Four loads of laundry later, and halfway through her second plate of Pam's spaghetti and homemade meatballs, Paige felt more relaxed than she had in weeks. She had learned early on in life, even before her time as a chef, the highest form of compliment came in asking for seconds, and with Pam's cooking it was no question. Paige could see similarities to her own mother, their desire to please a crowd, and keep their family full and happy pretty identical. It made her feel quite at home even though they were just meeting for the first time.

Conversation came easily, too. Wayne was chock full of questions, about everything from her time in culinary school to her taste in wine, from what her brothers were like to what brand of snow tires she put on her Jeep in the winter time. Pam seemed genuinely interested as well, listening intently as Paige rambled on, instinctively refilling Paige's salad plate, or sneaking her another piece of garlic bread.

Emily was euphoric, seeing her parents and Paige getting along so well. To her, it spoke volumes of the type of person Paige was, genuine and kind, charming and funny. She couldn't be happier they were seeing Paige the way she did. Of course, it was also nice to see Paige relaxing and just being a guest for once, too.

"So, Emmy tells me you've got some big interview coming up? You're going to be in a magazine?" Wayne asked, twirling some pasta on his fork.

"Daddy…" Emily whined, shooting him an intense glare. She really hadn't wanted this to come up and stress Paige out.

"What? It's good, isn't it?" he shrugged.

"Dad it's her day off, she doesn't want to think about work,"

"It's okay, Em. I mean, it is really good. It's a huge opportunity. I'm just really nervous, I guess," Paige replied.

"Surely you have nothing to worry about," Pam interjected, "your food is fabulous. It seems like the restaurant is doing very well…there wasn't an empty seat when we were there. And Emily's tips speak for themselves,"

"Emily's tips speak more for her than for me," Paige chuckled, "I probably wouldn't even be getting this shot if it wasn't for her,"

"That's not true," Emily frowned, "you're the one who made the food. I just brought it to her table. You're the one she's interviewing, you earned this,"

"Your parents must be very proud. And your brothers," Pam told her with a smile.

"I uh, haven't told them yet. I thought…if everything goes well I'd send them all a copy of the magazine in the mail," she shrugged.

"Oh. Well…that will be a nice surprise for them. Do they cook as well?" Pam asked, sensing Paige's readiness to change the subject.

"Yup. Well, they're retired now…but they owned a place over on 53rd street for like…twenty years. They sold it a few years ago and moved out by the shore," Paige answered.

"53rd street you say? You're not talking about McCullers Pub are you?" Wayne questioned.

"That'd be the one. Now it's a pizza shop, Dominic's. They have a pretty decent pie," she shrugged.

"Man, McCullers Pub. You remember that place honey?" Wayne asked his wife, and she nodded with a smile, "we went there a few times before Emmy was born. Your mom makes a mean bowl of chili," he recalled.

"Ah, my dad actually. That chili is his pride and joy. I don't even have the recipe," she laughed.

"Still, what a great place. Is that how they met? Your parents?" he wondered.

"Nah, they actually met after a Flyers game. I guess it was snowing really bad and they both ended up waiting the storm out in the same bar across from the stadium. My dad says he knew as soon as he looked at her from across the bar he was looking at his soul mate. Mom says he smiled at her once and she was his. They were married a year after that," she explained through a smile, and Emily smiled too. She could definitely relate, having been transfixed by the McCullers charm and that damn smile since day one.

"That's very sweet," Pam replied, noticing the love struck look on her own daughter's face as she listened to Paige talk and watched her eat, "your parents must've had their hands full, owning a restaurant and running around after five children," she observed.

"Sure. They were awesome, though. They kept it all together. My mom jokes that she has a grey hair named after each of us," Paige laughed, "but I think she wouldn't have had it any other way. Now with all my nieces and nephews running around…she's still wanting more. My youngest brother Owen just got married in March and she's practically waiting by the phone for him to call and say there's a baby on the way,"

"Owen and Brittany are going to have really cute babies," Emily pointed out and Paige nodded.

"Yeah. I'm pretty anxious waiting for it too, I gotta say," she admitted.

"So is that something you would like to have? A big family, lots of kids?" Wayne asked, sipping his wine.

"Oh yeah, definitely. I can't wait to have kids," she replied.

"Paige is really good with kids," Emily told them.

"So are you," Paige replied, "Lacey loved you, and it took Ryan like half an hour to get Jared calmed down after you left. He definitely didn't want his new buddy 'Emiwy' to leave," she laughed.

"He's a little sweetie. He's gonna be a heartbreaker when he grows up,"

"I'm pretty sure he's set on marrying you when he grows up," Paige chuckled.

"Please, we just met," Emily joked, rolling her eyes, and Paige laughed heartily. Pam and Wayne, both smiling, eyed each other from across the table, enjoying the sight of Emily and Paige together, obviously just happy and at ease in each other's presence. Wayne hadn't seen his daughter this happy in a long time. It was the most he could hope for, something to keep him going in his next stint away from home. He probably wouldn't see Emily again until at least Christmas. At least now it seemed she had someone special in her life, something to keep her from worrying and missing him as much as he suspected she did.

After dinner, Pam and Wayne insisted on a walk around the neighborhood, to help digest before dessert. Emily had politely declined, wanting a few minutes alone with Paige to make sure she was enjoying herself and relaxed.

They had wandered to the back deck, and were now resting on the porch swing. Emily sat upright, Paige lying down with her head in Emily's lap, eyes closed as Emily's fingers combed through her hair.

"You seem really happy," Paige whispered, keeping her eyes closed. Her hands were resting on her stomach, every now and then rubbing back and forth in an attempt to settle the food inside.

"How could I not be? My dad's here, I got to spend the whole day with you…got to see you really relax and have a day off for the first time since I met you…you kissed me, finally…" Emily rambled, and Paige laughed.

"I think if we're being technical, you kissed me," she corrected.

"Does it matter? Do you know how many nights I couldn't sleep, cause all I could think about was kissing you? Laying with you like this? Dragging you back into the dry goods closet and having my way with you?" Emily rambled.

"How many?" Paige chuckled, and Emily rolled her eyes.

"You're lucky you're cute,"

"Don't I know it," Paige mumbled sleepily.

"Don't fall asleep," Emily whispered, moving her hand from Paige's hair down to cup her cheek. Paige reached up and took the hand from her face, kissing Emily's knuckles and then lacing their fingers together.

"It's okay. Let's just take a quick nap. I'll still be cute in the morning," she replied with a drowsy smile.

"My mom made apple cinnamon cake for dessert…" she teased, and Paige's eyebrows shot up.

"Mmm…" she moaned, stretching her arms out as she yawned. Emily grinned as Paige's t-shirt rode up a bit in the front, leaving her toned stomach on display.

"Mmm indeed," Emily husked in reply, reaching down and ghosting a hand across Paige's abs, smiling as she flinched at the touch, "I know you're really tired. I'm just not ready for this day to be over yet," she whispered.

"If you want, bring your work clothes along when you drive me home. You can crash and we'll go to work from my place," Paige offered.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You can help me put away all this laundry you made me do today," she yawned again.

"Very funny,"

"I'm serious. We'll watch a movie or play Xbox or checkers or something. You can try all the stuff I made this morning,"

"That sounds nice, but I barely have room for dessert. I vote for a movie, though I'm sure you'll be sleeping ten minutes in," Emily smiled.

"That depends on the movie, beautiful," she told her, groaning a little with effort as she pushed herself to sit up, "I have a pretty big collection though. Bought out most of Blockbuster's stuff when they went out of business. Your pick," Paige offered. Emily just kept smiling as she looked at Paige trying to wipe the sleepiness from her eyes.

"What?"

"You called me beautiful," Emily swooned.

"Yeah," Paige shrugged with a grin, "well you are,"

Emily sighed happily, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Paige's lips.

"Come on. We'll have dessert and then we'll go," she said, and with one more kiss they headed back into the house.

A few hours later, they found themselves in Paige's recliner, Paige sitting between Emily's legs as Emily massaged her shoulders. Emily would've been certain Paige had fallen asleep, but every few minutes she would turn her head for a kiss, which Emily was happy to provide. It had been the perfect day, a first date that felt fairy tale worthy in Emily's mind, and there was no place she'd rather be.

"You're so freakin tense," Emily whispered as she worked on a particularly stubborn knot in Paige's right shoulder, "have you ever gotten a massage before?"

"Mmm…don't think so. Not a real one, anyhow," she moaned in reply.

"Makes sense,"

"Do you get them often?" Paige wondered.

"I do. Coach's orders, once a month to keep us nice and loose," Emily explained.

"Really? Uh…who like…who massages you? A girl?"

"Yes, a girl. The athletic trainer. Her name is Gina, and she's like 40, and married. To a man," Emily laughed, pressing a kiss to the back of Paige's head.

"Touché…sorry, did I sound like a jealous creep?" Paige winced.

"Not at all. It's kind of cute considering I've spent the last two months in a jealousy cocoon,"

"You weren't that bad," Paige soothed, "you handled it very well, anyhow,"

"Around you, I suppose. After work I'd haul wine and takeout over to Hanna's and bitch and moan, trying to make her pick an outfit or different makeup for me that would make you notice me," she admitted.

"I always noticed you, Em. Since day one,"

"I guess I see that now. But then, seeing you hold Kelsey's hand and kiss her and watching you guys do couple things…it drove me nuts. And I still hate knowing Kelsey's somewhere now hurting like crazy," she rambled.

"Yeah. Me too. Hanna said she's been a mess," Paige replied with a groan.

"Well, you're not gonna be an easy girl to get over,"

"Should I do something? Call her, tell her I'm sorry? Bring her some food?" Paige wondered.

"Haven't you ever been dumped before?"

"Yeah, of course," she shrugged.

"Did you ever spend the first few weeks hoping the girls who dumped you would bring you food? Like… that's what you do when someone dies, not when you dump someone,"

"Alright, I know, I know. I just hate that I hurt her,"

"It's sweet you want to make it better," she kissed the back of her head again, "but you're the one person who can't. Well, neither can I. All you can do is give her space. I think you trying to talk to her so soon would feel like rubbing salt in the wound. She's got Hanna and the girls at the restaurant. She'll be okay," Emily soothed.

"You're right. I know," she sighed.

"Are you going to put on a movie or what?"

"Think you can stay awake for the whole thing?" Paige teased, turning a little in Emily's arms so they were face to face in the cramped recliner.

"I'm not the one who hasn't slept for three days," Emily chuckled, smoothing the exhaustion lines under Paige's eyes gently with her thumb.

"I can make it a few more hours," Paige assured her, "I'm getting kind of hungry again though,"

"Oh yeah? That spaghetti didn't hold you over very long," Emily laughed.

"Well, you try not sleeping for three days and see how fast your body burns through carbs just to keep going," Paige shrugged.

"My metabolism is no match for yours. How about this, you pick a movie, and I'll go fix you something to eat," Emily offered, and Paige smiled as yet again she heard the influence of just a year in the south in Emily's voice, finding it adorable.

"I could eat a bowl of cereal…" she crooned.

"Cereal sounds good. Where is it?" Emily asked, wiggling her way out of the chair and heading toward the kitchen.

"Cabinet above the coffee pot," Paige called, kicking the footrest back into the recliner and walking over to her DVD stand.

"Hmm…you have…Fruit Loop crumbs, and…BBQ Pringles," Emily observed with a chuckle and Paige groaned. She had spent several hundred dollars on food the night before, none of it actually resembling groceries.

"Damn…so much for that,"

"It's fine. I'll walk down to the corner store and get a box of something. What's your pleasure?" Emily offered, already rifling through her purse for some cash.

"You aren't walking down there by yourself," Paige's head snapped up from where she was comparing two movies.

"Paige, it's at the end of the block, and it's not even dark yet. Stay here, pick a movie, get comfortable. I'll be fine," she walked up to Paige and pressed a kiss to her lips, "seriously, I'll be gone ten minutes. What kind of cereal do you want?"

"Surprise me," she husked, pulling Emily in for another kiss, this one deeper than the first, "please be careful,"

"Be right back," she winked, and with one last kiss, she was out the door.

Not having wanted Paige to be anything but satisfied, Emily had ended up with three different boxes of cereal. Now standing in line to be rung up, behind an older woman getting a little too picky about her lottery numbers, Emily was jugging the cereal, a gallon of milk, a few candy bars and a tooth brush, since she had forgotten to pack her own. The woman in front of her purchased another ticket and began scratching it on the counter, and Emily sighed. She just wanted to get back to Paige with her cereal, and cuddle the crap out of her.

The clerk behind the counter shot Emily a sympathetic grin, obviously trying to appease her so she wouldn't drop her selections and walk out to buy them somewhere else, and Emily shook her head with a silent laugh. Working in customer service, she knew his pain. Sometimes customers just drove her crazy.

"Cinnamon Toast Crunch at seven at night?" Emily heard from behind her, and turned to see Kelsey, two forties of Miller Lite in her hands from the back beer cooler. She looked every bit the mess Hanna had said she was, looking even more exhausted than Paige did, eyes puffy from what Emily guessed was both a lack of sleep and excessive crying. She was wearing an old concert t-shirt and pajama pants with flip flops. Emily hadn't even seen her enter the store.

"Kelsey…hi…"

"You must be on your way to Paige's," Kelsey observed, tipping her head toward the cereal in Emily's arms, "she loves cereal at night,"

"I…uh…yeah…" Emily stammered, looking down at her feet, "how are you?" she asked, and immediately felt stupid for doing so.

"Oh you know," she laughed darkly, holding up the bottles in even clearer view, "every night's a party,"

"Kelsey, we haven't talked since everything went down. I just want you to know how sorry I am. I never wanted you to get hurt," Emily told her.

"Yeah but you're not as sorry as you think you are. Cause you got exactly what you wanted," she rolled her eyes.

"That's not true…I admit I had feelings for Paige all along, but I really did try to leave her be. I really tried to let her just be with you. I just liked her too much…" Emily explained. Kelsey rolled her neck back and forth on her shoulders, and blew out a shaky breath.

"Yeah," she spoke softly, "well thanks, I guess,"

"I know you have to hate me right now. I deserve it. But you're really important to me. You made me feel like I belong, at the restaurant, you know? So I'd really like it if eventually, one day, we could be friends again," Emily pleaded.

"I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime, save your money. The box of Fruit Loops I'm assuming you're trying to replace was mine. Paige hates them. Get her Apple Jacks instead. Those and the Cinnamon Toast Crunch are her favorite," Kelsey told her through a sad smile.

"Oh. Okay…thanks,"

"Yeah, sure, I guess. Hey. If you really want to be my friend, do me a favor, and don't tell Paige you saw me," she asked, and Emily nodded sadly.

"Uh, miss…you can come on up now," the clerk called, and Emily turned toward him.

"Uh, you go ahead…" she told Kelsey, "I gotta go swap this cereal…"

"Yeah, thanks. Later," she replied, pushing past Emily and making her way to the register. Emily sighed, happy to escape the awkwardness for now, as she headed back toward the cereal section of the store.

The sun was just starting to sink down behind the Philadelphia skyline as Emily made her way back to Paige's apartment with bags in hand. She was gone a little longer than expected, due to the line at the counter and the awkward conversation with Kelsey, and she was hoping Paige wasn't worried.

As she approached apartment 8, Paige's apartment, she knocked a few times on the door before letting herself in.

"Hey sorry I took so long…Paige? Paige where are you?" she called, a little confused not seeing Paige waiting for her on the couch with a movie waiting to play.

"Em…we're gonna have to postpone movie night…" Paige announced, coming out of her bedroom with a frown. She was clutching her phone in one hand, the other combing through her hair nervously. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

"Paige what happened? Are you okay?" Emily asked alarmed, dropping the bags and rushing to Paige. The tone of their incredible day and pending first night together had definitely changed. Paige was a frantic mess.

"Brittany just called me. Owen was in a car accident," she told her, her voice shaky and raw with fear.

"Oh God…is he okay?" Emily gasped. Paige made her way back to her bedroom, and Emily followed seeing Paige already had a messy bag packed, ready to hit the road to Delaware where her brother lived.

"I don't know. She doesn't even know. By the time she got to the hospital he was already in surgery. They aren't telling her anything. I need to get down there. I'm so, so sorry…we had such a nice day…" she rambled.

"No, no Paige don't apologize. I'm here, I'm with you, let's go," Emily attempted to soothe her.

"Em, it's okay. It's close two a two- hour drive, you don't have to go. I'll probably be down there a few days. Shit…I'll have to call Chrissy…and I have to call Greg and ask him to fill in for me…"

"You cannot drive right now, I'm coming with you," Emily insisted, pulling Paige into a hug, "I just need to stop somewhere for gas,"

"I just filled up my Jeep, we can take that. Are you sure, Em? You can totally go home. Or stay here if you want, get some sleep and I'll call you when I get there," Paige offered.

"No way. You're shaking like a leaf, you can't drive, I won't let you. I'm with you Paige, I'm here. It's gonna be okay," Emily soothed. After grabbing their things and turning out the lights behind them, they were on the highway toward Delaware before Paige even caught her breath.

Again I thank you all for the support, the love, the reviews and everything else! You guys are what keeps me going! Thanks so much!