[Lav, I'm assuming our characters live together. If not I'll change later]

Tristan put on a black blaser on over his black pin striped button down shirt. Straightening his bright blue tie, he slid his black belt through the loops of his black slacks. He checked his watch before spraying on a bit of cologne and walking into the bedroom.

The room was spotless, just the way he liked it. He sat on the corner of the bed and pulled on a pair of black dress shoes before lacing them up.

"Babe, you ready yet?" he called as he stood and tucked his wallet into his back pocket. "We're going to be late!" Not that he was nervous. It was only his girlfriend's family. Nothing serious. It was only for the holidays. And it was only the first time Alexis had brought a boyfriend home in...God knows how many years. But he wasn't nervous. Not even a little.

He walked back into the bathroom and checked his reflection again. Using a bit of water he attempted to tame the stubborn piece of hair that wouldn't cooperate..."Alex!"

Katy sat infront of her mirror, running her hot iron over her golden locks. Her hair wasn't naturally curly, but it wasn't as perfectly straight as she preferred it to be. So, she sat there for twenty minutes running the straightener over her hair before she decided it looked fine. She wasn't trying to impress anyone, because really, it was only her siblings that were coming over, and Katy didn't have a strong bond with any of them. She was five years younger than Emiliana, eight years younger than Vance and ten years younger than Alexis. Besides the blood relationship and the petty arguments that Katy got into with Emiliana, she didn't have much of a relationship with the others.

Standing up, she ran her fingers through her hair before slipping off her tank top and sweat pants, then pulling on a red dress from Forever21, a black headband with a small bow from J. Crew and her black ballet flats from Raplh Lauren. After applying a small amount of mascara on her long eyelashes, Katy walked out of her bedroom and lightly closed the door behind her, before prancing down the stairs. She walked through the living room, glancing out of one of the large windows that revealed small flurries were beginning to fall, before sitting down on the couch and turning on the TV. The fire crackled beside her and she glanced to her left where the large tree sat, decorated in bright white lights and colorful ornaments.

Tristan did his best to look angry, but both of them knew he wouldn't be able to stay mad for two reasons. The first being he was already too stressed to fit any more emotion in, and secondly because...well it was Alex and she was killing him in that dress. "Yeah, easy for you to say," he said stepping around her and grabbing his tie off the floor. "You've already met your parents..." he trailed off as he walked into the room. He sighed as he saw the clothing scattered around the bedroom.

So far the living together things had been...interesting. He loved it, but there were two different ways of living under one roof. He began picking up the underwear and putting it back into her drawer. He paused and held up the skimpy article. "When did you get this? And why aren't you wearing it now?" he asked with a playful grin.

((and how... done))

Francine was still in her fluffy bathrobe with tinfoil in her hair, she looked like Medusa. She sow Katherine sitting in front of the T.V and was a little mad she wasn’t helping. Was it really too much to ask for a little help getting the house ready? The house wasn’t nearly ready and she still hadn’t gotten dressed. She thought about yelling but it was Christmas, and decided let it go. She set her coffee down in the kitchen then went up to get dressed. She smiled at her husband, as she walked in their room. “See you look ten years younger.” She joked with a smile, and walked in to the bathroom to undo the tinfoil in her hair. Francine was always proud of her hair, and always kept it shinny and silky. Her red dress was hanging on the back of the door; she’d bought it years ago but only found it recently in her closet under some old sweaters. “I’m amazed my old dress didn’t get chewed up by moths.” She hummed.

And emerged from the bathroom in it, and her hair slightly puffed, “it still fits,” she smiled. “how do I look?” she asked her husband.

((word count - 202))

"I don't feel ten years younger," Frank scuffed as he looked into the mirror, pulling on the neckline of the sweater because it was already irritating him. Once it was fixed, he sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled on his shoes before glancing up to look at his wife who had just changed into her dress. "Yup, you look great, Frank," he replied as he darted his eyes back down to his shoe-tying before standing up and straightening out his pants. He glanced over at his wife before turning and walking out of their room.

"The kids should be here soon," he called to Francine as he proceeded down the grand staircase and into the living room. He gave Katherine a hug as he past his youngest daughter sitting on the couch and after grabbing his coffee, he sat down next to her.

"So, Katy, are you excited to see all of your big sisters and Vance again?" He asked with a smile, trying to make it less awkward. If there was one thing that Frank hated about his busy work life, it was that he didn't have any time to spend with his kids, and it was now getting even more important because Katherine was his youngest. He couldn't say "oh, I'll just be closer with the next one," like he had with the older children because there was no "next one."
_
Ben smiled at Ana as she muttered about her family, and how they would like him. He kept one hand on the steering wheel and one in hers as he pulled down the street and onto the highway. The ride was going to be anywhere from twenty to fourty minutes, depending on traffic and the snow that was now slowly sifting down from the sky.

"I've got some nice wine in the back seat, but I didn't bring any gifts for your siblings," he said, glancing over at her to make sure it wasn't a problem. Honestly, Ben wasn't even sure if Ana had more than one sibling. He had heard small things about people, but she never talked about her family and he felt like it wasn't a good topic to bring up.

Katy began to skim the channels, stopping once she hit the reality TV show, "Jersey Shore". She was only able to watch for a few minutes, because once she heard heavy feet coming down the stairs, she flipped the channel. Although she was sure there her dad wouldn't yell at her for it, she knew he wouldn't approve of a show that was constantly having to beep out words.

She was surprised as she watched her father approach and sit down next to her after giving her a tight squeeze. "Hey dad," she replied with an awkward smile as she shifted in her seat, making more room for him. "Yeah, I guess so," she lied, her eyes turning back to the TV screen as she siwtched the channel to a Christmas movie that was playing on ABC Family. Katy wasn't exactly excited to see her siblings, because she honestly didn't want the family ties to mend. She liked getting the attention that her parents had divided amongst all of their children, and it wasn't bad being the favorite child for once. Although Katy did get bored without Emiliana to bug, she didn't deeply miss any of her siblings.

Ben looked at Ana before rolling his eyes as a small smile peeled onto his lips. His glanced back towards the road and turned on the wind-shield wipers as the snow began to come down harder. "My parents flew down to Florida to be with my sister, so we can't go to my family's house," he reminded her. "Besides, I want to meet your parents and siblings. You never tell me enough about them, so now I'll get to learn first-hand. Come on, it'll be fun," he said with a grin, squeezing her hand tightly before loosening.

"So you have three siblings? Katy, Van and Alex?" he asked, after she explained why they didn't need to go. "And what are your parent's names? How old are your siblings? Are they into sports?" Although they were still atleast twenty minutes away from their destination, Ben was now beginning to panic, because he realized that he knew barely anything about these people. It was going to be awkward spending Christmas Eve and Christmas with people when you didn't even know what to talk about.
_
Frank felt that it was awkward with Katy, but he didn't stand up. After listening to her say that she "guessed" she was excited to see her siblings, he smiled. "Yeah, well you haven't seen Alexis in how long? Three? Four? Five years? And Van in two or three? Emiliana didn't leave us with the best impression of her, but you've got to be missing her atleast." He sank back into the couch and followed his youngest daughter's eyes to the TV screen where a Christmas program was playing.

Ben laughed when Ana mentioned that her family called her Emiliana, and although he would never think to call her that, he remembered her mentioning it was her real name a while back. She didn't describe her family in an appealing way, but Ben knew that her feelings towards them would be different than his. He liked to get along with people and his easy going ways usually allowed him to.

"I'm sure this will be an interesting Christmas, Emiliana," he said with a playful grin, "and if it works out we can come back next year. It'll be good for you to see your family again, no matter how much you think you don't like them. You haven't seen them since you left in what; May? I'm sure that they've changed by now. Your parents probably missed you and I'm sure your younger sister did too." He shook his light brown hair out before running his fingers through it.

"So, are Van and Alex bringing their boyfriend and girlfriend too; well, if they have one?" Ben hoped that Ana's family would like him, because he didn't want to be distant from the family of his love. Then again, he didn't want to end up not liking them, but he knew Ana was just exaggerating and like usual, he hoped for the best.

"Yeah. I'm the one making us late," he muttered and watched her leave the room. He grabbed his tie off the floor and quickly pulled it back on. Straightening his jacket and buttoning his shirt back up, he grabbed his wallet and the car keys from the top of the dresser and followed after her.

"Let's go," he said smiling. After handing Alexis her jacket, he took her hand and led her out of the apartment to the black Camry sitting outside. He opened the door for her before taking the driver's seat and starting the car for the long drive to her parents house. Turnin the heat on to counter the frigid air he tried to talk himself into not turning the car around, you're going to have to meet them eventually...may as well do it now.

Tristan glanced at Alex out of the corner of his eye as he started down the street. "I like the tie," he said flatly and without turning to look at her directly. He straightened his shoulders defiantly knowing she hated it. It wasn't like he wanted to annoy her...well maybe a little, but there was nothing wrong with wearing a tie. It was a tie. Not like it was a feathered headress or something. "My mother gave me this tie. And its blue," he said as though that were some great revelation. "You like blue." Knowing that the conversation wasn't going anywhere, he cleared his throat and transitioned to a new topic. "Maybe next year we can go to Boston and visit my mom. You know...for the holidays or something. Maybe even Easter?"