DISCLAIMER: ABC OWNS THE CHARACTERS

Emily walked up to the front door the huge Grayson Manor and knocked. Victoria had called the night before and invited her over to tea. At first, she was hesitant. She had plans to go out with Nolan for lunch. But then she decided to visit her neighbors before. Especially since Victoria was the mother of the man she was interested in, so she figured it best to get to know her and find out more information about Daniel.

A maid opened the door the door and greeted Emily, already knowing who she was and why she was at the manor. She was led to the parlor were Victoria was already seated with the tea set in front of her. "Emily, I am so glad you could make it. Please sit and I will pour you a cup of tea."

"Thank you so much for inviting me, Mrs. Grayson."

"Tell me about yourself. Daniel tells me that you were the captain of your equestrian team in college?"

"Just for one semester. I enjoyed it, but unfortunately for the next semester, I put too many things on my plate, so I had to give something up. That was about the time I started donating to multiple charities and starting a few of my own. Right now, I am actually a part of the New York preservation society."

A door opened and closed, and the two women heard someone call Emily's name with a question behind it. Both stood up as Daniel walked into the room, headphones around his neck, obviously just coming home from a run. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mother invited me for tea this morning."

"Goodness, Daniel," Victoria put in," you look like a brute."

"I'm sorry, Emily. If I would have known that you were going to be here, I would have tried to be at least 50 percent less brutish. Since you're here, why don't I claim that date you owe me? How does tomorrow night sound?"

Emily hesitated for less than a second before saying, "Tomorrow night sounds wonderful."

"Perfect," he said with a satisfied grin. "I'll pick you up at 7."

"I can't wait." Emily went from looking at Daniel to looking towards his mother. "Thank you again, Mrs. Grayson. But I'm afraid I have to leave. I promised to have lunch with a friend of mine. I'll see you tomorrow, Daniel." She walked out of the room and then out the door towards her car. Once inside the vehicle, she headed to a café in town to meet up with Nolan.

Nolan was already waiting at the café when she arrived. He stood up and they kissed each other's check before sitting down. "So, what do you have planned for the big day tomorrow?" He asked her as their drinks arrived, drinks that he had ordered for them before she had arrived.

"Ashley and I are going to 'the best bar to get completely wasted', her words not mine, tonight to celebrate. Then tomorrow night I'm going on a date with Daniel Grayson."

"Em-"

"Nolan, I know how you feel about the Graysons..."

"I was just gonna ask why you would go out on your first date on your birthday?"

"He offered and I figured that I didn't have any other plans, except sitting alone with a cupcake."

"Well, I wanted to throw you a huge party a La Casa de Nolan, but no. You wanted to just have lunch to celebrate the day before, so here we are."

"Nolan, you know I'm not used to being around a lot of people around my birthday. Hell, I'm used to being all by myself."

"But you're not anymore, Em. You have me, Ashley, and maybe even Daniel. But you are definitely not alone anymore."

"I know that, but it is going to take some time to get used to it."

"Can I just say something about Daniel, then I promise not to bring him up again?"

She sipped on her drink and said, "Go ahead."

Before he could say anything, their waitress came back to take their order since they told her they were not ready the last time she was over. Once she left with their order written down. Nolan was able to say what he wanted. "Just be careful with him. He has a criminal past."

"So do I."

Emily walked into the restaurant in her skinny jeans and dark blue tank top and found Ashley sitting at the bar. The Stowaway seemed like a nice place but was not what Emily expected when Ashley said they were going to a bar to get drunk to celebrate her birthday. She sat next to her friend, who had a guilty look on her face. "What's wrong?" Emily asked.

"Em, I am so sorry, but I have a big event tomorrow that I need to start planning as soon possible. And by that, I mean now. I promise we will celebrate another time."

"Ash, it's okay. I understand, it's your job."

"I love you, Em!" She got up, hugged her blonde friend, before walking out of the building.

Not knowing what to do, Emily was about to get up and leave when she heard a familiar voice. "I just to spend time with you Declan, even if that means helping you work."

Emily turned to face the entrance to see two teenagers walk in, one of them being Charlotte and the other one she assumed was Declan. "Charlotte, hi."

"Emily! This is Declan, the person I told you about."

Emily smiled at the boy that Charlotte was obviously infatuated with. "It's nice to meet you Declan, Charlotte has told me so much about you. I was just leaving, Charlotte, but I hope the two of you have fun tonight." The young people thanked her and headed towards the back, as Emily left.

The next day Emily was eating lunch in her house when her phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Daniel."

"Daniel, hi!"

"I was wondering, how do you feel about surprises?"

"For tonight, I love surprises."

"Good, I'll see you tonight." Once the line was dead, Emily set down her phone and smiled to herself. She could not wait until tonight. She had a plan to tell Daniel after the date that it was her birthday. She did not want to tell him before because that would just make him feel bad.

Daniel hung up the phone once he was done talking to Emily. "Does she suspect anything?" Daniel looked up at Ashley as she asked her question and smiled.

"Not a thing," he replied. Ashley had told him that it was Emily's birthday. So after their date, him and Ashley were planning a surprise to celebrate.

Emily and Daniel walked down the beach, him in a button-down shirt with white pants and her in a gold dress with a shawl wrapped around her, showing off her neck since her hair was up. "I hope you don't mind a picnic on the beach," he said as they approached a blanket with a picnic basket sitting on top of it.

"I love it. Thank you."

The two of them sat down and he took the food and wine out of the basket for them to enjoy. "I'm sorry about my mother grilling you. She can be overprotective sometimes."

"Don't be sorry. You're her son, she has a right to feel protective of you."

"What about your parents? Will I have to look forward to an interrogation from your dad?"

The smile on her face disappeared as soon as he mentioned her parents. "They actually passed away when I was a little girl."

"I'm sorry," he put in before she could say anything else.

"No, it's fine, I'm fine. It's been a long time, so I've healed. But then there's Nolan Ross. He's been kind of like my adoptive brother ever since I turned 18. So you may just have to go through him," she said with a smile back on her face.

The two of them ate their dinner and drank their wine as they continued to talk. After dinner, he walked her back to the house and to her front door. "Thank you for tonight, I had a nice time," she said as she looked up into her eyes.

"I'm glad, cause I did too."

The pair of them started to lean into each other when they head a dog bark. They turned their attention to where the sound came from and saw Nolan running after Sammy. "Are we late?" The tall blonde man asked when he caught up to the yellow lab.

Emily looked at him, then Daniel, with a confused look. Just then the doors to her house opened and multiple people shouted, "Happy Birthday Emily!"

"Please don't be mad at Daniel. This was all my plan. I was the one who told him it was your birthday and to help me with the party."

"No, no, it's fine. Just, next time, let me know if there's going to be a party in my house. I'm not a big fan of surprises."

"Got it. Now, I am going to make sure that Sam doesn't get into the cake." She rushed over to where the dog was inches away from Emily's birthday cake.

She glanced over at Daniel who was listen to another guy talking to him. He turned and mouthed 'Sorry' to her. She smiled and told him it was okay. Then she motioned that she was going to go stand out on the porch for some air. She stood, leaning on the railing, when Nolan came up next to her. "You knew about this and didn't tell me," she accused.

"I figured it would give you a chance to break out of your shell. Besides, I was on dog duty, so I couldn't just come down and warn you."

Before she could say anything, Daniel walked out. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"No, I was just going to get some cake." Nolan stood face to face with the other man and inspected him for a second. He then walked away, allowing Daniel to stand next to Emily.

She turned to face him and smiled. "Thank you for this. I'm sorry I didn't tell you it was my birthday."

"It was none of my business. This is only the first date, after all."

She stepped forward so that they were practically nose to nose. "First implying that there will be more." That was when he closed the gap between them and kissed her. The kiss was the best either of them had ever experienced.