Sell you a Bridge chapter 208

April 13th 2016 Doomhallow Hall 8:00 PM EDT

The  upgrade for the dungeons was insanely expensive. I'd known some of the  higher ranked rooms could be pricy, especially without the discount I  already had with the rebuild from all those high tier stones, but that  dungeon upgrade to a point where I was confident they could hold Savage  and co with no hope of escape cost me a full two hundred and fifty  thousand points. Even at ten thousand per day I needed plenty of tantric  sessions to top me up enough to afford that in the twenty three days  and still have enough left over for summons when I finished my research  on the new Soulless I was working on.

Between both sources  of income I'd managed to scrounge up another fifty thousand points to  play with, though I wasn't sure how far that would go with my new  summon, considering how absolutely insane the cost for Solomon had been  at a full ten grand. Despite that I wasn't actually finished with the  research anyway, even after nearly a month of time furiously studying,  with only short breaks. I'd taken time off for family gatherings,  including the weekly family dinners, which was exactly where we were  heading now.

Dreamer was fussing with her hair. She'd  managed to wiggle her way out of the last few dinners for seemingly  valid reasons, but Zee had put her foot down this time and now she was  panicking. I felt bad for her, I didn't like dealing with strangers  either, I'd have let her take her time with introductions, but Zee  didn't like waiting much, and she felt the few weeks of leeway she'd  already given our girlfriend were sufficient. So now our busty goddess  was adjusting her dress fitfully and staring in the mirror, scowling at  herself like she'd just climbed out of a pigsty.

I rolled  my eyes. "You look beautiful Dreamer. As always. I understand why you're  nervous, but don't be. Lian and Hana always take up everyone's  attention anyway. Their constant efforts to out cute each other is like  the main source of conversation the whole night. No one is going to be  interrogating you or anything. It's a nice family meal with my mom, her  husband, Artemis, Wally, Reggie, Claire, Bette, Artemis's mom, and the  kids. These are all people you've met before and who like you perfectly  fine, no reason to fret."

She spun on me with a scowl.  "They do NOT all like me perfectly fine. Your mother is cold to me at  best. She treats Zatanna like the daughter she always wanted and me like  a homewrecking slut." That...wasn't exactly true, but the result was  the same. She wasn't hostile or mean of course, but mom pretty much  acted like Dreamer didn't exist when she was over. She responded to  direct questions without any eye contact and otherwise didn't  acknowledge her existence at all. It was actually part of the reason Zee  had been pushing so hard for our girlfriend to come with us.

Reaching  out to put my arms around her waist, I drew a sulking Dreamer against  me. "Listen. My mom is just...getting used to things. She doesn't hate  you, trust me, I can see her aura. She just doesn't know how to act  around you. She barely knows you. She just got me back after all that  time and now she has a new person to try to fit into a life that's  already in chaos. She doesn't want to say something awkward or rude so  she doesn't say anything. Her family was pretty conservative growing up  so the whole idea is strange to her and she's dealing with it as best  she can."

I tipped her chin up to look at me, staring into  her pretty violet eyes as I kept talking. "That said, she wants to get  to know you. She knows you're important to me and feels like she owes  that to me because I was so cool about Gojo. Which I don't necessarily  think means I deserve special treatment, but I'm hardly going to look a  gift horse in the mouth. Which means we need to get you two together so  you can get past the initial awkwardness and she can learn to love you  like I do."

The happy blush across her tanned cheeks was  adorable, and I couldn't resist leaning down for a long kiss, which  sadly I had to break away from far too soon. That got a giggle from my  girlfriend. "Well, we better go, Zee is downstairs and she's as nervous  about this as I am. You know how much of a hurry she'll be in when she's  feeling uneasy." It made me smile that we both knew her well enough to  know that worry made her rush things. Zee wasn't controlling, as much as  I sometimes joked about it, but she was incredibly anxious and could  sometimes backseat drive as a result.

So I offered Dreamer  my elbow formally, a gesture of solidarity against our adorable  oppressor despite neither of us wanting to change a thing about our  girl. We both knew that we could call this off right now if it made us  genuinely uncomfortable and Zee would understand, and that was what made  Dreamer willing to go through with it. We both wanted Zee to feel the  family love she needed, because Dr. Fate still refused to see her and it  was breaking her heart not to have her dad around.

I  desperately wanted to track the bastard down and drag him in front of  her, but she was insistent that he be allowed his own time. She was  terrified something might happen to her father if we tried to force the  issue, and as overpowered as I was at times, I absolutely did not want  to have a possession fight with a primordial force of creation from the  dawn of time. The scarab had been bad enough, I seriously doubted I had a  shot in hell at kicking a Lord of Order out of his host, especially a  consenting one who actively hated my guts.

Zee was in a  pretty purple sun dress that matched her eyes, and she squealed with  glee when she saw us, clapping excitedly. "You both look so cute  together! Hold on, let me get a picture!" She fished around in the small  bag hanging off her shoulder until she revealed her phone, snapping a  picture and then snagging my other elbow, taking a place opposite  Dreamer. "Alright then, lets go!" She tugged us forward towards the  teleporter, the three of us emerging in the clock tower where Reggie and  Bette were waiting with Claire, who had insisted on coming early to do  Bette's hair, something the fashion oriented blonde allowed with fond  exasperation, mostly because she actually did a pretty good job.

She  was currently fixing her son's collar as he tried to swat her hands  away like buzzing flier, and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw us.  Artemis had left early to pick up Lian and Paula. Jade and Roy didn't  like coming to dinner so they let their daughter come with her  grandmother. The trip to the penthouse was pretty uneventful, we all  just chatted about nothing as we made our way over, I held Dreamer's  left hand and Zee held her right, trying to help calm her down as she  fretted over the coming dinner.

When we arrived Artemis  and Wally were already there with Paula and Lian, and Zee dropped  Dreamer's hand and bolted to the kids to scoop them up and coo nonsense  at the two little girls. Hana was wearing her hilariously cute little  pink sunglasses and Lian just looked bored until Zee got there, but the  absurd charisma my girlfriend brought to bare made even small children  melt, and within minutes the two of them were squealing and giggling as  Patches circled around them all, yipping happily.

I'd left  the cornerpup with my sister as a pet and guardian, despite knowing  Gojo was a total helicopter parent. Rolling my eyes at her attention  span I squeezed Dreamer's hand and dragged her over to where Paula, mom,  Gojo, and now Claire were sitting, talking animatedly. I leaned down to  give my mom a hug and a kiss. "Mom, sorry we're late, my hair just  wouldn't lie down today." Which was true, it never did, but I hadn't  tried either. "You remember my girlfriend, Dreamer."

Her  face was neutral as she gave a strained smile and nodded to Dreamer. "Of  course, nice to see you again dear." She turned back to eye me  critically. "You look pale Morgan, have you been skipping meals? I swear  you're skin is practically paper white. And you're so thin." She fussed  with my sport coat, smoothing it down as she stared at my face like she  could read my diet for the last three months in the pallor of my skin.

Paula  was trying not to smirk, and Gojo wasn't even bothering to try. Claire  was the only one not obviously mocking me with her face. I sighed. "I'm  half ghost mother, I'm always pale. I promise I've been eating fine,  though I do miss your cooking." I shot her a winning smile. "Speaking of  which Dreamer was just telling me on the way over she wants to learn to  cook. I told her you could help, since you're the best cook I know."  That last bit was categorically untrue on both counts. I was the best  cook I knew, but I cheated with my power, and Dreamer needed some time  with my mom.

She looked at my girlfriend suspiciously,  chewing her lip. Her aura was conflicted. She felt like Zee should be  mad about Dreamer, and wanted to be mad on her behalf, but since she  wasn't she didn't have the right. I'd left that out when I told my  girlfriend how my mom felt about her because it was mom's issue to deal  with not Dreamer's, and it would have made her feel bad for no reason.

Still,  she knew I wanted her to try, and my mother loved me, so she looked  away and nodded, standing up. She turned to Claire and Paula. "I'm going  to go check on dinner, you two relax and we can talk more once I get  back." She turned to Dreamer, her smile less stiff but still a bit  hesitant. "Come along dear. I can teach you the recipe I'm using. I'm  making Jambalaya, it's Morgan's favorite." I lit up, both because she  was opening up to Dreamer, and because it WAS my favorite and I was  psyched now.

Once she left I sighed in relief and headed  over to where Zee was crawling around growling ferociously with Lian on  her back as Hana rode Patches like a horse, the now pretty much full  sized corner pup being as gentle and careful as possible with my sister.  I sat down to watch them with a smile, not interrupting, just looking  around at my family. I loved dinners like this, big crazy affairs full  of people I cared about. I always felt like just another face in the  crowd. I looked at Zee playing with the girls, Artemis and Wally talking  to Reggie and Bette, Claire and Paula catching up as Gojo watched my  sister like an overprotective hawk, and my mom and Dreamer in the  kitchen, and I was...at peace.

This was perfect. I hoped  mom and Dreamer would get closer. Mom didn't buy into the suzy homemaker  thing, but she had always prioritized putting meals on the table for me  when I was a kid, so she would consider Dreamer doing the same thing as  a way for them to bond. My mother had been my rock when I was younger,  and she was important to me, it meant a lot to me that she was trying to  get to know my new girlfriend, and Dreamer was a pretty charismatic  person too, even without the stat for it. I was sure they would be  getting alone like a house on fire at the end of the night, so I just  sat back to watch my family live their lives. Times like this might be  few and far between soon enough.