My Lovely Family
Chapter 13 - Relapse - Part 2
Previously on My Lovely Family ... (compiled of things that happened before)
(Opening theme)
Lucy didn't know, but Gwen could spot her from a distance with her magic as she approached. The heroine suspected that Camille's cousin was behind the attack, so she wouldn't have to work very hard trying to figure out the alien's plan. She quickly cast a spell to trap him in a large network of mana. As she tamed the opponent, Gwen noticed Lucy rushing to the scene, furious.
"You incompetent!" she shouted. "That's not the deal! And now what Kai's going to say? "
"Wait! Kai?" Gwen caught Lucy in a mana jet and approached her. "Lucy, you're gonna explain this story to me."
"And why should I?"
"Because," - she replied - "… you just admitted that it was all a setup. So unless you want to go back to jail and tell the Plumbers why you sent a Lenopan to attack civilians, you'll have to tell me what this story is. "
"But he wasn't attacking civilians… from what I saw there were just fire hydrants. ripped off and some people running."
"If the alarm sounded and I had to leave my SICK husband at home to come here it's because people were in danger. Let's get this over now, Lucy!"
The Lenopan took a human form, still trapped in the mana net. When Rook's ship arrived, she put them inside to take them to the base of Mount Rushmore.
"Gwen, do not you think it is better to go home and take care of that business?" asked Rook.
"I don't need, Rook. It's alright there. I need to investigate this thoroughly since Ben can't help us. "
Cassandra rushed into the room, with Kenny following her.
"Come on, Kenny!" she shouted, bothering Ben. "Let's play my racing game!"
(Note: Cassandra's game is a future version of "GP vs. Superbike")
"Oh! Cassandra!" shouted Ben. "Don't scream, daughter!"
"Sorry, Daddy!" Cassie suddenly noticed something. "But you're screaming too."
"Just to get your attention, otherwise you wouldn't hear me ..."
"Oh, okay," she and Kenny approached him. "Daddy, are you alright?"
"Yes, I am, Cassie." Ben picked his two sons. "I just got a little bit of headache." The children put their hands on their father's forehead, as he did when his children were sick.
"Daddy, why were you crazy yesterday?" asked Kenny.
"I… did something stupid yesterday," Ben replied, embarrassed. "One I don't want to see you guys do when you're grown up."
"Never!" promised Kenny.
"But it was funny hahahahaha…" Cassie noted.
Although sometimes she looked sassy, Cassandra was a very good girl. She had a lot of intelligence, just like her mother, but there was a brat side like Ben when he was the same age. So she couldn't hide when she saw or thought of something she found very funny and was always very sincere. Of all the children, Cassandra was the most physically and internally like her father.
"Of course, it was funny to you that was just laughing..." Ben joked with his daughter, tickling her and then Kenny.
"Hahahahaha... calm down, Dad hahahahaha you're gonna kill me like this... hahahaha" Cassie was almost breathless.
"Alright…" Ben set the kids back on the floor. "Go play racing cars on the computer... but look... not fooling, okay?"
"Yes, Dad!" Cassandra and Kenny answered together before running to the computer.
Once in a special room at Plumbers Base on Mount Rushmore, the interrogation began.
"Alright, Lucy," said Gwen in a decisive tone. "You can tell everything. What's this Kai thing? "
"Well, she was the one who contacted me in the first place. This has nothing with me, but with her."
"But what's her interest?" asked Rook.
"We had agreed to set a trap to attract them both. Ben and Gwen always fall for this 'there are people in danger' hahahahaha…" Lucy replied mockingly. "She has something against you, Gwen. Even more than me."
"And why would Kai have anything against me?"
"I don't know, I just made it clear to her that if it was because of Ben, I wouldn't help. I want Ben just for me."
Gwen almost punched Lucy, but Rook held her back and signaled to calm down.
"No jokes, Lucy! What was the plan?" said Rook.
"Well… she took advantage of my sentence ending yesterday and contacted me a few days ago. She wanted to know if I knew any Limax. The reason I don't know. As I didn't know, she promised me a good pay in exchange for a phone book and a distraction for heroes." Lucy looked at Gwen. "But apparently the good boy let the wife come alone. You know what happens when you leave your husband alone, right?"
"I know… a Lenopan gets a bump on her head!" said Gwen almost punching the alien, but being stopped again by Rook.
"Lucy, let's get right to the point, okay?" said Rook. "The guy has an O-W-N-E-R! What does Kai want?"
"I don't know…"
"But you gave her the list?" asked Gwen.
"I gave… she paid me a good amount. And we were hoping to win for the distraction as well. Well… even if it wasn't what we expected, I think you can get it..."
"And why you were hiding?"
"You ask too much, Gwen."
"That's my job," she replied. firmly. "Why you were hiding?"
"I hoped that in the middle of the fight I could come in and 'defeat' the villain alone. Then you would get confused and attack a 'poor Lenopan who dropped her life of crime and became a heroine'. It would tarnish your reputation. "
"I'm not you, Lucy. I don't attack people who have done nothing because of disagreements in the past."
"Well, then you got what you wanted. Can you let me go now?"
"You'll stay here until we talk to Kai and clarify everything."
Gwen returned to headquarters as Rook settled Lucy and her accomplice into separate cells.
"Oh, dear! You're finally here!" Natalie's voice greeted her.
"Hi, Mom!" Gwen hugged her and kissed her cheek. "Are you well?"
"Oh, that's great! I made lunch, hope it's alright for you…"
"Oh, sure! Thank you so much!"
"You weren't here so I decided to cook. The kids already had lunch and they are playing on the computer, all the six. Your dad is with them." Natalie had made lasagna, one of her and Frank's specialties.
"Great! Thank you, mom! But why didn't you ask Ben to make lunch?"
"And does Ben know how to cook?"
"He knows…"
"Yeah? What does he do? Fried egg? Hahahahaha…"
"Ben cooks everything I can do, Mom. When I have things from the firm or NASA to resolve, he's the one who cooks."
"I don't know, he has no cook-like face... he looks like that kind of man who when he has to cook, he decides to order pizza."
Gwen had lunch with her mother and they were talking about Lucy's case.
"This Lucy is another rabble. I never took to her, no. I always thought she was false," Natalie said.
"Yeah… I didn't like her very much either."
"And that Kai… married that ignorant soccer player. A greeeeeat match," she said ironically. "I don't think it was for love, no. It was for the money, I'm sure."
"And now she wants to get a lover while she gets his money," joked Gwen. They both laughed. "By the way… where's Ben?"
"Last time I saw him, he was in the bedroom going to bed. It seems he won't get out of bed today. Jeez... what a shame! Where in the world a married man, father of six, get drunk like that? There are a lot of men like that among those classless people, but I didn't know Ben was going low so much. "
"Mom, we need to talk about this."
"But why 'we'?"
"Because you caused all this."
"Me? I didn't force him to drink anything."
"Mom, he acted wrong because he couldn't stand you talking about him anymore. It doesn't justify, but it's possible to understand."
"You can understand he's a drunk, that's it…"
"Mom, he's not a drunk, I'm not gonna marry Cooper, Ben is a great husband and a great father to our kids and I won't drop him for anyone else," Gwen spoke firmly as she carried her plate to the sink. "I love you, but you'll have to understand that this is the family I raised. And just as he respects you, I would like you to respect him too."
Rook tracked down Kai's address and sent some Plumbers to bring her to a base and do the interrogation. She and her husband lived in a luxury mansion within a private condominium in Europe. As the guard rang the bell, she saw that they were Plumbers through the peephole.
"Oh, Kai, we have problems!" shouted her husband. "It's the Federal Police, it can only be. They come here after me. Let's get out of here!" he ran, but fell to the ground and made another scene, screaming as if he had broken his leg, but somersaulting in the same way. Kai was already used to it.
The Plumbers listened from outside.
"Yeah… it's really Kai's house…"
"No, love. It's nothing like that…" she tried to explain, but he came to the door and opened it.
"Look here, I didn't evade any taxes. My transfer has been clean. My contract is ok. I don't owe anyone anything!" the player was about to close the door, but a Plumber held on.
"We didn't come after you. We came to talk to your wife. "
They looked at each other.
"What did you do, Kai? Ohhhh no, wait!" he turned to the Plumbers. "My wife didn't evade tax either. Our marriage was paid with my salary. There was no diversion of money. We have nothing to declare."
"Mrs. Green, we have a warrant to question you. We have to escort you to the local Plumber base."
"Oh, sure… okay…" Kai was a little nervous but signaled to her husband that she had no problem.
Although married, Kai didn't change her surname because her husband's surnames were quite common.
Ben was lying in bed trying to sleep. But his thoughts did not leave him alone. He remembered his conversation with Rook as he took him back home.
- FLASHBACK 1 -
"Louk Rook, u'r so sloooow... Letz acelerayt diz" Ben turned into XLR8 and took a quick step, falling to the ground right after and almost taking Rook with him.
"Get back to your normal form, Ben! Want to get hurt?"
Ben has returned to his human form, but that doesn't mean he gave Rook less trouble.
"Rook, Aunt Natalie wants Gwen left mee so she kan iztay with Cooper. That Cooper is a f(censored) cheepzkayte! Eemagine, he was our groomzman and gave uz two keechainz. One uglier dan anoder. Oh, go be a cheepzkayte like dat on de f(censored) hell. I allmozt iztuck de keechainz in his a(censored), like dat louk..." Ben turned into Four Arms and lifted Rook with one arm.
"BEEEEEN!" the friend was terrified. "Put me on the floor. I know how you were going to do it!" Four Arms put him back and returned to his human form.
"And Aunt Natalie uantz Gwen to get a rich man. Who said Cooper iz rich? He iz a billionaire but he didn't eeven give uz ONE fridge! He gave uz two f(censored) uglee keechainz. Oooohhhh, somday I will get him…. Emily was anoder who gave uz a bad gift... she gave uz two teetowelz. Gwen doesn't eeven uash dishes. De housekeeperz ar who uash. We juzt cook togeder. And Emily gave uz teetowelz. It louked like she uaz at de weding of de housekeeperz. I should hav left her on de tower. I didn't uant to invite her, but Gwen iz her friend and Gwen uanted her az bridemayd. So we invited. But louk…"- Ben put his finger in his mouth as if to ask Rook to keep a secret - "… dont tell her. If Gwen found out, she will kill meeee…". he started to laugh and Rook couldn't stand the shame.
- FLASHBACK 2 -
Gwen and Max finished bathing Ben but were having a hard time putting his pajamas on him and laying him on the bed.
"Gwen, I lov uuuuuuuuuu... I lov your daaaaaad... your mom I don't lov, but your broder tooooo... Your broder is cool! Diz one gave uz a nice gift. Who gave uz good giftz from the maidz were Becca, Allan, to Jimmy, both wivez and your broder. Incluzive…" - Ben looked at Rook and pointed his finger at him - "Rook iz mad to find a p(censored). Wi we don't joint your broder with Rook? Your broder doezn't like uomen anyway... "
Natalie almost attacked in a momentum her son-in-law in a fit of rage. It was a very sensitive subject for her (and she never admitted or faced reality). But Rook caught her and led her out of the room. Natalie was screaming a lot.
Frank arrived after a while, bringing his grandchildren. He found his wife, who was talking quietly with Rook.
"Has the situation improved yet?"
"No, Frank. Gwen and your father are there, trying to get Ben to sleep."
They heard a song from the bedroom, sung by a soft voice. The children bursted into laughs.
"I juzt uannaaa… show u how mutch I apreeshiate u… uanna show u how mutch I'm daddycated to u… wanna show u how mutch I will forever be tru..."*
"Holy Jesus!" Frank exclaimed. "Look at the lyrics... mercy !". He didn't like these popular songs. Gwen's father only listened to classical music.
(*Note: In the original version in Portuguese, Ben sang "Tô cum vontadi di ti inxê di beijuuuu... Beijá na boca máta u mêu desêjuuuu... Neim qui sêja só pur hôji eu quéru ti amáááá... Amanhã seii láááá...", a drunk version of the song "Amanhã Sei Lá", by Michel Teló. As Teló didn't translate this song to English as he did with "Ai Se Eu Te Pego", in the English version Ben sings a drunk version of "Dance for You", by Beyoncé)
In the bedroom, Ben was kneeling on the bed, hanging on his wife.
"Gwen, my lov... letz make anoder child..." he threw himself on her, leaving her beneath him.
"BEN! Let me go!" she turned him to the side and cast a spell on him. "SOMNUS!"
- END OF FLASHBACKS -
"From where you know Lucy Mann?"
"Me?" replied Kai. "Who knows her is my grandfather. Even Julie just came to talk to me about my grandfather. "
- FLASHBACK -
Julie used alien technology to open a portal to Kai's house. Since her husband was in training, Kevin's wife was able to talk to her in the bedroom.
"Hi, Kai!"
"Julie! Wow, what a scare!"
"I don't want trouble with you. I just want your help."
"What kind of help?"
"Well, your grandfather is a Plumber. And as you know, my husband is in jail…"
"Julie, I can't ask him to release Kevin…"
"I won't ask that! I wanted information about how the prison system works. But I can't transport myself to jail or talk to a Plumber because they would be suspicious of me. So, you're going to talk to your grandpa so he can let you visit Lucy in her last week in prison and get contact from some Limax or other non-Lenopan shifter."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because if not do ... I tell your husband that the child you are expecting is not his!"
"You're crazy! Do you think he'll believe it?"
"Of course he will! I'm a mom too! Your belly is for four months, and you both had a month without meeting because of his work four months ago. I know you'll tell him that it's for three months. But I can put this doubt in the press and it'll resonate with the tabloids to the point your own husband is suspicious and asks for a DNA test. Want to take a chance, Kai?"
"Okay, Julie. I'll do it. But don't tell him anything, please."
"Trust me, I won't tell if you do everything right. But if you tell anyone, even if it's to the Plumbers, I'll tell your little secret to everyone and your husband won't like it at all."
Julie returned to the portal and disappeared. Kai eventually obeyed.
- END OF FLASHBACK -
A long time passed and Kai told the Plumbers that he had set it up for a love intrigue. She said she never forgot Ben and was looking for a shapeshifter to get alien technology to take the form of Gwen. The Plumbers believed in this version and released Kai.
"Love..." - said Gwen, approaching her husband - "...is everything ok?"
"Still with a headache" replied Ben. "And I can't sleep, thinking about that scandal I made yesterday..."
"Oh, honey..." she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "We'll solve this. I wanted us three to talk about this story. "
"Oh no, Gwen. Your mother won't admit her mistake. She is against our marriage and always has been. She'll never leave me alone."
"I talked to her today and made it clear that I won't accept her any longer to imply that I should change husbands. But we need you guys to be face to face so there will not a 'he said, she said'. And, Ben… we have to sort this out soon, to investigate a case involving Lucy."
"What Lucy did this time?"
"She set up a typical ambush, but said it had something to do with Kai... a strange story... and we need you. But first, let's resolve this with my mother."
Gwen led her husband to the kitchen table, where Natalie was. Ben felt a little better, but his mother-in-law soon attacked.
"Look! Norm Peterson is back…*"
(*Note: In the original version in Portuguese, Natalie says "O Canabrava está de volta…" - translation: "Canabrava is back…" - referring to João Canabrava, a drunk character played by Brazilian comedian Tom Cavalcante)
"Mom, I brought Ben here for us to talk to" she motioned to her husband to sit down. He took a deep breath and began to speak.
"Aunt Natalie, I respect you very much-"
"I saw how much you respect me," she said ironically as she interrupted her son-in-law.
"Mom, please don't interrupt!" Gwen knew her mother had this terrible habit. "Go ahead, Ben."
"Aunt Natalie, you're the mother of my wife and grandmother of my children. I have always treated you both with great respect, both you and Uncle Frank. And I never, I repeat, NEVER objected to Gwen visiting her or you coming here, and I NEVER tried to get our children away from you. But I feel that this respect is not rewarded and it's being very exhausting."
She looked at him indifferently, despite her son-in-law's sincerity.
"It's not healthy for us that you treat me so badly," he continued. "I regret a lot of what I did. I shouldn't have drunk and I apologize for what I said, but what I said drunk was what I hold myself not to say sober. And I do that to not hurt neither you nor Gwen" he looked at his wife. "Gwen always treated my parents so well, I wanted to do the same to hers. But I'm sick of hearing so much insult…"
"Ben, I got it!" Natalie was trying to end the conversation. "I apologize if I hurt you, but I no longer want you insinuating anything about Ken, or calling me 'devil' or 'demon'. I don't know if there's one in your family, but in mine, there's not. "
Gwen was uncomfortable with her mother's behavior. She was definitely minimizing her mistake and maximizing Ben's.
"OK, mom! Is it decided then? You no longer treat Ben badly and he does no offense to you. Agreed?"
"Agreed," she answered, then got up and went to her room.
"Didn't I say, Gwen? Your mother never admits her mistakes, closes herself to the world, and casts her frustrations on me."
"Oh, Ben!" she hugged him. "You did your part and I admire that. This is a debt she will solve with God. For now, we have set the boundaries."
They held each other close and kissed for a long time.
Julie was in the Null Void visiting Kevin, who was in a booth, communicating by phone.
"So, is everything all right?" he asked.
"Absolutely, love! Soon, we'll be together!"
"I can't wait for this to happen!"
Kevin asked the guard to release him and he was allowed to hug Julie. He took his wife in his arms and kissed her.
"Soon I'll be free. And finally, Gwen will be mine," he thought as she hugged Julie.