Around Christmas, I started writing this story called Naughty & Nice, but after writing this bit, the flow was lost and I couldn't think of where it was going to go next really, not properly anyway. So it's cut down, the Christmas angle taken out, and here we go. Apparently, female badgers get a bit aggressive when they're in heat...
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From where she sat on the dining room table, Laura heard the front door open and close a bit too heavy, followed by a loud dull thud as a schoolbag landed on the sofa. Was that a slight squeak she heard? If it was, the three sounds could only mean one thing: her daughter was annoyed at something. Sure enough, a moment later, the grumpy cub barged her way through the dining room door and wordlessly into the kitchen. It had only been recently that Laura realised that it was possible to open a fridge angrily, and as she sipped her coffee she wondered if Matt's DIY skills were sufficient enough to replace the hinges on a fridge door - and probably other doors in the house too.
"Tough day?" she called through.
Some sort of noise replied; she wasn't sure if Ellie's response was agreeing or disagreeing with her question, but she suspected that it was indeed a tough day. In actuality, it probably wasn't, but the change in the girl's attitude over the past few weeks was one that she knew best not to argue with - sure, they'd have to tell her off if she went too far, but apart from that one occasion, she hadn't. She was just being a grump. Like mother, like daughter, thought Laura as she remembered what she herself was like at Ellie's age.
Without making any eye contact, or making any other noise to suggest she was even aware of her mother's presence, the fourteen-year-old grumped back out of the kitchen, through the dining room and living room, and her usually light footsteps could be heard ascending the stairs followed by the sound of her bedroom door banging shut.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Laura said to herself, taking another sip of coffee and picking her book back up again. A few minutes later, the front door opened again, much calmer this time (Laura could almost imagine the door giving a sigh of relief at this), and in walked Alex. The sixteen-year-old seemed to be cautious as he walked through into the dining room.
"She upstairs?" he said quietly. Laura nodded, and saw her son visibly relax at this. He didn't quite give a sigh of relief of his own, but it was close. "I don't know what's up with her lately," he said.
Laura couldn't help but smile at seeing Alex scared of his little sister. "She's just at that age," she said. "It's a 'heat' thing."
"Muummmm!! I don't want to think about Ellie… being in… heat…"
"Sorry sweetie," Laura said, still with a wry smile on her face. "To be honest, it's Rachel I feel sorry for."
Another of those looks.
"At least we don't have to worry about them getting preg…"
"MUM!" Alex was going red with embarrassment, and he wondered whether he should have avoided both Ellie and their mum.
"I went through the same at her age," she said, knowing that Alex couldn't get much more embarrassed. She tried anyway: "It's how I got with your father for the first time." She smiled to herself as she saw that the comment worked.
She quietly laughed as Alex left the room in as much of an embarrassed state as Ellie had left in her moody state. If she was being honest with herself, it was fun making her kids feel uncomfortable sometimes. It was almost an open secret, albeit an ignored one, that neither of her kids were as innocent as they probably should be at their ages, but she didn't have a problem with that. And what was the point of being a parent if she couldn't embarrass her teenage kids every now and then? Besides, it was healthy for the young female badger to feel like this when she was in heat as her hormones tried to balance themselves out. Laura would be more worried if Ellie wasn't going through this. It wouldn't be long until Ellie calmed down, back to her normal self again, and they'd only have to go through it a few times until she managed to control it. It was just one of those things that the parents of any teenage badger-girl had to go through.
A sound from upstairs caused her to look up at the ceiling. That was a new one - she didn't know it was even possible to angrily flush a toilet. She again thought of Matt's DIY skills. Door hinges were one thing, but she wasn't sure if she'd trust her husband with the plumbing.
![[12 PoC 2024] Day 01: Happy Christmas from the Reynolds Family!](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5360/5360661_Matathesis_untitled265_20241226033943_noncustom.jpg "[12 PoC 2024] Day 01: Happy Christmas from the Reynolds Family!")