September, 2027

"I think they're going to kiss. Yuck." Wrinkling his nose, Vincent Berry turns away from the window in the living room to face his parents. "That's just gross."

Brian goes to get to his feet but Mia reaches out and grabs his arm, pulling him back down without looking away from her book. "Brian, leave her alone." She chides. "And Vince, get away from the window."

Sighing, Vince slides off the ottoman that had been his perch, hopping onto the couch next to his dad. "Kissing is so gross." He mutters.

"Exactly." Brian nods his agreement. "Honey…we can't just let them stand in the driveway…kissing."

Mia looks over at her husband, raising an eyebrow. "She's a teenage girl, she just went on a date, give her some privacy." She remembers her own teenage years, when her brother and his various grease monkey friends used to spy on her bumbling high school dates.

Brian sighs, exasperated. "Mia…he's…I know his type, okay? And I've seen him around, he works at the garage in town and he…he's just not good enough for her."

Mia rolls her eyes, shaking her head. "So you don't like him because he works on cars after school?" Brian averts his eyes. "Besides, if you tell her she can't date him anymore that's just going to make him even more appealing."

Brian considers the wisdom in her words. There's silence in the living room for a beat. "Vince, go see what they're doing now."

Before Vince can move, the front door opens and Connor steps inside, dressed in a blouse and pair of jeans she and her mother picked out earlier in the week for this very occasion. Even though she's been seeing Mark Puckerman for a couple weeks, she still likes to dress to impress. As per her parent's request, her makeup is barely there and her top is far from revealing but Brian still thinks she looks far too grown up. He misses the days when she was Vince's age, a little third-grader asking him for help with her homework.

When Connor sees them all assembled there, she frowns, taking off her coat and hanging it on the hook beside the door. "Enjoy the show?" She mutters, rolling her eyes. Her mom, at least, looks innocent, which is more than she can say for her dad and little brother, whom she knows has been offered money to keep her dad informed on her daily activities.

"How was your date?" Brian asks casually, taking the book off Mia's lap and flipping through the pages like it's far more interesting than grilling his teenage daughter for information. Mia swats his shoulder and takes the book away from him.

Connor arches an eyebrow and she looks just like her mother. She has all the fire and attitude that her mother had (has) at her age and it's left behind a string of broken hearts and won arguments. "You mean the part of the date you couldn't spy on?" She looks at her brother pointedly and the kid looks like he's going to try and burrow into the couch cushions just to get away from that stare. Three pairs of eyes tell her that's exactly what they're wondering. Connor sighs but it's a pleasant sound and it tells Mia, who has made that noise several times in her life (mostly about the man sitting next to her) everything she needs to know about how the night went. "It was great. We went to dinner and to the beach and just walked around looking at the stars. I really like him." She drops into the loveseat angled across from the couch and smiles to herself like she's forgotten she's gotten lost in this daydream in front of her parents and little brother.

Brian looks over at Mia with this hopeless look on his face like he's begging his wife to do something to stop their daughter from growing up and realizing that boys don't have cooties. Mia just smiles and Brian realizes that she's going to be no help because his girl is still a hopeless romantic, which he usually finds endearing but right now he just finds treacherous. "Well I…I want to meet this guy." Brian says, looking back at Connor. "You should invite him over for dinner."

Connor's eyes go wide and she sits up straight in her chair. "Mom!" She protests, looking panicked.

Mia shrugs. "I think that's a good idea, Connor. I think we should get to meet this guy you're so crazy about."

Connor's mouth opens and closes soundlessly like she's trying to find the words to express what a bad idea she thinks this whole thing is but she just can't because she can't think of anything worse than bringing her boyfriend to meet her parents and annoying little brother. So instead she just gets to her feet and storms into her room, slamming the door shut behind her and Mia is just that she's going to call up either Mark or some of her girlfriends and complain about how horrible her parents are. But she can't argue with Brian's suggestion because even though she's much better at hiding her curiosity, she is still definitely very curious about this Mark Puckerman kid and what his intentions are with her daughter. She might be a middle-aged mom of two but she knows that her intimidation tactics can definitely still rival Brian's and she just needs to get a feel for what type of kid her daughter is dating.

Brian looks over at Mia. "This should be interesting." He wiggles his eyebrows with a smile.

Mia just rolls her eyes, shaking her head. "The goal is to have our daughter still talking to us by the time dinner is over." She remarks.

"Yeah but…it's been a long time since I've gotten to interrogate someone." Brian points out. "It'll be nice to be back in action."

"And you wonder why she doesn't want us to meet him."

After a few more days of prodding, Connor finally agreed to invite Mark over for dinner, though it is clear even in the minutes prior to his arrival that she is still not very jazzed about the idea. "Can Vince just stay in his room?" She questions as she paces around the kitchen. She's supposed to be helping Mia cook the potatoes and put together the salad but she's too anxious to sit still and her mother doesn't mind. "And maybe Dad…maybe just you could meet him. You're a lot more normal than they are."

Mia's glad there's one person who sees that. "I've made your father promise to behave. I told Vince he'd better not talk if he has any hope of continuing to help me with the engine in the garage." She'd promised to withhold something from Brian too, but her daughter doesn't need to know that.

Connor high-fives her and smiles. "Way to go Mom." The smile disappears quickly however and she says, "But, you know, you don't have to, like, show Mark the engine or anything. Or talk about the cars or stuff like that because I know how you can get when the cars get brought up."

Mia wrinkles her nose, turning back to the salad bowl on the counter. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She mutters.

The door bell rings and Connor goes on high alert, looking around nervously like she can't remember what she's supposed to do next. Mia glances over her shoulder. "Why don't you answer the door." She prompts and Connor scampers off.

Even though Brian and Vince have been out back, working on grilling the steak and chicken and having what Brian calls their 'Man Time' (as though fire and meat automatically equals masculinity), they both come into the kitchen the second Connor brings Mark back to meet Mia. Mia can see how nervous Mark is to be meeting Brian and it makes him somehow more endearing to her, how he's just a normal guy scared shitless of meeting his girlfriend's father.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Mark stutters as he shakes Brian's hand. Brian makes a noncommittal noise by way of a greeting and pretends not to understand Mia's meaning when she bumps his shoulder with hers. Mark just focuses on Vince instead, seemingly discouraged when the boy keeps his lips tightly closed, casting a fearful sidelong glance at his mother.

"So," Brian pops the top off a beer as he leans against the kitchen counter, apparently having lost interest in grilling/Man Time, "why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself, Mark." It's not exactly a request.

Mark shifts his weight, uncomfortable. "Well, I…Connor and I have a few classes together at school and we're on newspaper staff together." He glances over at Connor, as though hoping for her support. "I work down at the garage off Belle Street a couple days a week, just fixing up some cars, changing oil, that kind of thing."

Again, Brian makes a noise of indiscernible meaning. "You plan on making a living down at the garage? Doing something with cars?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Well…probably not, I figure I'll go to college for something a little more practical." Mark seems to forget himself and smiles slightly. "But racing cars would be cool."

Vince perks up and Mia can tell that he wants to weigh in on exactly how cool he thinks racing (read: drag racing, which is something is Uncle Dom has introduced him to recently) is but is still too afraid of his mother's warning to even open his mouth. Mia figures she's done something right if her threats carry that much weight, though clearly Brian has decided to go for the Bad Cop routine after all.

And she can tell he's just found his opening. "Racing." He repeats, nodding slowly as though considering what Mark just said. "You race a lot of cars?" He raises an eyebrow, waiting expectantly for an answer.

Mark can tell that he's backed himself into a corner now. He looks down at the floor, as though the answer might be somewhere there on the tile. "I…I've done a little racing with a few friends of mine. Only once or twice." He adds quickly, looking back up at Brian.

Mia looks over at her husband and though she knows he can feel her eyes on him, he doesn't acknowledge her. "Drag racing is illegal." Brian points out and Mark visibly swallows. "Not to mention dangerous. You take my daughter to those races?"

Connor starts to make a noise of argument as Mark sputters for an answer but Mia interrupts before either of them have a chance to speak. "Can I talk to you outside, honey?" She grabs his elbow and pulls him out past the patio and onto the sand that stretches endless white behind their house. She knows that her children are notorious eavesdroppers so she wants to be far enough away from the house to avoid their big ears.

Mia puts her hands on her hips and looks at the man she decided to marry nearly two decades ago. Sometimes (like right now) she questions her judgment. "What are you doing?" Brian gives her that innocent look that he's perfected over the past few years but she's not buying it. "You can't just stand in there and intimidate him."

"Why not?" Brian protests. "Isn't that my fatherly duty? I didn't even use that I have a shotgun line." Though, come to think of it, maybe he should throw that in sometime.

Mia shakes her head. "Well, maybe because you used to drag race and do a whole lot more than that. And you used to work on cars, in fact, you love working on cars and you used to work at a garage and you-"

Brian interrupts her by holding up a hand. "All right, I get it. But I know what kind of guy I was at that age, doing all those things and I just…I don't want Connor around people like that."

Mia rolls her eyes, giving him a slight smile. "Brian, you were a good guy, you just got mixed up in some bad stuff. Mark doesn't seem like that kind of kid." She steps closer to him, slipping her arms around his shoulders. "What would you have done if someone told you that you weren't good enough for me?" Of course, Dom did say those words many, many times throughout the course of their admittedly rocky relationship but that's really neither here nor there.

"I would have agreed." Brian answers truthfully, his hands resting on her waist. "But I wouldn't have listened."

"Exactly." It makes her almost absurdly happy to hear those words, even now, so many years later. "So why don't you just try to get to know Mark and let Connor be happy and make her own mistakes?" She arches an eyebrow.

Brian sighs but Mia can tell that he knows he's about to lose this argument. "But I'm her dad, I'm supposed to intimidate her boyfriends."

"I think you've intimidated him enough." Mia assures him, kissing him softly. "He's terrified of you." She's placating him but he doesn't mind, especially when she kisses him again.

"I was pretty scary, wasn't I?" Brian questions, smiling proudly before kissing her again. "I've still got it, huh?"

Instead of answering, Mia just kisses him again.

"I think they're going to kiss. Yep, yuck, they're kissing." Vince remarks from his vantage point at the window. "Why do they always do that." He pauses. "Ew, yuck, more kissing."

"I think it's nice." Mark remarks from his spot several feet behind where Vince is standing. He's sitting at the kitchen table with Connor in his lap, much more relaxed now that Brian is out of the room. "Even if your dad is really scary."

Connor rolls her eyes, shaking her head. "He's really not that bad, once you get to know him. My mom's really the one to watch out for." Mark looks nervous all over again.

Vince turns away from the window. "Just wait until you meet our Uncle Dom. He used to beat my dad up." He says this almost proudly, as though he's confused about who's side he's supposed to be on.

Mark looks at Connor. "He's not like…coming over later or anything is he?" He questions, not bothering to hide his anxiety.

Connor shakes her head and giggles, leaning forward to kiss him. The screen door slides open and Brian clears his throat loudly; Mark practically dumps Connor onto the ground, desperate to put as much space between them as possible. Brian is frowning and Mark wonders if it would be rude to suddenly remember some pressing appointment and go running out of the house. "Look, buddy, I've got a shotgun and I know-"

Mia gives him a playful shove, shaking her head. "Just go get the steaks." She shoos him back out the door.

Later, after dinner when Mark is helping Mia bring dishes to the sink, she waits until they're out of earshot of Connor and Brian to lean close to him and say, "Look, you seem like a great kid and all but if you hurt my daughter, I swear that if they ever find your body it will only be pieces of it. Okay?" She smiles at him and goes about clearing the table as though the whole exchange never happened.

Mark suddenly answers what Connor meant about her mom being the one watch out for.