Family Strength
It was 4:30pm and AJ was driving Marshall crazy.
“Are you sure its supposed to smell like its burning?” Asked AJ sniffing the oven.
Marshall turned to look at AJ from his position in front of the sink. “It’s not burning Alex, it’s just something else that’s stuck on in the oven. Probably those pizzas we cooked the other night.” He said before turning back around to finish making a salad.
AJ groaned and walked back to the living room and looked out the window. “What if she’s early?” He yelled.
“Then she’s early.” Marshall yelled back with a smile. AJ could be so cute when he was nervous.
“How the fuck can you be so calm?” Asked AJ as he walked back into the kitchen and sat down at one of the bar stools. “You never used to be the calm one.”
“Somebody has to be calm, and right now you aren’t. So that only leaves me now doesn’t it.”
AJ rested his on the table and sighed “What if I said I wanted you to be going crazy with me.” Came his muffled response.
Marshall turned around and walked towards AJ. “Is that what you want?”
AJ just mumbled something that Marshall couldn’t understand.
“What?”
AJ lifted his head. “I said no, what I want is to make everything not be so complicated. When did our life get so complicated Marshall?”
“The day we got the crazy idea in our heads that we wanted to be fucking celebrities.”
***Beep, Beep***
***Ding Dong***
AJ looked down at his watch and at the door.
“You take your medicine, I will answer the door.” Suggested Marshall as he walked into the entry hall to answer the door.
AJ sighed. He was so not ready for this conversation. How do you tell your mother that you, a man, is going to have a baby? Walking to the sink he grabbed the bottles of pills sitting there and filled a cup with water.
*****@*****
Marshall opened the door to the cheerful face of his ‘mother-in-law’. “Hey, Denise come on in.”
“Thank you Marshall.” Denise walked into the house and smiled. “You guys really need to start getting your Christmas decorations.”
“I guess we’ve been busy with other things. But don’t worry we will.”
“So, where’s my son?”
Marshall looked towards the kitchen. “He’s in the kitchen.”
Denise and Marshall walked into the kitchen just in time to see AJ swallowing the brightly colored pills.
Denise looked at her son in concern. There were four different bottles of pills on the counter, and by the look of things she could tell AJ had taken at least one from each bottle. “Alex?”
AJ turned around quickly to see his mom and Marshall standing in the doorway. Taking a deep breath he tried to put on a smile. “Hey mom.” He said walking to give her a big hug. “How are you?”
Denise pulled back to look into her son’s eyes. “I’m fine. The real question is how are you?”
AJ tried to pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. By the look on her face, and the timing. He knew she must have seen him taking the pills. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’ve looked pail for the last month. You’ve been getting sick, and now I see you popping at least four different pills.” Taking a deep breath she turned to look at Marshall and then AJ. “Either you’re really sick, or addicted to drugs. Either one I don’t really like.”
AJ looked to Marshall for help. They hadn’t planned to tell Denise until after dinner about the baby, but that didn’t seem to be the way things were working out. “Mom, we have something to tell you. Come sit in the living room.”
Denise looked at her son, fear in her big brown eyes. “Alex, I don’t want to sit in the living room, I want you to tell me what’s going on.”
“Mrs. McLean, I really think we should go to the living room.” Said Marshall, taking Denise’s arm.
Denise shook her head and shrugged of Marshall’s hand. “Just tell me god damn-it.”
AJ could feel tears coming to his eyes. This was not how he had planned things. Everything was going terribly wrong. He couldn’t handle this. Without saying anything he sprinted out of the room and up the stairs.
Denise and Marshall looked at the direction AJ had gone in shock. Denise was the first one to speak.
“What was that all about?”
Marshall tried not to act angry. Deep down he was furious with the older woman for hurting AJ like she had. But he also knew she was a lot like AJ. They got angry when they were scared. “He had something really important to tell you. One of those things that you plan it all out in your head. I think you scared him.”
Denise sighed and looked at Marshall. “What should I do?”
Marshall shrugged. “Go talk to him. Maybe its best that he tells you by himself anyway.”
Denise nodded and started to walk out of the kitchen. Before she left she turned back around. “Can you at least tell me if it’s a good or a bad thing? The news I mean.”
“Depends on how you look at it.”
*****@*****
AJ was lying on his stomach on the bed when there was a knock on the door. “Go away.” He sniffed.
“I’m not going anywhere Alex, we need to talk.”
AJ sighed once he heard his mom’s voice on the other side of the door.
When she didn’t get a response back she opened the door anyway, walking into the dark room. Looking around the large room she finally found her son laying on the large king sized bed. AJ had been living with Marshall for the last year or so, but up until this point she had never been in their bedroom. Walking over to the bed she sat down next to the lump laying on it. “I’m sorry, honey. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. I was just scared about what you were going to tell me.”
AJ turned over to look up at his mom. “I’m sorry I ran out. I just felt so helpless.”
“I know sweetheart, but I’m here to listen now. You can tell me anything you know that.”
“I know mom, but what I have to tell you, you are going to be shocked.”
Denise laughed. “Even more so then when you told me you were gay?”
AJ nodded and laughed too. “Yeah, even more then that.”
“Well, then I guess I’m as prepared as I will ever be. So tell me.”
AJ then went on to tell his mom exactly step by step what had happened. From the day he saw the magazine to that morning when they saw the baby on the ultra sound. By the end of the conversation both mother and son were in tears.
Denise sighed as she held her son in her arms. It seemed like yesterday that she was holding him for the first time. Now, she was holding the twenty-four year old man, who by a miracle was about to have a child of his own. Yeah she was extremely shocked at the news, but deep down she always had a feeling something like this would happen.
AJ broke away from his mother’s arms and looked into her eyes. “So you believe me?”
“Of course I believe you. You’re my son, and I’d like to think you wouldn’t lie to me.”
AJ smiled and looked at the clock, it was already almost 6:30pm. “Shit, Marshall’s downstairs with dinner.”
Denise had to laugh at her son’s choice of words. She had stopped trying to correct him a long time ago. She learned that was just another thing that made AJ, AJ.
*****@*****
The rest of the night was spent talking about everything under the sun. From Kevin and Kristen’s baby, to their own baby. AJ and Marshall knew they should tell even Denise about Justin and Nick. That was something they had to do themselves. It was almost 11:00pm before Denise was getting her coat on.
“It’s been a very eventful night, but I loved spending the time with two of my favorite boys. I hope we don’t wait another three weeks before we do this again.” Said Denise as she hugged Marshall and AJ goodbye.
“Take good care of my boy.” She whispered in Marshall’s ear before she walked out into the cold December night.
As soon as the door was shut the phone started to ring.
“I’ll get it.” Said AJ as he ran into the kitchen to answer the phone. “Allo?”
//”Hey, Bone.”//
AJ had to smile at the sound of Nick’s voice. “Hey Nick what’s up?”
//”Nothing really, Justin’s in the shower, so I thought I would give you a call.”//
“When are you planning on telling everybody?”
//Nick sighed. “I don’t know man. Justin is really scared about telling the other guys.”//
“You’re going to have to do it sometime Nicky. Justin’s not going to feel or look like himself in a few months.”
//”I know that, I’m going to talk to him more about it tonight. I was just mostly calling to see how things went with your appointment?”//
“Well, me and Marsh are in the same bet you and Just are.”
//”Congrats, are you telling the guys for sure tomorrow?”//
“Yeah probably. Anything can be better then what we did tonight.”
//”What was tonight?”//
“We told my mom. She took the news really well, but I almost died before hand.”
//”Nick laughed. “Well, J, I need to get going now Justin’s out of the shower, and I think we need to talk. But I will see you at the studio bright and early tomorrow morning.”//
“Yup, good night bro.”
With that they both hung up the phone. And AJ walked back into the family room to see Marshall fast asleep on the couch. AJ smiled and grabbed a blanket off a near by chair and put it over his sleeping lover. Yeah, things were looking all right.
