Piece By Piece

Family Portrait

The dreaded dinner party had arrived. Malia spent the whole day running around, making sure everything was perfect and that everyone knew what was supposed to happen. She knew the people who would be the most critical were going to be Jensen's father, Alan, and her stepmother, Mallory. For different reasons, of course, but still critical none the less.

Everyone was going to be there: from Jensen's parents to his siblings with their respective spouses, as well as her father and stepmother. She wanted to make sure things were perfect for them, so they all could see they were both really trying to make things work.

They all arrived at the house and settled around the living room, making small talk until dinner was served. Jensen and herself sat on each end of the table, their guests coupled on each side of them.

The dinner went off smoothly, everyone enjoying the meal and praising the chef and Malia for the choices that were made. Well, everyone but Mallory. With every dish, Mallory would find a new thing to criticize, it didn't matter what it was. But seeing that no one was paying her much attention, halfway through dinner she stopped.

When it was over, they split up. The men went to Jensen's office and the women to the parlor. Coffee, tea and cookies were served, and conversations flowed. The men talked of their business and future deals that were in the making, while the ladies complimented Malia on dinner and wanted to know how she and Jensen were doing. But if Malia thought she was in the clear, with a drama free night, she couldn't be more wrong.

It didn't take long for Mallory to start criticizing everything again, this time being a lot more vocal than she had been at the table. From the way the table had been set-up to what was served for them to eat to the wine and dessert choices, nothing was up to her standards.

At first Malia tried being diplomatic and defuse the situation, not wanting to cause a scene in front of her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. But things escalated quickly, with Mallory calling out Malia for trying to pose as the perfect wife and woman when she was nothing like that and claiming she was the reason Mallory and Malia's father, Bryan, never had any kids of their own, as well as saying that Malia would never be happy and that it was Malia's fault her marriage was failing. It got to the point were Donna, Jensen's mother, his sister, and his sister-in-law, all stepped up and defended Malia against Mallory's attack.

Their argument got loud enough the men heard them in Jensen's office and made their way to the parlor to try and understand what was going on. After asking what was happening, Jensen noticed Malia trying to defuse the situation, by claiming it was just a misunderstanding between them, but Donna believed Jensen deserved to know the truth of what was going on and told him everything that had been said by Mallory.

Jensen was livid. He couldn't believe that Mallory would say such things about Malia. He knew their relationship wasn't the best, that the woman didn't like that Malia's father already had a daughter when she married him, but to go as far as blame her for her failing marriage was absurd.

Jensen quickly took Malia's side and forbid Mallory from ever getting anywhere near Malia or from coming to their house again. Still, he made a point of letting Malia's father know that, unlike Mallory, he was always welcome there.

Bryan apologized to everyone for his wife's behavior before turning to Malia and apologizing to her as well and leaving with a very disgruntled Mallory in tow. Malia quickly apologized to everyone as well. They all decided to call it a night then, and before leaving, made sure that Malia knew that no one blamed her for what had happened.

Malia is standing alone in the parlor, after everyone as left, trying to make sense of what had happened. She couldn't wrap her head around the succession of events that lead them there. She didn't notice Jensen walking in and talking to her. It was only when he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight that she even realized that she had been holding back tears, tears that were now free falling onto his shoulder.

It broke Jensen's heart seeing her like that. He didn't know what else to do, other than hold her and allow her to let out the tears she clearly had been holding back for a while. Once she calmed down, he led her back to her room so she could have a good night's sleep, something they both desperately needed after what had happened. They could talk it over in the morning.