-1Chapter 1
The Reading of the Will
Mystique came home one day in a very perturbed mood and found all of the Brother Hood laying around doing nothing as usual. Looking around, she saw that the house was still a wreck and a stack of bills that were as tall as her knee. This was the last straw.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" she grabbed one of the house hold chairs and chucked it across the room. All the of the Brother Hood boys bolted to areas of protection in case she decided to throw something bigger. "I can't take it anymore! You boys are nothing but immature slobs that don't anything to help out one bit!"
"Hey, we help out!" Lance called from behind the sofa, "We fight those X-Geeks for you all the time."
"But do you ever win? No! You loose every single time and then come home and destroy my house! You do more damage here than you do on the battlefield."
"So, what do you want us to do about it?" asked Pietro, who poked his head out from the closet.
"Simple. I want all of you to start going out and getting jobs! I won't supply the lot of you with anymore money for food and necessities, until I see you bring in some cash and contribute. Do you got that!"
"A job! Are you crazy! Who in their right minds are gonna hire someone like me?" cried Todd.
"You could always try the garbage collectors. They're always looking for somebody who doesn't mind wallowing around in filth."
"Hey!"
"I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks, when I get back you all had better have some form of a job. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am." they all said in unison.
"But, what if we're not able to get a job?" Freddy asked.
"Then I hope you like living on the cold hard streets."
"Whoa! You'd really throw us out on the streets?"
"Yes, Lance. I would. Now, get cracking and finding a job!"
For the next few weeks, while Mystique was away, the Brother Hood boys went out and found jobs. Pietro had no trouble at all finding a job, he became a part time fashion consultant at the Bayville Mall. Lance found a full time job working as an auto mechanic, since he didn't have to worry about attending school it all worked out well for him. Todd and Freddy had a harder time finding jobs. They tried fast food restaurants, but they got kicked out for sanitary issues and over eating the products. Eventually Todd settled for the garbage collectors job and didn't mind it at all. He found that the people he worked with respected him more, no one seemed to mind that he stunk, and there was a wide variety of bugs he could eat. Freddy still had a harder time finding a job, since he didn't work well with others, except his friends, but he eventually found one working as a bouncer for a club. Though he wasn't 21, they allowed him to work for them, because he managed to get rid of their most annoying customers.
By the time Mystique came back, she was very surprised and pleased to see that her young charges were standing in the door way holding up cold hard cash for her to collect as back pay rent.
"Very good, boys. For once you actually did something right." she said as she walked by counting all of the money. "Here. You can keep half of what you made. Just give me half of your pay checks whenever you get paid from now on. This house isn't exactly cheap, but I can be reasonable. Oh, and Freddy."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"A letter came for you. It looks urgent." she handed him a big yellow envelope.
Freddy opened it and scanned the letter. His mouth dropped in horror.
"What is it, Freddy?" Todd asked.
"It's a letter from back home… A friend of mine just past away." he walked over into the living room and sat down on the couch.
"You had friends back in Texas?" Pietro asked, trying not to sound mean.
"Only one. A woman named Clarice." he stared at the papers some more, "She was the only woman who was nice to me."
"Wow…" Pietro sat down next to Freddy, he opened his mouth to speak, but something fell out of the envelope and caught his eye. "Hey, Freddy, what's this?" he picked it up and read it. "Looks like she left you something."
Freddy grabbed the paper and scanned, "Huh, that's weird. Clarice really didn't own anything. Maybe she hit the lottery and won something for once."
"It says here that you've got till next week to pick it up or else it will be given to someone else."
Freddy looked up at Mystique, "Uh… Mystique, I hate to ask this, but-"
"Don't worry about, Freddy." she counts out the money in her hand and hands some to him, "I know what it's like to loose a friend. Go ahead and buy yourself a round trip ticket, but make sure you call in at your work and tell them why you won't be in."
"Thanks, Mystique." he got up and walked over to the phone, "I'll tell them right now."
Lance sat down on the couch next to Pietro, while Todd hopped over to Freddy's side.
"What do you think she left ya, Freddy?" he asked.
"I don't know, Todd. Clarice wasn't materialistic and didn't have much since I last saw her."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
Just then Freddy motioned Todd to be silent, so he could speak to his boss on the other end. After he was told that it would be okay, he hung up the phone, and when directly upstairs to pack. Forgetting to answer Todd's question entirely.
Todd was about to follow him, but Mystique advised him not to. Freddy needed some peace to himself and some time to greave. Which was exactly what Freddy wanted.
Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, Mystique knocked on Freddy's door.
"Who is it?"
"Mystique. May I come in?"
"Yeah."
Mystique opened the door and walked in holding an extra large pizza with mozzarella sticks, "I thought that you might be hungry."
"Thanks, Mystique." he sat up, so that she could have a place to sit.
She sat down beside him and opened the box for him, "How close were you and Clarice?"
"It's kinda weird. We were close, but not close at all."
"What do you mean?"
Freddy sighed, "I don't know how to explain it… Clarice was the most beautiful woman back at the truck rallies. All the guys wanted her, even I did, but I was too shy to ask her out."
"How old was she?"
"She was 35."
"And how old were you?"
"16."
"Teenage crush. I remember those days."
"Yeah, well… I became more than a crush."
"An obsession then?"
"Kinda, but Clarice liked me because I didn't treat her like more of the men did. They drooled all over her and tried to get into her pants, but I didn't. Mainly cause I didn't want to do anything to hurt her or embarrass the hell outta me." he paused to take a bite of the pizza, "And because I didn't treat her like the other guys did, she liked me, and became friends with me. But since her manager made her work like a dog, we really didn't get to spend that much time with one another. That and she had an abusive boyfriend to deal with."
"Did you do anything about it?"
"Yeah… I knocked her boyfriend through the wall, scared him a lot, but it mainly scared her. After that, she completely avoided me all together and continued living the way she did. I didn't push her or try to make her talk to me, I knew that she was scared, and I didn't want to make things worse for her."
"Sounds like she missed out on having the best friend she could of ever had."
"You really think so, Mystique?"
"When you aren't trying to prove anything or force things to go your way, you really are a nice person Freddy. Toad seems to like you most out of everyone else. You're actually the only person here that treats him like an equal. And from the sounds of that letter, Clarice realized what she lost when it was too late."
Freddy looked down at the pizza, struggling to hide his tears, "I just wish… I just wish I could have done something. Something to-"
"I know Freddy. But you did what you thought was best. Here. Eat the rest of this and get some sleep. Tomorrow I will take you to the airport early in the morning and see you off."
"Thanks, Mystique."
After she left, Freddy finished the rest of the pizza, and tried his best to go to sleep. Sleep for him didn't come around until 5 a.m. and he had to get up 2 hours later. By the time 7 a.m. came around he was dragging himself out of bed, running downstairs with his luggage in his hands, and in the limo that Mystique had waiting for them. She knew how he slept so she had breakfast already on the go.
They reached the airport in an hour, paid for the tickets, and headed towards the terminals.
"Are you coming with me, Mystique?"
"No. I'm afraid not. I have other business to attend to, but I will be available if you need anything." she hands him her cell phone, "I have another cell phone, so if you need anything don't hesitate to ask."
"Okay."
"Take care, Freddy."
Freddy got onto his plane and flew out to Texas. The flight went smooth and to his surprise there was someone waiting at the airport for him. It was one of his former co-workers, as butch lady named Burnin' Betty.
"Freddy!" she walked up to him with open arms, "Good to see ya. I was beginin' to think that you weren't gonna show."
He gave her a hug, "How did you know that I was coming down?"
"You're new guardian gave us a call and said that you'd be on the next flight out. Poor ole Clarice, I still can't believe that she's gone past away."
"How'd she die?"
"Ah, it was awful, Freddy. Poor woman's been sick since before you left. I think they said that she had a long term cancer since she was 8. It was in recession for so long and then all of the sudden it hit her like a bat outta hell."
"Have they started the funeral yet?"
"Yeah. Sorry, buddy, but you know how them bodies don't last long after ya die."
"Don't remind me." Freddy grimaced as he recalled the death of him mother and father, "Do you have any idea what Clarice left for me?"
"Not really. Anyways, we better get ya to that place where they read off the wills and stuff before they give yours away."
They left the airport and headed straight for their destination. By the time that they got there, it was already 3 in the after noon.
"Here we are." said Burnin' Betty.
"Jesus! Can this place be any bigger!"
"Don't let the size intimidate ya, Freddy. You know that all of these fancy working places with the big buildings are only showin' off just to compensate for something." she chuckled.
They went inside and met up with the man with whom they were to speak with about Clarice's will.
"Hello." he said, extending a hand of friendship out to Freddy, "I am Mr. Henry Lydecker. You must be Fredrick Dukes."
Freddy shook his hand in return, "Y-Yeah. How did you know-"
Lydecker laughed, "That that was your name? Well, it's not all that hard seeing that you were the only person that she left anything to. Clarice wasn't that particularly close to anyone, except you it appears. Anyways, let's get on with this will reading. Shall we?" he pulled out the papers and read, "To Fredrick Dukes, my one and only true friend that I have ever had in my entire life. To you, I leave the most priceless treasure that I have… My daughter Tiffany."
"What the! Why would she!"
Lydecker held up his hand, "There's more." he continued the reading, "Tiffany is your daughter too. I'm positive because my boyfriend is completely sterile and I cheated on him with you. I have never had sex with anyone else but you and my boyfriend. If you look at our little Tiffany, you'll see that she strongly resembles you and she'll know you right off bat, because I constantly showed her pictures of you and said, 'Look, there's daddy.' Please, don't be mad that I didn't tell that I was pregnant with your child. I knew that you were still a young boy that needed to live your life to the fullest, until you were ready to settle down. I didn't want to take your life away. I don't have any other living relatives, at least none that claim me, and I didn't want to risk her being sent to an abusive home where she might be molested or worse. I know that you will be a good father to her Freddy. You always had a way with kids. I never got around to telling you thank you for not telling anyone about our secret relationship, even though my boyfriend found out he didn't tell anyone either. I guess a stud like him didn't want to humiliate himself by letting everyone know that the hottest woman in the derby shows found a heavy set teenage boy more appealing than him." Freddy chuckled at the last part, "I know you probably don't want to be responsible for child right now, but please, think about it. Spend some time with Tiffany before you decide. She needs her daddy. I need her daddy." Lydecker stopped there and put the will down and looked up at Freddy, "Well, that's it. What do you say, Mr. Dukes?"
Freddy clenched his fists and his teeth, fighting back the tears that wanted to explode, "Where's Tiffany at right now?"
Lydecker smiled, "Why she's here." he pressed a button on his intercom, "Susie, please bring Tiffany in now."
An elderly woman brought in a small little girl wearing a blue dress. Freddy looked at the little girl and saw that she still a baby, only walking. She was chubby, but cute, had big green eyes, and blonde hair that was tied up into pony tails on each side. In one hand she clutched a little plush dog that was blue too.
"Look, sweetie." said the elderly woman, "It's your daddy."
The little girl looked up at her father for the first time, staring at him hard for recognition, then smiled. She raised her arms up in the air and wobbled towards him.
"Dah Dah!" she squealed, latching onto his leg, hugging him, and smiling up at him with her big green eyes.
Freddy's heart melted, no one had ever hugged him with open arms before on first sight. Normally everyone was intimidated by his size. He picked her up and held her in his massive arms.
"Dah Dah!" she squealed again, trying her best to wrap her arms around his neck.
Freddy returned the hug, forgetting to hold back the tears, and cried.
"Are you alright, Mr. Dukes?"
"Yeah." wipes a tear from his eye, "Yeah, I'm alright."
"Well, you have about 3 days to make you decision, so-"
"I've already made my decision… I going to take my daughter back home with me and raise her."
Lydecker looked at him curiously, "You do know that taking care of a baby is harder than it looks, right?"
"Yeah. Don't worry, I have a job to support us and I'm pretty sure that my legal guardian will help me out too."
"Ms Raven Darklome?" he flipped through a current file that he had of Freddy's living residents. "Yes, she is quite wealthy and suitable. Alright, then. If that's your final decision, Betty will take you back to Clarice's house, so that you can gather up Tiffany's things to take with you."
"Thanks."
"You're quite welcome. Oh, by the way. Since you're still a teenager, we're going to have to send a social worker up to see you at least once every 3 weeks just to make sure that the house is clean and safe for the child, and to monitor you to see if you're fit to continue being the child's father. Alright?"
"Okay."
"Good. Have a nice day you two."