Dinner with Mrs. Teller

Madison and Noah pulled up to his mother's house.  She had been there plenty of times before, of course, but it was different now that they were going out.  Once she found out, Noah's mother had invited her over to dinner (without David for once) and even though it shouldn't have been such a big deal, Madison was still a bit nervous.  She gave Noah a smile, though, putting on a good front.  "I hope it's meatloaf, your mom always makes really good meatloaf," she said.

Noah reached over to take Madison's hand, giving it a quick squeeze for encouragement.

"I didn't actually ask, but she knows you like it, so I'd bet that's what we're having," he replied with a reassuring smile.

He led the way inside, heading towards the kitchen. Regina stood next to the island, several neat piles of vegetables in various states of preparation nearby. Her ipod station blared from the counter, Regina humming along as she chopped. As Noah and Madison watched, she grabbed the next carrot she was planning to cut, miming a microphone as she belted out the lyrics.

"Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the - oh!" she said, just noticing the teenagers. She regarded them sheepishly. "Uh, hi, sweetie, Madison. Just, ah, just chopping some stuff for the salad."

Madison smiled, wanting to be on her best behaviour. "Hi, Ms. Teller. It all looks really good... Is there anything I could do to help?"

"Oh, sure, Maddie. Could you put the rolls in the oven?" Regina said, nodding towards the opposite counter. "Then you can come help me finish with these veggies."

"Noah, on the other hand, I need you to run to the store real quick. I just realized we're out of soda. I was going to call you on your way, but, ah, I guess I got distracted."

Noah gave his mom a dubious look, following Madison into the kitchen.

"You okay here with her by yourself?" he asked under his breath, giving a half-smile.

"It'll be fine," she said, smiling back as she picked up the rolls to put them in the oven. "I don't think she's going to bite."

Noah glanced at his mother with comically narrowed eyes, then back to Madison. He leaned down to give her a quick kiss before turning to leave.

"Back in a few, then. Play nice," he said as he grabbed his jacket an went out the door.

Regina rolled her eyes, going back her preparations. She smiled at Madison as she turned from the oven.

"How's school going? Your dad must be excited about the playoffs."

"Oh, yeah, he's super excited. It's practically all he can talk about," Madison said, shrugging. "Maybe Kristen will get sick of it... Um, anyway, yeah, school is going fine, thanks. I like my classes this year, mostly, and being my class's representative is interesting."

"Oh, I don't think Noah had mentioned that," Regina mentioned, at least sounding genuinely interested. "What do you do as a sophomore class representative?"

"Well, so far it's mostly stuff with helping to organize school activities - we did a lot of stuff for Homecoming, and we're doing a fundraiser at Hallowe'en where we'll have people selling candy and sweets, and a pumpkin-carving contest, maybe a few other things if we think of them. I guess in theory too I'm supposed to be, like, a voice for my class, like if someone had suggestions, or complaints about school policies, but so far that hasn't really happened yet."

"That sounds like a good thing, then," Regina commented with a smile. "And it may look good on college applications."

Regina gave a strange look for a moment.

"Sorry, that was a really 'mom' thing to say," she said, laughing. "Its such a bad habit. So, what else have you been up to?"

"Well, I hope so," Madison said with a bright smile. "It's fun, anyway, and good experience if I want to go on in student government later." She hesitated, not sure what else she could really explain to Ms. Teller about what they'd been doing lately - but then, she had helped them with the psychic vampire lady, so maybe it was okay... "Other than that, things have been kind of... weird lately, I guess? Weirder than usual, anyway. But I'm doing fine, really."

Regina frowned, looking concerned.

"I have some experience with that. Have you...does your dad know?"

"He's pretty preoccupied at the moment," Madison shrugged. "With football, and then with his new girlfriend and all that... I don't want to bug him about it, and anyway, I'm not sure he'd understand even if he did listen."

Regina nodded knowingly.

"Well, if you need someone to talk to about it, I have been through some of this before."

"Okay, thanks, I'll keep it in mind," Madison said, fidgeting nervously. "Um, so... you wanted me to help with the salad?"

"Yeah, just grab a knife there," Regina said, pointing with her own knife," and start slicing the peppers."

Regina paused while Madison retrieved the knife, occupying herself with peeling the cucumber.

"So, Noah tells me you know about the family...condition."

Madison did as she was instructed, beginning to cut up the peppers into bite-sized chunks. "Oh... yeah. He told us a bit about that." She decided it might be better not to mention that he'd only done so after they'd seen him change. "That's kind of part of all the general weirdness going on, I guess." She hesitated to ask if Ms. Teller was a werewolf too, or if it skipped a generation, or what, since it seemed rude. "I don't know all the details about how it all works, though."

"I'm not sure any of us do, really," Regina offered. "Its...complicated. And I'm not sure Noah's ready for all of it yet."

She sighed.

"I don't want to scare you," she started, then reconsidered. "Actually, maybe I do. I like you a lot, Madison, and I've known you for years. I don't want you to be blindsided by all this. The next couple of years are going to be very hard on Noah, even without whatever has been stirring up around here. And that means, if you really want to be with him, they're going to be hard on you."

Regina gave Madison a sad smile.

"I know you and him isn't like any of his other...relationships. He talks about you, for one. And you've known him long enough that, if you're with him, I feel comfortable assuming its not a passing thing."

"Well, I don't want it to be just a passing thing..." Madison said cautiously. "I hope it won't, anyway. And if things are going to be tough the next... well, however long it's going to be, then maybe I can help him with all of that, somehow."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, and I know you mean it, but its not that simple," Regina replied, a look of concern on her face.

"Noah told me he lost control a few weeks ago, that it caused a lot of problems even beyond the immediate. That sort of thing," she sighed again, "its going to be a while before he has a handle on it. The worst of it hasn't even hit him yet. It won't until he fully changes. There's only so much I can do for him, and, if you're together, he's going to want to lean on you through that. You don't need to be sure you're ready for it yet, that's unfair. But you should definitely be thinking about it."

Regina made another strange face, giving a weird smile.

"I guess normal parents would be having this conversation about sex, huh?"

Madison's face reddened as she tried to think of what to say that wouldn't be horribly embarrassing. "Um, maybe, yeah, I guess," she stammered. "I'll think about it. I mean... what you said before. Not about sex."

Regina smirked at that. She was blissfully unaware of any details, but she'd endured enough uncomfortable conversations with other parents to know her son's reputation.

"Do we need to have that conversation? I know you're not a child and all, but I can't imagine Patrick would have talked to you about that sort of thing."

Madison looked away, becoming very preoccupied with cutting the vegetables into neat little squares. "I, um, no, he hasn't really, but he gave me a book and stuff, and we've had some classes in school, and..." On the one hand it would have been really nice for someone to explain certain things better to her, answer questions that weren't really the kind of things the other girls at school tended to discuss when it came to sex. But she really didn't want that person to be Noah's mom, it was just too awkward. "Thanks, but it's okay... I mean it's not really an issue right now anyway."

"Well, I have to say, I'm glad to hear that," Regina offered with a smile. "So, about all the weirdness going on, I mean, I try to avoid all that, but it sounds like its been picking up, huh?"

Madison nodded, relieved to change the subject, even if it was to something almost as confusing and weird. "Yeah, it's been sort of nuts since school started. I don't know if it's always like that and we just never noticed before, or if it's really getting worse, though."