Disclaimer: I don't own American Dreams. If I did, I'd cry, because I'd be so happy.

A/N: Let me start off by saying, I love this show. And I noticed that there isn't much fanfic out there for it. So, here I am, writing a fic. I should be working on my other WIP, and yet, I'm not. I just bought the first season of AD on DVD, so I've been in obsessive-mode lately, which spawned into this.

Everything will explain itself as the story progresses. I was born many years after 1968, so if I get things incorrect, then I apologize (you'll notice I don't incorporate that much 60's stuff in the story). And also, I'm a Sam/Meg shipper, even though I can deal with Meg with other guys. Just a little warning (hint hint) of what might be coming.

Spoilers: Not many, this story mostly just contains ideas that some have speculated may happen.

And now...

Homecoming

XXX

"I'm going to L.A. with Roxanne."

Helen glanced around the room that both her daughters used to share as those words echoed in her mind. Only one daughter called this her bedroom now.

She fingered the necklace she was wearing; it was a nervous habit she seemed to have developed over the years. In the other hand, Helen had a death-grip on the latest letter she had received from Meg, her eldest daughter who had followed the TV show American Bandstand to California with her best friend almost ten months ago, forgetting college in retaliation of her father's insistence that he wouldn't pay. Meg had promised to write to her mother once a week, in addition to calling twice a week, and coming home for Christmas. She hadn't gone back on her word yet.

The letter had come four days ago, and Helen hadn't put it down yet. By now, she knew the whole thing by heart:

'Dear Mom,

I'm glad to hear that the preparation for dad's new store is going well. It's good that he can finally open this second one in North Philly; it's really going to help business.

I broke up with Mark. He was the one I told you about two months ago? Rox said it was just time, because he was too clingy.

I've actually got some big news. Roxanne and I are coming home.'

The first time Helen had read the important news, she had hardly believed what her daughter had said, and had to re-read the sentence four times. The rest of it just informed her mother of when she'd be returning ('June twenty-seventh'), why she was leaving Bandstand ('I'm getting too old for it, I think'), and her plans ('maybe I'll see if Penn will take me back').

Well, the day was June twenty-seventh. Jack had gone to pick Meg up at the airport with Patty and Will, and though neither of her youngest children said it, Helen could tell they were excited their sister was coming home.

The door opening downstairs brought Helen back to reality, and she turned so she was facing the hallway from the bedroom doorway.

"Meg's home!" she heard Will yell.

Helen was torn between crying and running down the stairs, and in the end decided to do both. She felt as if she couldn't get down the damn steps fast enough, but stopped short as she watched Jack carrying in a large trunk- Meg's large trunk- through the door. Behind him was her daughter.

Her Margaret was home.

XXX

Your going home.

Meg had been repeating those words in her head for the past week; ever since she and Roxanne had decided they'd had enough of Los Angeles and wanted to return to Philadelphia. Really, she had wanted to stay home when she had returned for Christmas, but right before she had left she had met someone. Mark.

She was glad she had dumped him two weeks ago. He'd been too...well, old. Mark was twenty-two, and Meg had started feeling uncomfortable when he'd wanted to go a little faster than her. She'd had enough of those kind of guys.

Meg had told her mother in a letter that she was coming home, instead of in one of their phone calls. She had thought it'd be easier. Once Helen had received the letter, though, she had called her daughter up.

The airport was bustling, but Meg was just glad to be off the plane. They made her nervous. Roxanne was talking a mile a minute.

"I don't see them. Do you think they're here? What if they went to the wrong airport? My mom probably won't even recognize me."

Meg gave her best friend a look. Roxanne and her mother had reconciled a month before the two young women had left. Neither looked much different, only maybe a little older with slightly different hairstyles.

"Don't worry, they'll see us," Meg replied, and no sooner had she said the words than she heard her name being called by a slightly agitated voice.

"Meg! Meg!"

She spun around twice, trying to spot who was calling her. Finally, her father and two younger siblings came into sight.

"Dad!" she called back, and ran towards him. Her father had never been the affectionate type, and she hadn't exactly left on good terms with him, but at that moment, Meg didn't care. Jack opened his arms, accepting his oldest daughter's hug.

Roxanne's mother found them soon after, and once everyone had hugged and said their 'welcome home's', the Bojarski's departed.

The Pryor's exited the airport once they located Meg's luggage, and got into the car.

"I got a fish Meg, it's really cool," Will said happily from the backseat.

"It's going to die if you don't feed it once a day," Patty countered snottily beside him, then looked at Meg, who was seated in shotgun. "He forgets to feed it."

Meg laughed, and realized how much she had missed her family. She hadn't seen them since Christmas, and even then she had had to get back to L.A. quickly for a special show they were doing on Bandstand. She had started helping behind the scenes while in California after one of their set people had called in sick unexpectedly and she had taken over the position for three days, by recommendation of the producer.

"JJ and Beth are gonna be at the house a little late," Jack said as he kept his eyes on the road. Save for the large hug back in the airport, Meg noted that her father had kept quiet. She knew he must've still resented her decision to follow the show across the country in the first place; he had told her the fact enough times.

"How's John doing? God, he looks like he's getting so big from the pictures mom sent me," she said, trying to bring up some conversation.

JJ had returned from Vietnam soon after John Pryor III was born. Since there was already a Jack, and a JJ, everyone called the baby John.

Patty sighed. "He's loud. Whenever they come over he cries, unless Beth or JJ are holding him. He likes mom, too, but that's about it."

The young couple had married before Meg had left, and had bought an apartment nearby with the help of Jack, which thrilled the Pryor family to have their son and brother so close, along with his wife and son.

"But he's walking and talking a little bit," Will defended. "I got to watch him one time while JJ and Beth were at school."

Meg frowned. Her mother hadn't mentioned that her brother and sister-in-law were attending college classes again. "I guess I've missed a few things," she said slowly.

"You've missed a hell of a lot more than a few," Jack muttered, loud enough for his three children to hear, but Meg decided to ignore his comment.

The rest of the trip home was silent, with everyone wrapped up in their own thoughts. Meg couldn't help but glance back at her brother and sister, studying their features closely. Patty was already sixteen, and had just finished her junior year, since she skipped eighth grade two years prior. And Will was eleven, going on twelve. He had grown taller, and larger, and Meg noticed that he was starting to look even more like their older brother. When she stole a glance of her father, she saw how his eyes had drooped slightly, and some laugh lines weren't disappearing like they had before.

Meg sat back and stared at the road ahead of them, wondering if what she was feeling inside her heart was the pangs of having missed so much.

XXX

Will and Patty had raced out of the car ahead of Meg and their father, both wanting to be the first to announce that their sister was home. Meg saw Jack beginning to say something as he gripped the steering wheel, so she avoided the argument she knew would eventually come and exited the car.

Jack followed, and grabbed her trunk from the car. He began carrying it inside as Meg took a moment to look at her surroundings; the place she had spent eighteen years. No matter how much tension there was between she and her father, Meg didn't regret coming back to Philadelphia.

"Meg's home!" Will yelled up the stairs, and Meg turned towards the house's front door, which Jack was opening. She followed behind him as he lifted her trunk inside.

Her blue eyes rose slowly, taking in every bit of the familiar, yet unfamiliar, house. They finally settled in the middle of the stairs, where Helen stood, gazing at her daughter. Meg didn't even notice the tears that were streaming down her face as she rushed up the few steps that separated her from her mother.

As Helen gripped her close, she whispered, "Welcome home, sweetie."

XXX

With all of her things back in her old attic bedroom, and having taken a long tour of the house to see what changes may have been made, Meg returned to the kitchen, where her mother was preparing dinner.

"That smells really good, mom." Meg inspected the kitchen appliances. "Is that a new oven?"

"Yes," Helen answered with a smile. "I got your father to buy a new one in March. I must've forgotten to mention that."

"It's nice."

The two lapsed into silence as Meg sat down at the table.

"It feels really good to be home," she finally said as she watched her mom.

"It's really good to have you back," Helen replied, looking up. "We've all missed you."

"Everyone?" Meg asked, her question tinted with sarcasm.

Helen knew exactly what she meant. "Your father missed you, no matter how much the two of you deny it."

Meg tapped her fingers against the table. "Well, he pushed me away. He wouldn't pay for college." She huffed, then added for good measure, "I mean I had gotten into Penn."

"He was going to let you go, Meg. He said he would, and then the next day you told us you were going to follow Bandstand across the country. You hadn't even told us that you never replied to their acceptance letter. You could've at least done that, after them letting you in."

"I didn't see the point," Meg said. "Up until then he'd insisted that only boys went."

Helen stopped stirring the mix she was making to stare at her daughter. "Well, he was wrong, and he realized that fact."

Meg stood. "Well, he didn't realize it soon enough."

Mother and daughter locked eyes, and finally Meg turned away, and began to walk out of the room. She stopped when Helen called out to her.

"Meg." The young woman glanced back, and the two stood once again in silence. "You're an adult now. You decide what to do, and if you really want it, then your father and I do too."

She gave her daughter one last look, and then went to check the oven. Meg stood in the doorway for only a moment more, then headed towards the door. She was about to open it, then decided against the idea and went up the stairs.

She needed to decide what to do.

XXX