Preventing a Royal Engagement

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! On with Chapter 12! =D

Chapter 12: Facing the Parents

After leaving the Shake It Up: Chicago set, everyone went their separate ways. Kasia began her journey back to the hotel she and her family were staying at, while Dina left to meet up with Deuce at Crusty's. Günther and CeCe decided to go see a movie at a nearby cinema, and Logan went to meet up with members of his badminton team at a local bowling alley to celebrate their tournament victory. Rocky called for a taxi, which she, Ty, and Tinka rode back to the apartment.

During the ride home, Ty and Tinka pitched several ideas on how to tell Curtis and Marcie about their engagement. Rocky told them it would be best not to beat around the bush when it came to making the announcement, and suggested they simply just come right out and say it. Although it would likely stun Curtis and Marcie for a bit, at least everything would be out in the open.

When Rocky opened the door to the apartment, she called out, "Mom!"

"In the dining room, sweetie!" Marcie called back.

Rocky gave one last look at Ty and Tinka, before she made her way into the dining room. Ty reached for Tinka's hand and squeezed in reassuringly. The couple each took a deep breath, let it out, and proceeded to the dining room.

Marcie, who was seated at the food-filled table with Curtis and Rocky, smiled at the couple when they entered and said, "Hello, kids!"

"Hey, Mom," Ty greeted, nervously. He took one last glance at Rocky, who was gesturing for him to continue, and asked, "Do you and Dad mind if my fiancee joins us for dinner?"

"Not at all!" Marcie exclaimed, enthusiastically. "She is more than welcome to – wait - what did you say?"

Curtis looked taken aback as he and Marcie stared at their son in complete disbelief. They slowly looked from him to Tinka, who looked just as petrified as Ty did. Their eyes travelled south and widened when they landed on Tinka's engagement ring that sparkled on her finger. Neither parent noticed that Rocky was the only person at the table who did not react to the announcement of the engagement.

Ty gulped nervously when his parents did nothing but stare at him, and he feared the worst. He would have ran back out of the apartment, dragging Tinka with him, but Rocky's meaningful look directed towards him told him to stay. He squeezed Tinka's hand again and braced himself for what he believed would be a very vocal response from his parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Blue?" Tinka mumbled, cautiously. "Are you okay?"

"Now, Tinka," Marcie said, sternly, "I don't like you calling me that."

"Sorry," Tinka mumbled, looking down at her sparkly heels.

"You should be," Marcie said, getting up from her seat. "You're supposed to call me Mom."

Before Tinka could look up, Marcie had enveloped her in a warm, tight embrace. The blonde felt the woman rub her back gently and was slightly puzzled by her actions. She looked over Marcie's shoulder at Ty, who looked just as perplexed as she was.

Ty looked from Tinka to his dad, who was smiling proudly at him, and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Excuse me?" Tinka said, confusedly, as she pulled back from the hug to look at Marcie. "Are you saying - ?"

"Of course I am!" Marcie interrupted with a smile, knowing what Tinka was about to ask. "Welcome to the family, sweetheart!"

"Wait, you're both okay with this?" a surprised Ty asked his parents. "Aren't you going to yell at me for getting engaged at such a young age?"

"Nonsense, son," Curtis said, shaking his head. "You may be young, but you're eighteen. You're old enough to make your own decisions. All Marcie and I can do is respect them and support you."

"Besides, we know how serious you and Tinka are about each other," Marcie added, smiling at her future daughter-in-law. "If Tinka makes you happy, then she's more than welcome into our family."

"That's right, that's right!" Curtis agreed, enthusiastically.

"See guys?" Rocky said to Ty and Tinka, "aren't you glad that's finally off your chest?"

Marcie and Curtis whipped their heads around to look at their daughter, and Curtis asked, "You knew about the proposal?"

"That's right, that's right," Rocky answered in imitation of her father's signature phrase. "I actually helped plan it. I even went with Ty to help pick out the ring."

"Now that you mention it," Marcie said, taking Tinka's left hand in hers to examine the ring, "it is a beautiful ring."

"Thank you…Mom," Tinka uttered, slowly. Her eyes watered a bit when she addressed Marcie as a mother figure to her. Marcie acted more of a mother figure to her than Squizza did since the royal family first came to Chicago, and that made her feel at home in the Blue family.

However, the tears did not go unnoticed by Marcie. She looked at Tinka and asked, "Sweetie, is everything okay?"

"Oh, yes it is," Tinka said as she attempted to blink away the tears. "I'm just thankful that you welcomed me into your family with warm, open arms. It has been a while since I've received such love from my own parents."

"Yes, Ty did tell me about what your parents are forcing you to do," Marcie said, sadly, "and I think it's horrendous. What kind of parents threaten to disown their daughter if they do not marry nobility?"

The thought of being threatened to marry nobility or risk being disowned from the Hessenheffer family caused the tears in Tinka's eyes to spill down her cheeks. Rocky, who could not stand to see her future sister-in-law cry, immediately stood up and walked over to join Ty in giving Tinka a comforting group hug.

"Everything will be okay, Tinka," Rocky reassured the blonde.

"Yeah, baby, we'll get through this," Ty added, kissing the top of Tinka's head lightly.

"Listen, Tinka, I don't approve of what your parents are trying to do to you," Marcie said, "but if your parents do disown you, just know there will always be a place in our home for you."

"That's right, that's right," Curtis agreed. "You're going to be family. You're more than welcome to live here."

Tinka cracked a smile at her future in-laws. She was not even married to Ty yet and they were already treating her like a member of their family. She felt loved and respected, something she barely felt in the presence of her biological parents, and she was relieved they were accepting of her engagement to Ty.

"Now, I hate to be a bit of a killjoy, Tinka," Marcie said as the trio pulled back from the group hug, "but how do you plan on telling your parents about this?"

Tinka shook her head and said, "You don't know my parents, Mrs. – I mean – Mom. My engagement to Ty will mean nothing to my parents. They won't take it seriously and will still try to marry me off to Prince Anton."

"I proposed to Tinka to show her that I'm willing to spend the rest of my life with her," Ty explained to her parents, "but like she said, the engagement isn't something set in stone."

"Well, eventually, you're going to have to tell them," Curtis told her. "They may be acting a bit unreasonable, but they're still your parents."

"And what about the royal family of your home country?" Marcie asked. "The King and Queen certainly have to be told that their son's betrothed is engaged to marry another man."

"Not to worry," Tinka said. "My mother expects me to accept Prince Anton's wedding proposal during dinner with the royal family on Sunday night. Of course, I will have to explain to her and everyone at the dinner table that I cannot accept the proposal because I'm already married."

Marcie raised an eyebrow at Tinka and said, "But you and Ty aren't – "

"We aren't," Tinka interrupted, reaching for Ty's hand again. "Well, not yet anyway."

Curtis and Marcie stared at their future daughter-in-law when they realized what she was implying.

Tinka sighed with relief when she returned home and noticed that not a single member of the royal family was over for dinner. She did, however, find Squizza in the living room with Günther, who had already returned from his movie date with CeCe. All My Goats, a popular soap opera of the old country, was playing on the television.

"Good evening, sister twin," Günther greeted, looking up from the television.

"Good evening, dear brother," Tinka replied. "Sorry if I'm interrupting your show."

"Not to worry, the episode just ended," Günther explained. "Vlad broke up with Lucie for the daughter of the goat farmer."

"No way!" Tinka gasped. "Does he know that Lucie is two months pregnant with his child?"

"No, she didn't get the chance to tell him before he hung up the phone," Günther explained.

"Some guys are quite goat butts," Tinka said with a frown.

"Now, darling, you know that kind of language is not permitted in our household," Squizza reprimanded.

"Sorry, Mama," Tinka said, apologetically.

"But speaking of such distasteful males," Squizza began, "have you severed all ties with Ty Blue yet?"

Tinka wanted to frown upon hearing her mother call Ty a goat butt, but she refrained from doing so. Instead, she slipped her left hand into her jeans pocket to hide her engagement ring and smiled happily. "Mama, I have come to realize that I have been acting quite foolish. To answer your question, I did what I had to do."

Günther raised an eyebrow at his sister, an action which went unnoticed by their mother. He knew Tinka well enough that she spoke only in broad terms when she wished to speak the truth, yet keep it hidden without lying. He believed she had a plan in mind and decided to go along with it.

"You did?" Squizza asked with an air of surprise. She had not expected her daughter to break up with Ty so quickly, let alone be emotionally stable after doing so.

"Yes," Tinka said without a hint of deceit in her voice. "During dinner, I explained to Ty that I had to choose between him and Prince Anton. Obviously, I had to pick the man who would take care of me by any means necessary and make me happy for the rest of my life."

Günther smirked. He knew Tinka was not referring to Anton as she spoke those words.

"Good for you, Tinkabell," Squizza praised with a smile. "You deserve better, you know that."

"I deserve the best, Mama," Tinka said, not referring to Anton once again, "and I'm ready to marry the best."

"This is exciting news!" Squizza exclaimed, happily. "I cannot wait to tell your father when he gets home!"

"Günther," Tinka said, turning to her brother and giving him a meaningful look, "I still have time to help you study for that biology test tomorrow if you wish to do a final review."

"Certainly," Günther said, playing along. He stood up, said goodnight to their mother, and followed Tinka down the hallway to her bedroom.

Once they were inside and Günther closed and locked the door, Tinka smiled and said, "Thank you for playing along, twin brother."

"You're welcome, sister twin," Günther answered with a smile of his own. "When you were speaking broadly, I knew you were not talking about Anton."

"How right you were," Tinka said with a smirk.

"I'm guessing that your joyous mood means Ty's parents reacted positively to your engagement to Ty?" Günther asked.

"Yes, they took the news rather well," Tinka said. "However, convincing them to let Ty and I get married before the upcoming weekend is another story."

"I can imagine," Günther said, absentmindedly, before his eyes widened in realization of what his sister said. "Wait, what do you mean you two are getting married before this weekend?"

"Because this weekend is when Anton will propose to me, remember?" Tinka said to Günther. "An engagement is not a formal agreement; Mama and Papa will still expect me to accept Anton's proposal. If I'm married, Mama and Papa can't make me accept anything."

"I see what you mean," Günther said, thinking about what Tinka said. Once she married Ty, she would officially become a part of the Blue family. She would no longer be under the ruling of her parents. "Anton would look quite foolish if he asked a married woman to marry him."

"Exactly," Tinka said.

"As happy as I am about you marrying Ty, I must ask you sister twin," Günther said, looking Tinka in the eyes. "I'm one hundred percent sure that Ty has the ability to take care of you, but are you one hundred percent sure that you are ready to marry him so soon after getting engaged to him?"

Tinka's smile widened at her brother's protectiveness. She gently took his hands in hers and squeezed them reassuringly. "Dear brother, Ty and I are one hundred percent sure about getting married this week. I know it seems like things are happening too fast, but Ty and I have been together for two years and have known each other for much longer than that. We are getting married because we love each other. My arranged marriage to Anton was just the push we needed to take that next step. Whether Mama and Papa like it or not, I will marry the man of my dreams, and it will be up to them to decide whether or not to accept it."

Günther smiled at Tinka. He no longer saw her as a little girl who he had to protect from boys; he now saw her as a mature woman who was able to make her own decisions and was willing to fight to be with the man she loved. He removed his hands from Tinka's hold and embraced her in a warm hug. "If you want to get married this week, then I shall be fully supportive of your decision."

"Thank you, Günther," Tinka mumbled into his shoulder as she returned his hug.

"You're welcome, Tinka," Günther replied. "I just want you to be happy."

"Well, I will be happier than I am now if we can plan a wedding in less than a week," Tinka said with a laugh as she pulled back from the hug. "Anton will be proposing during dinner on Sunday night, so Ty and I have to get married Saturday at the latest."

Günther's eyes widened and he nodded in agreement. "You are absolutely right. Normally, it takes months for brides to plan their weddings, but if you want to marry Ty on Saturday, you only have three days to plan the wedding."

"There's a lot that goes into a wedding: location, food, cake, flowers, decorations, invitations, and more," Tinka listed, the stress of planning already getting the best of her. "Also, we have to keep it a secret from Mama, Papa, the King and Queen, and Anton until Sunday's dinner."

"You're a hardworking person, Tinka," Günther said, "but you can't possibly plan a wedding in three days."

"Of course I can't," Tinka said with a smirk as she pulled out her cell phone from inside her jeans pocket, "but I know someone who can."

Chapter 12 Up! Questions? Comments? Should I continue?

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~TeenQueen661