I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!! I really need to pick up the slack with my updating. I have no excuse except for I was kinda grounded for a while. But it's not my fault that my brother got hurt… by my fist :), and I could only get on whenever my mom was out of the house, but it wasn't enough time to actually write anything. Then reviews and my exams started, but now I am a free woman, no more school and I can finally say that I am no longer a freshie anymore!!!!!!!!!!!! So to make it up to you guys, I will try and make this chapter longer. Either that or not stop typing until I have gotten 2 or so more chapters done.

Usual disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did, I would have made Dominique fall in a hole along with the terrible twins.

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Chapter 8
Mary's P.O.V.

I fidgeted with my hands as we sat in awkward silence. I didn't try and make conversation anymore; I was too busy thinking about what I'd heard. I definitely knew that I wanted to marry Joey; Mrs. Parker wasn't going to change that, no matter how she tried. Although, I had a sneaking suspicion she was going to try. Hard.

I hoped Mr. Parker wasn't too badly hurt by that slap. His cheeks didn't look swollen.

Someone walked into the room at that moment, making me aware of their presence. I looked up and noticed Jake. He looked around the room until he found me. He cleared his throat before announcing, "Miss Santiago, I'm sorry to pull you away, but your purse is ringing."

I got up, confused. I could have sworn that I had turned my cell phone off for the night. I got up and left the room with Jake. "Thanks," I muttered to him once we were outside in the hall. "I swear that those people are either anti-social or really don't like me."

Jake shrugged. "Missus Parker didn't like me very much either, when I started working here. It took a while for her to stop snapping her fingers and barking orders to me. Now she treats me like I'm semi-human."

I smiled faintly, "How long?"

"Let's see, I'm 23 now. I started working for her part-time at 16," he thought about it, and then added, "Until last week."

I felt uneasy. Seven years! I have to wait for her to warm up to me for seven YEARS! I groaned; this was going to be harder than I thought.

I dug through my purse, trying to find my cell. Jake turned and walked out of the room.

Meanwhile…

Joey watched Mary leave the room with the boy he'd noticed earlier. Who the hell is he?!

"Mom, who's he? I didn't know you and dad hired someone new since I was here last."

He saw his mother flash a look of disapproval. "Who? Jake? No, he has been here a while. I think almost seven years or something. We were just talking about letting him go, weren't we Rod?"

Joey heard his father mumble a faint "yes dear." But that was it. Mr. Parker wasn't the type to really get into any conversation.

"Why were you going to let him go?" Joey asked, wanting to know more about the man that his fiancé just disappeared with.

"Oh, it was a very recent decision." Mrs. Parker lowered her voice so only he could hear her, "While your father and I were in the kitchen we saw something that made up our minds for us."

She paused slightly before continuing, "Your father and I saw Mary and Jake in the kitchen together. I'm sorry to say this, but they looked like they were in a pretty heady lip-lock. We tried to stop them, but Mary just threw her shoe at us, and they ran into the pantry room," she paused again, and added softly, "for some privacy."

Joey just sat there, not really feeling anything. I can't believe this, he thought. Mary wouldn't do this to me, Jake must have… I don't even want to think about this.

"No, you're wrong." he said, not altogether sounding very confident.

"I'm sorry, son. I just figured you deserved to know." His mother looked as if she was really sorry, for once.

Joey put his head in his hands, "I just can't believe this. Mary wouldn't do something like this to me."

Mr. Parker opened his mouth to say something, but Mrs. Parker shot him a look that could kill before Joey noticed.

Back in the hallway…

"Hey Dustin, you called?" I said into the phone.

"Uh yeah, I couldn't reach JP. Do you know where he is?"

I looked back to the sitting room where Joey was. "Yeah, he's actually with his parents right now. What do you need me to tell him?"

Dustin laughed, "OH! So it's time to meet the parents, huh? How's that going for you?"

I groaned, "Terrible, they hate me. At least Mrs. Parker does." I told Dustin about what I overheard earlier.

There was silence on the other end of the line when I had finished. Then Dustin said, "Wow, Mary. You sure are in trouble, but that sounds like her alright."

There was a slight scuffle on the other end of the line and I heard a loud "ow, Tami!" before my best friend spoke into the phone, "Mary, here's what you need to do. First, sneak into that woman's bathroom and steal her sleeping pills that she must use. Every woman like her must think that she needs her uninterrupted 'beauty sleep'. Then crush the whole bottle and slip them into her foo…"

"That's enough Tami!" Dustin said as he grabbed the phone away from her, "I'm sure if Mary wants advice on how to kill her, then she'll ask you."

I gave a weak laugh, "Thanks Dustin." Then I remembered, "Oh yeah, you wanted me to tell Joey something?"

Dustin laughed, "Yeah, I guess we got off subject, huh? Well um, just tell him that his record label called me. They liked his song, and they are going to want to get him to do a bunch of paperwork and recording for them so it can go on the next CD."

I nodded to myself, "Sure, I'll tell him. Hey, I gotta go now. They must be wondering where I am."

"Yeah, we don't want them to worry themselves to death." Dustin laughed

"That's a good idea, Mary!" Tami yelled.

"Mary, one more thing; be careful. If what you heard is true, you do not want to get on the Missus' bad side."

"Thanks, Dustin. I appreciate it. Tell Tami that I love her tons!"

We said goodbye and I hung up my phone, making sure that it was off this time before slipping it back into my purse and dumping it back into the chair.

Taking a deep breath, I held my head high and walked into the room; to be met with such faces of horror and hurt that I almost turned around and walked back out.

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I hope that was long enough for you!!! What will happen to Mary next? Will Joey find out the truth about his mother? Will our heroes triumph? Tune in next time for another chapter of MEET THE PARENTS!!! And don't forget to review, that is very much welcome! :)

Very welcome beta's note: haha, this was an awesome chapter. It was fun to read over and edit... (: guys, review would you?!