For Family

She hadn't exactly meant to be late. She had just meant to be just barely on time. The only problem with playing that game was their was a fine line between on time and late, and Juliet had never been very good at balancing.

Her plan however had worked for her. The ceremony was just starting as she steered herself and her date into a seat in the back. There had been absolutely no time to speak to anyone. Her mother had sent her a glance as she whipped down, into a chair. Juliet could only manage a shy smile and wave before she set her gaze straight again, watching the familiar figure of both her brother's at the front of the church and realizing with a sinking heart she really did have no idea the woman coming to join them. The downside to her plan however, was coming up. As she dragged Zander into the reception area, her hand gripping his as if she was threatening to be dragged off by a storm and he was the only thing keeping her to the ground, she realized she'd be stuck with them all at once. Her stomach clenched and her face paled, making the green halter dress look all the brighter with her decreasing complexion.

Gazing around at the tables set up, she caught a familiar flash of almost blonde hair and her stomach dropped. Of course she'd be sitting with her, she was her family. Juliet supposed she should be thankful that she could take them slower - Simon and Zach sitting at the main table - but she couldn't help but regret a little bit that it was Abigail.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded began to lead Zander through the crowd, hoping to find Zach at least for some safe ground. Might as well get the worst out of the way first.

"I'm not entirely sure how this is... if she's less than nice, I'm sorry," nodding her head slowly, stealing herself she spent a moment longer looking at Zander than was possibly necessary before reaching out and tapping the girl's bare shoulder. "Abby?" Her sister's expression as almost blank as she turned to look at her. Juliet wasn't sure if this was better or not. The last few words she had screamed at her before she had left were dancing in her head.

She decided to just forge ahead anyway, "Zander, this is my sister Abby. Abby, this is Zander."

He hadn't known what to wear.

Weddings were formal, that was for sure, but he hadn't had any dress shirts that weren't too small, or too dirty. Instead, he'd gone for a tuxido vest and a very clean white tshirt, hoping that running a comb through his hair was good enough. The tattoos on his arm shined in the summer sunlight, and just below the muscle tightened and flexed with his nervousness.

"Julie-" He tried, accent thick with nervousness as his eyes sweept the extravegent decor. "I don't-" But then he was being introduced to someone who looked like an older Juliet, and his breath was taken away. Was this what she would grow up to look like?

"Hello." He greeted politely, wrapping an arm around Julie's waist in an attempt to not only calm her, but comfort himself as well. "It is nice to meet you. Julie has told me much about you."

His accent was more noticeable, it was obvious that he was as nervous as she was, but for once in her life she was too preoccupied with her own concerns to properly acknowledge another's. At a later point she would be sure to look back upon this moment and realize what she missed, and feel awful for it. But at the present time it was Abigail that had her full attention.

She looked more beautiful than she ever had. Filled out her dress better than Juliet knew she could ever hope to, and with her natural grace, and confidence she was the looker that she had always been. As far as Juliet could tell she had brought a date with her, but that didn't matter. Almost every male in the room was glancing at her appreciatively. Juliet even thought she noticed Zander glancing though she couldn't be sure.

Abby, for her part still hasn't said a word. She was looking over at Juliet only managing to drag her gaze back to Zander to nod her head in greeting.

"I didn't think you were going to come." From her tone Juliet couldn't decide if Abigail was happy that she had or not. Unsure she how to respond she opted for shrugging, leaning ever so closer to Zander.

"Well I did."

Instead of responding, Abby tore her gaze back to Zander, seeming to have dealt with Juliet for the moment and had moved on. Her gaze moved down the boy and then back up again. Her gaze lingering on the arm for a long moment.

"Tattoos huh? Nice," Abby nodded slowly, eyes flicking back up to his face. "How old are you anyway. Not as young as itsy bitsy 'Julie' over here. Our little baby's all grow up isn't she." Reaching out to rub Juliet's hair she had a glint in her eye that drew trouble. "Even using her big girl name now."

Although Juliet left the smile on her face; her eyes told a different story. She remained silent as she looked around the room, looking for a way out that she didn't have. Letting her shoulders sag, she gave up and decided just to wait it out.

Zander's fingers curled into the fabric at Juliet's side, even as he straightened his spine and raised an eyebrow at her sister. All things considered, he was sure he liked Julie more, her particular set of features were just that more satisfying than her sisters was. Besides, if he'd wanted to, at that moment, lean over and give Julie a kiss, he could, no matter how terrible the results would be. Self control aside, he didn't want to come any closer to the sister, while with Julie close never seemed close enough.

With a small smirk that betrayed his thoughts, he nodded to Abigal, polite as anyone could ever be taught to be. His accent was unchecked now, natural, for he was no longer trying to hide it. "Age is but a number, yes?" He grinned, then shrugged. "I'm only seventeen. It's not that much older." Quirking an eyebrow, he gave a short laugh. "I don't have control of the relationship anyway."

Looking the sister up and down, he looked back at Julie, evidently uninterested in her sister, and the image she made. "Don't people sit down at these things, or would you prefer to dance instead?"

Flattening her hair after Abby moved her hand, Juliet fidgeted only for a moment. She could feel herself slipping into the person she always was with her family - the youngest child, the other siblings shadow. Willing if not happy to go along with whatever they say, blend into the background, take whatever they said to her for the mere fact that they were older, and her family. Were they not allowed to do such things? Wasn't that what it meant to be them?

When Zander spoke, though, something changed. A little spark in her brain lit up and she remembered something. She wasn't their little J. J. any more. She would always be their sister, always care for them, be there if they needed her but she wasn't their passive little darling any longer.

"What can I say," she shrugged at her sister, grin tugging at her lips, "Time seems to make people grow up, funny how it does that doesn't it?" Her grin only tugged a little wider as she sister just blinked back at her. Despite the tantrum she had directed at Abby before she had stormed out of the house, it seems that she had hoped that everything between them, would be the same as it had been before that. Now that it wasn't she didn't know what to do with the situation.

"I want to dance," she nodded her head firmly, voice confident as she pushed on the tip of her toes to brush her lips against Zander's cheek. "Lets go."

Turning to leave she stopped as a thought came to her. For the first time since they had arrived she actually took a step away from her date and wrapped her arms around her sister.

"It was good to see you again Abby. We'll talk later, okay? Say hi to whatever poor lust-filled sucker you convinced to come with you this time. You aren't still dating Aiden Mckellen are you? He was a loser." With out waiting for another response she pulled away, a grin on her face as she took Zander's hand again, and dragged him off.

"Come on. You better be good at this, cause its now your responsibility to make sure I don't trip over my feet."

A smile grew over her lips as he looked down at her, an arm comfortably around her waist as she returned to his side. "Of course you can dance, and I can too. You just needed-" He spun her away from him, her hand in his the only tether to him she had before he brought her back, holding her to his chest with a small smile. "The right lead."

Spinning her out again, he pulled his arm above her head, so she spun in place instead, then placed a hand on the small of her back and kept her other firmly trapped in his. Smiling, he lead her around the dance floor, keeping the steps moderately simple as not to trip her up.

He kept his gaze safely on her - there wasn't much else he wanted to look at anyway - and tried to keep the smile on his face. "Is there a reason that there are three men, one of which is the groom, looking at me as if I have just signed the check to my own casket?" He asked, resisting the urge to pull her closer. "I would be most unhappy if you brought me here only to have me killed."

Giggling slightly, she twirled with him the second time coming back to him with a small little grin. Resting her hand on his shoulder she alternated between looking at her feet and then back up at the boy.

"Well," she said after a moment, looking at him for a long unbroken period of time, finally confident that with him he wouldn't let her trip. "I think I found the right lead."

Taking careful steps, she tried to get the music in her head to no avail. In the end she was just glad that she hadn't tripped yet. In fact, she was just glad that he was there. Looking at her feet for a moment she slide herself closer, hoping not to trip herself in the act, "I'm glad that you're here. Thank you Zander."

Tilting her head to the side, she looked over in the direction, glancing at the male members of her family. She wasn't sure if Zander's assessment of their expression was completely accurate but they were certainly... glancing in their direction with a certain intensity.

"Well that might be because as the baby of the family they've never seen me with a boy in any of our lives, and you have tribal like tattoos all over your arm." She grinned slightly, the pair turning slightly so she could no longer see them. "I promise I didn't bring you here to kill you. They may look less hostile if we talked to them; its up to you though. Simon's pretty lame and Zach's scrawny but I think my father's been in a fight or two in his day."

The smile he gave her was bright, happiness personified, as he continued to lead them around the dance floor. “I’m glad.” He murmured, eyes caught in hers. He blinked as she looked down and away from him, a slight flush adorning his cheeks as she moved closer. “Julie.” He warned slightly, swallowing as they continued their dance. “I’m glad to be here, but I highly doubt getting closer to me is going to accomplish anything but making me want to kiss you.” His hold on her tightened slightly, even as he spun them. “More than I do in any other case, I suppose, but I doubt doing that is going to get me any favors with your family.”

He spun her out again, letting their hands be their only tether, until he pulled her back again, somehow ending with her back to his front, and his arm wrapped around her. “Luckily for me, I don’t need to choose.” He whispered, lips just brushing her ear. “Here comes the cavalry.”

A tap on his shoulder, and he moved away from her, smiling innocently at the groom. “You don’t mind if I cut in to dance with my sister, do you?” Zach – at least, that’s who Zander thought he was – was nothing but polite.

“Of course not.” Zander said, shaking the other man’s hand firmly and grinning at Juliet. Instantanously, it seemed, her brother stepped in, but before he could fully make it off the dance floor, the sister from earlier – her name started with an A, he thought – slipping into his hold and dragged him into a dance.

“So, you’re dating our little JJ…” She murmured, keeping him close – much closer than he was comfortable being, not that he showed it – and letting him lead the dance. As the conversation between them continued, Zander found it harder and harder to actually focus on the girl he was dancing with, instead glancing back at Julie every time he was able, until something the girl in his arms said pulled him up short. Eyebrows furrowing, he looked down at her, the way she was fluttering her lashes and biting her lower lip, the way her voice had dropped in volume and her fingers traced across his shoulder and arm.

“What?” She was too close to him, that was it. He was thrown off balance by their proximity, and the way his stomach lurched at it. He didn’t want to be that close to her. Not really. That’s what was confusing.

“Perhaps you should find a new dance partner.” He said cooly, stepping out of her hold as the song ended. “Thank you for dancing with me.” He added, nodding to her before glancing around for Juliet. Where had she gone to, anyway? He’d rather have been dancing with her instead.

Warmth spread over her face, ending the laughter that had been on her lips as she found herself back against him, his face invisible for the moment, but his voice soft, warm and ever present tickling her ears. She glanced at her approaching family but didn't bother to respond to his words, she still had an answer from his last statement that was waiting, dying to be stated.

"But it may get you some favours with me," her voice was lowering further because of the growing proximity of Zachary and Simon, but it was still loud enough to be heard by Zander. Of course, there was the sink of disappointment when before she could get anything done about her flirting, she found herself dancing with Zach instead. Simon was weaving in and out of the crowd still - obviously planning to eavesdrop long enough to put his two cents in. The two boys had - wisely - decided that between the two of them, if Juliet was going to tell either of them anything, it was Zach who would be more likely to get anything. The almost ten year difference between herself and Simon had been too much to overcome, and as a result they never really became close.

"You know, I love you Zach, but I was kind of having more fun over there." Always remaining close to Zachary, even while her magic created a bigger gap between everyone else, Juliet easily fell into a her usual manner with him.

"Funny you should mention that - we were just talking about that you know."

Letting Zach spin her, Juliet twirled out and then back in, cocking her head to the side once she returned to their former position, "We're you? How interesting. It was all good things I hope." Juliet wasn't the same person that she had been when they had last all lived in the same house. Being independent, away from her sibling had given her the chance to grow. Although Zach had remained in contact with her during that time, and did have some idea of the changes, the growth within his sister, this was the first time he was really seeing it head on.

It was the first time he was seeing that maybe his little sister wasn't all that little any more.

"Don't you think he's a little, well old for you?" Zach's main concern had obviously been the same thing Abby had picked up on - only for her own reasons. Juliet was quite sure her sister wasn't concerned about her innocence or virtue.

Letting out a breath, Juliet was silent for a moment, glancing around the crowd for Zander, but at the moment they way the two couples had moved, she had - thankfully - lost sight of him, "Look Zach. I know, this is hard for all of you to deal with, but I'm not a little girl, and Zander's not a bad guy. He's probably the nicest, sweetest most-" she stopped and shook her head, letting out a little laugh, "The last thing you need to worry about, is him hurting me, in anyway. I'm positive he'd hurt himself before he did that." Letting out a breath, she nodded, letting the music take the space her voice had been taking up for a moment. Waiting for Zach to say something in return, only... well he didn't. He just got an odd look on his face, and remained silent for perhaps the only time she could remember in her life. "You-you can go tell that to Dad and Simon."

Again, she waited for her brother to say something, and again only the music filled the space, causing her to look around again, trying to spy her date instead of looking at her brother. Just when she thought she caught him - and was that ...? - Zachary finally broke out of his spell.

"You really care for him, don't you?" The surprise in his voice brought surprise to herself. It had seemed like such an obvious statement, but the way that Zach put it, made it feel like maybe he meant something more.

Though Juliet couldn't figure out what.

"Yeah. I mean he's-he's-" She looked around again, and caught what she thought she saw before, only this time there was no denying it. "Dancing with Abby." Her voice was flat, though there as a crystal of something else, something deeper, angrier, coming underneath it.

"Wha-"

"That b-" Juliet cut herself off with a huff, and her eyes narrowed, "How do you think she would look with lizard skin?" She was in such a state she was forgetting that she wasn't even allowed to cast spells at the moment.

"Jules," Zach was the only member of her family that had been informed of the name switch, and had gotten use to it, "Will you relax?"

This seemed to only to cause the younger girl to do the opposite, "No. Abby just can't keep her hands off anything that isn't hers. Someone should teach her otherwise."

This only caused her brother to laugh. He was actually happy to see his sister stand up to Abby, even if it wasn't necessary at this moment; he had watched Juliet take too much from demanding Abigail for too many years. However, at this moment, Zach was seeing what Juliet was not. Where the younger one only saw her sister, the gaze and movements she was giving, the older saw the boy and his behaviours towards Abby's advances.

"No, she can't. But that doesn't mean that all things she puts her hands on will let her keep them there." A frown crossed Juliet's face, as the music stopped. She looked at her brother and then back to the pair, only to find that the pair had become only one rather disgruntled looking sister. "Go find your Romeo, Juliet."

Rolling her eyes, Jules kissed her brother on the cheek, "I'm only letting you get away with that one, cause I'm in a good mood."

He laughed and wrinkled her hair, "If you don't come back and give me a proper introduction before you leave, I'll make sure there are more where that one came from."

Waiting only long enough to stick out her tongue, Juliet was gone, weaving through the crowd, towards where she could see Zander. Wrapping her arms around him from behind with a confidence that she rarely exhibited, she snuggled close a ghost of a smirk on her face, "Now, I believe you were telling me something about how much you wanted to kiss me before we got interrupted."

A small smile grew across the boy's face as his hands rested on top of hers, quite unfamiliar with the feeling of someone's arms wrapping around him in a such a way. Deciding that it was pleasant, he hummed softly, taking on of the hands in his and raising it to hers. Spinning so as to be facing her, he placed a light kiss on her palm, touch gentle. "There you are." He teased, eyes sparkling merrily. "A kiss, as promised, milady."

With a gentle tug, she was pulled into his arms, the hug bringing her close. He relaxed slightly, giving a soft sigh. "Let's agree to not dance with other people anymore, okay? If one of your relatives want to dance with you, I'm sitting down." He nodded, pressing a swift kiss to her forehead as he pulled away. "Two kisses." He whispered mischievously, taking her hand.

"Now, introduce me to the men of your family before this wedding turns into an ill-timed funeral."

Her smirk couldn't quite contend with the genuinely happy grin that was taking over her face instead, as she rested her cheek against his shoulder, the highest point of the boy she could lean against without stretching. The warmth of her hand in his, her body against his was causing a giddy sort of feeling to spread through out her, making her feel more alive - excited in a... happy sort of way.

That grin couldn't even been knocked out by the pout that she could only hold onto for only a few moments as he pressed his lips to her palm. Her nose wrinkled - rather adorably one might add, though that one would never be Juliet - in protest, eyes still twinkling, "That was hardly counts as a kiss, and you know it mister."

Her supposedly forceful glare was cut off by his tug, and she found herself snuggling quite easily into his chest instead. Her arms fit around his middle as easily as if they were made to be placed there - in her private moments, when she allowed herself childish thoughts, and school-girlish fancy, Juliet liked to pounder that maybe they were, "Those hacks. I don't want to dance with any of them anyway." She nuzzled her cheek against his shirt, feeling the warmth and listening to the slight beat of his heart through the material. "I didn't bring my date so he or I could dance with other people anyway." Her tones stated that there would no longer be any discussion on such thing.

"That's two kisses," she giggled taking his hand and weaving them through the crowd, "That you are going to have to make up for me properly later. Don't think I'll let you get away with that."

Her family seemed to have predicted her arrival, for the male members seemed to have conveniently bunched together in the corner of the large hall. Clearing her throat and feeling a blush rush to her cheeks, she bounced and called attention to herself and her date.

"Zander, this is my father, my brother older Zach who you spoke to briefly already, and our older Simon, who you may also recognize as the groom," as she introduced them she waved her hand to each in turn. All as respectful as their gaze was hesitant. "Menfolk, this is Zander Dawson. He goes to Beauxbatons which is a French school for people like me, yes he as tattoos but no he's never been part of a gang, and if anything, I think I've been a bad influence on him."

Taking a deep breath she grinned.

"Anything else concerning you?"