Chapter 4

Months later

"So I've been meaning to ask you what made you approach me that day," Jason wanted to know. "Don't think I didn't notice how you deliberately put yourself within my line of sight. Were you that desperate for a date?"

"I didn't think you noticed," Minerva offered blushing a little in embarrassment that Jason had noticed her tactics.

"Most people wouldn't have," Jason admitted, "just be happy to spend time with a gorgeous woman."

Minerva blushed again at being called gorgeous by her mate, even though she was with her flame red hair and green eyes. Much like her mother she was tall and slender with a lot of the same facial features and also long slender fingers with small, delicate her palms.

"I've always been observant though. Most people never notice because they think I'm just a distracted professor type. Someone so lost in their own head that they don't notice anything outside of teaching their classes, or giving a lecture or writing an academic paper. A lot of people think that an absent minded professor type couldn't possibly be observant or notice anything outside their cypher. A lot of people make snap judgments about others and don't bother to look deeper."

"It is a stereotype for a reason," Minerva agreed. "And yes, I agree with you about people and snap judgments. It happens all the time."

"So to change the subject any other family besides your brother, wife and nephew that is," Jason asked.

"Yes, two more sisters," Minerva said.

"So your parents had all girls, except for your older brother Kaiden," Jason said.

"That's right," Minerva said not bothering to add for my generation out loud. "Kaiden is the oldest just so you know. I know that you are an only child and you have one son, Stephen because you were married before."

"That's correct," Jason agreed. "I'm afraid my wife died sometime ago and I haven't dated again before you."

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, but on the other hand, we wouldn't be able to date if you were still married," Minerva said.

"True that," Jason agreed, even as he ran a gentle hand down Minerva's arm since she was sitting beside him. "I know that humans cheat on their spouses all the time though, so that might've happened if we had met before my wife passed."

"No, it wouldn't have," Minerva told him. "I would never go after a married man."

While that was the absolute truth, with Jason being her mate that was totally different thing. It was just as well he was unattached when they met.

"My parents taught me better ethics and morals then that," Minerva added. "I seem to remember you saying that originally you wanted to join the FBI since your father was a cop."

"I did," Jason admitted. "But I wouldn't have been able to be home for Stephen if I had, especially after Sarah passed, not if I joined the BAU like I wanted to. They travel a lot to where they're almost never home with their families."

Minerva silently thanked Hecate that Jason had decided against joining the FBI, especially the BAU, if only because of his son.

"Sarah was sick and so she couldn't give Steve the attention that he needed," Jason said. "So are you ever going to answer my initial question? What are you that desperate for date?"

"I had hoped you had forgotten that," Minerva admitted trying not to appear suddenly nervous. It was probably time to tell him the truth Minerva admitted silently. They had been dating for months now, nearly a year actually and she was surprised that Jason hadn't asked that question before now.

"Why?" Jason asked surprise.

"Because that wasn't my finest moment," Minerva admitted with a nervous little laugh.

Minerva avoided the real truth at least until he'd met her family. "To answer your question. No, I wasn't that desperate for date, even though it has been awhile since I had dated anyone, as I've been concentrating on my writing and spending time with my family. I figured I had plenty of time to find Mr. Right, so why rush it along?"

That wasn't the whole truth, but close enough that Jason accepted it.

"I saw you when I was in the office with Braxton helping him with his college registration. I felt as if I had been struck by lightning the minute I laid eyes on you," Minerva explained. "I know you're not usually the fanciful sort, but that's how I felt."

Boy was that the absolute truth. Seeing Jason face-to-face for the first time had made her feel as if she received an electric shock.

"No, I'm not, but I have to admit, I felt as if I had been struck over the head with a hard blow the minute I set eyes on you," Jason said smiling a little.

He had been smiling a lot lately, Jason admitted and it all had to do with the lovely woman sitting beside him. He didn't even need to worry about getting home to Stephen, because his son was all grown up now. Yeah, he was a man in his early 40s and he was dating someone nearly ten years younger.

On the other hand, there had been that initial emotional hit, which had shocked him as he hadn't felt like that, even about his wife. He had loved his wife a lot, but he had come to love Minerva even more and he had never imagined he'd feel this way about another woman ever again.

He had been devastated when Sarah had died, but he he hadn't thought about Sarah in a long time. It had been the familiarity Jason realized suddenly. His marriage with Sarah had been safe, not passionate, as it was with Minerva. Sarah and he had been high school sweethearts who had gotten married after college because their feelings had not faded by then. It wasn't long after that that Sarah had gotten pregnant with Stephen, just a few months after they had married. They hadn't necessarily been ready to start a family, but there was no way that either one of them would have considered an abortion, so they had made do.

Then Sarah had gotten sick when Stephen was only 14 years old and was gone not long afterwards. Sarah had never gotten pregnant again after Stephen and Jason had never been sure as to why, unless she was taking birth control pills without telling him. There were a lot of contraceptives you could get over the counter that didn't require a doctor's prescription, though they weren't always completely foolproof. He supposed didn't really matter Sarah had never gotten pregnant again after Stephen so in Sarah's case, if she had been taking something to prevent pregnancy they had worked.

"We have something special Minerva," Jason said. "I never imagined I'd find love again, not after Sarah, but I do love you."

"I knew you did, even if you never said so," Minerva told him. "I love you too, just so you don't get any wrong ideas."

"You know, I've come to realize, that my relationship with Sarah was comfortable, so comfortable that there was no passion, no spontaneousness. We were high school sweethearts you know and that doesn't mean I wasn't devastated when she died, but I got over it faster than I believed I would at the time," Jason said.

"If there's one thing I know is that high school sweethearts often divorce even if that's 15 or more years later," Minerva said.

"Yeah, it is a statistic for a reason," Jason admitted. "We loved each other so much when we were teenagers and then in our 20s there was still a spark, so once we graduated college we married. We probably would've divorced once Stephen was out of the house if she hadn't died. While I hate that Stephen had to go through losing his mother when he was only 14 it was probably for the best."

"So do you think your son will accept me? I mean I'm not his mother and I'm sure he misses her, even now," Minerva asked Jason.

"I'm not really sure," Jason admitted. "Stephen is all of 19 and he's in college, though not the one I teach at of course. While his grades were good enough to get into Stanford he would never want to go to the same school his father taught at. He would probably think I was spying on him or at least keeping an eye on him to make sure he stayed out of trouble so he went to a college out of San Francisco."

"Well, you can't blame him, he's still growing up," Minerva said. "While I love my parents a whole big bunch, it was nice to have some independence once I went to college. I still called them frequently, just to chat and went home during the breaks and in the summer."

"Sounds like you have close family ties, not every family does," Jason said.

"I do and I think it's about time you met them and my aunt and uncle," Minerva decided hoping it was the right decision.

Her and Jason had been dating for a long time now so it was probably past time she introduced him to her family and also tell him about immortality and magic. She was lucky she hadn't had a vision while she was spending time with Jason and she thanked Hecate for giving her a break if she was the one that had given her such a troublesome talent.

"Why does that sound so ominous?" Jason asked certainly looking apprehensive.

"I didn't mean to make you apprehensive," Minerva said. "My parents are great and so are my aunt and uncle. I've told them all about you and they already love you just because I do. I'll see when their available for dinner if you like."

"Sounds OK," Jason said, "I won't say I'm looking forward to it."

"It will be OK," Minerva promised. "There's no need to be worried."

"It shows huh?" Jason said with a half smile.

"Just a little," Minerva told him with a smile kissing his cheek.

"It's just the last time I met a woman's parents they were my wife's and they didn't exactly approve of us getting married so young, even though I was 22 and so was she. We were both fresh out of college."

"22 is still pretty young," Minerva said.

"Yeah, it is," Jason agreed. "The young are more passionate then someone who's older. Young peoples emotions are much stronger and more immediate then someone like you and me who are older now."

Minerva said nothing to Jason about how she was much older than he was, even though she didn't look it. Still, Jason was right, as she remembered her emotions being much stronger when she was much younger and they hadn't settled down for years until she was at least 30.

"You have to remember that you're no longer 22, as you're over 40 now and my parents wouldn't disapprove of you for that reason anyway," Minerva said. "if you took drugs or something they would try to discourage me from getting involved with you as they wouldn't want me to start taking illegal drugs."

"And your parents won't object that I was married before and have a grown son?"

"No, they won't and will just welcome you and Stephen into the family, I promise you that," Minerva said. "Their very accepting and so long as you have no illegal habits and aren't on the run from the law or anything like that they'll accept you."

What Minerva didn't say was they would've accepted Jason, even if he was on the run from the law and as for the illegal habits they would help her break him of them. Luckily, that wasn't going to be necessary, as Jason didn't even drink to excess, much less have any illegal habits.

"I'll take your word for it," Jason said not really looking forward to meeting Minerva's parents, but then, he hadn't looked forward to meeting Sarah's parents either and even though he was older now he really didn't have much dating experience. He hadn't really dated anyone since Sarah had passed, as he kept himself busy with his classes, and grading homework. Luckily, homework now, was done electronically and every student needed at least a tablet, before they started college, so I they could do their homework and also research for papers.

Jason for one was glad it was all done by computers now, as not only was it nearly impossible for some students steal another's paper and claim it as their own he and every other teacher didn't have to try to translate a student's handwriting. A lot of students handwriting was hard to read as it wasn't really anything but chicken scratch and why give yourself a headache or strain your eyes trying to read somebody's else's writing. At least on the computer you could enlarge the print if you had to.

"So when can I meet them?" Jason asked. He didn't exactly look eager more constipated.

"On the weekend if you want, as they live in Nashville Tennessee," Minerva told him. "We can fly out there to see them and be back by Sunday night or they can come here if you want. The thing is, that my parents and aunt and uncle always do a big meal on weekends. Trust me you don't want to miss out on my mother's cooking or my Aunt Jazz's baking. My Uncle Dave is quite a good cook too and you'll miss out on a terrific meal if we just take them to some restaurant."

What Minerva didn't say was that they wouldn't be able to talk about things and tell Jason all about immortality and magic in some restaurant. It just wasn't private enough, not even in a private room.

"I suppose we can go out there," Jason decided making Minerva look very happy. "I've never been to Nashville. I've never been to the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Johnny Cash museum."

"Well, you'll get your chance," Minerva said. "We will have dinner either Saturday or Sunday, but the rest of the time we're free to explore some of Nashville."

Even in this century the Johnny Cash Museum we're still open and operational and so was the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Country Music Hall of Fame had many more artists then had used to be displayed, so the building had also been expanded a great deal.

"OK, I won't say I'm exactly looking forward to it, but we'll go this weekend as I have no parent teacher conferences and for once I have no papers to grade, though if I did at least I could bring those with me, because all papers are done electronically now," Jason said.

"See, fate is making sure you're not too busy to go meet my parents and my aunt and uncle," Minerva told him with a smile.

"I don't believe in fate," Jason scoffed.

You soon will, Minerva thought, but didn't say. She knew that most mortals didn't believe in fate or destiny but immortals did.

"If you don't change your opinion about my family by the time we head home I'll eat the shirt I'm wearing," Minerva told him.

Jason eyed the shirt that his girlfriend was currently wearing. It was a halter top, which were popular, even in this century. The top showed a bit of belly, as well as her arms, neck and part of her upper chest. It also lifted her boobs a little as well, so they were more noticeable. Despite being 42 Jason could feel his cock reacting to all the flesh Minerva was showing. His girlfriend was stunning with a flat stomach, long graceful neck and toned arms, legs and small breasts.

The top was a lavender color and Minerva looked fantastic in it. Her jeans fit like a glove and were designer. Jason didn't usually pay attention to what anybody was wearing and he knew he didn't know enough about designer brands to fill a thimble. Jason knew she probably made a decent amount of money, though writers really didn't get paid as much as the myth would have you believe, not unless they were really, really good.

Since every single one of Minerva's books had been an international best seller Jason suspected that she was one of those high paid writers. It was a status that very few achieved. He had never asked, as he hadn't felt like it was his place to stick his nose into her financial affairs. Now, if Minerva told him that was different. It was clear that his girlfriend was successful and that was all that mattered.

"I would hate for you to do that, as you look damn spectacular in it," Jason joked.

"I have others," Minerva told him with a small smile feeling good that Jason had complimented what she was wearing as so many men didn't notice.

"In that color?" Jason asked her. "Because that lavender is a good color for you and goes with your red hair and green eyes."

"No more lavender, I have one in lilac though it's a different style, a royal blue one, and one in yellow.

"Well, I would definitely appreciate seeing you wear those colors sometime," Jason told her with an adorable grin.

"You will," Minerva promised with a laugh. "I'm glad you like it and I'll be happy to buy more clothes in this color since you like it so much."

It was nice to see Jason acting so lighthearted as he was usually pretty serious and Minerva got the impression that he had rarely smiled before she had come into his life. She was sure that part of the reason was his wife's death, as that would weigh anybody down.

The two of them had already begun making love, because Minerva knew she could not turn Jason immortal since she was female so there was no point of not having sex on a regular basis.

She'd had a quick vision luckily, when Jason had been elsewhere that showed them in bed with Jason on top of her. Minerva hadn't been entirely sure how to proceed before that vision, whether to suggest that she was ready for sex to Jason or not, but that vision had guided her. So Minerva had allowed Jason to make love to her and it had been fantastic. The best she'd ever had and she'd had quite a bit over the decades.

One of the best things about being female was that no male could get her pregnant because she was immortal. That male would also have to be immortal in order to put a baby in her, which meant she didn't have to be as careful as her brothers. She also couldn't get any diseases that wore transmitted through sex, which was really great added bonus.

"Why don't we head to the bedroom?" Minerva suggested with a smile winking sexily at him.

"If that's what you want, I be happy to accommodate you," Jason said grinning.

"I knew you would be," Minerva told him kissing him on the lips this time once she and Jason was standing on their feet having gotten off the couch. Jason returned the kiss with passion and Minerva got lost in it. Finally, separating, panting they immediately headed for the bedroom to make love before going to sleep.

~~~Jason and Minerva~~~