Officially Cumberbatched? A sequel to 'Well and truly Cumberbatched'

Chapter 6

Our parents were settled in their chairs at the dining table, chatting over a glass of wine as me and Ben plated up their soup for starters. As I was plating up the last bowl at the kitchen island I felt Ben's arm go around my waist as he gently kissed my cheek a few times and I tried not blushing but did anyway and kissed him back on the lips just once, and we both smiled a little, I felt a few butterflies in my stomach.

"I swear these two can't leave each other alone for five minutes, you should've seen them at Finn's gig a few weeks ago, thinking no one could see them." my dad Michael said as my mum Imogen laughed and Ben's parents Tim and Wanda joined in; I just mouthed 'oh my fucking god' to Ben who went bright red and proceeded to put bowls down for his parents, then mine.

I sighed and went to sit down. I was sat down at the table opposite Ben, next to Tim. Dad was sat next to Ben and our mum's were sat at either end of the table.

"Thanks dad, not like you've got four other children to humiliate, gosh. We're not glued at the hip." I said pouring myself and Ben a glass of wine, knowing my face was probably bright red which only made them laugh harder, so embarrassing.

"Only playing with you Rosie" dad winked and I forced a faint smile.

"Never too old to be teased darling" Tim said in my ear and I tucked some hair behind my ear. "Well, a toast then?" Ben swiftly said, thankfully interrupting anymore mortification. "Urm, a toast to being home again, and for coming over tonight" Ben said and we all clinked glasses. 

Some time passed as everyone finished their starters and we were now eating homemade cheesy meatballs and spaghetti. "I know you can cook Rosie but these are wonderful!" Wanda said and I smiled a little. "That's very nice of you to say Wandie (I sometimes call her that, it's kinda cute) but Ben made them acually" I smiled.

"Oh my, well thank you my darling Benny. Although he did make them in your kitchen so thank you to both of you" she said and everyone carried on chatting between mouthfulls.

"You know Ben, Rosie, there have been some lovely properties in the area for sale you know. Should you want to get a place in Hampstead." Wanda said, twirling some spaghetti on a fork. I could hear Ben rolling his eyes without looking.

Before I could even think of what to say I felt Ben's toes suddenly move between my thighs under the table and I jumped a little. I didn't even look at him, because it would've made it blindingly obvious to our parents what was happening.

"Are you okay darling?" Mum asked as I tried to not giggle. 

"Yeah, yeah... urm sorry I urm, yeah I think it's just urm hiccups, you know how bad they get for me" I said, somehwat flustered, leaving the table and getting a glass of water I didn't even need. I sat back down at the table and saw Ben had the cheekiest smile on his face. I glared a little at him with a tiny smile and he smiled some more as I tucked some hair behind my ears again. "Anyway, have you been looking for anything?" Wanda asked. 

"It's really not a priority of ours at the moment" Ben said, tearing at some garlic bread. It was kinda cute when he gets all grumpy with his parents. Childish but cute.

"Darling, it's been over four and-" she barely said before Ben interrupted.

"A half years, I do own a calendar" he said and I laughed, as did Tim. 

"Rosie, do you not want to find somewhere for the two of you?" she asked.

"We practically live together most of the time when we're both in London anyway. We're only like what, a quick drive from each others houses. We're in a good place" I said and Ben nodded, he looked less irritated now.  

"If you say so, I'm happy as long as you're happy" she smiled as did I.

"I think she's hoping for the pitter patter of a grandbaby is all, she loves kids. Don't worry. You and Ben clearly have things going the way you want them to" Tim whispered in my ear as Ben, Wanda, and my parents chatted. I nodded and turned slightly to face him.

"Merlin is like having a child sometimes, I don't mind if you two want to have him around when I'm in the area, he does love the countryside" I quietly said and his eyes widened. "I do love Merlin but I'm not sure I can handle just how strong he is now, he's pure muscle" he said and I nodded, Merlin is pretty strong these days. 

The evening went on and everyone headed to the living room to settle down with a film over dessert. I was in the kitchen plating up when Wanda popped in. "Rosie darling, would you like some help?" she asked as Merlin walked past her feet and headed to his food bowl.

"That'd be great, thank you" I smiled as I cut the chocolate cake.

"Now this, I did make" I said as she passed me more dessert plates from the cupboard. 

"I must say, you and Benny really do have a great thing going on. I don't want to seem too forward when I badger him about getting a place of your own; it's just a nice thought  to know you well..." she went a bit quiet, I could see she was somewhat avoiding saying something. 

"To know that we have something more permanent? We're not going to crash and burn Wanda, I love your son too much. I understand your concern because of his past relationships but we're good, we're okay. I kinda like missing him a little when he's not here, it's a little sweet to have sort of sleepovers." I said and her eyes lit up like I said something she's been dying to hear. 

"Oh darling, that's adorable!" she exclaimed, hugging me from the side and I smiled, putting my free arm around her as I heated up some custard on the stove. "Honestly, we're really just fine. Half his stuff is here and half my stuff is at his place; that's real commitment- allowing your boyfriend to take over more than half your wardrobe and your bathroom- you know how much I love my wardrobe. He has more clothes than me. He denies that obviously but it's true." I said and she laughed. 

I plated everything up and we headed to the front room and handed everyone their desserts. "What took you so long? Having a wee gossip were we?" Dad asked.

"We were discussing if we should leave you in a ditch or just hide your cold corpse dad." I said rather bluntly and his face, well everyone's turned to stone.

"Oh my god it was a joke, a ditch obviously, there was no decision making needed, christ you lot need to lighten up." I said taking another mouthfull and everyone just laughed. 

"What are we gonna watch then?" Ben asked.

"I'll choose" I said, going over to the DVD section of the shelf and picking out 'Zodiac', what girl doesn't like a bit of Ruffalo, Downey Jr, and Gyllenhaal in her life all in one go? I turned the lights off, popped the DVD in and quietly collected everyone's bowls and headed to the kitchen to load the dishwasher whilst Ben and our parents watched the movie over some more wine

. "Allow me to help?" Ben asked as he came in the kitchen and took a pile of plates from my hand and loaded them in the dishwasher.

"Thank you" I smiled.

"My pleasure, honestly" he said as we cleared the table. 

"What were you and mum talking about?" Ben asked, as he cleaned up a few remaining things.

"Eeeh, I'll tell you later, let's finish the film before they think we're up to something." I said, grabbing my old university hoody off the counter and putting it on. He nodded and we headed back to the living room, Merlin curled up by Wanda's feet as the film played which was really cute.

Sometime later...

The credits roll and after some more chatting we called our parents cabs home and said our goodbye's.