Lailah walked beside Spencer to the front door of the Rossi home where Spencer and his brothers had grown up from the time they were seven.
"You'll enjoy dinner as dad is a great cook and Alex isn't a slouch in that department either."
"Why do you call her Alex instead of mom? It's something I've been meaning to ask you for awhile, but it hasn't felt like the right time," Lailah asked,
"For one thing, I knew her before she and my dad mated, as she was my linguistics teacher in college. While we had a good relationship when she was my teacher she's just never felt like my mother. Alex doesn't mind if I address by her first name and really I think of her as more of a sister then my mother. Besides, I still remember my mother with perfect clarity and I don't think I could ever call anyone else that not even any variations of the name."
"So you and your birth mother were close?" Lailah said and Spencer nodded.
"Yes we were. She was loads better than William Reid. It was clear that my mother, her name was Diana by the way, adored children. William Reid on the other hand, should never have procreated. He should've had himself fixed before he ever had children is that way he would have been able to get any woman pregnant. I might even have some half siblings out there for all I know, as I've never bothered to check," Spencer explained. "If I do, I feel sorry for my half siblings, because I doubt William Reid would be any kind of father to them just like he wasn't to his sons."
"I understand," Lailah said as Spencer used his old key to unlock the front door. He escorted Lailah inside before closing the door behind him.
There were delicious smells coming out of the kitchen and Spencer immediately led her in that direction.
"Dad," Spencer said as he and Lailah into the kitchen.
"Spencer!" Dave said turning from where he was cooking on the stove. "Introduce us son."
"Dad, this is Lailah Leadbetter. Lailah, this is my father David Rossi," Spencer introduced formally.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Leadbetter," Dave said shaking the alpha's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rossi," Lailah returned the greeting with a slight smile. "There's no reason to be so formal though, as we are going to be family soon enough. You can call me Lailah."
"Dave," Dave said.
"Spencer go get Alex, would you please. She should be upstairs with your siblings. Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes," Dave requested calmly.
Spencer nodded and left the kitchen heading upstairs to get Alex for dinner. He also knew that his father had sent him away deliberately on this errand to give him a chance to question Lailah alone. He knew his dad wanted to question Lailah about her intentions towards him to make sure she was on the up and up.
Spencer felt nice warm glow that his adoptive father was performing his duty like an alpha should because he had no doubt that William Reid wouldn't have fulfilled any of the responsibilities that came along with being an alpha and also a parent. His birth father wouldn't have cared if he got himself in a bad relationship or mating. He had never given a damn about any of his sons, but especially him the only omega in the bunch.
Luckily, he was too intelligent to get himself into that type of situation but it was the principle of the thing.
He knew that humans who were dating would resent a parental figure's interference, but he didn't and he knew his brothers wouldn't either.
Spencer looked in the playroom first and then checked all the triplets rooms and it was the last one where he found Alex.
"Alex," Spencer called softly.
"Is it that time already?" Alex said as soon as she heard Spencer call her name.
"Yes, dad asked me to come and get you, as dinner will be ready soon," Spencer said even as he kissed her cheek. "I also think he wanted a few minutes alone with Lailah to ask her about her intentions towards me."
That last sentence was said with some amusement and Alex smiled.
"It's what alphas do Spencer. The good ones anyway," Alex said. "You might only be adopted but you're still his son."
"I realize that and I'm not upset," Spencer told Alex, even as he paid some attention to his brother who was approaching four.
"And how are you today Kobe?" Spencer asked
"Spen!" Kobe shouted his speech surprisingly clear for a four year old. The four-year-old flung his arms around Spencer's neck and hugged him tight while Spencer held him against his chest.
"I love you too," Spencer told his brother kissing his cheek and then trying to put him down.
"Don't wanna ge don," Kobe said, as he clung even tighter to his brother.
"Come on now, sweetie. Spencer needs to go eat dinner with your father and me," Alex said extracting her son from Spencer. "You and your siblings have already had your dinner, so you're to stay up here and behave while the adults enjoy themselves."
"But mama," Kobe began to beg.
"No buts young man," Alex told him. "You don't want me to tell your father that you misbehaved as you know he'll punish you. You don't like it when your father spanks you, do you?"
"No," Kobe said looking downcast, as he finally obeyed his mother. The little boy looked close to tears and Alex kissed his cheek before putting him down on the floor to play.
"You be good sweetie and I'll read you a bedtime story tonight," Alex said.
Kobe perked up at that and the tears vanished.
She and Spencer left before Kobe could cling to either one of their legs.
"We had better hurry downstairs to the dining room I'm sure Dave has dinner ready," Alex said.
"I'm sure he does and we wouldn't want it to get cold that would be a tragedy," Spencer agreed, as he and Alex hurried downstairs.
"You're just in time," Dave said, as he put the food on the table that had already been set by Alex earlier.
"It certainly smells wonderful," Lailah said giving no indication that she and Dave had talked while Spencer had been gone.
"Sit down and serve yourself," Dave said. "The plates are on the sideboard."
Lailah got herself a plate and piled it high with everything on the table. "This is the first home cooked meal I've had in a long time," Lailah offered. "I'm usually eating in the hospital cafeteria and they don't exactly have a wide variety. A lot of it is also tasteless. It might be healthy, but that's all that recommends it."
"Food should taste good and also be healthy," Alex offered.
"Of course, we also need a little fat and grease," Spencer said.
"Salt is also essential to the human body," Dave said. "I read this article in the paper recently where this mother of three killed one of her children because she was making them eat food with no salt."
"That is so sad," Lailah said. "Your right the body does need at least a little salt, but you also need to watch your intake. I hardly ever read the paper, as it's usually just bad news and there are other things I'd rather the doing with my limited free time."
"It is mostly bad news," Dave chuckled. "This woman I was just talking about it turned out she was mentally ill and had been told that salt was bad for her children."
"So she thought that no salt would make them healthier," Lailah said. "No researching if that was true, no asking a doctor, she just removed the salt from her kids food without consulting anyone."
"I can actually see how someone could come to that conclusion," Spencer who has been silent offered. "Still, the smart thing to do is ask your doctor what's best."
"According to the article her husband was a doctor and she didn't bother to ask him or anyone else," Dave said.
"This is one reason I never read the paper," Lailah said, "or watch the news. Not only do I not have time, who wants to watch or read tragedies like that? I have enough tragedy in my job as it is. Children who have lost limbs for instance in accidents. There was this one little girl who lost an arm in a car accident just last week, now if that isn't a tragedy I don't know what is."
"Yes, that is very tragic," Alex agreed, as she ate the delicious food her husband had prepared.
"Yes, it is," Dave agreed thinking about his own children.
Everybody chatted cordially getting off the subject of Lailah's job as she didn't want to talk about it at least not tonight.

~~~Spencer and Lailah~~~

"So what do you think of Spencer's girlfriend," Alex asked Dave once Spencer and Lailah had left for the night.
"I like her a lot," Dave answered having known that this question would be coming once their guests had left and the children were in bed. "I think Spencer made a good choice and if they do mate I won't raise any objections. In fact, I'll be very happy for them. One thing is clear, Lailah really cares about her patients, which means she got into the profession for the right reasons and not just for the money since orthopedic surgeons can become quite wealthy.
"She also has the right type of personality to handle Spencer's hangups. She'll try her best to help him without getting angry or frustrated at him. She understands that what his birth father told Spencer on multiple occasions while not true would've had an impact on a much younger man then he is now. His eidetic memory doesn't help him get over what his father told him. As for Spencer himself, he's done a good job of getting over his fears of rejection. Him courting Lailah is a sign that he's finally over his hangups for the most part."
"Yes, he's done a good job of getting over his fears and he never did see that psychologist unless he did so on his own," Alex agreed. "I'm glad you liked Lailah, because I do too, but I wanted to ask you your opinion before I said anything."
"I already knew you did and was just waiting for you to ask," Dave told Alex. "I'm glad I can honestly give you such a positive response instead of telling you I didn't like Lailah and what my reasons were. I like her so much I'll probably send her and Spencer an expensive bottle of champagne if they do mate. I'll be happy to have her as part of the family."
Alex snorted in amusement, but I knew it was Dave's way of telling her that he approved of Lailah's and Spencer's relationship.
"I think she's perfect for Spencer personally. I would very much like to get to know her better," Alex said. "She's exactly what Spencer needs. Someone to come home to. She's like a breath of fresh air.
"We will get to know her better soon," Dave said. "It'll just take a great amount of time."
"Yeah, it will, especially since all of us are so busy," Alex agreed as she cuddled next Dave in their bed. "She seems like a dedicated doctor and orthopedics is not the easiest field to go into, which means she's intelligent. Someone intelligent is exactly what Spencer needs in a mate as there aren't many people that can match him in brain power."
"True," Dave agreed. "Spencer does need someone that is just as smart as he is, even if it's in different things. William Reid never bothered to introduce Spencer or his brothers to children of his clients who might've been just as intelligent. The triplets might actually have made friends if only there had father been more interested in their welfare instead of ignoring them. Competition between children is good so long as it doesn't get out of hand. Competition forces whoever's involved to up their game in order to win."
The children had been put in bed for the night by Christian the nanny with Alex's help since there was so many of them. Even Kobe hadn't protested about going to bed as he was yawning. Kobe was the stubborn one and never wanted to go to bed when it was time for him to sleep. Dinner had lasted for a long time because of the conversation during and after it, which was why it was the children's bedtime before they had showed their guests out.

~~~Spencer and Lailah~~~

"Dinner went very well," Spencer told Lailah. "You impressed dad and that's not an easy thing to do."
"Your father loves you and wants what's best for you," Lailah said. "I'm sure you know he questioned me once he sent you to find your mother."
"I knew he would," Spencer said simply. "He's everything a father should be protective, loving, affectionate. He helped us when we needed it and encouraged us in whatever we were trying to accomplish. I know he would question you about your intentions towards me and that's OK. Some children, particularly human ones, would resent one of their parents interfering in their life, but to me it just proves that dad really does love me and my brothers. Dad doesn't want me to get involved with someone that could take advantage of me, but also knows I am intelligent and very careful about who I date. He considers it more of a double check to make sure I made a good choice, particularly since we started courting."
"I like your parents very much," Lailah told Spencer smiling. "Both are intelligent and you're right your father is everything an alpha should be, much less a parent."
"That I was the first one to bring my choice of mate to meet my parents shocked both of them, because they know I was rather shy in that area, mostly thanks to my birth father," Spencer said honestly.
"So your brothers haven't brought their choice of mates to meet their parents yet," Lailah said and Spencer shook his head negatively.
"I haven't heard anything about either of my brothers courting. Dating yes, but not courting," Spencer said. "It's amazing to me that I'm the first one to actually be courted by a female, since both my brothers are alphas and have no trouble with the female of the species."
"It's lucky we ran into each other in the bookshop that day then, isn't it?" Lailah teased him.
"It is," Spencer agreed, as he kissed her cheek.
"Maybe your brothers just aren't ready to settle down," Lailah said more seriously.
"That's more than possible," Spencer said considering Lailah's theory. "They might just be too busy building their careers to consider settling down right now. On the other hand, they graduated when they were twenty just like I did so they should be ready to settle down."
"It's not always easy to find a mate," Lailah said.
"I know," Spencer agreed soberly. "My dad and Alex only met, because I was taking her linguistics class. My dad went to see her to thank her for all the help she had given me in helping me gain self-confidence. He asked her out once he knew she wasn't mated or even in a serious relationship and it went on from there. I don't want to be as old as my dad was when he took a mate."
"Wasn't your dad mated before he met Alex?" Lailah asked. "I mean he's awfully old not to have mated at least once, even if it didn't work out or she died for some reason."
"You're right the statistics are against it," Spencer smiled easily. "He was mated before, as I'm sure you already suspected, but she died from an aneurysm along with his twin daughters."
"That is tragic," Lailah said wincing in sympathy for the man she had only met last night.
"Dad has mostly put it behind him and when he met Alex he asked her out knowing the same thing was unlikely to happen again," Spencer said. "Before he mated with Alex me and my brothers were worried about him, because we weren't going to be home much longer. We only had a couple more years of college left and you know what happens to our kind when they don't have a mate or children of their own. Adopting us might have dad helped stave off that loneliness for years, but it would eventually come back once we got our own lives. You already know that dad insisted me and my brothers live at home and go to college in New York if we insisted on going at 16."
"You and your brothers were lucky that you live in a city with several excellent colleges," Lailah said. "Not everybody is so lucky."
"I know I am," Spencer agreed. "Besides, we wouldn't have met if dad hadn't adopted us and lived here in New York so I'll always be grateful for that.
Lailah could only agree with that statement, because Spencer was correct they never would've met if a series of events hadn't happened exactly as it had. She already loved Spencer so much and she was seriously considering proposing, even though they'd only been courting for such a short time. She'd give it a few more weeks Lailah decided silently as she sat beside Spencer and just enjoyed his company.
Spencer was a very patient man and didn't get upset with her schedule as a intern doctor. He kept himself busy with his business that he'd started when he graduated college which helped. He was an omega that had the intelligence and the sense to not sit on his butt all day and basically do nothing with his life. So many Omega's had no work ethic and also no patience. Such men usually started to make demands, which she would never accept or put up with. Those omegas forgot that she was in charge no matter how much she was gone because of work obligations.
Spencer was different in that regard and Lailah know that he would never make unreasonable demands of her unlike so many men. Spencer knew his place and knew that she was in charge of their relationship and seemed more than OK with that.

~~~Spencer and Lailah~~~