7x19

"Dad looks big, but he's really not that intimidating. And Mom's, well, Mom, but she likes you, so it'll probably be fine." Piper was wiping sweaty palms on her jeans as she let out a long breath and reiterated, "It'll be fine."

"Pipes, I've already met your parents," Finn reminded her as he drove the familiar route from the studio to her house.

They were on their way to have dinner with her parents for the first time as a couple, but Piper seemed to be ten times more nervous than Finn was. He had already met her parents in the past, and Piper had said herself that they liked him. As far as Finn was concerned, there was nothing to be worried about.

"I know," Piper muttered, letting out a nervous laugh. She fidgeted with the ring she always wore as she confessed, "I've never had a boyfriend over for dinner with my parents. I'm just a little nervous."

Finn reached across the console to hold her hand, brushing the back of hers with his thumb as he assured her, "It's just your parents. I like them. They're funny!"

"That's not how I would describe them, but I'm glad you think so."

"You're worrying too much about this," he pointed out gently.

"I know, I know," Piper sighed. She fell quiet for a moment then added, "If my siblings were going to be there, I guess I'd have a real reason to be nervous."

"Why? What's wrong with your siblings?"

"I don't trust them to not embarrass me."

"Embarrassed? Why would you get embarrassed?"

She gave him a sarcastic smile in response, and he grinned cheekily at her.

When they reached her house, Finn parked behind a white car that was vaguely familiar and asked, "Whose car is that?"

"Jules'," Piper answered, her brows knitting together. "What is she doing here?"

They climbed out of the car and walked up to the front porch. As Piper unlocked the door and they stepped inside, smells of tomato sauce and garlic bread wafted down the hall from the kitchen. Piper's older sister poked her head around the corner and grinned at the two of them.

"Hello," Julia called cheerily, stretching out the 'o' for several beats.

Piper hurried down the hallway, leaving Finn to follow at a leisurely pace. He gazed around at the family photos hanging on the wall as he went.

"What are you doing here?" Piper was asking her sister when Finn finally entered the kitchen.

"Mom said you were having family dinner with your boyfriend, and you didn't think to invite me? Seriously?" her sister responded. Piper was glaring at her, but Julia simply reached around her, holding out a hand as she addressed Finn. "We haven't officially introduced ourselves. I'm Julia."

Finn shook her hand as he introduced himself, and she simply smirked. "Oh, trust me, I've heard all about you." Piper was shaking her head at her sister in horror, and Julia shot a look at her, quirking an eyebrow. Through gritted teeth, she murmured to Piper, "You can't have family dinner without inviting us," though Finn heard her anyway.

Piper froze, her eyebrows rising. "Us?"

"Yo." James sauntered into the kitchen, twirling his car keys around in his hand, a big grin on his face. "Don't worry, everyone. I'm here. The party can officially begin now."

"Bold of you to assume your absence was noticed at all," Julia quipped without missing a beat.

"Wow, you're hilarious. Why hasn't your comedian career taken off yet?" James retorted, tone dripping in sarcasm.

Julia gave a terse smile and snapped, "Where's the salad I told you to bring?"

James' face fell, and he stared off into space, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Salad... Salad... What salad are you talking about?"

"I gave you one job—"

"And I've got it right here." Riley had followed her boyfriend into the kitchen, carrying the salad bowl in her arms.

James grinned cheekily at his sister. "As if I'd forget your precious salad, Jules. I'm not a monster." As he spoke, he seamlessly pulled a disgruntled Piper into a headlock and dramatically ruffled her hair.

Riley set the salad bowl on the counter and shared a side hug with Julia, who had returned her attention to the tomato sauce simmering on the stove. It was then that she noticed Finn standing to the side and gave him a warm smile. "Hi Finn."

He and Riley had met at the studio's Christmas party a few months back, and Finn gave a wave of the hand in greeting. Meanwhile, Piper had finally managed to pull herself out of her brother's grasp and was snapping at him for messing up her hair. James made a dramatic face, rolling his eyes at her.

"Your hair doesn't look any different. Don't even worry about it," he said, completely unconcerned.

Piper simply grumbled at him, moving to the hallway to look in the mirror as she pulled the top layer of her hair out of its braid and tried to smooth it down. Finn watched her for a moment, but then Julia's voice caught his attention.

"Have you met Lauren yet?"

"Nope, not yet," Finn answered, sticking his hands in his pockets and leaning against the cabinet next to him. He wondered if he should offer to help with dinner somehow, but Julia seemed to be in her element as she manned the kitchen all on her own.

"We'll have to FaceTime her in," Julia replied.

Piper returned to the kitchen, her hair now hanging loosely around her shoulders. "Isn't she busy with finals or something?" she asked with all the casualty of a girl trying very hard not to have an outburst at her siblings for ruining what was supposed to be a peaceful dinner with just her parents and boyfriend.

"Quit being ashamed of us and check on the bread, would you, dear sister?" was Julia's snippy response.

Piper grumbled that she wasn't ashamed of them as she stepped around her sister and Riley to get to the oven. Finn took to observing each of the things that made the Gardiners' house homey – the pictures on the refrigerator, the cork board full of graduation announcements and wedding Save the Dates. From where he was standing in the kitchen, he could see a picture of Piper and her siblings when they were much younger hanging on the wall, and he moved to get a better look at it.

Everyone seemed to be catching on to Piper's irritable mood. Finn could understand where she was coming from, having felt similar emotions last week when Gracie and London had crashed their anniversary date. Even still, he didn't mind her older siblings coming to dinner tonight. The way Piper interacted with her siblings was so different from how Finn interacted with his own older siblings. Despite the snippy and sarcastic comments, there was a feeling of deep loyalty and love between them, and somehow, Finn felt right at home in the midst of it all.

"Finny boy."

Finn tore his gaze from the photo he was studying as James approached him, a relaxed grin on his face. "The man of the hour," James continued, stopping next to him and slinging an arm around his shoulders. "Walk with me. Talk with me."

"Okay," Finn agreed, walking with James as the older man escorted him back to the entryway.

This wasn't the first time Finn had met James, but it was the first time that Piper's brother had ever singled him out to talk. They stopped at the foot of the stairs, and James simply stared at him, rubbing his chin as if deep in thought. Finn shifted from foot to foot in the uncomfortable silence, but he held his head high under James' scrutinizing gaze. There was no room for any signs of weakness around Piper's brother. He had to make sure that James knew he could trust him with his sister.

"How old are you, Finn?" James finally asked, breaking the excruciating silence.

"16," Finn answered slowly. Was this an interrogation? This felt like an interrogation.

James hummed, still stroking his chin, and nodded. "And you're older than Piper?"

"By a few months, yeah."

James hummed again, still staring Finn down in an obvious attempt to be intimidating. "What do you do aside from dance?"

"I like video games," Finn answered honestly, "And movies."

"I also like video games," James commented in the same serious tone. Finn raised his eyebrows in surprise. He chose not to comment, but gosh, did he wish he could ask what games James played. Somehow, this didn't seem like the time.

"What's your plan for the future?" was James' next question.

Finn sighed, suddenly getting déjà vu to terrible holidays in Vancouver. "Um, I guess it depends what happens after Dancemania, but I've thought about getting a degree in broadcasting."

"Broadcasting?" James asked. He sounded genuinely curious by that, which made Finn feel a little more comfortable in the conversation.

"Yeah, I'd love to work for SNR one day. Chuck Anderson's kind of my idol. He thinks I have a future in it."

James nodded along, looking impressed. "Interesting. Somehow I can see it." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully for a moment before returning to his serious façade. "Tell me, Finn. You got sisters?"

"Yup. Three of 'em."

"Just like me," James murmured, "Are they younger than you?"

"The twins are."

"So you get the protective older brother thing, right?"

Finn shrugged. "I guess so."

"So if they brought home some guy from school, you would want to make sure he treated them well, right?"

"I mean, they're only six, so I don't think they'll be dating any time soon."

"Hypothetically," James emphasized, gesturing dramatically with his hands. "You wouldn't be okay with them bringing home just any guy, right?"

Finn thought of his sister Ayla's high school boyfriend, who he had never been particularly fond of, and slowly said, "I guess not."

"So you get why I'm looking out for Piper then?" Finn blinked, and James went on without giving him a chance to respond. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Finny boy." He placed a hand on Finn's shoulder, gripping tightly. "Pipes and I, we've got a big family."

Finn nodded, smiling awkwardly. That wasn't exactly a secret. "Yeah, I know."

"You know how many cousins we've got?"

Finn faltered for a moment, realizing that no, he did not know how many cousins they had despite the fact that Piper had mentioned various cousins throughout their friendship. Less confidently, he said, "A lot?"

"Thirteen," James answered as if he hadn't heard him. "You know what that means?"

"That family holidays are really crowded?"

"No. Well, yes, but no, that's not the point I'm making." James huffed before looking at him seriously. "It means that all thirteen of those cousins are keeping an eye out for Piper. She's the best of us, man. She's got a good heart, and if you break that heart, you won't be answering to just me and Jules. You're going to be answering to the entire Monaldo and Gardiner clan. But no pressure."

Finn swallowed thickly but held James' gaze as he assured him, "I'm not going to hurt her."

"See, it's easy to say that man, but you've gotta prove it through your actions," James told him seriously. "I said the same thing when I started dating Riley. You know what happened?"

"No..."

"I hurt her," James told him candidly. "It's easy to go into a relationship and think that everything's all fun and games, but it's not. You're committing to my sister by dating her. She's your priority now. You don't let anything come between you two. And don't break her heart. Got it?"

The last thing Finn ever wanted to do was break Piper's heart. James' words were harsh, but he seemed to be speaking from a lot of experience, so Finn nodded seriously and told him, "Yeah, got it."

James looked him up and down one last time, his arms crossed over his chest. "Piper talks about you all the time just so you know," he said with a softer edge to his tone. "She trusts you. As long as you take care of her the way she deserves, you and I don't have any issues."

"She means everything to me," Finn told him honestly, and something about the way he said it must have reassured James somehow because the man nodded in approval.

"Good."

"James?"

They both turned as Riley appeared from the hallway and raised her eyebrows at the two of them. She gave her boyfriend a wary look as she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you know, just having a talk with Finn here," James replied casually. "He's gonna be the next Chuck Anderson."

Riley's face lit up in surprise. "Those are some big shoes to fill. Chuck's a legend."

"He thinks I have potential," Finn told her, and she grinned.

"I could see it." She nodded back towards the kitchen and said, "Come on. We're about to eat."

When Finn returned to the kitchen, Piper's parents had come inside from the backyard, where they had been checking on their newest baby- a lemon tree that evidently was not getting enough sunlight. Piper's father greeted Finn with a hearty handshake and immediately asked what he thought about the Blue Jays this baseball season. They chatted about the sport as Piper muttered with her mother by the kitchen window. From where he was standing, Finn overheard pieces of their conversation.

"I thought it was just going to be the four of us."

"So I happened to mention it to your siblings. What does it matter? We're not all going to run him off."

"We said the same thing about Julia's last boyfriend."

"Oh, he was no good anyway. Set the table, why don't you?"

Piper sighed, doing as she was told and moving to set the table for dinner. At a break in his own conversation, Finn moved away from her father to help her. She glanced up at him to find him looking at her expectantly, and her agitated expression softened as she handed him a handful of silverware and said, "Here."

Finn followed her around the table, setting the silverware next to the plates she set out. When they finished, she crossed her arms and glanced to where her family bustled around the kitchen as they finished putting together the meal.

"I'm sorry," Piper sighed, "I wanted it to just be us and my parents tonight, but I've been in this family long enough to know that something was bound to go wrong."

Finn simply shrugged, leaning his back against the wall as he told her honestly, "It's not a big deal, Pipes."

She grumbled something under her breath, and Finn frowned at her. "Hey," he started, pulling her arm so she was facing him. "What's up? I thought you like your siblings."

"I do," she sighed, "It's just- my family's a lot to handle, and things get chaotic when too many of us get together at once." Her shoulders sagged as she admitted, "I didn't want you to think we're all crazy and run away or something. That's happened before- not to me, obviously, but to my sisters."

"Pipes, I love crazy. Nothing your family could do is going to make me run away," Finn assured her, reaching for her hands with both of his.

She pursed her lips skeptically. "You say that now, but—"

"Stop," Finn interrupted, interlacing his fingers with hers and kissing her on the forehead. "I've already been interrogated by your brother, and if that didn't send me running, nothing will. You're stuck with me, babe."

Her lips turned up into a half-smile, and he grinned down at her, swinging their hands in between them contently. Piper let out a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing. Julia approached at that moment, setting a dish on the table, then looked up at them. "Dinner is served," she announced proudly.

"What are we having exactly?" Piper questioned, raising her eyebrows at the dish that seemed to be overflowing with tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese. Finn assumed there was pasta hidden somewhere under all that cheese.

"It's a recipe I found on Pinterest. I'm experimenting," Julia answered with a shrug before turning back to the kitchen.

Piper grimaced. "I apologize in advance if this gives you food poisoning."

"Nah, I've got a stomach of steel. I can eat just about anything," Finn replied confidently.

She rolled her eyes, glancing back to the kitchen before discreetly standing on her toes to kiss him. It was quick and sweet, and Piper glanced back to her family as soon as she pulled away from him, as if afraid they would yell at her for kissing him. Finn simply grinned at the fact that Piper appeared to be getting a little more comfortable with small gestures of PDA every day. It seemed to be a good sign for their relationship.

Much to Piper's relief, the meal Julia had cooked turned out to be delicious. Finn devoured his food in between discussions of Dancemania, Riley's marketing classes, and James' new career as a choreographer. He had been a little worried that the whole meal would consist of small talk, but Piper's parents treated both Finn and Riley as if they were as much a part of the family as their own children. Despite her apprehension at the beginning of the evening, Piper seemed to be much more relaxed by the end of the meal, and even more so when Finn reached for her hand under the table when they had finished eating.

After dinner, Piper's parents cleared the table while their children moved to the living room. Piper had suggested watching a movie, but Julia insisted there was one important thing to do before that. At the inquisitive look Piper gave her, Julia whipped her phone out, immediately pulling up her contacts and hitting FaceTime on the first number in her Favorites. A couple of seconds later, the girl that Finn recognized from photos as Piper's oldest sister appeared on her screen.

"I'm studying for finals. What do you want?" Lauren snapped, to which Julia rolled her eyes.

"Well hello to you too."

There was a sigh then Lauren said, "I'm sorry. Hi. What do you want?"

"It's family dinner night. There's someone you need to meet," Julia told her simply before passing the phone to Piper.

She sighed as she took it and turned the camera towards her and Finn. Lauren's irritated expression immediately brightened, and the first thing Finn noticed was the sudden resemblance to Piper. They had the same smile and eyes, and with her hair tossed up in a bun like Piper always used to wear, the resemblance was uncanny.

"This is Finn," Piper said simply, and he grinned, nodding at the camera.

"What's up?"

"Wow, if I had known I was meeting Piper's boyfriend tonight, I would've dressed for the occasion," Lauren said, glancing down at the pajamas she was currently wearing.

"Sorry," Julia called though she didn't sound apologetic in the slightest.

"At least you're wearing a shirt this time," Riley commented, leaning against the loveseat behind Piper and Finn so she could be on the call as well. "You were just in a sports bra when we met."

"In my defense, I was in the middle of working out then," Lauren said, "There's probably a lesson to be learned somewhere in all of this."

"Or maybe Jules should stop FaceTiming us at random," James interjected from where his eyes were glued to his phone on the other sofa.

Julia rolled her eyes at him. "You're one to talk. You never answer my calls anyway."

"We live in the same building. You don't need to call me every time you run out of wine."

Interrupting James and Julia's banter, Finn told Lauren, "At least you answer their calls. My sister just ignores me every time I FaceTime her."