The rental car pulled up to the driveway, packed with bags and people. I stared up at the house, utterly exhausted, and smiled. It felt like ages since I'd last been here. Takashi opened the driver door and popped the trunk, allowing us to stay in the warmth of the car while he grabbed our suitcases. I was about to open my own door and slide into the cold when suddenly there was a burst of golden light and the sound of many chattering voices. I grinned and stepped out of the car, absolutely psyched to see my family again, only to find the majority of them rush past me to embrace my foreign fiance. While I was slightly offended, it was fairly entertaining to see the utter shock on Taka-kun's face as he was overwhelmed by a multitude of squealing girls he had never met. Within moments they had found my father(passenger seat) and me(still worming my way out of the back of the car), and absorbed us into their massive crowd of family.

For a good hour, my entire family on my dad's side surrounded my fiance and I, and pounded us with questions. At first, Takashi was rather flustered, not being used to such fanatics and so much attention even at the host club. However, after a while, he became his normal courteous and polite self. He talked quite a bit more than most people hear him speak, but still spoke very little. Finally, when the questions started to get more obnoxious and personal, I told my aunts and cousins to give him a bit of space and back off.

"Seriously, he's not used to this kind of attention from obnoxious Americans!" I laughed and waved them off.

While we had a bit of down time I helped him try to figure out who was who. "So, let's start with the head of the family, my wonderful grandmother over there at the table! That's grandma 'Ski, short for Dybowski. Her three kids are my dad, my aunt Lyn, and my aunt Lauren." I pointed to my aunts respectively. "My dad is married to my step-mom, the blond woman with him, Kristina. My aunt Lyn is single, and my aunt Lauren's husband is Bill, the tall one that kind of looks like a mix of Napoleon Dynamite and Sylvester Stalone."

Takashi smiled as I continued. "Alright. Over there on the other couch is my aunt Lauren's daughter and my cousin, Erin, and her boyfriend Angel. They're fun. Next to Angel is Erin's brother, Aiden, and then Moira, their sister. Over by grandma is my cousin Ashlyn. She's Lyn's daughter, so try to remember her that way. Then on the floor under Isaak, my brother, is my half-brother Grayson. He's totally content... Isn't being five great?"

At the mention of his name, Grayson looked around and smiled at me. He was still pretty hesitant about my fiance, but he was warming up to him quickly. "So," Takashi turned to me, his English nearly flawless with that deep, handsome voice of his, "This is the vast Dybowski family, eh?"

"Oh, no no no, darling. This is maybe a third of us... And that's just those of us that live in Wisconsin!"

"...Oh."

"Indeed. Ah, and, my step-mom wanted to tell you that Isaak's bed just got make up with new sheets and all that for you. For whenever we go back to the house." I felt him shift awkwardly under my arms. "What? You thought my family was going to let us get away with staying in the same bed together?" I chuckled and squeezed him a little.

"...Right. Are you hungry at all? Thirsty?"

"Uwaaah, babe- yeah, actually I really could use a glass of water. How do you always know when I need something...?" He pecked me on the forehead and stood to walk away. I watched him go to get me a drink, and I saw when he was casually intercepted by my father and uncle. For a few seconds he made small talk, but I could tell that he was anxious to fulfill my needs. I quickly stood to get myself a drink, and walked toward the men blocking my fiance from getting my drink.

As I approached, they attempted to pull me into the conversation, but I declined to go and pour two glasses of water. I winked at my fiance as I passed him, letting him know it was fine that he hadn't gotten the drink first. I could tell it was annoying to him that he hadn't. A little later, I rejoined the men and gave Taka-chan his drink. They were talking about cultural differences. Go figure. Talk to the foreign man about his country and nothing else. I smiled to myself and went to sit on the floor by my five year old brother.

For what seemed like an eternity, we simply made eye contact every once in a while from across the house. Finally the boys let him go in a flurry of smiles and laughter, patting his back and releasing him to the rest of the house. He came over to Grayson and I and sat down next to us. For a few seconds, Grayson was a bit wary of him, but when Mori asked the little blond boy how to build a house out of his leggos, he was instantly taken with him. They immersed themselves in playing, while I sat back and sipped my water. Mori did somehow manage to keep his full attention on both my brother and myself, simply by keeping a hand on my knee.

I was leaning toward my love to help him build a tv for the boys' house when suddenly the house erupted. "AAAAALRIGHTY EVERYONE, PRESENT TIME!" My aunt shouted with what I assumed to be at least her third cup of wine half empty in her hand.

I clapped excitedly, "Oooh fun!" I grabbed my fiance's shoulders and pulled him into my chest, petting his hair in anticipation. Christmas with the family meant a puzzle sculpture from grandma, and I absolutely loved those.

"Oh-kay. We're gonna just start tossin 'em around, so if you hear your name, heads up!"

Out of nowhere, names were being shouted, packages were flying, and there was a sound of ripping paper within moments. Shouts of pleasure and excitement filled the air as the kids tore into the presents. I heard my name and threw my hands up to cover my face, just in time to grab the soaring gift that was chucked at my head. I grinned as I unwrapped the puzzle sculpture, this year, shaped like a shark. This one would join the collection of the various puzzles on my bookshelf at home, along with a treasure chest, a three-dimensional maze box, a horse, and a pirate ship.

I set to opening it and dumping the pieces between my man's legs so that we could set to putting it together. But we only got to grip a few pieces before 2 somethings hit Mori in the stomach. I hadn't even heard my aunt call his name... I had a suspicion that she may have forgotten how to pronounce it. Funnily enough, he was the last one to get his gift, so everyone had eyes on him. He glanced around at us all before I jostled him a little bit and said, "Go on, Takashi, open them!"

He glanced at me casually before setting to work on the first one, unwrapping one of the puzzle sculptures all of the grandchildren received every year. It was almost surreal, as it was a sort of symbol of his joining our family officially. He smiled at my grandmother, and she took advantage of his silence to tell him about how it's a tradition and all that jazz. Finally, with some prompting from the rest of the family, he pulled a card with his name written on the front out of a lime green gift bag. Without hesitation, he popped open the flap and pulled out a card with a bunch of monkeys on it. Inside was written largely, "Welcome to the family!" Slightly smaller, written all around it, were the signatures of everyone in the family saying how happy they were at the new addition, and how they were really excited to see the wedding, and all that gooey stuff. I looked on over his shoulder and read them all with him, knowing that he'd be really touched.

After some silence and a gentle and general thank-you to everyone in the room, he reached into the bag to find the actual present. The square box he pulled out was big enough to fit a baseball. He hesitated, looking around at everyone and their barely contained excitement before he slowly popped it open. A small gasp escaped his lips as he took in the elaborately decorated watch before him. He took in every inch of it before he could even attempt to utter a sound. A small noise, like that of astonishment, resounded from him three times before my aunt explained.

"Well, Rebekah wasn't much help in telling us what you liked and what you didn't like, so we had to go off of one thing... She only told us that you like geography." The family chuckled at his smile. "So, you like it?"

"I, I love it. This is wonderful, thank you."

Then the room was filled with whoops and hollers- but not because he liked the present, they were happy because he'd finally spoken. "It talks!" "Woah, that voice!" "Did you hear him? Can you do it again?" And other sarcastic remarks filled the room. We all laughed it off, but he was genuinely pleased with it. I could tell. He turned to me, and I helped him put it on. Looking more closely, I realized myself what it was.

The watch strap was a dark blue, with brass metal around the rim of the face. On the face itself was a world map with lines for country divisions, latitude and longitude, and God only knows what other technical things criss crossing the continents. I didn't find it very useful aside from being pretty nice to look at, but my fiance was absolutely taken with it. He toyed with it all night, admiring the roman numerals and the delicately carved watch hands that circled the circumference.

The moon rose higher through the sky, and I watched it's progress through a window. What must have been hours later that night, I wrapped my arms around Mori's neck and squeezed his neck. "So?"

"I'll be fine."

I grinned. Fine he would most definitely be. He'd fit in fine, he likes them fine, they like him fine, we'd be fine... So on and so forth. I sighed happily, knowing that the family felt more complete, and promptly fell asleep leaning on my fiance's shoulder, around 3:48 in the morning.