"We'd like to keep it small like Minerva and Jason did," Marla told her parents. "I mean the precedent has already been set."
"True, it has," Jazz agreed with her daughter.
"It's OK with me so long as your mother and I and of course, your godparents are invited," Dave said. "I'm very happy that things worked out between you and Derek."
What Dave didn't say was that they no longer had to fear what Derek could do to their lives, because of his profession. After all, Derek Morgan was a cop and could have caused untold havoc in their lives if he had wanted to. He wouldn't even have to necessarily reveal that they were immortal he could simply bring them up on charges for changing their records. There were numerous ways a cop like Derek could cause them trouble, but luckily, that hadn't happened.
"So am I," Marla agreed.
"Hopefully, the rest of our children will settle down," Jazz added.
"You know why they haven't though," Marla said over the link.
"Yeah, Jazz and I do, but that doesn't mean we don't hope they meet people they can settle down with since you still have a sister and two brothers that have yet to marry anyone."
What Dave didn't say was they had more children then the ones he had mentioned but the link wasn't exactly the place to discuss the subject since conversations could be eavesdropped on, even of that wasn't to likely. Still, better to be safe, as that old saying went.
"So what kind of cake do you want since it will be your wedding," Jazz asked. "If you don't get married for a few months that will give me plenty of time to plan it. Come up with a design."
"I'll have to ask Derek what kind of cake he prefers as we haven't had that discussion yet," Marla said. "He did just propose after all. I'll let you know as soon as we decide. You can use my kitchen at the donut shop to make the cake and that way you don't have to transport it a long distance."
"That would be good as your donut shop should have most of the equipment I need," Jazz said.
"It's not like we need a large cake since Derek and I want only maybe 150 people there and some of those will be from his precinct," Marla said. "If some of the family feel insulted that's just too bad, as like Minerva I don't know most of them. I was just telling Derek the other day that our family has just become too large and unwieldy that it's like an octopus with many arms."
"That's actually really apt analogy," Dave said.
"I thought so," Marla said smiling.
"So how did the visit to his mother go?" Jazz asked.
"It went fine and I really like his mother and his two sisters. His older sister has a couple of children, as she's married. It makes me think of what my own children will be like after we marry. Derek's niece and nephew are just adorable and as cute as they can be."
"Sounds like it," Jazz said smiling.
"I'm glad you're meeting his family went so well," Dave added.
"They remind me a lot of you actually, very warm and welcoming so long as you mean their family no harm," Marla said. "Derek and I will go up to visit them as often as we can, before they pass."
"True," Jazz agreed. "I'm looking forward to your wedding and I know you're godparents will say the same as well as your siblings."
"Hopefully, we'll be having even more weddings over the next few years," Dave said.
"That would be really exciting," Jazz said smiling at that thought.
"We can hope that happens," Marla agreed. "I'm looking forward to having children of my own after Derek and I tie the knot and I know his mother Fran is looking forward to more grandchildren. Fran told me that she ever imagined that her only son would finally settle down so she'll be over the moon when she finds out her son proposed."
"Maybe will get to meet her at your wedding as she sounds like a good mother," Jazz said.
"Oh, she is, because as you know the father was killed before Derek was even a teenager," Marla said.
"That is so sad," Dave said shaking his head.
Unfortunately, tragedy happened everywhere and often to good people.
"Yeah, it is," Marla agreed.
"It happens, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a tragedy," Jazz said. "I mean just think about what happened to Spencer's mother along with his unborn baby brother."
"True," Dave said. "That was also a tragedy, but then the world is filled with them, some large, some small."
"It definitely is," both Marla and Jazz agreed at the same time.
The three of them continued to talk for sometime, but then, Marla finally signed off and she knew Derek would be home soon.
~~~Derek and Marla~~~
"I'm so happy for you," Fran practically screamed into the link when Derek contacted her. Fran's voice was very excited. "I just knew that Marla was going to be the one that you finally settled down with."
"I knew you'd be happy mama," Derek said smiling over the screen at the excitement on his mother's face and in her voice.
"Of course, I am, as I never thought I'd see the day that you would finally settle down," Fran told him. "It's way past time."
"I didn't meet Marla until less than a year ago," Derek said. "I love her so much more than other women I dated. You know a lot of women are very demanding and they also didn't understand my job. They didn't understand why I had to leave in the middle of the night sometimes and why I couldn't be home with my family. Marla understands my job and doesn't complain about my hours just like I don't complain when she goes to make her stock for the day at 5 in the morning and really she has to be up at four so she can shower and get ready."
"Being a baker requires very early hours," Fran said.
"I know and that's something Officer Aveyard didn't understand," Derek said smiling as he remembered Aveyard's rather naïve question about why Marla just couldn't make her donuts the night before.
"He's the one that answered Marla's 911 call along with his partner Officer Hertz. He asked Marla why she was there so early in the first place and she really gave it to him. Told him he apparently didn't know anything about bakers and also said her mother owned a bakery and that the donut business was much the same. She told him that Milo's Donuts might get away with making their stock for the next day before they closed, but then they aren't very fresh by the next morning. People who bought her donuts had come to expect them to be fresh, not stale. By the time she was done explaining Aveyard looked pretty embarrassed."
"Sounds like he was being very naïve," Fran chuckled at her son's story.
"He was, but on the other hand, men like Aveyard don't think about the fact that some people work the night shift and have to be up early to get to their job on time," Derek shook his head smiling. "It's not only cops that have to work at night. I suppose he can be forgiven, as he still really young and probably isn't more than 22 or 23 at most. He's only been on the force for a couple of years so he'll gain experience fast and won't be so naïve. Those that remain naïve do not last very long on the police force."
"So can I help Marla plan?" Fran asked getting back to the previous subject.
"She's already said she'll appreciate all the help she can get, as she has a business to run and if it was just up to her it would be a slow process," Derek said. "Luckily, she has plenty of female relatives that are willing and eager to help her plan and she won't mind your help at all. In fact, she asked me to tell you that you're welcome to help her plan it.
"Be happy to," Fran said looking so happy she could burst.
"I know you would be," Derek said smiling.
"So how many people will we need to plan for?" Fran asked.
"Her family is really large as she has a lot of cousins," Derek said. "However, she agreed to relatively small wedding and says that most of those cousins she doesn't know very well, even if they're technically related to her. That might leave some people insulted but that's just too bad. You should plan for at least 150 or so," Derek said, "between her family and my friends on the force that's really not that many."
"Seems like a lot, but I suppose it's really not, when you have a lot of relatives," Fran said.
"By the way, you don't need to worry about the wedding cake as Marla's mother is handling that. Jazz would never let anybody else do her daughter's wedding cake."
"Well, at least that's one item off the list," Fran said. "But there are many other details to take care of music and food for the reception for instance, venue for the wedding itself and so many other things. When is the ceremony going to be just so I know how much time we have to plan everything."
"Not until May of next year so that gives you around eight months or so," Derek said
"That's not a lot of time really but between me and your fiancé and her female relatives it should be enough. You know Sarah and Desirée will want to help plan it."
"I'm sure Marla won't mind the extra help," Derek said.
Derek thought about the woman he had come to love in such a short amount of time.
"Both of them will be very excited that you're going to marry Marla you know, as both really like her when they met her a few weeks ago," Fran said.
"I'm glad they do and that you do too. I want her to get along with my family," Derek said.
"That won't be hard to do at all whenever we see each other as I think she's perfect for you," Fran said. "She's intelligent for one thing and isn't the type to complain about the time you spend doing your job."
"Finding someone is not very easy you know," Derek said, "but I'm really glad I met Marla. I know you were lucky when you met my father, even if he's no longer with us."
"No, he's not," Fran said soberly. "It's too bad that he can't be here to see you finally get married."
"Yeah, it's too bad," Derek agreed. "I like to believe he'll be with us in spirit and that he'll be smiling, because I'm finally settling down."
"Nice thought," Fran said with tears in her eyes she remembered her husband Hank and how he had been killed years ago now.
Sarah was the only one that had been a teenager when that happened as her other two had still been young. Even Derek hadn't quite been a teenager at the time his father had died.
Derek had been determined to follow in his father's footsteps and her arguments to the contrary had had no effect. Unfortunately, his son had gotten his father stubbornness. She had wanted him to go into a safer profession. To be a lawyer or a doctor anything that wouldn't put him in the line of fire on a regular basis.
Derek was always careful when he went out or a call. However, Fran was well aware that he could be killed just like his father had been if he stopped to pick up some groceries or in any other public place. Hank had simply been in the wrong, place at the wrong time. She still missed him every day. She suspected she always would until she met him in heaven when her time was up.
"Yeah, it is," Derek said.
Derek didn't bother mentioning the immortality or magic thing as he knew his mother would never believe it and it also wasn't the kind of thing you mentioned over a link call. Marla had mentioned how she was always careful when she was talking to one of the family over a link or over a video conferencing program because it wasn't that hard to eavesdrop on a supposedly private conversation.
Derek had never thought about that, but Marla was also right there was the technology now to eavesdrop on supposedly private conversations, so why chance it.
Just because the Rossis the Hotchners didn't exist to most people didn't means somebody couldn't get curious for some reason. It was just safer not to mention that kind of thing over even supposedly private communications.
Privacy was a myth. Derek wasn't sure he wanted to know what the Rossis or the Hotchners would do if somebody tried to blackmail them just for example. It was perhaps better if he didn't know how they dealt with such a situation, because he was sure that they would do their best to protect their secrets and that might include breaking the law.
Derek knew very well that a lot of people couldn't mind their own business and while immortals were basically humans he knew that a lot of people would want what they had and wouldn't care how they got it. The criminals in particular would want to be immortal so they could continue to commit crimes forever and could possibly kidnapped one of the kids in order to force the adults to give them what they wanted.
Derek couldn't see the Rossis or the Hotchners responding well if that actually happened and the supposed criminals would likely come off the worst and might even end up dead. Derek was sure that the two families knew how to play hardball if necessary.
From what he had observed they were a family that stood together no matter what. He was sure they worked together to solve any major problems that popped up in one of their lives at least Dave and Jazz and Aaron and Shonda.
They probably didn't get any of their children involved, even if those children were grown-up, unless necessary.
~~~Derek and Marla~~~