American Dragon: African Heart

By: Orionstorm04

Disclaimer: Don't own it, so don't sue

A/N: How many of you have been wishing unholy things upon me for not updating? LOL all in good jest people, though I am sorry for the delays. Sometimes the creative spirit lingers on the fringes of my mind and never takes that last step so that I can put out a good chapter. I've been receiving several reviews about the length of my chapters; well I can guarantee that all chapters will exceed five thousand words. It has been a personal goal of mine to have this story to reach at least one hundred thousand, so while the chapters will be long, I don't think they will go beyond twenty. This chapter will be in two parts, and another filler chapter, you know, when I have to fill in some personal aspect of the story, and it will be shorter than other chapters that I've posted, also at this point I can't say that it won't have some action, we'll just have to wait and see. I didn't have a beta for this one, so please forgive any mistakes.

Family Ties.

When Orianna first woke up on what would be her first Thanksgiving Holiday, she hadn't decided if she wanted to stay in bed or go down stairs. In the beginning she was anxious to meet her extended family, but as time went on her excitement dwindle into unbridled nervousness. She had never met or heard from these people in her entire life, and now she was expected to mingle with them as if they were well know relatives? Albeit, she hadn't know Trixie or her Aunt Anita until she meet them at the airport, but this was far different from that encounter. At that time it was just the two of them, and she didn't feel as if she was being smothered or surrounded; now she would be introduced to almost a dozen people, who would be crammed in this house for a whole weekend.

Pulling herself from her bed, Orianna made her way towards the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for when the guests would arrive. Her bath gave her little ease of her anxiety, and when she finally stepped out, she was more nervous than before. Wringing her hair dry, she rushed to her room to find what clothes she would be wearing for the day. Living in the states was a lot different than living in Africa, and being in the northern part of the country meant that the weather here was a lot colder than anything she was used to.

She ultimately decided on a pair of comfortable jeans and a light sweater in a pale blue color. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she wondered what she should do with her hair. Over the month and a half since her secret was revealed, she had worked hard to not let her self-conscious emotions control her. She wouldn't let herself be brought back to that point, and decided to leave her hair exposed. Retrieving the few hair ties she had purchased on her last shopping trip with Trixie, she put her hair in a low ponytail, and placing the other two bands lower down her hair, leaving her hair in three sections.

Trixie was already down stairs, dressed in the most recent outfit that her mother had sent her from Paris. The excitement was bubbling in Trixie, this would be the first time she had seen her mother since the end of the last school year. Setting the plate on the table, Trixie looked at her watch for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

"She'll be here Trisha, just relax." Anita smiled from her place at the stove. Her granddaughter had been constantly checking the time for when her mother's plane would arrive.

"I know, I know, but I'm so excited. I miss my mama." Trixie beamed with happiness.

"And I'm sure she misses you to."

Placing her dish on the stove top, Anita smiled at her granddaughter. It had been a few months since Trixie had last seen her mother, and Anita was well aware of how that affected Trixie. Truth be told, Anita missed her daughter just as much, she missed all of her children. This would be the first time that the whole family had gathered in a while. Trent, her eldest son, would be coming from Atlanta with his wife Sharron and their three children. Her youngest son, Patrick would also be stopping by with whatever new girlfriend he had this time. Felicia would be coming in from California with her fiancé, a man who Anita had met only once since the engagement. Melanie would most likely be the last to arrive, seeing as she was coming all the way from Europe. Anita had just finished pulling her famous sweet potato pie from the oven, when the door bell rang.

"I'll get it!" Trixie was off before Anita knew it. Rushing to the door, she flung it open, a huge smile on her face. But the person on the other side wasn't who she was expecting. "Aunt Felicia!"

"Trixie? Oh my God, sweety, look at you. You've gotten so big." Felicia enveloped the teen in her arms.

This was only the tenth time that Trixie could recall meeting her aunt Felicia. She had moved to California to follow her dream to be a model, when Trixie was just a baby, and rarely came to visit. Pulling back, Trixie looked at her aunt as a whole. From what she could remember, Felicia hadn't really changed all that much. From the shoulder length chestnut brown hair, to the honey brown eyes, everything was exactly the same. Though the man on her arm was a change, the last Trixie remembered, Felicia had been dating a shorter guy with really bad acne. But this guy… well let's just say that Spud was lucky she loved him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, let me introduce you to my fiancé. Mark, this is my niece, Trixie. Trixie this is my fiancé, Mark." When Mark reached out to shake Trixie's hand, he flashed her a devilish smile.

"Hi, Trixie, it's nice to meet you." Mark said in a smooth baritone.

The man had a smile that could melt butter, and a voice as smooth as silk. Now Trixie Carter wasn't the type of girl to go all soft for a pretty face or nothing, but this man she could tell had skills in swooning a woman. His dark brown eyes burned into hers, causing a faint blush to color her skin. Trixie dipped her head to try and cover her embarrassment, before taking the offered hand.

"Uh… it's nice to meet you to."

"Is that my baby?!" Anita made her way out of the kitchen and into the hallway leading to the front door.

"Hey mama!" the two woman hugged, before Felicia turned back to the man behind her. "You remember Mark Don't you?"

"Well of course I do, it's nice to see you again Mark. How was your trip?"

"It's nice to see you again to Mrs. Carter, and the trip was fine."

"We flew first class, the food was wonderful!" Felicia gushed.

"Oh… well that's nice." Anita said. Felicia was always the type to like the high life. Ever since she was a little girl, she always wanted the best of everything. Anita and her late husband Thomas, always tried to instill in their children humility, to always be humble and grateful for what they had. It wasn't like there was something wrong with having wealth; it only become a problem with a person would measure the worth of their lives by how much money they had. That wasn't a life that Anita wanted for her baby girl or any of her children, though it seemed destined that Felicia would never learn that lesson.

"So, where is she?" at the confused looks on her mother and niece's face, Felicia clarified. "Orin's daughter, where is she?"

"Oh… goodness, I thought you were talking about your sister. She's upstairs getting dressed. Trixie, could you go see if everything is okay with her?"

"Sure grams, be right back." As Trixie ascended the stairs, Anita turned back to Felicia.

"Felicia, I want to tell you now, before Orianna get down here…"

"That's a beautiful name. Was she named after Orin?"

"What? Oh yes, she was named after he and her mother, but there's something else I want to talk to you about." Thinking of how she should choose her words carefully, Anita chose to be discreet. "Orianna comes from a different culture than we do, and while she has managed to adjust, there are still some things about her that are different."

"I know mother, I've been to Africa a few times. I promise I won't be insensitive towards her."

"Good, but it's not just her culture that is different, it's her appearance as well."

"Meaning…" Before Anita could continue with her conversation, footsteps could be heard on the staircase.

Trixie was the first on the stairs, followed immediately by what Felicia could only describe as an ebon goddess. The young girl was simply breathtaking, her figure more mature than anything she had ever seen on a teenager. At first the hair was a shock, but soon shock faded into enhancement. The way the silvery white lock, held in a ponytail, hung down her back made it seem like a river of the purest silver, wile wisps of hair touched her smooth chocolaty skin. Out of all, her eyes were the most captivating.

"Orianna, dear… this is Felicia, and her fiancé, Mark. She was were father's cousin." Anita wrapped her arm comfortingly around Orianna's shoulder, letting her know that she shouldn't be overwhelmed, and that she was there for her.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you."

At Anita's insistence, the group went into the living room to wait for the arrival of the other guest. It was the strangest encounter Orianna had ever had. During the small time she got to know Felicia, she could already tell that their interest weren't the same. Felicia started off by telling everyone how she had meet her new fiancé, and their short lived courting before deciding to get married. It was strange how little Felicia and the man she had chosen to spend the rest of her life with, had in common. While he liked to spend most of his time with his family and friends, she preferred trotting around the world, hobnobbing with the social elite.

"Last summer, Mark took me away to the south of France for our one year together as a couple. Isn't he the best?"

"That sounds nice. Did you stop by to see your sister?" Anita asked.

"Well no, we were on our vacation. It would have been rude of me to ask Mark to put aside everything we were doing just so I could visit my sister."

"You didn't tell me your sister lived in France. It wouldn't have been a problem for us to drop by for a day or two."

"It doesn't matter now, does it?"

Trixie and Orianna watched the exchange between the couple with mixed reaction. Orianna felt uncomfortable witnessing the two having an argument, while Trixie was slightly fuming that her aunt wouldn't even take the time to go see her own sister. Before the argument could get out of someone knocked at the door.

"I'll get it." Orianna was happy for the excuse to walk away. It was like a train wreck watching Felicia try and explain to her mother, fiancé and niece why she hadn't gone to see Melanie. When she opened the door, a small army of people were standing outside it.

A older man, looking remarkable like the picture of her great uncle Thomas, stood before her, his arm wrapped around a beautiful woman. The woman's ruby red lips were in stark contrast to her pale skin, while emerald green eyes highlighted her crimson hair. Standing to either side of the man and woman, were two teenagers around her age. The boy had brownish red hair, and hazel eyes, while the girl, who appeared slightly older, had blondish brown hair and brown eyes. Their café latté skin tone was a mix of both their mother and father. In the woman's arms was a baby boy with the same skin tones as the other two, but Orianna couldn't tell the color of his eyes because the infant was fast asleep.

Just behind the small family, was another man and woman. This man was shorter than the last, but no less handsome. Kind brown eyes lit a youthful face, and a confidant smile completed the package. The woman on his arm was only an inch or two shorter than he was, sporting a short hair style with the bangs covering her left eye. She reminded Orianna of the singer Riahnna, except the skin tone was a little darker.

"Hi, you must be Orianna." The first man spoke. "I'm Trent, and this is my wife Cindy, and my children Samantha and Cory. And this little man here is Troy." He introduced each of them in turn.

"Yes… I'm sorry, please come in." slightly embarrassed for having them stand outside in the cold.

"I'm Patrick by the way. And this is my girlfriend Kelly." The other man reached forward and shook Orianna's hand.

"Orianna, who was it baby?" Anita walked out of the living room to be greet by her children and grandchildren.

"Hey mama!"

"Mom!"

"My boys are home." She gathered both of them in a hug. "And look at my gandbabies all grown up." She gave Samantha and Cory a kiss on the cheek before giving hugs to the Cindy and Kelly. When she got to Cindy, she scooped little Troy in her arms and began to smother him with kiss. "I see you've all met Orianna? Your sister is in the living room with her fiancé Mark."

"The guy she was seeing last year?! They're getting married?"

"Jesus, Pat, do you ever call your family?" Trent asked joked.

"I try to, but Lisha barley ever in the states."

"You not lying on that one." The brother's always joked about how their sister was never around anymore.

"Let's all go in the front room, the only person we're waiting on in Melanie. After that, we can all sit down and eat."

After everyone settled in the living room, they all began to reminisce about their childhood. Teasing each other about awkward hair do's and silly nicknames. Felicia was more embarrassed than anything else, not really joining in on the laughter that was shared. About an hour had passed when the door to the house was open, and in walked none other than Trixie's mom.

"Mama!" Trixie jumped from the couch and hugged her mother for what seemed like the first time. Melanie wordlessly dropped her bags on the floor and hugged her daughter just as tightly. It was like neither of them had seen the other in years, the way they were acting.

"Hey baby, oh you don't know how much I miss you sweetheart."

"I miss you to."

"Well it's about time you go here baby sis, I was beginning to think that I would starve to death." Trent said, giving his sister a hug.

After giving her brothers and sisters hug, and making small talk with her mother, Melanie finally noticed the young woman sitting quietly in the room. She knew who she was immediately, even without the hair and eyes. It was when the young girl smiled politely at her, that Melanie recognized her. She was anxious about meet this girl, the last link to her cousin. When her mother told her that Orin had a daughter and that she would be coming to live with her, Melanie was in a state of shock.

Orin was without a doubt, Melanie's best friend when they were growing up. Even when they were adult, the two of them kept in constant contact with each other. But when she heard that he had died, her whole world came crashing down. It was a personal blow to her, cause not only did she loose a family member, she lost her best friend. She never got to say goodbye to him, and that had always weighed heavily on her heart, but now everything had changed. With the birth of this girl, Orin wouldn't be forgotten, and Melanie could finally lay his memory to rest.

Soundlessly she walked over to Orianna, and stood in front of her.

"Hello…" Orianna spoke clearly. At first Melanie didn't respond, she just looked at her. They even almost sounded the same, other than Orianna having an accent.

"Hi…" Melanie cleared her throat before she tried to speak again. "Hi, you're Orianna right?"

"Yes ma'am."

"God, you're so much like him…" she whispered before swatting the tear from her eye. Felling herself getting more emotional with each second, Melanie turned to the people behind her. "Well what are we waiting for? Let' eat."

Everyone left the living room and headed for the kitchen, except for Orianna. She stood back and waited while all of her family left, wondering how her life could have changed so much in the last couple of months. She had went from living in Africa in a small hut with her godmother, to moving to the United States of America and getting to know family that she never would have guessed existed. She was grateful for the opportunity to get to know all of these people, and for the first time she was able to understand the meaning of Thanksgiving.

After dinner, the Carter family spent much of the night talking. Of course most wanted to know about Orianna's life before she moved in with Anita, but once the initial infatuation was over, the family settled into comfortable conversations. The sleeping arrangements had been decided long before everyone arrived, but even with four bedrooms, things were going to be a little cramped. Trixie and Samantha would be sleeping with Orianna in her room. Anita had decided that it would be best that Trixie give up her room for the weekend that way Orianna would feel put out. Trixie had no problem sharing a room with her cousin, and took it as a sleepover of sorts.

"So Sam, what have you been up to since the last time ya came to New York?" Trixie said as she flopped down on Orianna's bed.

"Nothin' much, same old same old I guess. Benjamin and I broke up last month." She said flippantly.

"You mean that fine as boy you was with the last time I went to ATL? Is you on crack?! That boy was fine."

"Yeah, if you like that type of dude who can't do nothin' for you but give you a headache. What about you, you still with that fine lil' white boy?"

"Hey now, watch how you talk about my man." Trixie said laughing. This is how her and Samantha's relationship was like. The two would always rag on the other about their choice of men.

"So what about you Anna, you have a man?" Sam asked. She was curious to know if this girl had managed to adjust to life here in the states as quick as her grandmother had said.

"Well… I…"

Samantha smiled slightly; she could tell what that meant. any time a girl wasted that much time giving a yes or a no to such a simple answer, that meant that she wasn't quite sure how to respond, aka meaning the answer was always yes.

"Hmmm… I see, you haven't told him that you liked him yet." From the shocked expression on her face, Samantha knew that she was right. "Well who is he?"

"My boy Jake." Trixie said, laughing at the look on her cousin's face.

"Jake?"

"Trixie!" Orianna seethed, mortified that Trixie told her secret.

"You know, the cute Asian guy I'm always with."

"Girl, you lying! You crushin' on that Jake?! Well I suggest you take that, Hell I know if I lived in New York I would be all over him."

"Goddess give me strength." Orianna let out a quite prayer, wishing that the bed would swallow her up.

The rest of the night was spent gossiping. It was like having sisters, the way the three interacted with each other. Orianna could see a lot of similarities between Samantha and Trixie, right down to the way each of them spoke. It was fun to get to know her, even if it would only be for a weekend.

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The following morning, Trixie's mother asked her out on the town. Melanie wanted to get some quality time in with her daughter before she would have to leave for her flight back to Europe. Of course, she invited Samantha and Orianna out with her, but both declined, realizing that this would be private time for mother and daughter. It seemed as though everyone had plans for today. Anita had to go into work today unexpectedly, it seemed that one of her coworkers had gotten sick and need her to take her place. Patrick had decided to take Kelly out for a tour the city, while Felicia and her soon to be husband was going clothes shopping.

Trent wanted to take Cindy and the kids out for a while, and give them a chance to see what it was like for him growing up in the city. Orianna had declined offers to join them, noticing that everyone would be out with their families. It wasn't that she was jealous of any of them, she could understand why they all wanted to spend time with their family, and this was the season for it and all. But it was times like these that she felt really lonely.

Sitting on the couch in the living room, Orianna had decided to curl up with a book and wait for everyone to return. She hadn't gotten more than a few pages in when music started coming out of nowhere. She didn't recognize the song straight away, but soon realized it was her cell phone ringing. She followed the tune of Usher's 'You got it bad' until she found her phone stuffed in the cushion of the nearby loveseat. Looking at the caller id, she had seen that it was Jake. She didn't remember programming that ringtone for his number, and then remembered Samantha and Trixie playing with her phone last night.

"I'm going to kill them…" she whispered before answering her phone. "Hello?"

"Sup O', happy late Thanksgiving."

"Well it's better late than never I suppose." She chuckled over the line.

"Well I was going to call last night, but I thought ya'll would be busy with ya whole family there."

"And you couldn't text?" she asked jokingly.

"Parent been gettin' on me for textin' so much. They say I need to learn how to actually talk to people." She could almost see him rolling his eyes at the thought. "So what are you up to?"

"Nothing much, just sitting at home reading a book."

"You're by yourself?"

"Everyone else stepped out for a little while."

"And they just left you? Aw naw, we can't have that."

"What did you have in mind?" Orianna asked. She had decided last night that she would take more initiative in exploring these feeling towards Jake that she was having.

"Meet me at the park in ten minutes." Before she could answer, Jake had hung up.

Looking at the phone, Orianna smiled to herself. It seemed like she wasn't the only one taking action, and that thought excited her. Rushing up stairs, Orianna changed clothes before grabbing her cell and heading out the door to meet Jake.

To be continued….

A/N: I'll be honest with you; this was without a doubt the hardest chapter I have ever had to write. I couldn't get a real grip on where I wanted to go with it, and I was getting frustrated with describing characters, family dynamic and personalities. While that isn't an excuse, it's all I have. Next chapter won't be like this, I tend to have an easier time when I don't have to have so many people in one scene. The next chapter will come out a lot sooner than this one, and it will be Jake and Orianna on what could be considered their first date. I won't go into detail about what this chapter will entail, but I can say that the real plot to the story is fast approaching. Luiz4200, you especially will love what's coming in the next chapter or two. I would like to thank all of you who have kept up with the story, it really means a lot to me that you guys enjoy this. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a review or send me a PM.