"Well, Spencer took it better than I figured he would," Aaron said once the two disappeared out the front door.

"Yeah, he did," Dave agreed with his friend. "I figure that's due to Jazz's treats. The magic she puts into the recipe when she bakes desserts of any type probably tampered his reaction considerably. I suspect that his reaction would've been more disbelieving if not for that."

"While I'm sure that the magic in the eclairs I baked helped tamper down his probable reaction we have to remember what his mother told him before she was killed. I think that helped a great deal more than my treats. It's clear to me that he loved his mother very much and so he paid attention when she gave him advice and because of his memory he never forgot."

"Did anybody else notice that he never mentioned his father," Shonda said.

"Now that you mention it..." Aaron said, as he thought back over the previous conversation.

"You're right, Shonda, he never once mentioned his father, which tells me he likely wasn't a good one," Jazz said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't had any contact with his one remaining parent ever since he left home," Dave said suddenly feeling very sober.

"We already know that he's an only child due to his brother dying before he could be born," Aaron added. "I mean to have no family, no one related to you, both Dave and I know what that's like."

"That's true we do," Dave agreed soberly. "Jazz always had her parents and siblings and Shonda had her father before he passed. Also, Jazz has always been the sister she never had, even if they are not technically related. Meeting Jazz was the best day of my life hands down."

"I can say the same," Jazz agreed kissing Dave on his bearded cheek. "If we're rehashing ancient history you brought down every single barrier I had erected around my heart. I've never once regretted falling in love with you."

"I agree with Jazz, though I didn't have the same bad experience that she did," Shonda said.

"I agree with Dave's sentiment that it was the happiest day of my life when we met," Aaron said, as he also kissed his wife's cheek.

"Mine too," Shonda agreed with a smile

"Let's not bring up his father unless he does," Dave suggested. "There's no reason to bring him more pain or make him think about the man that likely didn't support his son even when he should have."

The others agreed solemnly.

~~~Shawnda and Spencer~~~

A few days later

"I've been wondering something," Spencer spoke for the first time in hours. Spencer had been remarkably silent over the last few days, as if he was working out everything in his head. He gave short answers when asked a question and Shawnda had finally let him be letting him work out everything himself. He did any chores automatically on autopilot.

"What?" Shawnda asked, as the two of them sat together on the comfortable couch in Spencer's apartment.

"You're immortal I'm not. I'll die in a few decades while you'll live on so how can I be your mate?"

"I guess you didn't remember from my dad's story that my mother used to be very mortal and how they met at my mom's bakery," Shawnda teased him.

"All right, so that means there's a way to turn me immortal," Spencer said catching on immediately.

"Yes, there is. My dad was also originally very mortal," Shawnda said. "I'll have to tell you the story sometime about how he was turned immortal in the first place. As for how, I'll turn you immortal it has to do with my blood and a syringe."

"So you inject your blood into my system," Spencer said instantly working out what Shawnda was implying, "and that'll start changing my blood transforming me."

"Exactly," Shawnda congratulated him. Her tone was proud causing Spencer to blush, as he'd rarely been complimented. No one had ever been proud of him before, except his mother and she'd been dead a long time now. "I was wondering when you were gonna ask actually, but I know you had a lot to absorb, so I'm not surprised it took you so long. I know you didn't realize I was never going to let you die, just as dad could never let my mother die or Uncle Aaron let my aunt die. Once one of our kind meets their mate that's the end of the line. We'll never be happy again without them and never be able to settle for a lesser relationship, never have children."

"So you're very glad I didn't reject you," Spencer said and Shawnda nodded solemnly.

"We would've had to have taken drastic measures if that had happened," Shawnda informed him with twinkling eyes. "Luckily, it didn't."

"I don't think I want to know what those drastic measures are," Spencer said apprehensively.

"Don't look so worried," Shawnda told him with a wink. "We never would've harmed you, as by extension that would have harmed me as well and not necessarily physically. Besides, that's not the way we do things in our family. My father's always saying that violence is rarely the answer, but there are times when it's necessary."

"So you're saying you rarely kill anyone," Spencer translated.

"It's never happened to me," Shawnda said, "but as for my father and mother that's a different story. They are just some people that don't know how to keep their noses out of our business and that can be dangerous. We can talk more about that later though. If you're ready to be turned immortal I'm more than ready to do so believe me."

"Is there any kind of pain involved," Spencer asked.

"Nope, absolutely none," Shawnda assured him. "We'll do it right before we go to bed and by morning you should be immortal."

"Seems simple enough," Spencer said relieved. "I love you so much Shawnda and I never imagined I'd say that about any woman. I love you so much that I'm willing to be turned immortal, which is still a very weird and strange concept to me."

"I know it is," Shawnda agreed calmly. "If I hadn't been born immortal I would've thought it was strange as well. I grew up in a small town originally. Where my mother is originally from, where her family was."

"Moonlight Gorge," Spencer recited from memory.

"Exactly," Shawnda agreed. "Some of the family still lives there, though they do move on when it's time for them too. The family still owns the house that I grew up in and it's a perfect place to raise a family. People are mostly incurious and don't bother you for information about yourself and everybody knows everybody else so strangers stick out."

"Considering your immortality I would think people being incurious would be a good thing," Spencer commented.

"Oh, it is," Shawnda laughed. "People mind their own business for the most part in Moonlight Gorge. Of course, we're always careful to move on before people notice that we haven't aged."

"I'm assuming you put color in your hair and change your appearance so you look older," Spencer said remembering the white in David Rossi's hair when they had met. It had looked natural, but he now realize that it was probably coloring to make himself look a little older and the beard helped with that, as it changed the shape of his face and hid his chin effectively.

"Yes, we do, but there's only so much we can do to look older," Shawnda said. "It's only cosmetic changes but it does help."

"Most people would never notice," Spencer observed. "Most people aren't very observant.

"No they aren't," Shawnda agreed kissing him on the cheek. "I'll have to contact my father and tell him you're ready he'll understand."

"Why not just do it yourself?" Spencer asked curiously.

"Because I don't want to make a mistake and dad has more experience then I do," Shawnda said.

"Is it possible to make that kind of mistake?" Spencer inquired.

"Probably not, but dad's still more experienced than I am and I'd rather just have him there so he can guide me," Shawnda said. "Of course, he did it a different way then I'm going to have to."

"There's another way to do it why don't we just do it that way?" Spencer asked.

"Because I'm female and you're not immortal," Shawnda explained.

"So because you're not a man you can't turn me through sex," Spencer said realizing why Shawnda wasn't going to use that method to turn him into what she was. He blushed at the implications that Shawnda's statement implied.

"Dad believes that giving you an immortal's blood will be faster than the other method, but he's never had to do it himself so he's not positive."

"Well, both blood and semen have a persons DNA, so it's a sound theory," Spencer said. "It should work."

"Well, we'll soon find out," Shawnda told him kissing him quite seriously.

"Yes, we will," Spencer said, as he returned the kiss.

~~~Shawnda and Spencer~~~

That night

"Here we go," Dave told Spencer as he held a syringe filled with his daughter's blood. He wasn't entirely sure his blood would work considering what Godfrey Ambrosius had told him so long ago. This was kind of an experiment to see if an immortals blood could turn somebody immortal, but it should he knew, because there was no way he was having sex with his future son-in-law. Besides, he had been told that he could only turn his mate immortal and no one else so him doing it that way would probably not work anyway. A blood transfusion was the only other method that could work. If this didn't work they were in trouble. Dave shoved his doubts aside because he knew there was no reason it shouldn't work. Still, he hated to experiment on the man that was going to become his son-in-law just in case it went wrong as such things often did. They didn't really have a choice though, so it was best to shove his doubts aside and concentrate on the task at hand.

It would be only be a few hours before they know one way or the other.

"Ready when you are," Spencer said hiding his nervousness as best he could.

Dave, Shawnda and Spencer were at Shawnda's condo where she had a king sized bed.

"When you wake up in the morning you should be immortal," Dave said. "Notice I said should be."

"I know Shawnda explained it to me," Spencer told Dave. "I only hope that we don't need to be the same blood type."

"That shouldn't matter," Dave said with a shake of his head for emphasis. "It would be nearly impossible to find another immortal with the same type of blood. I won't say I haven't run across a few other immortals over the decades but not many. Aaron is the only one I've ever gotten close to who is also immortal."

"I understand the risk, so I'm willing to go through with it," Spencer told Dave who nodded in appreciation of Spencer's bravery.

"There isn't much risk," Shawnda told her father, "as this is the only other possible method, especially since the spell Godfrey Ambrosius used on you has been lost for hundreds of years and as far as we know no one's ever created something that powerful again."

Spencer was going to have to get the story later about how his father-in-law had been changed into an immortal, but it could wait. Still, curiosity was often the bane of his existence.

"All true," Dave agreed. "Still, I know your happiness is wrapped up in this being a success."

"Even if this fails for whatever reason dad, which I think is unlikely, I wouldn't blame you," Shawnda told her father.

"Let's do this," Dave said with determination, as he held a syringe with his daughter's blood. "I'm not exactly sure if one syringe will be enough but we can worry about that later." Dave found a vein and inserted the needle into it before pushing down the plunger where it then entered into his son-in-law's arm. "There, it's done, we'll have see what happens."

"I'll let you know in the morning whether or not it worked," Shawnda said, as she bit her lip obviously worried for Spencer.

"Good, I'll be waiting for news as will everyone else," Dave said. "You know they'll be worried until they know if this little experiment has been a success."

Dave left then and Shawnda sat on the other side of the bed and picked up a book while Spencer fell asleep after a few minutes of watching her read.

~~~Shawnda and Spencer~~~

The next morning

It's time for the acid test," Shawnda told Spencer as soon as he had risen for the day and had his first cup of coffee. "You didn't move at all last night as you were peaceful, so that meant my blood didn't harm you. I was all prepared to rush you to the hospital if I had to."

"Your father believed the risk was slight," Spencer said.

"He wasn't 100% sure though," Shawnda said, "as he was only guessing. He has no experience with this type of situation. It made good logical sense though."

"Hand me that knife will you?" Spencer requested and Shawnda did so.

Spencer ran the knife lightly over his hand and watched as it healed slower then he had seen Shawnda to do so.

"Well, you healed slower than you should have so you probably need another dose," Shawnda speculated watching the cut on Spencer's hand heal all the way finally. The healing took much longer than it had for her and she'd cut herself much deeper. "We can ask dad. Go over to see him and mom. Still, you're at least partly immortal because you wouldn't have healed so fast otherwise. I'm not entirely sure."

"We could try another syringe of your blood tonight," Spencer said. "We probably don't want to wait too long just in case."

"Probably not," Shawnda agreed. "One syringe of blood isn't a lot. It might simply take more."

"Let's go see your parents," Spencer suggested. "We can stop for breakfast on the way."

"I'm sure there's something at parents home to eat as my mother is always baking goodies to have for guests and that's only if my father doesn't eat what his wife bakes," Shawnda grinned. "I can't blame him actually, for eating everything mom bakes, as she is a baker after all. If there isn't anything to eat already made, which I doubt, then we can stop and get something on our way home."

"I don't blame your father for eating your mother's baking. That eclair the other night was one of the best desserts I have ever had and the dinner beforehand was also the best meal I'd had in a long time. You know I eat out a lot, mostly fast food, so it's no wonder I enjoyed dinner at your parents so much," Spencer said. "Your father must exercise if he eats like that all the time."

"He does," Shawnda said, as she and Spencer went to the restroom and then headed out the door of Shawnda's apartment. "My mom is one of the best bakers I know and I've eaten in some of the finest restaurants in the world over the years. She also cooks regular food really well, but it just doesn't compare to her desserts."

The two of them kept chatting as they headed for Shawnda's car, which was a really nice two-seater.

In the back of her mind, Shawnda worried about her and Spencer's future if another dose of blood didn't work.

~~~Shawnda and Spencer~~~