This was, admittedly, a first.  Of course, she wasn't about to admit she had never been on a double date before.  She usually tried to keep pretty quiet about how new the whole realm of actual, bonafide dating was to her.  But, she had seen the movies.  Several of them.  If they were anything to go off of, this was bound to be an interesting and amusing evening.  Those movies always seemed to have a consistent and dependable recipe: one half of each pair knew each other fairly well and the other half were the unknown variable.  Especially if, as in this case, the other halves weren't exactly familiar with each other. 

She was looking forward to the evening.  She didn't know Jonas very well and didn't really know Anna at all.  But, she often felt like she knew them better through Adon.  And, Anna was a muggle.  Jacoba could count the number of muggles she could talk to about ... well, being a muggle (in comparison to the alternative) ... that meeting someone else in a similar situation was very welcome. 

But, in some ways, it also felt a whole lot like meeting Hestia for the first time.  Though Jacoba had crossed Jonas' path before, those meetings had either been brief or earlier in Jacoba's relationship with Adon.  It still felt like Jacoba was establishing her first impressions with the man though Jacoba was just familiar enough with Adon and Jonas' friendship to know that Jonas' impression of her could very well carry just as much weight as Hestia's had.  Perhaps even more.  And, Jacoba had no idea what Jonas might have been expecting or hoping for. 

Given recent events, they'd opted to meet at a muggle location.  An Italian restaurant with a stone oven pizzeria seemed both traditionally date-like and still casual enough to not appear to have any hidden meanings.  At least, that had been the recommendation she'd been offered when she'd sought advice on double date ideas. 

Jonas and his ... wife? Ex-wife? Back-together wife?  It was a little bit confusing.  But ... Jonas and Anna had already arrived and seemed to have just settled at their table when Jacoba[1] followed Adon into the restaurant.  Jacoba settled into her seat opposite Anna and smiled to the woman, extending her her hand in greeting. 

"I know we aren't nearly as exciting as a castle full of teenagers," Jacoba smirked at Adon as she got settled.  "But, hopefully the breadsticks will make up for it." 

1.

Outfit

"But I'm not checking the phone," Jonas explained in a forceful whisper, fingers hovering near his pocket.  "I'm just checking the time.  Can hardly help it if they're together in the same device, can I?" he asked hastily, giving his ex-wife a pleading look.

It was very possible that a thousand years would pass and the entire pizza place would be petrified in dolomite before he'd ever win this argument.  Anna turned her head just enough to regard him, not a bit of sympathy in her expression. 

"There's a clock on the wall, Jonas," she said pointedly. 

Jonas sighed, squeezing his fingers tightly together as he returned both hands to the table.  He knew when not to push his luck, and even considering the current climate of compromise, this wasn't the time to try Anna's patience.  In his work life and home life alike, every single person he knew was inching closer to his or her breaking point. 

It wasn't the constant stress and potential threats that were getting to Jonas; that much, he could adjust to, and so long as no one tried to haul him before a tribunal on account of his family heritage, it still wasn't as bad as the last time around.  But feeling as if he were constantly under siege, as if he and his family couldn't live their lives because of the bloody gits involved in the Runespoor trade and Tawse's stupid crusade, was pushing him well beyond his limits.

Adon had managed to cut off his daily lunchtime rant about the unalienable rights of men by irritatedly suggesting that they stick it to the WBA by just all going to dinner.  A double-date was not quite the political statement that Jonas was looking for -- that involved rather more chanting, some catchy slogans, and probably a protest march or two -- but he agreed that at least it showed they weren't acceding to live their lives in fear.  At the very least, it gave him an excuse to drop the soapbox before his partner lost his temper completely and decided to end their lunch break by pummeling him.

Luckily for both his evening plans and his marital relationship, Adon and Jacoba strolled into the restaurant just as Jonas was straining his neck to try and check the clock.  The red-headed Auror immediately brightened, his posture relaxing as he gave his partner a nod of greeting as they approached.

"You're not really missing patrol that much, are you, mate?" he asked cheerfully, flashing Adon a lopsided smile as the other pair joined them.  Next to him, Anna returned Jacoba's smile, exchanging a handshake briefly in greeting.  "You ever find yourself pining away for Hogwarts duty underneath all those hard, protective layers, you're always welcome to come over and watch the kids, you know.  They might be young, but I reckon it's about the same excitement level."

"Breadsticks?" Adon chimed in, hopefully. He hoped it was the kind that came before the meal. That endless supply that Muggles seemed to manage through some means other than enchantment and house elves.

"You're not really missing patrol that much, are you, mate?"

Adon rolled his eyes at Jonas, glancing briefly at Anna. "Appreciate tonight, Anna--it's your night off. There was a memo about it: April 21, all annoying jabs to be directed at Adon Eleor." Primly, he looked back at Jonas. Hard, protective layers--Witch Weekly. It wasn't like it hadn't happened two months ago, or anything. "Yeh, the homesickness was a bit painful at first--was starting to resort to listening to Muggly the Bear & Friends, but somehow Jacoba managed to age it up a bit and scrounged up some broody-angst music in the store she works at, and we've been blaring it ever since. Such a nice, Hogwartsy-homey, adolescent feel."

He grinned at Jacoba before adding, "Bit of a change of pace." It wasn't that Adon was out to prove anything to the Trevelyans, today. But they were older--and while Jonas got along fine with Adon at work and at bars, they were in different stages of life.  And Anna wasn't as familiar with the magical world. And Adon wanted to make certain that it was apparent that Jacoba was a mature, intellectual, free-thinking adult, capable of carrying her own against anyone. Which was why he was dating her. Because he certainly was also a mature, responsible adult. Who, sure, didn't have kids and wasn't married, or anything, but had a career--had had two, in fact. Both successful.

Maybe he shouldn't have been so enthusiastic about the breadsticks. But surely career-minded individuals could be enthusiastic about breadsticks.

"You ever find yourself pining away for Hogwarts duty underneath all those hard, protective layers, you're always welcome to come over and watch the kids, you know.  They might be young, but I reckon it's about the same excitement level."

"I'm always up for child-herding," Adon pointed out. "My hard, protective layers, as you know, have been helpful more than once against your childrens best assaults." Turning to translate, he said, "Jonas and Anna's kids--Gwenna and Artie--have a God-given ability to ransack a place in 5 seconds flat. I don't  think even I had that ability as a child."

He waited a moment before adding,  "but I finally managed it by fourth year of military training."

Had he really just extrapolated himself from a 10-year old?  After another moment's contemplation, he decided that aging-up was nearly impossible. The waitress came by with the basket of breadsticks and Adon, with the social abandon that suited him best, reached out to grab one before it had even hit the table.

"What're their latest and greatest follies?"

Jacoba glanced sideways at Adon, grinning coyly at his appetizer-related enthusiasm.  She, for one, was glad Adon was back from his 'tour of duty' at Hogwarts.  Jacoba enjoyed staying with Hestia; in the span of three weeks, Adon's mother had easily shown Jacoba more 'mothering' than her own mother had in thirteen years.  But, it was good to be home.  It was even better to, for once, feel settled enough some place to be able to think things like 'it's good to be home.' 

"And, there are always schools here in London," Jacoba tagged on to the end of Jonas' offer of replacement juvenile energy, offering Adon a mock-sympathetic smile as claimed himself the martyr for the evening.  She turned back towards the couple across the table.  "We started with the angsty pining music and are gradually working our way up the artistic evolutionary tree to wean him back to the real world.  It's slow going but we're already up to The Pinckney Brothers and other wizarding boy bands.  We'll get there." 

A sly grin spread across Jacoba's face as the conversation turned to Jonas' kids and she nodded slightly in understanding.  "I know the type well," Jacoba admitted, nodding to Adon and then Jonas and Anna in turn.  Of course, she didn't quite elaborate on the fact that she knew they type from personal, first-hand experience. 

"Though, hard, protective layers come sometimes backfire.  It's like those guards at the palace, right?"  She assumed everyone at the table had enough experience with the muggle world to at least have crossed paths with the Queen's guard.  Anna was a given, she assumed.  "The more rigid they stand there, the harder you try to make them blush.  Or, grin."  Or, maybe that had just been her. 

Jacoba helped herself to one of the breadsticks once the basket had settled in its place on the table.  "You know, if you're ever needing a back up sitter, I'd be willing as well."

The comparison could have been better chosen.  The Incident at Buckingham Palace, which was only narrowly topped by the Disaster at the Tower on the Great List of Things Never Mentioned, had been the beginning of the end of the family effort at a cultural tour of London.  Jonas studiously avoided Anna's gaze with a cough, even as his ex-wife developed a sudden interest in the ceiling woodwork. 

"Yeah, well, just takes some creative thinking, that," he said blithely, picking up a menu.  "You'd be amazed at what they do once someone's gnawing on 'em."

"What're their latest and greatest follies?"

Jonas made a face, seizing on the change of subject by giving his partner a long-suffering look as he slipped a hand into his pocket.  "Stole me phone at the petrol station and started downloading half a bloody fortune's worth from the --" he started to mutter, before a quick look from Anna made him remember the rules that had been established for the evening.  "Ah.  I'll have to show you some other time, though," he said, still sounding a bit sullen as he returned both hands to the table. 

"You know," Jacoba put in, "if you're ever needing a back up sitter, I'd be willing as well."

Anna glanced sidelong to him, and Jonas met her gaze briefly, pressing his tongue against the back of his teeth as he quickly considered.  As long as Jacoba stayed with the children within the Trevelyans' newly-protected home or brought them to Adon's flat, there couldn't be any additional danger in it.  Having a magic-aware Muggle watch them was certainly safer than leaving the children with Anna's parents, even if Jacoba was not the most popular person with the anti-Muggle crowd.  Jonas turned a quizzical eye to Adon, just to make certain that the other Auror didn't have any security objections, and then gave his wife a brief, almost imperceptible nod.

"If you really feel up to withstanding the hoard, we might have to take you up on that," Anna replied smoothly, giving Jacoba a faint smile.  "They're a bit of a handful, though, be warned.  Gwenna alternates between wanting to be a swamp monster, a vampire, and a zombie when she grows up."

"Still a better bloody career choice than Artie's," Jonas grumbled under his breath, before remembering the company.  Railing against the Anglo-American military complex was probably not the best conversation topic with a former IDF soldier present at their table.

Quickly, he flashed Adon a smile.  "How's your evening been, though?  Work's been alright?" he asked Jacoba pleasantly.  That was about as much as he knew about the young woman: she was dating Adon, she was a Muggle, and she worked in Diagon, which was making a lot of people very unhappy and causing a great deal more work for Roh.  "Got to be a change, working in Diagon.  Doesn't take long before you have to get creative coming up with excuses for why you're lurking behind the Leakey instead of just using your wand to go through."