"The One" – Part 68
Summary and additional notes in part 1.
Author's Note: Thanks for the alerts, favorites, and reviews!
In this chapter references to previous fics, "Lion's Den" and "Bury The Castle" are made!
This is not related to my Degrassi timeline fics. (See my Author's profile for details!)
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Degrassi!
-oOo-
Fiona smiled as she approached the entrance of her office. She knew inquiries about her weekend were inevitable but she didn't mind. She was so happy today, nothing could bring down her mood! She took another sip of the coffee in her hand and entered.
"Good morning everyone!" she said brightly as she walked in.
Kai looked up and grinned at her. His desk was closest to the door. "Morning! Someone's in good spirits today," he noted.
"Of course," she replied with a wink.
He raised his eyebrows. "Alright then!" he laughed. He found her lighthearted demeanor to be infectious!
She continued towards her desk. Once there she turned on her computer.
Laura and George exchanged a look, each daring the other to ask the first question. Lynn shook her head at their obviousness.
Hanna walked up to Fiona, cutting them off before they had the chance. "Morning Fiona," she greeted her.
Fiona smiled at her. "Good morning to you, too."
"You look well," Hanna remarked.
Fiona snorted. "Thanks." She opened her email.
Hanna leaned closer to her. "So are you going to put these guys out of their misery, or are you going to wait until lunch?"
Fiona laughed.
"I'll back you up either way," Hanna asserted.
Fiona looked up and caught a few of the usual suspects quickly look away. She smirked. "Now's fine." She figured they might as well get a few questions out of the way so they could all focus on work!
Hanna nodded and returned her voice to regular volume. "So Fiona, how was your weekend?" she asked.
Fiona didn't have to look around to tell everyone was listening in. She decided to have fun with it. "Good," she answered vaguely.
"Just good?" George piped up, unable to keep quiet for any longer. He had a teasing grin.
She shrugged nonchalantly. He and the others watched her curiously. "So good there aren't adequate words in the English language to describe it."
Fiona and Hanna laughed at the chorus of raised eyebrows in the room. Hanna was tempted to tell everyone to get back to work, but she knew that would be cruel!
Laura was impressed. "So I take it he lived up to expectations?"
Fiona was still laughing as she nodded. She wasn't going to go into details, but he certainly did more than that! "He exceeded them."
"I guess that settles the debate of how pre-transition Adam stacks up to current Adam!" Hanna quipped.
Fiona shook her head. "I don't think it's fair to compare the two. We were so young! We're both grown as people and gained so much experience since then," she reasoned. "What I really love about now is he's fully comfortable in his own skin, which makes a huge difference in his life."
Hanna nodded. "Right." She hadn't meant to be flippant about it.
"I figured things went well because you guys updated your FaceRange status," Laura remarked.
Fiona nodded. Last night they finally made their relationship status visible, exactly one month after they got together. Her profile now said 'Fiona Coyne is in a relationship with Adam Torres' and vice-versa.
Kai chuckled. "You know what they say, it's not official until it's FaceRange official!"
They all laughed.
"Have you checked it since then?" Laura asked her excitedly. "There's been a crazy amount of comments on both of your pages!"
Fiona shook her head. Leave it to Laura to already have the rundown on this!
"Well you should. There's been some interesting stuff said," Laura informed her with a grin.
Lynn rolled her eyes. She didn't get the whole FaceRange thing and she found the glee in which her supervisor talked about it grating! However, she was curious about what Laura was referring to. "What are the highlights?" she inquired.
Hanna grinned. "This I want to hear too!" she admitted. Fiona looked at her amused and she shrugged.
George chuckled at their exchange.
"Well, there are a lot of congratulations and a few good-natured jokes here and there," Laura began.
"Boring!" George teased.
"Oh really?" Fiona chided him.
They all laughed.
Laura frowned at George for the interruption. "Anyway, as I was saying… lots of well wishes. Though on your page a few people are mad at someone named Drew for his initial comment."
Fiona audibly groaned. "What did he say now?"
George raised an eyebrow at her reaction. "It sounds like you don't like him very much," he noted. Apparently whoever it was left a bad impression, because his boss generally got along with everyone.
Fiona sighed as she considered her next words. "He's Adam's older brother. The guy has had his share of foot-in-mouth moments over the years," she explained.
"Oh," Hanna stated. She searched her memories and quickly realized the two hadn't always gotten along in the past.
"Well, he had another one last night!" Laura chuckled.
"Lovely," Fiona replied sarcastically.
George smirked. There had to be more behind this story! "What did he do to piss you off?"
"You don't have to get into it," Hanna interjected.
Fiona waved her off. She needed to vent a little. "He and Adam are close… but to be honest he's not one of my favorite people," she confessed. "He was pretty awful to me when Adam and I began dating," she revealed. Thankfully she and Drew had gotten along much better as time went on, but she never fully warmed up to him.
"Really?" Lynn responded, surprised by her words. She knew Fiona was head over heels for Adam, but she had no idea there were issues with his brother! She foresaw trouble in paradise ahead…
George furrowed his brows in confusion. He couldn't picture anyone being rude or jerkish towards Fiona! Perhaps it was shallow, but Fiona was a beautiful woman. Men usually bent over backwards for women like her, whether they were friends, lovers, or just strangers on the street!
"Maybe it was a misunderstanding. If you're dating his brother, I don't see why he would be mean to you on purpose," he offered, trying to make sense of it.
Fiona had a wry smile. "It wasn't a misunderstanding. He didn't want me dating his brother and he let me know that. He let everyone know that."
"Well, that certainly doesn't seem to be the case now," Laura assured her. She didn't realize there was such bad blood there! Now she regretted bringing it up. "He just made a joke that everyone felt was too soon."
"Okay. I'll check the page," Fiona told her.
Laura nodded. "Cool."
George knew it was best to move on, but his curiosity was killing him! He was perplexed as to why Adam's brother was against their relationship at the beginning. "For what it's worth it sounds like he was a jerk. Maybe he had feelings for you and was just immature about it?" he reasoned. Guys were sometimes rude to girls they liked.
Fiona immediately made a face. "Are you trying to make me lose my breakfast?" she fired back.
Everyone laughed.
"I hope not, because Adam made me a spinach and mushroom omelet, and it was really good!" she said in jest.
Hanna grinned at her. "Adam certainly enjoys taking care of his woman, huh?" she observed.
Fiona happily nodded. "Absolutely."
They all laughed again.
She turned back to George. "I won't get into it, but trust me, that wasn't the case!" she assured him. "Drew has always been very protective of Adam. With the issues I went through when I was younger, he didn't think I was right for his brother. He was entitled to his opinion, and obviously Adam and I disagreed. However, I felt he was wrong for the way he went about expressing his views. He was very vindictive and made it plain that he wanted us to break up," she explained.
George shook his head. "That's not cool."
"No, it wasn't," Fiona agreed. She frowned a little as she thought back to that time. "Once he went on a long rant to our friends where amongst other things he called me an 'emotional vampire'. Another time he told Adam that he shouldn't settle for me when I was standing right there! And, of course, how could I forget? He was the reason our parents found out about us! He wrote a note to their mom telling her that we had been together and that I went to rehab!"
Laura shook her head. "Whoa! What a jerk!" It sounded like Fiona had good reason to be cold towards him!
"I stand corrected," George conceded. His theory had been way off base!
"How did Adam react to all of this?" Lynn asked curiously.
Fiona smiled. "He stood up for us. Things became strained between them for awhile, but he was in my corner every step of the way," she affirmed.
Everyone softened upon hearing her words.
"So, you're going to see this guy when you and Adam travel to Toronto, right?" Jessica questioned, joining the conversation.
Fiona nodded. "Yeah... We're staying with him and his wife for a few days."
A bunch of them winced in response to that news.
"From what Adam has told me, he's matured and settled down. I hope that's the case… His wife seems like a sweetheart and his little girl is adorable." Adam had shown her plenty of pictures of Haylie! Plus Abby Torres had befriended her on FaceRange. "I'm looking forward to meeting them both," she added.
"That should be an interesting trip," Lynn wryly noted.
Fiona smiled again and shrugged.
.
tbc
A/N: Gee, Fiona… Tell us how you really feel! Lol. She kind of went on a tangent there... Anyways, the day started out happy. Hopefully it gets back to that! Lol at Fiona and Abby being FR friends though!
Review! You know you want to :D
In the next chapter… We'll find out if whatever Drew wrote warranted Fiona's rant!
Another Note: FYI, references were made to "Lion's Den" – chapters 4 & 5, and "Bury The Castle" – chapter 31!
To the folks I cannot directly PM:
I3FADAM - She certainly was reluctant to, but alas she figured there will be other times! Glad you're happy to see Gregory! Thanks for the review!
Senshi Raidon - Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm glad that you're reading and reacting :) It's been cool to read each one!
It might be awhile before you reach this chapter (I know, this story is crazy long!) but here are my responses regarding specific chapters:
ch 9: Glad that you enjoy her co-workers!
ch 10: Ha! I would say it was more about living it up than easing the pain! He was looking for fun without commitment, although Fiona had a lot do with his avoidance of serious relationships ;-) As for Holly J, she was looking out for a friend but I'm betting Fi's going to be mad when/if she finds what she withheld..
ch 11: Seems like it, but they *were* interrupted. So Adam has a point on it not quite being a threesome..
ch 13: I totally agree! Fadam is forever ;-)
ch 15: Ugh. Yes, FB has made break ups worse!
ch 18: Thank you! It's a recurring plotline btw.. haha!
ch 19: Lol. True, but it's sudden from their perspective. I think Declan's "interrogation" was good and balanced. He was tough but came from a place of love, and they came to an understanding.
ch 20: People love to tease "smart" people about being nerdy, whether they are or not. I get called a nerd because I work in IT, but I don't really care. It's not really an insult. After all, nerds end up with well paying jobs! Lol. Again, thanks for the reviews!