Jeanne Bonheur's Story

Jeanne was on him like a dog chasing a fox. Her face was scrunched in determination.

"Do you really think you can outrun your mother, Gael? I chase criminals all day. You get back here now or you're getting a right ass whooping when I get you home!"

"Shitshitshitshit.." He muttered under his breath.

The teen had inherited a lot from his mother. His figure for instance. For love nor life could he gain weight, and he was always stringy. So when it came to running, it was something he was good at.

Just.. not as good as his mother.

It was obvious that he wasn't going to outrun her, so he sped around a corner of an alley way, knocking down trash bins and pallets that could slow her down.

"Ohhhh, hoho. Gael, you're a glutton for punishment just like your father," she shouted, skidding to the entrance of the alley. She jumped towards the alley wall to bound off it and clear the trashcans with ease. "If you don't stop right now, I'm going to send your ass over to Mandragora or to the church for a month so they straighten you out, boy!"

She sped up, leaning into her sprint. To be a Lutetian detective you had to be fit, to be quick, to be able to chase down criminals who had the ability to run like professional athletes.

Werewolves were just the most annoying runners.

"There's been several murders in this area, Gael! You are coming back with me now so your throat isn't ripped out by some rogue wolf!"

The boy was panting heavily by this point and was steadily losing ground. Damn his mother was fast.

"What do you care if my throat is ripped out or not..! You did worse by leaving me with dad!" He shouted behind him, willing himself to try to eek out a bit more speed. He turned the corner and..

Came face to face with a chain link fence with barbed wire on the top.

Did this stop him? Nope. He immediately hopped a good three feet of the fence and started climbing. By this point, it was an inevitable end of the chase.

"I know you did not just say that, Gaël Prendergast," steamed Jeanne, storming up to the boy. She put her hands on her hips. "What d'ye think you're doing, son? You're not getting over that. Come down." Her voice became much more stern than before. Her arms folded. "Right now, Gaël."

"Oh but I did, mother-dear. And best yet? I meant it." He said over his shoulder as he still climbed higher on the fence. Once to the top, he looked around for a way over without shreading himself into a million tiny pieces, but to no avail.

He then sighed and looked down to his mother with a smirk. "I would like to invoke the right of Parlay." He panted. "Promise me safety from your wrath and I'll come down peacefully. If not, well.. I can stay up here for some time."

He knew it wouldn't blow over well with his mother. She was no doubt beyond furious at this point. But he needed time to think. He needed time to figure out his next move.

He saw very little option at the moment.

Jeanne closed her eyes and sighed. With a shake of her head, she took to the fence, and began to climb it until she came beside her son.

"Gaël," she pleaded. "Just come home, honey. There's several serial killers running around. It's nighttime. Do you think you can take on a rogue werewolf by yourself if he came charging at you? What do you think your father and I would do if you were bitten?" She frowned heavily at him. "The reason your father took you away was because we wanted you to be safe, Gaël."

Gael moved awkwardly away from his mother as she climbed up. "Yeah well. I would rather not be safe and have a family that is together than this broken shit we have now." He grumbled. "But then again, mom, you let us know exactly how you felt about family when you decided that the city was more important to you than we were." He spat, his words like venom.

Still, she wasn't blocking his way in the alley anymore, so he released the fence and landed hard on his feet, turning to start off running again, going back the way he had come.

She'd anticipated this move, and had dropped to the ground with him, barely behind. "And why is it out of all the places you could have gone, you came here?" she rasped, reaching a hand out to catch Gaël's collar and firmly pull him back.

The boy coughed as the shirt gagged him. He raised both hands as someone would do if caught by the police. "Ya gonna arrest me for coming back to the city where my last happy memories are? Then so be it. I'm guilty as charged."

He looked over his shoulder, his grey hues like angry storm clouds as he glared at his mother. "Take me away, detective."

Jeanne gave Gaël a steely glare of her own. "Arrest you?" Jeanne gave him an exasperated chuckle. "Son, the only thing you've done wrong is royally piss your parents off. I'm bringing you to the house."

Her grip came to the back of his neck with a grip like metal pliers. There was a pause before she tried to guide him.

"Welcome home, though. You could have just asked to come back, y'know."

"Actually, no I couldn't. Dad wouldn't let me come. Long story." He grumbled.

As every kid knows, when your parents have you in this grip, it is worse than being handcuffed. Its almost as if you have no resistance against it, and you're forced to do things against your will.

So when his mom's vice-grip grabbed the back of his neck, he sighed and complied with her leading him away.

He did, however, flinch at a thought. "You aren't sending me back, are you..?"

Jeanne raised a brow as she lead them out of the alleyway, then down the sidewalk to her car. Dad wouldn't let him come, eh?

She sighed, looking ahead of them. "We'll... talk about it at the house. I need to call your father."

Gael sighed and opened up the car door, and just flopped into the car seat. "Fine. Whatever." He grumbled, buckling his seat belt and looking out the window like any angsty teenager did when things didn't go their way.

The car rolled up in front of Jeanne's house. It was almost exactly as Gael would remember it, though the paint was peeling a little bit here and there on the outside, and the oak rocking chair was an addition next to the chain swinging chair upon the porch. The porch itself stretched to both sides of the house, which was a reasonably nice size.

It had been meant to be a family house. Both Jeanne and her husband had paid for it after their marriage. It had the ground floor that included a hall with a bathroom, to the right, a living room with a small TV, further down the hall, a dining room, and the room over was a kitchen. To the right of the kitchen was a guest bedroom. Upstairs, there was an hexagonal room with three bedroom doors facing one another. The windows in each room were huge. Some covered a whole wall. There was also a danky old basement, but Jeanne never had much use for it.

They'd been inside fifteen minutes, but the detective was already calling up her husband. There'd been a little of a heated debate, but the couple never did argue so much. It wasn't good if they did, she always said. Their relationship was past that.

Jeanne snapped close her phone and stomped up the stairs, to Gael's room. She braced against the doorframe and gave him a long, drawn look.

"I'm signing you up for school when the semester starts, and later this week we're getting you a gun, licensed for it, and I'm giving you lessons on gun safety and usage. I know you're going to get yourself in trouble no matter what I do to prevent it. The least I can do is make sure you can take care of yourself here."

Gael had been listening at his door, but when he heard his mother storming up the stairs, he hopped into bed and acted uninterested. He honestly hadn't heard much of anything with the conversation between his mom and dad. So he really expected that he was going to be shipped back.

"You are so unfair! You don't know what its like ther--" He started to say, stopping way too late. "Wait.. I'm staying?" He blinked, confusion on his face. "You're letting me stay? Really?!"

Then he realized how immature he sounded and then reigned in his emotions. "Yeah, okay.. Fine, whatever." He said, failing to hide his excitement.

For the first time since he'd come home, Jeanne smiled, her shoulders bobbling in a laugh. She spread her arms out and walked toward her ton, taking his face in her hands so she could lay a big, sloppy kiss on his cheek. "You are still in soooo much trouuuble!" she said lovingly, hugging his head to her chest. "But mommy is so glad you're home. You've gotten so tall."

"Moooom!" He complained, failing to shrug her off. He sighed and was trapped to her chest.

"I can't breathe." He said, his words muffled though he was being a bit over dramatic. "Y-you're smothering me to death. I knew you were mad, but I didn't think you actually wanted to kill me. And don't get me started about loving me to death.."

"Mmmkay honey. Whatever you say," chuckled Jeanne, running her fingers through Gael's hair. "Oh, and we're buying a kitten at some point," she said, letting the boy go. "And I'm telling everyone it's because you wanted it."

"What?!" The boy looked horrified. "Mom, you can't do that! Do you want me to have to surrender my man card already?!"