Part 9

"I actually feel sorry for her now," Emily told Aaron and Dave. "I certainly understand some of the attitude when I was growing up better."

Emily had told her fiancé Aaron and his friend Dave, everything about the argument with her mother.

"It sounds like your grandparents or at least your grandfather was very domineering like your mother. He might not have actually been abusive unless his orders were disobeyed. It might be that his word was law and so long as he was obeyed he didn't hit his wife or his daughters at least, possibly his sons as well. in fact that's more likely, more likely then just be forcing his daughters to obey him. It's clear from what you learned and that he likely had no respect for females at all, though I have no idea if he learned that from his own father or mother or if that's just the way he was, despite plenty of positive examples growing up. He could've got that opinion from someone else or some event he happened to see and not from either parent. There are too many possibilities to even think about, much less discuss," Dave said

"I don't see that it matters anyway," Aaron commented. He had his arm around Emily holding her close. He reveled having his lady love back in his arms.

"It doesn't really," Emily agreed. "She just shocked me that's all. She usually just rolls over whatever I'm saying, but I actually made her think. She was very quiet and subsided when I left, though how long that will last I have no clue. I doubt it's permanent, so the more I avoid her the better. I wouldn't mind avoiding New York entirely until she passed away. I don't know why we can't live somewhere exotic like Hawaii, even Mexico."

"We'll have to talk about that sometime soon," Aaron said. "There're many exotic places or even just big cities where we'll never be found, if we don't want to be. Let's get this wedding out of the way first."

"The wedding will be soon," Emily said. "Most things have been arranged and I have my wedding dress, though it certainly doesn't have the long train that mother wanted. She wanted a train that was over 10 feet long and I told her no way. It would require a whole herd of attendants to carry it, just so it didn't get filthy by me walking down the aisle. Such things may have been appropriate years ago, but we live in a modern world now."

"At least she's asking for your opinion," Dave suggested with a chuckle.

"That's true," Emily said thoughtfully. "At least I have some say in my own wedding. She was rather disappointed that I didn't agree to the train idea, but was happy when I agreed with a lot of her suggestions. I have to admit that my mother has good taste, which is why I wanted her help to plan in the first place. It saves me time and and frustration and effort, which I am eternally grateful for. I would drive myself batty trying to plan anything complicated, I just don't have the patience for all the little details that go into weddings. I could've planned something fairly straightforward and simple, but I knew mother wouldn't be satisfied with that."

"So it was easier to get your mother to plan it then to do it yourself," Aaron said.

"Exactly," Emily grinned. "I did warn her though, that if a politician corners me and starts talking about politics then he'll either leave me alone when I tell him I'm not interested or get punched in the nose. Whether they believe my mother when she tells them that is up to them."

Dave and Aaron both snorted at Emily's little speech, though they couldn't exactly blame her either.

"I don't think either Aaron or I can blame you," Dave said. "Both of us hate politics, because it's often so dishonest."

"One of the reasons I fell in love with Aaron, before I got my memory back," Emily smiled kissing Aaron's cheek. "I knew of his hatred of politics. I might actually have told him no, when he proposed if I had thought he was going to ever get into politics. That's how much I hate them."

"Good thing for me," Aaron said smiling. "I would never have been interested in politics, even if I had remained mortal. For one thing I was too poor for any politician to pay attention to my opinion. Back then, poor people were practically part of the land in the time in which I was born. In other words, they were mostly ignored unless they got in the way of course."

"So how's your relationship with Penelope going?" Emily asked Dave.

Emily had introduced Dave to her friend Penelope Garcia about two months back. The wedding preparations had just been started then and Dave had agreed to go out on a date with one of Emily's friends to see if they were compatible.

None of Emily's friends would be silly or shallow, as that was something the lady herself had promised him. I don't have patience for shallow or silly girls and especially women, Emily had explained to both Aaron and Dave. At least girls might outgrow their silly habits and shallowness, but a grown woman of more than 25 probably never will. I would probably slap someone who was silly, just to get her to stop it. Either that or walk away, before I did so.

Dave had taken Emily at her word and so he was really enjoying his relationship with Penelope Garcia. Emily was right, Penelope was funny and sweet and intelligent and also a very good conversationalist and one of the most bubbly people he had ever met. She was always cheerful. She seemed like the type that believed in six impossible things before breakfast. There was a large difference between silly and funny. Silly meant you acted like you didn't have any brains in your head and all you cared about was men, fashion and what other women were wearing, among other similar subjects. Funny meant you had a good sense of humor, didn't usually let life get you down, told good jokes and funny stories or said things in a way that were very amusing. She was very good with all types of technology, but especially computers, as she understood how they operated instinctively or at least could figure out how something worked even without reading the directions. Some people just had that knack.

They were getting along well and Dave was beginning to believe that she'd be perfect as a wife and mate for him. Someone who would love him just as much is he loved her. Someone who would happily bear his children. He wasn't going to rush into anything though, as he didn't want to make a mistake and so was going to take his time, as unlike Aaron, Penelope was not the reincarnation of his long dead wife.

"We're getting along very well," Dave answered. "I'm taking it slow though, because I've never been married, so I'm not rushing into anything for that reason. You and Aaron were very lucky that the fates decided you needed each other, so gave you a break."

"I'll be grateful forever if that's who decided to give my true love back to me," Aaron said, kissing Emily on the temple.

"I have to agree, as normally, I don't believe in anything like fate," Emily said.

"Neither do Aaron or I," Dave said. "I think I might be falling in love with your friend, but I'm not going to rush things as I told you. We have plenty of time to truly get to know each other before we take things farther."

"I'm glad things are going so well," Emily said pleased. "I thought the two of you would at least be friends, even if that was all it was going to be. Penelope is the type to believe in six impossible things before breakfast, and the notion of immortality is definitely something impossible for most people to believe."

"That's quote is from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll," Aaron said grinning.

"I'm surprised you know that," Emily said looking at her fiancé. "It is a children's book after all, even if it is a classic."

"You have to remember, love, that Dave taught me how to read, so I was fascinated with books for a long time. I liked reading and to see how books changed over the centuries. At first, I didn't think much of them, as they didn't invent fiction for a lot of years. Still, I enjoy reading now, but I just don't do it as much as I did a few hundred years ago. My understanding of English has certainly improved a lot over the years, because I read so much. My point is that one of those books I read was Alice in Wonderland and of course, I had to read the sequel as well when it was published. I didn't find the book, as fascinating as I'm sure children did, but since I knew immortality was real who was to say that what Carroll was writing about couldn't exist as well?"

That was a good point Emily admitted. If immortality could exist who could say that Lewis Carroll fascinating world couldn't as well.

"Aaron does have a point, even if I don't believe the things that exist in Alice in Wonderland and the sequel are actually real," Dave said.

"Well, neither do I really," Aaron shrugged. "You have to admit that immortality is a fantastic concept, so if it can exist why not the things that happen in Carroll's book."

That was a point, Dave admitted silently.

~~~Criminal Minds~~~

"Ready to go?" Dave asked his date, one Penelope Garcia.

"Just let me grab my purse," Penelope said.

"You look utterly delectable, Miss Penny," Dave told her sincerely.

What Dave had said was true. Penelope had done her long blonde hair up in some sort of fancy arrangement, to where only a couple of tendrils escaped, to hang in front of her ears, Her dress was a lovely warm gray that went well with her skin tone and was long enough to go just past the knees. There was also a gold belt slung low over her hips, which made a nice contrast to the gray dress, breaking up the grey so she didn't look like a storm cloud. The dress would sparkle with appropriate lighting and she looked absolutely gorgeous in Dave's humble opinion. Last, but not least, she was wearing a pair of black pumps, gold, diamond drop earrings that Dave had given her, along with a dressy gold wrist unit, another gift.

"Why thank you Mr. Rossi," Penelope returned, smiling, kissing his bearded cheek.

Penelope grabbed her purse and then Dave escorted her out the door allowing her to lock it behind her.

"I'm really looking forward to this wedding," Penelope told Dave as he escorted her to his car. "Emily is such a good friend of mine, that it makes me happy she has finally found someone to love."

"I can say the same about Aaron," Dave agreed. Dave didn't mention the past lives aspect or the immortality as now was not the time, thought that time would be coming soon, just not quite yet. "I've never seen Aaron get so close to a woman so fast as he is usually so reserved. He's usually very careful about what kind of woman he allows to get close to him not that there has been many."

Dave didn't say what he was thinking and that was, there had not been many had measured up to Berenice in Aaron's eyes. Of course, that was before he had met Emily. Emily was now immortal just like he and Aaron, so there would be no other for his friend or for Emily either.

"I can understand that as so many women are shrews, or they whine and complain about their lot or that the husband doesn't spend enough time with them or they're cheating. Insecurity isn't usually Emily's thing, but you never know how someone will react when they have a man they love," Penelope said.

"If Aaron believed Emily would turn into what you suggestion he never would've asked her to marry him," Dave told Penelope. "Emily's not the type, as you said, to be insecure about a man. She would've make sure that Aaron genuinely loved her before agreeing to marriage. Like Aaron she's just too careful with her heart."

"You're right," Penelope agreed. "My point still stands though."

"Yes, it does, but neither Aaron or Emily are like that. I've known Aaron a long time, decades, so as you know we are extremely close. I was very happy that he had finally found someone to love, as being a bachelor isn't all it's cracked up to be, even with a best friend you can depend on."

Penelope nodded at this, because she agreed completely she had never seen Emily so happy. Of course, she was pretty happy herself after Emily had introduced her to Aaron's best friend Dave. She was actually hoping for a marriage proposal, but she could be patient and wouldn't start dropping hints like some women did. When the proposal came she wanted to be from Dave's heart not because she had hinted at it and forced his hand.

"Well, let's go, as we have duties we have to perform, since your the best man and I am the maid of honor," Penelope told Dave who nodded, helping his date into the passenger seat.

"I won't be surprised if they start having children right away," Dave commented as he drove out of the parking lot of Penelope's apartment building.

"Why?" Penelope asked. "I would think they want to wait at least a year or so."

"Because I know both want children and Emily isn't getting any younger," Dave said. "I could be wrong, but I know Aaron very well remember."

"That's very true," Penelope said. "Depending on how many they want of course..."

"Exactly, so I wouldn't be surprised if Emily comes back from the honeymoon pregnant," Dave said.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to complain if they have a few right away," Penelope grinned. "I love babies."

"So do I," Dave agreed, smiling.

There was another point her and Dave had in common, they both loved babies, Penelope thought happily, though she didn't actually say anything.

~~~Criminal Minds~~~