=::= Melanie's PoV =::=

"There it is," I told my girlfriend. "Just up ahead on the left."

Cerys nodded as she put on the turn signal, "I see it."

"It's going to be ok," she added after I stifled a bit of a sigh. We were already slowing down to make the turn as she continued, "And if it's not, we can always leave. But whatever happens I'm here for you, ok?"

I grimaced, "Yeah I know. Thanks though, I appreciate it."

The restaurant seemed busier than I expected, but then it was the day after xmas so lots of people were out shopping for deals and stuff. And I figured they'd probably all be looking for lunch right around this time. So it took us a minute to find a place to park.

After she pulled the mini-van into an empty spot my girlfriend flashed me a little smile, "If things really get out of hand we can always call for help. You know Cass and Kaylee will drop everything and be out here in a flash."

"I know," I frowned. Then I shook my head, "I can't imagine it getting that bad though. Like that'd just open up an even bigger can of worms with my dad? If he found out we're friends with goddesses and demons and stuff I'd probably never hear from him again."

"I don't even know how he'd handle it if we told him you're a wolf now," I added.

Cerys shrugged, "So let's not say anything? Except I'm sure he already knows, Melanie. I know he kind of ignored us both, but I can't believe he's that clueless. It was like six months or something between when you turned me and when he moved away, he had to have figured it out at some point."

"Maybe," I frowned. "Anyways we should head inside, he's probably in there waiting for us."

My girlfriend and I emerged from the mini-van, then she followed me up to the front doors. The place wasn't anything special, just a typical North American family roadhouse chain. It was about halfway between the clubhouse and the town where dad moved to back in the spring, I figured he picked it as a sort of neutral ground for us to meet.

I was kind of surprised when he called yesterday, I hadn't heard from the guy in like six months. Then I figured maybe he was lonely or something, and xmas was the kind of day that really got to folks if they didn't have anyone to hang out with.

We didn't have that problem at the clubhouse. Me and Cerys had each other, but we also had everyone else there too. All except Willow, she went home to do xmas with her parents. Tanya and Julie even came over with Nina, and the angels made a big turkey dinner and everything.

It was weird to think I was having a great time surrounded by loads of friends, while my dad was probably all alone in a little one-bedroom apartment someplace. I kind of felt sorry for the guy, which was why I agreed to meet up with him today.

As soon as me and Cerys stepped into the restaurant I picked up my dad's scent, despite all the countless other scents of people and food in the air. I motioned for my girlfriend to follow as we moved past the hostess and into the dining area. My nose led me right to the table where dad was waiting for us, except he wasn't alone after all. There was a strange woman sitting there next to him. And he was so busy talking with her he didn't even notice me and my girlfriend as we approached the table.

"Hey dad," I said as I pulled out a chair and sat down across from him.

Cerys took the seat next to me as she added, "Hello Mr. Caetano."

My dad startled slightly at our arrival. There was a brief guilty look on his face before he forced a smile, "Melanie! It's great to see you again. Thank you so much for coming. And hi Cerys, it's uh, good to see you too."

He sounded a little more awkward as he introduced the woman next to him, "This is Suzi Fraser. And Suzi, this is my daughter Melanie and her friend Cerys."

"Cerys and I are girlfriends dad," I stated. I wasn't going to let him downplay us being queer, especially if he was doing that for the sake of his new squeeze. I figured if she had a problem with gay folks I wanted to know about it sooner rather than later.

As for her, she seemed ok so far. I couldn't pick up anything dangerous or suspicious or supernatural in her scent, and she was definitely human. She looked like a typical woman around the same age as my dad. Shoulder length hair that had been dyed blonde, dark eyes, a few wrinkles starting to form on her face.

Neither her or dad were dressed up too fancy, but then neither had me and Cerys. We were both just in jeans hoodies and jackets, I had my favorite combat boots on and Cerys was wearing sneakers. Dad was in slacks and a sweater, Suzi wore yoga pants and a sweater.

"Hey," I finally greeted the woman. "So you're dad's new girlfriend?"

She seemed just as uneasy as him as she responded, "Hello Melanie. It's nice to finally meet you. Your father's told me all about you."

"I kinda doubt that," I said, while my dad grimaced.

Before anyone could say anything else the waiter showed up to take our orders, so me and Cerys had a quick look at the menus while dad and Suzi told the guy what they wanted. Then we gave him our orders too, and he headed off to get everyone's drinks. Cola for me and Cerys, fancy coffee for Suzi, and a beer for dad.

Once we all had our drinks the waiter left again, then dad tried to start the conversation back up. He asked, "So um, how have you been? Where are you staying nowadays?"

I shrugged, "We're good. Me and Cerys moved back into the same house after you left."

"How can you afford the rent on your own?" Then he frowned, "You didn't drop out of school to take a full-time job did you?"

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not on my own dad, me and Cerys are a couple remember?"

"And there's no rent anymore," I added. "One of our friends bought the place for us. She and her moms did a bunch of renovations and stuff, they fixed up the upstairs and added a bathroom in the basement for me and Cerys. Now it's kind of like a clubhouse? There's six of us living there, and we're all good friends."

My girlfriend smiled, "Me and Melanie have a sweet basement apartment there now. Cass and Kaylee share the master bedroom, then Cass's cousin Sasha and our friend Willow are in the other two bedrooms."

Dad ended up staring at us in surprise while Suzi asked, "I guess your friend and her parents must be rich or something, that they could just buy a house and let you all stay there for free?"

"Yeah I guess," I replied with another shrug.

Cerys added, "Cass doesn't flaunt it, she doesn't go around flashing money or living it up. She mostly just helps out where she can. Same with her sister, and their moms. Like yesterday after the big turkey feast and stuff, they said if me and Mel wanted to go to college or university after we finish high school they'd pay our tuition."

"Yep," I nodded. "They're generous but they're not stuck up or anything like that."

Dad asked, "So you're still in school? How are your grades doing this year?"

"And are you still uh, missing a few days each month?" he added, while giving me an awkward look like he didn't want his date to know why we cut classes on a regular basis.

I nodded, "Yeah we're still going, grade twelve's been mostly alright. I'm actually doing better this year, probably going to get a B overall."

"I think I'm looking at mostly C's this year," Cerys added. "Which is an improvement for me too. And yeah we still miss a day or two each month, but even that's getting better."

At that point I turned it around and asked, "How about you dad, how are you doing these days? How's that new job working out for you?"

He had a gulp of his beer before replying, "Work's good. It's a regular day job, eight to four. It's a factory thing, but it pays better than the security gig I had when I lived out your way. And the hours are nicer too, no more working nights and weekends."

"Other than that things are ok. It was kind of quiet at first," he said. Then he glanced at Suzi and smiled, "Things got a lot better around the start of September though, when Suzi and I met."

The way dad and Suzi looked at each other it was pretty clear they were really into each other. Plus I could tell even from across the table that they were both covered in each other's scents. And I hated to admit it to myself, but my first thought was to try and find some way to sabotage things for them. Not out of revenge for dad walking out on me, it was deeper than that. Like I still felt responsible for my parents splitting up, and seeing dad being happy with someone other than mom sort of reopened that pain.

Except I knew there was no chance of my folks ever getting back together. The divorce was done, mom was probably already remarried by now, and she didn't want anything to do with either dad or me. So I forced myself not to say anything rude or nasty, and promised myself I wouldn't mess things up for my dad.

Instead I just smiled and asked dad, "So how'd you two hook up? And I guess this is getting serious huh? Since you obviously wanted me and Suzi to meet."

My dad seemed kind of awkward again as he replied, "A mutual friend introduced us, and Suzi and I just sort of hit it off. And yes Mel, things between Suzi and I are going really well. We're talking about moving in together next month."

Suzi elaborated, "An old friend of mine works at the same company as your father. She introduced us and we found we had a lot in common."

Over the next few minutes I learned a bunch more about my dad's new girlfriend. Suzi was a divorcee like my dad, about the same age as him too like I figured. I found out she worked at a college out near where dad was. She wasn't a teacher or anything, she was in some sort of office management position looking after the facilities. And she had a son about my age, but he was with his dad over the holidays. Suzi was hoping maybe we could all get together again next month, then I could meet her boy Andy as well.

She finally went quiet when the waiter showed up with our food. I got a burger and fries, Cerys had a basket of boneless wings and fries. Dad had a roast beef sandwich, and Suzi had a little bowl of soup and a side salad.

As we all started eating I asked my dad, "So are you thinking about getting married then? Is that where this is going? Meet the new step-mom now, meet the step-brother next month?"

My dad looked awkward as he asked, "Please don't make a scene Mel? I just wanted you to meet Suzi. And I wanted to see you again, I wanted to know how you were doing."

"I'm not making a scene," I replied calmly. "I was just asking. I'm happy for you dad. Honestly. I'm glad you're not all by yourself anymore."

He watched me for another couple seconds then smiled, "Thanks Mel, I appreciate it. And I'm glad things are going well for you too. I'm glad you've got lots of friends, and that they're looking out for you."

I just nodded as I had a big bite of my burger, then we all took a few minutes to focus on our food.

Eventually Suzi spoke up again. She asked me, "So I've told you a little about myself, but I'd like to know some more about you if that's ok? What are your interests? What are your plans for next year, are you thinking of college?"

After a gulp of cola to wash down another mouthful of my burger I replied, "Me and Cerys are both talking about the local community college. Same with our friends Nina and Willow."

"Willow's folks want her to go to university," Cerys added. "But she'd rather stick with the gang."

"Anyways," I continued, "There's really only two big things you gotta know about me."

My dad gave me a worried look and shook his head slightly, like he was obviously worried I was going to say something about being a wolf.

Instead I told Suzi, "I'm gay, and I'm trans. I figure y'all oughta know about that up front. May as well find out right now if you have a problem with any of that."

Suzi hesitated slightly as her eyes flicked back and forth between me and Cerys. Then she replied, "You've already made it clear you and Cerys were together, but thank you for clarifying. When you say you're trans though... Do you mean you want to be a boy? Is that why Tony calls you Mel sometimes?"

That actually made me laugh, while Cerys smirked and my dad grimaced and looked awkward.

"Nope, wrong way around," I responded after chuckling a bit. "I was AMAB, came out to my folks when I was fifteen. Changed my name to Melanie and started to transition before my sixteenth birthday."

"Oh! I see," Suzi responded.

She seemed surprised, and I could guess why. She probably figured if I'd been born a guy that I'd still look and sound more like a guy now. Or maybe it's because I didn't dress and act all girly, like with the leather jacket and the combat boots she might have figured I was acting masc instead of just being a tough gal.

After a second or two Suzi added, "I don't have any problem with that, or with you being gay. I don't know that much about what it means to be trans, so I hope you'll forgive me if I make some mistakes? But I'm not going to freak out about it or anything."

"That's fine," I shrugged. "It's pretty much a non-issue now anyways. My name's Melanie but some folks call me Mel for short. Just remember I'm a girl, my pronouns are she-her, and everything's cool."

Suzi nodded slowly, "All right Melanie."

We all talked a bit more after that, Suzi got to know me a bit better and she had some questions for Cerys too. Like she wanted to get to know my girlfriend as well. Cerys didn't go into any details about her own family situation, except to say that her mom moved out east a while back.

Dad and Suzi still seemed a little awkward at times around me and Cerys, but I had a feeling in my dad's case he was mostly worried about me or my girlfriend saying something about my werewolf stuff. Suzi just seemed kind of awkward about meeting her boyfriend's kid. And maybe she was a bit weirded out about me being trans after all, but she was at least polite enough not to say it.

When we were all finished the waiter took away the dishes, then when he came back with the bill my dad paid for everyone. Then we all started talking about heading out, since we both had a ways to go to get home. Except before we got up from the table dad pulled an envelope out of his jacket that was draped over the back of his chair.

"Merry Christmas Melanie," he said as he placed it on the table in front of me. "Thanks for coming out to lunch. I really enjoyed seeing you again."

I opened it up and found a card inside, with some money. I smiled back at him, "Thanks dad. I appreciate it. And yeah, it was nice seeing you again too. I'm glad you're doing ok, I'm glad things are going good for you and Suzi."

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