This was how Emily found herself accompanying Spencer's family to their hotel suite, which had four bedrooms one for the adults and three for the children.
"I meant to thank you for lunch earlier," Emily told Dave.
"You're quite welcome," Dave said, even as he kissed Emily on the cheek. "It was my pleasure. Do you want anything to drink before we get started?"
"I'm fine," Emily said.
"Kids why don't you go play in one of the bedrooms?" Bellamy gently suggested. "You can watch TV while we adults talk. We'll come get you when we're done."
"They also have their pads and they can play a game or something on them," Dave said.
All three children had the newest version of the iPad that they could play games or read off of them. Lizbet as the oldest, was quite the vigorous reader. While Dougie wasn't really reading much yet as he was still quite young, but there were plenty of games for kids, his age to play to keep him entertained.
The three children obeyed and went into the largest room while Bellamy shut the door so they wouldn't hear the TV or the kids chatter due to the soundproofing.
Dave and Bellamy sat on the couch in the little sitting area of the suite while Spencer took one of the single chairs and Emily sat in another one or opposite sides of a nice wooden coffee table that was in the middle of the sitting area.
"Now Emily, we have a secret to share with you since Spencer here has told us that he intends on asking you to marry him and I'm sorry if that ruins the surprise," Dave told looking at his son, but Spencer just nodded looking a little red in the face.
"You were going to ask me to marry you?" Emily asked Spencer turning to face him.
"Yes, I was," Spencer answered. "I told Dave and Bella I was going to when I talked to them over the link before they made arrangements to come to London. That can wait though, until after you hear what our secret is."
What Spencer didn't say was that Emily might very well tell him to get lost once she learned about immortality thinking he was quite insane. The only problem with that scenario is, he would be miserable if she did so, and she would also know their secret and she was an Interpol inspector, so could cause trouble for them if she cared to. Normally, Emily wasn't like that at all, but if she thought they were insane, it was quite possible. Spencer couldn't see Emily hurting his godchildren though, in anyway, whether that was mentally, emotionally or physically and hurting their parents or him would hurt those children so he was probably worrying about nothing. That didn't mean that Emily would react well to being told about immortality, however.
"You see," Dave began giving basically the same explanation he had given to Bellamy many decades ago now. "They are forces in this world that most people don't believe in. Most people believe that science is the answer for everything or at least believe in things they can see, touch or taste not in the mystical."
Emily listened as Dave explained all about immortals and that they didn't know how they came to be, as that history had been lost long ago.
Emily looked disbelieving, which wasn't surprising. "That's quite the tale," Emily finally said, and everybody could tell that she wasn't really calm, though her voice certainly was, but she was probably five seconds away from losing her temper and calling them all delusional or insane.
"Here this should stop the disbelief," Spencer said, having gone into the kitchen while Emily was listening to Dave's explanation and bringing back a very sharp knife.
"What are you going to do with that?" Emily demanded.
"It's simple," Spencer explained his voice calm and he didn't look disbelieving, as she had thought he would if his father was feeding her an unbelievable story.
In fact, he looked calm, serious and just a little worried Emily noticed who had come to know the man she had fallen in love with quite well over the proceeding months.
"I'm simply going to demonstrate that what Dave has been telling you is true by cutting myself on the hand and you'll see that Dave is not trying to lie to you."
"I didn't want to believe it at first either," Bellamy interjected, her voice, calm, cool and collected. "Dave, with Spencer's help, gave me the same explanation a long time ago now and I didn't want to believe that such a fantastic thing could be real. Spencer was there and told me what was basically his history and how he and Dave met and became father and son. Dave told me that he had never expected to meet his mate, as he was centuries old before he met me and figured that he had just never met 'the one'. We met at a dog spa where Dave had brought his old bulldog Baxter for a day of treatments for the first time."
"Baxter responded to those treatments better than I expected him to. I expected him to punish me for having to put up with such an indignity," Dave said smiling reminiscently.
Dave's smile was soft, Emily noticed as if the memories were bittersweet.
"I miss Baxter sometimes, even though we've had plenty of dogs since he passed away," Dave said. "He was just a sweet stubborn, playful dog. I remember having to bribe him to walk down the street to the dog spa as he didn't want to go. Luckily, for me, I had thought to bring some dog treats in case he was being contrary and told him he couldn't have them until he was at the dog spa."
"Here look, Emily," Spencer spoke up once everyone had fallen silent.
Emily looked over at Spencer and watched in disbelief, as Spencer sliced the back of his hand quite deeply while she watched. At first, she couldn't believe that he had done it and wanted to leap up and call an ambulance to take him to the hospital to heal the cut, but then, she stayed in her seat, as Spencer's hand healed within a few seconds.
"Wow! I'm really thought you were feeding me a line," Emily said once the wound on Spencer's hand had completely closed. All that was left was streaks of drying blood.
"I know you didn't and I can't blame you really," Spencer said. "It's not like I believed Dave at first when he told me about immortality way back and what would've been considered the old west. He saw how I was struggling to make ends meet after my mother died, and though I was considered grown up at 16 when she passed from tuberculosis, I was kind of at loose ends. While I tutored some, it wasn't really enough to make a living though it did bring in some money. I grew up in an area that was mostly cattle ranches and while I have nothing against physical labor, it's not something I'm good at and I doubt anyone would've hired me."
"He would've made a lot of money, as an accountant, but he didn't have a college degree, so nobody was going to hire him to do the their taxes or their books for their businesses and most people did their own taxes back then anyway," Dave said.
"At least where I lived they did, though it would have probably been different in places like St. Louis or another big city," Spencer added. "Math has always been something I'm really good at along with languages and really anything dealing with academics."
"So Bellamy mentioned something about mates earlier," Emily said, and everybody nodded.
"Yes, she did," Spencer agreed. "Dave never would've risked telling anyone else, except his mate. I was something of a risk, but I was also born in a time that I wouldn't have been believed if I had talked about what I'd been told and probably would've been considered crazy or insane, but harmless. In this century though, things are different in a lot of ways."
"Telling the wrong person can be rather risky," Dave added.
"I never expected to meet my mate so soon if you want to know the truth," Spencer continued. "Dave didn't meet his for a lot more centuries then I've been alive, so I didn't expect to meet my mate for at least another three or four hundred years, but when I saw you on the Tower of London tour or at least the back of your head I was intrigued.
"Then when I saw you face-to-face in the gift shop, as I told you, I felt as if I've been struck by lightning and just stood in the middle of an aisle for what seemed like forever, but was really only a few seconds. It's one reason I made my own purchases so quickly and then followed you, so fast as I didn't even know your name at that time. I knew I had no hope of finding you in London considering how many people live here and how vast the city is. I could search for the next 50 years and never find you. All of that was running through my mind in just a few seconds, even as I rushed out the door, the gift shop and pushed through the crowd and normally I'm never so rude or frantic."
"But why? What's so important about being your mate?" Emily asked in confusion.
"I would think that would be obvious, but I'll explain," Dave said looking at Spencer, who nodded soberly, his expression serious. "A mate basically means soulmate, Emily. It's someone an immortal is always searching for and once they're found, they are told the truth, though not right away of course.
"An immortal always knows instantly when they have met the one. I was just like Spencer told you that he felt as if he'd been struck by lightning the minute he set eyes on you. The same thing happened to me a very long time ago now, when I met Bellamy and I been alone for a lot longer than Spencer here, just as he told you minutes ago.
"A mate is someone that an immortal can trust with any secret, build a life with have children with so basically they're all important. I mean, we're basically humans, except we can't die very easily and we don't age from the time we reach 30. Humans need companionship, so they don't necessarily have to get married if they don't want to, but as for an immortal we need the same thing even more than a regular mortal does, as loneliness is a very real problem for us.
"We keep ourselves busy and everything, take up hobbies and just live our lives, but that doesn't mean we aren't lonely in quiet moments when you allow yourself to just think," Dave said.
"A mate is basically all important to that immortal," Spencer added once Dave had finished speaking.
"And what happens if I refuse and go back to my life," Emily challenged
"Nothing," Spencer said, looking pained, though his tone was certainly normal enough. "You can go back to your life and none of us will stop you or harm you. I will leave London though and I'll probably find a way to end my existence if you reject me."
"I would certainly have done the same thing if Bella had rejected me. She had some very similar questions to what you are asking now, but in the end, she accepted it and I am forever grateful believe me," Dave said kissing Bellamy's cheek affectionately.
"But I am completely mortal and I'll die someday, so how..." Emily said.
"Remember what I said about how Dave turned me into what he is and he did the same for Bella," Spencer reminded Emily.
"We didn't really explain how it's possible though," Bella put in. "Emily is just trying to understand. I understand that very well as I struggled with understanding how it was possible, but I loved Dave enough that I eventually just accepted it. It was the right decision and my love for Dave and my family has only deepened over the decades."
"Basically, it has to do with DNA," Spencer told Emily, not bothering to explain farther, as Emily was a smart lady and so would figure out what he meant without him, embarrassing himself anymore then he already had.
It didn't take Emily long to work that out, and she blushed a bright red when she did. She and Spencer had had sex multiple times over the last few months, but Spencer always used a condom claiming that he that didn't want to get her pregnant until they were married, and Emily had accepted that explanation, as it just meant that Spencer was being responsible to not create a child out of wedlock. She was more then ready for children, but she would prefer to marry first, though accidents did happen sometimes.
That she had so many ethics and morals was amazing considering neither one of her parents had been very good role models for her.
"You told me you were using a condom because you didn't want me to get pregnant before marriage," Emily half accused him.
"What I told you was the truth, just not the whole truth," Spencer said calmly unperturbed at Emily's reaction. "Turning you immortal without you knowing the truth was the other reason I used a condom as should be obvious. There are often more reasons than are stated out loud when someone is told something like in this case."
"That's true," Emily admitted not really mad at Spencer for not telling her the other reason that he was using a condom as it wouldn't have made sense until she had the knowledge that immortals were real there was no way he could tell her his other reason for using protection. Spencer had given her the only logical reason that made sense as to why he'd used one at the time.
"All right if Dave turns you immortal, how did he do it as I don't see him having sex with another man," Emily asked once her overworked brain cleared enough for it to occur to her that such a question was valid.
"I'll answer that," Dave said and Spencer nodded. "No, I would never have sex with another man and really, when we met Spencer was still quite young as he was just 19. As to how I turned him immortal I had to give him my blood, so I had to cut into my arm, multiple times and gather it into a vessel in order to get enough for Spencer to drink. It took a lot of effort and me cutting myself multiple times, as the wound kept healing to fast."
"So Spencer drank your blood," Emily said look rather sick at that.
"Yes, it is rather disgusting," Spencer said smiling a little as he remembered. "But Dave didn't even think of doing a blood transfer as that couldn't have been accomplished, as he didn't have the right equipment so cutting himself enough to bleed into a cup for me to drink was about the only way to do it. I travelled with Dave for a number of years before he turned me immortal, even though he had asked me when I was 19, but told me to think about it for as long as I liked before I decided one way or the other.
"I saw so many things that I probably never would've had a chance to see if not for David Rossi and I'm grateful for the experiences I was granted. I saw so many places like Denver, St. Louis, even New York as we traveled all over the states finally 16 years after Dave offered to turn me immortal I told him I was agreeing to his offer.
"Spencer was a very good companion for me," Dave said. "He was so enthusiastic and loved to learn. We had many long discussions about everything under the sun as we traveled together. I was glad when he told me he was agreeing to let me change him and also glad that he waited so long to tell me as he didn't look 19 when he actually was and he doesn't look 40 now, but that was when the process took place."
"No, he really doesn't," Emily agreed. "He really doesn't look more than 30 and a young 30 at that."
"I just have that kind of face. The kind of face that looks young even when it's 80," Spencer said shrugging, as this was a conversation he'd had many times before. "I've told you about myself before you knew about immortality was the absolute truth. I just left out some details. My mother did die when I was 16 like I told you after we first met and my father really did divorce my mother to marry his sidepiece and didn't even bother to pay alimony. Yes, my mother was a teacher, as it was about the only job she could get other than working in a saloon as a whore in order to support both of us as there weren't a lot of jobs for women back when I was born.
"Luckily, my grandfather, whom I never had a chance to meet, believed in educating his daughter, as a lot of women didn't know how to read or write back then. My grandfather however, according to my mother anyway, believed in education and since my mother Diana was an only child she got that education."
"Girls didn't have to be educated back then and many fathers denied them that opportunity, especially in the wild west, though it was different in places like New York or St. Louis," Dave said. "They were just expected to make a good match and start having children while the man was the one that worked and brought home the income while the woman looked after the kids. Of course, if the family was wealthy, then the wife often involved her herself in charity work at least in places like St. Louis."
"My mother had tutors instead of being taught with the other children as my grandfather was quite well off from what I understand," Spencer added. "I know how hard such a concept as immortality is to accept as I struggled with it once Dave revealed what he was. He took me under his wing, knowing my potential would never be realized if he didn't and believe me, I'm forever grateful."
"He didn't have the money for college and while there were many self-made men back then, a college education to reach his potential would have benefitted him he would've had to have moved somewhere that was more settled like St. Louis or New York where nobody knew him in order for that to happen."
"I also would've had to look the part and I didn't have the money for the clothes to accomplish that," Spencer said. "I was doing pretty well on my own, as things were so much cheaper back then and I could live on very little unlike today."
Emily tried to imagine Spencer trying to make his way in a primitive society that didn't appreciate his intelligence and he didn't have the contacts or the money to go to college. That he had lived with so many disadvantages and hadn't let it make him bitter was something Emily could appreciate and respect. Of course, she was well aware that Dave taking a hand when Spencer had still been young, had probably helped him not become so.
"I would've gladly have paid to send him to college, but he didn't want to be obligated at that time," Dave said. "We didn't know each other as well then, as we do now, when I paid for him to go, so he could get his psychology degree."
"Something you didn't have to do as I had plenty of money by that point in time. You made sure of that," Spencer said.
"So you said at the time when you protested me doing so. Let's not rehash old, tired history," Dave said.
The tone in Dave's voice was a affectionate, Emily noticed, and Spencer accepted the gentle rebuke with a small smile, not protesting Dave's words.
"You don't have to accept if you don't want too," Spencer told Emily giving her way out if she wanted to take it. "I'm not going to force you, as that's no way that will work as that just leads to resentment maybe even hate."
"But you said you would take your life if I didn't except," Emily said, "that could be seen is a form of forcing me to make a decision in your favor."
"I suppose so," Spencer admitted, "but an immortal doesn't want to live without their mate once they are discovered. Remember, Dave would've done the same thing if Bella hadn't accepted what he was offering her. I suppose I could've kept that piece of information to myself, but I wanted to be completely honest. You need to go into this with your eyes open and with all the information we can provide as otherwise, it could lead to that resentment and hate I mentioned. You would've thought that I was deliberately keeping important information from you, which would've led to arguments at least and that's at a minimum."
Emily had to acknowledge the point because Spencer apparently knew her well enough to know that would've been her reaction if he had kept that piece of information to himself.
"Thank you for being honest," Emily said. "You're right it would've caused an argument if you hadn't been honest, and I discovered what you had told me after the fact.
"It's always better to be as honest as you can be in this type of situation," Bellamy said, and Dave nodded in completed agreement with his mate's words.
"Absolutely," Dave agreed. "When there's so much at stake it's better to be completely honest from the beginning, to make sure there are no misunderstandings."
"I can appreciate that," Emily said. "All I know is, I've never really been in love before. My upbringing is such where my parents argued all the time that I don't want that type of relationship for myself."
"I can't blame you for that," Dave said. "I've been in relationships before I met Bella to where I loved the woman at question at least for a brief time. We eventually went our separate ways though, and they had no idea that I was different from everybody else."
"It's not surprising you had relationships before as you're apparently centuries old, but I as for me I'm completely mortal and while I have nothing against marriage my parents weren't exactly very happy, which is not something I want for myself. "
"That won't happen to us, as your parents don't sound like a good match, because neither was willing to compromise, which of course causes arguments and resentment," Spencer said.
"I've often wondered why they even bothered to get married since my father was really too busy politicking and my mother ignored me most as of the time, as if I didn't exist. I know she was busy a lot of times, but even when she wasn't, she paid no attention to me. I was basically raised by a nanny at first and then a tutor when I was older," Emily said. "I wouldn't be surprised if I was an accident and then my mother just decided not to have an abortion, though I don't know that for sure, of course, but considering she ignored me most the time, forgot I was even there it makes sense. Yes, I'm well aware, you're nothing like either one of my parents, as you're much more reasonable, are understanding and compassionate, something neither of my parents were. You don't let your emotions control you, but still, it's a lot to take in and absorb."
"All of us are well aware of that fact," Spencer said, simply, gesturing at Dave, and Bellamy. "You have as much time to think about it, as you like and you just call me to let me know when you make a decision one way or the other," Spencer said. "If I don't hear from you in a few weeks, I'll assume you turned me down."
"I would never leave you hanging forever," Emily said. "I just need some time to consider the information I've been given."
"You let us know what happens," Bellamy requested of Spencer who nodded solemnly looking sober and serious.
"I will," Spencer promised.
The meeting ended and since it was now after 4 o'clock, Emily and Spencer left together, and Spencer escorted Emily to her vehicle like the gentleman he had been raised to be, then went to his own, since they had driven separately, leaving the Rossis behind.

~~~Spencer and Emily~~~