Evan was silent all the way to his parents' house. Laura was too busy concentrating on where she was going to really notice. She stole a quick look at him; he was staring out the window looking past everything.

"You ok?" she asked him. Startled out of his reverie he said, "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little bit tired. That's all."

"Yeah ok. So tell me a little about your parents." Evan groaned, "Do I have to?"

"Yes. This was your idea for your parents to meet me. If anyone should be nervous it should be me." She said to him.

"Ok fine. Well my father is ex-secret service. My mother used to work as a physics teacher in the local high school. Needless to say she used to always ask the questions to me. No-one else. It got pretty damn annoying. Dad wasn't around much, protecting the President at the time. You know all that top secret stuff that he couldn't ever talk about." He laughed slightly, "Ironically I now have the highest security clearance. He always said I wouldn't do anything remotely interesting. If only he knew. He wasn't happy when I joined the Air Force. Er…lets see. Oh yeah I have a younger brother who my parents absolutely love. He's like the perfect son. Don't know if you'll meet him or not. Really hope not. Think that's about it."

"Any subjects of conversation I should avoid?"

"Er other than the obvious Atlantis one…nope can't think of any." He turned back towards the window and the rest of the journey was spent in silence. An hour later he turned to her and said, "Well we'll be there in a couple of minutes, you have our special connection turned on?"

"Always." She said smiling. She drove the car up a steep driveway, turned it around so that it faced down the drive. Looking at Evan she smiled and took a deep breath before saying, "Lets go." Evan nodded and got out of the car. Laura got out and hurried towards Evan. Gripping her hand they walked to the front door and knocked before entering.

A woman of around 55ish came bustling into view. She was wearing a black skirt and white shirt. She smiled when she saw Evan and said, "Welcome home mister Evan. Your mother is in the living room. She saw you pull up. She will be pleased to meet you. Who is this young lady?"

"Monica this is Laura. Laura this is Monica, my mothers maid."

Maid?

Yeah don't ask.

"Nice to meet you Monica." Laura said and stretching out her hand. Monica took it and shook her hand.

"And you miss. Please follow me." Monica said and began walking towards the living room. Upon entering the room Laura was struck by the enormity of it. Everything in it was huge the bookcases, the couches, the chairs, the tables. It was if it was made for giants instead of human beings. Laura looked at Evan puzzled he shook his head without answering.

"Mother, this is Laura. Laura this is my mother Phoebe Lorne." Laura smiled and said, "Nice to meet you Mrs Lorne." Laura held out her hand again but Mrs Lorne just scowled and said, "Evan. You didn't drive. You let your woman drive." Laura dropped her hand and stared in shock.

Woman?!

Just ignore her. She's bitter.

I warn you right now I may not be able to keep my manners.

I understand.

"Mother, she has a name and its Laura."

"So where did you pick this one up?" demanded the woman. Evan rolled his eyes and said, "I didn't pick her up anywhere. Where's father?"

"Ugh. He's with his tramp somewhere. He should be home soon."

"Is Joey around?"

"Yes. JOEY! Your brother's home! JOEY GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"

"ALRIGHT! I'LL BE RIGHT THERE! JESUS CHRIST!" came a deep voice from upstairs. Then a sound that resembled elephants stampeding came down the solid stairs. A taller version of Evan came stumbling into the room. Evan turned around, "Hey Joey. This is Laura. Laura this Joey."

"Nice to meet you." Laura said in a clipped voice. Joey turned and looked Laura up and down. A small smile started to form on his lips and said to Evan, "Nice. Much better than the last one you brought home."

Last one?

Yeah. She was my high school sweetheart so you have nothing to worry about. An uncomfortable silence filled the room when the front door opened and closed again. A tall man came into the room. He had grey hair and blue eyes. Laura looked at the newcomer, Joey and Evan. Wow. You all look alike. Is he nicer than your mother?

I guess. Came a voice she didn't recognise. She looked at Evan quizzically. "What?"

"Uh…nothing. Just…"

"Dad, this is Laura. Laura this is my dad Ross." Joey interrupted. Laura smiled and said, "Nice to meet you."

"My aren't you a nice young lady." Said the man kindly. He turned to Evan and said, "I like her." Without waiting for an answer from Evan he walked through another door on the opposite side of the room. "Of course he does. He likes anyone younger than him." came Mrs Lorne's voice. Laura turned around and said, "Wow you really are a bitter old woman. He was just being nice. Maybe you should try it sometime."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me."

"Excuse me?"

"Your excused." The old woman stood up and said, "I will not be spoken to like that in my house you little tramp." That was it. Laura was now well and truly pissed off. "You don't know me. In fact you know nothing about me. So I will tell you something about me. I am not a tramp and I will speak to you anyway I like. I am actually a very pleasant person until someone insults me for no good reason."

"Mother apologise." Evan said. She turned to her son and said, "No. I will not. Now get out of my sight all three of you."

"Fine. Come on Laura lets go see what dads up to." Laura followed Evan out of the room into a large kitchen, where his father was making a sandwich.

"Nice. It's about time someone said something to her. I'm liking you more and more." Ross said when Laura walked in. she was still fuming.

"Yeah. I liked it." Joey returned. Laura reddened from all of the attention.

"I shouldn't have lost my temper. I'm so sorry Evan." Laura smiled at him and got a smile back. "Don't worry about it. I won't lose any sleep over it." He turned to Joey and said, "Joe will you take Laura out into the garden for a sec please? I need to talk to dad."

"Yeah. No problem. Come on Laura follow me. I'll show you the garden." He said rolling his eyes. Laura looked at Evan one more time and followed Joey out.

"What's this about son?" asked Ross once the pair was out of earshot.

"I'm going to ask Laura to marry me. I was wondering if could have your mother's engagement ring."

"Yeah you can have it. I really do like her. Ignore your mother. She's cracking up. I will just go and get the ring."

"Thanks." Evan said as his father loped out of the room. Evan sighed and looked out the window at Laura who was standing nervously on the patio. A few minutes later the older Lorne came back into the kitchen and handed Evan the little velvet-covered box to his older son. "I hope she's worth it."

"She is. Look she hasn't a clue about what's going on. So I think we're gonna go. We've got a flight to catch to Venice and then onto Sydney."

"Where are you gonna propose? Venice or Sydney?"

"I'm thinking Sydney. But that all depends if Laura doesn't suspect anything is up. She's very observant." Ross chuckled and was still laughing when Joey and Laura came back in. Laura looked at Evan and said, "What did I miss?"

"Oh nothing. Dads just laughing at mother. She's ranting again. apparently she said something funny when he came back from the bathroom."

"Ah…ok." Laura replied and looked at Ross out of the corner of her eye. She turned off their connection and thought to herself, something is definitely up. Hm. She shook her head and Evan said, "Well we'd better go."

"Where we going?" asked Laura.

"It's a surprise. Come on. Thanks again dad. Joey see you in a little while."

"Yeah. See you around." Joey replied. Laura and Evan walked back through the living room and Evan said, "Bye mother." Laura didn't say anything as they walked through. Once back outside Laura climbed into the drivers seat and started the car waving out of the window to Monica. She turned to Lorne and said, "So where we going?"

A/N: Sorry about the delay. Had writers block. Bit of a random chapter but I will be getting to the proposal soon.