Disclaimer: Hi, this is my first FanFiction. I am not that good at writing. So please don't hate me for how I am writing this fic.

Summary: This story is about one of Eli's cousin who is having a Bar Mitzvah (Boy coming of age in the Jewish religion). This is the first time that Clare would be meeting his family. This takes place at the beginning of season 12, during rehearsals for "Romeo & Jules." (There will be some Yiddish and Hebrew words or prayers in this story. I will put Asterix around them and explain at the end of each chapter.)

Chapter 3

It's almost 9:00 AM, and the Goldsworthys plus Clare arrive just in time for Eli's cousin's *Torah* portion. As they arrive at the synagogue, Clare looks out the window and sees a stone building with Hebrew and English iron lettering. She's never been to a synagogue before, so seeing this is new. Bullfrog finds a parking space and turns the car off. Everyone gets out of the car.

Cece hugs Clare and says, "Now I can give you a proper hello."

Clare hugs her back, smiles, and giggles at the same time. She breaks apart from her. "It's good to see you both. Thank you for inviting me."

Bullfrog walks over to the group. "It's our pleasure. We should head inside."

Bullfrog and Cece walk in first while Clare and Eli are walking behind them. Eli could sense that Clare is getting a little nervous and squeezes her hand. "It's going to be ok. I'm here if you need me."

Clare looks into his green eyes and smiles. "Thank you."

All four of them make their way into the enormous sanctuary. Inside there is a stage with a *lamp* hanging above. There are colorful stained glass windows on each side of the sanctuary. Clare is amazed by the windows.

Before heading to their seats, Bullfrog grabs two *kippot* for him and Eli. He hands it to him and speaks softly so that only he and Eli can hear. "Here. Wear this. You know your Bubbe would want you to wear it."

Eli sighs and speaks quietly as he is grabbing the hat. "You know how much I don't like wearing it."

Bullfrog says, "I know, but it is showing respect to her and your family. And I don't her want to be mad us for not wearing it."

Eli rolls his eyes. "Fine. I'll wear it." He puts the hat on his head.

Clare looking confused and asks, "What is it, and why do you have to wear it?"

Eli makes his annoying face. "It's some sort of head covering. I don't even know why I have to wear it in the first place. I'm not even Jewish."

Clare tries to reassure him. She knows when Eli gets annoyed. "I know it's not what you wanted to wear, but you have to wear it for your grandmother. Hey, it's only for a few hours. You can deal."

Eli sighs. "Yea. You're right. Let's just sit before my cousin speaks."

Clare smiles at him and says. "Ok."

Eli takes Clare's hand and heads toward the front of the sanctuary. Eli spots his parents and walks toward them. They are sitting in the second row with his aunts and uncles. As they make their way down the aisle, he notices all of his relatives that he hasn't seen since his grandfather's funeral.

Eli and Clare make their way to where Bullfrog and Cece are sitting. In the front row are Eli's aunt Hannah, his uncle Max, and his two cousins Benjamin and Leah. As well as his grandmother Chava.

Clare starts to get nervous. She's been worrying about this moment since the week began. Eli squeezes her hand tight enough, so she knows that's it's going to be ok. They get to the second row of the sanctuary and take a seat next to Cece. Sitting next to Eli's mom is his aunt Ruth and uncle Saul.

Eli hugs his uncle first. Then he hugs his aunt and says quietly, "Hi, aunt Ruth and uncle Saul."

Aunt Ruth hugs her nephew back, "It's good to see you, Eli."

She breaks from him and says. "And this must be Clare. It's so nice to finally meet you."

Clare smiles and says, "It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Goldsworthy."

Ruth brushes the air, "Oh please. Call me Ruth, and this is Harold's brother Saul."

Clare tilts her head and asks, "Who's Harold?'

Ruth was about to say something when Eli interrupts. "I think she meant to say was Bullfrog. Harold is Bullfrog's biological name. His family is the only one that can call him that. "

Ruth nods her head in agreement with Eli. "Yes. When I first met Eli's father, everyone kept calling him Harold, and I thought that his name was Bullfrog. It turned out that was not his actual name."

Clare smiles, "Well, I guess I should start calling him Harold then." Giggling.

Eli laughs lightly. "Yea... I don't think my dad would like that."

Eli and Clare take a seat and listen to the rest of the service.

As the service progresses, one of the ushers asks Eli if he is interested in opening the arc. Eli nods in acceptance, stands from his seat, buttons his jacket, and heads onto the *bima*. Clare smiles and watches as her boyfriend make his way. She can feel that he is happy.

Eli opens the arc and stands off to the side so that the rabbi and Benjamin can stand in front of it. As the other family member brings the *Torah* scroll out of the arc, Eli makes his way down the bima. He hugs his aunt Hannah and shakes his uncle Max's hand. He says, "Congratulations to you both." He then hugs and gives a kiss to his grandmother. He says, "Hi, Bubbe."

Chava gives Eli a kiss on the cheek. "Well, hello Elijah. You are looking sharp in that tuxedo."

Eli smiles and says, "Thank you. I always have to look good for you. Anyways, I should take my seat before Benjamin comes down. But I will see you after the service."

Eli grandmother gives him a nod. He walks back to his seat.

Clare sees Eli coming back. As he takes his seat, she notices that he has some lipstick on his cheek.

Clare points to her cheek and says, "Eli. You have something on your cheek."

Eli touches his cheek. "Where? I don't feel anything."

Clare softly giggles. "On the other side."

Eli touches his other cheek. "Oh. It must be my Bubbe's lipstick." He chuckles. "Do you have any tissues I could use?

Clare opens up her purse and pulls out a pack of tissues. "Here you go." She hands him them.

Eli smiles. "Thank you. What would I do without you?

Clare smiles. "I don't know. What would you do?"

Eli giving her a side smile. He turns to see his cousin carrying the *Torah* down the aisle.

As Benjamin makes his way back to the podium, the congregants start to sit back down. Some people open the scroll up to the *Parsha.* A few members of both sides of Benjamin's family come up to the podium to say a prayer. In between the prayers, he is speaking Hebrew from the scroll.

Clare is listening to every word that he is speaking. Even though she does not understand the language, she is still fascinated by it. She always knew these stories due to attending Christian school and church when she was younger, but never knew that these stories were told in different cultures.

Eli sees Clare smiling and grabs her hand. He knows that she loves different cultures. Especially when it comes to religion. He looks back at the podium and continues to watch the ceremony.

As the ceremony starts to wind down, a few of Eli's cousins including Lea are passing out candy. They make their way to the second row and hand Bullfrog some candy. Each member of second the row passes them down. Eli hands two pieces of packaged candy to Clare. Clare is puzzled on the candy.

Clare whispers to Eli, "Why did your cousin just passed out candy? Is it like a party favor or something?"

Eli looks back at Clare and whispers back, "Kind of. It's like a party favor. But, instead of keeping the candy, you get to throw it at the Bar Mitzvah boy. You'll see all of the kids running up to grab them. I'll never forget when I was younger, my cousin and I would run up and grab all of the candy that we could get and then we would count who had the most."

Clare crosses her arms and asks, "Really? Little Eli grabbing sweets? How unusual." She giggles at what she just said.

Eli laughs, "Hey! You know sweets are my weakness."

Clare says, "I know they are. And that is why you can't resist them" She smiles as she looks right at him and back at the service. She still is confused. "So, when do we get to throw this candy that you like so much?"

Eli answers, "Soon. Whenever the rabbi says *'Mazel Tov'* that's when we get to throw it."

Clare nods and watches the rest of the service.

As the rabbi makes his final remarks on the service and how well Benjamin did, he says "Mazel Tov!"

"Mazel Tov!" The congregants cheer. Everyone starts to throw their candy at Benjamin. Eli stands up and throws his candy at his cousin. Clare stands up and tries to throw her candy him, but misses him. Her candy lands on one of the steps.

All of the children run up and grab all of the candy. Clare notices that Eli is tempted to grab a few pieces. What he doesn't know is that she saved one piece for him. She hands that one piece to him. "Hey, I know that you're old to be grabbing the candy, so I saved one of my pieces for you."

Eli looks at the wrapped candy and then at Clare and asks, "Are you sure? You haven't tried one yet."

Clare smiles while holding the candy. "I know, but I want you to have it. To remind you of your childhood."

Eli grabs the candy from Clare's hand and unwraps it. Its his favorite flavor of candy, which is Cherry. He takes a bite and smiles as he is chewing it. He hands the candy to Clare, "Here you should try it."

Clare grabs the bitten candy and says, "Thank you." She takes a bite of the candy. "Mm. You're right. This is good."

Eli smiles, "I know right. Now hand it over before you finish it all."

"Alright, but first one more bite." She says before taking one more bite of the candy. She hands it back to him.

He finishes the last remaining bites and crumples the wrapper. He puts his arm around Clare and watches the rest of the service.

As the final prayer ended, all of the congregants make their way to the dining hall for brunch. Eli and Clare stand up from their seats and are about to make their way down stairs when Bullfrog asks, "Eli. Why don't you and Clare take your Bubbe down to the dinning hall? It will be a great way for her to meet Clare."

Eli smiles and say in a cheerful tone, "Sure. Clare, you're ready to meet my grandmother?"

Clare smiles. "Uh… Sure." She says. Her voices is a bit shaking due to her being nervous. She never met his grandmother before. When they first started dating back when she was in Grade 10, she never met any of his relatives. Only his parents a couple of times.

Eli takes Clare's hand and head towards where his grandmother is sitting. He squeezes her hand in reassuring way. As they approach his grandmother, "Hi, Bubbe. This is my girlfriend Clare. The girl that I have been telling you about."

Chava looks up to see Eli and Clare standing infront of her. "Oh. Hi, Elijah. What a pretty, young girl." She says in her Austrian accent.

Clare smiles as she says. "Thank you. It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Goldsworthy."

Chava smiles as she says in her Austrian accent. "Oh, dear. You don't have to call me that. You can call me Chava."

Clare smiles and says in a nervous tone, "OK."

Eli smiles at the interaction that his grandmother and his girlfriend are having. He is so happy that this is going smoothly than what he thought.

Chava asks to Eli, "Where are your parents Elijah? I wanted to say hi to your mum."

Eli looks at his grandmother and says, "I think they were grabbing us a table. He wanted Clare and I take you down stairs. I think there's an elevator that we can take."

Chava nods and gets up slowly from her seat. She takes both Clare's and Eli's arms and starts walking towards the elevator. "So, Clare. How long have you known my grandson?"

Clare looks at Eli, trying not to say anything that happened last year. "Only a year. But we started dating a few months ago."

Chava nods her head, "I see. And, how did you two meet?"

Clare was about to speak when Eli interrupts her.

Eli says, "Well, you see. Clare and I met in our English class that I told you about."

Chava nods her head. "Ah. I remember now. You two were partners. Correct?"

Clare nods and says as she smiles. "Yes. We were. How did you know that?"

Chava looks at Clare and says, "Well, my dear, Elijah tells me everything. Including who he is partners with."

Clare looks at Eli in annoyance. She did not know that he told his grandmother everything. She is hoping that he did not tell her that he crashed Morty the hearse for her and that his play last year was about their relationship.

Eli knew that Clare looked annoyed and shook his head. Trying to let her know that he did not tell his grandmother about their relationship last year.

As they make their way to the elevator, Eli presses the down button. Eli asks his grandmother, "So, how's everything going? I heard that you moved into a condo."

Chava answers Eli in a soft tone, "Everything is doing fine. Thank you for asking. Yes, I moved close by you Aunt Hannah and Uncle Max. They have taking great care of me."

Eli smiles and says, "That's great to hear. I'm happy for you. Maybe one day I can and visit."

Chava smiles, "Of course my dear. You are my favorite grandson after all."

The elevator arrives and it opens. Eli gets on first and holds the door so that Clare and Chava can get onto it. They get on and the door closes. Eli presses the basement button. The elevator starts to move to the basement level. That is where brunch is being held.

3. Torah: Is the name given to the Five Books of Moses which comes at the beginning of the Bible. They are the basis of Jewish law and practice.

4. Kippa or Kippot: Is a Jewish head covering that men wear either at synagogue, Jewish events, holidays, cemetery, eating, or praying.

5. Bima: Is a raised platform in a synagogue from which the service is being led.

6. Parsha: Is a portion of the Torah that is read aloud. Each portion has 54 section. Each section is linked to a specific week.

7. Mazel Tov: Means congratulations in Hebrew.