"Good morning," Paige chirped as she sat at the breakfast table sipping coffee, one leg crossed over the other. She watched as Emily stumbled into the kitchen, her eyes still half closed and her bed head in full bloom, navigating the space as if guided solely by the smell of coffee. "Rough night?"

Emily gave a glare. "And don't you dare make a comment about how cute I look when I'm half asleep."

Paige put her hands up and laughed. "No need to worry about that!" Emily diverted from her coffee quest and hip-checked Paige, almost knocking her out of the chair. "Just kidding!" Paige protested. "You're cute! You're cute!"

"Damned right, I am!" Emily scratched her butt and tugged at a wedgie. Still cute, Paige thought.

"So, why were you up so late?" Paige asked, after Emily had settled into a seat and the caffeine began to kick in.

"Because," Emily said with mock-annoyance, "I'm not an English major, with nothing to do except journal about my feelings and hang around in coffee shops until someone hands me a diploma. I actually have to take real classes with real problem sets and do real projects, with real deadlines!"

"Hey!" Paige said sharply. "Don't hate me because of your poor life-choices!"

"Yeah, well, when I'm rolling in cash from my sports-therapy practice and you're up all night filling out grant requests to beg for money from taxpayers like me to subsidize your "career," we'll see who's life-choices are poor," Emily grumbled. "Emphasis on the word, 'poor.'"

Paige laughed in the back of her throat as she replied. "Okay, well, speaking of grants... I've got some good news. Although you might not think so."

"You've decided to ditch that internship with the paper and come spend the summer hanging out with me in Rosewood?" Emily said through a yawn.

"No! - Why would I say you might not think that's good news?"

"Oh, just let me dream that you're coming to Rosewood, Paige! I'm still half asleep, anyway!"

Paige took Emily's hand, biting her lip to keep herself from commenting on how cute she was when she was out of it like that. "Okay, well, you're half right. I'm thinking of passing on that internship, because... I just got an offer from the El Paso Journal!"

"El Paso," Emily droned. "That's where my Dad is." All of a sudden, she was wide awake. "Wait! Paige! El Paso?"

"Well, yeah." Paige picked up on Emily's enthusiasm. "When you said you might want to spend some of the summer with your dad..."

Emily walked over to Paige and gave her a hug and kiss. "Paige! That's perfect! I could spend the first part of the summer with my. Dad..."

"And me..."

"And you..."

"And I can still spend a couple of weeks in Rosewood at the end of the summer."

Emily gave Paige another kiss. "Why did you think I might not think it was good news?"

Paige shrugged. "I wasn't sure that you were serious about going out to spend some time with your dad."

Emily made arrangements with her parents and her old boss in Rosewood, who was holding a summer position for her. She would drive out to Texas with Paige, spending the first part of the summer there before flying home for the remainder. Her father called in some favors on the base to get her a desk job for the time that she would be there, filling in for administrative assistants when they went on vacation.

Emily and Paige decided to take a weekend to drive back to Rosewood in separate cars, so that they could drop off Emily's car. That way, she would be able to get around in Rosewood when she was home for the summer.

When they arrived in Rosewood, Pam greeted Paige with a tight hug. It was surprising - and surprisingly good - to be hugged like that. It felt like family; or, at least, the way that Paige imagined that family should feel.

Pam knew that Emily had moved into Paige's apartment at college, but they weren't foolhardy enough to ask about sharing a bedroom during their weekend in Rosewood. Not in Pam's house. But, Pam was willing to give the couple a bit of space.

On Friday night, they ate Chinese take-out in front of the TV, watching episodes "Fame" - a cheesy, 80s, musical-drama that Pam took very seriously - on DVD. "It reminds her of her youth," Emily explained to Paige, warning her not to make fun of the show the way that she always made fun of the cheesy shows that Emily watched.

Pam was nestled into the recliner. Emily and Paige had the couch. After they finished eating, Emily ended up lying down with her head and hands in Paige's lap, as Paige enjoyed the feeling of Emily's hair between her fingers. Seeing them together there, Pam yawned and stretched, having suddenly become very tired. She excused herself to go upstairs and read, advising them not to stay up too late. It was a mother's reflex more than anything else that made her say that. They didn't have any reason to get up early the next day.

It seemed early, though, when Paige heard a knock at the door the next morning.

"Paige?"

The voice, to Paige's surprise, was Pam's, not Emily's.

"Just a second!" Paige got up and wrapped a summer robe around herself, stumbling over to the door. She managed a smile, and she opened the door just wide share the expression on her face with Pam.

"Good morning, Honey. How did you sleep?"

Paige yawned and nodded, the door slipping open a little wider as she moved her hand to cover her mouth. "Okay."

"Well, why don't you throw something on quickly? Let's go pick up some breakfast."

Paige smiled nervously as Pam reached for her keys and headed to the front door. "Is Emily..."

Paige let the words hang. Pam squeezed her shoulder. "Oh, Emily's not much of a breakfast person. I thought you and I could grab a coffee." Pam was sporting a pleasant smile.

O...kay... Paige thought to herself. Emily certainly seemed to like breakfast when they were back on campus. From the first time Paige met her, Emily was usually up and in the kitchen before Paige was. Paige knew that something was up. Either that, or Emily had been fooling her all this time.

There was no hint of deviousness in Pam's smile. Paige played along; - she didn't really have many other options.

Reading the worry that Paige was trying to hide in her expression, Pam said, "Emily will be fine. We'll pick up a bagel and a coffee for her on the way back." Paige nodded and stepped into Pam's car. As Pam fastened her seat belt, she continued, "Do you know how Emily takes her coffee?"

It's a trap! Paige's shields went up immediately, with the suspicion that Pam was trying to get her to slip up and admit that she and Emily had shared morning-after coffee. But then she remembered that Pam already knew that Emily had moved in with her, so she relaxed and answered, "Lots of sugar." She smiled at the image of Emily emptying packet after packet into her cup. "But just a touch of cream. Unless she's super tired, in which case, she wants it black - preferably a dark roast. But, when in doubt, just get her a cappuccino!"

Pam laughed at the detailed description of the way that Emily does coffee. It was spot on. The question wasn't a trap, but it was a test. Pam wanted to know whether Paige had been paying attention; whether she really cared for her daughter. And Paige passed with flying colors.

Their breakfast conversation was light and relaxed. Pam asked what Paige was studying, what she hoped to do after college; - the regular getting-to-know-you questions.

She saved the heavy questions for Emily. Paige wasn't surprised that Pam had arranged some alone-time with Emily. She was expecting there to be some cross-examination; Pam casually grilling Emily to see whether or not their stories lined up. So, despite the "Help me!" look that she was getting from Emily, Paige just smiled, not offering to tag along when Pam announced that they were going out to pick up a few things to cook for dinner.

Pam ambushed Emily in the middle of a pleasant conversation about her plans for her time with Wayne and Paige in El Paso: "So, what do you know about Paige?"

Emily looked up at the ceiling of the car with a dreamy expression. "Paige..."

"I mean, what do you really know about her? Did she date a lot in high school?"

"Huh?" Emily was suddenly snapped back into reality. Pam was in full-on mom-mode.

"Were there a lot of girlfriends before you?"

"Mom..."

"No, Emmy! Because you're not just sleeping with her!" Pam waved her hand desperately. "You're sleeping with everyone she's ever slept with!"

"And she's sleeping with everyone I've ever slept with!" Pam gave Emily a pointed look. "No - Mom! That's not what I mean!"

"Well, maybe you can explain to me what you mean, then."

"Look, Mom. I know about Paige's past, and she knows about my past, okay? And that's nobody's business but ours, okay?" As Pam opened her mouth for a rebuttal, Emily continued. "And I get why you're concerned, and I get that my health is your business. So, we're very careful, okay? We don't engage in unsafe sex, and we use the campus medical resources." Emily glared at her mother. "I'm not a little kid anymore."

Pam had expected Emily to get defensive, but she didn't want to fight with her. She rubbed her daughter's leg. "I know you aren't, Honey. But, like it or not, you're not fully an adult, either. Your father and I are still responsible for you."

"I know," Emily said weakly, looking out of the window.

"And I'm glad that you're behaving responsibly." Emily gave her mother a half-smile. Pam patted her cheek. "I heard what I needed to hear. I don't need the details. I just needed to know that you know; that you guys have talked about it."

"Thanks," Emily said with a nervous grin. She relaxed back into her seat and changed the subject. "So, you two had breakfast?"

"Uh huh!" Pam looked over with a smile. "She's a real charmer!"

"Oh, my God, Mom! Paige can not cook!" Emily was laughing as she pushed the shopping cart, enjoying the time with her mother.

"So you do all the cooking?"

Emily nodded, smiling brightly. "Pretty much. I mean, she tries, but... it's just better if I cook."

"So, what did she do before you came along?"

"Like, take out, or TV dinners, or - wait!" Emily pulled out her phone and scrolled through some pictures till she came up with a picture that she had taken a couple of weeks earlier. "Or this!" She showed Pam the picture.

Pam laughed, putting her hand on her chest. "Oh my, Emmy! Don't let this one get away," she teased.

Emily tucked her phone back into her pocket and hugged her mom. "I'm so glad that you taught me my way around the kitchen."

Emily pushed the cart ahead of her for a few steps before she turned serious. "Paige never really had that. Her relationship with her parents has been... complicated."

Pam nodded in understanding. "Was it hard for you two?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean that, sometimes, it's hard for someone who didn't have a good family relationship to be in a good relationship."

Emily sighed with a shrug. "I suppose," she admitted, "it was a little hard at first. And I know that she had some bad relationships before me."

Pam nodded. "You're good for her," she said softly.

"I hope so!"

"No. I can tell. I can tell by the way that she talks about you, and the way that she looks when I talk about you."

Emily smiled shyly. "Really?" Pam just smiled. "She told me that I helped her," Emily said with a shrug. "Spencer said that, too."

"And what do you say?"

Emily started pushing the shopping cart again. "I say, she's good for me, too."

"Well," Pam sighed, giving Emily's back a gentle rub as they headed for the check-out line, "let's get this show on the road! We don't want to keep your girl waiting!"