Disclaimer:

I do not own Ghost Hunt.

Author's note:

Thank you so much for the reviews :)

Summary:

Mai met Naru's parents.

Chapter Four

Family

... ... ...

The loud sound of footsteps echoed through the front foyer of the Davis's family estate as two children excitedly tried to outrun each other to the front door.

"Mai!" A blond-haired toddler dashed ahead of the other with his arms opened wide, preparing to hug her.

Mai stopped once she'd taken a few steps past the doors before a small heavy body crashed against her, nearly shoving her to the floor.

"Billy!" A pair of small dainty arms wrapped around her waist.

"Unfwair! Let me hug her too!" A small girl shouted, her clinging arms wrapped around Mai's arm while she tried to push her brother away. In the midst of their zeal, Mai ended up on her knees with her arms around the children on each side of her.

"Will you give your uncle a hug too?" She said to the two and the children instantly clutched onto Naru who placed his suitcase down and lifted the two in the crook of his arms. Their dainty fingers grabbed on his shoulders. Sarah, the little girl started to tell him about the books that she'd been reading while her brother tried his best to get his attention by telling him a different story. It was rather comical to see him being nagged by two children but Naru appeared to be as composed and patient in listening to their baby talks.

"No, Sara, it's 'kinetic' not kinwetic!" The boy said to his sister while she indignantly pressed onto the word, she perfected the baby talk after all because her grandpa adored it. Mai didn't know if it was a deficiency or a talent once the little girl changed the pronunciation of any word that got her interest.

They bickered on their way to the living room. Luella Davis sat near the fireplace. She looked pale and very tired but when her lids lifted, a wide smile began to spread on her face.

"How are you?" She rasped weakly.

"I'm the one who should ask that question." Naru said as he lowered Bill and Sarah to the floor. They went to stand beside their grandmother who gave each of them a pat on the head.

"I'm fine." Luella said with a sigh and smiled at the children who beamed at her. "Are you two hungry? Yes? Then will you ask Nana to prepare a special menu for tonight? I want our guests to taste the best of our cuisines since they're from a different country and don't forget to tell her that your uncle Oliver and aunt Mai are here."

The two children squealed at the prospect of eating something delicious and ran out of the room, each shouting what they would like to eat.

"You're spoiling them." Naru said with a sigh and turned to Mai who was already siting at the opposite chair while pouring tea. After seeing that she's settled, he took the nearest armchair and sat. Mai handed him a cup which he took with a nod.

"Every child has to be spoiled at least once in their life." Luella scowled at him before smiling at Mai. "Don't you think so, my dear?"

Mai who was not accustomed to endearments of any kind blushed and nodded her head in agreement.

"Will you come closer, dear?" Luella gestured to Mai. "We have not been acquainted the last time we saw each other." She gave Naru a pointed stare before turning back to her. "I apologize for my son's behavior that day. He can be such a brat at times."

..Brat? She called him a brat. His mother called him a brat.

Mai grinned at Naru who just raised his brow in return.

"My son never called when he was in Japan, so I scarcely know what was happening to him. I suppose that's where the two of you marry?"

"Yes." Mai said with a scowl at Naru's direction.

"And you've worked for him?"

Mai looked back at her. "Yes."

"And you called him narcissistic?"

Mai blinked in confusion. She just said that she scarcely knew anything! How did she know that? Mai frowned as a pink-haired woman popped into her mind.

Oh..

Madoka..

Mai fiddled with the teaspoon; she was suddenly filled with shyness and indecision. Maybe she should apologize. Right. "I'm so sorry if I–"

Luella laughed suddenly.

Eh?

"Don't be. I'm quite sure you are correct in your assumptions. He is quite narcissistic, isn't he?" She tilted her head and beamed at her. She actually beamed at her!

Is she for real..?

But on second thoughts, she resembled Naru in the way he smiled as if she just said a funny joke and yet she felt far from laughing. So that's where Naru got that trait..

"Umm, yes, but he's also very kind and considerate of the safety of other people, specially those who worked for him." She said and hesitated for a second, "He's also very hardworking to the point of being workaholic," She heard a sound from Naru which suspiciously resembled that of a snort but she quickly ignored it and continued, "He's also very serious about the case that he investigates and he's generous and thoughtful too though he hides it most of the time."

"Quite an observation, my dear, I must say I'm impressed. He's usually not so.. comprehensible." She smiled at her before glancing at Naru with a knowing look before looking back at her again. This time her smile softened and her eyes changed from watchful to gentle. "I guess that answered all of my questions then."

"Where's dad?" Naru said.

"Unfortunately, he will not be able to dine with us. But he will arrive later."

"Grandma!"

They both looked at the doorway where the two children stood side by side; their faces were covered with streaks of icing while their nanny knelt beside them looking haggard as she scolded the two. To no avail, they just ignored her and scampered toward the fireplace.

"Let's eat!" They said in unison and stretched their hands out for Luella to take.

"You two already ate the frostings." She admonished in a stern tone. Naru stood up and helped his mother stand while the children gently held onto her other arm.

They went to the family dinning room where the dishes was already served. She sat beside Naru while the children sat with their nanny at the opposite side of the table.

"I miss this." Luella said after taking the seat at the head of the table."My daughter is here yesterday and she promised to spend the weekend with us. But she went to New York because of some business and left the children with me as a consolation. It's rather lonely here, you know?"

Consolation?

Mai stared at her in amazement. She talked like Naru with a bit of Yasuhara complex, it actually made her shiver.

First Madoka and now his mother, why did Naru end up so different from those who influenced his childhood? They should have taught him how control his conceited personality. It was more powerful than his psychic powers when it came to socialization.

"How do you find England, my dear? Is it different from Japan?" She coaxed.

"The weather is differrent and the buildings too. My neck's actually tired from craning everytime I see a historical site." She said and laughed before she continued with her story. She told her about the places Naru brought her to. She described the food and how different it was from the eastern cuisines. Luella laughed at her when she told them about her work in SPR while Naru listened and sometimes engaged her in a teasing arguement. The children also bombarded her with questions, and to her surprise, they actually knew many things about Naru's job. It must be because their grandparents were directors of the academy of paranormal researchers. By the time they were almost done with the meal, Mai's shyness completely disappeared.

"He actually did that?" Luella said after her laughter died. Her face was flushed and there was actually a new coltish charm about her that Mai hadn't seen before. It made her look younger and gentler.

"I did it only because she was too weak and too stubborn to heed the dangers." Naru cut in and raised his brow at her.

They were talking about the case where Naru locked Mai in a room because she was sick and admant to help the others. She was bodily carried to a bedroom and was scolded rather harshly for trying to disobey his orders to rest. After that, she found out that Naru locked the door. Monk and Ayako thought that she was in danger and went all over the trouble to break the door when Naru took a key out of his pocket and opened it. He told them that they won't get their pay if they ever disobey his order again.

The story was supposed to be serious and gory but Luella found it quite hilarious for some reason. It must be because it was quite common for her to hear such things. To have a son who had a doctorate degree in paranormal studies and who also happened to be a powerful psychic, she would have to be quite an understanding person in order to take care of her children the way a mother would.

"Oliver is always calm and cool-headed even when he was a young boy. I didn't know that he could lose his head like that." Luella smiled at her.

...Oh, that was the reason why.

"You should meet the others and you'll find out how impossible it is to stay calm. But as far as I know, she's the worst of the lot." Naru said and smirked evily at her while she scowled back at him.

"I am not!"

"Okay, I think I've had enough excitement for the day." Luella chuckled and raised her hand to stop another brewing arguement. "Can we continue this tomorrow? Did Oliver bring you to the school?" She asked Mai who shook her head. "Then, we shall go tomorrow if the weather is good."

"You should take more rest." Naru said as he stood up to help her.

Luella shook her head at him. "I'll be fine, son. I've had worse."

"Your doctor said–"

"Forget about the doctor. He might know everything in the book but he don't know anything out of it. I'll be fine as long as I have a clean spirit and a strong mind."

Naru sighed but didn't argue. It was obvious that Luella wouldn't budge. Naru didn't stand a chance.

Mai looked at her with unconcealed admiration. She was the one who reined Naru and Gene.

Mai watched as the two walked out of the dinning room and smiled.

... ... ...

"How is it?" Luella said after her husband entered the bedroom. He was smiling back at her.

Martin had a good perception when it came to people's characteristics. He had a keen intuition when a person was lying or pretending. His smiling face must meant something good. It's not that they doubt their son's choice but of course it was always the duty of the parents to ensure their children's happiness.

"She's a nice girl." He pulled the covers and sat with his back against the headboard. "I've never seen him like that."

Luella smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. "Yeah, I thought I was dreaming."

He chuckled and tucked a loose strand behind her ear. "You saw it too right?" He looked at his wife's smiling face. "Did you count?"

"Count what?"

"How many times he smiled and how many times he looked at her."

"Did you mean your son or someone else?" She said teasingly. Martin laughed at her.

"You know what I mean."

"I didn't. It was more than a dozen." She said and sighed, a solemn look crossed her face before she covered it with a smile. "I always thought that we did something wrong even though we tried to pamper him all the time."

"He was always stuck in the library. It was hard to distract him from those books and I was tempted once to burn it or lock it, anything just to make him play outside with the other kids."

"He's too smart and too quiet but he always smile and laugh when he's with Gene. I'm worried that he'll close himself in a shell when he found out that his brother had an accident. But right now I think he'll be alright."

They both sighed at the same time.

Luella looked at him. "I know what you're thinking." Her smile widened and he grinned at her before saying, "Apparently you are too."

Her eyes glinted mischievously."What do you want to have first?"

He kissed the top of her head and whispered. "I want a grandson."

"But I want a grand-daughter." She said. Then they both beamed at each other.

"Maybe both."

...

FIN

...

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

My friend nagged me to post this again. So I did. I made a few changes. The Davises had one daughter. She's adopted too but she's older than Naru by nine years. That's from my story. Billy and Sarah are my own characters. I altered the story a bit.

I'll be working on a new story. This time it has a definite plot. It's Naru/Mai and Gene/Mai. I've only started but I'll update 'Dream of a Happy Dream' at least once a week. Thank you for all those who reviewed and subscribed to this story.

God bless!