Chapter Ten: Bonds
"Tell me the truth, is this your first time?", Judy asks from her lounger in the moonlight glow.
"Fuck Judy, I already told you!", Charlie replies impatiently and excitedly.
"Okay okay, just so I know how to adjust!", she explains handing him the joint and the lighter. "You do the honors."
The boy lights it up and takes a couple of puffs holding back the smoke for a few seconds.
"Hey, take it easy, tiger!" the brunette admonishes him, refusing when the young man gives her the joint.
"What, you don't smoke?", he asks in amazement.
"Not tonight, hon", she declares confidently.
"Yeah, you're supervising tonight, huh?" the young man jokes.
"Of course I am!", Judy confirms. She watches the boy take a few more puffs and then stops him, taking the joint out of his hand.
"Hey I haven't finished yet!" he protests.
"Stop for now. Let's wait a little while. If in about ten minutes you still don't feel the effect, I'll have you take a few more puffs. By the way, did you choose some good music for the event?", the woman asks shifting the boy's attention to the activity she had suggested to him days before and which he enthusiastically embraced.
"Well actually just one, a classmate of mine recommended it to me, he said it's perfect to listen to while you' re high", the boy moves closer to show her the cell phone display while wearing his huge headphones.
"Wow, how uplifting!", Judy comments amused. Then she looks curiously at the cover and title of the chosen song.
"Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts, by Manowar, duration 28 minutes and 37 seconds. The cover is a little aggressive, don't you think?", she ponders in curiosity.
"Judy, it's '80s epic metal and the cover is awesome!", the boy points out.
"Is it like that deafening stuff Mom listens to when she meditates?", she jokingly asks mimicking the quotes when she says the word "meditates," causing him to burst out laughing.
"Not really. This genre is less...confusing, though powerful!", Charlie replies. "Do you want to listen to it too?", he asks, ready to unplug his headphones to share the music with the woman.
"No, honey, maybe next time. Just listen to it on your headphones, just get comfortable, close your eyes, and let the music and the words wash over you, I bet it's coming, isn't it?", she tells him winking.
"Yeah", the boy confirms with a chuckle. "How do you know that?"
"Because you're starting to talk in slow motion, smartass! I told you to wait, if you took a few more shots you'd probably overdo it and it wouldn't be as much fun anymore", she explains as she gets up from the lounge chair.
"So, you say I can start?", the young man asks trailing off the words.
"I think so. Come on, buddy, maybe lay down, I'll go inside for a minute and get you a glass of water, I bet you're really thirsty!", Judy comments knowingly.
"Fuck yeah! Bring the whole bottle, will you, Ma'?", the boy freezes, stunned by the appellation he just used. He watches her stop suddenly, equally amazed. "Sorry", he scratches his head, confused.
"It's okay, Charlie", the woman smiles, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe it's the effect of the joint, maybe not, but you have nothing to apologize for. I can only be pleased", she reassures him, holding back the emotion.
Judy enters through the back door and walks over to the couch, where Jen and Henry are snuggled close together watching "Finding Dory" for the umpteenth time, the soft voice of Sigourney Weaver is introducing the Wonders of the Pacific Ocean.
"Mommy, who is Sigourney Weaver?", the little one asks.
"Sigourney Weaver is an actress who played lots of movies, honey", Jen replies in a slightly sleepy voice.
"Well defining her as just a movie actress seems pretty reductive, Jen", Judy chimes in in disagreement.
"Hey, Judy!", the little boy greets her enthusiastically, stretching his arms out in search of contact.
She leans over the back of the couch, looping her arms around his neck and planting a resounding kiss on his cheek.
"Sigourney Weaver is an actress, well she defines herself an actor, she had been in lots of movies and a few miniseries, a voice actor, a documentary performer and..."
"Yeah, yeah, we get it", Jen interrupts her in a bored tone.
"Are you jealous, Mom?", the kid asks amused.
Judy bursts out laughing surprised by little Harding's perspicacity and watches Jen roll her eyes, caught in the act.
"Charlie?", Jen changes the subject nonchalantly.
"He's okay, he's listening to an epic song about Achilles, if I get it right," I come back to him. "Just take it easy, okay? I got him", and after placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, she walks back towards the backyard grabbing the almost full bottle of water from the kitchen counter.
"Mom, I'm really so happy that you and Judy aren't breaking up anymore, it's nice to see that you love each other, you know?", Henry whispers making her tuck him in.
"I'm happy too, Boop. And by the way, we never stopped loving each other, even when we broke up", his mother smiles at him. At the thought of how close her sons, especially Henry is to the brunette and how much like her he is, her heart warms.
"Did you dream about us, when you were in the hospital?", the kid asks curiously. "The doctor told us that sometimes people dream when their loved ones talk to them while they're asleep, and Shandy did a search on the dark web and found that some people have weird dreams when they're in the hospital", he specifies.
"I'm not sure, honey, but I have a feeling I dreamed about you, yes", the blonde replies thoughtfully. She's been so caught up in other things since waking up that she hasn't thought or wanted to think about the coma.
The child's question, however, awakens her curiosity. After digging through her memory for a few moments, she thinks she actually remembers something.
"I think I dreamed we were all together on the beach, at least once", she tells him as she lies down next to him, gritting her teeth from the constant fucking twinges in her ribs.
"Was Dad there too?", the son asks in a wistful voice.
Jen's heart clenches and for a moment, she thinks about telling him a little lie, but she's not sure that's a good idea, and decides against it.
"No, honey, Daddy wasn't there", she tells him softly, holding him close to comfort him.
"What about Charlie? And Judy?" the child insists curiously.
"Both of them", the mom confirms with a reassuring smile.
"We've never all been to the beach together", Henry points out with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"We'll go, honey, okay? As soon as I'm well enough we'll take a day to be together and get to the beach!", she promises with confidence.
"Can I pack a picnic lunch with Judy?", his mom giggles at her son's enthusiasm.
"I'm sure Judy will be delighted to have your valuable help, Boop! Now try to sleep, okay?", she tells him, ending the conversation. She places a long kiss on his forehead and gets up with a grimace in pain.
"I love you, Mom", Henry tells her already curled up on his side and with his eyes closed.
"Me I love you, too, love", Jen replies in a soft voice.
"Can you tell Judy that I love her?"
"I heard you, baby, I love you too", the woman gently brushes a hand against Jen's back and enters the bedroom to give little Harding a kiss.
Jen smiles as she stretches her neck toward the hallway and catches a glimpse of her oldest son coming up the stairs.
"Hey, how was it?", she asks him feigning indifference.
"Well it was, weird. It felt like time expanded. I listened to music for half an hour and it felt like it was like two hours long! And then I drank so much water that I'd have to get up and pee at least a dozen times tonight!", he tells her.
"Now do you see why it's not safe to drive or doing activities that require some attention when you're high?", his mother asks him seriously.
"Well, I would say yes. Honestly I wouldn't have been able to, but I knew that already, mom, relax okay?", the boy reassures her.
"Are you okay now?", Jen asks him.
"Yeah, Mom, seriously, I'm going to go to sleep, okay? Night", Charlie reaches over to give her a kiss on the cheek.
"Don't wet the bed, huh?", she teases, a little more serene.
"Mom!", Charlie giggles.
"Night Char", the blonde looks up at him smiling as she waits for him to close the door behind him and then heads off to her own room.
—
"Hey", Jen smiles at Judy as she closes the door behind her.
"Hey", the brunette smiles back from under the blankets. "I placed a pajamas in the bathroom for you, do you need anything else?", she asks her looking up from her phone.
"Thanks babe! I guess not, I'm fucking exhausted!", she replies disappearing into the bathroom.
Judy puts her cell phone away and tries to raise the top of the bed slightly, to make it more comfortable for the blonde. After struggling with the controls on her side and Jen's side, she finally finds a setting that seems acceptable.
She lays quietly, thinking back to moments earlier when Charlie slipped to call her "Ma" and a big smile lights up her face. She knows it was probably some kind of "smoking accident" but it felt good.
"What's that dreamy look, are you thinking about Sigourney Weaver?", Jen teases her snickering.
" Dumb!", the brunette replies infected with laughter.
The other lies down next to her, in her usual spot, resting her back on the raised mattress. As soon as she thinks about turning to Judy, she realizes that this can't work.
"Judy, do you mind if we switch places? I can't turn around on your side, it's the broken ribs side", she complains.
"Right! I didn't think of that!", the other comments moving immediately.
After repositioning themselves and finding the right angle for the mattress, Judy switches off the light and the two lie face to face as usual at the moonlight glow. Jen immediately reaches for Judy's hand, intertwining their fingers together.
"So, did you guys have a good night bonding?", the blonde questions in a joking tone.
"Charlie called me Ma'", Judy confesses no longer able to keep it to herself, her eyes glazing over.
"No way!", Jen is stunned.
"Definitely it was the smoke, but it made me happy", the brunette confides to her.
"Of course it fucking made you happy, babe!", she loosens the intertwining of fingers just long enough to lay a gentle caress on her face. "Well we need to get him to fucking smoke more often!", she then remarks giggling.
"Now that's a motherly attitude!", Judy teases her. "And what about Henry?"
"Oh well, after your good wiggle about Sigourney Weaver he wouldn't stop asking questions about her. Now he wants to see her movies because he said he likes her voice so much!", Jen comments boredly. Judy snickers with satisfaction.
"That means we'll show him something then", she replies serenely.
"Well, we can't show him Alien, or Copycat, just saying uh!", the blonde replies trying to remember some other titles not suitable for children.
"Well there are lots of them. Ghostbusters, Wall-e, Avatar or Galaxy Quest, or..."
"Drop it, Judy!", Jen interrupts her, annoyed.
"You really are jealous!", Judy doesn't hold back a giggle and reaches out placing a hand on her thigh.
"Well, just a little bit", Jen admits surrounding her waist with an arm and moving even closer. " She can kiss my ass, Sigourney Weaver. She is not here with you, I am", she defends herself swaggering. "Can we just fucking stop talking about that one?", she proposes blurting.
"You started it, dummy!", Judy comments incredulously.
Jen smiles softly, ending the fake skirmish.
"Henry asked me if I dreamed while I was in a coma, and you know, I didn't think about it, until he asked, but I guess it wasn't always all off in here," she says pointing to her head with a finger.
"What do you remember?", Judy asks her in a quiet voice.
"I don't quite know for sure, but I have a feeling I dreamed about you guys a lot, I remember the smell of your incenses, I remember your blanket, the feel of the sand under my feet, Henry's hand in mine, Charlie's voice, I remember my mother and I remember the feeling of breastfeeding", tears well up in her eyes at that last thought, and she immediately feels Judy's gentle comforting caress on her skin.
"But it's all so fucking confusing", she concludes with a hint of frustration.
"Baby I wish I could hug you tight right now!", the brunette comments, equally frustrated.
"I know, honey, me too. We have to be patient a little longer, I'm afraid", Jen quickly replies. "Fuck when I suggested starting over I didn't really mean everything all over!", she jokes to ward off the discomfort and pleased to hear Judy laugh at her joke.
She reaches over and kisses her softly and long, then rests her forehead on hers.
"Sleep well Jude"
"Sleep well Jen"
Silence falls in the room and the two of them slowly drift off to sleep, both of them brooding over the idea of adding an "I love you" so ridiculous that in the end neither of them is willing to say it.