Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Wow Penny, I honestly don’t know what to say. I can’t tell you how impressed I am. You’re like a different person. It’s like I got my daughter back.”

She led her daughter out to the backyard with one arm on Penny’s shoulder as she said this. Penny looked down, frowning for a second and feeling guilty for what happened before looking back up and smiling. 

Trudy sighed, “Penny, I just want to apologize for what I did to you. My mom made me realize in New York that yes, you needed discipline, but… locking you out in the middle of the night wasn't the way to go. You could've gotten hurt... or worse." She looked away with tears forming in her eyes, feeling like a failure.

Penny held her mother's hands and empathized with her. "Well, to tell you the truth, I was a little scared that night, not knowing where I was gonna go or how I was gonna get there."

Trudy looked down in shame and sighed. "You're right. Any teenager would be scared, and I shouldn't have put you through all that."

Penny spoke again. "But it's ok mama, it's not all your fault. I don't know what got into me."

"Hormones child," Trudy chuckled before facing her again. "It happened to me when I was your age baby girl. My mom reminded me while we were talking. Trust me, I was worse than you." They both laughed, "if I had just tried harder to talk to you, tell you that I understood and not resort to drastic measures, none of this would've happened. At the very least, I could've driven you to Suga Mama's instead of expecting you to head down there yourself. They smiled and faced one another with newfound understanding of each other. But the moment was cut short when they heard the faint sound of a wheelchair coming their way. 

"I want to apologize too Penny," Suga Mama said at the top of the backyard entrance. "I guess I went a little overboard with disciplining you. I should've at least let you sleep on the guest bed and not Oscar's old bed. As well as force your friends to do chores when they came over and scare them at school. And I shouldn't have made you do all the housework. I just wanted to help you out of your rebellious phase."

Penny walked up the short flight of stairs and hugged her. "I get it Suga Mama. I-I did need a lot of help, so, thank you."

Her mom held her hand and gently tugged her to come down. "Penny, I just want you to know I love you and I always will."

"I know mama. I love you too."

They both hugged, with Suga Mama smiling lovingly, happy that mother and daughter managed to work it out.