Apple Cinnamon-emison

Brothers

Emily is shaking, literally. She can't stop tapping her foot against the floor and her palms are starting to get clammy. Alison was calling Peter into the living room where Emily is waiting. They are going to tell Peter who is his other mother, right now and Emily is freaking out. What if Peter hates her for not being there all these years and now just waltz back into his life. He is six, he should be able to understand, right? That's what she keeps telling herself, but in her gut, she knew better. This isn't going to be an easy conversation no matter how old Peter is. She takes a shaky breath to hopefully calm down a bit, but it doesn't help. She can hear Peter and Alison walking down the hall talking to each other about some TV show. She smiles when they come into view. It's now or never.

Peter walks over and takes a seat next to Emily. He fist pounds her like he always does. Peter and his too-cool attitude, just like Alison, Emily thinks. Jay is weird like her, but also because Hannah is also eccentric. She wonders how different Peter could be with her parenting influence if she would have been there from the day he was born. Alison takes a seat on the other side of Emily facing Peter.

Peter is still distracted by Emily being at the apartment, that Alison only notices how tense Emily is. She rubs her back making Emily look away from Peter. Alison is looking at her, smiling quietly telling her everything will be fine.

"Shouldn't you be in the water more often? You're a mermaid." Peter says, and it makes Emily laugh. Alison smiles and rolls her eyes. She has told Peter countless times Emily isn't a mermaid. Maybe she should have held out on the Little Mermaid until he was older.

"What are you talking about Pete, when I'm not here I'm in the ocean," Emily says and rubs her hand on his hair, ruffling the hawk. He squirms away to fix his hair. Peter throws her a look that said don't mess with the hair. It makes Alison smile.

"Woah that's cool. I wanna go to the castle, like the one in Ariel." She should have waited out showing the Little Mermaid. Alison rolls her eyes playfully as Emily and Peter banter on. She waits a few minutes before getting down to business.

"You know Pete that I and you used to move around a lot right?"

"Yeah... I like that we don't anymore." It was hard for Peter to keep moving around. It was hard to make friends and even play soccer because of constantly moving for their safety. Alison reaches out and grabs Peter's hand on top of Emily's lap.

"Well we are going to stay here for now on," Alison says with a soft smile. Both Peter and Emily's eyes light up when hearing that the family is staying. Emily already knew this, but seeing Peter be happy about it made it so much better.

"Yay! I like Jay he's my friend."

"I want to talk to you about Jay and Emily. We have something to tell you." The way Alison's tone became a bit more serious, the atmosphere changes. Peter is still oblivious to what is happening. He is still in the afterglow of hearing he is staying for sure in Miami. Alison continues, "Baby, you know how Peter has two Mommies?" Peter looks up and smiles at Alison and Emily nodding eagerly.

"Well so do you," Alison says and waits. No one spoke, only staring at each other. Emily isn't even properly breathing anymore. Peter breaks the silence by laughing. He thinks it's cool that Jay and himself are so much alike, almost like he is his brother, but he suddenly stops laughing.

"Where is my Mommy?" Peter asks quietly. That breaks Emily's heart. She can feel tears start to pool in her eyes. Alison opens her mouth to speak, but she can't. How does she explain that his Mother never knew about him, because of her?

"I am your Mom," Emily blurts out suddenly. Then time stops. It feels like an eternity, but it was a minute or two.

"You missed my birthday." That's the first thing Peter says and Emily starts crying. She feels so helpless like she has failed as a parent. Alison feels numb, like if she is watching in an out-of-body experience. She puts a hand on Emily's back to assure her of everything.