Chapter 10

"I don't know what kind of magic you worked on Stephen, but he accepted you a lot easier than I thought he would," Jason told Minerva once they had gotten back home after dropping Stephen off at the shuttleport. "He's a lot like me and can be stubborn."

"I didn't literally work magic on him Jason. All we did was talk. I showed him my financial statement just from my current writing career and I could tell he was impressed," Minerva said

"Yeah, you told me you have more money in other accounts in the Bahamas and also overseas," Jason said.

"I do, as not only did I have a trust fund I've been writing ever since I was originally 30, under different names of course," Minerva said. "Trust me, it adds up over the centuries. Stephen didn't need to know about those accounts though, because he would wonder how I became so wealthy. Curiosity killed the cat and all that."

Minerva was using a well-known phrase.

"Well now that you have met my son and he has mostly accepted you, I think we need to start planning our wedding. Marry me, Minerva. You make me happier than I've ever been. I love you to the depths of my soul," Jason said taking a ring box out of his pocket."

"Of course, I will," Minerva said, even as she surged up from the couch and sat on Jason's lap kissing him all over his face. Jason accepted the affection happily and it was a long time later when they both came up for air. "I've already started planning, since I knew you would propose just as soon as things with your son were squared away. There isn't that much left to do, other then set a date and send out the invitations."

"Have you chosen a venue?" Jason asked.

"I was trying to decide," Minerva admitted. "It will have to be somewhere fairly large that can hold a lot of people."

"Your family isn't that big," Jason said.

"My immediate family no, but I have a lot of extended family, because remember immortals never get to old have children so I have a lot of siblings from different generations."

"Can't we keep it relatively small? Just your immediate family, your parents, aunt uncle, your siblings? Maybe a few of the faculty where I teach and of course Stephen."

"That will leave a lot of my family feeling left out is the only problem," Minerva said thinking about it.

She really liked the idea of keeping it small, but that would probably upset a lot of her family.

"Your family should understand that we don't really want a big wedding," Jason said.

"Well, I admit that they have attended quite a few weddings over the last few hundred years, so they might be tired of them by now. Also, some of them won't want to come anyway, because they don't know me, even though we're technically related. I have more siblings than I can count and I've never met most of them, except briefly at family gatherings. There's also the Rossis to consider and while they're not technically my cousins the family considers them so and a lot of them will probably be upset."

"I see there is some drawbacks to being immortal," Jason observed.

"Yeah, maybe," Minerva said. "We need to tell my parents and my aunt and uncle about our engagement.

"They'll be happy for us and you know it," Jason said. "I think I learned enough about them the one time I met them to know that they love you very much. That they actually told me about immortals and also magic tells me that they want you to be happy. That's not true for every child who has parents still alive. I might not be as old as you are, but I'm well aware that a lot of parents have unrealistic expectations or never want their children to marry at all for whatever reason. Some parents don't even love their kids, which is tragic."

"I know," Minerva agreed. "I'm hardly an innocent. Yes, my parents as well as my aunt and uncle love their family wholeheartedly. Really, family, is all most immortals have and that's only if they're not alone in the world. I know very well that I was lucky when we met just like all my siblings that have met there mates have been lucky.

"There was no way my parents would not have told you about immortals and magic Jason, as finding your mate is very important to my family, to all immortals really. A mate is someone that you can be yourself with completely. You don't have to hide part of yourself just so people will think you're normal. Also, immortality, as I'm sure you're aware, can be very lonely, even if you see your family frequently that doesn't mean that you don't want a family of your own."

"Once an immortal meets their mate they will never be happy again without them," Minerva added. "If they are rejected by their mate they will live only a kind of half life, as they will feel like half their soul has been ripped from their bodies. You don't want to know what could happen if someone rejects an immortal."

"I can imagine quite easily," Jason said shuddering at the images that brought to mind.

"We can contact my parents tomorrow, as it's pretty late," Minerva said looking at her fancy watch. "I think it's time we go to bed, as I know you need to go to work tomorrow."

"Probably a good idea," Jason said. He rose after Minerva had gotten off his lap and the two of them headed for the bedroom to get some sleep.

~~~Jason and Minerva~~~

"Congratulations to you. I'm glad you got everything sorted with Stephen," Aaron congratulated his daughter and Jason. Minerva again had called her parents through a video conferencing program, as it wasn't as likely that somebody would be listening in. She had sent both of them a text first telling them that she needed to talk to them, but not being specific. She made sure that her mother would be home and not at work before she did. It was actually after 5 o'clock in the afternoon, as Jason had to teach his classes and he had just gotten home a couple of hours ago.

"Yes, congratulations from me to," Shonda said beaming at the pair on the other side of the screen.

"It's already mostly planned out, as I knew Jason would propose as soon as things were sorted with his son," Minerva told her parents. "I saw no reason not to plan out as much as I could. We'd like to keep it small if we could get away with that."

"That would leave most of the family out," Shonda noted.

"I know, but I don't know most of them, even though I know they're related to me," Minerva said. "One thing we don't need, is Stephen to overhear some of them talking about things that he has no idea about. You know that some of them wouldn't watch what they say and they'd have no idea that Stephen was anywhere nearby."

"I also want to invite some of the professors from Stanford and some of my friends," Jason added.

"Well, it's not like they aren't usually at least some people that aren't family present when we have a wedding," Aaron commented smiling. "Even if the guest list is heavy on family."

What Aaron was eluding to was the fact that the guest list was usually heavy on immortals, but he didn't want to say just in case.

"So how many do you think?" Shonda asked Minerva.

"Let's try to keep it to 100," Minerva said. "Ones that are responsible and won't talk about anything strange while at the reception. Make sure you remind everyone not to talk about unsafe subjects while they're out in public just in case."

"That will leave out many of them," Aaron said, "but I do understand why you want to keep it small. Really, it's not practical to invite all the family anyway, as it's just gotten too large and unwieldy."

"That's very true," Minerva said laughing, as she totally agreed with her father about how large unwieldy her family had gotten. "They might be tired of attending weddings anyway, since we've had so many in the last few years.

"True," Shonda said. "So long as Aaron and I are invited and your aunt and uncle of course, then having a small ceremony is fine with me. It might leave some of the family feeling insulted though so fair warning."

"I'm not close with most of them anyway mom," Minerva said. "So long as you're there, along with Uncle Dave and Aunt Jazz and my siblings then that's OK with me. Our family is so large that it's just not possible to be close to most of them. If the ones that aren't invited get insulted then I'm sorry, but it's just not possible to invite everyone, especially since Jason and I would like to keep it relatively small."

"True," Aaron admitted.

"If we can get away with so few guests I'll be grateful," Jason who had been listening spoke up. "My first with Sarah was a fairly small affair, because her parents didn't exactly approve of us getting married, even though we were adults at the time. They thought we were too young to consider marriage."

"A lot of parents do, even if there children are 30 when they tie the knot," Shonda said.

"Sarah and I were all of 22 and had just graduated college," Jason said.

"While that's young at least you finished college first," Shonda said.

"Didn't mean her parents approved though," Jason said looking melancholy. "Your reaction was so different to Sarah's parents it is in another universe. I now understand why it was though."

"Let's not rehash old history," Minerva said, "at least over video conferencing."

"We are looking forward to your wedding," Shonda said and it was clear that Aaron completely agreed.

"It's always a happy day when one of our children settles down," Aaron said by way of agreement.

"You just let us know where and when and we'll be there," Shonda said before she and Aaron signed off.

"Well, that's now taken care of," Minerva said.

"Let's plan it for the summer so that Stephen can be there," Jason said.

"Already in the plans," Minerva promised kissing him lightly on the lips. "I already took your son into account, so it will be in the summer, which isn't that far away.

"So when are you going to transform me into an immortal?" Jason asked Minerva.

"We can do that on the weekend if you like so that you have a couple of days to recover," Minerva said.

"That means tomorrow," Jason said, "since it'll be Saturday.

"Yeah, you need a day when you don't have so much going on," Minerva said.

"Tomorrow then," Jason said smiling.

"We just need some pressure syringes, but luckily, they sell disposable ones in any pharmacy so that's not gonna be a problem," Minerva said. "I'll pick some up in the morning."

"You should probably pick up at least three or four just in case," Jason said. "You said it will take at least two syringes of blood, but you're not entirely sure, because I weigh more than most that go through the process."

"We can use the disposables more than once, but still that's not a bad idea," Minerva said.

"Just make sure you get rid of them afterwards, as I wouldn't put it past Stephen to snoop around," Jason admitted. "We don't need to leave evidence laying around just in case. Stephen might get the wrong impression and assume that I'm taking drugs or that you are. I love my son, but he was always a curious little boy and that hasn't changed just because he's now 20."

"Yeah, I can see that. Humans are often curious and get themselves in trouble for poking into things that are not their business," said Minerva. "I'll have to make sure I dispose of them away from the house after we turn you immortal. Luckily, Stephen's back in college and likely won't be back at least until Christmas. It doesn't hurt to be cautious, just in case. While we've started to forge a bond it's going take awhile for us to become close and for Stephen to fully trust me."

"Yeah, it's not gonna happen overnight," Jason agreed, even as he Minerva kissed passionately. "Thank you for going out of your way to get close to my son. He's not gonna be around forever like I am, which I'm sad about, but hopefully, he'll get married and have children someday."

"We might want to tell him about immortality someday, but that's up to the whole family really."

"I'm not sure Stephen would ever accept it," Jason said thoughtfully. "You know how much trouble I had initially and Stephen's a lot like me, even if he doesn't like to think so"

"You know, I told him that I believe in fate and that it guided us. I told him that I thought it was fate that we had run into each other on accident and he said I sounded like a kook. It's not like I could tell him that I'm a seer and that I saw you in my dreams, as he definitely would have thought I was a kook then," Minerva said.

"I'm sorry he said that," Jason said looking upset at his son, even though he hadn't been there at the time Stephen had said it. "I'm sorry if he insulted you and he better have apologized or he's going to be in trouble with me. Just because you said something he thinks is crazy doesn't give him leave to insult you or anyone."

"Yes, he did apologize after I gave him a mini lecture about how just because I believed in fate didn't make me a kook. I basically told him that he didn't have a right to call someone crazy just because their beliefs were different from his own."

"Good, I'm glad he apologized," Jason said pleased.

"Even if he hadn't you can't make him Jason. It wouldn't be sincere for one thing and it would just cause resentment between you and him. Your relationship is already strained you don't need to make it worse by forcing an apology."

"It's just that I raised him better than that and so did Sarah before she passed," Jason explained. "Both of us raised him to not insult people just because they were different or had different beliefs. Not everybody shares the same views and Stephen is well aware of it, so he should've known better than to call you a kook."

"It's OK Jason, you raised an intelligent young man and he did sincerely apologize, so I consider the matter closed," Minerva said.

"Well, at least he apologized," Jason said grudgingly. "I know Stephen is 20, but he needs to learn to accept that some people are different. Just because you believe in things like fate doesn't make you crazy."

"He'll learn," Minerva told him before kissing him again. "And really, he's past the age where you can order him to do anything, even if you're still paying for his college education."

"Actually, he got a scholarship, but I am paying the freight for some thing's that the scholarship doesn't cover," Jason said. "And I'm also giving him an allowance so he can go out to eat and not always have to eat in the cafeteria at the college. I can easily take it back if I needed to until he apologized. Let me be clear, calling you kook is a reason for me to not give him his allowance for that month and every month thereafter until he apologized. He would be forced to eat in the cafeteria that's at the college until he apologized to you for his uncalled for comment. Luckily, that's not going to be necessary, since he's already apologized."

"Doesn't he have a part-time job to help defray expenses?" Minerva asked.

"No, I wanted him to just concentrate on his studies, so I gave him a large allowance so he can eat out a few times a week at least. Also, he saved some money from the part time jobs he had when he was in high school, just so long as he kept his grades up. Things are so expensive now though, that what he made in those jobs won't last him long. It's not like those part time jobs paid more than minimum wage. I mean just putting fuel in his car would take a lot of his money depending on how often he drove places instead of walking or carpooling with friends."

"True," Minerva admitted.

"He knows doing well in his classes is serious business so that he can get the job he wants when he graduates so he knows better than to party instead of studying," Jason added. "Some teenagers seem to use the opportunity to party as much as they can once they're not under parental supervision. I mean why waste of money to get a good education when they party instead of study."

"I agree with you there and I studied hard, even though I'm a writer and I took some creative writing courses," Minerva said. "Still, I did take other courses math, science that kind of thing. I only took creative writing as an elective."

"So why did you decide to become a writer?" Jason asked curiously.

"As I told Stephen, I've always enjoyed telling stories, but mainly, it's because of my ability as a seer. Do you imagine I could have a job that dealt with the public on a regular basis when I could go into a vision at any time? I mean, going to college was risky enough, being around the other students not to mention the professors, but luckily, I'm mostly get visions when I'm sleeping."

"No, I suppose not," Jason admitted. "It's a good thing you got a talent write then and write well."

"Yes, it is," Minerva agreed smiling. "And I've only improved the last several centuries since I get so much practice."

~~~Jason and Minerva~~~

"I want Stephen as best man if he's willing," Jason told Minerva.

"OK with me," Minerva agreed. "It's the groom's choice as to who will be best man anyway, so I'm not gonna argue about it. I'm actually hoping this will make Stephen understand that you can love both of us and that you shouldn't have to choose between us."

"I really don't want to do that," Jason admitted. "I love my son just in a different way from how I love you."

"Of course, you do, because you're a good father Jason, just because your relationship is somewhat strained doesn't mean you stopped loving him, just that you don't always see eye to eye. Millions of parents across the world can say the same about their relationships with their children, so it's not like your situation is unique."

What Minerva was saying made a lot of sense, Jason thought but didn't say out loud. Minerva was wise beyond what her years would seem to indicate, but then he knew she was much older than she looked. He wasn't going to worry about it, because so long as they looked similar in age people weren't going to comment and while technically, he looked older that wasn't really the case.

"I'll contact him later once his classes are over for the day and ask him," Jason decided.

"So who would you choose as best man if Stephen turns you down?" Minerva asked. "I just thought you might want to have an alternate choice ready just in case."

"Probably a good idea," Jason said thinking about it. "I am an only child,so I have no brothers that could do it."

"You can always borrow mine," Minerva said with mischief.

"I'll have to think about it seriously, as I really don't have anyone I'm really close to," Jason said

"No other professors you consider particular friends?" Minerva asked.

"No, I'm not that close to anyone on the faculty," Jason said.

"Sure, I know a lot of people. I just don't have any best friends, as the younger people call it.

"Well, think about it just in case," Minerva said.

"Would your brother mind doing it if necessary?" Jason asked.

"Kaiden would be honored," Minerva said. "You know he owes me a favor, but I wouldn't even have to call it in, as he would love to be the best man. He was so happy that I had met my mate when I told him."

"I might just ask him if Stephen says no," Jason said really hoping Stephen would want to be his best man. If there was anything that would transmit the message loud and clear that Stephen didn't approve of his relationship with Minerva it would be for him to turn down a chance to be best man.

"So what are you thinking?" Minerva asked seeing how pensive Jason was.

"I can't hide anything from you can I?" Jason told her with a half smile.

"No, you can't and you shouldn't try," Minerva told him with a smile of her own.

"I was just thinking that if Stephen turned down the opportunity to be best man then that says very clearly that he doesn't approve of you or me marrying you," Jason explained.

"Well then, I hope he doesn't turn you down," Minerva said feeling sympathy for Jason that he was having such a hard time with his son.

Unfortunately, her family had never had anyone that had a child that was the mate to one of them so this was an entirely new situation for her as well as everyone else.

Yes, she understood that Stephen was still young, as 20 really wasn't old at all, but the least Stephen could do was try to get along with his father. To support him, even if he didn't really agree with his father's actions or decisions.

They would see how that situation turned out, Minerva supposed and hopefully, Stephen would step up to support his father's marriage.

Minerva could tell that Jason was really worried that Stephen would say no to being best man, but hopefully, he was worried about nothing.

~~~Jason and Minerva~~~