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"It's nice being back in Seattle," Emma Benson said as her and her boyfriend, Quincy Gibson, sat in a small booth at their favorite local diner. "Even if it's just for a visit." The two had come down from the small apartment they shared in Oregon to spend Christmas and New Years with their families.
"I know," Quincy agreed, taking a bite of the key lime pie in front of him. "It's been what, about a year since we've been here last?"
"Thirteen months, three weeks and five days," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "My dad was nice enough to give me an exact count." She reached over across the table and took a piece of his pie. "Hey, this is good."
"I knew you'd want some, even though you got the apple," Quincy chuckled. "That's why I got two slices. Here, you can have the rest."
"See, this is why I keep you around," Emma smiled, sliding the plate over to herself.
"Just the pie?" Quincy said, raising an eyebrow.
"And…other reasons," she grinned. "Man, Oregon just does not make pie like Seattle does."
"Seriously," Quincy agreed. "Hey…you ever think about moving back here?"
"Eh, sometimes I guess," Emma shrugged. "I mean we all grew up here. And I do miss not being so close to my parents. But I don't think I'd ever want to settle down here again. I mean I love it here and all, but I kind of want to start my life somewhere new where I can just do my own thing."
"I know what you mean," Quincy nodded. "We're fresh out of college, about to start working in the real world…I want to do all that without my parents hovering over me every second. I want to start my own family and do things my own way."
"Good thing we got that apartment in Oregon to go back to then," Emma chuckled.
"Yeah," Quincy laughed. "Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my parents and brothers and all, but I like being out there on my own. Well, not on my own…with you."
Emma blushed and she looked down at the last bit of pie on her plate.
"Yeah, it's nice staying at home, but it's kind of weird not having you next to me when I wake up," she said softly. "I know you're like, two blocks away with your family, but still…"
Quincy reached for her hand under the table and squeezed it. "I hate not waking up next to you too."
….
After the couple left the diner, the two walked over to the small park across the street. Since it was late, the place was empty, and Emma and Quincy had complete privacy as they sat down at their favorite spot underneath a large oak tree.
"You know," Quincy said, putting an arm around Emma as they stared out at the small lake in front of them. "Even if we decided to start our lives somewhere besides Seattle, this place will always be special…It's where we met."
Emma nodded. "Yup…we met each other before we could even talk."
"How many couples can say that?" Quincy chuckled. He leaned down and kissed Emma.
"We spent the first fifteen years of our lives somewhere between friends and rivals, then we got our senses and started dating, and now here we are, twenty-two years old…"
"And somehow we're still tolerating each other," Emma grinned, giving him another kiss. When the pulled apart she rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you."
Quincy ran his fingers through her blonde hair. "I love you too, Em. More than I can even say…I really don't know what I would do if I didn't have you in my life. Whether I was here or I was in Oregon, I-I can't imagine myself feeling a fraction of how I feel now if I didn't have you around."
He stood up and held out a hand to help Emma to her feet.
"I know we're just getting our lives started," he said. "I know we're young and everything, but I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Emma. Even though you drive me crazy, I'd go crazy without you."
And with that he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box as he lowered himself to one knee.
Emma's eyes widened and for once in her life, she was speechless.
"Emma Hope Benson," Quincy said, his hands shaking as he opened the box to reveal a sparkling diamond ring. "Will you make me the happiest man alive? Will you marry me?"
Emma covered her mouth with her hand, still completely shocked. It took her a moment, once she recovered, she quickly nodded her head.
"Yes," she said softly. "Yes! Quincy, I-I'll marry you!"
Quincy beamed as he quickly slid the ring onto Emma's finger, and then got to his feet and wasted no time wrapping his arms around her, picking her up and swinging her around as he kissed her passionately.
"This is the beginning of our lives now," Quincy whispered. "And I know it's gonna be an amazing ride."
….
"Hey," Freddie yawned the next morning, walking into the kitchen to find Sam already awake and making breakfast. "What are you doing up so early?"
"Eh, I figured I'd make a nice breakfast," Sam shrugged. "Since everybody's here."
"How nice is this?" Freddie smiled. "All the kids finally back home…I've missed it."
"Me too," Sam sighed. "It really hit me now that Tyler's just finished his first semester of college…they're all grown up now."
"Sucks, doesn't it?"
"Totally," Sam agreed, opening up a pack of bacon.
"I wish they'd all at least move a little closer to home if they're gonna insist on going out on their own," Freddie said. "I mean Jason and Ashton are down in California, we have Tyler in Arizona now, and Emma's in Oregon! Couldn't somebody stay in Seattle with us?"
"They want to have a chance to spread their wings and everything," Sam told him. "It's our fault, really. We had to go and raise kids who are all independent."
"Yeah…bad move on our part, huh?" Freddie chuckled, giving her a quick kiss. "Anyway, Jason and I are gonna work on this new model train I got the other day. I've just got to find it in the garage."
"Okay," Sam said. "But don't touch my mini trampoline out there!"
As Freddie left the kitchen, Emma walked in, yawning as she took a seat at the table.
"Hey," Sam greeted her. "You out late on your date with Quincy last night? We didn't hear you come home."
"Yeah, we-we wound up staying out for a long time," Emma replied. "I was planning on sleeping in today, but I forgot that Ashton gets up at the crack of dawn to do her make-up and chiz."
"I thought you used to be able to sleep through that," Sam said.
"We haven't shared a room in four years," Emma pointed out. "I lost my gift."
"Well there's coffee if you need it," Sam told her as she began placing bacon into the frying pan. "So what did you and Quincy wind up doing? I know you said you were gonna get dinner."
"Yeah, we ate," Emma said. "And then we hung out for a little bit. And-And then…Quincy proposed."
Sam nearly dropped the frying pan. "Quincy what?"
Emma held out her hand, showing off the sparkling engagement ring, her face breaking out into a grin. "I'm getting married, mom."
"Oh my God!" Sam gasped. "That's-I-I can't believe-Come here!"
She threw her arms around her daughter. "Congratulations, Emma!"
"Thanks," Emma said. "He-He was really sappy about it. You should've heard his little speech."
"I've been married to your dad for almost thirty years," Sam said. "I'm used to sappy."
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Ashton asked, joining her mom and twin in the kitchen. "I've never seen either of you two so excited this early in the morning."
"Yeah, well, it's a special occasion," Emma said.
"What special occasion?" Ashton frowned. "Do I need to go upstairs and change my-Wait…Emma? What-What's that on your finger? That's not-Oh my God! It is!"
She let out a loud scream as she rushed over to her sister.
"Emma!" she exclaimed. "Quincy proposed? You're gonna get married?"
"That's the plan," Emma nodded, hugging her sister back.
"What's with all the noise?" Tyler moaned as him and Jason dragged their feet into the kitchen, both still wearing their pajamas. "It's nine in the morning."
"Yeah, people are trying to sleep here," Jason said.
"You guys like Quincy, right?" Ashton said.
"Sure," Jason shrugged.
"Good," Ashton said. "Because he's gonna be our new brother!"
"Mom and dad are adopting him?" Tyler frowned.
"No, you idiot!" Emma said, rolling her eyes. "Quincy and I are getting married!"
"Holy chiz!" Jason exclaimed. "Congratulations!"
"Whoa! That's insane!" Tyler said.
"Right?" Emma laughed as her bothers both hugged her. "I can't believe it! I'm actually gonna be married! I'm actually gonna-"
"Alright, I found the train set," Freddie said, coming back from the garage. "But I can't get to it because there's sort of a spider's web in the way, so if you could go kill it, Sam, I'd-What?"
Freddie looked around at his entire family standing in the kitchen. "What's going on?"
Sam looked at Emma and gave her a small smile.
"Daddy?" Emma said, stepping towards her father. "Last night…Quincy proposed to me. Him and I…We-We're going to get married."
Freddie looked like a dear in headlights. "M-Married?" he squeaked. "Married?"
"Er, you want to sit down, baby?" Sam frowned.
"No, no," Freddie said weakly, gripping the counter for support. "I'm fine."
"Daddy?" Emma said slowly. "Are-Are you okay?"
"Married?" Freddie said again.
"Um, yeah," Emma said. "I-I'm going to marry Quincy."
Freddie didn't reply.
"You-You're not upset?" Emma asked softly. "Are you?"
"I-No," Freddie said, slowly beginning to steady himself. "No, no Emma, I-I'm not upset. Come here."
He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I'm so happy for you, sweetheart. I know how much you love Quincy. If I'm going to have to give my daughter away to another man, I'm glad it's someone like him."
A relieved expression washed over Emma's face. "Really?"
"Really," Freddie smiled. "I just wasn't ready for such big news so early in the morning."
Emma laughed as she hugged her father again.
"Quincy's a very lucky man," Freddie told her. "I hope he realizes that."
….
Later that evening, the Benson family was getting ready to meet the Gibson's for dinner. They decided to go out to celebrate the news of Emma and Quincy's engagement together.
"Emma?" Sam said, poking her head out the sliding glass window and spotting her daughter sitting alone on the patio. "Emma, we're all getting ready to go."
Emma didn't reply, but continued to stare out at the night.
"Everything okay?" Sam asked, concerned, as she stepped out and sat down next to her daughter.
Emma let out a soft sign. "I'm so glad I'm going to marry Quincy," she said, looking down at her lap. "I love him more than anybody and I know him and I are meant to be together…But…it's just…"
"What is it?"
Emma looked up at Sam. "Is being married really different from just dating someone?"
Sam smiled. "Ohhhh yes."
"Oh," Emma mumbled, looking back down.
Sam put a comforting arm around her. "Hey, that's nothing to be down in the dumps about."
"But you just said everything is different when you get married," Emma said. "I-What if-What if I wind up messing everything up?"
"You're not gonna mess everything up," Sam said earnestly.
"I might," Emma whispered. "I-I'm not always the best at the whole girlfriend thing. What if I'm even worse at being Quincy's wife?"
"Look," Sam said. "It's true what I said. Everything changes when you get married. Suddenly there's no more 'yours' or 'his'. Everything is 'ours'. And you don't get to get your way anymore. You've got to get used to compromising and doing things that he wants to do instead of what you want to do sometimes. And then you have life on top of everything. Bills, mortgages, bank accounts…and when you decide to start a family…things get even crazier."
"Oh my God…" Emma moaned.
"But Emma," Sam continued. "No matter what, life's always gonna have its difficult points. It's not something exclusive to married people. But would you rather have to go through all of that alone? Or would you rather have Quincy so you can support each other?"
"Quincy," Emma replied at once.
"Exactly," Sam smiled. "I know how you feel, Em. Before your dad and I got married, I was feeling just like you are right now. But I loved your dad; and that made all the difference. Do you love Quincy?"
"Of course I do," Emma said. "I-I can't see myself without him."
"Well then," Sam said. "You two are going to be fine."
"You really think so?"
"In all the time your dad and I have been married," Sam said. "I've never once regretted marrying him. I've never once stopped loving him. No matter what life threw at us, we were able to get through it. Together."
