A few minutes later Penelope arrived in a corner of a simply decorated living room.

"Hey, Penny, it's good to see you," Alex told her sister. "It's about time you came for a visit."

"It's good to see you too," Penelope replied, as she and Alex hugged.

"You could've visited sooner," Alex scolded her.

"I was just trying to give you a chance to settled in," Penelope protested.

"Well, I have settled in, as you put it and start teaching in a little more then a week," Alex said. "Now, I would like to introduce you to my fiancé Dave and his friend Aaron."

Penelope tried not to stare at either man as they had to be two of the most handsome specimens she had ever run across.

"It's nice to meet you," Penelope said remembering her manners, shaking both men's hands cordially.

Penelope knew the man with the beard was off limits since her friend Alex said they were engaged and though that engagement had been quick she knew that Alex would never have agreed to marry him if she didn't truly love him. That's the way happen with magicals sometimes, they fell in love quickly and it was usually a love that lasted a lifetime. She had been wanting to find a spouse for herself but all the boys, who had asked for a date had only done so because she had been adopted by Sedgwick Blake. The Blakes were the ones that had saved what remained of magicals at least in the States 500 years ago. The magicals had retreated from society for the most part and taken up residence in the cove that was now a fairly large town. There was only so much room in the cove though and she knew that it was running out of land, as people continued to have families, build businesses and so forth. It wouldn't be many more years before they would have to think of another solution as their population continued to grow.

The other man Aaron was also very handsome and she blushed, not being able to help herself, as she felt his warm calloused palm in her own. She could definitely fall in love with him if given half a chance. He was a good man according to all Alex had told her about this Aaron Hotchner, so she wouldn't have to be as cautious as she normally was around those that wanted too date her. Alex would've made sure that he had no ill intentions before she had introduced them. Her adoptive father Sedgwick would never allow a boy to mistreat her or force any of his children into marriage, as he thought that they should be free to find their own spouses. Penelope loved him for that. Sedgwick was understanding, compassionate and kind. He and his wife had taken her and her brother in without a second thought when their parents had been killed in that car crash. Having done so, despite the backlash from some of the citizens of Refuge, that believed because their mother was human that they should not be allowed to live in their community. This was a stupid reason to exclude someone, but Penelope had learned that people had opinions and often didn't care who they said them to, not even if that someone was a child who didn't need to hear so much bitterness and vitriol.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Aaron Hotchner," Aaron introduced himself taking Penelope's smaller hand in his larger one. He kissed the back of her hand like a gentleman, causing Penelope to blush again.

So far Aaron liked what he saw. He had always preferred blondes, though almost all selkie females had black or brown hair. Some had blonde, but those who did had a human parent, as full selkies were naturally dark haired.

"Penelope Garcia Blake," Penelope introduced yourself, smiling. "You can call me Penny."

Aaron smiled and Penelope melted into a puddle of goo.

"We'll leave you two alone," Dave said smiling as he took Alex's hand.

Neither Aaron or Penelope acknowledged there two friends and simply sat beside each other talking softly.

"Care for a walk on the beach, my lady?" Dave asked smiling, the corners of his eyes crinkling upwards. Alex liked that when it happened, as it made Dave even more handsome in her opinion.
"Sounds good," Alex agreed smiling in return.

The two of them simply walked out the front door of the beachhouse and down the steps, making sure you close the door behind them

~~~Criminal Minds~~~

"Well, if we're lucky, Penelope will be the one for Aaron," Dave said. "The attraction was certainly there and you would've had to be blind as a bat not see it."

"I have to agree," Alex said smiling very happy with the current situation. "Attraction isn't everything though, so we'll just have to see where they're very new possible relationship leads."

"Have faith," Dave suggested. "I've never seen Aaron so fascinated in a female. Like me, he's very careful about who he dates. He's always preferred blondes, but even if he had married a female selkie, he would likely have gotten a child that was dark haired. The only blonde selkie females that exist are those with at least one human ancestor. Selkies naturally have either black or brown hair."

"I know," Alex nodded. "Remember, I've known about selkies for years. I really hope Aaron's and Penelope's relationship leads somewhere."

"I do to, because if Aaron mated with some selkie female his pups would be stuck in seal form. That is one of the curses of our race. Every 7 generations our blood must be renewed or we will forever be stuck as seals. You have given me and my family line many decades of being able to transform into a human by agreeing to become my bride. I hope we will have many children. I wouldn't mind a dozen more, though I don't know if that's possible."

"Witches are fertile much longer than humans, Dave," Alex said. "I'll be able to have children until I'm close to a 100. Us magicals live or at least can live up to 300 years. Of course, it depends on a lot of factors, health and so forth. You'll be long gone before I pass away, as selkies don't live as long as magical can."

"Still, I'll be around for the next hundred years at least perhaps longer," Dave said. "So let's not worry about the future right now as that's a long time away. If I have 50 kids I won't mind, as it will renew my bloodline for many generations, though what we'll do after those seven generations pass I don't know."

"We'll both be long gone by then, Dave," Alex said. "There's no way I'll agree to have 50 kids, but 20 isn't out of the realm of possibility. Pregnancy is harder the older you get and though, we have magic to help us along it's safer to have them while you're young. I don't want to get pregnant past 60 or so and even that's stretching it. It also depends on how each pregnancy goes and what our witchdoctor recommends."

"I'll take what I can get," Dave told for cheerfully. "I just thought it would be nice to have that many kids, but it's not what I expect at all."

"We'll see what comes," was all Alex said, as she and Dave walked along the beach hand-in-hand.

~~~Criminal Minds~~~

"Well, this is an interesting development," Sedgwick told the four people present. The four people present were of course, his two daughters and Alex's fiancé. As for Aaron Hotchner, he and his other daughter Penelope were only dating right now, but that could very well lead to another engagement in a few months once they had been dating for awhile. He'd wait and see.

"I would like to welcome you to the family, Dave," Sedgwick added. "My daughter has chosen well and you will be welcome at our town Refuge, whenever you and Alex choose to visit. I certainly won't mind if you give me grandchildren either."

"Thank you, sir," Dave said bowing.

"Dad!" Alex is exclaimed in exasperation. "You'll get those grandchildren, but you will need to be patient. Dave I have decided not to get married right away."

"We don't want to make the people at the college suspicious or jealous," Dave explained his and Alex's reasoning. "Yes, we started dating near the beginning of summer, but that's not enough to be able to tell you love someone at least for most people. We'll give it a couple of months into the school year before we have a wedding. We'll keep our engagement private until then."

"That seems reasonable," Sedgwick agreed. "A lot of witches and the occasional warlock know immediately when they're in love, but that's not a trait shared by the rest of the human race."

"I'm the newcomer and I just don't want to be accused of stealing somebody's guy or not giving one of the ladies at the college a chance to date him, women who would have known him much longer than I have," Alex told her father. "Even if Dave has never been interested in any of those women and has refused to date any of them, I can still see those accusations easily being leveled at me."

"I have dated a few on and off over the years," Dave shrugged. "I'm still a man, even if I'm a selkie as well, so I have needs like any other man. None of those relationships lasted more than a few weeks at the outside and I never brought them back to mine and Aaron's home. Both of us like our privacy and we wouldn't want one of the women to come here, to spy on us or to try to get one of us to date her. She could just claim she was in the neighborhood for instance. There's always a hotel if she just wants sex or her own home. I'm not claiming that any of those things would happen, but you never know. Neither Aaron or I would want someone like that to see us, take our sealskins out of a backpack and transforming. That would be disastrous and we're both well aware of it."

Sedgwick nodded in understanding.

"You handle it how you think best," Sedgwick said. "You know the situation in this little seaside town and I do not, other than what Alex has told me. It is good to avoid people suspicions, so if this will help accomplish that then it's okay with me. As for you Aaron, I don't mind you dating Penny. Alex has told me that you're just as honorable man, just as Dave is and that's enough for me, as my daughter is a very good judge of character. Penny also likes you a lot and whether that will develop into something more is up to both you. I won't interfere, unless of course, you hurt her."

It was a warning, but Aaron took it with good grace. Sedgwick was Penelope's father in everyway that mattered.

"Neither one of us know where this is going, since we just met a few days ago, but I swear I will never deliberately hurt her," Aaron said solemnly.

Sedgwick nodded, accepting the promise.

"See that you don't," Sedgwick said, then smiled. "Take care of each other."

"We will, dad," Penelope promised, hugging the man that was her father in everyway. "I'll see you soon. Tell mom I love her."

"I will," Sedgwick promised returning the hug. "Now what about accommodations for Penny here?"

"She can stay with me temporarily dad, I certainly don't mind," Alex said. "It will likely only be for a few months. It will give Penny and Aaron a chance to get to know each other better and if they aren't announcing their engagement within 3 to 4 months I'll be very surprised," Alex added giving Penelope a wink, making Penelope blush. "My place has a second bedroom, as you know. I thought it was a bit big at first, but the price was reasonable, certainly more reasonable then some places that claimed they had an ocean view. Dave and Aaron helped me find it. They knew the town and I did not at the time. I'm sure it would've taken me much longer to find someplace without their help."

"We were happy to help," Dave said. "I was already interested in Alex, so I was determined to get to know her. I was feeling that call to find a mate and so was Aaron."

"Yes, he roped me into helping," Aaron grinned. "I didn't mind so much really, as I could already tell Dave was interested in your daughter. I hate to admit it, but I was kind of getting discouraged, you know? We had been here for years and had been unsuccessful in finding mates."

"We could have just put a spell on two likely candidates, but neither of us wanted to do that. We both wanted to truly fall in love and have the ladies fall in love with us," Dave added and Sedgwick nodded.

"That's very admirable gentleman and I heartily approve. We have an ironclad rule in Refuge. There will be no love spells or any other kind of spell that binds someone to them used. Marriage will be gone into on a person's own free will. If it is discovered that any kind of spell has been used there are severe consequences. We always check for that. Putting a spell on someone almost always leads to tragedy, when the spell wears off because the perpetrator forgets to renew it. There have been several deaths over the years and the person responsible was severely punished."

"Alex told us," Aaron said Sedgwick nodded.

"Good," Sedgwick said looking approvingly at his daughter. "So I'll leave you to it, but you can call me anytime you need me. I expect to hear about another engagement sometime in the next few months."

"Please don't mention it to mom yet," Penelope requested. "I'm not sure where this is going to go and I don't want her to start planning the wedding before Aaron and I are even sure if we're completely compatible. I don't want her gossiping about it all over town that two of her daughters are getting married."

"I agree," Sedgwick said. "Your mother would be happy for you, but there is no need to mention it yet, until you're sure is going somewhere."

"As for you Alex and Dave I expect you to come for a meal as soon as you're able, so that Alex can introduce you to her mother," Sedgwick added.

"Maybe on the weekend," Dave suggested. "Classes start on Monday."

"That sounds fine," Alex agreed. "I can teleport us both and back again when meal is over."

"Or you can stay the weekend," Sedgwick suggested firmly. "Show Dave around our little town. We're quite proud of it."

"You have a right to be, if what I've heard from Alex it is even half true. I would love to meet some of the selkies there, but I think that can wait a few months at least. I had no idea such a large colony of them even existed. You've done a very good thing my race and I really appreciate it."

"I have to agree," Aaron said. "I would love to meet some of the selkies to, but I think that can wait awhile. Getting to know Penny is much more important right now."

"I'll arrange a meeting with the leader when you're ready," Sedgwick offered. "We know each other quite well."

"That would be splendid," Dave said. "Perhaps our own colony could move to your little island. There really aren't that many of us left, about 100 give or take. Between toxic waste, pollution and a lot of other things we're simply dying out."

"Not being able to mate with a human every seventh generation is one of the major ones," Sedgwick suggested knowingly.

"Yes and most of us are pretty close to that now. Most of those who remain are only a generation or two away from being stuck in their seal forms. At least that's true for the younger selkies," Dave said.

"As for Dave and myself we're at the stage now that if we married female selkies our children would never be able to transform into humans," Aaron added.

"I understand gentleman," Sedgwick said with compassion. "Many of the selkies that make the waters around our little cove have mated with one of our witch's or warlocks over the years and had the same problem you two have currently. Marrying my daughters will solve that problem for you, at least for a few more generations. As for moving your colony to our cove, you would have to talk with the leader of the Selkies first."

"We know," Dave promised. "It's more of an idea right now. For one thing, trying to convince my neighbors that it's a good idea to move will be like pulling teeth. Both Aaron and I might not succeed as they might not see the problem the way we do."

"Possibly some of the younger ones, but as for the elders, we probably won't convince them to move from their home. That's for the future though, as it's not a problem we need to tackle right now," Aaron added.

Sedgwick nodded appreciating the intelligence of both men before he took his leave.

"Well, that was rather interesting," Dave commented once Sedgwick was gone. "I really like your dad. It's clear he loves you both and he's only looking after your best interests. Some parents can't say the same."

"I'm glad you do, because I'd like you to get along with him and my mother," Alex said kissing his cheek.

"I don't think that's going to be too hard sweetie," Dave promised. "I really like him, so I won't have any trouble getting along with him."

"Good," Alex said pleased.

"I have to agree I really like your father," Aaron added. "He was very understanding unlike some parents I've met over the years, but then he apparently deals with selkies on a fairly regular basis, which helps I know."

The four then chatted for awhile, before Dave fixed dinner with Alex's help. Once it was ready the four of them shared it and continued talking quietly.

~~~Criminal Minds~~~