AN: There has been a nasty bug going around and I have been bed-ridden for the last week or so, trying to make sure I am not sick when the semester starts next week. As a teacher, it is never ideal to start the semester with the flu, when you're trying to build a relationship with a new class. So, I apologize for the lateness of this. What I can tell you, is that I will update on Sunday by 11pm, so keep an eye out for the next chapter. =) But until then, I hope you leave me a review. It was the reviews of you all that inspired me to come back, so keep them coming to keep up the motivation. Enjoy!

Ryan pulled up to the Nielsens' for the second time in the last twenty-four hours, feeling slightly better than the last, but somehow more anxious. When he had asked Kelsi to go out with him, he had been prepared to take her out that night; to hash out everything immediately. But she had insisted that they give each other some space to process. If he was honest, he was afraid she would run again if he let her go.

"I'm not going anywhere," Kelsi whispered to him, smoothing the wrinkles from his forehead before slipping her hand to the back of his head. It seemed she could still read some of his expressions.

"You promise?" he whispered, pulling her close and resting his forehead against hers.

"Yes," she responded, running her fingers through his hair, "If you can promise…"

She hesitated and he opened his eyes to meet her blue ones, the fear speaking volumes to him. He could read her too it seemed."I promise," he said firmly, "I'll still love you…tomorrow." He sang the last line and it yielded a gentle smile from her lips, which drew him in like a magnet. They sealed their promises with one last kiss, just as Riley stirred on the couch with a loud yawn. They pulled away from each other just as her eyes opened.

Despite his fears, he realized now that the evening apart had been good idea. It gave him time to think about what this whole thing meant to him and his life realistically. The truth was that it all really did throw wrench into his career, his lifestyle, his…everything.

He was also deeply hurt that he had missed so much of Riley's life. Her first steps, her first words, her first song and dance. He had the nightmares to prove it. But as painful as it was, he feared missing out on the rest of her firsts. Her first day of junior high, high school, college; graduations, birthdays, inevitable crushes, heartbreaks, concerts, dances. There was still so much life left and it would be brutal to miss out on anymore.

He also realized that his hurt was not one-sided, Kelsi had also been hurt and made choices because of it. They had hurt each other, but recounting that hurt along with what could have been done better or should have been done better didn't really help anyone. And his nightmares had included a visions of life without Kelsi. They were awful and lonely and not what he wanted.

As much as this changed everything, he would rather lose everything he had ever worked for and start from scratch, while keeping his new little family, than the other way around. Of that, he was certain. So, tonight was going to be about proving that to Kelsi.

From his parking spot, he could see Kelsi's bedroom window. The curtains were not drawn, but he could see the shadow of movement behind them with the fading light of evening. He imagined her flitting about the room, and could almost feel her anxiety. She felt it too, the time apart must have done wonders for her nerves. Maybe she had her own fears, like that he wouldn't show. That he would leave without a word again.

"Not today, Nielsen," he whispered to himself. He got out of the car and checked his reflection in the mirror. He tilted his fedora just a bit off center rubbed his sweaty hands on his jeans. "Alright, let's do this Evans. Gonna win your girl back."

He looked both ways before crossing and then headed toward the front lawn. As he reached the stone pathway, he noticed movement in the front window and looked up to see two big beautifully blue eyes peeking at him through the blinds. "HE'S HERE!" There was a ruckus behind the blinds as the eyes disappeared, and just as he reached the door it opened before he could knock.

A small body rocketed toward him and he caught the little girl that flew at him with only a slight grunt. "DADDY!" His heart soared. He suddenly felt like he could lift two-hundred little girls with one hand, but instead he settled with pulling his own little girl close.

"Hello, little duck."

She leaned back and seemed to take in the sight of him with a wide smile. "I'm so glad that you're here!"

He kissed her forehead before hugging her tight, "Me too."

Kelsi fidgeted in her seat as they drove out of her quiet neighborhood street and towards downtown Albuquerque. She flexed her fingers before threading them together and wringing each hand gently in the other. She kept her hands firmly in her lap and tried to distract herself with the passing lights outside, but her heart gave a jolt when Ryan's hand slip between hers.

He pulled her left hand over and up to his mouth, placing a gentle kiss on the back of it, and she relaxed at the feeling of his lips. "Sorry…I'm just…"

"I know," Ryan replied. "I'm a little nervous too." He returned their hands to her lap, but didn't let go, and Kelsi took the opportunity to grip his hand in both of hers and shift a bit closer. The warmth from his grip comforted her.

"So…what's new?" She asked jokingly, as she traced patterns on the back of his thumb.

He smiled and gave a breathy chuckle, "So much. A lot happened after you left yesterday."

Kelsi eyebrows shot up, "More things happened? You would think that finding out you have a daughter and meeting her for the first time would be enough excitement for a lifetime."

Ryan laughed and nodded, "You would, but…never a dull day in the Evans home."

Kelsi giggled as well and shook her head. "Okay, well…" she tilted her head with a smile, "tell me about it."

From there, the conversation became easy as they fell into Ryan's recounting of the day before. He told her about Martha's confession of Jason. How she had apparently gotten drunk and made out with him at the end of the wedding and woke up to only make out with him again.

The last he heard, the two of them had dinner the night before and he hadn't seen Martha since.

"That's insane!" Kelsi cried out, her other hand reaching up to grip his sweater sleeve. "Martha and Jason?!"

"I know," Ryan agreed, "but I think its good. I've never really liked any of Martha's last few boyfriends. And…I'm just glad Jason didn't have his eyes set on you."

Kelsi laughed, "What? On me?"

Ryan nodded, "After the ceremony, I saw you leave with Jason and thought maybe…"

Kelsi squeezed his arm, "You thought I was with him." She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, gripping his hand tighter in hers. He leaned back against the top of her head and pressed a fleeting kiss on the top of her head, taking in the scent of lavender and honey.

"Well, if I'm honest, I'm glad that nothing ever happened between you and Martha."

To this Ryan laughed out loud, "What?"

Kelsi pulled back and firmly nodded, "Really! I…I always wondered if you both were much more suited to each other. And you worked together, so…it's not too far out of the realm to think that something could change between you two."

Ryan chuckled and shook his head. "It is definitely far out of the realm. Martha knows how much you and I mean to each other. I don't think she even looks at me as belonging with anyone but you."

Kelsi bit her lip and looked back down at their hands. "But…have you ever thought—"

"No," he assured her, squeezing her hand in his. "Martha has been and always will be like a sister to me; a much nicer sister." Kelsi laughed and shook her head. She knew that she must sound so insecure, but it still all seemed too good to be true. Could he really still love her? Could they really make this work? The tension in the car thickened as her thoughts brought her to silence. Ryan, sensing her contemplative mood, nudged her slightly and brought her eyes back to his.

She squeezed his hand as she looked back at him and he smiled. "Have you talked to Zeke?" He queried, changing the subject and trying to dispel some of her clouded thoughts.

Kelsi opened her mouth to answer, but then stopped, realizing the truth. "Actually…no," she said, her gaze glazing over as she tried to recount the rest of her day. "I expected to hear from him when he left your house, I told him to text me that he got home safe, but now that I think about it…"

Ryan waited for her to make the connection and smiled as her eyes grew wide and then turned to focus back on him. "Unless…he never left your house." Ryan laughed and Kelsi squeezed his hand even tighter in a mixture of shock and a buzz of excitement. "Did he and Sharpay…?"

Ryan pulled the car into an empty spot and slipped his hand out of hers so he could put the car in park. As he turned off the car, he winked at her and slipped out, rounding the front of the car to reach her side. He opened the door as Kelsi unbuckled her seat belt and held a hand out to her.

"Martha and I walked in on them reconciling in the kitchen last night, and though I didn't see even a glimpse of him or Sharpay all day today, his car was still in the driveway when I left to pick you up.

Kelsi chuckled as she took his hand and stepped out of the car. "My goodness, Zeke must be thrilled."

Ryan nodded, taking her hand and slipping it through his arm as he led her to the restaurant, "I'm just glad to see that my sister has finally stopped running from him."

Kelsi's eyes dropped to their feet as they strolled toward the fairy light lit restaurant at the end of the promenade. "Seems like all of our friends have been…lucky in love this week."

Ryan nodded, stopping in place and causing Kelsi to turn to him with a quizzical expression. He met her gaze and smiled gently, turning his body to face her, his arm slipping around her waist and pulling her closer as his other hand moved to tuck a stray hair back behind her ear. The atmosphere between then changed once again, thick in tension, but a different kind, and his eyes flitted down to her lips, just as Kelsi bit her bottom one. Ryan's eyes focused in. He slowly leaned in and whispered between them, "I think it's our turn now, don't you?"

Just a hint of a blush and a gentle smile was all Ryan needed. His hand slipped to the back of her neck and pulled Kelsi gently forward as he surged to meet her.

Kelsi had slipped off to the bathroom and found herself looking thoroughly kissed; lipgloss smudged and hair a bit ruffled, but nothing a quick touch up couldn't fix.

She was still weary of whether or not kissing was in their best interest, but the way Ryan looked at her and pulled her close was hard to resist. It felt like nothing had changed between them, even though it had been years. Her mother had cautioned her about getting distracted. This evening was supposed to be about talking out what their next move was, but so far they hadn't even broached the subject. Granted, it was still early, but still…what if they never got there?

"Stop it, Kelsi," she told reflection, taking care to fix her make up and reapply her lipgloss. "You've got all evening, give this a chance." She pulled her lip gloss from her purse and put on a fresh coat, pressing her lips together repeatedly to spread the product. She then reached up to smooth down her hair, suddenly getting hit by a wave a deja-vu.

Ryan had driven them to a well-known bistro in downtown Albuquerque called, Billy's. She had recognized the route as they had exited the freeway and maneuvered down the busy city streets towards the downtown promenade. She had been there a few times with their friends, a handful of times with her parents, and one memorable time with Ryan, where they had celebrated their acceptance into Juilliard together.

They had made plans as friends, but the dinner quickly proved to be the moment everything would change. He had admitted some weeks before that Sharpay had ordered him to stay close to her, even suggesting he take her to prom, but that evening he finally told her why he had agreed.

"I was already planning on asking you. Sharpay telling me to get closer to you wasn't really any sort of nuanced idea, I already knew that that was the plan for this year."

Kelsi's eyes widened, "I'm not sure I understand…what are you saying?"

Ryan chuckled nervously and reached for her hand across the table, her eyes falling to their hands as he made contact. "At the beginning of the year, I decided that this was the year I was going to tell you how I felt. Before the year was out, I was gonna finally say it."

"Say…what?" Kelsi stuttered, turning her eyes back to his. Her heart felt like it was about to explode.

"That I think you are brilliant, Kels; and beautiful and that you exemplify everything good there is in this world." He gripped her hand in his and leaned forward. "I wanted you to get the Juilliard scholarship because I think you and your work is going to change the world. But now we're going to both be there and…I think its fate. Don't you?"

She had been surprised by his confession. Despite the fact that she had always thought Ryan was incredible, she didn't think he saw her as anything more than a friend. But she had hoped. There were moments when they were alone that the atmosphere had been different, heated even. But she assumed they were one-sided. Then to hear that those moments weren't…well…it was hard for her eighteen year old self not to leap at the chance.

Everything had been so much easier then. They were both going to the same school, so it was an easy decision to say yes to him, to imagine their lives fitting together. But now it was so hard. Why?

A young girl had exited one of the stalls behind her and she met Kelsi's eyes for a brief moment with a polite smile, which Kelsi returned. The presence of a stranger brought Kelsi out of her thoughts and she quickly finished fixing her hair and then washed her hands just to give them something to do.

The door to the bathroom banged open as another young girl tumbled in, her eyes wide and wild as she scanned the bathroom before landing on the girl beside Kelsi. "Brianna! You will never guess who is standing at the hostess desk right. this. second!"

"Who?" The girl named Brianna asked tepidly, more so taken aback by her friend's bubbling excitement.

"RYAN EVANS!"

"No!" Brianna's excitement went from 0 to 60 in a manner of seconds and in a flash both girls were out the door in a flurry of giggles and whispers.

Kelsi took a breath and laughed, "Well, there's one reason."

She gave her reflection one last glance over before grabbing her purse and following behind. He walked the long hallway from the ladies' room to the foyer of the bistro to see Ryan obviously leaning up against the wall, closest to the hostess podium, speaking amicably with Billy, the owner of the restaurant, as people around him seemed to whisper and point. Some were even trying to discreetly take photos of him. She couldn't help but smile as she saw he wasn't really paying attention to them. It must be something he's just used to at this point, she thought.

The two girls that had just been in the bathroom seemed to be crowding the end of the hall, blocking her from reaching Ryan. She reached out a gentle hand touched the shoulder of the girl named Brianna and politely said, "Excuse me," to which the girl turned quickly and blushed.

"Sorry!" She whispered back and Kelsi smiled wider, shaking her head.

"No, worries."

The sound of her voice brought Ryan up from his conversation, and when his eyes fell on her he smiled. "Hey, you all set?" She nodded, feeling all the eyes that had previously been on Ryan suddenly fall on her. She tried her best to ignore it.

Instead she turned to elderly man beside Ryan and smiled, "Good to see you, Billy."

The old man nodded and smiled back, "You as well, Miss Kelsi. I've missed seeing the two of you in these parts. You two and all the others of the Wildcats gang."

"Well, we've missed your great food. I've yet to find anything as good as your mac and cheese in New York." As she sidled up beside Ryan, his hand reached for hers and it took everything in her not to cringe as the whispers behind her grew louder. She even heard the distinct click of a few camera phones.

"It's a good thing I packed it for you then," Billy responded, just as a waitress exited the kitchen with a large, dark wicker, picnic basket and a plaid blanket.

Kelsi raised her brow and looked over at Ryan, "Packed? We're not eating here?"

Ryan smiled as he took the basket from the waitress and winked at her, "We got Billy's picnic special," he replied before turning back to Billy. "We'll return this on our way back to the car," to which Billy shook his head.

"No need, your spot is all set up for you, you can leave everything there and some of my staff will pick it up. You two have a nice night."

From there, Ryan pulled her along, back out the door and away from the prying eyes. She was still confused, knowing nothing about any kind of picnic special option at Billy's. But when they got far enough away from the bistro, turning the corner and heading towards Promenade Park across the street, Ryan leaned in close.

"I thought it would be better for us to have dinner without an audience; somewhere more private, but still fun.

Kelsi chuckled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thank you," she sighed. "Is it weird? Being noticed everywhere you go?"

He laughed and nodded, "It definitely takes some getting used to. Despite Sharpay's push to try and make our lives exactly that growing up, it's a very different thing when you have some notoriety. You realize how much you actually value normalcy. But I love my fans. I love getting to meet them and know them. But it's all about balance."

They crossed the street at a leisure pace, with the park coming clearer into view. Ryan sighed and squeezed Kelsi's hand once again in his. "I know that with everything going on, it will be something we have to deal with. But I promise, Kels, that the whole "in the public eye" thing is not lost on me and I'm going to work really hard to make sure it won't stand in our way. I want our life to ours."

The thought was beautiful and Kelsi nodded, looking up at him and placing a gentle kiss on his cheek to reassure him that she believed him. As she pulled away, that's when she registered that there was music playing. With a quizzical look at him, she turned to the park, lit up in lights and a smattering of people on picnic blankets watching an orchestra of musicians playing in the grass.

"What? What is going on?" She asked with a wide smile.

Ryan smiled back and led her to a large tree towards the center of the park, where there was a beautiful set up of blankets and pillows at the base of the tree. It was a secluded spot, away from most of the other people in the park, but it had a lovely view of the whole place, as well as the orchestra.

"The park hosts a concert once a month and Billy offers a pretty sweet picnic special that you have to book almost a year in advance. It just so happened that this month, my parents had booked it and they graciously gave it to me."

Kelsi's eyes widened as she took in the sight and turned to him, "That's so generous of them! This is all so beautiful, I feel… kinda bad if it is something you have to book so far in advance."

Ryan shook his head, "I almost didn't accept it either, but…my parents insisted that it would make them happier for us to use it. They've also the month of their anniversary booked, so they're okay. Besides, the concert this month is…well…do you recognize the music?"

Kelsi listened closely as she slipped her shoes off, following Ryan's lead as he gingerly stepped onto the blankets and pulled her down into the pillows.

"Is that…Cheek to Cheek?"

Ryan smiled and nodded,"it's a movie musical classics concert. All of our favorite tunes…I think its fate, don't you?"

The words brought her gaze to his and she felt her heart melt. Years ago, when he had said that to her, she had surrendered to him and the potential of their love story. Now, though in a slightly different setting, he offered her the same love, even after all the damage to both of their hearts. Still fated. Still there. She gave him a gentle smile and moved to wrap her arms around him as he did the same to her. She rested her head against his chest and pulled him close. This is what she wanted. It was going to be hard, but this was worth fighting for. She was sure of it.

AN: Again, don't forget to leave a review! See you all on Sunday.