I Fell For My Nemesis

The tías quizzed Christian about his life, job, and family. He managed to hide the whole former superhero thing very well. Though to be fair he had been at it for half of his life. He had a lot of practice.

He handled all of their questions like a champ. And round two from the kids once they were satisfied most of the cooking was done so they needed less hands in the kitchen. And round three when their husbands emerged from the workshop below the apartment. Rodrigo owned a carpentry business, hence the power tools.

He seemed genuinely at ease here among the people Avery had claimed as her family and she was relieved. His own family was much smaller and quieter but he fit into the chaos well.

When the food was finally ready the adults (consisting of Jorge on up) sat down at the kitchen table while the kids set up around a folding table in the living room. Jorge's seventeen-year-old brother Mateo was NOT happy about this. Having an extra adult here meant he had to sit at the kiddie table because there wasn't enough space.

"Uh…why is Mateo glaring daggers at me?" Christian asked, feeling the stare on his back.

Avery laughed. "Don't take it personally. He would be mad at anyone that banished him back to the kiddie table. He finds adult conversation much more interesting."

"Callado! Everybody quiet! We need to say our prayers then we can eat," Felisa said to silence the noise preventing them all from eating faster. Holding hands and saying prayers of thanksgiving beforehand was very important to her.

Normally, they did them in Spanish but they did them in English for Christian's benefit. Avery was sure he appreciated that. And that he would want to pick up some Spanish in order to survive future family gatherings with the Cruzes. There was always some mixture of Spanglish going on if nothing else.

She dug in happily when the prayers ended and moaned in appreciation. There was nothing like a Mexican-American Thanksgiving. There were traditional dishes like turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing but there was also tamales, chile con queso, menudo, pumpkin empanadas, and more. The amount of food was almost incomprehensible but it didn't last long with this many people.

They did pies too but that was mostly Avery's domain. They had brought several she prepared in advance yesterday. They also had capirotada, which was a Mexican bread pudding, as dessert.

The Cruzes hadn't cared about pie much before the Wests began joining their celebrations. But Levi loved his pies and insisted that it wasn't Thanksgiving without them so he brought the flavors he liked every year and people always ate them.

Once Avery got into baking she started making the pies herself after a bit of trial and error. She had been the pie person ever since. She left the capirotada to Beatriz. Her recipe was to die for.

Thanksgiving with the Cruzes involved an awful lot of sitting around talking between courses so the food had time to settle. Usually, she did one plate of American food and one plate of Mexican food with the third being a mixture of whatever she wanted seconds of. Then she didn't eat anymore until it was time for dessert.

Angelo, whose eyes were always bigger than his stomach, made the mistake of eating too many tortilla chips with the chile con queso absentmindedly while talking and had such a horrible stomachache that he had to lie down on the floor.

Beatriz's husband Alejandro laughed at him. "Every year! Honestly, Angelo, when will you learn?"

"Never. Chile con queso is my fatal weakness," he groaned, making everyone at the table laugh. "If I die here know that it's your fault, Tía Felisa."

Felisa rolled her eyes. "There are much worse ways to go than my chile con queso. Be a good boy and I'll send you home with whatever's left so you can enjoy it when you aren't in agony."

"Felisa!" her husband Miguel cried. "Don't give away all the good leftovers!"

"Why not? I can make more. Let me take care of mi sobrino."

"You have so many sobrinos; you don't have to give food to all of them."

"I'm not. I'm giving food to the one who has no one to cook for him. There is plenty of chile con queso to go around."

"Gracias, Tía," Angelo said appreciatively before groaning again.

Avery grinned at him. "You really are hopeless, Angelo."

"I don't want to hear that from you. Who goes into a coma after the pies come out every year because she wants one piece of everything plus capirotada? Because it's not me!"

"Thanksgiving comes but once a year," Christian said with a shrug. "I do that too."

Angelo sighed. "Of course you do. Take her side to mess with me; everyone does."

Avery laughed. He wasn't wrong. Vanessa did that and so did Jorge a good chunk of the time. He made it too easy for everyone else because of his reactions. Messing with someone who overreacted to it was more fun than messing with someone who didn't. He could be so dramatic.

She wasn't laughing anymore once the pies came out though. Angelo had been right, curse him. She took the smallest amounts she could of each type of pie but still ended up joining him on the floor.

"…not a word."

"I don't even have to say anything because I've already won," Angelo gloated.

Christian, who looked perfectly fine after four plates of food and trying every type of dessert, looked down at them in concern. "You guys okay?"

"Are you superhuman? You ate even more than we did!"

Avery was tempted to laugh but didn't because it might make her throw up. He was superhuman but Angelo didn't know that. He was probably used to eating a lot back when he was a hero to keep up with all the calories he was burning off.

Christian simply shrugged and she couldn't hold back the laughter this time. Then she winced because that had been a terrible idea.

They hung around a few hours longer playing games (once they recovered) and Maribel joined then after a while. She had eaten with her family but came here for dessert and some of Felisa's tamales.

"They're better than my mom's but she'll kill me if she hears me say that," she said with a conspiratorial wink as she cuddled up against Jorge.

"Yeah, can't have you dying. Jorge would be such a crybaby about it," Mateo piped up, prompting Jorge to smack him.

Avery sighed contentedly as they continued to bicker. She had needed this. Being around people she cared about, enjoying good food, and realizing how well Christian fit into aspects of her life she hadn't given much thought to before.

All of the kids had accepted him wholly by the end of the night because of the way he interacted with them when they were playing games. She had known he was good with kids because of the video clips she had seen but it was different than seeing it in person. And thinking about how he would be with any children they might have someday.

That would have to wait until everything with Hunsacher was said and done for sure…she didn't even know if it would be possible. But it was nice to dream.

Christian fit into her family just as well on Christmas Day. And Avery already knew she felt comfortable with the Slaters. She saw them a lot more since the two of them began dating more seriously and at this point they got together for dinner a few times a month.

She had a nice Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve with them even if Liam did go nuts with the party horns at midnight. He crammed a whopping six of them into his mouth at once and managed to blow into all of them simultaneously.

Brian got so annoyed he clapped his son on the back and made him spit all of them out from the force. Nancy was ready and snatched them all up and threw them out before Liam recovered his bearings.

Those two were the perfect team after being together for so long. Avery couldn't help but wonder if she and Christian would ever be like that or if the weight of their dual secrets would prevent them from reaching that level. The thought made her sad so she did her best to banish it from her mind.

It was hard to though. They weren't a team at all. They had been nemeses until very recently and that only ended because he retired.

How could they be a team as Christian and Avery when they had been on opposite sides as Mercury and Nox? Was it even possible? They talked about the future but mostly just took things one day at a time rather than actively working together toward goals unless you counted their wedding as a goal. They had both worked to make that happen.