Happy Belated Mother's Day! Slowly losing my mind… Darn it, there it goes…

Updown1234: Thanks for the suggestions. I will take them into consideration…

KakaAnko: Hi there! Thanks for the review. Always happy to hear from you!

I do not own.

Caesar felt like the neck of his shirt was too tight or maybe he'd gained weight. Whatever it was it felt like he was choking.

Beverly looked over at the young scientist who was sitting stiffly next to her on the bus station bench.

"Hey, don't be nervous. You've met my parents before." She patted his hand reassuringly.

"I'm not nervous." He realized his voice squeaked. He cleared it. "I mean… I'm not nervous."

Beverly smiled and patted his hand again. She craned her neck to see if the bus was coming. They were going to meet her parents for lunch in the city. It was too hard to find parking so they decided that public transportation would be the way to go.

"Here comes the bus." Beverly announced.

Caesar shot up like an unwounded spring.

"Seriously, relax." Beverly chided.

"I am relaxed." Caesar said stiffly.

"Sure you are." Beverly scoffed. "And I'm the pope."

"Really? I thought the pope had to be Catholic… and a male." Caesar answered.

Beverly wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or being Caesar so she decided to play it safe and not answer.

When they were safely seated on the bus, Beverly turned to him. "Look, if you want to make a good impression… try to be more… personable."

"What do you mean?" Caesar frowned.

"Well, you know… be nice, friendly." Beverly stammered.

"I am nice and friendly… usually." Caesar protested.

"No, you're distracted and… random." Beverly corrected.

"When?" Caesar asked.

"Like all the time…" Beverly replied.

"That's not true. I'm not distracted… oh look, the electronics store is going out of business, we should see if we can pick up some transistors cheap." Caesar was staring out the window.

"Look, you're doing it now." Beverly pointed out. "Caesar, just give all your attention to my parents and be friendly."

"Okay. I can do that… hey someone dropped a quarter." He bent over to pick it up.

Beverly face palmed.

0o0

After arriving at their stop, they walked to the restaurant. Beverly's parents were already sitting outside a little café. When they saw them, they got up and waved.

"Beverly, Caesar, darlings! It's so good to see you." Mrs. Holiday hugged her youngest daughter. She held out her hand to Caesar who grabbed her hand and pulled a very surprised Mrs. Holiday into a bear hug. He then let her go and hugged a startled Dr. Holiday.

"My, my, you're certainly an affectionate young man." Dr. Holiday said stiffly while patting Caesar's back awkwardly.

Beverly bit her lip to keep from laughing. She had not meant for Caesar to be this friendly.

"So shall we sit?" Dr. Holiday asked when he extracted himself from Caesar's grip.

"Yes, most certainly." Caesar answered. He ran to pull the chair out for Mrs. Holiday. She looked surprised again but smiled and politely sat down. In his haste, Caesar pushed the chair in before she was ready and she fell into the seat with a plop. Caesar then ran to Dr. Holiday who had already pulled out his chair and was already in the process of sitting down. He pushed the chair in so quickly that he too fell hard into his seat. The older Holidays looked at each other with confusion. Beverly wanted to slink under the table.

"So, Dr. Holiday, Mrs. Holiday, how has your trip been so far? Tell me everything." Caesar stared intensely at them.

"Oh, well… uh… we are having a lovely time, aren't we, honey?" Mrs. Holiday stammered, unnerved by the young scientist staring at her.

"Yes, yes, lovely city." Dr. Holiday agreed. He too fidgeted when Caesar turned his focus on him.

"Have you been to the museum yet or taken a carriage ride in the park?" Caesar asked.

"As a matter of fact, we did go to the art museum…" Dr. Holiday said slightly relaxing.

"Art?" Caesar frowned. "You need to go to the science museum. They have the best specimens of theropods from the late Triassic period."

"Oh, well we like the art at…" Mrs. Holiday began.

"Art is completely subjective." Caesar interrupted her. "Now therapods on the other hand…"

"Excuse us." Beverly said through a tight grin. She grabbed Caesar's arm and hauled him to the side of the restaurant. "What are you doing?" She hissed when they were out of earshot.

"I'm doing what you said. Give them attention and be friendly." Caesar said confused.

"Not like that! You're creeping them out." Beverly told him.

Caesar scratched his head. "So you don't want me to be attentive and friendly."

"No, I mean yes, I mean… ugh." Beverly rubbed her temples.

Caesar stood patiently as Beverly muttered darkly to herself.

"Okay, look. Just be yourself. I mean I like you the way you are. Hopefully, they will too." Beverly finally said after her tirade wound down.

"That would be fine. I'm better at acting like myself than not acting like myself." Caesar said. "So can we go back? People are starting to stare."

"Yes." She slipped her arm through his and they walked back to the table.

"Everything okay kids?" Mrs. Holiday asked worriedly.

"Yes, everything's fine. We just had to um…" Beverly hesitated.

"It was my fault. I misunderstood some instructions. But everything's all right now… Is that a Caliber 11 from Heuer?" Caesar pointed at the wrist watch on Dr. Holiday's arm.

"Why yes, yes it is!" Dr. Holiday beamed. "I didn't know you were a watch aficionado, Caesar."

"Oh, Papi use to collect old time pieces. He use to say that our work should mirror that of a well made watch… precise and functional." Caesar answered. Both Caesar and Beverly's dad launched into a technical conversation about watches. Mrs. Holiday jumped in occasionally. Beverly sat back a bit bemused. Caesar had once again surprised her.

0o0

"That was lovely but too short." Mrs. Holiday lamented.

"I know, mom. But we've got to go. But we'll see you soon." Beverly promised.

"Caesar, perhaps you should drop by our place one day and we can look at my collection of watches." Dr. Holiday said clapping Caesar on the back.

"I'd like that, sir. And perhaps I can bring some of Papi's watches he'd collected around the world."

"Splendid. I can't wait." Dr. Holiday nodded approvingly. He went to hug his daughter. "He's a keeper." He whispered into her ear. Beverly couldn't help but smile. She hugged her father back.

"I think so, too."