The next day, Nicole was sitting on the kitchen table, while drinking a coffee and waiting patiently for her kids to return from school. It happened to be one of the few days, where she came home earlier than her children, which worked in her favor as she could think about how she would say what she wanted to say.
Eventually, she heard laughter and talking as her children came through the door, back from their school day and they greeted each other.
Richard would be on the couch for his afternoon nap at this time, but Nicole wanted to have no interruptions for her one-on-one moment with her daughter, so she gave him some money and allowed him to get himself a meal at Joyful Burger before they arrived.
That was more than enough to convince her husband to postpone his nap, as he was outside the door faster than she ever saw him run before. Now she just needed her sons to give them some space, before she could initiate the conversation.
Fortunately, Gumball was in on her plans and knowing that Anais had something she wanted to show their mom anyway, he blinked at her from the distance, before turning to his brother.
"Hey, Darwin. Have you already seen Carrie's new pictures of herself on her Elmore Plus profile?"
"CARRIE'S NEW PICTURES!?", he exclaimed, before running upstairs to start the computer.
"I'll be upstairs too if you need me.", Gumball informed, before following his brother in their room, while chuckling.
With her sons having left them, Nicole turned to Anais and decided to start simple.
"Hey, Anais. Did you have a nice day at school?"
"Sure did. I got an A on my science report from last week!", Anais answered with pride, while handing her mother the paper with her grade on it.
"That's great, sweetie. I am very proud of you.", she said, while patting her daughter's head.
"Ah, it's nothing. That report was child's play. It's not like I don't get grades like that all the time anyway.", Anais answered with a shrug.
"I know, sweetie. But… you do know that you don't have to be a genius all the time for me to be proud of you, right?", Nicole said, while bending down to her level.
"What do you mean?", Anais wondered.
"I'm just saying. You don't have to always act super smart and mature for me all the time. It's okay for you to be a child sometimes, you know what I mean?", Nicole continued.
Anais stopped for a second to gather her thoughts, before speaking her next question.
"Gumball told you that I told him that I don't like people always expecting me to be mature and responsible all the time, right?", she asked in a way that sounded less like a question and more like a fact.
"What!? How did you…", Nicole began, before getting interrupted.
"He has been urging me to tell you for ages now and I could tell he really wanted to do it himself if I didn't, but just barely held himself back for my sake.", Anais explained.
Nicole sighed, before smiling defeated. "Nothing gets past you, doesn't it? Great, and I promised him to bring up the topic without you finding out that he told me."
"It's alright. I'm not mad at him. He just wanted to help. I guess you had to find out sooner or later.", Anais replied, her ears falling a bit.
"But… Anais, you could have told me! I wouldn't have minded. I want you to be happy. And if you're not with all this pressure on you, then you don't have to prove anything to me.", Nicole reassured her.
Anais looked up at her a bit more. "But last time I was acting dumb alongside Gumball, Darwin and Dad for a day, you said that you expected more from me."
"But only because you guys ended up in the hospital back then! I don't mind you doing silly things with your brothers or your father if that's what you want as long as you're safe and not causing trouble!", Nicole admitted.
"Really? Thanks, Mom. You don't know how much that means to me. I'm sorry I didn't tell you myself earlier. I guess I wasn't sure how you would react and was scared you wouldn't be okay with it, when I should know that you always have my back.", Anais apologized, while rubbing her head.
"Oh, sweetheart. You have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was the one who put all this pressure on you and these high expectations, when you weren't comfortable with it. You had good reason to think you couldn't trust me with it. I did the same thing to you that my parents did to me when I was a child, which made me despise them. I guess as much as I try, I'm not any better than them after all.", Nicole concluded sadly, with her head hanging down.
"What!? That's not true. You're great mother! You're nothing like your parents! The fact that you are willing to apologize for this and reassure me that you don't care if I'm perfect or not shows that. Your parents never would've done that. You just didn't know that I was so uncomfortable with it.", Anais answered.
"Yeah… I guess, you're right. But nevertheless, I know I'm not a perfect mother either and still took over a lot of my parent's flaws. I can be pretty harsh on you guys sometimes, scare you or just be too obsessed with winning and being successful that I forget to see what's really important sometimes.", Nicole argued, still not too convinced of herself.
"Mom, nobody is perfect. Especially not in this family. Look at Dad, for example. A lot of his flaws come from the terrible way Granny Jojo raised him as well. That's why he can't get a job or help out with most things. But he still loves and is always there for us when we need him. That's what counts. Just like you are. You're pushing yourself through that awful job at the Rainbow Factory just to provide us all with a healthy life and I can't thank you enough for that.
And then there's Gumball. He's causing trouble wherever he goes and can be annoying sometimes, but he's also really fun to hang out with and always protects and comforts me when I need him and I'm very thankful for that. I'm not a saint, either. I sometimes use my intelligence to manipulate you guys into situations in which you're fighting over something, while I take the benefit.
Even Darwin has his quirks. Remember that time, he became obsessed with keeping us safe and basically became a dictator over the town? We're all flawed in our own way, but we're flawed together. And that's what makes us a family."
After Anais long monologue, Nicole took a second to respond after wiping a tear from her eye.
"Aww, you said that very well. Thanks for not holding it against me, Anais. I love you!", she said, while reaching out to hug her daughter.
"I love you too, Mom!", Anais answered, while reciprocating the hug.
They were silent for a moment, just embracing each other, before Nicole pulled back with a smile.
"Better don't let Jojo hear you criticizing her parenting skills like that, or else you won't be her favorite grandkid anymore.", Nicole teased her daughter.
Anais's eyes widened. "I'm Granny Jojo's favorite?", she wondered.
"Well, you were the only one whose name she remembered when she came to visit that one time. Remember?", Nicole reminded her.
"Oh yeah. Well, can't say the feeling is mutual. Don't tell her, but I was never a big fan of hers.", Anais revealed.
"What? But, she's your grandmother. Why don't you like her?", Nicole asked.
"Well, that one time she came to visit, she forced me to carry her luggage up the stairs by myself without help and it took me THE WHOLE WEEKEND! And after I was finally done, she barely thanked me before telling me to get it down again, as her Bus was coming.", Anais explained.
Nicole gave her a look that was a mix of worry and amusement. "What, really? Why did you struggle so much with it? Normally you are strong enough that this shouldn't be a problem for you.", she asked with a laugh.
"This may sound weird, but for some reason how much strength I have seems to vary a lot, depending on the situation. And in the ones I need it the most, I usually don't have it. Sometimes I feel like I live in some sitcom, where everything that can go wrong inevitably does.", Anais answered.
"Oh no, I get you. I get that feeling too from time to time. I suppose that's just how life works.", Nicole responded with a shrug.
"Besides that, I don't like how Granny Jojo constantly antagonizes and insults you, even though you are a much better mother than she could ever hope to be.", Anais finished her original point.
This comment touched Nicole and she had to hold back tears. "You really think so? Aww, thank you so much, Anais. That means a lot to me, coming from you."
"Anytime, Mom.", Anais responded with a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go upstairs and participate in whatever stupid thing Gumball and Darwin have planned to do for the rest of the day and I'm gonna enjoy it!", she announced proudly, while standing up.
"And I wouldn't have it any other way.", Nicole responded, while watching her daughter walk upstairs, glad that she was able to convince Anais, that she didn't have to hide who she wanted to be from her.
The End