-2-

Karen arrived precisely when she said she would, bringing some colorfully wrapped parcels along with her. Andy helped her carry them in as the two of them caught up on their recent events.

She sighed deeply when she entered the front door, looking about with a smile on her face. "Well," she breathed." I do believe this is cleaner than I thought it would be." She had a teasing smile on her lips. She sniffed the air curiously. "My, that does smell delicious," she commented, clasping her hands. She gave her son a proud look. "I'll say, you've certainly become a fine, young…"

"Housewife?"

Both mother and son turned to where Chucky stood, arms crossed and signature frown gracing his features.

Karen grinned and bent down to pat his head affectionately- despite his attempts to stop her. "Well, hello to you too, dear," she said.

Chucky ruffled his hair where her hand had been. "'lo," he nearly pouted. He made a stiff gesture towards the couch. "Do you wanna sit or something?"

"Yes, thank you," said she, giggling.

"Dinner should be ready really soon, Mom," Andy announced. "I'm just going to go ahead and set the table, okay?"

"Oh, I'll help, dear, wait for me," she called, leaving chucky to sit alone on the couch, twiddling his thumbs awkwardly. He looked after the door that swung back and forth, even as Karen had already entered the kitchen with her son. He could hear their laughter inside. His heart started to squeeze within itself, and he clutched his shirt, frown deepening.

Would it bother you if I said I think I love your son?

He was contented enough to sit there in his own silence until Andy poked his head out in search for him. "Hey," he called softly, aware of the sense that something was not quite all right. Chucky didn't notice him, and Andy came over to gently touch the doll's shoulder.

Chucky jumped. "What?" he snapped.

Andy did jump, but he covered it quickly. "Come on," he pressed, nudging the doll's shoulder. "Dinner's on the table- and Mom's telling me she wants to talk to you a lot."

Here Chucky smiled. "I'm damn sure she does," he replied, looking up at the soft grin on Andy's face. "Let's not make her wait then, what do you say?"

Dinner was surprisingly peaceful, though I'm not saying for a minute that chucky kept his brazen habits at bay. There were several outbursts which were quickly accompanied by Andy's mortified apologies to his mother, and dear Karen laughing at all of it. She enjoyed every moment, I believe, and kept each precious second very close to her heart.

The atmosphere had lost all of its tenseness but the time night had fallen over the house. Although the doll had not changed his behavior in the slightest, he seemed to have opened up much more, and Andy confirmed to his mother that this did, in fact, mean he'd gotten comfortable in her presence.

"I don't really know why he was so tense in the first place," said she.

After all, she thought she'd made it perfectly clear that she'd long accepted him as a part of the family. But Andy merely shook his head and sighed- all in good nature, of course. "He's a little shy about all that, though he won't admit it," he told her.

Karen hummed, but clearly she had other thoughts on her mind. Her intuition was gathering that something else was in the process of coming to light. You see, Karen was not a blind mother; she'd seen the shared looks and the playful behavior between the two, and she held a certain sort of suspicion in her mind. And she was quite intent on it becoming a reality for once and for all.

"He's rather shy about other things, wouldn't you say?" she suggested.

Andy gave her an inquisitive look. "What's that?" he asked, but she just laughed and shook her head. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's getting late," she said. "I should probably head home soon. Walk me out?" Here she held out her arm, and Andy took it, grinning.

"I'm taking Mom out to the car, Chucky," he called out to the doll, who was in the kitchen still.

He poked his head out. "Good-bye," said he, rather plainly, but our Karen was not about to have any of that, thank you very much. She held out her arms and gestured inwards for him to come near to her- which he did, making a right fuss about it too.

She knelt down to hug him warmly, and though he put on a fine show of appearing begrudging, anyone could tell he really didn't quite mind at all.

"Merry Christmas, dear," she said. Then she pulled him closer and whispered something that made him shy back from her almost feral-like and blush a dark shade of red. He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, okay- now get outta here before you're snowed in," he grumbled. "I don't need you here all night too."

Karen laughed and took Andy's arm again. "Now, get well, both of you," she reprimanded in mock sternness. "I don't need either of you deathly ill on Christmas day because one of you decided to do something particularly foolish."

Andy took her out, and then she was gone, driving towards home with Andy waving after her, and Chucky deep in thought.

Andy slid his hands in his pockets and breathed deeply. "Well," he started. "How about some hot chocolate?"

Chucky gave a non-committal grunt, which Andy took as a yes, and he chuckled softly and squeezed the doll's shoulder comfortingly. He turned to re-enter the house, the doll following silently behind.

"You know, your mother's not so bad," he commented later, as the two of them sat silently on the couch, blowing on the top of their mugs to cool the very hot beverage.

Andy hummed softly, taking a careful sip. "Well, I'm glad you think so," he replied. "She's going to be around for a while you know." He looked over to see the doll staring back at him.

Now let me just tell you, the moment then was perhaps about as awkward as any sort of awkward moment could become. It had practically become so silent you could've heard a pin drop, or in this case, two beating hearts that couldn't quite seem to grasp the concept of a steady rhythm. Andy felt that suddenly, the temperature had risen a bit drastically, and Chucky found himself unable to stop shaking. He gripped onto the cup tighter to hide any of it, as he thought all of this was rather silly of him.

"What did she say to you, anyways, before she left?" Andy asked, trying to shift the mood before it became stiffly uncomfortable.

"I'd say that's none of your fucking business," Chucky snapped, brooding into his mug.