beautiful

chapter 5: homecoming part 1

I vaguely remember the long flight home; I slept most of the way. However, when we arrived back in Baltimore, I seemed to have a lot of unexplained energy. I whipped out my cell phone as soon as I stepped off the plane, dialing Fabian's number.

"Nina?" I heard his groggy voice on the end of the line, "What's up?"

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" I asked nervously. There was a huge time difference between Baltimore and the UK, and it could be really early in the morning over there.

"Um, no," he replied, clearing his throat, "It's only…2:35 am."

"I'm sorry," I apologized again, looking at my watch. It was 9:35 pm here. The time difference must be bigger than I thought.

"Don't apologize," he answered, "I was waiting to hear your voice."

I smiled, and yawned loudly.

"I suppose I'm not the only one who's tired," Fabian laughed quietly.

"That's so weird, though," I commented, "I felt wide awake when we got off the plane." By now, Gran and I had retrieved our luggage and were looking for our car.

"Well, when you get home, please get some rest," Fabian said, and even without seeing him, I could hear the concern in his voice.

"I will," I promised, smiling.

"Fabian," I heard a new voice on the other line, "What are you still doing awake?"

"Sorry, Mum," Fabian said in reply to the voice, "Hey, Nines, I gotta go. Call me in the morning, okay?"

"Okay."

"Bye, Nina. I love you."

"Bye, Fabes…I love you, too." I smiled with satisfaction as I bid Fabian goodbye and hung up the phone.

"So, how long have you two been together?" Gran asked me suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Well," I began, "We've been good friends for the whole term, and he asked me to the end of term prom…"

"It sounds like there's more to the prom story," Gran smirked, silently asking me to continue.

"Amber named us prom king and queen," I smiled, recalling the story, "She made us dance together and we sort of…kissed."

"That wasn't that long ago. You're already telling him you love him?"

"He said it first, two days ago."

"You're not just saying it because he's saying it? And are you sure you two love each other? He might have ulterior motives…"

"Gran!" I exclaimed, "Fabian is not like that! And I know I love him, at least."

"But you're sure he loves you?"

"Fabian never says anything he doesn't mean."

"How do you know you love him?"

"I think the moment I fell in love with Fabian," I answered with no hesitation, "Was after Sarah died. He told me he would never give up on me. That's when I knew."

"As long as you're sure," Gran replied, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder, "I don't want you to get hurt."

Another smile spread across my face, and I drifted off to sleep. It wasn't long before we arrived home, though; I barely remember getting out of the car and walking all the way up the stairs into my bedroom, but I do remember the familiar scent of my pillows as I flopped down onto them and fell fast asleep once more.

I woke up to feel the sun beating down on my back through the window. I must've thrown on a too-small pajama shirt last night before falling asleep. I looked at my clock and saw it was nine in the morning; I slept for almost eleven hours. However, I still felt tired. I wrote it off as grogginess and sat up, stretching. I reached instinctively for my cell phone, and saw I had a missed call from Fabian. I decided to call him back.

"Hello?" I heard his voice. I smiled.

"Hi, Fabes."

"Nina. I see you're finally awake."

"Fabian, it's only nine am."

"Oh, right. It's a few hours past noon here."

"Don't worry about it; it takes some getting used to."

"So how're things back in America?"

"I'm not sure, I've been back long enough to sleep in my own bed again," we both laughed after I said this. Then, I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

"Come in," I angled the phone away from my mouth so I wouldn't shout directly in Fabian's ear. Gran came in quietly, and sat next to me.

"Who's there?" Fabian asked me.

"Gran just came in to say good morning," I replied, turning to Gran. I mouthed Fabian's name so she would know who I was talking to, but she had probably already guessed.

I heard Fabian talking, but couldn't make out what he said, because Gran asked me, "Nina, what are these bruises on your waist?"

I lifted my shirt and looked down at them. Sure enough, purplish spots were beginning to materialize around my midsection.

"Probably from Amber holding onto me so tight yesterday," I said as I examined the spots. They seemed to be right about where Amber had me in her death grip.

"What's going on?" I heard Fabian's voice say through the receiver.

"Amber hugged me so tightly she left bruises on my sides," I replied, chuckling a little. I had wondered when the day would come that she'd injure someone by hugging them.

"I didn't think Amber was strong enough to do something like that," Fabian's voice was full of concern, "But, she's always full of surprises."

I lifted a finger to poke the bruise, but Gran swatted my hand away, shaking her head 'no'.

"Oh, it's time for dinner," Fabian said, and I replied, confused, "Dinner? Isn't it like, the middle of the afternoon there?"

"Sorry, lunch," Fabian corrected in 'American' terms.

"Oh, okay," I giggled.

"Talk to you later, Nina. I love you."

"Bye, Fabian…love you, too."

I clicked my phone shut, turning to Gran.

"Some of your friends are here to see you," she said, smiling, "But you might wanna change first." I looked down to see that I was wearing a shrunken tanktop from the sixth grade, and a pair of ratty sweatpants.

"Nina!" I heard a familiar voice call from downstairs, and I squealed (Amber would have been proud) before calling back, "I'm coming‼"

I jumped up, and dug through my luggage, searching for clothes to wear. When I found a light sundress, I shooed Gran out so I could throw on a bathing suit and the dress. I ran a brush through my hair and bounded down the stairs.

"Nina‼" I threw my arms around the red-headed girl that called my name.

"Courtney!" I exclaimed, hugging her tightly. Courtney was my best friend, before I left for England. I just knew she'd be dying to know everything; she had always shared with me her dream of visiting Europe.

"Nina, I've missed you!" Courtney's face was buried in my shoulder, her voice muffled.

"I miss you, too, Coco," I replied, my head resting on her shoulder blade. I couldn't help but smell her coconut perfume; it was her favourite.

"Sooo…" she began, pulling away to look at me, "Gimme the deets!"

"What deets?" I laughed, looking to Gran for some sort of help. However, Gran just smirked at me.

"You didn't," I shot her a glare, and then turned back to Courtney. She just raised her eyebrows, and said, "Tell me all about Fabian."

A/N: I really didn't want to have the updates be too close to each other this week, but I've been itching to put this up. This chapter is really long, so I split it into two parts. Don't forget to check out the Fabina Fans forum! (Link is on my profile). I don't own HoA.

P.S. - I've noticed in most fanfics, Nina lives either in California or somewhere in the Southwest. I decided to put her in Baltimore :D