"Alright. I will be making me a man cave, I will make you a ladies boutique."

He says with a smirk, playing with her fingers. They continue driving for a little while before coming up to the winding road between the lake and pond they drove down on his way home with her the first time. They eventually reach his home, they start unloading everything they have left from the trip including the foie gras and wine in the fridge followed by their car. As he is standing there he notices a bunch of lights on and tilts his head.

"I know I turned off the lights when I left."

He says then notices a van parked in the garage. He smiles and looks at Ele.

"Guess my mom moved back."

He says to her and starts heading into the house. As he gets inside he see's his mom in the kitchen.

"Hey mom, I'm home."

He says with a chuckle. His mom comes out taking some of her medicine.

"Welcome home."

She says then notices Ele.

"Who is this?"

"Oh, this is Ele."

"Ele, meet mom."

His mom stands there and says.

"Nice to finally put a face to a name."

"You know about her?"

"Yeah. Vale told me before he left."

"Thought he would. So you here to stay or just for a while?"

"Just for now, Mike and Stacy are out house hunting right now and we are staying here while searching so we don't have to go back to their place."

"Alright."

He smiles at his mom and says.

"You should come check out the Miata we got."

She looks at him and says.

"Another new car. Why am I not surprised?"

He laughs.

"You wanna come check it out?"

"Might as well."

They head out together, Vale and Terri having unloaded the corvette and Eric is unloading his car as well.

Following Tyler inside, Ele carried in one of her bags but when she saw the unfamiliar woman inside Ele froze in the doorway. She seemed nice enough, and she was Tyler's mother, but Ele couldn't help the wave of shyness that overtook her. Casting her eyes on the floor, Ele murmured a greeting then quickly got out of the way as they went out to examine the car. Staying inside, Ele put away the food items before going to the bedroom to put her bag down. Steeling herself, Ele put her hands in her pockets and went out to where the group was gathered and unloading the cars.

Standing a little away from Tyler and his mom, Ele went to stand near Eric, leaning against him a little,

"How do you get along with the mother of your boyfriend?"

She asked under her breath.

"It helps to have a friendly boyfriend's mother."

He nudges her lightly.

"She could be the mother in your life."

Eric says with a smile. Tyler comes walking over a moment later and puts his arm behind Ele.

"I am gonna let my mom take the car for a spin."

His mom hops in the car and backs out of the drive way, taking off and getting on the gas, chirping the tires as she does so.

"Lets head inside."

"Hey Tyler, we are just gonna head back to the house. We will probably come back tomorrow, do some shooting with you guys."

Vale says to him.

"Sounds good to me. I will see you tomorrow."

They all say their good byes and take off. Tyler walks into the house with Ele and sits down on the couch.

"Feels good to be back home."

Ele said he goodbyes to the others then followed Tyler inside. Sitting on his lap, she curled up against Tyler and rested her head against his shoulder,

"What if your mom doesn't like me?"

"No chance she doesn't."

He says holding onto her.

"She said She seems like a nice girl. That is her way of saying she likes and approves of the girl."

A few minutes later headlights shine through the window then turn off. Tyler's mom walks in.

"I can't drive that car again. I am going to get myself in trouble."

Tyler laughs.

"You stood on it didn't you?"

"All the way through 3rd gear."

Tyler laughs.

"Mom, that car does like 160 in 3rd gear."

"I know, that is why I said I am going to get myself in trouble."

His mom turns to Ele and asks.

"So my son has saved you huh?"

Stiffening in Tyler's lap, there was no time for Ele to make a quick escape to the bedroom before Tyler's mom came in. Her direct words brought Ele up short and, despite her best effort to maintain eye contact, Ele's eyes fell away from the older woman to lock on the floor.

Swallowing hard, Ele managed to force out a few words,

"What did Vale tell you?"

Her voice shook, and was barely above a whisper, but Ele was trying even as she clenched her hands in fists, trying to stop them from trembling,

"Told me about the accident you had and how Ty pulled you out then took care of you while you recovered. He also told me about your mothers boyfriend. I wish Ty would have gotten hold of him. He would have taken care of him good."

Tyler puts his hands on Ele's holding them.

"Babe, you don't have to be scared."

He says in a whisper then his mom says.

"He is right. You are safe here."

"Physically and emotionally."

Tyler says smiling.

"I brought some guns back with me, I will show you how to shoot tomorrow. We can talk more if you want."

His mother says as another set of headlights shine in the window.

"Stacy and Mike are back."

"Kids too."

"Oh the kids came too?"

"Yeah, they have monday off for conferences so they are staying tonight then going home tomorrow."

"Alright."

He looks at Ele and says.

"9, 11, 12, and 15 for the kids."

Ele cast a glance at Tyler and managed a small, wobbly smile even as her body trembled. There were more people coming, but she tried to swallow her fear and the urge to run away. Tyler had told her about his large family, and she supposed this was to be her new normal.

"I like kids."

She said quietly, relaxing her hands little by little.

A couple minutes pass before the kids can be heard yelling on their way up to the house, seconds later the door bursts open and the 2 youngest kids come charging in.

"Uncle Tyler's home!"

Lucy comes running up then realizes Ele is there then smiles shouting.

"Cuddle pile!"

Leaping onto them both she giggles happily.

"Well good evening to you too."

He smiles at her and says.

"Lucy, meet Ele. Ele, Lucy."

His oldest niece Annabel walks in, she is wearing a tie dye tank top and red shorts sporting blue hair and a nose ring then finally his middle niece Amelia follows her in wearing a tie dye t shirt and matching shorts.

"Mom and dad are checking out your car out there."

Amelia says smiling as she walks into the kitchen. Annabel walks over to the other couch sitting down and turning on netflix just relaxing. Even with Ele in the room they just seem to relax in their usual routines at the house.

"Oof!"

Ele grunted as Lucy piled onto her, but smiled anyway. She genuinely loved children, and seeing the small group made her happy and instantly lifted her mood.

"Hi Lucy!"

She said, shifting so that the little girl was more centered on her lap. Looking around Lucy, Ele smiled towards Annabel and Amelia,

"I like your shirts, did you do them yourselves?"

Her words came out quiet, shyly, but she wanted to make the effort for her boyfriend.

"Yeah we did. Uncle Tyler bought some tie dye and made a bunch of clothes with us."

Amelia says with a smile.

"Uncle Ty doesn't wear his tie dye a lot but he has some cool clothes."

She says as she comes walking out of the kitchen with a float glass.

"Do we have any ice cream?"

"Yeah, out on the deck in the upright freezer."

Amelia puts the large glass on the counter and walks outside grabbing some ice cream. She returns a minute later with it and starts looking in the fridge.

"Uncle Ty, can I use some of your root beer in the fridge."

"No you can't."

"Why can't I? You have quite a bit in here."

"Cuz it is alcohol."

"Oh, okay."

She puts the bottle back.

"Good thing I asked."

"Yeah, that isn't for kids."

She looks around then asks.

"Hey, is the orange cream soda alcohol too?"

"No it isn't, that is actual pop."

"Sweet!"

She makes the float with the orange cream soda and a banana. She blends it up and walks back into the living room sitting down. Sammy walks up to Tyler.

"Uncle Tyler, can I play Minecraft?"

"Go ahead."

He heads into the bedroom to play the game.

"Like nothing has changed."

He says to Ele with a smile.

"That's awesome,"

Nodding her head, Ele shifted so she was out of Tyler's lap and looking at the girls as Sammy walked out of the room,

"And I love your blue hair! I was never brave enough to do blue, but it looks amazing on you!"

Smiling at Tyler, Ele shrugged,

"Its different to be around so many people."

"Thank you so much."

Annabel says with a smile.

"We will get you used to it babe."

He says to her as his sister and brother in law come in, Stacy and Mike. Mike noticing Tyler says.

"Man, that car is nice."

"Thanks, Vale finished just a couple days ago for me while I was away."

"Yeah, he said that. I can't get over how sharp that thing looks."

He walks into the kitchen and grabs some tea.

"I think Stacy and me are gonna just head home tonight and come back tomorrow. Her boss asked her to do some work in the morning tomorrow."

"Alright. We are gonna just do some shooting and take a little break from moving into the new shop."

"Okay. I will see you tomorrow then. Don't wait for us."

"Alright. You gonna leave now or in a bit."

"Gonna go now, the lights haven't been working right on the van. Don't want to lose them completely on the way there."

"Alright, stay safe."

Mike and Stacy take off just as quick as they came in leaving just the kids and Tyler's mom.

Like a whirlwind, Mike and Stacy came in then left and Ele was spinning with confusion. Sighing and leaning against Tyler, Ele closed her eyes,

"I'll get used to it."

She said quietly, her hand going on Tyler's thigh.

He smiles and rubs her hand, Lucy climbs off the couch and walks into the bedroom with Sammy.

"Should we get the paint out and paint some models?"

He asks Annabel and Amelia with a smile, looking at Ele.

"Your choice too."

Part of Ele wanted to close up and go hide in the bedroom for the rest of the night, but the look on the girls' faces made Ele smile softly and nod,

"I'll paint too. What models are we painting?"

The girls decide to paint, heading into the spare room getting ready.

"Pick out whatever you want. Maybe we could put together one from scratch."

He says to her, standing up.

"Wanna bust your paints out?"

Nodding, Ele smiled at Tyler,

"Sure! I have my airbrush kit too so we can do some fun stuff!"

He smiles and walks into the spare room where the girls are in a draw looking through the cars. Amelia holding an old army jeep and Annabel looking at the trucks, eventually choosing a 66 c10 pick up.

"Go ahead and choose, I am gonna get my newest."

He says picking up a 1994 dodge viper. He pulls out a table and begins getting the paints ready.

Looking through the models, Ele claimed a larger pickup as her mind thought through the various options she could do to it. When it was set out, Ele went back to the bedroom and pulled out her acrylic paints and the airbrush kit. Carrying the things into the spare room, Ele set everything out for them all to use.