Chapter 3

"What's going on Aunt Minerva," Braxton asked after they had left Stanford University. "I'm sorry if I'm being nosy and everything, but why did you ask that professor out on a date as soon as you saw him. All right, maybe not as soon as you saw him, but you sure did ask quick enough. Also, I noticed you made sure you got directly into his line of sight as soon as he emerged from the dean's office. It was like you wanted to be noticed."

"I did want to be noticed Brax," Minerva told him her tone calm as a lake. "I had no idea you were paying attention as you were busy making out that form that was pages and pages."

"Yes, it was like ten pages long," Braxton grimaced. He flexed his fingers even if the writer's cramp he had gotten had disappeared as soon as he was done. He did it for dramatic effect.

"Well, the professor is my mate," Minerva, even as she drove out of the university parking lot and towards Braxton's home.

"Are you serious? Your mate?" Braxton asked his eyes widening in amazement looking so astonished that Minerva who glanced at him laughed at his flabbergasted expression. She couldn't really blame him for being so amazed that meeting her mate had happened in front of anyone who knew what a mate was and her nephew was only 18. She was grateful that Kaiden had asked her to take Braxton to get registered for college now, not that she had been at all reluctant.

Braxton knew how serious finding your mate was to an immortal and he hoped to find his own someday.

"Yes, I'm serious. I would never joke about something like that nephew mine," Minerva told him, as she navigated the sky traffic. Minerva laughed lightheartedly and Braxton just stared at her in surprise.

"Wow! And I was there to witness it," Braxton said in an awed tone. "I feel honored I was there to witness such a special event and I'm only 18."

"Yes, it was special," Minerva agreed, "and I'm really looking forward to our date tonight."

"I don't blame you," Braxton said in that same awed tone. "These visions you were telling me about before we arrived did they star your mate?"

"You're very astute, Brax," Minerva told him smiling at the boy in the rearview mirror. "That was an excellent observation. I'm sure Kaiden and Melissa are very proud at how intelligent and observant you are."

"Thanks," Braxton said blushing at his aunt's compliment.

"I'm going to have to thank your father for asking me to take you to get registered for college. I might not have met Jason otherwise and that would've been tragic," Minerva said.

"Yes, it would have," Braxton agreed. "I know I'm young and everything, but even I know how special meeting your mate is. My mother's always telling me how she met my father and how he romanced her and then told her all about immortals months later. How she had already fallen in love with him and so agreed to marry him and be turned immortal."

"That's nice," Minerva said, as she changed lanes.

"I suppose it is, though I'm a little old for bedtime stories," Braxton said.

"No one is ever too old for stories, Brax," Minerva told him seriously. "Do you think there would be so many writers both excellent or mediocre if anybody really got too old for stories?"

"I suppose not, but I'm still too old to be tucked in the bed and told a story so I'll go to sleep," Braxton said.

"That your parents used to do that just means they love you very much Brax," Minerva gently chastised her nephew. "You should cherish your family's love for you, because a lot of parents don't love their children like ours do us. I know you want to be grown-up, but someday, you'll realize that our parents love us so much that they let us live our lives but always be there if we need them, even if that's just for advice. In our case, our parents aren't gonna die anytime soon, but that's not true for mortals.

"I know you're chaffing at still being considered too young to do anything with your life, but you shouldn't want to grow up so fast," Minerva added. "Enjoy being a young man on the verge of adulthood. Enjoy your college, experience, enjoy your classes, making friends and perhaps having a girlfriend, even if you break up with her weeks or months later because she's not your mate."

"I'll try," Braxton promised. "I know you're right, but knowing you're right doesn't stop me from wanting to get on with it. To get out there in the world."

"What will you do for money? That's what going to college is all about, deciding on what you want to do for the rest of your life or in this case your eternity. It's to gain experience in the real world in a safe environment," Minerva told her nephew seriously.

"Your parents aren't going to keep giving you money for the rest of your eternity nor will you want to keep living under their roof. You can't access your trust fund for three years until you hit 21 and even that, won't last you forever, even if you only spent the bare minimum. This is why you need to go to college and try to find a career that will inspire you, that you love. Yes, you decided you wanted to be a doctor, which is a good career to go into, as it helps people, but the thing is there are lotta specialties as you well know and you need to decide which one you want to study. What you have an aptitude for."

Braxton said nothing but knew his aunt was right.

"You're right," Braxton finally said, as Minerva landed in front of Braxton's home. "I'll think about everything you said Aunt Minerva."

"That's all I ask nephew. Go tell your parents, how your registration went," Minerva said.

Braxton got out of Minerva's car and his parents met him at the door. Minerva waved at her brother and his wife before taking off into the sky.

~~~Jason and Minerva~~~

"It was amazing," Minerva told her parents who she had come to visit.

Aaron and Shonda were living in San Francisco right now. The shuttle journey out here hadn't been long at all. Shuttles had gotten incredibly quick to reach their destination and Minerva always flew first class, so that the shuttle had no problems mechanical or otherwise.

"I took Braxton into register for his college classes at Kaiden's request, since he was a little nervous about doing it on his own, simply because I had gone there. This guy then, walks into the office a few minutes later. The secretary immediately invites him to go into the dean's office and I soon learn his name is Jason Gideon and he's the same man from my visions."

"So he's your mate then?" Shonda asked and Minerva nodded happily.

"This is really good news," Aaron told his daughter smiling. "I'm very happy for you that you have met your mate. I know it'll be awhile before you can introduce him to Shonda and I, as well as your godparents, but we'd still love to meet him at some point."

"You will," Minerva promised with a happy smile. "I knew I would meet him eventually and while those visions I was having while I slept were driving me insane from lack of sleep that's stopped now that we've met."

"Yes, I noticed that you don't look as tired anymore," Shonda noted.

"Mostly caught up on my sleep now. I nearly slept the day through, after I had met Jason and gotten home and by the time I woke up it was dinner time," Minerva said. "I'm certainly feeling more energetic than I was before I met Jason."

"That's good," Aaron offered. "Shonda told me that you came to see her while she was working to ask for advice."

"That's true, I did," Minerva admitted smiling at her mother.

"She also said that she suggested that this man in your visions was your mate that we know now his name is Jason Gideon," Aaron said.

"That it never even occurred to me that the man in my vision might be my mate was just dumb," Minerva told her parents. "I mean why would I be having visions about this man if he wasn't important to me in someway? It's not like I have visions about inconsequential things and it's a good thing or I'd be driven insane in no time. Why it never occurred to me that Jason might be my mate is beyond me now."

"That's only because the puzzle is now solved and things are often not clear except in hindsight," Shonda told her daughter.

"That is so true," Minerva agreed fervently. "You know I've often wondered why I'm the only one in the family that has gotten this ability to see the future. I mean why hasn't at least a few others of your many children gotten the ability of a seer?"

"That's a question that only the goddess Hecate knows," Shonda told Minerva. "Perhaps, one day we'll figure of answer to the question but not now."

"No, not now," Minerva agreed.

"A seer's ability doesn't usually run in the family, which is why you are the only one that has gotten it," Shonda told her daughter. "Yes, we are related to Merlin, even if that is very distantly. Yes, he had the ability to see the future and so did Godfrey Ambrosius his descendent, but as far as I know you're the only one since Godfrey that has had the ability. From what I know of family history I don't remember any other seers, but then, I've never looked in-depth into our family line either. There's only so far I can trace our family back, as I'm sure a lot of the information has been lost by now."

"That's more than likely true," Aaron commented, even as he sat beside his wife with an arm around her shoulders. "Most people aren't interested in preserving their family history by keeping documents in an airtight container to where they won't disintegrate after a few decades. They're not even interested in keeping electronic records, which is just sad. Of course, I know for the electronics records things would have to be scanned into the system in the first place, which means you would have to have some kind of real documents. My point being, that if Shonda and her family had thought to do that centuries ago and so long as she updated them on a regular basis we'd have that information and it might even be mostly complete, even if there were some facts missing."

"Most families don't know anything past the great-grandparents maybe their great-great grandparents, if that far back," Shonda added, as she laid her head comfortably on her husband's shoulder. "I agree with Aaron about the information was probably available at a certain point centuries ago, but my family never even thought about preserving those records at least as far as I know. Normally, it wouldn't matter who our ancestors were, but in this case, it would've been very useful information."

Minerva observed the scene in front of her and thought it just showed how much her parents loved each other and how comfortable they were with each other.

"The same isn't true for our family, because we know every single one of our children's names," Aaron said. "Also, our grandchildren's names and even great-grandchildren."

"While that's true. We've always cared more about family than most other people. There's a reason we do though," Shonda said. "What most mortals just don't realize is how important family really is. By the time most of them do realize it well, it's too late to start preserving their history, because records have turned to dust if they ever existed in the first place."

"Mortals don't realize what they're missing, because their lives are so short," Minerva suggested. She sat in a chair directly across from her parents who were sitting on the couch.

"200 years or so doesn't seem short to them," Aaron said, "but yes, compared to an immortal, mortals lives are over before they've begun really."

"I'm glad you finally met your mate Vera," Shonda said. "We can hope he accepts your explanation when that time comes."

"Aunt Jazz's treats have never failed us yet, mom," Minerva said.

"True, they haven't," Shonda agreed with a small smile. "Hopefully, they won't fail this time either. I suppose we'll have to wait and see."

"We're just going have to be patient," Aaron told Shonda pulling her a little closer kissing her on top of her head lovingly. He inhaled his wife scent, as she smelled like apricots due to the shampoo she used.

"Can you stay for dinner before you head home?" Shonda asked her daughter.

"Sure, but afterwards I really need to get going," Minerva agreed eagerly. She loved spending time with her family. That was just something about the comfort of being back in her parents house, even though this was not the one she had grown up in. Her parents had long since moved from the house is San Marino California to the one here in San Francisco.

"Good," Shonda said pleased and Aaron also looked pleased.

After all, spending time with family was never a hardship.

~~~Jason and Minerva~~~