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He relaxed, warming into her kiss again. The unhappy thoughts of family dissolving away with his very real love for Cici. Whatever happened to his family, he resolved to create a better one for Cici and Dawn.

"I'm forty; is that too old for you?" Because she did look incredibly young, even for having a kid at Dawn's age.

She lightly touched her nose to his, "Well, So long as twenty-six isn't too young for you." She had no qualms about age, but she wondered how that would affect their child. It was, after all, better to not have children after a certain age for various reasons. She stroked his hand, "In case you're wondering, I had Dawn when I was sixteen. I got pregnant when I was fifteen." It felt good to tell him the numbers, straight up. That way he knew.

He bit back a laugh. "You're still young; I just didn't want to saddle you with an old man." Goodness, 26 and still single? Age had never meant anything to him anyway, except as something that usually was cut short unnecessarily.

"You're perfect, Cici. I don't care about age. I just want to be sure you're happy and healthy and taken care of. And loved. By me." He added.

She beamed with pride, "No one has ever called me perfect before. Mostly because I'm far from it, but I'll let you take care of me and love me. I wouldn't want anyone else to love him." She reached up and stroked his cheek, "Now, let's get on with shopping so we can pick Dawn up."

Sterling nodded and followed along, as they picked up the rest of their items and then headed for the checkout lines.

"I wonder how Dawn will react," he worried suddenly, as the cashier began to ring up their purchases.

Cici put her arm around him, "I'm willing to go out on a limb and say this will be the happiest day of her life, when she sees you. She'll get married and have kids, grow old and still think back on the day when you came back into her life." And one day, find the saddest day will be the one when you pass on. The nasty voice in the back of her head spoke up, but she waved it away. She would still have this memory for all her life.

Sterling grinned. "You're going to let her get married and have kids?" Should he even be thinking so far down the road when he wasn't even sure what tomorrow would bring?

But this was normal stuff; normal worries. He supposed that normal people didn't worry about whether they would live to see another day; they just assumed they would.

He paid for the groceries with cash and then grabbed the bags. "Well, if you're sure she'll be happy, then I look forward to it."

Cici let him take the bags, happy she didn't need to ask for help from one of the boys that worked there. She took his elbow, "Well, she's not allowed to date until she's thirty, and won't have her first child until she's thirty-five. That sounds fair to me." She laughed, "I bet she'll be responsible. She's been better at being well behaved than I ever have been. I'm so lucky to have gotten her, rather than a little version of me."

Amused, he chuckled. "I think for women it skips a generation. Sadly, I'm probably quite similar to my father. That's probably why I never settled down though; was afraid I wouldn't be able to tear myself away from family to do actual work."

When they got to the car he would wait for Cici to unlock the doors.

Cici unlocked the door, "You're not gunna... like... just go sometimes without warning?" She opened the door, her heart pounding. She could handle him leaving, if there was a promise of when he was coming back, but if he just left in the night, it would tear her up.

Sterling looked at Cici. "I would never do that, Cici. Nothing could possibly drive me away from you and Dawn." He had made a point of cutting ties wherever he went, so that such a thing wouldn't, couldn't, happen.

"If I needed to leave for some reason, I would tell you and Dawn. I wouldn't just pick up and go with no explanation."

She nodded and slipped into the car, "I believe you." She buckled herself up, "When my mom got deported, my dad didn't even tell me. He just let her go. No fuss from either of them."

Sterling blinked. "You mother was deported?" And then he continued without thinking about what he was saying: "My mother fled from home just having me because she was bit by a werewolf. My father left when I was 12 because he never really got over my mother leaving. I think he went to track her down...but I haven't heard from either of them." Oh and there was that other thing about what had happened after he had been born, but that didn't concern Cici or their offspring.

Right. Normal. What was normal again?

She opened her mouth to speak, but just stared at him, "Your mother was bitten by a werewolf?" She stared at him, "Doesn't that make you a werewolf? You were TWELVE?" Her mind began reeling with this new information. This was hard to take in.

"No, I'm not a werewolf. Only if you're bit or scratched by one will you turn; I was lucky. The doctors ran tests and, uh," right, so much for that other thing she didn't need to know about, "injected me with silver. But I was never a werewolf. They wouldn't have let me live if I was one. Anyway," he shrugged, "that's about it. I guess that's why I opted to become a Hunter. Figured it was the best way to find my parents, if they were still alive."

Her heart broke for a moment. She knew where her parents were (sorta, on her mother's part). She leaned over, being stopped by the belt, "Ooof!" She winced, "Okay, no hugs, says the car." She took his hand into hers and kisses his palm, "Do you think they're still alive?"

Sterling's face went carefully neutral. "I don't. I doubt it. There was a big Were culling after my father left. Ah, anyway, you don't have to worry about my extended family or anything." He had the feeling that family reunions were going to be small affairs anyway, if they happened at all.

"But you know where your parents are? Do you keep in touch with them still?"

"Uh... My father still lives in the city he raised me in, I think. I dunno. He hasn't wanted to contact me, despite my trying several times. My mother lives in South Africa with her new family. I used to get letters from her when I was little, but they tapered off once I fit twelve or so. If she had wanted me, she would have taken me with her, but I think she was ashamed that she got together with a black man instead of a white one, so she just left me behind." She stared at the steering wheel, "My father kicked me out when he found out about Dawn. Basically he was all I had. His parents are long dead and he was an only child. I could track down my mother, but that's not going to make any different."

Wow, their lives sucked. Sterling gently squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "They say what doesn't break us makes us stronger. I'd say you've done an amazing job, even if it was on your own." Shut up, he told himself. Apparently that family reunion was going to start with just one family--theirs.

"But you know what?" he said after a momentary lull. "We have all the time in the present to make sure we don't let our family turn out like that. Dawn still has plenty of time left before she strikes out on her own. We can still be a good family and provide what we can for our kids."

Our kids Her heart fluttered and she smiled, starting the car up. She felt relaxed now, comfortable. Calm.

She started to drive, "The future is all that matters. At least I'll have one good man in my life. Dawn'll have you, and the baby will have us."