October 21, 2008 - New York - Dardenne High School

Ms. Dreiberg looked at her mother with a careful expression. She was sitting on her desk, her hands out behind her, her head tilted. She was dressed with a fluffed white blouse tucked into a profressional black skirt. She had brilliant organge hair that was pulled back into a pony tail and her lips were stained a light red. Her blue eyes were crinkled, along with her brow.

The room was silent and stoney. No one dared to talk. How do you react to hearing such a story? Irene, the speaker and Ms. Dreiberg's mother, even was looking at the book as she couldn't believe that she had just read.

She's never known her mother had gone through that. Ms. Dreiberg looked at the book in her mother's hands. She'd never known what kind of things her mother had gone through with her earlier years. Her mother had never brought that topic up, but had always gone out of her way to avoid certain parts of New York, and keep away danger as best as she could. Briefly she wondered what other secrets that book told. What other things that book documented from her past. To think if Ms. Dreiberg hadn't been left at that farm all of those years ago, she might not be the kind person she was today... It made Ms. Dreiberg love her mother even more. And to see her mother with that look on her face as she reread the passage made Ms. Dreiberg's heart squeeze.

Irene sat silently on the stool. The memories of those events were scarring. She couldn't remember much of the past due to her terrible memory, but rereading the words she had written all of those years ago frightened her. She really had almost gone through one of world's worst horrors. Slowly it dawned on her that Rorschach really had saved her more times than she could remember. He had always been there when she needed him to be, even if he wasn't always there when she wanted him to be. A small smile stretched to her old lips and slowly her hand moved up to trace the scar on her neck. She missed him so much. Had he not died all that time ago, maybe they'd be here today together. Maybe not as lovers, but as friends. Really good friends...

Ms. Dreiberg and Irene were snapped back to reality when some kids started to fidget in their seats. Oh right. She was in her classroom. Her mother was going over the Era of the Watchmen. Slowly present day reality settled over Ms. Dreiberg. She sighed, knowing she needed something to keep the energetic students busy. She mulled over the things that her kids had recently been going over as she moved from behind her desk to the front board. "Okay class, today you must write a summary of what Mrs. Irene has shared with you up until this point." She wrote down the requirements on the board as she said them. "It must contain at least half a page of writing. Has to have more than one sentence... Make sure to have no grammar errors, and it must contain have a topic and conclusion sentence." When she got done writing she turned and smiled at the class, even though it was forced. "You have ten minutes to complete this activity. Take this seriously because stuff like this will be on your test at the end of the quarter. Consider this practice."

Irene looked at her daughter as she stood there looking like the woman Irene had hoped she'd become. She was beautiful, and independent, and not to mention a good leader. Irene's heart warmed. Not only was she her own little woman, her daughter reminded Irene of Walter in subtle ways. Her fiery red hair, her blue eyes that held the presence of knowledge, and her present aura that said, "I'm here to help." Irene's heart clenched as she looked at her daughter, half from pride, half from pain.

It took a few minutes, but Irene snapped herself out of her own little trance and began to move around the room. She looked over people's papers, curious as to what they might say. Some of the papers were better than she would have imagined. She went to the back of the class first and stared at the paper that stated in messy, giant letters, "THIS WAS ABOUT A GIRL THAT ABOUT GOT RAPED AND IT WAS PREVENTED BY A CREEPER IN A MASK AND TRENCH COAT." She looked at the boy who wrote it, and was surprised to see him glaring down at his paper and glancing at the paper the boy in the next seat was writing. He hadn't even noticed Irene looking down on his paper. Curiously, Irene moved around the boy to also stare at the other boy's paper. He already had half a page written with scribbly cursive that took a moment for Irene to decipher, but once she did, she was shocked at how well the boy wrote. The boy finally noticed Irene and looked at Irene's awed face as she stared at the other boy's paper. His face crumpled. He wanted to be a better writer, but he couldn't figure out how to summarize the passage any other way. There was a girl, he thought, looking over his paper. She almost got raped...but it was prevented by a masked creeper in a trench coat. He looked over at his fellow classmates paper and his dismay grew as the boy kept on writing and writing. But there's no more to it. That's what it was about. How...how do you get more out of the story than that...?

Irene saw the boy's frustration and looked back at his as he glared at his classmates long essay-like paper. She didn't pity him. One sentence? she thought, looking up at the board. He at least has to have three-which isn't hard considering I gave him so much to summarize. Irene sighed, and walked on, looking at the other papers. Most people used regular lined paper and wrote bigger than normal to fill make sure they could cheat their way out of writing more than they had to. It almost disappointed Irene, but in a way, she had been expecting kids to slack off like this. They were kids, and if she had to do the same thing, she'd be slacking off too. But that one kid... Irene shook her head to try and clear her rude thoughts. She'd talk to her daughter about it later.

Just as the ten minutes faded to five, then to two Irene managed to migrate to Jenny's desk. Jenny had gotten done after the first five minutes and pulled out a book to read. Irene ignored Jenny's book and snatched the blackette's paper from her desk. She read over it, and smiled. Jenny's writing style, surprisingly, was very formal and mature. Irene looked back at Jenny, who like the boy, didn't notice she was there. "You wrote an excellent summery, Jenny," she said. "I couldn't have put it better myself." Jenny jumped, and slammed her book closed, looking at Irene with wide eyes.

"You read my work without my permission?" Jenny asked, ignoring Irene compliment. The blackette felt self conscious, considering that her writing had always seemed like a personal thing to her.

Irene shrugged. "Well you certainly didn't stop me, now did you?"

Jenny made to reply, but the bell rang, and kids jumped to their feet. Before they could go though, Ms. Dreiberg yelled, "Sit down! The bell doesn't dismiss you, I dismiss you. Sit! Sit! Sit!" Grumpily kids plopped down in their seats and looked at Ms. Dreiberg. "Now, kidos, pass your papers forward! You will receive a grade out of...oh five points. Don't take this grade lightly. I won't be giving you much class work," she warned.

When all of the papers were passed to her Ms. Dreiberg waited a moment, smiling at her kids and then she dismissed them, all smiles and giggles. When it was only Irene and Ms. Dreiberg in the room, Irene sat down in her chair and put her head in her hands. "Oh Lucy, I don't know what I'm going to do..."

Ms. Dreiberg wrapped her arms around her mother and whispered, "You're going to move past this. Remember what we agreed upon? You were going to help me with this whole Watchmen thing, and I was going to help you get over it. Mother, we can do this together."

Irene sniffed, her face still covered by her hands and she said, "I think the only thing that the only cure for what I'm feeling is..." Lucy leaned in to hear her mother's words, wanting to not miss a thing. "...is grandchildren."

Lucy pulled away from her mother with an insane eye roll. "Mother." Lucy paced around the room, irritated. "Here I thought you were going to be serious when saying you need help, and you try and change the topic. I can't believe you. You always do this. I try to focus on you, and you change the topic back to me. It's...it's...I can't even say what it is. I feel...feel...ready to..." Lucy clenched her fists and then sat down at her desk. With a frustrated sigh, she dropped her head onto the desk top.

Irene watched her silently, and after a moment, spoke. "I am serious. I haven't gotten anything out of you-"

"I'm not your only kid, mother. Why don't you ever visit Victoria and her children, hmm? I'm pretty sure they'd love to see you."

"Her kids only want money from me. That's all they care about. And I swear, it runs in the family." Irene's lips curled in disgust.

Lucy's eyes brightened with anger. "It's not her fault!" Lucy exploded, startling Irene. "You can't continue to blame her for things that were out of her control!"

Irene shot up, her mouth open and ready to fire off. Irene marched up to Lucy as she hissed, "Just because you're an adult, Lucy Alice Dreiberg, doesn't mean I'm not your mother. I brought you into this world, don't think I won't take you out." Irene sucked in an angry breath. "I do not blame Victoria for that. I blame her father, and her mother." Irene's face curled with disgust on the word mother. "Her mother was a nasty whore, and her father is no better."

"Just because she's not your flesh and blood doesn't make her not your own. Irene-"

"I'm your mother," Irene snapped, glaring at her daughter.

"Sorry, mother, it's a force of habit. But, I know dad. He may have made a few bad choices, but he loves you-only you."

"I know that."

"Victoria is a part of him and you need to at least try to get over yourself." Irene was about to snap at her daughter, but Lucy cut her off. "All I'm saying is to try. You owe her that much."

"I owe them nothing. I gave Victoria eighteen dedicated years of mother ship and that-that-that bitch shows up last minute and takes her away."

"I know what happened!" Lucy's hands waved around as she spoke. "I was there! Remember? It isn't all about you! This isn't all about you! This is about Victoria! Think of her, and her children. They want to see their grandma." Lucy paused. "Think of dad. How long has it been since you've been to see him?"

Irene snorted. "I went yesterday. He's doing fine."

Their voices were getting softer.

Lucy closed her eyes. "What did you say to him?"

Irene looked down and ran a hand through her gray hair. "I told him I loved him." She shook her head. "I told him I'd be there to the end." Irene's face hardened. "And unlike him, I keep my promises."

Lucy nodded. "He made one mistake." Irene's face hardened.

"It wasn't only once," Irene hissed, looking away, her face heavy with shame. "He did it more like several times over the years..."

Lucy shot up. "Recently? And you haven't told me this because? Does Victoria know?" Lucy pushed away from her desk and grabbed her mother's arm, suddenly calm. "Let's discuss this somewhere else. I don't feel comfortable bringing personal problems in my work place." Lucy's face darkened. "I also don't like discussing whores in a school. Makes me feel dirty."

Irene sighed, and pattered her daughter's hand, letting her drag her away. "I'm in the mood for smoothies, my treat."

"Mother-"

"My treat." Irene smiled, a small smile and pulled out a little plastic card from her pocket. "Or should I say your father's?"

Lucy shook her head, but couldn't help but smile. She sighed and said, "You're so..."

"Perfect?"

"Diabolical."

Irene looked almost hurt for a moment, but Lucy ignored it. The look faded away, and melted into a smile. Irene pinched Lucy's cheek. "Always so much like your father."

Lucy rolled her eyes.

Author's Note: I feel really bad that I haven't updated. I'm sorry. I really am. There is no excuse for it. So because of this, I shall reward you with a double update. Thank you for being patient. I hope you like it. I hope you have a wonderful day, too. I hope you like this story. If you don't, or if you have any concerns, or comments, whatever they be, share them down below or PM me. I don't bite. I like getting PMs. What do you think of Irene so far? What's your impression on the class?