Falling Skies 1. Chapter 1

"Oh my God! Get off me!"

Screams filled the room as Ben struggled. His big bag of Doritos lay overturned on the floor, orange tortilla chips strewn across the cream carpet.

"Get off! Help! Help! Please!"

Ben kept struggling, his weak arms pushing and pulling as he hoped, _prayed_, that he could get himself out of this situation.

"Hal, leave your brother alone!"

Hal didn't move; why would he? Ben was all too comfortable to sit on and there was such a good view of the TV.

"Get off me, you dumb jock," Ben protested as he began to punch his brother's torso. Hal deflected the punches easily, laughing all the while. When the amusement began to fade, he forced Ben's wrists together and held them with one hand whilst using the other to tickle his neck. Ben wriggled violently missing the days when Hal was dating Rita. Rita always made Hal stop. Rita always tried to distract Hal. Rita was also very, very attractive.

"_Hal Mason_," a voice said from above them, calm but with a razor sharp edge. Both boys looked up and Hal's face began to pale. There stood Rebecca Mason, towering over the pair of them. She looked so calm, so relaxed, but her fiery eyes gave her anger away. "Leave your brother alone or so help me I will ground for a month."

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it. Get upstairs and do your homework. Go. Ben, pick up those damn chips before someone-"

_Crunch._

Rebecca's face turned beet red. Whilst getting off Ben, Hal had unwittingly trodden on a couple of the chips. As he gingerly lifted his foot, the damage was revealed: three chips has broken into tiny pieces and the orange powder that coated them looked as though it had stained the carpet.

"Don't even think about putting that foot down on the floor," Rebecca warned, pointing a finger at her oldest son. "You can hop upstairs and wash your foot in the bath, you hear?"

Hal sighed and hopped to the door trying desperately to avoid the other fallen chips. Rebecca and Ben both strained to hold in their laughter. At the door, Hal turned around, narrowed his eyes at his little brother and whispered melodramatically, "I'll get you later, math geek."

When he left, Ben burst into howling laughter, his eyes streaming slightly.

"I don't know what you're laughing at, Ben. I want every one of those chips picked up and that carpet had better be spotless. You know there's no food in here."

* * *

"Your sons were fighting again."

They sat round the kitchen table eating sausage and mash. The youngest Mason child, Matt, pushed his mashed potato around on his plate with his fork, his sausages long gone. The teenagers were listening to their parents' conversation waiting for the best time to jump in and defend themselves.

"Of course they were," Tom responded to his wife offhandedly. "My brother and I were always fighting at that age."

"_Tom_," Rebecca hissed. "I'm looking for some discipline, here."

"Oh, right."

"Hal started it! I was going to watch TV when he came and sat on me!"

"Hey! You called me a dumb jock!"

"That's because you _are_ a dumb jock!"

"Matt, eat your mash, please."

"Yeah? Well you're a math geek!"

"I know I am!"

"Boys!" Tom shouted, putting his knife and fork down. "I don't care who started it. You don't call each other names and you don't sit on each other, okay?" Both boys looked down at their plates and Tom looked at his wife. "Happy now?"

"Hal did the sitting," Ben mumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

"Matt! Get out of the bathroom!"

"Go away, Ben, I'm trying to pee!"

Ben sighed and turned to lean against the white wooden door. He'd woken up late, had to scarf down his breakfast at an inhuman speed and now he needed to brush his teeth so that he could bolt to school. Hal had left early this morning because of a lacrosse match in Boston and so he hadn't had the usual wake-up call of his older brother stealing his duvet and throwing it down the stairs.

Rebecca walked out of the master bedroom wearing a new grey skirt suit with a green blouse and holding a pair of black patent heels. Ben could see from her face that she was already in her 'work zone'; the focused eyes and the way her straightened hair was tucked behind both ears.

"Ben, shouldn't you be leaving for school?"

"Matt won't get out of the bathroom," Ben huffed. "I need to do my teeth."

"Matt, hurry up! We need to leave in five minutes to make your appointment!" Rebecca called through the door before disappearing down the carpeted stairs.

Through the door, Ben heard the sound of the toilet flushing and stood upright before the door opened to reveal his little brother still in his black pyjamas covered with little prints of space ships.

"Wash your hands," Ben told him, his voice consumed by boredom of having to repeat the same command every time Matt had been to the toilet. He was only seven, but Ben swore he didn't remember being that bad. Matt groaned in frustration and padded over to the sink. After a little squirt of soap and a quick rinse he was done and disappeared into his room to get changed leaving Ben to finally be able to clean his teeth before grabbing his schoolbag from his room and walking as fast as he could to school. He arrived, red and panting, just as the first bell went and was greeted by his close friend Nick.

"Close call, Mason," Nick said as they walked to their first class together.

"Matt wouldn't get out of the bathroom," Ben responded as he rolled his shoulders back a couple of times.

"You all right?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I think I just slept funny. My back kills."

* * *

"When can I start playing lacrosse?" Matt asked as he fidgeted with his hands.

"When you get to middle school," Rebecca sighed, looking in the rear view mirror to see her youngest son. His curly hair was a mess on top of his head but he looked so much like his brothers.

"Did Hal start playing lacrosse in middle school?" Matt asked sheepishly.

"Yes, he did. If you ask him nicely at the weekend, he might teach you some basics."

It was no secret that Matt wanted to be just like his oldest brother. There was nothing wrong with Ben, but Hal was tall and he got the girls. Hal could stand up for himself in a fight and he was in a winning sports team. Hal went out and did things that just seemed so _cool_ to Matt. A part of Tom wanted Matt to turn out more like Ben, quiet and studious, but Rebecca had scolded him for it. Matt would turn into his own person eventually, not a copy of one of his brothers.

"Really?" There was no mistaking the hope in Matt's voice.

"Really really," Rebecca said, making a mental note to tell Hal as she smiled at her youngest child. Now, when we get to the dentist, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to sit still and behave and be nice."

"And why are you going to do that?"

"Because then I can have something from the bakery before going to school." Matt's face lit up as he remembered the bribe that had worked on all three Mason kids when going to the dentist. Hal had always gone for jam doughnuts whilst Ben chose apple turnovers to make it very clear that he wasn't copying his older brother. Matt's pastry of choice was always the cream horn and he always ended up with it all over his face so Rebecca had made sure that she had the pack of wet wipes in the glove box before they'd left.

"Are you working today?"

"That's why I'm wearing my work clothes, kid."

"Are you going to sell lots of paintings?"

"I hope so, and hope's one of the best things that you can have."


	3. Chapter 3

"Don't say whatever you're about to say," Hal sighed. Tom looked at his oldest son in the passenger seat and shot him a confused look. "Don't give me some historical anecdote about winning and losing. It's a lacrosse game, not a battle."

"Everything's a battle, Hal, and the war is your life."

"It's too early to start getting deep and philosophical, Dad. Can you just say 'good luck' like a normal dad would?"

Tom took a deep sigh as he indicated and pulled the car into a parking space on the side of the road. "Are you sure you want to get the bus back to Somerville? You don't want me to pick you up?"

"I'll be fine."

"And you promise me you'll go straight to school?"

"Dad, I promise. If I skip school I'll be kicked off the team."

"All right. Go make Somerville proud and tear Boston to the ground."

Hal grinned as he got out the car. He picked his kit bag up from the back seat and made his way down the pavement until he reached the entrance to the lacrosse field. Sitting on the other side of the expanse of grass was the white clubhouse with the Boston Lacrosse logo painted on the side. Holding his lacrosse stick over his shoulder, he made his way over to the clubhouse where a group of adults were standing by the door.

"Ah! Here he is!" the coach boomed. His green Somerville jumper clung tightly to his beer belly and his shorts showed a little too much of his tree trunk legs. "Gentlemen, this is Hal Mason. He's a good student and lacrosse player at Somerville High as well as playing for us."

"Keep your grades up and put in some good performances while we're watching you and you might get a scholarship, kid," one of the men said. He looked odd in a suit with trainers and a baseball cap.

"We'll see you later, gentlemen," the coach said as he draped an arm across Hal's shoulder and led him into the clubhouse. "They're scouts from colleges throughout Massachusetts. Play your cards right in matches here and they'll come and see you play at school. You could go pro."

* * *

"Sup, dude," Nick greeted Ben as he sat down at the picnic table at break.

"Don't say that," Ben scolded him. "You sound like my brother. Next you'll be talking about how cool lacrosse is and how there's this girl chasing you. Before you know it you'll be a dumb jock."

Before Nick could respond, Sam came running over to them, his backpack banging against his back with every stride. "Did you guys watch the news last night?" he asked excitedly. "Oh my God, you'll never believe it! Some astronauts found some UFOs! They're trying to figure out if they're asteroids or planets or what, but isn't that awesome?"

"It's probably just a hoax, Sam," Nick sighed. "I don't know why you always get your hopes up. It's always just a hoax."

* * *

"It's just one favour."

"Tom, you know I would if I could but I'm on call at the moment," Michael responded. "I really am sorry."

"Come on, Michael. It's for my anniversary!" Tom tried desperately to argue his case. "Please help me out."

"Oh, for goodness sake. I'll try, all right? I'm not making any promises but I'll try and get you and Rebecca a table. I shouldn't be doing this at all; I could get called into surgery at any time-"

"You're a good friend, Michael," Tom told him before ending the call with a swift 'call me later'.

The lecture hall was empty when he got there; of course it was, there were thirty minutes until he was due to start. He put his briefcase on the desk and held his plastic coffee cup in both hands as he let his eyes survey the auditorium. This room was his second home. This room was where history came alive for him. Here he saw the American Revolution, the Blitzkrieg, the Berlin Wall falling. Here he saw history come alive in the eyes of his students.

Here, if Rebecca hadn't walked into his life, was where he could die happy surrounded by the history he made for himself.


	4. Chapter 4

"Rebecca, there's a customer who says he'll only deal with you."

Rebecca looked up to see one of her younger colleagues standing in the doorway. Sonia looked immaculate in her pressed skirt suit and heels that only twenty year olds could get away with wearing.

"Did he give a name?" Rebecca asked as she turned her attention back to her desk and sorted through her papers.

"No, but he looks about your age. And he keeps eyeing up the new Louis Kenny oils that we put up last week. We need to sell those paintings and maybe he-"

"He won't buy them," Rebecca said dismissively as she stood and made her way to the door. "I'd bet anything that the last thing he bought was a dinosaur-shaped cookie." She left the room leaving a baffled Sonia scurrying along behind her.

There in the main room of the gallery stood a man with a messy mop of dark brown hair and broad shoulders.

"Stop looking at the Louis Kenneys, David," she told him sternly. He span round and a grin spread across his face, lighting up his eyes. "What are you doing here? In fact, what are you doing in Massachusetts?"

"Can't a guy come and see his little sister? Is that a crime?"

With a sigh Rebecca motioned for the man, David, to follow her. They entered her office and David immediately sat in the chair and put his feet up on the desk, his boots scrunching up various pieces of paper and leaving brown mud on others.

"Get your feet off the desk, David," Rebecca spat as she shut the door, her eyes turning venomous as she turned to face her brother again. "What part of 'get out of my life' did you not understand last time we spoke? I don't want you near me. I don't want you in the same state as my children, let alone the same city. The last thing Matt or Ben need is your influence on them; thank the heavens that Hal hates you after the last time you came here."

David remained in his position and sniffed loudly before wiping his nose with the sleeve of his anorak. Rebecca grimaced. "I'm not like I used to be, Becky."

With a snort Rebecca responded, "Well, you sure look like it to me. Get out of my office and get out of my life. You do not go near my family. You get on whatever train or plane you can and you go back to Chicago because no one wants you here."

"You used to be so nice and patient with me, Becky. You used to help me."

"And then you spent the $1000 Tom and I gave you on drugs and tried to get my oldest son onto steroids when he was fourteen. Leave us alone, David. You've done enough damage."

David slammed his feet onto the floor and stood, his face turning icy as he looked at his sister.

"You know aliens are coming, right, Becky?" Rebecca laughed bitterly in disbelief. He was back on the drugs.

"Just go away, David. And don't get anyone killed."

"Family are supposed to be there for each other."

With that, he left.

It took Rebecca ten minutes to compose herself.


	5. Chapter 5

"Rebecca, he was drugged out of his mind."

Tom's reasoning didn't give Rebecca much solace. David had always been a wild card, unpredictable. He could turn up out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. And now he was in Somerville, babbling about aliens and gearing up to be generally destructive. He could be like a tornado: coming in, destroying everything, and then leaving.

"Rebecca, it'll be fine. He'll leave us alone."

"But what if he doesn't?" Rebecca questioned. "What if he goes near Ben or Matt?"

Tom took a deep sigh as he wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulder and pulled her into him as he leaned back against the white pillows. Rebecca shifted a little to get comfortable before settling against her husband's chest.

"Trust me, Becca," Tom whispered before kissing Rebecca's head and resting his chin there.

* * *

"What d'you want, Matt?" Ben asked. His voice was gruffer than usual due to his little brother repeatedly poking his shoulder until he woke up. "I'm trying to sleep."

Matt wrung his hands nervously as he stood by his brother's bed, his curly hair everywhere and his pyjamas hanging off his tiny frame. "They said on the news that aliens were coming."

Ben sighed and dropped his head onto the pillow with a _flump. _"What, was this Fox News or something?" he grumbled before lifting his head again to face his brother. "Matt, no aliens are going to land on this planet."

"You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. Now go to bed; I have a test tomorrow."

"Thanks, Ben," Matt mumbled before backing out of the room and returning to his own.

Sleep wouldn't come. He lay thinking about the supposed alien invasion. Would they be nice? Would they try and kill everyone? At some point he heard the door creak open and he stopped breathing.

"Matt?"

He let out the deep breath he was holding. It was only Ben. There was the sound of movement in the dark bedroom as the door shut behind his older brother and he moved across the room. The covers were pulled back and the bed dipped as Ben lay down beside him. He fell asleep with his brother stroking his mass of curly hair, his dreams free from alien invasions.


	6. Chapter 6

"Your father and I were worried sick!"

Ben woke up with a start to find himself alone in Matt's bed. His mother's voice seemed to fill the house, ricocheting from the walls. Even though the anger was directed at him, Ben found himself shrinking under the covers slightly. Rebecca Mason wasn't a force to be reckoned with.

"If you weren't going to come home then you could've had the decency to answer my calls! Hal Mason, don't you dare walk away from me! Hal!"

There was thumping as Hal made his way up the stairs… followed by a second pair. In a moment of panic, Ben threw himself from the bed and hid behind Matt's open bedroom door before the angry pair came past.

"After school you come straight home! You are grounded, do you hear?" Rebecca yelled. "Benjamin, get out of bed! You're going to be late."

Hal's bedroom door slammed shut and Rebecca's footsteps retreated down the stairs. Ben darted out from behind the door and made his way to his bedroom to get dressed before going downstairs. His little brother sat at the kitchen table concentrating on his corn flakes in an attempt to block out Rebecca's ranting. She was dressed in her black leggings and pink sports top, the ones she wore when she was training. A pair of pink trainers sat on the kitchen table, the ones that Tom had bought her when her old ones were beginning to get too worn.

"I can't believe he'd do that. He's never done this before. What on earth was so important that he couldn't phone us or answer my calls? If he even dares- oh, shit!" There was a small _thump_ as the milk carton fell onto its side causing the white liquid to spill over the counter and drip onto the floor.

Matt's head shot up as he gasped. "Mom said a rude word!" he said, clearly appalled that his mother could say such a thing.

"No she didn't," Ben attempted to cover as he sat opposite his little brother at the table. "She said 'shoot' because Mom knows that swearing is bad."

"Really?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "Because I thought it sounded like she said-"

"Well, she didn't," Ben snapped as he gave his brother the 'shut up if you know what's good for you' look.

* * *

Hal came straight home from school. If anyone asked him, it was because he was tired and _not_ because he was actually listening to his mother. What sixteen-year-old listens to their mother? He found his father sitting at the table on his laptop trying to rewrite one of his lectures on the American Civil War.

"And where were you last night?" he asked his eldest son without looking up from his work.

"Out."

"Your mother and I were worried, Hal," he said, finally looking up. "You didn't even tell us you were going out, let alone that you'd be gone all night."

In some ways, getting told off by his father was worse than by his mother. Rebecca would scream and shout and make her point known; Tom, on the other hand, acted so disappointed that your insides squirmed with guilt and shame. He would never raise his voice. Tom Mason showing true anger would mean aliens had invaded.

And that was never going to happen.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey, are we going camping this weekend?"

Tom looked up to see his middle child looking down at him, leaning on the back of one of the wooden kitchen chairs. It was clear he'd been in the middle of doing homework because his black glasses were on and his hair was dishevelled from his hands running through it as he concentrated.

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" Tom responded.

"I was just wondering because I've got this science project in for next week. I need to sort out when I can meet with Nick and do my own bits for it."

"You can always stay here if you have word to do," Tom reasoned. "There are things more important than camping."

"No, no, it's just a matter of planning my time. I'll meet with Nick tomorrow night and then a couple of nights before the project's due next week. I can still come camping."

With a smile, Ben left the room leaving Tom to the pile of essays in front of him waiting to be marked. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before pulling the next one off the pile and uncapping his blue biro. Just as he began to read the introduction – a hastily put together mess of words trying to highlight the importance of Abraham Lincoln in the broad scope of American politics but failing miserably – his oldest son appeared in the kitchen, pulling on his coat as he moved around loudly grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl and a bottle of water from the fridge.

"See, this is why I need an office," Tom muttered to himself.

"I'm off to see Rita," Hal announced before taking a large bite of the apple.

"I thought you guys broke up?"

"We did," Hal responded with a small, smug smile playing on his face. "But I think she wants to get back together again."

Tom rolled his eyes as Hal left, brushing past his mother as he went through the front door and slammed it shut behind him.

"Um, I'm pretty sure our oldest son is grounded. Why did I just see him walking out of this house smiling?" Rebecca asked her husband sternly as she shrugged off her coat and draped it over the back of a chair. "He just walks right over you, Tom. You need to learn to stand up for yourself; you need to assert yourself. That boy is grounded and so he shouldn't be leaving except for school and lacrosse."

"He's a young man, not a boy. He needs to learn to make his own mistakes," Tom muttered, just loud enough for Rebecca to catch.

"Oh, so I'm babying him, is that it?" She could feel her anger rising as she began to make herself a cup of coffee. "And you aren't babying Ben slightly? Extra help with homework? Help with projects that Hal never got from you? Every book he asks for?"

Tom's head snapped up from the essay. "Ben asks for my help. If Hal had ever done that, I would have helped him in a heartbeat. You _know_ that."

"Hal needs boundaries and he needs to learn not to cross them."

"Rebecca, he's grown up with boundaries." He stood and made his way over to his wife. "He knows his boundaries and he wants to push them. He's a teenager in high school; it's what they all do. Set him a curfew. If he breaks that, we'll take his punishment further. We'll threaten to pull him out of lacrosse if we have to, okay?"

"Hmm… you're a good negotiator, Tom Mason," Rebecca sighed appreciatively, slipping her arms around her husband's neck as his slid around her waist.

"I've learnt from the best. Cicero, Jefferson…"

"I love it when you talk history."

They both leaned forwards, their lips hovering, so close to touching, so close to what they needed. Tom's eyelids fluttered shut as he focused on the moment; he wanted to be able to play it over and over in his mind. The feel of her left hand lying on his open neck, the cool metal of the wedding band on her ring finger contrasting with the heat of her skin there. Her right hand dropping to his shoulder blade with so little pressure that it might not have been there at all. Her forehead pressed against his as they tried to get as close as possible to each other. Her body flush with his. The feel of the cotton sweater under his hands as he used it to bring her as close as possible. The feel of emotions, flooding through him like a tidal wave that took him completely.

"I love _you_," he breathed.

These were the moments he lived for.


End file.

Falling Skies, Family, Sci-Fi