Duke and Sasha Thomasson were sleeping peacefully in their bed one morning when their son woke them up with his crying. Sasha's reached over for her phone and looked at the time to see that it was about six in the morning and normally their son, Frankie, slept in until at least a few hours more. Sasha rubbed her eyes and got up and out of bed to check on her son and picked him up and began cradling him to calm him down. She then heard what sounded like someone talking outside and went over to Duke to rouse him up.
"Duke, wake up, I hear someone in the living room." Sasha said a little worried.
The two of them listened carefully and peeked downstairs from their second floor bedroom. The two had gotten a nice house on the other side of the forest that had been near the Moreland home years back. It was just a coincidence as they wanted some place in the countryside and couldn't pass off on a good deal. Although having Frankie had made Duke and Sasha become safety parents and made sure that every area in the house was safe and secure for their son to go around in.
Now with the three of them awake as little Frankie rubbed his eyes whilst his mother held him, they could now see it was Andromeda who they had been hearing that morning as she was in the living room downstairs looking at cards, talking to herself and pacing back and forth.
"....so if they bring that up, maybe I'll mention papa and gram gram and say how great an impact they've been on my life and....oh, good morning uncle Duke, good morning aunt Sasha, good morning little Frankie. I'm sorry did I wake you three?" Andromeda asked apologizing.
"A little 'Dromy, what are you doing up so early? The sun hasn't even risen yet." Sasha asked her niece.
"Well, I was going to sleep last night when I thought: I'm going to be meeting my boyfriend's family and the last time I met a member of my boyfriend's family, something bad happened. So I'll be polite, speak softly, and I also thought of a bunch of questions that they may potentially ask and I decided to memorize and answer in case they have any questions for me. I found these index cards and I keep coming up with a punch of questions that they may ask me and so far I've come up with....173. Once I memorize them all, then his mom will like me and potentially his brother and the rest of his family, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha." Andromeda said in a bit of hysterical laughter.
Duke and Sasha looked at each other with concern then looked back at Andromeda.
"Uh....Andromeda, don't you think you may be overthinking this just a little?" Duke asked his niece.
"You're right uncle Duke." Andromeda said nodding her head.
"Good, now why don't you go back to your room, lay down and rest and we can..." Duke tried to continue.
" 'Am I overthinking things?' A perfect 174th question for me to answer." Andromeda said to herself as she scribbled the note down and continued nodding.
"Duke, I think we may need to ask Nat to come and talk some sense into her." Sasha suggested.
"I'll give her a call. I think she needs a little break from all the S.P.E.A.R. stuff going on." Duke said as he got onto his phone.
A little over an hour went by before Nat MacGregor arrived with her wife, Rei MacGregor. The two had aged very gracefully, Rei had put on a few pounds and thought herself to look a little fat like most of her friends these days, but her loving wife assured her that she looked beautiful to her. The two of them had married while in college and Rei had decided to take Nat's name as her own. For their wedding present, Nat's mother, Marisa, had gifted them a copy of her latest book about a girl who falls in love with a vampire girl. The two rolled their eyes at it, but she insisted that they would love it and they had.
Andromeda wasn't too nervous about meeting the two of them, with Nat being a dhamphir, she felt comfortable around her as well as Rei although to a lesser extent.
"I can understand where you're coming from Andromeda, I may have been little at the time, but I was still afraid of meeting Rei's parents. They were strangers and I was only friends with Rei at the time, so meeting your friend's parents isn't always easy." Nat said as she and Rei talked with Andromeda in Duke and Sasha's kitchen while Duke and Sasha were getting ready to go over to the Moreland house after having their breakfast and feeding Frankie.
"Yeah, I....wish I had met his older brother under different circumstances." Andromeda said with a sigh as she drank some cocoa with marshmallows.
"Well, Chase must love you a lot if he went all the way over to the vampire realm to speak with your father about dating you." Rei noted.
"Yeah, that was....really amazing for him to do for me." Andromeda said with a blush as Nat and Rei smiled at each other.
"So....you two got married when you were pretty young, right?" Andromeda asked trying to think of a conversation to talk with the two about.
"Well, I wouldn't say being out of high school is young, but I suppose you could say that. We were pretty young, yes." Rei answered.
"Okay so I have another question then to ask you two: how did Rei's parents feel when they found out their daughter in-law was a vampire?" Andromeda asked.
At this question, Nat and Rei fell a little silent and looked at each other unable to think of what to say to the other.
"Wait, do your parents not know about your own wife?" Andromeda asked Rei pointing a finger at her.
"Well....vampires aren't exactly well known in the public eye so...." Rei said rubbing her neck as Andromeda groaned at this response.
"Okay, never mind our situation let's help you get ready for meeting with Chase's family. Why don't we see what you've got picked out to wear to meet them?" Nat suggested as Andromeda nodded and led them to the spare bedroom she slept in where she began taking out a bunch of clothes and laid them on the bed, once she finished she had put around four pairs of clothes on the bed for them to help her choose.
"Uh...alright, are these your clothes for the days of the week?" Nat asked with a slight chuckle.
"Huh? Oh no, these are just the clothes I picked out for when I meet Chase's family. I've got at least two other bags with clothes to pick from for another day of the week.
Nat and Rei were a little astonished at this, clearly Andromeda was one for fashion in her family. After a time, they eventually helped her pick clothes that looked lovely yet warm for her due to the weather getting a little cold for her.
Not too long afterwards, the Thomasson family along with Andromeda headed off in their car with Nat and Rei following behind them. Once they arrived at the Moreland home, they could see Chase and his family standing outside with Miles and Chenoa Desoto as well as their son.
"Oh my god, Chenoa! I didn't think we'd see you here too! Come here, oh, you're practically glowing with your second one in the oven." Rei complimented.
"Oh, gracias, you two remember our hijo, Mato, he looks just like his padre." Chenoa said holding up her son to her old friends.
"Yeah, and Mato means...?" Nat asked them.
"Heh, it's Native American for bear like his mother's abuela." Miles answered.
Ever since the deaths of Chenoa's parents years ago, Chenoa had seen her godparents as her own parents and once their first son was born, they would tell him that Goldie and Bear Jr. were his grandparents. He also had a deep love for his father's grandparents as well.
"I take it your mother absolutely loves her grandson too." Nat asked Miles.
"Oh yes, she and Goldie have a little friendly rivalry as best abuela." Miles chuckled.
Andromea now slowly made her way over to Miles and Chenoa and bowed her head and did a curtsy.
"Hello, I am Prin....uh, that is I'm Andromeda Tepes, it's a pleasure to meet you both." Andromeda said politely.
Miles and Chenoa both nodded at the polite girl and smiled.
"It's nice to meet you and I've heard some good stuff from Chase about you. I'm sure everyone will like you." Miles said trying to cheer the girl up as she still looked a little nervous.
Chase came up over to Andromeda and held her hands gently as he smiled at her making her feel a little better. Andromeda now saw Chase's mother coming up behind them as she took in a deep breath before exhaling.
"Andromeda, this is my mother, Nina. Mom, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Andromeda." Chase introduced.
"Uh.....uh....I'm honored to meet you.....Mrs. Moreland, you're.....very beautiful." Andromeda said trying to be polite but came out as sounding very nervous.
Nina looked the girl up and down as she saw her youngest son hold the girl's hand tightly as reassurance that everything was okay. Nina wanted to say something to her son about his choice in who he was dating, but she then remembered own father and how disapproving he was of Jacob.
"It's....it's nice to meet you Andromeda. You're a very beautiful looking girl, I can see why my son fell head over heels in love with you." Nina said with a smile.
"Oh, uh....thank you Mrs. Moreland." Andromeda said with a little blush on her face.
Chase now guided her over to Connor and the rest of his family who were on the porch as Connor now stood up slowly while using his cane to stand.
Connor narrowed his eyes, studying the dhamphir carefully. He could understand why Chase was so smitten with the girl. Andromeda looked as if she stepped out of a fairy tale, her emerald green eyes radiating warmth as her thick chocolate brown hair cascaded past her shoulders. Still, she was the daughter of Wyatt, the vampire who supposedly had him crippled. Gripping his cane tightly he found himself unable to speak.
"Connor?" Spark asked, noting the apprehension on her husband's face.
Connor took a breath, turning slightly to Spark before offering her a warm smile. "Sorry."
Spark pat her husband's hand, understanding his difficulty with the situation. Realizing she would be the one to act, she approached Andromeda.
"I'm Spark, Connor's wife," she said warmly, offering the girl a quick hug. "Very nice to meet you. Chase has been going on non-stop. I feel like I practically know you already."
Andromeda smiled, appreciating Spark's hug before watching Connor carefully. Considering the history between the Tepes and Moreland families, the princess didn't expect things to be all sunshine and rainbows. For Connor and Caleb, it would take time. Andromeda though could take solace in the fact that unlike Caleb, Connor hadn't pulled a gun on her.
As Connor and his family talked with Andromeda, they had noticed a few of their family dogs as well as a horse ventured near them.
"Uh....what exactly is going on with the animals?" Spark wondered while holding Colton who was also looking around in confusion.
"Oh, that....might be me. Animals seem to love my voice." Andromeda said rubbing her neck while blushing a little.
"Andromeda, why don't you show them your princess thing?" Chase suggested as Andromeda still blushed.
"Well, I do have a bigger audience than usual, but I'll be happy to show your family." Andromeda said as she gave herself a little space away from Chase.
She took a breath, the dhamphir now elicited a few melodic notes. Chase and his family, along with the Desotos, the MacGregors, and Thomassons listened, finding her singing voice ethereal and beautiful, but still didn't understand what Chase was talking about.
"Keep watching." Chase said pointing to the animals.
The group watched as birds began to fly near Andromeda. The dhamphir princess singing a few more melodic notes that the birds seemed to respond to. As she now uttered a few more notes, everyone watched as the horses, dogs, cats, and even a sheep now came from the pen, happily coming near and listening to the beautiful music sang by the dhamphir princess.
"She's a princess!" Cali exclaimed happily jumping up and down in delight as Kaida and Jay were also amazed at Andromeda's singing vocals as they too smiled at her.
"Yeah, she has the voice of an angel." Chase sighed as Nina looked at her son and smiled. Her son had certainly picked a girl with a euphonious voice to match her looks.
"Did you know damphirs could do that?" Nat asked turning to look at Duke.
"No, I wonder if we can do that all." Duke replied as the two of them looked at Andromeda still astonished by her vocals.
As everyone now watched Andromeda, Connor lingered in the back, stifling a smile. He may have some unresolved issues with the Tepes family, but it was hard to be angry with Andromeda. Just watching his children's joyful faces as the dhamphir sang to the animals. Maybe, just maybe, this girl's infectious joy could crack his stoic exterior.