The Way Back to You

Chapter 6

"Grams is coming tomorrow night for your birthday, by the way."

Adam nearly choked on his eggs as his head shot up to look at his mother. "What?"

"We're going to have dinner tomorrow at Little Miss."

Adam opened his mouth then closed it again, shaking his head. "And it had to be the weekend Fiona's here?"

"We didn't know Fiona was going to be here, Adam. Grams told us she was coming weeks ago and…" Audra was cut short when Adam spoke.

"What do you mean weeks?" he demanded. "Why didn't I know about this?"

"You were so upset when Fiona left…"

Adam shook his head, pushing back from the table as he stood. He looked at Drew, who had kept his head down. "Did you know about this?"

Drew didn't look up. Adam rolled his eyes. "Perfect," he mumbled as he walked out of the kitchen. He went upstairs and into his bedroom.

Fiona's hair was still wet from her shower, she was wearing one of his shirts and a pair of jeans ready for a simple day of lounging around the house with him. "What's wrong?" she asked as soon as she saw his face.

He leaned back against the door, closing his eyes briefly before he looked at her. "Wanna meet my grandma?"

0o-0o-0o-0o

"Ok, let's go," Adam said as he joined his family in the living room.

"Finally." Audra looked at Adam, who was holding onto Fiona's hand. Her engagement ring was in full view. "Adam," his mother said with a sigh.

He automatically shook his head. "We talked about this. Me and Fiona, we're kind of a packaged deal now. You want one of us, you get both of us."

Audra looked at her son for a long moment before sighing again. She turned to her husband and older son. "Let's go."

As the other three Torres' left the house, Fiona turned to her boyfriend and straightened the collar of his shirt. "Are you sure you don't want me to just stay here?"

He blinked. "What? Why?"

"Your grandma just found out about… you a few months ago. Do you really want to pile on with a new fiancée?"

"Yes," he said without giving her question any thought. "I've been living in a shadow my whole life. For the first time in… ever, I'm actually happy. Really happy. I'm done hiding."

She smiled, leaning her forehead against his. "Screw what everyone else thinks, right?"

"Right." He kissed her quickly then took her hand again. "Come on. It's time to meet your future grandmother-in-law."

0o-0o-0o-0o

"Your grandma hates me," Fiona said as she fell onto Adam's bed.

"She does not," he told her as he closed the door and sat next to her.

"Adam, she hardly said two words to me during dinner."

"It was more than she said to me for weeks," he told her, shrugging. "She's just not a big talker sometimes."

"Well, now I know where you get it," she teased, bumping his shoulder gently with hers.

"I wish you didn't need to go back tomorrow," he whispered.

"I know. Me too. But I'll be back in November."

He rolled his eyes. "For four days."

"At least it's something. Christmas will be here before you know it. My classes end on December fifteenth, then I'll be back…"

"For three weeks. Then it's back to school until spring break."

She sighed. "We knew this wasn't going to be easy."

"I know," he whispered, looking down at his lap. "I didn't expect to miss you this much."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," she teased. When he didn't smile, she put an arm around him. "I promise, I'll visit as much as I can. And you can always come to New York."

Adam looked at her sideways, raising his eyebrows. "Fly out Friday night, stay for one day then go back Sunday morning?" He shook his head. "If anything, it's just gonna make me miss you more. If that's even possible."

She sighed. "If we talk to your mom, maybe she'll let you skip a day or two of school."

He laughed. "Have you met my mom?"

"Well, you need to see the place you'll be going in two years, right? You just so happen to have your own personal tour guide to everything FIT."

He smiled. "Right."

"She can't not let you come to see campus."

"And it just so happens that campus also includes you."

"That's really just an added perk."

"Or the main deciding factor," he said with a quick shrug.

She smiled. "Good to know I've made an impact."

"Yeah, just a little bit of one." The sadness in his voice, even when he was teasing, made her frown.

"Well, you know, there's really no reason we need to dwell on this tonight. I mean, we're together and complaining about missing each other when we're sitting right next to each other seems kind of counter-intuitive, right?"

He smiled as he turned his head to look at her. "Yeah, you're right."

"I do have my moments." She kissed him quickly. "I do have another brilliant idea."

He smiled again. "Which is?"

"Make the most of tonight," she told him, leaning in to kiss him again.

To be continued…

AN: official rating for this story is T. I'm thinking it's going to stay that way. I already skimped out on their first night back together, so the love scenes will pretty much be "fade to black".