The Next Day…
Natalie woke up, took a nice hot bath and ate a hearty breakfast before lazing around for a bit with Anastasia before getting ready. Finding a modest set of outfits among the ones Ezraphel made was something of a feat since the majority of her new outfits tend to be geared towards enticing men. Luckily Stanley managed to drill restraint into the Lilim so thoroughly that she became considerate enough to put in some casual clothing that wouldn't be considered scandalous.
Because of this Natalie found a pair of tight blue pants, black boots and a sleeveless white blouse with frills at the end, flower patterns along the sides with a small laced up front. Her naturally shiny brown hair was curled at the end and rested just at her shoulder. With the application of her carefully practiced illusion magic her skin became a normal and healthy pallor while her eyes became a soft brown.
After reconfirming through a full length mirror that she did indeed look absolutely fabulous even as a 'normal' human Natalie was escorted via doorway portal to where her car was kept. Ezraphel left her blue Nissan Sentra on a nearby street outside the view of any cameras and with a subtle spell for the few people around to ignore it.
It turned out to be a good call on her part since the car itself would definitely draw some attention if left alone. Apparently Ezraphel had a lot of free time and decided to use it to spruce up the vehicle. It was actually a little more than that since the vehicle now resembled what it looked like when she bought it off the lot. Both the interior and exterior looked as if it were factory made.
It even somehow had that new car smell.
'She definitely used magic to do more than clean this thing.'
Not that Natalie minded this as there were good odds he would have asked to get the thing cleaned up before she sat her luscious ass inside. That said Ezraphel did her a huge favor by going extra hard on the magical restoration of her vehicle. The drive to her mother's apartment took close to an hour incorporating distance, traffic and a stop for gas.
"Alright Natalie it's just a friendly chat with mom, you've done these plenty of times before, no pressure."
After rechecking her appearance in the rearview mirror Natalie exited the car and approached the apartment building.
Moments Later…
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
The door opened and Natalie was greeted by her mother who upon seeing her could only look on dumbfounded.
"Natalie?"
She expected as much, unlike her brother who didn't care much for his appearance Natalie was very much aware of the drastic differences between her current appearance even under an illusion spell and what she used to look like. She could have made herself look just as she did pre-transformation however her inherent vanity just wouldn't allow her to go through with it. Thus she settled for merely lessening her supernatural charm while getting rid of the corpse look basically rendering her the human version of her Mamono form.
"Yeah" the younger woman spoke as her mother let her inside the room "a bunch of stuff happened recently and I decided to change my look. What do you think?"
"You look amazing" Dana spoke as she marveled her eldest daughter's appearance "like Stanley."
Natalie quirked her lips "I know what you mean. Freaked me out when I saw him."
"You visited your brother recently?"
"Define recently?" she chuckled a bit "but yeah I've seen the miracle with my own eyes."
Her mother had a strange expression on her face as she asked "then did you meet his girlfriend?"
'Ah, here we go.'
"I did meet Ezraphel yes" she informed before preemptively cutting off any further questions by continuing "but before we start talking about Stan and his girlfriend I need to know what happened when you met up with Stan."
Natalie's words made her mother's frown become more pronounced at those words.
'I definitely have my work cut out for me.'
Dana obliged her request and the two went deeper into the dwelling which was a spacious the two bedroom apartment. The kitchen and living room shared an open space while a small dinner table with four chairs sat in the kitchen space.
'I forgot how much I hate this place.'
There wasn't anything inherently wrong with the apartment, it was certainly better than her last one. The thing is Natalie would rather her mother live in a proper mortgaged house in a good community. Dana Berkowitz could certainly afford a proper house with the money she received from the divorce settlement as well as Stanley's not-so-anonymous donation. In fact she did own real estate and collected rent but chose to settle for a modest apartment instead. According to her she didn't need the extra space considering she would be living alone for the most part with the only guest who stayed beyond a few hours being her youngest daughter, Wendy.
The two sequestered themselves on the chair and table located in the kitchen space and Dana didn't waste any time. For the next hour she went on to talk about her meeting with Stan. First she spoke of how surprised she was initially when he called her, how she felt a flicker of hope at rekindling their relationship and how nervous and uncertain she was leading up to the start of the meeting.
From their she went over the meeting itself including her thoughts on his appearance and how it heavily contrasted with how she remembered him to be when she last saw him in person. She went over their discussions from what he got up to over the years and any changes in his personal life. After finishing her tale Dana got back to the topic she was most interested in at the moment and started by asking Natalie a poignant question.
"What can you tell me about Stanley's girlfriend?"
"Didn't he say anything about her?"
Natalie knew he must have but for some reason her mother failed to mention that fact in her retelling.
"Oh he couldn't stop singing her praises" the older woman informed "if I'm being honest I find his admiration for this woman to be a little concerning."
'Jesus Stan' Natalie internally groaned.
Of all the things she thought Stan could do to gain their mother's suspicion Natalie would never imagine that it would be for glazing. Stanley wouldn't excessively praise anyone unless it involved his hobbies so of course him doing it for a woman would be suspicious.
'Okay so mom thinks Stan's compromised'
Which wasn't exactly wrong but...
"You're worried she might be taking advantage of him."
"I am" she nodded then added "but I am prepared to be wrong."
"Well as someone who has gotten to know the woman in question I can assure you that you don't have anything to worry about."
"Are you sure?" Dana insisted causing Natalie to half groan.
"I spent a few days at their house mom, trust me if she wasn't good for him you would have heard about it."
"Why didn't I hear about it before?"
"Because he made me promise not to tell you anything because he'll do it himself" she paused "and he did."
Dana obviously wasn't a fan of that so Natalie moved on.
"Look mom I don't know what exactly Stan said about her to make you suspicious but you won't trust his judgment then trust mine" Natalie began looking at her mother sternly "I've gotten to know the girl during my stay at Stan's house and I can confirm that Ezraphel's the real deal. She genuinely loves Stan and will literally do anything for him."
"…"
"Let me reiterate: Stan's not getting taken for a ride, Ezraphel's not running a scam, she's taking advantage of him and she's definitely not a bad influence. She's a nice girl and I think you'll really like her when you eventually meet her."
At the end of her daughter's speech Dana pursed her lips "alright, I will take you at your word and reserve any judgment for when I meet her."
Natalie almost sighed at this 'sorry Ez that's all I can do for now.'
"Great, now can we talk about something else?"
"Stanley implied that you were going through a crisis."
If Natalie had a working heart it would have skipped a beat.
"Did he actually say crisis?"
"No but I read between the lines" she answered.
She silently cursed her brother even as she retained her calm answering "well as you can see I'm doing fine."
Dana frowned obviously not buying it and to make her case she spoke "before today I've noticed for some time now that you seemed…not alright. I wanted to ask but decided not to pry because I trust you'd tell me what was wrong eventually."
At her words Natalie winced having nearly forgotten that she didn't immediately stop meeting with or communicating with her mother following her diagnoses and failed treatment. First there was a wait list for the treatment in question plus her health insurance refused to cover the expenses so she had to deal with that before she was eventually forced to dip into her savings. The whole process was tedious and god awful enough that she could definitely see how the experience would make her seem 'not alright' as her mother put it.
Unbeknownst to her daughter's thoughts Dana continued "and then you started putting off our meetings or canceling them and when we do meet up you always look preoccupied with something."
'Right, that's when I started chemo' she sighed internally 'Jesus, was I really that bad?'
She remembered being so weak that she couldn't even pick up the phone let alone make a call or text. She did get better though and eventually started communicating with her mother again. She had to assure her multiple times that nothing was wrong and made up some bullshit to hide the fact that she was getting treatment for a life threatening illness that was guaranteed to work.
"Then I lost communication with you for a while altogether."
After the chemotherapy failed for a while she started spiraling ignoring everything while she came to grips with her imminent death.
"This is the first time I've seen you in months Natalie. I thought something bad had happened, that you were dealing with something but then you show up at my door looking like this…" she trailed off shaking her head "now I don't know what to think. So please, tell me what's going on."
"…"
Natalie didn't reply immediately instead taking a moment to carefully think over her options going forward. In truth she had spent a significant amount of time the day before thinking about what she was going to tell her mother. Obviously she wasn't about to reveal her new status as an undead or that she'd been staying at Stan's house for the better part of two months but as for everything else…
'…well I already decided I was going to tell her about it.'
And so she did.
"The truth is last year I got diagnosed with leukemia."
Naturally the news caused Dana to recoil "w-what?"
Natalie continued speaking "the reason why I've been 'preoccupied' and ghosting you all these months is because I was setting up to do chemotherapy and…getting my affairs in order in case things didn't work out."
"Natalie you-" Dana tried to speak only to be interrupted once again by her daughter who continued
"My health insurance fell through" and Dana scowled at the memory "assholes didn't want to cover the procedure so I had to use my savings to pay for it" her expression softened "I..I didn't know if it would work, the doctor didn't give me a guarantee so I quit my job and had to move out of my old apartment"
"…" this time Dana didn't try to speak instead waiting for her to continue.
Natalie swallowed at the look she received from the older woman "after…after everything worked out I've been crashing at a friend's house. They've been helping me get my life back together."
"…"
"And that's it" Natalie finished "that's what's been going on with me these past couple of months."
"…"
Dana said nothing and her expression betrayed nothing which made the disguised Wight fidget in nervousness.
"Please say something."
"I'm sorry I was just processing the fact that my daughter was diagnosed with cancer and didn't tell me about it."
Natalie winced with a mental 'oof.'
"Does Stanley know?"
"He knows now" she looked away "I didn't tell him until after the treatment."
Technically not a lie just like everything she has said so far.
"And the treatment worked" Dana pressed "you don't have cancer anymore?"
Natalie managed to smile regaining her confidence as she answered "I'm completely cancer free and between you and me after going through all that crap I don't think I'm ever going to get sick again."
"Well I'm glad you find this so amusing."
Natalie visibly winced "sorry."
"No. Make no mistake I am happy you aren't in any danger but I feel the need to ask: why didn't you tell me?"
"…because I'm an idiot."
'A prideful idiot.'
"You're not an idiot."
"Yeah well, my reason for not saying anything was stupid in hindsight so sorry if I don't want to talk about it."
"Were you worried about how we'd think of you?"
Natalie flinched before chuckling sardonically 'am I that transparent?'
And suddenly the insecurities that plagued her back when she first got diagnosed resurfaced causing a mental and physical slump. In response Dana got up and made her way over to the still seated Natalie before enveloping her in a hug.
This unexpected gesture surprised the younger woman who could only stammer out "uh, m-mom?"
"Yes"
"Are you mad? T-that I didn't tell you?"
"Oh my 'idiot' daughter I am disappointed and a little hurt you didn't tell me about this but I'm not angry. If anything I'm mad that you would think I would think any less of you for something as small as being scared in a situation like that."
Natalie blinked before she returned the hug realizing that this was the woman who literally raised her. She'd probably seen Natalie at her lowest/most embarrassing points over the course of two whole decades. Why the hell did she believe something like this would change her opinion of her? If anything she could have fucked everything up by not telling her.
'Why the hell am I just realizing this?'
Hindsight is a bitch like that.
After a minute Dana pulled away from their embrace enough to look her in the eye. This time her expression became bit more stern as she spoke.
"By the way I know you're not telling me everything."
Natalie stilled her eyes widened and in the face of both her mother's words and expression she felt her still heart beat for a single second.
"I-I-um-"
Dana pulled fully away shaking her head while giving her sad smile "it's alright Natalie. At this point in y life I'm used to my children keeping secrets from me."
At those words Natalie was mentally startled and a thought occurred or more like it was a series of memories.
'Oh yeah, how could I forget I've never been able to keep a secret from mom.'
Dana Berkowitz was a lot of things but chief among them was perceptive, at least when it came to her children. Natalie remembered Dana as the kind of mother who could look at her or her siblings and immediately knew when something was wrong or when one of them was keeping secrets from her. Granted she might not know the particular details of the situation but she'd know something was up.
And sometimes that's all she'd need.
As a child Natalie remembered her mother calling her out when she made attempts at keep secrets. As a teenager this didn't happened as much which made her believe that she got away with it. It wasn't until she was much older that she began to recognize the signs of her 'forbidden knowledge', namely that knowing glint she'd gain when she knew something was up but chose not to say anything or act on the information. After figuring that out Natalie found in retrospect that she didn't get away with as much as she thought she did in her rebellious youth.
After she started living on her own the times when she was properly scrutinized by her mother became less and somewhere along the line Natalie forgot just how on point her mother's instincts were when it came to reading her. It also didn't help that Dana no longer treated her like a child but a proper adult and that lulled her into a false enough sense of security that she thought she could actually keep things from her.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize. You and Stanley are grown adults now so I shouldn't be expecting you to tell me every single detail about your lives."
The only thing that's changed between her now and her as a child was that her mother chose not to push the issue. It's unfortunate to say that her not doing as such had less to do with them being adults and more to do with her experience having a strained relationship with her two youngest children. Stanley of course was the main culprit however ever since Wendy was caught with marijuana the relationship between the two have soured. It didn't help that her father had fought aggressively for custody of Wendy and managed to win for the most part.
So now Dana felt the need to walk on eggshells around all her children in an attempt to not displease them to the point where they'd up and leaving her. It was sad and ultimately something both Stanley and Ezraphel would have to navigate but ultimately it was a mere speed bump. Frankly Natalie couldn't imagine a world where Ezraphel wouldn't be able to get along with her mother.
…not unless she straight up greets her in her true form or something equally ridiculous.
Still given her reaction to Ezraphel so far the Lilim was going to have an uphill battle trying to get on her good side. The same could be said for Stanley as well since it was getting less likely that he would be up to the task of keeping up the rouse. Unlike her he actually has hang-ups when it came to lying to their mother which was both weird and oddly endearing.
And speaking of their mother she talked a big game about not needing to know every single detail of their lives and alluding to trusting their judgment yet the first thing she tried to do and continued to do was fish for information about Ezraphel. Natalie could already tell her mother won't be satisfied until she interrogates Ezraphel herself, preferable alone without Stan running defense.
'Note to self, need to start looking for a new apartment.'
She did not want to be around when things pop off between Stan, Ezraphel and her mother. Sure she could just hide in a pocket dimension within the house but it was about time she started looking into moving out and getting her life properly on track.
"Oh, before I forget"
Dana interrupted her daughter's thoughts leaving the kitchen for a moment to go into her bedroom. A moment later and she came out the door with a package covered in gift wrapped.
"What's that?" Natalie couldn't help but ask.
"You brother's birthday is in a few days. I'd deliver it to him as a surprise but…" she trailed off looking at Natalie.
Unfortunately her daughter nodded sympathetically "probably not a good idea."
"Oh"
Dana's shoulders slumped by the barest margin causing the disguised Wight to hastily add "not because he wouldn't want to see you. It's just that Ezraphel planned to keep Stan occupied for most of the day."
"How do you know that?"
"We keep in contact with each other. Said she was working on a project for Stan's birthday which involved them going out."
"Ah, I see"
'Sorry mom, maybe next year.'
"I'll drop it off at his house. I'm gonna give him a gift too so it works out."
The conversation following this flowed a lot easier as they went to less heavier topics. After another hour Natalie left her mother's apartment with a promise to call her again and extract an actual date and time from Stanley for when she would visit his house after giving him his present.
All in all things could have gone better but she'll take this as a win in her book.
~To Be Continued~