"Okay and we're here" Kit said as he parked the car near some restaurant where me and my parents are supposed to meet.

I was still thinking if I should just turn around and.. go away from them as far as I could. But I'm staying. Not for them. But for myself.

"Hey" Joe touched my shoulder as he spoke. "You're going to be okay, right? We're here"

As he said that, I smiled at him and hugged him. "Thank you"

Then I looked at Kit and held his hand for few seconds. "You too Kit, thank you a lot"

"Good luck" Kit said as he smiled softly.

I looked at them and exited the car. I came up to the restaurant and got in.
This place was honestly huge and luxurious as well. I thought of how could my parents afford to eat somewhere like this, but I decided I should not think much of it.

I saw someone in the corner of my eye waving at me. It was them. To be honest, by looks they changed a lot in those 5 years, not going to lie about that.

"Hi" I spoke quietly as I joined the table and sat with them.

"We are glad you are here, Faith" mom spoke as the silence seemed a bit awkwardly.

"Do you want to order anything?" dad said as he was looking on the menu.

"Not really, I just honestly want to hear what you two want to say to me" I said as I looked at them.

They looked at each other, and then dad started to talk.

"We wanted to ask you if you would want to live with us. We moved in recently, actually here in London" he said.

"Oh" I said as I was trying to process the information.

"So.. what do you think?" mom said.

I took a deep breath, and tried to be calm as much as I could.

"I'm thankful for the offer, but I'm not going to live with you. I'm staying with Joe" I said calmly.

"Why not?" mom asked as she was surprised of my answer.

"I think I'm better with Joe. I will not just leave him. But thank you again" I said with little smile on my face.

"Well, you left us. So why don't you just come back, Faith?" dad asked.

"I'm sorry?" I looked at him in confusion and shock. In fact, yes, I did leave them. But this was unfair.

"Mom left first, I left after she did" I said still calm, which I now couldn't say about my father, who was at the edge of yelling again. They maybe changed their looks and a bit of attitude, but most of it, is the same.

"Please be respectful Faith" mom said all of a sudden. She knew exactly where this was going.

"I am respectful" I said, "But with all respect, why did you get back with him?" I was talking to her like he wasn't even there.

"Because I - " she stopped as she looked at him, and then responded.

"Mistake?" I frowned at her answer. I exhale as I tried not to say too much. The only mistake she made was leaving me behind. But leaving him? That's one of the best things she could ever do.

"Yes, a mistake. You both made a mistake when you left, that's why I'm trying to fix it" he said, looking at me like I believed him any of those words.

"Us?" I looked at him unbelievably. "Not you? Do you actually believe that you did nothing wrong?" I said staring at his eyes.

"I was doing the best for us three. I did nothing wrong in all those years"

"Yes, yes you did" I immediately cut him off.
"And I'm doing so much better without you than I was doing with you. So thank you for the offer, but I don't think I'll ever take it. And mom" I looked at her, "you should really open your eyes and see that this is not good for you"

"We are giving you opportunity to have place to live, and you are acting like a little brat!" dad said, speaking more loud than it was needed to.

"I would rather live on the streets than live under the roof with an alcoholic man with anger issues who is also abusive" I said quietly, not even be able to tell if they heard me. Looking at their faces now, I'm sure they did.

After few seconds of silence, I decided to leave the restaurant. As I was standing up, I should've seen from afar that my dad wouldn't let it slide that easily.

"I'm sure you will live terribly, Faith. You may pretend that you are this good girl, but you are Faith Palmer after all. You are the same as me, same as us all." he said, not having a bit of emotions at all. I didn't want to show any emotions at all either, but I did. And that makes me different from them.

"It's not 'Palmer' for you. I'm nothing like you, and I'm so glad that I will never be like you. We may share a last name, but I'm nothing like you or your whole family tree. I'm not fucking horrible person, unlike you are. Mom is with you only because she's scared, can't you see that?" I said with tears in my eyes, just sitting there. Just sitting there, not moving a muscle. I don't think I could even if I wanted.

"She has some respect, as you should have!" he said with loudly whispers. He lost it, but honestly, I did too.

"She's just scared of you" I said again, at which he stood up.

"You are our kid, you are coming with us"

"I'm not, I'm grown up. You can't do anything with that" I said, still just sitting there.

"You are such a disapointment, honestly" he said. Mom didn't even disagree with him.

"I heard that before." I said, "I'm done with you both. I don't want you to contact me ever again, or -"

"Or what?" he said.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore. I have friends. I have people around me." I said with still teary eyes, but I was ignoring that.

"And do you think they will stand by your side? You really think that?" he said like he was completely out of his mind. He sound pathetic.

"Yes, they will" I heard voice behind me, coming closer. Thank fucking god.

"Come on Faith, we are going" Kit said, as his hand was on my back. I just nodded and stood up. If he wouldn't come, I could never get out of here. It was about the time.

"Who are you to tell her what to do?" dad said as he frowned at Kit.

"Who are you to act to her like that? And even in public place. You should never treat your own daughter like that" he said in hurry. My father just stayed quiet.

Kit turned to me. "Ready to go?" he whispered.

I just nodded. The second we exited the restaurant, I hugged him and broke down in tears.

"Thank you so much, I couldn't take it anymore, and I just couldn't get myself to leave" I said through the tears with haky voice. Kit immediately hugged me back, stroking my hair.

"I could see. I just couldn't look at that anymore." he said as we just stood there.

"McDonald's? We can go get chicken nuggets" Joe yelled as he rolled his car window down.

I just laughed in Kit's arms as I pulled back. "Thank you. A lot" I looked at him.

He smiled. "I'm here for you. I always got your back." he said heart - warmly.

As I got to the car, Joe immediately hugged me as well.

"Chicken nuggets? That's first what came into your mind?" I laughed.

"You love 'em!" he said defending himself. "I'm sorry Faith, I bet it was terrible"

"It's okay, I'm okay. Thank you guys" I smiled as they did too.

There was a moment of silence, which I decided to break.

"..what about the chicken nuggets though?"

"Oh my god" Kit laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm paying" Joe said, checking his wallet.

"Can we maybe watch some movie tonight? I really need to focus on something else" I said looking out through the window.

"Of course" both of them said at the same time.

⍟

"And the blankets" Joe said as he threw few blankets at me.

"Yeah, thanks" I rolled my eyes and then I laughed.

"So what movie are we pick -" Kit wanted to ask, but Joe stopped him right there.

"Don't ask, she's going to pick something shitty!" he warned him as he looked at him seriously.

"Marvel isn't shitty!" I defended myself.

"Well of course not, but you're always choosing the ones which we saw 80 times!" he threw his hands around him.

Kit was just holding the TV remote and was looking at us. We both looked at him as he picked The amazing spider-man. He carefully looked at me. I was pretty satisfied with it, but Joe -

"This is going on repeat" he said as he frowned and sat down at the bed.
"But this is one of the better ones, it could be worse" he took the popcorn and wrapped himself in the blanket.

I just softly laughed at that. Since Kit was laying in the middle, me and Joe were by his sides.

"Hell yeah! This is the best part!" I screamed as I saw my favorite part of the movie.

Joe just sighed and put his hand on his forehead. "Here we go again"

Kit just matched my vibe immediately.

And after few minutes watching the movie, I fell asleep.

⍟

[3rd person perspective]

"Faith, shall we play the second movie?" Joe asked as he was eating the popcorn. Faith, of course, didn't respond since she was in a deep sleep.

Kit looked at her, only to notice that she fell asleep on his shoulder, which he didn't notice before.

"I don't think she wants to watch a second movie, Joe" he whispered as he looked at Joe with a slight smile on his face.

"She fell asleep?" Joe said as he was confused, or maybe shocked?

"Yeah she did, I bet it was exhausting as hell" Kit whispered now.

"She always had problem falling asleep with strangers, or people she didn't know well in the room. But with you, there was none" Joe said randomly as he was looking at Faith. He was surprised, but he could understand it well. He could see it.

"Is that somehow connected to them?" Kit asked randomly, referring to Faith's parents.

"I don't really know, to be honest. She just doesn't trust people easily. But she decided to trust you the moment she saw you. I'm happy about it, but I just think like why, you know?" Joe said.

And as he did, Kit looked up at him. He didn't know what to say, or do. Or even think. But what he knew is that he felt really special at this moment.

Faith is maybe not the best at expressing her feelings, but she wishes that Kit knew how much is special to her. Maybe it didn't look like that, but he is.

Maybe he is more special to her than he should be.