"Thank you for the breakfast, Aunt Annette," Wednesday said after she finished. Though she did sound grateful, it was subtle. Her voice remained level with only the slightest lilt. "Taylor, I hope we have the chance to talk more later."
I nodded. She was planning something, which meant I needed to be planning something. "It was good eating breakfast with you."
I kept an eye on my cousins and planted a fly on the both of them, hiding it in their hair as they left our house through the front door. I needed to keep an eye on Wednesday in general, know where she was at all times After all, with the way she'd thrown that knife, combined with what Mom had said to have Lurch clear away… Wednesday was dangerous. That said, I wasn't sure she was actually trying to kill me. I didn't quite get the same vibe with her attempt or how she spoke to me as I did with Lung the earlier night. I wouldn't be using my powers on my cousin, not yet anyway, but I'd find something to counter whatever she had planned.
In the meantime, however, I helped Mom with the dishes, clearing them off the table and bringing them into the kitchen to wash. "I should be getting ready for—"
"Not today, Little Owl," Mom said gently, interrupting me. "Your schooling can wait a day. I said so last night when you came into the living room."
I nodded and immediately wrapped my arms around her again. I needed to feel her, to know she was here. She'd been gone for two years, and so much had happened. Dad was… I was… She was back, and she was really here. Sure, she had the weird family that came with her, but they brought her back. "I missed you so much, Mom. You were dead. Gone, and Dad..."
"I saw how your father was when we came in," Mom said, returning the hug. "I would have been here sooner if I could, Taylor, but, events seemed to conspire against it."
I pulled away slightly. "Events?"
"After the car accident, after I woke up, I remembered my family," Mom said, running a hand through my hair. "I remembered my brothers, and I remembered where our childhood home was. I needed to go there."
"What about us?" I asked. "Didn't you want to come home to us?"
Mom ran her hand through my hair again, scratching lightly at my scalp as she did so. "I would have. If I could have remembered you and Danny. I'd have brought the two of you with me to meet the family then. I do think you'd have been a good influence on your cousins in helping them deal with their new younger brother, and perhaps we could have prevented Fester from making a mistake with his first wife."
I blinked. "First wife?"
"Debbie. She stole Fester from us just after I'd found him again. Cut him out of our lives completely. Losing Fester to her nearly killed Gomez," Mom said softly. "Of course, that was forgivable. Debbie was an Addams at the end, even if she killed herself trying to kill us and Fester."
"What?" I asked.
"It doesn't matter," Mom said. "She never really wanted to be a part of the family anyway. Now, you must have some stories from when I was gone. Danny mentioned that you had a rough patch that culminated in January."
I shivered. I didn't want to tell Mom who the culprits had been. She and Emma's mother had been friends too, after all. Plus, I could deal with it myself. There was no need to drag anyone else into it, especially not my mother. "It was..."
"I mean, it sounds just so amateur," Mom said softly and then shook her head. "Elaborate, sure, and you did end up in a hospital afterward for a bit. I'm sorry that I wasn't here to comfort you then."
"It's…." I shook my head. It wasn't exactly okay, but I had powers now. I could control bugs, and that actually was pretty awesome, unlike how it sounded. "I missed you. I wish you'd been able to be there."
"I'm here now, and I will gladly be with you when you need me," Mom said before pulling away to work the dishes some more while I helped. She then paused and gestured for me to stop. "Actually, there's a better way to handle these."
I blinked. "Oh?"
Mom reached up to a hangman's noose that wasn't there before and pulled. A loud echoing scream followed by what sounded like a foghorn went through the house, and suddenly, Lurch appeared out of nowhere.
"You rang?" his basso voice resonated in my bones.
"Mom, how do you have a cape working as a..." I glanced at Lurch and his formal attire. Butler might have been the proper term. I wasn't sure. Still, for want of a better term, I'd use the best I had. "Butler for you."
"I don't have a cape working as a butler for me," Mom said and offered a smile to hulking man in question. "Lurch, could you please retrieve Thing? I'd like him to give a hand with the dishwashing."
Lurch gave an affirmative groan and started toward the door. He barely got two steps closer to the door before it sprung open, letting the staccato sounds of metal striking metal in, followed by my father and uncle, wielding genuine swords. They were those thin ones that fencers tended to use, but these had obvious sharp edges.
Dad backed two steps further into the kitchen before parrying Uncle Gomez's latest thrust. After the parry, he lunged in and slashed at Uncle Gomez's chest, only to be parried himself and have the sword get knocked into the air, heading toward us.
"Pardon," Dad said, running away from my uncle, toward where the blade flew, but it arrived first.
Mom reached her hand up and snagged the hilt out of the air in a fluid motion I wouldn't have expected from her. "Danny, you need to keep a better hold on your weapon."
"I'll remember," Dad said when he got close enough, and he leaned over the counter. Mom met him halfway, and the two kissed as the weapon exchanged hands. No child ever wants to see their parents kissing, but given how long it had been, I'd allow them it this once. Instead, I watched my Uncle come up to them, flourishing his sword in a salute.
"Good show, old man, but you need to be prepared for anything!" Uncle Gomez said as he thrust toward my parents, still kissing.
Mom and Dad's mutual grasp on the sword allowed them to parry Uncle Gomez's attacks as he made them, but the kiss meant that Dad couldn't follow-up.
"Dad!" I reached out into my swarm, ready to call up some bugs to help, but Dad locking Uncle Gomez's blade at the hilt and pushing it away from the counter made the swarm unnecessary.
"Don't worry, Taylor, I've got this," Dad said, a bit of glee in his voice as he pressed the attack, sweat beading on his brow.
"Since when could Dad fight with a sword?" I asked as he stepped away.
"Your father has many hidden talents," Mom said. "Some that you're not ready to learn just yet."
"It seems he is like Gomez in that manner," Aunt Morticia said, walking in from the living room. "Prideful, deceitful, willing to do what it takes to get a win. I can see why you love him, Annette."
Mom nodded, and then I felt a weight on my shoulder, like someone gripping it. I turned my head to see what laid there, and it was a hand. It appeared to be severed, but there was no blood, just the hand, grabbing my shoulder.
"Oh, Thing, there you are," Mom said, and the hand actually lifted off me to wave at Mom. It returned to my shoulder afterward, but it became clear to me that it was still alive. It was moving. "Do you think you could help with these dishes, please?"
The hand lifted off my shoulder and gave an okay symbol before going down to the ground and finger-walking over to the sink where it promptly jumped up and started cleaning.
"That's a hand," I said. "That's got to be a cape."
"Oh, no, Thing's not a cape. He's always been like that as long as I've known him. According to Gomez he used to be in a box."
"That's very true. He'd hide in the box and just reach out when he was needed," Aunt Morticia said. "It was delightfully dreadful. Perhaps I shall dig that box out again, if Mama hasn't repurposed it."
The swords clanged again, and it looked like Dad was starting to tire, even if Uncle Gomez seemed to be fully fresh.
"What are they doing?"
"Your uncle is being an overprotective brother," Mom said. "A sword fight likely was the thing he could think of to test your father."
"A test that he seems determined to win," Aunt Morticia said. "Our boys are très competetif, no?"
"Tish, was that French I heard?" Uncle Gomez asked as he crossed swords with my father again.
Aunt Morticia smiled mysteriously. "Oui."
"Cara Mia!" Uncle Gomez practically teleported to his wife's side, leaving Dad to trip as he overextended his lunge. My attention shifted to Uncle Gomez and Aunt Morticia. Uncle Gomez kissed up and down Aunt Morticia's arms.
"Mon cher." Aunt Morticia leaned into the kissing, even raising her other arm for Uncle Gomez to continue along.
I left the spiders in her hair alone and turned toward my father. "Dad, are you okay?"
Dad pulled himself to his feet with a grunt, planting the tip of his sword in the ground. "Never better. That was actually kind of fun."
"You were quite dashing, Danny," Mom said as she continued cleaning… and the disembodied hand dried the dishes. It was only a right hand, but somehow it managed to flip up the dishes into the air, dry them and put them away correctly before they dropped. Weird yet somehow kind of awesome. Maybe it was a projection of some sort, the extension of someone's power.
"Only quite dashing, mon amour?" Dad said, using a pet name I hadn't heard since before the accident. "I'll have to try harder and assurez-vous de gagner."
Mom lit up and dashed over to Dad in an instant. "Why Danny, that's French..."
And… that's not something I wanted to see my parents doing in the kitchen. Ever. "I'm going to go find Wednesday and Pugsley. Maybe take them to the library or something."
Dad pulled a little away from Mom. "Make sure to take your pepper spray if you do. Be safe."
I just gave him a nod as he returned to the mutual ministrations. I wouldn't tell him that I probably had things far more helpful than pepper spray in my arsenal, and I bet that my cousins did too. However, I just needed to get away from that.
"See you later," I said, heading toward the basement door. Wednesday and Pugsley were still within my range; they hadn't left, but they were, however, inside that spooky house. If I was going to be going in there, I was going to be prepared. I'd wear my costume under my clothes and bring some bugs with me. Who knew what I'd have to deal with?
But at least I wouldn't be dealing with that. Danger be damned, seeing my parents that close was scarring.
