--

HE WAS WALKING HER HOME

--

Shane took a deep breath as he walked up the stairs of the Torres household, his heart was pounding and his palms were sweating as his feet traveled up each individual step leading to the door. He knew that this was going to be big, since Mitchie had never been out on a real date before, and since he never really went on a date with someone quite like Mitchie before. He found himself standing at the door, debating on weather to knock on the door or ring the doorbell. After thinking about it for a few moments, his bawled his hand into a fist and used his knuckles to knock on the door, holding his breath in anticipation as he saw the door open and Mr. Torres standing there, looking at Shane sternly.

"H-Hello, Mr. Torres...Sir...I'm Shane," smiled Shane. Mr. Torres looked at Shane up and down then unfolded his arms from his chest and opened the door for the 18 year old,

"Come in, Shane," muttered Mr. Torres. Shane nodded and walked in, his hands folded and in front of him as he walked into the home, his heart pounding even harder, "Take a seat, son," said Mr. Torres, pointing over to the living room couch. Shane nodded and walked over, sitting down on the couch and looking around the living room. Mr. Torres sat down next to Shane, making it a very uncomfortable situation.

"Shane, listen," said Mr. Torres, looking over at the young man on his couch, "I'm trusting you with her tonight, understand?"

"Yes sir,"

"Have her home on time...You know what time, right?" asked Mr. Torres.

"Yes sir. I'll have her home no later than 10, sir." said Shane, his hands slightly shaking.

"Good. And don't ever leave her side at all tonight, you understand?"

"Yes sir. I would never leave her alone tonight anyway." smiled Shane. Mr. Torres gave Shane another stern look before he heard the sound of Mitchie's bedroom door closing. He looked over at Shane with sad eyes and sighed,

"Shane, she's my little girl...My only little girl...Don't hurt her..."

"I promise I won't sir." said Shane, reaching over and shaking Mr. Torres' hand.

"I'm ready," smiled Mitchie as she stood at the bottom of the stairs, smiling from ear to ear. Shane stood up as well and grined, but made sure he kept his eyes on Mitchie's face and ignored the urge to look at her entire body, since her father was watching him with his ever observant and scornful eyes towards Shane.

"Oh Mitchie!" called Connie as she ran around the corner and into the living room with her camera.

"Oh my god," muttered Mitchie as she covered her eyes with her hands and tilted her head down, feeling the blood rush to her face. Shane walked over to Mitchie's side and laughed softly.

"Don't be embarrassed,"

"Oh, you two look so cute! Squeeze in close!" she laughed as she waved them in with her right hand and held her camera with her left. Shane and Mitchie looked at one another, then moved into each other, both having cheesy and nervous smiles on their faces.

"Say cheese!" smiled Connie, putting her camera out and pushing down the top button, letting the flash go on and taking the picture of the two young kids infront of her.

"You two have a good time tonight!" called Connie as she escorted the two out of the door. Shane and Mitchie waved goodbye, Shane keeping a close eye on Mr. Torres, who was watching the two intently as the walked down the street.

--

"Um, Shane?" asked Mitchie as the neared the end of her neighborhood and getting closer to the shopping mall nearby.

"Yes?" answered Shane with a smile

"Where's your car?" asked Mitchie, looking around the street for Shane's unmissable black convertible with the silver pin stripe. Shane chuckled as he took Mitchie's hand and spun around her so that he was now standing infront of her,

"Mitch, I've been on a tour bus for three months straight. I think it's good to walk around for a little, and I need to get away from the motor vehicles."

Mitchie began her adorable giggle, showing her smile that made the breath leave Shane for a moment. He loved that smile, it was one of the most beautiful smiles he had ever seen.

"C'mon, we gotta walk fast if we wanna get to the movie on time," laughed Shane, keeping his grip on Mitchie's hand and walking down the road with her.

--


--

"That was such a good movie," spoke Mitchie as she and Shane walked down an old dirt path that lead directly to Mitchie's neighborhood, a little thing that Mitchie showed Shane when they were debating on how to get home, since it was getting dark fast.

"I know," said Shane breathlessly, not being able to catch his breath anytime Mitchie smiled at him. He literally felt like he was floating ten feet off the the ground the entire time he was with Mitchie. Something about her was so comforting and beautiful, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

"You know, this entire night, every time I say something to you, all you say is 'I know', this there something wrong?" asked Mitchie with a tone of worry. Shane starred at her, then realized she questioned his actions, shook his head slightly and broke his trance and her,

"What? Um...I mean, I didn't really realize that I was doing that...Sorry,"said Shane, mentally slapping himself for acting like an idiot. Mitchie looked at Shane for a moment, then looked at him with widened eyes.

"Shane, can I ask you a question?"

"Um...sure..."

"Is the reason you're starring at me like that because you..."

"Because I what?" asked Shane.

"....Nevermind...It's stupid..." laughed Mitchie, forcing that fake smile Shane knew too well.

"Mitch,"

"Do you like me cuz I like you and I don't want to make thing awkward between us by telling you that because you're a really good friend and I don't wanna loose your friendship. I know I'm rambling right now but I just have to get this all out of me now because if I keep it in any longer I might just explode, well, not literally but -" ranted on Mitchie, talking with rapid fire.

Shane stopped Mitchie's rambling by placing his hand over her mouth. Mitchie stopped talking, her words being muffled against Shane's hand. Shane moved in and placed his lips right next to Mitchie's ear, his lips brushing against Mitchie's temple, then whispering in her ear,

"I like you too, relax,"

Oh, the smile on her face was the biggest, brightest smile he had ever seen her smile to him, and it was only the first of many.

--


--

Ten year had passed and Shane found himself sitting in a hospital waiting room, reminiscing on the past ten years with Mitchie. They had married on Shane's 25th birthday in a little chapel in Mississippi, since that's where the Connect 3 band's tour had stopped, but of course Mitchie's family was flown out there, and her father was the last person to speak to Shane before the wedding.

"Shane, she's you're life now, you have to protect her. She's all yours. And remember Shane, don't ever leave her."

Shane stuck to that to this day, and now, sitting in the waiting room at a hospital in Dallas, he felt knots form in his stomach. It was just his and Mitchie's luck that she would go into labor while they were on their farewell tour across the US. But he was lucky that it didn't happen when they were in Europe. The hours were passing by extremely and painfully slow for Shane, who was dying to meet his new child, the sex of which was only known by Mitchie, by her request. Caitlyn and Nate had stayed with him for most of the night, but headed back home after eleven thirty, and Jason and his wife Morgan were going to bring Shane something to eat from a fast food place, since he hadn't eaten that entire day since four thirty, as for Mitchie's parents and Shane's mother, they were all on their way back to the hospital from their hotel rooms, since the doctors predicted that Mitchie would deliver late that night, even though she had been in an extremely painful labor for nearly a whole day. Shane rested his head on the back wall and tried to sleep, but couldn't bring himself to it. Finally, he saw a nurse walking through the doors with a medical mask hanging on her neck and a smile on her face. Shane popped up to his feet and stood there, waiting impatiently for the nurse to speak.

"Sir,"

"Is everything okay? Is Mitchie all right?" asked Shane nurse smiled and nodded. Shane stopped talking and waited for the nurse to speak again.

"Come on in and meet your son,"

Shane suddenly felt a sense of pride come out of him, knowing that he had a son. He followed the nurse down the hall to Mitchie's room, all the while ten feet off the ground again. But he came back down to earth and his knees went week when he saw Mitchie sitting on the bed, holding the little baby wrapped in a blue blanket. Mitchie's hair was sweating from the labor and up in a messy ponytail ontop of her head. Shane walked in and stood next to her, looking down at the little baby in Mitchie's arms.

"He's got your eyes," smiled Mitchie, snapping Shane into reality and making his knees go weak again.

"You think so?" asked Shane.

"Of course I do," giggled Mitchie.

--

An hour or so later, Shane held Mitchie in his arms on that small hospital bed as she slept and their son, who they had decided to name Rylan James, slept in the nursery. As Shane looked down at her, his mind traveled back to that first night they went on the date, all the feelings, and all the emotions floating back to him. He remembered her back then, and felt that she was still as beautiful as that night, if not more. And now that they had their son added to their lives, they were a perfect family. And it all began with one, single walk home. Shane closed his eyes and heard the memories of Mitchie's giggle that night in town, helping him have a peaceful sleep.

--

Shane walked out to the waiting room where Mitchie and his family were waiting for the news. When Shane's mother saw him walking down the hall to the room with the biggest grin on his face, she got to her feet and held her hands together in a praying fashion, wanting to know what her first grandchild was going to be. When the rest of the family saw Shane, they followed his mother in suit.

"What is it?!" asked his mother excitedly.

Shane smiled and chuckled as tears welled in his eyes,

"It's a boy."

All the women (and Jason) let out a high pitched scream as they ran over to Shane and engulfed him in a hug. After they all gave their congratulations, Mr. Torres walked over to Shane and starred at him.

"Mitchie's fine, sir. I would've stayed in the room with her, but the nurse-"

Shane stopped his words when he saw that Mr. Torres had placed his hand out infront of him, waiting for Shane to shake it.

"Congratulations, Shane."

"Thank you sir," said Shane, taken aback by his father-in-laws actions. Mr. Torres placed his hand on the back of Shane's neck and walked him away from the group for a moment.

"Shane, I know I sound a bit redundant right now, but I want you to understand something. I know right now you feel like everything's perfect, and it is perfect for you right now, but it's going to get harder. Having a baby can make or break a relationship. Sure, a lot of couples do extremely well with a child, but a lot of people, usually us guys, bail out when things get harder."

"Sir, I promise you, like always, that I won't hurt or leave Mitchie, or my son. That's happened to my mother and I know what it's like living with the guilt of your father leaving, and I swear on my life that I won't do that to him." said Shane strongly, making a smile come across Mr. Torres' face. He suddenly felt like he knew that he could really trust Shane.

"Shane,"

"Yes sir?"

"Call me Mike,"

--


--

The years flew by the two lovers slowly and happily, having them add three more children, a daughter named Isabella (or Izzy) who was born three years after Rylan, another son named Landon, who was born two years later along with his twin brother Aiden. Shane and Mitchie never parted from one another, never left one another for another, and Shane, still sticking to what Mr. Torres who sadly died two days after Rylan's birth from a heart attack, told him. Of course Mitchie and Shane were both taken by surprise by the sudden death, and Mitchie began to suffer from depression, but luckily, she claims that Shane and Rylan saved her life.

They walked through the best years of their lives together, from Rylan's first words, which were "Dada", to Izzy's first date with a senior jock when she was a sophomore, and Rylan and Shane following the two to the restaurant, just to make sure that the boy didn't pull anything on Izzy, to Landon and Aiden's first gig for their garage based band Alternative rock band (Landon on vocals and Aiden on bass guitar), to Izzy's wedding day, where Shane finally realized what Mr. Torres what going through that day, to Rylan and Izzy having children on their own . But the hardest part of their lives was when Mitchie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease when she was 76.

--

The nurse with long brown hair pulled up in a pony tail and dressed in an all blue scrub outfit walked over to a doctor with a sad look on her face.

"Any news on Mrs. Grey?" asked the doctor, taking off his glasses and cleaning them with his lapel.

"We don't think that she's gonna make it through the night," said the nurse solemly.

"It's a shame," sighed the doctor.

"Should we tell him now? Or wait until the morning to find out?" asked the nurse as she and the doctor looked into Mitchie's room to see a sight that pulled at their heartstrings.

Shane was lying on the bed with Mitchie's head resting on his chest. Mitchie was nudging her head into his chest as she stuggled to breath. Shane brought his hand down to the top of her head and ran his fingers through his hair when he spoke sweetly,

"This isn't the end, Mitchie,"

Oh, the smile on her face when she heard him say that. And just for a moment or two, they were 18 again, and Mitchie was that beautiful girl with the smile and voice. Shane choked back tears when he heard Mitchie weeze as she breathed, knowing that it really was the end.

--

Mitchie Grey died that night in her husbands arms and their four children in the waiting room of the hospital. Some say that she was happier than anything in Shane's arms, knowing that he was truthful to her father's words to say with her for the rest of their lives. Shane stayed without Mitchie for 7 more years before dying peacefully with his children and grandchildren surrounding him. The people that knew them the best (their children), like to tell their children that when Shane reached heaven, he went right to Mitchie, where they were 18 again and were happier than they ever were on earth. They also tell them that Mr. Torres found Shane and gave him the biggest hug of his life, and thanked him for keeping his promise.

--


R&R!

-Rose