A/N: Thanks once more for the follows and for your review, MariaAlbina ^^ I really appreciate it. Here's the new chapter for you. Please read&review! :)

Chapter 2:

Matthew had just made himself comfortable on the couch, propping his feet up against the table (a habit Emily found disgusting) when the phone rang.

"You go and answer it, Jerry." He instructed but the cat that was curled up next to him didn't even bother to lift its head. "Lazy," he nudged him and then stretched out over the armrest of the sofa to pick up the phone. "It's still no to the onion rings, Em."

"The onion rings should be the least of your concerns, young man." A stern voice at the other end of the line remarked and he swallowed and instantly sat up straighter.

"Miss Babcock…"

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

"Uh well…" he hesitated, his gaze shifting hopefully towards the door "I assume you've got your invitation."

"She must be with you because of your smarts," C.C. commented dryly "yes of course I have received it. What has happened to the good old convention of asking for permission first?"

"Then we would've had to contact Mr Brightmore…traditionally speaking…" he pointed out nervously, knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that he was only making things worse.

"Look, Miss Babcock, we really didn't mean to offend you. Emily just thought it would be easier to let everyone know at once. There really isn't that much to explain…we are in love and we want to get married."

"You've met each other two years ago," C.C. commented sharply.

"Yes and I already know that I wanna be with her for the rest of my life, isn't that great?" he tried hopefully.

"That's one word for it…" C.C. muttered and took a deep breath "based on the onion ring comment I presume my daughter isn't home?"

"No, she's out getting dinner…"

"Obviously…have her call me when she gets back?"

"Yes, Ma'am." He nodded, unable to see that at the other end of the line C.C. was rolling her eyes.

"No brownie points for calling me that either, Matthew. Goodbye…"

"Bye," he mumbled but she'd already hung up. Taking another deep breath he tossed the phone onto the pillow next to him and glowered at Jerry. "Told you, you should've answered it…"

Several minutes later he finally heard a car pull up in their driveway and then Emily appeared, carrying two grease-stained bags.

"So I know you have some weird issues around onion rings but I bought some in anyway…they're from Conrad's so they're bound to be good and-" she kicked her shoes off and then looked up at him "What's wrong? Did Jerry throw up another hair ball?"

"Your mother just called," he offered with a half amused and half pained smile.

"Oh…" her eyes flickered away and she busied herself placing the food on the table "those first class stamps were probably really a bad idea…"

"She isn't pleased…"

"What else is new?"

"And she wants you to call her back…"

"Well, I'm eating first," Emily insisted stubbornly and plopped down on the sofa much to the annoyance of Jerry, who finally lifted his head to give her an irritated look, then seemed to catch a whiff of the food and nonchalantly used the edge of the table to stretch out his paws while eyeing the buffet greedily.

"Don't even think about it," Matthew said and scooped him up by his belly to set him down on the floor "oh and next time I'll do the food run."

"Why?" she frowned, guiding a slice of pizza to her mouth.

"Because if your mother is already this pissed off about it, I don't want to be around when your dad finally calls."


Several miles further west, Niles Brightmore was still blissfully unaware of his daughter's upcoming nuptials. Even a day later the news hadn't reached him yet. Instead he was spending another sunny afternoon outside by the pool, fishing leaves out of it and making sure it was otherwise clean and in usable condition. It was a new addition to his task list in L.A. but one that he didn't mind so much. Sometimes the sunshine was the only thing that could cheer him up. Guiltily he glanced back at his house, knowing that he couldn't put off the phone call much further. Alice – the woman he'd been seeing for several months now – would want an answer as to whether he wanted her around or not that day. She'd be hinting at it for the past few days but he'd been unable to accept or decline. Niles threw the net aside and crouched down with a sigh so that he was sitting at the edge of the pool, his feet dangling in the water. Although he would've liked her around for company that evening he also knew that she would be asking for some kind of commitment sooner or later and that would be the moment he'd inevitably lose her.

When Emily had finally left the house at the age of 18 and moved to Georgia to pursue her studies there, he had been hit hard by the silence that had descended upon him. Even after C.C. had left him and moved back to New York it hadn't been this bad, because he had still had his daughter to keep him company and the Sheffields with their noisy twins next door. But Jonah and Eve were a year older than Emily and had flown the nest – much to their mother's dismay – even sooner. And even though they were both studying at UCLA and often made it a habit to drop in unannounced the whole dynamic had changed. He had depended on that sense of normalcy, something old and familiar when C.C. had shaken the very foundations of his life with her departure. Granted, it had been a drawn-out process rather than an impulsive decision but he had still been completely unprepared for that sense of failure that had overcome him while signing the divorce papers and setting his ring aside on the nightstand.

In the 13 years that he had been a single father it had never once occurred to him to start dating other women. His life had been consumed by his responsibilities, both as a butler and as a parent, and it had made him happy enough to attend to everybody's needs. It was only when Emily had gone off to University, when the rafts and beach balls had disappeared from the pool and the leaves and wilted flower blossoms had taken their place, that he realised how little he had taken care of his own needs in the meantime. Perhaps it had been a natural consequence then that he had met Alice a while later and had instantly started to cling onto her as desperately as he had done to his daughter before. He liked having someone that kept him company at the house again, as much as he liked heading into L.A. with her and watching movies and discovering new restaurants. But what he most enjoyed about her was that even after their fifth date, she didn't ask him to be exclusive (not that he would've been on the lookout for other women) or labelled their relationship in any other way. Romantically he was completely unattached, but on a different level he was desperate to keep her around. Nonetheless, he was still determined not to lead her on any further.

The sound of doors slamming and loud laughter that emanated from the Sheffield's house, told him that the twins had dropped by for yet another unexpected visit. With Maxwell at the studio and Fran out as well, he figured it was up to him to provide them with a snack that would tie them over until dinner time. Reluctantly, he withdrew his feet from the nice cool water, rolled his pants back down and walked over to the terrace doors where he had discarded his socks and shoes.

Inside, Eve was nosily rifling through the stack of mail that she'd brought in while continuously shooting glancing at her brother. "And?"

"Nothing," the tall, dark-haired boy shrugged "mom must've cleaned everything out."

Eve shrugged and twirled a strand of her equally dark but straightened hair around her finger. "She did say she'd find a way to stop us from coming by, stealing some snacks and then leaving again without having dinner with her."

Jonah rolled his eyes and sank down at the kitchen table with a dramatic sigh. "I was going to take Janet down to Malibu Beach today…"

"Emphasis on "was"," Eve interrupted with a snort "probably for the best. Dad wouldn't be pleased with you if you failed this year again because you're too busy flirting with girls."

"Well, he can just relax…I'm only there to show her that perfect photo place I've discovered."

"Yeah right…" Eve laughed again "and then you will both conveniently tumble in the sand and end up on top of each other."

"If she happens to be so clumsy…I can't help it…" he said and gave his sister a cocky grin that didn't cover the fact that he was blushing.

"As long as you don't try to imitate dad's accent again…"

"Well, it's better than ma's…" he muttered.

There was a moment of silence in which only the rustling of paper could be heard as Eve worked her way through the envelopes but then she let out an excited squeal. "Oh…oh… letter from Emily!"

"How do you know?" Jonah frowned and snatched it out of her hands "It doesn't have a return address on it."

"No but a stamp that says Georgia, you shmendrick." She took it back and turned it around in her hands "Looks fancy…I wonder what's inside."

"My bet would be a letter, Sherlock."

"Yeah yeah…" she waved her hand dismissively "now if I just…carefully…"

And she trailed off while her fingers gently tried to pry the envelope open. But when she had finally succeeded, they could hear Niles calling out for them.

"Better hurry up," Jonah grinned as Eve fished out the delicate invitation.

"No way!" she then exclaimed loudly "Your old flame's getting married!"

"No way," he repeated, blowing caution to the wind and snatching the envelope out of her hands once more "who's the guy? Has she told you anything about this?"

But he never received an answer to his question because Niles had entered the kitchen. At first he greeted both of them with a happy smile, but then his eyes fell onto the stack of mail, the opened envelope in Jonah's hand and the guilty look that was written all over the twins' faces.

"What have you two been up to?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The twins exchanged a nervous glance and then Jonah blurted out: "Eve went through your mail."

"I didn't!" she exclaimed "Technically it's our mail too…I just," she swallowed and hastily added "I just spotted a letter from Em…I was curious."

Niles sighed and took the envelope out of her brother's hand, muttering absent-mindedly "Didn't you mother ever teach you how to steam open…" But then he stopped abruptly when he realised what exactly he was holding in his hands.

"Emily has a boyfriend?" he asked shrilly, as if it was the worst thing in the world.

"We didn't know either," Jonah hurriedly threw in and Eve shook her head as if to emphasise this point.

"Go and fix yourself a snack," Niles instructed distractedly "your mother has moved everything up to her room and tried to cram it into her mini fridge. I have to talk to my daughter…"

And without wasting another second the twins hurried away.