Doorsteps {muke}

March 26th, 2007

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Liz sprang up from her spot on the couch and started jumping in joy. "I'm a grandmother! I'm a grandmother!"

Luke's smile doubled in size, glad his mother seemed to be taking the news well.

"Wait" Liz stopped her movement as she finally processed that her youngest son who had come out as gay at the age of 16 was standing before her with his daughter. "I don't understand. You didn't tell me you were seeing anyone! Did you adopt? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Well that's the thing, I'm not seeing anyone." Luke adjusted Penelope in his arms "I also didn't adopt her, someone left her on my doorstep."

"Oh Luke honey" Liz's smile faltered but tried to mask it. "I'm so proud of the man you're becoming, but becoming a dad? That's a big step, are you positive you want to do that? She's not technically your responsibility. We can always take her down to Foster Care."

"No! I don't care what DNA she has, I don't care if I wanted her or not to begin with. She's my responsibility now, she's my daughter now, no matter what you or anyone else has to say about it." Luke was appalled by his mothers statement, and disappointed that she wasn't as happy as he was. Penelope was his daughter, and that was that.

"Luke this is going to change your life. It's not something you can say that you want and then change your mind when times get tough. You're going to be taking care of an actual human being, do you realize that?" Liz rubbed her forehead feeling a headache coming on. She just wanted to make sure her son knew what he was getting into.

"You can either stay and watch your granddaughter grow up or you can leave and never speak to us again, your choice." Luke stood his ground, head high, trying to fight off the on coming years.

"Oh baby, of course I'm going to stay and watch my granddaughter grow up." Liz took her son's hand as she saw his eyes go cloudy. "I just worry about you, your the baby of the family and the first one with a child. But I will always support you and I will help you with Penelope every step of the way."

"Thank you mom, I love you so much." Luke side hugged his mom, balancing Penelope on his hip. His smile was bright, but his eyes were shiny with streaks of salty tears dripping down his cheeks.

His mother smiled up at her son, wiping away the wet tears. "I love you too, Luke. And I love you too, Penelope. " She softly spoke, then leaned down to give Penelope a gentle kiss on the head.

"Now, more importantly when can I go shopping with you two? Because as adorable as Penelope is, she's dressed god awful!" Liz lifted the mood as she pointed to the baby in his arms. Poor Penelope didn't realize how utterly hideous she was dressed. She was snug in a bright fluorescent green top, purple tights with pink flowers on them, and stripped yellow and orange socks. It was truly a catastrophe.

Luke chuckled and shook his head setting Penelope down in her basinet. "I didn't have any time to prepare, it's not like I knew I was getting a baby! So I grabbed everything that was her size at the store!" Luke exclaimed, embarrassed.

"Oh yeah? And what store was that? The 99 cents store?" Liz joked as she put a hand on her hip, finally comfortable with the situation.

His moms banter only made Luke more flustered. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, feeling blood rush to his already red cheeks. "Well, um yes?" Luke replied, his voice cracking slightly due to his humiliation.

"Oh honey, you know I didn't mean that right? I was just trying to joke with you. I know your trying your hardest, and your doing great! There's nothing to be embarrassed about! However, we do need to get Penelope some new clothes." Liz beamed at Luke.

"I guess your right, but if we do go shopping can we get her some band shirts? I was looking up some online and I think that they are supper cute!" Luke giggled clasping his hands together tightly in excitement.

"Of course we can." Liz laughed.

Maybe, just maybe, raising Penelope wouldn't be as hard as Luke thought. He had his mom's support, and he honestly didn't need much more than that.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been away on a holiday. I hope that there aren't mistakes, and I hope that you are liking the story. Have a wonderful day!
-Mads