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SPOILER WARNING!! This fanfic expands upon the ending of Lily’s plotline in S11 Ep5 : the last Halloween. You have been warned.
Context if you have not seen the episode/don’t remember it: Wanting Lily to be more independent, and some independence for themselves, Mitch and Cam RSVP’d for a Halloween party for Lily, and went to a festival in west Hollywood. When the two dads see the parents that were supposed to be supervising the party, they ask Gloria to check Lily’s Instagram, where they see a photo of her hanging out with a boy that they don’t trust. They quickly rushed to their house, after checking her location and realizing she was there, now they were worried that she brought the boy home. This story begins with them arriving at their house.
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Cam and Mitch entered quietly through the front door of their house, not wanting to scar or shame Lily.
“Okay, whatever we decide to do or say here could negatively affect the way Lily talks to boys forever.” Cam whispered to Mitch as they passed the couch, careful to not make any loud noises.
“Or how she speaks to us about boys.” Mitch said worriedly. They had just been tracking Lily’s phone after seeing that she had left the party she was at, Mitch and Cam were worried that she had brought home a boy from the party and could be making a huge mistake… Mitch and Cam didn’t even want to picture what their little girl could be doing in her room.
Mitch and Cam got closer to Lily's room, hearing only some muffled music playing from her radio, although this didn’t calm any of their worries.
“ We’re gonna go in calmly in three, two, one, now.” Mitchell said, grasping the doorknob firmly, and twisting it and opening the door into Lily's room.
The door opened and revealed a messy floor, with parts of her Halloween costume thrown everywhere, and a disheveled Lily lying on her bed with her back to them.
“Oh god…” Mitchell thought. “Did something happen? Did someone hurt my little girl?!
“Lily sweetie? Is everything alright? Cam said, turning down her music slightly.
“I’m fine. Just go away.” Lily choked, clearly not fine.
“Did a boy pressure you to do something you didn’t want to do?” Mitch said softly. “No, gross, can you just go away!?” Lily snapped. The two of them were a bit taken aback by Lily's sudden outburst, but they didn’t listen, they knew their daughter needed them.
“Honey…we just want to make sure that you're alright, we’re sorry we forced you into going to this party before you were ready, please just tell us what happened and we’ll try our best to help” Cam said. Lily sat up suddenly in her bed and looked at her dads, she’d clearly been crying, judging by her shiny cheeks and puffy red eyes “CAN YOU TWO JUST ADOPT ANOTHER CHILD SO YOU CAN TAKE SOME OF THIS OFF OF ME? No, a boy didn’t pressure me, or say something creepy to me… my crush pretended to like me but he only used me to get closer to my friend Kelly.”
“Ooh, Kelly, she’s gross.” Mitch said, trying to get on his daughter’s side, but was quickly corrected by Lily, “No she’s not, she’s my friend, can you two just leave me alone already?, you’re not a girl, You’re not twelve. What do you know about liking a boy who doesn’t like you back?” Lily said, promptly collapsing back into her bed, and beginning to sob into her pillow again.
“Well she kind of just shot herself in the foot with that last part, but that's the opening I was waiting for” Mitch thought. “Well Lily…” Mitch sat down on the edge of the bed, softly rubbing his daughters back, as she sobbed. “I’ll go and get us some ice cream.” Cameron said, leaving the room and heading straight to the freezer. “Hey Lily? Come on get up, let’s go to the living room, here I’ll help you.”
Mitch gently helped Lily to her feet, wiping her face with a tissue from her nightstand. He grabbed a soft throw blanket from a chair in her room, removed the black hoodie she was wearing and wrapped her shoulders in the blanket instead, brushing her hair from her face and leading her out of her room.
Mitch felt guilty that he was a little happy about this outcome, he was just happy their daughter needed her dads again, they wanted her to be independent, maybe for selfish reasons, but maybe she didn’t have to learn to fly just yet.
It was such a vivid reminder that she was getting older, seeing Lily wrapped in her blanket, which was originally a decoration Cam bought for the living room, but Lily claimed it when she was six years old after coughing into it. Since then nobody else in the house wanted to touch it, even after multiple attempts to wash it, but Lily loved it so they let her keep it. When she was Six the blanket completely consumed her, like a vampire's cape, but now it hung barely beyond her knees. Mitch guided his distraught daughter to the couch and sat her down, she looked so small in her blanket. Mitch sat down next to her, tissue in hand, and wiped her mascara ridden tears. Cam came over with a tray holding three bowls of vanilla ice cream, with hot fudge on Lily’s. He set the bowl on her lap, handed her a spoon, and sat down opposite her.
Lily just looked at her bowl and pushed the ice cream around with her spoon, but didn’t eat any.
“ Lily honey?, we’re worried about you. Can you tell us what happened please, we want to help, I promise.” Cam said sadly
“Lily, please just say something, anything at all” Mitch said, backing up his husband. “What if something else happened that she’s not telling us… I’m scared” Mitch thought.
Lily sighed and sniffled a little before finally started to speak “I just thought that he liked me back…he told me that we were gonna go to a diner together, but the-but then” Lily choked on this specific detail, but Mitch quickly pulled her into his arms and just held her, patiently, there was no rush, and they had all the time in the world.
“Then he asked if I wanted to invite some friends, so I did. I invited Rebecca, but he suggested I invite Kelly, so I did. Then we went to that little diner a few blocks away from the party, the one that's open late, you know?”
Lily looked up at her dads, and reached for a tissue, but when she couldn’t grab one, Cam leaned over and got one for her. Lily took the tissue and blew her nose, then retreated back into her blanket.
“So when we went to the diner, we got a table and ordered some food, I got some chocolate chip pancakes. Everything was going fine for the first thirty minutes, but then he started ignoring me, he started talking to Kelly more and more, he was laughing at all her jokes, and then she reached over and grabbed his hand. They left the diner a few minutes after that.”
Lily then collapsed into Mitch’s arms, and started to sob again. Between hiccups and coughs she began to speak again “after they left, Rebecca left too, muttering something about her parents coming to pick her up, but i think she just left because it was awkward. Then I was just in that booth alone, and then a waitress came over and asked where the rest of my friends went I didn’t know what to say”
“Then what’d you do sweetie?” Cam asked, Rubbing her back.
“I texted my location to cousin Haley and aunt Claire, and asked if one of them could pick me up and bring me home. Haley responded first saying she was in the area already, and she could do it, so I waited for her and paid the bill. When she got there I just ran to her car, and got in. She told me I didn’t have to talk if I didn’t want to, and that she already told aunt Claire that she got me. Then she dropped me off and I ran inside to my room.” Lily choked.
“Oh I’m so sorry baby, that’s horrible.” Mitch said holding his shaking daughter tight, he didn’t want to let her go, afraid that if he did someone would hurt her again.
“He said that he liked me! I confessed having feelings for him and he said he felt the same way! I was so stupid and gullible, I can’t beli-” Lily shouted, before she was interrupted. “Don’t say that about yourself. Do you understand me? You are a smart and beautiful girl, and if that boy couldn’t see that, that’s his
loss.” Lily looked up at Mitch and finally sat up and ate some of her ice cream.
“ I just feel so beaten…he just threw me away like I was trash. Like I wasn’t a person with feelings.”
Mitch looked at his watch, it was 10:45 now, had it really been two hours since they had gotten home? “It's okay to feel those feelings, Lily. Verbalizing them is good, it’ll make it easier to heal. Lily?” Mitch asked, but when he looked down, what he saw filled him with so much joy. Lily was asleep, her head resting on Mitch’s knee, and her feet on Cam, she was out like a light. The two fathers slowly got up, taking extra care not to disturb Lily, she needed this. They put away the dishes in the sink, and they looked over at their daughter
“When she turned twelve, I was afraid she wasn’t gonna need us anymore.” Cam said.
“I thought so too, I’m so happy we were wrong”
Mitch walked over to their daughter and squatted down and lifted her up, “Hugh?” Lily said softly. “It's alright honey, just go back to sleep.” Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and drifted off again. Mitch paused for a second to adjust his hands to support her better, he placed one hand on her upper back, and the other on her bottom, similar to how you would hold a toddler. Cam took a photo on his phone because this was exactly the way he would hold her when she would drift off during movie nights. Mitch carried her to her room and tucked her into her bed, turning off the light and whispering to her “goodnight my sweet Lily, I’ll always be here when you need me.” He then shut the door softly and went to bed himself.