to him.
Egrix seemed hesitant, but he reached for the point of his ear, hidden by the cloaking technology, and pressed the button to reveal his real self. The disguise released slowly, starting at his head and moving down. It looked almost as if his skin and hair drained of color as they took on their usual white complexion. His pointed ears stuck out of his loose white waves of hair and his hands revealed a sixth finger. His piercing yellow eyes remained on her parents as they reacted to his change. Cara was equally entranced, having never seen him uncloak before.
When the process was finished, he looked at the family of three to find all of them gawking at him. An anxious sounding, but genuine laugh escaped his mouth at their duplicated reaction before he finally spoke up to greet everyone.
"Hello. I'm Egrix." He stuck out his hand as he obviously remembered Cara doing when they first met.
Her father grabbed his hand enthusiastically, shaking it with fervor.
"Wow!" he stated simply, making Egrix smile more comfortably. "I'm Dennis, Cara's father, and this is her mother, Bonnie."
Bonnie nodded, taking the hand he'd extended to her. "I'm nearly finished with dinner, so I think you all should go make yourselves comfortable at the table and get to know each other." Her words sounded a little cold to Cara, until she added jokingly, "Dennis is going to talk your ears off, good luck!"
Her parents led the way out of the room with Egrix and Cara following right behind. When she looked at the previously worried alien's face he was beaming at her parents, a huge smile plastered on his face. She was so happy that her eyes welled up with tears.
Her dad had never held a more captive and captivated audience than he did that night. He talked at length about the novel he was working on and Egrix listened attentively. He commented on some of the realism from his experience in the Space Guild and her dad, in turn, asked a lot of questions.
Egrix explained to them that he specialized in engineering when he was staying on base and had been responsible for teaching new recruits. This reminded Cara's father of being a professor, which he also spoke about. Egrix and he could have talked for hours about all of her dad's theories and all of her boyfriend's experiences. Cara watched gleefully at the exchange, happy to observe the excited interaction.
Her mom began carrying serving dishes into the room, causing everyone at the table to race into the kitchen to help. The congregation took several trips with dishes, utensils, and food, layering the table with the annual feast. Cara's stomach growled as she looked at the food and the whole group laughed before sitting down at the table.
Her mom took the lead, passing plates around and dishing out the variety of food. Once everyone had a portion, they began to eat happily, mostly discussing Egrix and his world that seemed so wondrous and strange compared to Earth. Cara couldn't even remember why she'd been concerned that morning.
After dinner, Cara's dad dragged Egrix into the living room. Cara and her mom took the empty dishes to the kitchen and worked together washing and drying them.
"An alien," her mother said. "That was unexpected."
Cara giggled at the bluntness of the statement.
"Yeah, I can't say I anticipated it either."
"He's still very attractive, though, isn't he?" her mother said jokingly. "Good work!"
She gave her daughter a goofy thumbs up, making the two of them laugh. The back door closed, and the women looked in the direction of the sound.
"Uh oh, I believe my husband is running away with your boyfriend. Maybe you should go help him out?"
Cara shook her head.
"No way, this is Dad's dream come true. Besides, I can tell Egrix is enjoying it." Cara smiled brightly.
"Well, since the dishes are done maybe we should set out presents and get the movie ready?"
The family and their guest gathered in the living room talking and laughing with each other as they moved to find a seat for the next activity. Egrix seemed a bit lost, walking over to Cara to sit with her.
"What are we doing?" he asked, his eyes bright after his animated discussion with her dad.
Seeing that he was having fun tugged at her heart delightfully. She reached for his hand, holding it gently between them and smiling gratefully at him.
"We have some Christmas traditions that we do every year. Mom and I just set out