Utopia: Misfit Fury

9) The Five Stages

I had no clue of when I fell asleep or how I got into bed, but when I woke up, Montego's head was resting comfortably on my shoulder as he snuggled against me.  Yuki was nowhere to be seen, and even in my 'barely awake' state; I knew something wasn't right.  I threw my body into a sitting position and looked around the room.  Yuki was definitely not in the room.  I was about to yell at Montego to wake up, but one glance told me he was out for the count.

One moment, he lay comfortably on his stomach; the next, he lay on his back with his feet stuck up in the air as if he was stuffed.  "Montego..." I growled, "If you don't wake up right now and tell me where Yuki is, you are going be as stiff as you look because you are going to be stuffed.  And I don't mean full of cat food."

His ear twitched and I swear that he let out a soft snore.

A knock stopped me from straggling him, "What?" I snapped.

Yuki backed her way into the room carrying a tray of breakfast.  "Good morning mom, I made you breakfast."  She gave me an innocent smile.

Seeing Yuki filled me with so much warmth, I flung myself off the bed tossing Montego off the bed as well, and rushed to hug her.

"Careful mom," Yuki quickly put the tray onto the table.  "It was hard making breakfast," she said as she hugged me.  I glanced at the breakfast as I hugged her and smiled.  Cereal and Orange Juice.

"What the heck is with the wakeup call, huh?" Montego walked over dazedly and full of sleep.  "I mean, there must have been other calmer, slower ways that you could've gotten out of bed without throwing me at the wall."

Glaring at him, I was about to say that I would not have thrown him had he waken up when I asked him where Yuki was.  But on the other hand, I just took a breath and looked at him calmly.  "Maybe next time you will answer when I ask you a question."

His ears perked up and he tilted his head to the side as he gave me a you-did-what look.

"Mom..." Yuki's voice came out unsure.  "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course sweetie," I bent down to her eye level.  The look of uncertainty covered her face, which told me that this was going to be a serious conversation, and Yuki deserved my full attention.  "You should know that you can talk to me about anything."

She nodded slowly, took a deep breath, and looked me in the eye.  "You don't have to worry about trying to be a hero for me," she started and my eyes widened in shock.  "I already see you and Darrius as heroes.  Your mom and dad were cruel, they said and say hurtful things about you and hurt your feelings like they don't matter.  But you will never be like that."  Yuki gave a small smile.  "It's obvious you are nothing like them.  You have something they don't."

"And what's that?" my voice croaked as I felt my attempts to not cry turn futile.

Yuki wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me until my arms wrapped around her for support.  "A heart, mom.  You have a heart."  That was the crack that broke the dam that kept my tears away.

I hid my face against her shoulder and cried.

There was a hesitant knock on the door as I held Yuki and cried.  Darrius opened the door and saw us.  "Are you two okay?"  Neither Yuki or I could move.  Last night, I had a feeling that Yuki was listening, but I had no idea of what she heard or saw.  Yet it was obvious by what she said that she had heard everything.

Yuki petted the back of my head to calm my crying.  "Mom just had a rough night..." she explained.

"What happened?" he asked.