It was time to go public. Solomon made an announcement about Alma Torran's expansion. It was big news. Social media was going crazy with speculation about what artists Alma Torran was going to feature in its upcoming concert. Solomon had only said that the artists were well known and loved by many.

Sindria made a statement in reaction to Solomon's announcement. Sinbad had known it was coming and had been prepared. He announced a huge new concert featuring all of Sindria's major artists. Social media and fans went crazy. Between the two announcements, things were pretty much insane.

People were going back and forth between the two new major sets of news. Everyone was in a frenzy. No one knew who Solomon meant or why Sindria responded in such a huge way. Sindria hadn't done so with Kou or with Al Thamen.

The day passed like this, fans questioning things and making guesses about the artists with Alma Torran. No one knew what was going on. Everything was happening so suddenly.

~~~Aladdin~~~

It had been a long day. She drove the first half of the day without stopping. They took a half hour break to stretch their legs, use the bathroom, and eat lunch. Judal took over driving after that, stopping a few times to get drinks and stretch their legs again.

The trip back took them almost twelve hours. They were both exhausted. Aladdin made Judal go with her on a walk. She insisted that they both needed to stretch their legs after spending almost the entire day in the car. She made him walk with her hand in hand to Solomon's office. He was on the phone, but he hung up quickly and ran over to give Aladdin a hug.

"You look tired. How long have you been up?"

"Longer then the sun has, old man. Aladdin, can we go now? I don't know why the hell you had to drag me here."

"Because I wanted to say hi to my dad and I didn't want you to have to wait alone. Why are you being so impatient?"

"How was the drive up?"

"Fucking long, how do you think genius? Look, I'm leaving. I have to do some annoying shit tomorrow if we are really going to do this Alma Torran Label thing. I need sleep or else my head won't survive the headache tomorrow is going to be."

"But I want to see mom! I haven't talked to her face to face in a while. And you should meet her. Is she here?"

"She is on her way, actually. The driver just called and said she would be here in a few minutes. Why don't you relax on the couch while you wait? She has been dying to see you. Judal, I have the forms you asked for."

"When did you two talk?"

"While you spent the week sleeping your fever away. Just give them to me now. I was going to wait until tomorrow but since I have to be here anyway I might as well do the stupid paperwork now."

"Here, the top ones are for Al Thamen, the bottom packet is the contract draft for Alma Torran."

"Wonderful. I can't wait to read another contract. So fun. If you will excuse me I'm going to fill out this stupid shit now. Chibi, come over here and sit down."

She played with his hair while he worked. Solomon went back to work on his computer. It took fifteen minutes before Sheba came in to the room. She saw Aladdin right when she walked into the room and she ran over. She was going to pull Aladdin away from Judal to hug her, but changed half way through the motion to wrap her arms around both of them.

"Aladdin I'm so happy to see you. You're looking really well. And you must be Judal. I'm Aladdin's mom, Sheba. Welcome to the family."

"MOM!"

"What? If he is joining Alma Torran then he is part of the family!"

"Sheba, you're doing that thing again."

"Oh, sorry." She released her hold on the two and sat on the other side of Aladdin, leaving the girl sandwiched between the two. Sheba wrapped her arms loosely around Aladdin's waist, running her fingers through the ends of Aladdin's hair. Aladdin pulled Judal's hair back into her lap.

"Juju, how do you get your hair into that braid? I still can't figure it out."

Judal was still reeling from the sudden hug. 'What is with this family and their need to berate everyone with hugs? I don't even know this lady.' "Judal, Chibi, Judal. It isn't that hard to say. Your mom and I just met but she got it perfect. Hurry up and spend time with your mom so I can go sleep somewhere."

"Come with us! You can stay at our house." Solomon didn't look surprised by Sheba's offer.

"Mom?"

"What? You two just spent a month together alone, I really don't see the problem with him staying at our house. I trust you to make smart decisions now so I don't see any point in him paying to stay some place when our house is more then big enough. Why are you upset?"

"I'm not upset, I'm just confused. Well, um, okay. Judal?"

"Whatever. I just need to get this stupid paperwork done so I can send it to Ithnan. I'm really not in the mood right now. That stupid merge with Kou brought half of Al Thamen here. You better crush them old man."

Sheba laughed at Solomon's new nickname. She liked Judal so far. He seemed fine. She would talk to him later, but for now she was happy with him and with Aladdin's choice. She took one of his hands and one of Aladdin's and led them out the door calling back to Solomon who said he would head home after he finished what he was working on. Judal wasn't sure he was okay with this, but Aladdin was happy so he would just put up with it for now. She was worth the bizarre situation.

She was going to offer Judal a separate room but realized it would be a waste of breath when she saw how close Aladdin curled up to him in the car ride home. Sheba chattered away while observing Aladdin and Judal's closeness. Aladdin was curled up against Judal's side, her head leaning on his shoulder. He was playing with her hair; took it out of the braid, ran his fingers through it, and re-braided it in a style closer to his usual. He didn't look putout at all with taking on basically all of Aladdin's weight. 'They are completely comfortable with each other now. How far have they-you know what, I don't want to know'

Sheba set them up in Aladdin's old room. She wasn't really happy about them sharing a room or a bed, but she and Solomon hadn't exactly been distant in their relationship either.