...0...0...0...0...0...0...

Emma was really proud that she had gotten home that night without having a major meltdown. She and Sean had continued talking about kids and why she hadn't told him sooner about her suspicions, and they had managed to finally sort everything out. She smiled as she thought of their conversation. There had been a time when a discussion of that magnitude would have resulted in a full blown scream fest. Now, they could actually talk to each other. And more than that; they could listen.

Even though they were still awake, her mom and Snake were already in bed when she got home. And given that she was fifteen minutes early, she thought they were making some progress. Hopefully, it wouldn't be long before her mother actually accepted the idea that Sean was now a permanent fixture.

Manny was sitting on her bed doing her nails when Emma went downstairs. Upon hearing Emma's footsteps, Manny closed the bottle quickly and turned to her. "You so owe me."

"For what?" Emma asked confused, taking her jacket off and rummaging for her pajamas.

"For taking the rap for your pregnancy test," Manny said.

Emma dropped her clothes as she spun around. "My mom saw it?"

"Yeah. And she was about to storm over to Sean's to kill the both of you. So I told her it was mine."

Emma released a long breath in relief. At least her mom didn't know. Sinking down onto her bed, she looked over at Manny. "Thank you so much. If my mom knew ... she'd kill me. How can I ever repay you?"

"Well, you start by giving me all the juicy details," Manny said, hopping off her bed and hobbling over to Emma's as she tried desperately not to smudge her toes.

"Manny!"

"What? You can't blame me for being curious. With all the years of build up between you two, not to mention the fact that Sean is totally hot ... " she began, but Emma cut her off again, a blush creeping up her neck. "Well he is. The biceps, those abs ... You are one lucky girl Em."

"Yeah, I am," she agreed, a smile playing over her lips as she thought about the parts of Sean that Manny had just described.

"How did he take the news?" Manny asked, a serious edge coming into her voice.

"He was relieved ... but, he was hurt that I didn't tell him sooner," she whispered.

Manny frowned. "Why didn't you tell me? I've been there you know. I could have helped you through it."

Emma sighed deeply. "I didn't want anyone to know until I found out for sure."

"You shouldn't have taken that test alone." Manny's voice was raised slightly with emotion.

Emma shushed her.

"You're gonna wake my parents up."

"Sorry. I'm just upset."

"I get that," Emma told her. "I appreciate what you did for me, but I wasn't alone. JT was with me."

"JT? You told JT, but you didn't tell me?" she accused, her eyes taking on an angry glare.

"I didn't tell him. He sort of ... found me with the test."

"Oh." Manny absorbed the words, realizing that Emma never meant to hurt her. "Sorry."

"It's okay. But how did you take the blame for it? You and Craig broke up months ago."

"I said I was dating this guy named Nick."

"Nick?"

"Yeah. He's new and really hot." Manny laughed.

Emma laughed too, glad the tension was gone. "Never doubted it."

...0...0...0...0...0...0...

Manny finally managed to wheedle a few details out of Emma, but nothing she thought Sean would be embarrassed about her knowing. Yeah, Sean was a guy but he was also very private. Especially about things like sex. She had also made Manny swear not to tell Sean that she'd told her anything.

She found Sean the next day outside working on an old car up on blocks in his yard. It looked, for lack of a better word, like a piece of junk. The only positive thing she could say about it was that it looked like it would be a nice shade of red once all the dirt and dust was cleaned off. He was underneath the car, with only his legs sticking out. She went over and pulled on the thing he was laying on. He'd told her a million times what it was called, but she could never remember.

"Hey." she said, sitting on his lap.

"Hey." he replied. He kissed her quickly, not wanting to get grease on her.

"When did you get this?"

"This morning. Since Jay and I are ... whatever, I figured it was time for a new ride. It'll be too cold for the bike soon."

"I thought you were saving the money for your shop. How much did this cost?" she asked.

"Em, that wasn't the first race I won. I have enough in savings, and I got a great deal on this." He reached behind him and patted the car fondly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, the guy had no idea what he had. I got it for three hundred." He sounded ridiculously pleased with himself.

She laughed.

"Just what exactly did he have?"

"A '67 Impala. This thing is a classic," he told her.

"I'll take your word for it." She stood up and asked him if he wanted a drink. She came back with his soda a few minutes later, to find him buried under the now open hood, bent over the engine.

"Em?"

"Yeah?" She focused her attention. Sean had taken his shirt off while she was inside and she had been distracted by admiring him.

"My mom called me this morning. She and my dad are gonna be in the city next weekend and they want to have dinner with us," he said slowly.

"They do?" she asked. She had talked to his mom a few times when she had called, but she still hadn't had any sort of contact with his dad. She had to admit she was more than a bit nervous. What if he didn't like her?

"Yeah. But if you don't want to ... "

"No," she said quickly. "I mean yes." She took a deep breath. "I mean, I want to."

He gave her a half smile that she knew all too well. He was happy, but didn't want to appear too sappy. "Great. I'll call and tell them."

She nodded. She was glad that they were finally doing this. Emma planned on being with Sean for the rest of her life, as naive as that sounded for a high school girl. She knew that eventually she'd have to meet his whole family, like he would hers, but it didn't stop the butterflies swarming in her stomach.

...0...0...0...0...0...0...

"Are you sure I look okay?" Emma asked for the third time.

"Em, you look beautiful. Just relax," Sean told her.

Sean's parents were due any minute. They were going to be staying with him while they were in town and Emma thought it would be better to have dinner there than to go out somewhere. She had even cooked the dinner herself, and was relieved that it turned out so well. She wasn't the best cook in the world. She and Manny had come over early that morning and cleaned from top to bottom while Sean sat on the couch watching cartoons and grousing about them waking him up too early. Eventually, she'd told him to either help or go away. He'd chosen the latter, and spent the remainder of the day working on his car.

"I'm just nervous," she replied, fixing the bouquet of flowers she'd placed in the center of the table again.

Sean came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist to stop her fussing. Pulling her back against him, he leaned his chin on her shoulder and kissed her cheek. "There's no reason to be nervous. My mom loves you."

"But what if your dad doesn't?"

"He will," he assured her.

"Tracker didn't."

"Tracker's an idiot. And he came around."

A knock sounded on the door and he let his hands slip away as he went to answer it. He tossed a reassuring smile back over at her before opening the door. She smiled back weakly.

"Sean," his mother cried, flinging her arms around him. "Oh, it's so good to see you." She released him and he hugged his father. His mom came over and hugged Emma, which surprised her, but she returned it. At least she had one parent on her side.

"Dad, this is Emma," Sean said as he lead his father over to her.

He looked her up and down appraisingly. "So you're the one my son left home for."

"Ben!" Mrs. Cameron scolded.

"Dad, come on," Sean said in a low voice.

Emma swallowed the large lump that had formed in her throat. She couldn't seem to find her voice, even if she'd had an idea of what to say to that.

"Well, it's the truth. I didn't say anything bad. I just get it now." He looked Emma over again, and she felt the heat rise to her face. Like Sean, both of his parents were wearing jeans. But she had opted for a light blue dress that Sean had always said he liked. Now, she felt overdressed and showy.

"Let's just eat," Sean said, placing his hand on the small of Emma's back and leading her to the table. His parents joined them and Emma noted the way Sean's father's eyebrows went up when Sean pulled out her chair.

"Everything looks wonderful," Mrs. Cameron said.

"Emma did all of it," Sean said warmly, taking hold of her hand and squeezing it reassuringly. She smiled at him.

"You cook?" Mr. Cameron asked.

"Yes, sir." she said, finally finding her voice.

"Sir?" he scoffed. Then, "What is it?"

"Vegetarian moussaka. My stepdad's recipe," she said.

"Vegetarian?" The disapproval was evident in his voice and in his expression, though it was directed at Sean. Clearly, he was not happy about that particular bit of information. "You're a vegetarian?"

"Yes, sir." she said again, unsure if anything else would help the situation or not.

"No wonder you're so skinny," he muttered.

"Dad!" Sean exclaimed at the same time his mother said, "Stop it."

"Emma worked really hard on this dinner," Sean said angrily. "The least you can do is be civil."

"Civil?" his father asked in disbelief. "To the girl my son is ruining his life for?"

Sean stood abruptly, his chair falling backwards as he looked down at his father. "I'm not ruining my life!"

"You were doing good back home. Then you see her," he glanced over at Emma quickly, "and all of a sudden you want to come back here."

"I love her," Sean gritted out slowly.

"Sex isn't love, boy."

"That's enough!" Sean's mother stood up, anger written all over her face. She reach over and grabbed Emma's hand. "You two work this out, Emma and I are going for a walk."

She lead Emma outside and onto the sidewalk. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Emma said, fighting back tears. "I just wanted tonight to go well. For Sean."

"I know, sweetie," she wrapped her arm around Emma's shoulder as they turned the corner. "That's part of the reason I know how much you love my son."

"I do."

"Good. Cause I couldn't have let him go again for someone who didn't," she smiled warmly and Emma returned it.

Emma face turned serious. "Do you think it was a good idea to leave them alone?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "But it was the only thing I could think of."

...0...0...0...0...0...0...

They returned to find both men sitting silently at the table, their food cold on their plates. They sat and ate quietly, the only noise coming from the scrape of the forks against the plates. Sean's mom and Emma did the dishes and Emma decided to go home after that. Sean walked her to the door while his parents went to unpack.

"I'm sorry, Em," he told her, shutting the door behind him.

"It's not your fault."

"I feel like it is." Sean looked down at the ground. "I knew he'd do something like this."

"He's no worse than my mom," she said.

"She doesn't insult me to my face. Or accuse me of ruining your life," Sean said.

"No, she accuses me of ruining my own by focusing too much on you," Emma clarified. Then she smiled at him. "But who cares what they think."

"Right," he smirked, pulling her into a tight hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."

With a quick kiss, she headed home.

...0...0...0...0...0...0...

"Sean, I'm glad you're still up."

He looked up at his mom over the glass of milk he was drinking. After the way she had screamed at his dad, there was no way he could have gone to sleep.

"I want to give you something," she said, picking her purse up from the kitchen table. She rummaged around for a minute before handing him a small box.

"What is it?" he asked suspiciously.

"Open it."

He did. And he was floored by what he saw.

"It was my grandmother's. It's the only thing I have that's really valuable and means something to me. That's why I want you to have it," she said warmly.

"Mom, I ..."

"Don't. I don't feel like your father. I can see how much you love Emma. And that girl, she adores you. What more can I ask for my baby?" She kissed his forehead and went back to Sean's room.

He stared after her in disbelief. Then he looked down at the box in his hand, slightly amazed by what was inside. Yeah, they'd discussed it, but seeing that in his hand made it all too real. Were they ready for such a huge step?

He thought of Emma's face when she'd left that night. She was hurt and sad, but it was for him. She could handle his father not liking her, but it hurt her for his sake. She'd always wanted to make things better for him. That was part of the reason he loved her so much. He looked down again. It was almost like he could see her in the smooth surface, the little girl he met when he was thirteen and the girl he'd kissed goodbye just a few short hours ago. A sudden burst of clarity struck him and he just knew that it was meant for her.

Someday, maybe someday very soon, he was going to give Emma the engagement ring he held in his hands.