When I originally ended Looking Back, I had ideas for making a sequel or at least continuing this but I wanted to finish A New Fairytale before coming back. With the latest Fairytale story finished, I wasn't sure if I wanted to come back but then this chapter started taking shape in my head and was bugging me to write it. So I've decided to keep this story going but I'm not going to update it regularly. When a new idea hits for it, I'll write it and add it on. This way, I don't get bored with it and just stop.

A/N – "Thoughts" , This chapter takes place a month after Chapter 9.

Chapter 10 – First Date

After pulling her bag and purse out of the back of her car, Miranda slowly trudged up the driveway, exhausted from work. Miranda worked as an executive in an advertising agency, promoting companies and creating advertising programs for their clients. She loved her job but there were some days that just wiped her out.

As she walked, Samantha was running circles around her, chattering about her morning in day care and afternoon in nursery school. While she loved her daughter and being a mother, it was days like these she wished her daughter didn't take after her so much because all she wanted was some peace and quiet. Reaching the door, Miranda dropped her car starter into her purse and started digging for her house keys. "Damn it, where are they?" she snarled to herself.

"Mommy," Samantha said as she stood by Miranda's side. "I'm hungry, what's for dinner?" she asked bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet.

Sighing softly and finally finding her keys, Miranda unlocked the door as she answered, "I don't know honey."

"Can we have hot dogs?" Samantha asked as she sprinted into the house.

Biting her lip so she didn't snap at her daughter, "We'll see. Why don't you go upstairs and play," she urged her. Miranda stood in the doorway, watching Samantha run upstairs to her room. "What I wouldn't give to be that young again," she thought to herself as she shut the door behind her and then drudged up the stairs to the master bedroom.

Pausing at Samantha's room to see that she wasn't up to anything destructive or dangerous, she entered her own bedroom and dumped her bag and purse onto an empty chair near the door. As she walked across the room, she kicked off her heels and then took off her pants, blouse, and stockings. Grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, put them on and dropped onto the large king size bed. Grabbing one of the throw pillows, she put the it between her arm and head, and closed her eyes.

Only intending to just lay down and relax, Miranda had instead fallen asleep. She didn't know how long she had been asleep or when Gordo got home but she suddenly felt something tickling the bottom of her feet. Trying to stay asleep, she tried to kick at it but hit nothing but air. She then felt a hand slide across her stomach and someone laughing softly in her ear, "Wake up Princess."

Groaning softly, "Don't want to," she whined with a small smile tugging at her lips. As Gordo started to kiss her neck, Miranda tried not to giggle or laugh, and tried to pull away from him. But Gordo tightened his arm around her and kept her close to him. Finally giving up, she opened her eyes, "Fine! I'm awake, happy?"

Grinning down at her, "Ecstatic." Lightly kissing her lips, "Hungry?"

Nodding, she then noticed how quiet it was. "Where's Sammy?" she asked warily.

Snickering softly, "With my mom. My dad is at some conference, so my mom is gonna take care of her for the night. The two are gonna go out to dinner and then go back to her house."

Miranda rolled onto her back and smiled up at him, "So we got the whole house to ourselves for the night?" she asked sarcastically, to which Gordo nodded and grinned back. "You said something about dinner?"

Gordo chuckled softly as he nodded again. "When was the last time we got to spend the night just the two of us?" Miranda smiled seductively as she reached up and ran a hand through his mass of dark curls. "I gotta get back downstairs, the food's almost done."

"So its kinda like a date?" she asked as Gordo moved off the bed.

"Guess it is," he answered before he walked out of the room.

Miranda folded her arms up behind her head and looking up at the ceiling, thought for a moment, "I don't even remember the last time we even went out on a date."

-----

It was the Thursday after Halloween and Lizzie was sitting on Miranda's bed as she watched Miranda digging through her dresser. She grinned to herself as she watched her best friend frantically digging through the various drawers, searching for outfits to wear this weekend. Almost immediately after Gordo had left, Miranda had called Lizzie's cell phone and told her everything. While it had been weird to find out that not only where her two best friends dating but also her best friend was dating her ex, she was slowly getting used to it.

As she sat on the bed watching, Lizzie had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud. She had never seen Miranda this out of sorts before and the fact that Gordo was the cause, just added to it. "Miranda, you've been through your entire wardrobe twice and you still haven't packed anything."

"I know that," Miranda muttered. Gordo was coming tomorrow afternoon, right after school, to pick her up and she hadn't packed anything. While they knew there was no way that either set of parents would agree to letting two seventeen year olds spend a weekend together unsupervised, much less spend the night in the same room. So they told both parents that Miranda was going to Los Angeles to visit Gordo and see the campus and was going to spend the nights in the dorm room of a female friend of his. Gordo had even gotten the friend to go along with the plan, even though he had to endure her teasing about it. Miranda's parents reluctantly agreed; it wasn't until years later, that their parents learned the truth.

In one hand, Miranda held a conservative, white blouse and in the other, was low v-cut, black shirt. "Which one?" Hearing Lizzie snicker behind her, Miranda turned around, "What?"

"I can't believe Gordo has you this rattled," she teased.

Miranda glared at her, "If I remember correctly, you called me like two o'clock in the morning the day of your date asking me what you should wear," she shot back but was also thinking, "Why am I this rattled?"

"Fine," Lizzie said with a playful smirk. "Take both," she said. When Miranda gave her a confused look, "Take both tops. Pair the black top with a pair of jeans and those beat up converse that you seem to love, then the white blouse with black pants and a pair of black heels. That gives you the two outfits, throw in a t-shirt and another pair of pants and you're set."

Miranda nodded as she folded and packed the clothes and pulled out the pairs of sneakers and heels. "So what about pajamas?" she asked a little nervously.

Giving her a sarcastic smile, she dramatically looked at her watch, "Well, the mall is still open. We could go to Victoria's Secret and pick something up."

"Lizzie!" Miranda yelled, trying to keep her voice steady and praying her entire face wasn't beat red. Lizzie just started laughing at Miranda's reaction.

"Nothing like that is going to happen," Miranda told her, trying to keep herself at least appear calm. As much as she hated to admit it though, Lizzie was right, Gordo had her rattled. It wasn't so much him but being something more with him. Ever since he had asked her out, she had scrutinized every imperfection she thought she had and then of course there was the ghost of Lizzie, or at least the one she had made up in her head.

Calming down a little bit, "Mir, just throw in whatever you normally wear to bed and you'll be fine," Lizzie told her, and she watched Miranda grab a pair of shorts and a tank top and throw them into the bag. As Miranda threw in some final things, Lizzie could easily tell she was still nervous. "Will you relax, I've never seen you this uptight about anything, much less a boy. This is Gordo, you two have been torturing and teasing each other for as long as you've known each other." Lizzie stood up and gripped her shoulders, "You're gonna have a blast."

Miranda smirked at her and slowly nodded. "Its just so weird, thinking of Gordo as something other than my best friend."

Lizzie snickered and grinned, "It can be a good thing ya know. The benefits are really nice." Miranda started laughing as Lizzie continued, a little more seriously, "Gordo is really a sweet guy and you two will make a cool, if odd, couple."

Miranda continued laughing and playfully shoved Lizzie away from her, "Thanks Liz."

The weekend had started out well, when Gordo first saw her, he had given her one of his goofy grins. One of the funnier moments had been when Mr. Sanchez had pulled him aside and asked Gordo to keep an eye on her. It had taken everything he had to keep a straight face. Even the first night had gone smoothly, Miranda had used Gordo's roommate's bed and Gordo used his own. Miranda had teased him about the fact that his roommate was conveniently out for the weekend, Gordo eventually and reluctantly told her that he had paid him off to take off for the weekend.

But Saturday, things just went down hill. As they were touring the exhibit, Miranda had slipped and stumbled no less than five times, and her ankles were killing her now. It was like it was the first time she had ever worn heels. If it hadn't been for Gordo, she'd probably have crashed on her butt or fallen into one of the sculptures. Then during dinner, Miranda had managed to splash her white blouse with spaghetti sauce. To add insult to injury, while not laughing in her face, Gordo had this amused grin dancing across his face the whole afternoon.

As they walked out of the restaurant, Miranda was on edge and Gordo wasn't helping any.

"I feel like I've been on this date before," Gordo said sarcastically as they walked back towards campus and to his dorm room. "What did you do, switch bodies with Lizzie?" he continued, "What happened to the confident, sexy girl I feel for?" Gordo smirked as Miranda came to a dead stopped and wheeled around on him, so she was only inches away from his face.

"Listen to me, you arrogant little ass," Miranda snarled into his face, "I'm sick of your stupid snide comments and if you don't wipe that stupid grin off your face, I'm gonna smack you," Miranda threatened him as gripped his shirt in one hand and gestured wildly with her other.

Gordo just continued to grin at her, "Feel better?"

Stunned for a moment at his question, she looked at him like he was crazy for a moment and then thought about what he just said. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She had been trying so hard to be perfect and everything was backfiring on her. "So that's way he's been so an ass today?" she asked herself, she had a sinking suspicion that he could tell she wasn't really being herself. "Could he tell I was trying to hard?" Gordo's amused grin eased into a small smile and Miranda slowly started to calm down. "You know its not nice to tease me. I'm a girl, I'm delicate," she told him as she fought the urge to grin back at him.

"Randi," he said softly and she smiled a little at the new nickname, "You're many things…but delicate isn't one of them." Miranda punched him in the shoulder and the two stood in the street, laughing. As they started walking again, "Come on, let's get back and get you out of that shirt," he told her.

Not missing a beat, "How romantic," she said sarcastically, she knew what he meant but couldn't let it pass without saying something. It wouldn't be right to let him pass just like that, especially after what just happened.

In retaliation, he reached out and grabbed her waist, "Come here," Gordo said before leaning in to kiss her.

-----

Their first date hadn't exactly run smoothly, but when she thought about it, most of what they did, never really ran smoothly. Somehow they made it work.

"Mir!" Gordo shouted from downstairs, "You coming or am I going to have to eat by myself?"

"Keep your pants on goofball," Miranda shouted back and getting off the bed, she glanced at her closet and a wicked grin formed across her face.

A few minutes later, Gordo had finished with dinner and was getting a little impatient with his wife. He was hungry and he wanted to start eating but couldn't figure out what was taking her so long. Than glancing at the doorway after hearing movement, he knew.

"Smells good," Miranda said as she walked into the kitchen, pretending not to notice Gordo's eyes following her. "What is it?" Casually looking over at him, she locked eyes with him, and arched an eyebrow, "Something wrong?" she teased.

Gordo smirked at her, "You're a tease, you know that?" Miranda had come downstairs barefoot and looking like she was only wearing one of Gordo's sweatshirts, but actually had a pair of shorts on underneath.

Miranda just gave him an innocent smile, "Or maybe you just have a dirty mind," she told him as she slid into her seat at the kitchen table. Even before they got together, she loved toying with him, and now that they were a couple, it made it just that more fun. She watched his eyes as he sat down, even though they were glaring back at her, she could see an old and familiar emotion flash in them. "Oh, we're gonna have fun tonight," she thought to herself sarcastically.

That night, after dinner, Miranda stood on the deck in the back of the house, enjoying the night breeze and the calmness. Hearing the sliding glass door slide open and then shut, and footsteps approaching her, Miranda smiled. She then felt his arms wrap around her waist and him kiss her temple gently.

Leaning back against him, Miranda let out a content sigh as she placed her arms and hands over his. After a minute, "I can't remember the last time it was this quiet."

"Usually the Barkats are in their pool all night, making a racket," Gordo grumbled, "Their three girls were out here at like midnight a few days ago."

Miranda chuckled softly, "You ever wonder what it'd be like to have another baby?"

"Sometimes," he said at first and then Gordo arched his neck so he could look at her face, "Why? You're not…are you?"

Laughing harder at the scarred look that crossed his face, she hadn't been the easiest to deal with during Sammy's pregnancy, she shook her head no, "Just thinking out loud."

Falling back into their comfortable silence, Miranda slowly closed her eyes. Letting her hands slide a little bit down off of Gordo's, she grinned and thought to herself part sarcastically, part hopeful, "Maybe someday, I'll get my little Gordo."