"Is this where you take me to your cabin in hte woods, tie me up and I'm never heard from again?" Alice asked, pretending to be fearful. The look he gave her killed hte laughter and brought a blush to her face.
                              
"If I tie you up, you'll definitely be heard." he promised with heat in his voice. Alice gave a shakey laugh, entirely certain he was telling the truth. Malcolm was pretty sure his neighbors knew when she'd spent the night last. 
                              
"Ah, onto a safer topic of conversation please?" Alice requested.
                              
"Hmmmm, I would rather make you blush and squirm all day long." Malcolm's voice rumbled with promise. Alice laughed like that had been a joke and picked her own topic to distract them with.
                              
"Are you nervous?" she asked, swallowing her butterflies down. Ok, maybe it wasn't a safer topic, but at least it wasn't going to make her swwon.
                              
Malcolm chuckled softly and nodded. "It's easier to explain it this way. Shawna and I had lived together for two years and I never asked her to come meet the family. Half my relatives don't speak English and the other half isn't always aware they've switched back into Spanish. I knew she didn't like spicy food or really any food that wasn't sushi or on her diet approved menu." he shrugged. "But I'm not worried about you." he grinned at her. "I'm actually more worried that once my family gets a chance to meet you, they'll start asking where the ring is." he laughed. 
                              
Alice laughed with him. "Let's wait until after I can legally drink my own wedding toast before we worry about that ok?" she joked back. 
                              
The Jeep pulled up outside a rambling ranch house that had nearly ten cars parked on the lawn outside. "Is it too late to back out and run away screaming?" Alice asked as she got out of the Jeep. 
                              
"You can run away if you want but I'll find you. Then you'd just be tired and still here." he joked back, holding her hand as they walked up to the door. 
                              
Inside smelled of hot peppers and mashed potatoes, an interesting blend of flare and comfort food. Right away Alice and Malcolm were mobbed by toddlers and about three dogs eagerly sniffing Monster on Alice's clothes. One of the 'aunties' (as Malcolm called his many female relatives) with an infant in her arms greeted them from the other side of the bouncing animals and offspring. "Malcolm, it's so good to see you. Abuela needs help in the kitchen, her knuckles are bad again. You must be Alice, it's wonderful to finally meet one of Malcolm's girlfriends. I'm Gloria, this is Ricardo, and hte two clinging to Mal's legs are the twins, Nina and Luis." the woman pulled Alice along as she walked, and dumped little Ricardo right into Ace's arms as if they'd known each other for years. Ricardo promply took his fist out of his mouth and smeared the baby goo across Alice's cheek.
                              
"Thank you for that. But you can keep the rest. I try to limit my slobber to an ounce a day." Alice said to the infant in her arms and he just cooed at her. She smiled, realizing that it didn't matter what language she used with this little tyke, as long as she sounded happy, he was good. There were a lot of people around, and a lot of children under the age of eleven. The adults were currently too busy trying to control their christmas gift fuelled progeny to really notice the newcomer amongst them, and most of the children couldn't really care less about another boring adult. 
                              
Gloria led Alice to the kitchen where she spotted Malcolm with his dark gray jersey rolled up over his muscular forearms, kneading dough for fresh bread. The flour had dusted his shirt anyways, and she could clearly see a hand print where he had unconsciously wiped his hands on his pants. There was the sound of something dropping and spilling, then the sudden wail of little Nina crying because she'd spilled juice on her dress. As Gloria apologized for having to go change her daughter, Alice was discovered by the other adults of hte household. As she pitched in to help set up the long tables with barely enough seats for everyone, she was introduced to the cousins Vanessa, Laura, Bonita, Jose, Big Louis, Marco and Bob. The Bob through her for a whirl until he explained that Big Louis was Gloria's husband and father to little Luis, and he was Bob because Middle Louis didn't sound right. A lot of the younger children running around belonged to these cousins, and it surprised Alice to learn that Bonita and Jose weren't much older than she was. Bonita was nineteen, married and pregant with their first child.