Wilhern Mansion - Penelope's Room; Sunday Late Morning
Alone in her room, Penelope was looking at herself in her hand mirror, studying her new nose. It was her own. Her own face. She reached up to touch it for the hundredth time when she heard her mother say, "It's not going to grow back," she said softly, pausing briefly before adding: "I know... I miss it too. And then I remember you're still you."
Giving her mother a small smile, Penelope nodded, and wondered what she truly thought.
"Penelope," she breathed out, eyes misting over. "One of your own kind. I just assumed." She shook her head, ashamed.
"No, we all did, mother."
"No, don't you see? I could have broken the curse years ago. If I'd just done my job as your mother," she cried, "and loved you as my own."
"Oh, you didn't know," Penelope said, embracing her. "You didn't know."
Not to be excluded, Franklin Wilhern quietly joined in, embracing them both.
"Dad," she murmured, hugging her father close.
Sniffling, Jessica smiled and cupped Penelope's cheek, studying new nose. "Oh...now that the carotid artery is out of the way, I'm thinking a nice little tuck--" she lifted the tip of Penelope's nose with the side of her pinky. "You know, right there. Sweet. Just like that."
Frowning, Penelope moved her head away.
"What?" her mother asked.
"You're crazy," she told her and stepped back to her bed to finish packing.
Franklin looked at his wife in disbelief.
"What? Is it wrong for a young woman to want to look her best? What?"
Penelope watched her father walk out of the room, away from her mother.
"I'm being her mother! That's what mother's do with daughters. They talk about how to look prettier," she whined, waving her hands as she continued mumbling and crying, following after her husband
Even after this, after everything, Penelope couldn't help but feel bad for her mother. Having to cope with so much at once wasn't easy for her.
She finished packing her bag because she was going back to Fandom. That had already been decided upon, despite her mother's wishes otherwise.
She wasn't going to think of Max, or Edward, or the wedding that almost was. She was going to concentrate on making the most of who she was. And who she was, was the same person she's been all along.
An hour later she hugged her parents goodbye, but her Mother was still whining about everything. That is until quite suddenly with a leveled look from Jake the butler, she lost her voice. No one knew how or why but no one seemed to care. Penelope grinned at the smirk from her father then she turned with Jake, and let him lead her to the car. She had a plane to catch and she wouldn't miss it for anything.
[[ OOC: NFI, NFB due to distance, dialogue lifted from Penelope with slight variations. OOC A-okay, And it's done! Yayyyyy! ]]