"The worst enemies are the ones that used to be friends."
-Unknown
Chapter 2 - Friends, Family, and Enemies
Before Margo was able to say "hello" to her dad, mom, or little sister, or even introduce Mr. Dicks to her family, her dad was there. He was as tall as ever, barely able to fit in the small space they were standing in, and although he was still bald on top of his head, his eyebrows had grayed and there were deep lines running through his face. But even as Mr. Dicks took a step back toward the now-closed hatch to put distance between himself and this man that he was suddenly afraid of, Gru paid no mind to him and checked his eldest daughter over for injuries; he fretted over her even though she insisted that she was okay.
"Dad," Margo finally interrupted him, "really, I'm fine. You got here just in time."
He sighed and tried to compose himself; he tried to make it seem like he was cool, but his eyes and false smile betrayed him. "Hey, yeah, of course you're fine. Why wouldn't you be? I mean, it's not like the desert just tried to swallow you!"
"Dad," she groaned.
"Okay, maybe we should all take a breath here," Lucy said as she stepped up beside her husband. She hadn't changed much either since Margo saw her last; her red hair was streaked with silver and though the lines running across her face were not as deep as Gru's, her age still clearly showed. She smiled at Margo for a moment before gathering Margo into her arms. "We were all worried about you being out there once Mr. Ramsbottom told us what you were looking into. We were coming to check on you when this happened."
"Wait," Margo broke out of her mother's arms, "you asked about my research?"
Lucy and Gru both shook their heads, but Margo knew better. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her toe impatiently until Gru scratched his cheek and said, "Well...we didn't really ask about your research, we asked if you were in any actual danger with what you were doing."
"There's always danger when you're involved with the AVL," Mr. Dicks suddenly said from his position behind Margo. "Margo knew that when she signed up." He gently placed his arm around her shoulders, trying to make it seem like a gesture of comradery, but failing when he couldn't keep his eyes locked on Gru for long.
Gru narrowed his eyes on Mr. Dicks and then looked to Margo when she smiled at him tenderly. It almost reminded him of how Lucy would smile...at...him... "What is this?" He asked with a skeptical tone. "What's going on?"
"Well," Margo glanced at her dad nervously, "dad-"
Agnes burst between Gru and Lucy and pointed at Margo and Mr. Dicks. "You two are married!" She smiled from ear to ear, all of her teeth showing; she was incredibly proud of herself for figuring it out so quickly. She hadn't changed much from when she was a child; her dark hair was up in pigtails and she wore a short with the outline of a unicorn on it that simply said, I STILL BELIEVE IN UNICORNS, with a pair of short jean shorts, knee high rainbow socks, and white tennis shoes.
There was a moment of awkward silence as Gru looked between Margo and Mr. Dicks with his mouth hanging open in surprise. He tried to say something, but his mouth just kept moving up and down like a fish with no sound coming from it. He looked to Lucy for support but saw that she had a big smile on her face; she was instantly accepting of the sudden news.
Finally, Margo nodded. "Yep, that's right." She slid her hand into her husband's, earning a gentle smile from him. "Dad, mom," she stepped forward with him and smiled at her parents, "this is Peter. My husband."
Finally, Gru was able to say something: "What?"
However, his outburst was drowned out by Lucy and Agnes squealing in absolute delight at hearing that Margo was married. Lucy brought Margo into a tight hug for a moment before Agnes tried to accidentally choke the life out of Margo with a tight hug around her neck. As Agnes was trying to kill her sister, Lucy turned her attention to Peter, who was super nervous at this suddenly intimidating woman looking down her nose at him.
"Hello there," he managed out nervously.
Lucy swooped in close to Peter's face with her eyes squinted, looking closely at his face. When he asked her if there was something on his face, she responded with, "Are you good to my daughter?"
"Of course," Peter said immediately. "I love Margo. I would never be cruel to her." He smiled at Margo when she smiled at him, having finally been released from her little sister's death hug.
Lucy leaned back up and popped the collar of her blue trench coat, trying to seem more intimidating. "Well, we'll be the judges of that, right Gru? ...Gru?" She looked over at Gru; his mouth might as well have been on the floor and a muscle underneath his right eye was twitching. "Something wrong, Gru?" She stepped over to him and poked the tip of his nose. "Gru?"
Like Lucy had pushed a button when she poked his nose, Gru suddenly yelled, "What the heck is going on?" He pointed at Margo. "When did you get married?"
"About a month ago," Margo admitted with a high-pitched innoncent tone to her voice. Her hands were clasped behind her back and her toe ground into the floor nervously; a habit from childhood.
"And you did not think to even send us a letter?" Margo glanced at Peter, who opened his mouth to speak. Gru interrupted him though: "You don't speak! I do not like you!"
"Dad," Margo groaned, "calm down. We had to have the ceremony in secret. If Mr. Ramsbottom had found out we were even in a relationship, he would've sent another supervisor to replace Peter. We're newlyweds, and I kind of wanted to be able to see him. It's been hard enough having to work all day and night."
Gru went to yell more, but Lucy pinched his lips closed, leaving him just looking confused. She smiled warmly at Margo and Peter. "It's great that you've found a great man, Margo. We'll have to celebrate later." She turned to Gru and told him in a low voice to go drive the ship home and cool off before he said something that he'd regret. He retreated, mumbling about "some guy he didn't trust marrying his daughter". Lucy turned to Peter. "Gru just needs a minute. This was...unexpected. Still great news! Just...unexpected." She pointed back to the cabin where Gru had retreated. "I'm going to go make sure he's okay. It shouldn't take us too long to get home, just relax." She walked through the cabin door to join her husband.
Agnes bounced to be right in front of Margo and Peter; a huge smile was carved into her face. "Tell me everything! How did you guys meet?"
The Minions were delighted to see everyone when the ship landed; they swarmed Margo, reveling in her safe return. But as soon as Peter walked out of the ship behind her, the silenced and just stared at him. Peter's eyes were wide looking at all of the yellow pill-shaped Minions, and their eyes wide wide looking back at him, obviously wary of the stranger that seemingly just tagged along.
Peter leaned in close to his wife. "What are those things?"
"They're my Minions!" Gru said sternly from behind them; he glared down at Peter, but smiled brightly when he turned to the Minions. "It's alright everyone," he told them. "Margo is safe." He waited for a a cheer, but Kevin just stepped forward and asked who the new guy was. Gru glanced back at Peter for a brief moment and then looked back at Kevin. "Oh yeah. That's Peter...he's...Margo's husband."
Immediately, the Minions started screaming and jumping for joy. They all lined up to shake Peter's hand or hug him, leaving him feeling awkward. Margo chuckled and kissed him on the cheek, telling him to just use the elevator to come upstairs whenever he was done. He almost didn't let her leave without him, not really sure on how to handle the Minions by himself, particularly after the cold way that Gru treated him, but Margo didn't give him much of a choice in the matter. So he ended up standing there as each of the Minions greeted him and everyone else made their way upstairs.
As soon as they exited the elevator, Gru asked Margo when she had intended to tell them she was married.
"Whenever I saw you guys next," Margo admitted. "This isn't something I could just tell you over a letter or the phone."
Gru nodded, realizing that she was right. "Fine. Just..." He sighed deeply and gave her defeated look. "I wish I would've known. I've been looking forward to the day when I could give you away." He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "But if you're happy, I'll try not to kill him."
Margo laughed. "Thanks for that, dad."
"So," he said suddenly, "what did you find out in the desert?"
"Nothing that you didn't witness for yourself." She sat down on the couch and relaxed. "There is something within the sand though. Peter seems pretty sure that whatever it is caused the mountaintop where..." She paused for a moment as her heart tightened with the name that she nearly said. She cleared her throat. "Well, it's what caused it to disappear." There was a moment of heavy silence in the room.
Taking adtvantage of the silence to change the topic for at least a little while, Lucy grabbed a small pile of letters sitting on the nearby end table and handed them to Margo. "You got some mail while you were gone."
Margo took them and stood. "Thanks mom." She started flipping through the letters as she walked to the room she still shared with Agnes while visiting. She paused with her hand on the doorknob as her eyes landed on the letter that was now at the top of the stack in her hand. She narrowed her eyes on the name. Antonio Macho. "What the hell does he want?" She threw open the door to the bedroom and kicked it closed behind her. Throwing the letters on her nightstand, she flopped down on her bed and glared at the name.
Margo stared at Antonio's name on the envelope, remembering the last time she saw him two years ago while they were still at college. He said that he had indeed changed and intended to make up for the evil that had been brought about in the name of his father, El Macho. She believed him and she hung on every word he said; she even believed when he donned a new version of the El Macho custome and said he was going to be a hero. It seemed like Antonio had changed and that he had every intention of being a superhero; he even saved cats out of trees for children.
But shortly before she was offered her job, Antonio was arrested trying to steal a dangerous particle from a laboratory in Switzerland. He killed three cops and a special forces officer trying to get away, and was currently rotting in an AVL prison.
Margo had been devestated to hear the news. Gru used to joke that it was a good thing there was a thick sheet of glass between Margo and Antonio when she went to demand why he lied to her and to end it with him for good; he never realized how true the joke was, however, as Margo would have strangled him if she'd had the opportunity.
Antionio had wisely not tried to contact her since then.
"Why now?" She muttered to herself as she ripped open the envelope. She pulled the piece of notebook paper out, finding there was a simple note written inside.
Margo,
This isn't what it seems. It has never been what it seems. I've wanted to tell you so many times, but I knew that you were still angry with me. You must believe me when I say that you cannot trust the man I heard you've married.
This is not me being jealous. But I will understand if you take it that way.
Please, come visit me. I need to talk to you.
Antonio
Margo cocked an eyebrow at the note. It seemed odd, to say the least, that Antonio would even know about her marriage, let alone be warning her against her husband out of jealousy. Yes, she was aware that he said that he wasn't being jealous, but she had no idea what else it could be. He was possessive of her in college, and it only made sense to her that he would be jealous that she had moved on. Still, she had to wonder, how did Antonio find out when they hadn't told a soul?
"Weird," she mumbled as she slid the letter back into the envelope and placed it on the nightstand, exchanging it for the other things she had received in the mail. Many of them were condolence letter from friends who had only recently heard about Edith's death. The rest, of course, was junk mail.
Looking through the condolence letters, Margo sighed and glanced over at the unmade bed that used to belong to Edith. Their mother had tried to make the bed after they found out Edith had died-like she always did-but couldn't bring herself to do it. They didn't want to banish any part of Edith from the house; that was why a Star Wars game still had Edith's high score on the race track, so the ghost wouldn't disappear.
Margo's eyes fell to her hands, resting on one of the condolence letter as Peter finally walked into the room looking frazzled. "Those little pill guys are weird. I don't see how your father puts up with them." His face fell when he saw the tears running down Margo's face. He sat down on the bed beside her and didn't say a word; he just put an arm around her and held her against his chest. He didn't even answer his phone when it started going off in his pocket.
He just let her cry.
