Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: Thank you blue_lioness, Capt_Davy_Jones_Lover, WeepingAngelOfDeath and Michael for your reviews.

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“Are you still blushing?” she asks, trying not to giggle.

“I am not blushing,” he grumbles, trying to work up a good sulk. “I’m completely humiliated, mortified.”

“Why?” she questions, looking up at him. “Because some people whom you’ve never met and aren’t likely to ever meet, heard you when we were having sex?”

“They heard you too, need I remind you,” he points out as he settles his arm around her shoulders a little bit more comfortably. “And I prefer the term making love.”

“The people that heard us will eventually decide that someone turned on a TV with the volume cranked up,” she tells him as she lays her head back down on his shoulder. “And you’re right, making love sounds better than sex.”

“Still, it’s quite embarrassing,” he mutters while he accelerates around a slower car.

“Hence the reason why you’re still blushing,” she teases.

“I am not blushing!” he insists.

“Right, so your skin is just turning a darker shade of blue and you’re fur is bristling just for the fun of it,” she continues with an ill contained snicker.

“You can always walk the rest of the way, missy,” he warns, though it’s hard to believe him with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Would you really do that?” she purrs as she rubs her nose against his cheek. “Would you really leave me out here in the middle of nowhere? Poor, defenseless little me?”

“You are anything but defenseless,” he retorts as he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Now stop that or we won’t make it to your parent’s in time for dinner.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she replies as she settles back down. “It’s not too late to back out.”

“Your parents are expecting us,” he reminds her. “And besides, I want to meet them.”

“You’ll be eating those words,” she warns him and he chuckles.

“I really doubt that your family is as bad as you make them out to be,” he says and she scoffs.

“Boy, are you in for a surprise,” she snorts.

“How much further until we get to your parents?” he asks.

“Maybe another half hour,” she answers. “We need to take the next exit, drive through town and then they’re about another five minutes past the outskirts.”

A short time later they’re pulling off of the interstate and soon they’re making their way through the center of town. Reluctantly, she leaves her comfortable spot next to him and slides over to where she’s supposed to be. Even though she’s only moved a couple of feet away, he can already feel the loss of her touch.

He rests his hand on the still warm seat between them and she gently places her hand on top of his. They drive on in silence through the fairly busy streets as last minute shoppers rush to finish their holiday shopping before the stores close. Even though most people are absorbed with their errands, some still notice the very strange man driving through town and stop and stare.

“It seems we’re drawing attention,” he observes as they wait at a stop light.

“Are you surprised?” she asks with a smile. “It’s not every day that the US Ambassador to the UN drives through town.”

He looks at her, captures the hand on top of his and kisses the back of it all while staring at her rather intently.

“The light’s green,” she tells him. “We better get going before the camera crews get here.”

Reluctantly, he turns his attention back to the road and presses his foot down on the accelerator. They drive along the main drag with her praying that no one she knows will see her, or at least, no one who happens to have access to a phone and her mother’s phone number handy. This is one surprise she doesn’t want ruined and speaking of surprises, there’s a special surprise that she needs to get.

“Hank, would you mind stopping in this shopping center for a bit?” she requests, pointing to a strip mall just up ahead.

“No, of course not,” he answers as he glances over at her. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” she replies with a grin as he parks. “I’ll be right back.”

He watches her as she gets out of the car and then quickly crosses the parking lot. When he sees the store she goes into, he’s got a pretty good idea what she’s up to and he has to chuckle to himself.

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Cathy goes to wipe her hands dry when she hears the doorbell ring and then heads for the front door. As soon as she comes around the corner she can see that Stuart beat her to the door and she gladly opens her arms to the two small bodies flying towards her.

“Grandma!” the girls cry in unison as they charge the older woman.

“Hello, my darlings, how are you?” Cathy gladly greets as her granddaughters hug her. “Did you have fun visiting Grandma Claire?”

“Yeah, but Jessie was there and he made fun our dresses,” Bethany complains.

“He said our hats are stupid too,” Beverly pouts.

“Well, Jessie has no fashion sense, so what does he know?” Cathy assures them. “We’ll be serving dinner as soon as Aunt Amy gets here, so you better go get cleaned up.”

“Ok,” the girls reply in unison before taking off towards the bathroom to wash their hands.

“Mom, why is the table set with the fine china and crystal?” Annie asks as she brings in a couple of bags worth of presents.

“And why is there an extra place setting?” Paul questions as he looks over the table.

“You aren’t going to believe it,” Cathy excitedly tells her daughter. “Amy’s bringing home a man.”

“She’s what?” Annie squeaks, all of the color draining from her face.

“She’s not bringing another gay guy is she?” Mike asks as he walks into the house, carrying several pieces of luggage.

“No, I asked,” Cathy answers. “She said he’s straight.”

“The guy got a name?” Mike inquires as he heads for the stairs.

“Hank,” Stuart grumbles as he follows his son-in-law towards the steps with his own load of bags. “What kind of name is Hank?”

“Hank is a perfectly fine name,” Cathy tells him.

“He’s probably is some overweight, flannel wearing truck driver with teeth missing,” Stuart continues grousing as he makes his way up the stairs. “Probably chews tobacco too. Probably didn’t finish grade school either.”

“And that would be your father in overprotective mode again,” Cathy chuckles as she turns back to her daughter. “Are you alright?”

“Peachy,” Annie growls before turning and going to put the presents under the tree.

“What’s the matter?” Cathy asks, following her daughter.

“I was looking forward to actually taking my contacts out and now I find out that I’m going to have to wear them the whole time,” Annie huffs. “Do you have any idea how uncomfortably these things are?”

“I know, sweetheart, but it can’t be helped,” Cathy replies. “Can’t you just be happy that you’re sister is finally bringing home a man? She hasn’t been as lucky as you have when it comes to guys and it would be nice if we didn’t ruin this for her.”

“Fine,” Annie sighs as she stands back up. “I’d better go help Mike unpack.”

With that, Annie heads upstairs, passing her father on the stairs on the way and giving him a passing kiss on the cheek when she does. She heads for her old room where she finds Mike already working on sorting through the clothes and putting them away. She quietly and calmly closes the door, walks over to the bed and then throws herself down on it, screaming into the bedding as she kicks and punches the hapless piece of furniture.

“I could be wrong, but I’m guessing you’re upset about something,” Mike muses after she’s worn herself out.

“I had it all perfectly planned,” she huffs after she rolls over onto her back. “She was going to watch the kids while we went to that little bed-n-breakfast that I love. We were finally going to have some time to ourselves. Now she has to go and ruin it by bringing him here to meet Mom and Dad.”

“As much as I would love to run away with you for the weekend, the knowledge that your sister was watching our kids would kind of ruin it for me,” he replies as he leans over her prone body. “We’d be calling her every ten minutes to make sure she wasn’t putting the kids into a diabetic coma or something.”

“Oh, she wouldn’t feed them sugar while she watches them,” she assures him with a growl. “She’d wait until we were about to get home and then she’d get them hyped up.”

“And you were willing to let her do that?” he asks.

“Yes!” she nearly shouts. “I need a break!”

“Ok, ok, I understand,” he chuckles as he leans down to kiss her. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Who’d have thought she would have had the guts to bring another guy here,” she sighs, staring at the ceiling. “You’d think after that thing with her gay friend she’d never bring another guy home again.”

“What makes you think she wanted to?” he asks as he goes back to unpacking. “After that train wreck this morning, it may have been the only way for her to get here.”

“Think she’ll lord it over me that I can’t blackmail her anymore?” she asks.

“Only every second of every day we’re here,” he answers and she groans. “Hey, I warned you not to do it. But would you listen to me? No. And don’t be surprised if the main ingredient of our kids’ diets is sugar for the rest of the week.”

“Maybe they’ll get four flats and not be able to make it,” she wistfully hopes.

“Not likely since they just drove up,” Mike tells her as he looks out the window.

“Oh, God, I don’t want to go down there,” she moans as he pulls her to her feet and into his arms.

“Come on,” he murmurs as he gives her a gentle kiss. “It’s not everyday you get to meet the US Ambassador to the UN.”

Her only response to that is a whimper.

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He hears her take a deep breath to try and calm her nerves and if the hand holding his is any indication, it didn’t really help. He kisses that hand and she gently squeezes his fingers. He glances over at her and she gives him a nervous smile.

“Are you sure about this?” she asks. “It’s not too late to make a break for it.”

“As sure as anything else I’ve done in the past twenty-four hours,” he assures her. “And I haven’t regretted any of those decisions.”

“Do you remember what I told you about my family?” she questions.

“You’re father will head for his gun at the slightest hint that we’ve slept together,” he reiterates for her. “Your mother will grill me about how I feel about marriage and children, your sister probably won’t say much of anything, I should never accept a challenge to a computer game from your nephew, your nieces think they’re escapees from a Disney movie who refuse to wear anything but their costumes from last Halloween and your brother-in-law is the only sane one of the bunch.”

“Ok, you’re as prepared as I can get you without sending you to a shrink first,” she tells him. “Make the next right, the house will be on the right about a half mile down.”

He follows her instructions and a few minutes later they’re pulling up in front of a wood frame Gothic Revival home. She gives his hand one final squeeze before letting go and then undoes her seatbelt. Taking yet another calming breath, she opens the door into the cold December evening air.

She gets out of the car just as the front door opens and a couple of little bodies come hurtling towards her. She braces herself and only gets knocked back a step as the twins ram into her. She chuckles as she hugs the girls and then looks up to see the rest of her family coming out onto the porch.

Her father has a fake smile plastered to his face; her mother has a huge grin on hers, Mike looks like he’s about to start laughing, her sister looks pissed and Paul looks bored. She can hear Hank’s car door open and she knows the instant he comes into view to the others. Mike’s desperately trying not to laugh; her sister turns as white as a sheet and everyone else’s jaws drop while their eyes become wide as saucers.

“Everyone, this is Hank McCoy,” Amanda announces and the twins step back to see the newcomer as he comes around the car. “Hank, these are my parents, Stuart and Cathy, my brother-in-law Mike, my sister Annie, my nephew Paul and my nieces, Bethany and Beverly.”

“A pleasure to meet you all,” Hank says as he goes to shake Stuart’s hand.

“I like him,” Beverly announces and Hank turns to look at her. “He’s furry like a kitty.”

“And he’s blue like a bluebell,” Bethany states, not to be out done by her sister and most of the adults laugh.

“Ambassador, it’s an honor to have you in our home,” Stuart says, finally getting over the shock and putting his hand out.

“The honor is all mine,” Hank replies as he shakes the offered hand. “And please, call me Hank.”

“This is my wife, Cathy,” Stuart states as he turns towards his wife.

“Mrs. Simon, a pleasure,” Hank says as he shakes the woman’s hand.

“Please call me Cathy and I can’t tell you how happy I am to meet you,” Cathy replies as she shakes Hank’s hand.

“Can we go in now?” Paul asks impatiently. “I’m hungry.”

“Ah yes, Mr. Paul,” Hank jovially greets. “Your aunt tells me you’re quite the computer wizard.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Paul replies with shrug, suddenly becoming a bit shy with Hank’s attention completely on him.

“I’m Flora,” Bethany proudly announces, tugging on Hank’s coat to get his attention.

“I’m Fauna,” Beverly chimes in, not to be out done by her siblings.

“And what a couple lovely fairy godmothers you two are, too,” Hank chuckles as he looks down at the girls in their costumes.

“They’re not really fairy godmothers,” Paul snorts.

“Yes, we are!” Bethany yells, stomping her foot.

“It’s a good thing for you we’re good fairy godmothers or we’d curse you,” Beverly adds heatedly.

“Alright you three, that’s enough,” Mike interrupts as he steps forward. “Go inside and get ready for dinner.”

“But we already washed our hands,” Bethany whines.

“Then go help your grandmother get dinner on the table,” Mike instructs. “Now scoot!”

There’s some minor grumbling from the kids as they head back inside with their grandmother and then Mike extends his hand towards Hank.

“Hi, Hank, I’m Mike,” Mike tells the mutant as they shake hands. “Hopefully, Amy hasn’t told you too many horror stories about me.”

“Just enough to keep me entertained for the drive,” Hank replies with a wink and a smile. “I take it that lovely lady behind you is Annie.”

“Yes, the walking statue is my lovely bride,” Mike chuckles as he drags Annie forward.

“Hello, Annie, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Hank says, turning his attention to an almost perfect duplicate of his own lady. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

“Hi,” Annie squeaks, managing to turn even whiter.

“Wow, that was actually coherent,” Amanda teases and Annie shoots her a withering glare.

“Is that roasted chicken I smell?” Hank interrupts as he takes a deep sniff of the air. “And pork roast? And…lasagna?”

“MOM!” Amanda yells as she charges up the front steps. “What part of ‘don’t go through any trouble’ didn’t you understand!?”

Amanda charges into the house with Annie right behind her, leaving Hank standing there with Stuart and Mike.

“I guess I better get the bags,” Hank chuckles as he turns back towards the car.

“Here, let us help you with those,” Stuart says as Hank remotes the trunk open.

Before Hank can object, Stuart and Mike are grabbing bags out of the trunk and Hank is silently thankful that Amanda was paranoid enough to hide the garment bags with their formal clothes in them, since neither one of them is quite prepared to tell her parents where she really was when they started out. Hank grabs his own bags, shuts the trunk and follows the other two men into the house. As soon as they’re through the door, Mike heads off down one way towards the Christmas tree with the bags of presents he’s carrying and Stuart heads for the stairs.

“Your room is up here, Hank,” Stuart calls while he ascends the steps and Hank easily follows the older man.

“I want to thank you for taking me in at such short notice,” Hank says as they stop at the first door at the top of the stairs and Stuart puts Amanda’s bags inside the room.

“Not a problem,” Stuart replies as he waves Hank on and then points to another room a few doors down. “There’s the bathroom. There’s another one downstairs and in the morning, your best bet is to head for that one. You’ll be bunking in here.”

Stuart waves Hank into a room with a queen sized bed against a wall with a pair of nightstands on either side and a chest of drawers off to one side. In one corner of the room is a sewing table with the sewing machine folded under the top and a basket with a half finished project next to it. As if the Singer wasn’t a big enough clue, the cream and peach color scheme makes it very obvious who spends the most time in this room.

“It’s very nice, thank you,” Hank responds as he puts his bags down next to the bed. “I know dinner is to be served soon, so I’ll just freshen up and then I’ll be right down.”

“Ok, see you in a bit,” Stuart says and then leaves.

Hank visits the restroom and after he’s done washing his hands, he stares at himself in the mirror over the sink, wondering if her family is really as accepting as she says they are.

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Here’s a picture of how I’ve imagined Amanda’s parents’ house would look like: http://architecture(dot)about(dot)com/od/periodsstyles/ss/gothicrevival_6(dot)htm