The Courtesy Call (Emma)

Today had been one of those days that started on a simple premise, simply that she'd ordered a new tape drive for the office which she needed to install and she had a Woozle hangout scheduled with what could possibly be a contract to extend her iDragon magical tracking software to other areas. Ashleigh was no stranger to going to work with Mummy, Gerard could be roped in to watch Ashleigh (see Godfather Duties 2.4) while she was stuck in the meeting and for the most part things had gone well. Though it was the contents of the brief she had been given from Mtech on behalf of a third party that had left her wondering, it wasn't the usual for her to be given so little information about a project. Mel had always had a love/hate relationship with Melbourne, while she didn't like it while she had lived there she loved the city, the shopping and the nightlife was second to none.

Which was exactly what was on her mind as she clocked off, the server had been rearranged and everything was working well and so Mel decided to make the most of the afternoon to do some shopping and drop by some friends to say hello. She'd also made the mistake of telling her Dad she'd be in Melbourne which meant a visit to Penny Lane to stock up on Wizarding Candy.. because her Dad couldn't seem to get enough of the stuff, before catching sight of a bakery reminded her that it was far too long since she'd been out to visit Emma and see how she was going. Almost immediately Mel wondered if she was insane, ever since Ashleigh had been born Mel had been avoiding taking the pram on a tram and even with charms to lighten her bags and fit everything there was no way to avoid the 'Mum with Bub' stigma, she just had to hope that Ashleigh wouldn't decide to make a stink, it was a hot day and nothing was worse then being stuck on a hot tram with the slight lingering scent of poop.

With a paper bag from The Cupcake Shop in one hand Mel blushed a bit in embarrassment when one of the passengers insisted on helping her get the pram down the steps and onto the road, thanking the stranger she waited for the lights to change before wheeling Ashleigh across the road and on to the footpath... hoping the whole time that Ashleigh wouldn't feel like randomly throwing anything out of the pram at that very moment. For the most part she had been well behaved today and Mel made a stop at a greengrocer to buy a couple of banana's on her way to Emma's shop. It was funny how fast time had went, being pregnant seemed to have taken forever and now Ashleigh was growing up so fast, Mel had been warned that the time would fly but she hadn't really believed it at all. Checking though the store window to make sure there wasn't too many people inside Mel was careful not to bump Ashleigh too much up the step as they entered the shop with Mel calling out "I've got cupcakes!" as a greeting.. and maybe a bit of a warning in case Emma said she was too busy to hang out.

It had been a few weeks since she had seen Dunena Reid before his return to the states. Emma saw him often on the television when WWBN showed news clips about the campaign for Minister of Magic going on in America. Emma knew she shouldn't watch them yet she couldn't help but not. Should she hope he won because it was what the man obviously wanted? Or should she hope he didn't because then there would be more chance he'd really visit Melbourne like he had said he would. She hadn't realized how much time had passed since she had seen any of her friends in Drouin. Even Mel and Ethan. The holidays probably. There had been no cricket game this year since everyone had participated in the exploding golf tournament at Gerard and Tiffany's engagement/Tiffany's birthday party. It seemed they had used up all the explosive potion and didn't have time to brew enough batches by New Year's.

In the meantime, between seeing Dunena a couple of times after that initial accidental meeting at the hospital, Emma had kept busy with her shop and knitting. Which probably explained the slightly guilty feeling she had when Mel's familiar voice rang out in the empty shop that she had cupcakes. "Turn the sign to closed and lock the door, then," Emma called back. "It's close enough to closing time anyway. We can have tea in the kitchen to go with it."

Ashleigh let out a happy gurgle as she woke to noise of Emma's voice. While she hadn't quite gotten to the stage of making meaningful noises she was quite a fan of babbling away to herself or whoever was in range. Mel was shamed to admit to falling to talking 'goo' herself more often then not which meant that poor Ethan was forced with not one but two onslaughts of nonsense. Today however Mel was craving some more grown up social activities, she was forever plagued with the worry that becoming a mum would make her 'boring', already she had missed a Big Day Out.. something that was unfathomable a mere year ago. Maybe she'd see about talking Ethan into going to the Falls Festival this year, if Marcus didn't end up dragging them all to Glastonbury again of course. So there was enough mutual guilt for not visiting on both sides, there wasn't really any excuse for Mel really liked Emma.. even with the early complaints of a certain Marcus Hobson that it 'wasn't right' for her to be friends with 'Rose'.

So many times Mel had regretted ever loaning Marcus the box set of Doctor Who since the day she'd met Ethan. "Will do" Mel said pushing Ashleigh in far enough for the pram not to get caught on the door before she flicked the sign and locked up, the array of knitting 'things' and craft materials where all weird and alien to her, she'd always been better with her hands when it came to outdoor stuff then knitting and other 'quiet' activities that girl's where supposed to have learnt growing up. "So how's things?.. feels like it's been ages" Mel felt a bit awkward about that as she put the cupcake's on the counter to free Ashleigh from the pram. "C'mon you" she said with a smile at her daughter before grabbing her things and following Emma though to the kitchen, a little envious of Emma for her luck at managing to get a place in the city when the rent was so high.

Emma had to smile at the sounds of her neice's 'talking'. Okay, so she wasn't forming adult words but she sounded like she had something to say. As Mel locked up the door and turned the sign, Emma logged off the register to lock the drawer, leaving the till to deal with later. For now, it was time for a visit with family, which is what she considered Mel even if there was no marriage license, and cupcakes. Once Ashleigh was out of the pram, Emma led the way upstairs to her living quarters and the dining table area by the kitchen. While Mel settled the baby in the high chair Emma kept there for visits, Emma put the kettle on and got down the tea kettle and teas, looking over at Mel for a decision on which one to make. Once Mel selected, she measured the leaves into the pot and added the water when it was ready, bringing it to the table to steep. While waiting on the water, she got out plates and napkins for their cupcakes.

Emma winced as Mel commented on how long it had been. "Sorry," she admitted. "Guess I haven't been a very good visitor lately. Everyone doing okay?"

Emma's place reminder her a bit of Ma' Wright's as she followed Emma upstairs with Ashleigh making 'beep beep' noises. Mel really should have been more careful about playing arcade games around her but it was hard not to be amused when Ashleigh poked at the screen...though not so amused when she tried 'taste testing it' Mel had bought a iPad 2 for that reason alone, it was 'rugged' and saved her beloved Alienware laptop from being gooped. Mel felt like a terrible friend, between work, Ashleigh, Ethan and what was quite possibly the greatest year for videogames of all time she had been more anti-social then ever.. if only because it was hard to pull herself away from the allure of Skyrim. But she had unloaded it from her Steam account after 120 hours and not even glanced at the recent Gears of War 2 beta. Her heart was taken for Mass Effect 3 and the return of Mel Shepard! So the visit fitted in a nice slot between release dates.

Settling Ashleigh into the highchair Mel never really asked -why- it was there but she appreciated not having to deal with the hassle of bringing one herself, maybe if she had time they'd visit the Wrights.. Mel was musing on that as Emma started making tea.. damn that reminded her "Sorry.. I forgot to bring some tea!" Mel was forever passing off tins of tea and herbs to friends, it was the only way to stop them from stockpiling after each visit from(or to) her parents. "I'll have to get Ethan to drop some off" ...and exactly how she would do that? Mel smiled to herself, Ethan was the most dependable person she knew but it wouldn't be right if she didn't find a way to make a bit of fun out of it all would it? Being someone who never felt all that comfortable being waited on Mel helped.. if only by browsing though Emma's tea's to try and decide on what she felt like today. "Humm.. shall we be a little bit fancy?" she asked Emma in a fake highbrow accent.. before her brain was so good to provide 'Fancy = Jam Fancy = Ethan offering Jam Fancies = ..ahem' cue a little cough and looking away. Okay TMI, Emma would hardly want to know about that.

Passing Emma the tin of Peppermint tea instead she watched as Emma brewed the tea before helping carry the plates and co. to the table where Mel had to sigh at Ashleigh having dribbled on her top from all the babbling. One thing about babies she had learnt was that they where near impossible to keep clean. That was just one of the multitude of reasons why Mel had vowed never to get involved with all that 'motherhood' stuff. She could only wonder what a younger version of herself would think as she did the best to dry Ashleigh's face with her bib before setting herself at the table. Mel looked confused a moment when Emma started apologizing, "No at least you've been on the same planet.." she joked "I kind of pity Ethan a bit, Skyrim and Star Wars the Old Republic both coming out has made things.. interesting" with all innocence she added "Mass Effect Three comes out soon". Now nobody could say she hadn't warned them. "Everyone's fine.. far as I know.. Tiff's already full on with the wedding planning.. " Mel made a face "..so much pink" but of course she had already signed up for this when she'd become friends with Gerard. "Ro and Marcus are busy with the school.. new year and all that.. I think he mentioned that they might have a gig next month at the pub or something" at least that would be worth looking forward to. She felt a bit embarrassed as she got to the end of her list, normally she'd know what everyone was up to, but apart from keeping touch on Werk and Facebook she'd been disgustingly lazy.

Emma had been busy with Girl Guides, especially with biscuit sales and planning for winter activities for the troop as well as plotting out which new fibers she wanted to carry for the fall and winter seasons. She'd also spent a few afternoons at coffee with one certain American visitor till he left. So it was not on purpose that she had not mentioned to Mel about her new friend and the fact that she found him rather interesting. Nor had she mentioned to anyone at all about the fact that finding him interesting scared her a bit since the last time she found someone interesting, they just disappeared, moving on with no word.

She shook those thoughts from her mind as Mel apologized for not bringing any tea. "That's okay," she assured her, "Still have enough for a while. Maybe I can come to Warragul and pick some up next week if you have a free day?" Emma was aware enough to know that there were game release dates throughout the year but it was not something she kept up with. However, she knew Mel would let her know what days would be open between Mel's work and gameplay schedules.

At the mention of Tiffany, Emma sort of half grinned, "I'd have never guessed pink," she joked as she pulled an envelope out from the cabinet shelf where she had put it earlier, dumping several dress photos out, all in pink. "This is going to be interesting?" Emma asked, laughing a bit.

Pouring the water into the teapot with the peppermint tea Mel had selected, Emma brought the pot to the table and just as they sat down, Mel having settled Ashleigh in the high chair Emma kept there, an owl arrived, dropping it's letter on the table, waiting long enough for Emma to give him a treat and taking off again. Opening the letter and reading it surprised and a bit happy to hear from her *coughcoughfriendcoughcough*

Mel blushed in embarrassment, facepalming "Goat I'm turning into my mother aren't I?" she admitted, Mel's greatest fear had always been turning into her Mum and here she was pushing herbs at people and hanging out for gossip. Clearly she needed to stop or risk buying Witch Weekly magazines and caring about table decorations. At least it seemed she hadn't quite got to the point of people avoiding her, Mel thought over her schedule, avoiding checking her phone as she had teaching two days a week or possibly a third if more students enrolled in Muggle Studies this year. At least she didn't have that new M-Tech contract to worry about she decided "Sure, I was going to be working on this new contract but... looked a bit shady so how about we do lunch, Friday afternoon okay with you?" Mel's expression turned evil "Gives us all chance to organize a certain woman's hen's night as well" Oh yes, Mel was serious about her duties as a bridesmaid all right.

Speaking of the wedding Mel had to laugh and made a 'ohgoat' face as Emma showed off a assortment of clippings.. all pink.. and all in her eyes ..horrible. "It's going to be something all right.." Mel said as she scrutinized the pictures. "Marcus is already planning the bucks night... he was really exited about the Dare Poker and explosive.. something.. and fishing.. youknow you'll have to ask him yourself" Mel had a feeling half of what Marcus was planning involved revenge for the 50 wild rabbits incident, sometimes it was better just to not know what was going on in that head of his. Pulling her phone out to check her messages before placing it on the table Mel was surprised to look up at the sound of a owl entering the room. How it had got in was beyond her but Mel narrowed her eyes as it came to land on the table. It wasn't any owl she knew...certainly Errol wouldn't have been able to land without taking out the teapot, plates, and anything else within 5 meters. "What was that about?" Mel asked which was the next best thing to 'who was that Owl and what are you doing getting random owls anyway?' watching her face it was obvious that whatever it was included both a surprise and good news. The overriding question of which was 'WHAT?' was it, and who was the letter from anyway.

Emma laughed and shook her head at Mel's comment. "No, you're not. Remember, I ask you to get the teas for me," she reminded Mel. This was as opposed to Mel's mum's method of bringing them no matter what, which wasn't that bad if you liked them, which Emma did. "However, I do believe my mum is doing so. She called me last week asking for information about which fabric shops had the best selections for natural fabrics for tarot cloths back in London." Yes, it seemed the two new grandmothers found more than how wonderful Ashleigh was after meeting at the hospital and apparently, a few Muggle friendly divination form lessons were given.

At Mel's suggestion of Friday being good, Emma nodded and told her, "Friday's great," asking as the contract was mentioned, "Shady? How so?" She knew there probably was something to it as it seemed her not-yet-sister-in-law-but-she-wished-they'd-take-car-of-that-sister-in-law had a hunch or intuition, it was usually spot on. However, Emma also ended up blushing at the mention of the hen's night. Left to just her, it would have probably ended up more of a stitch night then hen's night. Emma did laugh at the description of Marcus' probable plans for the men's night. "I think I'm happier not knowing what he's planning," she admitted.

Conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the owl and at Mel's inquiry, Emma simply said, "Owl post," before realizing that duh, that was probably obvious. "Letter.. From a... Friend... Sort of... Met a couple of years ago at the Ministry... He was visiting Melbourne recently...."

"I guess there's still some hope" Mel suspected that Emma was just trying to make her feel better about the whole situation, maybe moving closer to home had been a mistake, at least when she'd lived hours away there was less occasions of her parents just popping by for a cup of tea. It was the only regret though, Mel knew that if she wanted for Ashleigh to grow up anywhere it would be somewhere with good schools and lots of things to do without the crime and bother of Melbourne. For a time she had even considered relocating to London but that was before Dad had told her that Rowan and Marcus where moving to start Gipps Grammar, Mel couldn't just abandon her friends and to be honest she was a bit worried about how Marcus would cope with the change. Now of course they had put down 'roots' and all that, Mel had never planned to do any of that until she was at least thirty five yet here she was.

Speaking of things she had never counted on Mel winced at the news that Donna had fallen for the trap that was her Mum, she was still trying to live down that first chaotic meeting of the Fitch-Hunters. If only they had managed to get to the UK to visit for Christmas last year this whole thing could have been avoided. Instead Ashleigh had come along and plans had been changed till before she knew it Ethan's parents had showed up at the hospital of all places.. poor Ethan had to deal with both her and the sudden appearance of not one but two set of parents. Mel didn't envy him in the least. "Well at least Doris will be about as good at it as Mum is" she said, Mel had never believed in her Mum's abilities.. mostly because it was hard to belive in something that could only be proven against what could have happened. To her divination was a pointless effort, magic might allow you to stretch or relive time but it couldn't foretell it.. or at least with enough accuracy to be useful. Nostradamus was proof enough of that.

The whole matter was a point of long debate ever since she had chosen to not study Divination at school 'wasting' her gift according to her Mum. It took no divination though to know when something wasn't right, Mel might have been a hypocrite for judging on 'gut feelings' but there was facts too as she explained her problem with the recent M-Tech contract to Emma "Well there isn't really much to say" Mel said as she pushed hair out of her face, "I found out about M-tech while I was working in the UK.. usually it's just IT stuff.. programming and whatnot.." she shrugged "normally we at least have some idea of who we're working for but this project came with a confidentiality agreement from Camelidae and Sons and nothing else.. it was weird". Mel scratched her head, it wasn't like she hadn't worked in the 'gray' zone before.. her work for the British Ministry of Magic had involved some pretty serious hacking but even there they had been told exactly what the aim of the brief had been. "That and the money was too good" . Mel wasn't about to admit how much money the job could have brought in, but she was suspicious of anything that involved a mix of high pay and high secrecy, M-Tech specialized in taking on contracts that Woozle or the various Ministry's wouldn't but sometimes she did worry that they where too involved in the less legal side of the law. It was why she had cut down on her involvement over the years till she was only doing a few projects to keep up with iDragon.

Maybe if she had of made the meeting with Woozle things would be different but at least they where breaking even and had enough money to get by while putting away a bit for Ashleigh's education. It was scary to think about. Then again so was the thought of Gerard and Marcus both getting married in the not-so-far future. It was strange that Mel wasn't sure how to feel about it, sure it made her feel old to think about how much things had changed but she didn't feel too bad for it. "Yeah Owl.. your lucky I'm not someone else or they might think you insane" Mel teased Emma, that was one of the tricky parts of living in both the Magical and Muggle world, trying to explain why exactly you had strange birds coming into your house had certainly caused issues with trying to find a roomate while she was in uni. However all thoughts of mysterious organizations and weddings went straight out of mind when Emma mentioned a 'He' and 'Ministry' cue Mel sitting up and asking.. quite innocently at that "Oh really? What department?" now this was some real news.. Mel didn't think Emma knew much of anyone at the Ministry of Magic apart from herself of course. Yes, Mel was on the case all right... what, where, how.. she'd get it out of Emma one way or another.

Grinning, Emma told Mel, "There's always hope!" Though she pretty much went to straight out laughter when Mel commented on how good Donna would be at divination. "Oh I know," Emma told her. "So far, she's already told me that she's seen that you're going to be doing work for an American client, Ethan's going to discover a new writer, and I'm going to meet a mysterious man." Emma shook her head at that one. After all, not many men came into her shop or led Girl Guide patrols and considering, that's where most of her time was spent....

As Mel went on to explain why she didn't take the particular contract, Emma simply nodded, being a bit unfamiliar with the firm Camelidae and Sons but she knew what Mel meant about the money being too good. There was being paid what you and the work was worth, then there was being well overpaid for no visible reason. The keyword being visible.

Emma grinned at the comment about people thinking her insane. "Well, you know I do try to cultivate the idea," she said before turning her attention back to the note and penning a quick reply to the note and attaching it to the owl's leg before it left. "Uhmm.." Emma had to pause to think as it had been a couple of years now since that trip to the Ministry. "Well, I was looking for the licensing area to get an order of magical yarns approved and somehow ended up at the opposite end of the building. I think he worked in International Cooperation."

"Optimist!" Mel retorted, and Emma wondered why she had given her a 'glass half full' cup for her Birthday? She had to giggle a bit at Donna's 'predictions' "At least she's going for the safe ones.. with enough time I'm sure they will all happen" though it did make her wonder a bit about Emma's chances of meeting a 'nice' mysterious man. Mel was out of luck with playing matchmaker, both Marcus, Tiff and Gerard where happy.. and she'd heard from Luke that Nathan had a new girlfriend as well. That had come as a bit of a shock to be honest but at least it wasn't a repeat of the last one. Mel had felt awful for Nathan after things had gone bad, after all she had been the one to step away from their relationship the first time, so any negative repercussions she was always going to blame herself first. Now it just left Emma and Cara in the 'singles club', Mel didn't know if she should envy or feel sorry for them, it seemed wrong that she was supposed to be the one who stayed single and yet here she was with everything a girl was supposed to want.. well except a ring on her finger but that was -not- happening.

"You should be careful Emma, folks will start thinking your a witch" Mel teased, it amused the hell out of her that of the two of them Emma fitted into the magical world more then she did. Mel knew she was lucky to be a halfblood and have a choice between both worlds, not many Witches or Wizards got that opportunity but at least things where changing..slowly to be more open to letting people make their own decisions. Mel didn't know how she'd have gone at a stuffy school like Hogwarts. Had she her wand at hand Mel would have been tempted to accio Emma's reply to the letter.. the curiosity was killing her! "Magical yarn?" Mel's face was a picture of confusion, why on earth would there be such a thing as magical yarn? But then maybe it was from magical creatures or self knitting or something? Mel gave up thinking about it when Emma mentioned a department that made Mel groaned "Oh Goat.. you mean the one where the head left after the Llama Incident?" just thinking of that story made her giggle. "Luke said the guy got in a argument with Fungus and ended up lying in the middle of the lobby floor with a pair of Llamas.. seriously.. Llamas!" she couldn't keep a straight face and broke into laughter. "Wouldn't have belived it if Luke didn't have the picture to prove it"... the name however managed to escape her for the moment, it had been a few years after all and most of the reports after had worked hard to separate the name Dunena Reid from the incident. Had Mel paid more attention she might well have found it all rather.. suspicious.

Emma laughed and said, "Well, two out of three are safe ones. Hers about me? Riiiight," she answered, drawling out the word 'right' to show her thoughts on the chances of that happening. After all, the only men she knew that fit that description were either kin or friends. Actually, any men she knew, that description or other wise. But she didn't say anything more and let the arrival of the owl drop that part of the conversation as she penned the quick response and explained about the color changing properties of the magical yarns that were charmed during weaving to adjust the hues and shading garment made from them to fit with other pieces of the chosen outfit.

As she listened to Mel's reply to her identification of her suitor pen pal/friend from the states, Emma nodded and responded with "Yes, that one. The llamas are doing well, have a hidden area in Central Park and when he has them groomed and sheared, he promised to send me the roving to spin! It was so heroic how he saved them from magical testing in the labs at the Ministry! Who knows what they would have done to them!" She smiled, thinking back to the chats she had with Dunena after running into him at the hospital and the various meet-ups for coffee the had while he was still in town then. Same table at the same Starbucks . "Dunena really cares about those llamas."

"Why not?" Mel teased, after all there was no requirements for the man in question to be at all attractive or worth meeting. "I bet we could find you lots of nice mysterious men.." with that Mel reached for her weapon of choice.. her phone and did a quick Woozle search for 'men + mysterious + nice'. Which just brought up entries relating to a movie and 'tips' for men trying to make themselves more mysterious to women. 'Men + Dating Site' didn't help much either. Rolling her eyes she typed in 'www.magicmatchmaker.com.mk' "Here we go.." before running a search for available wizards aged 27-40, snorting at the results that came up. "How about MysteriousMan221.. 32.. from Melbourne..? 'Halfblood wizard looking for a Miss Right with just the right spark.. must enjoy moonlit nights, long walks and dog grooming..Muggles and mixed bloods welcome". Mel raised a eyebrow, she did have to wonder about the amount of money online dating was making for the Wizarding world, she'd never been interested in it herself but no doubt business must have been booming with the promise of taking all the awkwardness from trying to figure out if your date was, or wasn't the kind to freak out if you admitted that you where a witch.

While the explanation of the magical yarns went quickly over her head into the 'huh we'll that's interesting' the topic of the mysterious head of the Department of International Wizarding Co-Operation was about to take a seriously odd turn as Mel just stared at Emma as if she'd turned into a teapot. "Wait.. what?!" Had the tea not been waiting to seep she might well have chocked on it in shock. Dunena Reid.. it all started to fall together in her mind and yet the picture was not at all making sense. Dunena Reid.. host of Dunena's Weird Weird World which was a bit of a cult hit for being so off the wall. Hourglass Magazines Man of the year and poster boy for WWBN with reports that he was set to run for Minister for Magic this year. "You're um.. joking right?" Mel asked, Emma was starting to freak her out. This had to be a joke, Ethan had put her up to this or something? Mel was tempted to glance around for hidden cameras or someone hiding and watching.. because if it wasn't a joke how was she going to tell Emma that her 'friend' was a A. grade celeb in the Magical World and probably a purest to boot!

"Why not? Uhm, how about the rule of Girl Guides as to membership for the patrol and the fact the leaders still are all women?" she asked, adding "No, I'm okay with things as they are," when Mel offered to find her one. Emma had not really been paying attention to what Mel was doing with her phone out. After all, it wasn't unusual for Ethan to send a text to her, or messages regarding her tech work to come in on the phone. Not hearing any alerts, Emma just figured Mel had her phone on silent.

That is until Mel started reading that first ad and Emma would have just about choked if she had been taking a sip of tea but fortunately, it still had a few minutes to steep. "NO! Just no, no and no!" She was taking on a lovely shade of red as she did her best to stop Mel taking that particular path. But that was all right as Emma's casual mention of her friend's name sort of returned the favor back to Mel. "Dunena... That's who sent the owl just now. He's in New York at work. But he's going to be traveling to Melbourne for a visit so we're going to meet up for dinner, catch up and all." Emma didn't think anything of it or why it should be so shocking. "No, why would I joke about a friend?" Emma asked, unaware why Mel was so, shall we call it surprised?

Mel couldn't help but roll her eyes "Youknow it's not like you've joined a monastery or anything.. don't they have any of those Guides, Scouts socials anymore.. I mean not that I'd ever fancy a scout leader but who knows..?" Okay so really she was just following this train of direction to annoy Emma more then anything else. After all it wasn't like she hadn't spent enough time when she was younger being badgered about why she hadn't met the right guy and wasn't so keen on looking in the first place. You'd think that it would mean that Mel would be at least a little sympathetic towards Emma but nope, not today! If there was one thing in the world more dangerous then Marcus with explosives it was Mel with a internet enabled device.. in this case her phone. Mel was playing innocent as she searched until enlightening Emma with the results. The effect worth every bit of bandwidth.. and to think she'd skipped that one from 'LoveMistro69' promising a Good time.. because the only person she knew with a handle like that was Rick Wright and Mel did not want to suggest that Emma would stoop to that level..yeeech.

If only she had been warned of exactly where Emma's attention had been focused before hand, then maybe she'd have avoided this situation of trying to figure out how to warn Emma that her 'friend' if he was even a friend wasn't just some regular Ministry pleb. The fact that words like 'Dinner' where already sneaking into Emma's speech was alarming enough! "Emma you see Dunena Reid is kind of a big name.." Mel waited to make sure she was seated, flicking though the options on her phone she pulled up the full page profile from Hourglass Online, the full colour photo making the most of her LCD touchscreen. "He's in New York because he's running for Minister for Magic.. and over there the campaigns are a really big deal.." Mel wondered just how much of this Emma knew already? But for much of the convergence between the Magical and Muggle World the gulf between America and the rest of the world was as big as ever. The fact that Frump had been seen as a supporter to the Anti-SPEW campaign was proof that the Magical World over there was not nearly as progressive as their own had become. Mel really wasn't sure what to do, would Emma cry or would she be angry that she was being played by some hotshot Wizard from America? Mel glanced over to Ashleigh who had started going 'Du Du' in what Mel hoped was parroting her words and not a sign that Ashleigh had done 'Dudu' in her nappy..because nothing put you off food like le'scent du baby.

Emma was grateful that Mel had not suggested she date Luke Wright's brother. Nope, that was not going to happen. As for this being a monastery, she grinned at Mel. "No, it's not, but pretty close and, no socials with the boy scouts, at least not at this age. Besides, all the leaders are parents. Parents usually mean already married. Think I'll just pass on that."

As the conversation went to the sender of her letter, Emma looked at Mel, wondering what she meant by 'big name'. At the sight of the photo Mel, pulled up, Emma nodded, "Yes, that's him, that's my friend. Oh I know he's running for office, he mentioned it in his note. Said he some how, sorta happened into it," she told Mel. "He's a good person, I'm sure he'd do a good job if he wins."

"Not these days" Mel replied "statistics state that one in three marriages end up in divorce..and since married people are more likely to have kids ..quid pro quo". Mel knew a disturbing amount of these kind of statistics, it was one of the many excuses she had tended to fall back on whenever her Mum started on the 'why haven't you and Ethan tied the knot yet??' talk. Mel had hoped a baby would have quietened down all the talk of 'body clocks' and the like but granddaughter or not Moria Ashton seemed to be immune to any end to her campaign to see her daughter married off to a good man. Mel would never admit though that her first crush had been on a one of the boys down the road who had been a scout. She of course had wanted to join but Guides where for girls and Scouts where for boys.. regardless of the fact that much of their groups where girls these days. Mel didn't know what had become of Aaron but the fact that he was a Muggle and she (as her Mum always insisted on reminding her) was a Witch meant most of her childhood was a bit tricky when it came to making friends.

It was hard not to feel those warnings from her Mother even to this day, while her Dad had always been about letting Muggles take their place in the wizarding world she'd always been brought up knowing that she was 'different' from most people and that she had to hide that part of herself away when it came to making friends. Now of course it was the opposite problem Mel had to worry about, that Emma was going to get hurt by falling for a wizard. Every time Mel had dated a wizard they had been unreliable at best and self absorbed at worst. Already she felt right to lay it out to Emma that Dunena was hiding from her who he was, yet she was left with her mouth open and feeling lost when Emma said she knew. "Sorta.. happened into it?" Mel repeated, doubtful as to how someone could just 'accidentally' fall into a political campaign...well okay her Dad had often claimed that he'd 'kind' of fallen into politics but that was because he didn't expect to have a magical child, what excuse did Dunena have? "So..." Mel really didn't know what to say, everything was telling her to warn Emma to stay away from Dunena Reid, she'd listened to some of the guys rants on the radio and her in her guts she felt that there was something wrong with the man. Yet on the other hand Mel wasn't being fair was she? "... the tea should be ready?" she said after a awkward pause. Damn her always trying to be the 'sensible one', what if she just didn't like Dunena Reid because he was from the Ministry of Magic? There was no question that she was suspicious and who knew maybe there was a totally innocent story behind the Llama incident? Maybe Emma was right?

Maybe Llamas could fly? Resting her head against her hand a moment Mel tried to figure out what to do, it was like one of those decision points in a game where you knew both choices where not going to be pretty but you couldn't just save and load again if you got it wrong. "Well I do know one way to be sure if a guy's the one.. " Mel said as she reached over to nab a cupcake. "Invite him to the wedding and see if he survives Marcus.. trust me if they do that you know they're for keeps" Mel laughed, yet it was true, Mel had seen every one of her boyfriends after Nathan in highschool 'disappear' after Marcus dropped in on that broomstick of his. It had taken many years for her to realise just how suspicious it had been for him to happen to show up when she had a date or was having a romantic night in. Even Ethan had gone though that baptism of fire.. though in his case it was more magical explosions and allergic reactions.. let alone the whole Doctor Who thing.

Emma had to grin at what was supposed to be Mel's argument for finding 'Mr. Close Enough to Right for Government Work' in inter-social events with Boy Scouts. Right. So not happening. Emma wasn't really looking for any degree of 'Mr. Right' to 'Mr. Never Going to be Quite Right but Will Do'. Besides that, the argument was working to Emma's benefit on a different topic as she looked over at Ashleigh with a raised eyebrow. The baby responded by waving her toy, which to Emma said, 'Go for it, Auntie Em!'. So Emma did. "So that means its someone's not worth keeping and I would want that why? Oh, and by the way, since you already have the baby, seems like you need to go backwards and pick up a step, don't it?" Emma reached over and high-fived her niece as she left Mel to be detoured by that.

Okay, so Mel wasn't detoured for long. As she continued on about Dunena's involvement in politics. "Well, yes, that's what his letter said," Emma replied, pushing the letter over for Mel to read. "And it's just meeting for dinner, catching up. Not like he's asking me out for a date or anything. We've met a few times for coffee when he was here before.. Back when Lisa was in the hospital. I ran into him there. I think he was visiting someone, too. I never really asked." To say Emma was book smart and dating not quite so clever would not be wrong. However, she tilted her head and thought about it for a minute when Mel said to invite him to the wedding. "Really? You think it would be okay to ask him to come with me? It's not like I have anyone to ask, everyone else is already there that I know and with someone." This was walking right into Mel's plan whether Emma realized it or not. Only other option would be for Mel to go into 007 mode and follow Emma on her 'not a date date'.

Seeing Emma glance over at Ashleigh Mel smiled a bit at her waving her toy Koala. Funny that for all the toys that had been the one Ashleigh kept going back to. Mel had to wonder if there was going to be lasting damage from exposing Ashleigh to Ebby at such a young age. Distracted by Ashleigh Mel pulled a blank at what Emma was talking about, any connection between herself, the M word and babies still felt alien to her, at heart she was still the same Mel Ashton who refused to settle down, it was just that she happened to have less time for pubbing and more time on well, taking care of Ashleigh now. The good thing about Ethan was he let her continue her little fantasy of independence, all she had to do was make sure he had a book and there was no issue with sneaking out to the shed for some quality girl vs machine time. Mel had never had that kind of freedom in a relationship before and maybe that was why it had managed to last so long. Mel needed to trust that Ethan was the right guy and she didn't want the pressure of marriage and having to conform to that kind of relationship to get in the way of what they had. People changed when they got married, she'd seen it happen to more then a few friends and she didn't want to end up fat and thinking about renovations when there was so many better things she still wanted to do!

Either way it wasn't her love life that was of interest, Mel was careful to not look too eager at taking the letter from Emma and reading it herself, curious to see just what Dunena Reid had written. It was very strange to think that here she was reading a OWL penned by someone who was more often then not in the world headlines. "Not Important?" Mel snorted when she read that, only the very rich could consider running for Minister to be anything less then a history changing event. "Youknow I might have only gotten my recent romance education from The Cherry Clinger Show but I'm pretty sure dinner together counts as a date" Mel pointed out before handing the letter back to Emma. It was interesting that while Mel had never really wished for a sister growing up she did enjoy hanging out with Emma and occasionally letting herself have the luxury of being a girl. "So.. dinner with a guy like that is going to be posh.. got a gown in mind?" Mel teased, she'd certainly not be caught dead in a gown.. well outside of the occasional bridesmaid duties that she couldn't avoid. Speaking of bridesmaids Mel nodded in pretend 'being understanding' mode as Emma put two and two together that yes she could bring a date to the wedding, "Well yeah, sure.." she was tempted to blurt out that at least this way if things didn't turn out well with Dunena Reid she'd have a posse for backup. Mel was rather excited about this idea now, it was the next best thing to installing a remote monitoring program on Emma's phone to eavesdrop on this date of hers. Not that Mel would of course, it was far to bothersome and anyway it would no doubt be amazingly boring like the time Marcus had gotten it in his head for them to provide 'backup' on one of Gerard's dates. Safe to say the date had gone well for Gerard but dull for them listening at home to endless chitchat. Mel had thought Tiff was bad enough when she was around but nothing could compare to 'Oh That Wonderful Gerard Hunter Q.C'. Mel didn't know if Tiff and Gerard getting married would be the end of it or just make the whole thing a million times worse!

"Well, it's not as important as say, Gerard's birthday party for Tiffany," Emma told her, "or even Marcus asking Rowan to see U2 and all the after stuff," she continued. "It's just two friends catching up on each other's lives." So, apparently, Mel did not see it that way as she continued on. However, it seemed someone forgot a few other dinners out as Emma grinned and asked her friend, "Soooo, if you and Gerard went out to eat, it was a date and you wore a gown?" Emma smirked and looked over to see Ashleigh doing what might have been interpreted as a 'facepalm'. It was known far and wide that Mel and gowns were not the most common sight in the southern hemisphere. Come to think of it, northern hemisphere as well. At Mel's assurance that she could invite Dunena to the wedding, Emma nodded slowly, "I might, depends on if he'll even be in Australia then."

Mel had to roll her eyes "Well yes, a proposal on the first date might be a bit rushed" no, Mel was not going to let go of that d-word. Ignoring the cliche 'oh we're just friends' line she looked embarrassed and rather taken aback when Emma mentioned Gerard. Ah, yes, a whole world of complicated that was going to involve her giving in some self-esteem in order to keep her argument in track. Grabbing her phone she flicked though the files with a frown until she came across one of the oldest folders and held it up for Emma to see "Been there and done that" Mel admitted showing her a photo Gerard had taken when they'd gone to New York for the Monty Python Gala "I was his plus one" she said with a flutter of eyelashes. Mel had to feel a tiny bit regretful about the dress, there was no way in hell she'd fit into it now..more a case boobs and butt sticking out everywhere. It was amazing how much your body could morph over a year from fit and fantastic to a blobby baby milk factory. Her only hope was to try and get rid of as much of it as possible before the 'dreaded 30s' took effect and she was stuck putting on weight forever.

Okay so it wasn't that bad but a girl was allowed to feel fat every so often and going up a couple of jean sizes wasn't so bad when compared to some. Glancing over at Ashleigh Mel looked suspicious to see her daughter with her hand over her face, until Ashleigh started tasting her fingers leaving Mel just thinking that she was eager for some cake. Mel was sure there was probably a million rules saying you shouldn't give such and such to babies but surely a little cupcake couldn't hurt? It was no worse then the 'Nyan Cats Mutant Cookies' she'd made with Abby after all! Chopping a cupcake in half before offering part to Ashleigh who immediately made a high pitch "CA-CA" in excitement Mel was sure Emma had taken the bait, "I'm sure with the campaign and all he'll be running back and forth a lot.. they say Australia's a key base of support these days" Mel stated before taking a bite of her cupcake and then half-choking/half-laughing at Ashleigh who had managed to smear icing across half her face. That was the thing, for all the downsides of babies they always managed to do something that made you happy.. right up until you had to work hard to try and de-sticky them after.