It was because Rory was getting used to this feeling of safety that she found herself going on a stroll out of the living room and into the kitchen. Dave had gone outside a little bit ago to start relocating weeds out of the garden and Rory had opted to finish her nap on the slice of sunlight on the couch. Well, she didn’t remember actively deciding to finish her nap, she guessed she’d just been so exhausted from the latest quest of rescuing a duke from a particularly angry dragon that she’d passed out again before she could tell Dave that she’d love to help him in the garden again. At least there was next time.

‘I obviously needed the sleep,’ she thought to herself as she walked toward the wooden table. The stone floor beneath her emitted coolness despite the way the newly summer air warmed the rest of the room. Each tile of stone was a huge block compared to her, and the wooden leg of the table rose up before her like a thick, impressively tall tree. Everything was tall to Rory here on Dave’s world. She didn’t think she would ever get used to it.

Outside, the heavy thud of giant footsteps broke through Rory’s thoughts, and she immediately brightened at the thought of Dave coming back inside. Mutterings filtered through the cracked window – mutterings plural, meaning multiple giants– not Dave.

Oh. Not Dave.

The thought shot through her like ice, and Rory snapped out of her lazy daydreaming and abruptly came to the realization that she was not in a happy bubble of safety, and she was, in fact, actually out in the open of a huge, expanse space with no real good place to hide. Gods, had a few months filled with cozy, cat-nap days really undo the years of in-depth training and honed skills as a Jack? Rory had time to shake her head in disbelief at herself before shoving away the berating thoughts to focus on getting somewhere safe to hide before there was a chance the new giants saw her.

Rory startled forward just as the giant footsteps thundered and rumbled outside the cottage. The voices grew louder as they made it to the front step – and a rush of déjà vu flooded over Rory as she realized she wouldn’t make the run from the kitchen to the couch in the living room. Just like her first day in the cottage right before she met Dave.

She was not going to make that mistake again. Giving up on making the hike, Rory ran back to the cover of the table’s shadows, pinning herself up against the wooden leg. Its cold surface pressed into her back, and she took in a deep, panicked gasp before quelling it. Dave hardly liked visitors. They probably wouldn’t even stay long, whoever they were.

But before that thought could comfort her in the slightest, the front door creaked right open, and the giants walked right in.

Immediately Rory’s thoughts went to Dave – “He better be okay! He never lets anyone into his house…’ even as the footsteps started to shake the table, she only thought of him. She pressed herself harder up against the wooden table leg, trying to blend into the shadows.

“Oh, would you look at this place?” a warm, feminine voice broke through the air. “Dave always does a wonderful job keeping his home perfectly welcoming.”

Shuffling. Then another woman’s voice. “He does. He has a great touch for it. He’s such a sweet man.”

Wait a minute… Rory’s breath caught. ‘Sweet man.’ ‘Wonderful job.’ These weren’t strangers breaking in… These two voices could only be from –

The door burst open again, and another set of footsteps rushed into the kitchen. “Mother! Mum! You stopped by!” His voice was tense and rushed with surprise, also but tinged with a little stress and worry. “What an unexpected surprise!”

Dave’s mothers.

Rory’s shoulders unclenched a little now that she knew random giants weren’t in the house. But the tension didn’t quite leave entirely. She was still in the house with two new giants, even if they were Dave’s mums. Rory knew Dave had told them about her, but she hadn’t made the trip with Dave to formally meet them yet.

“Well, we were at the farmer’s market this morning and thought we would go on a little stroll down the lane to pop in.” The first voice said, lyrical in its tone.

“We feel like it’s been ages since we saw our boy,” the other said, low and warm. “Our handsome man.”

Rory face lit up in a cheeky grin at that, imagining how red Dave’s face was getting at that comment when he knew that she was around here somewhere to overhear it.

His feet shuffled, lightly and carefully as he slowly made his way past them, as if he was on the lookout for her without bringing attention to it. “Aw, uhm,” he cleared his throat a little nervously. “It hasn’t been that long – and wait a minute, this isn’t a ‘little stroll’ from the farmer’s market. It’s a good full-morning hike.”

The second voice responded, “Alright, you caught us, we just wanted to come by.”

“Just to see how you’re doing. Catch up on your stories,” the other agreed. “We brought you some new tea!”

Dave’s feet rounded the table, stepping precariously near to Rory now. Her heartrate sped up. ‘Just step out, into the light, and introduce yourself.’ She clenched her eyes shut, trying to work up the courage. ‘They’re Dave’s mums for goodness sake! They will be perfectly civil and kind. No one’s going to scoop me up or poke me or…’ Gods, now memories from Richard grabbing her roughly flashed through her mind, making her worries dive into full-blown panic. She was frozen. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t willingly step out and stare up at new giants from the floor like this. She couldn’t.

Rory was a Jack. A hero. She never froze in the face of new challenges.

But here she was, glued to a table leg as kind women chattered about the lovely weather and how amazing Dave’s plants looked, her chest heaving.

 Scared of mothers?! What had she come to?

Then, her neck tingled.

Rory’s eyes flew open, and she jerked her head up to find Dave had spotted her. His impressive, large frame towered right above her, making her a little dizzy to look straight up at him like this in her panicked state. He was so huge, but he had found her hiding up against the table leg with ease, as if he had an inner sense of where she always was.

 Dave’s face lit up in a bright smile at the sight of her, before his face clouded with a frown, his eyebrows scrunching up. He must have noticed her freaked-out expression and panicky breaths.

In a second, Dave dove down. The towering giant crashing toward her. She gasped a little at how fast he was as his knee thudded to the ground in a kneel, but she wasn’t afraid of him.

He gave her a concerned look and a wordless expression that asked if she was okay.

She shook her head, biting her lip.

Dave’s hands rushed forward even as the voices above them went on about the new tea flavors. Rory let herself be enveloped in his hands as he cupped them around her, keeping her in a safe cave of warmth.

“Sorry – dropped something!” Dave’s familiar, rich voice rumbled above and around her. She clenched her eyes shut again as he rose to a stand. “But I, uh, found it.” The world spun as he started to briskly walk out of the kitchen. “I just remembered that I forgot something in, uhm, in my bedroom!” he threw over his shoulder as he made his escape. “Just stay where you are and I’ll be back in a moment!”

The world whipped by fast again, and then Rory opened her eyes just as Dave opened his hands enough to peer inside while still keeping them cupped around her. She was grateful for that, as the familiar scent of him and his warmth had already started to calm her down. It was the smell and feeling she had somewhere along the line attributed to safety.

“Are you alright?” Dave asked softly, his thick black eyebrows scrunching together with worry over his glasses. “You didn’t get hurt, did you? I’m so sorry – I didn’t know they were going to stop by like this or I would have warned you.”

Rory took in a deep breath and released it slowly, sinking down into a seat in his palm. His fingers curled protectively around her impulsively, but she welcomed their comfort. “I’m alright. They just surprised me is all.” She shook her head, embarrassed. “I can’t believe I panicked like that. Your mums seem like the sweetest.”

The air shifted around her as Dave sat down on his bed, keeping her raised in front of his face. “No, you don’t need to be embarrassed. That’s a perfectly rational reaction. I can’t even imagine what it’s like, being on the ground like that when new giants are around. I’m starting to get panicky myself just thinking about it.”

She placed a hand on the top of his palm, feeling the grooves of his life and love lines, and peered up at him with a soft laugh. “Great, now we’re both panicky.”

A grin spread across his face, and his brown eyes softened. “Would you like to wait in here until they’re gone?”

Rory’s stomach tightened at the thought of going back out there, but she knew she didn’t want to stay in here and put off meeting them. Steeling her resolve, she shook her head. “No, I’ll go back out with you – if that’s alright.”

His face lit up, eyebrows shooting up. “Are you absolutely positive? You can meet them another time. I mean, I’ve already told them how amazing you are so they’ve been dying to meet you, but they can wait a little longer. They probably think you’re away on another adventure right now.”

Rory smiled. “I’m okay now. I can do it.”

“I know they’ll love you! But maybe we should have a secret word or something that you could say if you ever get too overwhelmed and need to get out of there. Like, I don’t know, artichoke!”

Rory’s eyebrow rose, unconvinced. “Artichoke? How am I supposed to fit that naturally into a sentence?”

The surface beneath her feet moved imperceptivity as he sat up a little more, eager to argue his point. “You could say something like, ‘Wow talking to everyone is so much fun, but I sure wish I had an artichoke to snack on.”

Rory made a face. “I don’t think I’d ever willingly eat an artichoke.”

Dave nodded enthusiastically. “That’s why I’ll know it’s the code word. It’s perfect.”

“Okay, alright, you sold me on artichoke!” Rory laughed, shaking her head. She felt so much better and more like herself now. He always knew what to do or say to make her feel better. “Let me go meet your parents.”

And so, Rory found herself on the table in front of two older female giants as they sat with tea. Dave cleared his throat as he slowly opened his hands from around Rory, exposing her to their gazes. “Mums… I’d like you to officially meet Rory. Rory, meet Amelia and Jocelyn.”

She tensed, bracing herself for the cooing, patronizing remarks of how ‘adorable’ and ‘cute’ she was for ‘such a tiny thing.’

But these were Dave’s parents, so nothing of that sort came out of their mouths – Rory should have known better.

“My, aren’t you just beautiful. And so incredibly brave. Dave told us about how brave you are. You have an aura about you,” Amelia, the mother with the light brown hair and light skin said. Her voice came out soft and sweet, and a smile crinkled the corners of her eyes.

Jocelyn, the one who shared many of Dave’s physical characteristics, including his warm, brown eyes, nodded earnestly. “We’re so grateful you were there to help Dave maneuver through the entire situation. I can’t imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t shown up.”

Rory’s cheeks heated from their compliments. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I think I ended up tilting his world upside down when I showed up and dragged him into everything.”

“You didn’t drag me into anything, even if I was a little hesitant at first,” Dave assured her, shaking the world a little as he pulled out the chair next to her and sank into it. His comforting presence warmed her. “It was my beans that started the whole thing anyway.”

“Besides, his world needed a little tilting,” Jocelyn said with a wink.

“We love our boy dearly, but we worry when he’s alone so much. I know – I know,” Amelia waved Dave’s protests off. “You have a lot of work to get done and nothing is wrong with enjoying your own company. We just always wanted you to have someone special. And you both have your own great life’s work to support each other with.”

Rory’s eyebrows rose and she shot Dave a look over her shoulder. She thought his mums only knew about the story of their meeting and their friendship from the adventure they had gone on… Not what it had turned into. Rory thought his mums assumed they were great acquaintances and representatives for each other’s world. Dave and Rory hadn’t wanted to tell them yet in case it was too much at once.

He gave her a surprised look as if to say that he hadn’t told them a thing.

“It’s okay dears,” Jocelyn said with a warm smile, looking at the both of them. “We could tell by the way Dave talked about you, Rory, that there was something else going on between the two of you. No explanation needed. He is utterly enamored and very bad at hiding his true feelings.”

Amelia tucked her light brown hair behind her ear and nodded, her own smile lighting up her face. “We couldn’t be happier for you both.”

 Pinpricks of tears stung at Rory’s eyes before she even processed how she was feeling. She never had support from a family before. “I…” she wiped her eyes quickly. “Thank you. I’m so grateful you both know and support us.”

Dave reached his hands around her and grasped each of his mum’s hands in his own. “Thank you. I love you both.” He sniffled but tried to hide the emotion in his voice. “But really! Can I really not hide anything from you both? Are you serious?”

Jocelyn laughed, shaking her head. “You’re like an open book, David, I’m sorry.”

Amelia turned to Jocelyn with a grin. “Do you remember that time he turned the barn into a wild animal sanctuary? What was he – nine? Ten years old?”

Dave took his hands back, eyebrows scrunching together. “We don’t need to bring up past stories… I’m sure Rory doesn’t – “

“We caught him telling us he had a very boring day and had to be getting off to do the chores – “ Jocelyn continued. “But he had an entire nest of baby mice in his pocket! He looked us right in our eyes with his shirt squirming around and pretended to be none the wiser.”

Amelia touched Jocelyn’s arm fondly. “He had gotten away with that one for a little bit, but after the squirming shirt we went out to find the barn was filled with birds, gophers, and a little fox. He would go out of his way to rescue anything that needed help.”

“Oh, what about the time when he wanted to learn how to turn himself invisible, so he – “