McKenna POV.
I stared blankly at the near-empty fridge. What in god’s name was I supposed to cook for with three cooked sausages, a six-pack of beer, a lump of suspicious looking cheese, half a bar of chocolate and an egg? I withdrew my head from the fridge.
“Anyone want pizza??” I yelled. I didn’t hold much hope that the guys would hear me. They were spread across various rooms of the house packing. We left for L.A tomorrow morning so that the boys could start recording their new album; hence the empty fridge.
“What’s all this talk about pizza?” Asked Zacky, frowning as he wandered into the kitchen. I turned back to face the open fridge.
“Well we need to eat and unless you can think of anything to cook with that…” I pointed at the pathetic contents of the fridge. “Then take-out is the only choice.” Zacky was still frowning.
“We’re going to a Barbeque up at Syn’s parents. Didn’t he tell you?” I scowled.
“No.” Zacky laughed, forcing me to glare at him.
“Go on, go and get ready Mac.” He shoved me towards the door, slapping my butt as he did so. I glared at him over my shoulder again. He was the only one who could get away with doing anything like that since he’d become almost like a brother to me. Syn was ‘packing’ when I walked into the bedroom. And believe me, I use the term loosely. His ‘packing’ consisted unfolding his clothes, examining them, then throwing them into a suitcase. I raised an eyebrow at him as I passed. He just grinned and stuffed more t-shirts into the case. I opened the wardrobe and began rummaging through my clothes, trying to decide on something to wear. Pretty much everything ended up being thrown over my shoulder into a heap. Ooops. Guess that I shouldn’t bitch about Syn’s ‘packing’. I growled in frustration as I threw the last item of clothing in my wardrobe onto the pile. Syn looked up and raised both eyebrows at me.
“What’s up babe?” I turned and huffed at him.
“Since you very kindly didn’t tell me that we were going to your parents for dinner, I only just found out from Zacky, and I have no clue what to wear.” He just smiled and walked over.
“Babes, you don’t need to dress up to impress them. They’re going to love you.” He reassured, wrapping both arms around my waist and kissing my shoulder.
“Hmph. Well I can’t very well go wearing this.” I replied, gesturing to my t-shirt that read: I Don’t Need Sex … Life Fucks Me Whenever It Can. He laughed.
“Fair enough, although you look hot.” I glared at him. He sighed and let go of my waist, walking over to the pile of clothes. He searched through it until he pulled out a purple and black camisole-style top and a pair of black denim shorts. “Here.” He held the clothes out to me and waved me towards the bathroom. “It’s one of my favourite tops of yours. You always look amazing in it” His expression said: do not argue with me. I didn’t.

~*~

I could feel my hand growing sweaty in Syn’s as we walked up the block to his parents’ house. Nice. His grip tightened slightly on my hand as he pulled me in closer.
“Will you relax? I’ve told you like fifty times that they’ll love you.” I just smiled tensely. Relax? How could I relax? I was fucking terrified. I really wanted to make a good first impression on his family. And I really sucked at first impressions. I usually ended up upsetting or offending someone. Before I even realised, Syn was pushing open the front door to his parents’ house. I followed him and the guys through the house – which was really nice by the way – and into the back garden. I stood in the doorway and watched as the guys greeted everyone. Brian Sr was stood at the barbeque cooking a huge pile of sausages. Syn walked over and gave him a man hug. They were joined by a pretty woman, with long, brunette hair and kind brown eyes. She pulled Syn into a hug and kissed him on the cheek. His mum. Zacky, Matt, Johnny and Jimmy were talking to a tall, well-built guy with short, spiked hair and Syn’s eyes. He looked like an older version of Syn. That had to be David, his older brother. My gaze flicked over to Val, who was stood chatting to a young, good-looking blonde. I looked at the baby cradled in her arms. That was probably David’s wife Jo. I had to blink back tears as I watched everyone interact and laugh with each other. This was the kind of thing that I had never experienced. A family that loved each other meeting up and getting on. Out of 3 Aunts and 5 Uncles that were blood related, only one aunt had cared about me enough to stand up against Blake. As a result he had kicked her two kids, my cousins, out of the pack for being half-human. She still stood up for me, when she could. She still loved me. She was the only one alive in my whole pack that did. I missed her. I was snapped out of my trip down memory lane by a woman’s voice.
“Is this her?” I looked up to see Syn and his mum walking towards me.
“Yeah, mum this is Mac, Mac, my mum, Holly.” I returned her wide, happy smile with a smaller nervous one of my own and held out my hand.
“Nice to meet you.” if it was possible, her grin widened.
“Put that away, dear, you’re family.” She ordered, pulling me into a hug. Nervously I hugged her back, smiling. She patted my back and took a couple of steps back to look at me. “My, you are a pretty girl, Mac.” I bit my lip and smiled.
“Thank you.” Any further conversation was cut off by a small whirlwind in the form of a six year old girl.
“UNCLE BRIAN!” She yelled, throwing herself at him, long, blonde plaited pigtails flying out behind her. Syn caught her mid-air and spun her round before hugging her.
“Hello monster.” He laughed.
“Callie! Stop harassing your uncle and go wash your hands for dinner.” Called the soft, but firm voice of her mum, Jo. Syn set her on the floor and she promptly ran off to wash her hands, followed closely by Jo.
“Grub’s up!” Called Brian Sr, from the table where he was placing his large pile of sausages next to a large selection of salads, meat and sides. Syn wrapped an arm around my waist and led me over to the table.
“Come on babe, dad’s barbeque is the best. Let’s grab some before Jimmy scoffs his fat face with the lot of it.” Jimmy looked up from the table, where he was piling a plate full of food.
“HEY! I heard that!”

~*~

“Man, that’s good barbeque.” Commented Jimmy, resting his hands on his belly and burping. I wrinkled my nose.
“Eww. You are disgusting Jimmy.” He grinned and tipped and imaginary hat at me.
“Thank you, Ma’am.” I just shook my head at him.
“Uncle Brian?” I looked down to see Callie, stood between Syn and me, staring at our interlinked fingers.
“Yes Monster?”
“Is Mac your girlfriend?” He smiled and let go of my hand.
“No.” Everyone stared at him in shock. “She’s my fiancée.” I smiled as the little girl formed a silent ‘oh’. Then she frowned again.
“Why don’t you have a ring? Daddy gave mummy a ring when he asked her to marry him.” She asked, looking up at me. I leaned in as if I was letting her in on a big secret.
“Because your Uncle Brian is lazy and hasn’t got me one yet.” She smiled at me and poked Brian.
“Stop being lazy! You need to get Mac a ring.” She stated matter-of-factly. Everyone laughed.
“If you’re telling me to darling, then I will.” Replied Syn, ruffling her hair. I was surprised when she climbed up onto my lap, but smiled anyway. She was adorable!
“Aunty Mac?” I almost jumped with shock as she called me that.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Why are the paw prints on your wrist different sizes?”
“Because, there’s one paw print for each of my dogs. This one,” I pointed to the bottom one. “is the biggest because it’s for my Great Dane, Scooby.”
“Like Scooby Doo in the cartoon?” I nodded.
“Yep, Scooby Doo is my favourite cartoon and my Scooby looks a bit like the cartoon Scooby. The next paw print is a little bit smaller because it’s for my Rottweiler, Ty. Then the next one is the same size because my Doberman, Cocoa is the same size as Ty. This one is a bit smaller because my German Sheppard is a bit smaller than Cocoa and Ty.”
“What’s he called?”
“She’s called Tizzy. The next one is smaller again because it’s for my first dog. I had Alkina when I was a little girl. She helped my Gran herd the horses on her ranch.”
“That’s a funny name.” I smiled, I remembered having trouble pronouncing it too when I was young.
“It’s aboriginal, it means ‘Moon’. My Gran called her that because she was silver and black and looked like the moonlight.”
“What’s aboiginial?” Everyone laughed.
“It’s the language that the native people of Australia speak. They’re kind of like the Native Americans that live over here.” The little girl nodded and touched the paw print that represented Alkina.
“Is she in heaven now?”
“Yes she is.” I touched the paw print above the one she had her finger on. it was the one just below the knuckle on my thumb. “And this one is the smallest, because Zoe is my littlest dog. You’d like her because she’s all white and fluffy and she rolls over and asks you to tickle her belly.”
“Is she like a cloud?”
“Yes, she’s like a cloud on legs.”
“Can I meet them?”
“I’m sure you can, when me, your Uncle Brian and the guys come back from L.A. Would you like that?” She nodded and smiled sweetly at me.
“Come on Callie, we have to go, it’s bedtime.” Called David. “Give Uncle Brian and Aunty Mac and everyone else a kiss goodbye then come and say goodbye to Nana and Gramps.” Callie turned round so that she could wrap her arms around my neck. I hugged her back. She kissed my cheek before wiggling off my lap to hug Syn.
“Bye, bye Uncle Brian. Bye, Bye Aunty Mac.” She waved as she ran off to hug her grandparents. I smiled, and watched her go. I felt my chest tighten. I never realised how much I missed being part of a family. Syn’s fingers twined back through mine.
“You’re amazing with kids, Mac.” He murmured softly in my ear. “You’re going to be a brilliant Mom.” I tensed. “What? Don’t you want kids?” Asked, Syn pulling me into his lap.
“I’ve never thought about it. I never thought that I would ever have the chance. I always thought that I’d either be killed in a fight or that Blake wouldn’t let me settle down and have kids.” Syn’s arms tightened around my waist and he kissed my shoulder. “I don’t know. They’re sweet and all, but I don’t really fancy the idea of growing fat for nine months then spending however many hours in hellish agony to get a small screaming, puking, pooping bundle at the end of it.” Everyone laughed. I looked over at Val. “I’ll tell you what, when you have kids, I’ll take the years from 2 till 11, when they’re kinda cute and well behaved. You can have the teenage years.” She mock-glared at me.
“I’m not sure that I like that idea McKenna.” I looked over my shoulder at Syn, who looked to be deep in thought. Leaning forward, I rested my forehead against his.
“Seriously, though. I’d love to feel like my life was normal enough to have kids.” He smiled softly at me before kissing me. I smiled into the kiss and let his lips linger on mine for a bit before pulling away. We were at his parents after all.