Garlic #24, Strawberry Shortcake #24 + malt
Story: Blaze Mafia Family
Title: (Not Such) A Surprise
Prompts: Garlic #24: something borrowed, something blue, Strawberry Shortcake #24: friends on the other side + malt (Blossomdreams trick or treat prompt: "I've been searching for someone a long time. Well, the search is over!" "And now the search for the right psychiatrist begins." - George and Jerry from Seinfeld) + gummy bunnies (500themes#251: all sorts of complicated)
Rating: PG13
Words: 673
Characters: Tigerlily Matsuda-Blaze, Firebird Blaze
Summary: Tigerlily goes to surprise her mother with some unexpected news...or so she thinks. Tigerlily is 28.
"Good morning, my love," Firebird said warmly when she saw Tigerlily breeze through her office door. "Shouldn't you be at work?"
Tigerlily waved her hand negligently. "I took the morning off. Something came up."
Firebird's eyebrows rose. "Oh? Something good, I hope?"
"Very good," Tigerlily confirmed. "Gio took me out to dinner last night."
"That's nice," Firebird said when Tigerlily let the silence draw out.
"Oh yeah. It was great. I especially liked the part where he got down on one knee," Tigerlily thrust out her left hand, now adorned with a diamond ring, "And proposed!"
Firebird's grin was immediate. She pulled her daughter into a hug. "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you."
Tigerlily hugged her mother back, bouncing a little in her excitement. That all changed when she pulled back and got a good look at Firebird's face. "You knew," she accused her with narrowed eyes. "How did you know? I didn't even know until he was down on one knee!"
Her mother laughed lightly but didn't answer. She took Tigerlily's hand and examined her engagement ring. "It is beautiful," Firebird sighed, running a finger lightly over the delicate filigree band.
But Tigerlily wasn't to be distracted from the mystery. "This is his grandmother's ring. It's a family heirloom. You couldn't have helped him pick it."
Firebird's eyebrow rose. "My love, Gio has five grandmothers."
"So he went to you to pick which one out of the five to choose," Tigerlily flopped onto the couch with a groan but couldn't keep her frown for long. She was just too happy. "Do I ever get to surprise you?"
Firebird hid her smile under the guise of going to get them both a glass of the champagne she'd had chilling all morning. Out of all her children, Tigerlily was the one that managed to throw her for a loop the most. Not that she'd ever tell her that. Her daughter was the kind of woman that would only make a point to do it more often.
"If I'd told you that I knew Gio was going to propose then you'd have said no just to be contrary," Firebird answered as she handed over a flute of champagne.
Tigerlily rolled her eyes but tapped her glass against Firebird's. "Would not."
"So? How did he propose?" Firebird asked when Tigerlily wasn't prompt enough in delivering the details. Gio had kept most of his plans under wrap, paranoid that she'd spill the beans. Considering how hard he had to work just to get Tigerlily to notice him, Firebird couldn't fault him much for being a little unreasonable at this stage.
"Mm, no. First, I want to talk to you about the wedding," Tigerlily pointed a warning finger at her mother. "I do not want this to get out of hand and become a big mafia circus. I want my wedding to be simple. Elegant. Not crazy."
Firebird raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I'll see what I can do to minimize the circus aspect, but it will be big and it will be mafia."
"It can't be small?" she asked, though her tone said she knew it was a futile thing to hope for.
It was only 30 years of parenting that kept Firebird from snorting in derision. "This is a Kodama-kai, Blaze, Sorentini wedding. You tell me who you want cut from that guest list."
Tigerlily groaned and Firebird patted her daughter's arm. So began the pre-wedding craziness and subsequent coddling. Having gone through two of these monstrously large and detailed affairs herself, Firebird felt confident that she could keep Tigerlily from going insane before the vows were said. "Just because it's big doesn't mean you can't have what you want. You will have a wedding that is simple, elegant, and we will find you a wedding planner to handle all the crazy."
Tigerlily perked up at the idea of passing off the dirty work to a wedding planner. "Yeah?"
"Anything you want, my love. Now stop withholding the goods and tell me how he proposed."