The Baker

Chapter 29

The story will start moving quicker after the Thanksgiving activites! I know it's a bit slow now, but it'll pick up!

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Ben quickly wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans as he watched Cassie be brought into a huge bear hug by the man he's been fearing since he and Cassie started dating. Liam was much bigger than Ben imagined. He was quite inimidating with his tall, well-built structure. He didn't look like a man who had cancer, but looked like he was kicking it's ass. Which, he was.

Cassie took a step back from her dad and looked him over. "You look great, dad! How are you feeling?" Liam chuckled, "I'm doing fine, sweetie. You know nothing can tear me away from you and the family." And boy did she know. Cassie turned to Ben and said, "Dad, this is my boyfriend, Benedict. Ben, this is my dad, Liam." Liam walked up to Ben and said, "It's nice to meet you, Benedict." Ben took a deep breath and confidently shook his hand, while saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hansen. Cassie's told me so much about you." Liam chuckled and patted Ben on the back. Ben nearly fell over from the blows, but stood his ground. 

"All good things, I hope?" Liam chuckled. "And please, call me Liam." Cassie saw Ben visabally relax. She smiled at knowing her plan worked. Liam continued, "Well, you kids come inside and we'll get you settled. Leo's at the store, getting some last minute things, and Kell is in her room. She's napping, but she's in a mood today." Cassie smiled and rolled her eyes. Kelly was your typical teenage drama queen. Only Cassie can tame her. That's why she patted Liam's arm and said, "I'll get her." 

Ben picked the luggage back up and walked into the old, modern house. Cassie was starting to go up the stairs, so he followed and was eventually led into a rather large bedroom. There wasn't much to it, except for a double bed in the middle, a wardrobe across from it, a love seat by the door, and then a windowsill seat that had a great view of the small town. 

Ben set their luggage down and walked aimlessly around, looking at all her pictures on the wall. "Baby, did you take these?" He asked in amazement. He looked over one that was a close up of a white flower splashed with red. Cassie went up next to him and said, "Yeah. My mom wasn't too happy that I ruined her white dasies with paint, but I think it was worth it." Ben smiled and turned to her. "Is there anything you can't do?" He asked. Cassie winked and tapped her nose with her finger, while turning and walking away. Ben bit his lip and watched her, as she teasingly swayed her hips.

After putting away their clothes in Cassie's empty drawers, they made their way downstairs, where Ben proceeded to meet Cassie's mother, Julianne, or Julie as she preferred. Juile pulled Ben into a bone-crushing hug and said, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ben! We're so excited you could make it here!"  Cassie looked curiously at her mother because she's never like this. Like, ever. Still she continued to watch, as Ben said, "Thank you for inviting me! I wouldn't miss it for the world!" He charmed her up pretty quickly by offering to help with the cooking and any cleaning, but she just sat him down at the table, and then started feeding him and Cassie ridiculous amounts of food. They were hungry, but not that hungry. When they were done, they had to practically roll up the stairs. 

They both plopped down on her bed with filled bellies and groaned. "I see where you get your cooking skills from," Ben told her. Cassie chuckled, "Yeah. If you think I'm a threat to your nutrition thing, just stay an extra week and my cooking will seem like the healthiest thing you've eaten in years." That made him laugh. After a few minutes, they heard some movement across the hall. Cassie started to get up, but Ben pulled her back down and asked, "Where do you think you're going?" "To say hello to my little sister," she giggled. Ben let her get up and he followed.

They walked across the hall and into a bedroom much like Cassie's, except the walls were covered in posters of boy bands and celebrities. Also, unlike Cassie's, there was a lot of pink and purple. Like way too much. Ben saw Cassie wince when she looked around, as he knew that those were two of many of her least favorite colors. 

Cassie walked further into the room, towards a girl about half her size with very blonde and very long hair. She was wearing a black, above the knee length dress and was currently applying make-up to her already rosie cheeks. From seeing her reflection in the mirror, Ben noticed that she looked like she could be Cassie's much younger twin. He wondered if that's what Cassie looked like at 15. He also determined that if Cassie had an opposite, Kelly would be it. 

"Hey, Kell!" Cassie excitedly shouted. Kelly jumped a bit, but then turned around and immediately attacked Cassie in a hug, while shouting, "Cassie!" They both giggled as they hugged the life out of each other. Cassie held her sister out at arms length and sighed contently. She looked over her little sister and with a smile on her face, asked, "What in the actual hell are you wearing?" Kelly opened her mouth to answer, but Cassie said "Never mind, I don't want to know. I won't get blamed for knowing what you were up to and not stopping you." She turned to Ben and said, "Ben, this is my little, little sister, Kelly. Kelly, this is my boyfriend, Ben." 

Ben smiled and cautiously walked into the room, while saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kelly." They shook hands and she said, "Wow. Cassie was right...you are pretty hot." Ben busted up laughing and Cassie punched Kelly in the arm. When Ben wouldn't stop laughing, she punched his shoulder. "Ow," he chuckled. "You're not very nice." Kelly scoffed, "She's never nice! When I was little, she would pick on me all the time!" Ben playfully gasped at Cassie, who was now covering Kelly's mouth with her hand. "You are still little," Cassie argued. "And you are changing! This is not...appropriate for a fifteen-year-old." 

Kelly got out of Cassie's death grip and whined, "But I like it!" They went back and forth on why Kelly should or should not wear the dress and Ben just stood by with a smile on his face. She would make a great mother, he thought. But it was too soon to think about that...unfortunately. 

Eventually, Cassie won the argument and Kelly went to go change. In the meantime, Cassie pulled Ben back into her bedroom and shut the door. 

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So I'm thinking of writing an AU where Ben is not an actor, but a lot weird and creepy stuff goes down...yeah, I have a summary, I would just rather start it before letting it out. It could work, so I'm just going to go a head and start it, but I will be keeping up with this one and the one-shots!