Damon watched the scenery pass by as his father drove the two of them home from the airport. Although Damon had been back home several times since leaving for college, he always felt a little nostalgic when he came back. Down that road to the right was where his best friend Sam lived, that house belonged to Ms. Stevens, who gave Damon a puppy for his 11th birthday, and in that house was where the Parkers lived, and they always had the best Halloween and Christmas decorations.
Damon was home for summer break, his last summer break before his senior year of college. He always came home for summer break, but this was different. This time his father was getting married. Damon could still remember the phone call.
"Married?" Damon asked, incredulous.
"Yes," Clay said to his son, "Did I stutter?"
"Very funny dad," Damon said, smirking, "But come on dad, you've known her for what, five months now?"
"Not that I need to explain myself to you," Clay said, "But you know me, Damon, I'm not an impulsive person, but this is the first time since your mother died that I've felt a real connection with someone. I know it seems like we're moving fast, but Sonja and I have talked about this, and we feel it's the best thing for both of us."
"I'm sorry dad," Damon said, "I know I shouldn't be judging you, I mean, hell, Alicia and I were officially a couple after just two months. But hey, if she makes you happy, then I'm happy for you."
"Thanks, son," Clay said, "I'll see you next month when school lets out."
"Alright dad, see you then."
Damon honestly couldn't blame his father. Clay had sent Damon a couple of pictures of Sonja, the woman he was set to marry and Damon had to admit she was smoking hot. She stood a statuesque 6' 1", had stunning green eyes, jet black hair with electric blue highlights and was covered in tattoos. What really caught Damon's eye though, was her daughter, his future step sister Denise. She was just as beautiful as her mother, although she was a little shorter, had purple hair, and wasn't as illustrated as her mother.
Sonja was a tattoo artist with 15 years experience, and three years ago had finally been able to open her own shop after feeling she'd done all she could at the shop she'd worked in since her days as an apprentice. She had three other artists working with her, all of them skilled in multiple styles. She designed most of her own tattoos, and had done all of her daughter's ink as well. Sonja's first husband, William died in a car accident when Denise was just six years old. She had tried getting back into the dating pool after a couple of years, but found she kept mentally comparing the men she met to her ex-husband. So she eventually stopped dating and just concentrated on her career and raising Denise.
"Hey," Clay said, snapping Damon back to the present. "You still with me over there?"
"Huh?" Damon said, "Oh yeah, sorry dad. Just lost in thought."
"You sure you're okay with this?" Clay asked.
"Yeah," Damon said, "Like I said before, if she makes you happy then that's what's important."
"Well now you get to meet her in person," Clay said. "Because we're home."
Damon stepped out of his father's SUV and looked at the house he grew up in. "Home again, home again, jiggety jog."
At 21 years old, Damon cut an impressive figure, he was 6' 4", and 230 pounds. He was part of the defensive line of his college football team and was coming off his best season ever. He had scored a record breaking 17 sacks in one season (breaking the previous school record of 12), earning him the nicknames "Damon the Demon", and "The Quarterback Killer". He had aspirations to enter the NFL when he graduated, and already had interest from the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers.
Clay was the same size as his son, but five pounds heavier and was a police officer like his father and grandfather before him. He and his wife Pam had been married for 13 years before she was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away when Damon was ten. The two of them had taken her death pretty hard, and, much like with Sonja, it took a few years before Clay even thought about getting back into the dating pool. He did date for a while, but never found anyone that he really felt any kind of connection to, so he concentrated on raising Damon and his work. He had some help coping in the form his older sister, Amy who had a daughter of her own, Bridgette, who was a year younger than Damon.
He met Sonja at a friend's New Year's Eve party. He hated the term "love at first sight", but that's exactly what it was. He knew from the second he laid eyes on her that she was the one for him, and she felt the same way. Once they got to talking they found out they had a lot in common. They were the same age (with Clay being nine months older), had a lot of similar tastes in pop culture, and even more amazing they found out that their kids were born on the exact same day four hours apart.
One date turned into two, two into three and so on. Their friends thought they were moving too fast, but Clay and Sonja knew deep down inside that they were made for each other. After only three months, Sonja had moved in with Clay and they had informally (as in Clay never actually proposed) decided to get married just a month later. They had decided to wait for summer vacation so their kids could attend.
Damon grabbed his bags out of the back of his father's SUV and headed into the house. He heard a low growling that turned into excited barking as Ares, the Siberian husky he had raised from the puppy Ms. Stevens had given him nine years earlier, saw him and practically knocked him over when he saw Damon.
"Oof," Damon said, kneeling down "Ares I'm glad to see you too, but you're not a puppy anymore!"
Ares barked excitedly and licked Damon's face. Damon laughed and scratched Ares behind his ears. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and saw the double feature of Sonja and Denise.
"What's going on?" Sonja asked. "What's gotten into that dog now?"
Damon's eyes went wide. The pictures he had seen didn't do either of the women justice, they looked even better in person.
Damon stood up and brushed the dog hair off his clothes. "He missed me."
Sonja smiled and walked over to Damon. "Nice to finally meet you."
"Likewise." Damon said, holding out his hand.
Sonja smirked, "A handshake? Really? I think I at least merit a hug from my new stepson."
Damon laughed and hugged her.
"Do I get one too?" Denise asked.
"Of course." Damon said, hugging her too. "It's gonna be weird having a sister, but I don't think I could have asked for a better looking one."
Denise laughed, "Yeah, I think I got a pretty good deal in the stepbrother department."
"You know, you two were born on the same day." Clay said, "Damon was born about four hours before Denise, give or take a few minutes."
Damon looked down at Denise, "So I guess that makes me your big brother, literally and figuratively."
"I've set up Denise in Amy's old room," Clay said, referring to the room his sister used to have, "And of course your room is still your room."
"Speaking of which, give me a few minutes to unpack." Damon said, grabbing his bags.
"Don't take too long," Sonja said, "I've got pizza coming."
"Dave's Pizza?" Damon asked.
"Of course." Sonja said.
Damon looked at his father, "I like her!"
Damon headed up to his room followed by Ares and started unpacking.
Denise poked her head in. "Hey, mind if I come in?"
"Sure, come on in." Damon said, pulling out his MVP trophy for the 17 sacks and adding it to his trophy case.
She looked around Damon's room as he unpacked. She looked in his trophy case, filled with trophies dating back to his high school days, along with game balls and school newspaper clippings about his impressive performances.
"Impressive," she said, "I guess when you make it big in the NFL, I can watch the games and say 'That's my big brother!'"
Damon laughed, "Yeah, all my friends say they're gonna watch me when I make it to the NFL and say 'You know, I knew Damon back before he made it big'. It always makes me laugh."
"This house is so nice," Denise said, "But how does your dad afford a place like this on a cop's salary?"
"Oh this house and the land has been in the family for generations. My great-great-grandfather built this place. Well the main house downstairs anyway. Of course it's been fixed up, updated and added to over the years, and four generations of Mathers men have been raised in this house. My great grandfather, my grandfather, dad and me. Dad's already told me that the house will be passed down to me when the time comes."
Truth be told he was glad to have a little one on one time with his future stepsister. She was absolutely gorgeous and from what he could tell had a nice body. Denise had come up to talk to Damon because she also wanted to spend some time alone with him. Much like Damon had found her gorgeous, she found him incredibly handsome, also admitting to herself that his pictures didn't do him justice.
They made small talk while Damon unpacked, Denise revealing that she ran track, and both of them trying to be cool about checking each other out while talking, and thinking very un-sibling like thoughts about each other. When he was done unpacking, they sat on the bed and continued talking trying to learn as much as they could about each other. It turned out just like their parents, they had a lot in common.
"Hey guys," Sonja called up the stairs, "Pizza's here!"
A few minutes later the four of them were in the living room eating pizza and exchanging stories. Clay and Sonja talking about weird people they'd had to deal with in their jobs, Damon and Denise talking about school and their friends and teammates, and Clay and Sonja telling embarrassing stories about their respective children.
"So 17 sacks in one season?" Sonja asked. "That's pretty impressive."
