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Post by Cooper Benson on Dec 28, 2015 21:54:44 GMT
When Melanie had moved out to live on her own, Cooper had given her the suite that the two of them had lived in years before when she'd just been a toddler under the condition that she still came home regularly for dinner with the family. While over the years, his oldest child had gone through phases that had made his blood pressure spike and his stress levels had seen better days - but she always seemed to agree to spend time with the family and would show up doting on Jamie. Melanie's behavior over the years had slightly strained their relationship, though. Cooper had heard, through Maddy, that Melanie had begun seeing someone new and while he wasn't always thrilled with her choice in men, he was choosing to give the entire situation the benefit of the doubt.
Still, he'd told her to cancel whatever plans she had that Saturday for family dinner and, without protest, Melanie had arrived on time. "James, your sister's here," he called out as he let his daughter in.
"Hi Daddy," Melanie greeted her father, kissing him on the cheek before stepping further into her family's home. Without bothering to take her jacket off right away, she made her way to Maddy, pulling her into a hug. She beamed at her. "Hi! I have so much to tell you about later," she grinned, wanting to fill Maddy in on how things had been going with Tripp. Since she'd started seeing him, things had progressed a little faster than she'd expected - but she was surprised with how happy she was about it. Getting through their first fight had led to an important realization of just how much she was already starting to care for him. While a real relationship was still new to her, she'd always appreciated having Maddy to talk to about these kinds of things - and she'd always been understanding and never judgmental - which Melanie couldn't say of her father anymore. Recent years had caused a strain on her relationship with her father that she hated more than she would ever let on. "Where's Jamie? I brought him something. His weird little girlfriend isn't here, is she?"
"Melanie, be nice," Cooper warned.
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Post by Madison Benson on Dec 28, 2015 22:32:59 GMT
Maddy grinned brightly at her step-daughter's arrival, nodding at her eagerly as she released her from the hug. She sometimes had to admit that her own relationship with Melanie was perhaps a little different than she had originally imagined, and it was certainly different than the relationships she had seen between other step-mothers and daughters, but she really wouldn't have had it any other way. Melanie had been just a little girl when they had met, and at the time Maddy had tried to gain the little girl's friendship more than anything else, making the transition into step-mother a little uncomfortable at first. She hadn't wanted to take the place of the mother that Melanie already had, but she also wanted to give Melanie the mother that she had deserved. And so, little by little, Maddy had adopted a joint role of being both mother and friend, and now, with Melanie fully grown, Maddy wasn't afraid to admit that her step-daughter was even one of her best friends.
"I can't wait to hear about it," she told her before moving into the kitchen to finish pulling together dinner.
"She's not weird," Jamie announced as he left his room. He chose to refrain from commenting about how Melanie was the one with a weird boyfriend considering the amount of jam he had seen show up at her apartment, but he figured now wasn't the time to start fights with her. "You didn't bring me jam, did you? You can't pawn your weird gifts off on me, Mel."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 28, 2015 22:47:58 GMT
Melanie rolled her eyes playfully at Jamie, pulling him in for a hug. "She's a little weird, but I guess that's expected since you are too," she teased. "And no, I didn't bring you jam. That's mine," she laughed, reaching into her bag to pull out the gift she'd decided to get for him. "The guy at the store told me it was a special edition, or something, so I thought you'd like it," she said, handing him a comic book wrapped in a protective plastic sleeve. "But if this counts as one of my 'weird gifts' I guess I could take it back and just buy myself a gift. I'm always grateful to myself."
Cooper eyed his children. He had to admit he was glad that the two of them were so close. When James had first been born, Melanie had been thrilled and very protective of her younger brother. Cooper had worried that when she got older and went through her various rebellious phases, that would fade - but it hadn't. In fact, Melanie seemed to have only gotten closer with Maddy and Jamie over the years, but further from him. He sighed and looked at his daughter, "Would you like a drink? Or to take your jacket off?" he asked with a chuckle. "Act like you're going to stay a while."
"A drink sounds great. Wine, maybe?" Melanie shrugged out of her jacket easily, draping it over the back of a chair and tugging her sleeves down quickly before smiling at her family. She turned to Maddy with a bright smile. "What's for dinner? It smells good."
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Post by Madison Benson on Dec 28, 2015 23:28:54 GMT
Jamie eyed his sister for a second, before accepting her gift and smiling at her. "Thanks," he said, looking at it through the protective sleeve. "I think I'll just hang on to this, actually." He had never really understood why so many of his friends and their classmates had seemed to dislike Melanie as much as they had. She had never been anything but the ideal big sister to him, and while he wouldn't have admitted it to her, he would have defended her tirelessly to everyone. She truly was one of the most caring and considerate people that he knew, but he figured that had more to do with the fact that they were related and that they had always been close, and not necessarily that she tended to be like this all of the time.
Hearing Melanie's request for a glass of wine, Maddy nodded and grabbed a glass, filling it with what she knew to be one of Melanie's favorites. "I found a new recipe for a couple of Italian dishes I thought we could try, I hope that's okay?" Holding out the wine glass to her step-daughter, she stepped back into the kitchen and retrieved a few plates of food, setting them down on the table. "Dinner's just about ready if everyone wants to wash up and come to the table."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 28, 2015 23:54:22 GMT
Cooper grinned at his family, nodding at his wife. "I already washed up," he told her, smiling as he took his seat and glanced at James. "So, how has school been going?" he asked him. "Your teachers good? Grades staying up?" It was the same sort of questions he typically asked his son, but recently the answers seemed more important. Suddenly it seemed James was growing up quickly - now he had a girlfriend, he was going out more. In some ways it was reminiscent of what Melanie had done as a teenager, though she'd taken it to certain extremes. Cooper was hoping to avoid the same sort of thing with Jamie. He had a lot of hopes and ideas for his son's future, including taking over the company that had been passed down to Cooper from his own father. So while he was sure James was sick of hearing the same questions, he would keep asking them.
Melanie grinned at Maddy, taking a sip of her wine and then setting it down at her usual seat around the table. She walked over to the sink, running the tap and pulling her sleeves up slightly as she washed her hands. "Italian sounds great, actually. I just read the reviews on this new Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant opening across town that's supposed to be amazing, by the way. We should go one day for lunch, Mom," she remarked.
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Post by James Benson on Dec 29, 2015 0:16:39 GMT
Holding his hands up for a second to let his mom know that his hands were already clean, he took his spot at the table, shrugging at his dad. "School has been fine. The teachers are the same as always." For the longest time he had dismissed the questions as nothing but his parents trying to make small talk and just get to know him a little better, but he was starting to wonder if there was more to it than just that. He knew that things had become strained between his sister and father over the last several years and part of him wondered if in some way his father was checking to make sure that he wasn't picking up any of Melanie's bad habits. Though, it did seem like she had moved past a lot of how she had been in high school. He had still been a little too young to know what was going on, but now that he was older, he could only assume what sort of trouble she had been getting into. "My grades are good," he added.
Maddy grinned and nodded, "That sounds wonderful, just let me know when you want to go and we can set it up." She was amazed at the kind of adult that Melanie had turned into, someone who was intelligent, confident, and beautiful. She caught herself watching her step-daughter for a second, noticing a light purplish color across her wrists. "Hey," Maddy said softly, trying not to make too big of a deal about it just yet. "Is everything okay?" she questioned, nodding in the direction of Melanie's hands.
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 29, 2015 1:45:30 GMT
Cooper smiled at Jamie. "Good, keep up the good work," he told his son. He nodded at him. "And everything else? Everything good?" Cooper wasn't sure how best to talk to his son about things like girls at this point. But he was a bit concerned that his son might take things too fast with a new girlfriend.
Melanie glanced up at Madison in confusion before following her step mother's gaze to her wrists. "Oh. Yeah, it's fine," she said, drying her hands and tugging her sleeves back down. She smiled at Maddy. "Really, it's nothing to worry about," she assured her.
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Post by James Benson on Dec 29, 2015 2:02:04 GMT
Jamie shrugged again. He was definitely getting the feeling that his dad was trying to hint at something, he just wasn't sure what he was trying to get at. It wasn't like anything had really changed in his own life in the last few weeks, or even the last few months. The biggest thing, he supposed, was that Kensi was a recent addition to his life, though he wasn't sure how she really mattered when he had already reassured his parents that his grades were still high and he wasn't slacking on schoolwork to spend time with her. "Yeah, everything is fine."
Maddy frowned a little but nodded, wanting to believe that Melanie had everything under control. She wasn't really sure what was happening, whether it was something Melanie had done to herself, if it was something that had happened in a car accident, or if it was something that someone had done to her. It would have been too easy to spiral down a trail of 'what if's but she chose to stay quiet instead. "Can you grab the rest of the wine and bring it out to the table?" She questioned, giving Melanie a small smile before carrying the rest of dinner out to the table and taking her seat.
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 29, 2015 2:38:05 GMT
Melanie smiled at Madison, nodding as she grabbed the wine and kissed her step mother's cheek quickly. "Sure, dinner smells great by the way," she complimented, making her way back to the table. "Dad, want some wine?" she asked as she took her seat. When he nodded, she poured some into his glass.
Cooper was focusing on his conversation with James when Melanie poured him some wine. It was only when he glanced out of the corner of his eye that he noticed the bruising. Before she could pull her hand away completely, he took her hand, tugging her sleeve up a bit. He looked at her for a moment, "Who did this?"
Melanie tugged her hand away and pulled her sleeve back down, deciding not to make eye contact with anyone. "No one did anything, Dad. Can we just have dinner?" She asked, sitting down and reaching for a serving spoon to put food on her plate. "Really, it looks amazing."
Cooper, however, continued staring at his daughter.
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Post by Madison Benson on Dec 29, 2015 13:51:01 GMT
Madison looked between her husband and her step-daughter for a moment, wishing in that moment that Cooper truly would drop it. In Melanie's entire life, she had never been the one to shy away from giving them information on anything or anyone that had hurt her, and while she had to admit that she was a little uneasy about the bruises herself, she truly believed that if she had cause for concern, then Melanie would have told them. Besides, it wasn't as though she knew all of the sordid details about Melanie's life, and now that she was dating someone new, there was a possibility that there were a lot of things that she didn't know about. That thought did nothing except cause her to look forward to the opportunity to chat with her one-on-on. "Maybe now isn't the best time to talk about this?" she suggested, handing a dish of food off to her son.
Jamie busied himself by dishing out the food that his mother had passed him. It was palpable in the room when his father and sister were on the cusp of a fight, and the tension he felt now was leading him to believe that this had the potential of being a bad one. Generally in these situations he was faced with a dilemma, stay quiet and let them work it out, or pick a side. The truth was that he wasn't sure he wanted to know where Melanie's bruises had come from, and he wasn't sure that he necessarily cared. If it were that bad, he knew, she would have come to him.
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 29, 2015 18:51:33 GMT
Cooper looked up at Madison. “I think that if someone’s hurting one of the kids, I have the right to know about it.” He turned his attention back to Melanie. “It’s this new guy that you’ve been seeing, isn’t it? I’m going to kill him.” Cooper was of the believe that Melanie never had the best taste in men, but the idea that one of them was actually leaving bruises on her made his blood boil.
Melanie frowned, looking down at her plate. “Mom’s right, Dad. Just drop it – it’s not what you think,” she replied stubbornly, before looking up at Jamie. “Can you pass that, please?” she asked, gesturing to the bowl of salad beside her brother.
“Why don’t you tell me what it is then, Melanie,” Cooper suggested stubbornly. “Because if someone’s hurting you, I have the right to know and I’m going to do something about it. I don’t think it’s the best idea that you keep seeing this guy.”
“Tripp wouldn’t ever hurt me,” she snapped back. “And luckily, I’m old enough to make decisions about who I date.”
“You’ve made some bad decisions about that so far,” Cooper pointed out. “Melanie, if something is going on, I want you to tell me about it.”
“Nothing is going on,” Melanie paused, huffing in frustration. This wasn’t the conversation she wanted to be having at the dinner table, especially in front of her younger brother. She dropped her voice a bit, leaning into her father. “Can I talk to you about this in the other room?” she suggested.
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Post by Madison Benson on Dec 29, 2015 19:18:45 GMT
Madison didn't appreciate the way that her husband had dismissed her so easily in an attempt to get to the root of the problem that had caused the bruising around Melanie's wrists. And while the thought had crossed her mind, she also didn't appreciate that he was quick to blame Melanie's new boyfriend for the entire thing. The fact that their daughter kept trying to change the subject and had dismissed the entire idea as not being what everyone was assuming that it was.
She frowned when Cooper stated that he was going to kill the poor man and her frown only deepened when he seemingly expressed his demand that Melanie not see him anymore. "Both of you, stop this right now. Now is not the time to have this conversation. You are both going to sit here, eat dinner, and act like a normal, civilized family for at least the next half hour - okay?" Without waiting for anyone's response, she nodded, forced a smile and turned to Jamie, who was attempting to pass his sister the salad bowl.
"So, sweetheart," Maddy said to her son. "Did your dad already ask you about school? How is everything else going? How's Kensi?"
Jamie cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Fine. Everything is going well."
Smiling a bit more easily, she turned to Melanie. "And everything is going well with you? Did anyone send you more jam?" she teased, hoping that she could at least hold off the argument for another second.
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