Hello all! Sorry for not updating in a couple weeks. Life, work, and my seasonal sinus headaches got in the way of writing for me. But we are back with CHAPTER 20?! Wow! This is such a big milestone for this fic and I have all your interest and support to thank for that, so again… Thank you so much! :) This chapter will start right where chapter 19 left off. Just a heads up, this chapter is going to contain a lot of dialogue between Emma and a particular member of Noah's family to give Emma information on Noah's past so… be prepared for a lot of information to be thrown your way. Hope you enjoy it!

(Emma's POV)

After continuing to stand in awkward silence for a few more seconds as Luke, and who I now figured out was his fiancé, broke up the initial already awkward situation… and then all of us collectively being swarmed by his family.

Well and more specifically being pulled into hugs by his sisters faster than I could form a coherent thought and met people so fast and simultaneously that I felt like I could hardly remember anyone's name.

Somehow Noah and I somehow got out and managed to get to the other end of the living room as the chaotic noise, yelling kids, and lively conversation ensued around us. But luckily most of the attention seemed to be directed at Luke and his fiancé at the moment.

Though Noah and I were still clearly waiting for the attention to come back to us.

At the moment, I felt like I just needed to sit in a quiet corner and drink a cup of herbal tea or something somewhere and recover already… and we literally just got here!

Look, I'm usually good in stressful situations with school, sports, and things relating to my future career, but this kind of situation is a completely foreign situation to me since my family is practically the polar opposite of Noah's.

Sure Noah is the youngest in his family of nine siblings and I'm the oldest between just Kitty and I, but even overall our families are like night and day. Since dad only has a younger brother and mom is an only child, I hardly even have an extended family at all to begin with.

As it is Kitty and I only have our one first cousin Kevin, but we pretty much never see him or our Uncle Raymond since he lives in Manhattan in the U.S. since that was where our Aunt Anne was from and they've lived there since before Kitty and I were even born.

All we get from them is Christmas cards every year and have probably only seen them a handful of times.

And grandparent-wise, we only have Nana Sue on mom's side still alive and living at her senior living condominium… that's it! That is my entire family as a WHOLE.

Just 8 PEOPLE between both sides!

And that doesn't even scratch the surface compared to just Noah's immediate family circle. Especially since once we sat down he leaned over and said, "Believe me, if you think this is crazy? You should see what a wedding, funeral, or family reunion is like."

And that to me was basically implying that Noah's family is MUCH more extensive than just his siblings. We just kept awkwardly sitting there after 'recovering' from navigating through the 'family gauntlet' and I was trying to figure out simultaneously how I somehow ended up with a glass of wine in my hand.

I think one of Noah's sisters-in-law poured me a glass and handed it to me as I was contemplating and processing whatever the hell all this was, I noticed someone approached us and looked up only to immediately recognize who it was.

The graying jet black hair and beard, the build, and probably about 6'3"; Noah's dad. Yeah, I've seen pictures of his dad before, but seeing him in person?... yeah, COMPLETELY different experience.

Mr. Mathai is a very intimidating looking man.

I was almost in shock for a moment as I contemplated what to do until his dad just extended his hand out to me and introduced in probably one of the deepest voice I've ever heard, "Nice to meet you, young lady. Abe Mathai."

I reached out and shook his hand as I responded, trying to keep a calm and cool composure, "Emma Park, nice to meet you too, sir."

Okay Emma… not bad.

He just kept looking at me, almost like he was trying to 'study me' for a moment.

I had no idea how to react until I heard Noah cut in, "Um dad, is this some kind of weird-ass 'staring contest' we don't know about?"

Mr. Mathai looked over to Noah in an almost robotic fashion as he inquired rhetorically and irritated, "Was I talking to you at all, smartass?" "Do you want me to respond to that literally or how you want me to?" Noah responded in his usual dry and know-it-all fashion, clearly not giving his dad an inch.

I saw his dad slowly look over at Noah as he let out a long exhale through his nose before quirking up an eyebrow. I glanced over at Noah again and just saw him giving his dad an unwavering, bored, and unimpressed expression with a quirked up eyebrow back.

Look, I don't know much about Noah when it comes to him with his family, but… I always got the gist from passing comments Noah made that he and his dad didn't 'get along'.

I mean, honestly, you'd have to be an idiot not to see it.

Finally his dad said, looking back at me, "Actually, as a matter of fact, I'd like to have a word with your girlfriend really quick if it's fine with her?"

I felt my stomach immediately start sinking in uncertainty until I heard and saw a couple of Noah's brothers let out a couple immature 'ooooh's' before laughing until they stopped dead when his dad looked over at them, almost making almost the whole room go silent and still for a moment as Mr. Mathai said, sounding rhetorically sarcastic, "Did I ask for a chorus from the knucklehead choir over here? Or do you want to make me change my mind about those extra Christmas bonuses this year."

Noah's brothers froze and even though I had no idea what was going on, I just turned to Noah and said, just wanting to leave the room right now to keep everyone from staring at me, "It's fine. I'll be right back, okay?"

Noah just looked at me wide eyed and even though I smirked and tried to 'play it cool' as I squeezed Noah's hand before giving his dad a nod and followed Mr. Mathai out of the room…

I'M LOSING IT HERE!

I had no idea what he wanted to talk to me about or why he wanted to pull me aside to talk to me on my own.

Unless…

Oh… CRAP!

What if I already made a terrible impression and he doesn't approve of me?!

I tried to stomp it down despite feeling like I was going to shit a brick at this point.

My head felt almost like a chaotic ocean I was drowning in at the moment, Mr. Mathai pulled me out of it once he started unlocking this door and explaining, "Hope you don't mind we go to my shop for this? I just wanted to make sure we could talk without any interference from the motley crew back there."

Since I had no idea how to respond to that and thinking out loud usually gets me in trouble… or at least make me look incredibly awkward at a minimum, I decided to just nod to avoid digging myself into a hole.

We walked into what looked like the 3 car garage attached to the house that I remembered from when I pulled up with Noah. The first two spots closest to the house seemed to be expectedly occupied by a sedan and a pick-up truck with a decal on the side reading 'Mathai & Sons Contracting'.

That was one of the few things I did know about Noah's family was that his dad owned a contracting company that most of his brothers and one of his brother-in-laws worked for.

All of a sudden right when we got past the truck, I saw what Mr. Mathai meant when he was referring to his 'shop' since that was exactly what I was looking at. It was a small carpentry workshop with a couple worth benches, bandsaws, and a lathe.

I was snapped out of my funk once again when I saw Mr. Mathai pull up two wooden bar stools and say, "Have a seat. I'll be back in a second."

Slowly, I sat down as I kept trying to figure out what was happening until his dad came back as quick as he promised and holding something as he said, "Sorry about this. I really don't know anything about you other than you're in university for Law and this was the only thing I could come up with. But at the very least, you could put this on your desk to put your pens and pencils in. Then again, you kids may not even write anymore with your damn computers for all I know anymore? Technology is one damn thing I will never understand."

Finally I looked and saw him put what he was holding into my hands.

It took me a second until I realized what it was.

A small, but well crafted desk organizer.

It was square with 4 chambers in the top for pencils, pens and maybe even a pair of scissors and even more insanely there was a small yet smoothly functioning drawer in the bottom part that looked like it could hold post-it notes or maybe even note cards. It felt light but solid and finished with a dark stain. Then as if that wasn't enough, the insignia for my law school program burned into the side.

But my inner monologue couldn't stay in for long as I said in amazement, "This is incredible."

Right as I realized that slipped out, "Thanks. I made it."

I whipped my head up and felt like I was going to go into a state of absolute shock. Although a clear look of pride on Mr. Mathai's face; that smirk, that glint in his eye, that eyebrow waggle… it was all Noah.

Okay… I'm very confused right now.

I decided to put it in the back of my mind and never bring that up again as I responded, remembering why I was shocked to begin with, "Wait, you made this?"

Mr. Mathai was just smirking as he said, "With my own two hands and a little elbow grease. I do contracting, but I'm a carpenter like my dad and his dad before him. So… I like reminding myself I can still do things like this from time to time. I haven't done something like this since I made Tina and Pierre a bedroom set for their wedding present. But, this as a Christmas present for you was like a 'walk in the park'."

Christmas present?

He wanted to give me a Christmas present?

I had no idea how to respond as I said, "Well, thanks, Mr. Mathai. Heh… guess I just feel like a total schmuck for not bringing anything."

My eyes went wide and I was about to back track, knowing I was completely talking out of my ass because of how nervous I was right now about this situation with meeting his family.

I bit my lip and scrunched my eyes until I immediately heard him respond, "Believe me, sweetie. To me and my wife… you are a damn 'gift' in itself when it comes to whatever the hell you've done to my son."

My head felt like it was close to going into a full 180 as I tried to process what his dad said until he just kept talking, "Look Emma, make no mistake about it, I'm meaning this all in the best way possible since I have never understood a single damn thing about that kid and whatever the hell goes on in his giant head his entire life."

Mr. Mathai paused and let out a sigh as he started, "Then again Noah was never anything I wanted or expected him to be. I grew up in a family being the youngest of five brothers and it was always 'the strong survive' mentality with us. Even my sons were all pretty much that way. Always competing, out to impress, and out to at least do something. And Noah… nothing. From the beginning he was born small, but my wife and I were in our 40's and Liz had already had 8 kids already and probably shouldn't have even had him to begin with for her own sake. But… despite being small and underweight, he was strong in one way. It didn't take my wife and I long to figure out that Noah had something going on that neither of us had ever seen before. And low and behold after we had a shrink take a look at him and told him about the things we saw Noah do before he was even a year old. We had a genius on our hands. I was never really good in school and neither was my wife or any of our parents so we had no idea where he got it from? But, we couldn't deny it, he was 'our genius'. Perfect grades, graduated high school early, and honors and academic accolades aplenty without hardly trying and colleges chomping at the bit to have him go to their schools… and this is also what makes him a genius at pissing me off and taking years off my life. He didn't care. That kid was having success handed on a damn silver platter from those universities and he never gave a crap. All he's ever done with his brain is waste it! I mean, Christ! The kid was six. SIX! And I had a federal agent, a police officer, and a 'website moderator' (whatever the hell that is) show up to my house saying they tracked a 'website hacking' to a computer from our address. Apparently Noah hacked into a website of whatever damn video game he likes to waste his life on and said he 'couldn't stand the mechanics and slow frames per second' so he decided to 'fix it' himself by hacking into the website. Luckily the moderator fella was more impressed than anything and decided not to press charges once he realized the 'hacker' on his website was just a kindergarten aged child and ended up giving him free premiere membership on the site for life as long as he promised not to hack into the website again. Gaming… Videogames, computers… that is all my son has ever cared about. Sports, school, girls, working… Ha! If it were up to my son and he had no need to sleep, eat, or use the crapper… he would probably just put on that damn headset and live out his whole life playing those damn video games. He could be ANYTHING! A doctor, a lawyer, hell he could be a politician with his personality… not interested! All he ever wants to do is sit on his ass and read, nap, or dick around on a computer by either building one himself or gaming on it. Agh, and then don't even get me started on him making me a laughing stock with whatever the hell he was doing on TV all those years. Always excuses and coming up with fancy theories on how he can get out of doing things and being useful. Even on those trash reality TV shows, he still seemed like he was hardly doing anything! And then… you came into the picture."

He was back to giving me that same look as earlier with trying to 'study me', but almost like he was 'fascinated' by me.

I tensed up a little, not knowing how to respond to 'all that' at first since I felt like I just 'Noah overload' with finding out about a whole bunch of stuff I never knew about him.

Well his 'work ethic' was something I always knew about, but… I don't know? Considering Noah's tried to win money for me, and gone out of his way to see me… again, I don't know?

I bit my lip for a second as I started, "Um, why? Did I do something?"

I was actually surprised and even more confused and even slightly irritated when I heard his dad let out this very deep chuckle before saying, "Sorry, hun. Like I said Emma, make no mistake and I hope you don't take any of this the wrong way, you seem like a very educated, driven, and pretty young lady… but I just don't get what the hell you did to my son? Sure, the kid's still a total smartass with no drive to do anything useful most of the time, but I have never seen him care about anything as much as I've seen him care about you. He went from barely giving a damn about anything but his computer, books, and those damn videogames to actually participating in real life. He watched you on TV when you were still competing with your sister, he texts and calls you, he goes out of his way to see you when he could easily just sit on his ass and do nothing here. And even though he just had to go back and do another damn season of that stupid show he's been doing since he was 16, that is the most I've ever seen him try at doing anything in his whole damn life. He actually got pretty damn far until he got screwed and finally did what I think he should've done years ago… it was because of you he actually started trying at anything. As much as I don't understand and wish I knew why, I honestly don't even care anymore. So, whatever the hell you're doing, just keep doing it to keep motivating him to finally have him do something with his life. The kid's got an IQ of 180 and soaks up everything like a sponge and can do so much more than wasting his life on low-brow shows and sitting on his ass in his room."

He stopped and looked up at a clock above his main workbench next to us before said, "Well, guess I've kept you for more than a moment. We should probably get back before everyone decides to invade my shop."

He got up and I was about to get up until I felt Mr. Mathai put a hand on my shoulder as he said, "And if its not too much to ask, can you talk to him about grad school? All I've been doing is beating my head against a stone wall for 21 years, so if you can at least get him on board for at least a Master's degree for his computer crap, then go for it."

I looked up to see his dad giving me an approving smirk and a nod before patting me on the shoulder and then just walking off.

Even though I slowly got up and followed as I still kept 'processing'... I could at least take one silver lining out of the situation.

Well, I guess I have approval from both Noah's parents, so… that's good, right?

Well, hope you guys enjoyed the 'Noah-lore' given to us via Noah's dad (Abe Mathai). Honestly this was so fun using the details from Noah's Fresh TV bios to create a back story for Noah. The website hacking at age 6 for Noah to me was a hysterical detail that I HAD to add in and talk about in this fanfic somewhere. Lol. XD Now, there was one thing I really wanted to establish between Noah and Abe. Despite Noah and Abe being two completely different with completely different interests and priorities. Abe and Noah just tend to clash since they both have VERY similar and strong personalities despite their differences. Considering its clear Abe is capable of giving some pretty decent comebacks himself, but Noah just takes his to a whole other level. Lol. XD But, despite all this and Abe not understanding Noah, all he wants is for his son to be a productive human being with a purpose to participate in life and do something with the life and INSANE level of intelligence he has. Again, I'm a big gamer and computer nerd myself and there's nothing wrong with making computers as an interest or career for yourself. But, in Noah's case and as Abe explained, Noah has all this intelligence and even a Bachelor's Degree and yet he has virtually done nothing with it or fully 'grown up' yet in a way to want to do something or be productive with his life in favor of just staying in his room at his parents' house all day sleeping, reading, or playing video games with no desire to work or move out and move on with his life… well, at least until he met Emma... as Abe has noticed. Haha. ;) So from Abe's perspective, he approves of Emma just from the perspective that there's something about her that grabbed his son's attention to make him want to 'care' and 'do something' to prove he's a living human being. But, what will Emma do with all this new found information about Noah? What will ensue in the final part of the Mathai family Christmas party? Stay tuned for the next chapter! As always, thank you all so much for reading and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated! :)

Stay classy and safe everyone!

Dexter1995