( @internerdionality @weirdnatasha @beatle411and @greenapricot all wanted Eddy finding out about Whina and Dave, then Pete's little joke. We hear in the last bit that Stede kind of tells her as soon as Whina tell him, so this takes off from Stede coming back from that phoen call.
“He’s dating my mother!” Eddy repeated, voice climbing octaves as Stede came back inside. He was glad he’d already said good night to Whina since she would undoubtedly been able to hear the cry.
“Yes, that does seem to be the case, honey.”
“My mom!”
“Yes? Darling, I’m not really sure-”
“Oh my god,” Eddy covered their face with their hands. “She didn’t tell me because she knew I’d be like this. Why am I like this?”
“You’re surprised,” Stede crossed the room to her. “That’s understandable.”
“I shouldn’t be,” the hands dropped away. “I’ve been teasing her about it for ages. I kind of knew that she did really like him. But...”
“But what?” Stede held a hand out to her and drew her to the couch.
“I don’t know,” Eddy groaned and all, but collapsed against him. “I should just be happy for her. I am happy for her.”
“Is it Dave?” Stede couldn’t quite picture that. They’d met Dave several times before he ever collided with Whina and Eddy had clearly liked the man very much, wheedling old unionization stories out of him.
“No, he’s fine,” Eddy confirmed. “I like him even. If I had to pick someone....he’s in our network. We know him.”
“All right, is it her being in some kind of other role? Less mother and more...”
“Please don’t find a word to end that, but no. I know she’s a human being and all.”
They sat quietly for a long minute before Stede ventured,
“Honey, do you think just maybe it’s because you have some bad associations with your mother living with a man?”
Eddy thunked their forehead onto Stede’s shoulder. “Yeah. I think maybe.”
“You’re not alone,” Stede put an arm around her and dropped his nose into her thick curls. Eddy still loved the grassy kind of lavender scents and he found it infinitely comforting. “She’s scared too.”
“She told you that?” Eddy asked, muffled by Stede’s shirt.
“She did. Made sense to me.”
“If he touched her...”
“I know, honey, I know, but I don’t think Dave is the type.”
“Pete said his dad never even spanked him,” Eddy recalled. “Can you fucking imagine Pete as a kid? Dave is a saint.”
Stede laughed, “He probably talked a lot, but it’s not as if too much talking ever induced you to do more than sigh at Charlie and Alma.”
“Yeah cause they’re good kids and you shouldn’t hit any fucking kid any way,” Eddy grumbled. “I’m just saying.”
“I know, darling.” Soothing themselves, going over the facts. Stede considered a few options then finally with a wrinkled nose said, “You should ask Izzy to do a background check.”
“What? Why?” Eddy’s head came up.
“Just for your own peace of mind. He’s probably done one anyway, you know how protective he is of your mother and Dave has been spending time with her.”
“Huh,” Eddy gave him a close look, “You know, Mr. Teach Bonnet, you’re pretty clever sometimes.”
“Thank you Mx. Teach Bonnet, I do try.”
“Wait. Does that mean I’m the one that has to tell Izzy my mother is dating?”
“Pay the ferryman, my love.”
So the next day, Eddy had to go into the office and pay the fucking ferryman. Good thing for her, Izzy was in a relatively good mood. One had to determine such things by whether or not he’d responded to her morning greeting and then how much he sighed at them dumping things on his desk. He’d both responded and only done a little performative grunt of annoyance, so she figured this was as good as it got.
“Iz, I gotta tell you something.”
“Can it wait until after I’ve sent out the invoices?”
“No,” she plucked the pen out of his hands. It was a nice one. She shoved it in her shirt pocket, she might need it later.
“Fuck, fine, what?” He leaned back in his chair.
“Remember when you respected me as your boss?”
“That was before you decided to make a grand gesture and say we were partners without fixing the workload,” Izzy rolled his eyes. “And then running off to become a part-time bar owner, so I basically run this place. So no. I don’t really remember anymore.”
“Your life is a misery,” she agreed. “Okay, so Mama called me last night.”
“Uh huh,” Izzy crossed his arms over his chest. “And?”
“And it turns out she’s been dating Dave for like...months apparently.”
Izzy’s face didn’t change for a second and then his eyebrows went up and he frowned. Eddy’s eyes narrowed.
“You little shit! You knew!”
“I didn’t!” Izzy protested. “I just guessed something was going on! They were together all the time and she kept telling me what Dave thought of this or did you know Dave used to do that?”
“...she did do that,” Eddy subsided. “I assumed they were friends.”
“You were the one that kept poking her over it.”
“I know, I know. So they’ve been dating. And it turns out that Dave isn’t going to buy a house, they’re going to try to live together.”
“Huh,” Izzy frowned. “Seems fast.”
“Is it?”
“...I mean I still don’t live with Lucius and it’s been years, but you moved in with Bonnet on the first fucking date. Maybe we need to ask a normal person.”
“Do we know normal people?” Eddy considered.
“Jim and Oluwande lived together before they started dating,” Izzy considered. “I think Fang and his girlfriend moved in after a year. John and Frenchie? Maybe? Not clear.”
“Right,” Eddy nodded slowly. “So. Maybe if you average it altogether it’s pretty normal.”
“That’s not how math works. That’s not how anything works,” Izzy growled, but he was also sort of smiling, so that was fine.
“Okay, we’re not going to be talking her out of it anyway. I just...did you do a background check on him?”
“Of course I did,” Izzy put his hands to his keyboard, fingers flying. “Years ago. Mostly to see if half the shit Pete said about him was true.”
“Was it?”
“Yeah, surprisingly,” Izzy pulled something up, turned the screen so she could see it. “He got arrested for trespassing during a strike. When he was a teenager, he had a speeding problem. Pretty impressive considering the shitbox cars he was driving. The divorce is there, but it was no contest, he was the one that initiated it after she left the state.”
“Pete’s mom left town?”
“Yeah, you never heard that?”
“No. Figured she was dead.” Eddy leaned in to look over the arrest record. Dave had gone peacefully, let out on bail in the morning then the charges were dropped when he brought a suit against the company which was settled out of court for him and several of the other strikers.
“You’ll have to ask Pete if you want details on his mother. One of the few things he’s pretty private about,” Izzy shrugged. “But it was a long time ago. There’s not a lot about Dave’s life outside of work that’s online. He’s not a big internet user. He owns the house outright because it was his parents’. Drives trucks into the ground. Has a pension and social security now. There’s money saved up.”
“So he won’t suck her dry,” Eddy said quietly.
“If they wind up getting married-”
“Woah woah, who said anything about marriage?”
“No one. I’m just saying that there’s ways to protect both of their money if they do. But probably they won’t anyway. Not like either of them had banger first times around.”
“Fuck, Pete would be my step-brother.”
Izzy barked a laugh, “Could do worse.”
“So no red flags, huh?”
“No,” Izzy confirmed. “And you’ve met him. He’s fine.”
“Yeah,” and her breath did come a little easier. Stede had been right. Izzy wouldn’t let anyone shitty around Mama. “Want breakfast?”
“Some of us have been here since 9.”
“So you don’t want me to get you one of those granola bars you live off when I get my coffee and danish?”
“....yeah all right.”
On her way to get the coffee, Eddy called her mother.
“Hello,” Mama said neutrally.
“Hi, Mama,” Eddy sighed. “I’m sorry I was weird last night.”
“No, sweetheart, don’t be sorry. I know it must’ve been surprising to hear.”
“Little bit. But...hey, if you’re happy about then I’m happy about it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really! Come on!” She protested. “I just want you to be okay.”
“I am. Thanks to you. You know that.”
Eddy smiled down at her feet, “Do you need help with anything?”
“Oh, no, sweetheart, not right now. Dave isn’t going to move out there for another month or so. He’s still trying to get his place sold and all. But maybe when the time comes, you and Stede could come down and help us shuffle some things around?”
“Yeah, of course. If you’re willing to cook for a group, we can have as many bodies there as you want.”
“Please not everyone,” she laughed. “Can you just imagine? What an invasion. But maybe a handful. Pete and Lucius will come. Izzy too. Between the five of you and the two of us, we should get it done.”
“Mama, I know you like him, but Lucius is actually minus a person in the help department.”
“I figured I’d have him hang pictures,” Mama agreed. “He can mess around with a tape measure and at least get out of the way.”
“Smart lady.”
And that was how it went down. Two months later on a hot summer morning, Stede rented a car and they drove down. When they got there, Izzy’s car was already in the driveway and Pete was standing with his father, pointing up at something on the roof.
“Something wrong?” Eddy approached them.”
“Whina noticed a brown spot in your bedroom ceiling,” Dave said off-handed. Eddy warmed to him another notch. Eddy hadn’t slept in that room much since meeting Stede and it barely held any of their things anymore, but they did still think of it as theirs and not just a guest room. “Not sure if it’s paint discoloration or a leak.”
“...which corner?” Eddy shifted onto the balls of her feet guiltily.
“The one over the window.”
“Just discoloration.” Eddy might’ve occasionally smoked in there, right by the window so Mama wouldn’t smell it.
“That so?” Dave glanced at her and grinned. “I’ll just paint over it then.”
“Or one of us can do it today,” Pete said hurriedly. “It’s just white paint. Easy fix.”
“Don’t take every job away from me,” Dave pat Pete on the shoulder. “Got to make myself useful.”
“Eddy!” Mama called from inside the house. “Do you still want this box of CDs? Or are you all done with Miss. Spears?”
“You listened to Brittany as a kid?” Pete asked, eyes widening.
“She’s a fucking genius and I won’t hear any slander on her name,” Eddy snorted. “And anyway, it’s just got-”
“EDDY! Is this pot?!”
“...my old stash in it,” she winced. “Sorry, Mama!”
“Have I mentioned that I’m grateful that you were a boring teenager?” Dave turned to Pete.
“Hey! I was plenty interesting.”
It was an afternoon of organized chaos. Boxes were moved from room to room, furniture relocated then relocated again. The formally emptied crawlspace was stuffed back full with who knew what. Lucius managed to actually re-do the entire back wall of the living room, incorporating both sets of photos in a very aesthetically pleasing way even if had taken him most of the day.
Despite earlier requests, Eddy kept Mama out of the kitchen and just ordered in a metric ton of food which they all devoured in various stages of being slumped over the table. Izzy’s hair was a mess and Lucius kept ‘helpfully’ fixing it by racking his fingers through it until it fell in a messy curtain around the man’s face.
“Thank you all,” Mama leaned back in her chair surveying them peacefully. Dave sat beside her and Eddy was relatively sure he had his hand on Mama’s knee. Which was cute. And a little....something, that tugged at her chest.
Eddy’s father had never really been tender with Mama. He must’ve been once. She had to have loved something about the man, but by the time Eddy’s memory began, there was none of that left.
“I can’t imagine a better way to start off in a new place,” Dave agreed. “Feels like the right way to do it.”
“Here, here!” Stede toasted him with his jam jar glass of orange juice.
They all got up to clear the table, wanting that last bit of mess done and dusted. Mama took a plate from Pete to slot into the dishwasher as Eddy eased by them both to get to the sink with a glass. Lucius was coming in with the salad bowl.
“Could you get this bit of potato?” Mama handed the plate back to Pete. “This dishwasher is so cranky.”
“Sure thing, Mom.”
Eddy stopped dead, glass hanging precariously over the bottom of the sink. To her left, Lucius made a strangled gasping sound.
“What. The. Fuck.” Eddy demanded turning on Pete, who was pink in the face and then busted out laughing.
Then to Eddy’s horror, her own mother started giggling along. Betrayal!
“Your face!” Lucius cried delightedly. “Oh, babe, why didn’t you warn me, I could’ve gotten the best photo.”
“I don’t want to be in this family anymore,” Eddy decided, setting down her glass.
“Cool, does that mean I get your room?” Pete managed through his laughter. “I can finally put up all my posters!”
“Oh sweetheart,” Mama put her hand on Eddy’s elbow. “I’m sorry, but it really was a little funny.”
“Everything all right in here?” Stede put his head around the door.
“Pete almost gave Eddy a stroke,” Lucius informed him “Also she might still kill him, undecided.”
“Please don’t, honey, he’s only halfway through making that new gown and I was looking forward to it.”
“No one is doing anything except finishing loading the dishwasher,” Mama declared.
Eddy grumbled, but settled back into helping.
“Sorry, Eddy.” Pete offered, a little sheepishly.
“It’s fine,” Eddy sighed. “..it was kind of funny. Once.”
“Got it!”
“What the hell kind of posters would you be hanging up anyway?”
“I have some 80s action movie posters,” Pete said, already warming to the subject.
Eddy let him tell her about them, including increasingly unlikely ways he’d procured them as they finished washing dishes. As he talked, her attention drifted to the dining room which she could just see through the door. Mama was showing Dave where the good plates went in the china cabinet and Dave carefully taking them from her and tucking them where they belonged.
When Mama had to stretch to reach, Dave put a hand on her waist to steady her and didn’t take it off even as she settled back down. Mama didn’t shrink away. She let him keep contact and when he reached forward and brushed a wisp of hair of her face, Eddy turned her attention back to the silverware.
“I think those crazy kids are going to make it,” Pete said quietly. “What do you think?”
“Yeah,” Eddy settled the last fork and closed the dishwasher up. “I think they will.”
