A/N: So I finished this oneshot back in May, but Paige (slcswimmer14) was taking a damn long time finishing her reunion, so now it's one month late but we're finally publishing it. I do hope you enjoy this simple Fabina reunion; tell me who wrote theirs better! Me, or Paige? c:
This also takes place BEFORE THE TOUCHSTONE OF RA. Back in May, I didn't even know that TTOR was going to come out; I thought it was just a rumor. So, imagine that this takes place before they finished school. Also, to those who read Gone For Good, I suppose this could kind of be the reunion you all wanted, even though I finished this even before I started Gone For Good but I'm just as desperate for a Fabina reunion as you are so go ahead and think whatever you want.
When she approached the House of Anubis, the first thing Nina did was look in the window.
Everyone was standing with their back facing her. They looked like they were eating something, but Nina couldn't be sure. Now was the perfect time; no one would be expecting her.
The story of why she left and why she came back was a long one for a later date, but right now all she wanted was to see her best friends again. She hadn't seen them for a year.
She knew how creepy the House was, so when the door opened for her, it didn't faze Nina the slightest bit. She smiled to herself and silently hoped that no one inside the common room had heard the door open.
Judging by the decorations, they were having a party. An end-of-the-year party, most likely. The students had finished high school and would be starting college in a few months, so there was no question as to why they were celebrating.
For a second, Nina hesitated. What if they didn't want to see her? She'd avoided Fabian's calls and texts all year. She didn't want to read them, because she knew she'd just curl up in a ball and cry. She loved him a lot. More than a lot. And she had to leave him.
Nina could never be sure how Fabian felt; she wouldn't be surprised if he had forgotten her and gotten a new girlfriend already. She had stated in her letter that they should both move on; so why shouldn't Fabian?
Even though she knew he should, there was still a part of Nina that wanted Fabian to not have gotten over her that quickly, and he was still waiting for her to come back.
She decided to take a chance. The residents were all listening to the music blasting around the common room's speakers, and each and every one of the students, two of which Nina didn't recognize, were snacking on sweets.
Nina left her suitcase in the foyer as she walked into the common room. She held her breath as she walked slowly up to them, as if they were a rabbit and if you got too close they would run away.
Besides, she wanted to surprise them. It would make herself, and probably Amber happier. Nina knew her BBF always loved surprises. Still holding her breath, she advanced on the group until she was one pace away.
She decided to hide behind Alfie. He was a smart boy, but he didn't know when someone was approaching him. It was so easy to scare him that way.
Then it hit her; how would she call out to them? Should she jump out and yell "Surprise!"? Should she wait for someone to notice her? She didn't want to do either one of them. Nina was surprised that no one had noticed her yet; she had spent a good ten minutes contemplating how to surprise them.
Her way of reuniting was different than she had originally planned. At first, she had tuned out the conversations between the studetns, but this time she decided to listen in.
"I think I want to go for Medical Arts," Mara was saying. "I heard that California has a good Medical program."
"Maybe you should ask Mick," Alfie joked, shoving another crisp in his mouth. "He's been to California once."
"Nah, it's really not that good," Nina said, loud enough for everyone to hear. A slight smirk was plastered to her face as she continued, "It's all foggy and dreary in the morning. Never move to San Francisco."
All heads turned to her. Twenty-two eyes turned her way and eighteen of them fully processed who it was.
The common room remained silent. Nina couldn't bear to see everyone's reactions, so she decided to play with the strap of her shirt. There were no whispers or no mumurs; only silence, and that made her feel even worse than she did when she was on the plane, which was a combination of vertigo and anxiety; the plane ride wasn't pretty, to put it that way.
"Nina?" a voice muttered, but it was so soft that Nina couldn't place who was saying it.
She decided to look up at the group, and saw that they were all staring at her, even the two girls who Nina didn't recognize. Every single one of the Anubis residents had different reactions and different expressions; they were all cooped up together, so it was hard to tell who was shocked and was happy; or if they were possibly even angry.
"Yeah," she said, almost to herself, not knowing if everyone was happy or unhappy, "I'm back."
The silence continued; it also continued to make her uncomfortable. She swallowed her anxiety and scanned the faces of everyone around her: Patricia, Amber, Mara, Alfie, Jerome, Joy, Fabian, and two girls she didn't know. Every eye was trained on her; even Fabian's.
She couldn't look at him. It had been 12 months since she had last saw him; by now, he most likely moved on, found a new girlfriend, and forgotten about the first American altogether. Nina spent those 12 months missing him and wishing he was with her, while Fabian was kissing and acting romantic with someone else. The fact that he was so close to one of the girls near the table she didn't recognize didn't help her mood much.
Then, something she didn't expect to happen did. While the others were still in shock from seeing her so suddenly, Fabian said, "Nina?", an expression of pure relief and longing on his face.
Nina didn't even have the time to say anything, because before she could, Fabian ran up to her and tackled her in a huge hug.
He lifted her up off the ground, so that her feet were dangling in the air. Nina was so happy to be back in his arms; they always protected her and made her feel safe. Fabian wasn't the strongest male in the house, but Nina felt at home in his arms.
She buried her face in his shoulder as she was picked up off the ground. Fabian was muttering something under his breath, but Nina was so happy to see him that she couldn't catch what he was saying, but she didn't care. She was overcome with joy and happiness at the moment.
He lifted her higher and squeezed their bodies together, Nina's arms so tight around his neck she wondered how she wasn't strangling him. Fabian's arms were locked tightly around her waist. They stayed like that for a while, neither of them wanting to let go.
Finally, Fabian set Nina back on the ground, and Nina saw his face clearly for the first time in a year. His blue eyes were shining, and she was sure her green eyes were wet with tears of her own. Fabian sucked in a deep breath of air before saying, "I missed you so much."
She weakly laughed, still overcome with the joy she was feeling. She never moved her gaze away from his eyes; she needed confirmation that he was actually there and this wasn't just a dream.
In the past twelve months, she hadn't talked to Fabian twice. She couldn't force herself to talk to the first person she ever fell for; she'd just curl up and cry, knowing that they were 5,276 miles away from each other, him being in England and her being in California. They'd never be able to see each other. Fabian would be busy with school while Nina was bored in her home town of Los Angeles. She missed him more than anyone could imagine.
"I missed you too," she breathed, looking up to him. Fabian had obviously hit his growth spurt in the last year, because he was now a good six inches taller than her.
Fabian smiled brightly, and pushed her forehead against his. Nina could feel him smiling, even though she wasn't looking straight at him. Nina had never been happier in her life than in that moment; to be reunited with her first love, her best friend, and the boy she would end up marrying in the future. She didn't want to pull back again, but Fabian grabbed her face and never moved his gaze from it.
Fabian and Nina stayed pressed against each others shoulders when someone tapped Fabian on the shoulder. Both were broken from their state of happiness by Amber Millington, who's blonde hair was brought up in a ponytail. Her smile was so wide, it almost touched both ears. Sarcasm dripped through her tone when she said, "Sorry to disrupt this happy moment, but some people also want to say hello to their friend who vanished."
"Oh, sorry," Fabian apologized quickly, sending Nina a smile before moving to the side.
Amber huffed in exasperation and stood in front of her best friend. "Nina!" she cried, throwing her arms around the girl. Amber rocked her back and forth, Nina swaying along with her. Amber's arms were covering her face, so when she finally released her grip, Nina was granted some air.
"Oh, you have no idea how much I've missed you!" she exclaimed. "On the first day back, Mr. Sweet just barged in here and said 'Nina isn't coming back' and left us alone and confused. For the first couple of days, we didn't know what to do with that information; the Chosen One was gone! No one knew what happened to you, since you wouldn't answer Fabian's messages."
Nina remembered that. When she first learned that the Osirian and the Chosen One had to be kept apart, she wouldn't answer Fabian's calls or texts. She saw one of them that read Nina, I haven't heard from you in two weeks. I don't know if you're okay or not. Please answer me., and that was when she finally broke down. At first, Nina was considering going back for a day or two to give the Anubis residents a proper goodbye, but with that text, she couldn't. She just couldn't.
And that was when she wrote the letter. The first draft was too long; it took up fifteen pages. She had tossed that one; it would never fit in Eddie's shoe. Then the second one was too short; it got to the point too quickly. She didn't want Fabian to think she didn't care, so she tossed that one too. Then, the third one was so sad to her that her tears soaked the entire page. Then, the fourth and final draft ended up the best she could do when she was crying.
She didn't want to say that she was only visiting England for two days. She couldn't say goodbye again; that would hurt her even more than it did before, because she'd seen them again. Thinking about it, it was a really bad idea.
Amber decided to continue her speech through Nina's guilt. "Eddie assured us you were okay, so the possibility of you being dead was eliminated, but after that one time you messaged Fabian, you never spoke to any of us again. We really missed you, and you didn't even want to speak to us..."
"That's not true," Nina scolded. "I was just...busy. That's all."
Before Amber could continue, however, Patricia broke in. "Now, I'm happy that you're back, but I'm going to leave the couple that's been separated for ten months to have a more proper, quiet reunion. How about you, Eddie?" The blonde nodded, but before he left, he embraced the other American in a huge hug and rubbed her arm in a reassuring way, and the rest of the House left the common room, leaving only Fabian and Nina.
"I'm so glad you're back," Fabian grinned, squeezing her in a huge hug again. She hugged tighter, if that was possible; she wanted to remember as much of her first love as she could before she left again. "I missed you so much."
Nina returned the phrase, and the two teenagers down on the couch and caught up, the American being the happiest she'd been in twelve full months.