You and Johnny had been together for nearly five years, the best five years of your life. Johnny was amazing, and his twin girls were the best.

Lily and Jenny, both ten. You felt like they were your own kids sometimes. You'd been around since they were little, but had only started dating Johnny when they were five. Their mother, however, was a different story.

It was split custody with Johnny getting weeks and Mariah, the girls' mother, getting every other weekend. The arrangement was only possible because you worked from home. Johnny, bless him, was always out on deployments, so you were the emergency contact, the primary caregiver, hell, you were everything for the girls.

But recently, things had started getting strained. You weren't sure what caused it, just that it was happening. Lily and Jenny stopped calling you 'mom,' not a big deal, they could call you whatever they wanted, but you noticed. Then came them declining help for homework, asking you to sit out when they went to doctors, telling you that you didn't need to stick around for their games. It was their decision, you thought, and you respected what they wanted.

Until Lily was on her phone and you happened to glance over. A text from her mother, Mariah.

She's not your mom. She needs to stop acting like it.

It hit you then. Mariah was turning the girls against you, not seeing everything you were doing for them. So you contacted Johnny, who was half a world away. "It'll be alright. Mariah will get bored in a week." Johnny told you, thinking his ex was just trying to stir up drama.

But it persisted. Things got worse until the girls weren't even talking to you unless they needed something.

You were hurt, deeply. You'd spent five years being everything for these girls, thinking you were all a family. But apparently not.

Johnny was home from deployment, sitting beside you as you worked on your laptop. Lily and Jenny came down, ready for soccer, "We're ready to go."

You didn't glance up, "Alright. Have a good game."

Lily knit her brows, "You're supposed to drive us."

"That's your mother's job. Not mine. I'm not your parent." If Mariah was setting boundaries, you'd respect that.