Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy!


"In some ways, I think I'm glad he didn't propose, but in others...I was expecting it and...I was a little disappointed that he didn't do it," Kim said, taking a bite of her pancakes.

"Well, from the way it sounds, it was a little manufactured," Trini said between bites.

"Did he tell you guys anything?"

"No," Trini and Aisha answered immediately, chewing their food.

"All I heard about last night is that he was taking you out for dinner," said Aisha.

Kim pursed her lips. "I wonder if he was even thinking about asking me to marry him. I wonder if he even wants to marry me."

"Of course he does, Kim," reassured Trini. "Why wouldn't he want to marry you?"

"Maybe it's too soon. I mean, it has just been a year since we've gotten back in touch with each other."

"Yeah, but still," said Aisha. "Haven't everything that we've been through, taught you guys something?" She gestured towards Trini. "I mean, look at Trini and Jason. They finally came to their senses after how long?"

Trini threw a rolled up napkin at Aisha. "Shut up, 'Sha." Kim and Aisha laughed. "But seriously, what is it, though? Are you mad at him...relieved..."

Kim shrugged. "I don't know. I guess more relieved than anything. I'm not mad at him. I'm a little disappointed that it didn't happen, though. I was expecting it and everything. It just seemed like the perfect setting. Candlelight dinner at a nice restaurant. He was dressed nicely. I spent the entire day getting ready for it. I guess I was just setting myself up for disappointment."

Aisha and Trini exchanged a glance over the table. Aisha reached a hand towards Kim and rubbed her arm. "When it happens--yes, I know it's going to happen, and when it happens, it'll be the most perfect thing ever. I'm sure of it."

Trini nodded absentmindedly, as she pulled out her phone and started texting on it.

"I guess. I know it's not his fault...I just can't help, but feel like this." She exhaled loudly and looked down at her food.


Adam grinned at Tommy over the top of his newspaper. "So...tell me about last night."

"Oh, now you're willing to hear it?" Tommy glared at Adam before grinning and sitting down after pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"I've always wanted to hear it. I just wasn't sure how much you wanted to tell me."

"Well, for starters. You were right. And I know that you're happy to hear that, so I'll say it again: you were right."

"It was perfect...but...." Tommy shrugged his shoulders.

Adam laughed a bit. "Oh, Tommy, Tommy. And here I thought you were getting more perceptive in your old age."

Tommy raised his lip in a half-smile. "I guess some things never change, then, huh?"

Adam grinned again and folded his newspaper. "So, what do you have in mind?"

"Well, you're her best friend. Out of all her best friends out here, you're the closest to her. How has she changed since high school?"

"I think that's the wrong question, Tommy. If you really want to know how she's changed since high school, then, quite honestly, you shouldn't be marrying her. But since I know that's not what you really want to know, I'll let it slide." Adam stood up and refilled his coffee mug. He leaned against the counter. "Now, I'm gonna be asking the questions. Just answer, no interruptions, okay?"

"Okay." Tommy answered quickly. He wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but trusted Adam completely.

"Good." Adam smiled, emptying the contents of his mug in the sink and rinsed it quickly. "I'll go take a shower." He rested a hand on Tommy's shoulder before leaving him with very confused thoughts.


"What are we doing today, ladies?" Trini asked her two best friends as they walked out of the restaurant.

"I'm always up for shopping," Aisha answered, elbowing Kim. "How about it?"

Kim grinned. "Is that even a question? Sure! Let's go by my house and drop off the cars. That way we only need to take one car."

"Sure," said Aisha, crossing the street. "I'll see you guys there!"

Kim jumped in her car after waving to Trini, who swiftly pulled out of the parking lot. She turned her car on and backed out of the parking space carefully, following Trini.

After about 20 minutes, three cars pulled into Kim's long driveway. Kim turned her car off as she parked next to Trini and the two of them hopped out of their cars at the same time. Aisha pulled in the driveway and maneuvered her car so that it faced the exit of the driveway. Kim and Trini quickly jumped in, Trini in the front seat and Kim settling into the back.

"Remind me that I need to get new work shoes," Aisha said. "The soles in the ones I'm wearing are about to run through. I could practically feel the ground every time I take a step."

"Yeah, I want new shoes, too," Trini said. "I need new sneakers." She looked at Kim in the mirror.

She shrugged. "You guys know I'm always down for new shoes." The three of them laughed as Aisha drove them down towards the mall.


"You ready?" Adam asked Tommy as he shook out the water from his hair.

"Just about," answered Tommy. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Just be ready for a long drive."

"What about everybody else? Won't they start asking questions?"

Adam shook his head. He held up his phone. "I'll take care of it." He unlocked the screen on his phone and quickly dialed a number, bringing it up to his ear. "Hey Jay, it's me." Tommy could tell that Adam reached Jason's voicemail. "Tommy and I are gonna take a drive. We'll be back sometime tonight. Maybe early tomorrow morning. Let Kim know. Don't worry, nothing's wrong. Call me." He pressed a button on his phone and grinned at Tommy. "There. All taken care of."

Tommy furrowed his brow. "Where are we going?"

"I said you'll see." He threw a light jacket at Tommy. "Just be glad that I'm offering to drive." He opened the door and gestured Tommy out of it.

"Shouldn't you be in the studio today? I thought you were helping Kira," Tommy said, glaring at Adam as he stalked out the door.

"That's why my job is so much fun," replied Adam, locking the door behind him. "I get to work when I want." The two of them headed towards Adam's car. "The problem is that I like to work a little too much. Sometimes I think Amy feels a little abandoned. But she never says anything. It's usually just a feeling that I get. But I don't know. She likes to work a lot, too, you know what I mean?" Adam threw a glance at Tommy as the two of them settled into Adam's car. "What do you think?"

"I think I should call Kim," he answered.

"No, I don't think so," Adam said.

"What? Why?"

"I already called her, too."

Tommy looked surprised. "When? I thought you just called Jason."

Adam shook his head. "When you were in the shower. I told her that you and I were gonna have some male bonding time. Long overdue."

"And she bought it?"

"What's there to buy? It's the truth, right?" Adam grinned and cocked his head a bit. "Technically speaking. Of course, I didn't tell her that it was primarily for her benefit, but that would just ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

Tommy shrugged. "I guess." He looked around as Adam pulled onto the highway. "Where are we headed to, anyway?"

Adam laughed. "I told you. It's a surprise! I'll tell you more when we get a bit closer."

"Great." Tommy rolled his eyes. "So how long is this drive?"

"I am not telling you that."


"Have you heard from Tommy today?" Aisha asked, stepping out of a dressing room and looking at herself in the mirror.

"No," Kim answered from her own room. "He and Adam were taking a drive. 'Male bonding time,' Adam called me." Kim shrugged, walking out of her dressing room. "He told me not to call them."

"So you called him."

"Yeah, of course." Kim laughed. "I got his voicemail."

"Adam must've made him turn his phone off," said Trini. "You know how he gets."

"Yeah really," agreed Kim. "One of the reasons why he's such a great manager."


A few hours later, Adam finally exited the highway. Tommy looked around. "Savannah, Georgia? What's in Savannah?" he asked.

"Ghosts," said Adam, smiling. "Nah...this is actually the first place that I brought Kim to after her accident."

"Really?" Tommy looked around. Adam nodded, driving through the streets. "Why Savannah?"

Adam shrugged. "I always wanted to visit. And it seemed like a good little getaway. Close enough, but once you get out here, it feels like time stops."

"And she liked it?"

"Yeah, she loved it here. Its history, its landscape. The food. It's great here."

"I wonder why we haven't come before."

Adam shrugged again. "It's far enough to forget about." He drove around and found a parking space. "Come on, let's eat first."

"Eat? We just had breakfast."

"That was hours ago. Don't tell me that drive did nothing to work up your appetite."

Tommy shrugged. "Not me, man. But if you're hungry, I don't mind sitting around, while you eat."

"Nah, that's okay. It's no fun if I'm eating by myself. Besides, you've got to try the food here."

Tommy jumped out of the car, carefully stepping onto the sidewalk. He looked around at all of the old buildings. "So, where to, first?"

"Let's walk down here." Adam led the way down the streets as Tommy swiftly followed him. "When Kim finally started to let people in after her accident, I drove her up here to get a change of pace. You know, something different." The two of them continued to walk and headed toward a nearby park. He led Tommy to a bench and sat down. Tommy followed suit. "Kim sat on this bench for a couple of hours before she was ready to say anything of importance."

"Was it just the two of you?" asked Tommy. "Did the others come up, too?"

"No, it was just the two of us. The others were busy."

"How long were you guys here for?"

"A couple of days. We came up on a Friday and left on a Monday." Adam pointed to a fountain a short way from them. "Kim took dozens of pictures of that fountain. She said it reminded her of home for some reason. That this whole little city sort of reminds her of home, even though Angel Grove and Savannah are two completely, completely different cities."

"Yeah," agreed Tommy. "One suffered through monster attacks for the better part of a decade and the other--"

"Is one of the oldest cities ever," finished Adam. "Nah, but I think it reminded her of home because she felt more safe here. She felt a bit more comfortable. She came out of her shell a bit more. When she and I visited here, she was talking to us and we could tell that she was getting better, but you know, there was still something...off...about her. Jason and I decided that she should get out for a bit. Far enough from home, but close enough to come back at a moment's notice. She needed a vacation. Someplace where nobody would keep asking her questions, how's she's doing, did she eat, how's her eye, how's her arm, shoulder, whatever. That's why only the two of us came up. Less was more with her back then."

Tommy nodded and leaned back against the bench. He crossed his legs and stared off at the fountain, questions running through his mind. Adam looked at Tommy.

"Hey, man. What's going on?"

Tommy shrugged. "I keep forgetting that there's this period in her life that I had absolutely no part of. And I feel bad, every time I think about it. I feel bad for falling for that stupid letter. I feel bad for everything that she had to go through...I just--"

Adam cut him off by shaking his head. "Don't think about that. It happened, it's in the past, and there's nothing that you can do to change that. Look at you guys now. Two years ago, hell, a year and a half ago, did you think that you'd be here with me, wondering exactly how to propose to Kim? No. Did you ever think that you'd get back together with Kim?"

Tommy shook his head. "I thought she was out of my life forever."

"And she's not. None of us are." Adam exhaled.

Tommy was quiet for a bit. "What happened after you brought her here? After she spent a few hours on this bench?"

"I made her bring her guitar. After a bit, we moved from this bench to that patch of grass over there." He pointed to the grass near the fountain. "She started writing a lot of her songs here. I think the peace and slow-moving pace of the town helped her."

Tommy stared at the fountain, trying to formulate the thoughts in his head. "What else did you guys do here?"

"We did all the little touristy things. Took tours of Savannah. I couldn't convince her to go on the ghost tour with me, though." Adam laughed a bit. "She started to seem more like the old Kim, the Angel Grove Kim, after she started writing a few songs and playing her guitar for a bit."

"So, this is where it all started? Her whole career?"

Adam stared, thoughtfully. He nodded. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. It was here, where she and I started to talk about her going into a career in music."

"How did she decide to hide herself? Be a different person on the stage?"

"Well that wasn't a difficult decision to make. I mean, she reads the magazines, watches tv. She valued her privacy a bit too much to let her career take over her life."

"So why did she become a singer?"

"Her songs are very personal. I don't think she felt comfortable with someone else singing her life experiences, her words. I always thought she'd probably suited better for producing music, but...at the same time, it's her music."

Tommy nodded. "It just feels so weird sometimes when I think about hearing her music when Kira and Conner and them were in high school. She was so close, but...not."

Adam nodded. He looked at Tommy. "Are you hungry, yet?"

Tommy laughed. "Sure, where are we eating?"

The two of them stood up. Adam led the two of them down the street and turned into familiar corners.

"You sure know your way around here, Adam."

Adam laughed. "Savannah's not that big. It's easy to remember where to go. There's only like..3 big streets here. You'll like it here." Adam pointed to another seemingly insignificant monument. "That's where Kim wrote 'Never Far Behind'."

Tommy nodded, hearing the song run through his mind. "Don't get mad at me for asking, but...how did you come to be Kim's manager?"

"I was wondering if you were ever gonna ask that."

"No, it's just...I know you guys were good friends in Angel Grove, I just...never thought you two would be as close as you are. And I know you two are as close as close can be."

Adam nodded, thinking to himself. "I don't really know. We just sort of fell into playing music together. I persuaded her to pick up her guitar again when I moved down here after leaving the team. She just started out playing one string at a time and then progressed to playing chords again. I started playing the piano alongside her and we just...fell into each other musically. I think we only felt comfortable with each other hearing our music. And then she started getting...uncomfortable with it and started letting the public into her little bubble. And she got that meeting with a music executive who heard her play and she asked me to come along. She said she knew that I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. And I won't."

Before turning out of the park, Tommy turned around and pulled out his phone. Adam stopped walking next to him, watching what he was doing. Tommy carefully raised his phone and took a picture of the fountain. He also took a picture of the pathway towards the bench that he and Adam just vacated and of a nearby statue. "Sorry," he told Adam before putting his phone away. "I just wanted--"

"Don't worry about it." Adam resumed the lead as he and Tommy walked to a local restaurant and waited to be seated. "Kim loved it here," he told Tommy as a hostess showed them to an open table. "The food here is great."

"What do you recommend?"

Adam briefly looked down at his menu before answering. "Uh, everything." The two of them laughed as they placed their orders.

"Everything here seems kind of...I don't know...laid-back. Slow. It's nice, though."

Adam nodded, taking a sip of his water. "Yeah. But that's how Kim is though. She's not showy, she's never wanted the spotlight. She's fine with being in the background, she's fine with being the helper and giving all the credit to someone else."

Tommy nodded. "Yeah, she's always been like that."

"And she hasn't changed in that way. No matter how you do it, she'll like it and I'm sure she'll say yes..."

"But I should ask her in a way that'll make her happy."

"Well, no matter how you do it, she'll be happy. All she wants to do is to be married to you. But...you should ask her in a way that'll make it more memorable for her. Not any of that cheesy 'ring in the dessert' or the cliched 'ask at a fancy restaurant where everyone is watching'. Do it for her. Show her that you planned it out."

"You're not gonna tell me what to do, are you?"

Adam grinned and shook his head. "No. I'm just here to answer questions that don't start with 'what do I do?' or 'how do I ask her?' or 'what should I plan?'"

Tommy laughed a bit. "Yeah, I guess that was a bit predictable, huh?"

Adam raised his eyebrows. He laughed also. "One thing that I do want to tell you though."

"What?"

"You guys aren't in high school. Don't make this proposal be the one that you've always dreamed about in high school. You've both grown into two different people and while you still hold on to your high school ties, you've fallen in love with the people who you are now. Believe me, if you still looked at Kim as if she was the same person in high school..."

"There's no way you would've let me near her?" Tommy smiled wryly.

"No way in hell." Adam shook his head and smiled.

"I do love the person that she's become. She's so strong and brave and..."

"Still in some ways the same person you fell in love with in high school."

Tommy nodded. "And I am glad that we've all gotten close to each other again. I missed you, man."

"Aww, don't go soft on me now!" Adam thumped Tommy's shoulder with his hand. "I missed you, too."

"You know, out of everyone, I always thought that it'd be you that I'd never fall out of touch with."

Adam smiled. "Why?"

Tommy shrugged his shoulders as their food arrived at the table. "You and I were on the team the longest. We left at the same time. I have to admit, I was a little hurt when you moved to Florida without so much as a goodbye."

"I'm sorry." Adam smiled again.

Tommy waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. I survived."

"It was so weird. Trying to get back into...normal life."

"Yeah, it was."

"I'm just grateful that I had Jason and the others to help me out with that. And then of course, with Kim, it's not like anything else could've taken over."

"Yeah...I think that's why I told Hayley about everything when I got into college with her."

Adam laughed. "And now look at us." He pointed to Tommy. "You seem to be going back at every chance."

"Look who's talking!" They laughed again as they started to eat. "Mmm, this is good. No wonder why Kim loved it here."


A few hours later, Adam and Tommy headed down toward the river area and walked down the old-fashioned street. They had finished their lunch soon enough and Adam wanted to show him more of Savannah. He led Tommy to one of the "square" areas next to the water and told him about how Kim would also sit there and compose some of her songs. He showed Tommy the candy shop and bought a few packages of saltwater taffy, pralines, and a few caramel apples.

"For Rocky," he explained, about the caramel apples. "He could finish one in an hour. So I got him three." Adam looked at what he held in his hands and counted out loud. "Jason," he pointed to one of the packages of saltwater taffy, "Trini," he pointed to a box of pralines, "Aisha," he pointed to another box of pralines, "Amy," he pointed to one of the packages of saltwater taffy, "and Kim." He pointed to the last package of saltwater taffy and looked at Tommy. "Apparently, none of us like to share. These are mine." Adam held up another box of pralines and another package of saltwater taffy. "What do you want? On me."

Tommy shook his head, looking around. "Nothing for me, thanks though."

Adam shrugged and pointed towards the ceiling. "That's always fascinated me," he said, referring to a train set that ran through the top of the store. "And that taffy sorter. I mean, how does it know where each one goes?"

Tommy laughed as Adam got ready to pay. "I don't know, man. One of those life's wonders, huh?"

Adam laughed. "I guess so. You ready to go home, now?"

"That depends. You showed me everything?"

"Everything that I can. Now it's all up to you."

Tommy nodded. "Okay, then. I think I got it."

"Except for one thing."

"What's that?"

Adam held out his bag of candy and Tommy held it for him. He pulled out his wallet and pulled an envelope from it. "Here, this should also help give you some idea."

Tommy looked at the envelope curiously as gave the bag of candy back to Adam. He opened the envelope. "Two tickets to Rent? I've never seen that."

"Yeah, but that's Kim's favorite. And I figured the two of you should have a real date without the rest of us hanging around, and most especially without the stigma of figuring out at what time during the night should you pull out the ring and drop to one knee. You could propose there or not, it's up to you. I'm just giving the tickets to you...let's just say a pre-engagement gift. I know Kim'll want to go and she'll really love going with you. Take it. Just use it as a date night, if you want."

"Thanks, Adam."

"No problem. Let's head home. We've got a long drive ahead of us. Do you want to drive some of it?"

"Nu-uh. You dragged me out here. Only you can drag me back."


There's that chapter. Let me know what you think!