Chapter 3.5 - Growing Frustration

“Madeline! You’re home early.”

She nodded without making eye contact. “My boss realized that I wasn’t getting anything done in my current state and sent me home.” She’d never told Beckett that Alaric was her boss. She’d never told Beckett a lot of things, really.

“That’s great! You can watch Jonah today.”

“Beckett, I’m exhausted. I really just need to rest. Why can’t you watch him today? You’d have to if I was at work like I was supposed to be.”

Beckett sighed. “I was going to watch him if I had to, but I got a big order from one of my best customers yesterday, and I’ll get much better pay if I get it to him before this weekend. I was planning on going out for a few hours on Saturday, but now I can go out all day.”

“Beckett, it’s January. You really want to go out and fish? And I’m of no use to anyone as tired as I am.”

“He’s still asleep, so you can nap until he wakes up. And there are some kinds of fish that like weather this cold. I’ll see you tonight!” Beckett slipped out the door before Madeline could find another argument.

She barely made it upstairs before she collapsed on the bed, exhausted.

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Madeline woke up a couple of hours later to a pair of big dark eyes blinking owlishly at her. She had been a little bit scared the first time she’d woken up like that, but she was used to it by now.

“Mama! You’s home!”

“You are home, Jonah.” She corrected gently.

“I’s home?” He tilted his head quizzically, increased his resemblance to a bird.

“No, I am - forget about it. Can you let Mama up?”

Her son scrambled away from the bed obediently, and she rose slowly, cataloguing her level of tiredness. She determined that it wasn’t unbearable and walked down to the kitchen so she could make herself some coffee. Of course, she first got Jonah some cereal, which he devoured so fast that she could suddenly imagine him as a teenager, eating them out of house and home.

After the coffee, she felt a little bit more like a sim being, so she decided it was time to teach Jonah some grammar rules. It was slow, frustrating work, and she gave up around noon. She played with him for a couple of hours, but by two in the afternoon, she was tired, frustrated, and desperate for some form of conversation that wasn’t toddler speech. She tried once more to get Jonah to properly conjugate the verb ‘to be’, but he was militant.

“I’m tired of this, baby.”

“No, you is tired of this. And I’s not a baby.”

In the mood to pick a fight, she texted Beckett. Your son is absurdly stubborn. I blame you.

He didn’t text her back for an hour, which didn’t improve her mood, and when the message finally came, its contents sent her already fraying temper plummeting into rage and despair.

It seemed fairly innocent, if slightly combative. Where did you get the idea that I was the stubborn one out of the two of us?

He was right, of course. Beckett had always been easy-going to a fault. What made her so angry was the fact that she hadn’t really been thinking about him at all. It was the other Doe brother who was the proverbial immovable object when you disagreed with him. It was the other Doe brother she thought of every time she looked at her son.

She stared at her baby boy, murmuring under her breath. “Why do you have to look so much like Alaric?” Because he really did. She’d seen Alaric’s baby pictures, at least the ones Beckett was also in. The only real difference was the freckles.

So between the many frustrations of her day, she was in a truly terrible mood by the time Beckett got home. She managed to contain herself until they got Jonah to bed, but as soon as they were back downstairs, she whirled on him.

“Don’t you ever leave me alone with him for the whole day again.”

“You didn’t enjoy it?”

“It was quite possibly the worst day of my life so far.”

“And yet you do that to me every single day.”

Her eyes widened, and she suddenly saw the whole picture. “You did this on purpose! To… to teach me a lesson or something!”

“Did it work?”

“No, because it’s different.”

“How, Madeline? How is it different? I’m willing to bet that your day went a lot like mine does every day.”

“It’s different because you wanted this! Don’t deny it, you always wanted to be a family man, roughing it in the woods every day. I wanted to be a pro athlete’s wife, living in the lap of luxury, maybe pursuing a figure skating career, with enough staff that I would never have to do anything myself if I didn’t want to. Instead, I’m the glorified secretary of a small town politician who has to watch the baby, cook, and clean when I get home! I never wanted this, Beckett!”

He stood silent for a moment. “Then why did you marry me?”

She just shook her head. “I really don’t know.” She headed for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Out. And don’t you dare try to follow me.”

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Alaric wasn’t really surprised by the knock on his door that evening. “Madeline.”

“Alaric. Can I come in?”

“Of course. You can always do whatever you like when I’m around.”

She grinned at him and followed him inside.

Author's Note: Maybe it's strange, but I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter. I feel like it's been a long time coming. Also, I love taking pictures of Beckett, and it was great to finally introduce you to Jonah. I have plans for that child.

In case you were wondering, I did absolutely nothing to influence Jonah's appearance. (He was also named by Story Progression, but it was a fine name, so I kept it.) When I went to look at him in CAS after he aged to toddler, that was what he looked like. Beckett is his father, he just happens to be almost an exact face clone of Alaric. It's excellent for plot purposes. Next chapter: the truth comes out!