Theo grinned. "Ah. Guess I have to settle for the normal girl." He teased, then laughed when she said prepare for battle. "I'm always ready." He said in a macho voice. He blinked slightly, the slowly set her down. "You're right. Wouldn't want them to freak out or nothin."

Casey smiled "you mean more than they normally will? Yeah, probably would be best. We don't have guard dogs... we have guard cats. follow me and be quiet, I'd rather not disturb them" she said as she grabbed his hand and led him to the back door.

After moving stealthily across the lawn, she opened the back door, preparing to call out to her parents. She never got the chance, though, because they were immidiately upon her like a predator to its prey. "Where were you young lady?" "you had your mother and I worried sick" "it's already dark outside, you know better than that" "we keep telling you not to go into that forest, do you know what is in there?...who is this?" her father finally asked, glaring at Theo. The fact that Casey and Theo were holding hands did not escape his notice.

Casey took a deep breath "mom... dad... this is Theo. My, uh... boyfriend" she answered. Casey's father raised up to his full height, crossed his arms, and stared down at Theo "young man... how long have you known my daughter?" he asked.

Theo nodded slightly to Casey with a small smile. As soon as the door opened, he flinched slightly at the predator parents. He said nothing until he was introduced, which he loved the way he was introduced to her parents from her own mouth. Boyfriend...he could get used to that. He looked at her father, the way he was trying to be intimidating. He smiled slightly. "Hello, sir. I've known you daughter for...what 2 days now?" He glanced at Casey to make sure he was correct, the days passed without notice to him since he'd been with her.

Casey laughed nervously "more or less" she answered. Her father's eyes flicked back to Theo "how did you two meet?" he asked.

Theo smiled slightly. "The little watered area a little from your house, back there about 5 minutes. I just happened to be walking through the forest when my Kirse caught sent of her and lead me to her." He was calm, her father wasn't as scary as she'd lead him to believe.

Casey's father nodded, never breaking eye contact "have a seat boy, I see we're going to be having a long chat" he said "dad, please!" Casey protested but shut up when her dad raised a hand. He simply walked to the table and sat down where one of his guns were. He picked it up and began cleaning it. Casey rolled her eyes "he's just trying to be scary, he's really a soft marshmellow" she said as she studied her dad, he even looked like a marshmellow. He was a big man, tall and large from the muscles. He was a blacksmith, which would explain where the huge mass of muscles came from. "So tell me, Theo, what have you been doing with my daughter for the past two days?" he asked as he cleaned the gun.

Theo blinked slightly at all the protest from Casey. He didn't mind, though the way her father went over and started cleaning his gun made him want to laugh. Yeah, she's right, he's not scary at all. Theo leaned down to whisper in her ear quickly. "Don't worry love, everything will be fine." He then went and sat across from her father with a small smile. "Ah. Well, I'm afraid she took quite a fright when Kirse ran up to her, teeth barred. She passed out. I didn't know where she lived and I couldn't very well leave her there, so I took her back to my good friend's home in the woods. I stop by the place on my way through here alot to visit. He wasn't there so I laid her in the guest bed and made her some soup out of the deer Kirse hunted down for us. After she recovered, we talked some. Afterwards, she seemed bored, so I asked if she'd like to see the falls a little deeper in the woods. We went there and swam for a little, then talked some more." He didn't include that they made out several times....dad's usually didn't want to hear that. "She thought that you and your wife would be worried, so I brought her home."

Casey's father inspected the barel of the gun and began loading it "young man, I'm going to get straight to the point. Are you going to take my daughter away from us again?" he asked, before looking squarely at Theo.

Casey sighed and leaned against the wall next to her mother "come dear, let's get some dinner ready. Leave your father to his interview, you know how he gets" she said "yeah, he's also the reason why I hadn't been kissed before today--" she said, sighing when she realized that she just told her mom she'd been kissed. Her mother, however, breezed on by, acknowledging the slip up with nothing but a wink "he seems like a nice young man. Here, chop those vegetables and put them in the pot please" she commanded while piling a load of vegetables into Casey's arms.

Theo smiled a little more at Casey's father. "I don't know. I'm not going to take her anywhere, but if she wants to come with me, I would gladly let her."

Casey's father looked past Theo where the two women in his life were preparing dinner, his face seemed to soften a bit, then he went back to Theo, his face a lot darker than it had been previously. "I'll tell you once, so listen carefully boy. If you get her pregnant before I've given her to you at a wedding, I don't care how much she hates me for it, I will not hesitate you to remove you from this planet, and no one will ever find your pitiful excuse for a body. Do you hear me?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.

Theo had to smile a little when he saw the man look back at his wife and daughter. He listened to what he said respectfully, but the smile never left his face. "I think you would care how much she might hate you for it." He relaxed slightly with a small happy sigh. "I love Casey with all my heart...and I believe that I will never stop doing so. I will not try to get her pregnant, nor will I sleep with her. Our of respect for her and you and your wife....but, if something does happen and she does get pregnant you have my word that I will not leave her or the child. Nor will I go down without a fight, which I will not lose." The last part of what he said was lower than the rest. "I make no promise that I am not one hundred percent positive that I can keep."

Casey's father regarded Theo for a moment and then sat back "well then... welcome to the family. Let's hope I never have to show up to kill you, although it would be a very interesting fight to see" he said, a small grin showing through his full beard.

Casey heard the end of the interview and abandoned her post at the vegetables (after she had done as directed, of course) and joined Theo "that's it? no more pestering?" she asked, looking between the two of them, glad to see the tension between them resolved. She crossed her arms and regarded the two "hmm... if the others knew how easy it could be I might've had a few more dates when I was younger. Oh well, what's done is done, told you that you'd pass with flying colors" she told Theo, sitting on his lap, ignoring the look of annoyance her father gave her when she did so. "We're staying for dinner, by the way, my mother would never forgive us if we didn't" she added as she leaned against Theo.

Theo nodded slightly to Casey's father, then smiled brightly at Casey when she came over. "Well, I have to say that I'm sorta glad that you haven't had any other dates." Then he wrapped his arms around her when she sat in his lap, with a pleased smile on his face. "Dinner?" He looked over his shoulder at her mother. "You wouldn't happen to need any help, would you?"

Casey's mother turned around and smiled brightly "no, you just relax" she responded. Casey smiled and whispered in Theo's ear, low so her mother wouldn't have a chance at hearing "my mother has this crazy rule that only females are allowed in the kitchen when a meal is being prepared. We've tried to talk her out of it many times, we just gave up in the end" she said, a slight laugh in her voice as she said so. "Casey, are you really leaving us so suddenly?" her father asked, pouting "dad... I need to go out into the world. Besides, I'm not leaving completely, I'll be visiting plenty" she told her father before turning to Theo "will Kirse be alright alone tonight?" she asked him.

Theo blinked slightly, but nodded. He chuckled softly when Casey spoke in his ear. His attention turned to her father when he spoke, then back to Casey. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Casey, dear, Kirse is a wolf. Of course he'll be alright alone for the night."

Casey pouted "well... he just acts so human! Give me a break here, he's the only member of the canine family that doesn't scare me on sight... well now he doesn't. Subconciously I guess I forgot he wasn't human... whatever" she muttered, giving up when she realized that her arguement wasn't based on anything. She crossed her arms and looked away, pouting.

Theo chuckled softly while she just kept going. When she started pouting, he pulled her closer and kissed her cheek softly. "It's alright...I sometimes forget he's not human too."

Casey squirmed away from Theo, but eventually gave in "he's not going to worry about us being gone without any notice?" she asked him, pouting slightly. She curled up against him and pressed her ear against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. A smile instantly lit her face.

Theo smiled a little. "Yes, Kirse will find some way to entertain himself. Besides, I leave him alone sometimes for days when I can't take him inside some towns." He was happier when her face lit up. "Cute."

Casey smiled when she heard his voice rumble in her ear and she instantly nuzzled her face into his chest. "Alright you two loverbirds, save it for later. Casey, help me put dinner on the table, it's almost done" her mother said, breaking Casey out of her reverie. Casey pouted, pecked Theo's lips and got up to comply to her mother's bidding. Two minutes later, dinner was served.

Theo chuckled softly when she nuzzled into his chest. He smiled softly at her, a smile that got slightly bigger when she gave him a peck on the lips. He let her get up and watched her a little as they served dinner.

Casey placed herself int he seat in between Theo and her dad. "Well, everyone, dig in" her mother said, more as a command than an invitation. Casey's father decided to drop all awkward pretences of who should go first and he grabbed some meat, placed some on his plate and then some on Casey's plate "dad!" she protested. "You need to put some meat on your bones, you're as thin as a toothpick" he told her to justify his actions. Casey's mother smiled at her family and turned to Theo "so what do you do for a living?" she asked him.

Theo chuckled softly. "I do agree with your father. More meat, more curves." He winked slightly at her with a grin. He was trying to be on her side, to make her father stop making her plate for her. Then he blinked slightly and looked over at her mother. "Um...actually. I'm a hunter...mostly. I also do woodworking and small metal crafting...mostly jewelry." He started to put some meat and vegetables on his plate.

Casey's father chuckled "see, even the boy agrees with me, eat up" he commanded. Casey pouted, kicked Theo's foot under the table, and did as she was told. Casey's mother smiled at Theo "jewelry, woodworking and hunting? is there anything you can't do?" she asked. Casey's father looked Theo up and down "I'd be willing to bet he couldn't survive one day in the forgery" he commented before placing a potato into his mouth. Casey just sighed and continued to eat the food that had been placed on her plate.

Theo chuckled softly, then winced slightly when she kicked him, not that it hurt. "Ow...Casey. That hurt." He pouted slightly. Then blinked and smiled slightly at her mother. "My mother taught me to cook before I left home...but I'm afraid I'm not much of a seamstress." He joked lightly. Then he gave her father a daring look. "I'd like to take you up on that."