You can stay

Natasha let Margaret release all her pent up emotions as she rubbed her lightly on the back. She knew that this was hard for her. Now that Margaret had expressed her reasoning, Natasha could relate to all her feelings being a mother herself.

She put herself in Margaret's shoes and if it had been Joy in danger like that, she would tear the entire house down. So she did understand, and she knew that everyone telling her that she was overreacting was only invigorating instead of calming her down. 

"Aunt I understand you, I really do, and I know how you feel, or at least I can from my own experiences." said Natasha as Margaret's cries calmed down.

"Oh thank you dear." said Margaret as she sniffed.

"And I get why you feel like the best thing to do is to take Lulu away but..." said Natasha as she paused, trying to find a delicate way to explain her view.

"But you have been a mother longer than I have, and I am sure that you know although we try our best to shield and protect our children, they will grow up someday right?" asked Natasha as Margaret nodded.

"And it's hard, it's really hard, because you wish that you could stop time for a moment and relish all the little moment. I feel that all the time with Joy because she's growing up way too fast." said Natasha as she and Margaret chuckled.

"But we sadly can't, and before we know it, they're all grown up." she said.

"Aunt, we both know that Lulu is not a child anymore, she's a lovely young woman, and even though she is, she is still your little girl." said Natasha.

"And I know that it was wrong for us all to decide to hide this from you, but please see our reasons, we did not want to cause an unnecessary alarm, we did not want to cause any of you stress like you have right now." she said.

"We were of course not going to hide this for long, we just wanted it to pass over so you can be assured that Lulu is definitely fine."

"Even though that still is no excuse for hiding something this important from you, that's why we did it." said Natasha as Margaret sighed.

"And I understand why, i truly do, but you have to know that when I heard what happened, it was like my whole world came crashing down, even though I heard that Lulu was safe, I didn't care until I saw it for myself." said Margaret.

"I completely agree with you Aunt, I'm just asking you to please don't be upset with Dom, he only did what he felt was right." said Natasha as Margaret looked at her.

"And please try to be more understanding, Lulu doesn't want to leave, and I know that you just want to make sure that she's safe, and you believe that the only way to do that is for her to remain by your side." said Natasha.

"But Lulu wants to explore at the moment, she wants to experience new things, and if we're being honest the reason she's staying here is because she has the space and the freedom to be able to do that." said Natasha.

"I know that you want her to be safe, but let me just assure you that she's safer here more than anywhere else." she said.

"I just want you to be more understanding Aunt, that's all, don't force Lulu to move away, we all love her being here and she loves being here as well." said Natasha as Margaret sighed as she was silent.

"Mom..." called Dom as he slowly walked into the living room.

"Mom, I'm sorry for not telling you what happened." said Dom softly as he walked to his mother and she looked at him.

"I'm really really sorry, I know that you had every right to know, and I shouldn't hade hidden it from you, please forgive me, don't be upset with me." said Dom faintly. He never liked it whenever his mother was upset with him, even when he was a little boy.

He loved his mother a lot, and she was such a gentle woman. She rarely got upset, and she liked to live in peace with everyone. He knew that he was wrong and that was why he wanted her forgiveness immediately.

"Oh Dominic." said Margaret as Dom knelt down by her side and gave her a hug as she sighed.

"Mom... I'm sorry for not telling you things that I should." said Lulu as she slowly walked into the room. Just like Dom she felt terrible that their mother was this upset and she did not want her to be any longer.

"Please forgive me." said Lulu as she wrapped her hands lovingly over her mother's neck.

"I forgive the both of you, really I do, I should not have overreacted, but I did." said Margaret as she sighed.

"Thank you mom." said Lulu and Dom both in relief.

"Natasha has made me understand that it's unfair for me not to give you a chance to explain yourselves, and I know all you wanted was for me, your father and your grandfather not to worry." said Margaret.

"So I am no longer upset, just promise me that next time (God forbid there be a next time) you tell me as soon as possible, I don't like being the last person to hear about something like this." said Margaret.

"You have my word." said both Lulu and Dom in a chorus.

"Good." replied Margaret.

"So now that you're no longer upset... can you reconsider me coming back home please? Pretty please?" asked Lulu as she put on her best pleading face.

Margaret sighed as she looked at Dom who was also pleading with her.

"Oh alright, you can stay." said Margaret as she shook her head.

"Yayyy, thank you mom, I love you, I love you I love you, I will never ever hide anything from you again, my lesson is learnt." said Lulu happily as she gave her mom a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh you better have." she responded.

"Thanks mom, really." said Dom as he smiled and Margaret smiled.

"Thank you aunt, really." said Natasha as she smiled and Margaret smiled at her.

"I take it that everything has been resolved?" asked Ernest Jr as his father followed in after him.

"Yes dad it has, mom said that I could stay." said Lulu happily as she jumped to hug her dad and grandfather.

"Oh that's a relief." replied Ernest Jr with a sigh.

"That's lovely Lulu, thank you for reconsidering Maggie." said Grandfather as he smiled and Margaret smiled.

"Natasha helped me see some reason, and Lulu isn't a child anymore, she'll be twenty one soon, and I mean, it's better that she's here with Dom rather than anywhere else." said Margaret as she smiled and Dom mouthed the words 'thank you' to Natasha as she did not respond.

"Alright now that this has all been cleared up, I am happy." said Grandfather as he smiled.

"So I take it that everyone is staying for lunch?" asked Natasha as she stood up and smiled.

"No, no dear, it is not fair that we do, we came to your house unannounced." said Margaret.

"Oh but you all are always welcome here." said Natasha as she smiled.

"That may be, but that does not give us the right to barge into your house any time we want, this is your house." said Margaret.

"And it is because of that reason that we are all leaving right now." said Margaret as she stood up.

"Are we? But we can stay for dinner." said Grandfather reluctant to leave.

"No we cannot, we are all leaving right now, see you all later, come on Father, Ernie, let's go." said Margaret as it was clear that Ernest and Grandfather had no other choice than to follow her.

"Bye Aunt?" said Natasha as she wondered why Margaret had left so hurriedly, she really did not mind them being here at all.

"That was weird." said Lulu in confusion.

"Very weird." said Dom.

Meanwhile Michael who had been staying safe outside came out of his hiding spot in the hedges once he was sure that Grandfather, Ernest Jr and Margaret were gone. Once he was sure, he rushed into the house.

"I just saw Grandfather, aunt and uncle leave, what happened?" he asked as he walked into the living room.

"Look at you, did you jump in a hedge or what?" asked Lulu as she laughed seeing leaves on Michael's suit.

"Never mind that, tell me what happened, I heard a lot of shouting." said Michael.

"Well Mom found out about what happened and rushed over here to confront us." said Dom.

"No way, how did she find out?" asked Michael in surpise.

"I don't know at all." said Dom as he was still asking himself the same question. He knew that his parent's and his grandfather did not read the paper until the weekend, and by then the news would have been gone by then.