It's not just a movie, it's real life. My monster-in-law was completely real and expecting both her son and I for lunch that Saturday. I'd spent the entire morning tossing clothes to the floor, in Julian's closet, while he, finally, went to his therapy session. There wasn't one clothing item left standing. Nothing screamed 'Meeting the mother-in-law'. I phoned Harmony in a screaming inferno, and then Matisse. My two honest-to-the-heart friends were the ones who, finally, came to my rescue.

"You look like crap" Matisse greeted as I opened the front door of the apartment.

"Wow, this apartment rocks!" Harmony gasped "I was getting worried since you never invite me here, as in ever."

"What's the fuss?" Matisse demanded, tossing her clutch to the coffee table.

"I've got nothing to wear!" I whined, and they both rolled their eyes.

"Honey, whatever you wear, she'll love you" Harmony, always the optimistic one, smiled.

"Whatever you wear, she already hates you" Matisse put in, and Harmony gasped.

"That's not true!" My childhood friend grunted "You're sweet, funny and smart. There's nothing she could possibly hate about you."

"You dated Julian's best friend, made your way into the regular tabloids, almost kill her only male son. Then you go after the big shark himself, tabloids again, dragging the von Hauser's good name with it. She couldn't possibly ever like you, southern belle" Matisse shrugged.

"I know you're right." I moaned at Matisse, and Harmony gasped again "She's right, Harm; I'll never be tight with my monst- mother-in-law – Jesus, I gotta be careful with that. I just want to make this a smooth transition for everyone."

"So why were you screaming the apocalypse was coming in the form of an empty closet?" Matisse lifted one of her mahogany brows.

"I still have a point one percent faith she might like me..." I sighed, rubbing my eyes as I turned and went back to the bedroom "It's a mess in here, please don't judge."

Both of them gasped and I heard Matisse's curse as she entered the closet.

"You better clean this up before your OCD boyfriend comes back" My co-worker winced.

"Help?" I moaned.

Well, yes, I was very likely overreacting, especially as Matisse said, there would be no way Mrs. von Hauser would actually like me... Not even if I was wearing a flawless good girl attitude outfit; Caroline von Hauser had already made up her mind about me, and knowing a woman's ability to hold a grudge, I was sure whatever I did wouldn't change a thing.

"You're overreacting" Julian assured me as his steel gray car slid up Park Avenue.

"Am I? Am I, really? Forgot about my past with your mother, Julian? The first time we met I didn't even remember who she was; the second, oh right, I almost killed you-"

"The first was a simple mistake and the second was an accident" Julian rolled his dark eyes as he turned into the underground parking lot of a big white building.

"Huh, huh. Accident, right. Tell that to a mother!" I moaned, as he parked his car and killed the engine "She'll poison me with the caviar!"

This time he chuckled.

"Sweetheart, she doesn't know you, but she's willing to. So just relax. You look beautiful but nervous. Don't let her get to you, that's the key."

"She's your mother, Julian." I mumbled, accepting his hand in mine, over my thigh "And I'm nothing like Melinda. She loved Melinda, so you can't possibly believe she'll even like me."

"Stop ostracizing yourself." He demanded, frowning deeply "Where's the confident, full of life, never to shut up, beautiful woman that entered my office all those months ago?"

"Hiding under the Brooklyn bridge freezing to death" I shrugged, and that made him smile.

"Well, call her back, because she's being missed." He said softly, kissing my hair before opening his door "Now, will you please just enjoy the day? It's the first day of snow, remember? You love the snow."

I was still jumpy and shaking as we climbed into the elevator. Julian grabbed my hand as he helped me out of his car, and didn't let go until he knocked on the mahogany door of his mother's apartment. A small and round Latin woman opened the door and smiled up at the both of us.

"Señor von Hauser!" The woman's gravel and accented voice beamed, her chubby and short arms came around Julian's neck as he bent down to kiss her wrinkled face "Niño, it's been so long since you visited!"

"I'm very sorry, Ester." Julian chuckled, gripping the woman's old hand "I've been incredibly busy, as I'm sure my mother has told you."

"Si, Mrs. von Hauser has told me all about the problems at the company." The woman sighed, sidestepping the door so we could get in "We still think you work too much, Niño. I don't even know how you got such a beautiful girlfriend, since you're always drowned in work...!"

"Well, I'm a very lucky man." Julian winked at the woman, and I was blushing "And she's quite the persistent woman, Miss McAllister is..."

"Oh, please!" I snorted, and the maid grinned up at us "You were the one running after me."

"That I was." He smiled, kissing my hand, wrapped in his "Where's mom, Ester?"

"Mrs. von Hauser is in the living room. I'll take you. Oh, give me your coat, Miss."

I smiled and handed my pink coat – Julian's gift – to the small woman. She hanged both mine and Julian's by the hanger next to the door, and gestured for us to follow her down the hallway. It was a beautiful hallway, large and tall, with burgundy walls and white ceiling, white armchairs next to an also white armoire that carried beautiful Chinese vases. The art hanged was the only explosion of color, and you could see it was expensive.

"Your mother has very good taste." I whispered at Julian, who smiled down at me "I love the colors. Oh my God! Is that a-"

"It's a Kandinsky, yes."

We looked towards the archway and saw Julian's mother standing there, in an impeccable white jumpsuit, a golden belt loose around her hips, her reddish hair combed perfectly at her jaw. She looked like a Greek goddess, at all the white and gold of her tall lean figure. The outside snowy light came behind her body as she trotted our way.

"Darling." She kissed Julian's cheek and gripped his hands "You look well. Alive."

Yeah, ouch. That was obviously aimed at me...

"Mother..." Julian warned in a sigh "Georgia, this is Caroline, my mother. Mom, this is Georgia. Let's all behave and have a nice lunch, shall we?"

"It's nice to meet you the right way, Mrs. von Hauser" I mumbled, showing her my hand.

She eyed my hand with thin lips pursed shut. Her brown eyes gave me a once over, and I shivered. Yeah, this was so not going well...

As I cursed inwardly and started to drop my hand, she gripped it firmly, and her pursed lips smiled tightly, like she hadn't done it in so long she couldn't quite remember how to.

"Indeed, Miss McAllister. Ester, you can bring the tea to the living room. You drink tea?" She asked me, brows up in her soft forehead; Botox was genial!

"Oh, yes, please. Thank you" I smiled, sighing in relief with Julian as she gestured for us to go into the living room.

We entered the beautiful room and I gasped softly. The walls were white, and the drapes a soft lavender color – I love that color, it's so peaceful. The armchairs and the long couch were the same color, and the wooden floor was caramel. The grand piano was black – Julian probably learned to play there, which was so cute –, the chandelier was crystal, really modern; there were a couple of chairs, white with black legs. The coffee table was made of glass, and the fireplace of white stone. There was no TV, go figure.

"Please, take a seat" Caroline gestured as she sit in one of the armchairs, smiling at Ester as she landed the white tray with floral porcelain on the coffee table.

Julian and I sit on the couch, him crossing his legs casually, me keeping my hands tight on my black pants and a white sweater. Julian nodded at Ester as she served him some tea, and he made sure his left hand was gripping mine as he set the cup on the coffee table. This time, I was the one needing some anchor and he was right there by my side.

"Julian told me your father had a stroke. I was very sorry to hear it. Is he alright, though?" Caroline asked, looking sincerely worried.

"Oh, yes. He's going well, thank you." I smiled, taking my own cup of tea and mumbling a thank you to Ester, who smiled back "I speak with my parents every day, and Daddy's therapy is going well, thank God."

"I'm glad to hear it. Speaking of therapy..." Caroline eyed her son, who pressed his lips tight "How's your therapy going, Julian?"

Yes, Julian! Do tell us how it's going...!

Obviously I kept that remark to myself, although I raised a brow at him; he glared back at me.

"Very well, mother, thank you" He mumbled, as if to finalize the subject.

"He's been canceling appointments for weeks."

I think the three of us were surprised by my words. I cleared my throat and dropped my hair to shield my flush.

"Is that so?" Caroline snapped softly; I didn't look up, but heard the tiny spoon hiss on her cup "Care to explain why that is, Julian?"

"Oh? You're not going to speak, now?" He grunted at me, and I shrugged.

"Leave the girl alone. This is about you." His mother snapped and I grinned with mischief; I might just change my mind and decide to love her "Why on earth have you canceled your appointments?"

"They make me... uneasy" He winced.

"Julian, my shoes lying on your carpet make you uneasy" I snorted and heard his mother smother a chuckle.

"Darling, you really need therapy. You know how stressed you can get. And Dr. Platt is the best; I assure you if you do everything she tells you to do, you'll get better. Now, if you keep canceling, obviously you won't feel any changes" His mother explained softly, like he was a small child.

"Why don't I go answer this call? It's my Head of Security, probably giving me some satisfactions; I'm not the one in need of giving them" He jumped off the couch and answering the call as he left the living room.

"He went to therapy this morning. We had a, huh, serious talk about it."

"Did you give him some sort of ultimatum?"

"God, no!" I gasped, looking up at Caroline "But we fought, and I yelled at him. I think his biggest problem is that he believes that his... unusual ways are some sort of flaw. No, actually, some kind of weakness."

"It is a weakness, because he lets his ego get bruised-"

"And he loses confidence, yes, I'm well aware of that..." I sighed, finishing for her "I saw it happening in the Board Room, Mrs. von Hauser... It wasn't pretty..."

Especially since her own brother and Julian's uncle didn't really help... But I wasn't gonna tell the woman that!

"So Julian told me you're working with Cynthia, now." She changed the conversation topic, which was fine, 'cause talking about Julian's social kills made me worried and I was biased, obviously "How is that going for you?"

"Oh, very good. Miss Lohr is an amazing Editor. Tough but fair. It's hard work, but I agree with her ways. In fact, I'm spending the weekend brainstorming new ideas to present to her this Monday. A lot of pressure, but I honestly love it."

"Good. She's a tough one. If you do your best, she'll keep you under her wing for the rest of her life." Mrs. von Hauser assured me; after a few second of silence, she frowned down at her tea "You're aware that Julian's birthday is coming, right?"

"Of course, Mrs. von Hauser." I smiled softly "Do you know if he has any plans?"

"Oh, I doubt it." She huffed, as if I was insane for asking "He hates parties, of any kind."

"I'm aware. But still, he went to the Red Cross Ball, maybe-"

"I hope you're not planning on throwing him a birthday party!" Her chuckle wasn't nice, it was like she was mocking me, which hurt "That is ridiculous."

"I don't know if it's that ridiculous." I snapped back, frowning "I wasn't planning on making a big party, just gather a couple of friends for a nice dinner and drinks, maybe."

"A surprise birthday party?" She chuckled again, shaking her head this time "I really would advise you into forgetting that, Miss McAllister. You will only make a fool of yourself, and get my Julian uncomfortable."

"With all due respect, Mrs. von Hauser, your Julian is changing, if you haven't noticed." I mumbled softly, trying not to get angry "I know for a fact he would love to be pampered on his birthday."

"Well, maybe by you. But, as we know, the amusement he would have with you would be very different from the one with his friends and family. And believe me, my dear, whatever it is you've got that's making my son so head over heels, will get old pretty soon and pretty fast" She huffed, with a lifted sneer that made me so angry I felt my stomach get sick.

Oh, so I was only the shag doll? I was merely an amusement?

"Ester, please get Georgia's coat. We're leaving."

Both Mrs. von Hauser and I snapped our heads towards the archway that lead to the kitchen. Julian was coming to us with a painful looking Ester trotting behind him, her hands grabbing his forearm, as if trying to calm him down.

"Julian, don't be so obtuse" Mrs. von Hauser sighed, a soft smile on her lips.

"Come on." He mumbled at me, showing me his hand so I would get up "I'm not being obtuse, mother. You're the one with the ridiculous notion that everyone has some sort of hidden agenda. I know Dad pulled a number on you, but everyone's not the same. And this is the woman I love, so you better stay back, or you'll make me say and do things I really don't want to."

This was the first time I ever heard him speak this way: assertive, confident and oozing power. If I wasn't about to cry because of my nerves, I would jump on him and make love to him in the caramel floor.

"Julian, please stay. Don't be ridiculous, darling!" Mrs. von Hauser followed both of us towards the entrance "And this is not about your father! Melinda was completely in love with you, and you were hands and feet tied with her! Remember? Your words. And what did the little vixen do? Screw your friend!"

"Don't even go there, mother." He grunted, turning on his heels and eyeing her again, as Ester helped me with my coat "Melinda is the past. She's gone and done with. Georgia is my present, and if she would take me, I would be a very lucky to have her in my future."

"She already screwed your friend. What's the difference between the two of them?" Mrs. von Hauser snapped.

"Excuse me, but I would prefer to be set apart from Miss Trevino, as we've got nothing in common except for a flawless sense of style." I snapped; I really couldn't care less if Caroline hated me, now, she was throwing me to the lions and this little southern belle bites "She has her own qualities I believe you've loved, just like your son. Now, if what you're trying to do here is to understand if I'm a gold digger wanting to tie the knot with your obviously socially awkward son, hear this: we're not getting married tomorrow, or in a month or two, or a year or two; we're still dating, we're just starting to know each other. Plus, your son has bigger issues to deal with than this gold digger."

"G, please, don't even bother." Julian said, pinching his nose with his forefinger and his thumb; migraine building "It really doesn't matter what she thinks."

"I'm your mother! How can you say that?!" Mrs. von Hauser gasped "Family comes first, always, Julian!"

"Really, mom? Well, it just happens that I told Marcus – my Head of security with whom I just had the most delightful conversation over the phone – to press the NYPD regarding Dad's accident."

"Julian, don't you dare using your father's-"

"I believe uncle Coleman has something to do with Dad's accident" Julian blurted out, and I gasped.

I heard Ester praying in Spanish. Yes, this was definitely the time to ask God for guidance.

So that's why Julian had always been nervous, almost terrified, around that disgusting man! That was why he was furious when he knew his uncle had tried to bribe me. Why hadn't he said anything to me earlier? I could barely blame him, of course; I know I would be traumatized if my own uncle killed my father.

"Just thought you would like to know that. God forbid you do something really stupid and push everyone else in the family away" He opened the front door and pushed me outside, closing it with brutal force.

He pressed the elevator buttons with his bare hands – another sign of how much he was upset –, pushed both of us inside and stood really the whole trip down. I was still bug eyed and breathless as we entered the car. He popped the Mercedes open and didn't even bother to get the door for me. He slid inside and turned the car on while I jumped inside.

"Julian, slow down. You're gonna get a ticket." I mumbled as he crossed a red light "Honey, please, stop the car. C'mon, stop the car and let me drive. You're upset."

He didn't stop, just kept driving towards his building in record time. Once the garage door closed behind us and he parked in his usual dark corner place, he let go. I gasped and felt my throat and heart tight as he dropped his head into the wheel and started sobbing.

"Oh God, honey!" I gasped, feeling my own tears run down my cheeks as I pulled him by his blazer towards me; his arms came around my waist and he awkwardly laid his head on my lap "Oh, Julian..." I muttered, smoothing his hair "Why didn't you tell me about your uncle? This has been eating you alive, sweetie..."

He shook his head and kept crying soundly. This hurt more than all my own problems... There was nothing I could do to stop his tears, nothing except to hug him tight and assure him I was staying there. How screwed up his head had to be, right now. Your own uncle, imagine that, killing your Dad! Especially for money! God, talk about a dysfunctional family dynamic...!

"The NYPD called him for interrogation a couple weeks ago." He mumbled, his voice muffled by my lap "I know it because Marcus found through his mail. We don't know what clues they got to be on his track, but... With Harold incarcerated, and my uncle being a silent suspect, you add one plus one..."

"Why?" Was all I could blurt out.

"He has tried to pass a motion where he declares I'm incapable of running the company."

"Why am I only hearing about this now?" I gasped, pulling his hair up so he would look at me.

The look on his face broke my heart into millions of pieces. Nothing in the world could ever hurt me more than his red rimmed eyes and wet cheeks.

"He bought Harold's support, plus Toledo's. I stand with twenty-six percent against a pot of thirty-one, and that's just uncle, Jerry and Harold. Who do you think the Board will support?" He mumbled, his brown eyes staring up at mine "They'll destroy me, G... They'll turn me invalid...!"

"No, they won't." I was sure of it, my frown deep as I grabbed his face in my hands, so he was looking right into my squinting eyes "They won't do such a thing, you know why? Because you're the goddamn boss, that's why. Have you spoken to Weston? And Griffin?" I added after Julian's nod "What did they say?"

"That going against uncle would be a tough fight, and a mess we didn't want, right at this point..."

"Well, you just call them right now and tell them that war's coming. Whether they like it or not, this has gone too far. They cannot expect you to just nod and obey!" I grunted, my anger boiling over my sadness "You're gonna call your sister, and you're having a good long talk with her. Then, here's what you're doing: you're calling a meeting with all the major stakeholders; all except for your uncle and Toledo. You're gonna expose what they're trying to do, and you'll show them Marcus' investigation."

"Georgia, I... I can't accuse my uncle of murder...!" He gasped, his shiny eyes looking up at me with no mask or defense; he was completely unarmed, nowhere to hide from me.

"You're not accusing him, you're planting doubt. Your sister is the lawyer, ask her if that's not a thing. It's a thing, believe me. They'll doubt your uncle, they'll get scared, shocked and outraged. They'll never support his motion and, most likely, they'll want him out of the Board. I don't get all the law and finance issues that'll bring, but it's definitely better than to have that vulture around."

"What did I do to deserve you?" He said softly, hands gripping my waist as he laid his head on my lap again; I combed his hair and heard him sigh "I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you, G... I really don't..."

"See why therapy helps? Would you have faced your mom a few weeks ago?" I smiled, kissing his head as I pushed the seat back so we were more comfortable.

"Definitely not." I heard his soft chuckle "I can see the benefits, now. I mean, I don't know what got into me...! I just couldn't stop, just couldn't hold it in anymore!"

"I think that was good of you, to tell her exactly how you feel. Of course, she's definitely hurt and confused, by now." I sighed, feeling guilty "You should call Dr. Platt and ask her what she thinks it's best."

"I don't really care, right now. All I know is that without your pushing I would never have gotten the courage to tell my mother how I really felt" He mumbled, kissing my stomach and rubbing his nose over my belly button, making me giggle.

"Like I said: I always knew I was doctor smart" I grinned down at him.

"You're the love of my life, G." He assured me, his eyes vulnerable and still filled with tears "If you asked me to build you a Manhattan version of the Taj Mahal, I would start right now."

"I rather have you letting me live for free at your place" I grinned, and he smiled.

"One thing, though: for God's sake, no surprise birthday parties" He frowned.

"Why not?!" I pouted.

"Just don't. I loathe them."

"You loathed me, and now look at you?" I teased, gesturing for the way his body was tangled in mine anywhere he could.

"True." He chuckled softly, kissing my hip bone, over the black pants "But you're something I could never control; now, a birthday party I can run from it. And I will, if you dare throw me one."

"Fine. Agreed" I sighed.

Fine. No birth day parties for little Julian. I hope he keeps in mind his remark about how he couldn't control me, 'cause when I set my mind on something, if I'm lucky enough to not be fired or arrested, I'll go through with it until the end.