Author's Note: So, here's chapter two. Sorry it took so long. I hope you like it.

To Those Who Reviewed:

Guest from July 30th,

Thank you. That is so nice. Thank you for reviewing.

Mika,

Hello. Thank you. I am glad you like it. Thank you for reviewing.

Emma,

Thank you. That is nice of you to write. Thank you for reviewing.

Guest,

Here is the more. I'm glad you like it. Thank you for reviewing.

Chapter Two

Jack couldn't help but smile looking at Emily's text message. It wasn't particularly personal. It was just a confirmation that they would meet and catch up over a meal. Still, it felt good, reading a text he knew she had written.

"Daddy, why are you smiling?"

Jack looked up to see Carl sitting on top of the bar, a faux-innocent look on his face.

"No sitting on the counter, Carl." Jack said, with a chuckle. Carl groaned good-naturedly and got down. Once he was sitting on one of the barstools, Jack said, "Looks like we'll be seeing your new friend Paige tomorrow."

Carl broke out in a smile as well. "When tomorrow? Are we going to the park? Are we going to eat? Are they coming here? Are we going somewhere fancy? Should I dress up? Are we-"

"Slow down, little man. Wow, you're really excited about this, huh?" Carl smiled sheepishly, "Believe it or not, I know exactly how you feel. But if Paige is anything like her mom, all you have to do is be your usual, charming, fun loving self, and that'll be enough for her."

"Is her mommy why you were smiling like that?"

"Like what?"

Carl shrugged, "I don't know, exactly. I've just never seen you smile like that before."

"How old are you again? You know, kiddo, sometimes I think you're too perceptive for your own good."

"What's perceptive mean?"

When Daniel woke up, he was surprised to find Emily next to him. She had always been a morning person, both before and after the amnesia. Maybe it was because she had so much energy. She liked to exercise, rock-climbing, horseback riding, swimming, running, etc. Daniel was the same way. Neither of them liked to sit still for too long. Still, Daniel had always been one to sleep in whenever he got the chance. Emily liked to get up with the sun. Not that she was an 'early to bed, early to rise' kind of girl. She usually stayed up a little later than she should. When she couldn't sleep, she would start vacuuming and reorganizing. Again, this was something from even before the amnesia. Sometimes Daniel wondered if it came from growing up in an abusive environment. He supposed that made sense. If you lived with somebody cruel, you would want to be in a position to defend yourself. You would be most vulnerable when you were asleep. It might make sleeping seem scary. And then, even if you grew out of the fear, functioning on little sleep would probably become habit. He would love to ask her, of course, but since she did not remember her childhood, her answer would be as much guesswork as his.

Gently, Daniel nudged Emily's shoulder. She woke up, smiling at him, "Morning." She said, sleepily.

Daniel chuckled, "Morning. I'm surprised you're not up yet."

"Why, what time it is?"

"Just after nine. Still, you're usually up with the cows."

Emily laughed, "Maybe I grew up on a farm." She speculated, humorously. Daniel never knew what to say when she joked about her amnesia, but he figured it was her coping mechanism, which she clearly needed, "I didn't sleep so well these past couple nights. Guess I was tired."

"Why didn't you sleep well?"

"Just, you know, unfamiliar place, no you-"

"Nightmares?"

Emily nodded, "Pretty much always. But I'm used to it."

"You are so strong, you know that? Seriously, you are probably the strongest person I know." Emily smiled, "And I love that about you. But, you know you don't have to be. At least not with me." Emily nodded, "You can always lean on me."

"When I'm not strong?" Emily asked, chuckling.

Daniel smiled.

"Knock, knock. Everybody decent?" A voice on the other end of the door said.

"Come in Charlotte," Daniel said with a chuckle.

"Just making sure." Charlotte said, pushing the door open, "I mean, I want you guys to be happy, but seeing you be happy just might scar me for life." She made her way over to them, carrying a tray of food, "After your flight, I thought you might like breakfast in bed."

"Charlotte, you shouldn't have."

"I didn't. That is, I didn't make the food, the cook did. I just thought you might want to lay in bed for a little, so I thought I'd bring it up."

"Charlotte, that's so sweet of you, but I actually have plans to meet Jack Porter for brunch. I don't know if I have the appetite for both. Which reminds me, I should wake Paige so she can get ready." Emily threw back the covers and headed for the door. Daniel followed after her.

"Emily." She turned. "Why didn't you tell me you were having brunch with Jack?"

"Didn't I?" Daniel shook his head, "I'm sorry, I thought I told you that last night, after he texted to invite us."

"Us being you and Paige? Without me?"

"Well, I'm sure he would have invited you if-"

"Then I guess it'll be a nice surprise for him, won't it? I'll go get dressed."

Daniel turned back to there room, leaving Emily confused in the hallway. She stood there for a moment, then continued on to the room Paige was sleeping in. She knocked, assuming that her daughter would already be up. Paige took after Emily in that way, always up with the sun.

"Come in."

Emily gently pushed the door open and found Paige on the floor, surrounded by stuffed animals.

"Hi sweetie."

"Excuse me for a second," Paige said, addressing her animals, "I have a prior engagement." Then Paige stood and ran over to greet her mother, "Good morning Mommy."

"Good morning Sweetheart."

"Did you see the sunrise? It was like ice-cream in the sky."

Emily smiled, "What are you doing right now?"

"I'm giving a math lesson."

"Oh, so you're a teacher now?" Emily asked fondly. Paige nodded, giggling, "Well, how long do you think this lesson will take?"

"We have to learn our times tables up to five." She put her hand out, showing her five fingers to demonstrate.

"Well, if you're willing to wrap up a little early, we got invited to brunch with Carl Porter."

Paige's face lit up and she started jumping up and down, "Really?"

"Yes baby."

Paige giggled. "Can you do my hair in that pretty way with the bows?"

"Bows? We do want to make a good impression, don't we?" Paige nodded, "Of course, sweetie. Why don't you get dressed, and then I'll come do your hair, okay?"

Paige nodded and zipped over to her closet to look through her dresses. Emily smiled, watching her daughter pick out an outfit. There was something familiar about it, a little girl, excited, dressing up to see a little boy she barely knew. Maybe Emily had her own crush when she was little. Like with all things she could not really remember, the thought made her sad for a moment, but as she watched her daughter, smiling, asking her stuffed animals their opinion on which dress she should wear, her own smile came back. Watching Paige always made her happy. Who knew it was possible to love someone so much?

That sneaky little bastard. He thought he could just invite Emily out for brunch, and what, Daniel wouldn't find out? Well, he could forget about it. Jack was not getting so much as a moment alone with his wife. Wherever he was, she would be; he would make sure of it. Jack was going to get the message to back off if Daniel had to carve it into every floorboard of The Stowaway.

"Daniel?" Daniel turned to see his sister watching him from the doorway. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine Charlotte."

"Are you sure? Because you don't seem fine, you seem … I don't know, just, not fine."

"Well, I am. We're all going to brunch."

"All? I thought it was just Emily and Paige."

"You don't think Jack will be excited to see you?"

"Well, of course. Jack and I are close, and I love seeing Carl. I just thought he would want some time to catch up with Emily. They haven't seen each other in years, and they used to be really close."

"Yeah. Maybe too close." Daniel mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

Jack had wiped down the counter about twenty times. He couldn't seem to stop. It was mostly nervous energy. He wanted The Stowaway to look perfect when Emily and Paige arrived. She had always liked coming there, though Jack wondered how much of it was about the place, and how much of it was about him. There were so many things he had always wanted to ask her. After he found out the truth about Emily, about who she really was, he had had so many questions. He had just been too angry to ever ask them. Now, he might never get the chance; she couldn't remember the answers. It was one of the great regrets of his life.

Jack didn't like regrets. He didn't like dwelling on the past. You can't change the past. You can only focus on the present, and plan for the future. But seeing Emily brought up so much from his past. She had been a significant person during two periods of his life. She was his childhood, and his adulthood. She had missed the awkward teenage years, but maybe that was for the best. Besides, it wasn't as though he had not thought of her as a teenager.

He still remembered his first school dance. He had been twelve, two young and shy to ask a girl. He had gone with a bunch of his guy friends, and hung out awkwardly by the punchbowl. And then, she had come through the doors. He knew her right away. The music started, and he asked her to dance, and he held her. It had all been in his head of course. He knew that. And he had eventually asked some girl to dance. It was a fast dance, and it had been awkward, but in his head, he was dancing the night away with Amanda Clarke.

Emily wasn't Amanda Clarke anymore. She hadn't been Amanda Clarke for a long time. She couldn't even remember that she had once been Amanda. She could not remember that Emily Thorne was a persona she had created using a name borrowed from a dear friend. She thought this was who she was. And maybe Nolan was right. Maybe she was happy this way. Maybe Jack should just let her be. But he couldn't. He couldn't let go. He couldn't walk away. He was still the boy who had named his boat the Amanda even though he had not seen Amanda for over a decade by the time he bought it. The only person who had ever made him forget Amanda was Emily, which was ironic, but the fact was, he couldn't let her go. Now that she was back, he had to be in her life. He had to help her. He had to get her to remember.

"How do I look?" Jack looked up, glad for the distraction from his thoughts. He saw his son, standing there in a nice, clean ensemble. It wasn't a suit or something fancy like that, which Jack was grateful for. Still, it was clear Carl had put some real time and thought into his outfit.

"You look dressed to impress little man."

Carl smiled, "When do they get here?"

Jack glanced at the clock, "In about twenty minutes."

"But that's forever from now."

Jack suppressed a chuckle. Carl was adorable in his impatience. It reminded Jack of Declan a little. Jack recognized the feeling of course. When he was little, he was always impatient to see Amanda. He kept it inside more though, trying to be polite. Declan had been the restless one, the one who couldn't sit still. In a way, Carl reminded him of both of them right now. Still, he shouldn't encourage that sort of behavior.

"Patience is a virtue. Hey, why don't you hop on up here and help me wipe down the counter, huh?"

"But you've already wiped it."

Jack nodded, "Fair point. Okay, why don't you go get some fish out of the freezer to thaw?"

Carl sighed, "Okay." He said reluctantly and headed off to the freezer.

Emily felt a little nervous. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was seeing an old friend who she couldn't remember. The issue of her memory still made her a little uncomfortable, even after all this time. Or maybe it was the change in Daniel's demeanor. Ever since she had told him about brunch with Jack he had been … different. It was subtle, but it was there. He was tense, agitated, somehow off. He kept smiling over at her, but it looked strange. It wasn't his usual smile. Usually, when he smiled at her, his face lit up. Now, there was something unsure in his smile. He seemed worried about something. She wanted to grab his hand to reassure him, but he was driving. They had considered taking a driver, but Paige wasn't used to that sort of thing, and Emily didn't want to spoil her. This was better, Daniel drove, Emily sat shotgun, and Charlotte and Paige played pattycake in the back.

They reached The Stowaway, the bar that Jack owned, according to Charlotte. Daniel found a parking spot and got out, holding the door for Emily, who followed behind him. Charlotte took Paige's left hand, and Emily took her right. Oh, how she dreaded the day when Paige would be embarrassed to hold her hand when crossing the street. She still had a few years, and she was very grateful for them.

The four of them entered The Stowaway, and Emily took the place in. It was nice. Not fancy or new in the slightest, but it was in decent shape. She didn't expect the roof to cave in on them any time soon. And it was homey. It felt warm, welcoming. It smelled like sushi and Lemon Pledge. The sun from the windows provided the perfect level of ambiance. There were some patrons scattered throughout the place. It wasn't overcrowded, which was nice, and they looked happy. Emily decided she liked it here.

"Jack." Charlotte said next to her, and headed over to the bar. Emily hadn't seen him when they came in; she had been busy taking in her surroundings. There he was though, standing at the counter, smiling a smile that she knew she'd seen before. Charlotte ran up and hugged him in much the same way Emily had seen her hug her brother. Daniel seemed to notice too. Emily felt him stiffen beside her and she grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"How is the Bride-To-Be?" Jack asked when he and Charlotte parted.

"Amazing."

"Glad to hear it. I didn't know you were coming today." Charlotte's face fell a little, and Jack quickly added, "It's a welcome surprised."

Charlotte beamed, "So, where's that nephew of mine?"

"I had to nail his shoes to the floor. Little guy was so anxious to see his new friend again."

Just then, Carl came out bounding down the stairs, "Aunt Charlotte?" He asked, surprised to see her.

"There's my favorite nephew." She said, scooping him up. When she put him back down, he spotted Paige and ran over to her.

"Hi." He said.

"Hello." Paige replied formally, "It's a pleasure to see you again." She curtsied, and Carl looked at Jack confused. Jack just shrugged.

"I'm happy to see you again too, also." He said nervously.

Emily and Charlotte exchanged a glance, knowing that they were both thinking the same thing; this is adorable.

"Well, he's certainly grown." Daniel said kindly.

Jack looked up, seeming to notice that Daniel was there for the first time. "Daniel." Jack greeted. It was kind on the surface, but Emily thought she heard a hint of resentment in his tone. Maybe she had imagined it.

"Jack." Daniel replied, "Sorry to crash your party here."

"Nonsense. The more the merrier." Jack grabbed some menus from behind the counter, and nodded to a member of his waitstaff before leading them to a table. "Order what you like. On the house."

Emily perused the menu. It all looked good. Emily liked seafood. Maybe she had eaten here before.

They all ordered and Jack smiled when Emily told their server what she wanted, "That was always your favorite thing here." He said, "I had a feeling you might ask for it." Their server went around back and came back out with a steaming plate. It seemed Jack had requested that dish be prepared in advance, "The rest will take a minute." The server said apologetically to Charlotte, Daniel, Paige and Carl. Then he went off to place the rest of their orders.

Emily looked down at her food. It looked and smelled delicious, but she felt awkward. Should she wait for everyone else to be served, or should she just start?

"Doesn't Charlotte come here all the time?" Daniel asked, "How come you didn't have her order ready?"

"She doesn't always order the same thing. And I didn't know Emily would order that. I just remembered it was her favorite." Jack said nonchalantly.

"What if I she hadn't ordered it? You would have just wasted the food?"

"No, I would have eaten it. It's one of my favorites too."

"That was very sweet of you Jack." Emily interjected, trying to ease the tension. Jack seemed to relax a little, but Daniel was tense as ever. She placed her hand on his shoulder, pressing it down subtly. Daniel shot her a smile and cleared is throat, "So, Carl, what grade are you in?" He asked kindly. Emily smiled. Maybe he was back to normal.

"I'm going into third." Carl said proudly.

"Third, huh? That's a fun year."

Carl nodded, "We're going to learn about different kinds of rocks." He said, "And third-graders always the swings at recess."

"I love the swings." Paige said, "When I'm way up high, it's like flying. I like to pretend I'm Wendy flying off to Neverland with Peter Pan and my brothers."

"You have brothers?" Carl asked.

"No." Paige said, looking down, "I wish I did. It gets lonely being an only child."

"Well, now you have me." Paige smiled.

"Paige, you're welcome to come and play on our swings with Carl whenever you like." Jack said.

Emily smiled, but Daniel didn't, "That'll be a bit difficult, since after the wedding we're going back to Connecticut."

Paige and Carl looked up, stunned and horrified.

"It's not so far. Only a few hours really." Charlotte said quickly, "I'm sure you can visit all the time. Right Daniel?"

"Um, right. Yeah. We can drive down here sometimes."

"And you guys can come up." Emily added.

"That would be so much fun. I could show you my house and my school and where I go to play." Paige said excited. "You can come during the winter and we can play Ice Kingdom and make snow angels."

The two children started planning their trips back and forth to see each other. Daniel leaned over to Emily and whispered, "Can we talk in private for a minute?"

She nodded and they excused themselves. Once they were out of earshot, Daniel said, "I'm not so sure about this."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to lie to my daughter. We could come up here a few times, but we have a life in Connecticut. They can't see each other all the time. Besides, there's a reason we left the Hamptons, the politics, the insanity. We wanted to get away from all that."

Emily nodded, "That's no reason they can't keep in touch. Jack and Carl can drive up to see Paige."

"Do you think that's likely? The guy made no effort to stay in touch after your accident. Even Nolan sent a card."

"Daniel-"

"I just don't want to get her hopes up."

Emily sighed, "Okay. Well, we don't have to anything right now. We'll be in town a few more weeks, and we can use that time to figure all of this out."

"Okay. Good." Daniel started to head back, but Emily stilled his arm, "What?"

"I'm worried about you. You've been acting strange all day. Is everything all right?"

Daniel sighed, "It's just, Jack and I were never the best of friends. In fact, we didn't like each other much."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you were so excited. I didn't want to ruin that."

"Daniel, we don't keep secrets."

"I know-"

"And if you don't like Jack, why did you insist on coming along?"

"Because I don't trust him."

"Hey you two." Charlotte asked as she approached them, "Is everything okay?" Emily nodded, "Well then, come on. Carl and Paige are playing Ice Kingdom in the freezer. It's beyond adorable."

As Emily followed Charlotte, she kept glancing over at Daniel, wondering what he had meant. What could Jack have done to cause a sweet man like Daniel to be so afraid of him?

Author's Note: So, what did you think? I hope you liked it, and I am anxious to read your thoughts. That sounds weird. I mean your reviews, not mindreading. Mindreading is creepy.

Anyway, I hope you like the story so far. I considered continuing the scene, but I decided to end the chapter here. I am not sure if chapter three will start where this one left off, or if we're done at The Stowaway for now. Any thoughts? I'm open to suggestions.