Long Overdue

[ngm_parents]

Luíz Adriano Alencar da Silva was visiting New York City once again. It had been a long time since his last visit, but this visit was a bit more personal than business. He hadn't seen his son in awhile, and there were things he needed to look into about his son. Particularly this woman he had been dating.

The flight in had been long, and though he was greeted warmly by his son, he was getting too old to spring right into action after a flight. Luíz begged off meeting Stephanie until he was more presentable.

Before a quick nap and exercises in the hotel's gym, Luíz used his pull and influence to get a nice, quiet table for three at Eleven Madison Park. He sent the time for Marcelo and his girlfriend to meet him and got ready.

He tried to be a little early, so he could watch how his son and his girlfriend interacted as they approached. Over two years with one woman was certainly a record for his son. That he had not proposed marriage was slightly worrying to the Brazilian father considering the last relationship before Marcelo left for the States. For now, Luíz needed to meet and learn.

Then he would start asking questions.

Comments

[vesper_verde]

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were getting soft, Stephanie Shaw." He gave her a wink. She was occasionally putty in his hands, but that was usually when he was a limp noodle as well. He opened the door for her.

"You're a braver person than me," he commented wryly. It was at least his father and not hers. Though he would probably be angrier if he were meeting her father for dinner.

[pyroprincess]

"Good thing you know better." Stephanie replied with a small grin. She caught the wink. Of course, there were times when she was putty in his hands, but just as often, if not more so, he was putty in hers. Not all the time though. That kept things interesting. She had no desire to be with a weak man.

"I don't think so." She looked up at him, a little more seriously this time. "I don't think so at all, mi amor."

[vesper_verde]

Once they were through the door, Marcelo offered his arm to her again. He scanned the restaurant until he spotted his father at a table.

"We have a table waiting," he told the host as he nodded toward his father's table. He them tried hard to not seem nervous at all.

[ngm_parents]

Luíz spotted his son making his way across with a beautiful dark-haired young lady on his arm. From his research, Marcelo's father knew that had to be Stephanie Shaw. He smiled pleasantly as he stood up.

"Olá, Marcelinho." He hugged his son and stepped back. He effortlessly switched to English with a much lighter accent than his son. "And this beauty must be Stephanie. It is so very nice to finally meet you."

Like any man from São Paulo welcoming his son's girlfriend, Luíz tried to give Stephanie a light hug and a kiss on the cheek.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie was a Spaniard by blood and upbringing, so she was no stranger to warmer greetings than many Anglo women would have been used to. Even the cold and distant people who raised her would use such greetings.

"It is good to meet you as well. How are you enjoying New York thus far?" He certainly had done his research on restaurants well, though.

[vesper_verde]

"Olá, papai." Marcelo grinned to himself as Stephanie was greeted. He had stepped out of the way as his father swooped in. Now, he was pulling out the chair for Stephanie to sit in.

[ngm_parents]

"New York is a lot shinier than the last time I was here," he replied with a wave of his hand and then a shrug. "I haven't had a chance to explore yet. I'm getting too old for being full of life after a long flight."

He gestured to the chair his son pulled out. "Please, have a seat. I hope you don't mind, but I already ordered the full 16 course meal for us all. With the wines."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie took the seat that was offered. It was all that she could do not to laugh when he mentioned the full 16 course meal. She just smiled broadly. "I don't think we'll have any trouble with that. Our schedules tend to make us both very hungry."

"You're right, though, New York has changed considerably in the last little while. If you need someone to help show you some of the sights, I would be more than happy to assist." She gave him her best smile, which was sincere enough. He'd made a good impression thus far.

[vesper_verde]

Once Stephanie was settled in, Marcelo took a seat in the chair to her left. He purposefully left the chair for his father across from Stephanie. Those two had more to catch up on than he did with either one.

"Stephanie is more the more culinary-picky of the two of us. If it sounds good to her, it sounds excellent to me." He smiled. It was true for the most part. He could easily subsist off street vendor food without complaints. "She's also a very good tour guide."

If it kept his father busy and out of Marcelo's office, it sounded good to him.

[ngm_parents]

"Of course she has very discerning tastes, Marcelinho, she's dating you," Luíz commented as he settled into the seat across from Stephanie. "Someone has to get you to stop eating all that crap. She looks like the woman for the job."

He was well aware of his son's dietary habits at home.

"É mesmo? I would be honored, Stephanie."

[pyroprincess]

"I do my best." She replied with a soft chuckle, slightly impulsively leaning in to kiss Marcelo's cheek. "Perhaps sometime in the future you fine gentlemen could do me the honor of showing me around Sao Paolo." It was a little strange in some ways that she hadn't ever gone to Brazil with Marcelo, but it never seemed to quite work, schedule-wise.

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo's eyes narrowed as he looked from one to the other. Just what he feared, they were ganging up on him. Ah well. At least Stephanie's kiss was worth it.

"Maybe around Christmas. So I don't try to die from freezing again." He hated winter in New York. Wrong time of the year and too cold besides.

[ngm_parents]

"That you've never been to São Paulo is a travesty that must be remedied," Luíz commented as the first course was brought out to them. Much like his son, Luíz saw boundless possibilities and beauty in his home country.

"You are free to stay at the family home in the city or one of the vacation homes out in the country."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie thought it was good, that things were going well. And teasing Marcelo was always fun. He certainly teased her enough, in all manner of contexts.

"I wouldn't mind getting out of the bitter chill myself." And anyway, it wasn't as if she imagined Father having a big traditional Christmas dinner or anything. It might make a nice holiday getaway.

"Beautiful as I'm certain the country is, I have to admit, I've become very accustomed to cities."

[vesper_verde]

He scratched his chin. "It would fit during her break for school. She would just have to get vacation from work. If the home in Horto Florestal is open, we could stay there."

Though he figured that may or may not be a tall order for his workaholic girlfriend. He settled his napkin on his lap in preparation for digging in.

[ngm_parents]

"Best of both worlds, Marcelinho? Very wise. I'll have it opened and staffed once you let me know exactly when." Luíz smiled.

"I assure you, Stephanie. You're more likely to melt than freeze around Christmas. Though it is normally around 24°C, so much more pleasant. You will, of course, be welcome at my big Christmas dinners."

[pyroprincess]

"I'm Spanish." Stephanie smiled. "I'm no stranger to heat. And no fan of the winter cold, either." Though the heat of the Spanish plain was a dry, baking one, not likely anywhere as humid as Brazil might be. But the truth was that hot temperatures rarely bothered her. She could generate infinitely hotter temperatures at will.

"Well then, I will have to make it a priority." She raised her glass of wine. "To Christmas dinners and first meetings."

[vesper_verde]

"To Christmas and getting Stephanie to like Chilean wines," Marcelo toasted with a grin. He knew her preference for Iberian wines, but it would not stop him from trying to get her to drink more from South America. It wasn't from Brazil, but it would do.

[ngm_parents]

Marcelo's father raised his own glass. "To enchanting first meetings and Christmas dinners."

He took a sip and settled back in his chair. "You are looking more healthy than I thought you would be, Stephanie. Is that part of your... powers, is it?"

It was open curiosity with no malice. He had talked to his son the week Stephanie had been in the hospital. He wasn't quite sure about mutants, but he saw no reason to be wary at the moment.

[pyroprincess]

She nodded. "A minor facet of them, yes." She didn't know how much he knew about her powers, though she was guessing it wasn't much. She wasn't sure how much she really wanted to volunteer, it seemed somehow unkind to speak about how she'd been shot twice not so long ago and all she had to show for it was moderate bruising.

"Part of it, though, is sheer bull resilience. I refuse to be bedridden when there's important work to be done. I'm sure you can understand the sentiment." She smiled. Of course he could. All successful businesspeople needed that attitude.

[ngm_parents]

"Hmm. Interesting." He could tell she was only telling a little, but it did not bother him. They were in a public place. It also might be a very personal matter in the States. Considering the anti-mutant sentiment around, he did not exactly blame her.

"Resilience? I'm sure that Marcelinho finds that very attractive." Luíz's gaze slid over to his son, The corners of his mouth quirked upward.

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo caught his father's meaning while there was food in his mouth. The slight inhale made him aspirate a few crumbs of tasty morsel. He coughed and thumped his chest with a fist until he could speak.

"Papai! You can't hold something a twelve year old said against a man." Marcelo knew his father was a sly one, and he had been lulled into a false sense of security by small talk.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie simply smiled in response, sipping her glass of wine as father and son bantered. "I will have to hear the full story behind all of this." She grinned at them both. "I'll have to be brought up to speed on all the wonderful little stories of your childhood."

Hers, on the other hand, there was little to be said about it. As far as she was concerned, though, the person in the miserable, grey villas was not the same person having dinner with them. For all the problems she had with her position in the family dynasty right now, she had to admit that being a Shaw has bought her a lot of confidence.

[ngm_parents]

"When Marcelinho was a boy of twelve, he still hadn't noticed girls," Luíz started to explain. He gestured with an almost helpless wave to his son. "His other classmates were starting to get girlfriends, but not my little boy here. Everything was futbol futbol futbol. So, one day I sat him down and asked him if he's ever going to like girls enough to marry one."

He paused just long enough to let his son squirm. "He told me not until he could find one more resilient than all the gangs in Brasil."

[vesper_verde]

"And by sixteen, I had forgotten girls were yucky," Marcelo put in quickly. He was trying to moderate his body enough so his cheeks wouldn't burn.

"How about that next course?"