The Kitten's Limit (Original)

Chapter 7

Gumball and his Mother sat quietly at a table in Joyful Burger as he ate his meal. She'd been called out of work to pick him up early as he'd been suspended for a month. It was going to be two months but Principal Brown had decided to be lenient on him after his sister had stopped him before they went inside and, in tears, begged him to go easy on her brother as it wasn't his fault, he had no control over himself and he didn't mean any of it.

He smiled. He was so lucky to have her...

His thoughts turned to his mother. Neither of them spoke, Gumball unsure of what to say or if he even should say anything. The only thing he'd said to her since she came to pick him up was a 'No' in response to her asking if he'd had lunch, after which she said she'd take him to get something to eat here, not before they stopped at home and got him some clean clothes and a shower first though

He looked up and studied his Mom. Was she mad at him? Upset? Disappointed? She didn't look like she was mad, in fact, she'd just given him a reassuring smile.

"Something wrong sweetheart?"

Surely she had to be mad though, right? He'd just destroyed a good chunk of the school and gotten suspended for half a month. How couldn't she be mad at that?

She must be so disappointed in him. So upset. So why was she being nice and getting him a meal?

He teared up and looked down whimpering, his ears flat against his head. He thought about everything that had happened, Penny, Darwin, the school, and Anais. Everything finally caught up to him and he suddenly burst out crying.

"Hey, Gummypuss, what's wrong?" Nicole asked softly, as she walked around to his side of the table and hugged him tightly, as he continued to sob even harder, almost painfully so, into her chest, the pain and sorrow of everything he'd been through all hitting him like a truck.

She quietly stroked him as he continued to cry, deciding to let him get it all out.

A couple of minutes later he finally managed to get compose himself enough to talk through his continued sobs.

He looked up at her, tears streaming down his wide-eyed face. "I...I-I-I'm s-so sorry! I...I don't know what came over me, really I don't! I just...so many things happened today that pushed me further and further to my breaking point! I had a huge fight with Penny and accidentally slapped her and told her to back into her shell! I-I d-didn't m-mean to, really I d-didn't! S-she got really mad and she b-broke up with me! Then I upset Darwin too a-and I was just so angry and upset a-a-and I had this huge headache and I saw someone about to beat up Anais and went over then I-I-I just blacked out! Next thing I know I'm in front of a locker about to attack Anais after having destroyed half the school, and I-I-I'm sorry...I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it, really I didn't, I swear, I swear!"

He sobbed into her chest again.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm not mad at you." She began to stroke him again.

"I know, I know I should have tried to calm down, I know should have known better but I-" He registered what she'd said and stopped in surprise.

He looked up at her confused. "Wait...w-w-what?" He asked, making sure he'd heard her correctly.

"I said I'm not mad at you."