A/N: I had wanted this posted Monday, but alas didn't happen.

Chapter 37

Nadia

"Mom," said Todd, he heard Pietro say something but it didn't click what he was saying.

The women at the desk sat up alert and looked towards the door. Todd took in her thing face, amber/hazel eyes, and a wide smile on her face. She held more wrinkles near her eyes but it didn't take away from her. But it was strange how in one instant you can be an almost 20 year old adult and turn into a five year old when it came to your mother. She stood up from the chair, her style not changing from the long skirts and thick shall. However he didn't get any of this because she was too busy hugging him.

"I'll… get those keys… later," said Pietro closing the door and disappearing.

"Oh Mortimer," her voice still the way he remembered, but her accent had lessened greatly, but he didn't even react to his 'name' because there was no malice behind it.

"Mom, I just…. How did Pietro find you?" asked Todd, reluctantly pulling away from the hug.

"He just showed up at my door," said Nadia, "And pulled out this strange picture of you, a bunch of people in tape, and a silver pirate ship."

"Of all the photos, really?" he asked himself, Pietro's new attempts at getting everyone to scrapbook was going to bite them all later.

"I just can't believe it's you?" she pulled his face to her as if examining his eyes, before hugging him even tighter, "You've grown up so much."

"Yeah.. yeah I have," he sunk into the hug, her hair tangled in his face… the same colored hair he himself had been staring at an hour ago without his mutation.

It was a short time later that the two were talking about how Pietro found her, how he was nearly impossible to find, all as Nadia flipped through the sketchbooks. Todd at this moment was talking about the Brotherhood as she'd asked about his house mates. She'd only met Pietro, who when she said his name, she pronounced with a rolled 'R' and a 'A' sound…. Which Todd figured might be the actual way to say it. He talked about everything he could think of… leaving out his minor thefts and the Brotherhood's attempts at Villainy… obviously.

"Yeah so then we decided to go to Canada… but that didn't fare well since we didn't have passports, yo… So we drove back… then we broke down…. And that's the first time we met Pietro's stalker, but for some reason I'm the only one who remembers…. But… mom?" asked Todd as Nadia seemed to be fixating on a picture ore recently drawn in the book.

"Is that me?" she asked, Todd looked, it had been his attempt at drawing her; a younger women holding a cup of tea next to two outlines at a table he'd never finished.

"Yeah, it's supposed to be, but I don't think I got your smile right… or too much of your face shape… it's kind of an old reference and I do well with references and stuff you know," said Todd comparing the two. Her face was thinner than he remembered and her eyes didn't seem as wide and hopeful as they used too, "So tell me about what's been happening with you."

"Well…. Ohm," she seemed to be lost looking at the picture, Todd closed it, he'd talked a great deal about himself, "Well after you left… I spent a great deal looking for you but… I taught you well on how to vanish apparently…. But your sister left pretty soon after.."

"What? Where did she go?" asked Todd, his sister wasn't much older than him.

"She ran away as well… went back to England…. She stayed with your grandparents…. That's as much as she told me when I managed to contact her….." she seemed to be focusing hard, her hands tying themselves into knots as she spoke, Todd didn't like it when she fidgeted, he'd remembered this from his childhood… nights before his father would come home, it was never good.

"Mom…" he leaned to look at her, she was fighting back whatever emotion was trying to break free.

"I'm sorry I wasn't a better mother," Todd's heart sank, as he watched his mother try and stay calm.

"Yo, mom.. you were a great mom…. I don't know what you're talking about… You kept us safe, told us stories… read really weird books that still kind of baffle me… yo, like how does a flower give someone life… It still confuses me now… but it made me think," said Todd, trying to switch the subject, "Mom I didn't leave because you were a bad mom… I just have a habit of making things worse.. always have."

"Making what worse?" asked Nadia, the look she gave him definitely made him feel like he was five again, "You never made anything bad."

"I just felt that if I wasn't around it'd be better for you…" said Todd, looking down at his shoes; he had been so sure of his motives before, "You were always running and moving because I was there and I figured you and Heather could have a life you know…"

"It was never your concern to worry, that's a mother's job… not a child's," said Nadia, Todd didn't look at her, he knew she would be crying and he didn't want to face that, there was a long silence, "But… your very good at hiding… we would have made a good team."

"Yeah we could have," said Todd, glad his mom had changed the subject, one of the things he'd learned from her, subject changing 101, "Uh… so what have you been up too?"

"Oh, well…WHAT?" Nadia jumped as Kitty's head came through the wall.

"Hey Toad, Lance and I are ordering pizza, I know it's late but….. Oh, sorry," said Kitty, she raised an eyebrow looking at the freightened women sitting next to Todd.

"Sweetheart, you have ghosts?" asked Nadia quietly, Todd almost laughed.

"Nah mom, she's a mutant too… That's Kitty, Lance's girlfriend," said Todd, he pointed to a picture in the sketchbook.

"Thank goodness I was going to get some sage," she still looked a little panicked as the door opened and Lance stepped in.

"Kitty… what are you…. Hello?" asked Lance in confusion, apparently Pietro had indeed kept this on the down low…. Todd wondered how his mom had even got in here.

"Uh, this is my…Mom," said Todd, it felt strange and foreign to say it.

"Oh…. Really?" asked Kitty coming all the way in, Lance's brow rose.

"Seriously?" asked Lance, he stood up straighter and not his normal lack of authority glare was fixated, "Hi, Mrs… Tolanksy?"

"Why's he so stiff?" asked Nadia, in a whisper and it dawned on Todd.

"I may or may not have told stories and or quotes from you that may not be all that acurate, yo," said Todd nervously, "And they may think… you're a bit of a ohm…."

"Did you tell your friends I was a bitch?" asked Nadia with wide eyes and look of great insult in her already reddened face.

"No… No! More… cut throat," said Todd casually.

"Well, we're ordering pizza, it'd be nice to have you both join us in the dining room," said Kitty, she looked at Todd's clock, "And I'm gonna need to use the phone and tell the mansion I'm staying the night as its already one in the morning."

"….. I'm goona go… clean the dining room," said Lance exiting with Kitty, Todd looked at his mom.

"So… pizza with my friends?" suggested Todd, although he'd prefer just to have a more private conversation with his mother, he supposed that could wait.

TO BE CONTINUED