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"It's nice to have you back," Seven replied, nodding her head with a faint smile casting across her face.

She tilted her head to the side as she eyed her mother. "Is it, though?"

Seven exchanged glances with Henderson. Her behavior lately, especially how she handled Britain's decision to move to Italy wasn't something he was proud of. Usually, whenever he sensed tension between Britain and her mother, he would make it his objective to steer the conversation elsewhere, but at the moment, he felt like the conversation needed to be had. Seven couldn't continue to go on with no communication with Britain, especially with her daughter now living across the world. Things needed to be hashed out, no matter how messy it could get.

Seven let out a light sigh as she claimed a seat at the island that sat at the center of the kitchen. "Yes, Britain. I'm really happy to see you," Seven assured her daughter.

Britain shifted her attention toward her stepfather, a heavy sigh drifting out of her. "Pops, can I speak to her in private?" she requested.

"Sure thing,princess. I got called in for a consult, but I should be back soon. You two be good." He smiled before pulling Britain into another hug. He then turned to Seven, and they shared a light kiss. "I love you," he professed to her.

Seven nodded with a smile. "Love you too." With that, Henderson made his way out to head to the hospital for his consult.

Britain grabbed a seat opposite her mother at the island. A thick, tension-filled silence came over them. She didn't want to get emotional, knowing that once her mother caught sight of any tears, it would cause an immediate shut down. "Sorry about yourpatient," she began as she watched her mother take the lid off the container of hummus.

"Yeah," a heavy breath exhaled out of her. "Me too. But how have you been? Is Italy as nice as it sounds?" Seven asked her with her head tilted in question.

A light smile masked Britain's face. "Yeah, it is. We live in a much more gentrified and modern area, so it's not too much of a change," Britain explained, deciding to make small talk with her mother before they got into the issues they had with one another.

"Hm." Seven nodded her head, taking in all that Britain was telling her. "I see you got engaged," Seven noted, pointing to the eye-catching ring perched on Britain’s ring finger.

Britain too glanced down at the ring. Her lips pursed as she nodded her head in clarification of the engagement. "Yeah," Britain confirmed as she eased out a heavy breath. "That did happen."

Seven reached out, indicating that Britain should place her hand in her palm. With some hesitation, she sat her hand in her mother's palm, granting her a closer look at her engagement ring. Seven had a whole lot to say, but what she couldn't deny was the fact that the ring was to die for. "He asked for me and your father’s blessings to marry you. Even reached out to Henderson out of respect," Seven enlightened Britain, shocking her.

It brought swarms of butterflies to her stomach to know that Priest made the grand effort of asking all three of her parents for their blessings. He didn't leave anyone out, knowing that they were all equally important to her. It baffled her how he even managed to do everything underneath her nose. She knew he spoke about them getting married often, but she never expected for it to be so soon. It was taking her a while to realize that Priestwas a sure man who knew what he wanted, which was why he moved the way he did.

"Really? I didn't know that," Britain replied to her mother with a smile growing on her face.

"Yeah," Seven clarified with a nod of her head. "We all gave him our blessing. Henderson gave him more hell than Jeremy, but Priest remained patient and very respectful." She chuckled as she thought back to the conversation Priest had arranged with herself and Henderson.

The smile on Britain's face remained. She could always count on Priest to be everything she praised him for being. Even Seven had nothing but good things to say about Priest as a man; however, his lifestyle was a different story. "I'm glad you're saying this because I want you to be happy for us and what we've decided to do as couple," Britain eased out, finding the perfect entry for the heavy conversation that needed to be had.

Seven exhaled a heavy breath as her shoulders slouched. "Britain, I—" Before Seven could get her statement out, Britain quickly interjected.

"No," Britain cut in, indicating that she wanted a word before Seven got out all the reasons why she didn't find herself in the wrong. "As a mother myself, if Dreux were alive and she made the choice to leave for Italy, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't at least see her off or even picked up the phone to call. Granted, the last conversation we had didn't leave us on a good note, and I don't mean to make excuses for myself, but you just always pick the wrong time. Not every lecture or life lesson has to be taught in that exact given moment, Ma. You came down on me after I had just witnessed something horrific happen to the man I love. Not only that, but you also didn't even think to shed an ounce of comfort before you got into the plethora of reasons why I needed to distance myself from him." Britain was coming to terms with the fact that she could no longer withhold her hurtjust to sweep things under the rug with her mother. She had caused herself enough pain by doing that, and she wasn't about to continue.

"Quite honestly, I can't even blame you for your actions. You are coming from a place of hurt and the fact that you were forced to be stronger than you wanted to be. I cannot force or expect things out of you when you were never given them yourself. However, what I will do is hold you accountable. I was hurt to see you not show up the day Priest and I left. The little girl in me was still searching for your validation as my mother, despite me making the decision to leave." She remained firm with the choices she had made, but her feelings were still wounded.

Seven hung her head low in shame. She could admit, she hadn't been her best to Britain, but she couldn't just overlook her apprehension about her daughter's new life. Britain was her child whom she had raised, and she couldn't just take a step back and watch her make all these life-altering decisions for love from a man.

"As your mother, I take full accountability for my wrongs. Putting my differences aside would have been the best thing to do in that moment. I'm sorry," she apologized as her eyes trailed back up to lock with Britain's orbs.

The apology sounded very nice and sincere; however, Britain knew Seven still had more to say, which was why she didn't rush to accept the apology. Instead, she eyed her mother with an awaiting look on her face.

"But also,as your mother, I think I'm allowed to let you know how I feel about certain situations. I may not be able to sway you away from them, but at least you would know I have my reservations about them. As happy as you are right now with this man and your engagement, I just never want you to lose sight of yourself and who you are. Your whole life is changing, Britain, and the only familiar thing at the moment while you're in Italy ishim. This will result in a traumatic codependency problem just like the one you had the last time you were in love. Indeed, Priest is a wonderful man. We love the way he loves you so openly and how protective he is of you. In no way am I trying to convince you to end things with him. I just want you to understand what you are getting yourself into.

"Being with a man like that is hard, let alone being married to him. That lifestyle is suffocating enough, but to be on the grand scale that he's on with the news, his alleged death and all the other crazy things he has going on, where in the midst of that will you have the time and space to do what you want?" Seven let out a deep sigh. "Britain, you're making a big mistake if you think you'll be content with living in Italy with just this man and nothing else that reminds you of who you were before him. You're so easily blinded by love that you don't even understand how isolated and disconnected you've become from everything around you besides him. It seems as though I'm the only one who remembers how deeply involved you can get and how much pain it caused you when you got that way for Cameron. You are making the same mistakes, just with a different man and on a much larger scale."

Britain pursed her lips as she eyed her mother. At this very moment, she was beginning to feel like reopening this wound with her mother was like beating a dead horse. There was nothing in the world that could make them come to an understanding.

"Alright, Ma." Britain nodded as she rose from her seat. "It was nice seeing you, but it's clear you can't accept the fact that I did what you've always wanted to do," she slyly told her mother.

Taken back by Britain's statement, Seven screwed up her face in question as her eyes seared into her daughter. "And what is that?" she asked as she crossed her arms against her chest, clearly offended by her remark.

Britain turned around to face her mother before her shoulders motioned in a heavy shrug. "Actually being with the man I love instead of settling because of fear," Britain told her as she pointed to her mother's wedding ring, indicating that she settled for Henderson when who she really wanted was Jeremy.

Before her mother could let out anything else, Britain made it to the foyer of the brownstone, grabbing her bag that she didn't even get the chance to unpack. She headed straight out the door, glad that Cyro had never left his post out front. She felt her stomach churn as sadness weighed heavily on her. She had intentions of patching things up with her mother and being welcomed back with open arms. Her trip back home was supposed to give her everything she had been missing since being in Italy. Instead, all she got was an empty penthouse, an abrupt rush of trauma from just the sight of Remy's house, and the beginning of the end of her relationship with Seven that she always tried to salvage because she loved her mother.