Mother's Day in Pennsylvania

[notarrowette]

[Written with nokidflash]


Cissie reached under the table for Bart's hand, squeezing it. So far, so good. The morning so far wasn't as painful as she had anticipated. Her mother seemed to be in a relatively good mood, and greeted Cissie with a hug, and shook Bart's hand with a smile. Now they were nearly through with brunch. Cissie had let Bonnie steer the conversation, for the most part, and so far nothing about accidental pregnancies or failing bakeries. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad.

And then Bonnie set down her fork, sat back in her chair and looked at Bart. "So. You're the boyfriend who wants a bakery."

Aaaaaaand maybe Cissie was wrong.

"Yep!" Bart grinned big and wide at Bonnie, but it was a warm and genuine grin. He squeezed Cissie's hand back. "We sort of both agreed. Cissie's an amazing baker, but she's amazing at pretty much everything she tries."

Cissie smiled at him. She was so glad he was here with her. Looking back at her mother, she nodded. "We both want it, Mom."

Bonnie hummed vaguely, watching them. "What do you do when you're not convincing archers they should be bakers, Bart?"

"Mom!"

"It's okay, Cis. I think it's fair for a mom to want to know about the guy her daughter's dating." He smiled reassuringly at Cissie before turning back to Bonnie. "I'm enrolled in the New York City Police Academy, classes start in July. I'm also working for Wayne Enterprises in Research and Development, I'm the assistant supervisor of an advanced tech division. That'll shift to part time when I start at the Academy." He flicked his eyes over at Cissie quickly. "And I'm a member of Young Justice, which just reformed. I used to be the Flash, but since my grandfather and cousin came back, I'm going by Inertia."

Cissie drew in a breath, biting her lip while she watched her mother's reaction, and gripping Bart's hand under the table. It wasn't Bonnie's reaction to any of Bart's jobs that worried her--she knew there was nothing Bonnie could find fault in there--but she hadn't mentioned Young Justice to her mother yet.

Bonnie's eyebrows raised, but otherwise she didn't outwardly react, except to reach for her glass and take a sip. "Assistant supervisor at Wayne Enterprises? Impressive. As is the Police Academy." She glanced at Cissie with the beginnings of a frown. "Young Justice reformed? When? Who's involved?"

Oops? Bart didn't know Bonnie didn't know. But, yeah, that made sense. Why would anyone tell her. "Just this past week, officially. I'm not sure if the roster is public yet, I'm sure you understand." Shoot shoot shoot. Bart tried not to say anything offensive or bad or... anything she could grab onto to make Cissie feel bad.

Bonnie nodded absently, still watching Cissie. "Are you involved?"

Cissie took a deep breath. It was really just a matter of time before she had to have this conversation with her mother, and at least this way she had Bart with her. It helped. "I... yes. Sort of." She glanced at Bart, wrinkling her nose. "It's complicated. I'm not--not as Arrowette," she clarified. "But as--something."

Bonnie's frown deepened. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It's a great idea," Bart answered quickly. "Cissie's brilliant. She can help us in so many ways without ever have to leave HQ. And she's a part of our family, it wouldn't be right if she weren't there with us." All of this was true, and Bart had said as much to Cissie herself a few times. But saying it to her mom was different. He was proud of his girlfriend, and he thought her mom ought to be, too.

Cissie smiled at Bart. She loved him, so much. And he had so much faith in her that it was hard not to just believe him when he said things like that. Looking back at her mother, she nodded. "I want to help. I don't really know how yet, but I know I can."

Bonnie looked at her for another long moment before sighing. "I know you can help. I also know how hard it's going to be for you when everyone else goes out into the field and you don't. Are you sure you want to put yourself into a position where you might be tempted to do something you're not ready for?"

Cissie bit her lip, squeezing Bart's hand again. It wasn't something she hadn't thought before, but it was one thing to think about on your own and another to be confronted with the question. "I know I'll feel worse if I don't do anything at all. I've done that."

Bart looked between Cissie and her mom. He knew things were complicated for them, but he could tell Bonnie cared. Just in a weird way. Then again, Bart's mom was sort of a super-villain, so he really didn't have much room to talk. "I think it might be different this time. I'll be there with her, and I would never ever ever let Cissie do anything she's not ready for. She and I talk about it a lot, and I trust her to know when she's ready." And he hoped... no, he knew she trusted him to help her resist that temptation. "I don't think YJ can be a whole without Cissie in it."

Cissie looked over at Bart and smiled. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. She trusted him. More than she trusted herself in a lot of ways, which was part of why the decision to rejoin wasn't a hard one when she thought about it. "I'm going to be careful, Mom. But--I want to do this."

"I promise she'll be okay, Mrs. King-Jones." Bart smiled back at Cissie. "And, uh. Anything else you want to know, you can always ask me. Or her. Or, really. Whatever works for you."

Cissie laughed at Bart's rambling, and Bonnie smirked slightly, raising an eyebrow at her daughter. "Does he know what he's offering?"

Cissie grinned at Bart. "He does. Mostly."

Bart blinked. "Uh. I do? I do!" He nodded emphatically. "I love Cissie, and I love being part of Cissie's life. All of it."

Cissie laughed, but caught his hand again and squeezed it. "I love you, too," she told him happily.

Bonnie shook her head, looking vaguely amused. "So. You're determined to open this bakery?"

It was tough for Bart not to lean over and kiss Cissie silly. He felt that way every time she laughed or smiled or told her she loved him. So. A lot. But that would probably be inappropriate in front of her mom. "Yeah. We've hired another baker, and I've already spoken to suppliers and an accountant, and all the paper work's pretty much done. And the space... it looks awesome. Our friends helped us paint it. You should really see it."

Cissie resisted the urge to fidget or bite her lip or do anything so obviously antsy while she watched and waited for her mother's reaction. For her part, Bonnie sipped at her drink and then nodded. "I'd like that. If you're going to do this, you may as well do it right. What are you calling it? And what have you done for advertising, because I may be able to--"

"Mom!" Cissie interrupted, rolling her eyes. "We've got it under control."

"Uh, thanks Mrs. King-Jones, but so far we're going by word of mouth to get the buzz out. We're not quite ready to open yet, so I won't want to put too much of our budget into advertising yet." He squeezed Cissie's hand again. "But if it comes up and we need anything, you'll be the first to know. It's really nice of you to offer. Oh," Bart smiled, "it's called the Frenzied Spork."

Bonnie smirked, shrugging. "All right." She looked back at Cissie, sobering. "How are you going to manage being part of Young Justice, running a bakery and coaching and competing?"

Cissie looked down at the table. She'd known that was bound to come up. "I'm--cutting back on my coaching. A little. I'm not giving it up yet or anything."

"Yet?"

Bart leaned forward. "If it's an issue, Cissie can cut back at the bakery. That's one of the reasons we hired someone else. I promise I've thought about all the different possibilities so we can make sure this works out for everybody." But especially Cissie. She was his number one priority, even though he didn't say it out loud.

Cissie reached under the table and squeezed his knee, watching him while he spoke--he had on his intense, Serious Business face, and she knew he was wearing it for her. "I'll manage," she said to her mother.

Bonnie didn't look at her, keeping her eyes on Bart and watching him closely. "Hmm. Well. It sounds like you've got this all planned."

"Yes ma'am. I want the bakery to be a success. Not just for me, but 'cause I know Cissie really wants that, too." He smiled. "But I also don't want her to give up archery, because I know how much she loves it. I really do love her, and I'd do anything to make her happy."

Cissie failed to care what her mother might think, and she leaned over, resting her head on Bart's shoulder. "I love you too," she said quietly.

Bart's grin at that moment could best be described as ecstatic. He kissed Cissie's forehead before turning back to Bonnie. "So, yeah. That's, you know. The gist."

Bonnie watched them, and couldn't help smiling herself. She reached across the table and put a hand over Cissie's. "I just want what's best for you."

Cissie turned her hand over, squeezing her mother's hand. "I know. Bart is what's best for me."

Bonnie glanced at him. "Well. You both seem happy." She gave Cissie's hand a firm squeeze, and let go, sitting back. "I don't want grandchildren for at least--two more years."

"Mother!"

Luckily, Bart had been totally prepared for this exact moment. "Yes ma'am. I definitely don't want kids anytime soon, and I know Cissie doesn't." He certainly wasn't going to tell her they hadn't had sex yet, because that was none of her business, but he could at least try to reassure her. She seemed pretty interested in straight talk. "We'll be safe until we're both in a good place to have kids, you know? The bakery's good, our careers are okay, and we're financially secure."

Bonnie actually laughed, smiling at him. "Oh, he's good," she said, winking at Cissie. She nodded at him. "Good. It's smart to have a plan."

Cissie rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother."

"Thanks. I've got lots of plans when it comes to your daughter." Bart grinned. "And all of them involve her being happy and successful."

Bonnie nodded. "Good. That's good."

Cissie rolled her eyes a little, bumping Bart's shoulder with her own. She couldn't stop grinning. "You're such a dork," she said fondly.

"Am nooooot." Bart could help himself, he turned and kissed Cissie. Not anything risque, but he pressed his forehead to hers afterwards, before finally turning back to Bonnie. "Oh, and I'm gonna marry her. At some point. Just... in case you wanted to know"

Cissie laughed and threw her arms around his shoulders to hug him. Her mother shook her head, looking amused. "Well, as long as that's settled. I expect a wedding before a grandbaby, how's that?"

"Yes ma'am. There will definitely be a wedding before any kids, you've got my word." Bart had to admit that this was going waaaay better than he'd expected. He was almost worried GA would pop his head in and ruin everything.

Cissie was feeling the same with, with perhaps the exception of worrying about Ollie. She shook her head, amused. "I love how both of you are planning my future," she teased. She was only teasing--she knew that Bart would never make her do anything she didn't want to.

"Uh, yeah, Cis. I've already named our kids even." He smiled at her.

She laughed, but made a mental note to ask him about that later. It wasn't completely out of the question, knowing Bart. The thing was, she didn't mind talking about this stuff with Bart--engagements, weddings, a future. Picturing one with him made her happy. "Uh huh."

"Uhhhh huh." He grinned happily at her for a long minute before remembering that there was someone else in the room. Oops. "Sorry, Mrs. King-Jones. Your daughter's kind of hard to resist."

Bonnie smirked, and waved a hand at them. "You two are disgustingly cute. Go on, get out of here and get a room to be adorable in."

Cissie laughed, rolling her eyes and turning bright pink. "Mom! It's Mother's Day."

"So?" Bonnie shrugged and smiled. "I haven't seen you this happy in a long time. That's a better present than the crock pot you bought me."

"You asked for one!"

Bart laughed. "It took us like three hours to pick out the right one." Well. It took Cissie that long. Bart had mostly darted all over the store impatiently. "I promise you can have a happy Cissie every Mother's Day from now on."

"I'll hold you to that," she said, looking back at Bart seriously.

At Bonnie's tone and look, the grin faded from Bart's face. He nodded. "Every Mother's Day as long as I'm alive."

Bonnie kept eye contact with him for another second and then nodded.

Cissie listened to the exchange, feeling the change in mood and growing wary. At Bart's answer, she blinked and slipped her arms around him, hugging him and pressing her face against his shoulder so she didn't have to try talking around the lump in her throat.

Bart didn't flinch or look away. This was something he was absolutely serious about. He planned to be with Cissie as long as he lived, and even after that if he could. He felt her hug him tightly and press her face into his arm and he leaned over to kiss her head again. "So, um. We don't really have to go be adorable somewhere else. It is mother's day."

Bonnie watched Cissie with an odd expression on her face, then turned her attention to Bart. She waved a hand. "It's all right. Ish is taking me out for dinner later. It's been a wonderful afternoon."

Cissie turned her head to look at her. "I'm glad. But we can stay."

"I'll let you two decide." Bart knew better than to tell either one of them what to do, and he was happy either way.

Cissie wrinkled her nose at him, but Bonnie smiled. "Wise man. Go on. Let's end this on a high note, shall we?"

Cissie got up and went around the table to give her mother a hug. "It's Mother's Day. You get to decide."

Bonnie hugged her back. "Then I decide that I want you two to spend the rest of today being happy. I am going to go shopping," she said, pulling back and winking, "with Ish's credit card."

Cissie laughed. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Cissie."

"Thanks for letting me come along, Mrs. King-Jones." Bart stood and smiled politely at Bonnie. "It was nice to spend the day with a mom." He blinked. "I mean... yeah. Thanks."

Cissie smiled at him and reached over to catch his hand and lace their fingers together. Bonnie just smiled at him. "Call me Bonnie. Thank you for coming, Bart. And thank you for making my daughter so happy."

Once Bonnie had left to get ready for her shipping trip, Bart looked over at Cissie. "I think that went well, Cis."

She gave him a relieved, happy smile. "It really did." She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Thank you for coming with me."

"I'm glad I did. Maybe now she'll stop bugging you about archery and the bakery and our kids." Bart sat down and pulled her into his lap. "I love you."

Cissie grinned at him, hooking her arms around his neck and giggling. "I love you too." She gave him a quick kiss and then pulled back to smirk at him. "Have you really named our kids?"

Bart grinned up at her and kissed her neck. "No, I haven't. I thought I'd at least discuss that with you first."

She laughed, tilting her head for him. "Discuss what, names or having kids?"

"Names." He blinked. "I mean, kids too I guess, I just..." Bart blushed. "Sorry?"

Cissie laughed and kissed his nose. "Don't be," she said, leaning her forehead against his. "You really want to have kids someday?"

"Are you kidding?" Bart smiled. "Yeah. I think our kids will be awesome."

She rubbed noses with him. "I love you. You know that?"

"I might, but you could tell me again." He pressed his forehead to hers. "Does that mean I'm not in trouble for the kid thing?"

"God no. Why would you be in trouble?"

"For being presumptuous and assuming you want to have kids with me?"

Cissie smiled at him. "There are worse things to assume."

"Liiiike... what?" Bart thought it was pretty awesome that she didn't think it was weird for him to have kids already in mind. Then again, Cissie got him better than almost anyone. "Like how hot you are without clothes on? I totally assumed that, and I was right."

She laughed, shoving his shoulder. "Twerp," she said fondly. "Behave yourself. This is my mother’s house.”

"I think your mother approves of me!" Bart tickled Cassie's sides lightly. "I promise I will only probably fool around with you in your mother's house maybe. At least I didn't drop my fork!"

Cissie squeaked and tried to squirm away. "Only probably maybe? That's not very convincing!"

Bart shrugged and kept tickling. "Yeah, I'm not really convinced, honestly. You should kiss me to distract me."

Cissie squealed and grabbed at his wrists. "Bart! Kissing you will not make you behave. I know better, mister!"

"Yeah, but it'll distract me from tickling you!" Probably not. He let her hold his wrists back. And then he pouted. "I haven't kissed you in like ten minutes. It's be awful."

"How long is that in Bart-time?"

Bart wrinkled his nose, thinking about it for a minute. "About six months."

Cissie gasped and let go of his wrists to catch his face in her hands. "That is just a tragedy," she said seriously, leaning in to kiss him.

"I knooooow." Bart wrapped his arms around Cissie's waist and leaned forward into the kiss. She'd been right, kissing definitely did not make him behave. In fact, about ten seconds after the kiss started, he moved his arms again, this time sliding his hand under Cissie's shirt.

As soon as she felt Bart's hand against her skin, Cissie made a muffled noise of protest and pulled away. "Bart. We are not fooling around in my mother's house."

Bart made another little pouty face. "Okay, okay. But... we can fool around at Max's house! And I just thought I'd give you some fond memories of the place." And also he wanted to fool around with her, but that wasn't the point!

Cissie laughed and kissed his nose. "No fooling around at Max's either. I have boundaries, Bart. Parental unit housing is off-limits."

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine." Bart sighed dramatically. "But she totally gave us the okay. Can we go home and fool around? Or not, I don't have a one track mind! We can do whatever you want."

Cissie laughed and kissed his nose again. "You do kind of have a one-track mind but that's okay. I am all right with going home and fooling around."

"Okay, yeah maybe. But the track is 'I love Cissie' and then one of the cars on the track is 'I would like to express my love for Cissie by making her orgasm.'" Bart waggled his eyebrows. "I mean, that's fair, right?"

She shook her head, giggling. "I suppose that's fair." She leaned her forehead against his. "I love Bart. Can we get out of my mother's house now?"

"Yes, my Cissie. Yes we can." Bart stood, holding Cissie in his arms. "The Bart Express is about to leave the station, please secure all valuables."

She grinned and tightened her arms around him, kissing his cheek. "You are my valuable."

"I love you." And then off they went, running towards Cissie's house.