A/N: So...I haven't written a proper fanfic in a while; you'll have to bear with me.
Through the pounding in his head and body he struggled to get up, but managed to make it to the mirror to give himself a proper once over. A blue face looked back at him, and it took him a minute to realize it was indeed his own refection. His own face seemed unfamiliar, and with confusion he tried to think back to see if there was an explanation. Memories came slowly, hazy and vague, and images of people, places, and things he wasn't sure he'd ever really interacted with flooded his brain.
Homes he never lived in, at least he didn't think so, they held no familiarity; a fair skinned woman with dark hair, a yellow man with hair like a fire... Something in him said these were his parents. Another pale face with dark hair flashed through his brain, so fast he lost the memory as soon as it came.
It was, all in all, an odd sensation. Could he have hit his head? A brain injury would explain a lot, especially these clothes, waaayy too nerdy and waaayy much yellow.
Looking back to his face he noted the dark swirl of sorts around one eye; it looked almost like a tattoo. He looked about thirteen or fourteen though, so he doubted that's what it really was. The blue boy looked around the room, feeling like a stranger. It was a young man's room sure, but much of this stuff didn't appeal to him. He tried to think back to what he remembered last, but his head still ached; his whole body ached, and the confusion was making him frustrated which made it near impossible to concentrate on anything.
Everything was making him angry and he didn't know whether to punch the wall or cry. Was this his room? Was this his house? He couldn't even remember his own damn name.
He dropped his head into his hands as he slid to the floor, refusing to look up even as he heard footsteps headed his way. He was finally pulled out of his self pity when he heard a gasp, but by the time he looked up no one was there.
Moving was becoming progressively less painful: so he let his curiosity get the best of him (couldn't stay in the room forever anyway) to see who it had been. The hall was by now empty, so he followed the sounds of soft crying to a locked door.
He knocked without hesitation. "Hello?"
He put his ear to the door, it sounded like a woman, so he took a chance. "Mom? Are-Is that you?"
A pause, the he heard a deep breath. Then finally, "Hold on honey." So she was his mom. "I'll be out in a sec"
He heard a faucet being turned on – ah, this is a bathroom, okay- and a few more deep breaths. What had made her cry? Was it him? He didn't mean to do whatever it was. He just wanted to know.
Dr. Jekyll had called her son a few minutes ago, but when she got no answer she decided to check up on Jackson. Dinner was already on the table, and while it was not unusual for him to get caught up in a book or other project of his, to get no response at all was.
Her son's room was the last on the hallway on the upstairs level on their house, so it wasn't until she turned the corner that she realized the door had been left open. A little odd, but not enough that she really thought anything of it until she looked in. She immediately back tracked, slapping a hand over her mouth when she realized she's gasped.
Without thinking the dark haired woman half ran to the bath room; breaking down as soon as the door was locked. She'd only gotten a glimpse, but that brief registering of blue skin and red hear had been enough.
Jackson had finally transformed.
It's not like she hadn't known it could happen someday. She'd known from the moment she'd first seriously considered having a child that this was a possibility.
It was just-
It was so sudden. Just an hour ago he'd gone to play in his room and now…now…
There was always a trigger. Her own was the 'fight or flight' response, the need to protect. What could have happened between her starting dinner and the sunset?
She was probably over reacting; she knew that, but she had just…hoped. Hoped that maybe, somehow, Jackson wouldn't have it. She knew firsthand how hard it was to balance two lives in one body, and while she'd made peace with her inner monster it's been on hell of a struggle. For years all they could do was argue and sabotage the other; they had resented each other for something neither had any control over.
She didn't want that burden for her son, now sons.
A knock broke her out of her thoughts, as well as a voice, trying to be somewhat quiet and failing, "Hello?"
A pause. "Mom are-is that you?"
Guilt flooded her, she hadn't even thought about how the new side to her son was doing. Poor thing, he was probably confused. Her own Hyde side had once described to her what it was like to just "appear" for the first time. The pain, the disorientation, and here she was hiding in a bathroom from a son who needs her right now.
She took a deep breath to steady herself," Hold on Honey… I'll be out I a sec."
She rinsed her face and tried to remember what name they'd settled on when the day came. It was…Holt. That's right, Holt.
His mom finally emerged from the bathroom, looking exactly like the face in his strained memories. Brown eyes were rimmed red, but her smile was friendly even if it didn't quite reach all the way up.
"Sorry if I scared you Ja- Holt, I- I just had a bit of a shock that's all. I-"
She leaned down, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. Holt returned the embrace, more confused than ever but glad to know he wasn't on his own to figure things out.
"Mom what's going on?"
He felt moisture on the side of his face near his neck as his mother hugged him tighter. "I'm sorry," it was muffled and he only just heard her.
"You okay?"
She pulled away slowly, hesitantly, to look him in the face, her hands remaining on his shoulders. "I'm fine, it's just- *sigh*" She examined his face, eyes tracing the almost tribal looking mark before resuming to meet his own, "Yes, I'm okay. Everything's gonna be fine."
As nice as an explanation for everything would have been, Holt had had to suffice for now in the knowledge his mother would fill him in after dinner. He'd began to protest, but couldn't summon enough in him to argue back when his mom seemed so upset. So instead he'd let himself be lead to the dinner table.
The food was okay- mac 'n' cheese, green beans, chicken strips- a little bland though. Maybe there was some hot sauce somewhere; ah, there it was, on the table. Much better.
He caught himself drumming his fingers and had to force himself to stop. Things felt much too quiet, but whenever he looked up his mom seemed too lost in thought for a conversation, staring down into a plate of food that she was only half eating. The silence was making him fidgety, and several more times he caught himself drumming his fingers or tapping his foot; until eventually giving up on trying to keep still.
He let his eyes wander around to what he could see of this place; it looked like a standard home he supposed, if a little empty. Dining room, doorway leading to a kitchen, a living room on the opposite side; it held a bit of familiarity, though he couldn't entirely recall when he'd been here before. He saw a few boxes lying around, labeled with various things like 'dishes' (that explains the paper plates) or 'sheets'. Had they just moved here? No wait, they were moving. They were supposed to be moving…now how did he remember that when he couldn't remember his name until she'd said it?
He'd at first thought it had to be some kind of head injury, but then if it was, why would him mother react like that? She seemed afraid of something, and even a bit guilty. Something just seemed off about this whole thing.
The bare house felt empty in another way as well, as if there was supposed to be other people here. He had a dad around right? Where was the guy- surely his mom could at least answer that.
"Hey, um, mom-"
His mother head snapped up as if he's startled her, which judging by him volume and how far away she'd seemed he probably had.
"-uh, where's dad?"
She seemed to relax a bit, answering, "Oh, he's gone to check on our new house." So he did remember some things correctly- "We've been planning on moving there if a few days you see. I don't know how much you remember about that-"
"I remember enough I think."
"Right, we're going to meet him there if everything's ready."
"Oh, okay." Not sure what else to say, the room resumed its silence save for the tapping of a foot against a table leg.
Holt resumed his attention to eating, wishing there was at least a radio somewhere nearby to fill the void.
Dr. Jekyll had barely noticed the silence all throughout dinner so lost in thought was she.
She'd promised to explain to Holt everything after dinner, but the more she thought about how to break it to him, the more she thought back to her own experiences. She'd resented her own half so much, an unfair resentment she knew in hindsight, but she'd felt like some stranger had taken something she'd never get back.
You could never be independent again, your every decision had to consider someone else, and you had to just hope and pray they cared to consider you. She would try everything to suppress her other half, forcing her Hyde self to have to take advantage of every moment she could get to be free. She understood it now, but at the time it only made Jekyll want to suppress her even more.
By far though, the worst part of being two people, for everything she'd gone through was the fear of rejection. Being rejected by friends and lovers because they can't handle the drama, the fear that people were going to like your other half more than you, and that one day they'd tell you they've chosen the other.
She didn't want them to hate each other.
An idea took hold of her mind before she even had time to fully process it.
Mr. Jekyll wasn't going to be making it home in time for dinner. He'd gone out of town to help look over the new house they'd be moving into; if he'd been home he likely would have talked her out of it. He'd have told her they needed to know, how keeping if from them was just going to lead to more trouble down the line. But he wasn't there, and didn't have her experiences. He didn't know what it felt like.
It wouldn't be secret forever, just give them a little more time, especially for Holt, to just…feel like their own person.
Speaking of, she glanced up at him for a second, and it hit her how much of a stranger he seemed. He was her son, she knew she loved him, but there was somewhat of a distant feeling. She loved him, but she didn't know him. She wanted time to get to know him, wanted him to have time to develop him own interests without the added drama that was sure to come.
Judging by how he'd poured half of a bottle of hot sauce he'd certainly inherited his father's love of spice; he had his father's eyes too, she'd noticed that back in the hallway. He had the tale tell fiery hair of an elemental, but with more of a wave to it than her husband's, giving the effect of it being caught between being hair and fire. Blue skin, and a mark around one eye, if she wasn't mistaken Henrietta had a mark similar to that. Her Hyde self always thought of it as a sort of birth mark; her other half's mark wasn't on her face though, but Dr. Jekyll had never seen a picture of it and could say just how similar the two marks really were.
She wished she hadn't promised to explain things after dinner; she felt like she needed more time. She had no idea if her Hyde would go along with this, or her husband for that matter. She had no idea how much Holt knew; he seemed to share some of Jackson's memories to an extent. Enough that he didn't seem to realize he was a rather recent development into her life. She just-
"Hey, um, mom-" Jekyll's head snapped up, she'd been so lost in thought she hadn't even realized she'd been staring down into her plate. Her heart started beating; he was going to ask wasn't he?
"-uh, where's dad?"
Oh. That's all. Oh god if she kept this up her other half was going to come out. "Oh, he's gone to check on our new house. We've been planning on moving there if a few days you see. I don't know how much you remember about that-"
"I remember enough I think."
"Right, we're going to meet him there if everything's ready."
"Oh, okay."
He didn't ask any thing further, but he'd snapped her out of it enough she finally noticed his tapping. It was distracting, making it hard to get her thoughts back in order.
His question did remind her she was going to have to make a phone call. was probably going to be thrilled at the news; he loved Jackson, but she knew he had always wanted another elemental in the family. Funny how Holt got all the monster traits, it seemed the Jekyll half of the family couldn't escape being human.
She'd need to let her Hyde self out too, so she could meet him. Though, wait, if she let her other half out Holt might figure things out. Ugh, this lie was never going to work.
She'd been absentmindedly eating this whole time and realized her plate was getting empty. Holt was already finished; she was running out of time. Chewing her last bites slowly so as to take advantage of the remaining time to get her thoughts in order she finally figured out what she was going to say.
She could feel her son staring at her expectantly, and she finally put her fork down, clasping her hands atop the table and looked him dead on.
"Holt honey, well, what's been going on is…"
A/N: Don't forget to review, I need all the feed back I can get.
EDIT: This might just stay as a one shot. Can't decide.