Gomez

Mina grew up too quickly for Johnny and Mavis' liking - it seemed like only months later she'd grown up and decided to start travelling, like her parents had done and told her about. Just like that, the couple were left alone - almost exactly like they had been before, except now they were of course much older.

"Well this is just great!" Johnny grumbled miserably as he flopped into bed that night. "I mean, Lucy's married with kids, Jack is pretty much a recluse, Mina is travelling...and Lily is...well, gone..."

"Jack is not a recluse," Mavis scolded, preferring to ignore the last point - it was still a rather sore topic between them, even all of these years later. "He just prefers to read instead of going out."

The red-head sighed and closed his eyes. "I feel old," He whined. "Like really old. Mavis, don't you realize?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "We've had four kids, two son-in-laws and three grandkids...That makes us old."

"We're not as old as Dad is," Mavis pointed out, as if somewhat in denial. "He's way older and doing okay. We have nothing to worry about."

Johnny gave a small sigh and looked up at his wife. "But we are old, Mavy - at least older. Like...remember the good ol' days? No kids, no problems...just the two of us, travelling the world and being in love..."

"Now the kids are a problem?"

"Nah, I didn't mean it like that," He added. "I just meant...when was the last time we actually had a week to ourselves without children, grandchildren or stuff? The last time that we got to be together without worrying if Jack had killed Mina, or if Lucy had snuck out again? And now..."

Now that he mentioned it, he did have somewhat of a point. Mavis shrugged to herself. "Now we're alone - years ago we would have killed for that, but now..."

"Now that they're all gone, it's empty," Johnny finished miserably, and Mavis could tell that he was somewhat unsure of what to do now that they didn't have the kids to run after. "Mavis, what did we do before the kids? I mean, apart from going around the world - we must have done something."

"We did," Mavis agreed, somewhat sly. "We watched movies, flew around outside...and of course there was the sex, which lead us to actually having kids..."

Johnny gave a slightly flustered smile. "Hehe, yeah...Good times..."

"Even the sex was different," His wife continued, enjoying herself as he became more and more embarrassed. "We could be...I dunno...loud, like as loud as possible, and...and it was spontaneous!"

"More often too," Johnny agreed, giving a slight nod. "Yeah, I guess you can't really be loud with four kids sleeping in the house; that probably would have been a giveaway." He paused for a moment. "Spontaneous?"

She gestured uselessly with her hands as she tried to explain. "Yeah; it wasn't planned, it was whenever. Once the kids came along, it kinda had to be planned to fit around them - feedings and all of that. Not to mention..." She stopped, ducking her head but smiling nonetheless as she said it. "Well, we weren't really careful back then either."

"What're you talking about?" Johnny questioned, frowning slightly. "We used protection-"

"Most of the time," Mavis interrupted, smirking slightly and patting her stomach in memory. "After all, we ended up with Lucy at some point after that period, didn't we? Besides, that wasn't exactly what I meant..." When he continued to look clueless, she gave a small cough. "Remember the vase in the hotel room in Italy?"

Oh.

Johnny gave a small splutter, and for a moment it looked liked he'd managed to blush. "But...I mean...that wasn't...you're the one who started that one!"

"Anyway," Mavis hurriedly said, changing the subject. "Back on the subject of Mina; she'll be back in January for her birthday - you know how she loves Dad's parties - so we'll see her then. And as for the rest of them..."

"Hmm...they'll either not speak to us for months or never leave us alone," Johnny agreed, nodding his head. "No in-between on that one, huh?"

When Mina had announced she was coming home, of course Mavis and Johnny had been thrilled; while seeing her grow up and be an independent monster made them proud, they really did prefer having her around. So it was with anticipation and excitement that the two found themselves with their granddaughter, Sam - who they had adopted into their family after the death of both Lily and Damien - waiting outside to finally see Mina again.

What they didn't expect was this.

"Mom, Dad! Hey, Sam! How you doing? Oh, right...Guys, this is Gomez!"

Johnny instantly felt sick; he'd become accustomed now to what daughters bringing boys - or men, as this case was - home meant, and the fact that this was Mina only made it worse.

The man in front of them was older than Mina and quite a sight to behold; he was dressed in a red silk shirt and sensible trousers that looked both expensive and simple. He was grinning beneath a moustache, keen brown eyes bulging slightly - but not in a terribly unattractive way - and turned to look at Mina. "Ah, darling, I see where you get your good looks from."

Johnny opened his mouth. "Hang on a min-"

Mavis interrupted by elbowing him painfully in the side; clearly she was telling him to not say anything in front of Mina. "Hello, Gomez. It's nice to meet you."

"No, the pleasure is all mine," Gomez brushed off easily, taking a step forwards; he took Mavis' hand in his and gave it a small kiss in greeting. "Mina really does like to talk of you and your husband, you know; she thinks you're both terrific!"

Johnny glared at him with narrowed eyes. "Yeah, well...could you stop kissing her hand?!"

While his wife shot him a hard look, Gomez chuckled and stood up straight, putting an arm around Mina's waist. "You must be Johnny: Mina adores you! Apparently, from what I can tell, she thinks you're one of the best dads out there."

"She...she does?" The red-head tried not to sound or look so surprised when he trained his eyes on Mina.

"Oh yes," Gomez reiterated seriously, sending him a confident grin. "Never stops talking about you in particular..." He turned to Sam, who had remained surprisingly quiet throughout this. "And who's this little cutie?"

Sam put her hands on her hips and raised a blonde eyebrow at him - she was still rather wary around strangers, no matter how nice they seemed, thanks to her experiences in life. "I'm Sam," She introduced, staring straight up at him.

"One of my sisters adopted her years ago," Mina explained; her smile slipped for a moment as she leaned closer to the man next to her. "You know, Lily? The one I told you about?"

Gomez gave a small nod of understanding. "Ah. Well, Sam, it's nice to meet you too; you know, the first few times I met your Aunt here, she wouldn't stop going on about how much she was worried about you?"

"Worried?" Sam repeated doubtfully, turning her unsure gaze on Mina.

"You wouldn't believe it, but I can assure you it's true: she thought you'd be pretty lonely all on your own - not that your grandparents here aren't great company, of course."

The girl gave a small and rare smile. "Just so you know, Mina's not my aunt - and Mavis and Johnny aren't my Grandpa and Grandma: they're not like that to me." When he simply looked befuddled, she gave a small laugh. "They're my family but not like that...it's a really long story."

"So," Mavis started, putting a hand on Sam's shoulder. "You know, I'd like to know how you two met."

Mina gave a small and knowing smirk. "I met Gomez in Puerto Rico - he's been living between there and the states for years - and he's travelling with me."

Huh, maybe they're not...together...oh God, that even sounds wrong... Johnny thought. Probably just travel buddies, I can live with tha-

"Oh, our romance didn't begin nearly that simple," Gomez added. "I was engaged to a nice little water nymph up in New York - arranged marriage between families and all - and I went home for the weekend. I step off the plane and who is the ravishing beauty I run in to? This little minx!"

A minx. I am going to kill him.

Mina didn't seem nearly as bothered as Johnny was by this comment. "You flatter me too much," She laughed, shaking her head.

"Anyway, just one look and I knew I was a goner," The moustachioed man continued grandly. "Wasn't easy breaking off the engagement - my parents weren't having that - so we-"

"Saw each other behind their backs?" Mavis asked, looking somewhat amused and...she looked like she was enjoying the story! "That's so romantic..."

Sam pulled a face to herself. "Eww," She whispered under her breath so no one could hear her.

That a girl, Sam, Johnny thought in agreement.

Gomez smiled at Mina lovingly. "Yes. In the end, I managed to break it off with the water nymph quite smoothly; turns out that she didn't want to live on land, and I didn't want to live in the water so we called it off. It all worked out quite well in the end, if I do say so myself."

"Yes, you did rather well," Mina agreed, brushing her hand against his face and raking her nails down his cheek affectionately before turning to her parents. "Did you know that Gomez comes from one of the richest monster family branches in America? He learnt all kinds of interesting things growing up; sword-fighting, playing musical instruments...he and his family even take part in charity events for orphaned monsters every year."

"Really?" Mavis asked, quite impressed; she couldn't help but look down at Sam, who had been 'orphaned' twice thanks to the unfairness in the world.

Gomez looked down modestly but smiled anyway. "We donate a few of our items to auctions, that kind of thing; last year I took a trip to Russia to help place some of the kids in new homes. Money and all that is great, but...well, there's nothing quite like the things I saw up there: the joy and love created in families, you know?"

"That's actually so amazing," Mavis stated, unable to believe it - she was unable to comprehend what such an experience would actually be like to get to watch first-hand. She imagined it would be amazing, but probably more so than she thought it would be.

"Hold on a minute," Johnny interrupted, giving the man in front of him a rather nasty look. "You were engaged? To another woman?"

Mavis and Mina both sent him rather cold and sharp glares while Gomez gave a nervous chuckle. "Yes, well...like I said, it'd been arranged by our parents - that still happens in old-fashioned families such as ours, you know. But as soon as I met your daughter, I knew that there was no way I could go through with it."

As the conversation continued and moved indoors, one thing was for certain: Johnny did not like this Gomez character.

"He's so...so..."

"Suave?" Mavis prompted, raising an eyebrow in a rather unimpressed way. "Sophisticated? Charming? Perhaps charitable?"

Johnny gave a small moan. "No!...Yes...But that's not the point! He's so...he's older! I mean...Mavy, he has a moustache! He's gotta be, like Lucy's age by now!"

"Hardly," Mavis shook her head; she understood that fathers were overprotective but this...this was ridiculous. "Besides, does it really matter? Mina's happy with him, that's clear, and he seems taken with her too."

"Of course he would," Johnny mumbled. "Young girl like her, travelling alone; she's like...like...prey! Prey for guys like that!"

The dark-haired vampire sat back against the headboard and watched him pace uninterestedly. "You know, you've said this about Freddie; you've said this about Damien, and now you're saying this about Gomez. Mina likes him, and as her parents the best we can do is accept that - besides, he seems like a nice guy. Very polite and friendly."

"He's...but..." The red-head spluttered, at a loss for words. "Mavis, he called her a 'minx'! Do you get what that means?!" When she just continued to look at him coolly, he gave a small frustrated groan. "He basically said she was a tease! Our daughter!"

"And?" Mavis questioned, not quite understanding what the big deal was.

Johnny started to tug at a tuft in his hair anxiously. "He likes her in that way! Our daughter!...He thinks she's...she's..."

"So he thinks that she's attractive," Mavis dismissed. "Surely that's good, right? That he thinks she's attractive; that's usually a great starting point for a relationship, if you ask me."

He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "No! She's not old enough for that kind of thing, you know?" He shook his head to himself. "No, no...a minx is, like, flirty and...and sexy and...and that's not Mina, okay?!"

Mavis suddenly understood what exactly was bothering him about this young man - and as much as she agreed, it definitely wasn't to the severity that Johnny was taking it to. "Look," She started slowly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Mina's an adult- she's not a little girl anymore, Johnny."

"I know," Johnny mumbled stupidly. "I know...but it's just...whenever I see her I just remember that little kid...you know, with the gap between her fangs, headless dolls and that Martha-bat with her all the time. Not a...'minx'."

"I know what you mean," Mavis said sincerely, resting her head on his shoulder. "I know that it's hard...you weren't this bad with Lucy or Lily, though."

She didn't have to say it for her to know - the look on his face said it all.

But this is Mina.

Mina was the youngest, the baby of the family for the majority of her years, and though there neither of the parents had favourites when it came to their children, there was no denying the intensity of the father-daughter relationship between Johnny and Mina. The very thought of Mina - the baby in his eyes, their baby - being an adult, independent and - dare they say it - sexual being was by far the most disturbing thing that had ever crossed their mind.

"She'll be fine," Mavis told him quietly. "To be honest, the way they were tonight, I think she has him hooked enough that he'd do anything for her."

"I hope you're right, Mavy," Johnny sighed, leaning into her embrace: after all, he added in his head, that's the least she deserves.

So...about the updates, college is more time-consuming that I anticipated, but I'm alive and so is this story!

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