"Everything looks wonderful." Tifa said politely when they all sat down at the table after his parents said a grace blessing over the food. "The decorations too."

"Thank you, dear." Jillian replied. "Richard, why aren't you sitting next to her?"

"This is where I usually sit." Reno said indifferently.

"Richard, please sit next to her." Patrick told his son. "She's your friend, after all."

"No, she's not." he muttered sullenly under his breath as he changed seats.

"Don't they look cute together, Mother?" Patrick asked.

"I guess they do, Daddy." Jillian felt almost as sullen as her son…as far as she was concerned, he was still her baby, but now here was, maybe having one of his own already. "So how did you end up adopting two children when you had no experience raising them?" she asked Tifa.

"Well, they're both orphans. The older boy, Denzel, he was living on the streets when my friend found him, and I had already adopted Marlene at that point. The best friend of her father was raising her, but his job required him to be gone all the time, so I took her in. I used to work with him."

"I see." Jillian wondered about all these men Tifa seemed to know. Was she one of those flighty types who couldn't settle down with just one man?

"So how did you two meet?" Patrick asked Reno and Tifa both.

"Work." Reno replied first, while Tifa had been about to answer with school, but she realized it was work on his end.

"I thought you didn't know what he did for a living, Tifa, so you must have met at the bar you own?" Jillian's first impression of her continued to be a mixed bag. Tifa obviously had a big heart if she cared about her friends so much and took in two orphaned children, but getting involved with the men who patronize her bar?

"I didn't want to." Reno said almost in a whining voice. "I only went there cause my friend loved the place."

"So you're not turning into a drinker?" Jillian questioned her son.

"I'm all grown up, mom." he replied.

"Now Mother, let's not judge them." Patrick said. "After all, you and I met at…"

"Yes, well…the food's going to get cold if we don't hurry up and eat." Jillian hurriedly interrupted him so he wouldn't finish his statement.

"Of course." Patrick took the hint. "You want the drumsticks as usual, Richard?"

"Yeah, dad." Reno held out his plate, then noticed his parents frowning. "Please."

"There you go, son." Patrick put both of them on the plate. "I always felt he was a leg man." he said, winking at Tifa.

"I think he's a breast man now." Jillian muttered snidely under her breath.

Tifa was aware his mother was analyzing her under the microscope, but she really couldn't blame her since she appeared on their doorstep out of the blue and possibly pregnant by their son. She thought what she would do if in a couple years, a girl she didn't know knocked on the door demanding child support from Denzel, and admired Jillian's restraint. At least they did seem like such nice people, inviting her in like they did. It amazed her that Reno was their son.

"Where do your parents live?" Patrick asked her as he put some of the turkey on her plate.

"They don't." Tifa said with only a shadow of a frown. "I've been an orphan for a long time."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, dear." Jillian said genuinely, her view of Tifa improving with that admission. It made sense now that she'd be lonely enough to be overly friendly with the men she met. Richard had a good job and might be the steadying influence she needed, if she was pregnant and they got married that is. "So how long have you known each other?"

"We first met years ago, but only recently ran into each other again." Tifa explained.

"Forgive us if we seem too nosy." Patrick said. "It's just that we've never met any of Richard's lady friends before."

"Yes, you used to be so worried that he might be gay." Jillian reminded her husband.

"I never said that!" Patrick protested. "I just said that he never seemed comfortable around girls."

"Are you all right, dearie?" Jillian asked her son when he groaned. "You don't seem that hungry. Your plate is usually spotless by now."

"I'm fine, mom." he replied. Like he would admit they were humiliating him and he was worried that his plan might have backfired and taken him with it. If Tifa was pregnant, she had stolen his manhood after all…