Chapter 10: M'ma

Fenton cracked his neck. Okay, next time I'm not going to try and push myself that hard. Drake was right, I need to pace myself. He paused a small smile pulling at the corner of his beak, well, at least the 'personal care' he offered back at his place made me feel a bit better… He slipped his key into the door and slowly pushed it open. No lights on, M'ma must be asleep already. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief. While his mother did know that he was dating Drake she'd recently become more inquisitive about the man. Fenton had explained the basics, but he'd tried to keep the two apart. It wasn't like he didn't want her to meet him, just that given her prying-especially into anyone her son was involved with…M'ma already knows about me, I don't need her making herself a bigger target by knowing about Drake and DW.

Fenton crept across the living room and was almost in his bedroom when the kitchen light flipped on.

Mierda.

"Hola, M'ma. Just getting back from the gym with Drake. I'm beat so I'm going to go to bed." He gestured to his door and started slowly edging toward it.

She crossed her arms and cleared her throat. Fenton cringed internally.

Oh no, that's her 'we need to talk' cough. "Si, M'ma?"

"Pollito, when am I going to meet this man?"

"M'ma, I told you, Drake's busy, plus with Gos he doesn't have a ton of spare time to just come and meet you…" He tried to hide the panic in his voice, "You'll meet him. I promise, eventually…"

She raised an eyebrow. "Fenton, you have been dating him for how long now? Six months?"

"Um, actually seven." He replied, rubbing his arm.

"Even more so then, I need to meet him."

"Fine, I'll invite him for dinner." Fenton conceded, knowing full well that if he argued any further she'd somehow orchestrate it-And no one wants that.

"And tell him to bring his daughter, I'd like to get a chance to meet her too."

"Si, M'ma. I'll talk to him about it tomorrow."

***DT***

"…which is why she wants to meet you and Gos. She's expecting you two Saturday evening at 5:00 at our house." Fenton concluded, sighing as he finished relaying his mother's message. He and Drake were out getting coffee at Café Cafe.

Drake could tell something was off, "So, I take it you don't want me to meet her?"

Fenton's eyes widened, realizing his annoyance had come through. "No, it's not that." He waved his hands. "You're awesome, it's just, look, my M'ma, she's very good at finding out information. I'm just worried with the whole DW thing she might somehow guess it. Last thing we need is someone else knowing both our identities, it's a risk. Especially given how recently both our rogues galleries realized they could start using actual weapons."

Drake nodded, "Okay, I'll play it close to the vest." He took a sip of his drink, "Anything else I need to know for Saturday?"

"Don't eat lunch. She's making Pescado, Gambas y Camarones, Ropa Vieja and enough rice to make it burst out your ears." Fenton paused, "Also, wear something kinda nice, but not too nice. Like, maybe that polo shirt I got you for Christmas."

Drake rolled his eyes, "You just like me in blue."

Fenton blushed slightly, "So? You look good in it. Also, if you mention a quincinera for Gos it'll basically make you family, M'ma loves planning them. So if it starts to get rough you could bring up that I had talked about one with her and it should smooth things over a bit."

"Alright, will do." Drake nodded, trying to remember everything.

"Good. Now let's please talk about something else, I don't want to think any more about it…"

***DT***

Gos flattened her skirt as they walked up the path to the stucco cape-cod. It occurred to her that they'd never visited Fenton's house before, even though he'd been at theirs plenty. Probably because he still lives with his mom. Not that it's embarrassing or anything, but he doesn't really have his own space. She turned to Drake, "You ready for this, dad?"

He looked down, the neatly ironed azure polo almost hiding the sweat that had started to collect on the drive over. "Ready as I can be. Remember, we're normal. Best first impressions, okay?"

She nodded. He rung the bell. It was exactly 5:00. Fenton's always on the dot, I guess I should return the favor? A moment later Fenton opened the door.

"Drake! Gos!" He kissed Drake and gave Gos a quick hug. "Come in, dinner should be ready in a few minutes. Here, sit down, M'ma should be down in a sec." He led them into the dining room. Drake glanced around a moment as he sat down. It was a pretty ordinary looking dining room, not that he'd expected anything too extravagant or odd, given Fenton's tendency toward modesty. His mind wandered as he looked at the beige walls and a handful of framed pictures on the wall. One looked like Fenton, only much younger. He was a cute kid. Not as cute as me, mind you, but still the same adorable little dork. In the kitchen he heard a timer go off and suddenly a woman appeared carrying a large tray toward the table.

"Woah! Do you need help with that?" Drake asked, pushing back his chair to stand and help.

"No, sit, sit." She replied, placing the tray down. Before Drake could say anything else she disappeared into the kitchen again.

"M'ma is very serious about her hospitality." Fenton whispered to Drake and Gos. "Just go with it, I've tried to help but she always refuses."

She returned a second time with more bowls of food, then content with herself bringing in all the food, she started arranging it on the table. After a minute of bowls and plates being spread out she sat down opposite Drake at the far end of the table. "Before we begin, grace." She motioned, raising her hands out. Fenton grabbed her left hand with his right and motioned for Gos to do the same. She did, used to the idea-every time I visit Honker we have to pray before we eat-and Drake reluctantly followed suit, holding hands with Gos and Fenton but clamping his beak tightly shut.

"Dios es grande. Dios es bueno." Fenton and his mother started praying in unison. Gos and Drake exchanged a brief look before Gos decided to just say "Amen" at the end. Drake remained silent. "Y por eso todos los días le agradecemos por nuestra comida. Su Mano nos alienta todos los días. Señor, danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día. Amén."

M'ma looked up and glanced at Drake. "So, you're Drake Mallard… Fenton has told me quite a bit about you."

Drake glanced at Fenton, who shot him a small sheepish grin in apology. "All good I hope, he's also told me a bit about you as well Sra. Cabrera."

"Indeed." She replied. "Before we begin Drake, I'd like to ask what your intentions are with my son."

Fenton nearly choked on the water he'd been sipping. "M'ma! I am a grown man, you don't need to-"

She silenced him with a look.

Drake glanced at the others at the table. Fenton was steadily turning more and more pink, petrified in embarrassment, Gos was desperately trying to avoid eye contact with everyone, and M'ma, well… it was no wonder that Fenton said she was a police captain, her look made him feel like he was on the verge of wetting himself. He cleared his throat, "Um, I suppose to date him? We've been together for a little while now and I'd like to continue doing that."

She made a small noise before a look that Drake had no idea the meaning of crossed her face. "And that is all?"

Drake looked around at the others, unsure of how to respond. Fenton was still a statue and Gos was trying to focus hard enough on her fork to stop the second-hand cringe she felt at the situation unfolding in front of her. I've had to deal with plenty of super villains, but this woman is by far the scariest duck I've ever met."At the moment, yes?" He answered unsurely.

"And what about the future?"

"The future?"

"Si, the future. What about then?"

Drake paused, "I guess if things go well maybe more than that, but I mean…"

"Such as?"

"I don't know, maybe getting engaged." Drake admitted. Fenton let out a small squeal at the remark and Drake immediately snapped his beak shut, blushing so intensely he almost turned purple.

M'ma smiled. "Very good. Let's continue, tell me about your work…"

***DT***

After another 37 minutes of questions M'ma had decided.

"Fenton, I approve of your boyfriend." She turned to Drake, "From what you've said I can tell you are an intelligent, kind, thoughtful-if somewhat brash, and overall good man." She paused, a dark flicker crossing her face. "That being said, if you do anything to hurt my pollito I will make you regret it." Drake felt a chill run down his spine.

She then turned to Gosalyn, "Sorry about this all being a bit intense, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay with your dad and my son. Next time it can be just us girls. Would you like to do something together next weekend?"

Gos shrugged, "Sure, I don't have any games right now so I'm free. Also, I get it, I wasn't sure about Fenton at first, but dad goes absolutely gaga over him so I said its fine with me." She covered her mouth and whispered, "He thinks he's totally cute!"

M'ma chuckled.

After that the conversation got considerably lighter and the rest of the evening passed relatively pleasantly. By the time it was 8:00 Drake and Gos were getting ready to leave. He'd already taken the three bags of Tupperware M'ma had insisted he take with him and was getting ready to head out the door when she stopped him. "And one last thing, Darkwing, please look after yourself, I don't need any more injured superheroes to worry about."

"Wait, what… No, I'm not…" Drake spluttered. He angrily turned to Fenton who raised his hands in defense.

"He didn't tell me." She said, tempering Drake's anger. "Don't you remember when we fought the moon? I was in the same room as you; it's not hard to tell your voice apart from other people."

Drake exhaled. "I suppose not."

She looked at Fenton, busy tidying up a board game from earlier. "And also, if you decide you two want to move in together I wouldn't disapprove. Fenton could use someone else looking after his crazy experiments for once. I think you might be able to handle it." Fenton wasn't sure what to say, he and Drake briefly glanced at each other before his mother intervened. "Well, it was nice to meet you both. Hasta luego, Drake and Gosalyn. Until next time."

Move in together? Should we? I mean, it's a big step…"Um, yeah, good to meet you." Drake replied, preoccupied by his thoughts.

"Nice to meet you too, Sra. Cabrera." Gos replied, hugging her goodbye.

Drake and Fenton shared a quick peck and said goodbye. The door closed softly behind them as Drake stared into the street.

Gos looked up at Drake, "So, when's Fenton moving in?"

He looked down, a small frown crossing his face, "Mind your own business young lady." He handed her a bag. "Here, carry some of the left-overs."

She rolled her eyes. "When he moves in he doesn't get my room for his lab. He has to use your study."