Well my dear readers, I know I previously said that this was going to be the final chapter but honestly it evolved into something I didn't originally had in mind so I decided to cut it in half, that being said prepare for some more West family drama.
Tony was in such a good mood after his little victory that he began humming something he considered appropriate for the evening to come which slowly turned into somewhat decent singing.
"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh."
"Anthony, what's with your choice in music?" Holly asked confusing, staring at her grandson oddly. "I mean its Thanksgiving, not Christmas."
"Ah, that's because believe it or not, Jingle Bells was originally meant to be a Thanksgiving carol, grandma." He explained. "See the song was originally named 'The One Horse Open Sleigh' and some guy named James Lord Pierpont composed it way back in 1850 for his Thanksgiving Sunday school class, if you noticed the word Christmas is never mentioned in the lyrics and decades later it was simply adapted for the holiday season."
"I didn't know that." Holly blinked in surprised at her grandson's knowledge. "Where did you learn this curious piece of history?"
"From my Mom." Tony replied. "If there's any historical fact on music, she knows it, she's like a walking Wikipedia when it comes to that sort of stuff, I sometimes joke with her that she could become a teacher at that Juilliard School if she really wanted to but says she doesn't have the patience to babysit a bunch of 'overgrown toddlers' in her words."
"I… See." Holly said slowly, not sure how to respond, it was evident that there was a family dynamic that Jade and Tori have with their kids that she doesn't quite understand, and if Anthony was anything to go by, all her grandchildren are so used to it, that they don't find their parents behavior out of the ordinary but it was also evident that they have a warm, loving relationship with them.
"Something I missed out on with my own daughters."
"Brains, brains, I won't lie, I'll eat their brains 'til they're zombified!" Emily was singing as she walked down the stairs. "Sure they might think it's deranged but they won't give it a thought after I've eaten they're brain."
Holly raised an eyebrow while Tony chucked.
"Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally woke up."
"I take offense to that." Emily said as she entered the kitchen. "Aurora is such a terribly written character."
"You know what I mean Em." Tony said. "And I take offense to that, I happen to like Sleeping Beauty!"
"Of course you would, you always been a princess, West." She replied "And you can trust me when I tell you that I would still be in dream land had your Mama, not gone into your room."
"Oh boy… What did she do?"
"Short version?" Emily asked. "Gave me a fright and pretty much warned me to not be fooling around with her 'baby boy.'
Hearing this, Tony covered his face with his hands in sheer embarrassment. "Oh my God!"
"Red suits you, princess." She teased as she watched her boyfriend blushing. "Don't worry though; she said nothing about us kissing."
"Or maybe she did." He groaned. "You know how overprotective she can be, you seen it, you gone through it, what's not to say that "fooling around" is also implied not making out under her roof."
"Well we can claim ignorance of that implication." Emily suggested. "Or kiss outside in the backyard, then we wouldn't be under her roof now would be?"
"Oh, nice loophole." Tony grinned. "I can't say I'm surprised you exploit it."
"If you were then you clearly haven't been paying attention to my mischievous mind." She said while putting her arms around his waist. "So, Princess? Are you ready to start cooking?"
"We could." He said as he puts his arms across her neck. "Or we can take a five minutes break in the backyard."
"I like the way you think."
Both teens were ready to start their make out session only for them to be swung back into reality by someone clearing her throat.
"AH HEM!"
Much to his mortification, Tony remembered that they weren't the only people in the kitchen; he slowly turned his head to see his grandma staring back at both teenagers with curious interest.
Emily said nothing as she stared back at the elderly woman. "So this is Tony's grandma? Doesn't seem like someone to look out for… So either Miss Tori is very paranoid or she knows something I don't." She gazed at her boyfriend. "Um… Tony? How about an introduction?"
"Oh… Uh… Right." He said while taking a step back. "Emily this is my grandma… Grandma, this is Emily, my girlfriend."
"Hello Miss… I want to say Vega?"
"Charmed, I'm sure." Holly said as she looked at the blonde girl, up and down almost as if she was inspecting her under a microscope. "So, are you an aspiring Chef like my grandson?"
"Pretty much." Emily said. "The big difference is that I cook because I love food while Tony does it for the fun of it, he likes experimenting with flavors and let me tell you, there have been some disasters while attempting to make the 'perfect dish', so there's never a dull moment with him in the kitchen."
"I don't know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult." Tony said. "Can we please just continue with the meals? We still have a lot to do before everyone start to arrive."
"Whatever you say, West." The blonde snickered. "Your kitchen, your rules."
"Actually my parents' kitchen, my rules." Tony snickered. "A technicality, I know but still…"
"You're such a dork, princess."
"Why do you keep calling my grandson a princess?" Holly asked a hint of curiosity in her tone. "I'm not sure he likes that."
"It's my term of endearment for him, Miss Vega." Emily explained. "It holds a… unique meaning between us."
"Do you even like it Tony?"
"Only when she uses it." He said. "Anyone else calls me that and Emily will kick some ass!"
"I… See." Holly said slowly, unsure of what to make of this, she didn't get the chance to say anything as for her daughter and daughter-in-law entered the kitchen.
"The turkeys smell good." Jade said with a smile. "Can't wait to taste them later tonight, son."
"Thanks mom." He replied, "But they're still far from being ready and I still got to do the cranberry jam and I'm also itching to try my hands on the Vega Pot Pie."
"I have the recipe right here." Holly said getting a piece of paper out of her purse, giving it to Tony who was trying to hold in his squealing of excitement.
"You kept that?" Tori asked with narrowed eyes, she was about to lash out only to stop in her tracks when she received a "please, don't" look from her son, the Latina gave her mother a glare before making her way out of the kitchen without another word, before leaving she met Emily's eyes, mouthing silently.
"Do your part."
"Oh boy…" The blonde took a deep breath. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Mom?" Tony asked. "Care to explain what that was about?"
"Why don't you ask her?" Jade said as she pointed angrily at her mother-in-law. ""I'm sure she would love to explain why she has ownership of something that she has no right of having the moment she left the Vega family."
"Oh, I had the recipe memorized years ago." Holly explained awkwardly. "I only wrote it down recently as a gift to my grandson, just thought the next generation should have it, I remember when David's mother taught me how to make it when she welcomed me into her home and I always thought I would get to share that type of bonding with either Trina or Tori but neither of them were the best when it came to cooking."
"Not to mention that flew out the window the moment you threw my wife out of the house." Jade sneered. "Didn't it?"
"Yeah… That too." Holly said sadly. "Jade… I…"
"Save it!" The Thespian said. "I don't want to hear it; its not me you should apologize to anyway and you're only allowed to stay because my son has the belief that you really have chance, honestly? I don't buy it and you know I have no reason to trust your word so don't even try to change my mind, I'll believe it when I see it, after all actions speak louder than words and from what I'm seeing so far? I think you're trying to buy my son's love by exploiting his love for cooking."
Holly said nothing to that.
"Mom, don't you think you're being a little unfair?" Tony asked. "One recipe hardly means she has an ulterior motive… For all you know she really does want a bonding time with me."
"Tony… Emily, can you give us a moment alone?"
Both teenagers were reluctant to leave the kitchen but a silent nod from Holly was all the encouragement they needed to make their way to the backyard.
"There is something I wanted to tell you for years." Jade said, giving her mother in law the evil eye. "I hate you… I fucking hate you and the only reason as to why I didn't stab you all those years ago was because Tori still loved you, despite all the crap you given her, she still hoped you would come to your senses one day and would give her the love and understanding she craved when she was at her lowest!"
Holly was about to say something only to be quieted by Jade's intense glare.
"Don't you dare open your damn mouth!" She hissed angrily. "You're going to sit there and listen, just so you know how much you don't deserve to be here! Do you even know how long it took Tori to accept that she didn't need your toxic presence in her life? YEARS! She nearly self-destructed by drinking just to try to numb the void she tried to fill! Oh and let's not forget all the therapy she needed as a result of your actions! I fucking hate you for that! I had never seen in her in so much despair and I hope never to see that ever again! You were her mother Goddamn it! The person who was meant to protect and love her no matter what! And what did you do?! You put a figurative knife in her back and twisted it till you made sure all hope of survival was gone!"
Holly still kept quiet but silent tears ran down her cheeks, a clear evidence of her guilt and regret, not that Jade noticed and if she did noticed she chose to ignore it as she kept going with her tirade.
"I wanted you out of our lives but you won't even give us that!" The Thespian continued her tirade. "You somehow wormed yourself into my son's life, he's too willing to give others second chances, a trait he gained from Tori and it's because of that that my wife is giving you another chance therefore I'm reluctantly giving you one too, so don't mess it up because if you do, that's it, you are out for good and you can forget about any attempt at reconnecting because I'll do everything in my power to make sure you don't ever go within ten feet of my family."
"Can I just say something?"
"What?!"
"Jade, I know you don't like me and you're right, you have no reason to trust me, after all, I wasn't exactly supportive of your relationship." Holly said regrettably. "Honestly, if I could take it back, I would."
"Well you can't!" The Thespian said icily. "The damage has been done! You hurt Tori in a way that changed her and nearly destroyed her! Do you realize just how much she needed you when she first came out?! She didn't expect you to understand, and she sure as hell didn't expect you to be a bitch about it but what she hoped for was your unconditional love! You have no idea how much a single hug and an 'I love you' from you would have meant to her when she was fucking scared… She just wanted her mom!"
"Well, I'm here now." Holly whispered desperately. "I want to make up for what I did… I want to up for lost time."
"So I heard." Jade said darkly, crossing her arms. "And like I said, I don't believe you… But… Tony's right about something, if you are telling the truth then you and Tori owe it to yourselves to patch things up."
Holly looked up hopefully at the pale woman.
"I'm only letting you stay out of love for my wife and children." Jade said evenly. "I may not like you but whether Tori realizes this or not, she does deserve a mom while there's still time and my kids have the right to know their grandma before you kick the bucket, so… I'm willing to make a truce for the rest of the day, no hate, no talk of resentment and just a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends."
"Thank you Jade." Holly said sincerely. "I may have misjudged you."
"Everyone does." She shrugged. "I don't necessarily make the best first impression but let it be known that I'm not a complete monster… Unlike you."
"I guess I deserved that."
"Oh trust me." Jade snarled. "I could sit here and say a lot worse, I'm holding back and it's not easy… I love Tori and that's why I'm not going to obliterate you verbally for that very reason, let that sink in, I love your daughter but that didn't matter to you did it? All that mattered to you was that Tori was straight, not how she felt and certainly not that she was happy… So I guess I should thank you Holly, you taught me what a bad mother is like, you want your daughters to love you again then you better fucking earn it! GOT IT!"
"I understand."
"I hope you do." Jade said evenly. "This is your last chance, don't screw it up."
And with that, the Thespian walked away, leaving behind a very distraught Holly Vega.
"I'm sorry." She said to an empty room. "Tori… I'm so sorry."
Originally I didn't planned for Jade to have a less than friendly conversation with Holly but as I kept writing, it sort of evolved into what you all just read, I think she have had this resentment and anger towards her Mother in law for quite some time and now that she finally "talked" to her, she made it very clear where they stand and truth be told after the rebuke was written, I didn't think the rest of the chapter would flow with the arc of redemption I'm trying to build, which is why I cut the story to this point.
Fun fact: Tony's tale of the song is a true story and what Emily was singing was "Brains" by Voltaire.
So… What are your thoughts on this? The next chapter will be finale of the story, I promise.. For real this time.
Invader Johnny Signing Off.
