Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, but here it is, Cornelius finally gets to meet his mother! Enjoy.

Chapter Three:

Franny's hand in his was like an anchor to Cornelius, he tried focusing on the solid feeling of his fingers entwined with Franny as they walked down the last hallway leading to the living room. He had no idea what he was going to say to this woman. Hello? Where have you been? Does he start with a handshake or a hug? Maybe not a hug…

Cornelius stopped just short of the corner to the living room. He shot a glance to Wilbur. His son gave him a thumbs up accompanied by a lopsided, hesitant smile. Franny turned her husband's face toward her.

"If you need support we will be right here the whole time."

Cornelius gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand before he let go of her.

Well… here we go, Lewis. He thought before turning that final corner into the living area.

His mother looked slightly different than he imagined. A little shorter than he thought, with more grey in her hair than auburn at this point. But she definitely looked to be the same person he saw on the steps all those years ago.

As soon as she saw Cornelius come around the corner, she had stood up slowly. Like she was trying not to move too fast out of fear she might scare him off. As much as Cornelius wanted to think he wouldn't have been startled, he knew he probably would have internally freaked out if his birth mother suddenly stood up and loudly greeted him. So one point in Theresa's favor, he supposed.

Cornelius stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Hi… Uh, Hello. I'm uh Cornel- Lewis, I'm Lewis." Smooth. Real smooth, Neil. Cornelius thought to himself as he internally cringed.

Theresa just chuckled a bit, Cornelius could see she was trying extremely hard not to cry. Her eyes were glassy as she stepped toward him and held out her hand.

"Hello Lewis, my name is Theresa." Cornelius took her hand and shook it slowly, marveling in the fact that he was actually touching his mother. "I've wanted to meet you for a very very long time."

Cornelius could feel his chest tightening. He let go of her hand and coughed, turning his face away from her.

"Yeah well, I waited for you for a very long time…" Cornelius could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. He could feel his resolve beginning to break. "I waited so long for you. Thirteen years in an orphanage, to be exact." His chest was painful at this point. He wiped at his eyes discreetly.

There was a quiet sob in the direction Theresa was in, but Cornelius refused to turn to her quite yet.

"Where were you?" His voice sounded foreign to him, quiet and unsure. He wasn't sure if she even heard his question at first.

Then there was a hand at his back. Soft and comforting, like a mother's is supposed to be. He used to dream of that, before Lucille and Bud, of having someone to comfort him when he was scared or hurt. But now it felt like her hand was burning into his back, like it was leaving a mark on his skin.

"I am so sorry, Lewis." He felt her hand pull away, he was sure he would have a scar there later, at least in his mind he would.

Cornelius finally turned around at that.

Theresa was fully crying now, tears streamed down her cheeks to fall on the collar of the blouse she was wearing. She looked pained. She looked like how Cornelius felt on the inside.

"I just want to know why." Cornelius looked down at her, silently willing her to give him some sort of explanations. Something that would justify her abandoning her baby. He didn't know if there was anything she could that would make it okay in his mind, but he needed to hear it.

Theresa bit her bottom lip and raised her head until she caught Cornelius' eyes. She motioned for Cornelius to sit down, declined, preferring to keep standing out of trepidation. Theresa took a deep breath and sat down, angling herself toward him.

"I was twenty-one when you were born." She paused to clear her throat. "The man I was involved with at the time, your father, was named Jared."

Cornelius' brow furrowed as he listened, but said nothing, prompting her to continue.

"He was a businessman in the city, quite a few years older than me. We had met at a supermarket a year and a half before you were born."

"I had never really thought about starting a family, I thought since I was so young at the time that I would have a long while before I had to start considering that possibility."

Theresa nervously rubbed her hands together, and glanced away from Cornelius before continuing.

"Then I got pregnant out of the blue, and I was conflicted. On one hand, I loved the idea of a life growing inside of me. But on the other, I didn't want to give up the life Jared and I were living."

Cornelius bristled slightly at that.

"You would give up your child for a lifestyle?"

He wouldn't give Wilbur up for anything. How selfish could a person be?

Theresa flinched slightly at that. Her lips pressing into a thin line.

"Not for a lifestyle." She wrinkled her nose like she was disgusted at the idea. "For someone I thought, at the time, was the love of my life."

Cornelius rolled his eyes and sat down. He put his head in his hands.

"Keep going."

Another tear rolled down her cheek as she continued.

"When I told Jared I was pregnant he didn't yell or get angry. He was actually very calm when I told him. He explained that he couldn't care for a baby right then, he brought up the fact that neither of us had even ever discussed having children."

"He was extremely work driven, and we had only been together for about seven months at the time. When he brought up adoption, I… I agreed."

Cornelius' chest was getting tight again, but not out of the need to cry this time. He felt like he wanted to scream. Lewis had been right all those years ago on the orphanage roof. His own mother hadn't even wanted him. He could faintly hear Theresa beginning to speak again.

"We continued on with our lives as normal from that point on. Jared began to become more focused on work the more I began to show. And the more I began to show, the more I conflicted I was about the adoption."

"We had a huge fight one night before bed. He screamed at me that he never wanted children, that he wouldn't take care of it, that he had a life he needed to maintain."

"I couldn't handle the arguing anymore, so we stopped talking about it. Then we stopped talking altogether."

Theresa screwed her eyes shut in an effort to keep the tears at bay.

"By the time you arrived, our relationship was nothing but obligational. He took me to the hospital, signed some paperwork, then took me home when I was discharged. We officially broke it off the next day."

Theresa looked up at Cornelius, pleading with him with her eyes to understand.

"I was twenty-one, alone, with nowhere to go. I couldn't raise you. So I went to a local orphanage in the city one night… and said goodbye."

Theresa moved closer to Cornelius from where she sat on the couch.

"I know you must hate me, but I need you to know that I have regretted giving you up everyday of my life since then."

Cornelius could feel his eyes burning again, unable to stop them.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me, Lewis. I'm asking you to give me a second chance to be in your life. Even if that means I can only write letters or see you once a year, I'll take anything you are willing to give, as long as I can know you even a little bit, I'll be happy."

Cornelius knew this plea wasn't to him alone, it was to Lewis as well. Lewis who was screaming from inside of him to give her a chance, who knew that sometimes second chances could be all someone needs to make their life whole again.

Cornelius slowly put his hands on his mothers.

"I won't lie and say this won't be difficult for me at times, and I do have some rules, but… i suppose everyone deserves a second chance."

Maybe he had just made the wrong decision. He could regret this moment for the rest of his life. But what sense did it make to keep dwelling on past mistakes? Cornelius' life started really changing for the better when he began moving forward. It was time to try and move on and repair what pieces were left.

Cornelius looked up from their hands to take in Theresa's face.

Theresa looked like she had just been given the world. She had tears streaming down her face and a tearful smile as she leaned forward with her arms outstretched. Cornelius leaned forward hesitantly as well and placed a hand on her back. They settled into an only semi-awkward hug.

Cornelius didn't know how long Theresa would stay in his life, but there was an ever growing part of him that hoped that maybe his mother would stay for a while.

A/N:

Well there you have it! I hope I did this scene justice, it was a tad tricky to write. Tell me what you think and if I should do another chapter or end it here.

Please Review!