InsaneJournal

Who: Tinkerbell, Anders, and Tink's family
When: Sunday Evening
Where: Coleman House
What: Sunday Dinner with the family
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete when posted


Tink was nervous about introducing Anders to her family. It was still pretty early on in their relationship, but it would be best to get this over sooner rather than later, right? She picked up Anders in her little pos car (because what kind of mechanic would she be if she had an amazing car she didn’t need to tinker with?) with the plan that she would drive him to her parents’ place. After dinner, if he was still … y’know. Interested? He could come back to her place for the night, or she could take him home. Or whatever.

Her family was a bit … much. She was a little worried he was going to freak out at the eccentricities and tonight would be the end of their short but passionate relationship. She hoped he could handle it. She knew he could handle it. The worry was unnecessary. Really.

They sat in the car for a minute after she parked, before heading in. She turned to him. “...they’re nice.” She said, looking as nervous as she sounded and felt. “They might give you the third degree, but it’s just because… they care? I mean, if they don’t like you, they just won’t talk to you, and that might actually be worse than a bunch of asinine questions.” Now she was babbling.

Anders was glad for the babbling, since it meant that he didn’t have to. He was pretty nervous about meeting Tink’s parents. He didn’t think he had much cause to on account of him being a doctor (people’s parents loved doctors, didn’t they?), but he had been nervous to meet his last girlfriend’s parents too, and she didn’t have older brothers.

“I think I can handle a third degree,” he said. “But if I start getting the silent treatment, I’ll be sure to run.” He gave her a wink to show he was only joking.

He hoped they liked him. He was sure that if they hated him Tink would still like him, but it was a pretty big strain on any relationship.

“Good.” Tink paused, then turned to him with a frown. “...don’t actually run. Or else you won’t ever see your jacket again.” It was supposed to be a joke, but she was nervous, too. It probably didn’t come off as funny as she was hoping.

“So, to avoid any awkward conversations, you should know a couple of things. My parents were told they could never have kids. They adopted my brothers. Then a couple years later they had me. I was kinda a miracle baby, or whatever.” She said, not trying to brag, but trying to make him understand. “I actually have two younger, foster siblings, but they’re off on some high school band trip, so they won’t be here tonight.”

He reached to give her hand a squeeze. “Hopefully you’d just lock it away, and that doesn’t mean I’d never see you again. Er. Not that I’m planning on running. Cross my heart.”

“You are a bit of a miracle, aren’t you?” Anders said, giving her a smile. He stowed all the information away. It definitely seemed like a different type of family situation than the ones he had normally been familiar with, but it wasn’t so strange. It sounded cozy.

“Your parents sound like good people though. A lot of people don’t even consider adoption.” He didn’t sound upset about it; it was something he had mostly moved past years ago.

He gave her hand another squeeze, and then smiled at her. “Shall we?”

“Maybe,” Tink grinned softly, almost shyly. Flattered. She leaned over to steal a kiss from Anders, her free hand coming up to cup the side of his face. “They’re good people. They’re just… a little eccentric. And protective. And… I don’t know. Embarrassing? Aren’t all parents supposed to be embarrassing?”

Beat. “Okay. Here we go.” Tink released his hand so they could both climb out of the car, then took it again once they were together on the front walkway.

It was a modest house. Blue. With white frames around the windows. Oh, and speaking of the windows, Tink’s mother (a fairly stern-looking woman with yellow blonde hair) was standing in the window, pulling the curtain aside so she could peek out at Tink and Anders. Once she met Tink’s eye, though, she closed the curtain again and disappeared into the house.

“That was my mom.” She said, unnecessarily. “I hope she didn’t see me kiss you in the car.”

“That’s what the rumour is,” Anders said. Most of his friends had been pretty embarrassed by their parents at one point or another.

Seeing the woman in the window, Anders could feel himself getting more nervous. “I’m sure she didn’t think anything of it even if she did see us,” Anders said. Hopefully. Maybe she would.

"Fingers crossed." Tink shrugged. "They can't possibly think I don't kiss my boyfriends." Not that she had more than one currently, but she'd brought Neal home to meet them. Sorta. He was her date to her brother's wedding. And they seemed to approve. At least they didn't disapprove.

"Well, here goes." She moved up to the front door and pushed it open still holding his hand. There was a small man with round, thick glasses holding hands with a blonde woman, and a very round man with dark hair standing in the entryway. Tink cleared her throat when they entered.

"Hey Tink," the bespectacled man said, breaking into a grin.

"Hey guys," Tink responded, "This is Anders. Anders, These are my brothers Bob," specs, "and Caleb," the round one, "and my sister in law Betty."

Anders took in all the names one by one. He debated letting go of Tink’s hand to shake their hands, but he was still pretty nervous. Instead, he just offered his free hand to each of them, telling them all that it was his pleasure to meet them. He hoped that her brothers weren’t the overprotective sort, though they seemed friendly enough so far.

Bob and Caleb were more than happy to reach forward and shake Anders’ free hand. Betty simply gave a little hello, and waved her fingers at him. She moved through the group and headed off down the hall.

“So.” Tink said, watching Betty disappear toward the bathroom. “What’s for dinner tonight?”


“Mid-March,” Caleb said, smirking devilishly. His eyes were on Anders, though. And they were slightly beady. “I wonder.”

“Corned beef,” Bob responded, giving his brother a smack on the shoulder. “So, Mister Anders. Or wait, is it Doctor Anders?”

Tink shot both of her brothers a warning glare, but they ignored her.

Anders was wondering just what Caleb was wondering, but tried not to look to perturbed. “Just Anders will do,” he said, smiling. “I’m not at work, and Mister Anders sounds stuffy, don’t you think?”

Bob and Caleb exchanged a glance. “So, Anders,” Bob continued, lifting his hands to fold his arms across his chest. “We know absolutely nothing about you.”

“Tink hasn’t told us anything,” Caleb chimed in. “About how you met, or what you like to do--”

“Apart from that you’re a doctor,” Bob corrected his brother.

“We met while I was--” Tink attempted to explain, but Bob held up a hand to her.

“You should go and see if Mom and Dad need help in the kitchen,” Bob said to Tink. His hand came up to push the very round and very thick glasses back up the bridge of his nose before he re-crossed his arms over his skinny torso.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of Anders.” Caleb added. There was something evil about his smile. “Get him something to drink, settle him in. You play video games, Anders?” He seemed to forget after a moment that he was playing Bad Cop/Bad Cop with his brother, and looked genuinely curious.

Anders hadn't expected to be left alone with the two older brothers quite so soon. That was nerve wracking. And that smile was unsettling. Still, he knew he could he charming when he wanted to be, so he flashed them one of his more charming smiles.

He also had no idea if they knew about Tink's wings or the dreams. Maybe he should have asked that beforehand. "Well, I was walking my cat," he started. Maybe he shouldn't have led with that. Well, too late now. "And saw Tink trip. She scraped up her elbow, so I bandaged her up."

Completely true, easy to remember, and no giving away any of Tink's secrets.

"Video games?" Was this a test? Was he going to fail if he said no? Well, there was no point in lying about it. If he said yes they'd probably ask him to play and then they'd see the truth well enough. "No, I don't. Tink's been trying to teach me, but I'm afraid I'm not a very quick study."

Tink wasn't sure it was such a good idea to leave Anders alone with her brothers so soon, but she knew there was nothing they could really do to harm him. Right? Or change his mind about her? Either way, she gave his hand a tight squeeze before she headed off down the hallway toward the kitchen.

Bob and Caleb turned to watch Tink go, then brought their attention back to Anders.

"You were out walking your cat?" Bob asked with a surprised and disbelieving tone.

"Wait, you don't play video games? At all?" Caleb added, with an even more shocked tone.

Anders watched Tink go, already wishing she was still at his side. Still, he liked Tink, and if they were going to be dating for a long time (which he hoped they would be), he’d probably have to spend one-on-one time (or two-on-one as the case might be) with her family.

“Yes, Sir Pounce-A-Lot loves going for walks,” he said, with the tones of a proud father. “There’s not a lot of space in my apartment, so he appreciates the chance to go out and stretch his legs. He has a little leash and harness and everything. He’s adorable.” He resisted the urge to get out his phone and start showing off pictures of his cat.

“I played Super Smash Bros in college a couple of times, but that’s about the extent of my video gaming history.” He smiled at them. “So, what do you guys do?”

Bob was impressed with the idea that anyone could walk a cat. It took him a moment to process the rest of what Anders had said, as he was too busy imagining a cat on a leash with a harness. "Wow. That's..."

But his brother cut him off. "You don't--you can't--I can't believe that you--" He sighed. "We're gonna have to fix this, you know. Right now. Come here." He gave Anders a playful smack on the shoulder, then started off down the hallway toward his room.

Bob turned to follow, adjusting his glasses. He was grinning though. "I design and build computers. And Caleb's degree is in software design. He's... between jobs at the moment."

Caleb burst into his bedroom. It was rather large, with a bunk bed, two desks (one of which was empty) a set of drawers and a bookcase covered in books. It was incredibly neat. "Come. Sit." He motioned for Anders to sit in the chair in front of the computer. "We're gonna set you up with a Blizzard account."

“So if I have computer problems, I can call you guys?” Anders asked.

Well, he supposed there was no getting out of it now. This family was clearly bound and determined to make him play video games, he may as well embrace his newfound life as a gamer. Even if it was going to be embarrassing.

“Blizzard huh? That sounds cool,” he said, unable to resist the urge to make the pun. Okay, maybe he was able to resist making the pun, but why would he ever want to?

"Oh, yeah," Bob said, moving over to lean against the bunk bed as he watched Anders and Caleb at the computer. "Caleb started hacking when he was in middle school, and I've been taking apart computers and toys with computers in them since I was in diapers, practically. Mom and Dad were pissed when they found me disassembling my first toy laptop, let me tell you. But that didn't stop them from buying them for me."

"You do have an email address, right?" Caleb asked, almost wincing in anticipation of the answer. (They both seemed to have ignored the chilly pun.) "...That'll be how you log in to Blizzard-dot-com. Though, I think we should start you with something simple like World of Warcraft, eh, Bobby?"

Bob nodded. "You can play that one with Tink."

"Do you know what an MMORPG is?" Caleb leaned over Anders to start punching things into the computer now it was awake. He went to the website and showed Anders where to fill out info. Name, email, password, to make his Blizzard account so he could play WoW.

"It's fantastic that your parents would encourage that instead of telling you to stop," Anders said. Between Tink and her cars and her brother and their computers, he had apparently started dating into a very useful family. As much as he loved being a doctor, and how incredibly important it was, it didn't really give him a whole lot of real world skills (well, except bandaging up beautiful women who fell from the sky).

"Of course I an e-mail," Anders said, half laughing. "I don't play video games; it's not like I'm living in the 1990s. Are there people still out there that don't have e-mails?" He actually had two e-mails, one for work and one for home. He assumed though that his work wouldn't want him using that one for video games.

As a non-gamer, Anders had some preconceived notions about the kind of people who played World of Warcraft, and he was having trouble picturing Tink as one of them. He didn't want to insult anyone though, so he kept his mouth shut.

"MMORPG. I want to say 'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' but I'm about 98% certain that I'm wrong about that. Does this thing require my real name or can I just put any name into there?"

"They're good parents." Bob said, breaking into a smile. "They're good people. That may be where Tink gets it."

"There are. Well, most of those people have loved ones who've set up an email for them but they don't know how to use it. Can you imagine there are actually people out there who don't know how to use a computer?" Caleb punched in a couple of things over Anders' shoulder, then opened the game.

"MMORPG means Massively multiplayer online role-playing game." Bob tossed in.

"You can use whatever name you want. Whatever name's not taken already... It's pretty easy, you just choose a character. Race, Class, appearance, and then start up the game. You play as that character, going on quests, earning gold and defeating bad guys. I think Tink's main is...." Caleb trailed off, thinking.

"She's been on that gnome priest a lot lately," Bob said.

"Which is really interesting, normally she plays a tank not a healer." Caleb clicked something and the different race options appeared on the screen. He clicked on the little gnome character.

"Yeah, I wonder why she's been playing a healer lately." Bob said, throwing a pointed glance at Anders.

Anders laughed a little. “It seems stranger to me that they don’t bother trying to figure it out. They’re not that hard to learn how to use.” The orphanage he had grown up in hadn’t had a computer until his last couple of years there. When he had gone to Germany for school, he had barely had a clue, but luckily he had some people who had helped him out.

He tried not to look too pleased with himself when they mentioned that Tink had been playing a healer, but he couldn’t contain the vaguely goofy grin when Bob looked at him. It was adorable that Tink had very recently started playing a healer. And very sweet. Maybe not the way most girlfriends showed that they were thinking of their boyfriends, but he appreciated it never the less. He brought his hand up to his mouth and stroked his scruff to hide the smile.

He input all his information to make an account. If fairies were a race, he assumed that Tink would probably choose that, but he still kind of hoped there was one. Maybe she just chose to be a gnome because she wasn’t one and that was part of the package.

Tink stepped into the doorway of her brothers' bedroom. She raised an eyebrow, watching Bob and Caleb with Anders at the computer, then folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the frame. She cleared her throat.

Bob jumped at the sound. Caleb simply turned to look at his sister.

"What are you doing?" Tink asked, though she sounded more amused than anything else. "...Wow? Really? You're starting him off with World of Warcraft? I thought I was doing him a favor by giving him a foundation of historic game play. Mario. You know?"

"But this is something you two can do together," Bob said. There was a definitive air of romance in his voice. "You know, Date night? Besides, our guild needs some more raiders."

Tink rolled her eyes. "Anders, we can pick this up again later. My mom and Dad want to meet you."

Anders was pretty relieved when Tink walked into the room. While the idea of WoW was growing on him (mostly because of Tink and her healer), he still wasn't very keen on the idea. He'd definitely give it a try if Tink and her brothers wanted him too, because maybe he'd actually enjoy himself, but it could wait for now. "Sorry guys," he said to the brothers. "We can finish up after."

He stood up and walked over to her. "Well, let's meet the parents."

"We can get your character created for you," Caleb suggested, taking the seat once Anders had vacated it. "Get you in the guild and geared up." He settled in the chair and started tapping the keys.

"Don't worry about them," Tink said, taking hold of Anders' hand. She laced her fingers through his. "They've got enough ammo now to play for half an hour before dinner."

Tink ignored Bob and Caleb starting to argue about what class, race, profession, et cetera, Anders' character should be, and turned to lead Anders out of the room and down the hall. "Sorry about them," she added, smiling sheepishly. "At least you didn't get the third degree?"

“If there’s anything like a mage, I’d like to be that,” Anders called over his shoulder. It might be silly playing a mage in a video game when he had just gotten his magic, but, well, magic was a lot of fun, and he was super pixelated computer magic would be almost as fun.

“You don’t need to apologize for them,” he said, running his thumb along her hand. “I’m definitely learning a bit about you, Miss Healing Gnome.” It was also a little easier to understand why she liked video games so much, if the rest of her family did.

Tink blushed a bit when he ran his thumb along her hand and shrugged her shoulders. "The gnomes get to tinker, that's why I like them," she explained. But the truth was, she normally played a tank. She was good at it. But ever since Anders, she'd been healing. That was good, too.

"Anyway, the kitchen's through here." She motioned to the end of the hallway, and they stepped into a bright, beautiful room.

Both of Tink's parents turned when Tink and Anders entered the kitchen. Tink's mother had golden hair piled up on top of her head, and Tink's father had long, grey hair. He looked a bit like an old rock musician.

"Mom, Dad, this is Anders. Anders, these are my parents." Tink said. She released Anders' hand and twisted her fingers in front of herself nervously.

Anders stepped forward to shake each of their hands. “Well, I can certainly see where Tink gets her good looks from,” he said, shooting them a playful wink. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I’m Anders.”

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Anders," Tink's mother said as she reached forward to shake his hand. She had a soothing, deep voice, and wore a gentle smile.

Tink's father chuckled as he shook Anders' hand. "Her mother gets all the credit for her looks," he said, then turned back to whatever it was he was cooking on the stove.

"I hear you're a doctor," Tink's mother said, pulling some rolls out of the oven and carefully putting them into a basket lined with yellow cloth. "And that you work at a free clinic?"

“That’s pretty much all we’ve heard,” Tink’s father chimed in.

Anders nodded. "Yes, I work as a surgeon at St Joseph's Hospital a couple days a week, but I spend most of my time volunteering at my clinic," he said, smiling. It wasn't really his clinic, but he had taken over a lot of the scheduling and administration duties since he had started working there. "There's not much to say otherwise, I'm afraid. Up until I met Tink, most of my life was work."

He wondered if Tink knew just how many hours he had cut back at the clinic since meeting her. Not all of his extra time was spent with her, but it had definitely been around the time he met her that he had cut back to more human hours. Sometimes he felt guilty about it, but he had to admit that he was happier now than he had since he had moved to the OC.

That caught both Tink's and her mother's attention. They both turned at looked at him, Tink looking awed, and her mother just a tiny bit suspicious.

"That's admirable," Tink's father said, his eyes still on the stove. "There are some people in this house who could benefit from a strong work ethic."

Tink's mother moved to the table and set down the rolls. "Surely you must have hobbies to take up some of your time?"

“Since I moved back to America, I haven’t had much time for hobbies. Unless you count playing with my cat,” Anders admitted. Oh man, they were going to think he was the crazy cat man obsessed with work at this rate. “When I was living in Germany, I’m not sure if I’d call them hobbies, per se, but I used to organize a lot of political protests and rallies. And I’d travel a lot.” Pause. “Mostly for more protests.”

Make that the crazy cat man who was a workaholic radical. He glanced over to Tink from the corner of his eye to gauge her reaction, anxious but trying not to let it show. She obviously knew that he was probably pretty into politics, but ‘my boyfriend occasionally goes off on rants about the Catholic church and capitalism’ was different than ‘my boyfriend used to organize political rallies and has been involved with more than one riot.’

"We haven't had many animals in the house. Too many allergies," Tink's father responded. He finally turned around and scooped the food he'd been working on into a serving plate.

Tink's mother was still looking suspicious. Now a bit more cautious than before. "Politics and protests?" She asked.

But Tink was proud more than anything else. He stood up for what he believed in, and she admired that about him. Tink stepped closer and slipped her hand into his, smiling up at him. "I'm getting him into video games," Tink said, grinning softly. "And we go flying together."

Both of her parents turned to look now. "He knows about your wings?" Tink's mother asked.

"I've been to most of the G7 and G20 Summits and the WTO Ministerial Conferences since I was 17," he said, cautiously. The G7 Summit this summer was taking place in Germany. He wasn't sure if he should go back, but part of him wanted to take Tink with him. They could be pretty dangerous sometimes though, so he wasn't sure if he should bring it up. "I was involved in a lot of feminism and queer rights and poverty protests, too."

Well, it was good to know her family knew about the wings and the flying though. "One of the first things I found out about her," he said, giving Tink's hand a squeeze. "They're stunning, aren't they?"

Tink's mother gave Tink a questioning look. A cautious look. It was a are you sure you want to trust this guy with all your secrets? kind of look. "They are," she agreed. "They're beautiful."

Tink's father went silent as he put the rest of the dinner together; food on serving plates, serving spoons in the food, ready for the family-style meal. He moved the serving plates to the dinner table, which was already set; beautiful, yellow plates and napkins set on a tablecloth covered in sunflowers.

"I think we're going to go on a flying camping trip." Tink brought her other hand around to hold Anders' with it as well. Her wings came out of the slits in her shirt, giving a gentle, happy flutter. Pixie dust fell to the floor around them.

The look didn't go unnoticed by Anders, but he tried not to let it phase him. He hadn't really known Tink very long, so it was understandable that her mother was still a little uncertain. He'd just have to win her over. Hopefully.

"I can't wait," he said. "I haven't been camping in years. Dinner smells amazing, by the way."

“Thank you.” Tink’s father said, breaking into a warm smile. “Why don’t you two have a seat, I’ll go collect your brothers.” He dusted his hands on a dish towel, then motioned to the table.

“I love camping,” Tink said, grinning. She gave Anders’ hand a little tug and pulled him over to the table. “It’s going to be so much fun. We should start planning where we’re going to go. How long do you want to take?”

“Do you want some wine?” Tink’s mother offered, holding up a bottle of red and a bottle of white.

“I’ll have a glass of white wine, please,” Anders said, offering her a friendly smile. Then, he turned his attention back to Tink. “We can start researching great camping places tomorrow, if you would like,” he said. “Is four days too long for you? We could try going Easter weekend. That is, if you don’t have plans,” he looked between Tink and her mother. After he said it, he felt a little foolish. That was normally a weekend that people took to have family dinners and the like.

Tink's mother went about pouring the wine while her father collected the boys from the bedroom. They all took seats around the table, joined at the last moment by Betty, looking quite green around the gills. Tink was still holding Anders' hand.

"Easter would be fine." Tink said, tossing a quick glance at her mother. "It's Spring Break, though. Think we'll run into a bunch of people on vacation? I was hoping we could camp in a little more privacy."

"What's this?" Caleb straightened his napkin on his lap, watching Tink and Anders together. "Camping?"

Bob kissed Betty's cheek when she sat down at the table. She looked positively miserable, but was trying to cover it up with a smile and make-up. The bags under her eyes were unmistakable, though.

"Tink and Anders are going on a camping trip," Tink's Dad said, gently. He seemed pleased with the idea as he reached forward to start spooning food onto his plate.

Anders glanced at Betty, a little concerned. She really didn’t look well, and his inner doctor was tempted to start treating her. But he was sure mentioning that she looked terrible the first time meeting Tink’s family wouldn’t fly very well, so he kept his mouth shut. They all knew he was a doctor, so if she wanted his help, she could ask.

“I suppose that’s likely,” he said. “We could go the following weekend? It’ll be my birthday.” His birthday being April 13th.

Bob was looking at his wife with concern, but neither of them said anything. And the rest of the table either didn't notice or didn't care to comment. Everyone started to. shovel food onto their plates, save Betty who slowly sipped some sparkling water from a twenty-ounce bottle.

"Yes, we can go the following weekend." Tink said, giving Anders a smile. She took two rolls and started to smear butter on them. No grace was said in this house, they all just started eating once they were seated. "I mean... if you don't mind spending your birthday backpacking through the wilderness."

"If it's with you, I can think of no other way I'd rather spend it," he said.

He took a bite of the corned beef, and then turned to Tink's father. "It tastes even better than it smells," he said. He seemed a little like he was winning over her father at least.

While Betty didn't seem to be eating, Bob also didn't seem to be especially concerned, which Anders noticed with a touch of relief. That probably meant they knew what was going on. Since neither of them was bringing attention to her condition, Anders wouldn't either.

"Well, thank you, Anders," Tink's father said with a smile. He was settling his own napkin on his lap. "It's the best time of year to buy them, just after the holiday. The corned beef packages all go on sale. They freeze, too, so we buy at a discount and get to have them for a few months for fairly cheap."

Caleb turned to Tink while his father was talking. "So, Tink, how's that big, empty house working out for you?"

"It's fine," Tink responded.

"You know, if you're ever looking for a roommate..." Caleb trailed off, giving his sister a bright, toothy grin.

Bob lifted his fork and actually tapped it against his wine glass. The tinging sound made everyone turn to look at him and Betty.

"We have an announcement to make," Bob said, lifting said glass with his free hand. He was grinning brightly under his ultra-thick, ultra-round glasses. (Betty was still forcing her smile.) "Betty and I are going to have a baby."

Gasps rose all around the table. Then Tink, her parents, and Caleb all started to give congratulations at the same time.

Oh. Intimate family bonding moment with a group of people Anders had just met today. How completely not awkward in the least. Still, it was happy a happy occasion, and smiling widely came naturally at the news. “Congratulations,” Anders offered sincerely.

He had given the news a few times to people, and that normally involved saying ‘you’re pregnant’ and if the couple was happy about it, sitting back and watching while they celebrated until they remembered that he was in the room, and then offering them any resources they might need. He wasn’t entirely sure what he should be doing in this situation, but sitting back and watching everyone celebrate seemed like a good way (probably without the handing out of pamphlets and explaining resources at the end though). It really was good news, and he was happy for Betty and Bob in particular, but the rest of the family as well.

Tink turned to glance at Anders, giving a Sorry, this is more awkward than I thought it’d be sort of expression. She reached for his hand under the table.

“When are you due?” Tink’s mother asked, after reaching over to wrap arms around Betty in a warm hug.

“October,” Betty said, smiling a little less forced now. “...if you’ll excuse me?” She stood and fled the room, leaving everyone staring after her.

“Morning sickness,” Bob explained.

The dinner went by quickly, and was a very good meal. Tink’s mother talked about a silent auction fundraiser the schools were holding, and Tink volunteered to donate “an oil change or a tune up or whatever.” Caleb talked about some job prospects. Tink’s father asked Anders some questions about his work at the hospital and the clinic. It seemed to be going rather well.

They all said goodbye for the night, and Bob helped Betty to their car. Caleb promised Anders to get his character equipped with a Guild Tabbard. Mr and Mrs Coleman headed off to bed. The front door closed and Tink took hold of Anders’ hand while they headed to the car.

“So. That’s my family.” She said.

Anders had had a great time at dinner. The pregnancy announcement had been a little awkward for a while, but he thought he had gotten through it more or less looking like a good guy. It seemed like he had made a good impression with Tink’s father, and maybe with her mother too, though that was a little harder to tell.

“It’s a good family,” he said, warmly, taking her hand. “It’s no wonder you turned out so fantastic.”

It'd been a pretty good night. Tink was glad there were no major disasters. And the idea that she was going to have a niece or nephew? After the ick factor that her brother was ugh having sex, it was a pretty cool idea. A little boy or girl to show how to play video games or unlock a cell phone. Cool, right?

Tink blushed deeply. "I'm sorry about my brothers," She repeated, swinging their joined hands between them. "...I hope they didn't come on too strong. One of us, one of us." She teased, giving his hand a squeeze.

Anders couldn't help but laugh at 'one of us one of us,' especially since he had made that reference not too long ago and it made him happy Tink had. "We accept him?" he asked teasingly. "Honestly, there's worse things I could have expected from meeting my girlfriend's older brothers that a World of Warcraft account. I bet it will be fun to play with you guys."

Tink grinned brightly, shyly. But God, she was relieved that everything went well with her family and Anders. He fit in with the rest so incredibly well. Sure, he wasn't a gamer, but they'd get him there. Her brothers were determined.

"I've got a second desk in my workshop. We'll just set up a PC there for you to game on." She beamed. It'd be fun to play with him. And then let him play on his own. And distract him while he was playing. Yeah, Tink was that kind of girl.

"My Dad seemed to like you." She added, finally releasing his hand so they could climb into the car.

“My own bit of closet space and a PC set up just for me to play computer games on?” Anders asked, and leaned over to kiss her. “You’re too kind.”

He let out a sigh of relief when she mentioned that her father liked him. “I thought he might, but I wasn’t sure. Any idea about your mom?”

And then, because he hadn’t had a chance to ask yet, “Excited about the new addition to the family?”

The kisses were a welcome distraction. Tink grinned against his lips, then pulled back so they could both go get in the car. "I'm a little surprised, actually. My dad is normally the one who takes time warming up to people. Mom sorta sees the good in everyone."

She slipped into the driver's seat, pulled on her seatbelt and started the car. "No idea about her. I'm sure she'll tell me all about it later, though." She gave him a grin. "Yeah... I'm gonna have a niece or nephew. It's... a little surreal. Like, my brother's not old enough to be having babies."

Anders followed Tink's lead, and got into the car as well. If he was pleased before about thinking he won over her dad, he was even happier finding out that he didn’t necessarily warm up to people right away.

He had to laugh at her older brother not being old enough for kids though. “It’s definitely strange when people your age,” or younger, “start having kids and all that adult stuff,” he said. “What about you? Are you planning on having children someday?”

That question totally caught Tink off guard. Having kids? Uhh. Well, she'd thought about it when she and Neal were together. Once or twice. When they took Daisy Snape fishing. She saw the way he acted with the little girl, and it made her heart warm and her ovaries pulse. But really? That was all about him. It had nothing to do with her. And they weren't together anymore.

So, did she want kids? Jeez. She had no idea.

"I guess it depends on who I'm with." She said, eventually, after turning the car on and turning the stereo off to stall for time.

“That makes sense,” Anders said. He himself had never really put much thought into kids before. He had never really had a family, and so he couldn’t really see himself as a family man. While he never saw himself with a wife and 2.5 children, with a white picket fence, he certainly didn’t balk at the idea. “I’m the same way.”

Tink chuckled softly. He was the same way. They were both the kind of person who would let the other make that decision? If this was long-term, if they ended up getting married, or whatever, it might be a long wait for a family. Now she was thinking about Anders that way, and... well, it wasn't a ridiculous thing to think about, was it? They were dating. They were sleeping together. He had a drawer at her place. He'd met her family.

Dang. That escalated quickly. Funny thing, though, Tink wasn't uncomfortable about it. She was good with him. Good with the relationship becoming ... whatever it was.

She reached over and took hold of his hand as they headed home in the car. "Back to my place?"

"Your place sounds perfect," he said, interlocking their fingers.