The day finally comes when Eleanor's parents are set to arrive. She's grown more nervous & tense every day: today her hands shake when she's standing still. She tells him she wants to have a small BBQ for her parents while they are in town, so they can meet any of her neighbors that happen to be around. And she wants him to do the grilling. Of course he's the natural choice for any food preparation, but he was hoping to not have to meet these parents at all, if he can't be introduced as their daughter's man. But he finds her confusion touching, "You want to me cook for them, and meet them, and be around you all day in front of them, and not touch you, not look at you? I think it would be better for me to avoid them altogether, Eleanor," he says, knowing she'll have her way in the end. "Please, Justin, it's just a few hours. And you can look at me, you know..," she pleads. He only has moments now before they come & the feeling of dread hanging over him insists that things will never be quite the same again even when they leave: he's not going to spend this precious time in a futile argument, "Princess, if I look at you, they'll see how much I worship you. I don't know how I'm going to do this, I don't know how to be near you & not be with you," he says, warning her that he can only try. "But you'll do it, won't you?" she asks.

"Of course," he answers. He would do a lot more, if she asked him. Walk on hot coals to please her, crawl over glass shards if she said so...he doesn't think there's anything he wouldn't do for her. But then she's very creative, he thinks, she could probably come up with something he would have to refuse, if she put her mind to it...He tries to imagine himself saying 'No' to her, putting his down, like he does so easily in any other situation. But he can't even imagine it. On impulse, he tickles her, watching her smile shatter her tense frown. "What do you think will happen to us, Princess, if we ever find out there's something I won't do for you?" he asks her, wondering what she'll come up with to try him.

It's at that moment the dreaded call comes.

He can't make out her words, but her mother's complaining tone reaches Justin loud & clear. Eleanor is visibly deflated from the moment she squeaks her trepidatious 'Hello?': she stands and takes the bitch's verbal assault meekly. Justin knows Eleanor better than this, it shocks & revolts him to see her treated like this, and to see her take it, not stand up for herself. "Yes, Mother," she sighs before the bitch barks a final nag at her & hangs up.

She turns to him, throwing herself into his arms. The bitch must be a monster, he thinks, if she can do this to his Eleanor. Monsters have to be stood up to & faced: if you hide from them, you live with them breathing on your neck your whole life. Justin knows this. "Eleanor, you're stronger than that. You have it in you, you just have to show it to her," Justin says quietly, his face pressed into her hair as she squeezes herself against his chest. "You can stand up to her, Eleanor, I know you can. You're so strong, but you let her walk over you like you're weak," he tells her, coaching her in the sport of monster slaying.

She pulls her beautiful face up off his chest to look up at him, and throwing her arm around his neck, she kisses him passionately. She has to leave now, to visit her mother in her Beverly Hills hotel. He presses his hands against her spine, "I'm with you, Eleanor, remember that & use it to keep your strength when she comes down on you," he says in her ear, kissing her goodbye before she goes. Justin heads out as well. He has a couple of afternoon appointments, and he needs to go grocery shopping for this BBQ Eleanor wants to throw for her parents.