A Better Life (A Metal Family Fix-It Au Fanfic)

A Death in the Family

Mary had awoken to her husband talking to someone over the phone. She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she watched her husband.

"thank you...I'm sorry for your loss.." His voice trembled slightly as he hung up the phone.

"Who was that?"
"That was Roft's wife."
"what happened?"

Mary crawled over as Gustav turned to face her, noticing his eyes beginning to brim slightly with tears.

"Roft just....Roft passed away in his sleep."

Mary's eyes widened at the sudden shock. Sure, it had been nearly a decade since they had needed his services, since the kids were already grown and moved out, but still.

"oh...oh my god.." Mary could only say as she wrapped her arms around her husband, who immediately buried his face in her neck and began to sob.

The shock hit her in waves, slowly prompting her to begin crying as well.

"Oh god...what are we gonna tell the children?" She muttered.
"Oh god.." Gustav leaned away a bit, wiping his eyes, "You're right, what are we gonna tell them? He practically helped us raise them!"
"I know, pumpkin.." Mary said as she pulled him close again.

After a while, the two eventually realized that morning had struck. Thin streams of light peeked through the curtains, dancing upon the sheets of their bed. Mary took this invitation to get up, climbing out of bed and going to make coffee.

Mary soon returned to the bedroom holding two mugs of coffee, offering one to her husband. He took it, staring down into it as he tried to dry his eyes again.

"Should we...call the kids and tell them?" She offered.
"No, no...we should tell them in person. He was important to them."
"yea..I'll call them in a bit and invite them over."
"Good idea.."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lydia and Sebastian sat on the sofa facing their parents. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"What happened?" Lydia finally asked.
"Yes, please, what happened?" Sebastian joined in.

Gustav glanced over at his wife, who nodded.

"Children, you guys remember Roft, right?"

"Yes?" Lydia said.

Her heart began to sink, mind already reaching the horrible conclusion.

"We...got a class this morning from his family...He..." Gustav swallowed hard, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Roft passed away in his sleep last night."

Sebastian's face dropped as Lydia raised her hand to her mouth.

"Oh, oh my god."

Mary got up and sat next to her daughter, hugging her tight as she began to cry. Gustav reached out and put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"You need a hug to?"
"No.." Sebastian responded, blinking a bit as he thought.

Gustav nodded, patting his son's shoulder a few times before looking down at his lap. The room was quiet, the only sounds being Lydia's crying.

"His wife told me to ask you guys to keep this...a bit of a secret for now while they work on preparing for his funeral." Gustav finally spoke, with Lydia going quiet as she listened.

"Are we going to be invited to the funeral?" Lydia asked, quickly wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.

"We...we don't know. Its up to them if they want to invite us, its not our place to ask them." Mary said.
"I know, mother.." Lydia responded.

Sebastian was still deep in thought, his pondering quickly startled by Mary putting her hand on his back.

"You ok, honey?"
"I think i will be, mother."

As the family went into mourning, there was one light in the darkness. That light was that they had each other to help them get through this tough time.