"This is my father. Very strong military man," she pointed out, "My mother, stay at home wife, taking care of us kids."
Brei had broken out her photo album to share with the kids, since they so graciously asked. Now they were going to get her whole life story.
"My six older brothers. All sets of twins," she smiled proudly at the photo, "I was the only girl, so I didn't have as much time for dolls. Had to be tough first, fight one of my brothers and hogtied him. Then he would play in the kitchen with me."
She turned the page, "Oh! There we were, enjoying a festival! It seems like so long ago, yet just yesterday," she sighed contently.
Pav, who had been sat atop her lap, looked down at the album, "You had a very large family."
"Those are just my siblings. Wait until I get to my kids," she turned a page and leaned over to show Gwen, "That's me at my grammar school in Japan. I was a petite little thing like you. I used to love my little girl bob."
"How many places have you been?" Gwen listened, leaning against the woman's arm as she reminisced.
"Oh dear, I have to have traveled so much. Ama was from Beijing, where I was born and lived there for three years until we moved to Japan for a long time. Ten years. That's where I met my best friend Mei. After that we moved to Australia for a few years. Then to South Korea. That's where I met my husband."
The mention of her husband had her flipping through the book to show the kids. There were a lot of gasps.
It was a younger Ms Brei, with beads in her hair, wild makeup and strumming an electric guitar next to a long haired man with his arm in a sling.
"This is us playing together. He had hurt his arm so I played guitar that night for his band and he did the vocals. It was so much fun!"
"Show them your wedding pictures," Hobie encouraged.
She turned a few pages, "There we go. Ama did not approve. Papa either," she had a blissful blush over her face.
Her wedding gown was a black, backless pin up dress with high top sneakers. And her husband wore a black and white button up with suspenders and black pants.
"We were real rebels, not pretend ones," she took a little jab at Hobie, "Oh, here's my first son!"
She proceeded to show them pictures of her children and grandchildren. Her other travels with her husband and kids.
"My son won the science fair so we took him to a card dueling tournament. He almost won that, but got second. Here's my daughters at the car rebuild they own together. And my youngest son and his papa, building a robot together. We raised our little nerds well!"
"You skipped my favorite picture," punk leaned over, turning to a photo of the family at the beach, "Do you see the killer tats?! And how cool her husband is!"
"Ah yes," she laughed, "I was pregnant with my youngest here. Akami and Mizu were twins."
"Those are cool! How did they age?"
Gwen elbowed Miles, his last comment had slipped out. Though he hadn't meant to sound rude.
"I mean…"
Brei stood, handing Pav off to Hobie. Slipping her cardigan off, her tank top displaying most of them.
"You eat plenty of peaches and it keeps your skin smooth!" She pointed out each tat, explaining what it was, why she got them. Where and when.
"You have to be the coolest old lady I've ever met," Gwen sighed.
"I can be a model, so you can try to outdo me!" She smiled, hearing a ding, "Ah, my scones are ready," she scurried away to the kitchen.
X
"That was so much food," Gwen held her tummy, feeling nauseous, "This must be how Jess felt. My stomach."
"I loved the spicy pasta she made," Pavitr rubbed his stomach with pride, "She's actually really strong." He was amused at how she man-handled him.
"It was cool finally getting to see Hobie's place," Miles rubbed his stomach, ready to let the itis take effect, "I'll catch you guys later. I'm heading home."
"Same," Gwen waved to the group, "See you guys later."
X
Hobie smiled as the woman pat his diaper, "Isn't it cool? Jess got them for me."
"Who is this Jess?"
"She's like Spider-mom. She pretty much takes care of everybody."
"Well, they are cool. Now you look more like what I've always seen you as," she smiled, crossing her arms, "And you know what this means?"
The rocker shrugged at that question, "What?"
She clapped her hands together excitedly. Running away to a closet she returned moments later with a large trunk.
"Need some help?" He didn't wait for an answer as he picked it up.
"Set it on the rug," she pointed. Once it was down she threw the top off, revealing some cute outfits she had made, "It's been so long since I had a baby or grandbaby, I really missed it."
Hobie stared, "Why are these my size?"
"Whenever you returned I wanted to have a gift for you," she yanked his shirt off, "You're barely here, so it's not like it's more or less work added to me. We'll, maybe a little more."
She got him dressed in homemade night romper, "Not bad at all. Considering I had to guess, since someone likes their pants tight enough to see the veins in his legs."
The teen blushed, fussing with the buttons, "Are you someone else who figured it out before me?"
"No, I just planned to make you wear it anyway," Brei rubbed her chin proudly, tugging at the pantleg.
Hobie ended up smiling at the brownie pattern on the fabric.