Catch Me

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in Enchanted.

Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed. I wasn't entirely happy with my last chapter, so hopefully I can make this chapter much better. Enjoy!

Chapter 10: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

"You want me to stick my hand in where and do what?" Giselle exclaimed. She was currently helping Jean, Kayla, and Morgan prepare the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner later that night. Giselle had missed Jean very much, she was just such a lovely person to be around, and Giselle felt she had learned so much from her. To put it simply, Jean was like the mother she never had. On the other hand, Kayla wasn't as welcoming.

Despite the fact that Giselle had been nothing but kind to Kayla, she seemed a bit unhappy to have Giselle around. She wasn't flat out rude, but she wasn't being too friendly either and this worried Giselle. Did she think that Giselle was just another woman in Robert's life who would disappoint him?

Kayla rolled her eyes at Giselle's stupidity, what was she playing at? Robert usually didn't go for the airheads, and Kayla didn't buy the whole, she's-not-from-around-here crap. Kayla had truly liked Vivian, Morgan's mother and didn't understand why she would leave them. Kayla had only met Nancy once since she had never been invited to Thanksgiving, and Kayla didn't think she was that bad. What spell had this red-haired woman cast on Robert to make him leave Nancy after five years?

Jean smiled at Giselle as she looked incredulously at this huge featherless bird getting ready to be cooked. Giselle was a joy to have around and Jean sincerely felt that what she had with Robert was real. She had never seen him so happy and full of life with Morgan's mother or Nancy. They needed each other and Jean couldn't be happier that Robert had finally found happiness.

"I'll handle that, dear. Why don't you go check on the boys and make sure they haven't killed each other?" Jean warmly joked and gently pushed her towards the living room. Giselle looked worriedly back at Jean but let out a sigh of relief when she noticed that Jean was kidding and no one was killing anyone. She had figured it was a joke, but she couldn't be too sure with these new people.

Giselle walked down the hall to the living room to see the boys watching TV. When she had first watched a TV she had been quite amazed, but she never really watched it that much since. Dave and Jeff were sitting on a small couch directly in front of the TV while Malcolm and Robert were on some comfy-looking chairs on either side of the couch. It seemed there was no room for her anywhere, and she couldn't sit on the floor because as soon as she had gotten to Jean's house she had changed from those dreadful jeans into a knee-length, black dress.

Robert noticed her as soon as she walked in the room. How could he not when she looked so beautiful all of the time? He smiled at her and stood up to offer her his chair, but Giselle shook her head and smiled at him.

"What are you guys watching?" Giselle asked to no one in particular but was still looking at Robert. He looked awfully handsome in jeans and a button-up flannel shirt with the top few buttons undone, showing off some of his chest hair. She guessed jeans could look good on some people and he sure looked comfy enough.

"Football. What else?" Jeff responded not looking up from the game just in case he missed anything. Robert frowned at him, he could be really rude sometimes; then again, that's why he's a younger brother. He looked over at Giselle and thankfully she hadn't seemed to notice his impoliteness.

"Come watch it with us and I'll explain it to you." Robert gently took her hand and fell back into the chair, bringing her with him so that she ended up sitting sideways on his lap. Shifting a little, she had to admit this was pretty comfortable as she laid her head on his shoulder and looked at the TV screen. Robert wrapped his arms around her and stroked his hand up and down her bare arm while his other hand rested lightly on her thigh.

"Okay, so basically, football is a game where the players try to get the ball into the other team's goal to get points. They can either kick it or run it into the goal, but the other team tries to keep them from doing that by tackling them to the ground." Robert was getting better at this explaining thing, or so he thought.

"Where do you come from that they don't have football...Alaska?" Dave asked this time. Robert had told them that she wasn't from around here but he hadn't said where exactly she was from. Robert was dismayed, why was his family being so extremely rude to Giselle? Robert looked down at her and she understood that he wasn't really looking for an answer. He was too entranced in the game to listen to a response anyway.

She watched a few minutes of the game but lost interest in it really fast when she saw how violent it was. What was this world's obsession with violence? She nuzzled her face deeper into Robert's neck and smiled as he planted a tender kiss on her forehead. That amazed her too. How could someone so sweet and gentle come from such a seemingly cold-hearted culture? Then again he had been raised by one of nicest women she had ever met. His brothers and sister seemed be a little rough around the edges, but she could tell they just didn't know her that well yet. Malcolm, Robert's father hadn't said a word to her yet so she couldn't really tell how he felt about her.

Whether it was because the football game was so boring to her or because being in Robert's arms was really comfortable, but Giselle had fallen asleep. Robert looked down at her, the football game had ended a while ago and his dad and brothers had gone into the dining room to help set up the table for dinner. Not having the heart to wake her, especially since she looked so peaceful, Robert just sat there and held her. He felt her warm breath fan across his neck and her rhythmic heartbeat against his chest. A stray lock of her red hair had fallen across her face, blocking his view, so he softly pushed it behind her ear, careful not to wake her.

Hugging her a little closer, he thought about how much his life had changed since she had fallen into his arms, literally. He had never believed in true love before her, not even with Morgan's mother. He thought he had loved her, but what he had felt for her paled in comparison to the emotion he felt for Giselle now. At work, he might have had to deal with a real jerk over the phone, but then look over at Giselle humming and dancing as she made some new dress, and he would feel so much better. Whenever he started feeling particularly pessimistic about life, she would walk into the room and completely change his mind.

At that moment, Malcolm walked in to let them know dinner was ready. Before he said anything though, he looked at Robert and Giselle. It was clear to see how much Robert cared for this woman just by the look in his eyes as he watched her sleep. Almost everyone was unsure of this new woman in Robert's life who seemingly came from nowhere. Malcolm could tell that there was more to this story than Robert was telling but didn't want to pry in his son's life. Robert would tell him when he was ready. Malcolm was hesitant to disturb them but their dinner would get cold if he didn't.

"Robert, dinner's ready." He said as quietly as he could. Robert looked up, a little startled at the intrusion.

"Okay, we'll be there in a sec." Robert said watching his father walk back into the kitchen. He looked down at Giselle and kissed the top of her head.

"Giselle, it's time for dinner." He whispered into her ear. He felt her shiver and then she opened her wide, blue eyes.

"Mhmm, how long was I asleep?" She yawned as she stood up and stretched out her tired limbs. Robert watched her long, lean frame stretch out the effects of sleep.

"Just an hour, come on. Let's go eat." He said as he took her hand and led her into the kitchen where everyone was waiting, some patiently, some not so patiently.

Everyone sat around the table and that's when all hell broke loose. Plates with mounds of food on them were in the center of the table and basically it was a free-for-all. Everyone just kind of dished out their own food and Giselle sat there stunned for a moment, unsure of what to do. Robert looked at her confused expression and grabbed the bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Would you like some mashed potatoes? They're really good." Robert said as he dished some out for himself and Morgan and awaiting Giselle's answer before he put back into the fray. She looked at it for a second and nodded her head 'yes.' This was how it went until everyone's plates were piled with food and they actually started eating. Luckily, this kept his family from asking embarrassing questions about Giselle as they were too busy stuffing their faces. Giselle thought the food was wonderful; she loved discovering new food in this world especially since in Andalasia, or at least the part she was from, there weren't many options.

Dinner went rather smoothly and after they went out on the back porch to have drinks. Robert and Giselle tucked Morgan into bed, well actually the couch, and went outside with the rest of the family. The drink of choice tonight was apparently vodka. Now, Giselle had never had alcohol and Robert didn't think she would like it all that much, but he didn't have the energy to explain exactly what it was.

"What is it?" Giselle asked, looking down into the glass at the reddish colored fluid that Dave had handed her. It didn't smell very good but she didn't want to be rude and not accept it.

"It's called vodka. It's really strong, so be careful." Robert replied not really knowing how to explain 'alcohol.' She took a tiny sip and swallowed. Her eyes widened and she coughed violently, looking at Robert like he was insane. He quickly got her a glass of water from inside and she chugged it down.

"You drink this!?" Giselle gasped in a raspy voice, clutching her throat which didn't really help the burn that was making its way down to the pit of her stomach. It had looked harmless enough, kind of like water, but it felt like she had swallowed liquid fire. Robert smiled and gently rubbed her back in an effort to sooth her coughing. He guessed he wouldn't have to worry about her being an alcoholic.

"I don't, but my brothers like it." Robert explained watching Dave and Jeff gulp down the strong liquid like it was water. Giselle made a nasty face and went back inside to get some more water leaving Robert with Dave and Jeff who had already sailed past 'drunk' and on a course for 'smashed.'

"Dude," Jeff said as he hung onto Robert's shoulder with the hand that wasn't holding a vodka bottle, "that girl is hot! Do you know her?"

Robert just shook his head and removed his brother's arm from his shoulder, letting him slump to the ground in a fit of giggles. He saw Giselle making her way back down the hall but he stopped her and led her back to the guest room, saying,

"You don't want to go back out there, believe me."