Peter and Jen bombarded Zach with many questions. "WHat did you get for Christmas? How's your family? What all did you do?"

Justin laughed, "You two, give him some time to answer." He held out his hand. "I'm Justin by the way. I'm Peter's cousin. We may have met before." He put an arm around Maralyn. "This is my wife, Maralyn."

Peter teased, "I thought you said give him time to answer!"

"Whoa.. hey," Zach threw his bag down. "Merry Christmas, too." He made a mental tally of all the people sitting at the table and sighed inside. He turned to Ben, then to Nate. "Do I... know you?" he asked Ben, picking up his bag again and throwing it over the counter.

Peter was suprised to see Ryan, Miley and Chrissa walking in with some new guy. He smirked. Must be Chrissa's boyfriend. Then, he saw Zach's confused, stunned face and burst into laughter.

Miley gave Peter a playful shove and said, "Excuse my cousin. This," she pointed to Ben, " is Ben Smalls."

"Hiya" Said Ben with with that slight british accent of his he then leaned towards Chrissa "I reccognise Peter from the" he cut himself off "Who's everyone else?"

Justin stuck out his hand and said with a playful smirk, "I would be Peter's more mature and more handsome cousin." He smiled. "I'm Justin." Turning to Maralyn, he said, "This is my lovely wife, Maralyn. We have a little girl on the way."
He pointed to Zach, Nate, Jen and Kayla, telling Ben who they were.

Kayla waved and gave Ben a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you," she said cheerfully.

"Hi, Peter's cousin," Zach waved, since obviously they wouldn't give up a last name. "Hi Peter's cousin-in-law."

Ben had some sort of accent. Sort of British - but almost New Zealand-esque. (Taking from NN's description of it) "Where're you from?" he asked, nodding at Ben.

Peter said, "Justin and Maralyn's last name is Thomas." Then, he turned to Ben. "Yah, you sound like you're from New Zealand. Have you met the Narnia cast?" His voice was sounding more excited by the minute. He wantd to meet Skandar Keynes or Georgie Henley one day.

Jen stared at the wall without seeing it. Instead, an image of her dad floated before her eyes like an unwanted ghost, haunting her every thought. Words from the past filled her ears and shot her heart through with pangs of a mess of feelings.

Look what's happening to my daughter! Peter is a bad influence on you, Jen...
Was it her fault? Had she let Peter influence her to a point where Mr Pole snapped?

Jen grimaced at this thought. How could she have thought such a thing, and so easily? It wasn't Peter's fault, nor was it hers: her father had been mentally ill before he'd met Peter. Hadn't he?

Miley noticed Jen looking a little phased out. adjusting her plaid skirt that was on top of black leggings, she pulled Jan aside. "Are you okay?" Concern swept across her face.

"What?" Jen snapped back to attention. "Oh, sure, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Miley figured she didn't want to talk about it. "You just seemed kind of out of it. Maybe you're bored. Want me to take you home?"

Justin Thomas? That sounded awfully familiar. Dang. I'm in a restaurant with a murdurer. Zach rolled his lips in and grabbed a pen.

"So... you need anything?" he asked, straightening up. "Water? Juice, coffee..." He stopped at champagne, since Maralyn apparently was pregnant.

Peter laughed. "Uh, we already ate. We were just saying 'hi'." He turned to Justin. "Hey, I'll pay for it this time."

Oh, geesh, good. Leave now, and free up the table. Other people have Christmas reservations.

"Oh, good," Zach continued. He glanced at the clock. "Someone has reservation for this table in half an hour, just to let you know.