Love and Family

Plot Summary- Zane and Aster begin planning their wedding and new life. But planning a wedding is hard enough—and then Zane's parents come to make things all the more hectic. Can they get through it smoothly? Or will a family secret destroy everything?

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh GX or its characters.

Chapter 2: New Connections

Zane's POV

We went to the same restaurant where I had my 22nd birthday party. Chazz had met us there, dressed to unimpressed as usual. My parents had met Chazz several times before this occurrence so they knew his personality fairly well as it was. Stubborn and really not much of a fancy dresser.

Despite the emotions lying between myself and my father, my mother made sure there wasn't an awkward silence. "So, Aster, you're a duelist like Zane right?"

"Yes ma'am. I've actually been doing it longer than Zane has." Aster explained. He wore a wide grin as he charmed my mother with his boyish good looks. Somehow, it was more than enough to convince her he was innocent despite their first impression. "I was starting off in the pro leagues by the time I was thirteen."

"Please, just Rissa. You don't have to try and play nice around me." Mom smiled. It was interesting to see—the two were basically playing the same game. Be polite and friendly so the other one will love you. "And really? Thirteen? My goodness, I could have never sent Zane or Syrus out into the world like that."

"Zane was always a great duelist." My dad said. Syrus frowned at dad's blatant disregard for his presence. "Although personally, he was a much better baseball player—hell, he could have made it pro."

Aster looked to me with intrigue. I tried not to be high and mighty about it but I wasn't going to lie; I was pretty good. "Well, that was thanks to you. You taught me how to use my body and head when I played. And really, that helped me a lot when I decided to duel professionally."

"Yeah, dad would spend hours in the backyard teaching Zane how to mathematically deduce which point to hit the ball… He would have taught me but…I wasn't good at math or sports." My brother's jealously was hidden by the sheer under confident attitude he always carried with him. That, along with the sorrow of knowing it was true. Dad had always spent more time with me growing up.

But the same could have been said about him and mom. "Oh Syrus, but you were such a great writer!"

"You wrote?" Chazz asked amazed. I guess not anymore.

Syrus shrugged and tried to conceal his proud smirk. "I was okay…"

My mother stared open mouth at him, as if he had just spoken blasphemy. "Syrus, you were incredible! Remember when you showed me your short-story for English class—the one about the broken clown car? It was so cute but well written that I could hardly believe an eight year old wrote it….And don't forget that poetry contest you entered while you were at duel academy…"

"Poetry contest?" Aster asked. My mother nodded eagerly.

"Oh yes, there was this poetry contest Syrus entered. A romantic poet contest I believe, and Syrus won first place with…what was the poem called again, dear?"

Syrus feigned forgetfulness. He leaned back in his seat and scratched his head. Too bad he was a terrible actor; Chazz glared at him. "Um, you know…I can't think of it. It wasn't a huge deal."

"It was something simple…Something to do with chocolate I think…Sam, do you remember?"

My father's lip turned up as Syrus turned pale. He offered his younger son an apologetic shrug. "Chocolate Eyed Oasis."

My mom snapped her fingers. "That's right! It was magnificent! It was so compelling and so romantic!"

"Yeah, he's a regular day Casanova..." Chazz said, his voice dripping with venom. Syrus scooted his chair away, ready to counter the attack on his life. I covered my mouth so no one could see me giggle. Aster himself, fought to remain composed.

"So, Mrs….Rissa, are you interested in writing too?" Aster asked. My mother perked up at the question.

"Actually Aster, I studied English in college. That's how I met Sam." My father turned his head at the mention of his name. "We were both studying to get our degrees, myself in English, Sam in linguistics…"

"Rissy, please…" My dad broke in, clearly uncomfortable with this story being told. I didn't understand why—he had always sat silently by in the past while my mother told this story. "The boys have heard this story a million times and I'm certain Chazz and Aster don't want to hear it."

"Oh no, it's alright. I'm interested actually…You know I have a couple PhD's myself." Aster said, nodding his head for my mom to continue. "Please, continue."

I thought my mom's heart would burst with joy. I'm sure she had fallen in love with Aster with that one little gesture. "Thank you. As I was saying, Sam and I were both studying for different PhD's, but we didn't meet until around our final year of study. See, I was attending this seminar by the author of this fantastic book—and I was supposed to go with a friend, but she was ill that day so I went alone. When I got there, I sat in the first empty seat I could find—and it just so happened to be next to this man here."

My mom placed her hand over my father's. He warmly wrapped his hand around it but his face read something entirely different. He was tense and nervous. "So we started talking and found out we had a lot in common. And after two years of dating and getting our degrees, we finally got married and had two incredible sons. And I'm thankful every day for it."

"As am I, Riss." My father said, leaning over to plant a kiss on my mom's cheek. My dad had slipped back into the role of loving husband and devoted father. But something was off—something that seemed small at the time.

I've known this man literally all my life. And although I kept things from him (and what kid didn't keep things from their parents?) and he kept things from me, he never acted so suspicious before.

I didn't like not knowing what people were thinking—especially my own father.

()

"When are we going to tell them about our engagement?" Aster asked me as we got the rollout couch ready for our rough night of sleep. After a long argument and compelling speeches from both Aster and my mother, we decided my parents should sleep in the comfortable queen sized bed while Aster and I took the 'guest bed' as we so lovingly called it. "Your mother seems to love your 'boyfriend' but you know, little does she know…"

I waved my hand. "I know, I know…We'll tell them the day they leave okay? I just…can't deal with my mother's dramatics."

Aster crossed his arms. "I can't believe you'd say that. I happen to find your mother incredibly charming."

I half-laughed and lay down across the bed. "You've known her all of an afternoon, try 22 years and get back to me."

He rolled his eyes and pulled the blankets back, joining in next to me. He cringed at the sound of rusty bedsprings. "God, I'll be so glad when we have a guest room… Call me spoiled but I've always hated rollout couches."

"Now who in the world would ever call you spoiled?" He hit my shoulder playfully.

"Right and you're totally not the mama's boy. I don't know who Rissa fawned over more, you or Syrus." He laid his head against the pillow and released a long drawn out breath. "I don't know. I guess I can see how she would seem overbearing to you but…"

He didn't finish his sentence, he didn't have to. Contrary to what I said, I loved my mother dearly, and the thought of never having her around scared the hell out of me. When I had a hard day at school as a child, my mom would sit down with me and find out why. When I did something wrong, my mom made sure I knew she still loved me. And when I told her I was bi-sexual, she laughed and revealed that she knew all along. And those things made her flaws seem—less noticeable.

Aster never knew that. His mom wasn't around when he grew up. Being around my mother made him wonder what he missed out on. He had never known what it was like to have a mom so he hadn't felt bad about it until now. It was like waking up from a dream and realizing it never happened. I reached over to stroke his face, smiling gently.

"Well, I guess you'll see for yourself soon enough."

Aster's POV

I woke up to the smell of eggs. My nose took in one waft of the heavenly scent and I was hypnotized. I couldn't remember the last time I had woken up to something like that—but it's been way too long.

I opened my eyes and shifted to my back. The mattress faltered undesirably, but that was far from my mind. I sat up and glanced around to see Rissa cooking over the stove. Her blonde hair neatly made and she was dressed—she was completely ready to face the day.

I glanced around to see that Zane was gone, a pulled back pile of blankets and sheets left in his place. "Good morning." I turned to see Rissa smiling a warm smile at me. Her voice had been loud enough for me to hear, yet gentle enough not to startle me. She used her spatula to point to the pan. "I hope you don't mind—I wanted to make breakfast to thank you for allowing us into your home."

"Oh, you didn't have to do that…Thank you." I said slowly, rising from the bed slowly. I leaned back to crack my back and grimaced at the quick jolt of pain. I was not looking forward to tonight. "Where's Zane?"

"Oh, he went to go get bread at the store. I guess you boys don't eat at home much?" She asked, scooping the egg up and over like a professional.

"No, we usually go out to eat. I'm actually surprised we have eggs."

"Well if you ask me, a home cooked meal is just what the doctor ordered for two young men. Tell me Aster, did your mother ever cook?"

I ignored the small twinge of pain that spiked through my chest. I walked over and leaned against the counter to watch her cook. Hoping to pick up a thing or two. "No, my father liked to cook though. He use to make great French toast. I was too young for him to ever teach me anything."

For the first time, I saw Rissa frown. "Oh, is your father not around anymore?"

"Neither of my parents are." I said softly, watching as her face drifted from sorrow to pure depression. "They're both...gone."

She shook her head slowly, focusing back to the eggs. "Me and my bigmouth—I'm sorry Aster, I didn't know."

I shrugged it off despite my emotions. "It's okay, I mean, it was a long time ago."

"But the pain never completely heals." Rissa sighed, picking the pan up and scooping the eggs on to a plate. "It just…gets a little better over time."

I was astounded that Rissa had a fairly good understanding of what the pain was like. "You see….I never knew my father—my mother always just said he was somebody I never wanted to know so… I never asked. But it made me all the more closer to my mom. I was….devastated when she died. I was a little older than you when it happened but it hurt all the same….I just, couldn't imagine my life without her but somehow…I had to make it work."

A swell of emotions rose through me. Grief, sadness, empathy. Somehow, I knew deep inside that very few people knew what Rissa had just told me. I felt honored that she would trust me, her son's boyfriend, with that kind of information. It made me feel just a little more welcomed into her life.

I didn't have the time to tell her that—Zane's father came out of the bedroom, looking just as awake as Rissa was. "Good morning." He gave me a friendly—yet lacking nod as he crossed the room to plant a kiss on his wife's cheek. Rissa slipped back into her happy mother exterior and giggled.

"Morning Sam…" She said. "Oh! I forgot to mention, Zane had said something about taking us out to eat before we left Sunday night—he wanted us to pick somewhere."

Sam shrugged and leaned against the sink. "Anywhere's fine with me."

I fought to retain the smiles that threaten to spread across my lips. So he meant it when he said we'd tell them before they left. Coward—but I guess I could hardly blame him.

I heard the front door open not long after that. Great, now that he had brought the bread back we could eat breakfast. The bread was tossed on top of the counter just as Zane's breath hit the back of my neck. "We need to talk…In private."

I didn't like how low and how serious the whisper was. It was obvious Zane didn't want his parents to hear so I smiled sweetly at Rissa. "We'll be right back—Um, I think something's wrong with the sink in the bathroom. "

I knew they both saw through the charade, but neither one of them asked about it. "Okay dear, I should have toast done by the time you two get back."

We got up and made our way to the bathroom. I closed the door behind us to make sure we wouldn't be over heard. Zane looked as if his calm front was melting before my eyes. His face was lined with concern and worry. "What's wrong?"

In his hand he held an open letter—probably from yesterdays mail we left in the box. "I got this from Louisa. I think you should read it."

I hesitantly grabbed the paper and read it slowly. Not believing a word it said.

Dear Zane,

I thought that you should hear this from me before you heard it from a news paper. The other day, while visiting Ollie, the doctors informed me that he was making 'positive progress'. At first, I didn't believe them but when I spoke to him, Ollie was able to converse and talk back. He asked me all sorts of questions about his illness and Atticus. Although he's not completely 'cured' yet, the doctors believe if this keeps up, he should be out within a month.

I talked to a lawyer about what kind of charges he could face. I highly suggest you do the same.

Louisa

"I…I thought it'd be years at least before he'd be well again. More likely never." I murmured. Was there any way that the Duncan's could stop haunting us? Was there ever going to a moment of peace in our immediate future?

Zane crumbled the paper in his hands; more angry than sad at the situation. "I don't know, but no sense worrying about it now; we'll deal with this after my parents leave. That maniac isn't walking away from this Aster, I'll assure you that."

I hoped he was right. On top of the wedding, I really couldn't deal with anything else right now; least of all a Duncan.