And Then She Was Gone

Some Time Apart

The two men eventually returned from the study and filtered back into the kitchen where Elizabeth and Catherine were plating the delivered food on large  platters. It was quiet as Jason could only focus on Elizabeth, Elizabeth in turn intensely focused on preparing the food, and Catherine was currently focused on working herself up again about her sons behavior while aggressively placing serving utensils in each dish.

"Well, it's smells good." Aldophus said breaking the quiet. "And it's been a while since Jason has graced us with his presence, being a busy alpha and all, so-"

"He's sure been busy, I'd say." Catherine chided in reply.

"Leave it for tonight dear." Adolphus said firmly, once again silencing the smart remarks from his mate, as Jason glared at his mother. "Conserve your energy for tomorrow's efforts, where you'll be fully revitalized and ready to assault our son with your sharp tongue all over again." He chuckled giving Catherine a pat on her shoulder and kissing the top of her head.

"You're right..." she sighed as she picked up two of the large platters in her hands, "if I don't watch my tongue, I too, may end up wearing the dress and apron of an omega." She spit out whipping her head around to glare at her son, who was only growing in his agitation with her remarks.

"That was your last one." The older man said sternly cupping her face so she could look him directly in the eyes. "I would like to have a nice family dinner." He pressed his lips firmly against hers and held it for a few seconds before removing the plates from her hands and carrying them off to the dining room.

Catherine huffed towards the fridge and grabbed a couple of bottles of wine before following her mate into the dining room, most likely breaking away to give him an earful as well. Jason walked slowly over to Elizabeth, who was picking up her plates, and swiftly removed them from her hands from behind. "I got it." His voice was low and gentle. "Come on, let's go. You can enjoy watching her berate me for the next couple of hours." He said with a small smirk and a light laugh trying to break the mood.

Elizabeth turned around to face him, taking in his handsome features and definitely preferring him in his calm demeanor derived from his parents influence. "I would say, it is very obvious you two are related." She said with a frail smile, finding it morbidly funny that Jason's drive to fight and not back down seemed to be derived from his mother.

"Do you like your phone?" He stalled, taking advantage of being alone with her in the kitchen as his ears picked up in the distance his mother's harsh whispering.

"Yes. I really like the case, and how it glitters." She said looking around the kitchen, her hands shrinking into the large gray sweater in an automatic response of learned submission.

"Mint green. Your favorite color." He said back, trying to show he put thought into the purchase.

"And I'm assuming yours is still hot pink? Or has it already changed?" She questioned back looking at him with a small smirk, as she remembered one of their first conversations.

He took in her features and returned her smirk with a smile. "I like gray now." He said with a nod. "Let's go, otherwise she'll send a search party for you soon enough." And then he turned to walk into the dining room to join his very functional family, Elizabeth pausing for a moment to stand in thought within the kitchen before she eventually made her way in as well.

Over the course of the next couple of hours, Elizabeth got to take a peek in to the life of the Stone family. She learned that Adolphus used to be a gamma, one of the head military leaders of the pack, but when Jason rose to Alpha he stepped down from his position, despite being offered a Beta role. Much to the satisfaction of his mate. She heard embarrassing and humorous stories of Jason as he grew up, with Mark and Jacob seemingly always in the picture, and was surprised to learn that Jacob could be just a mischievous as the others despite his now calm reserve.