Paige stared absently at the road passing her by. She was sitting up front in Veronica's car, with her cheek lying against the warm glass of the window. The mid-afternoon sun was beating down on the car as they drove up the interstate, heading towards the only place the teenager had ever called home. She had her earphones in, with her music cranked up loud enough to block out the noise of the passing traffic. She wasn't trying to be rude, or ignoring Veronica, it was just part of her normal pre-meet ritual. Paige needed the music to focus her mind; Emily could understand that.
She was sitting in the back, sandwiched between Hanna and Spencer. When Hanna had found out that Paige was competing at her old school she'd pleaded for them to go and watch her. Paige had been hesitant to agree to them coming along. She hadn't really wanted Veronica there, but at least the older woman had agreed to keep a low profile. Hanna had been insistent though, even promising to sit with the away crowd. Her wide, pleading eyes had worn down Paige's resolve, but it had been Emily's hopeful expression that had broken through her defences; she wasn't sure how anyone could possibly say no to that face, so she'd given in and allowed them to come. Veronica had seemed almost disappointed to find out it wouldn't just be the two of them driving up. The lawyer was an expert at masking her emotions though, so she hid her dismay well. She was torn between desperately wanting to catch up on fifteen years of her daughter's life, and trying to give the teenager her space. Veronica felt like she was walking a tight rope without a safety net, and that she might fall off at any second. It was still early days though. Paige had only been back with them over the weekend, and it would take a lot longer than three days for things to settle down.
Once they reached Mt. Lebanon, Veronica pulled over for gas and the girls piled out to stretch their legs. Emily and Spencer went off to find a bathroom, while Hanna went inside the store to buy a soda. Paige stayed put, slunk down in the front passenger seat. Her eyes strayed to the wing-mirror, and she caught Veronica glancing back at her, as though she were afraid the teenager might take off at any minute.
Paige knew the streets around her as well as she knew the back of her hand. They were parked at the GetGo gas station on Washington Road. It would be easy for Paige to take off without Veronica having a hope of following her, but then where would she go? She was seventeen, still legally a minor. If she ran home then the authorities would just turn up and toss her back to Rosewood. There was also the fear that her dad could get in to even more trouble if she tried running away. At least Veronica had agreed to let him come to the swim meet. It had only been a couple of days, and she'd spoken to him every night on the phone, but she was already missing her dad like crazy; for the longest time, it had only been the two of them.
"Hey." Paige took advantage of being alone in the car to call Shana. She could hear the excited chatter of the rest of the team in the background as her girlfriend greeted her. Shana had probably stepped up to rally the other swimmer for the upcoming meet, a job that usually fell to Paige. She wondered how long the other girls would wait to elect Shana as their new captain; if they hadn't done so already. "We're at the gas station on Washington, we should be there in five." Paige explained, trying not to dwell on it. Her athletic ability had always been the thing that had set Paige apart from her peers; swimming in particular. The thought that her own girlfriend could replace her so easily was a daunting one.
"We?" Shana sounded surprise. "Who's with you?"
Paige glanced up at the rear view mirror, catching sight of the others girls walking back towards the car. "Just Veronica, and Spencer and some of her friends. They're going to sit with the away crowd. I told Veronica I don't want a scene. Today's about saying goodbye to the team, not having the entire student body gossiping about me. Speaking of not causing a scene...I haven't told Veronica about you yet. Can you just-"
"If you're about to ask me to pretend to be straight, don't bother."
"I'm not asking you to lie! Just...don't get pissed if I don't introduce you to her."
"Paige, you already introduce me to your Mom, and she was an awesome lady. I don't care about meeting this Hastings woman." The warmth returned to Shana's voice as it softened again. "I'm just dying to see you. Get here soon, okay?"
"Okay." Paige agreed. Shana always seemed to know just what to say to her. "I'll be there in a minute." She was pretty sure she'd heard Shana telling her she loved her just as Veronica climbed back in to the car and Paige hung up.
"Everything okay?" Veronica quizzed. The woman seemed to have a constant worry line etched deep in to her forehead; it was hardly unexpected. Paige could only imagine how overprotective her biological mother had been of her other siblings after she'd been taken.
"I'm gay..." Paige blurted out, with all the grace and elegance of a punch to the face. She couldn't live a lie. She had hidden herself away from the world for so long, and coming out to her father had been the biggest relief. Her mother hadn't lived long enough for Paige to come out to her, but part of her was confident that she'd known; mothers were always supposed to know.
"Oh." Veronica struggled to take in the bombshell that her youngest daughter had just dropped on her. There were a lot of things that she didn't know about her daughter, and it would take time to learn everything. Her sexuality hadn't been the place Veronica had expected to start though. Paige sat in the front passenger seat, trying to gauge the older woman's reaction to her admission. "Do you have...is there somebody special?" The teenager felt her whole body relax. Veronica seemed to have taken the news well, even trying to show an interest in her love life.
"Yeah. Her name is Shana. We've been dating since last year. She's on the swim team too."
"Well, you'll have to introduce us some time." Veronica's smile was perhaps a touch too strained, but to her credit she was still tying to make an effort.
"Sure. Maybe after the meet?" Paige suggested, trying to meet her halfway. Her birth mother nodded, managing a more genuine smile.
Once the others girls were all back in the car, they carried on towards the school. Paige's shoulders felt a little lighter after finally confessing her sexuality. She still asked Veronica to drop her off just before they reached the school; she didn't want to make a scene after all. "The administration office is through the main door and right down the hall. They'll tell you where the natatorium is. The meet starts at four!" Paige all but jumped out of the front seat, taking her gym bag with her and tossing a careless wave over her shoulder. She ran the rest of the way, and made it to the locker room just as the last bell sounded. Some of the girls were already there, changing in to their costumes and stretching. Shana was among them.
Paige walked right up to her girlfriend and greeted her with an enthusiastic kiss. "God, I've missed you." She sighed, really meaning it. Despite how rocky their relationship had been lately, going the weekend without seeing her had reminded Paige of just how much she cared about the other girl. It had been a long time since Paige had been so affectionate, particularly in public, but Shana wasn't about to protest.
"Paige! What's going on? We heard what happened Friday..." One of the freshman girls, who pretty much idolised the older swimmer, asked the question that was playing on everyone else's minds. As much as she didn't want to make a big deal out of her leaving, Paige knew she owed her team mates the truth. She cleared her throat as she took a step away from Shana, addressing the whole locker room.
"I know there are a lot of rumours flying about right now, and there's a ton of stuff on the news; but my mom was a good a person. I don't fully know what's going on right now, but what I do know is that this is the last time I get to be your captain. I have to move schools, so this is my last meet with you guys. Let's make it count, okay?" Paige had been trying for something upbeat, but she was met by a sea of distraught faces. A couple of the younger girls even looked like they were about to burst out crying. It wasn't the send off Paige had wanted. She'd been hoping to rally the others, to fire them up and claim one last victory as a team. Instead, their captain seemed to have taken the wind right out of their sails. She was second guessing whether she should have even turned up at all, when she felt Shana's hand slip in to her own.
"You heard your captain! We're wining this thing today! No excuses, no exceptions! We're doing it for Paige!" Shana's war cry was met with a chorus of cheers. She was a natural leader, and Paige wouldn't be surprised if the girls had already voted her in as their new team captain. The atmosphere changed again and an excited buzz fell over the locker room as the team started hyping itself up to take on their rivals.
Outside, in the natatorium, Veronica and the girls had found a spot to sit on the away team's bleachers. There were plenty of parents and students sitting there already, so they hardly stood out. Veronica had her chin bent down as she skimmed through Paige's transcripts. She didn't have a chance to read them in any depth, but from what she could see, her youngest daughter was just as intelligent and athletic as her twin. She'd had a few detentions over the years, mostly in her freshman year, but she was hardly a troublemaker. Veronica frowned as she noticed Paige had been seeing the school councillor for some time. She made a note to look in to it further. "Mom, isn't that Mr McCullers?" Spencer pointed out as she spotted him sitting down on the home side. The banker hadn't gone in to work that morning, so he wasn't wearing one of his usual suits. Instead, he was wearing an old pair of jeans and a college sweater. There was at least two days worth of stubble on his chin, and he was wearing the haunted look of a man who had lost everything. The other parents around him were clearly discussing what his dead wife had done, and they didn't seem to be trying to hide it as Nick slumped down even lower on the bench. He held his face in his hands as he stared glumly at the floor.
"Mr McCullers?" He looked up to find Veronica Hastings looming over him. The lawyer was dressed immaculately in a power suit, with her hair and make-up flawless. She had been where Nick was now though, and she knew all too well what it felt like to lose a child. "Do you mind if I sit?" She gestured for the empty space beside him. Nick nodded up at her. He tried to sit up a little straighter, but he still looked like a broken man.
"Be my guest." His voice was raw and gravelly, as though he'd been crying. "Paige said it was okay for me to come. I brought her medical records with me. I got them from our doctor this morning. There's not much there, she's always been as healthy as a horse." The single father's voice cracked mid sentence. He'd always thought Paige's good health came from his side of the family.
"Thank you." Veronica took the papers from him, and sat them down on the other side of her. Nick had expected her to stand and leave straight away, but she hung back. "How are you holding up?" Her concern caught him by surprise. He was literally left staring at the other woman as he tried to conceive of a way to put just how he was feeling in to words; he couldn't. All the bereaved father could do was shake his head. Veronica understood his pain. She knew all too well what it was like to lose a child. "I know how hard this must be for you, and for Paige too. Her world must seem like it's falling apart right now. She needs structure and support, and whether I like it or not, that has to include you." That caught Nick's attention.
"I don't expect Paige to cut you out of her life. If she's anything like Spencer, then she'll come and see you no matter what my husband and I have to say about it. Things are up in the air right now, but once the dust settles we can come to some kind of arrangement on visitation. Maybe she could come up here on weekends?"
"I'd like that..." Nick choked out, elated by the woman's offer. His lawyer had already made it clear that he had no legal rights to the girl he considered to be his daughter. Veronica wasn't obliged to allow him any access, so he would be grateful for what he could get. "Thank you so much. I don't know what to say..."
Veronica had thought long and hard before making the offer. She'd spent the weekend mulling it over. She accepted that Nick McCullers was just as much a victim as the Hastings themselves were. He'd raised someone else's child for fifteen years, believing her to be his own. He'd been overseas when his wife had snatched Veronica's youngest child at the mall, the FBI had verified that. They seemed happy that he had been in the dark about what his partner had done, and despite everything he'd learned over the weekend, it was obvious Nick still loved Paige with all his being. It didn't matter that she wasn't his flesh and blood; he still looked at her and saw his daughter. "We'll sit down with Paige and see if we can't come to some arrangement that will make everybody happy."
"Hey, Mr M!" The two adults were interrupted by one of the girls from the Devils' swim team. She threw her arms around Nick in a crushing hug. "Paige is just finishing getting dressed. She'll be out in a minute. Oh, and my Dad said to tell you you're welcome to come over for dinner tomorrow night. Mom's making pot roast."
"Thanks Shana, I'll give your folks a call when I get back." Tuesday night dinners with Shana and her parents were a regular thing for the McCullers. The two families had grown close in the time the girls had been dating, though it would be strange to be over there without Paige. "Hey, Kiddo!" Nick's eyes lit up as he spotted his daughter climbing up the bleachers. She hugged him, much like Shana had, and tried not to look guilty about it while Veronica looked away.
"Nick and I were just discussing the possibility of you maybe visiting him on the weekends. If that's something you'd like?"
"Are you kidding me?" Paige was grinning from ear to ear as she looked to her father for confirmation. He nodded, and Paige felt like all of her Christmases had come at once. Seeing her dad once or twice a week was better than not seeing him at all.
"We'll need to discuss it with Peter, but I'm sure he'll agree with me on this. This situation is bad enough without us making it any harder on you."
"Thanks." Paige wasn't sure what else to say. Her father had always taught her that actions spoke louder than words. She bent over, and gave Veronica the briefest of hugs. She pulled back just as quickly as she'd leant forward, and then made an excuse to take off. "I should go warm up." She tugged on her girlfriend's hand to get her to follow, showing no intentions of introducing her to Veronica.
"Good luck out there." Veronica smiled up at her, even more certain that she'd made the right decision in letting Nick McCullers carry on being part of her daughter's life. She needed to find a way to get Paige to start trusting her, letting her see the man she considered to be her father seemed to be the most obvious way to achieve that. They were still taking baby steps, but Paige was already beginning to open up to her; it was a start.