Adam awoke this morning completely shocked, and pretty darn angry that Shalimar had run away from home. He'd found a note on her bed saying that the only way for her to be truly happy was to be with Brennan and the only way for Adam to be happy was to be away from Brennan. Adam was quite furious that Shalimar wanted to be with Brennan more than he wanted to be her own father, so he headed out in his Jeep to find Shalimar and tell that hooligan Brennan to get the hell away from his daughter.
He had been driving now for about 15 minutes when he spotted Emma's Smart Convertible parked beside the road and he pulled over. Jesse Kilmartin's car was also parked in front, which meant Shalimar was probably in the woods somewhere. He knew that Jesse followed Shalimar like a lovesick puppy and after him was Emma, who Jesse never gave a second look. Adam was now running through the forest, calling Shalimar's name in hopes that she hadn't gotten very far. Nothing moved except the leaves rustling about in the wind and the bird's song as they woke up in their nests. Continuing running, he saw something shimmer not far in the distance. He jogged towards it, panting slightly. The sun hit the object and reflected into his eyes, blinding him only for a moment. Still he ran and as he got closer, he discovered that it was Shalimar's ring, a ring she had on a very important finger. Ut oh, Adam thought. He knew what that meant. Marriage, he sighed. He noticed that Shalimar, Brennan, Jesse and Emma had all taken sides of the same tree. At least nothing bad has happened to them, Adam sighed again, thinking about the argument he was about to have with Shalimar about Brennan.
"Shalimar, honey, time to wake up." Adam prodded Shalimar gently. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, before opening her eyes and seeing her dad in front of her.
"Dad? What are you doing here?" Shalimar looked confused.
"Getting you. Wake the others, we're leaving." Adam helped her up and to his surprise; she made no effort to fight him. Adam pondered it for a moment, but shook his head in a confused way and went to help Emma up. Shalimar told Jesse to wake up and then, reluctantly, she woke up Brennan. Each person had a confused look on his or her face when seeing Shalimar's dad.
"What's going on?" Jesse said, yawning and wincing at the brightness of the sun. His head throbbed and his face felt like it had been broken in thousands of little places.
"Were we all dreaming? Or did that just happen?" Emma asked, feeling nervous around Jesse again. He was staring at her in a new way that she didn't recognise. Oh great, he's back to normal and back to liking Shalimar! Emma shed an invisible tear.
"I'm not really sure." Shalimar said. "But since we all seemed to have had the same dream, which isn't possible, I would guess it was real." Shalimar looked at Brennan who was being unusually quiet. Adam saw his daughter look at Brennan and realised it was time to leave.
"Come on Shalimar, it's time to go." Adam grabbed Shalimar's arm and pulled her in his direction. At this point, Brennan snapped his head up from the ground and rushed after Shalimar.
"Wait a minute, where are you going?" Brennan directed at Adam.
"Away from you." He replied coldly, dragging his daughter away as Shalimar looked to the floor, drowning in her miserable thoughts.
"You can't just pull us apart like this." Brennan cried, Adam still walking faster, ignoring Brennan. "Stop!" Brennan stood in front of Adam and Shalimar, blocking him from walking.
"What do you think – " Adam started to rage.
"Listen," Brennan cut in, rather strongly. "Whether you like it or not, it doesn't change the fact that I am totally in love with your daughter and, if she'll still have me, I want to marry her." Brennan looked to Shalimar, who, by that time, had looked up to see his face.
"But you said you love Emma." Shalimar frowned, remembering their intimate moment before Shalimar had caught them.
"I don't know why I said that, but it's not true, by god that's not true! You have to believe me Shal." Brennan took Shalimar's hands in his.
"I love you with all my heart and I want to spend my whole life convincing you of that." Shalimar looked into his puppy dog brown eyes and for a brief moment, she thought she saw her soul intertwining with his.
"I want to believe you Bren, but what I saw with Emma – " Shalimar mumbled and was cut off by his kiss. It was soft and sweet and tender, much like their first kiss, when the magick had begun.
Adam was watching this with much objection before he saw the look of total happiness and completion on his daughter's face, which made him crumble like a cookie. Shalimar broke away smiling and hugging Brennan lovingly and then turned to her father.
"Dad, I know you're not completely comfortable with Brennan, but – "
"Shalimar," Adam interrupted. "I think I need to apologise. Brennan, I'm sorry for mistreating you, I just want the best for my daughter, but I think she's already found it." Adam smiled and took out his hand for Brennan to shake. A mutual understanding was made then and there between the two men. "And Shalimar, I wish you all the happiness in the world and if Brennan makes you happy, then so am I."
Shalimar was so happy she almost broke into tears and hugged Adam so tightly, she might as well of squeezed the air out of his lungs.
"Thank you so much daddy!" Shalimar smiled and Adam was just glad to see his little girl happy. Shalimar turned to Brennan and kissed him, they both felt that they were exactly where they were supposed to be.