After a long, lonely drive back to Rosewood, Spencer found herself back in the parking lot of Emily's apartment complex. Spencer parked her Mercedes next to Emily's Prius, she walked to the door and pulled the key Emily had given her out of her pocket. Spencer unlocked the door and stepped inside, she hung Emily's jacket up and spent the next few moments just staring at the breakfast dishes that were still on the kitchen table amongst the burned down candles and rose petals that Emily had set out on the table the evening before. Spencer sighed heavily and began gathering up the dishes, which she then carried to the sink.

When Spencer finished washing the dishes, she slowly trudged into Emily's bedroom. Spencer stared at the bed, the sheets and blanket were messily strewn about, as the bed hadn't been made up since Spencer and Emily had made love in it earlier that morning. Spencer laid down on Emily's usual side of the bed and got underneath the soft, warm comforter. Spencer pulled her phone from her pocket and stared at the screen. It was after four p.m. Emily's plane would still be in the air for almost another hour. Spencer set her phone down on the nightstand, she curled up in the fetal position and buried her face into the pillow. Spencer deeply inhaled, catching the faint scent of Emily's coconut shampoo as well as the familiar, slightly spicy scent of Emily's musky perfume which still lingered behind on the bed sheets and blanket. Spencer sighed heavily and pulled the comforter up to her neck. She closed her eyes as she thought about how wonderful the previous night had been. It was perfect. Spencer thought about how just a mere few hours ago, she and Emily had been lying in this bed together, waking up after having made love for the first time. Spencer thought about how lucky she was to have gotten the perfect first time she had always dreamed of. In fact, Spencer couldn't stop thinking about it; thoughts of Emily flooded her mind. The way Emily had been so gentle and loving with her, the weight of Emily's body on top of her own, the tiny droplets of sweat running down Emily's chest and abdomen. Spencer already missed all of it. She still couldn't believe that Emily was going to be away for the next four months and it would be nearly a whole month before Spencer could even fly down to Texas for a visit. Feeling very overwhelmed, Spencer closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep in hopes of clearing her mind.


Now over halfway through her flight, Emily sat rigidly in her seat, she had her earbuds in, attempting to drown out the sounds of the crying baby in the row behind her. Emily leaned back in her seat and opened the complimentary bag of peanuts she had been given earlier in the flight. She changed the song on her phone and stuffed a few peanuts into her mouth while staring out the window, watching as the clouds passed by. Emily noticed a few flashes of lightning illuminate a large, thick gray cloud off in the distance. Emily closed her eyes, wishing that Spencer was sitting next to her. It had only been a couple of hours and already she missed not being with Spencer. Emily had never felt this kind of separation anxiety from a girlfriend before, not even during times when she and Stephanie were apart.

It was about an hour later when Emily opened her eyes again. She heard the pilot announce over the intercom that the plane would be landing in about fifteen minutes. Emily silenced the music on her phone and pulled her earbuds out of her ears. She stared out the window again. The sky over Killeen, Texas was bright blue, with only a few slow moving, white fluffy clouds. It was a drastic change in weather from that of Rosewood. Emily couldn't wait to land so that she could call Spencer. Emily slipped her phone into her pocket and buckled her seatbelt as she braced for landing. It wasn't very long before the plane descended and finally touched down on the runway. The plane slowed as it pulled into the open spot to the right of the runway. Once the plane had come to a stop, the passengers began to gather their belongings from the overhead compartments. Emily pulled her laptop case from underneath the seat and set it on her lap as she waited for the other passengers to clear out. As the row of people ahead of her began to exit the plane, Emily stood up along with the other people in her own row. She anxiously waited for the people ahead of her to file out. Once Emily had stepped off of the plane, she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed Spencer's number. Emily waited one, two, three and four rings, finally on the fifth Spencer picked up.

"Hey, Em." Spencer answered, happily.

"Hi, Spence. I just got off the plane. I wanted to let you know."

"Thank you. I've been waiting for you to call. How was your flight?"

"It was all right. Pretty smooth."

"That's good."

"So...what are you up to?"

"Not much. I came back to your apartment, did some cleaning up."

"Thanks for cleaning up for me. And thanks for driving me to the airport."

"You're welcome."

"Did you make it home okay in the rain? I was worried about you, there was a lot of water on the road."

"I made it home fine. The drive wasn't too bad, just lonely. I miss you already." Spencer's tone was now very sad.

"I miss you too, Spence. I wish you could be here."

"Me too. I can't believe you're really gone. One time zone and a whole sixteen hundred miles away from me..."

Emily could hear a few soft sniffles coming from Spencer's end of the phone.

"Don't cry. We'll be fine. Do you wanna Skype later? I'd kill to see that pretty face of yours."

"I'd love to Skype. Call me after your meeting. I wanna know how everything goes."

"You got it."

Emily glanced across the terminal and saw her mother through the crowd of people.

"Hey, Spence, I think I see my mom. Can I call you back?"

"Sure. I'll talk to you later tonight."

"I can't wait. I'll call you as soon as I can. I love you."

"I love you too. Good luck with your meeting."

"Thanks. Bye, Spence."

"Bye, Em."

Emily slipped her cell phone back into her pocket and continued walking across the terminal to meet her mother.

"Hi, mom." Emily said as she leaned down to hug her mother. "How are you?"

"I'm a lot better now that my baby's home safely. It's so good to see you. I missed you so much." Pam squeezed Emily tight before pulling back and kissing her on the forehead.

"I missed you too." Emily smiled.

Pam then took a step back and carefully looked over her daughter.

"Look at you." Pam took Emily's hands in her own and looked up into her daughter's dark eyes. "Have you gotten taller?"

"Nope. I'm pretty sure you ask me that just about every time we see each other." Emily laughed. "I'm still six foot one. Same height I've been since the eleventh grade."

"Maybe I'm just getting shorter." Pam laughed.

"That must be it."

"Let's get your bags and we can head home. Are you hungry? I can make you some lunch. Your meeting isn't for a few hours yet."

"Sure. That sounds great."

"Are you jet-lagged at all, honey? You can take a nap too. I just put fresh sheets on your bed."

"Thanks, but it's only an hour time difference, mom." Emily laughed. "I'm fine."

Pam and Emily then walked over to the baggage carousel and waited. Emily stepped forward and pulled her biggest suitcase out from underneath two others. Once she had gathered all of her luggage, Pam and Emily headed for the car.

"So...how are things going with you and Spencer?" Pam asked.

"How did I know that question was coming?" Emily rolled her eyes and laughed. "Everything's going well...really, really well, actually. I'm totally crazy about her."

"Sounds like things are getting pretty serious between you two." Pam smiled brightly.

"Relax, mom. We've been dating for two months, it's not like we're getting married or anything." Emily glanced over at her mother as she shifted one of her bags up on her shoulder.

"Well, maybe not quite yet..." Pam nudged her daughter.

"Not for a while. Spencer's only eighteen, remember? Besides, I'm not looking for a wife right now, I'm just happy to have a nice girl who honestly cares about me. I haven't had a girlfriend since Stephanie dumped me and I don't wanna rush anything. I'm really happy with the way things are between Spencer and I."

"That's so good to hear." Pam reached over and place her hand on Emily's shoulder.

"Just promise me that when Spencer comes to visit, you won't like bring up any marriage talk or anything. I don't wanna scare her off."

"Don't worry, honey, I promise I won't scare her away." Pam chuckled. "I'm just so happy that you're happy. I'm so glad you've finally found a nice girl. And I don't mind at all that you want to take things slowly. I think it's a good idea. You moved so fast with Stephanie...does Spencer know that you were engaged and about the baby and everything?"

"Yeah. I told her everything about Stephanie and Bryce. It didn't seem to really bother her. I mean she was surprised, but she handled it really well."

"That's good."

"Where did you park?" Emily asked as she and her mother walked out of the airport and into the parking lot.

"Row L. All the way near the end. One of the last spaces."

"Why don't you give me your keys and I'll bring the car up? You can just wait here."

"Are you sure?" Pam asked as she fished her keys out of her pocket.

"Yeah. No sense in us lugging all of this stuff the whole way through the parking lot. I'll be right back."

Emily took the keys from her mother and headed through the parking lot. Once Emily returned, she got out of the car and loaded her bags into the trunk. Emily then got into the passenger seat as Pam got into the driver's seat and they left the airport.

"Will dad be home?" Emily asked.

"Later this evening. He's not working tomorrow either. Your dad's so excited to see you."

"I'm really excited to see him too. I feel really bad that I haven't been down here to visit you guys in a while."

"Don't worry, sweetheart. You're busy and Texas isn't exactly close to Pennsylvania. I know it's tough to visit."


Before leaving Emily's apartment, Spencer took the roses that Emily had given her from the vase in the kitchen. They were still wrapped in tissue paper and a plastic sleeve. Spencer dried the stems of the flowers and walked out of the kitchen. She laid the roses down, just long enough to slip Emily's jacket on. Spencer then headed out of the apartment, locking the door behind her.

When she returned home for the evening, Spencer walked into her house, where she found her mother sitting at the kitchen island, working on her laptop.

"Hi, mom."

"Hi, sweetheart. How was the drive to and from the airport? Those storms were pretty nasty this morning."

"Yeah, but the drive wasn't too bad. It was just raining a little by the time Em and I left this afternoon."

Veronica could see the sadness in Spencer's eyes. Veronica shut her laptop and stood up. She walked over to her daughter.

"Are you all right, sweetheart?" Veronica asked, placing a hand on Spencer's back.

"Yeah. I just miss Emily already. I wish she didn't have to be so far away."

"Have you talked to her since she left?"

Spencer nodded.

"She called a little while ago when her plane landed."

Spencer set the bouquet of roses on the coffee table and slumped down on the couch. Veronica sat down, next to her daughter.

"Did Emily give you those?" Veronica motioned to the roses.

"Yeah. She's really sweet." Spencer smiled weakly.

"How was your date last night?"

"It was great. Emily cooked me dinner and we ate by candle light. It was perfect."

Veronica noticed a few tears begin to well up in Spencer's eyes. Spencer tried her hardest to fight them back, but she couldn't.

"This really sucks, mom." Spencer said as a tear fell from her eye. "I knew Emily leaving would be hard, but it didn't really hit me until the drive back from the airport. Alone. I won't be able to just drive ten minutes across town to see her anymore."

"I know it's hard." Veronica leaned over and hugged her daughter. "But you'll be all right."

"So…how was your sleep over with Hanna?" Veronica asked.

"It was fine. We just watched movies, ate some junk food, you know the usual stuff."

"Was Emily invited to this slumber party? It looks like you picked up some of her clothes."

"I uh…" Spencer looked down at her current outfit. The jeans she was wearing were rolled up a little as they were much too long. She had on a black v neck style t shirt that hung loosely from her body as well as Emily's jacket over top. At that moment Spencer cursed herself for not packing an overnight bag with her own clothes.

"You stayed at Emily's last night…" Veronica's voice was calm, there wasn't even the slightest hint of anger. "And you slept with her, didn't you?"

Spencer averted her eyes from Veronica and slightly nodded her head, confirming her mother's suspicions.

"Are you disappointed in me?" Spencer asked, softly, still avoiding her mother's eyes.

"Do you love Emily?" Veronica asked, taking Spencer's chin in her hand and lifting her head until their eyes met.

"Of course I do. I love her so much."

"Then I have no reason to be disappointed." Veronica said, very matter-of-factly. "You've grown up into a very intelligent young lady and I trust your judgment. If you decided that last night was the right time to take the next step with Emily, then I'm sure it was something you were ready for."

"I was." Spencer nodded.

"Is there anything you need or want to talk about?"

"No. I'm okay." Spencer said, sincerely. "I've stayed at Emily's apartment before…how did you know that last night Emily and I…"

"Spencer, there are just some things a mother knows. You'll understand someday."

"You knew the whole time I was never planning on going over to Hanna's last night, didn't you?" Spencer said, only now realizing how naïve she was assuming her mother to have been last night.

"Of course I knew. Sweetheart, I'm an attorney. It's my job to know when people are lying to me." Veronica laughed a little.

"I'm really sorry I lied, I just..."

"It's all right, I understand." Veronica gently ran her fingers through Spencer's hair. "I know it's hard to believe, but believe it or not, I was eighteen once too…"

"Thank you for being such an awesome mom." Spencer wrapped her arms around her mother and hugged her. "I love you."

"I love you too…now, I just need to say, what ever you do, please don't tell your father that you lost your virginity, okay? Things are tense enough as it is around here."

"Are you crazy? Why would I ever tell him of all people?"

"It's just that, I know you and your father haven't been getting along since he found out about your relationship with Emily and you tend to get a little impulsive when you're angry. I don't want this to be something that you throw out just to spite your father."

"I'm not telling him anything. I'd like for Emily to come back from Texas in one piece."

"So would I." Veronica agreed.

"So…mom I wanted to ask you..."

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"I was hoping that maybe you'd let me go visit Emily in Texas over Christmas break?"

"What about your student council trip to Washington?"

"I'm still going. We're leaving the twenty sixth and we'll be back late on the twenty eighth. I could leave the next day. I really wanna spend New Year's with Emily. And New Year's Day is on a Friday, so we wouldn't go back to school until Monday. I could spend a few days with Emily and fly back home on Sunday. I really, really wanna see her. She probably won't be able to get any time off to come visit me…please can I go?"

"Well…I don't see why not. You wouldn't miss any school. Emily is staying with her parents, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is."

"All right. If it's okay with them for you to visit, then it's okay with me. Do you have a phone number, maybe I could call her mother to discuss arrangements?"

"I'll ask Emily…thanks, mom." Spencer leaned in and wrapped her arms around her mother. "You're the best."