In was Friday night and Victor was about to come home any moment now. Aria was in her study grading papers.
"Mom?"
"Yes honey?"
"So uhm-" Ella didn't really know how to go about this.
Aria turned around, knowing her daughter wanted something from her "Come on, you can tell me".
"So there is this party".
Aria inhaled sharply, remember the last party, although that was a year ago.
"Continue".
Ella fidgeted with her shirt "There is this new year's eve party at one of my classmates house. Can I go?".
"Who's house is it and are you going with anyone?" Aria wanted to know.
"Jonathan asked me and it's at his house actually. We're organizing it together".
"And you said yes already, right? So now I'm supposed to say yes also?" Aria guessed.
Ella shrugged and put up her most innocent smile "Yeah, kinda".
Aria bit her lip. She couldn't just say yes to this without consulting Victor, he'd kill her.
"I'm going to talk to your dad about this first".
"Ah!" Ella grunted "He'll forbid it mom, you know what he's like when it comes to parties and boys".
"Yes, because he loves you and he wants to take care of you. But don't worry, I'll talk to him about it. But we are asking your dad first".
"Asking me what?" Victor said as he stepped through the door.
Aria smiled as he walked over to her "You're back, thought I heard you".
"Hmm" he mused as he kissed her slowly.
Ella rolled her eyes. For god's sake, could they for once NOT do that?
"So" Victor said as he turned around to his daughter "What is it that you wanted to ask me?".
"Well dad, there is this party".
"No" he simply said as he grinned broadly.
"Come on!" Ella cried out.
"Victor" Aria spoke sternly "Hear her out, besides she is 16".
"Just a joke princess" he winked at Ella "Tell me".
"There is this new year's eve party that I really wanted to go to. It's a party for the seniors of my school. Jonathan asked me and we are organizing it together".
"So, there isn't a party" Victor said as he chuckled evilly "Because you're organizing it, and if I say no, then you're not organizing it, hence there's no party".
Aria laughed silently at the way Victor played a mean joke on their daughter.
"Dad, please" Ella grunted extremely agitated.
He sighed "Who's this Jonathan kid? Do I know him?".
"I know him" Aria said "He's a student of mine, in Spanish class, and he's a decent boy from what I know".
"So you're okay with this then?" Victor asked his wife.
"I said we would talk about it, which we are, but I have no objections to it".
Victor looked at his daughter and thought about it for a while. "Okay" he finally said "I want you to invite this boy over for dinner. I want to meet him first".
"Dad seriously? Is it not embarrassing enough that mom is a teacher at my school? I now have to invite him over to his teacher's house?".
"This is my condition princess. Take it or leave it".
"Aaaah" Ella sighed "Fine, I'll invite him. But can you two please not act like a bunch of teens and just be cool?".
Victor and Aria looked at each other amusingly "We're always cool" Aria said mockingly.
"Yeah" Victor joined her "We are the definition of cool".
"Yup" Aria agreed "We've won 'Coolest parents of the universe' five times in a row now".
Victor nodded "Yeah, except for the one time when the Jackson's won and we were only runner up".
"Ugh" Aria grunted "I hate those Jacksons. They will never be as cool as we are".
"True, 'cool' wasn't even in the dictionary before we were born" Victor added.
Victor and Aria tried hard no to burst out in laughter, Ella sighed and rolled her eyes "Okay, very funny you guys. Just be normal and don't be all… weird okay?".
"We will be at our best behavior" Aria reassured her daughter.
Ella turned around and walked off "Great to have you back dad. Love you guys".
"Love you more" he called after her, but she didn't even hear, she was already on the phone with Jonathan.
"I don't like this one bit" Victor said more seriously.
"Didn't think you would. But you can't just lock her up forever".
He thought about the possible party his daughter would go to "I want to use my veto on this".
Aria laughed at him openly "You don't have a veto Victor".
"Of course I do".
"Well then I veto your veto" Aria simply said.
Victor just laughed as he pulled his wife into his arms "Why couldn't she just stay little forever?".
Aria smiled up at him "She's 16 Victor. She's a good kid and we can always spy on her to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. But I don't think she will. Jonathan is a nice boy, he does well in school and he does extremely well in my Spanish class which isn't even mandatory".
Victor grumbled "No, not mandatory and still suspiciously filled with teenage boys".
Aria sighed and ran her soft hands up and down his chest to sooth him. "You'll see when he comes over for dinner. He's a nice kid. And besides, they're only 16. It's not like they're getting married. They will lose interest at some point and move on. But for now, give them a little space to be kids".
He pulled her closer and kissed her slowly "I'm still going to spy on them" he said as he broke the kiss "That was a good idea misses Creed".
"Very much welcome mister Creed".
"Thanks for inviting me misses Creed, I brought you these" Jonathan said as he handed her the flowers with a smile.
"That's very nice of you Jonathan, thank you, why don't you come in".
Aria could smell he was nervous and felt a little sorry for the boy.
Just when everyone sat down for dinner, the doorbell rang and Aria gave Victor a questioning look.
"Ah yes, I forgot to mention. This guy who works for me is coming over tonight also. After dinner we need to discuss some business so I thought I might as well ask him to join us".
Aria smiled sweetly at Victor, knowing something was up with this. And she was right, because when Victor's employee came in and introduced himself as 'David', Aria could clearly see and smell that he was also a feral mutant. Only half, but still feral.
She could hardly be rude now, and so David joined them also for dinner.
"Come in" Victor said to David "Why don't you sit next to my daughter Ella" he said as he moved David towards Ella and made him sit down.
After Victor introduced everyone they finally started dinner. Bjorn, who could easily feel the tension in the room, couldn't help himself. He just had to fuel up the engine.
"So Jonathan" he asked "Are you gonna make out with my sister?"
Ella growled and bared her teeth at him.
"Bjorn!" Aria corrected him "Why don't you leave your sister alone for a change, okay?".
"But-".
"Bjorn" Victor interrupted his son sternly "Leave your sister alone". Then he turned around to Jonathan and Ella "Besides, they're not going to make out, right Jonathan?"
"Dad!" Ella cried out in embarrassment.
Jonathan smiled politely "Mister Creed, there isn't one boy on this earth who's stupid enough to try anything with your daughter, sir".
Aria had enough of this little display "Victor. Can you help me with something in the kitchen for a moment, please?" she said as she got up and made him follow her "Now".
"Awesome!" Bjorn said "This is when mom totally tells dad off about his manners. There was this one time I taped it with my phone, you guys wanna see?".
Once in the kitchen Aria crossed her arms, turned around to face Victor and looked at him sharply.
"I know what you're doing" she said as she poked her little finger into his chest "And you better stop it right now".
"I have no idea what you're talking about baby" he tried his innocence act.
"You're making that poor boy feel extremely uncomfortable, which is just rude. And you invited that other guy over to introduce him to Ella because he's also feral".
Victor shrugged "So? He'd be a better match, what's wrong in showing her some choices?".
"He's 25 and our daughter is 16! Have you gone fucking nuts?!".
"I just want her to get her mind off human boys. She's like us and she will become very old. So why even bother with non-mutants?".
Aria sighed and strolled over to Victor "Victor, she's 16. She's not looking for someone to spend her life with. She might think that she is, but she's not. And the more control and influence we try to have over her choices, the more she will fight us. So please, cut her some slack and don't invite some 25 year old feral guy to marry her off to".
"I wasn't gonna let her go with David either. He's a douchebag. I just wanted her to remember what she is".
Aria smiled and placed her little hands on his chest as she stroked him "She's not going to forget that with you around. But please be nice to Jonathan. He's a very nice boy and Ella likes him".
"Yeah, right now she does" Victor grunted.
"Precisely" Aria agreed "She likes him now. She won't like him next year. So let it go, okay?".
"Fine" he grumbled "But I will take this out on you tonight" he threatened as he smacked her ass.