101. Distracted

I wasn't really paying attention to the calendar or the days, I was still sort of living on Otherworld time where things were a lot more relaxed and we had less of a schedule. On the other hand, it seemed way too early when I felt my mom drive onto the property. Like I was pretty sure it hadn't even been two weeks yet, there was no way we could be past new years already.

It wasn't quite noon, we'd all had breakfast a couple hours ago. The twins were both busy in the office, Elise and Kaitlyn and I were all sitting in the living room together. I was relaxing on the sofa with a book, Elise was on the recliner with her laptop, and Kaitlyn was with me on the sofa watching TV.

I set my book aside as Sue emerged from her car, and met her at the door. As I let her in I greeted her, "Hi mom. It's early isn't it? What brings you by today?"

"Hello Tegan," she replied. "Sorry for dropping in unannounced. I..." Her voice trailed off and she frowned slightly, then asked "You don't even know what day it is, do you?"

"It's Friday," Kaitlyn offered in a helpful tone.

I glanced at her then looked back at my mom and shrugged, "Apparently it's Friday?"

Mom rolled her eyes, "Tegan it's Christmas today! You haven't got a tree, there's no decorations up."

I stared at her for a few seconds as I realized I'd completely blanked on that. All my life we'd celebrated the holidays at my parents' place. This was the first year that wasn't happening, and I never even thought to try and do anything about it here.

It wasn't a fae holiday, Kelly and Keira didn't really celebrate it growing up. And of course Kaitlyn didn't celebrate it either. Elise didn't have any excuse though, and I was surprised she hadn't said a word about it.

"It honestly never occurred to me?" I replied to mom. Then I looked at my cousin and asked, "Hey Elise? Why didn't you say anything? Or remind me?"

She set her laptop aside as she shrugged, "Since none of the rest of you seemed to care about it, I figured it wasn't important. And I remembered you mentioned a year or two ago the fae didn't celebrate it. I didn't want to impose human Christian cultural stuff on your fae household."

I looked back at mom to say something else, but immediately forgot whatever it was when I saw the look on her face. She was staring wide-eyed at Elise. Of course it was her first time seeing 'dad' since I changed her.

Sue looked like she was completely lost for words as she just stood there and stared.

Elise got to her feet, she was blushing slightly as she approached. She sounded a little nervous as she said "Hello Susan."

I was almost holding my breath as I watched the two of them.

Mom's eyes slowly moved up and down over her ex-husband's new body. Elise was shorter than mom by about two inches, and smaller over-all too. At the moment she was dressed like me, in tight leggings and a loose top, with fuzzy slippers on her feet. Her short black hair was a little messy, she hadn't done anything with it this morning. And she wasn't wearing any make-up or jewelry or anything like that. Nonetheless, she was absolutely unmistakably feminine.

After a few moments Sue finally responded, "...Hi."

I could tell mom was uptight. She obviously knew this moment would come, but I was positive there was a big difference between knowing it as an abstract thing, and actually experiencing it for real. And even though she'd kind of gone through something similar with me three years ago, I had no doubt it was entirely different and new going through it again with her spouse.

"Hey Kaitlyn," I said softly. "Turn off the TV, you and me are going into the kitchen for a while."

I figured my parents would need some time alone to talk things over. Kaitlyn hit the remote control then got up and headed for the kitchen, while I said to my folks "If you want anything, a drink or whatever, just call. I'll be in the kitchen."

"Thank you Tegan," mom replied quietly as I excused myself and retreated to the kitchen.

While Elise and Susan talked, Kaitlyn helped me plan out a nice dinner based on what we had in the house to eat. It wouldn't exactly be a traditional xmas supper, but it would do. I also let the twins know it was the twenty-fifth today and Sue was here so we'd all be having a family dinner together later.

My folks spent about two hours talking quietly together while Kaitlyn and I waited in the kitchen. I had the teen help me with the prep work for dinner, chopping vegetables and peeling potatoes and so on.

Eventually my folks finished their talk, and both of them joined Kaitlyn and I in the kitchen.

"I know space is a bit of an issue Tegan," mom said as she sat down at the kitchen table, "But I was hoping I could impose for tonight? I'll be leaving again tomorrow around noon. I couldn't find anywhere to stay tonight..."

She almost sounded a little embarrassed as she added, "And I didn't like the idea of being alone in a hotel somewhere on Christmas."

I smiled, "Of course, you're always welcome here."

My smile faded as I gave the teen an apologetic look, "Sorry Kaitlyn but you're getting bumped to the living-room sofa tonight."

"I understand Lady Tegan," Kaitlyn replied.

Elise suggested, "Hey Kaitlyn, why don't you and I go upstairs and change the linens in the guest room for Sue?"

That left my mom and I to talk alone, which I knew wasn't a coincidence. I sat down across from her and asked, "So how did it go with Elise? Is everything ok?"

Mom nodded, "Things are ok Tegan. It was a shock seeing her, even though I knew it was coming. I even knew in advance what she was going to look like. When she came out to me last month she showed me a picture she took with you in October. I still wasn't quite prepared for the emotions though, of actually meeting her."

"You're ok though right?" I asked softly.

"Yes," she nodded again. "Like with you, you're my child whether you're a boy or a girl. She's... Well I suppose she's not my husband anymore. But she's the same person I spent more than half my life with. We'll remain friends, whatever else happens."

I sighed, "I still feel bad about some of this, splitting you two up. I'm not sorry for helping Elise, I'm just sorry there wasn't a way to do that without driving you both apart."

Sue shook her head, "Don't blame yourself, Tegan. Even without your magic, if she'd come out and started to transition the normal way, the outcome would have been the same. This way she's happier. She has a whole new life ahead of her, and from the sound of it she's going to make the most of it, following her dreams."

"What about you?" I asked. "You're still planning on moving out east by yourself?"

She nodded, "Oh yes. Next week I'll be back here looking for my own miracle, probably January second. Then I'll be off to Cape Breton. I've always loved it out there, ever since your dad and I visited a few years back. I've always dreamed of retiring there. Now instead of just a decade or so, I'll have a whole lifetime to enjoy myself there."

She added, "I know it'll be a challenge, especially doing it all alone, but it's my dream. It's what I want to do."

I was quiet for a few moments as I just slowly nodded in response.

Before I could say anything else, Sue changed the subject "So last time I was here we didn't really talk about any of your news. Tell me how things went on your extended stay over there? And tell me about Kaitlyn, who is she, why's she staying with you and the twins?"

I spent the next hour or so telling her about our recent adventures in Otherworld. It was the abridged version, I left out all the unpleasant or delicate details, same as when I told Elise the story a week and a half ago. Even at that it was still enough to leave her worried for my safety at times.

Then we got onto the subject of Kaitlyn. Once again I didn't go into all the details, only that she was the twins' grandfather and that she'd been a despicable person. That we basically had to either kill her or transform her, to render her harmless.

That may have been the thing my mom had the strongest reaction to out of anything I'd ever mentioned about Otherworld, the fact that I might have had to kill someone. Of course she was relieved I refused to do that. I went on to explain how we planned to leave the girl with Kelsey, but I had a change of heart about that and we brought Kaitlyn back here.

Mom was dismayed to learn Kelsey Connolly was almost as evil as her father, that she was now considered an enemy of my clann as well as myself and the twins. And she seemed curious about Kaitlyn. I figured that wasn't unusual, like how often do you get to meet a six-hundred-year-old evil-bastard-turned-teen-girl.

Eventually I started getting dinner ready and mom chipped in and helped out. Not that there was too much to be done, since Kaitlyn already helped with the prep earlier. It was mostly just seasoning the roast and the vegetables then putting it all in the oven.

With that done, we sat down at the table again to continue our conversation.

"So the other thing I wanted to ask about Tegan," Sue said as her lips curled into a bit of a smile, "I understand Keira's moved into the master bedroom with you and Kelly?"

I was already blushing but before I could respond she added, "You know it wasn't three months ago you gave me hell for suggesting they were both your girlfriends."

"Yeah but..." I sputtered a little. "They weren't, back then! It wasn't even on the radar! It came up when we were in Otherworld and it's a long story and I had no idea it was going to happen that way..."

She just smiled, "Oh relax Tegan, I'm not cross. Let's just say, perhaps I had a bit of intuition about the whole thing. Elise told me the three of you are happy, that's the important thing."

I sighed as I slumped back in my chair, "It's true, we are. It was awkward at first, but now I really couldn't imagine it any other way."

"I'm happy for you dear," Sue said as she stood up. She looked out the doorway to the living-room and asked, "Kaitlyn? Would you come and give me a hand setting the table?"

That caught me a little off-guard. I was going to do that myself in a few minutes. A moment later Kaitlyn joined us in the kitchen. Then she and my mom started carrying the plates and cutlery out to the dining room together.

I stayed out of the way but I could hear Sue giving the girl instructions, teaching her the correct way to position the cutlery and so on. From the sound of it, my mom wasn't the least bit phased by Kaitlyn's dark past. Instead she was pretty much acting like mom, taking charge of the teen and putting her to work.

When the time came, Elise got the drinks ready. Susan and Keira had wine, Elise and Kelly preferred hard lemonade, and there was cola for Kaitlyn and I. Meanwhile I carved up the roast, Kaitlyn carried all the food out and set it on the dining table, and I called the twins when it was time to eat.

It wasn't anything like xmas dinners in the past, but it was honestly kind of nice. We were certainly an odd family, but for tonight at least, we were family and we were all together.

After dinner Sue volunteered to do the dishes, then roped Kaitlyn into helping her. The two of them were in the kitchen again together the following morning. Sue made breakfast for everyone and had the teen helping her. And she put the kid to work doing dishes again after that.

When all that was out of the way, Susan and Elise and I had a nice little conversation together. Eventually though she had to get going.

"I'll be back again next week Tegan," mom said as she gave me a hug. "Thank you for having me here for Christmas."

I hugged her back, "It was good to see you, mom."

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