Disclaimer: All Drake & Josh characters copyright their proper owners. I just wrote this.

Author's Note: I would have had this up last night, but was being worked on itself, so I couldn't upload...and I didn't really want to risk losing the story. Anyway, this is the final chapter of part one. Also the shortest, but hey, whatever. You'll find out why. Drake will pick Christine up from the airport...

Chapter Twelve: Revealing Emotions

Drake bounced from one foot to the other, like a child impatiently waiting for the person behind the counter to hand him an ice cream cone. He was waiting for Christine's flight to land. He just wanted to see her, to tell her how things had gone. To find out how her time with her dad had gone. He'd hoped she'd connected with her dad on some level, even if he hadn't with Ford.

Drake stopped bouncing and sat down in a chair. He looked at his watch. It would be about ten minutes until her plane landed. He was nervous because he was not only going to talk to her about what happened between him and Ford and her and her dad, but he was going to tell her about his feelings for her. He pulled out Josh's G-O that he'd "borrowed." Maybe he'd grown up about relationships, but he was still the same old Drake Parker with everything else. Drake scanned through Josh's playlists. What was it with him and Clay Aiken? Drake was too absorbed into looking through Josh's playlists (what did this kid listen to anyway?...he half expected to see "Hot Potato" on the list) when Christine walked into the airport after getting off of her plane.

"Drake," she said, tapping him on the shoulder. He jumped.

"Oh, hi," he responded. Drake was picking her up since her mom needed to work that day. "Ready to go?"

"Oh, yeah," she replied, glancing around. "Just one...oh, there he is." She walked up to a guy who looked about her age. Drake squirmed for a second. Nothing to worry about. She kissed the guy on the cheek. Okay. Potential problem. The guy wrapped his arm around her as they walked back toward Drake. Drake felt his heart start to sink. "Hey," Christine said. "This is David."

"Hi," Drake said, reaching out his hand for David to shake.

"Hey," said David. "Wow, you're Drake. I've heard a lot about you. I thought I'd have to get jealous for a little while."

That said everything. She was seeing him. It wasn't really good friends or cousins. She was seeing him. Drake couldn't believe it. She was seeing him. What was he supposed to say now? She was seeing him. He couldn't. She was seeing him.

"Well, I've heard almost nothing about you," Drake replied. Maybe that sounded bitter, but Drake didn't know how else to respond.

"We'll have to fix that before I leave," said David, smiling.

"We better get to the car," Drake continued. He just wanted to get out of there, get them to where they needed to be and go home and be alone.

Drake didn't say much during the drive to Christine's house. She and David did most of the talking. They sounded like old friends. Very good old friends. He was glad to get to Christine's house. He went to help her bring her bags inside, but David did that.

"Uh, I've got to go," Drake said.

Christine turned back around to look at Drake. She motioned to David to go into the house.

"Is something wrong?" Christine asked.

"No," Drake replied.

"I know when something's bothering you," she pressed.

"I'm just kind of tired."

"Drake, he's not replacing you, if that's what you're thinking. He may be my boyfriend, but I'll always need my best friend."

Drake stared at her. That wasn't what he thought at all. It was more the pain of caring about her deeply and him showing up as her boyfriend.

"He's only here for a few days. His spring break is next week," she continued. "He was a friend of mine when we lived in San Francisco, and things clicked when I visited my dad, which went great by the way. I'm so happy. Thank you for pushing me, Drake. I couldn't have done that without your help. I couldn't have gotten such a nice guy either."

"No problem," Drake replied. "Well, I've got to go. I'll see you later."

No hug. No "that's great!" Christine knew there was something else wrong with him as she watched him drive away. What that was, she didn't know.

Drake got home and headed right up to his room. He climbed on his bed and leaned back against his pillow. It was his own fault. If he had told her before he left, maybe she'd be with him and not David right now. He could kick only himself for this one.

He sighed and jumped off of his bed. He sat on the sofa and turned on the television. There wasn't much on that interested him. He didn't know whether he felt broken hearted or angry with himself. Maybe it was a combination of the two.

He thought about the past week. He had gone to New York to see Ford. That was when he realized Ford had made promises and broke them. To Audrey. To Drake. To Megan. He left. Drake had made several promises to Christine. He wanted it to be true when he said they could be together forever. He supposed it wasn't going to happen as a couple. If she cared about David, then he wasn't going to mention his feelings to her. He didn't want to ruin her relationship with him. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Drake cared about her too much to ruin her relationship like that. He wouldn't get in the way. He'd stand aside. It was the only way he could keep his promise. He didn't want to end up hurting her like Ford hurt his mom. He didn't want to hurt her like her dad hurt her mom. He really broke the wedding vows. It was devastating to everyone it effected. We've all made promises, but only those strong enough are able to keep them. And Drake knew that was the difference between he and Ford.

A/N: I know, I know, you're all thinking Midie is the most evil fanfic writer at the moment, but let's be realistic for a second...what does happen when you wait to tell your crush how you feel about them? That's what I thought. So, I know Megan and Walter weren't in this story, but they will appear in part two. Be on the look out for that in the next week or so, depending on how long it takes me to finish it.