A Wife Well-ChosenIn the middle of Marissa's child years, Devon and Shannon left for a working vacation in China, so that Devon could participate in the martial arts tournament.
He found that his wife made for an excellent sparring partner.
Devon: "Don't think I'm going to take it easy on you just because you're a girl," he taunted playfully.
Shannon threw it right back at him.
Shannon: "Good. Then I won't have to pretend to be weak to protect some fragile male ego!"
He considered himself a lucky man, for although his wife's traits might say she was hotheaded, with him Shannon had always been as smooth and as soft as butter. Maybe that was where her athletic fire came from, and how she was able to occasionally beat him despite being years behind in her martial arts training.
In the end, Devon defeated his most difficult opponent and was declared the winner of the tournament.
When they came home, however, Devon learned that he had chosen well for himself in marrying Shannon for yet another reason: she was unflirty.
For, after Elvira's death, his flirtatious and irresistible uncle Giles took a suddenly liking for Shannon.
Giles was not met with success.
He nevertheless kept on trying.
Giles eventually decided that his failure was due to his tactic of performing only one romantic interaction at a time. He therefore decided to try a barrage of successive interactions, to see if this would whittle her resolve down. After all, he was irresistible, right?
This led to the resolution of an interesting philosophical question: what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?
According to Shannon, the immovable object wins.
And then precedes to go back indoors to celebrate her daughter's birthday.
Marissa aged up in her skivvies (and clearly inherited her mother's thin, athletic frame), but was surprisingly good-natured about it.
She even took the time to celebrate, eat cake with her family, and listen to her father's success stories before getting dressed.
Devon: "Yup, just got another promotion! Only one more to go!"
Marissa: "That's great, dad!"
Giles: "So what do you think you'll choose for your supermax, Marissa? Hey, maybe you could be a chef like your sexy mother here!"
Shannon: "I've got an even better idea, Giles. Maybe you should think twice about getting on the bad side of the person who handles your food. It might just get dropped on the floor.
Or worse."
Devon just smiled to himself, nonplussed by his uncle's advances.
He knew where Shannon's affections lay, and she was indeed a wife well-chosen.
