Today, Alois was a bit anxious, although he sat colouring with his younger brother in a restaurant booth. He drew mustaches with Luka on the little characters on the kids' menu, waiting for Ciel to arrive with Elizabeth. He had gotten a text that he was bringing her, and Alois knew that he had to be on his best behaviour.

After a few more messages, Alois had discovered that the meeting had gone well. While it was a relief, it also raised a bit of concern. The blonde was fully aware of the bluenette's feelings for him, and trusted him entirely, but there was a shred of doubt lingering in the back of his mind about the entire ordeal. It was enough to cause him a bit of distress in that area.

Had it not been for Alois, Ciel and Elizabeth would have certainly gotten married. They got along well, it seemed, and would have surely prospered. It was hard to sit there with that knowledge. Ciel could have lived a relatively normal life, had it not been for the blonde. The only way that got in the way after that was the fact that Ciel had sold his soul to a demon. While Ciel said he was happy, now, the blonde couldn't help but wonder if he would have been happy if he hadn't gotten in the way.

"You broke the crayon!" pointed out Luka, snapping the man back to reality. The young boy pointed at Alois' hand, sticking his own out from beneath the sleeve of his oversized hoodie that covered his horns. Lo and behold, a red crayon sat partially snapped in half in the blonde's hand.

"Sorry." The menace said. "I pushed down too hard."

"It's okay. I used to do that a lot, too." Spoke the youngest brother, seated across from Alois. "You just gotta be careful when you're making it darker."

"I'll try." Alois replied. He tried to keep his thoughts in check, but they continued to wander dangerously. His heart dropped completely when he saw a cab pull up to the curb outside the window.

Out stepped Ciel and who he assumed was Elizabeth. Alois was nervous. The woman was even paler than him with hair that matched the snow outside, and he had to admit, she looked good next to Ciel. Too good. As much as Alois tried to stop it, he was feeling a bit self-conscious. A girl was definitely better next to Ciel.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the door to the restaurant opened. He looked up to see the Phantomhive making a beeline right for him, Hellsing woman in tow. Naturally, he stood up to greet them.

"Hello, sunshine!" he said to Ciel, putting on his usual excitable face. "And who have we here?"

"This is Elizabeth." The bluenette answered with a smile. He then turned to the other. "Elizabeth, this is my assistant, Alois Trancy, also known as 'Jim'."

"Pleased to meet you, Alois!" the Hellsing said. She was a bit confused for a moment, but then remembered that the name was listed as an alias in his file.

"It's good to see you, too." The Macken answered with a grin, reaching out to shake the woman's hand. The two boys behind him were a bit confused as to who the woman was, so he opted to introduce them as well.

"This is Luka and Revy." He stated. "They're my little brothers. Luka, Revy, this is Elizabeth, Ciel's cousin." The two sort of gawked at the woman for a little while, especially Luka, before finally uttering their odd little greetings.

"Call me 'Lizzie'." Spoke the angel. "I hope we all get along~!"

Curses, she was very pleasant. There was no doubt in Alois' mind that the others would warm up to her nicely. Alois' thoughts were cut short, however, as the bluenette turned him around and started to gently push him toward the table while shaking his head. The Phantomhive could tell that his beau was fretting over this; he could see it in his eyes.

He seated the man in the booth before taking a seat next to him. Elizabeth followed, taking the seat next to the bluenette. Now Alois was certainly trapped. He had a wall to his left and two Phantomhives on his right.

"A girl on each arm, huh?" Revy said teasingly. "Must be nice, Ciel."

"Who are you calling a 'girl'?" questioned the menace, his face heating up at the sound of Elizabeth trying to hold in a giggle. "You and I share a face and out of the two of us, you're the more effeminate one!"

"Whatever you say…"

"Don't 'whatever' me!"

"Relax, Jim." The Phantomhive intervened. He placed his hand over that of the menace, having almost an instant calming effect. Still, he leaned in closely to whisper in the Macken's ear. "You're fine."

Alois sank in his seat, somewhat, trying to calm down. Unfortunately, it would seem that he was allowing the situation to get to him. He didn't know how to behave at all. What exactly does one say to their boyfriend's former fiancée?

The gesture didn't go unnoticed by the Hellsing woman, nor did Ciel's act of grabbing the man's hand. He had clasped it for far longer than what could be considered "appropriate" for two men, so perhaps the files weren't wrong. Just to be safe, however, Elizabeth was going to observe for a while longer. It would be awkward to accuse one's cousin of being a homosexual, only to discover that one was mistaken. Thus, she decided to beat around the bush a bit.

"So you're the Mackens." She said. "Ciel was telling me all about you in the car over here. Judging from the looks of you, you're Luka, and you're Revy, right?" she asked pointing to each boy.

"Yup! That's right!" Luka giggled. "We don't have middle names though."

"Oh, that's odd." Elizabeth began. "I have two, so maybe I stole one!"

"Really?! What's your whole name?"

"It's Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Hellsing."

"Sir Integra has two middle names as well." Ciel noted. "Perhaps you started a trend. How was she, by the way? Was she at all friendly?"

"I'm not sure if 'friendly' is the word I would use." The angel replied. She played with the edge of the menu as she spoke. "She was polite, but…"

"Frightening?"

"A bit, yes." Admitted Elizabeth. "It's amazing that she's Arthur's child…"

"Arthur only raised her until she was twelve." The Phantomhive stated. "After he died from illness, her butler raised her. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

"I did get the impression that she was a lot like you."

"Are you saying I'm frightening?"

Hand resting his palm and his elbow on the table, the fair-haired demon kept his eyes down, tuning out the conversation happening right next to him. In an attempt to ignore the current conversation, Alois pretended to read the menu. He wasn't at all keen in listening in on how his boyfriend and his former fiancée were getting along. From the outside, they probably looked like a couple; the thought made him mad. It had been a long time since his face was so gloomy, and his brothers picked up on it. They simply opted not to say anything, as the menace looked as though he really didn't want any contact with a living being at that moment.

He was almost forced to pay attention to the bluenette, however. A blush appeared on his face as the other man began stroking his hand with his thumb in a soothing sort of way. While Alois was happy that he was being thought of, he was nervous as to what the woman would say once she noticed. Most people don't affectionately hold hands with their mere assistants. Sadly, he hadn't thought to discuss whether or not they were going to reveal their relationship to Elizabeth or not. They had only thought as far as an apology.

Oh, how Alois wanted to cling to the Phantomhive—to declare the man of belonging to him, claiming him for all to see. But he couldn't. At least not until Ciel's true intentions were brought to light.

"You've been awfully quiet, Alois." Spoke the Hellsing woman, startling the menace. "You're a lot shyer than I thought."

"H-huh? Oh…" the Macken began, trying to formulate an excuse. "I'm not, really, I just can't really think of anything interesting to say. Do I look shy or something?"

"No." Elizabeth replied, shaking her head, lightly. "I just didn't think someone who could shout obscenities at me while waving a gun could be so quiet." She jested.

"U-uh, yeah…" Alois sheepishly said. "I'm sorry about that…"

"It's alright! I was just teasing." She stated. "I imagine that it's part of the job."

"It is, in a weird way." The blonde answered. "If you act like a crazy person who's gonna shoot somebody, people are more likely to listen to you."

"And now I see how you and Ciel are able to get along!" Giggled Elizabeth. Poor Alois almost sunk into his seat again, believing himself to have said the wrong thing.

"Despite his use of this method, Jim can be very precise and orderly, when he wants to." Spoke up Ciel, leaning back. "Once, I was captured for a month by a band of demons, and it was Jim who tracked them down and rescued me!"

The bluenette spoke with much pride about the menace. It was so odd for Elizabeth to see the man so enthusiastic, but it made her smile all the same. Indeed, Ciel wasn't the same boy who had left her. He had changed, grown up, and branched out. To see the man so obviously attached to someone forced a smile across the woman's face. Seeing Ciel happy made her happy, even if she wasn't the one to have caused it— even if the one who did was a man.

She was pulled from her thoughts as a waitress finally came over in order to take their orders. Quickly, she picked something from the menu that she had only glanced over while the others told the woman what they wanted. Once that was done, everyone resumed talking again.

"You would eat a steak raw, if you could get it." The blonde was heard saying to the revenant on the other side of the table. The younger Macken had ordered a rare steak, as per usual.

"So? It tastes good." Revy answered. "What about you? You always order fish n' chips!"

"I like fish n' chips!" grinned the menace. "They're good for you!"

"On what planet?"

"Good your soul, Revy."

"I like 'em, too." Luka joined in. "They don't come with a toy, here, though."

"You would be happy if we took you to eat almost anywhere, wouldn't you?" questioned Alois, arching an eyebrow.

"I don't like Chinese food." The youngest answered.

"I said 'almost'."

"Maybe next time, Luka can pick where we eat." Ciel suggested.

"I want McDonald's, then." the brunette stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "The food doesn't take as long to get here, and they have toys." The adults couldn't help but utter their own distinctive laughs at that. Elizabeth giggled, Ciel chuckled, and Alois laughed.

"Yes, your highness." The Phantomhive replied. He then turned to Elizabeth. "If you want, we can take a tour around London. It's a bit cold, though."

"That sounds lovely, but it is cold." The woman answered. "In all honesty, I would just like to catch up a bit more."

"We could always go back to the manor."

In that moment, Alois' hand slinked away from Ciel's and dropped into the seat. The Phantomhive's single, blue eye flickered toward the menace, and his hand fell into the seat as well. Hidden by the table, the pair locked them together, intertwining their fingers and holding tightly. With that bit of reassurance, Alois offered a small nod.

"I would love to." Elizabeth said. "Has it changed any since I last visited?"

"Most likely." The Phantomhive answered. "There's more people living in it and over a century has passed. I'm sure that it's definitely changed, somehow."

"I want to see it!" giggled the Hellsing woman. Suddenly she paused and leaned forward, looking past the bluenette and over to the blonde menace. "…That is, if it's alright with you, Alois."

"It's not really my place to decide." Alois stated. It wasn't really his house, after all, and if they were keeping a façade of friendship, then there would be no reason for him to particularly mind it. "Go ahead. It'll be fun."