Chapter 2: Meet the Parents

"So…" his father said slowly. "You're telling us the reflection girl is real, and she's… here?"

Jesse sighed. He could tell his parents thought he had lost his mind. They had humored him and allowed him to tell the story of the train and meeting Lake, but he could tell from the glances his mother and father sent each other that they thought he was either crazy, lying, or had a very strange, very vivid dream.

Jesse suspected this might happen, which is why he was grateful that he had Lake as proof. No one could deny a living, talking, metal girl.

"Yeah, she's in the backyard right now. I wanted to explain the story first without overwhelming you guys, but now I want you to meet her."

"Jesse, you've been gone for weeks," His mother said with tears still in her eyes. She had calmed down significantly since she first learned he was back, but she was still visibly upset. "If we go back there and see that you have made some stupid prank-"

"It's not a prank, mom. She's real, I promise," Jesse insisted. "Now, will you come to the backyard and meet her? And please don't freak out. She won't admit it, but I think she's worried about making a good impression."

His mother sent a worried glance to her husband, but then nodded. "Okay, we'll meet your friend, sweetie."

"Hold on, where's your brother?" his dad asked. "After he saw you a few hours ago, he's been hanging around the neighborhood hoping you will come back. I want to make sure he's back home."

"Don't worry, I already introduced him to Lake. He's in the backyard right now keeping her company."

His father frowned. "You left your brother with a stranger?"

As if on cue, a shout sounded from the backyard that had unmistakably come from Nate.

Jesse's parents eyes widened as they rushed to the backyard, Jesse close behind them.

When they opened the backdoor and stepped outside, his parents froze. Jesse barely managed to stop in time to avoid running into them.

The three of them stared at the sight before them.

Lake was standing underneath the basketball hoop with a surprised expression on her face. The last of the light from the setting sun reflected orange and yellow colors off her shiny skin. On top of Lake's shoulders sat Nate, a wide grin on his face. His hands were settled on Lake's head for balance.

"Jesse! Lake helped me make a basket, just like you do!"

Jesse smiled at the sight. He had known the two of them would get along.

"Good job, buddy," Jesse said, and sent Lake what he hopped was a reassuring smile.

Lake looked like a deer caught in headlights as his parents stared at her. Slowly, she reached up and plucked Nate off her shoulders and set him on the ground before her.

"Umm, hi Mr. and Mrs. Cosay. I'm… Lake."

Nobody moved. Lake shifted awkwardly as Jesse's parents continued to stare.

Finally, Jesse's mother spoke in a low voice. "Nathan, come over here, sweetie," the woman called, gesturing for Nate to come and join her.

Nate looked confused as he glanced at Lake before walking over towards his mother. Jesse's mother wrapped her arms around Nate, holding him to her side, still unable to take her eyes off of Lake.

Lake was grateful when Jesse stepped around his parents and stood beside her. He enthusiastically threw an arm around her tense metal shoulders. His warm, squishy, hold comforted her, and Lake noted the look of surprise flash across his parent's faces.

"Mom, Dad, this is my best friend I told you about. I would have never been able to get off the train without her."

Lake looked at him in surprise. "You're the one that came back for me. I would have never been able to escape without you."

He smiled down at her. "We saved each other then."

"This..." Jesse's father began, but then stopped. "This can't be real. This is a joke."

Lake grimaced. "Everything Jesse told you is true," Lake said. "The Train, the super powered deer, me. I really am a reflection… well, a former reflection."

Jesse's dad scowled. "You two really went all out for this prank didn't you? Did one of your football friends put you up to it? And you, young lady, spray paint is not good for your skin. Do your parents know what you've been up to?"

"Dad-" Jesse began, but Lake held up her hand, silencing him.

She stepped forward, slipping away from the comfort of Jesse's arm around her. "Mr. Cosay, Jesse may make jokes sometimes, but even he would never go this far. Not after he made you all worry for so long." Slowly she extended her arm. An invitation. "If you need proof, check it out for yourself. I really am made out of metal."

His dad hesitated for a moment, but then stepped forward.

Lake schooled her features, and tried to force her nervous feelings down. Jesse's father was tall, but not in an intimidating way. He had dark hair and soft, kind eyes, like Jesse. It was impossible to be afraid of someone who looked so much like her best friend.

His father reached out his hand and decisively gripped her metal one. She watched his mouth fall open as he turned her hand over, examining her skin in the dying, orange light. He gave her hand a small squeeze, testing out the hardness of her skin, but her metal skin held firm. There was no way she could be mistaken for a human.

"You…" His father trailed off. "You really are made of metal." His father dropped her arm and took a step back in stunned surprise. "Whittney, he wasn't joking, it really is like a reflection... It really is made out of metal."

Lake winced at being called an 'it'. She tried not to feel too annoyed at the man, mostly because he looked like he was having an existential crisis and didn't have a lot of control about what was coming out of his mouth, but it still hurt.

"It must just be a prosthetic or… or something…" Jesse's mother tried to reason.

"Nope," Jesse said, moving to stand beside Lake again. "She's all metal," he said, stressing the pronoun, and then he took his knuckles and knocked on her head a few times for effect. The sound that resulted was a deep, solid knocking sound with a metallic ring bouncing off the air. "See? She's got a hard head. Literally and figuratively."

Lake pushed his hands away, sending him an annoyed glare. He just grinned at her in response.

"I know the train seems far-fetched, but there's no way that I can fake a metal friend," Jesse said.

"I believe them," Nate said. "And Lake's nice. I don't think she would lie."

Lake smiled at the vote of confidence.

"So you're saying, everything you told us… it's real?" his mother asked, her face suddenly pale.

"Yeah, but don't worry, mom. Everything's fine now. I'm home," Jesse assured her.

Lake could see Jesse in his mother as well. Even though her hair wasn't as dark as Jesse's, there was something about her nose and her soft features that reminded her of Jesse.

His mother approached Lake until she was standing next to her husband. She seemed to be looking her over, taking in her reflective skin for herself.

Lake felt herself tense at the evaluation.

"You…" she said quietly. "You helped get my baby home. You saved him from the train and brought him home."

Lake stared at the older woman, who suddenly had tears shining in her eyes.

"I…" Lake was lost for words at first. "He helped me too," she insisted quietly.

Mrs. Cosay shook her head, her tears fell from her eyes onto her cheeks. "Jesse told us. You had your own problems, but you still stopped to help him. You got that number thing to zero and brought him home."

Lake nearly jumped out of her metal skin when Mrs. Cosey threw her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. She froze, unmoving like a statue in Mrs. Cosay's arms. She didn't know what to do, or say. She could barely process what was happening. All that she could register was she was being hugged by Jesse's mom, and it felt surprisingly nice.

Jesse's mother slowly pulled away, but allowed her hands to remain on Lake's shoulders.

Lake couldn't understand. Why was Jesse's mother so familiar with her? Wasn't she weirded out by the fact that she wasn't human?

"Thank you," Jesse's mother said finally. "Thank you for helping him."

"Don't… don't worry about it," Lake managed to say. "It's what friends do, right?"

She looked at Jesse who nodded. He was practically beaming at her.

Jesse's attention turned back to his mother. "Mom, please don't cry. Everything is fine now, okay?"

His mother nodded and let go of Lake's shoulders so that she could hug Jesse.

"I can't believe all of this is real," Jesse's father said and he ran a hand through his hair. "You're a reflection, you're not even supposed to be here."

Lake clenched her jaw in anticipation of what he was going to say next.

"But you are here… in our world." Mr. Cosay shook his head in disbelief. He looked at Lake, a serious expression crossed his face. "Jesse said you broke the rules of your world and your police force were after you. Are… are you safe here? Are they going to come here?"

Lake opened her mouth to assure him that everything was fine. She wanted to assure him that the Flecs weren't going to come after her or be able to hurt his family. She wanted him to know that being around her wasn't dangerous, but then Mr. Cosay asked another question.

"Do you need us to hide you? Will you be safe at our house? You helped Jesse, we can return the favor the best that we can."

Lake didn't expect the way her vision blurred. They were offering to hide her? But they didn't even know her.

"No," Lake said as she shook her head. "I'm off the train so the Flecs… The people I was running from… they can't get to me anymore." Her voice choked up slightly and she hoped no one else noticed. "I'm free."

Jesse's dad seemed to relax. "That's good…" he looked at Jesse. "How about you son? You just escaped that train. Are you doing okay?"

Jesse tapped his fingers on his chin in contemplation. "I'm not bad. A little hungry, but for escaping a life-changing supernatural train, I'm doing pretty good."

Jesse's dad chuckled. "Well let's get you guys inside and get some dinner. I'm going to need time to process this... A lot of time. And I can't do that on an empty stomach." He hesitated and looked over at Lake. "Lake… do you… eat?"

Lake chuckled. "All the time."

"She has a bigger appetite than me," Jesse said.

"I find that hard to believe," his mother countered as she ushered them inside the house. "It's like your stomach is bottomless." She glanced at the clock and bit her lip. "It's a little late for me to make dinner by now. Maybe we should order take-out."

"You know what that means?" Jesse asked, turning to Nate.

"Thai Love You!" Nate shouted happily.

"Aw, Thai Love You too, Nate," Jesse said with a grin.

Nate rolled his eyes and turned to his mother. "Mom, Thai Love You!"

"Thai Love You, because you love us!" Jesse chimed after his brother.

Mrs. Cosay chuckled. "That sounds like a good idea."

"I'm sorry, what is happening here?" Lake asked, looking between the brothers in confusion.

"Whenever mom gets too tied to cook we get take out from our favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Love You. It's the best!" Jesse's grin faded. "Umm, that is, if you like Thai food. Do you like Thai food?"

Lake shrugged. "I don't know. I don't remember Tulip being a fan and her family never ordered it. Even if I did have it in the mirror world, it wouldn't be the same."

"Tulip is the person you used to… be a reflection of, right?" Jesse's dad asked.

"Yeah, she was my Prime before she helped me escape the mirror world."

"If Tulip doesn't like thai food, and you're her reflection, then does that mean you don't like thai food either?" Nate asked

"I'm not her reflection anymore," Lake snapped. "We don't have the same taste buds, we're not the same person."

Nate glanced at Jesse, taken aback.

Lake instantly regretted reacting so harshly. Nate was just trying to ask a question, there was no way he could have known how much she despised being compared to Tulip.

Lake sighed. "I honestly don't know what I like," she admitted. "I haven't tried many things."

"That's no problem," Jesse said with his smile that always seemed to set her at ease. "We always order a bunch of different food. You can try everything and see what kind of things you like. It'll be fun!"

Lake smiled. "That sounds like a good plan."

"But just so you know, if you don't like the pad thai we can no longer be friends," Jesse said with one of the most serious expressions she had seen from him.

Which of course, cause Lake to start laughing. "Wow, what happened to Mr. Not-Everyone-Likes-Cake, otherwise known as I'm-Afraid-Of-Confrontation-Jesse?" Lake asked with a grin. "You're about to fight me over a food dish. I think I like this new side to you."

Jesse's cheeks reddened as he smiled sheepishly. "What can I say, I guess the train was good for me."

Thank you all so much for all your support! I really appreciate it! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter by leaving a comment!

I was really excited to write about Lake meeting Jesse's parents so I hope you all liked it! What did you think of the parents so far? Don't worry, this is just the introduction to the parents, there is a lot more to come. There will be more about what his parents think of her and how they are going to deal with their new metal house guest.

My tumblr is maydaygirl-save-our-ships if you want more updates on this story.