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Tom shakes the UNO box as he approaches the kitchen table, “Who’s ready for game night?”
Sonic scoffs, “Are you sure you’re ready to take on the UNO master?”
“I dunno if I’d call you that.” Tails says, and Sonic scoffs.
“Please, I am undefeated in this game. Just try me, little buddy!”
Tom just shakes his head as he shuffles the cards in his hands. Maddie leans forward on the table as Tom takes his seat next to her.
“No matter who wins, remember it’s just a game, guys. We’re having fun.”
Sonic waves his hand, “Yeah, yeah.”
Tom deals out the cards, and as he slides one to Sonic, he looks over his shoulder towards the couch, where Knuckles is reclining.
“Do you want to join, bud?”
“No.”
“Okay then.” Tom says, turning back to those at the table. Once the game is set up, Sonic insists on going first. They make it one go around the table before Tom’s phone starts buzzing in his pocket. He takes it out, and he feels his stomach drop out from under him when he sees the name across the top. Mom.
He clicks the power button and puts it face down on the table. Maddie looks up at him with a raised brow, and Tom waves her off. Tom manages to put down his card (a reverse, skipping Sonic’s turn and making him scoff obnoxiously) before his phone rings again. He sighs, flipping it to look at the screen and seeing his mother calling him again. He clicks it off, but she calls back immediately.
“You can take it, we’ll wait.”
Tom looks up at Maddie, and then he looks at the two boys just watching him. He sighs, pushing his chair back. He walks down the hall towards his and Maddie’s bedroom, stopping just in front of the door, and he scrubs a hand over his face before answering the phone.
“Hello?”
“Thomas? Are you alive?”
Tom rolls his eyes. “Yes, mom, I am. Was there something you needed?”
“Can I not just call to talk to my son? Do I always need to have a reason?”
Tom checks his watch, hoping this conversation doesn’t take long, “Well, how many years has it been since you called last? You’re not exactly one to call just to ‘check in’.”
“Watch your tone, Thomas.”
“Not that it isn’t great to hear from you,” he hopes his tone sounds honest at least, “but I’m kind of in the middle of something so I’d like to get to the point.”
“Always in a rush. You weren’t always like this, you know.”
“Mom.”
“Alright, alright. I’m just calling to let you know that I’ll be coming into town, and I’d like to see you and Maddie.”
If Tom thought his stomach had fallen into his gut before, it’s now at his feet.
Deep breath in, deep breath out, “Okay, when?”
“Oh, tomorrow?”
“T-” Tom pinches the bridge of his nose, “Tomorrow? Maddie and I do have jobs, you know. We can’t just drop everything to host you. You aren’t planning on staying here, at the house, are you?”
“Well, I didn’t think I’d need a hotel to visit my hometown. One where my son still lives, by the way.”
There’s a hot itch in his chest, and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe around it. Tom had always had an okay relationship with his mom, and by okay he would avoid dealing with her whenever possible. She wasn’t a bad person, but she just knew how to press all of Tom’s buttons. Tom was always much closer to his dad, and there were times where Tom thought his mom made it obvious that she was just fine with that, never really taking any real interest in Tom’s interests or hobbies or dreams. Not until he met Maddie, and even then it was just so she could tell all her friends that her son wasn’t a complete loser and that this relationship was actually going somewhere.
“Mom…”
“I’m your mother, shouldn’t that mean something? My friend Shiane went home last month and her kids practically fell over themselves to have her stay with them. Am I really such a burden?”
“Daaaaaad hurry up!” Sonic calls from the other room. Tom covers the bottom side of his phone and pulls it away.
“One second, bud!” He puts the phone back to his ear, “Listen-”
“Who was that? Who were you talking to?”
“No one. Listen, mom, we can’t have you staying here at the house, we’ve got…”
For the first time since taking in the boys, the word ‘kids’ catches in his throat. He doesn’t want his mom to know about his kids, not wanting her to taint the amazing experience being a parent has been (amazing, but also difficult). He doesn’t want her to think she can just weasel her way into their lives just because she’s a grandma now. She was barely his mom, she didn’t get to jump right to the fun part.
But she’s going to be in town whether she’s at their house or not, and he refuses to hide his family away.
“...we’ve got three boys now, and I really don’t think having a stranger in the house is going to be good for them. We have a routine and I don’t want it disrupted, okay?”
The other side of the line was quiet, and for a moment Tom thought the call dropped.
“You have kids?”
Tom crosses an arm over his stomach, “Yeah, we do.”
“Three of them?”
“Yup.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me? Couldn’t even be bothered to text me something like that?”
“It’s not like we’ve talked in how many years?”
“But kids, Thomas! You and Maddie had kids together and you couldn’t find it in you to call me. Sometimes I wonder where the hell I went wrong with you.”
“Okay that’s enough. I’m done with this conversation. You aren’t staying at our house, and you aren’t allowed around my kids without me present, got it? And do not, and I mean do not, show up at our house unannounced.”
“All that police training has made you up-tight. What are you so upset about? Calm down.”
“What am I-?” Tom takes the phone away from his face, shoving his fist in his mouth for a moment, trying to keep a lid on it.
Maddie walks down the hall, giving him a look, and he covers the bottom of his phone again and shows Maddie his screen. Her eyes go comically wide, and she mouths ‘what does she want?’. Tom just holds up a finger and returns the phone to his face.
“Do you understand what I said or not?”
“Yes, yes. Good Lord. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Maybe we can do dinner?”
“We’ll see.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Thomas.”
“Yes, okay, got it.”
“Good. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
He mumbled it as he hangs up, his arm dropping to his side. Maddie is looking at him expectantly, and he just gives her a tired look.
“We’re going to have to prepare the boys.”
It’s Friday, and at the breakfast table they sit all three of them down to explain what’s going on.
“I know none of you guys have ever really interacted with either of our families outside of Aunt Racheal and your cousin Jojo. I don’t have any siblings, and Maddie’s parents live far away.” Tom takes a deep breath, “My dad passed away a long time ago, but my mom moved away after he died. I don’t ever really talk to her.”
“You do not speak to your own mother?” Knuckles asks, his face contorted in disappointed confusion.
“If you met her you’d understand. Which brings me to why I’m telling you all of this. My mom is coming into town, and she wants to have dinner with us tonight. So I just, I guess…”
“She’s probably going to say stuff she shouldn’t.” Maddie says, coming in for the save. “So we want you guys to just, not take what she says seriously. Hopefully she won’t be here for long.”
When she says that last part she looks at her husband, who nods determinately.
“God willing.”
With that out of the way, the Wachowskis go on about their days, Tom dreading every time his phone buzzes in his pocket. He only got one message from her, though, that she would be by the house at seven for dinner. They decided to just order from Olive Garden, neither Tom nor Maddie really in the mood to cook.
When Tom got home from work, a little after Maddie, he quickly went to change out of his uniform, all the while trying to keep his dread from consuming all of him. When he is dressed in something more comfortable, he stands in front of his mirror for a long moment, just staring himself down. He can do this. It’s one night, one night and then they can go back to pretending the other didn’t exist. Part of Tom wanted to go around the house and collect all the pictures of his dad and hide them, not wanting to talk about him with her.
But he steels himself, setting his shoulders. It’s only five thirty, he’s got time. He’ll make sure everyone is ready and-
There’s a knock at the door. He hears Maddie call that she’s got it, but Tom knows he can’t leave her out there by herself, not with his mother. So he heaves a sigh and walks down the hall and to the front door. When he gets there, he sees his mom has thrown herself around Maddie, who is timidly returning the grip. Then she sees Tom over his wife’s shoulder, and she quickly lets go of Maddie and makes her way over to her son.
“Thomas! Oh it’s so good to finally see you in person!” She throws her arms around him, pinning Tom’s arms to his side, so he couldn’t return the hug even if he wanted to.
“Thomas?” A familiar voice says.
Tom looks over to see Sonic, Tails and Knuckles standing in between the kitchen and the entree way. Sonic has his head cocked to the side.
“It’s what Tom is short for, kid.”
Having heard the voice, Tom’s mom lets go of him, looking over at the three new faces. It’s blissfully silent for only a moment, the woman just blinking at the strange beings standing in front of her.
“Well I’ll be, those are the critters I’ve been hearing about! I assume the one in the middle is the so-called Blue Devil, isn’t he?”
“His name is Sonic.”
“Yeah I’m preferring to go by Blue Justice these days.”
She puts a hand on her chest, “Oh they talk!”
“Mom, this is Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails.” Tom says, pointing to each of them in turn.
She looks at them with an odd sort of smile on her face. “Uh huh, very nice to meet you.” She turns to her son, “Are they staying here with you guys?”
“Yes, they live here.”
She turns to him wide eyed, “They live here? With you two and your children? This is a nicely sized house but.”
“They are our children, Margret.” Maddie says, stepping back into the line of sight.
Margret blinks a couple times, and Tom notices Tails shifting his weight from foot to foot.
“Oh. Well, that’s certainly not what I was expecting. Okay.”
Tom claps his hands together, wanting to draw attention to himself instead of his kids, “Okay! Well since you’re almost two hours early we don’t have the food yet, why don’t we see what’s on the TV?”
So the entire family moves into the family room, Tom making a call into Olive Garden to push up their pickup time. The wait went largely without issue, though Tom could tell that his mother was uncomfortable as she watched Sonic talk through the cooking show they’ve put on. However, there was no incident, so Tom felt himself relax some.
But then dinner started, and Sonic and Tails were telling Maddie about a show the started watching together while she uncovered the food. Knuckles was handing her things, and Tom couldn’t help the swell of affection he felt for them all. He deflated some when his mother comes up on his back.
“It’s a very interesting life you’ve got set up for yourself here.”
He doesn’t look at her, “And I wouldn’t trade for it anything.”
They all then get their food and move to the table, Sonic taking a break from talking to actually eat. It was silent for a few moments, everyone just taking the time to get started on their meal when Tom’s mom speaks.
“So, how long have these guys been staying with you?”
“Sonic’s been living with us for about a year, and Tails and Knux have been here for around half that time.” Tom says.
His mom nods, and she swings her fork in the direction of all of the boys, “And they’re going to stay?”
Tom raises a brow, already disliking this line of conversation, “Of course. Until they’re old enough to move out, anyway. And that’s only if they want to.”
His mom hums, twirling some spaghetti on her fork.
“That’s going to make it hard to have real children, you know.”
Tom’s fork freezes where it’s cutting into a meatball, and he briefly looks around at his family. The three boys look awkward, only really making eye contact with each other, and Tom watches Maddie flex her jaw.
“And what’s that supposed to mean, ma?”
She shrugs, a seemingly innocent expression on her face, “Oh you know, kids of your own, real flesh and blood kids.”
Tom could feel his stomach starting to turn, and he puts his fork down entirely. He grabs his napkin and wipes his mouth, “Boys, why don’t you go up to your room for a minute.”
Sonic looks up at him, “But I’m not done yet.”
“We can heat it back up, just go for a minute.”
When they hesitated, Tom said an even but firm, “Now”.
The boys slide off from their chairs, and Knuckles grabs a breadstick, “May I take this?”
Tom nods, and Knuckles then grabs another one before following the hedgehog and fox out of the room.
“Sending them out is not necessary, Thomas.”
“I disagree.” He says, turning a hard look at his mom.
“So do I.” Maddie says, and she’s leveling Tom’s mom with a look that’s even colder than his own.
“What did I even say? The truth? I tried to be understanding, and I made a conscious effort to not say anything in front of them, but you two cannot be serious. They’re animals, literal animals. Sure they can talk, but they aren’t kids.”
Tom sees the slight heave of his wife’s chest, and he is silently commending her for not blowing up at his mother with their kids in the other room. Tom himself was having a hard time keeping a lid on his own emotions as he hears his mom talk about his boys that way. It’s not exactly the first time they’ve heard this kind of sentiment, but it’s usually from townspeople they can walk away from, or they respected the Wachowskis enough to hear them out on why that’s wrong. But once Margret Wachowski has made her mind up about something, it was almost impossible to change it.
“What are you trying to prove by saying all of this? What are you getting out of it?”
“Well hopefully I can knock some sense into you! I want grandchildren, real, related grandchildren. You lied to me over the phone, claiming that you had three kids when what you really have is three more pets.”
“Okay, no.” Maddie says, leaning forward in her seat, one forearm on the table, her other hand pointing at the woman across from her, “If you’re going to be in our house you will not talk about our children that way. You have no idea who those kids are because you have immediately written them off as lesser, which is a shame because they’re amazing kids. You also have no idea what we’ve been through for and with them since you haven’t bothered to call in how many years now? You’re here because you ran out of stories to tell your new friends. So if you’re going to stay within a hundred miles of this house, you will talk about and treat all three of the boys with respect. Got that?”
Tom didn’t think he could fall more in love with her, but he surprises himself everyday.
Margret crosses her arms over her chest, squinting at Maddie, “Or what?”
Maddie stands straight up, her chair scraping against the hardwood, and Tom also stands holding a hand out to try and stop her from either rounding the table or reaching across it. Either way, Margret sank back in her chair. Tom looks Maddie in the face, and she looks about a twinge away from flinging her food at the woman across from her.
Tom turns to his mom, “I think it’s time for you to go.”
She turns her attention away from Maddie to her son, “You’re kicking me out?”
Tom grabs her plate, taking it to the trash and throwing the whole thing in, plate included. He wanted to slam it, but he knows Maddie will probably want him to dig it out and he didn’t want to break it. Maddie hasn’t said anything, and is just watching coldly as Marget slowly gets up out of her chair, looking between the two of them in shock.
She slowly follows Tom to the door, and he opens it wide and gestures towards the opening with his other hand.
“Let’s not see each other again anytime soon.”
She stands next to the doorway, but doesn’t step out, “You both are overreacting. We can talk about this.”
Tom’s shoulders drop a bit, “Mom, you called my kids pets, there’s no coming back from that.”
She huffs, finally stepping out the door, “You can call me when you’ve come to your senses then.”
Tom draws his mouth in a thin line as he cocked his head.
“Sure thing.”
As soon as he was able, Tom closed the door behind her, taking his first real breath all night. Maddie comes up beside him, peeking out the peephole to watch her go down their driveway.
“That woman makes my blood boil.” She says.
“Is she gone?”
Both Tom and Maddie look over to see Sonic, looking around the corners of rooms to make sure she wasn’t hiding somewhere. Maddie sighs, walking over to Sonic.
“She is.”
Sonic crosses his arms, “Good. She gave me the heebeegeebees.”
Tom turns to face him, “I’m sorry bud. I know how she can get but, I dunno.”
Sonic shrugs, “It’s okay. I got Olive Garden out of it so I’m not that mad about it.”
Tom smiles, and he hears Tails call from upstairs.
“Can we come down now?”
“Yeah come on down, guys.” Tom says.
“I want more breadsticks.” Knuckles says as he enters the room.
“Well we’ve got plenty, knock yourself out.” Maddie says with a smile of her own. The family migrates back into the kitchen, and Tom clears the rest of his mother’s place at the table while everyone else sits back in their seats. The conversation really wasn’t very long, so nothing needed reheating.
“Are we going to have to see her again?” Tails asks.
“Not if I can help it.” Tom responds.
Tom is a little sad about the whole thing, not understanding why he couldn’t just have a nice, normal relationship with his mom. There have been many days where he wishes his parents would have traded places, though he tries really hard not to think that way. He knows his mother loves him, at least he thinks she does, but she’s really bad at showing it, and even worse at trying to meet Tom where he is. But isn’t that what love is? His mother’s love has always felt conditional, and she was always moving the goalposts. Eventually he gave up trying to reach them.
But he knows his own kids will never have to deal with that, with either himself or Maddie. Maybe this was good, Tom getting to see exactly who he didn’t want to be, and that he was on the right path to not becoming that. He smiles at the family around him, and he internally reminds himself to buy his wife flowers tomorrow.