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English
Series:
Part 3 of Family
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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
Words:
1,676
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1/1
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29
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A Mother's Day to Remember II

Summary:

companion piece to A Mother's Day to Remember I -- It's Dave turn to be smacked in the back of the head.

Work Text:

Dave sat on a bench at the airport, absently watching people rush by. He saw a big family greet their matriarch with flowers and balloons. She was no more than five feet tall and wore an old fashioned black dress. Her long gray hair had a few strands of jet black left. She laughed and started pulling her family down one by one to kiss them on the cheek.

Dave sighed and slipped a hand into his pocket to touch something smooth and worn. “I still miss you,” he murmured.

“Need a ride?” a familiar voice asked lightly.

Dave smiled when Fran sat down next to him. “You shouldn’t have left your party. I was going to take a cab.”

Fran waved that off. “Darren got tired of me beating him on the wii. I told him to teach Derek how to play. For someone who grew up on video games, it’s surprising just how bad Derek is at that sort of thing.”

Dave sat forward with his hands on his knees. He stared at the scuffed floor. He grunted. “Yeah.”

Fran mirrored his position. She lightly nudged him. “I told Derek about where you were. I hope you don’t mind.”

Dave shrugged. “Not at all. I tried to but, as you know, that didn’t end well.”

Fran ducked her head to try and see his face. “How did it go with your brother?” she asked gently. “What’s his name?”

Dave stubbornly kept his head down. “Adam,” he answered in a voice barely above a whisper.

Fran nudged him again. “And?”

“I’m not discussing this in the middle of an airport,” Dave growled.

“Fair enough,” Fran replied easily. She grabbed Dave’s arm and stood. “Come on then.”

Dave slung his bag over his shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

Fran scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. “You forget I raised three Morgan children. That little outburst was nothing.”

Dave followed her out to the parking lot to her green Prius. He slid into the passenger seat. He buckled his seatbelt and stared straight ahead.

Fran settled in behind the wheel but didn’t bother starting the car. She regarded Dave as she would any of her children who were being a deliberate pain in the ass. “We’re not going anywhere until you start talking.”

“Fran--”

“David,” Fran cut him off. “How did things go with Adam?”

“Better than I thought. He said it’s been ten years. Maybe we should try and bury the hatchet. He said Mama wouldn’t want us feuding.” Dave paused and shook his head. “I think he was actually serious,” he said wryly.

“Then why are you so down?”

Dave put his head back and took a deep breath. “Just been thinking about Mama.” He pulled the worn photograph from his pocket and handed it to Fran. “That’s me, Adam, and Mama. I don’t remember how old we were, probably around ten. I do remember her telling us that we had to be serious for the picture.”

Fran saw two little boys trying for their best behavior and a young woman who was trying just as hard not to laugh. She smiled. “She was beautiful and I see that’s where you got your eyes.”

Dave chuckled. “And my hair. My father was not blessed in that area.”

Fran saw that his smile disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. She reached over to thump his arm. “Spill it, David.”

Dave rubbed his hands together and kept staring at the ceiling of the car. “Do you want to know why my big brother hardly said a word to me for ten years?”

Fran leaned in close and squeezed his arm. “Lay it on me.”

Dave took a deep breath. His voice was flat, lifeless. “Because I let her go.”

Fran stared at him a long moment. She frowned in sympathy. “Was she sick long?”

Dave nodded. He sniffed and cleared his throat. He turned his head towards the window and rubbed his eyes. “She was in so much pain every day and she wasn’t going to get any better. The doctors never told her that but she knew. She begged me to let her go. She said my father was waiting for her. She said she’d seen him.”

“Adam must have seen her suffering.”

“He wasn’t around. He worked in Europe as part of his job. Every time he called, I told him that he needed to come back to say goodbye to her. But he never did. And then he blamed me for letting her die.”

“Oh, David,” Fran sighed.

“I told her that it was okay to go.” Dave rubbed the back of his neck and let out a weary sigh. “Maybe Adam thought that if he didn’t come, she’d hang on and he wouldn’t have to deal with it. All I know is, he came to the funeral, got drunk, and publicly blamed me. I almost took a swing at him but Uncle Gino forced him out and took him home. I don’t know what choice words Gino had for him after he sobered up, but he was even angrier at me.”

“Probably told him it was his own fault for not doing his duty by his mother and visiting her one last time,” Fran stated matter-of-factly.

“I was pissed at him for that. It didn’t take much for him to goad me into fights. Soon, we couldn’t stand to be in the same room with each other.”

“And now he wants to make up.” Fran put a hand on Dave’s shoulder. “What do you want?”

Dave pinched the bridge of his nose. “I honestly don’t know, but I’m open to the possibility. He’s right. She wouldn’t want us feuding.”

“Does Derek know about all of this?”

Dave faced her and smiled faintly. “Yeah. He forced the story out of me when he found out I have a brother. He wanted to know why I’d never mentioned Adam before.”

Fran squeezed Dave’s shoulder. “Derek loves you very much, you know.”

This time there was no mistaking his expression as Dave smiled warmly. “It’s mutual even when I think he’s being an asshole.”

Fran let go and hit Dave in the back of the head. “Why did you let that fight happen? Why didn’t you explain what you were doing to him?”

“I tried,” Dave answered defensively. “He wouldn’t let me.”

Fran hit Dave again. “He pushed your buttons and you reacted without thinking.”

Dave held his hands up in surrender. “You’re right. He pushed me and I pushed him right back. Then when he walked out, I didn’t try to stop him. I thought we both needed the time to cool off.”

Fran frowned and looked like she might get him a third time. Instead, she slowly lowered her hand. Her tone was almost accusatory. “Derek’s going to be kicking himself that he wasn’t with you today.”

Dave hung his head. “I know.”

Fran blew out a long breath and almost climbed into his seat to hug Dave. She pulled back and smirked at him. “It might be a good thing. Derek probably would’ve decked Adam first thing and that wouldn’t help you bury the hatchet.”

“Probably not,” Dave agreed ruefully.

Fran grinned and started the engine. “We’d better get going. The others are waiting for us to have dessert.”

“You didn’t have to wait for me.”

“Yes, we did. Everyone in the family loves my chocolate cake.”

When they got to Fran’s house, it was dusk. They found Derek sitting on the top step to the porch. Fran put the car in park. “Do you think you two are ready to stop this silliness?”

Dave gave her a lopsided smile. “I think we can do it for you.”

Fran laughed and got out of the car. She went quickly up the front walk and up the steps. She patted Derek’s shoulder. “I’m trusting you two not to act like jackasses,” she said in a no nonsense tone. “You’ve got ten minutes before I sic your sisters on you.”

Dave approached Derek slowly after Fran disappeared inside the house. He stopped at the base of the steps. “Hey,” he greeted cautiously.

“Hey,” Derek responded, just as cautious.

“You…um…” Dave blew out a long breath. “You mind if I sit down?”

Derek shrugged nonchalantly. “Not at all.”

Dave sat on the step next to Derek. Their shoulders touched but neither of them moved to put any space between them. Dave noticed the tense way Derek clenched and unclenched his fingers. He looked at Derek, who was facing straight ahead. “I’m sorry,” he said barely above a whisper.

Derek jaw worked for a moment before any words came out. “Me too,” he breathed.

“We were both stupid.”

“Idiots,” Derek agreed quietly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t with you to see Adam.”

Dave hesitated for only a split second before he put an arm around Derek’s shoulders. He sighed in relief when Derek leaned into him. “It’s okay. Adam was there to offer me an olive branch of sorts.”

Derek faced Dave. He raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he asked suspiciously.

“Really.”

“And you believe him?”

“I want to. He’s my brother,” Dave answered simply.

Derek smiled. He cupped Dave’s cheek. He leaned in to give Dave a soft kiss.

Dave moaned low in his throat. He parted his lips to deepen the kiss. He hugged Derek tighter.

“Ewww. They’re kissing,” Darren yelled from inside.

“I told you to stay away from that window,” Fran called back. “Desiree and Sarah, you too! Honestly, you’re adults!”

Dave and Derek broke apart, laughing. “That’s debatable!“ Derek yelled at the house.

“If you’re done playing kissy-face with your boyfriend, could you come in so we can finally cut the cake?” Darren called out the nearest window.

“All right. We’re coming!” Derek jumped up and pulled Dave with him. His eyes sparked. “We’ll continue this later, Lover,” he whispered hotly.

Dave copped a feel of Derek’s ass just before they went inside. “I look forward to it.”

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