Chapter 5

To show that the CT scanner was safe, George went through it first, then he held Natalie's hand as she went through.

Phillip stood next to Sara as she watched the images on her monitor, then he remarked. "It's a bit strange to see the organs in action like that." Sara grinned at him and replied, "I'm using a higher resolution than normal to capture as much detail as possible, anything like a tumor shows right up."

Doctor Sims approached the gathered family, smiled and said happily, "I've looked at your test results and the cat scans, we've collected DNA samples from all of you and the only thing I can do now is send you home with George. You're all quite healthy, which is great for you. I will be adding your cat scans and DNA samples to our data base on lamias. George, Sara and I will be coming out tomorrow afternoon to check on Mia. I have a portable ct scanner now and we can take a look at your baby and see how she looks."

She grinned and said, "You're free to go and it was a pleasure meeting you all... That means you have to let her go, Sara!"

Sara cried, "Awww... Do I have to?" She and Natalie had already become quite chummy. Sara grinned and said cheerfully, "I'll be coming up tomorrow to help Tanja, so I'll see you guys then!"

A large van stopped right outside the imaging lab doors and Rachel stepped out.

Coming into the lab, she announced, " Your things are already on their way to the ranch house, now all we need is you! I have a couple of vans waiting and some groceries to get you started, Mia and her friends are waiting to see you."

She and George held the lab doors open while Phillip went ahead and held the van's door for Ayesha. She sinuated into the van and sat on her coiled tail, Natalie slipped in next to her, leaving room for her dad.

Rosalind and Katherine slipped into the second van and were joined by George. Rachel climbed into the lead van and they pulled out of the hospital driveway and headed out across town.

Edith Wharton was piloting the van George and the two middle sisters rode in.

George spoke up first, "Thanks for your help Edith, we really appreciate it!" he turned and said, "Katherine, Rosalind, I'd like you to meet Edith Wharton. She and her husband Edward, are costumers and they made all of Mia's clothing. Their girls are with Mia right now, at the house."

Edith looked up at the rear view mirror and said cheerfully, "It's a pleasure to meet you ladies, I can't tell you how much fun we've had designing and making clothes for Mia. My husband and I have our note book and tape measure with us, if you don't mind, we'd like to measure all of you tonight. If you're not too tired."

Rosalind grinned and quickly replied, "We'd love to get measured and meet our sister's friends!" Katherine just smiled, she was still a bit shy, never having been around anyone not a member of her immediate family.

She was still getting used to Mia being married and living in a distant land, now she was in that distant land and she was a bit overwhelmed.

Leaving Phoenix behind, they drove out into the desert and after taking a secondary road for several miles. The leading van signaled a turn and left the roadway, kicking up dust as it negotiated the unpaved road.

Coming to a gate, Rachel opened the gate and they pulled through, George closed the gate and locked it before they resumed their trek.

A few minutes later they repeated their performance at a second gate. He glanced back at the sisters to say something and saw that they had fallen asleep in spite of the rocking of the van.

He nudged Edith's elbow and she nodded knowingly, the excitement had worn off and sleep had overcome them. With practiced ease, Edith maneuvered the big van around and over the bigger bumps and rattles until finally, she stopped the van alongside the box van in the driveway of the ranch house.

The outside lights came on and the door opened wide. Mia sinuated outside, her amber eyes brimming with tears of joy, her advanced state of pregnancy clearly visible, George hastily exited the van and swept Mia into his open arms, their lips locked in a lingering kiss.

Ayesha and Phillip exited the first van and embraced the young couple, Ayesha and Mia clung to each other and wept freely while Phillip gave George a fatherly embrace.

Katherine was crying as she and Mia embraced fiercely, Rosalind swept in and wrapped her arms around both of her sisters.

Natalie anxiously sinuated around and around until the older girls opened up their embrace and gathered her in. The sisters reunited once again.

Mia's friends had come outside and were laughing and crying all at once, photographs were taken and Edward and Edith joined their daughters in being happy for the family.

Rachel stood to one side dabbing at her eyes and watching the flow of emotions, the family had been rescued from a dangerous situation, brought across the world and reunited.

She felt a deep sense of accomplishment, finding the lamia family had been a real boost in the society's fortunes.

They had dealt with vampires and werewolves for centuries and had developed a cordial relationship with the remaining warriors.

Rescuing the lamias and the treasure trove of ancient scrolls possessed by Ayesha, could possibly lead to other hybrid human species being found and protected.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the lamias surrounding a very pregnant Mia and placing their hands upon her distended abdomen, their faces beaming with love and affection for the coming child.

Privately, she wondered if George had mentioned yet that Mia was carrying twins.

The bundle of lamias had separated and George took Mia's hand, they looked at each other and the love between them was apparent to all.

George looked at his in-laws and said with a big smile, "Mia and I have an announcement... We could have told you before now, but we wanted it to be a surprise. We have discovered that Mia is, in fact, carrying... TWINS!"

Mia's face was radiating happiness and George was blushing profusely.

Ayesha's face gaped in astonishment, her unmarried daughter's faces lit up in amazement and Phillip grinned hugely.

"T... T, Twins? You said twins?" gasped Ayesha, "Lamias have always borne one child at a time, I've never heard of a lamia bearing twins, is this possible?"

Through his blushing, George replied, "Twins run in my mother's side of the family, it's the only thing I can think of. My sisters are twins, my mom was a twin and her mom was a twin."

Ayesha smiled at him and said softly, "You still blush even after being married to Mia and becoming a father, you truly are, an innocent!"

Turning to face the group Ayesha declared proudly, "I am going to be a grandmother of twins, this has not happened before to my knowledge. The scrolls will be consulted and this birth will be recorded in our annals!"

The Wharton family standing there came forward and Mia said happily to her family, "Everybody, these are my friends, the Wharton family..." she began dabbing at her eyes and she sniffled a bit, "I can't tell you how happy I am, I now have with me my friends and my family, I lack the words... I am so grateful to all of you and I worry that I could never begin to repay you for all your help and kindness!"

The Wharton family gathered around her and embraced her, they all wept freely, the tears of joy freely flowing.

The oldest girl, Iris stepped over to Mia's gathered family and said cheerfully, "Welcome to America, to your new home, to help welcome you, we made a big pot of stew and baked fresh cornbread to go with it, we hope you'll like it." Mia clapped her hands together and cried, "Everybody, come inside we have food and drinks for everyone. My friends and I made it, so let's dig in!"

Mia led her family into the ranch house, Ayesha being the eldest, entered first.

She sinuated about the living room admiring the furnishings. She turned and smiled at Mia to say, "You have done well, eldest daughter."

Mia smiled and said brightly, "George did much of the work, I really just pointed and said 'put it here.' It was his idea to move the larger furniture out to make room for my tail when I sit. Now that all of you are here, we will be able to visit each other without it getting too crowded."

Soon, the house was filled with people, both human and lamia, all of them happily eating the stew and munching on the warm cornbread dripping with melting butter.

The humans quickly learned to be mindful of the lamia tails while moving about the spacious room and the lamias thoughtfully coiled up their tails when sitting.

Ayesha asked George to show her the houses that had been built for her family, he grinned at her and picked up a lantern.

The two of them slipped out the door and he led her down a smooth gravel pathway to the home site.

The houses all had an organic look to them and they blended into the landscape. At present, there were six of them completed and four more were under construction.

They stopped in front of the nearest house and paused to admire it in the lantern's glow. Ayesha queried, "These look much different from your house, why is that?" George smiled and answered.

"Mia did much of the designing of these houses, they are designed from a lamia's standpoint and comfort was a chief criterion. In the interest of the environment, the houses are pretty much self sustaining and get much of their energy needs from either solar panels or a small wind farm that provides electricity for all of the houses here. Water comes from wells on the ranch and sewage is released into a septic system where the water and the solids are separated for disposal."

George gestured in a wide sweep of his arm, "Over there is some pretty rich soil, we've brought in several hundred tons of topsoil and mixed it in with the existing soil. This is where our food will be largely grown. To satisfy your hunting instincts, there are free ranging goats and chickens waiting to get caught for dinner."

George beamed at Ayesha and declared, "Welcome to your new home!"

They both heard a brief smattering of applause behind them and upon turning about, they saw the rest of the gang standing in the glow of George's lantern.

Mia sinuated forward to join them and she turned to face the group, she smiled and said happily, "George and I designed these houses for our family, I tried to imagine what each of you would like in a house and we incorporated those ideas into the design."

George grinned and said, "We avoided any square corners, the interiors are all, smooth and curved inside, not a sharp angle at all."

His grin broadened and he said playfully. "Wait'll you see your bathrooms, Mia helped us design the toilets and sinks and most importantly, the bath tubs!" Mia grinned and quipped happily, "They're great for a good soaking! We use ours all of the time and we love it!"

George dug into his pocket and opened the door to the house, reaching inside he flipped on the lights and stepped to one side.

Ayesha linked arms with Phillip and the two ventured inside, Natalie cried, "Wait for me!" and she quickly joined them.

Edith Wharton asked George curiously, "Just how big inside are these houses anyway?" He replied, "They're fairly roomy actually, the bulk of the house is below grade level to make it easier to blend in. From the air they're nearly invisible, we built them like that on purpose." "Whatever for?" "Simple, once word gets out of this family's existence? The air over this ranch could get rather busy with folks wanting a look see."

Edith chuckled and remarked, "I see what you mean, while we've become quite accustomed to seeing Mia and tend to forget her uniqueness. Other people will not likely react as we have and now that you've brought the rest of them here? Natalie will have to go to school, how is that going to be handled? You know they're going to need clothing and pretty things to match." George grinned at her and shrugged, "We'll work it out as we go."

Headlights appeared in the distance and made their way up to the house, George trotted up to the house to greet their uninvited guest before any of the lamias were seen.

Drawing near, he saw it was Sara Thompson carrying a bag of groceries. He turned around and gave the okay to the rest, he greeted Sara pleasantly, "Hi! We weren't really expecting you until tomorrow."

Sara grinned and replied hopefully, "I couldn't wait until tomorrow, so I figured I'd just come up and crash out here if you don't mind?"

Mia sinuated up and the two hugged briefly before Mia glanced in the bag and exclaimed, "Mocha fudge ripple ice cream?! How did you know I've been craving it?" Sara grinned and replied knowingly, "Oh, I just knew I guess."

The rest of the group came up from the houses and joined in. Even though it was very late or rather, very early, everyone was happily getting acquainted.

Edward was showing Ayesha sketches he'd made, of outfits for Mia. They tended towards the Victorian elegance look and had matching accessories, hats, parasols, handbags and even necklaces.

She chuckled when she saw the sketches of Mia pushing a large pram with twin baby lamias inside it and said wistfully, "You've known about her twins for some time now, I'm almost jealous."

Edward grinned and replied merrily, "I hadn't 'officially' known until tonight, but honestly? I've known several women who've had twins and they all looked like Mia before delivery. So, I just sketched her as if she had had twins."

Ayesha smiled at him and said, "Once we get settled in, I wish to ask you about clothing for all of us."

Edward grinned at her and enthused, "We would be delighted! However, there is a large renaissance faire coming up soon and we always have a large booth there and many of our customers in that area come to shop or pick up any special orders we've made for them. The next month or so will be booked solid with faire business."