"I'll cover the cost for the wedding," Damon told Perry once the two men had settled in his office.
"I was actually going to cover most of it, but Alex said you want to pay at least some of the cost," Perry said.
"Weddings are expensive, son," Damon pointed out.
"I'm well aware of that sir, but I make a very good living and my parents also set up a trust fund for me, though I've never had to use it much, since I gained control of it when I was 21. Still, a wedding to the woman I love, is a good time to use some of that fund. I only plan on getting married once."
"That's good son," Damon approved of Perry's attitude. "Still, I insist and not just because it's tradition for the brides family to pay the cost of their daughter's wedding."
"I won't argue, as that would create bad feelings between us," Perry said. "My parents have also volunteered to cover a lot of the cost so I'm sure we can come to some agreement."
"So what do your parents do for a living," Damon asked.
"My mother Shonda runs an antique store. It has been in our family for generations," Perry explained calmly. "This is not the normal antique store that sells a bunch of junk for tourists to buy. My mother only buys and sells real antiques, those of high-quality. She makes a more than healthy profit and has become quite wealthy ever since her father passed the business onto her. Walters Antiques started out in a small town known as Moonlight Gorge but then my mother met and married my father and they moved to New York. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit her talent in finding antiques to sale, as you really have to keep your eye on the market since it changes all the time."
"I've heard there is a lot of money in antiques if you know what you're doing," Damon said.
"Absolutely true," Perry agreed. "As for my father, he's a businessman."
Perry then went on to explain what Aaron did.
"Well, it's clear that your parents taught you a good work ethic and I definitely approve of the way your parents raised you," Damon said. "There's one thing I know is a lot of rich people are spoiled rotten and thinks the sun shines out their children's backsides. The parents don't teach their children a solid work ethic or how to treat others not in the same social strata. I saw this multiple times in my years on the force."
"It is a stereotype for a reason," Perry agreed.
The two continued to talk for sometime before they came to an agreement about splitting the cost for the wedding.

~~~Perry and Alex~~~

"You meeting my parents went well," Alex told Perry once they were back in New York.
"It went very well I thought," Perry agreed.
"It did and my father will happily walk me down the aisle when that day comes, which ought to tell you that he approves of you," Alex said.
"He's also going to pay a great deal of the cost of the wedding," Perry said. "That alone tells me he likes me and approves of your choice of husband."
"You were in with dad for several hours," Alex mentioned.
"We just got busy talking about wedding details amongst other things," Perry said. "You're to send half the bills to him."
"I know dad would want to pay at least some of the cost," Alex said, "as I am his only daughter."
"True," Perry said. "I'm certainly glad you were born."
"I can certainly understand that," Alex said, even as she kissed Perry's cheek.
"So you have to go back to work tomorrow what do you want to do in the meantime?" Perry asked.
"I probably need to do laundry," Alex said not looking enthusiastic. "Not my favorite way to spend the day, but I am going to have to do it eventually. It's easier to do one load then have to do laundry all day, just because you let it pile up."
"I'll do it tomorrow," Perry told her. "We should just relax tonight."
"You know how to wash clothes?" Alex asked surprise.
"I am over 200 Alex," Perry told her with a smile, not taking offence at his mate assuming he didn't know how to do his own laundry. "I learned how to take care of myself a long time ago and yes, I even learned how to do laundry."
"I just figured you had a housekeeper that did it for you," Alex admitted.
"I could, I can certainly afford one, but it doesn't take long, so long as you don't let it pile up," Perry said.
"Consider me impressed," Alex said. "I don't know many men that do their own laundry, though I know they do exist."
"Some men never get married and they don't always have family to do it for them, so they either learn how to take care of themselves or they go around in stained and dirty clothes," Perry said.
"Well then, I guess I'll let you take that chore this time. Thank you I do appreciate it," Alex said.
"Anything I can do to make things a little easier for you," Perry said. "I know you have lesson plans and other things you need to be doing."
"I need to go grocery shopping for one thing," Alex said. "I'm running a little low on supplies. I didn't have time to do that before we went to visit mom and dad, but since this is Sunday and I don't have to go into work until tomorrow now is the time to get it done."
"Yeah, I did notice you seemed to be a little low on a lot of staples," Perry said.
"I'll just swing by the store right quick pick up a few things," Alex said.
"I'll come with you, as it will go faster if we're both getting groceries," Perry said. "I could use a few things for my pantry too, so it's no problem."
"That sounds good. I'm not about to complain about spending more time with you," Alex said glad for Perry's company.
"I can't always depend on my mother to cook for me," Perry told her with a wink, "or to buy my groceries."
"Or your Aunt Jazz to supply you with sweets," Alex added.
"True that," Perry snorted in amusement at Alex's comeback. "We don't always live in the same area for one thing it just happened this generation that we all live in New York. Unfortunately that won't always be true. We'll probably live in every city in the United States several times over our life together, even if it's in different neighborhoods and decades apart."
"It sounds like an adventure," Alex said lightly, as she and Perry prepared to go grocery shopping, which she very much needed to do, as she was low on a lot of items. Having Perry along on what was usually a chore would make it go faster and more fun.
"It will be I promise," Perry said, as he and Alex left her apartment making sure to lock the door behind them.
"It's an adventure I'm looking forward too," Alex promised Perry taking his hand.
Perry gave Alex's hand a gentle squeeze before they took the elevator down to the ground floor.

~~~Perry and Alex~~~

"Do you need help planning the wedding?" Shonda asked Alex several days after Alex and Perry had gotten back from visiting her folks.
"I probably do, as I'm busy teaching five days a week," Alex said. "I just don't have as much time to put into it as I might like."
"I'll be glad to help where I can and Perry also has plenty of female relatives that love to plan events," Shonda suggested. "It's not like we get a chance to plan something as glorious as a wedding very often. Aaron and I have been to a few weddings in our family but not too many really. Finding someone to marry when you're immortal is never easy, as we can't just marry anyone thinking we're in love. Just think about what happened to Perry when he was dating Connie. I heard Aaron told you about it."
"I bet you were furious when you heard about the incident," Alex said knowingly.
"I was," Shonda agreed her expression souring, as she remembered what Perry had told her and Aaron about Connie. "I was only sorry that we couldn't go to the police. With us being what we are it's not a good idea to bring police attention. Whatever officer was put on the case I'm sure one of his first questions would've been how Perry had survived being stabbed if he was really as hurt as he claimed."
"Perry filled in all the details of the incident and told me how he tracked Connie down and saved this guy's life that would have been her next victim. He told me that he deliberately tracked Connie, as he wanted her to pay for what she had done, not necessarily to him, but other people who were not immortal," Alex explained
"I didn't know that, but it doesn't surprise me," Shonda said. "Connie was a wacko that needed to be put away and I'm glad that happened, even if my son had something to do with it. If Perry could find a way to put Connie in prison where she wouldn't hurt anyone else, without revealing what he was then he would've done so. Perry very deeply believes in justice, but he would never put our secret in danger either, as he's to practical and sensible to do so."
"I understand and as for getting some of your female relatives help plan the wedding it's probably a good idea," Alex decided. "If they're willing to help I can certainly use it and that would prevent me from having to hire an outside source like a wedding planner, simply because I'm so busy with every thing I have going on."
"People who do that probably don't have a lot of female relatives or at least aren't close to them and also probably lead very busy lives," Shonda said.
"I already know that the guest list is going to be extensive since there are so many relatives from your side of the family," Alex said.
"Probably close to 500 to 600," Shonda said, "between the Hotchners, the Rossis and whoever you want to invite.
"My family is really small compared to yours, but then I know most families aren't that large or as close as yours is," Alex said, as she took a sip of her drink that Shonda had supplied when she had come to see her future mother-in-law. "I also would like to invite some of the faculty I work with and a few of my friends."
"Some in the family might not be able to make it. They might not want to come just because they don't know Perry, even if technically they are related. Still, they have to be invited, even if they turn down the invitation," Shonda said.
"How many do you estimate will actually RSVP?" Alex asked.
"You'd probably be safe cutting the guest list in half," Shonda said.
"So 200 to 300 than," Alex said.
"And probably a few less than I'm estimating, but I wouldn't cut it anymore than that just in case," Shonda said.
"We might have a lot of leftover food, but we can freeze a lot of it if we have to," Alex said.
"I'm sure that whoever comes will be happy to take some of it home," Shonda said.
"If we do it that way, there probably won't be much wasted," Alex said. "I'm getting Jazz to do the wedding cake and Perry of course agrees with me there."
"Of course he does. My son loves his Aunt Jazz's baking, but then so do all my children, so why should Perry be any different?" Shonda said with a smile.
"I've come to love her baking to just in the short amount of time of our acquaintance," Alex said. "Jazz has a really great talent with sweets."
"She does," Shonda agree with a smile. "She always opens a bakery whenever we move somewhere else, as that's her passion as well as her talent. She can cook regular food as well it just doesn't turn out as good as her sweets."
"I really am going to have to visit her bakery," Alex said.
"You won't regret it, I promise you that," Shonda said.
"I know I won't, as the few things I've had that she's done have been the best I've ever had," Alex said. "Her sweets should be considered illegal they're just that good."
"It's a good thing they're not or half the population of the city would be in prison," Shonda joked.
"Probably true," Alex laughed. "So how did you and Jazz become such good friends."
"You already know we grew up in a small town. It had less than 10,000 people," Shonda explained her eyes going distant. "We lived close to each other and met at school in pre-K. We just saw something in each other and while Jazz had three siblings, as you know I was an only child. We didn't let anybody's opinion tear us apart as often happens with those that are friends for one reason or another like teenage drama."
Shonda continued to recount some of her childhood memories and every memory she shared Jazz and her were at the center of them. It was clear to Alex that Shonda and Jazz had been close from the first day they had met in pre-K kindergarten.
"By the time we were 12, we took a oath to always be best friends and never let anybody tear us apart, so that we stopped talking to each other. That vow was magical and it bound us in a way that can't be broken."
"I remember that coming up doing the conversation a week before Thanksgiving," Alex said thinking back.
"Yeah, come to think of it I think Dave mentioned it," Shonda agreed. "It might be why both our mates turned out to be immortal as it does make a certain amount a sense."
"Why does it make sense?" Alex asked knowing absolutely nothing about magic.
"A magical oath is a serious thing," Shonda begin to explain her tone calm and soothing. "A magical oath should never to be given lightly, as there could be serious consequences depending on what type of vow it is. We were taught as young children to never give our oath unless we were sure of someone's intentions, but both Jazz and I were young at the time and the young are often heedless of good advice."
"That's true," Alex agreed remembering her own childhood.
"Jazz was and is the sister I never had, even before we took that oath, as we knew each other intimately by that point, so in that case, there likely never would have been any serious consequences, which has since proved true," Shonda said.
"You didn't know that before you took the oath though," Alex pointed out.
"We didn't," Shonda admitted, "but it turned out all right and both of us have learned better since. We always warn our children against taking a magical oath, unless they have no other choice. There are just some situations that can pop up that make taking a magical oath necessary."
"Is that why you two were living in the same city," Alex asked, "because of that oath you took way back when you were young."
"Probably," Shonda said after a minute of thought. "But it probably has more to do with the fact that being immortal we can only totally relax around others of our kind. There are very few immortals out there, at least not that any of us know about. On the other hand, immortals are basically human as you know, so the only way to discover them is to see them hurt and then watch them heal."
"Unless you slip up and some other way," Alex suggested. "Like if you talk as if you experienced something for yourself that only someone with a lot of experience can offer and you still look relatively young for example. Some people might not catch that you are talking about something that you shouldn't have experienced at your supposed age but others would."
"That's a good example," Shonda admitted. "Not that's that's a sure indication that someone is older than they appear, but still, it might make another immortal suspicious."
"I think I'll get Marla to do some different donuts for the wedding," Alex said thinking of the great donut she had had when Perry had introduced her to his cousin Marla Rossi.
"So you've met Marla than," Shonda asked and Alex nodded.
"Perry took me by when we were in the area and introduced me to her," Alex said. "He told me that she decided to run a donut shop instead of a bakery and that she's doing very well for herself. Perry thinks that Marla didn't want to compete with her mother if she had opened a bakery."
"I think it's more the fact that she's always been really good at coming up with new flavors of donuts," Shonda said. "I don't think it has anything to do with possible competition with her mother."
"It doesn't really matter, that's just Perry's opinion," Alex said. "I'm not usually one for eating donuts but the one I had at her shop was probably the best I've ever eaten much like a banana pudding Jazz brought that night for dinner."
"Yeah, Marla takes after her mother when it comes to baking desserts," Shonda said. "Like Jazz, she can cook regular food, but it is never as good as her deserts. The Rossis just have a special talent when it comes to creating desserts, whether tortes, or pies or donuts or cakes."
What Shonda didn't tell Alex was that Marla had inherited her mother's magic and a little bit of it went into whenever she did any type of dessert item, made her desserts utterly irresistible.
"If you do what you suggest that will probably increase Marla's business and she won't mind that at all," Shonda told Alex.
"If it does she deserves it, because she really is an excellent baker like her mother," Alex said. "Whatever donuts don't get eaten Perry and I will consume I promise you. I could become a donut fan at least of Marla's, though not necessarily other brands. That doesn't mean, I don't like sweets, just that donuts aren't usually my thing. Personally, I usually like cherry or blueberry danishes whenever I need something sweet."
"I understand," Shonda said. "In some donut shops or other places where they are sold they are stale, as if they been sitting out overnight or longer. Either that or they don't use the highest quality ingredients and do them as cheaply as possible, which of course, means they're not even half as good as someone's like Marla's who always uses the freshest, highest quality ingredients."
"Even Starbucks donuts or pastries aren't as good, as Jazz's and Marla's. Those two are some distance ahead of places like Milo's donuts or Starbucks," Alex said.
The two women, one older, the other younger talked for sometime before Alex took her leave.

~~~Perry and Alex~~~