Chapter 5

"Marry me," Ambrose proposed to Penny.

The two of them were in Penelope's apartment and Ambrose had just gotten down on one knee and proposed to his mate.

"Of course I will. I was just waiting for you to ask," Penelope immediately answered. "You've already met my family and I've met yours. You've also already started turning me immortal. I wasn't about to say no when you did get around to proposing."

"I suppose I should've gone ahead since we knew about each other," Ambrose said getting to his feet and sitting beside Penelope on the couch after slipping the ring he had bought her onto her right ring finger.

"I've already started planning the wedding," Penelope said.

"That's good," Ambrose said. He wasn't really surprised to hear that his mate had already started planning the wedding as she had known that he would propose at some point and this way the planning was well on its way to being finished and they could get married sooner.

"I do want your mother to do our wedding cake," Penelope said. "I know they live in Alaska now, but I still want her to do a cake."

"She'll be happy to," Ambrose assured Penelope. "As it happens there's a bakery that mom used to own in Los Angeles before one of her children took it over. I'm sure that Brenda won't mind if mom uses the kitchen for your cake. After the cake is made all they have to do is transport it here to San Diego."

"And San Diego and Los Angeles are certainly a lot closer than Alaska and San Diego," Penelope said.

"Exactly," Ambrose agreed. "Having the wedding in the afternoon that'll give them plenty of time to get the wedding cake here, as it's about a three hour trip by car so long as they don't stop along the way. Also, come to think of it Marla could do the cake as she inherited mama's bakery magic and just like her she's good with all types of desserts."

"She only does donuts though," Penelope said worrying her lower lip.

"Just because she chose to only do donuts professionally doesn't mean she can't do other things," Ambrose told her. "Marla just really enjoys coming up with new donut recipes and it might even have to do with the fact, that she didn't want to compete with mom's bakery, even if there are two totally different parts of the city. In fact, she could probably do the catering for the wedding at least the sweet portion. Also, some of my siblings own restaurants and we can get them to do some of the catering and that way we're not using anybody outside the family."

"Well maybe," Penelope said. "Since your family has so many excellent bakers that sounds like a pretty good idea, though I would like some food from this Indian place I really like, though I'm not sure they do catering."

"I'm sure we can find some Indian place that will be happy to do at least some of the catering," Ambrose said, "though it might not be from your favorite restaurant."

"We'll figure it out," Penelope said. "So have you worked out a guest list yet?"

"It'll be fairly large, there's no avoiding it," Ambrose grimaced. "I have more siblings then you can count, as I told you sometime ago and while all of them probably won't want to come they still have to be invited. There's been quite a few weddings over the last few decades involving my family, which my father considers amazing."

"And why is it so amazing?" Penelope asked Ambrose a little confused.

"Because so many of our family both the Rossi and the Hotchners have found their mates and it took my dad and my Uncle Aaron centuries to find their own. It's just that his children are finding their mates much sooner than either expected them to that's all," Ambrose tried to explain. "It's like dad finding his own mate set off a chain reaction when it came to his children and also the Hotchners. That doesn't mean that there aren't quite a few of my siblings that haven't met their mates, just that there's a lot that has and much faster than he did."

"I understand," Penelope said, as she pondered what Ambrose had said.

It made sense when she thought about it and she finally understood why David Rossi was so amazed that his family were finding their mates within a few years of each other instead of it taking centuries for just one to meet their mate.

"My dad was many hundreds of years older then I am now before he met my mother Jazzlyn Lincoln. As you know, I'm 257 well nearly 258 now, but you get my meaning," Ambrose said.

"Yes, I do," Penelope agreed, as the two of them cuddled on the couch in her apartment.

The two continued to discuss wedding plans until finally they did what all newly engaged couples did and that was head to the bedroom to make love and it wasn't like they hadn't been doing that for several weeks, so Penelope was well on her way to being immortal.

~~~Ambrose and Penelope~~~

Epilogue

"I'm pregnant," Penelope announced.

It was over a year later and she and Ambrose had gotten married. The wedding had been fairly large as Ambrose in particular had a lot of family that had to be invited, even if they didn't want to attend, so sent their regrets.

Still, between her family and Ambrose extended family there had been several hundred guests there. Penelope had finally met Ambrose's sister Marla who lived in Los Angeles, as Ambrose had taken her down there to meet her specifically since she lived fairly close. She had made sure to bring home a couple of dozen of Marla's donuts since they were absolutely delicious. Marla had given them to her for free, because like her mother she refused to charge family.

"This is terrific news," Ambrose said getting up from where he was sitting and taking his mate in his arms kissing her with passion. "My family will be ecstatic I guarantee you."

"So will mine," Penelope agreed, even as she returned the kiss. "Just so you are aware twins run in my family. I know there aren't any for my generation, but there might be for the next generation."

"Twins don't usually run in my family, but that could be changing," Ambrose said. "I won't mind at all if we do have twins and I can guarantee you that none of my family will either. They will simply get two for the price of one and love them to pieces. In fact, they will think that they are extremely blessed. So why do you think you'll have twins?"

"Because I am bigger boned than my mother was," Penelope explained. "My mother was much skinnier than I am as I take after my father in the shape of my body. It's a proven scientific fact that women with my kind of shape are more likely to have twins. It might not happen this time or next time, but it eventually will or at least it's the likely possibility."

"I'll be happy if it does happen," Ambrose promised his mate, even as the two of them stood in the middle of the room as close together as they could get."

"We should tell the family as soon as possible," Penelope said. "Go and see my siblings, since they all live in different parts of California and then, we can call your folks and your godparents and tell them."

"We can also tell my siblings, even if that's over link," Ambrose agreed. "All of the above will be happy for us."

"I'm glad we went ahead and bought a house," Penelope said looking around the den where she and Ambrose were standing.

"We both knew that we'd eventually have children," Ambrose explained, "so it just made sense to go ahead and buy a house and that way we didn't have to worry about it. I mean we'll be busy enough now that you're pregnant we didn't need to search for a house and buy furniture and things at the same time."

"Yeah, I know we were thinking ahead," Penelope agreed. "We can always build on if we have to, as we made sure we got a house that came with plenty of land."

The house itself only had five bedrooms and if they hired a nanny that would only leave three rooms for children. If they did have twins they would need at least one extra bedroom, but they would see. Of course, the children could share so long as they were the same sex, as the bedrooms were plenty big enough for that.

"Let's call my folks and then my godparents and tell them," Ambrose said.

"And then go see Charles and tell him. He'll happily spread the word to the rest of my siblings if we ask him to," Penelope said by way of agreement.

Penelope's oldest brother actually lived in San Diego while the rest of her siblings were spread out in different states in California. A lot of Penelope's family lived in Los Angeles, but several others lived in San Francisco and one lived in San Jose, so they would be told the news over the communicator since they were so spread out.

Ambrose called his parents and his father answered within a few rings.

"What can I do for you Ambrose?" Dave asked his son.

"Penny and I have some news to share," Ambrose told his father. "Where is mom? At the bakery?" asked Ambrose.

"Of course she is," Dave told his son. "You know your mother doesn't like to just laze around at home and likes to keep busy."

"We should just go ahead and tell your father the news and he can tell your mother," Penelope suggested in a whisper and Ambrose nodded.

"We just want to tell you that Penny's pregnant and I was hoping to tell you and mom at the same time, but I didn't take into account the time difference," Ambrose told his father.

"This is great news," Dave said smiling brilliantly. "Your mother will be very happy for you and Penny when she hears. You can expect her to spoil this child rotten just like she does all of her grandchildren."

"And you won't?" Penny asked Dave with her eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"Of course I will," Dave told Penny cordially with a shit eating grin. "There's not much to get excited about when you're you know and having grandchildren is one of the few joys."

Dave didn't want to say immortality over the link in case somebody was listening in. They never talked about a sensitive subject over the communicator, as it was just safer. Nobody might be listening in, but you also never knew. After all, this was a very high tech society.

"That's what I figured," Penny said with laughter in her eyes.

They finally got off with Dave after over half an hour of conversation and Dave had told him to expect a call from Jazz as soon as she heard the news.

"So time to tell your brother?" Ambrose asked.

"Yes, we'll go see him," Penelope said, even as she kissed Ambrose's cheek.

"He'll be very happy for us," Ambrose said. "I'm sure he's been expecting the announcement for the last few months."

"Probably," Penelope agreed with a brilliant smile.

The two got ready to leave their house and then walked outside to where the car was parked in the garage.

All the family would be very happy for them once they learned of the upcoming birth and that's the way it should be.

Ambrose and Penelope would be very happy together for a very long time and their marriage would never come to a sticky end like so many did.

There was some advantages to being immortal as they had bonds with their mates that the rest of the human race did not have. That the humans did not have such bonds was sad, but that's just the way it was.

All Ambrose and Penny could think about at the moment was spreading the word about their upcoming birth of their first child to the rest of the family. They were very happy with having a child and that was frankly the way it should be.

A/N this is the shortest story in the series. There are two more after this one that have just been written, but have not been corrected enough to be put on the Internet look forward to number 7 in the series The Jeweler, with Marcus Hotchner/Emily Prentiss and number 8 The Seer Minerva Hotchner/Jason Gideon