A/N: Three years into their marriage, Dirk and Talia finally manage to get time to go home and see Dirk's family. Chaos ensues. Enjoy.

Talia bit her lip, staring into the middle distance. Rolan, sensing his Chosen's nerves, pranced uncertainly around the road, finally bumping into Ahrodie and jarring Talia out of her trance. She smiled nervously at her lifemate.

Dirk sighed, reached over and took her hand. "You'll be fine, little bird. They will love you."

"I....guess I can't convince my gut of that," she replied, staring off into the distance again. "I mean, logically, I know they will, but..."

"...emotions are hard to convince," he finished.

She favoured him with a bright smile, then bit her lip again. "I'm used to being unloved," she admitted. "I was conditioned to think that if my own family couldn't love me then I must be a horrible person who didn't deserve to be loved." Dirk squeezed her hand and sent a pulse of love down their lifebond. She smiled at him again, and continued. "But now I have Rolan."

"And me. Always me."

"I know." Her eyes drifted off towards Rolan's ears.

"Besides," Dirk added, "they accepted Kris with no trouble at all. I should think they'd have no problems with you."

Talia threw her head back and laughed merrily, and after a moment, Dirk joined in.

Suddenly, a child's shrieks came from the side of the road. "Uncle Dirk! Uncle Dirk!" A small girl raced from the trees, flung her arms around a calm Ahrodie's nose, and then ran around to Dirk's stirrup, jumping up and down in excitement. "Uncle Dirk!"

She was followed by a young boy, who repeated her performance, adding, "Laury, move!" to the yells. Dirk laughed and dismounted, giving both children large hugs. Talia remained on Rolan, feeling suddenly very shy.

Dirk freed himself from the children--twins, from all appearances--and turned, offering his hand to Talia. She took it and dismounted, as Dirk turned back to the children. "This is my wife, Talia," he told them. "Your aunt. Love, this is Laury and Tamsin, my sister's twins."

Talia smiled at them, and they, taking her smile for some kind of signal, swarmed her legs, each becoming a minature barnacle, screaming, "Auntie Tal'a!" with the same abandon they'd given to Dirk. Surprised by the affection, she laughed, and knelt to return the hugs.

Dirk quietly collected the mules and threw the reins over both Companions' heads, then removed the twins from Talia's legs. "Go play," he told them. "We'll see you at dinner." Shrieking, they ran off again, and he turned to Talia, grinning. "You see?"

She nodded--she did see. If his whole family accepted people like these two, she could understand Kris's bemusement.

A/N: Not done yet. Not near done. Hang in there. Oh, and does anyone know if ML named Dirk's mother?