Thea's driveway was clear. So was the road that connected her house to Felix's parents' house. Felix's driveway was clear. Marley's entire trek from her grandmother's doorstep to Felix's was clear of snow, the pavement neatly plowed and salted, even the piles of snow bordering the road a pristine white, a far cry from the dirty snow piles that were awaiting Marley back in the city.

And yet her heart yearned for just one thing that wasn't absolutely sparkling white, just one speck of dirt that showed a visible flaw in this surreal world around her.

The road was clear. The night wasn't biting cold although the wind did a good job finding gaps in Marley's pea coat as she walked. Her shoes were tight but comfortable enough, not a squeak to be heard. They were her interview shoes. She had gotten her job at Marguerite's in these shoes. They had brought her luck then, maybe they would bring her luck now.

But even with the roads and her shoes and the less than freezing wind, Marley felt ill-equipped for what lay ahead, as if there was not enough luck or prayers that were going to get her through the evening. She was walking into the lion's den, alone. Sure, Felix lived in said lion's den but Marley was a guest at best, a meal at worst.

Not even Felix's smiling face could break through Marley's whirling storm of defeatist thoughts. She was met with the antithesis of said face a long second after her glove hand reached out and knocked on the black front door.

Marley had had the walk up the drive to inspect the exterior of the house and wasn't too surprised to find it larger than Thea's, another way the Reigns were trying to compete.

"Bold of you to show up here. I had heard the rumors but I didn't think you'd have the nerve," were Winter's first words ever spoken to Marley.

Winter's signature scowl was in place and she was leaning against the doorway, happy to let warm air out and cold air in if it meant physically blocking Marley's entrance into the house.

Her dress was gorgeous and surely more expensive than anything Marley currently owned. Her hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders, her hair a blonde so pale it was almost white.

Turns out the scowl she had always sent Marley whenever she spotted Marley with Christian was a staple in her repertoire of condescending looks.

"You must be Winter. I'm Marley. It's nice to meet you."

Winter's bright gray eyes inspected Marley's outstretched hand as if Marley were handing her a dead rat three weeks old. Marley had yet to see Felix's sister smile and was starting to think she wasn't capable of it. Right along with that train of thought was what could Christian possibly see in this girl?

By association, if this was who he was in love with, this was the first side of her cousin that Marley had seen that she didn't like. At all.

"What do you think you're-"

"Winter!"

Marley didn't bother to try and mask the sigh of relief that escaped her lips, a result of the slight release of tension in her shoulders that swept through her at the sound of Felix's rescuing voice.

"Really, is that how we treat our guests? Marley, hi. Thanks so much for coming. I'm glad you could make it."

The smile on Felix's face was a bad imitation of the one he had worn the night before in the moonlight. This one was tight, tense, stretched too far across his face, without a thought of heading towards his eyes. His eyes were another thing; wide, bright, and hard. He looked as stressed as Marley felt, if not more.

Felix had to physically remove Winter from the doorway to get her to unblock the way in. Her shoulder hit his, harder than a playful tap, as she leaned in to mumble something into his ear while passing.

All Marley caught of her complaint was "-my birthday too, you know."

Winter let them be, floating away like a particularly chill wind whipped into the front hall.

"Come on inside."

Felix played the perfect host, taking Marley's coat, scarf and gloves for her, leaving her alone to inspect the front hall. It was a foyer, technically, and a large one at that.

She thought Thea's was the biggest one she had ever seen but Thea's didn't even compare to the cavernous room Marley found herself in.

It resembled Thea's place, at least aspects of the layout and color scheme seemed to. But it was as if Thea's place was designed with the size of her house in mind, whereas this house looked like it had stolen all her ideas and put them in a space two times too big.

The holiday decorations didn't quite break through the chill darkness of the black and white tile floors. The chandelier was hung from a ceiling that rose too high from the ground. The stairs leading up from the ground floor were too grand and overwhelming. The house as a whole seemed too big.

Even when Felix returned and led Marley into the dining room, the same was true there as well. The table was too long. They were just a party of six. The rest of the table sat in the darkness, empty, dead, like a useless limb.

"Felix, you're sitting here. Your guest can sit over there."

A woman matching Winter's iciness swept into the room after Marley and Felix entered, headed straight for the head of the table but stopping short to take her place to the right. Her smile was brief and tight when she met Marley's eyes.

"You must be Marley. Welcome to our home. My name is Stacia and I'll only be mildly offended if you call me Mrs. Reigns."

"It's nice to meet you," Marley replied, but Stacia's focus was already somewhere else and didn't seem to have heard.

Felix placed a light hand on Marley's back to lead her to the other side of the table. She looked back over her shoulder at him when she felt his hand tremble. His smile only tightened when he met her eyes.

Marley walked around the dark end of the table to avoid having to walk past where Winter and Stacia were already seated, a space left empty between them for Felix.

A deafening silence threatened to descend upon the room if someone didn't speak soon when an older woman entered the dining room.

"Good. Everyone's here. I am nearing starvation and I can't take the smells that are coming from the kitchen any longer. Felix, darling, you look handsome tonight. Winter, darling. My, that dress looks expensive. Stacia."

She moved with grace and ease and looked not much older than Thea if a little more hunched over and shorter in stature. She rounded the table to Marley's side by going around the head of the table and moved to the empty seat just to the left, aiming for the empty seat to Marley's right.

"Be a dear, Marley girl, and help an old lady into her seat."

Marley had barely sat down to jump up again at Felix's grandmother's request. Hers was the first genuine smile Marley had seen since knocking at the front door.

"You must be Felix's grandmother. It's nice to meet you."

"And you must be his special friend. Oh yes, I've heard all about you. You can call me, Fiona, dear. Most people do as it's my name."

Fiona took Marley's hand and gave it a tight affectionate squeeze. Marley's heart leaped at the gesture and could feel her racing heartbeat try and slow itself, even if just a little. Had she found an ally in Fiona?

Marley looked across the table at Felix but he was looking down at his plate, mindlessly straightening out his many forks, a small blush creeping up his cheeks. He only looked up when he felt her gaze and there was that tight smile once again.

Whoever he had been the night before was not seated at the table with Marley. Marley felt her stomach drop and returned Fiona's hand squeeze.

"Where is your-"

"I'm here, I'm here. Don't get all upset."

Stacia's question had been cut short by the arrival of a figure Marley hadn't ever expected to see again, let alone be seated at his dining table having dinner with his family.

"I was finishing up a very important call."

"Really, Matthew, it couldn't have waited?" Stacia asked.

"Yeah, Dad. It's not like it's your children's birthday or anything special like that," Winter grumbled from her seat.

Even slouched and pouting, Winter had better posture than Marley.

"I don't even know why we're having this dinner. It's their twenty-first! They should be out partying. Anything, really, than a boring family dinner. That's what I did for my twenty-first, that's what Mathias did!"

"Yeah, Dad, and remember how well that went?" Winter countered.

Marley thought she heard a snort of laughter from Felix but when she looked at him he was still looking at his plate.

"Who are you?"

Marley froze under Mr. Reigns' gaze, his eyes seemingly boring into her soul.

"Uh..."

"This is Marley, Dad. Marley Harkin. She's my guest for the evening."

Finally, Felix spoke.

"Avery's kid! I should have guessed."

His once over was filled with both contempt and amusement. Marley glanced down at her clothing, wondering if it was something she was wearing, a sign on her forehead, anything that reminded him of her mother.

"Marley, this is Matthew. Matthew, Marley, and her family at staying over at the Clausen's for the holidays."
The perfect host, Stacia made introductions.

"So Avery's back in town, huh? I certainly never thought I'd see the day."

Matthew's laugh lacked amusement. Now there was only contempt.

"Dad. Please. Not tonight."

Matthew held up his hands in mock surrender to Felix's plea. Marley released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding for the last three minutes. A server pushed through the swinging doors that led to the kitchen and dinner began.

It was her experience with fine dining that saved Marley embarrassment over the right silverware to use. That didn't mean Winter didn't watch Marley with eagle eyes, waiting for her to trip up.

Marley made extra sure she was using the right one just to prove Winter wrong.

There was little more than chit-chat through the salad course and the entree. When dessert was served, Fiona spoke.

"With the Christmas luncheon such a success, we've started planning for our Harvest Festival. It seems a little early, I know. But we want to top last year's and these sort of things take time. Felix is heading up-"

"Felix won't be here this fall, Mom. You'll have to find someone else to end up that department."

The deafening silence that had been hanging over their heads fell with a crash at Matthew's pronouncement. Fiona cleared her throat but that did little to lighten the tension.

"Oh? And why would that be, Matthew?"

"Columbia's fall semester starts at the end of August. He'll be too busy with school work. He's behind enough as it is and he'll still have his work at the office-"

"You expect him to be working as well as going to school? If he's as behind as you say he is," Fiona cut in, "Then his whole focus should be on school. Besides, he can help me prepare for the festival between now and then, maybe come out on weekends when school starts."

"Make it an Easter thing, Mom. He'll be busy this fall."

"But it's a Harvest Festival, Matthew, not an Easter-"

"Dad, Grandma, please. Not tonight. We can discuss this later." Felix's face showed genuine frustration, the first sign of something breaking past his fixed facade Marley had seen all night.

"It's always later with you. Life doesn't take gap years, kid. Look at your older brother. Do you think he got to be where he was because he took a 'gap year'? Oh, I'm sorry, 'years'."

Matthew scoffed and Felix was forced to look down to avoid his gaze.

Marley couldn't help feeling like she was watching something she shouldn't be. She shouldn't be there and her eyes kept flitting to the doorway.

"Of course it's always about Felix and Mathias. Well, what about me, Dad? I'm way smarter than both of these clowns and you know it! But are you grooming me to take over the business? No, of course not!"

Winter had found something new to complain about, Marley now long forgotten.

"Winter, we've already decided-"

"No, YOU decided. I've firmly against the decision. I can't work the family business but Felix gets to? I can't even date a Clausen but now that Felix is, we're all okay with it?"

Nope, never mind. Marley had not been forgotten.

She hadn't been working very hard to eat her dessert. She hadn't eaten much of anything and hadn't said a word in a long time. Now all eyes seemed to be glued to her. All eyes, that is, except Felix's.

"We have a guest. Could we please leave the family skeletons in the closet for just one night?"

Fiona's voice of reason seemed to cut through enough of everything left unsaid that Winter and Matthew relaxed and sat back in their seats.

When Marley looked up from her food, she found a sympathetic smile on Fiona's face.

"You're right, Mom. So, Marley, tell us about yourself. Where do you work?"

Matthew was trying hard to keep his voice level. He was doing a good job as his face was a blank canvas, the lack of negative feelings towards Marley or her family hidden. Somehow that made him even scarier.

"Um, well, I... I'm a waitress."

"A waitress."

Winter wasn't as good an actor as her father. The disgust was thick in her voice.

"She's a hostess at an upscale French bistro in the city," Felix explained.

That's not how Marley would have put it but that perspective on her job seemed to lessen the disgust Marley felt radiating from Felix's family.

"I imagine you're at school," Stacia said.

Marley nodded.

"I'm going to NYU, to study-"

"That's where your mother works, isn't it?"

Try as hard as he might, Matthew couldn't keep Avery nor his contempt for her out of his mouth.

"Yes. It is." Marley answered. "She teaches English literature."

"Gotta get that family discount somehow," Winter said around a smirk.

"What are you studying? What are your long term goals, your plans for the future?"

Matthew was leaning forward now, his eyes half-closed, inspecting Marley. Marley suddenly felt like she was in an interview. Luckily she was already wearing her interview shoes.

Marley opened her mouth to speak but found she had run up dry in the words department. She didn't dare tell them about the restaurant dream. They seemed on the verge of laughing at her anyways, that would send them over the top.

"Matthew, calm down. I swear. This is supposed to be a nice birthday dinner and here you are interrogating this poor girl."

Fiona's hand was patting Marley's, her smile soft and understanding. Marley closed her mouth and tried to pull her shoulders down from her ears.

"Besides, you know Thea Clausen. She's not an idiot. I'm sure she'll find a place for all her granddaughters somewhere in the family company. She's not going to let them try anything foolish with their careers. That's what family businesses are for. It's lucky for them Thea reconciled with Avery when she did or one of them might have ended up a writer like their father."

The word writer might have been rodent or serial killer the way it came out of Fiona's mouth. Marley's mouth dropped open once again and she yanked her hand away from Fiona's.

"Excuse me?"

"She didn't mean that, Marley. Trust me-"

Now was the time Felix thought it a good time to speak to her.

"You're defending her? What's wrong with being a writer? My father-"

"Your father is a bumbling idiot who couldn't save two cents if he had a quarter."

Marley felt like she had been slapped and it took her a second to face Matthew. He was smiling, leaned back in his chair, relaxed. All Marley could see was her father's sweet smile, his crooked glasses, his disheveled hair from where he had run his hand through it, trying to think of a specific word.

"Matthew, that's a little harsh, don't you think?" Fiona wasn't defending her father. She was simply chastising her son for being rude.

"You know as well as I do, Mom, that Avery Clausen made the biggest mistake of her life when she ran away with that idiot."

"It was in poor taste, to be sure, but-"

"But what?" Marley cut into Matthew's and Fiona's back and forth, finally meeting Matt's gaze for the first time all night.

"It was her decision, not yours. Neither of you has any clue what you're talking about! You haven't met my father. You don't even know my mother. You're just pissed because she saw right through your phony act and bruised your already delicate ego when she dumped you!"

Marley could feel her face burn and it wasn't because everyone was staring at her. She could feel her lungs expand and retract at a rapid pace as she tried to catch her breath.

"You dated Avery Clausen and you never told me?"

Stacia was the first to break the silence and with her accusation to Matthew, the dam broke. Everyone started calling out accusations all at once. Marley saw her chance and took it.

With one last glance at Felix across the table, she stood up and left the room. Her feet carried her back to the front hall. She had to look for where he had stored her coat, gloves, and scarf but even with that delay, still, no one followed her out. From the sound of the arguments raging on inside, no one had even noticed she had left.

Marley pulled open the large front door and raced out into the cold night. Even as she speed-walked down the driveway, her ears were still tuned to sounds behind her. The front door never opened again after she had slammed it behind her.

No one was racing down the driveway to catch up with her.

Felix had let her leave. He wasn't coming after her.

A/N:

I don't know about you guys but this Big Gloom is rather heavy on the gloom. Maybe the author should hold off a bit, I'm just saying.

No. Wait. I'm the author. Crap.

Okay. How are we doing? Do we have enough tissues? Do we need someone to run out and get more issues?

Do you think you can make it until tomorrow to find out whether or not I'm evil enough for a sad ending?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see....