Well, I did it! I was able to finish this chapter and post it before the end of the week. It's a Christmas miracle ya'll! Lol. XD Anyway, here is a portion of Alejandro and Heather's engagement party so the immediate family and friend circles of the Wilson's and Burromuerto's can get better acquainted before the wedding (which I can already tell you all from my plot planning that the wedding will most DEFINITELY be a multi-chapter scenario). Anyway, this chapter begins before the party at the Burromuerto's residence in Ottawa. Hope you all enjoy! :)

({No POV})

Elena was doing her last minute rounds through their home for Alejandro and Heather's engagement party.

Since both her mother and Gerardo's parents arrived later yesterday from Spain, they were all still sleeping from both the jet lag and their old age to make sure they were well rested and ready to mingle later that day.

She was going to take care of the caterer, but their family cook Isobel (who they had personally given the day off so she could relax and enjoy the party herself) couldn't help herself from taking command and watching the caterer like a hawk. So Elena knew she had to let that be since Isobel was 'the general' in their kitchen and there was no stopping her from taking interlopers lying down in her domain.

With that in mind, Elena was going to go in and talk to the florist they hired for the flower arrangements when she heard around the corner, "No, put that over here. The hall table will have too much traffic going by and that will just be a total accident waiting to happen."

Elena glanced around the corner and saw Heather in the middle of the room and looking like she was going through things in a notebook and jotting things down.

Immediately Elena heard Alejandro call out, "Heather?"

Right then Alejandro walked into the room already in his suit for the evening with an untied tie around his neck as he tilted his head looking at Heather in her focused and slightly frantic state.

"Something wrong, mi amor?" He asked as Heather answered blindly as she kept jotting things down and surveying her surroundings, "Nothing… or at least 'nothing' as long as I keep coordinating. I want everything about this to be absolutely perfect down to a 'T'."

Alejandro grinned and nodded in agreement as he responded, "Absolutely! I couldn't agree more. Perhaps I could be of assistance in some way to…"

Immediately Heather cut him off as she started, "Oh… no, no, no. In case you need to be reminded, I am the bride and you are the groom. Which means my job in all of this is to make sure everything is perfect and up to standard and your job is to allow me to do that. So, you just go somewhere that's not here, let me think, and most importantly stay out of my way until the party starts. Also, we need to fix this."

Before Alejandro could even blink, Heather put down her notebook on the buffet table next to them and started getting to work on tying his still untied necktie that he hadn't gotten to himself quite yet due to his distraction of seeing Heather running all over the entire morning.

But rather than comment on it, he just took advantage of her distraction and just smiled slightly and looked at her almost 'lovingly' in a way despite his perplexity with her shoving him away from helping.

Even Elena caught this as well as she kept taking in this situation that was both puzzling yet intriguing her simultaneously.

After Heather tightened the top-knot on his tie to her liking, she smirked in satisfaction before commenting, "There. Perfect."

Almost immediately after that she grabbed her notepad and pen again before she gave him a kiss on the cheek, making Alejandro's eyes go wide for a moment as she walked off and said, "Good talk!"

Though the shock was passing, Alejandro looked back toward where Heather went with a clearly perplexed expression on his face.

Right then, Gerardo walked into the room with his usual daily newspaper under his arm after finishing his coffee in his study. Gerardo took notice of his youngest son's current state as he inquired, quirking up an eyebrow, "Something wrong, mijo?"

It took a couple seconds until Alejandro let out a sigh and expressed in slight frustration and confusion, "I don't understand? I know Heather usually likes to take control, but she is not giving me an inch to help at all with the wedding plans. There's clearly a lot to do, but she constantly refuses any assistance I offer her and gets angry whenever I try to do anything with the wedding plans by offering an opinion to help her. It's my wedding too. Shouldn't she allow me more input than she's giving?"

After taking in what Alejandro said, a realization hit Gerardo that made him grin as he put a hand on Alejandro's shoulder and started, "Hijo, allow me to enlighten you with some advice that your abuelo gave me when I was in a similar situation with your mother at your age. There are some things that aren't worth pushing and making trouble over when the outcome will have no impact other than upsetting your future wife. Before we were married, your mother was constantly fussing over every last detail that led up to our wedding. And, much like you, I always assumed she wanted help but was always proved wrong when she'd almost always 'shoo me away' or get angry with me when I said anything to make her doubt her choices of things she was picking for the wedding. Then, being the ignorant young man I was, I sought the opinion of my father and expected him to completely agree with me… and, like most things when I was young, I was proven wrong. Your abuelo told me precisely what I am going to tell you now. Don't stick your spoon in a pot where one is already stirring. At first I had no idea what he meant, but as time went by… it made all too much sense. He was was telling me not to create unnecessary tension between myself and your mother. Like your mother, Heather seems to have very specific ideas on what she wants and it's not worth doing anything to upset them just for the sake of input. Colors, flowers, decorative arrangements… none of those really matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters is your future marriage after the wedding, not the plans involved in your wedding before it occurs."

Alejandro took all that in as he quirked an eyebrow before responding, clearly still confused about what to do, particularly since his father's advice in this scenario seemed almost contradictory, "So, you're advising me to do 'nothing' then in this case?"

Gerardo squeezed Alejandro's shoulder before elaborating, "I am advising you not to make trouble with Heather over things as trivial as this. If you wish to help her, stay within range and if she needs you and if she asks about something then be supportive, don't overcomplicate things, and just agree with whatever she wants in the wedding plans. Any relationship, especially a marriage, is about knowing when to pick your battles and knowing when and when not to bring something to attention. And 'this' is not one of those times. Just relax and let her be with this, mijo. Sí? Perhaps we can go for a short walk in the meantime? It's warm enough and it might feel good to get some fresh air before the festivities."

Gerardo gave Alejandro a firm pat on the shoulder before he walked off himself to continue his morning and prepare for the guests arriving in the afternoon.

After a few moments of thinking, Alejandro looked like he internally decided to take his father up on his offer to go for a walk for a little fresh air… and also to have time to think and process the advice that was just given to him.

Elena; meanwhile, was still lingering in the doorway and eventually wandered into the living room and looked around expecting to make some changes to what Heather handled… but she was shocked.

All the furniture and decorations were all coordinated in exactly the way she would have done it herself.

She stood in shock for several moments until her expression slowly went to irritated perplexion to almost thoughtful in a way.

While both Elena and Heather were still maintaining a civil dynamic with each other after their negotiations at a bistro… the two still had a complicated relationship to say the least and were far from 'getting along famously'.

However, and as this situation seemed to prove, Elena did have to give her future daughter-in-law credit where it's due that she had quite good taste and an eye for detail.

2 hours later

The engagement party was just about to get started and people were slowly but surely starting to arrive.

Since the Burromuerto's house was already full to bursting with housing guests, Alejandro's eldest brother and best man Carlos and his wife Marisol were staying at a friend's house with their still fairly newborn son, Saul.

While Heather wasn't really interested in the baby whatsoever as she focused on her wedding plans, Gerardo and Elena seemed to be more than willing to dote on the baby.

Elena in particular, who had warmed up to accepting she was a grandmother before she was 60, was practically in her own separate world as she kept cooing at and monopolizing the baby, practically to the point of not letting Gerardo get any time to hold him anymore.

Eventually Gerardo teasingly smirked and sat back into the love seat next to Elena as he jabbed playfully, "Elena, you're smothering our only grandchild. Let Saul breathe."

Elena just rolled her eyes and grinned before responding in an equally playful tone, "The only thing I am supposedly 'smothering' him with is love. He can breathe just fine."

After that Elena proceeded to 'baby talk and play' with Saul as she had been as Alejandro and Carlos exchanged amused looks at the usual interaction between their parents as Heather proceeded to keep looking through her planner at things for the wedding.

At the other end of the sofa, Carlos was leaning over to Alejandro as he started, "Oye, bromigo. Marisol and I were wondering if you were able to fly out to us next month to be at Saul's baptism… and if you would be his godfather? Marisol's sister Carmen is going to be his godmother and we were going to ask Marisol's brother, but… we'd like for you to be Saul's godfather, first and foremost."

Alejandro looked taken aback for a brief second before he eventually smirked and nodded in agreement.

Then it looked as if Alejandro was also about to say something in addition to his gestures of agreement as José strutted into the room from the foot of the stairs, only stopping temporarily at the hall mirror to smirk at himself and smooth the side of hair before going toward the front door.

Gerardo and Elena immediately looked at each other in intrigue for a particular reason, Alejandro and Heather exchanged annoyed glares (with Heather's mostly being outright scornful) and eyerolls, and Carlos in particular just looked the epitome of confused about the entire situation.

This was reflected as Carlos quirked up an eyebrow and looked around at his family before asking, trying to get any sort of clarification, "Um… is something happening that I should know about?"

Heather let out a scoff as she said shortly, immediately immersing herself back into her wedding planner as a distraction, "It's my sister."

Gerardo was first to speak up as he blindly answered his oldest son, seeming too locked in on wanting to meet her himself, "And your brother's… lady friend."

Carlos's eyes went wide as he tilted his in exaggerated shock before responding in a matching tone, "Heather's… and she's José's … Qué?!"

Although Carlos had every right to be as flabbergasted as he was at the moment, because he thought what he just heard was outright impossible.

Not only that his typically noncommittal, womanizing middle brother had a 'girlfriend' of any kind at all to begin with (considering José would always make fun of him over Marisol constantly as teenagers), but the fact he was also supposedly with Heather's sister… he felt as if he was in some sort of ridiculously absurd soap opera!

But it appeared Gerardo and Elena were of a one track mind at the moment as Gerardo continued, "Of whom your mother and I have yet to have the opportunity to meet. Shall we, mi cariña?"

Although now Elena was also intrigued by Heather's 'passive aggressive reaction' to her sister, she was now overcome with more fascination than ever to meet Kelsey. Elena handed Saul back to Marisol as she took Gerardo's outstretched hand before they made their way to the front entryway together to finally meet the 'illusive' Kelsey Wilson.

Carlos, who was still in a state of absolute shock, looked to Alejandro as some kind of 'solace of sanity' to explain what was happening.

But, little did Carlos realize or know about the 'bad blood' that existed equally and in all parts between the four of them, especially after what happened the week of Christmas at Heather's parent's house.

All Alejandro did was say short and to the point to his confused older brother, "Suffice to say it's a long story."

Carlos didn't quite grasp what he meant as he tilted his and then got confused even more when Heather exasperated slightly in annoyance, "Ugh, I'm going outside."

Carlos was quick to speak up, wondering why she was leaving if her sister just showed up, "Oh, you aren't going to say hi to your sister?"

Heather just looked over her shoulder and shrugged before responding plainly, "Yeah, no. I'd sooner stick a fork in my eye. So thanks, but no thanks."

Soon after Alejandro got up and expressed, "Couldn't agree more... I'll join you."

Alejandro offered his arm to Heather as she absentmindedly took it and proceeded to walk out together onto the back deck of the Burromuerto's house, leaving a beyond confused Carlos and Marisol behind.

Meanwhile in the entryway, Gerardo and Elena waited in intrigue.

The two just couldn't believe the whole situation to begin with.

Sure while neither was 'ignorant' to what José was like and how he conducted himself in his personal life especially, there was nothing really about their middle song that could have surprised them more than this.

Elena especially was curious.

After her interesting afternoon talking to Heather's mother, it seemed to really give her quite a bit of insight into why her future daughter-in-law is the way she is.

And she was hoping to do the same thing with the engagement party.

Mostly she was hoping from this party to gain more information about Heather by interacting with her other siblings after she found out about their 'less than attentive and loving' childhoods.

And especially since she was meeting Kelsey first… she was already MORE than morbidly curious.

Especially since as she looked behind her through their back glass sliding door, she saw Heather and Alejandro standing arm in arm as they stood out on their back deck and looking out into the yard together… pretty much indicating they were not remotely interested in saying 'hello' to Kelsey.

The fact that Alejandro particularly (who was always very good and proper with introductions and pleasantries with almost anyone) seemed to pay Kelsey no mind or seemed remotely interested in 'greeting her' like Heather definitely intrigued her.

But, she was determined to keep her place and keep an open scope to see what was coming her way.

After all, Kelsey already had enough of her interest as it was by being the only young woman she knew José to even remotely seem interested enough in to regularly spend time with much less actually date.

Despite José still being quite unchanged in his behavior by always marching to the beat of his own unique drum, she did have to give credit where it was due.

While José would never divulge anything about Kelsey to both her and Gerardo or come up with excuse after excuse for why he would not bring her over to meet them that basically boiled down to 'he didn't want to' or 'she was busy', he was always spending time with her whenever he went into the city seemed.

So the fact they were about to meet her now… they were poised and ready.

While both Gerardo knew what Kelsey looked like and Elena had secretly done some 'online research' on her lunches about Kelsey by looking at her social media… they really didn't 'know her' aside from the fact she was a couple months older than José and worked as a junior executive for a distribution company in Ottawa.

Otherwise in Elena's opinion from what she saw on social media… she seemed to be a typical 24 year old young woman.

A lot of pictures of her with friends, going to clubs, trips, and lately quite a few posts of pictures with her son in his ring attire after his boxing matches.

Nothing to her seemed too out of the ordinary… at least so far.

After Elena's discussion with Camille, she learned to not take any of the Wilson's at face value.

Like the Burromuerto's and after seeing a family picture of the Wilson's, they seemed like a handsome and successful family from the surface… It only fascinated her all the more to want to meet Heather's other family members and see what they're like as a whole.

Almost immediately, José and Kelsey walked through the door chuckling to themselves about something with Kelsey practically clinging to his right arm.

They seemed pretty absorbed in themselves to notice anything at first until they stopped once they realized Gerardo and Elena were mere feet away from them.

All four of them stood in silence for a moment until Gerardo stepped forward and greeted, putting his hand over his heart with a slight grin, "Hola señorita, you must be Heather's sister and José's girlfriend. Apologies for not meeting you until now, but we welcome you to our home. I am Gerardo Burromuerto Navarro, José's father. And this is my lovely wife."

Elena decided to play her part as well in this situation as she held out her hand to Kelsey like her husband and added, "Sí! We're delighted to have you and finally get the chance to meet you. Elena Ledvora Ortiz de Burromuerto, José's mother, pleasure."

But, without skipping a beat and much to their initial shock, Kelsey smiled and started, sounding very social and almost impeccably polite much to their surprise, "Kelsey Wilson, so nice to meet you and thank you for the invitation. I'm so sorry for not meeting either of you before now, but I'm usually pretty busy with work. By the way, José told me you're CEO of 'BAR Derma-Cosmos'. I use quite a few of your company's cosmetic products actually. Your mascara line is so chic."

As Kelsey and Elena shook hands, Elena had almost an inkling.

Almost as if she could 'see through' Kelsey but kept it to herself as she responded, "Gracias. Perhaps we could talk business some time?"

Kelsey smirked and replied, just as 'politely' with a slight smile and glint in her eye like she had since the beginning of their conversation, "Gladly."

Elena and Kelsey kept their eyes locked, but still retaining their smiles, as they kept silently 'reading into each other'.

Although this sort of interaction would have seemed strange to the untrained eye, Elena couldn't shake her instincts from MANY years of business experience to see through Kelsey's 'schmoozing'.

While it probably aided Kelsey more often than not (especially considering her lack luster work ethic in her career), Kelsey used her business, high school, and junior league experience to her advantage by throwing overtly shameless and fake flattery at people to get them to like her… and Elena caught that like a fox to a wounded chicken.

While Elena was still far from 'friendly' with Heather, she did at least appreciate Heather's ability to just say things as they are, even if Heather does so most of the time quite bluntly.

But… that was the point.

At least Elena knew what to expect with Heather and knew she just 'is who she is'.

But Kelsey?...

Kelsey did not have Elena fooled for a moment and that she was clearly 'putting on an act' with her and her husband just now.

Eventually José was quick to pull them away from the situation as he led Kelsey out of the foyer and said, "Let's get a drink, shall we?"

Right then, Kelsey grinned at them with a clear look still to her as she passed off in her exit, "It was so nice meeting you."

But, that didn't stop Elena from sticking her oar in one last time as she responded while maintaining eye contact with Kelsey, "Indeed."

After the two walked away, Elena just kept following them with her line of sight until they were out of the room.

While Elena was too consumed in her thoughts and skepticisms about Kelsey, it was clear that Gerardo also caught 'something' as well.

It was almost as if his thoughts were confirmed as Elena said, completely opaque and unprompted, "Well, if anything, the Wilson's produce very 'pretty daughters'… I will say that much."

After that Elena walked back into the living room and walked toward her mother, who had just taken a seat and was handed Saul by Marisol.

Meanwhile, Gerardo maintained more of a thoughtful stance as he processed the 'meeting' with Kelsey and his wife's remark.

Although he didn't like to make assumptions like his wife usually did in her nature as a CEO… even he had to admit that he didn't quite know what to think about Kelsey either.

At least, he didn't know precisely what to think about her… yet.

Well… looks like Elena can already 'smell a rat' with Kelsey and knows already that she's faking and full of it to cover up what she REALLY is. But, Elena is wise and can tell already that Kelsey is a manipulative MEAN girl. But, taking José's nature into consideration, it doesn't surprise Elena entirely that her son managed to find a female counterpart to himself and explained why the two got along and got further 'involved' with each other. And especially after this revelation of sorts for Elena, it appeared that Elena is now slowly but surely learning more and more about Heather to understand her and dare I say almost… respect her now? *GASP!* Lol. XD But, this is just the beginning. Next chapter will start the 'Aleheather wedding saga', so stay tuned. ;) I hope you also enjoyed another Gerardo and Alejandro advice to learn when and when not to bring up certain things with a partner, seeing a confused Carlos at the prospect of José having a 'girlfriend' at all, and also a cute Aleheather moment as well. GAH! XD I just love them so much! Probably why I've been writing this fanfic series dedicated to them for almost 2 years now. Haha. Anyway, thank you all so much for reading and constructive reviews are always appreciated! Hope you all have a safe, wonderful, and healthy set of holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Dexter1995

P.S. For those of you wondering why José and Kelsey would even agree to willingly attend events for Alejandro and Heather despite how much each couple outright despises each other… The answer is simple. Inheritance money. While adults, they are still 'Rich kids' that have to comply and deal with each other at social functions for the sake of their parents and more importantly not getting written out of the will (at least with Wilson's particularly that's the case with Heather's parents insisting she invite ALL her siblings and future in-laws to the wedding). At least that's my realistic take on it… that and as a writer; it's just good for the plot and the DRAMA. I can't write a TD fanfic without some 'drama'. That would just seem 'wrong' to me. Haha. See you all next time! You're all invited to the Aleheather wedding! *Hands off invitation* ;)