Chapter 4 - Meet The Family

Shrek, Maria, and Cearl hugged for a while, then stood back from each other. Shrek's father was shocked at how Shrek grew so big, and tall.

"We hardly recognize you, you're so tall... and big! what happened?!"

Shrek was speechless, and didn't know what to say.

"I remember that face of yours!" Maria said smiling.

Shrek's parents were heavy set like Fiona. Maria was an older looking ogress with medium cut black hair, and slightly pudgy face. Her skin was a little wrinkled but not much, she was almost as tall as Shrek. Maria wore a long faded blue dress that just went above her ankles, it had white dots all over it. Shrek's dad Cearl was also heavy set, and was about 5 inches taller than Shrek. He wore a vest like shirt with nothing underneath, and very baggy faded green pants.

Maria noticed another ogre standing behind Shrek.

"Who is this Shrek?"

Shrek looked back towards Fiona, She was standing behind him. "Mom, dad this is my wife... Fiona."

Shrek's parents went ecstatic.

"Your wife?!!" Both of them said at the same time.

Maria and Cearl rushed towards Fiona and hugged her.

"Were so happy you married are little boy"

Fiona was overwhelmed with joy. Shrek's dad then said to both Shrek and Fiona,

"Come on in and meet the rest of your family!"

Shrek perked up, and gave a hesitated smile. He was very nervous. Maria knew that was Shrek nervous.

"Shrek, the rest of the family will be happy to see you."

They all left the front porch and went inside the main house. As they walked in, Shrek looked around and saw many old pictures and paintings hanging on the wall. To the left was a large room, called the family room.

Inside of the family room were many ogres of all shapes and sizes. They were talking to each other and sipping on wine in large glasses. Everyone in the room froze, as soon as Shrek, Fiona and his parents walked in.

The ogres gasped in shock. Shrek waived his hand and said, "hi."

Maria came forward and said,

"All of you have heard of Shrek at one time or another, and today he has finally returned home!!"

There was a murmur of happiness and approval by the ogres, they all clapped and smiled with joy. Maria started to introduce the family.

"Ok, the first person on your right is Peter, then Elliot, Mugo, Dorhal, Sebbi, Osric, Tayer, Adam, and Erica.

Maria paused for a moment and looked in the far right corner of the family room.

"Oh, and the dark gloomy character in the corner over there... He's your oldest brother, Murdoc."

Murdoc looked up at Shrek, then looked down again.

"Tayer will take you to the guest room were you can crash, you and Fiona must be exhausted from your journey."

Tayer was leaning near the door to the right of Shrek and Fiona.

"I'll give you a little tour around as well,"

Tayer started to leave, Shrek and Fiona followed behind. The first stop was the main foyer.

"This is the foyer, or as we call it: the room that no one uses. Where're mostly are outside ogres, so this room goes unused. That's why we put all the family pictures and memorabilia in here so we don't have to look at it all the time."

Tayer walked them through a large hallway and into the kitchen and dinning room area.

"This is the kitchen... obviously. We lounge around, eat, and pig out here. Feel free to ask for something to eat, we have a resident cook."

As they walked out of the kitchen and down another hallway, they passed several bedrooms.

"Here's your parents bedroom, and beside it is a storage room. Were not aloud to go in there."

Tayer, Shrek and Fiona walked out the back door and ended up on large deck overlooking a vast lawn.

"All the action happens here, the main lawn. During the weekdays we have spontaneous BBQ's and fun activities. This is the place to be for fun."

Shrek noticed several large houses surrounding the lawn.

"Who lives in those houses?"

"There are 6 other families living on the property, they have their separate houses and buildings."

Tayer took Shrek and Fiona to a small house that was in amongst a large group of trees on the edge of the main lawn.

"This is the guest house, you can stay here while you're over. We thought about housing you in the main house, but seeing that you might want more privacy... we gave you the guest house instead."

Shrek and Fiona walked in, Tayer came in behind them.

"This small house has it all, a mini kitchen, a hot tub for two, and a large bed for those intimate moments."

Shrek and Fiona looked at each other smiled, and said,

"This place is great! Thanks for showing us around Tayer."

"No problem. Your parents and the rest of the family are getting together for dinner tonight. That happens in 5 hours."

"We'll be there." Shrek said.

Tayer smiled again, and walked out of the guest room.

Shrek and Fiona looked at each other and laughed for a moment. "See Shrek, that wasn't that bad, your family already likes you."

"Yeah, it's going to be great to catch up with each other at dinner. And this time there's only going to be ogres! No fights or arguments."

They both relaxed and sat on a couch that was near by. Fiona looked at Shrek.

"Hey, we have 5 hours until we have to meet for dinner." She said with a grin.

Fiona turned her head towards the bedroom, Shrek knew what she wanted.