Three of Five, Ch 52
Jan. 14th, 2007 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melo_annechenChapter Fifty-two
Lupin's cell phone beeped as they were about to leave the loft. He paused to read the tm and cleared his throat. “Ch-Tasha, I may have overstepped the bounds.”
“Hm, I don't recall setting boundaries yet, so it must be really bad.” Tasha came up behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist, hooked her chin over his shoulder and read the message. “That’s Arsène’s number - what program has been completed?”
This was a much better plan in the lab. “It's the signal that Arsène and Sela completed their tasks at the courthouse.” Lupin swallowed convulsively.
“Mm. Sela and Arsène at the courthouse, and you haven't given me my primary identification packet back yet,” Tasha murmured as she nuzzled his ear. “Were they just getting the license or the whole shebang?”
“They were instructed to request the full ceremony, and then fax the license to my attorney and put the original in the safety deposit box at the bank.” Lupin closed the cell phone and turned to face her. "You don't sound surprised."
“Kjær, there are metric tons of documentation that you are both mad and evil. In working with you, I have also found you to have Large Brass Ones on occasion. It's a logical progression. And to be fair, I didn't ask you before telling Madame Shan we were betrothed, either.” Tasha wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug. “I did say we would have to restructure the contract.” She released enough that he could breathe - “The family will understand, eventually.”
Lupin finally looked her in the eye and said “It's more important to me that you understand.”
“Understand what - that you were willing to lock me in the high security storage room at the lab if I didn't agree to the arrangement?”
“Ah, well, in brief, yes, that was the general idea, but wrong location.” Lupin finally relaxed as he realized she was teasing him. I was wrong - There was never a better plan.
“All right then, you understand this, min ektemann - You are not getting rid of me until reanimation is no longer possible. Now shut up and kiss the bride.”
>>>>
On the way downstairs, Tasha asked, “You seem to have gotten over the surprise quickly. How long have you known?”
“Known, with certainty, this morning - but the suspicion has been there since the Tinasky information started trickling in, and then I got the pictures from the Winter Solstice FAIR gathering.” He smiled at her, “You were careful enough there was only one photograph of you with your mother.”
“I wondered why you didn’t press the identity issue with me, even after the run in with Mostly Harmless.” At Lupin’s raised eyebrow, she clarified, “your personal trainer, um, Darren?”
“Heh, interesting name for him; no, I just lifted his photo albums. If I feel charitable later, I may point out the holes in his security.”
She chuckled, “Lovelace had let slip some of the research, and it looks as though you found my birth certificate in the first week.”
“I don’t think we found your original, but we found the joke certificate - the names were not in the right order. It said Davenport was your birth mother.”
She took a deep breath before quietly admitting, “He is.”
“...that's just freaky, Tasha.”
“Look, I consider him one of the strongest men I know. He stayed female over a year for me.”
“Biology may not be my strong point, but even I know human gestation is less than a year,” Lupin chuckled, and stopped on the landing when Tasha did.
Tasha looked him in they eye and quietly said, “He decided the infant formulas on the market were not good enough.”
Lupin‘s limited biological knowledge stretched a bit, and prompted a connection between the two pieces of information, to which he could only respond, “... oh.”
>>>
Tasha muttered as they entered the courtyard, “Good golly, did they sell tickets?” Lupin scanned the courtyard and found he recognized an uncomfortable number of the faces there. The man he knew as Dr. Meriones from the Tinasky photo album and Tasha’s sibling from the incident at the symposium was seated at a table just inside the door to the restaurant, chatting with someone who resembled Mendoza from that meddling Rosa Foundation. Officer Giles was sipping tea and pointedly not watching the table at the center. The people at that table were warily watching 2875 set out the tea service at the right of the two places left empty.
Dave and Helen were sitting stiffly at the table, flanked by - of all people - Dr. Siemienowicz and a young man in wraparound sunglasses. The presence of the rocket scientist made sense if his hypothesis was correct, which might also explain the young man’s attendance. He was teasingly familiar to Lupin, with a dim visual memory of the young man behind the wheel. He was about to comment on the fact when Tasha took care of the introductions, as if he had never met any of those seated at the table.
“Lupin, I’d like to introduce my parents, Helen and Dave Narbon-Davenport, and my siblings, Marilyn and Alvin. Mom, Dad - I’d like you to meet my husband, Lupin Madblood.” She put her arm around his shoulders, and smiled at her parents.
Lupin tensed the arm he had automatically put around Tasha‘s waist, not expecting her to drop a verbal bomb on them like this, and prepared to shove her behind the dubious cover of the large planter to the side of the seating area. He noted that the siblings were not surprised, and were watching the reaction of the parental units. Surprisingly, it was Helen who seemed to go off-line at the statement, her face slack with shock. Davenport, on the other hand, was obviously Not Happy with his daughter’s statement.
He slowly grated, “It seems that my daughter decided it was time to trap and train her mate. I admit, I'm not at all sure of her choice, but that's her decision.”
Tasha giggled and hugged Lupin closer to her. “It gets better, Dad - he followed family tradition without knowing it.”
Dave‘s face fell, and he groaned, “Oh, no…”
“Yup, a proxy wedding at the courthouse,” Tasha grinned, and kissed Lupin at his hairline. Lupin was watching the family seated at the table, and saw Helen’s face change from shock, through anger to confusion as her focus changed to a space behind him.
Torn between watching for an attack by his bride’s family, and checking for an attack from the rear, he wavered until he heard Sela’s greeting, “Are we late?”
“Just in time, I’d say,” Tasha responded. “Come say hello to your grandparents.”
Lupin noticed Davenport’s twitch and murmured to her, “Koishii, are you trying to start a firefight?” while Sela and Arsène reached out to shake hands with the family.
She murmured back as Sela and Arsène drew up chairs to flank the empty seats, “Just the opposite - if we keep them off balance without closing off the exits, we should come out of this with minimal mayhem.” Then as they were sitting, Tasha’s phone rang.
>>>>
Lovelace had secured the last of the deactivated rogue androids in the storage racks, recording the damage to each for later repairs. Sela and Arsène had left some time ago, and she had worked out a tentative repair schedule for the ones who had been damaged in the scuffle with the rogues. Sela and Arsène had not been active on the net since they left the courthouse, so they were proceeding as planned. She has no idea if the professor had planned to tell Natasha immediately or not, but she should know. She called the intern.
She answered the telephone, “Hello, Lovelace. How are your guests?” The stress readings on her voice were exceptionally low.
“Secured and logged for repairs… what should I call you?”
“Whatever you like, but I usually am Tasha to my friends.”
“Oh, good - that’s not as formal as ‘stepmother’, and less semantically confusing to the rest of the family.”
“Not exactly subtle, Lovelace; yes, I accepted. Have you told him about your other connection?”
“No, I haven’t - I have not yet decided if I will move out or if b1431gs0n will move in,” Lovelace chuckled.
“He is here now; would you like to talk to him?” Tasha asked.
“I’ll wait until he gets here, since he’s now cleared for overnight guest status. Are you coming home tonight?” Lovelace asked.
Tasha smiled and ducked her head, surprised that such a simple question could make her so happy. “I don’t know - it will depend on how late we are here.”
“Ah, I’ll expect you tomorrow afternoon, see you then,” Lovelace said before she disconnected the line.
Tasha closed her cell phone, and turned to Lupin - “Kjæreste?” The endearment caused her father to flinch.
“Hai, Tasha-chan?” Lupin brought her hand to his lips and gave her a look that definitely made both of her parents uncomfortable.
Tasha's eyes danced as she tried to keep her voice in a conversational mode, “It seems you are not the only Tanuki in the family.”
“How so, ichuunoona?” Lupin was not bothering with conversational tones normally used in public.
Tasha's next words gave him a shock, though. “Did you know your brother-in-law could also be considered your son-in-law?”
He sat up straighter, and said, “Alvin is b1431gs0n - wait, the translation, of course.” Lupin turned to him, and asked, “Do you stand behind your letter?”
“Yes, sir,” Al answered.
Lupin then asked, “Have you asked her yet?”
“Ah, no - not entirely fair when I couldn’t tell her who I was,” Al raised an eyebrow in Tasha’s direction.
“Hm, quite,” Lupin leaned to Tasha, “Lovelace has cleared him for security?”
“I believe so, love,” Tasha chuckled.
Lupin smiled at her as he asked, “Then why is he still here?”
Al stood quickly, saying, “congratulations’mhappyf’ryou seeyoulatermom’n’dad gottagobye!” as he left the courtyard at a run.
Helen and Dave looked at each other, and then looked at their middle child. Helen then said, “What just happened?”
“I think that makes three of us making permanent connections with the Madblood family,” Tasha chuckled.
“Who is the third?” Madblood asked as Helen palmed her face.
“Oh, my half-sister hooked up with Foot years ago,” Tasha then said to her mother, “What did you expect, Mom, that we would grow our own mates?”
“Not all of us are that shocking,” Marilyn said. “On the other hand, I did have a bit of news myself.”
Dave said from behind his hands, “Please tell me you didn’t dig up Felix Madblood and reanimate him.”
Lupin paled, remembering that with this family, that was within the possible actions, when the woman he knew as Dr Siemienowicz gestured to Officer Giles. As he came to the table, she said “Lupin, I think you’ve met your brother-in-law, Thomas?”
“We’ve met, yes,” Lupin grinned and held out his hand. “When did you two sign the contract?” Arsène stood up from his chair to offer Thomas a seat, and then claimed Alvin’s vacated seat beside Helen.
“The morning after the dinner with, erm, ‘Charlie and Lupe’,” Thomas chuckled nervously, cutting a glance at Helen and Dave.
“When was your ceremony?” Marilyn asked.
Arsène answered, “twenty-five minutes ago.”
Helen raised an eyebrow, saying “We haven’t been here thirty minutes.”
“Actually, you broke into Mother’s apartment thirty-nine minutes fifteen seconds ago,” Sela answered.
Tasha laced her fingers with Lupin’s, and stated, “I accept the proxy as it stands. I have no problems with going through another at say, Thanksgiving, with Artie as the officiator, as the family ceremony.” She looked to Lupin for his reaction.
“Doubly binding, then - very good, and we still have plenty of time for the announcement-after-the-fact to be posted in the FAIR newsletter” Lupin said. “I want it to be very clear to everyone that I consider this to be permanent.”
Tasha grinned and leaned over to kiss him as a new voice said, “I am glad to hear you say so, Professor. This attitude is not entirely unexpected, but unfortunately, no one took the spot on the betting pool for a traditional Betazoid wedding.”
Tasha scanned the table, focusing on the camera and speaker beside the cake tray before speaking. “I’m sorry, Elena. I should have introduced you as well. Lupin, my sister Elena Davenport is here in intent, though her servers are not portable.”
“We can change that whenever you’re ready” Lupin offered.
“Thank you, I will keep that in mind,” Elena responded.
Tasha asked, “Who won the pool, by the way?”
“Nonna did - and I thought she was going to miss it when you showed up at the old lab.”
“She was in the office, and you didn’t notify the board,” Dave’s brow furrowed, and he continued, “because she asked you to not contact us.”
“She had the situation under control for local values, Dad.” Elena responded.
“You knew where she worked” Helen stated, “but you didn’t raise the alarm until this afternoon?”
“Point of order, Mom - I raised the alert because I picked up the signal from the personal alarm Professor Madblood made for her” Elena said. “You were to be back-up if she was unable to subdue her attacker.”
“Elena, I didn’t tell you about the alarm. How did you find the frequency?” Tasha said.
“Lovelace and I are members of the same lab assistant’s forum. We have had several discussions on-line about security for organics. She noted the section of the spectrum that would have the least amount of interference locally. Since I already have a monitor following the full spectrum, I had no problems adding an extra set of eyes to her favorites.” Elena continued in a lighter tone, “I was very glad to note you took the extra steps to protect my sister, Professor.”
“I could not let her be hurt in my service, or by my actions.” Lupin turned to Tasha, “and that includes shielding me from your family.”
Elena responded, “I doubt any of us could convince her of that, Professor.”
Lupin chuckled, “and why is that, Miss Davenport?”
“The first time she declared herself to be your caretaker was when she was seven.” Elena said.
>>>>
They returned to Tasha’s loft after the parents had been placated. “So that’s it? They’re going to let us be, without further arguments?” Lupin asked as Tasha locked, bolted and braced the door.
Tasha yawned as she nodded, “We should be fine, for now. Grandma will be a problem when she decides to find out, but I think we can relax for a couple of weeks, at least.”
“I had forgotten about your other grandmother.” Lupin paled. “She is one factor I had not considered; perhaps it would be a good idea to move our base of operations to the lodge…” He noticed Tasha yawning again. “I’m sorry; am I boring you?”
"Oh, it’s not you,” she said as she covered another yawn, “I’ve been awake for thirty hours today, and-” she blushed, “erm... I haven't slept well, recently.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Oh, really? Tell me, koishii.”
“Last week was one of the most stressful times of my life. I had to pretend to be your lover, and I could not let you know it wasn’t pretense for me. I thought I couldn’t tell you who I was, and I am cursed with a conscience that wouldn’t let me throw myself at you under false colors.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “I knew how you fit in my arms, your scent was everywhere – Prime, before the week was half-over I knew how you tasted, yet I was alone every night.” Lupin slid in closer, wrapping his arms around her. “You were sleeping not thirty feet away from me and as for what I wanted…” Her arms tightened around him “I thought you wanted someone else.”
“Ah, I think we’ve been on the same page, then. I did sleep, but the dreams I had wouldn’t let me rest. Thursday morning I woke up with my hand on the doorknob to your room, though I have not had a history of sleepwalking.” Lupin rested his forehead on Tasha’s shoulder. “I could not imagine you would want the company of a man older than your parents, nor could I imagine what fool would not want you.” He chuckled, “Did you know, before that night at the restaurant, I was jealous of Thomas Giles?” At Charlotte’s confused murmur, he replied, “I thought he was a competitor for your affections.”
Tasha’s faint giggle showed how fatigued she was. “I never wanted a submissive; or a master for that matter. I was looking for a partner. But I hadn’t found anyone who wanted me for myself. No one considered me worth anything beyond who my family was or what I could do for them.”
“The fools - but there is something I can do for you now.” Lupin turned her loose and guided her to the stairs. “You need to be put into bed, and get some sleep.”
As she ascended, she grasped his hand and pulled him up the stairs after her. “Please don’t tell me you plan on going to sleep somewhere else.”
“Of course not, how else will I make sure you relax enough to sleep… eventually.”
“Good, because I’m just a little tired, not dead.”
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Date: 2007-01-15 12:29 am (UTC)And I lost the bet on the identity of Two. I had thought it might be Dave himself. Adam said not, so now I have to make him a pan of sugarfree brownies. :)
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Date: 2007-01-15 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 12:38 am (UTC)Great
Date: 2007-01-15 12:29 am (UTC)Re: Great
Date: 2007-01-15 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 10:59 am (UTC)When I saw him calling her Tasha, I knew something was up, so I scanned back and caught up. What a great way for me to wind this up! It was a nice huge chunk of reading all at once. :)
Great job. Absolutely precious. :)
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Date: 2007-01-15 10:13 pm (UTC)