you wanted? I'm doing what you want." She breathes, trembling lips clasped tightly between her teeth. She wasn't going to cry.

Don't cry.

Don't cry.

She'd mentally repeat.

Cheryl clears her throat, unimpressed with her daughter's attitude.

"As you wish." She walks out, leaving her wife and daughter alone.

"What was that for?" Kimberley hisses her whispers.

Madison shrugs.

"Enough with the shrugging," the blonde sighs, taking a seat beside the grumpy teen. "Is this you acting up because I still have your phone?"

"Maybe—"

"well get used to it. If I don't see you working on your attitude, then you wont be getting your phone anytime soon."

Madison rolls her eyes.

"Keep that up and watch." Kimberley stands and walks out and meets her wife in the kitchen to help with the last of tonight's meal.

There remained Madison, sat sulking with a scowl plastered to her expression.

She was always so used to getting her way, no matter what it was, it was always handed to her on a silver tray. This was new to her, something she definitely needed to accept, if not now.. soon.