Chapter 64

Amazingly, things went smoothly despite the run in with Al. Pride and Mrs. Bradley got to meet in person for the first time in . . . a while. Months for Mrs. Bradley, about a year for Pride. She'd pulled him in close and started asking him many questions out of worry, and she was one person Pride didn't mind that coming from. She had also easily agreed to see this new planet he wanted to live on.

While Alphonse had left them alone while they reunited, he annoyingly tagged along until Nate's ship was up in the air. Pride wasn't particularly surprised. Alphonse Elric was responsible enough to make sure he was off the planet, but it stopped being welcome company a while ago, and Nate had to avoid meeting Alphonse in person. At least they were gone now.

Pride tried not to be worried. He and Nate had explained that Nate wasn't a real dalek, but Mrs. Bradley still seemed on edge. Not a great start. And when they got back, he had to leave those two and go talk to Nora. He looked back towards them one more time, feeling doubtful. Mrs. Bradley caught his gaze and waved him off.

Well alright then. He huffed and walked into Nora's room. She was sitting in her throne like chair.

"Thank you Pride. This won't take long."

Pride shrugged. "It's not like I have a choice. What is it you want to know?"

Nora was quiet for a moment. Apparently, the conversation didn't usually go like this. "I don't usually plan these conversations so meticulously, but let's start with your name. Anything other than Pride?"

He thought about it. "Pride the Arrogant is my full name, though my mother still calls me Selim Bradley." He waved his hand at the door.

"Do I want to know?" Nora asked.

Pride shrugged again and gave her the shortest, simplest explanation he could think of. "I was adopted. She didn't know about my identity or past right away."

"Right," Nora said slowly. "The Doctor mentioned you have a less than ideal past."

"Do you want me to tell you about it?" Pride asked. He was annoyed by this conversation, but he was kind of hoping she'd say yes and he would just start listing off events in his life starting over three hundred years ago and watch her reactions.

"No," Nora said, closing her eyes briefly. Pride was . . . surprised. "I'm glad I know you had one. But so do I, and one of our doctors, and neither of us were the first. And I don't think Lee was quite as passive in his past as he likes to make out. It's important to know, but I don't need to know the specifics, and it would be flagrant hypocrisy to kick you out for that. But, I do have an entire planet to keep safe. I'm more concerned how you'll be now, and in the future."

Pride sighed softly. He was pretty sure he had the worst past of anyone on his planet, but he let that go for the moment. He got what she was saying. So that was what this was about. Well, at least they could stop wasting time beating around the bush. "If you're asking if I'm a good person, the answer is a resounding no. We're well past that." He didn't literally put air quotes around 'good person', but the tone was there. They both must know life wasn't quite that clear cut. "That said, I don't want to be the person I was before either. It was a waste of my life, and I may have one or two regrets." It was impressive how easily those admissions had come. He shouldn't want to say such things. And yet, now that he'd accepted them, he sort of wanted to just spit it out, get it out for the world to hear. "I've changed. I'm not going back to who I was. You shouldn't have anything to worry about from me."

Nora slumped slightly. "That was a very blunt answer, but at least that means you're being honest. And whatever words you might say, your incident with Porter tells me about your actual behavior. From what I've seen, you're not as horrible as you seem to insist. No. I don't think we'll have a problem."

Pride was probably gawking at her. It was just . . . no one tried to tell him he was less horrible than he claimed.

They talked a little longer, but nothing else substantial was said. After that surprisingly smooth conversation, he went to the doctors and the therapist jellyfish. Said jellyfish was clearly unhappy about how little he was saying, seeming more pleased even when he briefly switched to his false happy voice and spoke about unimportant things, like the time the Doctor accidently made fondue come out of the pipes in the TARDIS. The jellyfish apparently accepted he wasn't going to cooperate and sent him back to the main building, still approved.

So, all that was left was to see how Mrs. Bradley was doing. He took the elevator to the top, stepped off, and headed for Nora's room. Mrs. Bradley had gone to her after he'd left. He could hear voices in the room.

He frowned. Still? He'd left a while ago. Was Nora giving his mother trouble? He moved for the door more forcefully, but just as he reached for the knob, laughter peeled out of the room. Pride paused and listened for a moment longer. He couldn't make out the words, but the tone from both women was certainly happy.

That was . . . well, it wasn't surprising. Today had been too weird for that. It just sort of left him drained of any emotion.

Pride opened the door. The two were sitting at a small table pushed into the right corner of the room. It seemed Nora had prepared some tea.

"Selim!" Mrs. Bradley greeted warmly. Pride walked over and let her pull him close. "I've been having a lovely time with Nora."

Pride nodded. "I can see that."

"And you say you're planning to stay on this planet?" Mrs. Bradley asked.

Pride nodded. "That's the plan."

He cast a brief glance at Nora, who clearly still agreed.

"Then I'll happily stay here with you," Mrs. Bradley said.

Pride was taken aback for a moment. He wanted to ask if she was sure. Really sure. They could maybe go back to Amestris some time, for a visit, but it wouldn't exactly be a normal occurrence. And Pride knew she had friends there. Though, her closets friends had probably been the Owens, and that had taken a hit after the dalek invasion. He knew it was his fault she couldn't be very close to any humans in Amestris, and he had just the tinniest amount of guilt about that.

But here they could both be completely honest about each other, and themselves, and Mrs. Bradley had already befriended the ruler of the planet. She certainly wouldn't be lonely here.

He still considered asking why, why his mother had done all this for him, but he suspected he knew the answer. It was one she'd already told him.

So he smiled, so widely and enthusiastically it almost resembled his act. "That's great Mother!"

[There is one more chapter after this. Just so we're all on the same page. Can't believe if the chapters had come out just a touch differently I could've finished on Christmas.]