Mother's Day (Quietly)
Acepilot
AN - No.24 in the Road series. Yes, I'm a bit late, I know, but this took some serious contemplation and a lot of editing. This is just a vingette about the wonderfulness that is a mother. I'd like to dedicate this to mother's everywhere, but particularly my own, who taught me everything I know about life, and was always there for me when I needed a shoulder to lean (or cry) on, when I needed a smiling face at the end of a hard day, or even just someone to moan and whine at. I couldn't have done it without you, Mum. Oh, and just so you know, I physically flinched every time I typed "Mom" in this fic.
Disclaimer - the characters of AGU are the property of KlaskyCsupo. The original characters are of my creation.
"Shh, you fool, you'll wake her up."
I roll my eyes behind my closed lids as I listen with amusement to my family's bumbling efforts in the kitchen. I've heard at least two plates dropped, accompanied by Cara's hushed chastising of her father, who defended himself with poorly disguised laughter in his voice.
"Dad, Cara called me stupid."
"I did not call you stupid, I called you a fool."
"Same difference."
"Can the two of you stop fighting for five minutes so we can serve your Mom breakfast?"
The twin's reply of "no" came in perfect unison, and I was reminded eerily of Phil and Lil.
When the doctor first told us we were going to be having twins, Phil whooped for joy. I was a little less enthused. One would have been well and truly enough for me.
But now, six years later, I wonder if I would have wanted it any other way.
"Besides, she started it."
"I did not!"
"You did so, Cara!"
"I did not, Marc!"
"Did, Cara!"
"Did not, Marcus!"
I still remember the time they walked in from playing with their cousins at the park, Marcus all but coated in bandaids, Cara with a fiery grit and determination in her eyes. When I asked her what had happened, she told me that some bullies pushed Marcus over (and an over-appeasing Chuckie had put band-aids wherever he said it hurt). When I asked what they'd done about it, she told me that she dumped sand on the bully's head and then had gone off to play king of the hill with James and Andrew.
"Would you two please be quiet? Your mom doesn't get treated to this kind of thing often so I want this to be special."
"Why are we doing this, anyway?"
"Because it's mother's day, Cara, duh!"
"Marcus, don't go 'duh!' at me! Daddy, Marcus - "
"I heard."
I remember, after the first day of school, when Cara came home crying that one of the boys had tried to hug her. When I had asked why, she'd remained stubbornly silent. So I went and asked Marcus, who confessed that he'd given the kid in question a cookie if he'd go bug his sister.
"Now, Cara, can you hold onto this?"
"Alright."
"Be very careful. Don't drop it."
"Why does Cara get to hold the dangerous stuff and I'm stuck with holding the crummy flower?"
"Because I'm bigger!"
"No, you're not!"
"Yes, I am!"
"But I'm older."
"That's right, so you get to do less work, while Cara has to do more."
"Oh. Cool."
"Alright. Quietly, wait out here for a minute. And remember, who made the breakfast?"
"We did."
"And who didn't?"
"You didn't."
"And who broke all the plates?"
"The cat."
"Very good."
I remember when I was lying in a hospital bed, an exhausted Phil still napping in the bed next to mine, and they brought the twins in for us to hold. And because poor Phil was utterly exhausted, with even less sleep than me to survive on, we'd let him doze on, and I'd held my children for the first time. And "A Little Ray of Sunshine" came on a nearby radio, and I just held them and cried. They were perfect. These two, little angels, who I would hold on to forever and ever. Cara had opened a sleepy eye and made a quiet cooing noise at me. And I lay there in the dark of the night, with my two little rays of sunshine to light up my day.
And everything was perfect.
And because of them, it all still is.
Phil opens the door to our bedroom, looking a little worse for wear in a dressing gown that has French toast batter on it and his hair mussed up like I've never seen it before. He's smiling nervously, and I look up and grin at him. "Hey."
"Hey," he returns. "You awake enough to eat?"
I nod. "Yeah."
"Good. Because the twins made a big mess, so we'd hate for it to all be for nothing..."
"Happy mother's day, mummy!" Cara declares, striding through the doorway carrying a tray with the final product of the French toast and a mug of coffee on it very carefully.
"I told her to wait until you called us in, but she wouldn't listen," Marcus informs Phil, before turning to me as he follows his little sister in. "Happy mother's day!"
I grin as Phil sits down with his guitar and picks out "Little Ray of Sunshine". It's all so hopelessly corny that I can't help but cry.
"Thanks," is all I can muster to say to my beautiful children.
the "little ray of sunshine" thing is what actually happened with my mother and sister (who i named Phil and Kimi's daughter after). i hope you enjoyed this. please review.