Voice of reason

It was seven thirty pm when Dom's car pulled into the driveway. The sky was dark already and the moon was shinning in the sky as a few stars were placed in the sky.

As soon as the car came to the stop and was switched off Joy unbuckled the seatbelt of her car seat and she opened the door and dashed into the house as Dom laughed.

"Princess slow down, you don't want to fall and hurt yourself." said Dom as he called out to Joy but she was already in the house.

"She's eaten way too much sugar." said Natasha as she got out of the car and shook her head.

"And I wonder whose fault that is?" asked Dom in sarcasm as Natasha looked at him and scoffed.

"Obviously yours, I think you overdid it allowing her to drink that milkshake." said Natasha.

"Well she asked and I couldn't say no." said Dom as Natasha snickered.

"Of course you can't say no to her, you can never say no." said Natasha.

"Hey, you didn't oppose me when I allowed her." said Dom as Natasha didn't say anything at all.

"I admit that is true, but I didn't think that I always have to be a voice of reason while you are parenting." replied Natasha as she walked away and closed the front door behind her as Dom sighed.

Somehow he could not help but feel that she was right, she didn't always have to be the voice of reason. She was right, she was always right. He made a very strong mental note to make sure to listen to her from now on.

Dom locked his car as he walked into the house and closed the front door behind him as he could hear Joy's giggles in the living room.

She was jumping up and down, running around and around, she was obviously very energetic.

"My darling, it's getting late now, go upstairs, brush your teeth and I'll be with you in a moment." said Natasha as Joy giggled.

"Okay mommy." said Joy as she instantly ran and rushed upstairs past Dom as he smiled.

He wondered how Natasha did that? How could she say something and Joy would listen instantly. If it was him that had told her to go brush her teeth she would have tried to bargain with him and insist that she watch tv for a while since she did not feel tired.

Natasha walked out of the living room as she saw Dom instantly looking at her, starting to take notes. Maybe it was he way her voice sounded firm and yet endearing at the same time that made Joy listen to her without any questions at all.

"What is it?" she asked, feeling irritated that he was looking at her so intently like that? If that was his way to get her to act friendly with him it wasn't going to work at all.

"How come when I tell Joy to do something she tried to bargain to me, and yet when you tell her to do something she obeys easily?" asked Dom as Natasha scoffed.

"It's simple, don't look like you're going to give in even before she refuses." replied Natasha as she shook her head, looking at the expression of taking notes plastered all over his face.

"Are you going to put Joy to bed or not?" asked Natasha as Dom thought about it, he was expecting his mom's call soon.

"I'm waiting for my mom's call, I'll come and see her later." said Dom.

"Alright then, suite yourself." she replied as she walked up the stairs and Dom could not help but think that she was definitely colder towards him, regardless of how much they were speaking now.

Dom walked to the kitchen as he poured himself a glass of water and sighed. He could feel a headache coming on, not from Natasha but from all his raging thoughts, he didn't even know what else to think, if only he could put a moratorium on his thinking only for a little while.

Dom was busy drinking water when he heard his phone ring and he brought it out of his pocket as he saw that it was his mother calling.

"Good evening mom." said Dom as he answered the call.

"Good evening Dominic, how are you?" asked Margaret.

"Fine." replied Dom.

"Are you alone, where is Natasha?" she asked.

"I'm alone, she's upstairs with Joy." said Dom.

"Alright, now, I want you to answer me, and make sure to be as honest as possible alright?" asked Margaret as Dom nodded.

"Yes mom." said Dom.

"Did you know that Cecilia had feelings for you?" asked Margaret as Dom frowned.

"Well yes and no, yes as in I knew she felt something for me, but not to this extent she took it... If I'm being honest mom, several times since what happened with Natasha, she's shown interest towards me, she's told me that she felt something for me, but I never encouraged her, I promise you." said Dom as there was no point hiding anything from his mother, she was his mother.

"I see, and I believe you, but till me Dominic, do you or did you feel something for her?" asked Margaret.

"Never, never mom, I did care for her, but as per love, I don't love her." said Dom as he heard his mother sigh.

"I know you can't control the thoughts of others and their actions, but my son, in a way you were responsible for what happened." said Margaret.

"I know mom, if only I had believed her in the beginning, we wouldn't have grown apart, I wouldn't have pushed her away." said Dom sadly.

"I'm not talking about that Dom, even though that is true, but I mean it in the way that Cecilia has always been too close to you, and I know you meant well, but she didn't, if only you have set some sort of distance between you two when you got married." said Margaret.

"But I didn't see the need to, she knew that I married Natasha, she knows that I respect marriage so much, she knows that I will never, never cheat and break my vows regardless of whatever is going on in my marriage." said Dom.

"I know Dom I know, but she clearly didn't see that." said Margaret as she sighed.

"Alright enough about that, what is done is done, there's no need crying over spilt milk." she said.

"What I really want to know is what you plan to do Dominic, look I once was lenient with you and I stayed out of your affairs and let you do whatever you seemed fit, but not anymore, I'm not going to allow you cause Natasha any more pain than you already have." said Margaret.

"Natasha has no one else left in this world and the least that I can do is support her regardless of if you are my son or not, you know that I do not tolerate injustice." said Margaret.

"Mom I have no intention of hurting Natasha any more, if anything I want to fix things, I want her to forgive me, I just want her forgiveness that's all." said Dom as Margaret paused, pondering his words.

She could hear the sincerity in his tone and yet she was worried, worried that both Natasha and Dom would end up getting hurt more than they were already.

"My love, I know that you mean well, and you're no longer a child, you have to solve your own problems and that's why I decided to stay out of this, if you really want to fix things I am sure that you would and that's all that I have to say to you." said Margaret.

"Thank you mom." said Dom as Margaret could hear how stressed he sounded.

"Well your father wants to speak to you, he's here." said Margaret as she handed her phone over to Ernest Jr.

"Good evening Dad." said Dom.

"So I guess we were both wrong about Natasha." said Ernest Jr as that was all he could say. This thought had been troubling him ever since he found out the unfortunate, unbelievable truth.

To sum it all up, he felt like an idiot, like a really stupid idiot. If anything he thought that he really knew Lia, but it was clear he didn't, for all of them not to be able to suspect her until she had to confess herself, it really said something.

They were all fooled, she had just been playing on their intelligence this entire time, and they fell for all the lies.

Ernest Jr felt bad, he felt bad that he had thought so many horrible things and said so many horrible things about Natasha. He felt guilty if anything, that for years he had accused an innocent soul and even though she told them countless times that she was innocent, they never believed her.

He wanted to apologize, he really wanted to, but he felt that it was too soon, too sudden for him to approach Natasha. She must have been dealing with many things right now and he would rather wait until everything calmed down.

"I guess we were dad." replied Dom, he and his father having the same morose tone in their voices.

"Of course you did, the two of you did, the both of you are cut from the same cloth, which is unfortunate." came Margaret's clear voice in the background.

"I told you countless times to try to reason, to consider, but no, both father and son are as stubborn as goats." said Margaret.