Lily soon found that having dinner with Ben was far more preferable than having dinner with her family as she sat next to him at the dining table while they waited for Melinda to bring the plates of food over, hearing the excited and lively chatter around her.

Although she still didn't understand nor was able to join in, like when she was outside with the girls, she smiled and nodded to show her interest and Ben never took her eyes off her as he stared at her lovingly.

If she was back at the palace, the atmosphere would be very different to here, as it would be very formal and hushed and she and her family would wait in silence for their meal to be served and Daffodil would be telling bad jokes and annoying Marigold with her antics.

Lily, since she always sat at the far end of the table, would be out of listening range of the hushed and boring conversations her mother and sisters had and often daydreamed about the human world and her adventures instead of paying attention.

But here, she didn't even need to pretend to be interested or sit quietly as it was far more casual, lively and relaxed than the palace was and she was much closer to Ben and his friends, whom she liked, apart from Anna whose presence was less than ideal.

But she wasn't going to let that bother her as she listened into the conversation that the boys were having since they were the closest to her apart from Mia, who was sitting on the other side of her but was chatting to Grace and what the boys were talking about was rugby league.

'So, Lily, do you like league?' Ben asked her when he saw her leaning over to listen.

Lily had no idea what rugby league was but it seemed to involve the use of the 'passamawhachit', only not for the purpose that Sandy said and she used to have some of the Queensland teams' merchandise in the grotto, so she nodded in response and made a gesture to Ben, as if to say,

'Do you like it too?'

'Yeah, I do and I play it for fun but I can tell you, it's a huge part of my life since my dad used to play for the Broncos, Maroons and Kangaroos and coaches them as well, except the national team and he is very famous around here and all over Australia because of it,' Ben said, titling his head towards his father, who grinned slightly.

'Lots of people approach him when he is out and about in town and hound him for autographs and photos, often when I'm with him, which is an invasion on his and my privacy and that is why I prefer to be alone sometimes, away from the public.' Ben then said.

Lily nodded sympathetically as she patted his hand and realised that Sharla had been right in saying that actions spoke louder than words as Ben smiled at her and squeezed her hand back which made her heart flutter again. She knew how he felt and was starting to realise that she and Ben had a lot in common than she thought.

'Yeah, everybody loves Steely!' Cody said, 'He was such a terrific player in his days and a great coach as well! The crowds would roar tremendously whenever he ran onto the field and scored tries!

He was nicknamed Steely not only as a play on his last name but for always having nerves of steel on the field!' he said which made Lily snicker silently while Phil frowned at her and she quickly hid it by pretending to look at the patterns on her dress.

'Tough as nails, weren't you Steely? My dad told me that you played in a grand final with a broken hand which everyone said you shouldn't have but you had that famous 'Bugger it, I'm playing,' attitude and the Broncos went on to win! 'Adam said.

Adam was the rugby league fanatic out of Ben's friends which was both a blessing and a curse for Ben since Phil was one of his and his father's favourite players and Ben had once thought that he was friends with him because he was his son but Adam insisted that it was genuine.

'Uh, yes I did,' Phil said, slightly embarrassed, 'although I only spent forty-five minutes on the field before I was forced to admit defeat and came off, so that story isn't entirely true.'

'Anyway, Dad was one of the legendary players of his generation, so much that some fans even said that he made players like Laurie Daley and Mal Meninga look like amateurs..' Ben said to Lily, only to be interrupted by Adam,

'Isn't that right, Steely, that you were so talented at footy that Daley and Meninga, amongst others, couldn't hold a candle to you? At least that's what my dad said because you were his favourite player and he thought that no one else was better than 'King Steely'!'

'Well, yes, they did say that, but I never considered myself better than Laurie and Mal as they are legends in their own right and good friends of mine, although Laurie and I are on opposite ends when it comes to Origin since he coaches the Blues.' Phil said.

'The cockroaches,' Adam said, 'and they ended our winning streak in Origin last year, thanks to Daley! He must have done something to make the Blues halt our eight year streak of dominance but we'll win again this year and get our revenge against them!'

'We shall,' Phil said, 'but let's not get ahead of ourselves, the season hasn't started yet and we've got the Nines tomorrow, which should be a great tournament and the Broncos were in good shape after the holidays and trained well at today's session.'

'In a way, it's both a blessing and a curse to have a former league player as a father since I get free gear and tickets to the games but I hardly see him during the season and it's been like that since I can remember but I'm used to it.' Ben said to Lily, sighing heavily as she reached out and patted his hand again.

'Aw, thanks Lily, you're so sweet and I'm glad that you're here with me,' Ben said and Lily was starting to realise that maybe she wasn't the only one with a huge secret, given from what she had just heard.

'I know how hard it is on you, love,' Melinda said, gently patting Ben's shoulder as she came in, carrying plates of food over to the table and he went to help her by getting up from the table and carrying the rest of the plates from the kitchen.

'Bu it has made you more independent and self-sufficient except when it comes to cooking!' she said, chuckling.

Everyone laughed and Ben grinned sheepishly as the plates were placed on the table and Melinda was pouring drinks for everyone and passing out napkins, just as Lily's attention was starting to wane as she looked at the many strange and fascinating objects resting on the table.

While everyone was busy passing around the plates of food and asking for the tomato sauce and salad dressing, Lily was focused on the silver bracelet around Mia's wrist with various charms on it and what Grace and Anna were also wearing.

She fingered the charms while Mia wasn't looking as she was too engrossed in chatting with Grace, which were of various human things and it reminded her of her treasures in the grotto and her eyes teared up as she remembered how her mother cruelly destroyed them.

She quickly blinked back her tears when Mia saw her touching her bracelet and smiled at Lily, amused that she found a simple thing like a charm bracelet so fascinating, like she had never seen one before.

'Oh, do you like it?' Mia said and Lily nodded at her.

'Why, thank you, Grace, Anna and I have them as a sign of our friendship but with different charms and since you are now our friend, you should have one as well.' Mia said.

Ben can buy you one when you find the time to go shopping and you can pick any charms that you want. There are many brands to choose from but the best one is Pandora, which is what we have, as Anna says..'

But Lily wasn't paying attention anymore as Mia was soon distracted by Grace passing her some potatoes and Lily became intrigued by the shining silver 'dinglehopper' resting next to her plate.

With a wide smile, she picked it up and began brushing her hair with it and smiled at Ben only to stop when he and the others gave her strange and shocked looks and she put it back down while twirling a lock of her hair nervously as they muttered amongst themselves.

'Did she just brush her hair with the fork?' Anna said.

'Yeah, she did,' Matt said, 'and how was she able to do it without it getting tangled in her hair? I know a fork looks like a comb but it's used for eating and not for grooming your hair!'

'It's like she has no knowledge of human culture!' Cody said.

'Well, at least she knows what to do when a drop bear attacks!' Adam laughed and Ben rolled his eyes at him.

'Adam, mate, don't say that!' Ben said, 'you don't want to scare her and we all know that drop bears don't exist, they're just made up stories to scare off tourists and that's the last thing that Lily needs to hear after what she's been through!'

'Right, like mermaids don't exist,' Adam said, staring at both Ben and Cody, who grinned sheepishly.

'And don't go all aggro on me, mate, I was just saying that she was running a fork through her hair, which is one of the things that you're supposed to do to keep drop bears from attacking you!' Adam said.

'Likewise,' Ben said, then whispered to Lily,

'Don't listen to the dribble coming from this dropkick's mouth, he was just trying to scare you. Drop bears are fictitious marsupials that are made up to confuse or scare outsiders and amuse locals, but you shouldn't worry about them as they definitely don't exist!' he said.

But Lily didn't seem to be too concerned or had paid attention to what Adam and Ben had said for she saw Phil holding up a 'snarfblatt' and was about to light it.

'Dad, do you have to smoke that disgusting pipe now?' Ben said, 'especially when we're about to EAT? You're shortening your lifespan by filling your lungs with that crap!'

'Don't get smart with me, Ben, I'm well aware of that,' Phil said as Lily reached out for the pipe, just as Phil was lighting it.

'Well, I'm glad that someone likes it,' Phil said, smiling kindly at her and handed it to her, 'it is a very fine pipe that I bought in England last year..'

He stopped mid-sentence when Lily blew into the pipe as if it was a trumpet, like Sandy had shown her, only for her to send a cloud of smoke spurting out the top and straight into his face.

'That wasn't what I had in mind,' Phil said, dryly while looking ridiculous with ash on his face as Ben cracked up with laughter and his friends snickered quietly while Melinda gave a small giggle and Lily had an 'Oops, sorry about that,' look on her face.

'Oh, my,' Melinda said, while Ben was still laughing his head off before clearing his throat and trying to retain his composure when he noticed his father looking at him with a bemused look on his face.

'I'm so glad that I am a source of amusement for you, Benjamin,' he said flatly, while Ben grinned at him.

'Sorry, Dad, but she's hilarious!' Ben said while helping Lily pick out what she wanted to eat as the plates were passed to them and he was careful not to give her any of the fish or shrimp kebabs as he had noticed her gagging when she saw them.

'Why, Ben, that's the first time I've seen you smile in weeks,' Melinda said, patting him on the shoulder and she was amazed at the change she had seen in Ben during the day.

Just a few hours ago, he was miserable and moping around the house, thinking about his mysterious girl and somehow the blonde mute girl that he found had changed him for the better and he was now happier than he had been.

'Yeah, you never smile when you're with us and have been in bloody la-la land, thinking about that girl that saved you,' Cody said, which everyone nodded at.

'But since you found Lily, you've become the Ben of old and you're definitely falling for her, I can see it in your eyes.'

'You know something, Cody, I think I am,' Ben said, blushing slightly as he squeezed Lily's hand which made her look up from the table and she smiled at him while Phil was wiping the last of the smoke off his face with the others giggling at him.

'Yes, very amusing,' he said, 'Oh, Melinda, come and sit down, you've been on your feet all day!' he then said to the housekeeper who was still busy in the kitchen.

'I'll be there in a second,' Melinda called out, 'just as soon as I bring out the stuffed crabs.'

At the mention of 'stuffed crabs', Lily's stomach churned as she realised that she hadn't seen Senna since she was carried away in the curtain to the laundry room and she had been too distracted with Ben and his friends that she hadn't continued looking for her.

Her worst fears were realised when the plate of the unfortunate crustaceans was placed on the table and her eyes widened at seeing poor Senna in the middle, sitting on some lettuce with a mouth full of breadcrumbs, which she quickly spat out and opened her eyes to Lily's relief just as she was about to be picked up and placed on Phil's plate.

Fortunately for both of them, Phil was busy talking to Ben about something and Melinda was distracted with serving the rest of the crabs to the guests as Lily beckoned the crab to come and hide on her lap.

Senna didn't hesitate as she scurried across the table, while everyone wasn't looking and hopped into Lily's lap, thus avoiding becoming Phil's dinner and he strangely didn't notice that there was no crab on his plate.

'You know, Ben,' Phil started, taking a sip of his beer, 'perhaps our young guest might enjoy going on a tour of the Gold Coast. You should take her for a drive to see the sights, browse the shops, take her to the theme parks, perhaps..'

Ben wasn't listening to his father, as he sat and stared at Lily with a love-struck expression on his face and his mind was elsewhere, like it had been for the past few days.

'Ben, are you listening to me?' Phil said, but Ben didn't respond, 'I said that you should..'

'Hello, earth to Ben!' Cody said, waving his hand in Ben's face, 'are you in Dreamworld again? Your old man's talking to you and he's suggesting that you take Lily on a tour of the Gold Coast!'

Realising that his father and his friend were talking to him, Ben snapped out of his daze and let out a small chuckle as he looked at his father.

'Oh, sorry, Dad, I was a million miles away. What were you saying?' he said.

'I was saying that you should take our lovely young guest out on a tour around town. You can't just spend all your time moping about anymore! You need to get out, keep yourself busy by doing something and have a life. Get your mind off-' Phil said.

'Yeah, take her to the theme parks!' Cody shouted.

'Take her to Pacific Fair to buy some decent clothes,' Anna added.

'Show her Surfers and all the beaches!' Matt said.

'Take her to Carra Stadium, which is where the Commonwealth Games are going to be held,' Grace said.

'That's actually a good idea, if she's interested and I'll take your suggestions into consideration,' Ben replied, before turning back to Lily, who was looking at the patterns on her dress to cover up the fact that she was hiding a crab in her lap.

'Lily, would you like to join me on a tour of the Gold Coast tomorrow?' Ben said to her, as Lily nodded eagerly and then tilted her head towards his friends, as if to indicate if they would be coming with them as well.

She wouldn't have minded if they joined them but she really wanted it to be just her and Ben, so that she would find the chance to kiss him and she didn't want to do it with a crowd watching them.

'Don't worry, it'll just be the two of us, I promise,' Ben said, then he whispered to her so that his friends wouldn't hear,

'To be honest, I've had enough of these dropkicks for a while, well except for Mia and Grace, since they are great girls, but I think some time alone with you is just what I need. It's been a while since I've gotten to go out into town and I'll think that you'll really love it, since there's heaps to see and do here.'

Lily nodded cheerfully at the idea of a whole day exploring the Gold Coast where it would just her and Ben as there would be no Anna to look down on her and no Senna to scold and lecture her, only Ben, who appeared to like everything about her and if she played her cards right, she would find the perfect moment to kiss him.

'That's great!' Ben said, with a huge smile on his face, when Lily nodded at him, 'I'm really looking forward to it!'

'Wonderful,' Phil said, 'although I am sorry that I'm not going to be around for the tour since I'll be in Auckland tomorrow but I can assure you that Ben will show you everything that makes this wonderful city so popular.

Now, let's eat before the food gets cold and my crab decides to go walkabout from my plate.'

Phil looked down at his plate and was confused at seeing that there was no crab on it while Lily was lost in her daydreams of what the next day might be like and seeing the human world beyond Ben and his experiences for the first time.

Merry Christmas! Here's a little gift from me, a long awaited chapter!

Read and review! :)