Dawn easily weaved her way through the growing crowd, but it was getting more difficult as time went on. As she continued in any random direction, the crowd got larger. Seriously....how many people did Reggie invite? As Dawn decided in which direction to go, she sighed, trudging to the right. She attempted to make a vague direction to the kitchen, she figured the older, calmer, and more mature adults would be hanging there, including Regina. As she finally reached the door, someone shoved her, making her rocket through it, and make an unintentional dramatic entrance, gasping in surprise. Everyone, who were all older adults, looked to her.
"Uh....sorry....hard to get through the crowd." she squeaked, throughly embarresed. Luckily, Regina was there and spotted her.
"Dawn!" Regina called, coming to the younger girl's aid by grabbing her arm and dragging her away. She tugged her impatiently to where Johanna, and two others that Dawn didn't recognized were.
"Ah, so this is the infamous Dawn." the woman of the two she didn't recognize chuckled, "Quite a pretty one, eh?" she asked, causing Dawn to blush and Johanna beam in pride. Dawn tugged on the bottom of her dress uncomfortably.
"Thank you." she squeaked, embarresed again by the total stranger complimenting her. The guy of the two she didn't recognize snorted.
"Dawn, this is Paul's Aunt and Uncle, my sister and her husband." Regina explained to her. Dawn nodded in understanding, all of the sudden seeming very embarresed.
"Hello sweethart, nice to meet the girl that tamed my lil' nephew's heart. You can just call my Aunt Ashy, and him," she pointed a thumb vaguagly in the direction of Paul's uncle, "Uncle Jack."
"NIce to meet you." Dawn nodded polietly.
"Oh! None of that little girl! Regina told me how much lil' Paul loves you! You're practically family!" Ashy objected, pulling Dawn into a tight hug. Regina laughed at the look on Dawn's face as she returned the random hug.
"My sister Ashley is just a bit....overzealous." Regina offered, laughing again. As she noticed Dawn's gaze drifting to Jack, who had yet to say anything, or even make a noise besides the snort. "And Jack is the silent type, in case you can't tell." Regina smirked as Jack sighed.
"I talk when I need to, I don't want you thinking I'm a mute." Jack explained, as Dawn was realeased from Ashy's hold.
Dawn couldn't help but blurt it out, "You seem a lot more like Paul then Ashy." Dawn blushed as everyone laughed. She couldn't help but say it. Jack smirked, seeming to prove her point further.
"I told you to call me Aunt Ashy, and hun," she turned her attention to Jack, "She has a point there." and then she slapped his butt, as Dawn gaped. Jack's smirk widened.
"Your face was priceless." Jack chuckled lightly as Dawn broke out of her shock. Dawn nodded, just starting to get a bit antsy. She tapped her foot, and Johanna noticed.
"Eager to get back to Paul?" Johanna smirked to her daughter as she blushed. "I'll take that as a yes." Johanna nodded. Regina shook her head.
"Ah, young love..." Ashy sighed.
"Okay, okay, there is a reason I wanted to see you besides having you meet Paul's Aunt and Uncle." Regina sighed, "Take a walk with me." she signaled to the door. Dawn nodded and followed her out. She was definitly curious as to what Regina was silent for the first portion of their walk, before Regina stopped walking, finally starting to talk.
"I wanted you to have something." Regina murmured quietly, digging around in her pocket.
"Oh, thank you. You shouldn't have." Dawn instinctally thanked immediatly. Regina smiled lightly.
"I know, but I want you to have it." Regina pulled out of her pocket, very gently, a very old silver ring. Dawn could tell it was old, because it had a certain feel about it, it seemed like it was atleast 200 years old. Dawn gasped in awe, because even though it was an antique, it was beautiful. Regina's smile widened. "This ring had been in our family for generations upon generations, it's been passed down by the females in the family." Regina gave her the history behind it. Dawn gasped again.
"I do love it, it's beautiful, but-" Dawn started, but Regina immediatly waved away her worry with the hand that wasn't cradelling the ring, already knowing what is was going to be. It silenced her for a few seconds, enough for Regina to talk.
"I know what you're going to say already, but you are a part of this family." Regina smiled warmly as she saw Dawn's eyes start to water. "I see the way you and Paul look at each other, and how you changed him. And let me say, I am so thankful that you came into my son's love, he really needed you and your love." Regina sighed. Dawn nodded.
"Well, I need him and his love too." she agreed thickly. Regina grinned and gave her the ring, which Dawn immediatly slipped on to her right hand. That hand had the bracelet from Paul, the one with the cheesy, but meaningful engravement. The engravement read, "I love you. You are the song in my heart." She also wore the blue sapphire heart necklace that Paul gave her around her neck. The ring slipped easily onto her finger.
"Perfect fit." Regina pointed out and nodded.
"And the only thing that I don't have, I have a bracelet and and a necklace, but not a ring." Dawn exclaimed. She took this oppuritounity to examine the ring more closly. It was indeed silver, and had only a faint shine to it, thought that did not take away from the charm. It had three different gems on it. The middle red one was a heart, and the two outer ones, which were purple and blue, were diamond-shaped. The middle was a ruby and the outer ones sapphires. "Thank you." she choked out, looking back to Regina. Regina chuckled and gave her a warm hug.
"Of course, you're the daughter I never had." Regina told her. Dawn hugged her tighter. As they broke, Regina chuckled again. "We better get back, I'm sure Paul's anxious to see you again." Dawn nodded eagerly.
Paul pulled James out of the loud crowded room and into a silent one. James glanced around. "Nice place you have here, bud." James quirked an eyebrow.
"What the hell are you doing out of jail?!" Paul snarled, still completly furious that James had suddenly appeared here.
"Dawn's just as hot as always, and still a good singer." James ignored him, smirking as he saw Paul clenched his fists.
"What the hell are you doing here? Out of jail?" Paul repeated, his voice turning into the deadly calm again.
"Woah! Calm down, that Daddy dearest of your's got some big fella, 'Cyrus' or something to pay his bail. Apparently, your Dad did something big for him and Cyrus didn't want to be indebted of him." James shrugged.
"What are you doing here? What do you want?" Paul spewed out questions. After all, it really didn't surprise him that his Dad was friends with the Team Galactic leader.
"Gosh Paulie! Cool it! I wanted to visit you and Dawn, is it that big of a deal?" James smirked, "Plus, your Dad wants Dawn, so he can get you." Paul narrowed his eyes.
"To get me?" Paul repeated. James' eyes widened. "That's why he wanted her the first time, but this time he said he want to get Dawn for his 'collection'." Paul growled, slowly getting the full picture. His Dad still wanted him, and being with Dawn was going to put her in danger.
"I wasn't supposed to tell you that," he groaned, "now, you'll be all on guard and protective of her, instead of yourself." James smacked himself in the forehead. "Stupid!" he hissed, insulting himself. An idea reached Paul's brain and before he had a chance to think it through, he started putting it in to action. He froze his face over into an emotionless mask, years of being cold-hearted coming into use.
"Why would I care if he took Dawn?" Paul asked, scoffing.
"W-What?" James stared at him as if he had just sprouted a pair of wings and told him he was the tooth fairy.
"Yeah, I broke up with that annoying troublesome woman right after the contest. She was holding me back, I'm merely hanging around for my Brother's sake." Paul shrugged. James gaped, before he swallowed, coming back to his senses.
"G-Good to know. Randy will be...interested...in this developement." James nodded and before Paul could say anything else, not even another word, James had darted out of the room and was gone. Paul's eyes widened as what he had just done caught up to him.
"Oh no..." he murmured. Too late to change it, now, for the hard part....