A/N: This is just a short one but it seemed like the right place to end the chapter.
"What are you doing?" Audrey asked, looking up from the mirror at Jack who was wearing tying his tie.
"What?" Jack asked.
"We are going to Thanksgiving dinner with my family," Audrey said, walking over to him and taking the tie away. "You don't have to wear a suit. Just dress casually."
"I feel like your family is far from casual," Jack said. Jack knew that Audrey came from money. Based on his experiences with his own family growing up, he was expecting them to be incredibly formal at all times.
"You'll see," Audrey told him. "They're a lot more laid back than you'd expect. Trust me, my dad will be in jeans and football sweatshirt."
Jack smiled. It was hard to picture as he had only seen him in suits before. Jack didn't want to be under-dressed or overdressed to spend time with her family. He took a moment to look over Audrey. She was wearing a gray sweater dress and short black boots. She was wearing jewelry that perfectly complemented her outfit. She had straightened her hair which fell across her shoulders.
"What about you? You look amazing," Jack said, taking her into his arms. "Definitely not casual."
Audrey smiled. "Ah, you caught me. I tell everyone else to dress down so that I look the best in pictures."
"You would look the best no matter what you wore," Jack told her. He kissed her.
"Come on," she said. "We need to get going so I can get the turkey in the oven at my dad's."
Jack changed into jeans and a button-up shirt. Then, Jack drove them over to her father's house. Audrey led him through the front door.
"Happy Thanksgiving," Heller said, as Jack and Audrey walked in. He hugged Audrey and shook Jack's hand. Jack was happy to see that Audrey was right. Heller was wearing a Giants sweatshirt. Audrey headed to the kitchen and got to work on making dinner.
"Do you need any help?" Jack offered, despite the fact that Audrey looked quite comfortable in the kitchen.
"No, I'm good," Audrey said, barely looking up from what she was doing.
"It's no use offering to help her," Heller told Jack. "She likes doing it alone and once she is in the zone it's like we don't even exist."
"I heard that," Audrey countered.
Heller took Jack out of the kitchen and showed him around the house. Jack enjoyed seeing the numerous family pictures around the house from when Audrey was a kid. After the tour, Heller recruited Jack to help him set up some tables and chairs for when the rest of Audrey's family would arrive for dinner.
As the family started to arrive, Audrey took a break from the kitchen to greet them and introduce them to Jack. Jack found her family to be very relaxed. She had quite a few aunts, uncles, and cousins. Despite being relaxed, they did start grilling Jack for more information about himself. Audrey tried her hardest to have her family ease up on him, knowing that Jack was a private person, but they persisted. They asked about his old job, about living in Los Angeles, and about his reasons for moving to D.C. Jack answered their questions honestly, but left out the particularly horrifying details.
"Alright, everyone," Audrey said, rubbing Jack's arm. "It's just about time to eat."
Outside Heller's house, Paul paced back and forth across the street. He had planned to show up for Thanksgiving dinner just like he used to. Once Audrey's extended family showed up, he knew that Audrey would not kick him out. Her family liked him and would tell her to let him stay. But, as they opened the door for the first of Audrey's family, Paul saw that Jack was already there.
Paul couldn't believe that Audrey had brought that man to dinner. Jack was violent and showed no remorse. Paul figured that Audrey just felt trapped. She was probably scared to leave him. He knew he had to help her. He got into his car and drove away. He had to run an errand but he would be back.
Audrey asked Jack for help with carving the turkey and had everyone else take the sides to the table and sit.
"Sorry about that," Audrey said, as Jack carved.
"Don't apologize," Jack told her. "I want to get to know your family. If that means I have to share some information about my life with them, I'll do it."
"They just want to make sure you're good enough for me," Audrey said.
"Well, somehow I'll have to trick them," Jack joked. Audrey kissed him, trying to tell him that he was more than good enough for her. He was perfect for her. They brought the turkey out to the table.
"Audrey, everything came out amazing," one of Audrey's uncles commented, after they started eating. Everyone nodded in agreement.
Conversation flowed again as everyone began talking about what they had been up to recently. Eventually though, attention was turned back on to Jack and Audrey.
"So, how long have you two been dating?" Audrey's cousin, Lisa, asked. Audrey and Jack looked at each other, neither of them knowing exactly how to answer that. They had been together for about six months when they broke up and then gotten back together a couple months later.
"We started dating last March," Audrey said, not wanting to delve deeper into the last two months of confusion between them.
"When's the wedding?" Audrey's cousin, Claire, chimed in.
"She's already married," Audrey's Aunt Patti replied. "Are you and Paul ever going to actually get divorced?"
"Eventually, yes," Audrey answered.
"I'll believe it when I see it," her aunt muttered. Audrey sighed and squeezed Jack's hand under the table.
"Will you two get married once the divorce goes through?" Claire asked, excitedly.
Audrey rolled her eyes. "Calm down. We aren't there yet."
Audrey decided to change the subject and did so successfully by bringing up Claire's recent acceptance to graduate school. Audrey and Jack smiled at each other as everyone else listened to Claire explaining the program she was going into. They were both happy that the spotlight was off of them again.
Jack spent the rest of dinner thinking about what Audrey had said about marriage. That they weren't there yet. But, Jack was starting to think that maybe he was there. Maybe he wasn't fully ready yet, but he could see himself marrying her. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. If she wasn't married, he would be seriously considering asking her to marry him. It scared him to think that he could be so ready to commit to her after a seemingly short amount of time but he knew that she was the one. It was the same feeling he had about Teri before he had proposed to her. He could hardly compare his love for Teri to his love for Audrey, as he loved them both for very different reasons and in very different ways, but the feelings he was having towards marriage were exactly the same.
After the rest of Audrey's family left, Audrey and Jack helped Heller clean up. They said their goodbyes and Heller told Jack that he was glad that he was able to come to dinner. Jack and Audrey walked out to where they had parked their car and Jack reached for Audrey's door until she stopped him.
"Thank you for coming," Audrey said, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss.
Jack smiled and stared into Audrey's beautiful green eyes. "Audrey, you should know, I am there."
"What?" Audrey asked.
"You said we weren't there yet about getting married," Jack reminded her. "But, I am ready to marry you. I know we can't. And, maybe you're not there yet and that's okay. I just thought you should know."
Audrey smiled. "I'm ready too. I love you."
Audrey kissed Jack passionately.
Paul had seen Jack and Audrey walking out of Heller's house hand-in-hand. He looked over at the gun sitting on the passenger's seat and took it into his hand. He had to protect his wife. He got out of the car quietly while they were on the opposite side of the car. His hand shook slightly as he gripped the gun, waiting for Jack to come around. He listened closely realizing that he could hear them talking. Paul's heart broke as he heard Audrey tell Jack that she would marry him if she could. He could no longer deny the fact that he was doing this out of jealousy, not as an attempt to protect Audrey. He was pissed. Not only at Jack but also at Audrey.
Jack opened up her door and helped her into the car. He closed her door and walked to his side, happy that she was feeling the same way he was. As he reached for his door handle, he noticed that someone was standing next to the car parked in front of them. He had just barely been able to identify the person as Paul before a gunshot went off. Jack immediately grabbed his abdomen in agony as he fell to the ground. He heard Audrey scream as she opened her door and tried to run to him. Jack tried to yell to her to tell her to stay in the car but no words came out. Just as Jack was about to pass out, he heard another gunshot.