This was not the start to the new year Matilda had wanted, but it was the one she had gotten so she had to make do with it. Matilda had not gone back to see Sebastian again. He in turn did not call her. She heard from Mal and Ursula that he was still very much depressed. Eric and Phil had been trying to give him some "bro time" together since the boys felt that Mal and Ursula were only smothering him.

When she went back to work, she saw that he was doing much better than the night she had left him on his bed. He looked less broken and sad, although he had lost weight. News of him and Kat breaking up had already reached everyone, however the details were not known, much to Matilda's relief.

"So why'd they break up?" Cara asked her with the gossipy glint in her eye.

"It was a conscious decoupling."

"Oh don't give me that shit."

"It's the only shit I can give you, Cara."

Matilda had not spoken to Sebastian about she-who-would-not-be-named out of fear of upsetting him. She could feel him stiffen in anticipation every time she went to see him. Eventually she left him alone. They already had lost their routine of hanging out in the office so it wasn't that strange when Sebastian continued to ignore Matilda at work when she came over to offer lunch or to ask him out for drinks.

She missed the old days when she could still call Sebastian her best friend. She missed having lunch with him, carpooling with him to and from work, talking to him about mundane things or not talking at all. The loss of friendship hit her more than the loss of an unrequited love.

Fortunately for her, she had other friends who had much more pressing matters.

"How could we forget about Mal's baby shower?" Ursula's dire tone echoed in Matilda's room through the phone speaker.

"I dunno, I dunno." Matilda rummaged through her wardrobe to find the album of pictures she had of the girls and their college years. "Aha! Found it!" Matilda emerged from the closet with the thick album in hand. Ursula had gotten a taste for photography in college and Matilda had decided to collect all of her throwaway photographs that Ursula had deemed as bad.

At the time it had seemed like a waste; the pictures were random captures of insignificant moments between classes; Matilda making her "concentration face" while doing her assignment in the library, Mal dozing off in the bleachers while everyone else cheered Phil throughout the game, Sebastian being pulled by two women fighting over him, Eric, drunk, eating his birthday cake with frosting smothered all over his face—None of these pictures had the posed feel that most of the "natural" looking pictures had, they were blurry, clumsy and the expressions were often silly and embarrassing. But now, after the young adults in these photographs had grown up and graduated from the careless attitudes of pre-employment youth, these pictures became as precious as gold. A reminder of the good old days.

"Excellent," Ursula said, "I'll send Eric to get those from you and he'll make the video. I'm getting Kiki Hemming to do the decorations. I had to pull a lot of strings since this was so last minute and she usually asks for at least a three month advance booking."

"Wow."

"Yeah. And I'll also do the catering since, you know, I'm the cook."

"Okay. Is there anything for me?"

Ursula checked through her long, meticulous list of items to be completed. Both Ursula and Matilda knew, that Matilda did not have the resources to do even a quarter of the items required. Ursula already had to rely on the Alderon family connections to get the decorator and caterer. Ursula thought of Kat and how she wished she were here. She would have been excellent for deciding the party games. Then dismissed the thought and decided it was best that Matilda not know this.

"Nah, I think we're good for now. Eric will call you when he come over to pick up the album."

"Great." Matilda said.

It was the beginning of February. Matilda hated this month, hated everything it stood for.

Valentine's Day. Matilda thought with a deep frown and the tired old voice of a crotchety man chasing the kids off of his lawn with a stick. She hated Valentines. And hated the "consumerist propaganda", as she called it, that encouraged businesses to start marketing their upcoming Valentine's deals and offers right in the beginning of the month.

Everywhere she looked, romantic pinks and reds began to emerge. Advertisements offering the perfect gift, special meals for couples and limited edition confections started popping up. It made Matilda frown in her Robert DeNiro face. The only highlight was the fact that she had Mal's baby shower to attend that weekend.

She hadn't been able to contribute as much as she would have liked. Ursula had a way of micromanaging everything. Things had been easier back in college when all three of them had been broke and had no one to impress. Their parties were just the three of them, with Ursula making the food, Matilda decorating their shared dorm room and Mal coming up with the best games. It had been lame and uncool but those little gatherings had been so much fun.

Now all of their parties were about pretense. This was not just Mal's baby shower, this was a friend of the Montfort family showing how much they cared about their youngest daughter-in-law. This was the Alderon family making new contacts. This was all about showing off wealth.

No one gave a shit about the baby.

The party was held at the Alderon estate, because no country club could match the manicured gardens tended to by twelve gardeners with actual degrees in horticulture. Matilda felt strange being back at the place, given what had happened last time. She took the rear entrance that servants often took to avoid bumping into Eric's parents.

She was sure they didn't want to see her. That thought was only confirmed when she saw Ursula and Eric fighting in hushed tones near the back entrance.

"What the hell am I supposed to tell my parents?" Eric whispered harshly.

"She's our best friend, Eric. I can't just uninvite her."

"She has to understand then."

"I told you we should have had this at my place."

"Your place couldn't fit in this many people, Su. She has to understand, my parents would never allow—" Eric did a double take when he saw Matilda standing nearby. "Matilda. I didn't see—why are you coming through here?" Eric suddenly straightened up and spoke in a normal volume.

Ursula looked bug-eyed, like a deer caught in the headlights. "Tilly..."

"I thought it would be better if I came in through the back." Matilda said, regretting her decision. She could already see the inevitable as Eric looked to Ursula, and Ursula looked to Eric. It would have been better if she had come in through the front. At least his parents would have thrown a fit and Matilda would have had a reason to feel hurt. Eric and Ursula would try to be kind and feel awful about all this. And Matilda wouldn't be able to act angry because that would make her the bad guy.

"Matilda—" Eric began.

"Tilly—" Ursula spoke at the same time.

They both looked at each other again. On any other occasion, Matilda would have let them off the hook and have left herself. But right now, she felt petty. Petty and miserable.

"So are we going inside?" She said with a dead smile and started to walk in. Eric quickly blocked her path.

"Matilda you can't go in." He said.

"Eric." Ursula pleaded.

"Why not?"

Eric sighed, "Tilly, I'm really sorry about this." He's calling me Tilly to make me feel less angry at him. Matilda noticed. "My parents will lose their minds if they see you around. They don't know about Christmas—"

"Didn't you tell them I came by to apologize?" It came out harsher than Matilda intended.

"It wouldn't have made a difference. Matilda, you have to leave."

Matilda angrily clenched her jaw. "Eric, you can't just tell me to leave after I've come all this way."

"This is why I told you to tell her beforehand." He said to Ursula who looked devastated.

"If we can just bring her in, your parents won't be able to make her leave." Ursula was right. The Alderons wouldn't want to cause a scene.

"And what about afterwards? It's going to be my head on the chopping block. Not yours." Eric raised his voice and Ursula grabbed his arm.

"Eric, keep it down."

"I'm sorry Matilda. I really am. But I can't let you in. You have to leave."

Matilda just looked at him, not really believing that this was happening. She looked at Ursula who had started tearing up. The sight of her friend in distress quelled the rage Matilda was feeling.

"I hope you guys have a good evening." Matilda turned on her heels, the gravel crunching beneath her flats as she walked away.

"Matilda." Ursula took a step towards her friend but her boyfriend stopped her.

"Let her go. We can deal with apologies later."

A tear shed from Matilda's eye and she wiped it away angrily. Then she noticed the gift bag in her other hand. She turned. Ursula and Eric had gone inside.

They had said she could not attend, but they had not said she couldn't leave her gift.

Matilda walked back up the path. The backside was bustling with servants who knew how to be invisible in elite company. Matilda walked up to one of them.

"Excuse me, could you please put this with the other gifts?" Matilda asked politely.

"Sorry ma'am. I only work in the kitchen. I'm not allowed in the main halls."

"Well can you ask someone—"

"Sorry ma'am." The man cut her off and went on his way. Matilda frowned.

Should she leave it with Yardley? He might not be able to get it to Mal. And she didn't really know any of the other help that the Alderons employed.

Matilda decided she would sneak in, just enough to get her gift into someone's hands who could get it to Mal or at least place it where they were keeping everyone else's gifts. The back entrance led her through the inner kitchen, where the real food was cooked and prepped to be sent to the outer kitchen where it was posed as if it had been prepared there.

From there she could see people milling about in the outer lounge. She peeked out from behind the kitchen door, face half hidden. She didn't see any huge pile of gifts.

"Excuse me." She stopped one of the waiters. "Could you please get this gift to the guest of honor?"

"I'm sorry ma'am. I cannot approach anyone with a gift bag. Only this." He held up the tray of hors d'oeuvres.

"Well can you tell me who can?"

"I'm sorry. I do not know." He went out of the kitchens. Matilda bit her lip, considering her options. Should she just leave the gift bag lying around? Surely anyone would think it was for Mal. But what if someone stole it?

Matilda had worked all day to prepare the protective quilt for Mal's baby. It would keep the child safe and warm at night and protect it from all dangers, magical or otherwise. Such fabric was powerful and Matilda didn't want to risk it ending up in hands other than Mal's.

Matilda looked out of the kitchens again. Her view of the hall was mostly obstructed by a wall, but the few people she could see, were unfamiliar. If it had been one of the gang she would have called them over. But none of them were there and Matilda didn't want to risk being caught if she went out.

Matilda risked venturing a little further to get a better view. She saw some of Phil's cousins that she was familiar with, a couple of people from Eric's side. But none from Mal's. Not even her parents. It bothered Matilda that most of the people there were didn't even care for Mal.

Matilda searched the crowd for any one of the gang, instead she did a double take when she saw Mrs. Alderon. The tall, tastefully dressed woman was making her way towards the kitchens, towards Matilda.

Matilda quickly ran back into the kitchens. She tried getting to the inner kitchen but the two people were carrying over a giant pot, blocking the doorway. Matilda heard Mrs. Alderon in the kitchen door. In her panic, Matilda teleported herself inside the closed pantry of the kitchen.

Later on, Matilda would think back to this moment, and wonder why she didn't teleport herself outside or anywhere else but the pantry. Or better yet, why she didn't just turn herself invisible.

But, at that time, her eyes had fallen on the pantry door and there hadn't been any time to think. It was logical to say that it had been a panicked decision. But Matilda would realize, that fate had a little to do with it too.

Inside, the pantry was just a long space with two shelves on each side and low cabinets. Each of the shelves was stocked to the brim with goodies. Matilda had gotten lucky with this teleportation. She had been in the Alderon pantry a couple of time so she had a hazy picture, but teleportation was a precise science and didn't always respond well to improper recollections.

Matilda had landed in a crouched position in the pantry, facing the door, afraid that Mrs. Alderon would bust through it any second. She took a second to breathe, calming her heartbeat.

Okay. I maybe I should just leave and give this to her later. I don't want a repeat of Thanks--

"You!" The voice jolted Matilda so badly she spun on her feet and fell back.

"Holy shit! What the hell!" She clutched her wildly beating chest, afraid she was having a heart attack.

"I knew you had something to do with this!" Alton was sitting on the floor, at the end of the narrow path between the two pantry shelves, pointing an accusing finger at Matilda. He seemed just as shocked at seeing her, as she was to see him. He quickly got to his feet, the finger still pointing.

"This was your doing wasn't it?" He said.

"What?" Matilda was utterly perplexed. Had she somehow managed to teleport both him along with her? If so... how? Teleporting any one of the others was a trickier business than doing it for herself. There was no way this could have happened.

But there he was with that arrogant, pissed off look on his face.

"I have been locked in here for ages. If you think you are going to weasel your way out of this one, you are mistaken."

That makes even less sense. Who the hell locked him up?

"What are you saying, Alton? What are you even doing here?"

"I would like to know the same thing." Alton put his hands on his hips. "Why is it that the minute I arrive here, I am suddenly whisked away to the pantry and locked up, just like Thanksgiving?"

"The door's locked?"

"Yes!"

Matilda jiggled the knob. It indeed was locked. She tried unlocking it with magic but got zapped and had to quickly retreat her hand. Red current protected the door knob.

Gwendolyn.

But why?

"Who let you in here?" Matilda asked.

"I don't know. Some strange woman."

"You didn't know her?"

Alton screwed up his face to remember, "I don't know. I'm not sure."

Gwendolyn was a shape shifter so her changing her appearance was plausible. And the red magic was unmistakably hers. Problem was, Matilda couldn't lift the spell, only Gwendolyn could. She could destroy the doorknob itself to get them out, but that might be overdoing it.

"Now, Miss Merryweather, if you have had eno—" Before Alton had even finished his sentence, Matilda had grabbed his shoulders and teleported them out of the pantry and to the gardens outside. Swans went around honking when the witch and the ice king appeared in a cloud of blue sparkle.

"-ough of your..." Alton blinked, shaken by the spell and the sudden change in his surroundings. Even more disconcerting was the distance—or lack thereof—between him and Matilda Merryweather, who was holding on to his shoulders like he would fall apart.

Because he would. Matilda had to make sure she had gotten him out all in one piece. She gave him a proper once over; checking him out from head to toe, turning him this way and that, which had him at a loss for words.

"Can you move properly?" She asked.

Alton turned and twisted himself. "Yes I believe I can. Miss Merryweather, how did we get outside?"

Matilda held her breath. "We came out through the kitchens."

"No we didn't. I think I would have remembered if we had."

Exceptions. There are always exceptions to the law, she heard Gwendolyn in her head.

"Think about it. How else could we have gotten here?"

Alton blinked rapidly. Then his eyes glazed over as the Law of Logic finally took hold.

"Of course. I was so shocked in that moment... Miss Merryweather, this behavior of yours—"

"I wasn't the one that locked you in, Alton. I just got here."

"Then how did you get inside?"

"I used the door. It wasn't locked."

"Lies. I checked. It was locked."

"Not from the outside, dummy."

Alton blinked again. "Ah, yes. That... makes sense?" He said unsurely.

"Now, tell me why Gwendolyn is here."

"She's with my brother of course. She is his date."

"His date?"

"Yes. They have gotten together recently. I'm sure you knew of this."

This was news to Matilda. Horrible news.

"Since when?"

"Since when what?"

"Did they get together?" Matilda elaborated.

"It has been a while, Merryweather. Are you telling me you have not known?"

"Does it look like I knew?" Matilda snapped. Just when things had begun to settle down, something shook everything up again.

"Well, well, well." Alton said smugly, "Are you and my brother not as—"

"Oh shut up, Spencer." Matilda said harshly. She was worried about Gwendolyn being there inside with Sebastian. Now that he didn't have Kat, Gwendolyn could do whatever she wanted with him, and Matilda couldn't do anything.

Matilda leveled a gaze at Alton. "Look, I got you out of the pantry. So don't go around whining about how I locked you up, yeah?"

"So you did lock me—"

"No Alton! I didn't. I'm just saying, since you like being such a drama queen—"

"You did not just say that."

"—that you would, for sure make a big deal—"

"—this is a big deal—"

"—out of this so just keep this one to yourself. Yeah?"

"Why would I? What's stopping me from calling Mr. and Mrs. Alderon out right now?"

Matilda had no time to deal with Alton Spencer and his delicate ego. She gave him one considering look. Then, flicked a finger at his forehead. Hard.

"Ow!" He winced and rubbed where Matilda had hit him, "Why did you..." His eyelids felt heavy and he immediately fell to the ground with a thud.

"Have a nice nap, princess." Matilda said.

Things had changed now that she knew Gwendolyn was here. Matilda mentally checked her options. There was only one clean way to do this. Invisibility.

She hurriedly cast her spell, her gift for Mal disappearing with her. Then she sneaked in, tip toeing around the people running about in the back kitchen. A waiter came around a corner, surprising her, and she had to twirl around his tray full of champagne flutes. A cook came barging in, almost knocking her over. And in the outer kitchen, waiters upon waiters kept going in and out like clockwork.

In the main hall, the guests clung to mainly the walls and the chairs spread out so it was easier for her to move about, undetected. In one corner alcove, a table was set up, piled with a mountain of gifts. Matilda set hers to one side, making it visible again. It looked cheap and sad, compared to all of the other presents shining in their golden or silver wrappings. But Matilda knew, Mal would appreciate it.

Now onto the other witch.

It wasn't that hard to find Gwendolyn. She was the only one in the room with that striking shade of hair and she was the only one on Sebastian's arm. Matilda had barely recognized her best friend. He looked worn and not put together like his usual self. He even had a little beard situation going on in his face, less a result of deliberate grooming and more a result of not putting any effort.

And he had lost more weight. Matilda knew they hadn't been seeing each other much but she did get to see him yet she had never noticed how weak he looked. It broke Matilda's heart.

Matilda sent up a small blue spark that only Gwendolyn could see. The witch instantly caught sight of it and gave a graciously devilish smile. She whispered something in Sebastian's ear and Matilda turned around, hoping Gwendolyn would follow the wisps she was leaving behind with each step as she walked out the main entrance.

The front entrance had people in small groups. Mostly smokers. Matilda went around to the side where cars were parked. She could hear Gwendolyn's careful steps crunching on the gravel as she came nearer.

"I was told you weren't going to be here tonight." Gwendolyn finally spoke. Matilda lifted the invisibility spell.

"Yeah I was told that too." Matilda faced her, squaring her shoulders.

"Sneaking in then? I totally approve." Gwendolyn smiled, crossing her arms.

"Why'd you lock up Alton?"

Gwendolyn delicately shrugged a shoulder. "I didn't like the way he treated you at Thanksgiving. Thought I should teach him a lesson."

"That's not how you teach lessons, Gwen."

"Are we going to have a lecture on ethics now? How boring." Gwendolyn's English drawl made her remark sound more scathing than it was.

Matilda pulled at her arm, "You can' just use magic to mess around with people like that."

"I can, and I will." Gwendolyn yanked her arm away.

"Did you enchant Sebastian?"

Gwendolyn's eyes flared. "Of course not. I don't need magic. He loves me." She said with the pretense of confidence that Matilda could see right through.

"You know that's not true Gwendolyn. And right now he's only using you."

"He is not using me." She enunciated each word. "He loves me."

"He loves you or is he just using you to forget Kat? Tell me you never doubt who he's thinking about when he's with you. Tell me he's always paying attention to you and not staring off into space. Tell me he treats you the same way he used to when you first got together."

Silence. Gwendolyn kept her face measured but Matilda could tell, she was getting to her.

"Tell me he's the same Bas he was before, that he's not changed." Matilda said, quieter this time.

"Doesn't matter who he is now. Sure, he's changed, but he can change again. As long as he's with me, we'll be fine. He's got a broken heart now, but he will heal, and he'll forget that woman and realize that the one person, who was always there for him, is the one he belongs with."

Matilda wanted to talk sense into the woman, to tell her that she was fooling herself into believing a lie, that she was being foolish and that what made everything worse was that she was being like this over a man who did not love her back.

But Matilda knew, that Gwendolyn would not see sense right now. There was no point in stopping her.

"Fine. You keep telling yourself that. I don't care."

"You don't?" Gwendolyn said, surprised.

"No. I'm done with this whole godmother bullshit. But I want assurance."

"For what?"

"That you won't use your magic to hurt Sebastian. Him and my friends."

Gwendolyn leaned closer; slowly and deliberately. She jabbed a long nailed finger right above Matilda's heart. "You don't tell me what to do, Merryweather."

Perhaps antagonizing the witch who could easily kill her was not the best idea. "It's not an order. It's a request." Matilda hated buttering up anyone, but here it was essential that she not piss off the very powerful woman.

"Request denied. And if that's all, then I'll be on my way." Gwendolyn started walking away.

"You said we were sisters." Matilda called after her.

Gwendolyn spun around, nearly knocking into Matilda. "And sisters help each other out. Instead you have thwarted my attempts for happiness at every step! If you expect kindness from me, Matilda, the first prove yourself worthy of it."

"I told you, I'm not doing the whole godmother thing anymore."

"You expect me to believe that?" Gwendolyn arched a brow. "I'm tired of this game we keep on playing, Merryweather." Gwendolyn said over her shoulder, "And I already have what I want, so unless your friends try to break me and Sebastian up, they should be fine."

This was not reassuring. Matilda watched the red witch walk away, feeling utterly helpless and annoyed. Should she intervene? Should she talk sense into Sebastian? Matilda was at a loss and the people she usually turned to for guidance were inside, having a good time, while she was out here, dressed like a serving girl.

With a sigh, Matilda gave up. If this was a problem that needed solving, then she would do it another day. Maybe once the gang resumed their Friday night meet ups they could figure out how to mend and heal from the past year's events.

From the side of the estate, through a beautiful white paned window, warm light flowed out and the chatter of the people inside spilled out to the quiet, chilly night. Matilda quietly walked up to the window. She looked inside, to the people milling around, to Ursula's wonderful silver and teal decorations, to the warm and chatty atmosphere that she wasn't a part of. Despite everyone's voice melding into each other's in a collective buzz, Matilda could still hear the gurgling laughter of Ursula Tristan above everyone else.

To one corner, Matilda saw her friends gathered all around. Gwendolyn walked up to Sebastian then, and took his arm more possessively than before, looking around for signs of blue sparkle. But even her presence couldn't keep Mal from whispering into Ursula's ear and Eric and Phil laughing about something with each other, Sebastian joining them, ignoring Gwendolyn.

Matilda felt green; envy, jealousy, whatever it was. It was dark and it hurt. They could have such a good time without her, laugh and joke around while she got cast aside because of one mistake. Matilda looked down, to her slightly scuffed shoes and the skirt of her dress that looked nice but was clearly not the original.

Let it go, just let it go. Matilda reminded herself. She knew this stereotype all too well. A disgruntled witch cursing others out of malice. Matilda refused to be a part of it. She refused to let go of her dignity for the sake of soothing her pain.

When Matilda looked back up, she met Gwendolyn's eyes. Even from all that distance, the witches could see each other clearly. Gwendolyn tilted her head meaningfully, as if to emphasize her point.

This could all be yours, the head tilt implied, only if you let go of those foolish morals.

A gasp. A clang. Silence of shock and something made of ceramic crashing on the floor. Sebastian pushed Gwendolyn off his arm as people converged towards Mal who was clutching her belly, wide eyed and in shock. Her long, peach dress was wet at the hem that was gathering the water on the floor.

There was water on the floor, flowing from between Mal's legs.

But she's not due till the end of March, Matilda recalled.

"Get the car!" Phil yelled to Eric who was already running out.

Matilda teleported inside without thinking. "Get out of my way." She pushed people aside and emerged in front of Mal who looked at her, dumbfounded.

"Tilly..." She said. Matilda went to her, giving the soothing spell to her belly. Mal struggled to stand. Someone pulled a chair behind her and Ursula and Phil carefully set Mal down.

"Call an ambulance." Ursula said.

"We can't wait that long." Phil's hands were shaking.

"What is that girl doing here?" Mrs. Alderon's voice rose above everyone when she saw Matilda bent over Mal.

"Is that really what you're worried about right now?!" Matilda yelled.

Teleport. We can teleport to the hospital. It's too far away for a drive.

Matilda placed her other hand on Mal's arm but Gwendolyn quickly snatched it away.

"You can't take so many people." She said quietly in her ear.

"Just Mal."

"You sure you want to risk the baby?"

"You do it."

"No. I can't take the risk with a child involved."

Matilda was panicking. She needed to do something. Where the hell is Eric?!

"Heal her. You know medicine right?" Matilda looked pleadingly at Winnie.

The red witch shook her head. "This isn't a matter of healing. She needs to have to baby."

"Help her then!" Matilda dug her fingernails in the woman's arm.

"I don't know this type of medicine. Only healing spells for wounds." Matilda saw that Gwen was panicking too.

The car honked outside loudly.

"Okay Mal. Baby, you're going to be fine. Eric's here." Phil said to his wife as they got her on her feet.

Mal didn't know what to do. "Phil. What's happening? This isn't supposed to happen."

"I don't know baby. Don't worry. We're gonna get you to the hospital and have get the best doctors. Everything will be fine."

Phil and Ursula let Mal to the car, all three of them getting in the back. Sebastian took shotgun while Eric drove.

Once they were on the way, Mrs. Alderon looked around for that pesky Matilda Merryweather. Strangely, she was nowhere to be seen. Even stranger, neither was the striking woman Sebastian Spencer had brought.