Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Ellie had taken it upon herself to set the table for dinner. She retrieved several wine glasses and pulled a bottle of pinot noir from the rack above the wet bar. "Hey, Blaire," she asked her new sister in law. "Do you want a glass of wine?"

Blaire gave Ellie a grateful smile as she approached the wet bar. "Ugh, yes please," she said. "I love your uncle Kurt, but if he asks me one more time if I'm pregnant, I'm going to lose it." She accepted the generously full glass that Ellie offered her and took a long sip from it. "Scott and I have only been married for two months! I think we have a little bit more time to go before we start having kids."

Ellie laughed. "Well, as soon as Mason proposes to Abby, Uncle Kurt will have something new to obsess over. Give it a little bit of time."

Blaire narrowed her eyes at Ellie. "You know something, don't you? Come on, tell me!"

Ellie laughed and poured a glass of wine for herself. Ever since Scott first brought Blaire home, she had fit easily in with their life and had become fast friends with the Hudson sisters. Blaire was practically like another sister to Abby and Ellie, and she was also one of their closest friends.

"You have to promise not to let anything slip to Abby," Ellie implored. When Blaire nodded her head, Ellie revealed, "Mason asked me to go shopping with him for a ring next weekend. I know he'll do a great job with picking out the perfect one, but I think he's just afraid that he won't pick a good one."

Blaire squealed as quietly as she could and clapped her hands together. "Oh my gosh, this is so exciting! When is he going to ask her?"

Ellie looked around to make sure that none of her nosey family had managed to sneak anywhere near the wet bar. "Probably not for another couple of weeks or so. Mason said he has a big plan and he still needs to talk to my dad. I told him that no matter how macho my dad tries to act, he'll have permission to marry Abby. We all know how good Mason is for Abby."

Abby had always been a bit of a wild child, and she had found Mason through a happy accident. Math wasn't her strong suit, so Abby had gotten a tutor to help her with one of the general education classes she had to take. Mason had been that tutor. Abby had immediately sought him out as a friend... but it had taken her a little bit to realize that Mason was completely in love with her. And that was when she realized that she was completely in love with him, too.

It was then that Rachel and Quinn came into the dining room with plates, utensils, and place mats. Ellie's mouth immediately snapped shut, because she knew that there was no way Rachel would be able to keep a secret like this. Rachel directed Ellie and Blaire in setting the table while Quinn yelled for her youngest daughter to come and help. Sophie came shuffling into the dining room, looking decidedly hungover.

Ellie tried to stifle her sniggers. "You're looking a little rough there, Soph."

"Hey, I invited you to that party," Sophie snapped as she pushed some of her disheveled blonde hair out of her face. "It's not my fault you decided to be lame and didn't want to come."

Ellie shook her head. And this was the girl she called her best friend.

"Ellie was doing what you should have done and was spending time with her family," Quinn said without sympathy. She handed Sophie the stack of plates and pointed to the table. "Get to work."

Grumbling under her breath, Sophie shuffled over to the dining room table. As always, the younger boys seemed to know that food was about to served. They came running into the dining room, and they weren't very quiet about it. Sophie winced and cast a dark glare their way.

Naturally, Evan immediately spotted the glass of wine that Ellie was holding. "Mom, can I have a beer?" he asked. He looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes, and Ellie hid her smile behind her hand. This wasn't going to end the way Evan wanted it to.

Without missing a beat, Rachel responded, "Absolutely not."

"But Mom! How come Ellie can have a glass of wine?"

"Because she's nineteen years old and in college. You're still in high school, Evan."

"I'm about to turn eighteen!"

"But you're still in high school." Rachel affectionately rubbed Evan's messy head of dark hair. "Nice try, though."

Evan plopped down in his chair between Todd and Derek. Ellie smirked at her younger brother and took a long sip of her wine just to tease him as she settled in the chair across from him. Sophie slumped over in the chair next to Ellie, and she poked her best friend in the side. Sophie groaned and pressed her fingers to her temples, and Ellie squelched the desire to laugh once again.

"There's some Advil in my medicine cabinet," Ellie told Sophie.

Sophie tossed her best friend a grateful look and shot out of the chair. Now that Sophie wasn't sitting there, Ellie had a clear view of Scott pulling out a chair for his wife. She gracefully settled into it and Scott ducked down to press a tender kiss to her cheek. Ellie smiled at how sweet her older brother and his wife were together. It often reminded her of how her parents were towards each other.

Across the table, Abby was gesturing wildly with one hand while her other hand was wrapped up tightly in Mason's. Ellie's heart warmed at the thought of Mason proposing to her sister sometime in the near future. They deserved to be happy.

But it made Ellie's heart ache, too. She knew that she was only nineteen, but she hadn't so much as gone on an actual date yet, let alone had a boyfriend. Abby was dating (secretly) by the time she was fifteen, Beth had a steady boyfriend since she was seventeen, and Sophie had a way of constantly attracting guys. Ellie knew that she didn't need a boy to validate how she felt about herself, but it would have been nice to know that someone wanted her.

"Stop it."

Sophie had arrived back at the table, and she poked Ellie in the side. Ellie flinched away from the sharp jab and scowled at her so-called best friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she denied.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Come on, Ellie. I know exactly what you're thinking about. How many times do I have to tell you that you're going to have one of those great loves? You'll meet the guy and you'll know that he's the one and you'll get your happy ending and then some."

Ellie tried to smile and nodded her head. She didn't know why she was suddenly so emotional and contemplative over her single status. Maybe it was because she was surrounded by several blissfully happy couples. She learned a lot from them; they worked at their relationship and constantly supported one another. That was the kind of love that Ellie wanted.

"Oh for God's sake." Sophie picked up Ellie's wine glass and thrust it into her hands. "Drink more wine. You may not have a boyfriend right now, but you have me and you have wine. So there's a lot to be happy about."

Ellie laughed and took a sip of her wine. She may not have a boyfriend, but she did have a great family and awesome friends. That alone was more than enough to remind her that she had a great life.

So here's the second part of the dinner party from the previous chapter! We'll be seeing a lot more from the Hudson children. They're so much fun to write!