One More Time ( Becky x Freen )

Chapter 33

Finally, it was Friday. Finn was beyond excited that Becky was coming home with him and Freen that night to spend the rest of the weekend together.

They had already had dinner with Araya that evening, but Freen had to go back to the salon to sort out some paperwork in the back room while Finn and Becky waited for her to finish. They went home later than usual that night and Freen could see that both Becky and Finn were exhausted from the long day, as was herself.

Coming to the door, Freen let them in and sat the two of them at the kitchen table. She opened the containers of food from a restaurant they bought on their way back home and prepared plates for Becky and Finn.

After giving her son a bath, Becky dressed him and stayed in his room for a bit. There were toys and stuffed animals everywhere as she walked, looking at the same pictures mounted on the same walls she had seen a hundred times before, but she stopped at her favorite, where Freen was holding a naked Finn stretched out, no bigger than her forearms. She smiled at the picture. She had always wondered how much fun it would be if she had known Finn when he was still a baby.

How she wished she could hold Finn like that, in her arms, giving him love, kissing him everywhere, teaching him how to walk and talk because she knew other parents did that to their baby and now she found herself thinking how she wouldn't have that chance even if she were Finn's other mother. Lately, that thought had been running through her head, wondering if she was really Finn's other mother, and how and why.

Becky stared at the picture, lost in her own thoughts until she felt Finn tug at her pants. "Tell me another story, Mommy..."

So the two of them lay down in the small bed, filled with stuffed animals and pillows. It was warm. She told her son a story about a frog and a caterpillar, her favorite bedtime story that Araya used to tell her before. When she was done, she just waited, with Finn snuggled up to her chest.

"Mommy?"

"Ka, baby?"

"Could you sing to me and rub my back?"

"Sing?"

"Ka..." Finn said in a sleepy voice.

"Anything you want, angel baby."

Finn yawned and turned away from her. Then, Becky put her hand on his back, rubbing the spot and trying to think of what to sing. Then, she sang what first came to mind like, 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider,' then 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.' And then it came to her, without realizing it, she started singing to 'At My Worst'. She sang it over and over, at first absentmindedly, not really connecting with what she was thinking.

"Can I call you baby?
Can you be my friend?
Can you be my lover up until the very end?
Let me show you love, oh, I don't pretend,
Stick by my side even when the world is giving in, yeah...

Oh... oh, oh,
Don't you worry,
I'll be there, whenever you want me..."

Something caught in her throat as she sang the last part. Suddenly, she could see a clear blue sky, with a land of green grass and leaves, blowing off the trees in the wind as if dancing to the happy music of birdsong.

"I need somebody who can love me at my worst,
No, I'm not perfect, but I hope you see my worth,
'Cause it's only you, nobody new, I put you first,
And for you, girl, I swear I'd do the worst,

If you stay forever, let me hold your hand,
I can fill those places in your heart no else can,
Let me show you love, oh, no pretend, yeah,
I'll be right here, baby, you know it's sink or swim,"