See, I told you I'd be quicker.

10. A Bit More Sonic and Blossom

Upon arrival on at the airport, Blossom had attempted to find and speak to Eddy, but this had proved impossible. Still, Blossom didn't really have time to be confused and annoyed about it; one of the police officers had thrust her kids at her, and she had a lot of explaining to do.

Of course, Blossom really wanted to talk to them in the privacy of her own home. So she needed to delay there questions for the length of the car journey home. As it turned out, this wasn't too hard. Having explained to them that Eddy's arrest was a "misunderstanding," and that she'd sort it out first thing in the morning, she then managed to gently cajole Edward into telling about his test. By the time her son had finished his blow by blow account of the two days, they were home. In fact, both children had cheered up significantly, which was a blow since now she was going to have to bring them back down again.

Opening the door, Blossom realised that her heart was beating very quickly. This was not going to be fun. "Kids," she said as steadily as she could, "can I speak to you in the kitchen for a moment."

"Sure," said Edward after a momentary pause, and MJ obediently followed him. Her tone was making them slightly nervous. The three of them took a seat at the table, and Blossom tried to think of the best way to start. Or a way to start. Eventually she found one.

"Ah, do you two remember when I was arrested five years ago?" she asked.

"Sort of," said MJ (it was half her life away,) "you were locked up for killing Superman, right?"

"Yes, that's right," Blossom said, "but it might be worth me explaining why I killed him."

Edward and MJ glanced at each – they had to admit that they didn't know. "Can't it wait until morning?" asked Edward tiredly, "I'm completely jet-lagged."

"No it can't," Blossom replied instantly, making them both jump. She paused for a moment. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap, but I need you two to listen carefully and to listen now.

And so Blossom explained, or tried to. She told them about Brick, and the night nineteen years ago. She told them about how she'd met Eddy (which I still haven't told you, mg56) and the circumstances under which they'd entered the marriage. And then she told them what had happened over the weekend. The annoying thing was that it sounded a lot worse coming out of her mouth then it had in her head, and the kids (unsurprisingly) were not reacting ideally. She could cope with Edwards lack of sympathy, it was MJ's lack of understanding that was causing a larger problem.

"But I don't get it," she whimpered for the umpteenth time, "You married Dad, so you love him?"

"But before I loved Dad I loved Brick," explained Blossom once again, "but he died so I couldn't marry him."

"But… doesn't marriage last for ever?" MJ stuttered between a few tears.

"Nope," muttered Edward, whose eyes were redder then they'd ever been due to his own misery, "only until one person gets board, it seems."

Okay, Edward's lack of sympathy was annoying. "Is wrong for me to want to be with the one I love?" she appealed to him.

"Is it wrong for us to want the same," snapped Edward immediately, making Blossom immediately (and temporarily) regret all the time she'd spent encouraging him to think for himself. As for MJ, Edward's robust statement had done a proper job of set off the water works. Edward grabbed the shaking snivelling Spider-puff into a tight hug, but Blossom was relived that when she approached, her son still had enough respect for her to release MJ into her arms.

"Come on MJ," she said, sitting her on her knee. "Look at me, look at me, there's a good girl. Now, you'll still get to see your dad," she said in her most reassuring tone, "and this doesn't mean that he and I don't love you. We do love you, very much. But… things change, and I want a chance to be," she stopped. "Oh, never mind, you'll understand when your older. Anyway, you quiet like Brick, don't you?"

MJ held back the tears just long enough to nod her head, before crying again. Blossom gave her a close hug and then turned to look at Edward. He was staring at a corner of the floor. A hard fixed stare.

"Do you want a hug Edward?" Blossom asked hopefully.

"No," replied Edward firmly, not moving an inch. "I'm tired, I going to bed before I shoot my mouth off." With that he left, turning the long way round to avoid even looking at her. Blossom tried to ignore this and concentrate on comforting MJ.

After about half an hour, the little child was all cried out. She sniffled a bit more and then sat up. "I'm sorry Mum," she whispered.

"Sorry? What for?"

"I'm sorry I… couldn't make you happy. Happy enough to stay with Daddy."

Blossom's heart almost broke, but she just about held it together. "It's okay MJ," she whispered, none of this is remotely your fault. As I say, when you're a bit older, you'll understand. But please don't blame your self. I promise you, it isn't your fault, and everything's going to be okay. Different, but okay."

MJ nodded, and with one last hug pattered quickly off to bed. Blossom sighed, and made her self a cup of tea to steady her nerves, before heading off upstairs herself. She was going to bed, but on the way, she paused outside the kids' rooms, to see if she could hear something.

There was the muffled undertone of someone weeping drifting through the air. But to her surprise, it was coming from Edward's room. Gently, she pushed the door open. "Edward?" she asked.

Her son was lying on his bed, face down in his pillow. He looked up at his mother quickly, and it was obviously clear that he'd been crying for a while. "Please," he stuttered through his own tears, "please leave me alone. Or I'll say something we'll both regret."

Blossom didn't move. "Say it," she replied. "I won't hold it against you, I promise."

It was only at this point that Edward looked like he was about to explode. Latter, Blossom was sure he would have shouted if he'd physically been able to. Instead, it was merely a horse whisper. "You promise? A promise from you? I'd treat a promise from a politician with more respect! You promised that we weren't mutants, that you weren't a superhero like your sisters, that I was normal and could live what ever life I wanted. You promised Dad that'd you'd be with him until you died! What do you think a promise from you is worth? I'd trust a snake before I trusted you… you…" and then he buried his head in the pillow again, and started shouting muffled words into it, that Blossom could only assume were profanities.

She shut the door and walked away. Right now, Blossom also wanted to cry.

Seven o'clock sharp, the following morning, Blossom opened the door for Brick, who was smiling like a hyena. "Good morning! What's for Breakfast," he spouted cheerfully, before getting a proper look at Blossom's face. "I mean, how did it go last night?"

Blossom shrugged. "Not great," she said. "I still haven't spoken to Eddy yet and the kids took it quite badly. Breakfast is cereal."

"Don't worry about the children," Brick reassured, with a kiss to her check (which made Blossom involuntarily smile) "They'll feel better for a good night's sleep, and I'm here now, so they can hate me rather then you."

"Yes," Blossom twitched nervously. "You will be nice, won't you?"

"I'm always nice," lied Brick with a smile. Blossom, who wasn't feel a bit reassured, nodded and when upstairs to wake Edward and MJ.

She pretty much said the same thing to them. "Brick's downstairs and he really is a nice person underneath, so please try to be nice." They both nodded, and neither Blossom nor Edward mentioned last night.

As it was, Blossom was in for a shock. As soon as MJ entered the kitchen, Brick opened his arms into a hugging posture. "MJ!" he said in a loud and friendly tone, and even more to Blossom's surprise, the child accepted it, running and jumping into his arms, and spending the entire of Breakfast sitting on his lap picking at his cereal, and talking about her exploits as a Spider-puff (the late night ones that Blossom didn't approve of, especially as she wasn't bullet proof at the moment.) Brick kept on asking questions, and revelling in the attention, MJ kept on talking. She seemed really happy, and in her mind Blossom good see Eddy burning up with jealousy. In one way it was sad, but in another it was quite funny.

"But aren't you worried that you might get kidnapped by a super villain so they can use you as a bargaining chip against your Mum?" asked Brick. MJ shook her head.

"They tried that once," she giggled, "they send this stupidly strong mutant after me so they could black mail Mum into convincing Sonic to support the mutant freedom cause, but I was too fast for him," she giggled. "I managed to lure him on top of a skyscraper and use my webbing to trip him off it. He hit the ground with a large BOOM! It was so cool!"

"Of course your forgetting the part were he got up again and SP had to save you until the former X-men arrived," Blossom added. "Or that was what Buttercup told me."

"I was getting to that!" lied MJ. Brick was just laughing.

"Sounds like you've had some adventures," he said. MJ nodded.

"Yeah, but it can't have been as great as how you got out of Hell," she said enthusiastically. "How did you do it?"

"Well, it was a bit of a challenge," admitted Brick. "You see once I'd finally managed to find a way out, I had to get past these two thugs called Cell and Freeza…"

Blossom spat out her coffee. "WHAT!" she spluttered, "you got past Cell and Freeza!"

"Who?" asked MJ, confused.

"They're two of the strongest creature ever to have lived," Blossom continued. "They both tried to destroy the planet a few years before I was born. You beat them?"

Brick shrugged modestly. "They weren't that tough," he lied. "In fact I beat them quite easily really. Gee, if they were that much trouble Mojo should have created me earlier, I could have sorted them out."

"Except you would have been on their side," Edward snorted. He hadn't said a thing since come downstairs until now, so was obviously board. He turned to Blossom. "Mum, when are you going to get Dad out of jail?" Blossom twitched.

"Soon," she said. "As soon as I can."

"Good, because you did promise," Edward replied, as if the choice of words didn't matter. But of course, they did, and it rather killed the conversation.

When Blossom went to work, she left the kids at home. There was no way she wanted them going into school just yet, and it would give them another chance to perhaps bond with Brick. (She had made the Red Ruff promise not to be violent with Edward how ever irritating or unhelpful he was before hand.)

Now, she was in her office at the SSR, supposedly working. Instead, she was trying to prove Edward wrong, and get Eddy out of jail. To do this sort of thing, one needs contacts. It's not a matter of what you know but who you know, and there's no better "who you know" then being able to phone up the chief of the supreme court of the United States of America, and say; "Hi, it's Blossom Panner here. Do you remember the time I saved your life?"

Hence, it only took six phone calls and a lot of string pulling to get Eddy charged of the ridiculous offence he was supposed to have committed, get the trial scheduled to this afternoon, arrange for it to be judged by a friend of Blossom's who understood how the case needed to go and to make sure that the press were as much in the dark as possible to keep them from causing a problem for Bubbles.

The only problem was that by the time she'd done all this, an hour had pasted. An hour in which Sonic had wanted to speak to her one minute into, and was a bit miffed that her phone had been engaged for the entire time.

"Ah, so you didn't win the ITV "Ring to Win" prize then," the hedgehog declared sarcastically when Blossom did finally arrive. He was sat in his standard feet-on-the-desk, leaning-back-on-chair position, but Blossom still managed to resist the temptation to tip him it.

"I've got the report you wanted," she replied cordially. "I hope you enjoy it very much."

"Wonderful," replied Sonic. "Can you just pop it the filing cabinet over there, I'll read it later." I.e. never, but Blossom didn't mind too much. It meant that she'd got away with once submitting a report on company health and safety procedure that consisted only of the word "badger" sixty thousand times. Sonic still didn't know.

"While I'm here," Blossom said carefully, "might I ask you one quick question Sonic?"

"Humm, I don't know," mused Sonic. "Err… okay, yes."

"Great. Can…"

"Sorry, I said one question." Blossom waited until Sonic had finished hooting at his own wit, before trying again.

"Can Brick have a job here?" she asked, while think how anyone had ever considered Sonic cool with that sort of sense of humour,

"Ah yes," Sonic responded. He thought for a moment. "No, he can't."

"Pardon?" replied Blossom, who'd been expecting a different answer entirely. "Why not!"

"Because," said Sonic, with his entire legendry cool, "he doesn't have a social security number, or a green card. How would we assess him for tax, or pay his wages, since he can't open a bank account? As far as the government's concerned, he's dead, so he had no record in this country. It would be like employing an illegal immigrant."

"We employ five illegal immigrants as cleaners!" Blossom replied, "and two as cooks!"

"Really, I though the building had been looking tidier recently," Sonic mussed.

"Fine, alright. What if we got Brick a social security number and convinced the government he was alive again. Then could he have a job?"

"Humm, maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Well there is a question of loyalty," Sonic stated bluntly.

"You never questioned Boomer's and Butch's loyalty."

"Yes, but there was a difference there."

"What difference?" scoffed Blossom.

"The difference that if Butch and Boomer had betrayed me, Bubbles and Buttercup would have abandoned them," Sonic explained, with a hint of glee, "while I suspect that you'd still stick with Brick even if he'd just gunned down the pope."

"That's an exaggeration!" Blossom snapped.

"Maybe," replied Sonic, without changing his tone, "but it's an opinion, and it's my opinion which counts." He was obviously enjoying winding Blossom up like this, but it was only now that Blossom realised.

"Fine," she said, sitting down opposite him (and just in front of the smelly trainers attached to Sonic's feet.) "If it's your opinion that counts, tell me; what's your opinion on Brick and Eddy. Which one would you like me to go with?"

Sonic blinked. Then, he sat up with his feet on the floor, a sigh that he was about to be serious. "Let me answer that with a series of questions, and yes and no answers only. Has Eddy ever hit you?"

"Err… no, not intentionally."

"Has he ever hit the kids?"

"No, again…"

"Are you financially secure?"

"Yes."

"Has he slept with another women during your marriage?"

"No."

"Do you love him?"

"… Yes."

"Then justify leaving him to me." Sonic's feet swung back up on to the desk – his serious stint was over.

Blossom still tried. "Because I love Brick more," she answered confidently.

"NahNarh!" replied Sonic in the tone of the family fortunes wrong answer sound. "Our top answer was that you enjoy sex with him more."

"So what if I do," Blossom replied instantly, "is that a crime?"

"In some countries," Sonic replied, "if it means divorcing to get it."

"You wouldn't understand," Blossom replied bitterly, "your matting season only comes around once a year."

"Listen," Sonic replied, still being completely cool about the hold thing, "you asked for my opinion and I gave it. Unlike your sisters I'm not here to validate a decision you've already made. Now I think we've both got work to do."

"Fine." Blossom got up and went to leave. She got too the door before muttering under her breath, "You're just jealous."

She hadn't even been facing Sonic, but hedgehogs have very good hearing. The feet hit the floor again, hard. Sonic was now standing up. "What did you just say?" he hissed. Blossom had clearly touched a nerve, and normally, she would have apologised and backed away. But today was different, and she was dammed if she was going too lectured to about love and marriage by a divorcee hedgehog.

She swung round. "You're jealous Sonic!" she said firmly. "You're jealous that my teenage love has come back to life and yours…"

"You leave her out of this!" Sonic steamed furiously. "It's completely different!"

"How different? When you were begging for your life you told me Brick and Sally were the same! And so were Eddy and Amy, except I made it work and you hired an assassin to have her killed. Face it! You'd give anything to be in my situation and I know which one you'd really choose!" Blossom stood back for a minute, arms folded. For once, Sonic appeared to have been knocked for six, but it didn't last long.

Sonic should have shouted – he was defiantly angry enough. He should have hailed profanities down on her and used his knowledge of her past against her, just as she had. But instead she didn't. He just laughed. A hollow, almost viscous laugh.

"Oh Blossom," he chuckles, "you have no idea what you've just done." He stiffened up suddenly. "I promise you, that before the day is up, you'll regret every single comment you just made, especially the begging one. I just feel sorry for those about to be court in the cross fire, but," he shrugged, "you know. And I keep my promises. Now get out."

Okay, I hope you enjoyed that. This chapter had to focus on Blossom and company, but in the next one, Butch and Buttercup will be back in it again. And my promise is this: If the next chapter doesn't blow you out the water (metaphorically of course,) then I will eat my hat…