Chapter 72

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Hadrian stood as they approached the table and Tim came up and kissed him on the cheek. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hi Hadrian, you remember my mother Heather McGee. Mom this is my husband Hadrian Black," Tim introduced.

"Pleased to meet you," Hadrian said politely.

"Oh God how old are you?" Heather blurted in shock.

Hadrian chuckled. "A lot older than I look," he said evasively. "Don't worry I'm not Tim's toy boy. I'm gainfully employed and financially independent."

Tim laughed and took Hadrian's hand.

"Mom, open mind, remember. Hadrian is an adult, a war veteran and a highly decorated senior agent, I expect you to be civil to him at the very least. I think you'd like him if you gave him a chance," Tim said firmly. "If anything, financially, I'd be Hadrian's toy boy. His family is old money, and it was hard to come to terms with at first but now I just accept the fact Hades really doesn't need me to contribute financially to the house or household expenses and he accepts the fact that I need to do so anyway."

"I'm sorry," Heather said to her son. She held her hand out. "I'm pleased to have the opportunity of meeting my son's other family."

"I understand that it must have been somewhat of a shock," Hadrian said forgivingly.

"It was, Tim never gave me any indication that he was interested in men or even seeing anybody seriously," Heather said.

"Yes I did Mom. I told you last time you visited me that I was interested in someone that Dad wouldn't approve of but you didn't want to meet them," Tim said. He couldn't bring up what happened last time he'd introduced his parents to Hadrian before the wedding, because Hadrian had obliviated the entire meeting from both of them after his father had threatened to disown him and his mother hadn't had the strength to go against him.

"Did you have a pleasant journey?" Hadrian asked, trying to make normal conversation.

"As pleasant as travelling for business with my husband could be," Heather replied.

Tim grimaced. Spending time in close proximity to the Admiral in a situation he wasn't totally in control of, was generally a nightmare.

"How long will you be in the capital?" Tim asked.

"Well that depends on the outcome of your father's meetings. He hopes to have things wrapped up by tomorrow night so we don't need to stay the weekend," Heather replied.

"He doesn't like DC?" Hadrian asked.

"He dislikes being away from his command, I don't think he has an opinion on whether he likes the DC area," Heather replied dryly. "The Navy is his life."

"Yeah Tim told me," Hadrian said dryly. "I would never put my career above my family. I'm glad I don't have a job that takes me away so much."

"Tim said you work for the FBI? That can be a pretty demanding career," Heather asked.

"I consult for the FBI, I actually work for a small branch of MI6. I've been based here in Washington with the FBI indefinitely," Hadrian replied.

"I love your accent, what part of England are you from?" Heather asked.

"I lived in Wales until I was 15 months old and then in Surrey but went to boarding school in Scotland, though most of the students were British," Hadrian replied. "I think my accent is mostly from Surrey and the BBC though. Tim tells me you're currently based in Florida. Do you like it there?"

"To be honest I hate the heat, it isn't too bad in the winter but summer is near unbearable and I miss Autumn, the trees turning and the crisp nights and warm sunny days." Heather replied. "It's a godsend that we get the coastal breezes or I think I'd melt."

"Do you know if you will be there much longer?" Tim asked.

"No Thomas is hoping these meetings today will involve a promotion to Washington. It will be nice to live near my children again. And Thomas has promised that we will live off base after his next promotion, I would love to have my own home. And it would be nice if we moved to DC while both my children are here, who knows where Sarah will end up when she finishes at Waverly," Heather said.

"Is living on base like renting, with all the limits on what you're allowed to do with the house and gardens?" Hadrian asked curiously.

"It is, but it's also that you start to feel that everything you do, everything you say to a neighbour, all your children's actions may affect your husband's chances of promotion. The higher Thomas' rank became the more competitive and less friendly our neighbours were. It makes you paranoid, you don't know how many of your friends are truly trustworthy," Heather said.

"No Mom, if the Admiral doesn't get this promotion it will have nothing to do with you, your committees or your relationships with your neighbours. His own attitudes and lack of tolerance for mistakes of others will have harmed the opinions of his superiors," Tim said.

"I wish I could be sure of that," Heather said shakily.

"You can be sure Mom. I've met SECNAV and the joint chiefs and none of them tolerate attitudes as closed minded as Thomas McGee's. He's great at following orders but he isn't the type of person the navy want generating those orders and procedures," Tim said. He wished that he could tell her that his father's agreement to binding his magic that had stalled his career at a level he couldn't influence Navy policy, he would never be offered a lateral transfer to DC let alone another promotion, but she probably had no memory of doing it.

Hadrian frowned internally, he knew his father-in-law would never be allowed to work in a position where he could influence Navy policy but did that mean that someone would ensure he wasn't offered the promotion he wanted of would they simply kill or disable him before he could settle into the position and make a difference to policy. He hoped they wouldn't offer him the job.

"How long have you been together?" Heather asked.

"I met Hadrian on my way back from England after my first book tour four and a half years ago, we hit it off immediately and I helped him get an apartment in my building. Things moved from friendship to romance about a year later," Tim said.

"So, were you the neighbour that cooked that divine smelling curry for Tim when he was shot?" Heather asked.

"Yes, Tim and I decided that the first time he'd spoken to his father in years and after just being shot wasn't the best time for me to meet you both so I made myself scarce. I did still have my apartment back then though I wasn't using it much" Hadrian replied. "Tim wasn't expecting his agency to inform you of the shooting," 'or you and the Admiral to care enough to come running if they did,' he added silently.

"Thomas was so suspicious of the neighbour who cooked that curry," Heather said laughing.

"He was right to be. While I didn't have the ulterior motives he suspected I had, I was definitely cooking for both of us when I made it," Hadrian replied smiling.

"So you've got a bigger apartment now for the children. Are you still in Silver Springs?"

"No I bought a house, two years of renting was enough for me. I wanted more security, particularly with the kids, and a backyard big enough for them to play in and it's nice to have the freedom to change things to meet our needs," Hadrian replied, deliberately neglecting to tell her where they lived.

"How old are the children?" Heather asked.

"Teddy has just turned five, he was my godson, his parents were killed when he was a baby and he came into my custody when his grandmother passed away nearly two years ago now. Just after Tim was shot in the shoulder as a matter of fact. Rosie is nearly fifteen months old."

"And is Rosie biologically your child or Tim's?" Heather asked.

"It doesn't matter," Tim said firmly, "She's our daughter."

"It does matter," Heather replied. "Is she a McGee or a Black?"

"Officially she's a Potter-McGee, Potter was my birth name, before my godfather named me his heir through adoption. She will inherit my father's estate," Hadrian replied, not able to explain the real reason he no longer used the name Harry Potter. "Teddy is actually related to my godfather so he will inherit the stuff I inherited from him."

"But is she your daughter or Tim's?" Heather asked.

"It doesn't matter and unless she develops an illness that requires a donation we never intend to have her tested," Hadrian said.

"You can't tell? The two of you don't exactly look alike," Heather said surprised, glancing between them.

Tim pulled out a recent picture and handed it over, Rosie looked like a perfect blend of the two of them, she had Tim's light green eye colour and black hair, Hadrian's lopsided grin but what looked like Tim's nose and ears. If you believed only one of the men could be her biological parent there was no way to tell which one from her looks.

"She's a pretty little girl," Heather said frowning. She had to admit she couldn't tell which of the men was her biological father.

"She is," Tim agreed. "Precocious too. She's already talking up a storm."

Heather laughed, "She takes after you in that," she said to Tim.

"She probably does, nobody ever said I was much of a talker," Hadrian agreed. "Of course, that might be because Sirius was always trying to tell me stuff about how much I was like my Dad and from what I've heard I think my Mum might have been the brains of the pair."

"You don't know?" Heather asked.

"No I was only fifteen months old when they were murdered, and I as certainly not encouraged to talk at all at my Aunt and Uncle's. Aunt Petunia never spoke of her sister but because I lived with her Dad's friends didn't bother to tell me much about her thinking I already knew," Hadrian replied.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Heather replied formally.

Hadrian nodded politely even though he remembered hearing Tim tell his mother about his parents' deaths on the telephone.

"I wish you would find out if she is yours. Your father would like to know if he's a grandfather," Heather said to Tim while Hadrian was away from the table answering a call from his boss.

"But only if I can prove Rosie's biologically mine," Tim retorted. "Sorry Mom but I'm not interested. I don't want anyone treating one of my children better than the others because of who their biological parents are. If you can't treat them equally then you don't deserve to get to know them. Rosie is my daughter and Teddy is my son. It truly doesn't matter to me whether she has my genetics or Hadrian's, we are a family and that's all that matters."

Heather sighed but backed down as Tim knew she was in the habit of doing whenever someone stood up to her, something the Admiral had taken advantage of more often than not.

"How's your sister?" Tim asked more to change the subject than because he cared about the answer.

"She's fine, your cousin Amanda's engaged, she'll be getting married the summer after this, Jillie is very excited" Heather said. She was a little disappointed that Tim hadn't allowed her to be part of planning his wedding though she had to admit he'd had a point in not inviting her and Thomas. Even more annoying would be listening to Jillie go on about the wedding while not being able to talk about Tim's wedding in return.

"That's nice," Tim said, though he'd never met his cousin's partner. "What's he like?"

"He's an accountant, he seems nice enough, very calm and down to earth," Heather replied.

Tim raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Amanda normally goes more for the bad boy type like Sarah," he said.

"Most girls grow out of that," Heather said.

"Not entirely. Most women like to think they're responsible for reforming their men somehow," Tim replied.

"And how has Hadrian reformed you?" Heather asked, subconsciously casting Hadrian in the role of the girl in the relationship.

"Well I've been eating a lot healthier since he took over the shopping and cooking," Tim said giving a light-hearted answer instead of a serious one.

"I also eat better having someone to cook for," Hadrian replied.

"Has he convinced you to take more time off?" Heather asked. It had been a bone of contention for a long while, how few of the holidays and family celebrations Tim had managed to get time off to attend since starting on Gibbs team.

"Yes, I do take more odd days between cases to spend time with my family since we've had Teddy and Rosie, but I still work long hours when I have a case, and it's still fairly rare that Hades and I can both get the same long weekend off," Tim replied.

"We're having a big get together on Thanksgiving at Julie's this year. Do you think you can make it?" Heather asked.

"I will be spending thanksgiving with Hadrian, Teddy and Rosie. If they're welcome to come with me, I could try to get the time off to come, I couldn't guarantee it though," Tim replied bluntly.

"I'll get back to you," Heather said hastily. She had no doubt that Tim would expect everyone to know about his family before he arrived with them so she'd be the one having to tell them even if Tim ended up not being able to come at the last minute.

Tim sighed. He'd known it wouldn't be that easy, it was one thing for his mother to agree to meet with him and Hadrian behind the Admiral's back, it would be quite another if she ever developed the backbone to defy him enough to openly support them.

"Very well we will plan on attending Ducky's Thanksgiving day celebrations," Tim replied.

"Clancy's hosting a party for the department on the day before Thanksgiving as well," Hadrian said.

"I said I didn't know about your plans yet but we'd try to go if we were going to be in town."

Tim grinned, "Is it adults only or for the whole family?" he asked.

"He's invited all the families, everyone else's kids are a lot older though," Hadrian replied. "I can take the children on my own if you're on a case, or we could get them sat and have a night out without them. Clancy won't mind either way.

Heather felt a bit put out that Tim clearly didn't seem that upset about not being able to go to his family Thanksgiving.

"You know Amanda is likely to invite us to the wedding?" Tim said to his mother.

"You wouldn't go and ruin her big day like that by causing a family fight," Heather replied disapprovingly.

"No I wouldn't, but I also won't lie to Amanda when I tell her why I couldn't bring my husband and family with me," Tim said bluntly.

"Their meals arrived and silence fell as they tucked in.

"This is wonderful," Heather said.

"Hadrian's is better," Tim said smiling at his husband.

"You enjoy cooking?" Heather asked.

"Yes, I find it helps me relax and I love feeding the people I love," Hadrian said. "I used to enjoy taking foreign cooking classes. It helps that the children are both good eaters."

"You're lucky there, Sarah was the fussiest eater," Heather said.

"She still is," Tim said disapprovingly. "She wouldn't eat half the meals we had last time she stayed with us and was very rude about it. Rosie's already a better eater than she is."

"It's okay Tim, I'll know to ask whether she'll eat something before preparing it next time. She's still better than my cousin was, last time I saw him he wouldn't eat anything even remotely healthy," Hadrian said placatingly.

"What's your favourite cuisine to cook?" Heather asked.

"To cook, probably French pastries, and Indian curries I love the smells as they simmer, to eat I love all eastern foods Indian, Thai, Malaysian, Japanese, Chinese," Hadrian replied. "What about you?"

"To eat, definitely good French food. But I'm a very traditional American cook. Thomas is very patriotic, he doesn't like foreign food. He doesn't even approve of pizza," Heather replied.

"Considering what he's had to watch Sarah do to it I'm not surprised," Tim said dryly.

Hadrian laughed. They'd ended up having pizza last time Sarah came and Tim had convinced him to let Sarah apply her own toppings. Of course, then Teddy had wanted to do his own too, but he at least admitted afterwards that traditional pizza tasted better.

"Who looks after the children while you're both working?" Heather asked.

"We have a nanny. We looked into day care options but they just didn't work with the unpredictable hours we work," Tim said.

"Do you work as much as Tim does?" Heather asked horrified. "She didn't want her granddaughter brought up by nannies.

"No but my hours are even more unpredictable than Tim's and the region I cover can be a lot larger, I get a lot more time off between assignments but then might be gone for a week or two on very short notice, which is why we needed a nanny prepared to be flexible with her work hours," Hadrian said vaguely. With his time turner and lighter schedule now that he'd finished high school and decided to only do one college subject at a time since he was just as interested in enjoying the experience than gaining a degree, he was away at work less than twenty hours most weeks. That hadn't changed much now he was on desk duty even though he couldn't use his time turner for the foreseeable future. They didn't really need a nanny, particularly with the elves doing so much of the caring for the children as well. Still Barbara was part of the family now and they'd need her again soon enough.

"You can afford a full time nanny? Federal agents must be better paid than I realised," Heather commented.

"No federal agents aren't paid that well, but yes we can afford a Nanny? I have several software patents that earn a tidy sum, not to mention my writing and Hadrian bought the house outright so we don't have a mortgage," Tim said frowning.

"Have you got a new book coming out?" Heather asked. She was an avid reader and loved 'Deep Six'.

"I just finished the first draft so it will be six months or more, unless I take time off to work on it which I don't want to," Tim replied.

"Are you going to do a book tour for it?" Heather asked.

"My publisher wants me to tour America, Canada and London, she was even talking about Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, but since we had children it seems like too big a percentage of my annual leave," Tim said sighing. "We're negotiating. Besides there's no way we want to be that far from DC when the baby is due."

"Which of you fathered the new baby? Is it a boy or a girl?" Heather asked.

"We set it up so we don't know, and we don't intend to find out," Hadrian stated firmly. "He knew Tim didn't really care whether they had a girl or a boy, though they needed a boy for the Slytherin inheritance it didn't have to be this child.

"You make it awfully hard to set up the nursery and shop for the baby, not knowing," Heather protested.

"We don't need much. Andi shipped all Teddy's baby furniture and a lot of his clothes and toys along with him, and we have the nursery fully set up. We just need to move Rosie out of it into a bigger room. I was thinking the one next to Teddy's. It's already mostly pink."

"It's close enough and the light in there is good, but what about the room on the other side of ours?" Tim asked.

"The green room. It would work I guess but why do you like that one better? Hadrian asked.

"The pink and black room just doesn't seem right for such a little girl. It's too elegant a pink," Tim said.

"We could always let Rosie choose which room she wants and paint it a brighter pink, or whatever other colour Rosie would like," Hadrian said. "Or we could redo her room and move the nursery into one of the others."

"You can't let a one year old choose the colour, heaven only knows what it would look like" Heather said laughing.

"It will be fine, Hadrian's a genius when it comes to making colours work, Teddy chose orange for the nursery and it has the most warm comforting feel," Tim said.

"I was well motivated to find an orange I could live with, my best mate at school's team colours where bright orange and his room was the most horrendous colour you could imagine, he insisted on wearing it as often as possible too though it clashed hideously with his hair and skin tone. I had some very good advice from Quincy and his team," Hadrian replied. "Quincy was the builder I used to restore the house when I bought it."

"You had to restore not just redecorate?" Heather asked.

"Yes it was in pretty reasonable condition for an old home but it needed modernising and some repair work. It is done now though," Hadrian said minimising the work that had been done.

"How old is it?" Heather asked curiously. Since her marriage she'd always lived in base housing which was mostly 70's and 80's but redecorated in fairly modern styles to remove any and all of the better features of the style.

"Late 1800's" Hadrian replied. "She was a steal because of the condition she was in but under the dirt she was fairly sound so we ended up with a bargain."

"Did you enjoy renovating?" Heather asked Tim.

"I was a fairly hands off renovator but it was fun to see the house restored to the beauty it should be," Tim replied.

"Do you have much contact with your surrogate? Is she the same one you used last time?" Heather asked. "Don't answer if you don't want to, I don't mean to intrude on something private."

"Yes, it's the same one and we have regular contact," Tim said. "She and the baby are doing well."

"I'm glad, you hear such horrors of the surrogate deciding to keep the baby," Heather said.

"That won't happen, the egg wasn't hers and she has already legally signed over her rights to the baby," Hadrian said calmly. He and Tim had done enough research on surrogacy and the laws involved last time they pretended to be using one to know exactly what they were talking about. They were both glad they didn't really have to deal with the stress and uncertainty of using a surrogate.

Tim and Hadrian had a quick conversation while Heather went to the bathroom. "I think she'd be okay with the kids, you should invite her over tomorrow, you could use the time turner to have the day at home," Hadrian suggested.

"I'm not sure Hades, I think she'd be okay with Teddy and Rosie but I'm couldn't guarantee she wouldn't try to bring the Admiral around to clear the air if she knew where we live," Tim replied.

"The wards would keep him out if he was looking to create trouble or they found him a threat to us or the children," Hadrian reminded him.

"I'm not inviting her to the house," Tim decided.

"So, offer to meet her at the park," Hadrian said. "But she said she's meeting up with Sarah at some stage tomorrow, does your sister know not to give your Mom the address even if she talks about having had lunch with us? I would hate for her to try to bring your father to visit and have him driven off by the wards. It would cause problems we couldn't explain."

Hadrian frowned thoughtfully. "Since neither of them know anything about magic or wards then she would think that he was behaving irrationally."

"I'll ring Sarah and make sure," Tim said laughing at the thought of his father trying to come up with desperate excuses why he couldn't visit his son. "What would happen if Mom was driving, not that she's likely to be, or if they used a car service?"

"The diversion ward is only the first one, if the person driving wasn't effected and didn't listen to the excuses then the ward would prevent the person meaning us harm and the vehicle they were in from entering. I would probably have to obliviate them both and their driver," Hadrian replied.

"I have tomorrow off. Do you want to meet the children?" Tim asked when Heather returned.

"Certainly, give me directions to your place and I'll be there," Heather said enthusiastically.

"I thought we could meet at the park about nine or ten o'clock. Where are you staying?" Tim asked.

"Hampton Inn," Heather replied.

"You could meet at the Zoo," Hadrian suggested smiling. "It's central to both of you."

"Shall we say ten o'clock?" Heather suggested. "That will give me plenty of time to get your father off to his meetings before I get ready for a day out."

"The Connecticut Avenue entrance," Tim agreed.

"I'll ring and suggest Sarah meets us there when she's finished with her term paper," Heather suggested.

"If you're sure you wouldn't rather have some mother daughter alone time," Tim said, knowing that as much as Sarah wanted Tim to make up his differences with their parents, his sister would rather meet their Mom at the mall where she had a chance at talking Heather into buying her some new clothes. Her scholarship stipend didn't go as far as she wished.

"Mother daughter shopping you mean," Heather said cynically.

Tim laughed. "She tries it on with me and Hades too," he admitted ruefully. "Though its usually tech she desperately needs not clothes."

-o0o-

Hadrian and Tim took their leave together, and Tim offered to walk Hadrian back to his car, knowing that he wouldn't actually have driven but wanting a moment or two alone.

"Actually, I took the afternoon off, and I have the time turner with me if you need time to decompress before going back to work," Hadrian admitted once they were out of Heather's hearing.

"I was afraid you'd need me if things didn't go well."

"Are you off tomorrow as well?" Tim asked.

"I could be if you need me, but I think it would be good for you and your Mom to spend some time without me," Hadrian replied. "I could meet you for lunch about twelve thirty and go from there if you like. Either to join you or to take one or both children home for naps so you and Heather can talk freely. I'll clear it with Clancy so I can leave whenever you call in case you need me to come earlier."

"That sounds good, I'll ring you and let you know exactly where we will be by then," Tim replied. "I need to walk Mom back to the navy yard and then I should get back to work. If I'm turning time tomorrow, I don't want to do it today as well." He didn't want to turn any more time than he had to without Hadrian, he already knew that he would probably age faster than the younger man making their age difference look larger than it already did.

"Okay, I'll see you tonight," Hadrian said, hating not being able to hug or kiss his husband in the street this close to the naval yard, not that they were normally that fond of public demonstrations of affection.

"I'll see you tonight. I'll call you if we get a case," Tim replied. "I love you!"

Hadrian smiled "I love you too!"

A/N: Thank you to Rori Potter, buterflypuss, SpiritBlackPaw, knuckles 8, sandipi, rmiser1994, KEZZ 1, xDarklightx, lilly-flower15, mayawene, Kourtney Uzu Yato, daithi4377, aisa.32, Hikari-Pandora, Gime'SS, TruGemini, mithrilandtj, Kaorilamb, starie78, rozielrie, Carl-the-strange, mumimeanjudy, serenityselena, Firehedgehog, DarkRavie, Lucky Guard, mother oracle, Village-Mystic, Rainbow2007, dalynch81, Sakihinata, HeroLeagueClub, Guest, charm13insomnia, DS2010, kimbarn30, APridefulSin, delia cerrano, acherongoddess, Fallow54 (Guest), luramos, mooneysfate, jbuggenz1, Serpent91, kirsty21, Melikalilly, Silvermane1, Harriverse, lia (Guest), Arfa, Yuuki Heartfilia-Dragneel and all those who followed and favourited for your support.