"Excuse me, everyone!" Chad called loudly, over the general din of the cafeteria, "I have an announcement to make!"

He paused to smile down at Lonnie as the room quieted down and she beamed in return. Then, after taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, which only added to the suspense, he called out, "Lonnie and I are getting married!"

As a wave of excitement and cheers circled the room, he gloated.

"Now, I know that you're all wondering when the big day is," he continued, as the chatter died down, "but we've agreed to delay things for a little while because my sweet Lonnie needs a little help in the domestic department." He flashed a huge smile, before finishing, "But, the delay won't be too long because she has agreed to go to Wife Camp, hosted by my mother, of course."

"What?" Lonnie gasped, unconsciously shaking her head, "You never said—"

"Lonnie," Chad said tensely, leaning down to whisper in her ear through gritted teeth, "Don't make a scene, honey. You're embarrassing us."

"I'm embarrassing us?" she hissed, clutching his shoulder before he could straighten, "Chad I never agreed to go to Wife Camp—you never even mentioned it!"

"But, honey," he continued, forcing himself to keep a straight face so that no one would see how irked he was; he loved attention, but not like this, "It's kind of obvious to everyone that you need training. I mean, your mother isn't exactly known for her domestic prowess."

"My mother brought honor to her family in other ways," Lonnie growled, now on the verge of tears, "Being good at cooking and cleaning and sewing isn't everything, you know."

"Honey, please," Chad repeated, his voice still strained, "don't be ridiculous."

Finally, Ben, who was sitting within earshot at the table to the right with Mal, Doug, and Evie, couldn't take it anymore. He walked over and plopped down in between them, "May I butt in for a minute, guys?"

"Ben, you have to tell her that she has to go to Wife Camp," Chad insisted quietly, but firmly, "I can't marry her if she doesn't know how to cook and clean and sew." Forcing a smile, he muttered privately, "And I'm not going to embarrass myself by retracting my announcement."

Ben shook his head at Chad's attitude, but he turned to Lonnie first. "You know, Lonnie," he said, "I know Wife Camp sounds insulting, but it doesn't—"

"What?" she interrupted, her face growing red, "I can't believe that you're taking his side, Ben!"

"Whoa, whoa," Ben said, quickly holding up his hands, "All I'm saying is that spending a little time with your future mother-in-law before your wedding can't be bad, no matter what the pretext."

"But I've known Cinderella all my life," Lonnie protested, "I don't need to go to Wife Camp!"

"Okay," Ben agreed, "You've known Cinderella all your life, but have you really spent time with her? How well do you really know her—I mean, on a daughter-in-law-mother-in-law level."

Lonnie glared at him, speechless for a minute, then she laid into him angrily. "You're one to talk, you know," Pointing her finger at his chest, she continued, "But, I don't see you in any hurry to hang out with Mal's mom."

"Hey!" Ben protested in shock, defending himself, "I'd love to get to know Maleficent...if I could."

It baffled him that she would even bring that up.

"Yeah," Mal defended him, coming over to the table, "But, he can't because I turned my mom into a lizard."

"Yeah," Lonnie insisted, highly annoyed with the whole situation, "You two are a perfect example of great family dynamics!"

"Well, now, wait a minute, Lonnie," Ben broke in again, "You didn't let me finish." He paused, making sure that he had both her and Chad's attention, "I was going to add that I think that if Chad wants you to go to Wife Camp with his mom, then he should be willing to hang out with Shang for the same amount of time."

Chad's expression rapidly changed from confident to astounded.

"Hey, great idea!" Mal said, her eyes lighting up, "But, what would we call it?" She paused to consider, then exclaimed excitedly, "Hey, I know, let's call it Man Camp!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" Chad broke in, finding his tongue, "I'm already a man!"

"Hey, Chad," Ben reminded him, "Fair's fair, right? If you want Lonnie to go to Wife Camp, then you should be willing to go to Man Camp."

"But, Ben," Chad argued, "Dad taught me how to be a man." He smiled loftily, "I mean, I was voted most likely to be charming this year, was I?" He pointed at Lonnie disappointingly, "She was voted cutest tomboy."

"What's wrong with that?" Lonnie snapped.

"No, I think it's a good idea," Ben said, holding his ground, "If you want Lonnie to spend time with your mom, then you should be willing to spend time with her dad."

"Now, I like that idea!" Lonnie said, her eyes lighting up too.

"Aw, come on, Lonnie!" Chad protested, "You know I'm-"

"What I know is that if you want me to go to Wife Camp, then you should go to Man Camp." she interrupted, stating it unequivocally and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I think it's a great idea too, Chad," Doug said, as he and Evie joined them, "I think that you'd have fun hanging out with Shang, if you gave it a chance."

"Me too," Evie stated, kissing her boyfriend's cheek, "It would be so great if Doug and I could have a great relationship with both sides of our family."

"Yeah," Mal said softly, a touch of sadness in her voice, "Being a VK puts a new perspective on family dynamics." She smiled at Chad and Lonnie, "You guys are really lucky, you know."

Mal's statement made Chad think. He and Lonnie actually were really lucky. It was a sobering idea, even though he'd never thought of it like that before.

But still, he hesitated, not completely comfortable with the idea.

"You know, Chad," Ben said, seeing that his friend was wavering, "Shang gets final say on whether you can marry Lonnie anyway. Do you really think that he'll let you have her hand if you aren't willing to spend one-on-one time with him?"

Chad winced; Ben was right about that.

"Alright," he said, sheepishly, "I'll do it."

As he spoke, he found Lonnie's hand under the table, then pulled her close and kissed her cheek.

"Great!" Ben said, grinning widely, "I'll arrange everything."

Author's Notes: This chapter was vaguely inspired by a pretty hilarious episode in my own family. Future chapters will similarly be inspired by various family episodes.

I'm going to alternate between Wife Camp and Man Camp in the following chapters and then, possibly, a final chapter to bring everyone back together...maybe for the wedding.

For you Descendants, 2015 readers who aren't used to reading my stories, I should warn you that I'm becoming increasingly bad at updating in a timely manner but, hopefully, the waits won't get to extreme.