Tad jumped up from his seat on the couch when he heard the doorbell ring. He quickly glanced at a wall clock to see that it was only just after six. The scent of the steaks broiling in the oven was enough to tell him that dinner was still cooking, but he figured that if Agent Green was coming to dinner with his wife as a guest, the exact timing of the guest's arrival wasn't something that could be timed by when dinner was ready.
"Could you get that Tad, I've still got some things cooking," Jen called from the kitchen.
"Sure, mom," Tad answered and moved toward the door.
He arrived to find that it was not the Greens, but Amy. She was dressed in a cotton black dress that had a tee-shirt's cut and had short sleeves. A white belt hung from her hips and made sure that her dress served to fit around her curves rather than cover them. The dress was of fairly decent length and came down to her knees. Tad found himself smiling as he saw her. Amy smiled back as she looked to him. Like her, he had changed into slightly more formal attire with a button down short-sleeved shirt and a pair of black formal pants.
"Hey," Tad smiled.
"Hey," Amy smiled back, "I see you had to change into more formal attire too."
"Had to?" Tad wondered.
"Yeah... my mom was okay with me staying for dinner, but said jeans and a tee-shirt isn't acceptable in front of an FBI Agent," Amy answered, "She also said to mind all my Ps and Qs and especially Ws."
"I think my mom said that he IS a were now," Tad commented as he let Amy in.
She slowly walked in and only shrugged, "I suppose it's something that they're going to worry about on some level with all the other stuff that's been going on."
Tad slowly nodded and lead Amy toward the kitchen. Lionel Ulysses arrest and then murder had generated fears that didn't entirely go away. The threat of exposure had been going down as the press lost interest, but that didn't mean it would be gone. Tad remembered that as he walked into the kitchen with Amy following behind him. They found Jen checking on the oven and the scent of the cooking steaks came to them. Both licked their lips at the scent. It smelled good.
"Things smell good, Mrs. Decker," Amy commented.
Jen looked over from the oven and noted her son and his girlfriend standing there. She quickly assumed that the Green's hadn't arrived yet. She did nod in response.
"Yes," Jen answered, "and they're almost ready. We'll just have to keep them warm until the Greens arrive... If you could get some plates out, Tad, we can then be ready."
"Sure, mom," Tad answered and moved over to the cabinet where they had their dishes.
Amy slowly followed him and noted as Tad began to hand her the dishes they were same more ornate dishes that Jen had used when Amy had brought her whole family to meet with Jen and Tad in part of the preparation for her brother's first transformation. The dishes gave a soft click as they touched, and Amy did her absolute best to make sure they didn't shake or that she didn't drop them.
"Do you want us to set the table, Mrs. Decker?" Amy asked as glanced over to Jen, who had now moved over to the stove and was checking on a large pot which had what smelled like mashed potatoes in.
Jen looked over to see Amy standing beside Tad, who had also turned to look to her. Both looked quite calm, and Jen couldn't help but feel proud and happy for her son. Despite some of her extra forwardness that Jen had been surprised by, Jen had found Amy to be a fairly smart and caring young woman that Jen felt she could be confident in and approve of. Especially as she had noticed Tad looking happy when they were together. That was the thing that really gave Jen the most confidence.
"Please, call me Jen," Jen said to her, "and yes, you can set the table. I'll get out special serving dishes for the meal. I trust that both of you will be hungry."
"We can eat," Tad answered, which made Jen smile.
While his mother returned to checking on what she was cooking, Tad walked with Amy though the western door that lead to the dinning room. As they approached the dinning table, Amy handed Tad the first plate. They would then work as a team to place dishes on the table. Two were placed on chairs on the eastern side of the table, one was placed on the southern end of the table, and then another two plates were set on the western edge of the table. With the last plate set, Tad moved over to a wooden cabinet in a corner of the dinning room and collected a set of paper napkins to set with those places.
"What about knives and forks?" Amy asked.
"Those we'll need to get from the kitchen," Tad answered, "Though I'll take care of that."
Amy nodded and simply placed her hands on the back of the chairs while Tad returned to the kitchen. She could soon hear the clinking noise as Tad collected the silverware they'd be using, though Amy found herself more distracted by a form she thought she saw moving through one of the windows behind her. It looked like someone approaching the front door.
"I think someone's here," Amy said to Tad when he returned and began to set the knives and forks.
"That'll be the Greens... I think," Tad answered slowly, though before he could even finish, the doorbell rang again, announcing that guests had arrived.
Tad quickly finished setting the table and then moved to answer the door with Amy following. They found a man and woman standing at the doorstep. The woman was built like his mother and Tad had no real knowledge of who she was, though he could tell that she was a werecat. The man was different. He never had the chance to really meet Agent Green while they were still at the Marine Corps base at Quantico. He thought he'd seen the man's face once, but not much more than that. The man looked like he had the FBI Agent's face, but he was clearly taller and far more powerfully built than Tad remembered. In fact, to Tad, the man looked like he could overpower Tad's father in terms of strength. His shoulders were broad and he easily had bigger muscles than even Tad remembered his father having. His scent matched the weretigers that Tad had met at the school.
"Hello," the man spoke politely as he held the woman to him, "You are... Tad Decker, right?"
"Yes," Tad said slowly.
Tad found himself in a very friendly handshake.
"Theodore Green, you can call me Ted or Teddy," Teddy Green spoke, "and this is my wife, Marci. We ran into your mother earlier today and she invited us to dinner."
"Yes," Tad nodded, "She told me when I got home from school. Come on in. Dinner should be ready soon."
"And who is this?" Teddy asked curiously, "your mother never mentioned a sister during the investigation..."
"This is Amy Howler, my girlfriend," Tad introduced Amy, "I met her here when my mom and I moved in."
"Pleased to meet you," Amy offered her own hand.
Teddy and Marci both shook it and came in.