Therapy: Three Witches and a Shrink

When Darcy got back to the virtual meadow it was to find Icy and Stormy standing under the tree beside the path talking animatedly. Stormy spotted Darcy's arrival and pointed to her.

"Hey Icy! Darcy's back!"

Icy turned to grin at Darcy.

"Hey Darcy. Nice timing. We've got another skit worked out and it's just about time for the show to start."

Darcy continued walking right on past them without stopping.

"Show me later. I'm really not in the mood right now."

Icy and Stormy's smiles disappeared as they looked after their somber sister. Stormy glanced at Icy.

"What's eating her?"

Icy frowned.

"I don't know, but it better not be Shreever or he's gonna regret it."

She glanced at the two guards who stood waiting to take Stormy in for her session. Guard Number One tapped his left wrist, sending a not-so-subtle message that they were waiting to get going. She scowled at him and looked back at Stormy.

"Look, you go ahead and have your session with Doc Shreever. I'll talk to Darcy and see if I can find out what's bugging her."

Stormy looked at the two guards with an annoyed growl, then looked back at Icy.

"Hrr. Alright, I'll go. As long as I'm there I'll ask the Doc what he knows about this. You take care of Darcy while I'm gone, okay?"

Icy gave her sister witch an enigmatic smirk.

"Oh, don't you worry. I'll take real good care of her while you're away."

Stormy gave Icy an uncertain look as she started walking away.

"Riiight. Well, see ya."

Icy waved after her.

"See ya."

As Stormy and the two guards headed for the portal, Icy turned and walked off to find Darcy. She found her sitting on the shore of the lake staring out at the water while several yards away a pair of young hologram boys sailed their hologram toy boats. Darcy looked up as Icy approached.

"Hey."

Icy stopped about five feet away.

"Hey yourself. What's up with you? It's not like you to just brush us off like that."

Darcy shrugged and turned back to her contemplation of the lake.

"Nothing's up. I've just got a lot on my mind."

Frowning a little in confusion, Icy walked over to sit down beside her.

"In this place? The only things we should have on our minds is how we're gonna get out of this dump and take our revenge on the goody-goody pixies who put us here."

Darcy pulled up her legs, wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on her knees.

"I guess so, but all that just doesn't seem so important right now."

Icy was starting to get a bit fed up with Darcy's evasiveness. She held out her hand in a questioning manner.

"What could possibly be more important than that?"

Darcy turned her head to look at Icy.

"You ever wonder what it would be like not to have a father?"

Icy closed her eyes and tilted her head back in disdain.

"Hah! I should be so lucky! If I never see my dad again it'll be too soon."

Darcy looked back out at the lake and sunk her chin down on her knees again.

"You are lucky. At least you know who your father is, even if you don't like him. You're not stuck always wondering who he is or what kind of man he might be."

Icy opened her eyes and stared at Darcy in bewilderment.

"Where's all this coming from? Before you've always told us you couldn't care less who your father was."

Darcy hugged her knees a little tighter.

"I know. It's easier to pretend you don't care when there's no chance you could ever find out anyway, but now ..."

Icy stared at Darcy coldly. She had never seen her this sentimental before and it was starting to get on her nerves.

"But now what? Is this about something Shreever said to you? Did he try to tell you he knows who your father is or something? Is that it?"

Darcy glanced at Icy disconsolately.

"Something like that. He said that ... maybe he is my father."

Icy's eye went wide in shock and anger.

"What the hell? What kind of thing is that to say? He 'might' be your father? Well is he your father or isn't he?"

Darcy shook her head.

"That's just it. I don't know, and apparently neither does he. He seems to have known my mother pretty well back then, so it's possible, but ..."

Icy narrowed her eyes shrewdly.

"But there's no proof, is there?"

Darcy rested her chin on her arm.

"No, not really. There's probably only one person who would really know for sure and that's mom."

Icy made an offering gesture with her hand.

"Well there you go. Just ask her."

Darcy shook her head and sniffed.

"Not gonna happen. Mom hasn't spoken to me since she heard I got kicked out of Cloud Tower, and since our attempt to take over the realm of Magix got thwarted, even if I could get a message to her I really don't think she'd come to see me so I could ask her. I'm afraid she's disowned me."

Icy absolutely hated seeing Darcy like this. Not only was it grating on her nerves but she was actually starting to feel pity for the girl. She knew full well that it was only a very short step from pity to total rejection, and that could spell the end of not only their coven but also any chance she might have of hooking up with the object of her desire. Hell, she might not even want Darcy any more if it came to that. She knew she had to do something quick before Darcy's depression ruined things for all of them. She placed her hands on Darcy's shoulders and stood up, pulling the other girl up with her.

"C'mon you. Up."

Darcy looked over her shoulder at Icy uncertainly as she allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

"Where are we going?"

Icy jerked her head toward the boulder where Darcy had found her upon returning from her first session with Dr. Shreever.

"Not far. Just over there."

Darcy allowed herself to be led over to the boulder, recalling how Icy and Stormy had been ignoring each other while Stormy soaked her foot in the lake and Icy lounged on this same boulder. She wondered what Icy had in mind this time.

Icy sat down on the boulder facing Darcy, legs slightly apart, and leaned down to pat the ground at her feet.

"Have a seat hun."

Getting the idea, Darcy turned herself around and sat down at Icy's feet, leaning back against her legs. Icy put her hands on Darcy's shoulders and began to knead at them firmly. Darcy closed her eyes and let out a blissful groan.

For her part, Icy was rather enjoying this excuse to touch Darcy in so many places at once. Darcy's back felt nice pressed against her legs and running her hands over Darcy's shoulders was as much of a pleasure for her as it evidently was for Darcy. Someday, she promised herself, she would touch Darcy everywhere, and without the interference of all these dratted clothes. For now she focussed on doing what she could to pull Darcy out of this funk and get her mind back on the task at hand: bending Dr. Shreever to their will.

"So let me get this straight. Out of nowhere Dr. Shreever up and tells you he might be your father, doesn't offer any proof, just says it's possible, and you believe him? Come on Darcy. I never figured you to be so gullible. Stormy perhaps, but not you."

Darcy frowned without opening her eyes.

"Well sure there's no proof, but there is some supporting circumstancial evidence."

Icy raised a skeptical eyebrow as she continued working at Darcy's shoulders.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Darcy held up her right hand and started ticking off fingers one-by-one as she named each of her points.

"Well first he's the same age as my mom, so he's old enough to be my dad. Second, he didn't get tossed in here until well after I was born, so he would have been around. Third, after he told me he might be my dad he started telling me all these intimate details about my mom that he couldn't possibly have known unless he had seen her naked, and I mean very specific details."

Icy pulled back a bit and made a grossed out face.

"Ew! No wonder you were weirded out! I wouldn't want some guy telling me stuff like that about my mom! Talk about too much information!"

Darcy tilted her head back and opened her eyes to grin up at Icy.

"Oh, that part isn't what bothered me. It's not like I didn't see my mom naked all the time anyway."

Her grin disappeared as she raised her head to look out at the lake.

"What bugs me is I don't know how I should feel if it turns out that he really is my dad. I mean, mom taught me a long time ago not to worry about who my dad was. She said it didn't matter, that he was just some guy and that all guys are pretty much the same. In her words, guys are only good for one thing: catering to a girl's every whim."

Icy didn't know what to make of that business about Darcy seeing her mom naked all the time, but she grinned at Darcy's mother's attitude toward men.

"Sounds like your mom's a pretty smart lady. I think she's got guys completely figured out."

Darcy shrugged noncommitally.

"I suppose so. Anyway, I learned not to care who my father was since it looked like I was never gonna find out anyway, but now that I may actually know who he is at last ..."

Icy shook her head.

"Okay, so he knew your mother rather intimately. That doesn't prove he's your father. And even if he is, so what? The guy donates some DNA and disappears and now 18 years later he finally shows up and wants you to call him dad? Even if he is your dad, and as far as I'm concerned that's still a pretty big if, you don't owe him a thing."

Darcy pulled up her knees, hooked her hands around them and laced her fingers together as she continued to gaze out at the lake.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's not like he ever did anything for me."

Icy grinned as she started smoothing back Darcy's hair. Weeks without magic or shampoo and somehow Darcy's hair stayed soft and silky. How did she do it?

"Damn right he didn't. And as far as him being your father at all, you don't look anything like him. I'm talking zero family resemblance. His eyes are brown while yours are gold, his nose is bigger than yours, his eyebrows are thicker than yours, he doesn't have your cheekbones, and you could use his chin for a doorknob. If you're his daughter, the apple fell pretty far from the tree."

Darcy chuckled at Icy's comparisons.

"Yeah. I guess if we were related there'd be at least a few points of similarity between us, wouldn't there?"

Icy nodded as she stroked her hands down Darcy's cheeks, neck and shoulders.

"More than just a few. People with more time on their hands than they know what to do with have made studies and they find that daughters tend to bear a strong resemblance to their fathers. Some sort of survival trait they say."

Darcy closed her eyes and laid her head back on Icy's knees.

"Guess we can scratch him off my list of potential father figures then."

Icy leaned forward to leer down at Darcy with a challenging smirk and crossed her arms over Darcy's chest possessively.

"Good. Then how about we get back to what's really important, turning Doc Shreever into our own personal mind puppet."

Darcy opened her eyes and grinned up at Icy.

"You've got a plan, don't you?"

Icy leaned in closer and locked eyes with Darcy as her grin grew more devilish.

"I sure do, and it's gonna blow Shreever's mind. He's not the only one who can play head games around here."