Despicably Fluffy
Late Night Calls
A Despicable Me 2 fanfiction. All characters herein are copyright to Illumination Entertainment and Universal Studios. Only the idea for the story is mine so please do not sue me.
So, I didn't ever think I intended this to be more than just a little one-shot, sweet story…but as I was going over some old files of mine, I found a file named and read over it. Turns out, I guess at some point, I intended this to be a four-part series of short stories mostly about Lucy and the girls. So, deciding that I would probably obsess over not finishing these if I didn't do something, I started typing up the rest of the chapters based on the general ideas listed in the file I found. I'm giving out my disclaimer now that I have NOT SEEN Despicable Me 3 or the Minions Movie, so elements in movies are not addressed in these shorts but hopefully the reader can enjoy them just the same.
Thank you and enjoy the next installment of the Despicably Fluffy: Late Night Calls
Chapter 2: Three Sheets to the Wind
BUZZ!
A bright glow of bluish light lit up the darkness of the bedroom.
BUZZ BUZZ!
The vibrating machine on the bedside dresser did little to wake the beds sleeping occupants.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ!
The more frantic and frequent nature of the offending noise was finally able to wake one of the previous stated occupants from slumber. Reaching up and taking the phone off the dresser, former Agent Wilde, now Mrs. Gru, sleepily unlocked her phone and eyed the messenger texts. The brightness from the backlight on the phone was too much for her eyes and Lucy found herself squinting and blinking at the blurry words on the screen.
BUZZ!
The infernal device buzzed again, and Lucy sighed. Obviously, whoever was texting her, was determined to reach her tonight. And at an ungodly hour!
BUZZ BUZZ!
She pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut tight a few moments before forcing them open wide. She focused her attention on the lighted screen and forced her eyes to adjust to the brightness. It was a series of text messages…all sent from the same cell number. Edith's. Lucy felt her heart drop.
Edith had left to spend the night at a friend's house earlier that evening…why would she be texting in the middle of the night?
She felt her husband, Gru, stir beside her. Deciding not to wake him until she knew what was going on, she hopped out of bed, donned her robe, and went to the bathroom so she could read the text's fully without disturbing him.
She scrolled through them quickly, wanting to get to the heart of the problem…
{Mom?} – E 2:34 AM
{Hey Mom.}
{Please Answer} – E 2:36 AM
{Mom I'm sorry for waking you…}
{…}
{I'm sorry}
{ : - ( } – E 2:40 AM
{Momma...please come get me…} – E 2:45 AM
{I'm sorry, please don't be mad}
{ : -( } – E 2:47 AM
Lucy quickly texted back, her fingers and hands shaking! Her mind started imagining all kinds of horrible scenarios that could have happened to her middle daughter and she was berating herself for not being more aware and waking faster!
[EDITH?! Sweetheart, are you okay?] – L 3:01 AM
{Mom? Sorry I woke you up…} – E 3:01 AM
[Oh Sweetie, it's fine. I'm not mad. Are you okay?] – L 3:02 AM
{…}
There was a pregnant pause in the texts as Lucy waited impatiently for Edith to respond. Lucy hated those stupid dancing dots…it was scary waiting, especially when Edith was being so vague.
{Can I call you?}
{Please?}
{: - (} – E 3:05 AM
[Of course, Sweetie. Anytime!] – L 3:05 AM
Lucy frowned. Edith wasn't telling her what was wrong…that wasn't like her. Of all her adopted daughters, she had the best relationship with Edith. The tomboy(ish), ninja-loving middle child, reminded her so much of herself when she'd been a young girl growing up, so she felt a stronger connection to her than her sisters.
Granted, Edith wasn't the rambunctious little 9-year-old she'd been when they'd first met, but she was still Lucy's little girl, regardless of what her recent 15th birthday suggested…
ZZZZZZ!ZZZZZZ!ZZZZZZ!ZZZZ!
Lucy jumped feeling her phone vibrating with the incoming call. She answered it, quietly.
"Hello? Mom?" Edith's voice sounded scratchy and tired over the phone and Lucy frowned again.
"Edith, Sweetie, are you alright? You sound exhausted? Are you feeling sick?" Lucy rambled off questions, like any concerned parent would when their kid was calling them in the middle of the night.
There was a long pause and Lucy could hear the sounds of retching in the background. She made a face but didn't say anything until she heard Edith's voice again.
"Mom, can you come pick me up…I want to come home…" she sounded so pitiful.
And more than a little upset…
Lucy nodded a moment, before realizing Edith could not see her gesture. So she voiced her agreement instead.
"Of course, Sweetie. I'll be there as soon as I can…" she paused and glanced at the time on the phone.
"I'll be there in about 15 minutes. Is that soon enough?" Lucy asked.
She heard shuffling around and then Edith answered,
"Yeah that's fine. Thanks mom…"
"Okay, I'll see you in 15. Love you, Sweetie."
Another brief pause and then Edith said,
"Love you too, Momma."
Lucy's frown deepened. Edith didn't usually call her 'momma', unless something bad was bothering her, she'd done something very wrong and was asking for forgiveness, or it was close to a gift getting holiday…
And she also didn't know why Edith was wanting to come home in the middle of the night, but very unpleasant scenarios kept running through her head. The least of which was a prank that had gone wrong, and the worst of which…Lucy didn't even want to think about!
Dressing quickly and quietly, she slipped out of the bedroom, and into the massive hallway. She crept down the stairs and moved to the coat rack to grab her purse and keys. Unfortunately, doing so in the dark was harder than she'd remembered. The keys fell from her hand and made a loud CHING sound as they hit the tile floor.
She cringed at the loud sound. Granted it wasn't that loud, but in a silent house in the middle of the night, a pin dropping would sound like a timpani thundering. She waited a few seconds to see if anyone investigated the noise. After a few moments, Lucy let out a sigh. She was in the clear.
Or so she thought.
As she turned to open the door she heard a voice behind her,
"Mom? What are you doing up so late?"
Lucy winced.
Well…she'd almost made it.
She sighed and turned to face her oldest daughter. Margo's eyes shone with worry and concern. The tall girl cocked her head to the side.
"Is everything alright, mom?"
Lucy stared at her daughter, unsure of what to say, or do. Lucy and Gru had made it a habit not to lie to the girls, and she wasn't about to start now. Maybe if she confided in Margo, then her eldest could shed some light on Edith's behavior. She took a deep breath, and pursed her lips.
"Edith wants to come home, Margo. I'm just going to pick her up."
Lucy watched Margo's eyebrows knit together and her countenance drop. She heard Margo utter a nasty curse word under her breath and Lucy admonished her.
"Margo! Watch your language."
Margo grimaced,
"Sorry, mom. But my sister is an all-time idiot."
Lucy raised a brow,
"Care to explain why?"
Margo sighed,
"She snuck off to that stupid party. I know that's what she did…she talked about going to it the other day in the cafeteria."
Now Lucy started to understand.
"I thought she and some other girls were having a study sleepover thing at her friend's house?"
Margo bit her lip,
"It was ruse. I told Edith that those kinds of parties are bad places…bad things happen there, or they can happen there anyway…but I guess she didn't want to listen to me…"
Lucy put her hand on Margo's shoulder,
"You should have let your dad and I know…we could have talked to her."
Margo shrugged sheepishly,
"I was trying to be sisterly and give her the benefit of the doubt. I thought she would realize it was a bad idea…guess I was wrong…I'm sorry…" Margo mumbled, bowing her head.
Lucy wrapped her arms around her oldest daughter, giving her a motherly hug. She kissed the top of her head.
"You did what you thought was right at the time, Margo. I'm a little hurt you didn't come to your dad or I with this, but I'm not upset at you for trying to help. We can discuss the rest of this later, but right now I need to go get your sister."
Margo nodded, but then she worried her bottom lip.
"What about dad? He'll be really mad when he finds out."
Lucy put up a hand to stop her train of thoughts,
"You don't worry about your dad, Margo. You just go back to bed. I'll handle Gru after I get Edith back home."
Margo nodded and turned on her heel, heading back to her room. Lucy waited until she heard the soft click of the bedroom door shutting, before heading out the front.
Before starting her car, she pulled out her phone and sent one last quick text to let Edith know she was on her way.
[I'll be there in 6 minutes, Sweetie] -L 3:20 AM
She drove towards Edith's friend's house, hoping that was where Edith was. She'd forgotten to make sure and ask where she was before she headed out. She hoped Edith had made it back to her friend's home, or else Lucy would be out a while looking for her.
When she turned into the neighborhood, she noticed that one of the corner houses was still lit up and she could hear the faint thumping of bass music through the air.
She scowled.
That was probably the party that Margo had talked about…and probably the one where Edith had snuck off too…
She slowed her car as she drove by and eyed the occupants venomously. There were high school kids and young adults, probably college students, passed out drunk on the lawn, and a group standing in the shadows off to the side of the house, passing around something that she could only assume was a joint. She scanned the yard quickly, looking for a body that fit Edith's profile, but praying she didn't' see one.
She didn't. But that didn't really ease her worry at all.
She continued to the friend's house, and slowed as she reached the cul-de-sac that the girls house resided on.
Seeing someone sitting on the front steps, Lucy stopped the car in the middle of the street. Her headlights beamed on the person crumpled over a green colored duffle bag, casting an ominous glow, like a police interrogation light. The figure on the steps moved and slowly looked up towards the light. Meeting the young girl's eyes, Lucy felt all the tension and anxiety inside just exhale out of her.
She pulled the car out of the road and parked in front of the house. Lucy got out of the car and ran up to the steps to her daughter. Ignoring the strong smell of alcohol coming from Edith, she threw her arms around the girl and pulled her to her chest, protectively. Edith let her, and she buried her face into Lucy's shirt, gripping it tight in her hands.
Lucy felt the girl shaking. She then heard a soft hiccup followed by broken, harsh sobs.
"I'm s…so…SO…sorry, m..momma…" She cried.
Lucy kissed her daughter's head, tenderly. Lucy felt her own tears forming.
"Shh…it's okay, Sweetie. I'm here…I'm here…"
Edith was never one to give in to emotion. She just wasn't. She was too tough for that…or, so she said. Lucy knew better. She was still a young girl, a young woman, learning and growing. She had emotions, strong ones, and since puberty, hadn't quite known what to do with herself.
Lucy just sat with her on the steps, holding her daughter tight, and offering quiet words of comfort until she felt Edith's sobbing slow. Edith took a ragged breath, pulling back to wipe her runny nose with her sweater sleeve. She looked up into Lucy's eyes, sniffling back more tears.
"I'm sorry…" Edith choked out.
Lucy rubbed her back gently, waiting to see if she said anything more. Which she did.
"I'm sorry, mom. I lied to you and dad…I never planned on coming over to study…just wanted to go to the party…" Edith whispered her confession.
Lucy winced slightly, and gave her daughter a look of concern. She knew what could happen at party's like that…she'd been a high school student once, too.
Lucy looked down at her daughter and her heart ached. The bright-eyed and lively teen looked so downcast and disheartened. She watched Edith wipe more tears away from her eyes and bow her head in shame.
"I really screwed up tonight, didn't I?" Edith asked.
Lucy couldn't stand to see her daughter in such a way. She threw an arm around the girl's shoulder and helped her up off the steps.
"Come on, lets get out of here." Lucy said with a soft smile.
Edith looked up at Lucy, confused.
"Aren't you going to get upset at me? Or yell at me? Anything?" Edith asked, her voice still hoarse from crying and vomiting earlier.
Lucy shook her head and led her daughter back to the car. She tossed the girl's bag into the back seat. Edith stood, dumbstruck as Lucy walked to the other side of the car and got in, without saying anything else. Edith hopped into the passenger side and looked at her mother, incredulously.
"But you're supposed to be furious with me, aren't you? I mean, I snuck away from my friend's house in the middle of the night, to go to a party I wasn't supposed to go too…AND I drank so much alcohol there I made myself sick! Aren't you at least going to ground me for a year?"
Lucy pursed her lips, started the car and began driving down the street without saying anything more to her daughter. Edith tilted her head to the side, unsure what Lucy was thinking.
"Are you so mad at me that you don't want to talk to me anymore?"
Lucy sighed and bowed her head. She couldn't take the pained sound of her daughter's voice. She wasn't being quiet to punish the girl, but mostly because she didn't know what to say…But now she knew!
She stopped the car and pulled over. She turned in her seat and took her daughter's hands in hers.
"Now, you listen here, Miss Edith Gru! I love you with my whole heart! Your father loves you with his whole heart! And nothing you did or will ever do could change that!"
"But I…" Edith tried to interrupt.
"Ah, ah, ah, let me finish…" Lucy admonished.
Edith clamped her mouth shut.
"You snuck away and went to a party you knew you shouldn't go too…that is bad, and I should ground you for that, but…you know what you did was wrong, and you apologized. You drank yourself sick while you were there…another reason I should ground you until you're in college, but I think you punished yourself enough with that one." Lucy gave her knowing look and Edith flushed.
"As a good mom I should probably ground you for at least a week and forbid you from doing something you really want to do, but I just don't feel that I need too, Edith. I'm not being lax, I can just see that you feel worse about this right now, than if I were to punish you in some way."
Edith winced, and her gaze fell to the floorboard.
"Are you going to tell dad?"
Lucy pursed her lips. She actually hadn't thought about that. The wifely instinct in her told her that it was her duty to share everything with her husband, especially when it came to the girls, and even more so, when handling these kinds of moments…
However, her motherly instinct said that it would be best to just keep this between the two of them (well, three because Margo was aware too).
Making up her mind, Lucy reached out and wiped a streaking tear off Edith's face.
"How about, for now…we just keep this between the two of us. Whenever you feel ready to tell your father, I'll be there for moral support and encouragement."
Edith was at a loss for words! Ecstatically, she threw her arms around her mother and hugged her tight! She buried her face into her mother's shirt and started to cry again.
"Thank you so much, Momma! I promise I'll do better. And I'll never go to parties like that again and I'm never EVER drinking anything with alcohol ever again!" Edith rambled on her promises.
Lucy laughed quietly and hugged her daughter back.
After disengaging from the hug, Lucy drove the two of them back home.
Unbeknownst to her, Gru was waiting up in the kitchen with two steaming cups of coffee and one full hot cocoa. When the two women got home, he greeted them with their cups, a smirk, and knowing eyes. But he didn't press the issue. Not even when Edith told him that she'd gotten sick on too much junk food and Lucy backed her story. He knew something else had happened too, but he'd let his daughter and wife tell him in their own time…
They sent Edith off to bed, after she gave them both giant bear hugs and good night kisses (something she hadn't done since she was 10!).
And Gru and Lucy made it back to their own room about 5:45 AM. Getting settled, Gru wrapped an arm around his wife and kissed her temple,
"So…are you going to tell me what really happened earlier?"
Lucy smiled softly, but shook her head,
"Sorry, Sweetheart, I took a mother's oath of secrecy. Don't worry though, Edith will tell you when she's ready…"
Gru made a soft but agitated sounding noise,
"Alright. If you say so, Lucy…I trust you."
Lucy smiled and turned in his arms facing him. She kissed him soundly
"Good. You should trust your daughter too."
Gru sighed,
"I do trust my daughter. Just like I trust that nothing bad happens when my wife leaves at 3:30 AM, in the middle of the night, without letting her devoted husband know where she is going…"
Lucy winced then offered a cheeky grin.
"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think we'll ever have to worry about Edith becoming soused anytime soon…"
Gru rolled his eyes and groaned before kissing his wife passionately,
"No…that doesn't really make me feel better at all. But, as you say…she'll tell me when she's ready…"
As Lucy began to drift off, her thoughts settled on her middle daughter, now asleep and safe down the hall.
She was sure Edith would keep good on her promises…at least until she got to college, Lucy thought with a grin.
'And for that…I'm most certainly grateful.'
There you have it! Chapter 2 of Late Night Calls.
I have two other chapters in mind for this story, and that's all. I hope you enjoyed the newest installment and look for chapter 3 in the near(ish) future.
Thank you for reading!
Peace and Blessings Upon You!
Gam3 0n!