_-^-_ Chapter V: Embraces _-^-_

Aidan walked back into his home with a soft smile placed upon his face. The rest of the Paige's were gathered in the front room on the different chairs and couch that the room contained. They looked up at his entry and all smiled at the same time. Aidan sat down on the couch next to his little sister with their parents sitting across from them.

"Our son is getting married. This just doesn't seem real," said Beth to her husband.

"I know, I know," Alex replied.

"So when are you and Chloe getting married," Rebecca said innocently.

"Well I don't know baby girl," Aidan said, gathering her into his lap. "I should hope it would be within the next year because I don't think I could wait any longer than that."

"Chloe mentioned that she would like to marry within the next 6 months," remarked Beth.

"That would be fine with me."

The two Paige parents came over to the couch that lay beneath their two children and they sat on wither side of them.

"I'm really proud of you two, I hope you know that," Alex said, looking at his kids with a smile.

His facial features were very alike to his son's. He had the same strong jaw and chin. His eyes were light blue with glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as a way of turning terribly blurry objects into just plain blurry objects, or do his son would always kid him. His hair, light brown like his sons, was parted to the left, as he would say, like any other self- respecting gentlemen. His build was an odd thing, for he wasn't a muscleman nor was he a weakling. He would always wear button up shirts tucked into his jeans or Dockers. He was a sort of an old fashioned gentlemen.

"Proud of us for what papa," said Rebecca.

"Well, you've had to live in this town for one thing," piped up their mother.

Their mother was very different from their father, who was very responsible and a very work hard kind of guy, Beth was a free spirit. She went with the flow of things and felt that you should use your heart more than you use your mind. She was a slender woman who made it a habit to usually wear ankle low dresses that had some kind of intricate design on them. She was a very beautiful woman who could probably still get any man that she wanted. With her raven feather hair that came down to the small of her back and bright green eyes that seemed to see the deepest darkest secrets in your soul, she could entrap anyone, but she had chosen Alex to be with and then he had proposed to her. Then not long after they had had Aidan and then Rebecca.

"That's true," said Aidan.

"Also, you've been very understanding about the fact that I'm at work a lot of the time, most kids would hate their parents if that happened. You are also very good children who have manners and opinions and not walking zombies," Alex said with a smile.

"Well, that's somewhat of a testament to both of you. I mean it's a showing of the fact that you both raised us to be good people."

"True, I suppose. We're also proud of you because you're just such wonderful people. You help others when they need to be helped, you both have very good manners, and you work hard when things need to be done. I mean, neither me nor your mother could have asked for better children than the two of you."

"And now, you're both growing up so quickly. Aidan you're getting married and then you'll move out and Rebecca's getting beiger by the second," replied Beth, causing the 5 year old to puff out her chest.

"We just wanted you both to know that we are very proud of you, and that we would do anything for our children."

"We'd do anything for our parents as well, right Becca?" Aidan asked his little sister, turning to her.

The child nodded vigorously, hugging her father around the middle. He hugged her back and this caused the other two members of the Paige family to join in and make it a group embrace. They all grasped each other, each thinking of the lives that they had made with the other three in the human circle.

Alex was thinking of the fact that these three people had stood by him through the thick and thin. Through when he couldn't find a job and they were living in a 3-room apartment and being evicted, through the campaign that had gone on for William Stevenson when he had been running for California Governor and Alex as his assistant. Through all of life's trials and tribulations, this family, his family had always been there to give their opinions and help him.

Beth was thinking about when she had been giving birth to Aidan and Alex had been there the entire time. He had gotten her to the hospital in a flash that saved his car interior from getting ruined. She thought of when She had been pregnant with Rebecca and she had both men waiting on her hand and foot, getting her food even she didn't ask for it, always asking if she needed her pillows fluffed as she lay on the couch watching soap operas. She thought of how Rebecca had looked when she had dumped grape juice on the rug, comically innocent with her hands on the side of her face and her mouth wide open. And then she said something that caused Beth to laugh even to this day. She had said "Oh no, who dumped my juice?"

Rebecca was thinking of how her family had always helped her with her homework when she had problems and that happened a lot. She wasn't stupid she just never listened. Aidan would always help with the English and grammar and her mom and dad would always help her with her worse subject; math. They had always helped her and caused her to get decent grades.

Aidan was thinking of how they had all been there to help him get the odd jobs that he performed for money. They would ask there friends, or in Rebecca's case, her friends parents. He also thought of how his mother and father had raised him. When he was younger he would always be goofing off and shirking his chores. They would always discipline him by having him make dinner under close supervision, while he wasn't allowed to eat any of it himself. This caused him to no longer shirk chores and become a great cook, or so everyone told him.

The four family members, lost in thought, continued their embrace. They could feel each other under their hands and arms. They all loved each other very deeply and would be destroyed if anything happened to any of their family.

Because they were lost in thought, none of them heard the car park in their driveway, nor did they hear the footsteps that rang outside on the sidewalk in front of their home. But what they did hear was the doorbell ring once. They all turned around at the sound, still clutching at one another. Then, with a well-placed kick, the door flung open with a loud bang. Four men stood in the doorway of the Paige's home. The front most man looked at the four hugging family members from behind mirrored sunglasses and smiled.

"Ahhh, are we having a Kodak moment? I wish I had a camera to capture this moment for you but I think that this moment will stick in your mind anyway," he said, pulling a long, wide knife from a sheath held on his back.

Alex, Beth, Aidan, and Rebecca all said that they would do anything for the other member's of the Paige family. None of them would live long enough to prove that statement. But in death, only Aidan would be given the chance to prove himself.

_-^-_ Disclaimer: I do not own The Crow, James O'Barr does _-^-_