"You were very good with Kelly," Ducky told Aleah as soon as they were back in his car.
"Thank you for the compliment, but I love children," Aleah said. "My whole family does actually. It's one reason I went into the profession I did, where I could interact with kids on a regular basis."
The other reason of course, had been because she had gotten the magical talent to heal, as it did run in her family, but hadn't shown up for generations until hers. She had a younger brother Aeon that had also gotten the talent and also a sister, Ariana who was the youngest of the three of them. One child, for three different generations had gotten the talent. Perhaps some of her children would get the talent, as you could never tell what talent children would inherit. A vast majority of her siblings had gotten their mother's bakery magic, but other talents had shown up from time to time. However, with the number of children her mother and father had that wasn't surprising.
Dr. Donald Mallard would be a great husband for her since he was also a doctor in basically the same field, even if they had different specialities, but that's only if he accepted her family's explanation about immortals and magic. Since they'd only had one date it would be months before she told him with her family's help of course.
Now wasn't the time to worry about it Aleah knew. She would need to tell her parents that she had finally met her mate, but that would require her taking a trip to where they were living and that was in Minnesota. She'd rather tell them in person than over the link though she should tell them as soon as possible, but she'd rather wait until she and Doctor Mallard had been dating for a few weeks.
"So you have a large family?" Ducky asked interrupting Aleah's thought.
"Yeah, I do," Aleah agreed smiling putting her thoughts away for when she wasn't with her mate.
"Do they live here in Chicago?" Ducky asked.
"No, I'm afraid not, as they're scattered hither and yon," Aleah said. "My parents live in Minnesota and my siblings have scattered all over the place."
"So how many siblings do you have?" Ducky asked.
"Four of them," Aleah answered. "One sister, three brothers."
"You are lucky to have siblings, as I was an only child," Ducky explained.
"Yeah, I know I am. Also, my parents are pretty terrific," Aleah agreed smiling. "I'll have to introduce you to them sometime, as I'm sure you'll like them when you do meet."
"I'm sure I will," Ducky said even has he drove. "So what do your parents do for a living?"
"My mother owns a bakery," Aleah said honestly. "It's a really popular place and there's always a long line when she's open. She does quite well."
"And your father?" Ducky asked.
"He's a businessman," Aleah's explained. She then went on to explain exactly what her father did. She was used to giving this explanation when people asked what her parents did for a living, so the words flowed easily from her mouth.
"That's rather interesting," Ducky said, once Aleah was finished.
"I'm glad you think so," Aleah smiled. "So what about your parents are they still alive?"
"I'm afraid not, as they died many years ago," Ducky said.
"I'm so sorry," Aleah said. "I didn't know I was stirring up bad memories for you."
"It's fine," Ducky said with a wistful expression. "It was many years ago. Really, you had no way of knowing. It was a logical question, since I just asked you about your own family."
"True, but I'm sorry all the same," Aleah said.
The two chatted for sometime, as Ducky drove Aleah back to her condo.
"So another date?" Ducky asked once they had a arrived at Aleah's place of residence, a very nice building, in a wealthy section of the city.
"I was wondering if you were going to ask," Aleah said smiling. "I really enjoyed myself the other night, so my answer is yes. I really like you Ducky and now I know that your friend Jethro gave you your nickname and you actually seem to prefer it to your birth name."
"I don't mind my original name really," Ducky said, "but it's also so common, even in this day and age. Once Jethro gave me my moniker I just decided I preferred it to my real name. It doesn't help that Kelly had trouble when she was young pronouncing Donald and I've never seen myself as a Don or Donnie so Ducky suited just fine. Kelly used to call me duc or at least it sounded like that in order to pronounce my name. She was just learning how to talk so Donald sounded like a duc and that's what Jethro called me from then on. It just kind of stuck."
"I can see that actually," Aleah said smiling. "It's clear that the two of you were close and so once when Kelly gave you the nickname Ducky it just kind of formed a bond between you. You do know though that is kind of an ironic nickname, don't you?"
"In what way?" Ducky asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You see, there was a character created by Walt Disney, way back in the early 20th century," Aleah explained. "He was a duck, called Donald and your last name is Mallard."
"Now that was something I didn't know," Ducky mused thoughtfully. "The early 20th century was so many centuries ago, that that's a really old piece of trivia, even if what Disney created is still around today."
"You might want to look it up as Disney created many lovable characters and it all started with a mouse called Mickey, as well as Donald Duck and a host of others," Aleah said smiling.
"I'll do that," Ducky agreed. "I'll pick you up tomorrow for our date for lunch if you're free."
"Sounds good," Aleah agreed. "You'll have to pick me up at my practice though, as I'm going to work tomorrow."
"Of course, how could I forget that you have a job," Ducky said looking amused at his own forgetfulness.
"You do to," Aleah reminded him.
"I do, but tomorrow is my day off," Ducky explained. "In any case, I'll pick you up at 1 o'clock at your practice and we'll go and eat. Afterwards, I'll drop you back off when we're done eating.
"Sounds good," Aleah agreed before she got out of the car and stood in front of the building waving goodbye to Ducky, as he lifted into the sky and away.

~~~Aleah and Ducky~~~

"So Ducky you like Dr. Rossi?" Jethro asked.
"Of course, I like her. She's a very nice person," Ducky said deliberately misunderstanding his friend's meaning.
"I don't mean only as a friend, Duck," Jethro told him giving him a look. Jethro stare was intense and Ducky tried not to squirm uncomfortably. "I just happened to notice the looks you kept shooting her when she was busy with Kelly. You were pretty subtle about it, so I don't think Kelly noticed the looks you kept shooting at her new best friend."
The two of them were sitting in the Gibbs living room on the comfortable furniture talking.
"Alright, I like her a lot, happy?" Ducky finally admitted caving under Jethro's intense stare.
"Of course I am," Jethro told him. "I won't say, that I'm not worried about Kelly, as I know what she's going through is a lot for someone who isn't even a teenager, but that doesn't mean that you should put off any relationships or marriage if that's in the cards, just because you're so busy helping me and Kelly out."
"All right, I have intense feelings for Aleah Rossi and I'm not sure where it's going," Ducky finally admitted. "We haven't known each other long so we'll just have to see."
"Still, at least you can admit you really like her so all you have to do is build a relationship one plank at a time," Jethro said
"Another saying involving ships," Ducky teased him and Jethro smiled.
Jethro had always loved reading about those old sailing ships and how they were built. Ships might not be made of wood and nails anymore, but that didn't mean that the subject didn't still fascinate him. Ducky could easily imagine his friend as a pirate captain if he had been born centuries ago, sailing the high seas and stealing treasure from other ships before sailing off into the sunset with a full hull.
"What can I say you know I've always been fascinated by them," Jethro shrugged casually.
"Yes, I know," Ducky agreed smiling.
"Kelly really likes Dr. Rossi, which is a good thing," Jethro said. "I can tell she went into the profession for the right reasons and that's because she loves children and wants to help as much as she can."
"I knew Kelly would fall in love with her," Ducky said. "Aleah, is just a really caring and empathic individual, which is one reason I like her so much you know. I like her so much because she genuinely cares about people unlike so many doctors that get into the profession either for the wrong reasons or stop caring about their patients after awhile."
"If you don't get married within a year I'll be very surprised," Jethro said.
"Well, we'll see," Ducky said that he really liked that possibility.
"I've never seen you so interested in a woman before as you seemed to be married to your work," Jethro said
"I've dated, some anyway," Ducky admitted candidly. "I never came close to proposing though or even introducing those women to you and Kelly. You know how careful I am about introducing women into Kelly's life. She doesn't need some woman, that just leaves her hanging when we break up and never comes to see her again."
"I know and I appreciate it," Jethro said. "The way you do it, means I don't have to deal with the fallout of one of your girlfriends just leaving Kelly in the lurch."
The two old friends continued to chat before Ducky took his leave.

~~~Aleah and Ducky~~~