Welcome to our home," Jazz greeted her daughter and her mate.
"Mom," Zelda acknowledged. "Both of us are looking forward to dinner, as I've told him all about your baking and also the main meal."
"Come in, both of you," Jazz said, as she gestured for Zelda and Tim to enter the house.
"Where is dad?" Zelda inquired.
"He's in the kitchen of course. I left him watching the food to make sure nothing overcooks," Jazz said. "The foods nearly ready so we can eat in a few minutes. It's nice to meet you, Timothy. Zelda talks about you all the time."
"It's just Tim, ma'am," Tim said.
"There's no need to be so formal young man," Jazz told him with an understanding smile. "You can call me Jazz and my husband is Dave. He'll tell you the same once you meet him. We're just not very formal people in this family."
"That's true, we are not," Zelda agreed cordially, as her mother led the way to where everybody, except Dave was gathered in the informal living room.
"Aunt Shonda, Uncle Aaron this is Timothy McGee," Zelda introduced her mate to her godparents. "Tim, these are my godparents, Aaron and Shonda Hotchner."
"It's very nice to meet you, young man" Shonda offered smiling warmly at the nervous young man.
"It's nice to meet you too," Tim said shaking Shonda's hand and then Aaron's.
"Why don't you just sit down as Dave will come and get us when the food is ready," Jazz suggested calmly.
"There's no reason to be so nervous," Aaron told Tim with an understanding expression. "We don't bite, I promise."
"No, we don't," Shonda agreed with a merry little laugh.
"Zelda assured me that her family was very warm and welcoming, and I can now see she was right," Tim said, as he sat beside Zelda on the loveseat.
"See, didn't I tell you?" Zelda told him punching his arm lightly. "Maybe next time you'll believe me when I tell you something."
"You did and I apologize for doubting you," Tim said.
"And why would you doubt that we'd be welcoming," Jazz asked suspecting she already knew the answer.
"He's never met any of his girlfriend's parents before," Zelda supplied answering her mother's question before Tim could. "He has no experience in meeting someone's parents and his father wasn't exactly the nurturing, supportive type."
"None of my other past relationships ever lasted long enough to meet my girlfriend's parents, which is another reason," Tim said, losing a lot of his nervousness. "My father never liked any of my girlfriends when he actually met them."
"I bet you hated for your girlfriends to meet your father if he wasn't the warm, fuzzy type," Shonda commented with a knowing expression.
"It's not like it's uncommon for at least one parent not to like a significant other," Aaron said.
"True, it's not, and it's something we've all seen more than once over the years," Jazz agreed. "You'll never face rejection by this family," Jazz added to Tim directly. "We actually care about our children's feelings, so we never tell them that that person isn't good enough for them."
"We all know what would likely happen if we did that," Shonda commented.
"What do you think would happen if you told one of your children that you didn't like their choice of girlfriend or boyfriend?" Tim asked speaking for the first time in the last few minutes, though it was clear he had been listening to the conversation going on between Zelda's mother and her godparents.
"We raised very strong willed children, ones that are perfectly capable of defying us, and moving somewhere far away to where they would likely never bother to contact us again," Aaron explained. "The Hotchners and the Rossis are both known for their stubborn streaks and all of our children inherited that particular trait, some more than others of course. One of our children is perfectly capable of making their own decisions whether or not their parents agree with it."
"It's not like we could tell the police they had run away as they would be adults so the police could do nothing," Jazz added.
"And if we hired say a private detective to try to track them down, our children would be so incensed when they learned of it that reconciliation would be all but impossible."
"I see," Tim said.
"Luckily, our children are intelligent, more than intelligent enough to not fall for the wrong sort," Shonda said smiling. "None of our children has ever ended up with a bad crowd, even though there are plenty of bad influences in today's society."
"Yes, we have been extremely blessed to have intelligent children," Jazz agreed with her best friend.
"Dinner is ready, folks," came a new voice from the doorway, causing Tim to look in that direction to see a handsome man with dark hair and beard threaded with gray and dark brown eyes standing there.
"That's excellent. I'm starving," Zelda spoke up.
Zelda rose to her feet Tim immediately following. Zelda led him directly to the man in the doorway and took care of the introductions. "Tim, this is my father David Rossi. Dad this is Timothy McGee."
"It's very nice to meet you young man," Dave told Timothy, cordially shaking his hand. "We can talk over dinner as we wouldn't want the food to get cold."
"That would be a shame," Aaron who had come up behind Zelda and Tim said.
"Yes, it would," Shonda immediately agreed
"You'll enjoy dinner, Tim, as mom is quite a good cook and so is dad, something I've told you before on several occasions," Zelda told him, even as she took his hand. "I'm definitely looking forward to one of my parents meals. We might as well take advantage of the fact that we're here and explore some of the city while getting some home-cooked meals at the same time."
"I'm sure I will," Tim said smiling slightly, as everyone headed to the dining room. "I'm also looking forward to seeing some of San Francisco, as I've never been here."
"I'm sure you and Zelda will enjoy seeing some of the sites," Dave told him, as he clapped him on the back in a friendly manner.
Tim looked rather startled at the gesture, but relaxed after a few seconds. No one had ever slapped him on the back unless they were trying to push him down onto the floor, but this was a friendly gesture, not an aggressive one.
Dave immediately noticed how Tim tensed at the gesture and could guess the reason for it, but he said nothing, as it was not a matter to be brought up right this second.
~~~Tim and Zelda~~~
"Ready for dessert everyone or do you want to wait awhile, let everyone's meal settle?" Jazz asked everyone at the table once dinner had been eaten.
"You should know the answer to that," Shonda told Jazz with a smile. "When have we ever turned down one of your fantastic desserts?"
"Well, never," Jazz admitted. "I just thought I'd give you the option."
"Luckily, I was warned to leave room," Tim spoke up, having relaxed completely as the meal progressed. Zelda's family was just as warm and welcoming, as she had promised they would be. He'd already been told he was welcome to come visit anytime he was in the area with or without Zelda as they loved company. "I've already heard from Zelda on numerous occasions that you're a lot better baker than she is and that her brother inherited your talent. Since I've had quite a few desserts from Neville's bakery, I can't wait to try what you've come up with."
"Well, that's one way to win brownie points," Shonda joked in a mischievous tone.
"Tim was only being honest, not trying to butter anyone up," Zelda told her aunt. "I usually have something from Neville's bakery whenever Tim visits to play with Remington and Lily. He brings, his dog Donnie when he comes over, so the three of them can socialize. We've also gone there together on several occasions and he's been there by himself a few times as well."
"Oh, so you have a dog too," Dave said and Tim nodded.
"Zelda convinced me to get one, as I've never had a pet before. I fell in love with hers, so decided to go ahead and do it," Tim explained
"You never had an animal growing up?" Shonda asked with sympathy in her question. "That's tragic. Jazz and I always had pets when we were young. Jazz had cats and I had dogs."
"They are plenty of families who never think about getting a pet whether they have children or they live by themselves so it's not like it's uncommon," Aaron said.
"True, it's not," Jazz agreed. "I'm glad that Zelda convinced you to get a dog as they can be lovable, sweet companions. We don't have an animal right now, but that's because our last dog died and we just haven't gotten another."
"We could, but with Zelda and her siblings grown we just haven't been motivated," Dave remarked. "We might want to think about it though."
"Well talk about it later. I'm not against it or anything, but it's been kind of nice for it to just be us since all our kids are grown," Jazz said, and Dave nodded in understanding what his wife was getting at without her voicing it. Tim wasn't aware of the fact that they had something very serious to discuss with him.
Luckily, the steady stream of desserts items that he had been eating would only help Tim accept their explanation or at least that was the way it had always worked in the past.
All the men and Zelda headed for the living room while Shonda helped Jazz get everything they needed to serve the dessert. Dessert, plates, silverware, napkins, plus the dish the dessert had been made in.
"Here you go folks," Jazz said, as she and Shonda came back in less than five minutes, carrying everything necessary in order to serve and eat the dessert.
"So what dessert do you have for us tonight mom?" Zelda asked.
"Caramelized banana upside down cake," Jazz told everyone.
"I've never heard of it, but it sure does sound good," Tim remarked now anticipating dessert, as he loved things with caramel. It wasn't even that he disliked chocolate just that things with caramel had always been his favorite.
"It's very similar to pineapple upside down cake, except it has caramel and bananas instead of pineapple," Jazz said. "Everyone will tell you I'm always looking to try new recipes and not necessarily to sell in my bakery, though that often ends up being the case."
"Absolutely true, as we're usually the guinea pigs for whatever new dessert she wants to test," Aaron agreed, smiling.
"Willing guinea pigs," Shonda added, and Dave completely agreed, which wasn't a surprise.
"I've been a very happy and contented man ever since I married the love of my life. It was the best day of my life when we met," Dave told Tim. "That she just happened to be an extraordinary baker was luck."
"That I met Shonda just a few years later was definitely the best day of my life, even if she's not the baker Jazz is." Aaron agreed.
"I think we can all agree that we're happy together," Jazz commented, as she served the dessert while Shonda passed out silverware and napkins.
"So how long have you been married?" Tim asked.
"A long time," Dave answered being deliberately vague.
"I met Aaron three years after Jazz met Dave," Shonda added.
"So you guys have known each other a long time," Tim realized.
"Shonda and I have known each other since kindergarten," Jazz said. "We've been best friends for all that time."
"That's a long time, as you've got to be at least being in your late 50's, early 60s since Zelda looks about 30," Tim said. "You certainly don't look it though."
"There's a reason my family doesn't look their age," Zelda said speaking up, taking another bite of her dessert.
"Yes, there is," Aaron agreed, as he took a bite of his dessert.
Everybody enjoyed their dessert for a few minutes.
~~~Tim and Zelda~~~