Good 'Ole Summer Time [Open to All]

Chira nodded her thanks as dessert was laid out on the table. It looked fantastic - berries and cream. She wondered if it was just the usual, or if it was some kind of specific traditional dessert to this region. Whatever it was, it was fantastic, and she said as much.

Popping a berry in her mouth, Chira chewed, smiling coyly at Henriks. "So. When do we get to the part of meeting your family that the embarrassing childhood holophotos are brought out?"

The berries were scattered atop the cream as the bowl was handed to Henriks, but the moment he set it down, he stuck in a spoon to stir it all together. And so the cream turned into a mash of colors from all the berries combining with the white. He was just about to stick a spoonful of it into his mouth when she gave him that coy smile of hers.

Both the twins went red simultaneously. "Skrien?" Pauls asked his brother, wanting to know if they should run.

“Nē, brālis,” Henriks returned with a nervous chuckle. She'd see them at some point anyways. There was hardly a picture of Henriks that Pauls wasn't in. They'd practically been joined to the hip growing up. Even now, they sat side by side. But there were also many pictures where two would become three, but Henriks didn't want to think about that now.

He was snapped out of these thoughts by his mother's voice. “Let us finish our dessert first and then move to the family room where we will be more comfortable,” Māte suggested.

“'Cause there's lots of funny pictures,” Māra giggled.

Finishing up her dessert, Chira couldn't help but enjoy the smile that seemed attached to her face.  There was an easy comfort about Henriks, especially around his family.  It was not at all unlike the way her own family interacted with each other.  Barring Garen, of course.  She wondered if there were black sheep in the Abols family, too.

"If you want," she said, lightly resting her hand on his leg, "I'll even give you the chance to edit out the more offensive ones."  It seemed like every family had naked baby shots of their children - in the tub, sitting on their little baby toilet, smeared in pasta sauce.  Chira grinned happily at Henriks, thinking about how terribly her brother was going to embarrass Seika or Aria the first time they brought a date home.

Henriks had finished his dessert, liking his spoon off to lay it down upon the table. Still, a little of the cream remained, so he dipped in his finger so as to lightly dot his lovely lady on the cheek. "Perfect," he declared with a grin.

He liked the warmth and feel of her hand on his thigh. And he would've let out a sigh of contentment, but he could feel himself going red instead. Seeing Pauls do the same made him burst out laughing. "I think the pictures will be fine as they are."

Seeing that everyone had finished, Māte began to collect the bowls, but Juris rose, saying, "I'll take care of the dishes, Māte."

Māte nodded her head, smiling at her eldest child. "Paldies." Then to the rest, "Shall we continue to the family room?"

"Um," Chira said, laughing musically as her fiancee put a dollop of cream on her face. Shaking her head, she cleaned it off. Had they not been in mixed company, and in front of his mother, no less, she would have teased him until he licked if off her face. And then they probably would have made out to an inappropriate degree.

However, there was a time and a place, so she just chuckled. "Yes ma'am," she answered Mate, standing with Henriks' hand in hers. "Is this the part with the embarrassing photos?" she asked him, eyes wide with playfully-false innocence.

Māte nodded with a simple smile, while Māra burst into another fit of giggles. She loved to make fun of her older brothers, all three of them. Henriks laughed. "Careful, māsa. You're bound to be in a few of them yourself." His sister just shrugged and plopped herself down into her favorite chair, then smoothed out her skirt. "Come, m'lady," he said to Chira. "I believe that seat is calling to you." He grinned, almost poking his tongue out at her.

Once everyone was seated, Māte began to show the photos. More often than not, Henriks and Pauls appeared together. "That's the best one!" Juris bellowed merrily, returning from the kitchen. "Such funny little tykes." The photo showed three year old twins dashing out into the snow in naught but their birthday suits. "Yeah," said Pauls sarcastically. "Juris told us it would be a really good idea. He never told us how cold the snow would be."

Chira had to laugh as they all got settled in to the room. The interaction, along with all the good-natured teasing that went with it, reminded her of her own family...especially in the earlier years of her childhood, when her brother, Garen, was around more. She and Garen had been closer in age, and had sibling-fought mercilessly, but once Gabriel arrived, they could turn their attention to pestering him. Not that he didn't do quite a bit of pestering on his own, and the two boys would often team up and torment her.

It had all been in fun, though...and she wouldn't trade a moment of her childhood for anything. Chira's eyebrow raised at the sight of the two toddlers running through the snow, naked. "Abols," she teased, "is this your way of telling me you'd like to honeymoon on Andoria?"

Henriks gave a nervous smile, accompanied by a laugh. "Andoria would certainly be an interesting place to go and much preferable to some sort of scorching desert," he grinned, "but it may be a little cold for us pinkskins." But really, he didn't care where they went, just who he was with. All he required was his lovely lady, and he was sure she knew that.

Māra, who was beginning to get restless, began whizzing through more of the pictures.

"Alright," Chira said, winking. "We'll rule Andoria out, for now. I guess we'll forego adding Vulcan to the list. Though," she grinned, "I guess sitting in the heat and gazing at our navels and eating vegan for a few days sounds just like a blaaaast."

A few more pictures flew by as Mara moved through them. "Oh!" Chira exclaimed, pointing to one in particular. "Apple, is that you eating spaghetti? Or are you wearing it? I swear, feeding babies pasta always seems like a great idea at the time," she said, winking at Henriks' mother. She leaned closer to her fiancee. "Just imagine...when we have a baby of our own, we can have them smear pasta sauce all over our quarters and themselves.

Chira suddenly realized that she and Henriks had never really talked about having children before, at least, not in a serious manner. She assumed that he'd want at least one, but...still. Something to think about. For now, she just wanted to gauge his reaction.

Henriks was glad Vulcan was out of the equation. Vegan eating he didn't mind, but the heat... the only thing that would come of visiting such a hot climate would be a roasted apple. He watched as his sister continued to flip through family pictures. As predicted, there were a few, candid, pictures of her, which she instantly whizzed past.

He burst into a fit of laughter, having to place a hand on his stomach to catch his breath. Māra had stopped on a picture of him and Pauls with spaghetti in their hair and all over them. It showed Henriks trying paint his brother's face with sauce. "I'd say a little bit of both," he mused with smile. "Kids do the darndest things and are sometimes quite brilliant. Wearing and eating the food is a genius idea."

Something Chira had said made him pause. When we have a baby of our own. His words caught in his throat, so he simply smiled and kissed his lovely lady's hand. "When we have a baby of our own," he echoed. What a wonderful child they would be.