Two days later Nathan found himself driving Sydney, Susan, and Charlie to a rather interesting Japanese restaurant, a favorite of his mother's. It was a forty-five minute drive, but a pleasant one. Charlie had met Nathan's parents just after Christmas and had seen them a few times since; they loved him, Nathan's father especially. Charlie certainly did have a way about him.

Once they reached the restaurant, nerves began to kick in. Nathan held Sydney's hand as he opened the door for her and gave her a look that was both loving and apologetic. This wasn't exactly how or where he wanted introductions to be made, but his mother loved this place, as did Susan, and he figured it could possibly wind up being a little less painless than a stuffy restaurant somewhere else. Susan and Charlie had gone in ahead of them and her grandfather was now all but swinging her around in his arms.

"You'll be fine, baby," Nathan whispered, squeezing her hand. It was clear that he was just as nervous as she, if not more.

"Oh, honey, look at the way he's holding her hand," Maureen said, tapping her husband's arm. Nathan forced a smile, knowing what his mother was looking at. Once within reach she went to Nathan, her arms outstretched. Sydney felt him reluctantly let go of her. "Nathan," she said sweetly, the way that mothers tend to do. She kissed his cheek and released him. She took a step back and her eyes glanced over him. "Look at you, sweetheart," she said, slight awe in her voice. "You're so…"

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Put together?"

She smiled. "I was going to say tan, but that works as well. Your coloring hasn't been this healthy in years."

"Well, you know…beach and all." While he played it off, Nathan had taken extra care in getting ready tonight. He didn't wear a suit, this was a more casual place, but he was wearing a jacket with the dark jeans and light blue shirt. He was clean-shaven and let the tips of his hair curl as they wished.

"You look well, son," his father said, sounding pleased. He reached out his hand and Nathan took it…he was then immediately pulled into a bear hug. "That's plenty about you for now," he said, letting go of him. "I'm far more interested in this young lady." His eyes went to Sydney.

Nathan tried, and failed, holding back a smile and his eyes lit up. "Uh, Mom, Dad…this is Sydney Turner." He paused for a moment. "My, um…"

"Girlfriend, Dad, geez," Susan said, laughing. "Stop being weird."

"Thanks, honey," Nathan responded flatly. "Sydney, this is my mom, Maureen, and my dad, Henry."

Sydney smiled at the couple. "It's lovely to meet both of you." She extended her hand, but Maureen gently pulled her into a hug.

"So nice to meet you too, sweetheart," Maureen said, letting go of Sydney. She was blushing, a little embarrassed that she had grabbed the younger woman. "We're huggers."

Trying to break all the ice at once, Sydney looked at Nathan's father and opened her arms. "She said 'we're.'"

"That she did," he replied, hugging her as well. He released her and looked at Nathan, then back to her, then back to his son. He smiled and put his hand on her shoulder. "Nope, too good for him," he joked.

Knowing how nervous Nathan was about everything, she made her way back to him and demurely linked her arm with his, kissing his cheek. "Never," she said with a wink.

Henry smiled wider than Nathan could remember. "Let's eat then, hm?" He turned his attentions to Charlie as they were shown to their table. "You trying any new business ventures since the last time I saw you, kiddo?"

"Not at the moment," Charlie said with a laugh. "The summer though, that's another story…"

"I love you," Nathan whispered in Sydney's ear as they trailed behind.

"I know," she said, smiling.

"There's a likelihood of me being very grateful later this evening."

She bit at her lip. "I know that too…and a full body massage better be on the menu." They reached their table and the six of them sat.

"Sushi menu," Henry said, a bit too loudly. "Sorry, been looking forward to this." He looked at Sydney. "We've brought Charlie and Susan here before, have you ever been, Sydney?"

"No, not here, actually…"

"You do like Japanese, I hope, otherwise this…"

"Oh, no, no, I do, very much. Sushi especially."

The waitress took their drink orders, as well as their sushi orders rather quickly, then gave them time to look through the main course menu. By the time everyone made their choices, their sushi arrived. Sydney watched everyone pick up their chopsticks and blushed, hating that she was going to have to ask for a fork…or use her fingers. That was fine when it was just she and Nathan, or even Susan, but now she was around his parents and felt…silly.

"You can get this," Nathan said softly, unwrapping her chopsticks. He gently placed the utensils in her hand, wrapping his own around hers. His parents were talking to Susan and Charlie and not focused on them. It wasn't until Sydney giggled a little too loudly, yet again failing with the wooden torture devices that Maureen looked over at them, but only out of the corner of her eye. Nathan was smiling brightly, one arm low around Sydney's waist, his free hand on hers. The look in his eyes was unmistakable and her heart welled, but she let them have their moment. He kissed her cheek and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out what looked to be an abnormally long clothespin.

Sydney smiled at him. "What's that?"

"Cheater chopsticks," he said with a wink. It was blue plastic, but worked just as chopsticks did and was perfect for the wood challenged.

Sydney took them, picking up a piece of sushi like everyone else. She didn't feel foolish or childish, silly as it was. No, she felt loved. She leaned over, whispering so nobody could see her lips, "I might be grateful later too."

Once the moment had passed, and everyone had made their dinner choices, Maureen couldn't keep her questions at bay any longer. "So, Sydney, you teach English?"

She nodded. "Currently," she answered truthfully.

"Oh, sweetie, Nathan told me you've put your dues in. He also told me how well you've done with the kids and your project for the board."

Sydney looked at Nathan. "You did?"

"Mom and I had a long talk last night. Thought it might help to keep the spotlight off you a little bit."

"Oh, Nathan, I promised to behave, didn't I?" She turned her attentions back to Sydney. "Did he tell you anything about us?"

She smiled. "I know you were a music and drama teacher and," she looked at Henry, "you're a…curator?"

Henry smiled back at her. "That's right. Nathan's a little mix of both of us. Music from his mother and history from me." He tilted his head in thought. "I'm glad you're back to your roots with history teaching, son, but how's your music?" His question sounded much like one Nathan had for Susan months earlier. Both of his parents looked at him expectantly, but he seemed to freeze under their gaze; perhaps afraid to disappoint them.

Noticing this, Sydney jumped in. "He wrote a song for me for Valentine's Day."

"Dad!" Susan said, her entire face lighting up. "You didn't tell me you did that."

"It…it was um…"

"Beautiful," Sydney said, holding his hand beneath the table. "But now he's set the bar pretty high on any future gifts."

Maureen's face now lit up as well. "You composed? Oh, sweetheart, it's been…"

He looked at Susan. "Almost seven years…yeah."

Susan smiled, her eyes bright, but holding the faintest trace of sadness. Nathan used to sing her a lullaby every night when she was little. He told he he'd done so since the night she was born. He started to work on the first one when he and Celia found out they were going to have a girl. After she was born, he would come up with a different tune every few weeks. Each and every night without fail, no matter what sort of day he had and with no regard to his mood, he tucked Susan in and sent her to sleep with his soft voice. He could be angry or upset at any time, but never bedtime. It lasted until she was ten; it was then she informed him that she didn't need him to go to sleep anymore. His heart broke, as any father's would, but he accepted it. Unfortunately by then, happiness outside of his daughter had faded so much, his interest in music faded as well…until very recently.

The chef arrived at their table and Nathan was grateful that the focus was off of him…and that it had fizzled out with a positive note rather than a negative one. He looked at Sydney and she couldn't quite tell if she said something wrong. She panicked for a moment until his smile told her everything was just fine.

As they ate, the conversation revolved greatly around Susan and Charlie and what they were doing to help out with graduation. The junior class always hosted a sort of lock-in after the graduation ceremony at Western Summit. It served to keep the new grads out of trouble that night. Once dinner was finished, it was time for the…interesting part of the evening.

In another part of the building, there was a type of karaoke bar. Nathan's mother adored going there. People sang and danced and there was over the top lighting and decorations no matter the time of year. Susan and Charlie were more than ready to people watch, but Nathan wavered a bit.

"I'm sorry, Syd, I told you this place was a little different and…"

"Tell me your mom's gonna sing something," she giggled. "She was a music teacher, after all."

"Oh, she'll sing…a lot. Then she'll drag Dad up there, then me…maybe you and…" He shook his head. "I wasn't ready for you to be subjected to this…and…" His face reddened. "…I haven't done this fully sober in a long time."

"Come on, honey, we'll get this over with right off the bat!" Maureen took Nathan's arm and dragged him to the front of the room. She had already picked something out and Nathan's eyes were silently screaming for help.

Sydney only heard a few bars of the intro to a song she knew, but couldn't place right away, before she felt a hand on her arm. She looked over and saw Henry beside her. "Can we step outside for a minute, Sydney?"

She didn't want to miss whatever was going to happen in the front of the room, but couldn't say no to the tone in his voice. "Of course." Once outside, the man's eyes changed. They weren't bright as they were when they first saw her, but they were far from cold. "Is…everything all right?"

"Susan told Maureen that you've kept him from…slipping on a few occasions. Is that true?"

Sydney took a shaky breath and nodded. She was thankful Susan didn't know how she had done that. "I, uh…I helped him through some things, yes."

"You aren't just dating, are you? The way you two look at one another…"

She couldn't believe the man in front of her was beginning to choke up. "I love your son very much," she said softly.

Henry smiled, his eyes shining. "I know he's a grown man and I know that parts of his past were from his own choosing, but you can't possibly understand how much hearing you say that means to me. He's a good bo…man," he said, shaking his head at the way he still saw his son. "You wouldn't believe what his ex put him through…"

"Actually," she couldn't help herself, "while we were away, he…" She took a deep breath. "He told me everything."

"Everything?"

"Every last terrible bit." She had a feeling Nathan probably left out the part about wanting to kill himself when he told his father about Celia.

"I never thought he'd ever trust someone enough…" He wiped at his eyes, smiling. "Let's go back inside, hm?"

Sydney only made it back in time to hear Nathan and Maureen hold one final note, but she did figure out the song and she laughed. Nathan all but ran off the stage, his face blushing. He put his forehead against Sydney's and ran his hands along her arms.

"Please tell me that didn't change your opinion of me," he said softly.

"Well, anything you can do," she laughed, playing on the song. She grazed his lips with her own, then added. "Only heard the very last note. Your dad pulled me outside for a little chat."

His forehead still pressed to hers, he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Syd, I…"

"Baby, why are you sorry? It wasn't anything bad." She ran her fingers through his hair, only faintly hearing Susan and Charlie having Maureen join them in an interesting version of "Rapper's Delight." "He loves you and I'm pretty sure he's happy with…"

"With what?" he asked, now smiling, his hand off her arm and on her cheek.

"I dunno," she chuckled, "I think it had something to do with this chick you started sleeping with a few months ago…"

"Oh, right. Her."