Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the characters, not the song. Yeah.

Hey guys!

So yes, I have some explaining to do. But I will explain it in the author's notes. I promise.

If you haven't guessed, Chapter 17 is called For the First Time based of a song by the Script.

Hope you enjoy it!

Sitting in Elby's Pub late on a Tuesday night wasn't entirely what he was planning for the night. He had expected to be in his apartment, lounging on the sofa, girlfriend cuddled into his chest, her two kids asleep in the next room. A normal Tuesday night where he knew he would have to be up in the morning to go to work.

That is until he got laid off.

Sure, he was expecting some people to lose their jobs. The business was going downhill quickly and he knew that a lot of people wouldn't be needed anymore. He just didn't think it would be closing for good, meaning that absolutely everyone in the company was getting tossed into the streets.

He didn't entirely know what to do. Instead of going straight home, he found himself sitting in his favorite pub, slamming back Jack Daniels straight from the bottle until he couldn't even move, let alone remember the situation that had just happened. He attempted to keep his balance by leaning his entire body towards the edge of the counter as he lifted his glass to his lips for another taste.

He thought of his girlfriend tucked in their bed, no idea at the impending news. Smiling in her sleep, her long blonde hair spread across the pillow and her naturally tanned face towards the ceiling and she would dream of all the good things in her life after several years of hell

What was he going to tell her?

He slammed the glass on the table before slamming his head against the counter in frustration.

What was he going to do?

She sat up in bed, head against the headboard and tears in her eyes. Her two kids sleeping against her chest, curled closely towards her for safety. They ran into the room after they had heard the screaming next door. She had thrown her cell phone across the room, watching it shatter against the wall before she collapsed into the bed behind her in tears. The three of them had sat there for almost an hour before she noticed that they had fallen asleep next to them.

She sighed before looking at the clock beside her. Close to 1am. He was never this late and she reached into her pocket for her phone before she had realized that she had smashed it against the wall and cursed under her breath before picking up the shattered pieces on the carpeted floor and dumping them into the trash can. She turned her attention back to the bed to see her kids still peacefully asleep, heads now on top of each others instead of resting against their mother. She smiled and turned off the bedroom light and closed the door behind her and walked into their living room where she saw a very drunk man fiddling with the keys outside of their front door. She unlocked it and stared at him as he wobbled back and forth throughout the room before landing on the couch with a soft thud.

"Where have you been?" He murmured something and she sat beside him.

"Baby are you okay?" Still a muffled response before he leaned his head against her shoulder and sighed.

"I got laid off." He grumbled.

She froze as she watched his eyes sink towards the floor in shame.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Factory is closing down for good. They made the announcement today. I've got two weeks left to find another job."

"Two weeks? That's not enough time…"

"I know. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Dean, I just want to help you with the kids. And I just don't know where I'm gonna find another job."

She kissed the top of his forehead and pulled the faded green baseball cap off his head.

"You have been so great to me. To us. The past couple months have been a miracle. Sure it isn't the most glamorous. But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"You promise?" She smiled.

"I promise. We are gonna get through this."

The next morning made it hard for her to get up as she scrambled around the house, attempting to get the kids ready for school. He had left early in the morning, like usual, to go to a job that she knew wouldn't be there in two weeks time. But she was going to make the best of it. She just had too. As she sent the kids out the front door, lunches packed, homework done, she noticed the newspaper sitting on the kitchen counter and noticed the big red circles around the job openings. He must have stayed up all night looking for a new job.

As she scanned the job section of the newspaper, she noticed the job for an open nanny position to a last name that she remembered from her past. Gammelthorpe. Thaddeus Gammelthorpe had been the craziest kid that she had ever met in her life back at P.S. 118 and even growing up. After she had left in the eighth grade, she had no idea what he or any of the rest of her old gang was like now. Well, except for one. She didn't even know what Rhonda, one of her best friends, was even up to. She hadn't told anyone that she was back in Hillwood, mostly because their apartment was on the poorer side of town and she knew not many people she grew up with would be around there now. Staring at that ad in the newspaper, she grabbed the kitchen phone off of its pedestal and dialed the number.

"Hello I'm calling to see if the job for a nanny is still available?"

She smiled.

"I'd love to set up an interview."

She scrambled for a pad of paper and a pen.

"Today at 2 sounds fantastic. The address is 1793 Maple Grove Lane. Yes, I understand. Thank you."

She danced around the apartment in glee. Cause hey, who knows, maybe some luck was finally heading her way.

Slumping onto his stool along the factory line, he knew his last few days were going to be nothing but pain. He had to look for a job and soon. He wanted to make sure his family was happy and safe. After the experiences that they had been through in the past couple months, he knew that he never wanted to have the same things happened to her and her family again…

It was snowing heavily on a bitterly cold December night when he managed to get himself home after a few hours of starting his car in the parking lot. He got into the house and dumped his backpack onto the counter, flipping the television on to attempt to catch the 6 o clock news when he heard a noise outside the front door, little, almost quiet voices. He crossed the room slowly and opened the door to a woman wearing a little amount of clothing for the brutally cold weather and her two children, both hiding behind her legs in fear, one of them trembling from the cold. They walked forward into the porch light when he realized exactly who the woman was.

"Nadine?"

"Hello Sid."

"What are you doing here?"

"I…I don't really wanna talk about it."

"Oh…well…come on in. It's freezing out there. Who are these guys?"

"They're my kids, Sid."

"You have kids? You're younger than I am. And he looks at least 10."

"Leo is 10 and Emma is 6. I had Leo at 15. It…was rough after I left Hillwood. My parents deciding to live in that hippie commune didn't do me much good."

"Nice to meet you guys."

Leo didn't look at him, instead staring around the apartment in wonder while Emma stared up to him and gave a small smile before yawning loudly. He smiled. She looked just like her mom, that blonde hair, those blue eyes, that smile. She was just paler than her mother and with freckles lining her cheeks instead of the dark tan that her brother had.

"They look tired. They can sleep in my room."

"Are you sure?"

"Yea."

He walked the two kids down the hallway as their mother stayed in the other room and opened the door. Leo climbed on the bed and laid across it while his sister curled into him. In an instant, both kids were asleep as he closed the door.

"Are they asleep?" He nodded.

"Thank you for this."

"It's no problem, Dean."

"I really appreciate this, you know." She smiled.

"I know. That's what friends do. Just…" She looked at him with sad eyes.

"What?"

"Why me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Not too sound mean, but why me Nadine? You didn't say goodbye when you left."

"I couldn't." Her head dropped to look at the floor.

"Why?"

"I couldn't say goodbye to someone I…" He looked at her.

"You liked?"

She looked up at him and she smiled bashfully. And then everything had made sense.

"You were in love with me."

"You were one of my best friends, Sid. You were always there when no one else was. You made me feel important and I missed you like crazy when I was gone. I regretted never saying how I felt about you."

"Then what happened?"

"I was upset when I left. It led me down a path that led me to them. Two of the most beautiful children in the world."

"What happened to their father?" She frowned.

"Their father left."

"Why would someone leave you? You're the sweetest person I know." He put an arm around her shoulder.

"I was. Things got dark when I left Hillwood. When he left, I spent sometime with my parents. But they kicked us out after a while. Moved on with their lives after the commune shut down and didn't want anything to do with me once they finally decided to grow up. I came back to the one place that actually made me happy."

"How did you find me?"

"I looked for a while and I saw you at a supermarket down the street from Gerald Field one day and I…well I followed you home. And I knew one day, I'd come back and say the words that I never got too."

She sniffled quickly as he noticed the tears started to flood in her eyes and he leaned towards her and kissed her as she fidgeted quickly in her seat before leaning into the kiss herself.

"You're safe here, Dean. You can stay here with me. The kids too." She sniffled again.

"Thank you Sid. I…"

"I know." He kissed her again.

She blushed as she curled into the side of his chest. They drank wine, told stories from their past and they fell asleep there. It was at that moment where his life truly began.

The bell rang for the end of shift as Sid moved from his post and shuffled behind his fellow workers towards their cars. The usual drive home, occasionally sitting in spots of traffic before he would finally pull in front of the apartment and he would always smile to himself as the lights would be on and he could see the faint shadows inside. But he just couldn't be happy. He had two weeks to make something work for his family and it was starting to get to him. He opened the front door and saw the kids on the couch watching cartoons while Nadine stood in front of the stove, cooking.

"Hi. How was work?"

"It was alright." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Wash up okay? Dinner is almost ready."

Dinner came and went and the kids were asleep as he closed the door from reading them a book to lull them to sleep. He walked down the hallway and saw Nadine with a book in her hands and curled into one of the sides and he slid beside her.

"Hi."

"Hi." She put her book down on the floor in front of her.

"Do you remember the night I showed up at your front door?"

"I was just thinking about that night."

She pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses on the other side of the couch and smiled.

"Where did you get that?"

"I thought we'd celebrate."

"Celebrate what? Soon we're going to be broke."

"We're gonna celebrate us. Cause no matter whether we're broke or rich, we'll always be together."

She wiped her eyes and started to cry.

"You're right. As long as I have you Dean, my life will always be happy."

"I love you, Sid. I always have and always will."

"I love you too Nadine."

She rested her head against his shoulder as they both sipped on their wine and laughed at the past. Just like the night when they were brought back together.

Author's Notes:

So I had said I'd explain what happened. So as I was just coming off of winter break for college and about to type Chapter 17. My computer CRASHES. So I didn't have it up until now, so I'm so sorry! (So much my New Year's resolution right? Ugh.)

But I'm going to try to keep on a schedule now. Every Sunday there will (hopefully) be a new chapter up for Songs of Hillwood. In fact, next week is a special Songs of Hillwood. One story (between Chapter 1 and 17) will be getting a second part! Yay my first story to get a second part! And there will be plenty more chances for one of your favorites to get a second part.

Do you know what next week's will be? Here's your hint for next week's Songs of Hillwood!

You don't know what we can see, why don't cha tell your dreams to me, fantasy will set you free

See you next Sunday!