I can still smell momma's cookin' in the kitchen

While most of the girls in Nick’s harem were enjoying themselves at the slumber party, the two women who had chosen not to attend were occupied with something else.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was crouched over her misshapen pottery bowl like a gargoyle, tapping the end of her paintbrush against her chin. Flecks of pottery glaze covered her face and clothing but she ignored all of that, focusing intently on properly coloring her creation.

If you asked Amelia, there was nothing “proper” about the color scheme the assassin had picked out. It looked like someone had opened up a bag of skittles and left it out in the sun, and all the colors had fused together in a runny, drippy blob of colorful sugar. Which wasn’t a bad description for Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin herself now that the teacher thought about it, considering the gaudy clothing she’d chosen for her impromptu follow-up “date” with Nick.

But the older woman kept her opinions to herself. While the assassin’s creation certainly did not fit Amelia’s sense of aesthetics, she was well aware of the subjectivity inherent in art, and had no intention of making a fuss about the other girl’s ideas. Just because she didn’t find it appealing, that didn’t mean the work itself was bad.

…In theory, anyway. Practically, in a hypothetical reality where Amelia taught pottery instead of the wide range of subjects she did teach, the assassin’s creation would have received a failing grade. Amelia just couldn’t believe anyone would genuinely like that monstrosity purely on the merit of the art itself.

“Wow, that… you really used a lot of colors, huh?” Nick said, his voice shaky with **** encouragement and support as he proved Amelia’s point for her. “I think it’s really unique!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin raised her head and flashed a toothy smile, beaming with pride even though she must have known how poorly her work looked.

Amelia felt a swell of pride in her own breast as well.

I could never do something like that. Everyone always said that being a parent meant providing unconditional support and love to a child, no matter what. And maybe if Amelia had been a part of her stepson’s life when he was still in the phase of making crayon doodles and blobs of color for elementary art class, she would have done the same. But by the time Amelia had gotten together with Nick’s father, he had already grown out of that phase. Those crayon drawings of his had been put up on the fridge by another woman, and taken down long before she ever stepped foot in that house.

A pang of pain thrummed in her chest as she remembered how hard those days were, starting out.

How did you support him? I never knew. Would you have been able to smile like that if he showed you something so hideous? Would you have told him he did a good job, even if you didn’t believe it? Or, as his mother, would you have genuinely believed that anything he made was beautiful?

Those thoughts didn’t pass through Amelia’s mind often, but when they did, it sent her towards a dark place. Recently though, unfortunately, she had been having more and more of them. Because of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s relationship with her stepson, Amelia’s Maternal Instinct transformation made her see the mute assassin as her own child as well. Which was how she knew that it was not in her to blindly praise the efforts of her child- if she was capable of something like that, then she wouldn’t look at that bowl and see it as a hideous **** on art as a medium of self-expression.

So she kept her thoughts to herself, and reminded herself that she was no good as a mother in that regard, either.

Which was sadly true for a lot of things.

What is the term for this? Oh, yes. I’m being a “third wheel”, aren’t I? Amelia had come along on this “date” because she had nothing better to do with her time tonight, and also because she felt somewhat worried about how things would go between Nick and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, due to what happened earlier.

But now she was thinking she shouldn’t have bothered. Nick, thankfully, seemed to know what he was doing, and since the two of them could focus on putting the finishing touches on their pottery, they had something to occupy their time and bond over, like they were doing right now.

Meanwhile, Amelia was just standing in the corner, looking over them like some kind of helicopter mother. It made her a little nauseous if she was being honest.

“What do you think of mine?” Nick asked the assassin.

Amelia nodded slightly, even though he wasn’t looking at her. Well done. Take the attention off of her work and put it on yours. That will draw her in, and that way, you won’t have to **** out any more praise for what she made.

Nick was good at putting the focus on himself. She just wished he hadn’t done so in a way that was clearly trying to make himself the butt of the joke. She could sense what he was trying to do, and she never would have tolerated it from a partner of her own, should she have been on a date with him!

Self-deprecation isn’t being nice, Nicholas. Pointing at your own mistakes and trying to get the other party to laugh at them so they feel better about their own can’t take the place of genuine connection. I know your heart is in the right place, but you shouldn’t have to take an emotional hit just to keep the other party happy on your date together.

Even though Amelia felt that way herself, she didn’t say anything. Not even when Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin scrunched up her face in disapproval.

It wasn’t her place. And it might only serve to upset him.

Thankfully, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was an easy woman to please. She raised her head and nodded, clearly approving of what he’d made.

Amelia honestly didn’t know if she was just being nice, or if her sense of aesthetics was so warped that she genuinely did like what she was looking at.

If it is a lie… then even she is better at that than I am. Without even being able to speak. And if it isn’t… well. The smallest of smiles tugged at Amelia’s lips. She decided to hope that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin really did like Nick’s “legally entitled to carry the name bowl in spite of pending lawsuits to the contrary”.

The art world may take a hit, but I would prefer that he be with someone who does genuinely appreciate his hard work. In a way that I sadly cannot.

If only she could have received one of those crayon drawings for the refrigerator. Maybe she would have cherished it the way a mother should. But she had long-since passed the point in her life where something like that was a possibility.

Not that it ever was.

“…Amelia?”

The older woman flinched, suddenly shaken from the world of nostalgic musing and brought back to the pottery studio. She blinked as the room around her came back into focus, and Nick’s face appeared in front of her.

“We’re done,” he said, slightly timid. “We’re ready to go now, if you want.”

Already? How long had Amelia spent reminiscing about a life that had long passed her by? Nick’s stepmother adjusted her glasses and surreptitiously peeked past him to get a look at the studio table the two of them had been working at.

“You’ve finished?” She asked nonchalantly.

Nick nodded. “The faerie put them in the kiln again… or a different kiln, maybe…” He wasn’t an artist, he had no idea. “To dry the glaze and paint and stuff. I had no idea it took so long to make pottery!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded in agreement.

“I see… so it will be done tomorrow, then?” Amelia asked, raising her eyebrow. She doubted that the other women in Nick’s harem would be fine with him taking Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin on a third date in a row.

Not to mention that his day will be spent with that woman. As if that selfish brat would ever stand to let someone else take her day with Nicholas. While Amelia knew that Vivian was far from the spoiled trust fund babies and pampered pseudo-nobility that the made up the majority of her classes, she knew the other woman’s shortcomings all too well. The heiress could be nice and generous if she wanted to be- some could even describe her actions and behaviors as gregarious and compassionate, in the absence of personal interest.

But that was only as far as money was concerned. When it came to other people, it was an entirely different story.

Vivian didn’t even like sharing her butler. There was absolutely zero chance of her sharing what little time with Nick she got, in Amelia’s eyes.

But again, those thoughts were ones Amelia kept to herself.

“Hey… Amelia?”

She realized that she had become lost in her own thoughts again. Feeling her face heat up slightly, Amelia shook her head. “Apologies for being so… distracted,” she said gently. “It has been… a very long day.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Nick said, holding up his hands. “I’m sorry I dragged you out like this. There’s still a little time, we can go somewhere you would enjoy-”

“Don’t apologize,” Amelia sharply replied. Her tone immediately softened as she tried to string together a sentence of words that would better describe her feelings to her stepson. “I am… not bothered by the time we spent together here.”

Nick was surprised to hear that.

“You… you’re not?” He asked.

Even Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked surprised to hear that.

“No I am not,” Amelia said again, stronger this time. She shook her head. “Seeing the two of you together like this, supporting and encouraging one another…”

There was a word that she was looking for. And as a teacher, in theory, she should know a great many words, but…

Ah. That’s it. That’s what this is.

Amelia cleared her throat and tried again. “Seeing the two of you working together so well, providing encouragement to one another, I feel nothing but pride.”

Nick’s eyes widened. For a moment, he was as mute as Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

“…Thanks, Amelia,” he stammered, scratching his cheek. He could feel his face burning. Even as an adult, it was still embarrassing to be praised by his stepmother, especially since Amelia had a very poor sense of appropriate time and place. As a teenager he imagined in his mind countless embarrassing encounters between her and a hypothetical girl he was dating, where she would read off a list of his achievements like some pro/con sheet while his date just sat there cringing.

But parents were supposed to be embarrassing. Especially parents with a poor sense of proper societal expectations, like his stepmother.

And still… Nick didn’t mind the embarrassment right now. Just hearing her say she was proud of him meant the world to him, even if he already knew that was the case.

As for Amelia herself, she just looked confused.

“You do not need to thank me,” she said, adjusting her glasses awkwardly. “I was simply stating the truth. That is all.”

Nick couldn’t help but smile. “Still, thank you,” he said. “So, um… are you ready to go? The others are still probably hanging out in the lounge, but if you wanted me to drop you off-”

Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin pounced, wrapping her arm tightly around his and hugging him close. She puffed up her cheeks in irritation and narrowed her eyes.

“H-huh?” Nick was momentarily at a loss for words. The trained killer shook her head sharply, her bright blue eyes glaring daggers into him.

“…It would appear that she is not ready for this date of yours to end,” Amelia informed her confused stepson. She anticipated something like this would arise, unfortunately.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded in agreement and tightened her grip on Nick’s arm.

“What… it’s almost curfew, though,” Nick pointed out. “I-I need to get back to the Master’s Suite in, like, an hour. We can go get dinner, I guess, but after that…”

Another shake of the head from the assassin.

“That… is not what she wants,” Amelia translated. She may not be any better than Nick when it came to precisely understanding the silent assassin, but she could still read through the girl’s intentions with relative accuracy. “I believe that she wishes to accompany you back up to the Master’s Suite. Seeing as how you would be spending the night alone otherwise.”

Nick’s eyes widened and he stared at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin in shock. The slender girl smirked and nodded her head, winking at Amelia.

As anticipated.

Just as Amelia had a good grasp of Vivian’s possessiveness, her newest student was no slouch in that department either. If Nick had not anticipated that the clingy killer would use Gina’s party as an excuse to cozy up to him and spend a second night together, then he was truly blind to reality.

Or perhaps it was just wishful thinking on his part, Amelia chose to believe.

“We… we can’t just…” Nick stammered, his face heating up. True, he hadn’t been a fan of the idea of spending a night alone in the empty Master’s Suite, especially considering he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d truly gone to bed alone- but the sudden proposition from his bedmate of the previous night had taken him by surprise.

“You do not need to worry,” Amelia said, stepping forward and holding her head up high, putting herself before the two of them. “I will be joining you as well, if you would have me.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened in surprise. But that was nothing compared to the shocked reaction from Nick himself. His jaw practically unhinged like that of a snake as he stared at his stepmother, trying to process what he’d just heard.

Even the faerie looked shocked.

Amelia frowned. Perhaps I did not say that the way I intended, she considered. “To be clear, I am obviously not proposing to engage in any kind of illicit activities with you, of course,” she clarified, trying to ignore the image of Nick’s penis that popped unbidden into her head. She bit the inside of her cheek. “I meant to join you merely as a dinner partner. After all, it is not as though Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin is prepared to cook you a meal, is it?”

The assassin looked a little miffed at that statement, but even if she could talk it wasn’t like she could really refute it. As for Nick, it sailed over his head completely. He was just relieved to hear that his stepmother wasn’t talking about having sex with him.

That almost could have gone really badly, he thought, shivering a little. I can’t believe I actually thought she meant-!

“…That would be great, Amelia, thanks,” Nick said, forcing a smile to his face as he tried to push past the feeling of awkwardness that the misunderstanding had filled him with. “Thank you for offering.”

Amelia nodded slightly, just as relieved as he was that they’d moved past her previous slip-up, even if she didn’t say as much. “Indeed. Shall we go, then?”

The threesome headed back out into the Shopping District, and made their way back to the elevator in relative silence. Nick was too flustered to say anything, Amelia never spoke unless she saw the need to do so, and the only one of the three of them that would have been singing her excitement to everyone in a ten-block radius was incapable of doing so.

Needless to say when the elevator finally reached the Master’s Suite and Amelia departed to the kitchen to begin preparing a meal for her stepson, Nick was relieved.

And before he knew it, that would be made true in more ways than one.

It took Amelia some time to come up with a dish that would best suit her stepson’s tastes. While she had spent several years since returning home practicing her culinary skills, she certainly couldn’t compete with the likes of Mary or Holly. If she were being honest, it might have even been a wiser choice for Nick to request a meal from the faeries, as he had done in the early rounds. Even Dani and Gina, with their recent ventures into the culinary arts, could probably whip up something tastier than Amelia at her best.

But that was immaterial.

She was still Nick’s mother in a sense of the term, and she wanted to make a meal for him. And as his mother, even being a stepmother, that was well within her right.

Finally, she decided on an old classic.

When Amelia had first introduced Nick to the dish known as shepherd’s pie, or cottage pie, as it was sometimes referred, it had sadly not been through cooking of her own. She had taken her family to a restaurant in the city that served cuisine from her part of the world, and she would have been lying if she said that no small part of her had been concerned that her stepson wouldn’t like it.

She may not have showed such on her face, but Amelia had been very worried about her role as Nick’s stepmother back in those days. She had still been getting used to the responsibility of caring for another human being, and she’d dreaded at the time that he would be so disgusted with her “weird foods” that he wouldn’t ever accept her as a maternal figure.

Of course, looking back on it now, such fears were certainly childish in their own ways. But Amelia had been young, ****, and deeply, deeply in love, both with her husband and the boy she cherished as the son she never had.

Which was why that memory of him liking the taste was a precious one for her, and one of the reasons that shepherd’s pie had been one of the first things she’d trained herself to be able to cook.

She just hoped that Nick would like her own spin on things. And as for Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, well, she could only do so much. Hopefully asking the faeries for some ice cream would be enough.

In the end, though, when her efforts were complete and she stepped out of the kitchen to inform her stepson that dinner was ready, she came upon a sight she hadn’t been expecting at the time, but in retrospect she really should have foreseen.

Specifically, her stepson in the process of sampling Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s “shepherd’s pie” right there on the dining room table.