~*AN*~
Gosh, don't my two main guys look sexy? Makes you wish they were real huh? *giggles* I'm getting so into this story that it's not even funny. Okay, on with the story!
~*Chapter IV: Finally Home*~
"I'm sorry Andy, it was Keith's idea. He's been wanting to surprise you even since I brought up the subject with him," I laughed, squeezing Andrew tightly, not believing that I was back home with him standing before me again.
"Keith!" called out Andrew as my little boy ran towards him and hopped into his arms. "I missed you kiddo!" he joked, ruffling Keith's hair as he tickled him.
"Me too! I was so happy when Mama told me we were coming to see you," admitted Keith, jumping up and down in Andrew's arms. He looked so happy that it brought a smile to my face. Tears couldn't help but form in my eyes at the sight before me. It was one of those Kodak moments, when you truly wished you had a camera to capture it.
"Hello Andrew," said Jason, extending his arm towards Andrew as they both smiled and acknowledged one another. Andrew set Keith back on the floor and pulled Jason into a light hug. "Nice to see you too," he said, shocked at Andrew's reaction to seeing him. I guess he wasn't expecting Andrew to be so emotional.
"It's good to see you old buddy," replied Andrew, smiling as bright as the sun outside. We all laughed at the display of emotions that were taking place. "Katherine, cancel all my appointments for the rest of the day. I need to spend time with my friends, so you can have the rest of the day off if no one else needs anything," he said in a stern voice to his secretary.
"Yes sir, thank you," she replied quaintly before we all entered his office and started talking about things.
"I still can't believe you didn't tell me," said Andrew, shaking a finger at me. "You promised you'd let me know as soon as you made plans too!" he added, making me feel even guiltier.
"So you're not happy that she surprised you?" asked Keith, a little confused. He thought Andrew would be overwhelmed to see us, but it looked like he was more upset than happy.
"No, I am extremely happy to see you all here. It's just a grown up thing son, you'll understand when you're older. I expected your mother to keep her word with me, even though it wasn't a bad idea, it was still wrong of her," chided Andrew, coming over and poking his finger into my side to tease me. "So where are you staying?" he asked, curious as to what all we had been planning behind his back.
"At the Hilton," chimed in Keith, before anyone could even answer. We all looked at him, wondering why he was so energetic, it was starting to worry me.
"Did you happen to slip into that bar and have some candy while I was in the shower Keith?" I asked, putting on my strict mother routine, to try and scare him.
"Maybe just once? I was really tired and I needed something to keep me awake so I could surprise Andrew with you and Jason!" argued Keith, hoping I wouldn't punish him for wanting to be in on the game. I couldn't blame him, but I wish he had chosen something better to eat instead of sweets, especially since he hasn't eaten anything yet.
"It's okay sweetheart, I'm not upset with you. Just a little disappointed that you had candy, even though you know we're having dinner in a little bit," I told him, caressing his soft cheeks.
"You guys haven't eaten yet?" asked Andrew, taken back that we hadn't fed his little boy. "When did you guys get off the plane? I hope not too long ago, because I'd feel really bad for Keith," he said, going over to his bar and grabbing some cookies out for Keith to snack on while we finished our conversation.
"For your information Mr. Forbes, we were just heading out to dinner, but we wanted to come get you before we did!" I argued, yanking the bag of cookies from my son's hands before he could devour all of its contents. "You can have one," I told him, handing the bag back to Andrew and shaking my head at him. "Cookies? Like that is real healthy," I lectured him.
"Really? Wow, I'm sorry then, lets get a move on then. We have a hungry child here!" laughed Andrew, ushering everyone out of his office towards the garage. We got into our car and Andrew into his BMW Landshark, heading to an old favorite place of mine, The Crystal Delicatessen, it was a place that my family and I had frequented for special occasions.
~Restaurant~
"Welcome, Monsieur Forbes, your usually table sir?" asked the hostess at the front door as we walked in.
"Not tonight, I'd like a table for myself and three other guests," said Andrew as we waited to be seated.
"Right this way please," said the hostess as she escorted us to our tables. When we got there, both Andrew and Jason reached for my seat to pull it out for me. With a quiet laugh, we all sat down and were handed out menus. "Today's specialty will be the dessert by one of our newest chefs, Lita," announced the hostess before walking away as our server walked up to us.
"Hi, my name is Lily, and I'll be your waitress for the evening. What can I start you off with to drink?" asked the bubbly waitress with a big smile on her face. Still shocked by the news that Lita worked here, we all sat silently gawking at one another.
"Miss?" called out the waitress as I snapped out of my state of mind and ordered a glass of white zinfandel to clear my head. Keith wanted a glass of orange juice and the guys Jack Daniels.
"Why didn't you tell me Lita worked here," I whispered, clearly upset. 'What the hell was Lita doing here of all the damn places?' I thought to myself, looking all over the restaurant to make sure I hadn't been spotted yet. After a short moment of silence we all decided to order dinner and forget about the recent event of news to try and enjoy our dinner together. Just as I reached for my glass of wine, I heard her voice.
"Hello! My name is Lita, I'm a new chef here. How is everything? Is it to your liking?" she asked, as a began choking violently on the huge gulp I had just taken. "Are you okay miss?" she asked, bending over to make sure I was all right. Quickly, I hunched over towards Andrew and kicked him real fast, so he could jump in and get Lita away from me.
"Hi Lita! My client is doing fine, she just needs some air that's all," responded Andrew, jumping up from his seat from my kick. 'Oops,' I thought to myself, didn't know I had kicked him that hard. Before Lita could take a look at me, Lita pulled her away form our table and started whispering stuff to her as they walked back towards the ktiched doors. "Sorry, I'm trying to conduct some business over dinner and my clients asked for some privacy," I overheard Andrew lying.
"Oh, well that's fine. Would they like a private room if that's the case?" I heard Lita offer. 'God, just go back into the kitchen already,' I cringed inwardly, hoping she wouldn't come near our table anymore.
"No, that's fine. I think they want to keep a low profile and not get noticed by anyone," Andrew made up an excuse quickly. 'That's my Andrew, always thinking on his feet,' I laughed quietly.
"I guess I'll leave you all alone then," Lita finally said, giving Andrew an odd look. I guess she noticed the beads of sweat pouring down his face while they were talking. If it's one thign Andrew is really bad at, it's lying to someone to their face. Just when I thought we were finally home safe, I see Lita turn to Andrew and ask, "Who exactly are they? Don't look very familiar."
"Oh, well..." answered Andrew, looking at me for some help. I gave a quick nod and turned away, before taking another sip of wine. This was just getting too risky for me. "That's because they're from America, they just flew in to do some business with my company," said Andrew, this time sounding more smoothly than before.
"I see, well good luck then. I guess I'll see you around," replied Lita, waving before heading back into the kitchen.
"Finally!" I cried, letting out a deep breath that I hadn't noticed I was holding. "That was so close! I thought I was going to die!" I said, exasperated at the whole ordeal. Things were just getting a little too out of hand, next thing you know all the girls will walk in or maybe Darien with heck knows who! 'Wait a minute, why do I care what Darien does anymore? He means nothign to me now,' I told myself, slowly starting to doubt my own self.
"Lets just finish dinner and hurry out of here before anythign else happens okay?" suggested Jason, hoping to calm my nerves down. After so many years, I guess Jason had picked up telling how I was feeling by my facial expressions. I was a horrible at pretending to be fine when I needed to keep everyone from not knowing what was goign on through my head. I foudn that if people knew, they tended to worry too much over me, and I didn't want everyoen fussing over me.
"Good idea, then I can take Keith over to see my place and you can stop by your house," said Andrew, already half way through with his entree. That guy eats like a hog I swear, yet he looked skinny like a twig all the time.
"You know, I wish I could eat as much as you do Andy. I hate being a woman sometimes, we have to work out just to keep a nice body, and always watch what we eat," I said, playing with my chicken scampi. I remember back then before I had Keith, I could eat a cow and not gain a pound, but it doesn't work that way anymore. After giving birth to Keith, my metabolism changed, now I have to work hard to keep my stomach flat and abs toned.
"It's okay Sere, you know we don't love you because your body is sexy," replied Jason, smiling when I reached over a lightly punched him in the arm. I was started to wonder what sort of feelings I actually had between the two guys now, it's so complicated between the two relationships.
"I agree, I most certainly don't go for girls who starve themselves to look pretty. I prefer a meaty girl who is confident about eating what she wants and however much," stated Andrew, winking at me. Andrew and I are the only ones who know about my eating habits back then. I never mentioned it to Jason because it wasn't necessary to know anymore, since I ate differently when I was carrying Keith.
"If you don't need anything else, I'd like to thank you all for joining us at The Crystal Delicatessen tonight and hope you come back to see us soon," said the waitress just as we all finished our dinner. As we sat there conversating, she came back with our bill and before the guys could think of reaching for the bill, I did.
"Sorry guys, too fast for you," I teased, looking over the bill qucikly before tossing in a twenty for tip and sixty dollars for dinner. "Okay gentlemen, lets book it," I said, grabbing my handbag as the gusy and I headed out to our cars with Keith in tow.
"So we'll meet you later at Andrew's when youre finished talking to them?" said Jason, putting Keith into Andrew's backseat and buckling him up. Before he could close the door, I ran over and gave Keitha huge kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, wish me luck!" I said, hopping into the s500 and taking off towards some vaguely familiar streets on the other side of Tokyo. After about twenty minutes of cruising the streets, I turned into a dimly lit road and pulled into a dark driveway. 'Okay, so here goes nothing,' I thought to myself, slipping into a light jacket and heading for the front door. Before I could ring the doorbell, the front door swung open to reveal none other than my younger brother Sammy and a young girl in his arms. "Um, hi..." I muttered, suddenly lost for words. "I mean, hello Sammy," I corrected myself, feeling wuite ridiculous. This was my little brother for christ sake! I could even bring myself up to say anythign besides hello to him.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you miss?" asked Sammy, looking at me oddly. 'Have I changed that much over the years?' I asked myself, wondering how different I looked compared to back then.
"Actually, you do Sammy," I answered, smiling as I stepped up and pulled him in for a hug. The girl in his arms glared at me, not happy with the idea that another woman was in his life I suppose. So form the looks of it, she must be his girlfriend. "It's me Sammy," I whispered, tears threatening to spill form my eyes as I pulled away to get a better look at him. "You've grown up so much since the last time I saw you," was all I could say as the tears streamed down my face.
"Serena?!" cried Sammy, a look a sheer shock apparent on hsi face as he stepped away from me, not believing that I was actually home. "Am I dreaming? Is it really you big sis?" he asked, pulling at his hair, looking almost hysterical.
"Sammy, what on earth is all the racket out here? I thought you were going to go out with..." said a woman's voice from the hallway, stopping midway in her sentence as she pulled the door open and saw me. "Oh god," whispered my mother, doing double take, shaking her head as if her eyes were deceiving her.
"Hello mother," I said quietly, tears falling even faster from my eyes than I could wipe off. "I've missed you Mama," I added, running over to embrace the mother that I haven't seen in over five years.
"Oh my god, my little baby girl is back! She's really home, oh thank heaven!" cried my mother, breaking down in tears as she squeezed me tightly in her arms. We both stood there holding one another, swaying back and forth just enjoying the warm moment.
"Illene, what's happeneing out there?" asked a deep voice from the living room. Sammy and mom pulled me inside quickly and slammed the door shut as they shoved me into the living room. "What the..." I heard, what sounded like my dad say. "Who is that?" he asked, looking me up and down.
"Don't you recognize her?" asked my mother, laughing with so much joy as she wiped her tears off her face. I looked over and smiled, running a hand through my hair as I cocked my head to the side and laughed at my dad.
"Hi Daddy," I said in a quiet soft voice. "It's been a while hasn't it?" I asked him, laughing at my own statement.
"Daddy?" said my father, looking at me as if I were crazy. "Why would you call me... Oh my god, Serena is that you?!" called out my dad loudly. I nodded with tears swelling up in my eyes as he stepped over and hugged me so tight I had to take small breaths to keep from collapsing. "Good Lord, where have you been all this time?" he asked, stilling holding me as he placed a kiss on my head, restraining himself from getting emotional.
"I'm so sorry, I never meant to put you through all this. Please forgive me," I apologized, crying even harder as I looked at my family.
After thirty minutes of tears and apologies, we finally all calmed down so I could explain to them why I had left and let them know about Keith. At first they were a little shocked to hear that I had a son, but after some time they got used to the fact and started asking about him, curious as to what he was like. I told my parents that Keith was dying to meet them, and they ordered me to bring him home to meet them as soon as I could. So we all decided that we'd have a family reunion in two nights at our house, so everyone could sit down and talk about the past five years and spend some quality time with one another. So after all of that was taken care of, I headed over to Andrew's apartment suite, which happened to be above his office suite.
~Andrew's Place~
"Wow, nice pad Andy," I commented, exiting the elevator doors that led up to his private suite. I looked over to see all my guys sitting in the living room watching sports, typical guy thing they always did when they were together, it was like a traditional bonding thing for them. Smiling, I jumped on top of everyone and stretched my tired body out.
"Hey to you too!" laughed Andrew, shoving me off of his face.
"Did you get heavier?" cried Keith from underneath my legs. I frowned and slid off of them as they all broke out in laughter.
"That was mean," I replied, pretending to look hurt.
"We're kidding Sere, so how was it?" asked Jason, curious as to why I haven't said anythign sicne I arrived.
"It was..." I started, trying to get them all riled up about what I had to tell them. "Well... they said... TheysaidtheywantedtomeetKeithintwonightsatafamilyreunion," I said as fast as I could, taking a big breath of air afterwards. It had been a long time since I had actually attempted to do one of my long hard ot understand continuous sentences. I lfell over holding my stomach form all the laughter as I saw the look on all their faces.
"Huh?" was all Keith could say, looking at me oddly.
"I think what she meant was, you're going to be attending a family reunion with her in two days Keith," whispered Andrew, shocked that he could still understand me even after all these years of not hearing me talk like that. "Wow, I still have it in me," he laughed.
"Really?" asked Keith, his eyes twinkling with excitement.
"Yeah baby, they're thrilled about meeting you as well!" I answered, sweeping my son up into my arms and swinging him around the room. Everything was still pretty unbelievable to me, it was just so shocking that I had actually return to Japan and saw my parents after running away so many years ago. I felt like a huge part of my odl self had returned as I giggled and messed aroudn with Keith still in my arms. It was such a nice feeling, being free of no worries and experiencing real happiness for once. The only thing left to do was to confront my demons, that is if I could find enough courage to do so.
~*AN*~
Okay, I have to stop here. Happy Thanksgiving all!! I have to get some rest so I can cook Thanksgiving dinner for my family tomorrow. Ja Ne!
Gosh, don't my two main guys look sexy? Makes you wish they were real huh? *giggles* I'm getting so into this story that it's not even funny. Okay, on with the story!
~*Chapter IV: Finally Home*~
"I'm sorry Andy, it was Keith's idea. He's been wanting to surprise you even since I brought up the subject with him," I laughed, squeezing Andrew tightly, not believing that I was back home with him standing before me again.
"Keith!" called out Andrew as my little boy ran towards him and hopped into his arms. "I missed you kiddo!" he joked, ruffling Keith's hair as he tickled him.
"Me too! I was so happy when Mama told me we were coming to see you," admitted Keith, jumping up and down in Andrew's arms. He looked so happy that it brought a smile to my face. Tears couldn't help but form in my eyes at the sight before me. It was one of those Kodak moments, when you truly wished you had a camera to capture it.
"Hello Andrew," said Jason, extending his arm towards Andrew as they both smiled and acknowledged one another. Andrew set Keith back on the floor and pulled Jason into a light hug. "Nice to see you too," he said, shocked at Andrew's reaction to seeing him. I guess he wasn't expecting Andrew to be so emotional.
"It's good to see you old buddy," replied Andrew, smiling as bright as the sun outside. We all laughed at the display of emotions that were taking place. "Katherine, cancel all my appointments for the rest of the day. I need to spend time with my friends, so you can have the rest of the day off if no one else needs anything," he said in a stern voice to his secretary.
"Yes sir, thank you," she replied quaintly before we all entered his office and started talking about things.
"I still can't believe you didn't tell me," said Andrew, shaking a finger at me. "You promised you'd let me know as soon as you made plans too!" he added, making me feel even guiltier.
"So you're not happy that she surprised you?" asked Keith, a little confused. He thought Andrew would be overwhelmed to see us, but it looked like he was more upset than happy.
"No, I am extremely happy to see you all here. It's just a grown up thing son, you'll understand when you're older. I expected your mother to keep her word with me, even though it wasn't a bad idea, it was still wrong of her," chided Andrew, coming over and poking his finger into my side to tease me. "So where are you staying?" he asked, curious as to what all we had been planning behind his back.
"At the Hilton," chimed in Keith, before anyone could even answer. We all looked at him, wondering why he was so energetic, it was starting to worry me.
"Did you happen to slip into that bar and have some candy while I was in the shower Keith?" I asked, putting on my strict mother routine, to try and scare him.
"Maybe just once? I was really tired and I needed something to keep me awake so I could surprise Andrew with you and Jason!" argued Keith, hoping I wouldn't punish him for wanting to be in on the game. I couldn't blame him, but I wish he had chosen something better to eat instead of sweets, especially since he hasn't eaten anything yet.
"It's okay sweetheart, I'm not upset with you. Just a little disappointed that you had candy, even though you know we're having dinner in a little bit," I told him, caressing his soft cheeks.
"You guys haven't eaten yet?" asked Andrew, taken back that we hadn't fed his little boy. "When did you guys get off the plane? I hope not too long ago, because I'd feel really bad for Keith," he said, going over to his bar and grabbing some cookies out for Keith to snack on while we finished our conversation.
"For your information Mr. Forbes, we were just heading out to dinner, but we wanted to come get you before we did!" I argued, yanking the bag of cookies from my son's hands before he could devour all of its contents. "You can have one," I told him, handing the bag back to Andrew and shaking my head at him. "Cookies? Like that is real healthy," I lectured him.
"Really? Wow, I'm sorry then, lets get a move on then. We have a hungry child here!" laughed Andrew, ushering everyone out of his office towards the garage. We got into our car and Andrew into his BMW Landshark, heading to an old favorite place of mine, The Crystal Delicatessen, it was a place that my family and I had frequented for special occasions.
~Restaurant~
"Welcome, Monsieur Forbes, your usually table sir?" asked the hostess at the front door as we walked in.
"Not tonight, I'd like a table for myself and three other guests," said Andrew as we waited to be seated.
"Right this way please," said the hostess as she escorted us to our tables. When we got there, both Andrew and Jason reached for my seat to pull it out for me. With a quiet laugh, we all sat down and were handed out menus. "Today's specialty will be the dessert by one of our newest chefs, Lita," announced the hostess before walking away as our server walked up to us.
"Hi, my name is Lily, and I'll be your waitress for the evening. What can I start you off with to drink?" asked the bubbly waitress with a big smile on her face. Still shocked by the news that Lita worked here, we all sat silently gawking at one another.
"Miss?" called out the waitress as I snapped out of my state of mind and ordered a glass of white zinfandel to clear my head. Keith wanted a glass of orange juice and the guys Jack Daniels.
"Why didn't you tell me Lita worked here," I whispered, clearly upset. 'What the hell was Lita doing here of all the damn places?' I thought to myself, looking all over the restaurant to make sure I hadn't been spotted yet. After a short moment of silence we all decided to order dinner and forget about the recent event of news to try and enjoy our dinner together. Just as I reached for my glass of wine, I heard her voice.
"Hello! My name is Lita, I'm a new chef here. How is everything? Is it to your liking?" she asked, as a began choking violently on the huge gulp I had just taken. "Are you okay miss?" she asked, bending over to make sure I was all right. Quickly, I hunched over towards Andrew and kicked him real fast, so he could jump in and get Lita away from me.
"Hi Lita! My client is doing fine, she just needs some air that's all," responded Andrew, jumping up from his seat from my kick. 'Oops,' I thought to myself, didn't know I had kicked him that hard. Before Lita could take a look at me, Lita pulled her away form our table and started whispering stuff to her as they walked back towards the ktiched doors. "Sorry, I'm trying to conduct some business over dinner and my clients asked for some privacy," I overheard Andrew lying.
"Oh, well that's fine. Would they like a private room if that's the case?" I heard Lita offer. 'God, just go back into the kitchen already,' I cringed inwardly, hoping she wouldn't come near our table anymore.
"No, that's fine. I think they want to keep a low profile and not get noticed by anyone," Andrew made up an excuse quickly. 'That's my Andrew, always thinking on his feet,' I laughed quietly.
"I guess I'll leave you all alone then," Lita finally said, giving Andrew an odd look. I guess she noticed the beads of sweat pouring down his face while they were talking. If it's one thign Andrew is really bad at, it's lying to someone to their face. Just when I thought we were finally home safe, I see Lita turn to Andrew and ask, "Who exactly are they? Don't look very familiar."
"Oh, well..." answered Andrew, looking at me for some help. I gave a quick nod and turned away, before taking another sip of wine. This was just getting too risky for me. "That's because they're from America, they just flew in to do some business with my company," said Andrew, this time sounding more smoothly than before.
"I see, well good luck then. I guess I'll see you around," replied Lita, waving before heading back into the kitchen.
"Finally!" I cried, letting out a deep breath that I hadn't noticed I was holding. "That was so close! I thought I was going to die!" I said, exasperated at the whole ordeal. Things were just getting a little too out of hand, next thing you know all the girls will walk in or maybe Darien with heck knows who! 'Wait a minute, why do I care what Darien does anymore? He means nothign to me now,' I told myself, slowly starting to doubt my own self.
"Lets just finish dinner and hurry out of here before anythign else happens okay?" suggested Jason, hoping to calm my nerves down. After so many years, I guess Jason had picked up telling how I was feeling by my facial expressions. I was a horrible at pretending to be fine when I needed to keep everyone from not knowing what was goign on through my head. I foudn that if people knew, they tended to worry too much over me, and I didn't want everyoen fussing over me.
"Good idea, then I can take Keith over to see my place and you can stop by your house," said Andrew, already half way through with his entree. That guy eats like a hog I swear, yet he looked skinny like a twig all the time.
"You know, I wish I could eat as much as you do Andy. I hate being a woman sometimes, we have to work out just to keep a nice body, and always watch what we eat," I said, playing with my chicken scampi. I remember back then before I had Keith, I could eat a cow and not gain a pound, but it doesn't work that way anymore. After giving birth to Keith, my metabolism changed, now I have to work hard to keep my stomach flat and abs toned.
"It's okay Sere, you know we don't love you because your body is sexy," replied Jason, smiling when I reached over a lightly punched him in the arm. I was started to wonder what sort of feelings I actually had between the two guys now, it's so complicated between the two relationships.
"I agree, I most certainly don't go for girls who starve themselves to look pretty. I prefer a meaty girl who is confident about eating what she wants and however much," stated Andrew, winking at me. Andrew and I are the only ones who know about my eating habits back then. I never mentioned it to Jason because it wasn't necessary to know anymore, since I ate differently when I was carrying Keith.
"If you don't need anything else, I'd like to thank you all for joining us at The Crystal Delicatessen tonight and hope you come back to see us soon," said the waitress just as we all finished our dinner. As we sat there conversating, she came back with our bill and before the guys could think of reaching for the bill, I did.
"Sorry guys, too fast for you," I teased, looking over the bill qucikly before tossing in a twenty for tip and sixty dollars for dinner. "Okay gentlemen, lets book it," I said, grabbing my handbag as the gusy and I headed out to our cars with Keith in tow.
"So we'll meet you later at Andrew's when youre finished talking to them?" said Jason, putting Keith into Andrew's backseat and buckling him up. Before he could close the door, I ran over and gave Keitha huge kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, wish me luck!" I said, hopping into the s500 and taking off towards some vaguely familiar streets on the other side of Tokyo. After about twenty minutes of cruising the streets, I turned into a dimly lit road and pulled into a dark driveway. 'Okay, so here goes nothing,' I thought to myself, slipping into a light jacket and heading for the front door. Before I could ring the doorbell, the front door swung open to reveal none other than my younger brother Sammy and a young girl in his arms. "Um, hi..." I muttered, suddenly lost for words. "I mean, hello Sammy," I corrected myself, feeling wuite ridiculous. This was my little brother for christ sake! I could even bring myself up to say anythign besides hello to him.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you miss?" asked Sammy, looking at me oddly. 'Have I changed that much over the years?' I asked myself, wondering how different I looked compared to back then.
"Actually, you do Sammy," I answered, smiling as I stepped up and pulled him in for a hug. The girl in his arms glared at me, not happy with the idea that another woman was in his life I suppose. So form the looks of it, she must be his girlfriend. "It's me Sammy," I whispered, tears threatening to spill form my eyes as I pulled away to get a better look at him. "You've grown up so much since the last time I saw you," was all I could say as the tears streamed down my face.
"Serena?!" cried Sammy, a look a sheer shock apparent on hsi face as he stepped away from me, not believing that I was actually home. "Am I dreaming? Is it really you big sis?" he asked, pulling at his hair, looking almost hysterical.
"Sammy, what on earth is all the racket out here? I thought you were going to go out with..." said a woman's voice from the hallway, stopping midway in her sentence as she pulled the door open and saw me. "Oh god," whispered my mother, doing double take, shaking her head as if her eyes were deceiving her.
"Hello mother," I said quietly, tears falling even faster from my eyes than I could wipe off. "I've missed you Mama," I added, running over to embrace the mother that I haven't seen in over five years.
"Oh my god, my little baby girl is back! She's really home, oh thank heaven!" cried my mother, breaking down in tears as she squeezed me tightly in her arms. We both stood there holding one another, swaying back and forth just enjoying the warm moment.
"Illene, what's happeneing out there?" asked a deep voice from the living room. Sammy and mom pulled me inside quickly and slammed the door shut as they shoved me into the living room. "What the..." I heard, what sounded like my dad say. "Who is that?" he asked, looking me up and down.
"Don't you recognize her?" asked my mother, laughing with so much joy as she wiped her tears off her face. I looked over and smiled, running a hand through my hair as I cocked my head to the side and laughed at my dad.
"Hi Daddy," I said in a quiet soft voice. "It's been a while hasn't it?" I asked him, laughing at my own statement.
"Daddy?" said my father, looking at me as if I were crazy. "Why would you call me... Oh my god, Serena is that you?!" called out my dad loudly. I nodded with tears swelling up in my eyes as he stepped over and hugged me so tight I had to take small breaths to keep from collapsing. "Good Lord, where have you been all this time?" he asked, stilling holding me as he placed a kiss on my head, restraining himself from getting emotional.
"I'm so sorry, I never meant to put you through all this. Please forgive me," I apologized, crying even harder as I looked at my family.
After thirty minutes of tears and apologies, we finally all calmed down so I could explain to them why I had left and let them know about Keith. At first they were a little shocked to hear that I had a son, but after some time they got used to the fact and started asking about him, curious as to what he was like. I told my parents that Keith was dying to meet them, and they ordered me to bring him home to meet them as soon as I could. So we all decided that we'd have a family reunion in two nights at our house, so everyone could sit down and talk about the past five years and spend some quality time with one another. So after all of that was taken care of, I headed over to Andrew's apartment suite, which happened to be above his office suite.
~Andrew's Place~
"Wow, nice pad Andy," I commented, exiting the elevator doors that led up to his private suite. I looked over to see all my guys sitting in the living room watching sports, typical guy thing they always did when they were together, it was like a traditional bonding thing for them. Smiling, I jumped on top of everyone and stretched my tired body out.
"Hey to you too!" laughed Andrew, shoving me off of his face.
"Did you get heavier?" cried Keith from underneath my legs. I frowned and slid off of them as they all broke out in laughter.
"That was mean," I replied, pretending to look hurt.
"We're kidding Sere, so how was it?" asked Jason, curious as to why I haven't said anythign sicne I arrived.
"It was..." I started, trying to get them all riled up about what I had to tell them. "Well... they said... TheysaidtheywantedtomeetKeithintwonightsatafamilyreunion," I said as fast as I could, taking a big breath of air afterwards. It had been a long time since I had actually attempted to do one of my long hard ot understand continuous sentences. I lfell over holding my stomach form all the laughter as I saw the look on all their faces.
"Huh?" was all Keith could say, looking at me oddly.
"I think what she meant was, you're going to be attending a family reunion with her in two days Keith," whispered Andrew, shocked that he could still understand me even after all these years of not hearing me talk like that. "Wow, I still have it in me," he laughed.
"Really?" asked Keith, his eyes twinkling with excitement.
"Yeah baby, they're thrilled about meeting you as well!" I answered, sweeping my son up into my arms and swinging him around the room. Everything was still pretty unbelievable to me, it was just so shocking that I had actually return to Japan and saw my parents after running away so many years ago. I felt like a huge part of my odl self had returned as I giggled and messed aroudn with Keith still in my arms. It was such a nice feeling, being free of no worries and experiencing real happiness for once. The only thing left to do was to confront my demons, that is if I could find enough courage to do so.
~*AN*~
Okay, I have to stop here. Happy Thanksgiving all!! I have to get some rest so I can cook Thanksgiving dinner for my family tomorrow. Ja Ne!