Kudos to the people who reviewed last chapter :D
Now, with the power of Fan Fiction! We fast forward a month later to early November. Nothing much has gone on so you didn't miss anything. Buuuuuuuut. We meet up with some old friends ;D
I do NOT own Monsters Inc or University T-T
Flames will be used to roast sausages
X.X
Once every year in November, M.U. has developed a custom where parents and siblings are allowed to come visit their children and spend the entire day with them. Something that has been developed recently, though. But it's actually helped most students. Putting them at ease that their families are doing alright. Plus it gives the teachers and professors a break from the madness and insanity.
Gale was gazing out her window. Watching other students running into the arms of their families. Behind her, Alexis was eagerly getting herself ready for when her parents arrive. "Are you excited?" she asked while putting a bow on one of her antennas.
"Mm hm." Gale replied, "You?"
Alexis shrugged. "I guess so. I really do miss my parents and all but they can be a pain, sometimes." she admitted.
"Aren't all parents a pain sometimes?"
The two girls laughed a bit. Just then, Sage suddenly came in. "Gale!" he said, "They're here." an excited grin was present on his lips as he said this. After giving Alexis a quickly see ya later, Gale quickly followed her brother outside. Once there, she gasped softly. Standing just a foot away from the building, was Randall and Mary.
"Mom! Dad!" Gale cried before she immediately ran into her mother's arms first, giving her a tight hug. Randall and Sage hugged as well before the siblings then switched so that he was hugging his mother now while Gale hugged their father. "I missed you guys so much." she said muffly because her face was buried in her father's neck.
Randall smiled lovingly and caressed his daughter's neatly kept purple hair soothingly. "Us too, baby, us too." he said before pulling away. Soon the family started walking through campus while playing 'catch-up'. So far they've learned that everything is doing alright. Even though their many uncles miss them dearly. Sulley, Abigail, and their toddler son have been doing well too. As a matter of fact, he's just recently said his first word!
"You've certainly changed a bit." Randall said fondly.
"What?" Gale chuckled.
"I said, you've certainly changed a bit. Your starting to look a bit like your mother."
"Is that a compliment, lizard boy?" Mary asked teasingly. Randall chuckled and the two kissed briefly.
They soon found a picnic table and decided to settle there. After sitting down they engaged in another conversation. "So, how's college life for you?" Mary asked.
Gale shrugged, "I don't know. It still feels a litt weird."
Randall smiled. "You'll get use to it eventually. And from what I heard, you've been doing pretty well."
Gale chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck, "I wouldn't say well. Sage is the one who's been doing well."
"Oh, please. You passed the first exam without fail." Sage said.
Gale smiled. Passing the first exam was probably on of the most memorable accomplishments she would ever have in her lifetime. It was a HUGE accomplishment for a freshman like herself to pass without error. Perhaps all that hard studying with her brother and friends really helped a lot for all of them.
"Gale!"
Gale looked up and grinned excitedly when she saw Alexis run up to them. After a quick hug the two turned to her parents. "Mom, dad, this is my friend, Alexis. The one I've been telling you about."
"Hello." Alexis greeted politely.
"Hi." Mary replied with a friendly smile while Randall nodded.
"Where's Alexander?" Sage asked.
"Ummm." Alexis looked around a bit, "I think he's still with mom and dad."
"Oh! Is that them?" Mary asked, pointing over to three bugs.
Alexis grinned, "Yep."
Sage got up and went over to Alexander, greeting him with their secret handshake. Much to their sisters' dismay and annoyance. Randall and Mary already met Alexander before, but never his family. So this would be the first time the families will meet face to face. Alexis gave her parents a quick hug before taking them over to the picnic table.
"Mom, dad, this is my friend, Gale." she said.
"Nice to meet you." Gale said politely.
The parents greeted back. Her father was a tough looking, dark blue, bug like Alexander. But her mother was about the shoulder height of her husband, and a light blue color like Alexis. They seemed nice enough, though. The father looked rather quiet while the mother probably had a bubbly attitude. Judging by the cheerful smile on her lips.
"These are my parents." Gale then said, showing them her mother and father.
However, when their fathers had met face to face, it was as though time itself stopped. A look of recognition appeared in both their eyes along with a bit of surprise. But they didn't say anything. Their wives and the kids looked at them dumbfounded. But Mary immediately knew who this was. She's seen him in the yearbook along with Randall and some others.
"Randy." the older bug said rather calmly. But also a tad bit surprised.
"Javier." Randall replied in an even tone. But he appeared much calmer.
"You know him, dear?" Javier's wife asked.
"He was one of my fraternity brothers in college." Javier replied.
Another moment of silence before Sage clapped his hands and said, "We're gonna go hang out at the park for a bit, come on sis!" he said before grabbing Gale's arm gently and quickly walking away with her. Alexander did the same and soon the parents were alone. Mary, wanting to break the silence, cleared her throat.
"I'm Mary." she said with a polite nod. She didn't want to shake their hands due to the possible fact that they could still be afraid of humans. Mrs. Rios seemed to see this and smiled at her thoughtfulness.
"I'm Amanda." she said, nodding back.
However, their husbands remained silent. They continued to stare at eachaother in what seemed like an endless staring match. There was no emotion whatsoever in their eyes. Memories started to flood Randall's head like a landslide. Memories of that dreaded night after the Scare Games. When his 'brothers' beat him again and again until he was possibly inches from death...
"Randy?"
"Javier?"
The two were immediately snapped back to reality when they felt their wives gently shake their arms. Amanda whispered something in Javier's ear and he sighed. "I-I'm sorry about that." he said.
Randall nodded. "It's...fine." he replied. After few more seconds of silence the bugs took a seat on the same picnic table, except they were sitting across from them. Mary and Amanda hit off right away. Even though Amanda is a couple years ahead of her.
"How long have you two been married?" Mary asked, like any curious wife would ask.
"Twenty-five years I would say." Amanda replied.
While the two were having a great conversation about their lives, Javier and Randall were going to, at least, attempt to have a conversation with eachaother.
"So..." Randall started calmly, "How have you been these long years?"
Javier shrugged. "Good." he replied, "You?"
"I've had my...ups and downs. But it's been pretty good, too."
Javier smiled slightly. He got what he meant. He's seen the incidents on the news. The incident in M.I. Then his kidnapping. Then the childrens' kidnapping. And the hostage incident a couple years back. Yeah, Randall's gone through a LOT. Javier wasn't all that surprised about Johnny's outcome. He always knew he would go crazy someday. As if he wasn't already crazy enough. But ever since the fire at the asylum he was in there's no way he could still be alive.
The two fell silent once more. Not really want to bring up anything from the past. Randall was starting to think if, whether or not, Javier regretted ever beating the living daylights out of him that one night. And how were the others? Did they still stay in touch? They seemed like tight-knit brothers from his view.
"Um, pardon?"
The two men looked up and Javier looked rather surprised when he saw that familiar face.
Chip.
The two laughed a bit before they embraced in a quick hug. "It's been a while!" Javier said, grinning, "You've certainly changed since I last saw you."
Chip smiled, "You've changed a bit as well."
Randall watched silently. Great, another one of the monsters who nearly beat him to death. Who's next, Chet? He certainly hoped not! Chip looked down and was a bit surprised when he saw Randall.
"Randy?" he asked.
"Chip." Randall replied, nodding politely.
"You know them, hon?" a monstress, somewhat similar looking to Chip except she had short hair and pink skin, asked.
"Y-yeah. These are my frat brothers from college. This is Javier and Randy." Chip replied.
The monster, who also had what appeared to be a five year-old with her, gave them kind smiles. "Hello." she said, "I'm Chip's wife, Clara."
The two monsters greeted back. The ladies greeted her too. They immediately welcomed her into their small little group, along with the five-year old, and they were soon back to chattering like long time friends. The guys, however, were even more silent then before. Both Chip and Javier sat across from Randall, who was silent. The atmosphere for them felt even more awkward.
"So." Javier said out of the blue.
"Hm." Randall replied.
The three heard laughter and they looked over to see their children playing with a frisbee. This immediately reminded Chip and he gently tapped Randall's shoulder to get his attention. "Hey," he said, "I was wondering if you could tell your kids thanks for me."
Randall gave him a slightly puzzled look. "What for?" he asked.
"For defending my son, Tim." he said, "He told me about a incident that occurred with his roommate and your kids stood up for him. You have no idea how much that means to him."
"Oh. I'll be sure to tell them that before I go." Randall replied.
Chip smiled softly. "Thanks. Tim's always been a target for bullying. No one's ever stood up for him until now. Tim doesn't have that many friends back home. So him making friends here is a big accomplishment."
"Who's the other guy?" Javier asked, gesturing to the shy five-year old sitting on Clara's lap.
"Oh." Chip chuckled, "That's my second son, Gadge. He can be very shy around strangers."
"I see." Randall said with a smile, "So...how are the others?"
Javier blinked and looked over to Chip, who shrugged.
"We...didn't stay in contact much after graduation." Javier said, lowering his head slightly.
"From what I heard," Chip said next, "Chet currently has four-year old triplets. All boys."
Triplets? That must be a nightmare. It would be like having to live with three Chets under one roof. Who knows how long it would take for one to lose their sanity.
"Reggie has a daughter just about ready to graduate high school and another off in college. But she goes to Fear Tech." Javier added.
Ah. So they've got families themselves, now. Randall was honestly a bit surprised that Chet was able to find a girl who was willing enough to date him. Let alone, marry him. Perhaps they've all changed. But that didn't mean he's forgiven them about the night. But he didn't let it show. Javier and Chip, however, could tell that Randall hasn't forgiven them. He couldn't blame him. It was only a foolish idea to get him to leave ROR, but in the end they had to suffer a long night of torment and suffering from the leader. All of them regretted beating the poor guy up so badly.
When they look back at it now, it wasn't even worth it. They wanted to apologize for what they've done to him but he would often try to avoid them constantly. Now they would have to live with it. The regret never leaving them. Perhaps now would be a good time to get closure. But this was a day when families are reunited with their children and possibly old friends. Plus their wives are here. And before they even knew it, the Wazowskis arrived. While the men were talking bit by bit about what's been happening with their lives, the women were getting along just fine.
In the park, the kids were playing Monkey in the Middle. They threw the frisbee to one another while Dennis did his best to jump and catch it. But they were throwing it too high.
"Come on you guys!" he said while trying to the toy, "It's not fair! Come on! Give me a break already!"
"Got it!" Tim said before he was suddenly tackled by Dennis. The two looked at eachaother, blushing very slightly before they all erupted into giggles and laughter.
...
Evening had come and it was time for everyone to say goodbye. This was mostly the hardest part of the day because it meant they wouldn't be seeing their families again until Christmas. In the monster world, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving.
"Take care you two." Mary said, giving her kids a tight hug.
"Do we always?" Sage replied when they pulled away.
Mary chuckled. Randall stepped forward and gave his children a tight hug as well. "Watch your sister, okay?" Randall said.
"Yes, dad." Sage replied.
Randall nodded and turned to Gale. "You. You be careful now. Okay?"
Gale giggled and nodded.
Randall smiled. She was already beginning to remind him of her mother. The giggle and all. "By the way, Tim's dad wanted me to thank you two for standing up for his son." Randall added.
"Oh. Thanks for telling us." Sage said.
After one big family hug and some goodbyes, Sage and Gale watched their parents disappear into the crowd of leaving parents. Waving them goodbye until they were out of their sights.
X.X
... Long chapter. :D
Please R&R and have a nice day/night ^-^
