Who: Charlotte Brand & Lennox Campbell. Special appearance by Mama Campbell What: Surprise (Slightly Awkward) Parental Meeting When: Sunday, April 1 2000. Morning Where: Lennox's Place Warnings: none.
Although Montrose had won the first Neep match yesterday it hadn't gone so well for Lennox, and... Chuck shook her head as she walked downstairs. There was no point dwelling on that again. Especially not after having reassured Lennox that there was still the other two Neep matches, as well as the playoffs to go, and letting him know she certainly didn't doubt his abilities. Not to mention it would ruin what was now a perfectly lovely mood after what had been a rather enjoyable evening.
Entering the kitchen she set about filling the kettle and putting it on, before getting cups for herself and Lennox and the makings for tea. She was humming quietly to herself as she waited for the water to boil. After a few moments of waiting she set the pot for the tea and everything else onto the tray, and as she was turning to head back upstairs she was startled upon seeing an older woman standing in front of her. Fortunately, aside from quite a bit of shaking she didn't quite manage to make a mess of what was in her hands.
"Uh... hello?" she greeted, sounding unsure. A second later the lightbulb went off in her head as she realised there was probably only one woman who was likely to have unfettered access to Lennox's home. Chuck tried not to panic as she realised she was meeting Lennox's ma for the first and... and... SHE WAS IN HER NIGHTWEAR!!!
Just in case there was any doubt, Elizabeth McVey Campbell - who may well have been in her early sixties, being the mother to seven children aged thirty-two plus, but was still looking good on it - rather resembled her youngest child, the one still sleeping soundly upstairs after last afternoon’s snitch defeat and last evening’s more enjoyable exertions. Of middling height but standing rather firm, her pale complexion and grey hair, which had once been as blonde as Lennox’s, she would have looked fairly innocuous if she and Chuck had met somewhere out on the street. They were, however, in her wee boy’s kitchen, in the early hours, and this was frankly not the sight she’d been expecting to see when bringing over the goods with which she’d intended to stock his pantry. She knew what he was like when concerned about his own form, although apparently he’d found other ways of enjoying his time.
Slowly raising an eyebrow, a disturbingly illegible expression on her face, she spoke with an accent that clearly wasn’t the Scottish one of her boys. “Good morning… I assume,” she began, a little dryly, as she spoke. It was clear where the elder of her twins got his more forthright sense of humour from.
Chuck couldn't manage to decipher what the older woman's expression meant, and whether it meant this little surprise meeting would go well or not. At her return greeting though, Chuck couldn't help but flush at the implication. "Something like that," she said sheepishly. She could've responded differently perhaps but she figured that Mrs Campbell already had a fairly good suspicion of what may have happened and there was really no point in pretending elsewise.
"I was just getting some tea for Lennox and myself," she said, gesturing carefully with the tray in her hands. "If you'd like I could set this down and make you a cup?"
Well, Elizabeth thought to herself, the girl had some guts. She didn’t flee, stay silent, or at the worst issue gushing apologies. If this was the girl that the gossip rags had linked with the more sensitive of her children, then, well, she would need to have a bit more than that about her. Not that Lennox needed a battleaxe, of course. He needed someone with quiet strength, though. Someone who could hold their own, and therefore from whom he could take some comfort.
Bloody hell, though, she wished she hadn’t met the girl half naked having presumably come from his bedroom. He might be thirty-two, but there were still some aspects of his life she would prefer to feign ignorance about. She was a mother, after all.
“Come, now,” she replied, the Kiwi inflections more obvious this time. “Let’s take advantage of the fact he’d probably rather die than be encouraged down here, hmm?”
A double scuttle of paws indicated the arrival of two dogs this time. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows again - this was certainly new.
She couldn't help but chuckle. "Of course. Luckily that was what I intended," she responded, turning around to set the tray back down on the kitchen bench. Chuck certainly hadn't intended to call out for Lennox to come down and be mortified. "How do you take yours?" she asked, indicating the tea.
It was obvious that Toby and Monty had used that canine sixth sense of somehow knowing whenever somebody new was in either of their homes, and certainly weren't at all worried about interrupting if it possibly meant food or affection being given to them. "No doubt you already know Toby; and the other pup is Monty - who's mine," she explained.
"Morning, girl," she said, reaching down to give Monty a quick scritch behind the ears before doing the same for Toby. "You too, Toby." After being greeted by her human Monty turned her attention to the other person in the kitchen. She wasn't sure who this new human was, but being the curious young pup that she was went to tentatively investigate.
Worthy of note for the older woman was the fact that the girl clearly knew enough about her son to realise his potential embarrassment at the situation - but how much was she aware of his anxiety related issues? They were something she’d been aware of ever since Lennox was a teenager, and her own guilt - plus that of the rest of the family - about not helping him through them sooner was something she still found painful to deal with. Elizabeth had been around long enough to know that it would take a while to see if Chuck was up to the task, or if, like his other partners, she would be found wanting.
“Milk, no sugar,” she replied, taking part in that other most motherly of habits - judging new people by how well they made their tea. Especially foreigners (she may be a Kiwi by birth, but Elizabeth had been in Scotland long enough to avoid considering herself a foreigner by now). “And I certainly do, seeing as how he was a gift from my mother-in-law.” As if he knew he was being talked about, Toby chose that moment to come and meet his human grandma, yapping excitedly at the familiar smell of fresh-cut flowers and new linens that seemed to linger about her person.
The younger pup seemed to pull back as the older dog dominated the interaction, but used to animals as she was, Elizabeth leaned down and picked up Monty, seating the pup in her lap. “There you are, girl. Don’t let the big lad bully you,” she said firmly, scritching her behind the ears.
Chuck gave a nod. She checked on the kettle, and thankfully the water hadn't had much of a chance to cool down yet, before getting another cup from the cupboard. By no means did she consider herself an expert at making tea but after four, and then some, years figured she could at least make a passably decent, if not great, cup of tea. "Oh, I didn't know that," she commented. She figured Lennox just didn't likely think it was a terribly important fact to know, and so Chuck wasn't bothered that she hadn't known about it.
She smiled as she watched Monty lap up the attention while Toby sat at the older woman's feet - clearly waiting and expecting for it to be his turn. "Thankfully those two get along alright for the most part," she commented. "Monty still takes a little while when it comes to meeting new people but looks like she likes you just fine."
A moment later she placed the cup in front of Lennox's ma before grabbing her own from the tray; she figured she might as well indulge in it now before it had to be warmed with a charm. "There you go," she said with a smile, before sitting down at the small table opposite her.
“We’re a large, Scottish clan family. The great outdoors and associated activities are how the boys grew up,” Elizabeth replied, noting that as of yet, Chuck had neither introduced herself by name, nor clarified the exact status of her relationship with Lennox before her. Now, while it was clearly possible to infer this information, actually admitting it aloud was quite another thing, making it official as it would do. She would wait, she thought, and see what happened.
Instead, she thanked the younger woman for the tea, sliding the basket of food out of the way before Monty got any ideas about sneaking some out.
Chuck at least was aware of that little fact. "I can relate. Sort of. It was just my sister and I growing up but we've got a pretty large extended family. Certainly made growing up interesting, since it usually meant travelling halfway across the world," she said, adding in with her own background. A second ticked by. Another. Then it dawned on Chuck, as she winced slightly, that although she'd greeted the other woman, and made her a cuppa, she hadn't yet introduced herself - even if Lennox's ma may have had more than a good idea of who she was.
"Sorry, I've been near on completely rude and not introduced myself," she apologised. And the last thing she wanted to do was to give a bad impression of herself. "I'm Chuck... that is, Charlotte Brand," she said, slightly nervous smile and holding her hand out. "Chuck's a nickname that's stuck with me since I was little."
Hiding a smile, Elizabeth held out her right hand to shake the younger woman’s, using her left to keep Monty secure on her lap. She’d been doing this for years, well used to multitasking, and Monty’s decision to reward her by chewing on the sleeve of her cardigan showed that she, at least, was pretty comfortable.
“And how long have you known my son, Charlotte?” Elizabeth asked formally, aiming to get the words out of one of them if it killed her.
Chuck gave a somewhat firm shake before releasing the older woman's hand. Her eye caught Monty chewing on the cardigan sleeve. "No, Monty, sleeves are not for chewing on," she said firmly. Whether the pup understood or not she didn't know since Monty merely looked up unaware of any wrongdoing. Chuck just didn't want to in any way encourage her to thinking it was completely okay to chew on clothing.
It had been on the tip of her tongue to just quip back with 'Which one?' since she knew both Lennox and Angus, but Chuck was aware that their ma was likely angling to find out more about her and Lennox rather than about whatever friendship she had with Angus. "Oh, about early December? Actually, Angus introduced us after the Montrose v Caerphilly match," she replied.
Chuck had known of Lennox before then but surprisingly in the four and a bit years that she'd been match reporting in the UK she hadn't ever actually met him before then. Of course, now that she'd gotten to know him she kind of an idea as to what that was. "Although we didn't really start... seeing each other until middle of January. At least that's when I've dated it as starting," she said with a slight chuckle. It wasn't so much that she didn't count the drinks and walking in December but rather from when things were somewhat more official. "Lennox possibly thinks otherwise."
“Not long, then,” Elizabeth replied simply, still angling for Chuck’s own perspective on what their status actually was. When Chuck mentioned the disparity, she raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on it. It was relevant, certainly, but hopefully not a sign of conflicting values where the relationship was concerned. She mentally filed that thought away, to keep an eye on for the future.
"No, I suppose not really," she commented, with a slight smile. It wasn't much of an argument or disagreement they had, or really had had yet, over when the pair's status changed; with Chuck merely counting it as when things were officially declared... even if the other times could technically-speaking count as dates. "But he's wonderful, and I like him a lot and I enjoy spending time with him..." Chuck realised how that sounded. "In uh general that is as well as..." She trailed off as her cheeks reddened.
After a moment, when she felt she could speak without spouting off awkwardly again or without blushing, Chuck managed to speak again. "I know it's still really fairly new and all but I honestly don't think I could ask for a better or more considerate boyfriend than Lennox."
Thankfully, Chuck had stopped talking because she really was veering into “too much information” stakes by Elizabeth’s standards. Still, she’d got what she personally wanted out of the conversation, and it was definitely making cogs whir in her mind. Particularly, cogs of the “did Angus know about this I really need to interrogate him” variety. Playing one twin against the other? She wasn’t above that. Mother’s prerogative.
“I should think so, too. We didn’t bring the boys up to be inconsiderate louts, after all…” she began, her head turning to the left as footsteps could be heard in the living room. Facing the pair of them was a suddenly pale-faced blond man, blue eyes widened as he realised exactly what both women had been talking about, and exactly what his mother now knew.