Racist comments/opinions. Implied Lemon.

Meet the Parents

"Hey Babygirl!" Darla yelled excitedly through the crowd. The two had just cleared customs and were loading up their luggage on the cart. Nesa squealed and hugged her mother warmly, giving her father the same treatment. Nick had to contort himself as the excited woman had forgotten that she was still holding his hand.

"You'd better let go of him, Jubes. Otherwise he's going to lose his hand."

"What? Oh," she said, releasing her boyfriend. The man made a big deal of shaking his hand out before shaking hands with her mother and father.

"Hello, Nick. We're Arnold and Darla Eversteen. Our daughter has told us all about you."

Same here. I feel as if I already know you, Mrs. Eversteen. Your daughter thinks the world of you both.

"Really?" her father said doubtfully. Nesa had always been close with her mother and he was proud of that. But he and his daughter had always had an adversarial type of relationship. They weren't archenemies, but they weren't exactly friends. He'd never wanted to be accused of abusing her sexually. He'd therefore chosen to mostly ignore the girl in favor of her four brothers. What little conversation he did dedicate to her was in the form of lectures so that she didn't end up a useless whore starving on the streets. He liked to think that her current success was at least partially because of his influence, but he called 'bullshit' on the idea of her 'thinking the world of him'. The man was a liar, and a liar was no good for his only girl-child.

"Dad, you're growling," Nesa said with a quizzical look on her face. The older man turned to her with a smile and asked her about her job. There had to be a way to get this lying deafmute away from her.

Nesa groaned as she helped her father pack the luggage in the trunk of the car she'd rented. She knew that look on her father's face well. Her father had already formed his opinion of her boyfriend and it wasn't favorable. The man was famous for forming rash opinions about people based on very little evidence. And while it wasn't surprising that he would disapprove of her boyfriend - he disapproved of everything and everyone in her life - she really didn't want to have to fight for his favor for the next two weeks. Nick meant a lot to her and she wasn't about to give him up for anything. She decided to take a direct approach to deal with the situation.

"So, what's your problem with Nick, Dad?" she said in annoyance as she started the car. The man sitting in the front seat blinked and turned to face her parents. He'd thought things were going well with the parents.

"Your man is a liar and a flatterer. He said that you 'thought the world of me'. He shouldn't be here." Nesa groaned again as she paid for parking.

"So… You're judging him on a non-comment he said on first meeting you. Really? You're that desperate to get rid of my boyfriend?"

"Ganesa, he's a deafmute! Why are you with this guy?"

"Why are you with Mum?"

"That's different."

Nesa smirked. "Love is love. It doesn't matter if he can't hear or talk. I love him and that's the end of it. You may want to adjust your worldview accordingly." Arnold glared at his daughter through the rear-view mirror. She was always so willful! He honestly didn't know where she got that stubborn streak of hers.

"Ganesa, there are a million reasons why you shouldn't be with him. Starting with the fact that he's disabled and ending with the fact that he's a liar. What else is he lying about just to get into your pants? You're a stubborn one, but this time you need to listen to your parents."

"Isn't this the same spiel you gave me when I was leaving for Canada? You're right, I am very stubborn. And much like when I decided to uproot my life eight years ago, I'm not going to change my mind about this."

"And when he changes his mind?" her mother cut in. "Ganesa, you have to understand, white people don't have the same level of commitment as us. When he gets tired of you he'll move on, leaving you broken-hearted and alone. Deaf or not, he's a man. Do you really want that future for yourself?"

"If I'd taken this advice when I was dating Lyndon, I would have missed out on a deep and abiding friendship. I live life on my own terms; I always have. I'm not giving him up just because y'all don't like him. You were never going to like anyone I brought home. I've made my choice and I'm not in the habit of changing my mind."

Besides, there's nothing 'boring' about your daughter. She is a fascinating clash of contradictions that I'm proud to be able to explore. You don't have to worry about me leaving her on a whim, Mrs. D.

I'm so sorry I upset your husband when I said she thought the world of him. It just seemed like a nice thing to say

Darla sighed heavily, placing a hand on her husband's arm to stop his next argument. When their child got an idea in her head, her mind was as easy to change as the Rock of Gibraltar. The girl wasn't going to change her mind. The best thing they could do was to be there for her when things inevitably fell apart like they had with the Sheppard boy. She refused to argue about this for the next two weeks.

"It's alright, Nick. Just know that our family is into the brutal truth. We don't sugarcoat things and we don't say things we don't mean. Flattery gets you nowhere with us."

I'll bear that in mind from now on, Mrs. D

The older woman smiled at how easily he accepted the olive branch. The conversation turned to lighter topics, but the deafmute's pretty blue eyes never lost their guarded look. Apparently they'd taught him wariness. Good. He would need that in the days to come. Especially since it was clear from the way her husband was glaring at him and refused to talk to him at all that Arnold did not accept his apology or his daughter's decision. She watched the two young people interact and found it very sweet. He only let go of her hand to caress her cheek, always paying rapt attention to everything she said. He watched her with fascination; Darla could almost understand why her daughter was so obsessed with her new boyfriend. Ganesa started singing along with her music halfway through the hour-long trip to her house and the way he looked at her, all hunger and devotion was almost enough to change her mind.

When they got to her home and started unloading the luggage, Nick sent the excited women into the house while he volunteered to help her father. After the first couple of bags were unloaded, Nick addressed the issue head on.

What's it going to take to get us back on the right track, Arnold? I already admitted that my blunder on meeting you was unintentional. I refuse to fight about this until we stick you back on the plane in two weeks

"You're not good enough for my little girl, Nick. Blunder or no blunder, your Caucasian ass is only going to cause her pain. Why can't you just stick to your own kind?" Nick blinked, insulted beyond words at the racist comment.

I make your daughter happy. More importantly, I bring her joy, which lasts a lot longer than mere happiness. And 'my kind' is human.

"Listen here, you deafmute! I'm going to expose you to my child. I'm going to prove to her that you're no good. You'll see. She'll thank me on her knees for saving her from a lifetime of misery with you!"

More likely she'll have you put up at a hotel so that your bile can't disturb us.

"Listen here, you-"

"Hey, y'all! What's taking so long with those last bags? Mum said that her medicine is in one of them." Leaning in, she plucked Nick's latest note from her father's hand and read it. "He's right, you know, Dad. I will not have war in my house over this. We've talked about it and now the subject is closed. Much like I closed the topic of moving to Canada all those years ago. You're not going to change my mind, so let's just agree to disagree."

"'Agree to disagree'? Is that what they taught you in that fancy Canadian school of yours?"

"Yes," she said flippantly. "Now let's get these bags in the house and you can decide if you want to live in a nearby Motel 6 for the duration of your trip." With that, she grabbed the large book bag with her mother's meds in it and headed into the house. Nick followed his fiery lady with the last rolling suitcase, leaving Arnold to slam the trunk closed in impotent rage.

The four talked for the next few hours, Arnold still largely ignoring the deafmute and Nesa largely ignoring his sourpuss attitude. When Nesa went into the kitchen to cook some dinner for the group, Arnold dropped his voice and glared at the man. "You don't belong here, deafmute! It's like Sesame Street. 'Three of these things belong together'. You stand out on several counts."

"More like you do, Dad," The girl interjected. "The three of us can accept and respect my wishes. I already told you that the subject is closed and I won't have strife under my roof. You're the one that taught me that what I say goes under my own roof. Well, we're under my roof and I say that the feuding stops now. The Motel 6 is right next to the Walmart and they accept reservations twenty-four seven. I checked just in case this became an issue. The next time you try to start some crap in my house, you're out of here. This is my house and you will respect it." Father and daughter glared at each other furiously until her father looked away. After that Darla asked Nick a question about his past that got the conversation back on track.

Arnold was seething, deciding on being antisocial for the rest of the night. He was waiting for that damn deafmute to leave for the night so that he could talk some sense into his wayward daughter. So when Nesa and Nick headed up the stairs together after setting up the sofa-bed and air mattress for her parents later that night, he was livid.

"So you're whoring around with that-"

"Whether or not I've given my virginity to him is none of your business, Dad. This is my life and I'll live it how I see fit. What did you say to your sons when they lost their virginity?"

"Nothing," he said in a flustered manner. "But-"

"Exactly! Equal treatment for all of your children. Good night, father." She looked at him hard, daring him to challenge her, before stomping up the stairs. It was exhausting fighting so many verbal battles in one day! Wondering if she would have to follow through with her warning to her stubborn father, she did her nightly rituals before grabbing her nightgown off the edge of the bed frame and starting to undress.

Need a little help with that?

Nesa read his note and smiled at him. The deafmute ran a hand over her sensitive chest to see her shiver before beginning the slow, sensual process of undressing his gorgeous woman. By the time he had her fully naked in front of him, the girl was in a trance, swaying to some invisible beat in her head and leaking her precious nectar onto her thighs for him. Nick still couldn't believe what a lucky S. O. B. he was. First, he put her nightgown and the sound suppressor necklace she'd bought over her head, turning the device on and smiling at the change in air pressure in the room, then he dropped to his knees and lifted the gown to watch her drip for him. He leaned in and gave a hearty lick. The girl jumped and started those vibrations that he loved. Picking her up and tumbling her into the big, fluffy bed she now owned, Nick wasted no time tying her down to get a proper taste of his lady.

The next day was just as bad with the parents, her father especially, though he never went so far as to get himself kicked out of the house. Much like Lyndon, he'd settled on mouthing rude things behind his daughter's back, which the deafmute chose to ignore for the most part. Smartass comments passed between the two men, and Arnold had to give him reluctant points for the cleverness of his comebacks. The women mostly left them to it, knowing that no amount of threatening was going to resolve their issues. Over the next few days, Arnold developed a grudging respect for the deafmute. He had street smarts and a good head on his shoulders for all that he was a white man. Also, he was darkly funny. Arnold learned this on the way to the hot springs that Nesa and Nick had never gotten around to visiting. Darla had to sit in the front seat due to her motion sickness on long trips. That left the two men in the back seat for the whole two hours. By the end of it, the irate father was mouthing a silent conversation with the deafmute and laughing his head off at his responses.

"You're a funny honky, Nick, I'll give you that. And I'll admit that you're a good man."

Good enough that I can marry your daughter?

"Nobody is that good for my Jubes."

You've called her 'Jubes' before. What does that mean?

"When Ganesa was first born, we fought intensely for what to name her. My wife wanted to call her 'Ganesa Lorraine' after her mother and I wanted to name her 'Jubilee Kaamil Antoinette' to celebrate that she was my first baby girl. In the end, Darla won and she was named after her grandmother - though I snuck the 'Kaamil' in there while she was sleeping just to piss her off and let her know who's the boss."

Uh-huh. And how long until she forgave you?

Arnold smirked at that. "She wouldn't let me have sex with her for the first six months of her life. But I proved my point!"

Get the fuck out of here. You begged her for it on your knees, didn't you?

Once again Arnold burst out laughing at the truth of his statement. He had gotten sick of the unrelenting torture and had apologized abjectly for adding that stupid name to their daughter's moniker. He'd, in fact, apologized many times over the years for that bit of arrogance. Of course, it never occurred to either of them to pay to have her name changed. Ganesa was well aware of what happened, but she'd never asked these particular questions. He usually passed off the story as an example of compromise between her parents. Where had she found such an insightful boyfriend?

Just so I know what I'm up against in your mind, who would be good enough to marry your daughter?

"A handsome, athletic black man who is filthy stinking rich and worships the ground she walks on." It was Nick's turn to smirk.

I'm picturing Denzel Washington from The Mighty Quinn. Am I close?

Arnold smirked as well, realizing how unrealistic his ideal was for the girl. Even though he barely had a relationship with the girl, he'd been holding onto this perfect image of her husband for years. Maybe it was time to let that image go. But was it an adequate trade for this physically handicapped, Caucasian male? True, he made her happy and true, he could keep up with any conversation so far. He was sharp as a tack and smart as a whip. And he'd survived horrors wandering around in Middle America that the older man could only imagine. But as a son-in-law? His family would be a laughingstock at the family reunions they held once a year for his family. Then again, weren't they already? As the poorest of the eight Eversteen children born to Arnold and Blanche Eversteen and the oldest, wasn't he already convinced that his siblings were laughing at him? It didn't help that his children didn't give a damn about the cousins and were an assortment of druggies and gangsters, with the notable exception of his daughter, who was so engrossed in white culture that she might as well be one of them despite her honey-gold complexion.

I lost you for a moment there. You okay, Arnold?

"Sorry, Nick. Just got caught up in some long thoughts. You're a good man."

Just not good enough to be seen with your wonderful daughter

"Exactly! I'm so glad we finally understand each other."

Right. Is it going to be this hard to win over her brothers?

"Oh, compared to her brothers, I'm the softy." The look on the deafmute's face was enough to crack Arnold up yet again. "And remember, she's got four of them to 'win over'." The deafmute started banging his head against the door in frustration as his lady finished parking the car.

Nesa and her mother were actually surprised by how loudly the man started laughing all of a sudden. The girl was happy with how well the two were getting along in the back seat. She hadn't had to intervene between the two men once in the last two hours. But when her boyfriend started banging his head against the car door as her father burst into ear-piercing peels of laughter, she started to regret not trying to pay more attention to them.

"Dad, what did you say to break my boyfriend? Baby? Baby?" She got out of the car and opened his door, pulling him into her arms.

Nick smiled as he looked up at his woman. She looked panicked and at the same time like a protective lioness that was pissed enough to leave her own parents up here in the mountains. Yeah, this woman was made to bear his children. She was worth all the headaches that her stubborn brothers were going to cause him when they met at last. He unbuckled himself and turned in his seat to caress her cheek. She snuggled against his hand for a moment and he could feel her relax marginally. Then she looked up and flicked her fingers against his forehead.

"Don't scare me like that," she exclaimed. She pulled him out of the car and kissed him tenderly. The deafmute quickly dominated the kiss and her vibrations started.

"Alright, you two. We came up here to check out the hot springs, not to watch you two make out," Darla smiled at the couple, a little envious of how easily the two could fall into each other's kisses. The couple broke apart, Ganesa apologizing automatically before grabbing her deafmute's hand and walking with him up the hill to the hot springs. Mama and Papa Eversteen followed at a more sedate pace. By the time all four of them were at the top of the hill, they all noticed a large number of people already gathered to go to the hot springs even this early in the morning. It seemed that this was a popular place. They all joined the cue, noting how beautiful the view of the mountains was from up here. They separated into the changing rooms and met in the pool.

"Oh, this is Heavenly," Darla sighed as she sank into the hot water. She'd read every sign around the pool area and talked to the lifeguards before getting in the water. Nesa, Arnold, and Nick were already soaking in a corner.

"I guess you're kind of SOL in terms of writing right now, huh?" Arnold said arrogantly as he relaxed in the hot water. Nick pulled out his notepad and started writing.

Not at all, Arnold. My pad and paper are waterproof. I learned a long time ago that I may need to write in the pouring rain. Now that I have a fixed address and reliable access to the internet, it's even easier to get what I need. I can even go to the Army/Navy store in a pinch.

The father of five growled, balled up the note, and threw it in the water. But the lifeguard made him fish it out of the water, causing the younger couple to laugh. Feeling humiliated, he handed over the note to the lifeguard for proper disposal and decided to draw blood and wipe that carefree smile off his daughter's face.

"Jubilee, are you pregnant with this man's child?"

"No," she said, shaking her head for good measure.

"How would you know? Since you're sleeping with-"

"I know because I'm not sleeping with him. Not that it's any of your business if I was. What did you say to the boys when they became sexually active?"

"I made damn sure that they knew to wear condoms and to be careful so that they wouldn't be bringing home any babies before they were married and that they wouldn't get caught with an STD!"

"Keep your voice down, Dad!" she whispered loudly. "I don't need these perfect strangers knowing my business. Mum was very thorough with our 'talk'. I know all about condoms and staying disease-free. And I don't want to deal with any of it until I'm ready for marriage, therefore I don't do anything that would make me have to worry about it. It's not your decision what I do with my body."

"If you're not fucking him, then why has he been sleeping in your room at night like he has?"

"Again, I'm not seeing how any of this is your business. But I happen to like the feel of his strong arms around me. End of story."

"And you could wake up just as easily to him forcing himself on you and blood on your thighs."

"As a nurse, I am an expert in judging those around me. If I thought for one moment that he was like that, he wouldn't have been allowed access to my house and we wouldn't be dating. I know that you think that I am a naïve fool, but I'm not." The two sat glaring at each other until Nick wrote a note that made her giggle and relax into his arms. There was very little conversation after that, mostly centered on the view of the mountains.

Darla even rejected her husband's rabble-rousing at this point. She had come to accept her daughter's choice over the last week and a half. She could almost see what the girl saw in him. He had a strong personality and didn't back down easily. His sense of humor was wry and warped. And he wasn't hard to look at either. The mother could see how her child could overlook his disabilities.

"Tell me about your mother, Nick." The man looked up from where he'd been cuddling her daughter in his lap and for a moment she was tempted to believe that he wasn't a deafmute at all. Then she noticed that her daughter was mouthing words to him, keeping him in the loop. The two really were adorable together. He looked at Darla and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"What was your mother like?" Darla asked. The man blinked; he hadn't thought about his mother in years. After thinking about it for a while, he worded a response.

I don't have a perfect grasp of what she was like, Mrs. D. I was only nine years old when she passed. But if I had to describe her, it would be 'worried'. She was hyper-attentive to me, always concerned that she might miss some little need of mine. I can't cough or laugh aloud, so she was always checking up on me. I remember being annoyed by it. Didn't realize how much I would miss it when she was gone.

Darla sat back and digested this information. She couldn't imagine life without her mother. As much as they butted heads, her mother was a staple in her life. She reached across her daughter and squeezed his hand tightly. Nick, who'd gone back to caressing his girlfriend's face after handing over the note, was surprised and touched by the gesture.

… …

"You take care of my little one," Darla said as they stood outside of the airport three days later. She was smiling at the man, she'd just given him a big hug and he was still blushing from the attention.

I will, Mrs. D. Your daughter is precious to me. I'll guard her with my life

"I'm gonna hold you to that, boy," Arnold said gruffly. Since the hot springs, he and his wife had gotten into several arguments about the deafmute. In the end, Arnold had no choice but to accept his future son-in-law. The fact that he was allowing his Jubilee to retain her innocence highly impressed him despite everything. He shook hands with the deafmute then pulled him in for a manly hug. "Try to get your ass down to Philly before Christmas. You need to at least meet her brothers before you go proposing to her."

I can propose now? I must be doing something right

"Boy!" Arnold laughed, shaking a fist at him. Another few minutes of banter and the older couple was gone.

Nesa waited until they were home to ask the question that had been plaguing her since that first disastrous meeting between Nick and her father. "So… What do you think of my parents?"

I don't hang around enough black people. Are they all so racist?

"Unfortunately, they are in my family. It's mostly off-color comments and jokes, but yeah… It's there. And my grandparents were there in the sixties and seventies when the cops were turning the fire hoses on the protestors. I think it's a mentality they passed down. It's not likely to change much."

How did you turn out so different?

"I told you before, I didn't fit in at home. I'm what my family and everyone else down there consider an 'Oreo' - Black on the outside, white on the inside. I refused to see the world that simply. People are more complex than the color of their skin. I tend to judge people based on how they act." Nick covered her lips with his. After a long, lingering kiss he looked into her dazed eyes and smiled warmly.

Don't ever change, my love

"I promise," she grinned, leaning in for another kiss.

Yeah, sorry about that. Parents are a mysterious universe all their own. See ya next week! :D