Thanksgiving day

"Welcome," Aaron greeted Perry and Alex, as they arrived at the Hotchner home around 10 in the morning.

"I brought a side dish," Perry said presenting the dish to his father.

"You know where we put the side dishes, Perry," Aaron told him hugging his son.

"Welcome Alex," Aaron added giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," Alex said blushing, as Aaron Hotchner like his son, was a very handsome man.

"We'll probably be going to visit Alex's folks for the next holiday," Perry told his father.

"Unlike you and your family my parents aren't gonna be around forever," Alex said. "I do try to go every other year, though that's not always possible. It just depends on the commitments I have."

"So where do your parents live?" Aaron asked Alex.

"Kansas," Alex answered. "My father was a captain on the police force before he retired and my brothers are still detectives on that same force."

"Considering you seem to come from a family of law enforcement I'm surprised you didn't join the force as well," Aaron said.

"I thought about joining the FBI at one time, because at least then I wouldn't be under my father's watch. My father is very protective and I can see him not treating me as an equal if I was under his command. I probably would have ended up shuffling paperwork instead of going out on calls. My mother also begged me to find a safer profession, which is part of the reason I became a teacher. She worried enough about my father and brothers, she didn't want to be worried about her only daughter as well."
"It's a parents prerogative to worry about their children and just because we're immortal doesn't mean that Shonda don't worry about our children occasionally. We worried about Perry at one point in time," Aaron said.

"Why?" Alex asked in surprise.

"Dad," Perry tried to stop his father from telling Alex about the incident with Connie.

"Because he was dating this woman several years ago and she turned out to be a real wacko," Aaron explained. "She stabbed him and left him for dead not knowing of course, that he was immortal."

Perry groaned and covered his face with his hands obviously embarrassed.

"That's horrible," Alex said horrified.

"Can we please stop talking about it?" Perry begged looking pathetic.

"I suppose so," Aaron said. "You shouldn't embarrass so easily by now Perry. You had no way of knowing that Connie was so deranged."

"You just had to bring up that incident in front of Alex didn't you," Perry told his father. "It was so embarrassing that I didn't see Connie for what she was. I had just broken up with her you see and I tried to be nice about it, but Connie wanted to continue our relationship, get married. I refused to change my decision, even when she begged and she then drew a knife that I had no idea she had on her and stabbed me with it. She moved so fast I didn't have a chance to avoid it and the knife sunk up to the hilt between two of my ribs.

"When she thought I was dead she stomped out after stealing several valuable items and totally wrecking my living room in her rage. I moved to a different part of the city after that, just so Connie wouldn't find out I was still alive and come after me again. It was the smart thing to do. I packed up everything and was out of there in just a couple of days."

"Your father is right you had no idea she would take your trying to break up with her in such a manner," Alex said.

"After that, I swore off dating until I met you," Perry said. "If I hadn't been immortal I would've been dead. I think I did die for a few minutes anyway, before I woke up again with a knife still in my stomach and the shirt I was wearing soaked in blood, as was the floor underneath my body."

"I can't blame you for swearing off dating after what happened," Alex said feeling great sympathy for Perry.

"I'm sure Perry told you that no immortal permanently settles down unless they've met their mate," Aaron said and Alex nodded.

"Yes, he did mention that," Alex agreed. "I can actually understand not settling down until you've met you mate. For one thing, telling just anybody about the immortality thing would be stupid. Also, considering immortals live forever they would want somebody that they could get along with harmoniously, somebody trustworthy that you could share any secret with and not have them turn on you, which is why I suspect immortals have mates in the first place. You somehow know who is trustworthy and matches you well enough in personality and things like ethics."

"Well reasoned. You are absolutely correct," Aaron told Alex smiling proudly. "Most mortals could never handle living forever. Even if they can they have to be at least mostly honest and as you suggested trustworthy. They have to know how to keep their noses out of things that are none of their business."

The tone of Aaron's voice alerted Alex to the fact that her soon to be father-in-law had experience in mortals sticking their nose in where they didn't belong.

"We never tell anybody what we are unless they are our mates of course, which is the one exception to the rule. Usually anyway," Aaron said.

"What do you mean by usually?" Alex asked curiously.

"Just that Shonda and I kind of took this boy in as both his parents were dead and he had been living on the street. He was only six at the time. His name was Ciaran and now goes by Cian. He needed someone since he was so young when his mother died and while we could've turned him over to child care he just would've run away if we had."

"He and his mother grew up in a very poor area and the mother worked long hours just provide for herself and her son. He was just one of those that slipped through the cracks in the system and when he wandered into mom's antique store it was practically guaranteed that they would take him in."

"It turned out that he had magic, which we think is why he wandered into Shonda's store in the first place, so that he could be trained," Aaron continued. "Once he was 17 and about to head off to college we offered to turn him immortal once he reached at least 30. He accepted our offer, but offering to turn him immortal at 17 gave him plenty of time to think about it."

"That was really nice of you and Shonda," Alex said. "I know that foster homes are not always good ones and they only sign up for the paycheck."

"Since child care services wasn't looking for him we didn't want them to become aware of his existence, which is why we changed his name," Aaron said.

"Cian grew up in one of those poor neighborhoods where nobody cares about anyone but themselves and perhaps their families," Perry added. "The only reason such people start caring is when something like a body begins to stink from decomposition and only then do they get the authorities involved."

"True that," Aaron agreed.

"So will Cian be here for Thanksgiving I would love to meet him," Alex said.

"I don't know for sure," Aaron said, "as he lives in Minnesota right now. It all depends on how busy he is. He runs my wife's antique store that he took over when Shonda retired for a few years."

"He knows that he's always welcome though," Perry told Alex, "so you'll meet him eventually."

"Back to the original subject though, as we got off track" Aaron said. "There have been some mortals over the centuries that have discovered what we are, but in that case we never actually told them they figured it out on their own. It doesn't happen often, but it has occurred and so long as they don't go spreading it around then we don't have to take action."

Alex didn't ask what kind of action a immortal would take if some mortal found out their secret and then went around telling people. She suspected that that mortal would disappear never to be seen again, but she didn't know that for sure. Cian seemed to be the sole exception that they had told who wasn't the mate of an immortal, but then, he'd only been a six year old boy and nobody would've believed him if he had spread it around. The boy's situation was such that he wouldn't have wanted to bring the attention of the authorities, so it was safe for the Hotchners to take him in and tell him their secret.

Perry, who had left the room, when they were talking after telling Alex about the incident with Connie and also about Cian, came back and told them that dinner was ready. Alex hadn't even noticed that Perry had left and she had been too interested in the conversation with Aaron.

"Well, it's time to eat," Aaron said smiling. "You'll enjoy it, as my wife is quite a good cook and so is Jazz. Dave is no slouch in that department either."

"So you're the only one that can't cook than," Alex said.

"I was born after restaurants were common," Aaron shrugged. "Dave on the other hand, was born centuries before they had such things, so he learned to take care of himself, as he couldn't always depend on a friendly farmer's wife or finding an inn. He often camped out in the open."

"Come on Alex. It's dinner time and I'm starving," Perry told his mate trying to pull her to her feet.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Alex laughed. "You don't need to pull me. I promise you I'm coming. I just don't move as fast as you do."

Aaron smiled at the byplay, as he followed his son and his mate towards the area that had been set up with all the food on several long tables. They were deserts on a separate table from the regular stuff.

Alex allowed Perry to lead her to where everybody was already in line, as it was apparently self-serve. The line was quite long and Perry told her quietly that this wasn't even the whole family. It was just the ones that could make it home from wherever they had been or that lived in the area.

Alex found that statement amazing, as they were already probably 100 people in line in front of her as well as behind her. If this wasn't all of them then the Rossis and the Hotchners were probably the largest family in the world, even if technically they weren't related.

~~~Perry and Alex~~~

Alex was sitting in the den with a plate of food on her lap with Perry beside her. There was so many people that the Hotchners couldn't put everyone at the dining room table

Every piece of furniture was being utilized and even some folding chairs had been rented beforehand. There was so many people between the Hotchner's and the Rossis that there just wasn't room for everybody, so the seating arrangement was definitely not traditional for Thanksgiving dinner.

It didn't matter really, as the food was spectacular whether or not she was eating it at a table or off her lap.

"So what do you think?" Perry asked Alex when she had consumed at least half of what she had gotten to try.

"Everything I have put in my mouth has been really good," Alex answered honestly. "The turkey is nice and moist and cooked to perfection and so is the ham. All the side dishes I've tried have been delicious and well-prepared.

"Make sure you save room for dessert, especially Aunt Jazz's," Perry said. "She always brings something spectacular and it usually has chocolate, as the main ingredient. If you want any you'll have to get it before it's gone, as it usually gone in 10 minutes."

"I'll go get some as soon, as I finish this plate and I'll definitely have to try out her bakery," Alex said, as she went back to eating because she definitely wanted some of Jazz's desert as she loved chocolate. That banana pudding a week or so ago had been spectacular and Alex suspected that the desert that Jazz had brought would also be out of this world. "That banana pudding that your aunt made last week was spectacular, so I definitely want some of whatever she brought for dessert."

"Aunt Jazz makes her own pudding, which is what makes it so good," Perry explained. "It's not a mix or premade."

Perry didn't mention the magic that was added during the baking process.

"Well, that explains that," Alex said.

"If she doesn't have a lot of time she can use premade items, pie crusts, pudding, etc., but she usually doesn't," Perry said.

Alex finished her plate of food and immediately got up to head for the desert table, Perry showing her the one that his aunt had brought.

"Looks like some kind of chocolate pie," Alex said.

"The chocolate chip cookies are also hers, though they're mostly for the children," Perry said.

"Everything already looks pretty picked over," Alex said, as she cut one of the last pieces of chocolate pie that was left. "Looks like I got here just in time to get some of your aunt's pie."

"Yeah, we did," Perry agreed taking the last slice of pie that his Aunt Jazz had brought for Thanksgiving.

"I see some other desserts here," Alex said surveying the table.

"Our family is so large that my aunt doesn't have time to do more than a couple of desserts, so some of the other family always brings more so people have a choice. Some of my cousins are also excellent bakers just like my aunt, so you'll enjoy some of the other desserts if you have room in your stomach for them," Perry said.

"I usually watch what I eat, especially of things like pie or cake or really anything with a lot of calories, but not on Thanksgiving or Christmas," Alex said. "It's the two times a year I don't watch my calorie intake very strictly."

"I jog, so I can eat what I want as you know," Perry said. "I jog 5 miles most every day, though sometimes when it's really cold out or rainy I use the treadmill at home."

"I wish I was so dedicated to exercise. I do have a treadmill but I don't use it as often as I should," Alex said enviously. "Oh, well, we each have our own way of dealing with not gaining too much weight."

Alex went and sat down. She ate her dessert once she was settled and then declared that she was full.

"I'm not surprised, as you had two plates of food and then desert," Perry said just as he finished his piece of pie and then bit into the cookie that he had also gotten.

"We should go say hello to your mother and aunt at least and thank them for Thanksgiving dinner, even if it was technically lunch, since we ate about 1 o'clock in the afternoon."

"Sounds good," Perry said.

"There sure are a lot of people around," Alex said, as she looked around the room and saw people on every piece of furniture and some were sitting on the floor enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner. Alex knew there were even more people in other rooms of the house and some were in the backyard as well. The backyard was very nice, especially for New York though technically, they were a small town that was outside of Manhattan itself. The backyard was large with trees all over the place so it was basically enclosed so the family couldn't be spied on from that direction.

"If you think this is a lot of people then just wait till Christmas," Perry said. "The house will be busting at the seams even more than it is now."

"That's hard for me to imagine," Alex said she tried to imagine even more people then she had seen today.

"I know it's hard to imagine even more of a crowd then showed up for Thanksgiving but trust me there will be," Perry said. "Those that couldn't make it for Thanksgiving will show up for Christmas more than likely.

"You sure do have a large family," Alex said.

"You have to remember that my parents are immortal and so are my Uncle Dave and Aunt Jazz," Perry said.

"So?" Alex asked wondering what Perry was getting at.

"None of the above will ever get too old to have children," Perry explained. "Every few decades both couples will have a few more so the family will keep expanding."

"Oh, I understand what you were getting at now," Alex said understanding appearing in her dark eyes. "So I'm assuming that your parents had some more after you and your siblings were born and grown-up."
"Yep, every time they move somewhere new they have at least three or four children and sometimes five like what happened with me," Perry agreed. "My mother and aunt aren't going to die in childbirth like woman do sometimes, even in this very technological, advanced time.

"Which means I won't die in childbirth," Alex said.

"Exactly," Perry agreed. "You'll still have to go through all the pain that goes along with having a child, but you won't actually die like some woman do.

"Good to know," Alex said. "I would like a child, but not right now it can definitely wait until after we get married."

Perry looked around and saw they were temporarily alone as everyone else had left to get more food or perhaps to go outside to see one of the other family.

"That reminds me," Perry said taking a box out of his pocket. "Marry me Alex. You have accepted the immortality and magic that runs through my family with amazing fortitude. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my eternity with you. Please say yes."

"Of course I'll say, yes," Alex told him kissing Perry lingeringly. "I love you, I know this without a single doubt. You showed me a lot of trust and so has your family, who I really like at least the ones I've met."

Perry returned the kiss and slipped the ring he had bought onto her finger without a word.

"Before we leave we have to tell my parents at least about our engagement and probably my aunt and uncle too," Perry said. "News of our engagement will spread through the family like wildfire and everybody will want to congratulate us."

"That's fine with me," Alex said grinning hugely, even as she admired the ring that Perry had bought her.

"It's exquisite Perry. It must've cost you a mint," Alex said.

"Not really as one of my siblings runs a jewelry shop right here in New York," Perry explained. "Of course, Marcus, is considerably older than I am, as he was born long before me and my siblings were. When I told him that I needed an engagement ring so I could propose to my mate he gave me a good price."

"Well, I see that having a large family does have some advantages," Alex said her lips twitching in amusement.

"It definitely does," Perry said smiling.

"So one of your older siblings went into the jewelry business," Alex said.

"He did," Perry agreed. "Marcus has no talent for antiques like mom does. Some of my siblings got that talent and so own antique stores in different cities but others went into other professions. Trust me, my parents, have had numerous children ever since they met in the late 20th century. Same goes for my aunt and uncle."

"It's nice to have a large family," Alex said. "One that'll stand by you no matter what."

"Absolutely!" Perry agreed, as he hugged and kissed Alex again overjoyed at her acceptance of his proposal before they went to inform his parents and also his aunt and uncle of their engagement.

~~~Perry and Alex~~~