I may go a long time between updates with this one at this point, but I just have to come back to it every now and then! Be looking for more of the family's vacation over the next few days because I am having a blast writing about it!

When the end of the school year signaled once again for Tamara a summer at home with her family she decided that this year she wanted to do something different. She hadn't been home to America in several years, not since the summer after the death of Albus Dumbledore, and she felt that the time had finally come for her children to see the land of their mother's birth.

The idea of a trip home with her husband and their children was exciting to her, but the idea of broaching the subject with Severus was not. She dreaded what he would say when she told him that she wanted to travel via airplane, rather than apparition, and wanted to do some traveling in her home country other than just visiting family. She knew it wasn't going to be pretty, but she was determined that her children should be given some experience outside of the sheltered world that they were used to.

Tamara planned a month long trip out on paper and then went to the muggle library in town to book their flights and hotel rooms on the internet. If it was already all said and done she knew that Severus would have less room to tell her no… not that he wouldn't try anyway, of course.

Next, she sent owl post to her mother, her brother, and her grandmother to let them all know that they were coming. When all the arrangements had been made, she finally tackled the hardest part of her preparations, which was telling her husband.

Tam knew that the best time to spring it on him was in front of the children when she had all of their undivided attention. She knew that Sevarun and Sevina would be positively beside themselves and that would make it nearly impossible for Severus to refuse.

She made his very favorite shepherd's pie for their dinner with treacle pudding for dessert. Since she wasn't usually the one who did the cooking in their family, Severus was suspicious immediately.

"Darling, it's not that I don't appreciate the gesture… but I cannot help but wonder if there is any particular reason that you have gone to all of this trouble on a perfectly ordinary Tuesday evening."

Sevarun grinned, looking back and forth between his parents. He clearly had the same suspicions as his father. Sevina was too busy inhaling her second helping of treacle pudding to notice that anything may be amiss.

Tamara tried to look as innocent as possible. "You know, actually, yes there is in fact a reason why I've made us a special dinner tonight. I have a surprise for all of you and I wanted to make it as memorable as possible."

She could tell by her beloved's face that he was not amused. "I hate surprises" he said. "You are very well aware of that fact."

"What's the surprise mum?" asked Sevarun, practically bouncing out of his chair.

"A pony!" screeched Sevina.

"No ponies!" corrected Severus and Tamara at the same time.

"Poo…" she pouted, digging back into her pudding.

Sevarun giggled.

"Don't say poo at the dinner table Vina" Severus scolded. He turned back to his wife. "Well? You may as well get on with it."

Tam grinned at him, knowing he was going to be severely annoyed. "I've booked us a trip to the U.S. to visit my family."

His eyebrow shot up at once, and she could tell by his face that she was in trouble. "What do you mean you've booked a trip?" he asked.

"Just what I said. I booked a trip. We'll fly over, and visit my relatives a while, then do some traveling around to show you and the kids the sights. It'll be fun."

"Fly over? That's an awfully long trip by broom, especially for the children. I really don't think this is a good time for…"

She cut him off. "No, not by broom, by plane."

He looked at her as if she had grown antlers. "By what?"

She bit her lip to keep from laughing at him. "By plane dear. Airplane? They are like very large busses with wings that muggles use to fly through the air."

"Yes I do know what they are, thank you. I simply do not understand why in the bloody hell you would think for even a moment that I would wish to board one with our children and be flung across the ocean with our lives in the hands of a bunch of completely idiotic muggles of clearly questionable sanity. I think I must be misunderstanding you somehow, because I am quite sure that you know me well enough to realize that there is absolutely no possibility that I would ever agree to such a thing."

"I think it'll be brilliant!" chirped Sevarun, looking thrilled.

"You don't have a vote" Severus snapped, giving his son a cautioning glance.

Tam rolled her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with airplanes Severus. Muggles fly them all the time. They hardly ever crash. Besides, I've already bought the tickets so we have to go."

"Hardly ever crash? Have you completely lost your mind?" He shook his head in disbelief. "And what do you mean you've already bought tickets? You went and did this without asking me? Surely you knew what I would say."

She nodded. "Of course I did, that's why I did it. I've already told my family that we're coming as well and they are positively overjoyed."

His glare could have melted glass. "It's a shame that they'll have to be disappointed because we most certainly will not be going."

Ordinarily when he used that tone most people would have sooner jumped into a tank of hungry sharks than defy him, but Tamara was not most people, and this trip meant a lot to her.

"Sev I haven't seen my family since that summer when you were… you know… after Albus. That was the last time I went home. They don't know you and they don't know our children. They're our children's family too, you know. Other than us the only family the kids have. I really need you to say yes to this. It's important."

His expression changed and she knew she had won. There was no way he would be able to say no to that. He loved her too much and she knew it.

"We're not flying in one of those muggle death traps" he said quietly.

"We'll pack a portkey in case something happens. It's perfectly safe" she insisted.

"We'll stay for a few days…"

"I planned us a month."

He sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples in frustration. "Do you know why I'm doing this?" he asked her.

She grinned at Sevarun and he snickered.

"Because you love me very much and don't want me to be sad" she replied, adoring him all the more for it.

He nodded. "Precisely. Between this and dragging me off to the Malfoys' after Christmas you've used up your favors for quite a while so I suggest you keep that in mind. I won't be going anywhere again for a very long time no matter what you say. Is that understood?"

She nodded back at him, and he knew by her smile that he would, at least, be going to bed very well rewarded.

Over the next few days Tamara busied herself with packing while Severus did his best to show his displeasure at having been shanghaied. He sent an owl to Molly Weasley with news of their impending trip in hopes that she would beg Tamara to reconsider traveling by muggle jet. Naturally, she did just that, but any effect it may have had was unfortunately negated by an ecstatically excited Arthur, who made Tam promise him she'd take lots of pictures for him and give him a full report on the experience when they returned.

Determined to at least insure his family's safety as best he could, Severus requested a portkey that he could keep in his carry-on luggage in the event that they should have to escape the plane mid-flight. He didn't like it, and swore that he would never do it again, but for Tamara's happiness and his children's chance to see their roots, he resigned himself to enduring muggle air travel just this once.

On the day of their departure they were to set out from Edinburgh Airport via British Airways. They had to be there very early in the morning, but Sevarun and Sevina were both practically shaking with excitement. Their parents were very specific about what they could and could not do while at the airport or on the plane. They were reminded repeatedly that they needed to be mindful of the fact that they would be surrounded by muggles for far longer than what they were normally used to.

The security line made Severus terribly nervous and when the agents insisted on inspecting he and Tamara's wands he very nearly lost his temper.

"Would you mind telling us what these are for?" the man asked them.

"They are… decorative" Severus explained, trying very hard to maintain his patience.

"You can't touch daddy's wand!" shouted Sevina. "He gets very cross when you do that. You'll have to go and sit in the corner!"

Sevarun snickered and Tamara nearly bit her lips bloody in trying not to laugh.

The security agent looked skeptical and he seemed reluctant to give the wands back. "Wand?" he asked.

Severus nodded. "Yes, they're family heirlooms made by my grandfather as a gift when I was a child. My wife and I are taking them with us to show her relatives in America. They're quite old and I would very much like them back… please." The please was said very politely but with an expression that clearly said there could very well be a problem if the request was denied, and thankfully the agent decided it wasn't worth a scene.

The children thought it was very funny that they had to take off their shoes, although their father was not at all amused. He was not in the habit of removing his boots in front of strangers and had been tempted to hex the entire airport with a mass case of boils. Tamara's gentle hand on his back was calming enough to dissuade him… just barely.

When they finally made it onto the plane they found that they were to be seated in two rows, one in front of the other. The children each wanted window seats, and Tamara and Severus both agreed that it was best if each child had a parent to sit with, so Severus would be spending the flight with Sevina while Tamara and Sevarun sat just in front of them.

"Daddy when will the wings start flapping?" Sevina asked him, her big dark eyes full of wonder.

Severus smirked. "I don't think they do, Vina."

"Then how does the plane get up?"

"It has an engine" he explained, bracing himself for the slew of questions that was bound to come next.

"What's an engine?"

Since he wasn't entirely sure just how they worked himself he decided he would have to change the subject as soon as possible.

During the eight hour flight, to Severus and Tamara's relief, their children didn't do anything that might be questionable to the non-magic folk around them. There were several trips to the bathroom, complaints about the food, delighted squeals at the in-flight movie, and a few spilled bags of peanuts, but all in all nothing that couldn't be handled.

Nevertheless, when they landed in New York Severus was ready to use his wand to blow the glass out of the window and personally fly them all out and away from the infernal contraption that had held them captive for so long. He was exhausted, had a headache, and was suffering from a positively wicked cramp in his left buttock. Enough was definitely enough.

When they emerged out into JFK airport, Tamara turned to her husband with a smile. "Well… that was fun!"

He aimed a glare at her that could have leveled whole cities. "Sometimes I think you're possessed by Albus Dumbledore and he's hell bent on tormenting me from beyond the grave."

Tamara laughed.

"I don't really like planes mum" Sevarun admitted. "It was neat for a while… but that was a really long time and my bum hurts."

"Mine too" grumbled Severus. "And that so-called food… I suspect it was toxic. I placed a protective charm on Sevina's just in case. As a result, I'm starving, and I think that our first order of business should be finding something to eat."

Both children voiced their agreement, and Tam found that she couldn't argue.

"Ok, ok, we'll eat… but not here at the airport. We're in New York City for crying out loud! We can find someplace memorable to have… well, breakfast, I suppose because it's just past ten in the morning here."

Sevina looked confused. "Mummy we left at seven. Was the plane charmed so that three hours felt like many, many millions of hours?"

Sevarun laughed at his little sister. "It wasn't millions of hours it was only eight. The reason why we left at seven AM and it is now only ten AM here is because there is a time difference of five hours between Scotland and here. Back home it's after three in the afternoon."

Pleased, Severus patted his son on the head. "Indeed. Anyway, let's get out of here please."

He was not happy when he learned that they would have to once again use muggle transport to get to where they needed to be. Apparating into the Times Square area was not a good option, so they were left with limited choices. Severus immediately vetoed the subway, having had the unpleasant experience once in London and vowed never to repeat it. Tamara was disappointed but did not argue. They ended up deciding on taking a taxi, so the four of them crammed into a slightly smelly yellow car and made their way to the hotel that Tamara had reserved their room in for the night.

After they checked into the hotel they made their way back out onto the street to seek a meal. Tam could tell that her family was flabbergasted by the hugeness of it. The parts of London that Severus and the children had been in were very different than Times Square in New York. Severus looked, frankly, horrified. To her surprise, he had no complaints, but seemed to have been actually shocked into silence. She led them to a restaurant that she thought looked like it might be nice, and they sat down to a rather pleasant breakfast.

"Does our gran live here?" Sevina asked through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

Tamara laughed and shook her head. "No! Certainly not. Nowhere near here, actually. This is just one of the places I wanted you to be able to see. We'll be going to gran's in the morning. She lives out in the country in Pennsylvania where I grew up."

Sevarun looked sick. "Do we have to get on another plane?" he asked warily.

"Absolutely not!" Severus assured him. "We're never getting on another plane as long as we live. We'll be apparating to your grandmother's and every other place we need to go from here on out as well. Your mother has had her little experiment and I trust she's got plenty to tell Mr. Weasley, so that will be the end of it."

"I have our return tickets…" Tam argued.

"And I intend to burn them" he growled, convincing her that it was best to just give up.

Both children heaved huge sighs of relief.

Tamara wanted to get right down to the business of sightseeing but Severus insisted that they must go back to their hotel room for a nap first. She knew that he was probably right, so she didn't argue. It had been a very long flight, and she knew that as tired as she was, the children had to be feeling much worse.

Their room had two double beds and after settling Sevarun and Sevina in one, Tamara and Severus crawled under the covers of the other and didn't awake for several hours. It was nearly dinner time when they finally arose.

After a few hours of sightseeing and dinner in yet another restaurant, everyone was once again longing for a bed. When the children had gone to sleep Severus and Tamara opened up the mini bar and snuggled up to discuss the day.

"Do you hate me for putting you through this?" she asked him, resting her head on his shoulder.

He laughed, taking another swig of the small bottle of scotch that he was working on. "No. I could never hate you. However, you are going to be indebted to me for at least a year for this nightmare, you know that don't you?"

She nodded, cringing as she took a swallow of vodka. "Yes. I know. Steak and BJ day is going to be a monthly occurrence rather than yearly isn't it?"

His grin was wicked when he replied "Weekly my dear. Definitely weekly."