Natasha didn't know what to say at all. It was one thing for literally all of them to be here and it was another thing for the main reason of their presence here was because Ernest Jr wanted to apologize to her.
Natasha sincerely felt like this was not necessary. She took one look at the expression on Ernest Jr's face and she felt bad. She had nothing against him, seriously, it would be immature for her to hate Dom's dad just because of what happened.
He didn't hurt her, Dom did. He didn't make her life unbearable, Dom did. He wasn't the one who instigated the entire family to hate her, Dom did all of that.
So that was why she felt like it was not necessary for him to apologize, the only person who truly needed to apologize was Dom, and he had already done that, there was nothing more and nothing less about this situation.
Besides, Natasha was sincerely tired of all the apologizes she had received. It was Thursday and she couldn't count how many times she had Nine apologize to her, Michael apologize, Lulu apologize, even Charlie apologized severally.
But she couldn't blame them. They were good people, they were a lovely family, she had nothing against them sincerely, the only thing she disliked was that she was unfortunately part of this family.
That her presence in this family was what brought both sides problems. The only one regret she had was that she married Dom. That was the long and short of it all.
"Oh Uncle, that's not necessary at all, you don't need to apologize for anything." said Natasha as she smiled.
"That is not true Natasha, I am sorry for all the bad things that I've said about you in and outside your presence." said Ernest Jr as Natasha felt even more embarrassed more so because both Margaret and Grandfather were looking at him with the look a mother gave her child that had misbehaved.
"I should have never judged you wrongly, more so when you were innocent and you kept on telling us that you were, I apologize for my rude behaviour towards you, you did not deserve that, no one deserved that." said Ernest Jr as Natasha could see that he was really being sincere, and for her that was all that mattered.
"Uncle really, when I said it's fine, it's fine, I forgive you, and I understand why you reacted the way you did, I know that it was hard at the time and we are only human after all, there is no one to blame rather than the person who should be blamed." said Natasha as she smiled and Ernest Jr looked at her, still feeling exceedingly guilty.
Natasha was so nice, and yet he had been badmouthing her for years. He sincerely thought that she was a vindictive, sly woman, but he was so wrong. He knew that Natasha was nothing but a sweet, understanding girl and yet he had let his view of her change with just one incident. He genuinely felt bad.
"Thank you Natasha, for being so understanding." said Ernest Jr as he smiled and Natasha smiled at him.
"I told you that my dear girl is very understanding, other women wouldn't have forgiven you that quickly junior, next time be careful." said Ernest proudly.
"Father there is never going to be a next time!" replied Margaret frantically, she didn't want anything worse like this happening to their family again. It took them six years to clear this one mess, she couldn't handle another one, so it was better Ernest didn't even speak about a next time.
"Yes, yes of course you are right Margaret, there is no next time." said Ernest as he laughed and they all laughed.
"So are you staying for lunch so I can tell Alfred to prepare something for all of us." said Natasha as she smiled.
"Oh that's very sweet of you Natasha, but I can't stay for too long, I have some errands to run first." said Margaret as she smiled.
"Aww but you can't just come all the way here and leave so early, please have lunch with us, Joy will be very excited if you do." said Natasha as she smiled.
"Yes, yes, Natasha is certainly right Margaret, your errands can wait, let's spend some more time over here." said Ernest energetically as Margaret couldn't say no if he wanted to stay.
"Oh alright then." said Margaret.
"Perfect." replied Natasha.
"Oh which reminds me, I didn't see your car in the driveway." said Natasha.
"Well I had the driver take it to the mechanic, the back windshield has a little crack, it needs to be replaced." said Ernest.
"Ahh I see, excuse me for a moment." said Natasha as she smiled before leaving the room.
...
Dom was busy swamped with work in his office as he let out an exasperated sigh and took a break to rub his eyes and look out the window for a change.
He had been staring at his laptop screen for far too long now and his eyes were starting to hurt, but he couldn't stop now, he had to finish this work, that was why he had not gone home for lunch.
Dom let out another sigh as he heard his phone ring and he answered the call before checking who was calling.
"Hello." he said as he put his phone to his ear and rubbed his eyes.
"Afternoon Dom." said Pete as Dom checked the caller ID to be sure that he wasn't just hearing things.
"Peter?" asked Dom in disbelief.
"I am very sure you have my number saved so yes, it's me." said Pete.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that, It's just that I'm surprised you called." said Dom.
"I can tell." he replied.
"Sorry, anyway, to what do I owe your surprise call this afternoon?" asked Dom as he closed his laptop.
"How is Natasha?" asked Pete as Dom couldn't lie that he was not surprised that he had called to ask him how Natasha was.
"She's fine..." replied Dom as his voice trailed off, trying to understand what was going on here.
"Are you sure about that?" asked Pete as Dom frowned.
"Well yes, if you don't believe me why don't you call her and ask her how she is yourself?" asked Dom as he frowned, not understanding what was going on here.
"Well I can't" replied Pete.
"And why not? if you don't mind me asking?" asked Dom as he didn't get it, if there was someone definitely closer to Natasha than he was, it would be Pete.
"You already asked... and she's upset with me." said Pete.
"How come?" asked Dom.
"I am sure that you already know what happened during the weekend?" asked Dom.
"Yes, I am aware of what happened, and it's exactly because of that, that's she's upset with me." said Pete as the more he spoke the less sense he was making to Dom.
"I don't get it, what did you do to make her upset with you?" asked Dom as Pete was silent for a while and it made Dom wonder if he was still on the line.
"Because Lia is my girlfriend..." said Pete as now it was Dom's turn to be silent.
"Are you still there?" asked Pete as Dom snapped out of his shocked state.
"Yes, I'm still here." replied Dom.
"Wow..." said Dom as he didn't know what else to say, he was certainly surprised by what he had just heard, he would have never thought in that direction at all.
"Are you upset?" asked Pete.
"No, not at all, just surprised." replied Dom as he stood up to stretch his legs as he walked around his office.
"I see..." replied Pete.
"How long have the two of you been together?" asked Dom out of curiosity.
"Well it's been a while now... some months... Natasha set us up." said Pete.
"I see..." said Dom.
"So wait...if you have been dating Lia for some months now, does that mean you already knew what she did?" asked Dom.
"Yes... she confessed to me." said Pete.
"I see..." replied Dom, there was nothing more for him to say, yes, he was initially shocked that Pete was dating Lia, but it could have been worse.
"Natasha thinks that I'm taking her side, and she's upset with me, I don't want her to be even more upset with me, so that's why I called you." said Pete as he sighed.
"I see..." said Dom.
"Well I don't know what to tell you Peter, she's fine, she seems to be doing very well, in fact she smiles more than before and she no longer has a short temper, trust me when I say she's fine." said Dom.
"Thank you for telling me." said Pete.
"I think you should call her and ask how she is yourself, I doubt she's still upset with you at this point." said Dom.
"No, I know Natasha... she still needs some time to come to terms with everything... I am sure she still feels betrayed by me." said Pete.
"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but what I do know is that you are one of her best friends, she needs you and she probably misses you, but if you feel as if you should give her more time, go ahead and do so." said Dom as he looked outside the window, down at the moving cars and walking people below.
He never stopped to take note of how beautiful everything looked from this high up. He always had his eyes glued on either a screen or on several documents.
He made a mental note to start taking some time to just look out the window for a while from now on.
"I see..." replied Pete as Dom's attention was turned back to their conversation.
"So do you have anything against my relationship with Lia?" asked Pete as Dom was certainly not expecting that sort of question from Pete.
"No, not at all." replied Dom quickly as he heard Pete hum on the other side of the line.
"Have you ever had feelings for Lia?" asked Pete, he knew that this was technically crossing the line but he really did not mind at all.
If he was being honest, the only reason he disliked Dom was because he saw him as a rival. He had the woman he loved, whether or not their relationship was not real, it did not matter, they were still married.
Initially when he first met Dom, he thought that he was a very cool guy, it wasn't until he started to develop feelings for Natasha that he started to dislike him and his closeness to Natasha, and when they got married, his feelings towards him got worse.
But now, Pete did not care, he had moved on, he had Lia now, and he was happy, so he saw no reason not to mend things with Dom. Hating him for being a jerk to Natasha was one thing, and hating him for being married to Natasha was another thing entirely.