A/N: Holy Moley its been a long time since I updated this story... I AM SO SORRY! Three bears kind of took hold of me for a while there, and I also started writing yet another Jam fic (not yet posted, will begin posting when it's essentially finished so I can keep a decent updating schedule). Anyways, this chapter doesn't exactly end, which you can go ahead and take as a strong indiction that there will be a sort of a second half of it... I didn't want a three thousand word chapter, plus I have to get ready for school before writing anymore and I wanted to be able to post!
Jules fiddled with the faucet in her kitchen. It worked perfectly well, but she hated it. She had made a snap decision back in the day when she was renovating and had been kicking herself for it ever since. She kept thinking about replacing it, but it now seemed like a waste considering she would be moving soon. Her house had only been on the market a few weeks, but she had already had a few offers. Lousy ones, but offers nonetheless.
Sick of looking at the ugly metal blob, she turned her attention to the dishwasher. She had the day off and Sam didn't, which she had taken as the perfect opportunity to do some much needed cleaning. Somewhere between the plates and the spoons her mind wandered back to her and Sam's conversation the night before.
Sam mindlessly flipped through channels as Jules talked his ear off.
"So Natalie thinks we need some kind of … gift to give people, sort of like a loot bag or something. Apparently chocolates are the usual, which seems kind of dumb to me, but whatever. As for the centrepieces I don't know where to start…"
He nodded, half listening. "Maybe my mom can help you with that when she's here. And chocolates are nice, something to snack on on the way home. And I'll take care of any leftovers," he added with a wink.
"Yeah I'm sure you… wait, your mom is coming? WHEN?"
Sam shrugged, his eyes barely leaving the television. "Friday."
"THIS FRIDAY? Sam, today is wednesday!"
How Sam could survive living his life on such short notice she would never understand. Somehow he had thought it was appropriate to give her only two days notice of the arrival of his mother. She wasn't sure the woman even liked her - she had, after all, been the one to dump Sam those few years ago, leaving him in the awkward position of breaking it to her on his trip home. That was only the base of her anxiety over meeting the woman. For some reason the idea of meeting Sam's parents, either one of them, scared her more than a subject with an automatic weapon.
She figured the General would be a tough one to meet - from what Sam had said he was less than supportive of most things Sam did, and Jules had long ago determined that that would likely extend to her. If it didn't yet, it certainly would the first time the General tried to pressure Sam back into the military in her presence. Part of her, not one she was particularly proud of, anxiously awaited that day, just so she could turn on the snark and tell him to get his head out of his ass and see what his son is actually capable of. Ultimately, she wasn't all that worried about having to impress the General since she knew Sam would always take her side over his.
His mother was a different story.
Sam talked about her like she was a saint, a selfless force to be reckoned with. From the sounds of things, she was more than just the complete opposite of his father. While the General was always described as a strict drill sergeant who couldn't leave work at work, Sam's mother was both a disciplinarian and a caregiver. Sam had told of how in his teen years, while he would taunt his father with various antics just to displease him, he wouldn't dare do a thing his mother would disapprove of.
The idea of meeting the woman terrified her, hence the cleaning fest she was currently having. She began wiping down the countertops, the cupboards, the wall behind the stove where Sam had splattered tomato sauce last night when she had asked him to give her a hand with dinner. With the worst of the kitchen behind her, she decided she would get changed out of her sweats before moving on to the vacuuming. She had just barely finished getting dressed and fixing her hair when there was a knock at the door.
Checking the clock she panicked a little - Team one, minus her of course, was on duty today, which took five possible visitors off the table. Sam had taken his car in to get his winter tires on, about two months late in Jules' mind, and therefore had no car to drive him to her house even if he wasn't still on shift.
Panic set in as she began to imagine the worse. The few times she and Sophie had been out for coffee, Sophie had described the fear she'd had as a newlywed when Ed was on shift. She'd told her about how she would have nightmares when he wasn't home about the officers at the door, the 'I'm sorry Mrs Lane' that would follow the news of her husband's death. Jules had never felt such anxiety.
Until now.
She took a deep breath and calmly walked down the stairs to the front door. Opening it, she saw a woman she'd never met before standing on her porch. She didn't have to look twice at the stranger to know exactly who she was. Those were definitely Sam's eyes staring back at her.
Unsure of how to begin, Jules blinked a few times before speaking. "Hello… Can I help you?"
The woman shifted in her spot, obviously nervous. "Hello, I'm Kathy Braddock, Sam's mum. You must be Jules," the woman replied, extending her hand.
Jules nodded, having just confirmed what she was almost certain of to begin with, and shook the extended hand. She must have been in some form of shock, because she then had a complete lapse in thought and couldn't figure out what to say next.
Sensing the younger woman's nervousness, Mrs. Braddock broke the silence. "Is Sam here?"
"No, actually, he's at work…" Jules told her, tilting her head slightly in confusion. Suddenly shock wore off and her manners came back to her. "Would you like to come in?" She wasn't sure why she asked, what she would even do if the woman accepted the invitation, but it seemed like the polite thing to say.
"Sure," Mrs Braddock said with a smile, turning to wave the cab Jules hadn't previously noticed. As the cab pulled away Jules led Mrs. Braddock into her house, and into the kitchen.
"Can I get you anything? Coffee, or, um I think I might have tea somewhere…" Jules began, searching through her cupboards.
"Oh, coffee would be nice. Thank you dear."
Jules poured two cups before placing them, along with milk and sugar, on the table where she had offered a seat to Mrs Braddock. There was a small silence as the two women prepared their coffees, while Jules fought the urge to flat out ask what the hell the woman was doing there.
"I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing here…" The woman began.
"A little…" Jules smiled, sipping her coffee.
"Well, I got off the plane to find that neither of my children were at the airport to meet me, but you know, they're busy people so I wasn't terribly upset about it. So I got myself a cab and went to Sam's apartment. No one answered when I knocked on the door, but I figured maybe Sam was on nights and was sleeping so I went and got the spare key from the Super. I let myself in, but there was no one there. I'm sorry to just show up here, but I found this on the coffee table," she said, pulling a home decorating magazine from her purse. She indicated the subscription address on the front of it. "I figured it belonged to you because well, I'm fairly certain you're the only Julianna that should be leaving magazines on my son's coffee table, and thought I would find Sam here."
Jules nodded, smiling at the woman's detective work. It impressed her a little that the woman could so easily find her. It also terrified her. "Did you get an earlier flight or something?"
Confused, Mrs Braddock shook her head. "No… why would I have?"
"Sam said you were getting here on Friday…"
The woman laughed. "Oh that is just so… Sam! I told him I was arriving on the 9th, a good four times I might add, but then he said something about it being Monday and I had to remind him it was only Sunday…"
Now Jules was laughing along with her. "He's been working 8 or 9 days in a row for the past few weeks, so I suppose he's just lost track of what day it is all together. I have to pick him up at work in a couple hours, you should come and surprise him."
"That sounds like a fun idea!" The woman practically cheered. "Now," she said, opening the magazine to a page Jules had dog eared, "Are you planning to do something like this in the new house?"
