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Duke needed this to go well.
He did everything he could to prepare. He got his haircut at the barber’s. He brushed his teeth extra hard. He picked out his nicest clothes and rehearsed what he wanted to say in his head the whole bus ride over to the hospital.
Even with all that preparation, as he stood outside his mom’s hospital room, he was terrified.
He needed this to go well. If Mom didn’t take it well…
God, it would crush him.
As Duke stepped into his mother’s hospital room, his hands were tightly clenched into fists, his fingernails digging into the soft palms of his hands. He was barely breathing. His throat had gone tight as he got his first look at his mom – coherent and comfortable – that he’d gotten in so, so long.
And his mom was looking up at him like he was a stranger. Tears gathered in Duke’s eyes. Maybe that was what he was to her. Maybe… maybe she couldn’t look at him and see her little girl.
The little girl Duke hadn't been in almost a decade.
“It’s me, Ma.” Duke’s voice cracked as he spoke, trying to hold back tears. “Please. Please, say something.”
Elaine took a shaky breath. “… you look different.”
“Yeah, but… it’s still me,” Duke said. “I’m still your baby.”
Elaine’s eyes were teary as she pulled Duke into a hug. “You’re still my baby,” she assured him. “No matter what. No matter who you are. You’re my baby.”
“I thought we’d lost each other,” Duke mumbled. “I was so afraid you were gone for good. That I’d never get you back… or that if you did come back, you wouldn’t… you wouldn’t understand.”
“I might not understand completely, but I love you,” Elaine whispered. “I love you enough to learn.”
Duke never wanted to pull out of the hug. He never wanted to let his mother go again. Not when he’d finally got her back. “I missed you so much, Ma.”
“I missed you too, sweetheart… I don’t think I realized how much until now.”
Eventually, Duke had to pull away from the hug, doing his best to gather himself. So much had been riding on today – now that it had happened, he didn’t quite know how to feel.
“Did you change your name?” Elaine asked. Duke hesitated for just a moment. He knew his old name meant a lot to his mom – when he was little, she would tell anyone who’d listen about how much thought she put into it. Duke could only hope she’d approve of the name he chose for himself.
“I’m going by Duke these days.”
Reintroducing himself to his mother felt strange, but in a good way.
Elaine smiled. “You chose well.”
“It was easy,” Duke said, a tiny smile on his face. “I tried to pick the sort of name you would have chosen.”
“Something strong,” Elaine murmured. “Something powerful.”
Duke nodded, adding, “Something I could be proud of.”
“That’s my boy,” Elaine said, voice full of affection. Duke wanted to hear her say those three words a million more times, and then a million more after that.