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Zhane had been halfway down the hallway, the beginnings of his greeting to his parents on the tip of his tongue. He really didn't know what to say beyond letting them know Nani was visiting and didn't feel well, and asking if they, as a personal favor, could refrain from upsetting her.

This, however, was slapped out of mind at the sound of running footsteps behind him and the bathroom door slamming shut yet again, cutting the conversation between his parents short into silence.

"Who was that?" Yeande's voice floated down the hallway before she appeared in its mouth a moment later. "Zhane?"

"Yeah, sorry. I just--" he paused, cut off by the sounds of sickness once more. "....WE just stopped in for a bit."

Yeande blinked at the closed bathroom door and then back at her son, joined a moment later by a confused-looking Talon.

Biting her lip, Yeande pointed at the closed door, mouthing the words is she okay?, receiving a headshake in the negative from Zhane.

"Her breakfast is having an argument with her." he said in a low voice, not wanting to make it blatant to Nani she was being talked about.

"You're not bugging anybody." Zhane assured her, slipping an arm around her waist as she drew close enough. It was both to reassure her and to cut off arguments, if there were any, from his parents.

"Are you all right?" Yeande asked, seeming mindless of the idea Nani had likely already been asked. "You look..." she fished for the right word.

"....like hell." Talon finished for her, receiving a sharp elbow in the side from his wife. "What??" he hissed at Yeande, rubbing at where he'd been jabbed. Rude or not, he felt it was an accurate summing-up of the young woman's current appearance. "Death warmed over" also sufficed, but HE wouldn't be the one to say so...

"I'm right here if you need anything." Zhane said, nuzzling her fleetingly as she pulled out of reach and retreated to the bedroom once more.

Once she was gone, he heaved the sigh he'd been holding in, putting a hand to his forehead.

"Is she okay? Really?" Yeande pressed once she was out of earshot.

"I don't know." he admitted. "She was fine about an hour ago. This came out of nowhere."

"Mm." A black tail flicked in thought behind his mother.

"So we're left with it being pancakes or nerves, I guess..."

"Nerves about what?" Talon inquired, arching a thin black brow.

s**t. He'd planned on telling them about the engagement eventually, just not under these circumstances...

"Well..." Zhane began, trying to pick his words gently.

Zhane wasn't sure but at Nani unwittingly crashing any attempts at breaking it to them gently, he could SWEAR he'd heard a punchline drumriff from somewhere up in the heavens.

"Wedding?!" the exclamation came in stereo, from Talon and Yeande both in an eerie sort of unison.

"Yeah, we..." he faltered, dodging their eyes to look at Tinania instead. And how she stood beside him, cheeks stained with blush, clutching one of the wedding catalogs to her chest. While, even a month ago, having both his parents barking down his throat would have sent him running, in her, he found strength.

He looked back to his parents again, drawing in a deep breath, his hand finding Tinania's to hold it, flashing her a quick smile. "Mom? Dad? I asked Nani to marry me over Easter." he told them matter-of-factly.

There. He said it.

Time, for a few minutes, seemed to stand still as both parents tried to decide how to react to the bomb that had been dropped on them. Their eyes wandered from the emerald ring that winked in the dim hallway, to Zhane, to Nani, then back to the ring again.

At length, it was Yeande who moved first, placing herself between the two of them so she could hug them both at once.

"Congratulations." she said softly, trying to ignore the instinctive protests that they weren't ready yet. It wasn't a decision made between children....Zhane and Nani were, while young, both adults now. And they were happy. So she would be happy -for- them.