Hey all! I wasn't expecting to have this one done quite so soon, but here we are. This chapter takes place a few years after the previous chapter. I am not sure if I will have an update tomorrow, I will try, if not I will have one at some point come Monday.

Enjoy!

"I don't like this," Wade sighed, standing in the living room window, watching his little girl with the boy next door. The two of them have been friends since they were babies, so he never thought he'd be watching his barely teenage daughter, flirting with who he had thought was her best friend.

"I think it's cute," Zoe smiled, peeking out the window to see Aurora kissing Adam's cheek. "Let them be," she giggled, tugging on her husband's hand, pulling him away from the window. They were outside, they wouldn't do anything.

"Cute!" Wade exclaimed in a huff. "She only turned 13 two and a half months ago. How is it okay for her to already have a boyfriend. Didn't I say she wasn't allowed to date until she was in her 30s?" Wade asked, pacing around the living room.

"You weren't serious about that?" Zoe asked, shaking her head. It was something he teased when Aurora was just a few months old, and he rocked her to sleep in the middle of the night. "She's growing up and dating is part of that. What do you think is going to happen? They're both 13. The most they are going to do is hold hands and share the smallest kisses, most of them on the cheek.

"I was serious about that," Wade nodded. "We didn't let Will date until he was 15, why change the age for Aurora?" He asked, casting a longing glance at the window.

"Because Will didn't start to date until he was 15, and you know just like I do, that if he wanted to date someone at 13, you would have been okay with that," she stated.

Wade sighed, falling down on the couch, moving to lay down, his head in his wife's lap. "You might be right," he sighed. "Do you think she needs to have the talk again, now that she's dating?" He asked, letting his eyes fall shut, at the feeling of his wife's fingers against his scalp as she gently massaged his head.

"As easy as it would be to barge into her life and go over everything we talked about already, I want to see if she'll come to us and tell us straight up what's going on with Darrell. We owe her that much, and if or when she does that, I will revisit the sex and puberty talk with her.

"How are you so calm about her dating the boy next door?" Wade asked, cracking an eye open to look at his wife.

"Because I know what it's like to date the boy next door at her age," Zoe replied. She was 14 at the time and not 13 when they dated for a whole two weeks. She wasn't worried about her daughter and Darrell dating, if things turned out to be more serious in the following weeks than she would have a talk with Aurora, if she hadn't come to her about it.

"I can't possibly be the only one that hasn't dated one of the next door neighbors, can I be?" He asked exasperatedly.

"I haven't," Will said, entering the house, grabbing an apple on his way through to get started on the book report due next week.

"I don't know if that makes me feel better or not," Wade stated. "There's still time for him to fall for the new neighbors' daughter across the road," he commented. They had gotten new neighbors three weeks ago now. They were alright people for what he knew. They came into the Jammer like everyone else, needing to eat, when not wanting to have a home cooked meal.

"Can't you be happy that you know Darrell and his parents, so you know that he is a good kid?" Zoe asked. "Soon enough she's going to be in a serious relationship with some punk you won't like," she commented. It happens, and it's only going to be a matter of time before Aurora does the same.

"Yeah, real happy," he sighed. "I guess I'll take it for now," he told his wife, still not happy about it.

"Why don't you go take a look and see what's going on, so you can relax," Zoe told him.

With a smirk, Wade rolled off the couch and marched past the window and went outside. If he let himself, he could see how cute the two of them are slowly swinging while holding hands.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Aurora asked, pulling her hand out of Darrell's.

"Supporting my daughter and her boyfriend," he replied, looking over to Darrell. "On behalf of my wife and myself, we would like to invite you and your parents over for dinner on Friday night," he offered. Zoe might just kill him for embarrassing their daughter like this.

"Seriously dad?" Aurora sighed, trying not to make a fool of herself in front of her boyfriend. "What are you playing at? We've had plenty of dinners with Darrell and his family."

"We have, but that was before you two were dating, it's different now," Wade stated. "Dinner will be served at 7 sharp, can I trust you to let your parents know?" He asked.

"Yes, sir," Darrell said. "I'm sure they will be thrilled for a dinner party. I will have them get in touch with you, with any questions they have about needing to bring anything," he told Wade.

"No need, looks like Mom is talking to them now," Aurora pointed out. Wade left the kids be and went to relay the invite to their guests and to his wife.

"I'm sorry about him," Aurora said, turning to look at her boyfriend. "I can find a way for them to cancel the dinner," she informed him.

"No need," Darrell said, kissing the back of her hand. "We can handle dinner, and we knew it was coming the very second we decided to date," he told her. "Your parents already like me, so it won't be that bad."

"They liked you when we were friends," she pointed out, hoping that the dinner won't backfire. She'd need to have a talk with her mom, to see if she can find a way to keep her dad in line and not ruin her first relationship.

"That doesn't mean he's going to hate me because I'm sweet on his daughter. It'll be fine, you'll see," he offered. She wishes she could be as optimistic as he is about this. She can still remember the horror stories of when Will had dinner with Stella's parents, and it was nothing but a long line of questions.

"Yeah maybe," she sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked, getting up.

"I'll be waiting to walk you to school in the morning," he assured her, placing a soft kiss to her cheek.

"Okay," she whispered, her cheeks becoming warm from having her parents see her boyfriend kiss her cheek. One thing was for sure the next three days were going to be the longest three days of her life.

"Can you please keep dad in line?" Aurora asked, helping her mom set the table. Out of everything she was happy that her brother would be elsewhere for the night. That had been Will's choice, she wanted him to be there for support, but the more she thought about it, the more relieved she was when he told her he wouldn't be there, because she had this feeling that he would have been worse than her dad when it came to asking Darrell questions and what not, pulling the overprotective brother card. And nothing was going to be worse than having her dad and her brother team up against her boyfriend.

"Honey, you have known him for 13 years now, can anyone keep dad in line?" Zoe asked, checking on her gumbo, the recipe her dad had kept close to his heart, only ever sharing the recipe with her when she turned 16. He didn't exactly keep a record of how much of what was in it, it's more of a guessing game.

"The only person other than Uncle Jesse, is you, mom. I don't want him to ruin what I have going on with Darrell. I think it might be something good," she shared, grabbing the glasses her mom set out.

"Your daddy isn't going to mean any harm with anything that he says. You'll see that he means no harm. He wants the best for you, in everything that you do," Zoe told her. She remembered all the times she brought a boyfriend home and the line of questioning they had gone through. "Your Grandpa Harley did the same to your dad, before we were ever dating. It's a fathers job to make sure they are dating a guy good enough," Zoe explained.

"And Dad didn't run off?" Aurora asked, making sure everything was in place on the table.

"He didn't, he said everything to make sure Grandpa knew that he would never hurt me, and he respected my wishes," Zoe smiled.

"What are we talking about in here?" Wade asked, entering the kitchen, sharing a quick kiss with his wife. Aurora making gagging noises behind them.

"The first day you met my dad," Zoe told him, softly laughing at her daughter's reaction.

"I was nervous, wanting your dad to like me," he chuckled.

"Can you imagine how Darrell is feeling, so please take it easy on him," Aurora begged her dad.

"It's just dinner, Aurora, not an inquisition," Wade told her. "I am not going to say anything to embarrass you or make him think I don't like him. You have nothing to worry about," he assured her, hearing the knock on the door, letting Aurora ran off and get it. "We are doing the right thing here, right?" He asked his wife.

"We are," Zoe confirmed, turning to greet their guests.

True to his word, he didn't mention anything about their kids dating, in fact they let them be, doing their own thing in the living room as the adults hung out in the kitchen. Rita giving Zoe a helping hand with finishing the rest of dinner. Having heard enough girl talk Wade and Trevor headed off into the garage to see what kind of mess they could get into.

Dinner was pleasant, the adults keeping their conversations going, Aurora and Darrell sharing their own laughs and inside jokes. As much as Wade wanted to see what was going on inside of Darrell's mind when it came to his baby girl, he refrained from doing so. He'd keep that conversation, if things between his daughter and her boyfriend, got to a serious place.