Chapter 2 Family Comes First

Tick tick tick.

Ruby sat on one side of the table, her hands folded in front of her. Her expression was scrunched up, glaring at her daughter. Singe was right next to her, and he...actually looked kind of exhausted. He didn't appear to be interested in being here, which made sense to Roy. He wasn't interested in being here either.

Tick tick tick.

Roy swallowed a lump and looked at Celia to his right, locked in a staring contest with her mother. Roy's tail curled up, his heat pumped. He felt like he shouldn't be here, which of course he knew was a correct assumption. This was a family matter, and he wasn't part of the family.

"Oh!" He pushed his chair back. "I just remembered that I need to get something for Bowser! He wanted help fixing one of his airships!"

Celia grabbed hold of his arm, her sharp, koopa fingernails digging into his skin. "Nice try. Sit back down."

Roy swallowed a scream. "Ye...yes ma'am!" He squeaked. He took his place in his chair, and once he did, Ruby let out a sigh.

"Okay," she said. "I guess we should get down to business."

Roy cringed. "Do I really have to be here?" he asked.

"Yes," Celia chirped. "You are essential."

Singe shook his head, the exhaustion from before even more prevalent. "Cee, we don't need him here. This is a discussion within the family."

Roy perked up. Yes! Thank you Singe, for saying what he had been thinking! Man, Roy had almost forgotten how much he liked Celia's dad.

"But Roy is part of the family!" Celia protested. "He is the reason all three of us are sitting at this table right now!"

Roy sighed as all eyes fell on him. Man. You do one nice thing for one girl once, and suddenly, she's considering you an essential part of her life. Which...okay, was very sweet, but still! Roy shouldn't be involved in this!

"Besides!" Celia continued. "Don't you think getting an outside perspective could help us solve the problem?"

Ruby's expression shifted just the tiniest bit, from scrunched up to twinging with hurt. Roy realized that whatever was bothering her was clearly a big deal. Especially if it was enough to get her to yell at her only recently non-estranged daughter.

Finally, she sighed. "I...suppose you're right."

Roy's heart sank, his face fell. Oh great. So he had no way out. Just...peachy.

"Okay," Singe said. He faced Roy, placing his robotic hand on the table as he did so. "I guess we should start from the beginning." He looked over at Ruby. "Honey?"

Ruby nodded and cleared her throat. "You see Roy, recently I found out that my sister, Alicia, and her son, Albert, were coming to town."

Roy nodded. He had heard about Ruby's sister before. Granted, it was through a memory sphere, so he technically shouldn't know what the deal was with her. And Grambi knows that the Marksmite-Patch family didn't know that he was aware.

"And...well, my sister and I don't have the...greatest relationship. She wasn't exactly supportive when Celia was born."

Roy pressed his lips together and leaned against his knuckles. Again, this was stuff that he knew.

"And…" Ruby bit her lip. "Let's just say she showed her disapproval in extreme ways."

Roy nodded again. Alicia had yelled at Ruby when she saw Celia in her arms in the hospital. Roy understood how that could still beat down on Ruby all those years later.

"Okay." A question flitted into his mind. "But wait, why would she come to your hometown if that's the case?"

"Because she and Albert are going on a tour of the Mushroom Kingdom," Ruby said. "She decided to treat him before he joined the Royal Guard."

"The Royal Guard?" Roy smiled. "Good for him! That's impressive!"

Ruby sighed. "I guess."

Roy felt a pang. After the hurt that Ruby had experienced with her sister, he supposed that should be an expected reaction.

Singe leaned forward, getting ready to take over where Ruby left off. "We weren't planning on interacting with her. After what she did to Ruby, we did not want to let that drama into our lives." He narrowed his gaze at his daughter. "But that all changed when Celia decided to interfere."

Roy blinked and turned toward his girlfriend. "How did you interfere?"

Celia huffed and crossed her arms. "I went to the hotel where Albert and Alicia were staying and invited them to our house tomorrow."

Roy reeled back. "What? Why?"

Celia gestured toward her parents. "That's exactly what they said."

"Because it's a legitimate question, Celia!" Singe exclaimed. "You know what our opinions are on Alicia, and you know what her opinions are on us!"

"I know!" Celia stood up. "But they're family! They deserve a second chance, don't they?"

Ruby shook her head. "They don't want a second chance, Cee. It's been seventeen years since that day. She could have walked through my door at any point during those seventeen years. But she didn't."

Celia scoffed. "Oh, so today is one day too late?"

Ruby scowled at her. "You know that is not what I mean. Alicia wants nothing to do with us. She wouldn't even be coming over if it wasn't for you."

"And maybe that's a good thing!" Celia shouted. "Maybe what I did was the right thing!"

Singe shook his head. "You've invited drama mongers into our house, Cee."

Tears appeared in Celia's eyes. "Oh, okay. So if someone sinned in the past, that automatically means that they are unforgivable, right? Cause if so, what the heck are you doing in our house, Singe?"

Singe looked hurt. He lowered his head down toward the table. Roy could practically see the sadness in his head, and it was strong enough to sting him.

Ruby sharpened her glare toward Celia. "You watch your mouth, young lady! That is not fair to your father!"

"It's completely fair!" Celia said. "If we gave him a second chance, maybe we should give Alicia a second chance."

Ruby's face turned red. "You don't know anything about the woman, Celia! You don't know what she said, nor what she did! I am not welcoming her in my house!"

Celia swallowed some tears. "But Mom…"

"NO!" Ruby screamed. "I DON'T WANT TO SEE HER!"

Celia whimpered, drawing away from Ruby and toward Roy, who was obviously her last resort. "Roy, back me up."

"Back you up?" Oh boy, Roy was in trouble now. If he did something stupid, he could wind up on Ruby and Singe's bad side. He shook as the two of them stared at him.

"Uh...um...uh…"

Celia let out another whimper, drying her eyes as she did so. Roy felt bad for her in that instant. All she wanted was to meet her extended family. That was a feeling that Roy himself could relate to really well.

So, with that thought in mind, Roy cleared his throat and stood up. "Well, before I go on, I want to ask one thing." He turned toward Celia. "Did your aunt agree to meet with you?"

"Yes! Without hesitation!"

Roy smiled. "So it's possible she wants to make amends." He looked at Ruby. "Look, I say that you should let Celia meet her family. If they turn out to be bad people, then you can cut them out of your lives forever, no second thoughts." He turned toward Celia. "Does that sound reasonable to you?"

Celia nodded. "Yes." She looked at Singe and Ruby, whose face were going on a roller coaster ride of expression. "Believe me, Mom, I don't like bad people anymore than you do. But this is my family. I want to at least see what they're like before passing judgement on them."

Ruby stared at her daughter, firm, unmoving, and strong. She exchanged a look with Singe, the emotionally drained Singe.

"Please Mom," Celia said. "Can you do this for me?"

That caused a crack in Ruby's firm face. Her eyes twinkled with love for her daughter, with sadness and guilt. Finally, she sighed.

"Singe, help me clear out the guest bedroom."

Celia gasped. "Oh thank you, Mom! Thank you, thank you!" She went over and embraced her family in a hug. Before long, she gestured for Roy to join in, which he did after a bit of hesitation.

It seemed like a fine deal that he had struck with Ruby, and it was nice that Celia agreed to it. Hopefully now everything would go smoothly after this point.