Part 6

"We need to get ready," Aaron reminded Harper the very next day, around 4:30. "We have dinner with your parents in about an hour."

"Yeah, you're right," Harper agreed. "And tomorrow you have to go back to work."

"Yeah, I know," Aaron sighed. "I don't necessarily have to work as I'm sure you guessed, but it was a way to keep me occupied until I met you."

"Believe me, I understand," Harper said calmly. "My father often has business meetings and I'm sure he's investing in different companies once he meets the people involved. Dad can usually tell when someone's honest after just a meeting or two, but then I know most Immortals are incredibly perceptive as it comes from experience."

"That's true, but it also helps to be a little suspicious and realize that not every mortal or Immortal for that matter is honest or has anyone's best interest in mind, except their own," Aaron said.

"I'm not so naive I don't know that," Harper said. "I am thirty after all and Brooke and I weren't as sheltered as a lot of children are. Dad in particular made sure that we were well aware about how we could be taken advantage of, but mom and aunts Emily and JJ also helped him. JJ at least has real experience with being taken advantage of by a man, but since Emily and Dave have been together since they were children it's never really happened to her. She's seen it happen multiple times to others though. Dad or any of them really are not ones to believe that something bad can't happen to you just because you're unaware of how people can be."

"That's something I definitely approve of and any children we have will be raised the same," said Aaron. "Those that are raised in a sheltered environment are often the ones that are taken advantage of due mostly to their naïveté. I know that parents want to believe that nothing bad can happen to their children, but they're just being naïve. If children were raised to be aware of the dangers in the world there would be far fewer victims of certain types of crime."

"Well, we can't control anybody else's actions, so all we can really do is raise our children to not be easily taken advantage of," Harper said.

Aaron was in complete agreement with that statement, although he said nothing.

Finally the two were ready to go to have dinner with Harper's family.

"We have just enough time to get there," Harper said. "We might as well collect the rest of my things while we're there."

"That's a good idea," Aaron decided. "Or at least as many of your things that will fit in the trunk of my car. I think we can leave your car there for now at least until we've been seen in public more, mostly because I don't have a garage for you to store it in, so it should remain hidden for the time being. Once we get married in a few months, you can bring your car here."

"That's probably sensible," Harper decided. "The neighbors might know that you're in a relationship with me, but they won't know that it's going to be a permanent thing. People have live-in girlfriends or boyfriends all the time and although it might seem a little strange to people because you've always lived alone..."

"They'll probably be happy that I finally met someone," Aaron said. "Not everyone of course, because there are several single women that have been trying to get me to notice them for several years. I never pollute my own pool so to speak and I wasn't going to take the chance of them being jealous or something when I finally met you. Whenever I dated someone they never lived close to here and though they did sometimes spend the night they certainly left the next day."

"I bet you those ladies that live in the neighborhood weren't happy with you," Harper said dryly.

"That's their problem," Aaron shrugged. "I might not have been as sexually active, as some men, but I wasn't a hermit. Now that I have you though, well, there will never be any other women."

"I know that," Harper answered calmly, even as the two of them walked towards the front door. "I'm not jealous, because those relationships were before we had even met and it would be kind of silly of me to be jealous of women that are no longer part of your life."

"No, I haven't dated in over a year, because I knew the time was approaching for us to meet," Aaron admitted candidly. "I didn't want the complication of a possible romantic entanglement, as some women don't know when to take it's over seriously. I've had problems in the past getting rid of a woman that I had lost interest in, as they wanted to make our relationship to be longer-lasting, if not permanent."

"Like that was going to happen when you knew that you had a mate out there waiting for you," Harper snorted.

"And also there're some things you can't hide forever, if you have someone living with you and considering the fact that I'm Immortal my secret would've been revealed sooner or later, because none of the woman I dated were airheads I believe the term is."

"Which is why you never let any woman live with you until you met me," Harper said.

"Well that, and the fact that living with someone implies a permanent commitment," Aaron said. "I wasn't into making any kind of commitment to anyone, since I knew that I was waiting for you. Besides, I would've turned those women Immortal eventually if I stopped using a condom and I definitely wasn't going to do that. I've never had sex without a condom unless it was with another Immortal who was also unattached. I just wish all Immortals were as responsible."

"Yeah, dad's told me some things," Harper said in agreement. "About how Immortals can be just as irresponsible and lazy as mortals can, but since we were once mortal that does make sense."

"I've met a few of them," Aaron snorted. "I think Immortals like that should be culled for the good of our race considering we have to keep ourselves a secret. I feel that they are the ones that are going to reveal Immortals to the world."

"Hopefully not," Harper said.

The two of them dropped their conversation as Aaron pulled into the Rossi driveway.

"Well, let's go have dinner with your family. I'm looking forward to eating your dad's cooking again."

"Yeah, dad's a great cook," Harper agreed enthusiastically. "You'll also finally get to meet my sister Brooklynn, even if we always call her Brooke."

"I'm looking forward to it," Aaron said, as he opened his mates door for her.

~~~Immortal Soulmates~~~

"Welcome!" Emily greeted her pseudo niece as well as her mate at the door. "Come in. Dave's cooking up a storm."

"Well, I for one am looking forward to some of dad's good homecooking," Harper said smiling.

"Come into the living room, dinner should be ready momentarily," Emily said.

"How's Brooke?" Harper asked.

"She's fine considering," Emily said. "She's missed you this last week, which is really only natural considering how close you are. She's been kind of moping around."

"That doesn't sound like Brooke," Harper said looking worried.

"She's just missing her twin," Aaron said calmly. "You've rarely been apart for more than a day or two at a time all your lives."

"Aaron's right," Emily said. "It will pass."

"I'll try to visit every few days at least from now on, which should be easier because Aaron's going back to work tomorrow," Harper said. "I'll be at loose ends while he's at work, so maybe we can do the shopping thing, spend the day at the spa."

"Sounds just fine," Aaron said smiling. "There's no need to stay cooped up at my place all day as I'm sure you'd go stir crazy in a week."

"Probably," Harper agreed, "as I'm used to getting out and doing things."

"Sis!" Came a female voice and suddenly Harper was being pounced on. "I'm so happy to see you. I've missed you."

"I'm happy to see you to Brooke," Harper laughed. "Sis, I want you to meet Aaron Hotchner."

"It's nice to meet you," Brookes said, as she solemnly shook Aaron's hand.

"It's nice to finally meet you too," Aaron said returning the handshake. He unobtrusively studied Brooke and felt that she and Harper didn't look very much alike at all. They shared the same general features, same eyes, chin, mouth, nose and even their hands, but that was where the similarities ended. Harper was nearly as tall as he was, slim and attractive, while Brooke was several inches shorter then her sister and had brown hair instead of black like his own and it was also straight instead of naturally curly. Brooke had a totally different body shape to her sister and in fact, looked more like her mother in that way, which was bigger boned and heftier with a lot of feminine curves in all the right places, but with broader shoulders then most females possessed.

Really both sisters were very beautiful women and Aaron was sure that Brooke would have several boyfriends at least before she met her mate in a few decades.

"I'm very glad to see my sister so happy," Brooke added.

"You can tell," Harper teased her twin.

"Of course, I can sis," Brooke said. "I sure am going to miss you though."

"There's no need to, as we can still do the shopping thing or go to a vid, just like we used to when we were growing up," Harper said. "Being mated does not preclude doing other things and Aaron's got to go back to work as of tomorrow. We can plan a shopping day or something else while Aaron's working."

Brooke immediately cheered up at that Aaron noticed and he knew he had made the right decision, not that it was really his decision in the first place. Harper should have the freedom to do things while he was working as no Immortal subjugated their mate unless they wanted their relationship to be on the rocks. No, most Immortals at least believed in equality and it wasn't like he feared Harper was going to cheat on him as that wasn't possible and he knew it. Besides, this was the 30th century and women could do anything they desired with their lives. Some men still tried to subjugate their wives or girlfriends, but Aaron knew that some of that would always go on no matter what century they lived as humans or Immortals for that matter just weren't wired for perfect utopia, where everyone behaved.

It was clear that Brooke had been missing her sister a great deal over the last few days and so long as both of them were living in the area there was no reason that they couldn't spend time together.

"We'll plan a day sometime soon," Harper promised. "Anytime, except the weekends, because Aaron doesn't have to work and I'm going to spend every second I can with him."

"Still, that sounds just fine," Brooke said smiling.

"You don't abandon your family, just because you get married," JJ said coming out of the kitchen. "All of us remained in contact with Penny's family for many years as Dave told you earlier. We might not have seen them more than a few times a year, but we were still pretty close to them regardless."

"I didn't know that," Brooke said looking at her aunt.

"Well, if you had drug yourself out of bed at the same time as the rest of us, you would have," Harper pointed out rolling her eyes at her sister. "Mom, doesn't like to talk about it, because it still makes her sad, even though she knows that they lived out their lives. Both of them lived well into their 140s before they died.

"Which was pretty old back then," Aaron added. "Nowadays, people can live to be over 250 and I doubt very much that any human will ever live longer than they do now. Really living to 250 is tremendous and shows human creativity. Many people believe that being able to live so long is just the next step in human evolution. Who knows they could be right."

"Back when Emily and I were born," Dave said coming out of the kitchen, "most mortals didn't live past 50 at the latest and many of them died much younger. There was so many diseases back then that were simply incurable at the time. Part of the reason now that humans are living so long is because technology has progressed to the point that they have artificial organs for just about anything. Artificial kidneys, artificial hearts, artificial bladders, even artificial lungs. Also many diseases that were incurable back when Emily and I were born now no longer kill off humans by the hundreds, except in some third world countries where medical care isn't even half as good or even half as important as it is here in the States. Humans have done a lot for themselves in the last thousand years, so that they're living longer than seems humanly possible."

"But now that humans have knocked out most of the most dangerous diseases that killed them by the thousands..." Aaron said.

"Oh, they'll always be diseases that will at some point kill off thousands of people and some of those might even be manmade, but humans aren't going to die out anytime soon, considering how many billions there are," Dave said

"Not to mention the colonies on the moon and Mars and also Alpha Centauri," Harper suggested.

"True, but every once in awhile genetics throws up something that'll knock off hundreds of them at the very least sometimes millions of them, but ever since they figured out that sanitation matters a lot of things were knocked out completely."

"They've even figured out how to cure some forms of cancer," JJ said. "Something I wish they had discovered hundreds of years ago."

Dave immediately put his arm around JJ at that and Aaron knew that Harper's aunt had lost someone to cancer.

"My aunt. My parents were killed I was sent to live with my mother's sister in Texas. I had no idea that she had lung cancer, but then I should have realized that it was possible, because she liked to smoke the real cigarettes, not the herbals. I had no idea she was even sick as it was after I was already out on my own and as far as I know she had told no one. She left me everything, as I was the only living relative, but I'd much rather would've had her back again," JJ explained at Aaron's obvious curiosity.

"Unfortunately, we never got to meet JJ's aunt as we didn't meet her until after that," Dave said. "We can continue this conversation over dinner now as it should be about ready. I left Penny watching it."

"Well, mom's a pretty decent cook, though nowhere in dad's league course," Brooke who had been mostly silent after her initial greeting of her sister said.

"Yes, she is," Dave agreed. "I taught her everything I know, as she didn't cook much before we met. She was just a very basics cook. She was determined to learn though, so JJ or I didn't have to do all the cooking. It's not like either JJ or I mind cooking for the family, but it gave us something to do when we weren't busy doing anything else."

"I never knew that," Harper commented.

"Well, it wasn't recent that I taught her how to cook, sweetie. You weren't even a twinkle in our eyes when I taught her how to cook more than the bare basics. It was only a few decades after we met and it's not like the cooking lessons were every week or something, just between other activities."

"It must come in useful occasionally anyway," Aaron suggested.

"Occasionally," Dave agreed. "Mostly the ladies take turns helping me prepare a meal, either breakfast or dinner, because lunch is usually something simple that doesn't require much preparation."

"All except for Aunt Emily," Brooke suggested snickering.

"Well, she could improve her skills if she wanted to, she's just never had the desire," Dave shrugged. "I know her mother tried her best to teach her how to cook, but she was always interested in doing other things. If she had been born mortal, well, she would have been considered unwomanly at the very least.

"Only if she had been born into a poor or middle-class family," JJ suggested, as she came out of the kitchen.

"Yes, that's true as the wealthy folks had servants, so the daughters of those families didn't really need to know how to cook and it would've been considered strange at least if they did know how," Dave said.

"Did I hear my name being taken in vain?" Emily asked, as she came out of the kitchen where she had been talking to Penny.

"We were just talking about your lack of cooking skills," JJ teased Emily.

"I don't see why I should cook any better than I do considering that the rest of you cook just fine and there's always take out," Emily said shrugging.

"But take out wasn't available, back when you were born, was it?" Harper asked her aunt.

"Well, no, but Dave learned how to cook so well from his own mother that I didn't see the point."

"I can cook a little, and it's certainly edible, but since I was born after restaurants were common I just never bothered," Aaron said.

"Well, you won't have to eat out as often thanks to Harper," Penelope complimented her daughter. "She's an excellent chef and I'm sure she won't mind cooking for the two of you."

"You know I won't," Harper said. "I haven't been able to yet, because Aaron and wanted us to be seen together, just to keep up appearances. I can't just come out of nowhere and suddenly start living with him. That might've worked centuries ago, but not now."

"If it wasn't for my position at the bank I wouldn't care, but appearances are important," Aaron said and everybody nodded. "It's just better to be seen in public for the next few months, then of course, I'll propose and we'll be married."

"That's wise, you don't want anybody to be suspicious, because even if they can't do anything, you don't want anybody to think Harper's after your money or something," Dave said, as he helped serve the food. "To some people it wouldn't matter that it was none of their business, as people can be nosy and you're a prominent banker."

"I have money of my own and I don't need Aaron's," Harper snorted a derision at that idea.

"Yes, you do, but people won't know that, not unless they do a background check. If Aaron wasn't such a prominent member of Foster's bank it wouldn't matter so much. Most people probably won't care one way or the other, but still, I agree with Dave that it's wise to keep up appearances for his work colleagues if nothing else. It would just be better if you don't appear out of nowhere, because we don't want anybody to think that you're some kind of gold digger," Penelope said. "People can be incredibly nosy and often don't know how to stay out of other peoples business."

"It doesn't help that I'm due to make bank manager sometime in the next five years, as my boss Lester Pruden is due to retire," Aaron said. "Most people probably won't care who I've been dating or if I've actually been seen in public with her, but since people are curious by nature it's just safer. If we're seen in public a lot over the next few weeks there won't be any chance for rumors to start, rumors about how you're a gold digger that just appeared out of nowhere. It doesn't help I'm afraid that I haven't dated much in the last ten years, mostly because I knew that my mate was just around the corner. I've dated some, I won't deny it, as I wanted to keep up appearances, but none of those relationships lasted very long."

"Even if you know you're mate's going to appear some time in a few years you can't go totally without sex either," Dave suggested. "After all, us Immortals stop aging at 30 and a man's libido often doesn't die down when they reach that age, though that's not true for all men I know. Still, my libido was just as active at 30 as it was when I was 16 or 17, though I also had Emily so maybe that had something to do with it is well."

"No, I think you still would've been like that, even if you hadn't met your first mate long before you stopped aging," Emily told Dave.

"Maybe," Dave shrugged noncommittally.

"It won't matter what the truth is," Emily told Harper returning to the original subject. "People just love a good scandal and some of them don't care if they create one, even if it's a falsehood. More than one person's reputation and very life has been ruined due to someone spreading untrue rumors about them."

"So we'll do it Aaron's way then if he thinks that's best," Harper said. "It's not like I mind being taken out to nice restaurants or to other places."

"And there won't be any children to worry about for a few decades anyway," Aaron said.

"Which isn't unusual unfortunately, as a lot of women tend to be infertile," JJ said. "I doubt anyone will comment if the two of you don't happen to have a child."

"Maybe we can adopt or something," Harper suggested.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Aaron said doubtfully. "I mean, even if they didn't figure out we weren't exactly normal, they would grow up and eventually die."

"Still, you might want to consider it," Dave suggested. "I don't think it's that bad an idea and it's certainly not against any of the rules we have to follow in order not to lose our Immortality. Besides, you can convert them to Immortality by having them drink your blood."

"I hadn't thought of that, but you're right," Aaron said thoughtfully. "Of course, they would have to agree to it, but it is certainly doable."

"Just think about it, if you were a normal human couple that wanted to adopt..." Penelope suggested.

"Yes, I see your point," Aaron said thoughtfully. "The only problem I have with it really is the fact that we would have to lose contact with their descendants, because humans don't live forever and if the children we adopt didn't want to be converted to Immortality then we would have to at some point."

"At least there's a way too disguise your real age today," Penelope said. "There are numerous ways now to make yourself look older or even a few years younger. Of course, mostly it's younger people that want to make themselves look a few years older, so they can buy alcohol, but there are other uses for making yourself look years older than you actually are."

"There is that," Aaron agreed.

"I think we should consider it to, although not for at least a decade," Harper said. "I want plenty of time alone with you before we even consider adopting."

"Like I'm going to complain about having a decade alone with just you and me," Aaron grinned.

"I certainly wouldn't," Dave snorted in amusement. "I'm not insane after all. Having a decade alone with a beautiful woman is hardly a hardship."

"You did have a decade alone with a beautiful woman," Emily pointed out smiling. "You had 600 years alone with one."

"Why do you think I said that?" Dave grinned kissing Emily's cheek.

Aaron watched this smiling envying Dave and Emily their closeness, but then he knew Harper and him would achieve that once they had been together for a decade or two. Right now, they were still getting to know each other and would be for at least the next several years. Harper and him would be that close one day as well and Aaron couldn't wait.

"Not all Immortals are so lucky to meet one of their mates as children," Penelope pointed out smiling.

"Yeah, I know," Dave said. "Believe me, I'm aware of how lucky I was that I had Emily from the time we were small children. I also know that most Immortals like Aaron aren't so lucky."

"It doesn't matter, I have Harper now and it doesn't matter how long it took us to find each other, just that we did," Aaron said smiling.

"Now there is a good attitude to have," JJ said approvingly. "It doesn't matter how long it took you to find each other, just so long as you met."

"Precisely," Aaron said smiling, as he kissed Harper's cheek.

"We have another mate, that we need to find," Harper told her family after she had cleaned her plate of the beef stroganoff that her father had fixed. Beef stroganoff, with green beans, garlic bread and salad was one of her favorites and her father was well aware of it

"Do you?" Emily asked with a surprised expression.

"We do," Aaron confirmed. "Both of us still feel that swirling blankness."

"Well, I never expected anyone else in our family to have more then one mate," Dave said in surprise.

"It's not something you can really predict," Aaron suggested.

"That's true," Penelope said. "It's something that only happens every few centuries, when Ilithyia or one or the other gods considers somebody worthy of having more than one mate. At least that's what Dave and Emily have taught me and JJ over the years."

"And they're absolutely correct, as my own family taught me the same thing," Aaron told Penelope who nodded.

"I suppose we have to consider the fact that the four of us have had far more children then most Immortals," Dave said.

"And also that you've raised them to obey the laws of society, to just go about their business quietly without causing a scene, to help those in need and Ilithyia really likes people that help others without expecting anything in return, not even appreciation. A lot of Immortals expect a reward for helping someone or to be praised and while someone might be better off after they're helped those Immortals don't do it for the right reasons."

"You do have a point," Dave considered. "I've never cared about being rewarded or about appreciation and sometimes a person just needs a hand up, because they've gotten into a bad situation."

"That's exactly what I mean," Aaron said. "You don't care about rewards or being thanked for helping someone. You do it, because it's the right thing to do and from what I know about Harper so far she seems very similar to you in many ways."

"She is," Penelope said. "She and Brooke both adored Dave growing up, so they turned out very similar to him in personality. Children learn by imitating the adults around them, but there are also some things that are genetic."

"We adore him now," Brooke spoke up. She had been mostly silent, which was rather unusual, but she was also good at observation and that was exactly what she had been doing. You learned a lot from keeping quiet and listening to others conversations, which was something that both she and Harper had picked up years ago

"That's exactly what I mean," Aaron said. "It's obvious that your daughters adore you and since children learn by imitation, they picked up a lot of your traits."

"They picked up plenty from their mother to through," Dave said changing the subject, as he got rather uncomfortable when people talked about him like that. It might be true, but still such conversation was uncomfortable for him at the very least.

"Of course, we did as we got her love for computers and we're just as good at hacking as she is."

"Mom is very good at changing our records when necessary," Brooke told Aaron.

"Which is something I can do for us when it's necessary to," Harper said. "Mom taught us everything she knew about changing our background. It makes it easier to move around in such a high tech society."

"Well, that's a skill that was certainly come in useful," Aaron smiled.

"So you never had any one to change your records before? Create a different background?"

"Sure I have, but I've always gone to those who do that kind of thing for a fee and who are not really completely honest. Creating a whole new background for someone is very lucrative as I'm sure you know."

"Believe me, we know," Penelope said smiling. "I've been doing new backgrounds for some Immortals for centuries now, but I can only do so many without it interrupting my family life, so I only take so many clients besides my own family. There is just too many Immortals for me to do everyone a new background."

"Thousands of us at the very least," Aaron agreed.

"At least 50,000 or so," Dave said. "If most Immortals didn't have such a problem having children it would be way more."

"And 50,000 isn't even 1% of the population," Emily said.

"Who knows Harper and Brooke might decide to follow in my footsteps and start doing backgrounds for some of the Immortal population. It would certainly help me out because Immortals are always requesting help in doing new backgrounds for them and I have to turn most of them away, as I just don't have time," Penelope said.

"Request is that what you call them from some Immortals that kept persisting, even when you told them you didn't have time," Dave snorted.

"Alright, there were a few who were very rude," Penelope admitted.

"That's probably the understatement of the century," Emily snorted her opinion of those Immortals clear. "If some Immortals had their way Penny would be chained to a computer changing backgrounds for everyone who paid the person holding her prisoner."

"I've met mortals and Immortals alike like that," Aaron said with a disgusted look.

"So have I and believe me, I scared the life out of them," Dave growled. "I told them I would have no trouble killing them and disposing of the bodies if they didn't back off. I said if they dared try to kidnap her the rest of us would track them down and they wouldn't be alive for long afterwards. I have a strong enough reputation in the Immortal community that they knew better then to try it. All of us might live pretty quietly, and we might not like to make waves, but that doesn't mean that all of us wouldn't have followed through with the threat and those immortals were well aware of it."

"Some of those Immortals were just impatient and rude, but didn't really mean any harm. Others were more dangerous," Emily said. "Both Dave and I had feelings that if some of those Immortals got their hands on Penny that they would force her to do backgrounds for anybody that could pay and she wouldn't have gotten a cent for all her hard work. Hell, they probably would've only fed her enough to keep her alive as that's usually how these sadistic people work."

"I've met a few Immortals like that too," Aaron admitted quietly. "Luckily, they don't pop up too often."

"Well, if it did happen Emily and I at least would've hunted them down and though Ilithyia frowns on murder, she doesn't expect us not to defend our family and the Immortals would have been well aware of this if they were taught at all properly," Dave said with a fierceness in his expression that made Aaron glad that Dave wasn't mad at him, not that he could blame the man, because if anything threatened Harper he would have a very similar reaction he knew.

"Yeah, they may get away with that kind thing with some mortal so long as they don't break Ilithyia's strictures, even if she frowns on that type of behavior," Aaron agreed quietly.

"But since the Immortals are her people, as she's the one that caused them to be what they are, it would basically, be committing suicide to do something like Dave and Emily are suggesting," JJ said.

"Yeah, it would be," Aaron agreed. "Still, we were once human and humans often believe that they can get away with a whole lot of crimes and nobody will ever catch them and oftentimes they're right, because cops are overworked and underpaid, though a lot of times the cops do catch those that believe they are untouchable."

"Yes, Immortals are the same way," JJ said.

"I can handle myself in most situations," Penelope put in. "All three of us are experts in several martial arts disciplines, but I can't handle more than 2 or 3 attackers by myself, especially if they gang up on me and know how to work together."

"They wanted to learn how to protect themselves and it's not like I could object, as there are many people that will take advantage of others if you let them," Dave said.

Aaron nodded totally agreeing with that.

"It might never happen, but you never know," JJ said. "Females tend to be particularly vulnerable to predators who want to take advantage of them. Better to have the skills to defend yourself then not."

"A lot of men, even in this century see women as helpless and sometimes the females themselves don't help that image," Penelope said.

"Yeah, that I agree with, as I've seen it for myself again and again," Brooke said.

"So have I," Harper agreed. "It's no wonder that a lot of men believe females are helpless, because they deliberately act like it. Not all of them or even most of them, but enough that the idea that women are helpless remains in a lot of men's minds. Not everybody has a good example growing up."

Everybody agreed with that.

"Thank you for dinner it was beyond delicious," Aaron told Dave who nodded in appreciation.

"You're quite welcome. It happens to be one of Harper's favorites," Dave told Aaron who made a mental note of that.

"It was as delicious as always dad, so thanks," Harper said.

"You're quite welcome, sweetheart," Dave said. "I certainly hope you and Aaron will come for lunch or dinner at least once every couple weeks. It will give us all a chance to see you more often for one thing now that you have a mate of your own."

"I think that's doable," Aaron agreed before Harper could say anything. "We might as well take advantage of the fact that we're living in the same city for the moment, which won't always be true."

"And maybe all of us can join you when we go to shopping spree or out to lunch," Brooke said.

"Well, shopping is not really my thing as you're well aware," Dave said smiling, "except when I'm shopping for gifts for my family, but I'll be happy to join you at some restaurant for lunch or dinner."

"You shop for a lot of your own clothes," Penelope pointed out.

"Well, yes, but that only takes a couple of hours and I don't have to do it it often, because you're always buying my clothes for me, so really I don't shop very often," Dave said.

"Except electronics, we can't keep him out of a electronics store," JJ teased him.

"He always has to go see the newest gadgets," Emily added smiling, as she joined in on the teasing.

"There's nothing wrong with liking electronics," Dave said defending himself. "I just find it rather fascinating the things that mortals have come up with considering that both Emily and I grew up in a time without anything except very simple machines. There certainly weren't TVs or radios or computers. Hell, we barely even had flush toilets."

"Something I was very glad they invented," Emily said.

"They were actually invented in 1596, before we were born, but the technology wasn't widespread," Dave said. "It wasn't until almost a hundred years later that they became more common. Nowadays, toilets are automatic for the most part."

Aaron listened to the conversation in quiet amusement, finding that he liked Harper's family a great deal, which wasn't really surprising as they were the ones that had raised his mate to be who she was after all. Still, he was glad that he liked them so much as it would make spending time with them much more enjoyable then if he hated or at least disliked them.

By the time they left the Rossis home it was after 10 o'clock and Aaron had enjoyed himself more than he had in a long time. He was looking forward to spending many nights in a similar manner, because not only was the company pleasant the food was absolutely spectacular.

~~~Immortal Soulmates~~~