When Emily arrived at the restaurant that evening she smoothed out the sleeves of her jacket as she stepped up to the hostess' podium.

"Good evening." The hostess said, looking up from her reservation book. "Do you have a reservation?"

"I'm actually meeting someone here. A mister Anthony Williams. I know I'm a little early, but is he here yet?"

"He actually just arrived about five minutes ago. Follow me, I'll show you to your table."

"Thank you."

As they walked through the restaurant Emily took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

"Here you are." The hostess said. "Enjoy your dinner."

The hostess then walked away, leaving Emily alone with the middle-aged, dark-haired man at the table.

"Emily Fields?" The man asked, standing up.

"Yes, sir." Emily replied, extending her hand to the man.

"It's great to meet you." Mr. Williams said. "It's nice to be able to put a face to a name."

"Likewise." Emily smiled and looked the man in the eyes as they shook hands.

"Please have a seat." Mr. Williams said, motioning to the chair across from the one he had been sitting in. "How was your flight?"

"It was good. Thank you." Emily sat down.

"Great. I hope you didn't have any trouble finding the restaurant."

"Oh, none at all. My parents live about fifteen minutes from here. I'm familiar with the area."

"Are you originally from Texas?"

"No, but I've always considered Texas to be my home. I lived here the longest. With my dad being in the military, we moved around a lot."

"I understand completely. My father was also a military man. We never stayed in one place for longer than a few months. Spent a lot of time overseas too. It's certainly not something you ever get used to."

"No, it isn't. It's pretty tough."

"So, how does it feel to be back in Texas?" Mr. Williams asked as he raised his water glass to his lips.

"It feels really good. I got to spend some time with my parents before I came here, so that was definitely nice. I haven't seen them in while."

"That's good."

A few minutes later, a waiter came by the table to take Emily and her new boss's orders.

"So, Emily, according to your résumé, you attended Texas Tech and graduated early at that?"

"I did." Emily nodded. "I was pretty focused throughout my college career, once I figured out that I wanted to become an architect I couldn't wait to finish school and really jump into work."

"I'm impressed. A lot of people your age are still muddling through college classes unsure about what they even want to do when they graduate. But you've obviously got real determination. Completing a five year degree in four years is certainly no simple task. I admire your hard work."

"Thank you, sir."

"How was the architecture program at Texas Tech? I've heard that they've got a pretty good one."

"They do. It was really a wonderful program. All of the instructors were so helpful and encouraging the whole time I was there. They were even really helpful in getting me an apprenticeship with the architect I worked with. It was great to be able to do some paid professional work, while finishing school. It helped me out a lot."

"I'm sure. I see that you apprenticed with architect Bernie Sams. He's one of the best in the business, I'm sure you probably learned a lot from him."

"I did. I was so lucky to get to apprentice with him before he retired. He gave me the confidence to start my own firm when I graduated. Well, I mean I don't know if you can really call it a firm, it's pretty much just me working on designs out of my living room and a few guys working with me on construction."

"That's fine though. Everyone has to start somewhere and if you keep up the good work, you'll be able to grow your business in no time at all. "

Mister Williams then reached down under the table into a brief case and pulled out a few papers stapled together.

"Why don't we take a few minutes to go over your contract?" Mr. Williams handed Emily the papers. "Here's a copy of the contract. It basically just goes over what the Army wants for the base and your salary information is on the last page there. I think we already discussed most of the contract over the phone, but you should hang on to a copy, just for your own record."

Emily skimmed through the contract as she and Mr. Williams discussed some of the specifics. After about twenty minutes the waiter retuned to the table with two plates of food.

"Thank you." Mr. Williams looked up at the waiter.

"You're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else." The waiter said. "I'll be back to check on you in a few minutes."

The waiter then walked away, leaving Emily and her boss to their meals.


A little later that evening.

"You know, Emily, I'm really looking forward to working with you on this project." Mr. Williams said after he finished chewing a bite of food. "Your rough sketches were great, I can only imagine what your finished plans will be like."

"I can't wait to get started. I can already picture in my mind what I want to do. Now it's just a matter of getting everything down on paper."

"Excellent. I've got my crew together, they'll be working on preparing the job site and they should be ready to start construction as soon as your plans are finished."

"Good. Hopefully it won't take me too long to get the drafting done, but I don't think it will."

Emily's boss smiled as he wiped his perfectly trimmed goatee with his napkin.

"I'm glad my business partner and I chose you for this job. I think you're going to be a perfect fit. Obviously my partner's not here this evening, but I think he'll be happy with the decision."

"I look forward to meeting him." Emily smiled. "I promise I won't disappoint."

"According to your former clients' praises, I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"I've worked with some really great people." Emily said, assuming Mr. Williams had contacted some of her listed references.

"You know, my partner originally wanted to go with someone a little older and more experienced, but after reading your absolutely glowing letter of recommendation, we both knew that you were someone who we really wanted to work on this project."

"Letter of recommendation?" Emily asked.

"Yes; the one from Peter Hastings. He said you recently completed a remodel and built an addition on to his house."

"I did, but I never submitted a recommendation letter from Mister Hastings..."

"I know. He contacted me and asked if the architect position was still available. When I said yes, he gave you a wonderful reference and insisted on sending me a letter of recommendation. You apparently made quite an impact on him."

At that moment, Emily remembered mentioning applying for the military base position to Peter during a conversation when she had first begun working for the Hastings.

"Emily, is everything all right?" Mr. Williams asked, noticing the blank expression on Emily's face.

"Oh, uh, yes. Everything's fine." Emily blinked a few times, trying to clear her mind. "I was just...a little surprised, that's all. I had no idea Mister Hastings would go to that much trouble just to help get me a job."

"He must think you deserve it."

"I'll have to be sure to thank him." Emily forced herself to smile.

For the remainder of the evening, Emily tried her best to remain calm, though she was now very angry that Peter had taken it upon himself to make sure that she would be as far away from Spencer as possible. It was one thing when Peter just disliked Emily as Spencer's girlfriend, she had accepted that, she could handle that, but now she felt as if this was a real attempt from Peter to try to break she and Spencer up.


When the meeting was over, Emily and her boss headed toward the restaurant's exit.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Emily." Mr. Williams said as he extended his hand to the architect.

"It was a pleasure meeting you as well, sir." Emily shook his hand.

"I'll see you on Monday morning. We have an office set up for you at the base. You should have everything you'll need."

"Great. Thank you. I'll be at the base bright and early."

"Sounds good. Have a good night, Emily."

"You too."

Emily and Mr. Williams then parted ways and headed to their own cars. Emily drove home in silence, thinking about Spencer and their relationship. Emily was planning to Skype with Spencer when she got home and now she was debating whether or not to tell Spencer about her father's actions, but Emily decided it would be best if she just kept it to herself, as she didn't want to be the cause of any additional tension between the members of her girlfriend's family.

When Emily arrived home, she parked her mother's car in the driveway and stepped out. Emily walked up the porch stairs and opened the front door.

"Hi, honey. How was your meeting?" Pam asked.

"It went well. I like my boss." Emily said as she unbuttoned her jacket. "He seems like a pretty nice guy. I'm excited to get to work."

"Glad to hear it." Wayne said.

"I'm gonna go change my clothes." Emily headed toward her bedroom.

"Make sure you hang that suit up." Pam said. "Don't you dare throw it on the floor."

"I won't, mom." Emily laughed.

When Emily got to her room she closed her door, slipped her jacket off of her shoulders and hung it up in the closet. Emily was in the middle of unbuttoning her shirt when she heard her laptop ping from over on her desk. Emily walked over to her laptop to find that she had a Skype request from Spencer. Emily happily accepted the request and after only a matter of a few seconds Spencer's image popped up on the computer screen.

"Hey. You're home." Spencer said. "I wasn't sure if you'd be back yet."

"You have perfect timing." Emily said as she sat down at her desk. "I actually walked in the door a couple of minutes ago. I was just changing my clothes."

"Don't let me stop you." Spencer smirked. "If you wanna take your clothes off, that's perfectly fine by me."

Emily just laughed and shook her head.

"Is that a no?" Spencer asked.

"Since this isn't my apartment and my parents are watching t.v. just down the hall, yeah, I think I have to say that's a no."

"Fine. If you're not gonna get naked, I guess we can just talk. How was your meeting? Does your boss love you?"

"I don't know about love, we only had a couple of hours together, but I think he likes me well enough and he seems like a pretty cool guy, I think I'll like working with him."

"That's awesome, Em. I'm so glad your meeting went well."

"Thanks." Emily smiled. "How's your night going?"

"All right. My friends just left a little while ago."

"Oh yeah? You guys do anything fun?"

"We talked about you. That's always fun."

"I find it hard to believe that I'm a very interesting topic of conversation."

"Of course you are. My friends were really excited to hear all about our date last night. Especially Hanna."

"And how much did you tell them about our date, exactly?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"I told them enough without giving them too many of our more intimate details. I wanted to keep some stuff just between you and I."

"I get it. And I agree with you." Emily nodded.

"Oh, hey Em…"

"Yeah, Spence?"

"I hope you won't get upset, but I wanted to tell you…my mom knows we slept together."

"She does?" Emily looked surprised.

"Yeah…she pretty much knew when I got home. She asked me if we did and I told her the truth."

"So…is she pissed?" There was a hint of uneasiness in Emily's voice.

"Not at all." Spencer said reassuringly. "She knows how I feel about you and she said she trusts my judgment."

"You don't think she'd tell your dad, do you?"

"Definitely not. She even made me promise not to say anything to him. He'd have a complete meltdown if he found out I lost my virginity to you last night."

"I can only imagine." Emily said.

A moment later, Emily heard a knock at her bedroom door.

"Hang on a second, Spence." Emily then turned toward the door. "Come in." She called out.

Emily's father then walked into the room carrying two pillows.

"Here, Emmy, your mother wanted me to bring you some extra pillows. She's worried about your neck support." Wayne rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Thanks, dad." Emily laughed too.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Wayne said, noticing Emily's Skype call up on the computer.

"It's okay." Emily said. "Since you're here, you wanna meet Spencer?"

"Of course." Wayne nodded.

Wayne stepped over to the computer and leaned down over his daughter's shoulder.

"Hey, Spence, this is my dad."

"Hi, Mister Fields." Spencer smiled as Emily's father came into view. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. Emily's told me nothing but wonderful things about you. I assume she treats you well?"

"She definitely does. Emily's really, really sweet. And kind and respectful." Spencer said. "I couldn't ask for a better girlfriend."

"I'm very glad to hear that." Wayne said. "And I also hear you may be coming to visit us soon?"

"I'm hoping to, if that's all right with you, of course."

"I'm looking forward to it." Wayne smiled. "I think I'll leave you two alone, but I have to say, it's nice to finally meet the girl my Emmy is so crazy over."

"Thank you." Spencer grinned, wildly.

"Don't stay up too late, baby." Wayne said as he kissed Emily on top of the head. "Your mother wants us dressed and out the door for church by seven. Mass is at seven thirty sharp."

"Got it, dad." Emily nodded. "I'll be ready."

"Perfect. Goodnight, girls."

"Goodnight, Mister Fields." Spencer said.

"Night, dad."

Wayne then exited the room, closing the door behind him.

"Your dad calls you Emmy." Spencer said. "That's like beyond adorable."

"He's the only person I'll let call me that. He always has and it just stuck."

"Your dad seems like a really nice guy."

"He is. I can't wait for you guys to meet in person."

"Neither can I."

As Spencer stared at her computer screen at her girlfriend, she watched Emily yawn.

"Sleepy?" Spencer asked.

"A little. It's been kind of a long day."

"Tell me about it…as much as I'd like to stay up all night talking to you, I think you should really get some sleep. I don't want you nodding off at church, something tells me that your mom wouldn't approve."

"No, she definitely wouldn't…I really wish you were here, Spence."

"So do I." Spencer sighed heavily. "Will you text me when you wake up?"

"I can, but I'll probably be up around six to get ready for church. You sure you want me to text you that early?"

"Sure. I wanna talk to you. I don't care when it is."

"All right then. I'll talk to you first thing tomorrow morning."

"I can't wait."

"Me either."

"Goodnight." Spencer then pressed her lips to the tips of her own fingers and blew Emily a kiss goodnight. "I love you, Em."

"I love you too, Spence. Sweet dreams."

Emily waited for her girlfriend to sign off and once she had, Emily did the same. Emily then stood up, she changed her clothes, turned out the light and got into bed. Emily spent the next fifteen minutes lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling thinking about everything from Spencer to her new job to Spencer's father before finally drifting off to sleep.


A/N:

Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the update! I just wanted to write a quick author's note unrelated to this story. Fairly recently, I've received a few PMs asking if I could do a "Glee" story pairing Santana and Quinn. I hadn't really given it much thought, as I had never seen a single episode of "Glee." But, I have since begun catching up on the series. And have found some inspiration in reading HugzforFree's wonderful Quinntana fic, "Nobody's Perfect." Anyway, I'm writing this to ask if any of you guys are "Glee" fans and would be at all interested in having me do a Quinntana fic. I have a few ideas, but I haven't fully committed to actually starting a story yet, I'm just curious if there'd be enough interest. If I did write it, I'd of course still continue to update my PLL fics as regularly as possible, that wouldn't change. I love writing them. Let me know your thoughts or opinions, if you have any. :) Thanks!

-Fender18