Chapter 1:
Tom stared blankly at the pile of papers he still had left to grade. He loved his job, he loved sharing his passion for history with his students, and he loved the feeling of pride as he helped them reach their full potential. He'd always done whatever he could to spark that same interest and passion in his boys, and he knew that to a certain extent he'd succeeded. Ben had always been eager to learn, always asking questions, wanting to know more, and Tom would often catch him researching something they'd discussed days later. Matt was still a little young to be too interested in all the apparently boring details, but Tom usually managed to find a way to make the subject at least a little bit entertaining for his youngest son. Hal was the biggest challenge, always insisting that it was dull and not interesting and that Tom was so embarrassing for bringing up historical anecdotes in front of his friends. However Tom knew that deep down Hal was interested, and was listening; that behind the eye rolls and whatevers was an actual interest in what Tom was saying. It always made him smile when he overheard Hal bringing up those same historical anecdotes with his friends, something that happened more frequently that Hal would ever admit.
The feeling of pride he received from enlightening young minds did nothing, however, to make the thought of grading a seemingly endless pile of papers late on a Thursday night any more appealing. Flicking on the TV, Tom settled on a news channel to use as background noise to help break the tedium.
As Tom finished what felt like the hundredth paper, the start of the next news story began to filter through into his consciousness. The news reader was saying something about NASA, and unusual objects being picked up in space. Just as Tom was focusing on what was being said, the channel was abruptly changed to a baseball game, and Hal collapsed onto the sofa next to him, dropping the remote at his side.
"You weren't watching that, were you?" Hal asked, not taking his eyes from the game. Tom sighed, shaking his head, "I was, but I guess it doesn't matter. I really should be marking these." He gestured at the depressingly large pile of papers.
"Ouch," Hal laughed, "Have fun with that."
"I wouldn't laugh if I was you," Rebecca came to stand behind the sofa, "Have you finished your homework already?" Hal looked up at her and smiled sweetly.
"I'll do it in the morning." He promised.
"You have early morning Lacrosse practice tomorrow Hal and I highly doubt you'll be getting up early enough to get your homework done before then".
"But it's the Red Sox against the Yankees mom, I have to watch it! And I don't have that much homework; I can get it done after." He pleaded, looking up at her beseechingly.
"Fine, but if it isn't finished tonight I will take your car keys for a week. I'm not sure Rita would be too happy about that." Rebecca tried to hold her strict expression, but she couldn't help but smile as the grin on Hal's face from being allowed to watch the game became a little uncertain at the idea of his girlfriend's reaction to having to walk instead of being driven everywhere.
"Mo-om," Matt's whining voice carried from the kitchen, "I'm stuck again."
"I could help him," Tom offered, starting to stand up. Matt hated math class, and was a nightmare when he got stuck on his math homework, but Tom would do anything to put off the grading he had to do.
"No, no, no. You have work to do." Rebecca said pointedly, raising her eyebrows to let Tom know she knew exactly what he was trying to do, before muttering "Sometimes it's like I have four children, all complaining about having to do their homework." Tom sank back into the sofa and reluctantly picked up the next paper.
"Just make sure you get it done tonight Hal." Rebecca ruffled her eldest son's hair as she left the room, mentally preparing herself for the struggle she faced proving to Matt that just because he didn't like something, didn't mean it was impossible. Tom looked at Hal in amusement as he tried to flatten his hair and make it look cool again, before picking up his red pen ready to scrawl all over another student's work. Before he could start he heard feet pounding down the stairs and looked up to see Ben enter the room.
"Dad, can I put a film on?" Ben asked, holding up an anime DVD that he had borrowed from one of his friends. Hal replied before Tom could, "Can't you see I'm watching a game?"
"You had the TV last night; it's only fair that I get it tonight." Ben insisted.
"Yeah well, mom already said I could watch this, so tough luck little brother." Hal's tone was condescending and Tom wondered if he should intervene before this turned into yet another full blown argument.
"You got the TV for hours yesterday, when Rita was here, so it's my turn tonight. Anyway, do you really have to make the rest of us suffer yet another boring basketball game?"
"It's clearly baseball, Ben, and anyway, you can just watch your geeky film in your room on your laptop. You don't need to bother the rest of us with it."
"Boys-" Tom started wearily, but Ben ignored him, "Anyway, shouldn't you be doing that history report due in on Monday. I heard you say you hadn't started it yet!"
"That has nothing to do with this!" Hal snapped, with a quick glance at his father. Tom was usually a fairly laid back parent, letting Rebecca be the strict one, but the one thing he would not tolerate was the boys neglecting their school work, particularly if that school work was history related.
"You haven't started your history report yet?" Tom tried to keep his tone calm, "I thought that's why you went to the library last weekend!"
"He was with Rita." Ben said with a smug smile on his face.
"You snitch!" Hal snapped furiously.
"I still can't believe you bought the library excuse, from Hal of all people." Ben laughed.
"Ben, Hal, that's enough." Tom started, stopping Hal from replying and the situation from deteriorating further, "I thought you said you didn't have much homework to do tonight, Hal. That reports due in on Monday, and it's Thursday today. You have a lacrosse game tomorrow night and you know we're going camping this weekend. When were you planning to write this report?" Tom asked a little incredulously.
"I guess I forgot about it." Hal admitted sheepishly, avoiding making eye contact with Tom, hoping he could get out of this without being grounded.
"Go upstairs, start working on it right now. I want you to spend every spare minute you have from now until Monday morning on that report, and I want you to make it the best thing you've ever written."
"But-" Hal started to protest, but stopped when he saw the look on Tom's face. Sighing, he stood up and began to make his way out of the room, turning back when he heard his father say his name.
"I'll need your car keys, just until you get it done." Tom could see Hal wanted to protest, so he added, "For lying about where you were going last weekend. Be thankful it's just your car keys."
With an air of triumph, Ben opened the DVD case and started to walk towards the TV. Hal purposefully knocked into him on his way out of the room, prompting an "Ow!" from Ben. Hal apologised without a drop of sincerity.
"Dumb jock." Ben snapped, rubbing his shoulder.
"Math geek snitch." Hal retorted, fully aware of how childishly he was behaving, but too annoyed to care.
"Hey, you can't fault me for worrying about my big brother's education. I'm just concerned for your future." Ben's tone was earnest, but he couldn't help but smile as Hal shook his head, giving a final "whatever" before slouching his way upstairs.
Ben was just about to put the DVD on when Matt came bounding into the room, screaming, "Hal, mom said I could-" he paused for a moment, noticing that Hal wasn't there, before looking from Ben to the disc in his hand. He started again "Ben, mom said I could watch whatever I wanted because I finished my homework and I worked really hard on it."
Ben started to protest, but stopped when he saw Matt's puppy dog eyes.
"Fine! I give up!" Ben dropped the DVD next to the television, "I'll just go read instead." He shrugged off Matt's hug before making his way upstairs.
"I'm giving up too!" Tom declared, as Matt selected a particularly loud show to watch, "There's too much noise in this house tonight for me to get anything else done."
Rebecca came into the room, "I thought you said that these were urgent?" She asked.
"They are, but I can stay late at work tomorrow to finish them off."
Rebecca glanced at Matt, but he seemed to be engrossed in what he was watching rather than listening to his parents' conversation.
In a slightly quieter voice, Rebecca continued, "No you can't. You said you were going to Hal's game tomorrow, remember. You were going to surprise him."
Tom looked a little uneasy, "I know, but I really need to get this done, and my head's all over the place tonight from the boys' arguing. I'll go to the next one, I promise." Rebecca fixed him a pointed look, before sighing and going to the kitchen. Tom followed her at once.
"He won't notice that I'm not there! It's not like I'm breaking a promise to him."
"Of course he'll notice! He asks you almost every week if you're going to be there, and he always checks with me before the game to see if you've managed to make it. Hal's a senior now, he's not going to be at school much longer, there aren't that many more of these games for you to go to, or for you to miss. One day you're going to realise you regret not going, and there'll be nothing you can do about it, and all Hal will remember is the feeling of disappointment." As Rebecca finished her rant, Tom paused to let it sink in. She looked a little apologetically at him, "I just mean that Hal would really appreciate you being there, even though he'd never say so, and I know that in the years to come you'll appreciate the memories too."
"You're right." Tom nodded, "You're always right. I'm sorry. I promise I will go to the next one; I will make sure I'm free. I really do have a lot of work to do tomorrow, but I'll make sure I'm free for the next one. Okay?"
"Okay." Rebecca smiled, pulling Tom into an embrace, "Sorry, I didn't mean to go off the rails at you. I just want what's best for you and Hal."
"I know." Tom smiled back, "And anyway, Hal's in trouble at the moment, so I probably shouldn't make tomorrow the day I surprise him."
"What did he do now?" Rebecca pulled back from the embrace.
"He hasn't started that history report yet. Oh, and he lied about going to the library last weekend." Rebecca looked at him questioningly.
"Where was he really?"
"Rita." Was all Tom offered in response.
"Rita." Rebecca repeated, "Of course."
"Of course." Tom agreed with a small smile.
Tom shut Ben's bedroom door as quietly as he could. He knew Ben was far too old to have his dad read to him, but Tom had to admit he was happy that Ben didn't mind when it came to the Harry Potter books. He'd always enjoyed reading to Ben the most; Hal had always asked too many questions and got bored if the characters didn't do what he wanted them to do, and Matt complained that reading was too much like school to be fun. Ben was the most intent listener, soaking it all up, and he always asked for Tom to read on just a little bit more. Tonight was the perfect example of that, and Tom had read with Ben for longer than he'd intended too. Even though Tom was fairly certain Ben had read on to the end of the last Harry Potter book, in secret, years ago, he was glad that Ben still let his father read to him. It made him sad to think that they were half way through the seventh book, and that this would be his last opportunity to enjoy such a simple pleasure.
Peeking into Matt's room, Tom was pleased to see that he was sleeping peacefully, his face lit by the gentle glow of the night light. Matt said that he just liked the light, insisting that it was in no way because he was afraid of the dark, because he was far too old to be afraid of the dark, and anyway, neither Hal or Ben were afraid of the dark and Matt just wanted to be like his big brothers. Creeping into the room, Tom brushed Matt's hair away from his face and kissed him on the forehead.
"Have sweet dreams Matty." He whispered before making his way back into the hallway. The next room he came to was Hal's, and noticing the light was on Tom knocked before entering. He found Hal sitting at his desk, typing frantically on his keyboard.
"Hal, it's gone eleven o'clock, you have to be up early tomorrow, you really should get to bed." Officially Hal was old enough not to have a bed time now, but Tom couldn't help but try to enforce a more lenient one.
"I know, but I'm working on that report, and I know I should have done it earlier, and I'm sorry I lied, but I've started now, and I think I'm on a roll." Hal looked at his father as if he wasn't sure how Tom was going to respond.
"Thank you for apologising Hal." Tom started, walking into the room, "You've got time to work on it when you get home tomorrow, and we'll head back slightly earlier on Sunday to make sure you have time to finish it. But you've got a game tomorrow, and an early morning practice, you need to get some rest." Hal nodded, and Tom waited as he shut down his computer. As soon as he stood up, Tom pulled him into a hug.
"Good luck in your game tomorrow, and I'm really sorry I can't be there."
"It's okay dad, we should win it easily anyway."
Pulling back, Tom laughed, "It's good to be confident, but don't be too confident."
"I'm just being honest!" Hal laughed. Tom gave his shoulder a quick squeeze before saying good night and making his way to the room he shared with Rebecca.
"Are the boys all asleep?" Rebecca asked, settling down into the bed.
"More or less," Tom replied with a smile. Switching off the light, Tom climbed into bed beside his wife.
"You remember that pottery class I was telling you about?" Rebecca asked, continuing after Tom nodded "Well, there are a few more spaces, and I thought it might be fun for us to join it together. We're both free on a Wednesday, and Hal could watch his brothers."
"I'm sure he'll love that." Tom laughed.
"But seriously, I've been wanting us to do something like this for ages. It'll be fun. I've already put my name down, all you need to do is sign up online. I could even do it."
"Sure. I'll just double check my work schedule, and then sign up soon."
"You'd better hurry, the spaces are going fast." Rebecca pleaded a little.
"I should be free. No, I'll make sure I am. You can sign me up tomorrow once the boys have left for school and you've got some peace and quiet."
"Thank you." Rebecca smiled, cuddling closer to her husband, "I know you're not convinced, but it will be fun. And a chance for us to spend some time together, without the boys."
"Now that I do like the sound of." Tom laughed again, "I'm sorry it seems like I'm working all the time. It's a busy time of year, and the Dean's position might be opening up soon. I need to make a good impression."
"I know, it's just recently it feels like it would take the end of the world as we know it for you to spend a little more time with your family. I miss you."
"I'm sorry. I'll try to be home more, I promise. I love you and the boys more than anything, and if I could I'd spend every waking hour with you, you know that."
"I do." Rebecca smiled as Tom wrapped his arms around her.
"And you know full well that I'd rather live through an apocalypse then grade any more papers or attend any more meetings. I'd take battling zombies over another meeting with the board any day."
A/N: This is my first attempt at a Falling Skies fic, so please be kind! I haven't written fanfiction in years, but I love this show so much I didn't have much of a chouce but to start again :)
I've had this fic in my mind more or less ever since I watched the pilot... but I finally made myself go for it!
In order to write this I re-watched all of Falling Skies (such a hardship, I know) and meticulously recorded every mention of the Mason's lives before the invasion, and every mention of the invasion - I'm going to make this as accurate as possible, and any inconsistencies I came across I tried to work into the story...
I love the Masons so much, it was so much fun to write this, and I hope you enjoyed this too :)
I'm going to be uploading the first three chapters today, and then I'll do my best to upload regularly :)
I'm English, so I'm sorry if anything I've written sounds too English - you have no idea how hard it was for me to type "Mom" and "Math class" and "SMS" haha :)
I've got a few more Falling Skies fic ideas that I'll be working on once this one is properly underway :)
(Anyone reading this who followed me after my discontinued Merlin story: 'Pendragon's Legacy', I'm really sorry that I never finished that, but my life exploded and I lost any passion for it. I will not let that happen with this fic, I promise!)