"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Sunny And Adam stood on the front porch of his familiar childhood home. Overhead the sky was grey, and the ground was dusted with patches of melted snow dirty with mud and the remnants of fallen leaves. He was wearing his leather jacket and a hat to stave off the chill. Sunny wore the knitted hood that Martha had made for her, along with a matching cloak in stunning blue to match her carapace.

Sunny, and Drev in general didn't really wear shoes, but Sunny wasn't used to the chill of Earth. She had originally insisted that it would be fine, but one step onto cold concrete had Adam raising a skeptical eyebrow at her as she hopped back onto the ship's ramp.

She gave in.

Adam adjusted the containment unit on his back, inside which, krill sat resignedly staring out at the snow and inhospitable landscape of early spring in the mid northern reaches of Mericanda. Behind all three of them, Conn floated, ribbons billowing. The cold didn't bother him so much, but that was unsurprising as his natural habitat was the vacuum of space, which generally tended towards extreme heat or cold depending on how much radiation you were willing to take full in the face. Conn himself was impervious to radiation of any kind, but it would also be a bitch to x-ray him as his skin was x ray proof.

Inside his long, white fingers, he carried a neatly wrapped gift tied in a delicate silver bow. He had wrapped the gift himself, and his talent for crafting would almost have been impressive if it hadn't been for his sudden interest in scrapbooking, which in turn turned into a very well done scrapbook that Adam found he appeared in far too frequently.

Conn was unapologetic.

Despite his inherent lack of need to wear clothing, Conn was dressed in full "Dad" regalia. He was wearing jeans synched tight around his bony hips with a thick leather belt held together by some atrocious belt buckle. He had his T shirt tucked in, the front of which sported some horrendous pun bout fishing naked. Over that he was wearing another one of his favorite flannels, and an ugly brown coat over that, and never without his horrible ball cap.

The worst part were the sandals he had managed to strap around his feet. The sandals might have been weird, but the socks he had paired with them had Adam's inner stylist, courtesy of his mother, lying on the ground in convulsions.

He had told Sunny he would not be seen with Conn in that outfit.

No one seemed to care much about his personal wishes, and he was stuck riding all the way here with Conn in close proximity.

A cold wind swept past them.

"Stalling?" Sunny asked

Adam raised his fist to the door, "not stalling, Conn's outfit is giving me palpitations."

Sunny laughed.

He paused and turned to loo kat her, "How do I look, not to bad?"

She took him by the arm<" Adam, stop worrying about it. You look good to me."

He huffed, "Well you are sort of obligated to say that."

"No, I'm not. If you ever start to loose your warrior prowess, I'll let you know."

"Thanks for that."

She shook her head and rested a hand on his cheek, "You look fine, the veins are barely visible, and the white hair isn't so noticeable in this lighting. Not that any of that matters because they are your family and they would be happy to see you no matter what."

He sighed, she was right of course, but he couldn't help but worry about it. he had come a long way since the man who had joined the UNSC, a long way from the happy go lucky Lt. with both his eyes and both of his legs.

What had it been? Almost five or six years since he had gotten his ship, seven years since the war had ended, and in that time he had collected more injuries and scars than any man had a right to collect.

His chest, his hands, his face, his missing leg and eye, a chunk out of his ear, which was honestly only a minor injury, and now this.... Void sickness that seemed to flare up every time he got stressed, which made him look like lava was pouring through his veins and melting him from the inside out.

Oh, and not to forget the hair.

He could almost have dealt with everything else if it wasn't for the hair.

Maybe he should think about dying it.

Lots of people dyed their hair. Maybe he could too?

Sunny reached up before he could stop her and knocked on the door. He gave her a reproachful look and she just smirked at him, "It's my job to have the balls for it when you can't."

Right.

"You know as much as I love to listen to the two of you flirt." Adam almost jumped out of his skin having forgotten that Krill was there, "I have never actually enjoyed being the fourth wheel."

"That implies that Conn Is a wheel."

"Of course I am." The Starborn announced, "Adam and I have a child together,."

"Just because we have a kid does NOT mean you are a wheel in this relationship."

Krill huffed, "The third wheel on a tricycle to hell."

Before the argument could continue the door was thrown open and Jim stood in the doorway. He had his head turned around to look down the hallway, and they heard the end of a conversation he was having with his wife in the kitchen. Adam was immediately hit in the face with the heady scent of baking bread with undertones of Cinnamon and butter. The inside of the house was warm, and the smell was powerful enough to slingshot him back a few decades to his childhood, sitting In front of the fire on cold winter nights playing games and eating pie.

He was jolted a bit as Waffles pushed past his legs and ran into the house touching jim on the hand with her old wet nose before vanishing inside in search of food.

Jim stepped back, "Woah there, girl." With a smile he turned and then paused as he saw his son standing in the doorway.

As always, when Adam looked at his father, he suddenly felt like a boy again, standing in the man's oversized boots pretending to be him.

He watched his father's eyes look him over, taking in the feint lines under his skin, and the white of his hair, which Adam had tried to hide under a hat, but were still visible in his eyebrows and even his eyelashes.

But he didn't say anything grabbing Adam by the shoulder and hugging him.

Jim wasn't a man of many words, and though Adam knew he was well aware of the changes in his son, he didn't seem to think that it was all that important, stepping aside to motion them indoors. He clasped sunny's hand in a tight grip.

"You look good." He said motioning to her outfit, "Glad to see my wife's hard work being put to good use."

"Well you live in the freezing depths of hell, so I had to prepare."

Jim smiled at her friendly banter nodding once to Krill and then pausing to size Up Conn.

"Fellow Dad." Conn said projecting his thoughts to all of them so they could hear as if it were a normal conversation.

"We aren't fellow anything as long as you continue wearing socks with sandals. By all rights I shouldn't let you come into this house looking like that."

Conn waved a hand, "What are you talking about, I am dressed to fit my station."

Jim frowned, "Do you see the other dads in this room dressing like old fogies."

He did have a point.

Jim, while not dressed fancy or anything, was wearing jeans an a casual button up in blue, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his hard muscled forearms dotted with years of. He was NOT wearing socks with sandals, but blue slippers which matched his button up.

Martha's work for sure.

He reluctantly let Conn inside, and They were greeted as Eris came running up the hall. Her hair was tied back in a long black braid, which was subsequently twisted into a spiral pinned to the back of her head. It was shocking to see at first, as she tended to wear her hair long in order to hide her face, and eyes, which were distinctly inhuman. Despite her new hairstyle, she was wearing a massive pink hoodie that went down to her knees, and sleeves that went past her hands. Below that she wore light grey sweatpants and large pink slippers.

Adam dropped Sunny's hand to hug her, picking her up off the floor before setting her back down, "Your hair, looks amazing."

That got her to smile, and he was sure she would have blushed but, she had starborn skin which tended to be more opaque than human skin. She looked up at him and her dark, black eyes widened, she looked between him and Sunny, and he knew that she knew.

He smiled at her and put a finger to his lips thinking.

Ill tell everyone at dinner, don't worry.

She nodded to him, smiled and hugged Sunny too.

"Everyone, move, so I can see my daughter. Out of the way you big blue oaf."

Conn stepped up pushing Sunny out of the way, "There's my girl."

She went to hug Conn but then paused and looked him over, "What are you wearing?"

"This is my dad gear."

"Eww are those socks!"

"Don't knock the dad gear."

"I'm not hugging you until you remove the socks and the sandals." He grudgingly did as told, and she was good to her word, hugging him tightly.

"I got you a gift."

She frowned at him, "I thought I told you to stop buying me presents."

Adam sighed, "Unfortunately he is getting paid now, and other than horrible shirts with fishing puns on them, he has nothing else to spend his money on."

She took the gift, opening it quietly in the hallway while Adam walked towards the kitchen.

They hung their jackets and coats up on the hooks by the door before appearing in the kitchen where Martha was busy baking. His stomach growled loudly alerting her to their presence, and she turned.

She wore a scream sweater and jeans with a candy pattern apron covered in flour. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail.

And Adam felt like he had been hit y a truck when he saw the feint lines of orange light under her skin. It was very faint, but he could see the tail end of a vein pulsing slowly with orange light just up the side of her neck.

She must have seen his expression, and with a deft movement flicked her ponytail around so it rested in front of her shoulder and covered the vein before hurrying forward. He would have assumed the action was involuntary if he hadn't known her better.

She walked forward and took him by the face.

He watched her eyes as she took him in.

The scars and the white hair.

She didn't speak for a very long time.

He expected her to say soemthing about how he wasn't much like her little boy any more, or how he had changed a lot or how it was a shame that he looked like this so young, but instead she tilted her head.

"You know who you remind me of."

"Who?"

"She pulled back and brushed some flour from the front of his jacket, "You look a little bit like your great great great, you get the point, grandfather. You know he was a hydrorunner during the sandwars, most dangerous job on earth at that time. It was his job to transport water across the sand flats in a big tanker truck, and since water was so scarce in that part of the world at that time, he was chased by bandits and all manner of shady characters. Despite all odds he died in his sleep at the ripe old age of 101, missing a hand, three toes, one ear, an eye and a kidney y the time he was done , but both sides of your family have been historically difficult to get rid of."

He smiled.

He guessed he could live with being compared to his badass great great great, You get the point, Grandfather.

"Where are the others/'

"We sent David and Jordan out to get a few last-minute things from the store. Jeremy is on his way and should be here for dinner. Maya is in the living room watching the kids, and Thomas is resting upstairs."

Adam sighed and leaned against the counter.

His mother turned to look at him, and then out of nowhere swatted him in the hand with a wooden spoon.

He leaped out of his skin, grabbing his hand and yelping in surprise, "OW! What was that for!"

"Don't you dare blame yourself for what happened. I can see the guilt in your eyes."

"But I."

She Pointed the spoon at him as if it was a knife, and he stepped back ,"Adam Allen Vir, You listen to me, I know that you just LOVE taking the blame for absolutely every one of god's creatures, but I will not allow it in my house. Besides Thomas is resting because he was out late last night looking at houses with his realtor."

Adam rubbed the back of his head, "Oh... Ok, but-"

"No, no you don't, here sit down and have a cookie to keep your mind off it."

His stomach grumbled and she seemed pleased as he took his seat.

Sunny slid into a seat next to him, and Martha turned to look at her next.

By the way the two of them interacted you would never have known that there was a time in their relationship that Martha had absolutely detested Sunny. But after a few years of getting to know each other, and her finally forgiving Sunny for what had happened in the Drev war, Martha's natural instincts had taken over, and upon hearing that Sunny's mother had disowned her and her father was dead, she had taken her in as one of her own.

She reached out and brushed a water droplet or two from Sunny's hood straightening it out, "It looks nice , been taking care of my son?"

Sunny snorted, "Been trying, but its not like he makes it easy."

"No he most certainly does not."

She turned again as Eris and Conn stepped int other room. Eris now trying on her new sunglasses, they were the big kind that you see blond models wearing on the beach, but they had dark blue rims with little white dots to resemble stars.

Dark blue was her favorite color.

As soon as Martha saw Conn, Adam and Sunny couldn't help but laugh at the absolutely scandalized look on the woman's face as she saw him.

"What are you wearing!"

Conn looked up at her before proudly straightening himself up and pointing to his chest.

"Dad uniform."

"No absolutely not! Not in my house."
"But."

She leveled the spoon at him and he floated back a pace while Eris stood to the side giggling, "You listen here, I didn't quit my job as a college professor to make clothing just so I could watch my....." She frowned as she tried to find the right word, "My granddaughter's father, dress like he smells like fish and beer."

She walked over and grabbed him by the arm handing the spoon off to Eris, "Watch the stove for me while I fix this problem."

Eris continued to giggle as she walked over to the stove, rolling back her oversized sleeve so it wouldn't get in the way.

Adam smiled a little.

"How have you been doing?" he asked

She turned to smile at him, "Oh I... I'm doing good actually. I got my GED, so I'm thinking about maybe going to school.... If that's ok." Her voice went small for a moment as if she thought he would be mad about that.

"That's great, of course it is!"

She blushed with pleasure.

"I was thinking online school might be best...."

"I don't know" he said casually, "I think that maybe you should at least take one or two classes in person..."

"I thought about that, but I was worried that.... Mind reading would definitely be considered cheating. I can't cheat if it's online."

She had a point, "Well how about performance arts classes. You can hardly be accused of cheating if tis dance or art. Just because you know soemthing doesn't mean you can perform it properly "

She tilted her head as if she hadn't thought about it, and then nodded, "I.... I'll think about it." She paused again and then, "I did.... Find some friends."

He tilted his head, "Oh? Good kids I hope."

Great now the dad in him was coming out. Might as well put on Conn's fishing hat.

She waved him off, "you worry to much, beside Martha has invited them over and she likes them. They are.... Well they're a bit weird, but it means that I fit in pretty well.... Plus I would know if they had bad intentions." She tapped her head and Adam had to admit she was right.

He left her after a few minutes and stepped into the other room where Maya was watching the kids, Jordan and David's little boy, Kimber and her own youngest son, who was old enough to be up and running around, though right now they were all busy sitting quietly on the floor.

Kimber and her cousin were busy playing a game on her handheld, and the youngest boy was sitting on the floor coloring, holding the crayon in a closed fist.

Maya greeted him with a smile and hugged him.

He noted she was growing her hair out, and the blond it had been dyed to was slowly beginning to fade, leaving her hair dark at the roots.

It was looking at her now that he realized how much she looked like Eris.

She hugged him, "Wow, you look....." He waited for it, "You look like you have anime protagonist syndrome."

"What does that even mean?!"

"Adam, you have white hair and an eye patch. If you aren't the main character than I will eat my own socks."

They were sitting together on the couch by the time Jordan and David reappeared with Jeremy in tow stomping snow from their botos and bringing news of an impending snowstorm.

Krill was not particularly pleased with that.

He was sitting on the floor with Kimber and the kids having been roped into coloring with them.

You would think that with all his natural abilities as a surgeon he would be better at drawing than he really was.

He was probably worse than the toddler.

Adam looked over everyone of his family members that walked into the room.

David seemed fine, but he was wearing long sleeves, so it was difficult to tell.

Thomas eventually appeared from upstairs, and the little veins of light were less prominent in him than Adam might have assumed. He had received his honorable discharge some days ago, and was telling Adam that he already had a job lined up when Martha returned with Conn, who had been made marginally more presentable

It was clear just by looking at him that martha had been thinking about this for a while, as the clothes were clearly tailored to fit his strange frame.

He now wore a dark blue , almost black, sweater, dark pants matching socks and a light grey jacket with hood.

Turning around they could see panels in the back that allowed for his ribbons to be more stylishly displayed

She had even made a cover for his gravity belt to make it look less chunky and awkward.

H tried to pretend he wasn't happy with it, but everyone knew he was.

Adam felt his palms beginning to sweat as it grew closer to dinner, and he kept exchanging glances with Sunny, who did her best to encourage him with a look. He tried his best, but shifted nervously in his seat until towards the end when desert appeared on the agenda.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, and the room turned to look at him.

His closest family and friends.

Eris smiled at him encouragingly.

"I.... have an... announcement to make."

He cleared his throat awkwardly again rolling his glass between his hands, not sure what else to do with them.

They looked on expectantly.

By the way David was smiling, he had some idea of what was going on.

"So.... A few weeks ago..." he began

Jordan looked at David, and Adam saw the almost imperceptible eyebrow raise that passed between the two of them. Jordan was always too smart for his own good. He always seemed to know what was going on in a room before anything happened.

"What I am trying to say is... a few weeks ago I.... I challenged Sunny to the right of unarmed combat... which means-"

Jim held up his drink and whistle, "Which means we don't have to make up an extra room."

He was almost shocked to find the table break out in smiles.

Jeremy huffed and handed David a ten dollar bill.

Martha cleared her throat and they all turned to look at her as David grudgingly sighed and handed over the bill which she smugly tucked into her apron pocket.

"Wait... you all knew/"

Martha smiled at him ,"Adam you have been head over heels for Sunny for years now, if a near death experience involving the origins of the universe was not going to knock some sense into you, than nothing was." She smiled at Him and then at sunny, "Now... forgive me for not knowing, but there wasn't much information on the internet, but you pretty much.... Eloped is that it?"

Adam shifted nervously ,"Well sort of, its not considered legally binding on earth, but in Drev culture yes.... We are.... Married."

Noise erupted around the table, David and Jordan raised their glasses, Jeremy clapped him on the back, Thomas smiled quietly from his seat.

Kimber hugged Sunny and pronounced that she was her favorite aunt, which Sunny found very amusing.

It was sunny's turn to take over as the noise died, "Adam and I have been talking and based on how we would be viewed by the GA we don't plan on making it legal legal so to speak until he decides to retire, at which point it won't matter, but, and I haven't talked to Adam about this, but I would like to do something small, something more human. He's done plenty of Drev things for me, but I think he deserves soemthing human."

Adam was surprised when the table erupted with agreement.

"You could do a ring ceremony, no need to get the license. We could do it somewhere small and private." Jordan was saying. He was a professional photographer as a second source of income while David was busy designing rockets."

Adam found himself turning red, but the warmth in his face was a good thing. Sunny winked one of her big golden eyes at him.

Kimber announced that she would be the ring bearer since it was her job at David's wedding.

Adam would never dare argue with her.

He felt himself relaxing.

It was a nice break from everything that had happened recently.