Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in this chapter, work and daughters have kept me super busy. Hopefully this chapter was one that was worth waiting for. Thank you all so much for reading my story. ~Rebecca

Sarah’s parents got to the door first and were waiting for Sarah to knock, to their surprise she just opened the door and stepped in.

Grinning, she just said, “I’m family so I don’t have to knock.” As she sat her bag down and hung her keys up in the foyer, she yelled, “Steve! Dana! Girls! We’re early!”

From down the hallway they heard a male voice, “I’m in the kitchen!”

Sarah just said, “That’s Steve, this way.” Then she led her parents down the hallway into a large dining room, with a large open kitchen on the far side.

As they walked into the kitchen they found Steve squatting down digging in the bottom of the refrigerator. As he stood up and turned around, Joan immediately noticed how attractive he was. Other than the flecks of gray in his dark hair, Joan would have sworn he was only in his mid 20’s, tall and athletic, but his most striking feature was his devilishly charming smile. That was made apparent when he saw Sarah and how nice she looked.

“Well hey there you!” He said as he gave Sarah a hug. Her parents noticed that they both gave each other a kiss on the cheek.

As she hugged him, she asked, “So where are Dana and the girls?”

Letting her go, Steve stepped back and gave a low whistle and grinned, “Wow, you clean up good Sarah… So gorgeous, where have you been my whole life?”

Sarah shook her head in frustration, “You’re awful… By the way, the first 4 years of your life I wasn’t even born so there… Now where’s Dana and the girls?”

Steve just smirked devilishly at her, “So Ben called me… He said everything went well… What are you doing giving him and his family concert tickets? Are you trying to make me look like an asshole since I never did that when I had your job?”

Both Ben and Joan couldn’t help be amused, and started to chuckle. Sarah just glared at them, “Don’t you go encouraging him, he doesn’t need it.” Then turning back to Steve whose smirk was just taunting her, “No you look like you’re an asshole because you are one! I don’t need to help on that! Now where’s the girls?”

Turning to her parents Steve smiled and said, “Since she wont introduce you, let me guess… I’m really good at this, hang on just a second.” He paused and rubbed his chin in deep thought for a moment before blurting out, “I got it! You’re Sarah’s parents!”

Sarah was definitely showing her frustration, and her parents were trying really hard not to laugh, so they just nodded yes.

Steve stepped back with a look of amazement, “See I told you… I know most people don’t believe me, but its almost like I have ESPN or something!” That caused Ben and Joan to start laughing in earnest.

Sarah had enough of his clowning around and quickly grabbed his head and covering up his mouth, sternly she ordered, “Enough! Are Dana and the girls here? Nod or shake your head.” Looking like a 5 year old being scolded, he gently shook his head. Sarah continued, “Will they be back soon?” He then nodded his head. Triumphantly Sarah asked, “See that wasn’t so hard.”

Steve started to shake his head no, but then Joan caught the mischievous twinkle in his eye about the time Sarah jumped back in surprise. She had moved beyond frustration, and exclaimed, “You… You!!! You licked me!” Both Joan and Bill were surprised by her next action, as she punched Steve in the arm hard.

Steve jumped back rubbing his arm, but still laughing, “Owww!!! You know what nobody is ever going to complain that you hit like a girl!!!”

Sarah just groaned, “Ugh!!! I’ve got to go find some disinfectant for my hand!!!” She then stormed off towards the bathroom.

Steve then turned to her parents, much more seriously and stuck his hand out, “It’s Ben and Joan right? I’m Steve McMasters, I’m glad you two could come.”

They both shook his hand, surprised by the sudden change in character. Joan asked, “Was all…that… for our benefit or hers?”

Grinning, Steve told her, “I know she’s probably been stressed out today with… well her surprise visit and everything… She just needed to blow off some steam… She’ll be fine… You know, she actually hits me pretty often.” He laughed at his last comment.

Joan still surprised by their behavior couldn’t help but comment, “I have a feeling a lot of it is deserved.”

Smiling Steve answered, “You’re probably not wrong with that statement.”

Joan started to laugh but then a sad expression crossed her face, “You know that reminded me a lot of when Sarah… well when her and April were younger… They fought like cats and dogs, but…” She started to tear up, and just grabbed Bill’s hand and sniffed away the tears trying to force a smile.

Steve just nodded slowly, “I know its been hard for you, and her… I’m so sorry… I had met April several times… Her and Sarah together were something else…” Both of Sarah’s parents just nodded, afraid of saying anything. Trying to change the subject Steve asked, “Oh where’s my manners, would you two care for a drink? We have beer and wine, your choice.”

Bill opted for a beer and Joan for a glass of wine, they had just sat around the counter in the kitchen when Sarah came back in wiping her hands, they heard her mutter “asshole” when she walked by Steve. For a moment they thought she was still mad, but then noticed the grin on her face.

Sarah grabbed her a beer and using a towel twisted the top off, as she sat down she asked once again, “So are you going to tell me where Dana and my girls are?”

Laughing heartily Steve said, “Okay, Okay Xena… We ran out of cream for the casserole so Dana and the girls went to the store, we didn’t think you’d both be here this soon…”

Sarah looked surprised, “What are you doing letting her go with the girls?! You know this one has been really rough on her! She needs to take it easy, and not push herself so hard!”

Steve replied, “Look she has been having a really good past few days, she wanted to go and spend time out with Larissa and Ally… Would you be able to stop her once she sets her mind to something?”

Leaning back in her chair, Sarah said, “Okay… You have a point there… She just really needs to be careful is all…I’ll fuss at her later, its okay when shes mad at me, I don’t get all whiney or mopey unlike when shes mad at someone else…”

Steve grinned, “Thanks I appreciate that…”

While they were curious about why Sarah was worried about Steve’s wife, they were afraid of overstepping any bounds, so they didn’t ask. Ben and Joan had been enjoying watching the back and forth commentary from the two friends, and that’s what they both were she could tell. She had known that Steve was technically her boss, but it made her feel good that her and her boss had this kind of relationship. With her curiosity getting the best of her she had to ask, “So how long have you two known each other?”

Steve and Sarah glanced at each other, Sarah was the first to respond, “It was when I flew out here for my interview. He’s actually the person I interviewed with.”

Steve laughed, “Yeah that was an interesting interview…”

Sarah laughed in response, “Yeah bet you never knew what you were getting yourself into right?”

Steve smirked, “You could say that again… But please don’t…”

Curious, Joan asked Steve, “Had you ever met a transgender person before?”

Steve thought about her question for a moment before answering, “Well no, I hadn’t… Honestly wasn’t sure she was though… I mean I had my suspicions, but I thought she was going the other way…”

At her parents confused expressions Sarah giggled, “I hadn’t officially become Sarah at that point, so Steve interviewed Brian… Well sort of…”

Joan asked, “I thought you had started your transition not too long after…” She paused, not really wanted to say the words.

Sarah smiled sadly, understanding her mothers pause, “It’s okay mom, its in the past right?” Joan returned her smile and nodded. Sarah continued, “I started living as Sarah almost immediately once I got to the Theta house… I wasn’t able to do anything but get hormone blockers though until I turned 18, and that’s when I started hormone therapy…”

Steve again laughed, “Yeah that threw me for quite a loop. Here comes this young kid named Brian and I could swear that he was a girl trying to become a boy. I kept thinking, this poor kid will never look like a guy…”

Sarah fussed, “Dude, you make it sound like I was a child, you do remember you’re only four years older right?”

With mock indignation, Steve said, “Do you mind?!? This is my story!”

Smirking Sarah told him, “Oh sorry Grandpa, you may continue.”

Trying to hide his amusement he kept going, “So anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted… So this… Young adult… Is that better? Anyway… I had just gotten a promotion and was actually going to run my own team, so I was able to hire my own replacement… So I had received all these portfolios and resumes, but one distinctly stuck out. Here was a kid that had emancipated himself at fifteen, then homeschooled two and a half years of high school in sixteen months, and then completed his masters at twenty-two. Not only that, but he had graduated within the top five percent of his class. Brian Richardson was highly impressive on paper, so you can imagine my surprise when she walked in with a guys name.”

Both Ben and Joan looked at Sarah obviously impressed with their daughter. “So was that when you found out?”

Steve laughed and shook his head no, “I didn’t find out till almost two years later… Her records didn’t ever indicate there was a gender change, so I couldn’t ask…”

Bill finally spoke up, “Even if you had the direction she was headed wrong, you still hired her though? That says a lot about you Steve, I wish we had been… uh… better…”

Steve just nodded solemnly, “Well Sarah… err Brian… Dammit this is confusing even for me to try to tell this… Anyway, SHE was leaps and bounds ahead of any competition in the applicants… So I hired her… Besides it didn’t really matter if she was trans or not, this is Seattle.”

Joan was really enjoying hearing about how well Sarah had done, and asked, “So how did you two hit it off as friends?”

Sarah laughed, “It was awkward at first to say the least…”

Steve smiled, “Just a bit… Sarah had such a drive at work… She was making me look bad so it forced me to step up my game… When we started our first project she was logging way more hours that I was for the first week or two, then afraid that she was going to take my job I started to try to log in at least as much as she did… I thought it was the right thing to do seeing that I was supposed to be in charge…”

Sara teased, “You were just afraid of the newbie making you look bad.”

Grinning he replied, “Maybe… Anyway… We started working a lot of hours together… The other two senior members of the team… They just weren’t as dedicated… So we ended up finding we had a lot of different things in common, we had a similar sense of humor, and other than the gender issue, we had a lot of similar life experiences, and our friendship just took off… Before the end of the first project the two other members of the team had quit…”

Sarah uttered, “Because they were weirded out by me…”

Steve exclaimed, “Stop going there okay… That was their problem, besides I wouldn’t trade a hundred of them for one of you… You worked circles around both of them…”

About that time the garage door started to open, startling them from the conversation. Steve grinned and said, “That will mean Dana and the girls are back.” He stood up and went to the side door that was attached to the kitchen to surprise his daughters.

A few short moments later the door burst open and two small blonde bundles of energy burst in and ran completely around Steve, both of them yelling, “SARAH!!!”

By the time he spun around he saw both young girls already in Sarahs lap, doing his best to look hurt he uttered, “Hey!!!”

Sarah laughed as she was listening to the girls who hadn’t stopped trying to both tell her everything at once, she said, “I’ve got this, go tend to your wife.” Steve just shook his head as he turned to go to the garage.

Joan’s heart began to melt watching the two young girls chattering on Sarahs lap. Both her and Bill noticed that the stress that had been apparent within her quickly melting away as she paying attention to the girls.

The bigger of the two, Larissa, whined, “We missed you, we haven’t seen you in forever!!!”

Smiling at her Sarah responded, “Baby I was here just last Monday…”

Larissa just agreed with her, sort of, “I know!!! Forever!!!”

Ally started in next, and both young girls were so excited they were talking a million miles an hour. Joan was impressed how Sarah seemed to pay attention to both of them and continue in both conversations as well as she was. As the chattering was going on, both of Sarah’s parents noticed a very tired, and very pregnant brunette walking into the kitchen with Steve carrying some bags and simultaneously helping her to a chair. Before she sat down she leaned over and gave Sarah a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Dana asked her softly, “You doing okay?” Sarah just smiled and nodded.

With Sarah completely engaged with the girls conversation Steve took over introductions of Bill and Joan. Dana was polite, which actually surprised both Sarah and Steve. She had been every bit as angry as April had been, at least before she had gotten sick.

After several minutes of small talk, Dana looked at Larissa and asked, “Rissa have you told Sarah about your new comforter?” Little Larissa’s eyes lit up, as well as Ally’s.

Larissa stood up and grabbed Sarah’s hand and just said, “Cmon you have to see!!! It’s Ariel!!!”

Sarah tried to politely refuse but at this point both Larissa and Ally each had a hand and was tugging, both pleaded, “Please come and see, please!!!” Everyone else was trying to hide their amusement at Sarah’s feeble attempts to dissuade the girls.

She told the group “Okay guess I have to go, Ill be back in a few minutes… Play nice Dana okay…” Dana just smiled and nodded.

No sooner did Sarah get out of earshot did Dana look at Bill and Joan, “She’s gone for a minimum of fifteen minutes… First off I want to tell you how sorry I am about April… She was a very close friend.” She paused for a second to wipe her eyes. “I do want to say that I’m actually pleasantly surprised you are here… I honestly didn’t think you’d come…”

Bill looking confused, “Wait you knew we were supposed to come? How?”

Joan just uttered, “April… She told you… You were her friend that she told us about…”

Grimly Dana nodded, “I take it April told you about what had happened the night she was supposed to meet you.”

Both Bill and Joan nodded, Bill sadly said, “Yeah she did… It was only the second weekend since you all had rescued her…”

Dana nodded, “That sounds right… April was so angry at you two she was going to let you stew for awhile before letting you know what was going on… By the way, I haven’t told Sarah yet… I know I was supposed to, but I honestly didn’t expect you to show… Sorry… I will tell her before she goes home tonight though…

Joan and Bill both echoed, “Thank you…”

 
 
To be continued.