Getting To Know You

"You decent, Gretch?" Haldir asked from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, come on in, Pap!"

Haldir opened the door then leaned against the doorway. "Well, don't you look pretty. What's the occasion?"

Gretchen turned her face from side to side as she looked in the mirror on the vanity and critiqued herself. "The occasion is that I'm bored out of my damned mind and I had nothing better to do than work on myself."

Haldir shook his head then clicked his tongue, "Now Gretch, I heard Damien ask you if he could give you a tour or go for a run with you and you said no. You can't turn down every offer extended to you and then complain about being bored."

Gretchen took the shirt she decided not to wear and walked to the armoire then hung it up. "I don't want to spend time with him."

Haldir huffed through his nose and said, "Jesus, you're being silly, Gretchen. Do you even know why you're so angry at him anymore?"

Gretchen sat on her bed and sighed, "I'm not mad at him, but that doesn't mean I want to hold his hand and go traipsing through the tulips with him either."

Haldir pulled on his beard and said, "Can you at least just stop being an icy bitch to him for a minute? I've known the kid his whole life, he's not a bad guy. You'd get along if you just gave it a chance."

Gretchen blew a raspberry through her lips then said, "Yeah, I'll try. Trust me, I don't want to spend the next two weeks being completely miserable and pissing off everyone."

Haldir said, "Good. Anyways, I was just coming to get you. You hungry?"

"Good Lord, yes, I'm starving." Gretchen picked her sweater up and walked towards Haldir.

"Come on," Haldir said as he nodded his head towards the hall.

Gretchen studied the tapestries and banners that lined the walls. "We're not going to have to sit with them are we?"

Haldir grinned and said, "Oh, most definitely. It's customary for his guests to sit with Daniel. I'm sure the whole family is just dying to get hold of you."

Gretchen groaned and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Are they all mind readers like Damien.

"Yes."

"Grand. You know, them being able to see inside my head is terrifying," she said.

Haldir nodded. "They don't mean any harm though, Gretch. It's just who they are."

"I tried using that door trick on Damien, but he kept figuring out how to opem them. I think that's why I was so angry. Everyone keeps telling me that I need to remember everything that happened, but I just don't want to. Everytime he opened one of those doors, I'd see something. I just want to forget."

Haldir put his arm around Gretchen and kissed her temple. "I don't blame you, kiddo. Just keep trying the doors, maybe they'll take the hint. Once they learn to trust you, it'll stop."

As they entered the crowded Great Hall, Gretchen looked around at all the people. "Jesus, are we even going to find a place to sit?" The rows of long wooden tables and benches were filled with Daniel's army, family and other guests. "Maybe we should just leave and go get drunk instead."

Haldir grinned through his bushy beard and said, "You didn't think you were getting out of this that easily, did you?"

"I was kind of hoping," she said. "Sitting in a room full of people I don't even know isn't my idea of fun."

While they wove their way through the loud and crowded room to Daniel's table, a rugged voice stopped them. "Well, look at you, you dirty old bastard. Robbing the cradle aren't you?"

Gretchen turned to see a handsome man with long sun bleached hair pulled up in a knot on the back of his head and a short stubbly beard framing a chiseled jaw. His linen shirt hung open in the front and Gretchen's eyes lingered at the top of his big, tanned pectoral muscles. Maybe this trip wouldn't be such a waste after all, she thought to herself.

Sir Eason stood as Haldir said, "Eason, this is my granddaughter, Gretchen."

"Where in the world have you been hiding this beautiful creature, Haldir?" When Eason grasped her hand and kissed the back of it, Gretchen could all but feel the burn of his anger radiating off of Damien from across the room and she quickly took back her hand as she sat down on the bench beside Haldir.

"It's my very great pleasure to meet you," Eason said as he continued looking over Gretchen.

Gretchen grinned as a flush came to her cheeks."Thank you. It's nice to meet you, too."

At the head of the table, Damien drank from his cup then swallowed hard as he watched Gretchen and Eason engaged in conversation. Rosemary looked up from her plate and then glanced down the table to see what Damien was looking at.

She looked back to Daniel then curled her lips under and nodded as he put an idea into her mind.

Rosemary stood then looked down the table. "Gretchen dear, please I have a seat for you here."

Gretchen groaned as she turned to Haldir. "Oh no, do I have to go sit with them?'

"You better," said Haldir. "Just remember what I told you and be nice."

Gretchen sighed and rolled her eyes. "Excuse me, it seems like I'm the guest of honor tonight."

Eason stood as Gretchen pushed herself up. "Until next time."

Grectchen took a second to look over his whole body then smiled and said, "Soon, I hope."

"They're waiting," said Haldir.

Gretchen crossed her arms over her chest and walked down the table to Rosemary who was standing in wait.

Haldir shook his head and chuckled as Eason sat back down, still watching Gretchen. "You better just forget about that, old friend."

Eason sighed and looked at Haldir. "She's beautiful. I can't believe you never told me about her."

Haldir looked at Damien who was still staring daggers at the knight. "She's not for you, Eason."

When Gretchen reached her, rosemary said, "Here, please, sit with me."

"Thank you," said Gretchen as she sat down.

"There she is!" said Rhett. "Hazel, this is Gretchen."

The petite blonde woman nearly sitting on Rhett's lap smiled at Gretchen. "It's nice to meet you. You know, I stayed at your parents house once, I can't believe we never met."

"Yeah, it seems like everyone knows everyone over here," said Gretchen.

"The Fates are crazy that way," said Hazel as she put her chin on her hand and scanned Gretchen's body. "I love your outfit by the way."

Gretchen looked down at her jeans and knit top. "Oh thank you, they're my aunt Tessa's clothes. I'm afraid I don't have anything of my own."

Hazel chuckled and said, "I don't mind sharing, Gretchen. I've been wearing the same Earth clothes for over five years now, we can mix and match. It'll be like having a whole new wardrobe."

"Awe, that's nice of you.Thanks."

"No problem at all," said Hazel before winking at Gretchen.

"Of course, you met Jason," said Rosemary as Jason sat up straight in his seat and nodded at Gretchen.

"Yes," said Gretchen. "I met your parents, Jason. They're just the cutest couple I've ever seen."

Jason smiled then looked back to his food without saying anything. The strong and silent type. His parents were very good friends with Tessa and her husbands and Gretchen realized after meeting them why Jason was so shy and reserved. He undoubtedly got that from his father, Ben.

"And this is my daughter, Sigrid and her husband Thorin Parker," said Rosemary. Sigrid was a stoic white haired woman with pale skin and electric blue eyes that pierced into your soul. Her face was unusually expressionless, but not in a cold way. More like she was always searching for something. Her husband, Thorin, was a dapper Earth born witch who reminded Gretchen a lot of her father with his dark curly hair and green eyes. His thick Southern accent was like music to her ears as he said, "So lovely to meet you finally, my dear."

"Nice to meet you both," said Gretchen. "Let me guess ,Thorin, you must be from Savannah."

"Yes, you would be correct."

Gretchen grinned at how similar Thorin and her father were. "My daddy's from Savannah, you sound just like him."

"Yes, I'm aware. Our families have quite a history together. I've known your grandfathers, Haldir and Jasper, for ,oh I don't know, at least a hundred and fifty years.Curious how Fate plays these things out, isn't it? Why,it's almost like we were always meant to be one big, happy family," he said with a grin and nose wiggle.

"So, tell me, how is Tessa getting along? She was ready to pop the last I saw her," asked Rosemary as she put her hand on Gretchen's arm to bring back her attention.

"Oh, they had their baby. A little girl, they named her Meghan. She is the spitting image of Jacob."

Rosemary calpped her hands together. "Oh, a girl! That's wonderful. I'll send her a gift. I just love Tessa. She's such a free spirit."

Gretchen chuckled to herself as she contemplated the words."Yeah, I guess that's one way to describe her."

"Do you think they'll have more children?" asked Rosemary.

Gretchen took a drink and uttered under her breath, " Oh, I'd be surprised if she wasn't preganant again as we speak."

Rosemary put her hand on her chest as she laughed so hard she snorted. "Yes, they certainly are a very affectionate trio aren't they?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Gretchen said as she recalled having to sleep with a pillow over her head to block out the noises that came from their bedroom at night.

"Do you have any siblings?"

Gretchen licked the taste of the wine off her lips. "Yes, I have four brothers. Bruno, Johnny, Lars and Jasper."

"You have quite a big family," said Rosemary. "That's wonderful."

Daniel took a drink from his cup then pushed himself back in his seat before breaking into the conversation. "Tell me about your parents."

"My mother, Stella, she's the alpha of our pack back home. And, my father, Teddy, he's aunt Tessa's twin brother."

Daniel considered it and nodded. "Is he anything like Tessa?"

Gretchen pushed out her lips and nodded. "Very much. Well, I guess you could say they compliment each other. Like, my dad, he's a pretty powerful warlock, but when the two of them are together, he's twice as strong. He's not been the same since she left."

Daniel huffed through his nose as he glanced over at Damien then he looked back to Gretchen. "When we're seperated from our soul mates, we're never as strong. We're not meant to be apart."

Gretchen nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Then Daniel asked, "It's unusual for a woman to be alpha,isn't it?"

"She's earned it, believe me," said Gretchen.

"Stella's tough as nails," said Rhett. "She takes no shit off anyone."

Damien laughed to himself as he thought about their meeting in the forest. "You must take after her then."

Gretchen glanced at him and said, "If I'm lucky."

"And what did you do there?" asked Daniel.

"I was next in line for alpha, so I trained as a soldier and helped handle our packs' business side of things."

"A soldier? I can't believe your parents would let you do that," said Damien before he took a sip from his cup.

"Being an alpha is my birthright. It was my honor to protect my pack," she snapped back.

"I can see it," said Rhett. "I would've let you serve under me. I bet you kicked a lot of ass."

"You won't need to here," said Damien as he put his cup down then looked back to Gretchen. "We don't make women fight."

“No one made me do anything, I wanted it. Besides, when the enemy comes and shoots up your town, women and children die just the same as men. Treating them like they're helpless is, well, it's just really stupid. The only thing it gets you is a pile of dead women and children. ”

Damien shook his head. "This isn't Earth, Gretchen."

“Oh, right, I forgot. I guess terrible things only happen to women and children on Earth. Oh wait, I seem to remember something about a big war about a thousand years ago. Heard it killed off something like half the population. I guess those must’ve all been men.” Gretchen raised her brow at Damien in satisfaction as she tried to prove her point, but his eyes glassed over and he bit on his bottom lip as he looked away.

Daniel glanced between the two of them. "No one is trying to say that your skills aren't valuable, Gretchen. I'm from Earth, as well, and I know what things are like there. Damien...he grew up here. It's just a different way of life. People here aren't accustomed to female soldiers and leaders."

Gretchen shook her head then put her hand up and waved it. "Don't worry about it. It's not even worth arguing about." Then, she picked up her fork and sighed.

As Gretchen pushed the food around her plate, Rosemary tried to break the tension by asking, "Is the food alright? We weren't sure what you liked."

"It's fine," she said as she looked down the table at Haldir.

Rosemary looked to Daniel and Damien. She was trying to get Gretchen to open up more but could tell she just wasn't interested now.

"So tell me, what did you do for fun back home?"

"Well I grew up out in the country and there wasn't a whole lot to do, so we would have bonfires, go to football games, get drunk in the field behind my parents house."

Rosemary smiled and said, "That does sound fun. We could have a bonfire for you."

"No, please, that's not necessary," said Gretchen. "You don't need to try to keep me entertained."

Gretchen looked up and saw Eason passing behind Damien and Rhett. He glanced at Gretchen and gave a side grin as he looked her over and Gretchen lifted her hand then wiggled her fingers at him. Damien glanced back over his shoulder and saw Eason smiling at Gretchen. Looking back at Gretchen as her eyes continued to follow the knight, a wave of jealousy overcame Damien. Feeling the eerie, prickly hold of his eyes on her, Gretchen quickly looked at Damien. As their eyes met, she could see the anger and disappointment in his face.

"Excuse me. Good evening, everyone," said Damien as he pushed himself up then left the table and walked out of the dining hall.

Gretchen sighed and closed her eyes. She knew in her heart that she had just made a terrible mistake.