Author's Note: Late, yes, but it's the best that both Sammy's and my schedules would allow us to finally complete the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Previously in "If the Fates Allowed", Charlotte Hale and her mother Miranda Lockwood-Hale move back to Beacon Hills after spending most of Charlotte's life in Mystic Falls. Jenna, Miranda's former sister in law, encounters her ex-husband Mason when he crashes through the window of the Gilbert family cabin.

Chapter Two

Meanwhile…
Charlotte looked out the car window as thousands and thousands of trees passed her sight. She wondered what it would be like, to see where her father grew up, where her parents met. Would it feel different now that she'd read that letter? Would she be different now that she knew how much her parents loved each other? How much her father loved her mother? She couldn't help but wonder if her mother felt the same way. If her mother loved her father as much as he loved her.

Charlotte's mom never really mentioned her father. She didn't even say his name. In fact, Charlotte was sure she'd only heard her mother say her father's name a handful of times in the past. Did that mean she didn't feel that love for him anymore? Or maybe she did feel that love, and it was too hard to think about. Charlotte hoped it was the latter. She really was keen on getting them back together if she could. Her father had to still be in Beacon Hills. He just had to be. She felt it.

Charlotte looked over at her mother as more trees passed in the distance. They were getting closer, she could tell. Not just because her mother's knuckles were white from how tightly she was holding the steering wheel, but Charlotte also felt it. Deep in her gut. Like she was returning home, which completely shook her because her home was back in Mystic Falls. She'd already pledged to herself that no other place would feel like home after Mystic Falls, but now, and not just because of this feeling, she felt like she'd lied to herself. That she could be one of those few people that truly felt like she had two homes.

Charlotte glanced down at her phone as it beeped a text alert. She smiled down at her fingers, which moved over the buttons to show a text message from her friend Meghan:

Ugh! Y R U GONE?! I miss U already!

Charlotte smiled as her heart tugged back to its original pledge, but there was far too much on the edge of possibilities in Beacon Hills. She couldn't let her stubborn side, or her mother's, ruin her plans for this new town. New town, new stories, new adventures waiting to be had. Charlotte suddenly felt excited about her new beginning as the "Welcome to Beacon Hills" sign passed by her window. "What are you thinking about, sweetie?" Miranda asked from her seat, her tone soft as she spoke.

"Oh, it's nothing, Mom. Meghan sent me a text," Charlotte replied. Her dark hair, tucked back into a ponytail, glimmered in the sunlight that was beginning to start around them with the sun rising over the horizon.

"Oh yeah, and what did Meghan have to say?" Miranda asked, turning the wheel of the car down a street that would bring them to the high school where both of them would begin their new lives permanently.

Miranda had graduated from college in Richmond, Virginia, but after encountering Peter Hale in a chance meeting while on a Spring Break trip with Jules and Amanda, to San Francisco, California. He'd been there, and had carefully lured Miranda away from the other girls.

20 Years Earlier

San Francisco Wharf…

Miranda had never seen anything this vibrant in all of her life. She was absolutely sure of it. The brightly colored boats in the harbor, the masses of people whirling around her as the stars glittered against the waves of the water. She was enraptured in the beautiful sights San Francisco boasted, just for her. Front row and in the center of the well honed chaos.

She smiled as Jules and Amanda flouted around in their heels to the rhythm coming from the street musician, urging Miranda to join them. The task wasn't a difficult one to comply with. Miranda started moving her hips to the man's joyous beat as the three girls laughed and pulled out some of their finest moves. Jules nearly fell over in laughter as Miranda started to air guitar backwards and ran right into a poor unsuspecting man. "I'm so sorry," she called back and was taken back herself as a piercing set of blue eyes met hers. Her intake of air was harsh as her chest suddenly felt like hummingbirds fighting for release. "I didn't see you there," she added with a small, apologetic smile as her brows lift almost expectantly.

This man shouldn't say a word to her. He should just turn around and go back to his business. But for some reason, he didn't. Those blue eyes held Miranda's and had her completely lost in them within seconds. "No, I must apologize, you were totally rocking that solo …it was rude of me to interrupt," he added with a smirk and Miranda felt her cheeks flush a bright shade of crimson. He hand moved from his side, holding it out for her to take as he crooned, "I'm Peter Hale, deliriously embarrassed to have interrupted…" Peter was devilishly handsome when he smiled, and Miranda had been totally mesmerized.

"She's Miranda," Jules called out from behind her bringing Miranda back to reality where Peter wasn't ripping her clothes off and that mouth of his wasn't against every inch of her. She cleared her throat and shook herself from her day dream and took his hand. Her hand instantly set ablaze and shocks of electric swept up every vein in her arm, sizzling and scorching its way to zap her heart into a beating frenzy. She wondered if he'd felt that same sizzle as their eyes met once again.

"Yeah, I'm…Miranda. Sorry," she said and felt like a complete idiot after saying so. She pressed her lips in a tight line as her brow arched. "Sorry, I don't mean to keep apologizing," she said as she covered her face casually trying to hide the blush still lingering on her cheeks. She pulled her hand from his as his thumb ran over the back of her hand. She moved her newly free hand through her hand and kept it busy by knotting her fingers along the hem of her short blue dress.

"It's quite alright, Miranda, that's a lovely name," he said and Miranda just stared back at him and nodded. Peter smiled and looked down at his feet before glancing back at her through his lashes pushing his long hair from his forehead. "Could I interest you in a drink? I mean, if I can steal you away from your air band?" he asked with a mock seriousness that made her giggle. "I'd hate to be the Yoko to you girls' Beatles. Could you imagine the backlash I'd get?" he joked.

Miranda nodded slowly noticing that Jules and Amanda had already started giving the thumbs up, along with some other obscene gestures, before she turned around. God. She thought with mortification as she gave them wide eyes. "Seems that I'm yours for the night," she said, turning back to him and smiling much more innocently than she should be. From the look on Peter's face he'd seen every single vulgar hand movement.

Holding out one hand for her, Peter gave her a gentle smile. Miranda slipped her hand into his and they left her friends behind, and eventually the wharf, heading toward a bar & grill he loved to frequent when he didn't want to deal with the drama his nephew tried to pull him into. "So, Miranda, where are you from?" he asked as he guided her to a table on the patio after nodding to the bartender.

"Middle of nowhere, Virginia," she replied with a slight smirk, reaching up to push her dark, wavy hair out of her face, hazel-green eyes meeting his and locking gazes tightly.

"Middle of nowhere, huh? Where's that close to?" he asked with a teasing smirk back.

"Richmond, about two hours' travel time," Miranda said as she eased down into the chair he held out for her.

"Two hours? And that's close? Wow, it really is in the middle of nowhere then, huh?" He said as he took the seat across from her and smiled a toothy grin.

Miranda laughed and shrugged her one shoulder as she spoke. "I did say 'Middle of Nowhere, Virginia'." He smiled over at her before his eyes sort of looked over her face; her eyes went down to the way her hands knotted in her lap. She couldn't seem to stay still when he looked at her like that.

"So then, Miranda, what brings you out to California?" He commented as he leaned against the table, his arms crossed on them white tablecloth, making his arms look massive under his shirt. "Unless you said already, and I totally missed it because of how breathtaking you are." He added with that grin of his that made her stomach break out into butterflies. Miranda tried to not stare but he made it ridiculously hard. That smile mixed with his muscles and how he flexed them a few times. Miranda had landed in the deep end of the swimming pool with no way of knowing how to swim.

"I hadn't said, actually. I'm here on spring break." She smiled before pressing her lips into a tight line as the waitress came and handed them their menus. They just sort of stole glances at each other as the waitress talked about what the specials were before disappearing back into the kitchen. "What about you, Peter, where are you from, and why do you find yourself in San Francisco?" she asked as she leaned her elbow on the table and started to scan through the menu, ignoring the heat in her cheeks as she felt his eyes on her.

"I'm from 'Middle of Nowhere, California', otherwise known as Beacon Hills," Peter replied, reaching over and grasping one set of slender fingers, knotting his own through them.

"Oh, so another one of me but from the opposite coast?" she asked, an easy smirk crossing onto her face as she tried not to feel the heat in which his tender touch had her aching core throbbing out of control.

Peter's smile gave so much of himself away. The way it curved in a cocky grin made Miranda certain that he had every right to be smug about himself. He just saturated everything around her with this unknown feeling. It sizzled and seared into her, burning her down to her core and made her shiver as he stroked the heat with his gasoline stare. "I guess you could say that." She smirked as her brow arched over her menu.

He had this feral look in his eyes like he was trying to decide between leaning in and kissing her or leaning over this table and devouring her right there. Both options made her head spin wildly and her chest tighten anxiously.

He smiled and raised his brow right back, his charm on full swagger right now. They didn't need anymore words right now. Sure, they had menus to look at, but for some reason the silence with Miranda felt full, almost like her body language spoke for her. He could hear her heart pounding in his ears, and he couldn't control himself but to glance up at her lazily glancing at her menu. She was breath taking; no, she was beyond what beauty could ever hold within its definition. She was a goddess, an angel.

Peter had never felt this much attraction and heat with anyone he'd ever been attracted too. It was like his gravity had shifted and made him feel lighter than he ever had in his whole mess up life. She bit her lip and he felt it slam into his heart like the full moon's pull on his transformation. Those white teeth pulling at that succulent pink flesh; it did things to him. Things he didn't know were possible. He looked down at his menu, not sure why, but looking at her when she did that felt like voyeurism, or maybe it was just the thoughts that followed that simple gesture.

He felt an anxiousness take over his entire being, wanting her in ways he never imagined before. He wanted to feel her hands on his body, those pink lips against his. He bet she tasted like vanilla, because she sure as hell smelled as sweet. He looked up again, this time their eyes meeting making his pupils dilate. Were there others in this restaurant? Were they still sitting at a table in the middle of San Francisco? Because right now he felt like he was naked in front of her. That she was seeing every part of him, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Could she see how she was getting to him?

Their waitress came over and Miranda barely heard the order she gave to the young woman as her gaze remained locked on the one that belonged to Peter. It was as if he was reeling her in, inch by inch. When she made the sudden motion of easing her hand from his, the brunette was surprised when he wouldn't let go. He's got a good, firm grip.

Author's Note 2: So there you have it, the first meeting between Peter and Miranda. Let me know what you thought of it, because Sammy and I will be back soon with the next chapter soon!