Camping

Laughter fills the night air as two teens run up the stone steps, the moonlight reflected off the pool of water at the base. Neither knows the significance the monument holds for another couple, of the laughter and pain that was expressed on those same steps years before. Even if they did know it is doubtful it would make a difference, so consumed they are with each other.

"You're insane," Mia laughs breathlessly as they near the top of the stairs, their hands intertwined. "It's almost midnight. We're not supposed to be here."

"We'll be fine. I've got an escape route planned," Parker smiles at her, taking a deep breath as they finally reach the top. "Besides we're still in high school. What's the worse that could happen?"

"We're always sneaking into places," Mia shakes her head. "How did the son of a federal agent turn into such a delinquent?"

"Ask my grandpa Max sometime."

Using their united hands he guides her to sit two steps down before settling behind her. She instantly leans back into him, content as his arms wrap around her and his chin rests on her shoulder. They sit in silence as they absorb the beauty of the city lights and the Washington Monument glowing in front of them. Slowly their breathing evens out, their slightly perspiring foreheads cooled by the gentle breeze. Parker nuzzles into the crook of his girlfriend's neck, lightly kissing the skin.

"Missed you," he whispers into her ear, tightening his grip around her.

"I missed you too," Mia snuggles back into him, a small smile on her face. "Though I had fun spending some time with 'Dr. Bones'."

Parker chuckles, loosening his hold enough to let her turn more towards him. "I haven't called her that since I was a kid."

"Like when you asked her to be your dad's girlfriend to sex him up?" Mia laughs as he blinks in shock and embarrassment. "Your mom is a really good story teller. And she's not shy."

"Yeah. …no, no, no." Parker's eyes go wide as he feels fear build up in his chest, his tone pleading. "She didn't. Please tell me she didn't ask you about…you know, us."

Though her cheeks are tinged pink, her eyes still sparkle with amusement at his reaction as she nods. "Did she seriously give you a box of condoms?"

"Oh my god," he groans into her shoulder. "Do I want to ask what other stuff she told you?"

"Nothing that wasn't said with pride. Relax," Mia chuckles. Taking pity on him she bumps his knee affectionately, her tone losing some of its teasing quality. "So are you going to tell me how camping went?"

"It was good," he nods, moving her back into his arms. "Good fishing. My dad really liked it."

"That's it?" she ask impatiently after a beat of silence, fighting hard to hide the nervousness she had felt leaving her boyfriend alone with her father. He just shrugs cluelessly.

"What?"

"Come on, before you left you freaked out every time there was even a hint of my dad being alone with you. But one week in the woods and you're joking with each other." She turns her head, her eyes narrowing at his amused smirk. "Something went on other than fishing."

"Well, god, don't say it like that," Parker shifts with a grimace, making her laugh. "I've always liked Jason, he's an interesting kid and your dad…he's cool, okay?"

"I told you not to worry. My dad isn't the threat making kind of guy." With a deep sigh, Mia turns back to the sight in front of them, not seeing the grimace on her boyfriend's face as he remembers…

Caw! Caw! Caw!

Parker inhales deeply as the piercing birdcall shatters the bubble of slumber previously surrounding him, his brown eyes snapping open. He takes in the dark green material spread tight a few feet above him and the unforgiving hardness of the ground under his sprawled body. With a groan he rolls over and buries his face into his pillow.

Its day five of the seven-day camping trip: five days of waking up at an unseemly hour, after sleeping on the hard ground, to go fishing. Five days of maneuvering around Mr. Lawrence's efforts to have the two of them alone for any length of time over two minutes. His father seems to be amused by his avoidance though he has so far played along.

"Parker? You up?" a voice calls from outside the tent, apparently having heard the teen's groan.

"Yeah," he responds, the yell muffled by his pillow. It takes him less than a second to realize that the voice isn't his dad but Mia's father. He quickly sits up, clearing his throat. "Yes sir, I am."

"Breakfast is done. Better hurry up before it gets cold, son," Mitch Lawrence responds, his statement emphasized by the crackle of fire and sizzle of bacon.

Parker dresses quickly, pulling a black hooded sweater over his head to defend his body from the sting of cold still in the air. He unzips the tent and steps out, giving a half smile at the middle-aged man, his face still flushed from sleep. He looks around the clearing they are settled in, unnerved at the quietness. He notices the empty Lawrence tent and his stomach drops.

"Where's my dad and Jason?" he asks, hoping his voice isn't nearly as nervous as it sounds to his own ears.

"Getting some firewood," Mitch answers easily, holding out a plate of food.

"Thank you, sir," Parker takes the plate, sitting down near the fire.

He fills a slice of bread with a pile of eggs and bacon, one eye cautiously on the man next to him. As the moments pass in easy silence Parker starts to relax, silently berating himself for his previously worries. Maybe his relationship with Mia is finally accepted and approved by her father, who really hasn't been anything but entirely friendly the entire trip. His hunger always at the ready, Parker stuffs the last of the half sandwich in his mouth, chewing as he starts to assemble another one.

"Its nice out here," Mitch breaks the silence, looking up at the trees. "Quiet…isolated."

"Mmm-hmmm," Parker mumbles through his food, slowing his chewing.

"We haven't really had a chance to talk, have we?"

Parker swallows, clearing his throat. "No, sir."

Mitch turns finally turns to the teen, his expression curious rather than menacing. "What are you plans for college? You are planning on college."

"Oh yeah, I don't really have a choice," Parker half jokes, thinking about the lectures he's already receiving from his stepmother. "Um, my plan is Georgetown University, get my bachelors and then hopefully the FBI academy in Quantico."

"Hmmm. You going to work through any of that?" Parker shifts uncomfortably as Mitch's eyes never leave him as he sips his coffee.

"Yes, sir. As much as I can. But, um, my focus is going to be my studies."

"Hmmm. That's nice. Sounds like a good plan." For a few seconds the piercing gaze is gone as Mitch sets his cup and empty plate down.

"Thank you, sir."

"And…where exactly does my daughter fit into that?" Mitch turns back, shifting to face his body fully towards Parker, giving him The Look that the teen has been dreading for the entire trip.

"Well, she-she's hoping on Georgetown too…that's the last she told me anyway," he stumbles slightly, looking quickly into the woods around him for his father. "If we're lucky we can go together."

"As what? Friends?"

Feeling affronted Parker seems to lose all nervousness, matching the older man gaze for gaze as his tone is filled with seriousness. "No, sir. No matter what colleges we each go to we'll be a couple unless she decides that isn't what she wants."

"And when you get into Quantico?" Mitch's eyes bore into Parker's. "Do you think you'll be able to handle the separation from you girlfriend well?"

"Mr. Lawrence…. I love Mia." Parker feels his heart racing as he debates on how much to tell. These are thoughts he has kept solely to himself, realizations that still spark a twinge of fear inside him. With a deep breath he plunges forward, revealing more than he has to any other person, including his father. "I know I'm young and you might not believe my devotion to your daughter but…I don't plan on loving anyone other than her. I've seen true love happen too often in my life to dismiss it when its right in front of me…or to ever let it go.

"I…I hope that by the time I'm at Quantico that I would have gathered enough to courage to…to have asked Amelia to-to marry me… Of course not before, you know, asking your, um, your permission…first." Parker clears his throat, fighting the almost unbearable urge to squirm, not sure whether it's from finally voicing that desire or waiting for Mitch's reaction.

A heavy silence falls over the pair, filled only by the flutter of birds' wings and the twittering of squirrels. In his mind Parker sends a fervent prayer that his father would soon return, hopefully before he's beaten by his girlfriend's father. Then miraculously a slow smile spreads over the weathered face in front of him. Poor Parker's relief is so profound he's afraid that it might just be a touch maniacal…though that could be in his own head.

"Mia's a smart girl. She has good taste…and good judgement," Mitch says simply, all remnants of The Look now gone making Parker start to relax. With a nod, Mitch turns back away, picking up his tin mug of coffee once more. "I'll be waiting for that."

"Um…okay." A little bewildered Parker moves his attention back to his uneaten food, darting glances to his left.

The earlier peace starts to cover him once again, a smile curving one side of his mouth as he chews. Suddenly the crunching of feet can be heard and he turns to look through the trees seeing his father and Mia's fourteen-year-old brother Jason coming closer, each with a large pile of wood in their hands.

"Parker, one more thing," Mitch says, throwing his paper plate into the flames as he stands to help relieve the burden of the woodcarvers. "When it comes to the heartbreak of his only daughter, not even FBI agents can scare a loving father…and his rusty ax."

"It's late." Parker breaks from his thoughts as Mia removes his arms, starting to stand. "We should go."

"Yeah, okay." It isn't until he stands up that he realizes how long they were sitting there. "Ah, damn!"

Mia grabs his arm, concern covering her face. "What's wrong?"

"My leg was starting to fall asleep." With a pout he limps down the steps, his groans drowned out by her laughter. "It's not funny. It's all tingly."

"Come on baby, you can do it," she mocks him, releasing a squealing laugh as he jerks to him and starts kissing her neck. "Parker! We have to go home."

Chuckling they walk down the steps, side by side. Parker turns to look at her profile illuminated in the glow of moonlight. Her jet-black curls are restrained into a braid tonight though a few have escaped near her temple. Her lips are slightly curved in a happy ghost of a smile and even in the dark he can see her green eyes are sparkling. He can smell her, an almost whisper of spring flowers and he again wonders if it's a perfume she wears or if its just her. Noticing his stare she turns to face him, raising her eyebrows quizzically. Even as his love for her surges through him curiosity overwhelms him and he speaks without thinking and without any other purpose but simply a desire to know.

"Do you want to get married?"

He is two steps down before he realizes that she has stopped. Wide brown eyes look into surprised green eyes as he realizes just how that could have sounded to her. His mind tries to think as he feels a tinge of panic rising in his throat.

"Married?"

"I don't mean to me. Well, no I do but-I mean. I'm just asking cause, you know-oh wait- I-I'm not asking I just…"

"Want to know if I'm for or against the idea?" Mia clarifies, amused at his stuttering though inside her chest her heart is still beating fast.

Giving up on speech he simply nods.

"I'm…not against it. What about you?"

"I'm Catholic," he shrugs, still feeling tingles of panic at the conversation he got himself into. "Marrying the person you're in love with is what you do."

"But you're not proposing," Mia points out, tilting her head slightly to the right as she thinks with a small smile.

"No! No, no." Then, realizing how he might be sounding too forceful Parker tries to backtrack, again stumbling over his words. "Not that I don't-I'm mean not that I wont want to, you know, eventually. That is if you want to…in the future. Not now. Not that I don't love you, cause I do. I love you. I-"

"Want to wait. Me too." Mia rests her arms on his shoulders as he gives up with a big sigh, his hands resting on her hips. "We're in love but not engaged."

"Um, right."

"But marriage is something we're both…not against." He nods. With a mischievous smile she leans forward until their noses are just barely touching, her voice adopting an exaggerated accent. "I guess you could say we're engaged to be engaged."

At his blank face she laughs in surprise. "You don't know that story? About your parents in Vegas?"

"No. When did they go to Vegas?" Parker follows her as she continues their descent down the stairs. "What story?"

"I'm surprised, I thought they would have told you."

"Well don't mess me with. Come on Mia. Don't make me ask my mom."

"Are you sure you want to know about Roxy and Tony?"

"Who the hell Roxy and Tony?"

"Who do you think told me the story?" She gives him a look, her eyebrows raised until, with horrific realization, it clicks.

"Oh god, please don't tell me! I changed my mind, I don't want to know."

The sound of her laughter echoes off the stone steps of the monument as they walk into the night.

Ok, I wrote this at three different times, in three different moods. In fact, the last part was written earlier today and hasnt been looked over by anyone but me.