Rose Hathaway (roza_) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-06-04 18:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | cinderella's prince, rosemarie hathaway |
Who: Rosemarie Hathaway and Tom Prince
When: Mid-May (before Hellmouth Plot)
Where: Prince Sr.’s house
What: Meet the Parents!
Rating/Warnings: PG
Status: Complete
Tom was a bit nervous about bringing Rose to meet his folks. Mr. and Mrs. Prince were really traditional, and not exactly… warm. But they were good people, when it all boiled down to it. Even if they were ridiculously Republican.
He knocked on her front door, rocking back and forth on his heels. He was dressed nice, but then again, he was always dressed nice.
Meeting the parents. What a scary thing to do. Rose was lucky because her parents were both out on the east coast, so getting Tom to meet the two of them wasn’t something that was going to happen soon. But, she hadn’t even thought about the fact that she would have to meet his parents. It had taken her hours to get get ready for the meeting, but she finally settled on an outfit and finished putting on her heels when he knocked on the door.
Quickly getting up she made her way over to the door and opened it up. Sure he dressed nicely most of the time, but it was different seeing him like this. A small noise of approval slipped from her lips and she grabbed at his tie to bring him in for a kiss, “You look good.”
She looked amazing. Tom was impressed. Then again, Tom was always impressed with the way she looked. He stepped forward when she took hold of his tie, wrapped an arm around her, and stole a proper kiss. “I’m not the only one.” He mumbled against her lips, keeping her against him for a moment. “I like you in this. Can I tear it off you later?” He was teasing. Mostly.
“Of course, but we have to make it through this meeting first. I am not going over to your parent’s place with rumpled clothing,” Rose laughed as she kissed him one more time before pulling away so she could go grab her purse. He was hard to resist sometimes, but she certainly didn’t want to give his parents any reason to dislike her. Once her purse was obtained she walked back over to him and smiled, “I’m so nervous right now.”
“I have a feeling we’ll make it through all right,” Tom said, giving her a smile. He pulled back but kept one hand on her arm. It trailed down to her hand, gave it a squeeze, then released her so she could go grab her things. Then he slipped both hands into the pockets of his slacks and leaned against the doorframe.
“You don’t have anything to be nervous about. I love you. They’re gonna love you.” And if they didn’t? Tom wouldn’t care.
A light blush colored her cheeks when he said that and she gave him a happy smile. She was so totally in love with this man, but she really wanted to get along with his family. As she closed the gap between them she lifted her hands up to cup his cheeks and kissed him, “I love you too. Okay, let’s get out of here so we’re not late. I want to make sure that I leave nothing for them to find a fault with. Besides, if I keep you here any longer then that suit is coming off and getting wrinkled on my floor.”
He was pretty hard to resist, wasn’t he? Charming to the very end. He returned her kiss gladly, hands still in his pockets. The kiss ended and he laughed at her suggestion. “Just a couple hours for dinner, then this suit is coming off and getting wrinkled on the floor.” He turned to lead the way out of the front door, pausing while she locked and closed it, then offered her his arm to walk to the car together. “My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Prince, are old-fashioned. They’re good people, but it might be best to… play up the girly side. Does that make sense?”
The arm was taken as she moved beside him on their way to the car. A small laugh followed him telling her to be girly and she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, “You don’t think I’m girly enough? I’m in a skirt and heels, which I do enjoy wearing on occasion. Or are you basically telling me to downplay the fact that I beat people up for a living?” She totally understood where he was coming from, but the way he had phrased it made her laugh. And yes, being a fighter didn’t throw her in the super girly category, but she was not a complete tomboy outside of work.
Tom looked a little sheepish, and he was incredibly relieved that she laughed. He didn’t want to be insulting. “That’s exactly what I mean.” He clicked the button on his keychain to unlock the door, then pulled it open so she could slip inside. He hopped around to the driver’s side, sat in his own chair and turned on the car. “...my parents would likely prefer that I dated a nurse or a schoolteacher. Or a lawyer, actually.” Because they were so into politics. “They’re probably going to assume you’re a fleeting fancy of mine.” Which was actually quite far from the truth.
“Well, I can technically be a trainer if I wanted to, so that sounds slightly better than MMA fighter. Although I’m pretty badass,” Rose admitted with a laugh before reaching over to take his hand. She gave him a squeeze as he explained his parents thinking she was just a fleeting thing, “Well, I hope not to be just a fleeting fancy because I love you. Have you taken many of your fleeting fancies to meet your parents before?” She was curious about how many girls had reached this point with him.
“I love you, too.” Tom went quiet as he thought about her question. His parents had seen him out with girls before. He’d just never brought one home to meet them. Not like this. This was completely different. He lifted her hand twined with his and kissed her knuckles as he thought, keeping his eyes on the road. “No. Not many. Maybe not any.” He couldn’t remember.
The potential of being the very first girl to meet his parents like this caused her cheeks to flush and she looked over at him fondly. This was a very big step for him and for their relationship and she was going to do her best not to mess it up. He was old enough that his parents dislike of whomever he was dating shouldn’t hold much sway, but she still wanted to be liked by them. “You’re making me even more nervous. If I run away at dinner, it’s probably because the nerves got the best of me, and you can come hold my hair back while I puke,” there was a teasing tone in her voice because that was very low on the scale of things to happen. But there was a high possibility of her being incredibly nervous.
This was a huge step for Tom. And he was playing it cool. He was acting like this was just another date for them, though now that she’d brought it up, his insides were churning with nerves. This was really happening--she was meeting his parents. As a lover, a potential life mate. Because that was one thing Tom knew: once he chose someone to be with, that was forever. He didn’t want to screw this up. Sure, he was a playboy, hard to tame, what have you… but he didn’t want to be anymore.
“I promise I will take care of you if your nerves make you sick.” He frowned, playfully. “Though, please don’t. that’s an even worse first impression, isn’t it?” It was a tease. At a light he turned to her with a grin on his lips.
“It would be absolutely terrible,” she agreed with a grin before laughing, “I promise I won’t be sick. And I will make sure to not talk about beating people up, but they’ll have to learn about that eventually. I’ll be the best girlfriend ever and your parents will absolutely love me.” It was pretty easy for Rose to charm most people into liking her, especially when she genuinely wanted them to like her, which was the case with his parents. Hopefully things would go just fine and they would give her their blessing. It spoke volumes that she would put herself through this for him and that he was allowing her to do this. This was the next step and there was no going back now.
“Of course they will. I love you, how could they not?” Tom asked, lifting her hand in his to kiss her knuckles once more. Then he focused on driving. It just wouldn’t do to get into a car crash on the way to his parents’ house for dinner.
It was a fairly long car ride. Tom put the radio on, and took hold of Rose’s hand once more. He didn’t mind sitting in silence with her, listening to the music coming from his speakers. He played whatever Top 40 station was local and popular. Maroon 5 played like, three songs on the way over.
Driving in silence was always fine with her because it gave her time to study him with a happy smile. She hadn’t expected to fall in love with him, but she was quite pleased that it did happen. He was completely unexpected, but things meshed so well between the two of them. she just wanted things to go well with his parents because she didn’t want there to be an animosity between them since she planned on being with Tom for quite a while. Soon enough they were turning off the freeway and making their way to his parent’s place “Is this the house you grew up in?”
It was a huge manor--probably eight bedrooms and five bathrooms. The place had its own ballroom. And a dining room. And tennis courts. Two pools. That sort of thing. Tom drove casually down the driveway. “It’s one of them.” He said, leaning forward to look at the building, as if trying to see it through Rose’s eyes.
“One of them...Jesus, Tom. Way to make me feel inadequate. Granted, I went to private school and had rich friends growing up, but dayuuuum,” Rose let out a whistle of appreciation as she looked up at it. It was absolutely massive and she was a little intimidated, but she knew he had money, so why was she feeling like this? It was scary to see it like this, but she was kind of curious to see what the inside of it looked like, “Just don’t let me get lost on the way to the bathroom, okay?”
Tom chuckled. “Hey, if you get lost on the way to one, there are four more for you to choose from.” He gave her a little grin, mostly kidding. Mostly. There were four more bathrooms, but she should probably stick with the ones downstairs. “You ready to see what my room looked like when I was in high school?” He was definitely planning on taking her on the tour. Definitely planning on showing her the shrine to Tom that was his bedroom growing up.
“I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to handle seeing that. Are there posters of scantily clad women all over? A set of weights by the closet and more hair styling products than the ozone layer?” it was definitely going to be the highlight of this visit and she was almost tempted to try and seduce him in that bedroom, but would never risk it with his parents being around, “I will totally take photos on my phone and show them to Hans later.”
Tom chuckled. “I’m sure it’s just as I left it when I went off to college.” It was practically a shrine. Sports trophies, framed, academic certificates, and other accomplishment paraphernalia lined the walls, desk and bookshelves. It was pretty boring, though, comparatively. He had photos up of his friends, some graphic novels on the shelf… maybe even a potted plant. But it pretty much looked like a teenage bedroom from a Williams Sonoma catalog.
He pulled into the drive, parked, then turned off the engine. “Here we go.” He said, then leaned over to steal a quick kiss. For luck and courage. She was probably nervous, but so was he. This was a big step.
She didn’t let him take just a quick kiss because her hand shot out to wrap around his neck and she pulled him back in for a longer one. If this didn’t go over well at least she would be able to think about this kiss to get her through the rest of the evening. It wasn’t as long as she would have liked, but his parents were probably watching them or something. Once the kiss was broken she quickly put new lipstick on, flashing him a playful smile, and made her move to get out of the car, “Now or never. I think I may puke in those flower bushes.”
It was possible that the servants were watching them kissing. Probably not Tom’s parents. They were likely already in the parlor having a brandy. Tom brought his own hand over to cup her cheek as they kissed. He groaned when she pulled back. “Jeez, Rose, you’re killing me.” Kisses like that meant tight pants.
He climbed out of the car and hopped around to her side, then held out a hand to her. “You’re gonna be fine.” His fingers laced with hers. “Promise.” Then he led the way up to the front door. It was massive. And the doorbell was one of those ones that went on for fifteen seconds, a jaunty little tune that sounded massive and foreboding when amplified through the whole house.
The killing him comment earned a giggle from her because she knew exactly what she was doing to him and it was her kind of torture for the torture she was about to undergo. Okay, maybe she was being a little dramatic about the meeting the parents thing, but this was a big step. She was the first girl to really meet them and she had to make a good impression because she truly wanted to be with Tom for a long time.
Once his hand was in hers she gave it a squeeze and bit her lip just briefly. The doorbell sounded ominous and she couldn’t help but smirk a little. It was like greeting her demise or something. But soon enough the door was opened by one of the servants and Rose allowed Tom to make the first step into the threshold. Following his lead was what she was going to do for this evening and hoped that he didn’t steer her wrong.
Tom greeted all of the employees in a friendly enough way, but didn’t use any of their names. He’d explain later that they had a fairly high turnover rate. There were a few he knew pretty well, but the rest were either seasonal or came and went. He led the way through to the parlor where, sure enough, his mother and father were sitting in chairs. There was a giant television on one wall. Tom’s father was watching some sports game. His mother was knitting.
“Tom!” Tom’s mother, a stately woman with greying brown hair stood up to wrap her arms around him. He returned the hug.
Tom’s father looked over, then stood from his own chair--though it was obvious that he really wanted to keep an eye on the game.
“Mom, Dad, this is Rose.” Tom said, pulling out of his mother’s arms.
Tom’s Mother looked over at Rose, then back to Tom with a confused and surprised expression. “...you brought a girl home to meet us?”
The place was just as extravagant on the inside as it was on the outside and she found her eyes wandering all around trying to take it all in. The servants seemed nice enough, but she wondered if they were curious about her as she wandered along behind Tom. It was highly unlikely they had seen him bring a woman to meet his parents, so it almost felt like they were watching her about to enter the Coliseum for a match of some sort. The butterflies were fluttering quite often in her stomach and she did her best to stamp that down as they approached his parents.
His hand was dropped as he went forward to greet his mother and then his father. It was sweet to watch him with his family because she hadn’t seen him like this before. It made him a bit more vulnerable and she just wanted to take a picture. But soon enough he was introducing her and she took a step forward to present herself and she almost laughed at his mother’s confusion and surprise.
“I’m just as surprised as you are,” Rose admitted with a smile as she held her hand out to the woman, “But it’s very lovely to meet you.”
Tom’s Mother glanced from Tom to the girl again, then back to Tom. Her expression faded quickly from confusion and shock to utter delight. She was a very put-together woman, with carefully styled hair, perfectly chosen pearls, and a sophisticated ensemble that looked like it belonged in the closet at the white house. She turned to Rose and stepped forward, bridging the gap between them quickly, to wrap the girl up in a hug. “It’s a pleasure, dearie. Come with me. We have so much to talk about!”
Tom looked just as shocked as his mother had a moment before.
Tom’s Mother draped an arm around Rose’s shoulders to lead her off toward the kitchen. “What do you do? How did you meet? I want all the details.”
At least Rose hadn’t chosen wrong when she picked out her outfit. She was almost like a younger version of his mother when it came to dress and that made her happy. They wouldn’t be able to pick that part of her apart at least. The hug was a surprise though and her eyes went wide as she returned it and then was escorted away from Tom towards the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder at him with her eyebrows raised before his mother took her attention again. How did you tell a woman that you met on an online network because you were talking about candy? Well, you didn’t. You just kind of stretched the truth - just like with her job.
“I’m a personal trainer. I met Tom back in September at a local bakery in the area,” yeah that was definitely a good way to make it not sound so weird. They did end up actually meeting at a bakery after the first conversation and then she realized it had been about 9 months since they had first met. How had time flown so quickly? She wasn’t quite sure what to expect with his mother, so she just followed along and explained their relationship to the woman.
“Oh! A fitness girl! How wonderful! I don’t know Tom was even going to a gym.” Tom’s Mother led the way into the kitchen where there was a personal chef putting the finishing touches on the meal they had prepared for tonight. “Ron? Ron, Darling, we’ve got one more plate. Can you make it work?”
“Of course, Mrs. Prince.” The chef had dark skin and bright, white teeth. His smile was kind and genuine. “Dinner in five minutes?”
“Thank you Ron.” Tom’s Mother moved to the fridge to open it up, and pulled out a bottle of Pellegrino. “Can I get you something, Dear? Something to drink?” She asked Rose.
“He doesn’t go to one actually. We met because I have a really horrible sweet tooth and he was kind enough to point out a really delicious dessert and offered to buy it for me,” Rose was certainly trying to keep things as PG as possible when it came to them, but it had been a fairly innocent relationship in the beginning before the Halloween party. At least she wouldn’t have to explain that and she had to assume that his parents knew he wasn’t a virginal saint or anything. She blushed just slightly at the mention of adding another plate and hoped she wasn’t a burden to the poor chef.
“Water is just lovely, thank you,” Rose commented as she watched the woman remove the bottle, “Your house is lovely. Tom was telling me that his room is still the same as it used to be. I’ll have to make sure to check it out and see if there’s any embarrassing photos of him lying around.”
“What a kind soul,” Tom’s Mother poured them each some of the sparkling water from the bottle, then put it back in the fridge. “My Tom’s always been generous and charming.” She said, and offered Rose one of the glasses.
“Hopefully that horrid sporting event will be finished by the time dinner’s ready. Tom’s Father can be so obsessed when it comes to sporting events.” She sipped. “How long have you and Tom been dating? He mentioned he’d been seeing someone, which came as a bit of a shock. Not one to settle down, our Tom! I’m just so pleased that you’re here.”
Tom came wandering into the kitchen. He nodded to the chef, then bee-lined for Rose and brought a hand to the small of her back. “Everything all right?”
As she prepared herself to answer Tom wandered into the room and she relaxed slightly the moment his hand was on the small of her back. She smiled up at him and leaned into his touch before giving him a nod, “Oh yes. Your mother was just asking me about how long we had been together and apparently no one ever expected you to settle down.” That came with a very smug grin because she knew it was so completely true of him. Neither of them expected to be at this point, but she found it safe to say that they were both incredibly happy about the turn of events in their lives.
“We’ve been together for a few months now. It certainly took some time before he actually decided that he wanted to actually have a girlfriend. And I’m happy to be here. Meeting you is very important to me because I know Tom really adores his family,” Rose explained to his mother with a smile before taking a sip of her water, “So, thank you for allowing me to surprise you all and join you for dinner.”
The smug grin on her face was warranted. Tom hadn’t even had a girlfriend before--well, not since he was a teenager, anyway--until Rose came along. And now he couldn’t imagine spending his life with anyone else. It was serious. He wanted to give her a drawer. And a key.
Tom’s Mother had little stars in her eyes as she gazed at her eldest son with a girl. A girl. It was wonderful. “You’re such a sweetheart. I want to hear everything about you over dinner.” She patted Rose on the cheek, then turned to head into the Dining Room.
Tom held Rose back for a moment, lifting his arm to wrap around her, pulling her in for a kiss. “You okay?” He asked, nuzzling his nose against hers.
The pat on the cheek earned a smile and she had to wait until she went into the living room to let out a giggle. That was certainly unexpected, but she was really enjoying the warm welcome she was receiving so far. And she let out a gasp of surprise when Tom pulled her close and snuck a kiss from her. There was a happy sigh as she nuzzled back against him and closed her eyes. Moments like this were so blissful that she wanted to just stop time, “Mmmhmm, your mom is very sweet. It’s kind of fun to be fawned over because I’m like a unicorn.”
After she spoke she leaned in for another kiss and reached up to run her fingers along his cheek, “I love you. I think we’re going to be just fine and I was silly to be so worried.” She could actually picture herself as part of this family and it scared her just slightly. She had never felt like this with anyone else before and it shocked her that she knew that Tom was who she wanted to be with forever.
Tom chuckled. “To my mother, you are a unicorn.” He leaned in at the feel of her fingers on his face, his eyes closing. Then he dipped his head to kiss her again. “I was worried, too. But I guess everything worked out all right. Just don’t let my Father intimidate you. Okay? You already have approval from my mother.” He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a squeeze.
“Let’s go have dinner with my parents.”