A/N: Wow. Who hates me? I'd hate me if I were you. But here's another chapter. For some reason I've been attacked by a desire to write this story. I know that it's OOC, and I apologize, but I just wanted to keep Kate in the story. I couldn't really do that if she was on a completely different coast from our protagonist. So, anyway. Tell me what you think. As always.

Xixie

When Dade woke the next morning, he could hear his mother humming in the kitchen. By the time he had forced himself out of bed, and padded, bleary eyed, out of his room, she had begun to scramble eggs.

"Good morning, sunshine. You look chipper this morning."

Dade grunted. "Don't say "chipper" when I'm still asleep."

Lauren smiled. "Of course not. I'm making us breakfast. Why don't you go take a shower. Maybe you'll resemble a human being when you're finished."

Dade didn't answer, he just moved towards the bathroom slowly. Once he had showered and returned, he did feel slightly more likely to not kill someone. He smiled slightly at his mother. Her back was to him, but he could still hear her humming "Joy to the World" under breath while making coffee.

"You know, it's nowhere near Christmas mom."

"I know. It's just stuck in my head for some reason."

The sat down for an actual family breakfast, a rare occurrence in most American households. Dade could tell that his mom wanted to ask about his dinner with his father, but she managed to contain herself for an admirable length of time.

Finally, "So, how's your father?"

Dade could tell that she had no idea as to his reason for visiting. He wondered if there was any way to soften the blow. Deciding no, figuring that shock would actually be the best cushion, he answered. "Engaged."

Lauren was silent for a moment. "Well. That's lovely. Did you meet his fiancé?"

Not looking up from his plate. "Yes. She was nice enough, but not very pretty."

Lauren closed her eyes and smiled. "Thanks baby."

Dade looked up and smirked. "They're getting married this summer. I'm supposed to be the best man. He wants me to go on their honeymoon with them. I mean really. That's just weird."

"Well. It was nice of him to tell you in person."

"I guess. He also wants me to spend the entire summer with them."

Lauren was silent. After a moment she asked, "What did you tell him?"

"I told him to stop being ridiculous. I didn't want to leave you for the entire summer and then go straight to Boston. That's just stupid."

"You can go if you want."

Dade considered her for a moment. "Mom, I think you know me well enough to realize that I am, if nothing else, a spoiled brat. I mean really, you buy me nice stuff, move to New York so I can get a life, and bail me out of jail without a second thought. If I wanted to move in with Dad, I'd throw a fit and do it."

Lauren smiled. They both knew that it was a lie, but they had moved back into the happy and familiar realm of sarcasm and banter.

"Yeah. I never could get rid of you."

Dade laughed.

*****

Graduation came and went. Dade's father flew in for the ceremony, bringing his soon to be wife with him. It was the first time Lauren had an opportunity to meet Gina.

The next day, Lauren made Belgian waffles for breakfast.

"What's the occasion?" Dade was forced to ask.

"You were right. She's not as pretty as me."

*****

Just two weeks before Dade was to fly out to Seattle, he and Kate were hanging with the guys at Cyberdelia.

Nikon was extolling the beauty of some new type of software he had just designed. Cereal lounged, eating off of everyone else's trays, while Joey practically vibrated in his seat.

"So," Kate turned to her boyfriend. "You're leaving me in two weeks?"

"Yeah. Unless you want to be my date to the event. You know, then you could come with."

Kate was silent for a moment. "Okay."

"What?"

"Okay. I'll come with you." She grinned. "Thank you for asking me to accompany you, Mr. Murphy."

"That's sweet, darling. But the wedding's in Seattle. That's a long commute and the metro doesn't really reach."

"Whatever, and I'm ignoring the fact that you called me "darling." Mom won't care. She's still in proud-mode because of MIT. I can stay in a hotel. That is, if you really want me to come."

Dade looked at her with incredulity. "Oh, of course not. I'd hate it if you'd come. That would suck."

Kate nodded. "Yeah. Looks like the hotel room won't be getting any extracurricular use."

Dade smiled and leaned over to kiss her. "I love you."

Kate smiled back before leaning forward to meet him.

"For the love of God. Will you two give it a rest?" Phreak threw a fry in their direction. "We're trying to plan out Joey's future here. What, with all of us graduated. The boy needs guidance."

Kate and Dade looked toward Joey, who was obliviously spooning far too much sugar into his coffee. Kate raised her eyebrows, but smiled. For some reason the perpetually addicted teen had grown on her. Pretty much like a fungus.

"Fine. What's his class schedule next semester? He needs to take Calculus."

*****

Dade stepped off the plane sometime around dinner. He moved past a group of middle aged tourists, searching the crowd for his father. Seeing the taller man on the edge of the group, he turned purposefully towards him.

"Dad."

"Dade." Jeff yelled, moving to embrace his son before taking his carry on bag. "How was your flight?"

"Flight-like. In the traditional sense."

Jeff surveyed his son for a moment. "Ah. Your dry wit. The only thing I didn't miss about you."

Dade smiled.

"Well, I've brought you a surprise."

"Really?" Dade questioned, taking back his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "What is it?"

Jeff gestured to his right where two teenaged boys slouched against a wall.

Dade smiled. "Travis. Mike. What's up?"

The twos boys nodded as they pushed themselves off the wall. The brunette spoke first. "We're good. Not that you ever call or anything."

The blonde kid nodded and Dade sighed, walking to them. "Dude, I emailed."

The three met in the middle and stood for a second. Dade hadn't seen his two best friends since he had moved to New York. Granted, he hadn't kept in touch very well, but in his defense, he has a lot going on.

The two boys looked over their friend, thinking of his inexcusable social faux pas for the same amount of time every 18 year old guy thinks about these things. In other words, .00023 seconds later, Travis shoved Dade's shoulder. Dade responded by hitting Mike's arm. And Mike rammed into Travis with his shoulder and pushed Dade at the same time.

Guys haven't evolved socially since the time of the cavemen. The three had just made up and moved their relationship right back to the same place it was when Dade left. Sometimes ignorance rocks.

Dade nodded. "Where's Nicky?"

Mike pushed his blonde hair out of his eyes. "Dad's house or something. Back tomorrow."

Always the laconic one of the group, Mike had uttered the longest string of syllables he had put together that day. Dade nodded. "Cool."

Jeff put a hand on his son's back. "Let's go grab some dinner."

After getting Dade's luggage, the group approached Jeff's Taurus.

Dade spoke. "Can I drive? I haven't seen a car from the front seat since I moved."

Jeff laughed and handed over the keys. "Just don't kill us all."

Dade pulled into the parking lot of his favorite Seattle diner just 30 minutes later. He walked back to get his carry on from the trunk.

"You can just leave it here, Dade."

Dade slung the black case over his shoulder. "Naw. It's my laptop. I don't want it to sit in the trunk too long."

Jeff scowled, but didn't say anything. Over dinner, Jeff mostly let his son and his friends converse. Remembering something, he cleared his throat. "Dade, day after tomorrow we have to go get fitted for your tux."

Dade looked thoughtful. "On Wednesday? What time?"

Jeff looked bemused. "3:00. Why you got plans already?"

"Well, sorta. Kate's plane lands at 3:30. I gotta be there to meet her at the gate."

Mike and Travis exchanged a look. Who the heck is Kate? And why is Dade meeting her plane?

Jeff sat silent for a moment. "Kate? Your girlfriend, Kate?"

"That'd be her."

Dade's friend's eyebrows shot up.

Jeff looked almost angry. "Why is your girlfriend flying in on Wednesday?"

"Um, you said I could bring a date to the wedding."

"I figured you could call up some girl you went to high school with when you lived here."

"Dad, honestly. You met Kate. She'd rip my throat out if I took out some other girl."

While Jeff did not disagree with this statement, he was shocked. Eighteen year old girlfriends do not just fly all the way across the country to come to their boyfriend's father's wedding.

"Why didn't you tell me she was coming? Do you realize how many people we have staying at the house? It's crowded enough already. I don't see how we can squeeze her in the mix."

"That's cool. She's reserved a suite at the Regency."

Jeff's mouth dropped open. A suite at the Regency. His baby boy's girlfriend, on a whim, wants to fly cross country, book a $500 a night room at a hotel, and come to his wedding.

"If there's so many people staying at your place, I can stay with her at the hotel."

Jeff began to turn red. "No you can't! What would your mother say?"

Dade looked off to the right. " 'Tell Kate I said hi?'"

Mike and Travis looked ready to fall out of their seats. Jeff noticed their stares and calmed himself. "We'll talk about it tomorrow, okay? I'm going to go call Gina. I'll tell her to reschedule the fitting for tomorrow. You're going to be meeting her family tomorrow. It'll be a big day."

Dade took a sip of Coke. "Fine."

Jeff left the table, cell phone in hand. Dade looked at his friends. "Speaking of." Pulling out his own cell phone, Dade scrolled down the phone book and hit send. "Hey mom. . . . Yeah. I got here fine. . . . Dad's less than thrilled with Kate's imminent arrival. . . . I told him you would be cool with it, but I don't think he believed me. . . . Yeah. Oh. Well, I have Kate come get it. . . . Love you too. Bye."

Hitting "end," Dade immediately made another call. "Hey. . . . Yeah, just finished dinner with Dad. . . . Not well. I get the feeling he doesn't really approve of you. . . . I guess. Screw him. . . . What's your mom saying? . . . . Gotcha. . . . Look, I left my wedding gift for Dad at home. Wonder if that's Freudian. Can you go get it from Mom? . . . . Thanks. . . . Yeah. . . .Yeah. . . . Love you."

Dade ended the call and looked back to his friends. "So, what are we doing while I'm here?"

Mike looked to Travis, who spoke. "Listening to you explain about this new girlfriend. Must be fairly serious if she'd come here for you."

"It's serious, but I'd don't want to have to tell the whole story more than once, so we have to wait for Nicky. And I wanna wait for Burn. The story's fucked-up complicated. And I need her to take over in the middle."

The guys looked confused. "Who's Burn?"

Dade could see Jeff moving towards their table. "It's just Kate's nickname. I'll explain everything when Dad's not around, okay?"

"You'd better. Listen, Nicky gets back tomorrow. Come over to my basement when you get some time. We'll all hang."

Mike nodded.

*****

Dade spent the next day meeting various members of Gina's family. The mother-in-law seemed far too happy to be getting a grandson, and Dade didn't have the heart to tell her that getting an eighteen year old step grandson really didn't mean anything in the grand scheme. So he spent most of the day explaining about his college plans.

One tense moment came when a well-meaning Aunt asked if he had a girlfriend. He explained that she was flying in for the wedding. Jeff had tried to jump in. It was obvious that he did not think this was appropriate. The husband of the same aunt also asked about Dade's laptop. Apparently, Gina had told her family about Dade's less than legal preadolescent hijinks. The Ellington incident had made world news and Uncle David wanted to know what the boy had been thinking.

Dade nodded. "Some friends and I didn't have anything better to do, so we averted a worldwide ecological disaster, saving a multinational corporation millions in the process. Then we went for pizza."

Not really a big hit with the soon to be relatives, Dade asked his father if he could run over to Travis'. "I haven't even seen Nicky yet."

Making him promise to go get fitted for his tux first, Jeff relented. "Be back in two hours though. We're having a nice dinner."

*****

Dade walked around the back of Travis' house. He had spent hours in this basement as a child. Dade had met Travis in seventh grade. They had become friends mostly because Travis owned a computer and knew how to share. Mike moved into town a year later. He lived next door to Travis and, therefore, became a part of the group. Nicky joined in 9th grade, after blowing up the science lab. Dade had been impressed with the skill it took, Travis just liked the fact that science class was cancelled for two weeks, and Mike liked everybody. So the group had been set and all was well. Until Dade moved.

But he was back and looking forward to seeing everyone again. He entered the back door, stepping directly into the basement. He could see Mike playing an X Box game in the corner. Before he could make his presence known, Travis turned around. "Dade. Hey."

Dade was going to say hello, but was cut off by a low voice. "Well, I see you finally decided to stop by. It's not like I've been here all day or anything."

Dade smiled, turning toward the voice. "Damn, Nicky. I'm sorry. It's not like I was languishing in a pit of miserable family happiness or anything."

"Get yourself a girlfriend, almost get thrown in jail . . . again, and you just think you can come in here all smarmy and uppity, don'tcha?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."

A tall redhead in a Nirvana t-shirt moved to stare at Dade. Smiling, she finally threw herself at him. Spinning her around, Dade hugged her. "Jesus, Nicky. Gaining weight or something?"

Once back on the ground, she hit him playfully. "I hate you."

"You've been saying that since ninth grade."

"Yeah, but I've only meant it since eleventh."

Travis shouted from the floor, where he was watching Mike's X Box progress. "Break it up guys. Come sit down."

Now that the four had finally been reunited, they all fell back into their traditional roles. Travis as group go-between, Mike as quiet laidback guy, and Dade and Nicky as far-too-smart-for-their-own-good bickering married couple. Sometimes it's difficult for two hyper-intelligent people to coexist.

Dade made his way over to the old green sofa in the middle of the room. Nicky beat him there to sit next to Mike. Pulling the controller from his hands, she threw her legs over his. "What's up with this whole girlfriend thing? Who'd date you?"

Mike calmly relinquished his video gaming and turned to Dade. In fact, Dade seemed to be the center of attention at this point.

"That's actually why I'm here. Dad needs the car tomorrow, so I need one of you to take me to pick her up. You can meet her then."

Nicky nodded. "Mike can drive. The Suburban's still running, so we can all fit."

"Way to answer for him, Nicky."

"Well, somebody has to do it. Now, tell us about this girl."

"Her name is Kate Murphy. And you'll get to meet her tomorrow. The story's complicated. She might as well help tell it. And I'm not talking about the Ellington thing until she gets her either."

The three rolled their eyes. "Fine. Tell us what it's like in New York. Have you been mugged yet?"