If there was a time that Michael, in all this immortal years, felt more uncomfortable than this, he was surely lying to himself.

The evil glares, the loud slamming of cupboards, and even the silent treatment all had Michael on edge. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to upset Edith this time, but it must have made her feel really angry about it. Edith called for Bear and Mael that their grilled cheeses were finished, as if she were their mother and had been doing this since the beginning of time.

On que, the two boys ran in. Well, Mael wobbled in on his unsteady feet. Michael went in and picked up Mael, swinging him up onto the counter. Mael knew what his dad was doing, and opened his mouth for the famed “fang check” of the afternoon. It had become such a routine between the two of them that Michael wasn’t sure what they’d do when he actually did have fangs- or canines.

“What on Earth are you doing?” Edith stared at Michael just like Michael had stared into Mael’s empty mouth. This was the first time Edith had said something to him after David left, and it was only then, because she had caught him doing something incredibly strange to his adopted child.

“Uh, well,” Michael placed a hand on the back of his neck and rubbed in circles nervously. There wasn’t really a difficult answer, he was just checking to see if his son had developed fangs yet. Yet, in the depths of Michael's mind, he knew that Edith wouldn’t understand that.

“Daddy and Papa check my teeth for fangs. I don’t know if I’m a vampire or a werewolf yet.” Mael went ahead and said exactly the truth, and Edith’s face, as predicted, skewed in a cross between an angry and confused expression. Her eyebrows knitted together, and her frown deepened.

“We adopted Mael and was told that he was some kind of supernatural. The only thing is, no one knew which kind. Most supernaturals, other than werewolves and vampires, mature at a younger age.” Michael paused, realizing that his explanation was only making the lines on Edith’s forehead become more defined. “We’ve narrowed it down to either a vampire or a werewolf. So we do a fang check a few times a day.”

Edith stood there, arms crossed, frozen. Her head slowly turned toward the small child, who still sat on the counter. She didn’t know what to think. There were rules that she’d followed for nearly her entire life. They were simple, they made sense, and the rules never harmed anyone else, at least physically.

Edith believed that werewolves and vampires were meant to be separated. That was a rule of nature, in her eyes. Edith believed that wholeheartedly, and without a doubt. But when she looked at this small child, her mind began to waiver. What was so bad about this kid, if he were to be a vampire? Edith would still find him the most adorable little boy, wouldn’t she?

“So, you’re saying, he could be either, but you love him anyway?” Edith found herself talking before she could really find a way to stop herself. She wasn’t really looking at Mael, or even Michael anymore. She was kind of off in her own space, thinking of all the times where her rule had seemingly failed her. How it was failing her now.

“Of course. What he is doesn’t really matter. Although it would be nice to know.” Michael said, taking one more glance at Mael’s teeth before setting him into a chair beside Bear. Bear had been stuffing his face full of sandwiches, and was barely even listening to the conversation.

Edith didn’t really say anything after that. It wasn’t because she was angry, like she had been before, but because she didn’t know what to say. She had to apologize to her daughter- no, her son. She had to apologize to her son.

She made her way up the stairs for the first time that day, and she used her sense of smell to figure out which room David was in. Michael didn’t stop her from going up, although Michael himself wasn’t even brave enough to bother David when he was in full-work mode. David was a very cranky man when he was bothered by outward sources during his work time.

Edith found herself knocking on the door to her own child’s room for the first time, ever. There had never been a time when she was too afraid to open up her kids’ door. She’d seen everything to them, hell, she was the one who gave birth to them. The thought that she didn’t know what her child looked like without clothes was restlessly tossing in her mind.

“Come in.” David’s voice came from the other side of the door. He didn’t sound like a happy camper form the disruption, but he wasn’t going to tell her to go away. David could smell her, and knew who was at the door.

Edith opened the door and walked in.

“What are you working on?” Edith tried, coming up to the desk and looking at the computer screen. There were papers spread all over the desk, and even spilling onto the carpeted ground. All around him looked like pages to a book, only it was splotched with red and green ink.

“I’m in the editor’s department of a publishing firm. This is someone’s novel that the company is producing.” David explained, opening his arms out and gesturing to the room full of papers. Edith looked around, and indeed, they were editing marks on all of the papers. She picked up a page, and looked in to how and what David was doing.

On the page there was a scrawling of ‘rewrite this entire chapter’ in a scribbly writing the greatly resembled her daughters’ mess of a hand writing. Or her sons’, as she was now discovering.

“Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?” Edith set the paper back down and looked over at David, who had fallen back into typing up an email to the author. Everything that needed to be fixed, rewritten, or scrapped altogether, summed up into a few small paragraphs.

“Why? Did I write, ‘you’re an idiot for writing that’ in bold letters?” David said sarcastically, not taking his eyes away from his computer. Edith wasn’t sure if he was actually being serious or not. He certainly didn’t write that, but is that what he wanted to write, or just him being rude? She stood there, her hand frozen inches from the paper she had just held.

“Listen, David, I want to talk. About us. About, the rest of the family.” Edith shook her head as if freeing the thoughts from the ice that froze her. David turned slowly to meet her eyes, and a small smile formed on the corners of David’s lips.

“You called me David?”

“Yes. Now no more attitude. I’ve got things to say.”

“So say them.” David’s smile fell a little, and he rested his chin on his hand, comfortably looking up at his mom.

“I don’t know how this all came about, but I’m still your mom. I, and your father, and your siblings, deserve to be in the loop. So I’m inviting them for the holidays.” Edith finished, holding her pointer finger up to make a point. David shrugged his shoulders. His siblings had known about him for years. His older sister, and his older brother both had kids and usually spent Christmas at their house.

“Okay,” David edged on, like he was expecting more. He was, though. He was expecting for her to tell him that she didn’t approve of what Michael was, or what his adopted children were, but she didn’t say anything. And when David didn’t argue or tell her that coming out to his siblings was too much, Edith didn’t know what to say either. So she did the only thing she knew how to do.

“Grilled cheese sandwiches are ready, David.”