"Always," Damien murmured. "Never doubt that, Rose."

Rose half-turned and gave him a kiss.

"Still," she replied. "Thanks."

Damien smiled and kissed her again, relaxing with her.

"Go on and take your catnap," Rose said, teasing him just a little. "You look like you could use it."

Damien wrinkled his nose at her but settled down to nap for a bit.

A few weeks later, Rose was sifting through the mail when an envelope addressed to her caught her eye. Opening it, she pulled out a cream-colored parchment card. She blinked a couple of times as she read it.

"Looks like I'm taking a road trip out to see my family," she commented to Sera.

"Oh boy." Sera couldn't help but grin. "When are you going and how long for?" She'd won a trip for two to a resort a few states away, fully paid, for a week. She was kind of extatic about it.

Except that she'd have to leave her animals at home.

"My cousin is getting married," Rose said. "The trip out is long enough that I'll probably end up staying out there for a week to make it worth it." She handed the invitation over to Sera. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go with me, since it's a plus-one, but didn't you get that vacation thing?"

Sera made a face when she noticed the date. Right in the middle of her vacation. "Yeah, I did." She paused, trying to think of what to do.

"Hey, you could ask Damien along. Introduce him to the family and all that." And if her grin was just a little mischievous, well, she could not be blamed. Really.

Rose blinked.

"Sera, I think that's cruel and unusual, introducing him to the clan during that kind of event," she said. "Especially considering all of my female cousins are younger than I am." And she knew he cousins well enough to know what they would think of Damien.

Sera couldn't help but grin and giggle in that slightly menacing way.

"I know," she said simply. "But see, that way you can tell how he'll react to the clan." Her grin broadened. "And you'll have to take pictures, of course."

"You are so mean," Rose accused. "Even you haven't met my whole family yet, and I can guarantee they'll be there." She looked at the invite again and sighed. "I have to go out and find a nice dress now. I don't think I own anything nice enough to wear to this." Looking at the calendar, she marked out the week around the wedding. "I'll need to take this whole week off... It's a haul, to get out to see the clan, and it's not worth anything less than four days."

"Might as well just take the week off," Sera agreed. "Go spend some time out there, try to relax for a bit. You know, all that fun stuff." She grinned, just a bit evilly. Just a bit.

"Might as well," Rose agreed, distracted. She checked the date of the wedding again. "Now to go make a phone call and hope my cousin waiting till the last minute doesn't leave me without a date." Digging her phone out of her pocket, she went upstairs to her room and called Damien.

Sera snickered and retreated over to go feed the snake and play with it for a bit before washing her hands and making sure all the other animals were good.

Damien sounded a little sleepy still as he picked up. It wasn't that early, but it was one of his rare days off and he was still half-asleep, sprawled in his bed with his cat. "Mmmlo?"

"I swear, if you were napping in a patch of sunlight, I reserve the right to laugh about it," Rose teased when Damien answered the phone. She couldn't help a bit of light-hearted teasing. "Anyways, my cousin is getting married, and I was invited to the wedding, and Sera already has something planned for that week, and it's a plus-one invitation. He's my favorite cousin, and I kind of have to be there anyways, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?"

Damien paused as he got up, not even bothering to get properly dressed, and headed over to his desk to look at his callendar.

"How long, where is it, and what dates?" he asked quietly, gently shooing his cat away from trying to sleep on the callendar.

Rose obediently parroted the dates to him.

"I'm taking the the days around it off," she added after she did so. "It's kind of a haul to get out to see the family, so it's not worth spending less than four days there. The wedding falls on a Saturday, I think, so I was going to head out maybe the Thursday before, and come back the Tuesday after." It wasn't a whole week, but it meant that making the trip out was worth the drive, and she would get to see most of the family for those days.

Damien browsed his schedule quickly. He hadn't taken any vacation this year so far, and he got four weeks paid vacation, so he had plenty stored up.

"Alright, sounds good to me. Did you want me to drive there with you or in my own car?" He asked carefully, not wanting to give her the wrong impression, but he had met families at big gatherings like that before. It could get pretty crazy.

"It's up to you," Rose replied. "I won't make you ride along in my car, if you would rather take your own. My extended family is nice enough, if you can get used to the teasing and everything. And my grandparents live out on a mountain, in the woods, so it's all quiet and there's no cell reception." She grinned a bit, even though she knew he couldn't see it. "The one downside, there's no cell service."

"Well if I'm up there anyway I won't need cell reception," Damien said with a grin. "So what date exactly are you planning to leave and come back? I'll need to put in for time off."

Rose went over and looked at the calendar on her wall, figuring out exactly how long she wanted to visit the family. Once she had it figured out, she told him which days.

"I need to put in for the time off, as well," she added. Even better, she had to take the time off from both of her jobs.

"Well, the time off from the zoo shouldn't be a problem," Damien said with a shrug. "I know the person in charge of scheduling, so it should be fine."

He wrote himself a note to call in later and make sure he and Rose both got those days off before he went back to bed, flopping down and stretching out. "So what are you doing for the rest of the day?"

"I didn't have any plans for the day," Rose replied, settling back on her bed. Immediately, the kitten scrambled up from under the bed and pounced on her toes. Leaning over, she pulled the little thing away from her feet.

"Want to come over for dinner? I've got a nice steak needs eating." Damien grinned, wriggling a little until he was comfortable in his patch of sunshine. And he really could not be blamed; he was a cat, after all.