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A Stevens Family Dinner	By : IrenaAdler Category: M through R > NUMB3RS Views: 1363 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own NUMB3RS, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Part 2 � Around the dinner table

At that moment, the front door swung open and in came
Amy.� �Sorry I�m late,� Amy said
breezily, dumping her purse on a handy side table.

�You�re right on time, dear,� Min called from the kitchen.

�Hi, Will,� Amy said, smiling up at him.� She was the short one in the family, barely
taller than his mother, but that had never slowed her down.�

�Hey, little one,� Will said and she gave him a mock
glare.� �This is Don, my boyfriend.�

Amy turned to look at Don and held out her hand.� �Nice to meet you,
Don-my-boyfriend.�

Don smiled and shook her hand.� �So should I call you Dr. Stevens?�

�Naw, not yet, maybe never.� Anyone calls me Dr. Stevens and I�m going to
be looking around for my dad.�� Amy
smiled brightly and swept into the kitchen to say hello to the parents.

Cindi brought out a missing spoon then declared the dining
room table set.� �Unless you�d like a
fork?� she asked Don.

�Chopsticks are fine,� Don said.� �Just as long as I can use
the spoon for the soup.�

Cindi nodded and pulled out a chair.� �Will, you sit here.� She gestured to the
chair next to it.� �Don,
right here.�

Will and Don sat down as instructed and Cindi sat across
from Will.� Amy came out of the kitchen
and sat next to Will.� Will appreciated
that Cindi was trying to shelter Don by putting him away from the others, but
he wasn�t sure it was possible to be far enough away.

As if he could read his anxiety, Don put a hand on Will�s
thigh and left it there.� It was a solid,
warm weight.� Will closed his hand over
Don�s and gave him a grateful smile.

When they were seated at the table, Min began bringing out
dish after dish of banchan side
dishes, as Edward brought out a bowl of rice and a bowl of soup for everyone.� Will was bitterly amused.� His mother might claim to be uninterested in
his boyfriend, but she never missed a chance to impress someone with her
cooking.

Don waited for Will�s parents to be seated and began to eat themselves before picking up his chopsticks.� Don carefully followed Will�s lead on eating etiquette,
and ate with every sign of appreciation.�
He didn�t even hesitate with the pungent kimchi or the spicy and fishy jeongol
soup.� What a brave guy, Will thought warmly.

�This is delicious, Ma�am,� Don said sincerely.� �I can see where Will gets his cooking
skills.�

Min looked like she couldn�t decide whether to be flattered
or offended.

�Will can�t cook,� Amy laughed.�

�My stomach would beg to differ,� Don said.� �I haven�t eaten so well since I left for
college.�

Will smiled at him.� Don knew that Will�s cooking abilities, or lack thereof, were a sensitive spot with him.

The subject of Korean cooking carried them well into the
meal, especially since it was what his mother�s catering business specialized
in.

There was a lull in the conversation as people got more food
and Edward asked Amy, �Was traffic bad from Irvine?�

�No, it was great.� Amy replied.� �I just got caught up in some work and left a
little late.�

�I know you�re busy,� Min said evenly, �but your sister
wouldn�t let me rest until I agreed to let Will bring his boytoy to a family
dinner.�

There was a shocked silence.�

Will growled, �How dare you��

Don�s hand clenched a warning on Will�s leg.� �It�s alright, Will,� Don said cheerfully,
his voice only slightly strained.� �I
guess from some points of view, I am
your boytoy.�

Will gaped at him, then began to
laugh at the utter ridiculousness of this macho, driven FBI agent calling himself
a �boytoy.�� Don smiled and everyone else
at the table stared at Will which just made Will laugh harder.

Will finally trailed off, wiping his eyes.� I
needed that.� He threaded his hand
underneath Don�s hand on his thigh and lifted Don�s hand up to his lips.

�If you tell anyone in the office I said that,� Don
warned.� �I�ll kill you.�

Will smiled and shook his head with mock sadness.� �Don�t think I�m gonna let you live that
down.�

They smiled goofily at each other for a moment before Cindi
cleared her throat, held up a plate of pan-fried dumplings, and asked, �Anyone
like another mandu?�� Don graciously took one and passed the plate
on.

�So, Don,� Cindi said, �I finally figured out where I�ve
seen you before.�

�Oh?�� Don said,
lightly.� �Hopefully not on the evening
news, we�re supposed to keep a low profile.�

Cindi shook her head.�
�No, first base for the FBI.� I came to Will�s game to see him pitch.�

Don smiled over at Will and Will knew he was thinking about
what had happened after that game.

�You won the game for the FBI, if I recall right,� Cindi
said.� �Good hitting.�

Don grinned.� �Which
hit � the go-ahead double or the single that nearly took Will�s head off?�

�Both,� Cindi said with a smile.

�Don played pro ball, you know,� Will said.

�Just the Stockton Rangers,� Don said, embarrassed as he
usually was when this subject came up.�
Don just didn�t realize how good you had to be to get even that
far.� Will knew that Don wouldn�t have
been happy with less than a Hall of Fame career in the majors.

�Really?�� Cindi said, her eyebrows rising.� �I should have known you were a ringer.� It�s possible even that a scouting report on
you went across my desk.�

�Doubt it,� Don said, even more embarrassed.� �That was ages ago.� You were probably still in high school.

�At least college,� Cindi laughed.

Will knew that Don would probably prefer to talk more with
Cindi about their mutual love of baseball, but Don turned to Amy and asked her about
her doctoral thesis.� He was able to ask
her intelligent questions and at least seem to understand her answers.� Guess
having a genius brother prepares you for such conversations.

After a moment, Don turned to Edward, then to Min.� He skillfully carried on the conversation,
drawing each family member out about things that interested them,
making each person feel special.� Will
was impressed.� It was easy to forget
that Don was a top FBI agent, at least in part because of his serious people
skills.� Don even got his mother to smile
twice.�

Will had relaxed slightly by the time his mother brought out
the dessert of patbingsu.� �It�s sort of a Korean snow-cone,� he
explained to Don.� �Ice
shavings, sweetened red beans, sweetened condensed milk, fruit, and fruit
syrup.�

�Sounds like a
perfect summer dessert,� Don said and dug in.

�Are you still
keeping up with Aikido?� Edward asked.�

Will smiled at his father.�
�Yes, when I can.� Lately I�ve
been focusing on taninzu-gake, that�s defending against multiple
attackers.�

�Seems like that be
useful in your job,� Edward said, with real interest.� �Do you practice with actual weapons?�

�Not guns,
obviously,� Will said, �But real knives and things like that, yes.�

�Aikido,� Min said
with a derisive snort.� �Couldn�t do a Korean
art, had to go do a newfangled Japanese one.�
Why couldn�t you learn Taekwondo like your grandfather?�

Will pressed his lips together.� Now she was just baiting him with an old, old
argument.

�I�m afraid that I don�t know any martial art,� Don said
wryly.� �I try to keep a hold of my gun
and let my team do the hand to hand.� One
of them is a jujitsu specialist, another is good enough at krav maga that she
teaches it, and the third � Well, let�s just say that I think any one of them
could take me out.�

�Maybe you should learn Aikido,� Cindi said.� �It�s good for general defense.�

�I�m too old and set in my ways,� Don said with an
exaggerated sigh.� �I�ll just let Will
protect me.�

Will gave a snort, impressed all over again about how in a
few sentences, Don managed to turn the conversation
from an attack on Will to a wry examination of his own foibles.� Conversational
Aikido �

�So Amy,� Min said
with a tone of voice that set off warning bells in Will�s mind. �Have you and
Austin set a date yet?�

�No, Mom,� Amy
groaned.

Guess she didn�t get the fight she wanted with me so
turned on Amy.

�I�m not sure it�s
really engaged unless you actually plan on getting married sometime,� Min
grumbled.�

�Oh, we�ll get
married sometime,� Amy said, lifting her hand to look at her large diamond
engagement ring.� �Just
not yet.�

Will
felt an unexpected pang of envy at that ring.� It
said, unequivocally, �I am spoken for.��
He had no such sign of his relationship with Don.��

�Well, don�t wait
too long,� Min said.� �I want grandkids
before I�m too old to enjoy them.�

Amy rolled her
eyes.

�Since it looks
like you�re my only hope,� Min continued.

�Mother!� Cindi protested and Will
clenched his teeth.

�Just speaking the
truth,� Min said flatly. �You�re getting too old and your brother � well.�� She waved her hand dismissively.

Will clenched his
teeth even tighter, or else he was going to say something he�d regret.� Don wasn�t the only one skilled at
conversational aikido.� His mother could
make any topic of conversation spin around and attack Will.

�Is Austin also a doctoral
student at UC Irvine?�� Don asked into
the tense silence.

Amy seized on the
question with relief.� �Yes, that�s how
we met.� Though Austin is on the Genetics track.�

�Ah, I�ll bet that
Genetics is a hot field of study at the moment,� Don said.

�It�s always hard
to find people that want to go into true research.�

Will tuned out the
rest of the conversation, but Don and Amy were able to keep it going all
through dessert.� Will loved patbingsu,
but it was hard to eat past the lump of anger in his throat.� Cindi only picked at hers,
frowning.� Min and Edward ate silently,
mechanically.

There was almost an
audible sigh of relief when Min got up and began clearing up the dishes.� Will heard Don next to him draw a breath to
offer to help with the dishes but Will gave a quick
shake of his head.� Min would consider it
an insult for a guest to help with the dishes.�

Don wiped his mouth
with the napkin and said, �Wonderful supper, Mrs. Stevens.�

Min inclined her
head, like a queen accepting her due and took the dishes into the kitchen.

Cindi leaned over to Will and asked quietly, �Are you guys
going to stay for a while?� We could play
some cards.�

It was tempting, he hadn�t seen his sisters in too long, but
he shook his head.� �I think that would
be pushing our luck.�

Cindi nodded in regretful agreement.

�If we could be excused,� Will said
to his father.� �I�m afraid that I�ve got
a pile of paperwork waiting for me back at the office.�

�I�ll see you your pile of paperwork, and raise you two more
piles,� Don said with a long-suffering sigh.

�We all know the government is fueled by paper,� Amy
smiled.� �Even the
universities.�

Don and Will stood up and came around the end of the
table.� Will was starting to hope that
they would actually get out of the door without open hostility.� Then his mother came through the kitchen
door.
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A Stevens Family Dinner