Don't You Just Love Family Time?

The dining table was ready. The food was ready. Hell, even Blake was ready and had the decency to be sitting in his seat.

Now, the only thing they needed was for Jade to show up, so they could get on with the daily family dinner. Mark had been impatient to start without his missing daughter, but Hannah had gently reminded him that it was a family event. And as family, they would wait for one another

Which explained why the six of them were sitting there like idiots, trying to force polite conversation and unable to touch the food. Mark's temper seemed nearly ready to explode.

"Arielle, where is your sister?" Mark snapped, tired and frustrated enough that he couldn't even pretend to be civil and regal at the dinner table. Chase caught his eye darting towards the curry chicken way more than he should.

Hearing his question, Arielle met the eyes of her father and raised a waxed eyebrow. She shrugged in response. "I don't know. She said she had something to do today." Arielle lowered her eyes again, and Chase noticed that she was being awfully silent, more so than usual.

"Well, she'd better hurry up, or all the food will be cold. If she doesn't arrive in five minutes, we are going to start without her, regardless of family time," Mark snarled, his knife inclining towards the chicken almost yearningly. In the short span of the time she'd been here, Chase had learned that Mark harbored a secret passion for curry chicken.

"No need to wait any longer," trilled a happy voice, as the doors were thrown open and Jade stepped in. She was beaming brightly, and seemed to have no regard for the fact that everybody had been waiting for her for the past twenty minutes.

Six hostile glares met her eyes, conveying their obvious displeasure at her lateness and lack of apology. She ignored all of them and pulled her chair out to sit, still smiling happily.

"Where were you?" Mark asked angrily, unable to stand Jade's chipper tone anymore, while nearly diving for the curry chicken in a flash of knives and forks.

"Oh, yes," Jade said, while delicately feeding herself some spicy fish. The course theme tonight was Thai food, one of the family favorites, and it did nothing to diminish Jade's happiness. "I was meeting with an acquaintance, a friend if you will. She says she knows you quite well, actually, and we spent quite a bit of time talking about you." She smiled, politely keeping her mouth closed as she chewed.

When she was met with Mark's stony silence, she plunged on. "I never knew you could be so interesting, Dad, in your early years."

At this, Mark raised his eyes quickly and coolly inquired, "Oh? Is that so? And who did you say was this friend of yours again?"

Jade smiled almost feral-like to herself, something not missed by Blake and Arielle. Blake eyed her out of the corner of his eye, knowing that an emotional bombshell was about to blow, if Jade's disposition was interpreted correctly.

"Sienna Robespierre," Jade announced, still blithely spooning food into her mouth. Except this time, her eyes never left her father, and she saw him pale noticeably. "She was so charming, I almost felt like we were practically family."

There was no mistaking the sadistic pleasure in Jade's words as she took in her father's face, which was quickly turning an ashen gray. Across from him, Blake saw Arielle's face changing into a similar shade. "Jade, that's enough," Mark managed to gutter out.

Jade's smile widened even more. "Wait, you haven't even heard the best part yet." Now there was no mistaking her thinly veiled threat, "Since she turned out to be family in the end—and this is a family dinner, after all—I took the liberty of inviting her to join us. After all, you've been such a caring father lately, I really want to show you what's going on in my life, Daddy."

The tone of endearment was obviously meant to be sarcastic, but Blake doubted Mark noticed as he nearly fainted. It would've been amusing to see a grown, dignified, upstart man like Mark Lewallen nearly pass out, but something told Blake that it wasn't entirely without reason.

"And now, may I introduce," Jade smirked to herself, obviously noticing her father's discomfort and sudden nervousness. "Sienna Robespierre."

The doors were opened, almost as if the woman had been waiting for her cue, and Sienna breezed into the dining room. She was a pretty woman. Blue eyes, dark brown hair, full breasts, and cherry lips. Even though she was no longer twenty, she exuded an air of life. Sienna caught Jade's eye and Blake saw the two exchange crafty smiles, as Sienna moved into the empty seat beside Jade.

Blake immediately worked to introduce himself to this woman, partially doing it because he knew how uncomfortable she made Mark. "Sienna," he tilted his chin in acknowledgment. "I'm Blake, and I would just like to say welcome to the family. I think I speak for everyone—Mark included—when I saw what a true pleasure this is."

He glanced pointedly at his future step-father, who was finding himself nowhere near pleased.

Now, Mark truly looked like he was regretting these family dinners. He showed all signs of being ready to excuse himself from the table, so Blake jumped in to save the dinner entertainment from being ruined. After all, an angry Mark always meant a happy Blake. "You know, Sienna, I'm so glad you're here today. I mean, normally my Daddy," Here, he paused to wink at Mark, mimicking Jade's previous word, "is so busy, but he sets away two hours every day, just so this family can be together."

This much was true, and it had been to Blake's great displeasure when he found out that Mark and his mother were setting down rules to get into family routine. An hour for dinner. An hour for "family happy hour time." It was almost as if the two of them thought they were raising eight-year-olds instead of fully grown teenagers.

Blake smiled smugly. Because of Mark's ridiculous notions, he'd had to give up two hours of his precious free time. But now that Sienna had shown up, Mark had made his own bed and could now go lie and die in it for all Blake cared. Karma had never felt so sweet.

"Well, Mark, I'm certainly glad to see that you're settling down so well," Sienna said, while helping herself to some of the princess duck. "A little surprised, actually. You used to be quite a womanizer. Must've bedded just about every available girl…"

Blake saw a delicate flush come over Arielle's cheeks. He wouldn't deny that it was extremely awkward to be hearing about your parents when they were your age. In fact, he might've had pity on Mark and kept his mouth shut, but an injustice still rankled in him.

After all, he was a man on a mission, a mission that would save his sanity. He was going to make Mark so mad that he would call off the wedding and send all of them home.

"Wow, Mark." Blake cut into the meat of the chicken. "It sounds like you've been keeping your biggest talent from all of us. Right, Mom? I mean, it sounds like he's pretty good judging by those sounds we hear coming from your room every night, but who knows if you were just faking, right?"

Arielle slapped a hand over her mouth from shock and laughter while Mark's face turned from white to an odd shade of burgundy. And then there was his mom, who looked shocked that her baby boy had grown up so fast and had much more knowledge about sex than she'd given him credit for.

He smirked at their expressions. Why anyone would want to be a righteous goody-two-shoes was beyond him. Everything was just so much easier when all the rules disappeared.

"Blake, kindly remove yourself from our presence," Mark said, with as much calm as he could, under the present circumstances. It had clearly been way too much to insult his masculinity.

Blake laughed silently at how these dinners were quickly becoming routine. They'd sit down, Blake would bring up something sensitive, and he'd be quickly dismissed from the table.

It was way too easy to rile up Mark Lewallen. And for the first time in the week, Blake regretted being kicked out of the family conversation. It was obviously progressing in a way that was going to ultimately provide Blake with endless hours of amusement. Pity, he'd managed to beat his record in obnoxiousness and get himself knocked out early in the game.

So, no one was more surprised than Blake, when Jade spoke up from her seat. "Oh no, Blake. Please stay. You're family, after all, and isn't that what we're here for?"

"Jade," her father threatened in a quiet voice. He didn't seem like the kind of person who would take well to having his authority undermined, and by his sixteen year old daughter no less.

"Oh, but Dad, it will be so boring, and then I'd have to ask Sienna here to start telling us some of her fascinating stories," Jade shot back, a mask of enjoyment on her face. She looked like someone who knew she was gaining the upper hand.

As if to add salt to the injury, Jade quickly made things progress even worse. "She did tell me about this one time that you and that one girl named Trisha Fields did it in the locker rooms. Didn't someone got it on videotape? I didn't even know you did things like that!" Jade exclaimed, watching her father retreat balefully into silence, his heated glare fluctuating between anger and embarrassment and being exposed in that way.

And so, Blake stayed after all.

"Well, it's a certainly a pleasant surprise to see the two of you get along so well," Hannah remarked, scrambling to change the topic into familiar territory. She looked slightly miffed at the man next to her, but made no indication of starting an argument at the dinner table.

Blake heard his mom's words and nearly choked on the spiciness of the fish. Jade as a friend? Blake almost scoffed at the idea, but he held it in and nodded seriously for the sake of fulfilling his daily quota of making Jade turn red. "I know. The two of us have been getting so close lately, it's almost scary. But, I've never been one to resist someone like Jade throwing themselves at me."

He had originally been meaning to mention the fact that Jade had kissed him while deriving pleasure from watching anger cross Mark's face as he realized his prize daughter had made out with the person he hated most. But, something told him that he could use this to his advantage in the near future.

Like after dinner, for instance.

Blake smiled as Jade glowered perceptibly. Even if the rest of the table hadn't caught his underlying meaning, she certainly had. Maybe she was even regretting asking him to stay.

Blake shrugged at her. It could really matter less to him what she thought of him, even if she was a good kisser. In fact, just to gall her even further, he licked his lips and smacked them together, never taking his eyes off of her. "You know, Jade, this friendship has gotten me thinking. Maybe it's time you introduced me to your boyfriend. I know how much he means to you. The level of loyalty is astounding, really." At this, he sneered, remembering Jade's method of attack.

Apparently, she remembered too, and promptly stood up. "I think we're finished with dinner. Blake, would you mind stepping outside for a moment, so we could talk about our new friendship?" Jade gritted, leaving no room for Blake to refuse.

"Actually, that's a lovely idea," Sienna rose too and spoke for only the second time since she'd sat down, her plate barely marked with traces of food. "Mark, I feel we should do the same. I've come to an impasse that I need to discuss with you." A lip curdled in derision, distorting her facial features. "I think it's the best if we take the conversation into your study, where nobody can overhear us."

Mark made a strange, strangled sound in the lower base of his throat. It didn't take an idiot to see that he knew it wasn't a good idea for him to be stuck in the same room as that woman.

As if he actually had a choice.

At least Blake would have the upper hand in the ensuing conversation. Standing up, he gave a flippant wave of his hand to the rest of the diners, taking care to wink at Mark, as Jade nearly mauled him out of the room, in her desperation to prevent him from saying anything else incriminating.

"What the hell?" Jade hissed, as soon as she had hauled him upstairs and thrown him into her room. She slammed the door shut behind her. "Do you have a death wish, or something? Because I can easily make that happen."

"Why Jade," Blake plopped himself down on Jade's bad, ignoring the strained noise of protest, "I thought we were good friends and all that shit. You're not being a very good friend to me right now, are you?"

"You can spare me all that," Jade snapped, moving to sit in her desk chair. "You know as well as I do that we're nothing but enemies who hate each other."

Blake raised his eyebrow and propped up onto his elbows to appraise her carefully, "Last I checked, enemies didn't go around kissing in empty classrooms, either. So, there must be something I'm missing out on."

Jade glared at him so heatedly he was afraid her eyeballs were going to pop right out. "My feelings for you haven't changed one bit."

Blake flopped back onto his back and tucked his hands behind his head. "I'm glad to hear that. Lucky for you, mine haven't either. But let's not talk about all that unpleasantness right now."

"No way," Jade said, deserting her seat and sitting on the edge of her bed, a foot away from the alignment of Blake's chest. "I still have something to discuss with you. In no way are you allowed to talk about what happened. Not to Arielle, not to Duke, and especially not to my father."

He turned his face to look at her. "And who's going to stop me?" Blake asked, surprised at her audacity to order him around when his hand clearly held the ace. "Little, old you? Because you'll have to excuse me when I say that's not a very big threat to me at all."

"What do you want then? I'm breaking up with Duke soon anyway, so you can't hold that over me. I just thought it would be a good idea to end on a clean note."

"Is that what you call it?" Blake snorted in derision. He shook his head. "You have some seriously demented ways of thinking, you know that?"

He saw her bit her tongue to keep the nearest retort from flying out of her mouth. When she opened it again, it was fairly civilized. "What would you like then? How much would I have to pay you to shut up?"

Blake stared at her incredulously for a second. How could such a smart person be so blatantly stupid. Did she honestly think his silence could be bought? "I hope you know that in about two months, everything here will be my home too, so there's no point in trying to pay me."

Jade looked like she was desperately holding back a series of angry comebacks. Blake laughed at the look on her face. It certainly looked painful. "I'll kiss you again," she volunteered in a lower voice, giving him her second thought.

Blake was stunned into silence for a second before he burst into laughter. He clutched his sides painfully. In between bouts of hysteria, he managed to grit out, "Are you serious? You're going to try to kiss me a second time so that I won't tell anyone about you kissing me the first time? Are you insane? What makes you think I even want to have a second time?"

This time, the red flush of color on Jade's cheeks made it hard to tell if it was from fury or embarrassment. "Then, tell me already!" she yelled, palms slapping the bed sheets, clearly fed up with Blake's antics.

Blake flashed her an amused glance. "There. That sounds more like you. You should really lay off the coy and seductiveness. It's quite scary."

"Are you going to tell me or not?" Jade's grip tightened maddeningly on her blanket, leaving tiny creases behind on the impeccable navy and white expanse.

"Now that you mention it, I am. For the price of my silence, you are going to lay off on my sister. Which means no more orchestrating food shows on her in the cafeteria"—Blake glared at Jade, remembering what Alana had told him—"and you are also going to lay off on Arielle's personal life. If I want to kiss her, I want her to kiss me back without saying something about you not approving. It's her life, and she should be able to live it without you playing mother to her."

"So, you're going after my sister now, are you?" Jade sneered, briskly straightening back up so that her backside was ramrod straight. She didn't even bother to try denying her involvement in the cafeteria incident.

"I fail to see how that's your business," Blake informed her squarely. He yanked her down by the collar of her shirt. "Unless you're jealous, of course."

She furiously tried to yank herself back from his death-grip. "Don't delude yourself," she informed him coldly.

He didn't answer and gently swiped a thumb over her lips. She leaned in closer the smallest of a fraction, like she was expecting him to kiss her again. He smiled at that, and gently leaned forward, watching as she closed her eyes.

Blake stared amusedly at her rare, open expression and patted her roughly on the cheek two times, before lifting himself off the bed. "Think about my offer, won't you, Lewallen?"

Her eyes snapped open in anger and shock. "You bastard," she spat, spitefully running the heel of her hand over her lips to erase his touch there.

Blake paused at her doorway, "I'd watch that mouth of yours. I may be a bastard, but you're in need of my cooperation." He raised both eyebrows significantly. "Think before you speak. It'll get you more places."

And before she could say anything, he was already loping out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

Outside, he was just about to go find his sister when he ran into Arielle. "Arielle, what a pleasant surprise," he said, skidding to a stop. "You haven't seen my sister, have you?"

Arielle looked surprised to see Blake at first, but quickly recovered and shook her head regrettably. Noting that they were right outside Jade's room, she lowered her voice. "I'm actually looking for her, too," she confessed quietly. "I needed to talk to her."

Blake inclined his head playfully and said loudly. "If I find her for you, will you go out with me? Or should I wait and get it approved by that dictator in there first? "

He laughed uproariously when a door opened and Jade hurled J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye at his head.

Jade walked out of her room and nearly shot daggers at Blake with her eyes. "Ignore him, Ari." She yanked her sister into her room, and slammed the door.

Blake chuckled. It was extremely satisfying to know that Jade Lewallen couldn't use any name-calling against him, unless she wanted to provoke him into doing something drastic. Had he really wondered why she enjoyed blackmailing so much?

Shaking his head, he resumed his search for his sister again.

Meanwhile, the girl in question was crouching outside a wooden door. Her ear was squashed against the entrance and she fought to hear what was going on inside. Chase sucked in a breath and closed her eyes, honing in on her hearing sense.

Dinner, without question, had been a disaster. There was obviously something going on that they weren't telling her. There had to be for Mark Lewallen to be reduced into a tiny puddle of fear.

Inside, the two of them were still arguing. "…it's my right!" the woman was exclaiming. "Jade deserves to see Astoria. You've kept her from her mother for six years, you monster."

"While you're concern is certainly heart-warming, need I remind you that Astoria is unfortunately comatose, with no sign of ever awakening? She might as well be dead," Mark's voice scoffed. He had seemingly shed some of his nervousness at dinner, seeing as there was nobody present to witness anything.

Except for a certain, eavesdropping redhead outside the door, of course.

"She's in that state because of you," the woman retorted. "And even if Astoria can't see Jade, you're keeping her from an entire family. Her grandparents haven't seen their grand-daughter since she was ten. You owe them that much, at least."

"I owe them nothing. I cut off all my ties with your lot when Astoria died," a voice hissed.

"That's not true. You owe me a lot, Mark. I've kept my silence for a long time. It's a wonder nobody ever found out about some of shady things you once did, don't you think?"

There was a low growl of anger. "And why haven't you reported anything yet, dear Sienna? I'll tell you why. It's because you're just as guilty as I am."

"Oh, don't worry. I might not tell the authorities, but I will certainly tell Jade. I know you've been ignoring her for a long time. It won't take much to turn that loneliness against you. You're daughter's a cunning woman, Mark. Much smarter and discrete than you. I'm sure that with the proper motivation, I could sharpen her into a very powerful tool against you."

"Damn it, I don't need this, Sienna," There was a slamming sound from inside, and Chase was half afraid that Mark had smashed Sienna's head in the process. It almost made her afraid that her mom was going to marry this angry man inside. What had happened to wonderful, caring Mark? " In case you didn't know, I'm getting married soon, and I don't need to have you waltz back into my life and screw everything up. I've worked too hard over these years."

Chase pressed her ear even tighter against the door, to the point where it hurt. She needed to find out if that Sienna woman was still alive.

There was a pause, and then, "Ah, yes. Can't forget that. Your blushing bride-to-be. Do you love her too, the way you loved every woman you bedded before her?"

Chase gave a relieved sigh at Sienna's voice, and pulled away slightly to rub her ear. If she wanted to continue listening, she'd better make sure her ear was in top condition. It was interesting, actually, to find out about all this, even if some of it was confusing.

Suddenly, Chase felt a hand close itself over her mouth. And just like that, memories of what happened that one night came in flashes of déjà vu, and Chase kicked wildly, narrowly missing the door. The recent events had made Chase paranoid enough to be suspicious of even the slightest touch.

There was a squeezing hand on her shoulder from behind. "Chase, stop. It's me," a feminine voice pleaded softly, and Chase was whirled around. Arielle's bright blue eyes were wide with despair. "Don't kick me, please."

"Arielle, what are you doing here?" Chase whispered, trying to cover up her rapidly beating heart by standing up from where she'd been crouching.

"I actually wanted to talk to you," Arielle said, releasing Chase's arm as she stood up too.

"Me?" Chase asked uncertainly. While Arielle seemed nice, they weren't exactly the closest of friends yet. But, if Chase was being honest, she hadn't found a closest friend here at Beverly Hills yet. The past lunchtimes, she'd spent it hiding in the hallways, even though Jade had generously extended an offer to let Chase sit at her reserved table.

Arielle nodded affirmatively at Chase's question. "Do you mind if we go up to my room? It's a bit more private than here." She nodded towards the door to her father's study, indicating her distaste for conversing in such a noticeable spot.

"Sure," Chase answered uncertainly, as she followed Arielle upstairs.

"Sorry. I know this is kind of sudden," Arielle said, hurriedly pushing open her door.

"It's no problem at all," Chase mumbled as she stepped into Arielle's private room. She'd already seen Jade's the first day, and Arielle's was furnished similarly. The same set of furniture was in both rooms. The only major differences Chase could immediately pinpoint was the color of the room—Arielle's was painted a creamy pink color while Jade's was a light, royal purple—and the window view. While Jade's room faced the front, Arielle's was facing the back.

Chase sat down tentatively on the floor. "So, what was it that you needed to talk about?" she asked kindly. Even though she'd just been scared out of her wits, there was something about Arielle that cast an innocent glow on her persona. It made Chase want to mother her, the way she mothered Connor and, occasionally, Blake.

"It's not really me," Arielle plopped down onto the floor too, tucking her feet to the right, all delicate and lady-like. "It's Ryder. Today, he kind of found out that someone close to him died, and ever since he's been closed off."

She gave a broken sigh before continuing. "I tried texting him and I called his cell phone. I even went over to his house, but he didn't answer. I'm scared that he's withdrawing from the world."

"Oh, I hope he's okay," Chase added sympathetically, even as she wondered how this could possibly involve her.

Arielle shook her head sadly. "I don't think he is. It's not like him to be like this. He's normally the light-hearted, fun, optimistic one of the group. This brooding, depressed side of him is scaring me."

"Maybe he just needs time to let that someone go," Chase told Arielle gently. She certainly didn't want to come off as skeptical, but the general rule was that mourning for the dead was not something someone got over in a day or two. It took time. "I mean, it has only been a few hours since he found out. He can't possibly go back to the way he was before in that short of a time. Not if he truly cared about this person."

"I know," Arielle's expression looked so sad for her friend, Chase briefly wondered if she wasn't the one going through the heartache. "I'm not saying I don't want him to mourn. I know he needs to get it all out. It's just, I don't want him to be alone, because then he'll feel more depressed and neglected."

While Chase felt a small shot of respect and awe at Arielle's thoughtfulness, she didn't like the way the conversation was going. Maybe if she played dumb, the problem would resolve itself magically. "I think that's a great idea. We could ask Jade to try and visit him."

Arielle heard that and gave an uncharacteristic snort. "Jade would just make it worse; she's probably the last person he'd want to see at a time like this. I was actually thinking of you." She gave Chase a pointed stare.

Chase gulped loudly. This conversation was definitely going in a very bad direction. She was just going to have to try to let Arielle down easy while attempting to save her tentative friendship. "Arielle, while I'm very honored that you would think of me," Chase paused for a moment to let this sink in, "I'm not sure I could handle such a big task. I barely know him, and he doesn't know me either. I'm sure he wouldn't want me as a choice."

Arielle shook her head furiously. "Oh, nonsense. You guys might not know each other very well, but he certainly wants to. All I've been seeing all week is him approaching you. None of the girls he's hooked up with in the past has ever been publicly seen with him more than once. You're different in a special way. It's why I chose you in the first place."

Chase felt her heart sink at those words. Now how was she supposed to no to that? "Arielle, I'm not sure…" she tried weakly, in a last-ditch attempt.

"Please," Arielle noticed Chase's hesitation and cajoled winningly, allowing her big baby blues to swim with a persuasive tear-like sheen. "I'm not asking you to do anything drastic. Just, please visit him and see how he's doing. Maybe get him outside for a bit. Take his mind off whatever's bothering him. Please do it for him. He really, really needs this."

Chase took one look at Arielle's desperate face and felt herself caving. In a way, she hated that she was such a pushover. But a part of her also recognized that she couldn't deny the request without coming off as selfish and uncaring. "What's his address again?" she asked in defeat, mentally waving the white flag of surrender.

Arielle's face lit up in triumph and happiness at Chase's words. Just like that, her teary eyes were gone. "Here. I'll tell you everything you need to know." Arielle pulled Chase to her feet excitedly. "I'll even buy you a formal dress for the wedding reception, to save you time, so you can help Ryder out."

Chase sighed, and dusted her palms on her shirt, not managing to feel as enthused as Arielle. Somehow, she had a feeling she was so going to regret this.

AN: Well, there you have it. It's not super edited, but I did promise to get it in by the end of the weekend. The next update should be coming Wednesday night. I'm hoping to finish off Infamous by next Saturday, finally concluding this year-long project.

As I was writing this, I had one idea of getting Blake and Arielle together. Somewhere along the way, Jade stole Blake's knife and threatened me into writing her into the A/B storyline. I see Arielle being able to balance Blake's personality because she's a softer character and she's more loving, which he obviously needs. But then, J/B has a certain chemistry and I see Jade and Blake as being able to keep each other under control while keeping things interesting. So now, I'm asking you readers to give me your input. Send me a review or private message me with your thoughts! I'll definitely take your input into account. Until then, please R/R. As always criticism, flames, random thoughts welcome.