AN: Wow, this is majorly late! I am so sorry about this guys! I cannot apologize enough but I hope that you enjoy this one!

Words (excluding author's note): 1800

The music was pumping loudly. People were laughing and chatting with each other as they danced on the floor.

Jessica weaved her way through the crowd of people, holding a wrapped present in one hand and a cup of cherryade in the other, as she tried to locate Gina.

Her friend had decided to hold her sixteenth birthday party at the recently opened club that catered to teenagers.

After looking around for ten minutes, she finally spotted her dark-haired friend walking over to the buffet table and followed her before tapping her on the shoulder.

"Jess!" the girl exclaimed happily as she turned around and hugged her. "You made it after all!"

"Of course!" Jessica smiled. "How could I miss my best friend's sixteenth?" She then handed her present over to Gina who eagerly opened it.

"Oh my gosh, you didn't!" Gina gasped as she pulled out a pretty red top with matching ballerina pumps. "This is the top and shoes I was looking at when we went shopping the other week!" She pulled Jessica into another hug which the blonde returned. "Thank you!"

"It's no trouble at all!" Jessica responded. "Were you looking for someone by the way?" She had a feeling she knew the answer already.

Gina nodded. "I was trying to find Lucas. You haven't seen him, have you?"

"Not yet. I was too busy trying to find you. Why don't we go and get something to eat?"

The two girls walked over to the nearby buffet table and selected some snacks. Just as they were about to enjoy their food, a voice called out, "There you are!"

Toby walked into the club with Nick and Lucas. He spotted several of their classmates enjoying themselves but there was only one person he was looking for.

"Maybe we should find Gina and thank her for inviting us!" Nick shouted over the music. The boys nodded at each other and begin to make their way through the crowd, apologizing when they accidentally bumped into someone.

They reached the buffet table and found not only the birthday girl but also her best friend - also known as the girl of Toby's dreams. He almost stopped breathing at the sight of her.

Jessica was wearing a pale pink top with blue leggings and white ballerina pumps. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back rather than being in its usual ponytail. It was a simple look and yet, to Toby, she was the most beautiful person in the room.

"There you are!" Lucas exclaimed, snapping him out of his stupor. He followed his brother and friend over to the two girls, hoping he hadn't been caught staring.

"Lucas!" Gina beamed at him. "I've been looking for you everywhere!" She then turned to Toby and Nick who wished her a happy birthday.

"I think I'm gonna go and show off some of my moves on the floor!" Nick said, handing his drink over to Toby before walking away and beginning to dance.

"Why don't we join him?" Gina suggested, holding her hand out for Lucas to take. The boy looked momentarily surprised but smiled and led her on the floor where they joined Nick.

Jessica glanced at Toby who seemed to be contemplating something. "Do you think we should join them?" she asked after finishing off her drink.

"If you want to," he answered, grinning at her. He was privately surprised that he could even speak normally, considering what he'd been thinking just moments earlier.

She grabbed his hand, ignoring the tingling, and pulled him close. "But then again, we're alone now..."

He answered her grin with one of his own as she tugged him behind the nearby wall, hiding them from the view of their classmates. "Finally!" she exclaimed. "I thought I'd have to wait until the party was over!"

"A bit eager, aren't you?" he teased.

"Like you aren't!" she retorted before gasping as he did exactly what she wanted by kissing her. Neither of them were strangers to finding hiding places where they could be alone.

It was a strange experience being hidden in a club at their friend's birthday party and currently making out, risking the discovery of their secret relationship.

A few times, they thought they heard somebody approaching and swiftly broke apart, only to resume when they were sure they were alone once more.

"You think the others are looking for us yet?" Jessica asked, pulling away for air. "We should probably go and find them."

"Yeah, you're right," Toby agreed, though he wished they could have stayed there a little longer.

The couple fixed their hair and clothes, which had become rather mussed from their activities, before leaving their hiding place and rejoining the party.

Luckily nobody had noticed their extended absence as they walked over to their friends. Gina walked up onto the stage and announced that they would be beginning a karaoke special and anyone was welcome to take part.

"No," Toby said immediately as Jessica gave him a pleading look. "No way, Jess. I am not going to sing. You know what'll happen if I sing - I'll get embarrassed and you don't want that to happen!"

Jessica wasn't going to take no for an answer. She knew he would give in, eventually, so she just had to be patient. Sure enough, after five minutes, he relented and allowed her to pull him on stage.

It came as no surprise to absolutely nobody in the room that the two blondes absolutely annihilated anyone else brave enough to attempt a go at karaoke.

They started off doing duets together but, just for a laugh, decided to go head to head. Every song they chose, their scores would be exactly the same at the end, much to their - and everyone else's - amusement.

Gina would tell them later that they had made the party more memorable for her before she held up her phone and the five friends took a group selfie.

Toby and Jessica watched their two daughters - fifteen year old Tori and thirteen year old Erin - as they prepared for a night at the same club they themselves had attended approximately twenty years earlier.

"Can someone please tell me why Louise had to choose a club to have her birthday party at?" Tori complained. "There'll be too many people there!"

"Come on, Tori, live a little!" Erin exclaimed. "You're not getting out of this one! Louise made me promise I'd make sure you were there!"

"Great!" Tori replied, her sarcasm not going unmissed. She would much rather have attended a nice quiet birthday meal than have to spend the evening with a huge crowd of people, many of whom she didn't even know.

Jessica let out a sigh as she rested her head on Toby's shoulder. "Remember Gina's sixteenth?"

Toby nodded. "As I recall, we spent most of it making out in a corner somewhere, didn't we?" he reminisced.

"See?" Erin, who had been listening in, said to Tori, who had been trying to come up with an excuse to stay at home. "You can just stay in a corner and make out with-"

"For the last time, Erin, I do not have a crush on Ryan!" Tori burst out angrily.

Erin grinned mischievously while Tori's face flushed red, having realized her mistake. "Who said I was talking about Ryan?"

They watched their eldest daughter scream frustratedly before she stormed up the stairs, Erin yelling after her to hurry up as they had to leave.

After the two girls had left, Toby wrapped his arms around Jessica. "She definitely likes him," his wife commented. "Every time someone mentions his name, she always overreacts."

"I'm not sure she even realizes how obvious she is," Toby agreed, though he was torn on how he felt about the situation as a whole. On the one hand, Tori was almost sixteen - it was only natural that she would start to develop romantic interests, even if she was Lucas-level oblivious. On the other, she was his baby girl and he didn't want to think of her dating anyone yet.

"Feel like a hypocrite?" Jessica asked suddenly, causing the man to jump, wondering how she could have possibly known that was precisely how he felt.

"Well, you know, I don't want her to date yet but, at the same time, we started dating when we were thirteen. So I'm not really in any position to tell her she can't date anyone, am I?" he sighed, wishing he could rewind the clock a few years so things were less complicated.

"I know how you feel," Jessica told him. "But I don't think you need to worry." Upon seeing his puzzled look, she elaborated, "Tori doesn't know yet how she really feels about Ryan. She's hardly going to make a move on him while she's struggling to work out what he actually is to her. And Ryan...he's clearly liked her for a while - the poor guy couldn't be any more obvious! But he won't tell her until he's absolutely sure of her feelings."

Toby gaped at her. "Our relationship was never that complicated!" he managed to get out after a while. "We just confessed and then lived happily with a few bumps in the road every now and again!"

"Times change, though," Jessica reminded him. "Tori and Ryan aren't like you or I when you think about it."

She had a point there. Tori and Ryan hadn't been able to stand each other when they'd first met and it took everything they both had just to be civil to one another. It had taken as long as a year for Tori to willingly admit that she cared about him as a friend, something she never would have done at the beginning.

Their two daughters were as different as night and day, too. Erin was outgoing, explosive and extroverted whereas Tori was gentle, a little antisocial and very introverted. Ironically, despite being two years younger, it was Erin who took the role of 'protective sibling'.

"Do you think they'll be alright? The girls, I mean."

Jessica smiled. "I'm sure they will be. They're growing up - it's a scary prospect but it's happening. We just have to be there whenever they need us."

"Like you were for me," Toby said, kissing her gently. "You always had my back - well, let's face it, you still do!"

"You have my back, too," she pointed out. "The girls will look out for each other."