Summary: Sometimes, all a mother needed was someone outside the family to tell her problems.
Characters: Maddie and Spectra
Prompt: Spectra and Moms

Day Ten and Eleven

"It's not like I don't love him or anything. Because I do." Maddie set down her mug of coffee with a sigh. "And after this long, I'm not dumb enough to think love is easy and there won't be problems we have to work out. It's just-" She sighed again, shaking her head. "It gets frustrating sometimes when he's forgetful. I circle the date on the calendar. I write that it's our anniversary in big letters. I tape pictures from our wedding on the calendar, but it's like he doesn't even look at the calendar. Ever. And it's not like I want to be some overbearing wife. I just want him to remember without me telling him a thousand times. I want him to at least get me a gift to celebrate our anniversary. It doesn't even have to be something big and expensive. It just has to be something to let me know he thought about it beyond picking up some two dollar box of chocolates at a gas station."

The woman sitting with her at the kitchen table nodded her head. "Perfectly understandable, my dear." She laced her fingers with the long fake nails painted bright red, almost matching the bright orangey red of her strangely styled hair. "A woman likes to be romanced. Marriage is all very good, but sometimes a touch of spice is needed to shake up the everyday monotony."

"Yes! Exactly. See. You get it, Spectra." Maddie nodded as she sipped from the blue mug. "It's not like I'm asking for him to do something overly romantic every day. Just, you know, every once and a while it would be nice. I love the work we do, but a night off to be romantic isn't going to kill us. And we're still young! A night out dancing. Maybe go to a karaoke bar. You know, back in college, Jack and I used to go to this karaoke bar near campus with Vlad. We could spend all night there singing songs." She smiled fondly, reminiscing about long ago days.

"Vlad used to sing?" Spectra lifted her eyebrows in surprise. "I can hardly imagine that."

"Oh, you've really missed out then." Maddie laughed lightly. "He could move you to tears with some songs he sang. Ah, but I guess he doesn't really sing all that much anymore." She frowned as she rested her chin in her hand. She considered giving Vlad a call and seeing if he wanted to join her and Jack for a karaoke night sometime, but Vlad was always busy nowadays.

"So disappointing," Spectra agreed, but the corner of her mouth curled up slightly like she was plotting something diabolical.

"I hope you're not thinking of doing something bad." Maddie frowned sternly, her violet eyes narrowing a touch. "I will hunt you down if you do anything to Vlad. I have a bunch of newly developed weapons in the lab, and I'm pretty sure most of them work."

Spectra shook her head, which was tilted just enough to catch sight of her bright green eyes beyond her sunglasses. "Oh, I would never cross you. I've seen you in action. Any ghost thinking to tangle with you would be crazy."

"So I have a reputation among ghosts?" Maddie smiled proudly. "Oh, looks like I finished my coffee. I'll have to brew another pot." She stood and carried her mug over to the counter then got to work fixing another pot of coffee.

"Quite the reputation," Spectra agreed. "Between you and you son, the Fenton family is developing quite the name for themselves in the Ghost Zone."

Maddie turned a frown of disapproval on the ghost as her eyebrow arched upward. "Nothing about my husband?"

"Oh, he has a reputation for being dangerous." Spectra's mouth thinned gravely. "Perhaps the living consider him a buffoon, but his clumsiness can play to his advantage. You can never plan for how his clumsiness will affect a battle. And if you've threatened harm to his family?" Spectra released a low whistle. "You don't want to mess with him then."

"Good." Maddie's frown turned into a proud smile. Jack had his faults, like his forgetfulness and his overexcitement, but it angered her to hear people talking about him like he was some sort of laughingstock.

"But speaking of our favorite little half ghost hero, how is Danny?" Spectra rested her chin on her laced hands with a curious lift of her eyebrows.

"If this is some ploy," Maddie said, narrowing her eyes as she pointed a spoon at the ghost, "to get some dirt on my son so you can use it against him later, I will be very displeased with you."

"No, no, of course not." Spectra smiled pleasantly, but Maddie eyed her suspiciously. "I'm just here to listen to you talk about anything bothering you. I was a fairly good psychologist when I was alive, after all."

Maddie poured herself a second mug of coffee. Then she carried it over to the table and rejoined the ghost. "Yes, you've been a great help listening to me complain. I don't really have a lot of girl friends to talk to about things. There's my sister, of course, but she usually always tells me to just leave Jack when I complain about him. And well, I can't really discuss this sort of stuff with Jazz. Even if she is an aspiring psychologist herself."

"Sometimes you just need an outsider to talk to and unleash some of those pent up emotions." Spectra nodded in understanding. "But no, I was genuinely concerned. It can't be easy for you being the mother of a superhero."

"Oh, it certainly isn't easy." Maddie drank her coffee, remembering all the times Danny would return home after curfew or looking beat up, sometimes both. He always passed it off with a grin and said something like, "You should see the other guy," or, "But at least I caught the ghost." Sometimes she worried about him not thinking enough about his own wellbeing, but she was a mother. Worrying was in the job description. "But I'm also very proud of him. How many mothers can say their son is a hero?" She smiled fondly as she remembered helping him clean up his injuries and he would tell her about what ghost he faced off against that night. She had missed getting to bond with him ever since he became a teenager and seemed to pull away from her. Now, it was like they were getting the chance to rediscover the bond between them.

Author's Note: I, uh, was having difficulty with the Spectra theme and couldn't think of anything and the day just flew by without anything getting done. orz So I decided to combine the two days so I wouldn't fall even more behind.

Invader Johnny: A shame we didn't get more of him in the show. D:

Guest: Yay! 8D I love Clockwork too!

Kira Sema: The game was lent to one friend, and when she finished, it was lent to me. XD;; Then the guy never asked for it back. I didn't mean to keep it, but I just forgot about it. Why thank you! 8D Always gotta love a little bonding between Clockwork and Danny.

midnight: It must suck for Clockwork. D: Only people to visit him are the obnoxious Observants, or people wanting him to change time for them. I bet he never even gets a thank you for doing his job. D:

Linzerj: Ah~ Thanks! 8D I'm glad you liked it! 8D