A/N: I haven't written anything for Mack and Scott in too long and this is what came to mind. Lots of ups and downs for Mascott, but this one is pretty good. Well, there are ups and downs, but this is part one of likely just two chapters... however, knowing me it will probably be more. Enjoy!

Ages:

Beth — 84
Jim — 68
Delia — 68
Melinda — 64
Ned — 42
Katie — 39 (5-6 months pregnant with David)
Scott — 33
Mackenzie — 28
Lana — 20
Emma — 17
Asher — 14
Willow — 8
Freya — 5
Emily — 2

I only added the core character's ages in this chapter and a chosen few of those who were actually mentioned because at this point there are so many people and kids lol xx Mariah

When Mackenzie thought about her future life, she thought about a house on a quiet, tree-lined street, sprawling oak trees in the backyard providing shade and privacy.

She thought of her and the husband of her dreams curling up in front of the television, binge-watching the latest shows and laughing until their stomachs hurt. She thought of her children making memories on the scuffed hardwood floors, the tiny patter of footsteps turning into stomping and slamming of old doors.

She thought of these little humans, once just big enough to peer over the kitchen counter or clamber up onto a stool to help bake cupcakes, and then towering over her, reaching containers she stored out of reach. She had always pictured something like what her parents had. Or maybe even like her sister Katie's marriage to Ned.

Mackenzie had never thought about what Preston could do to her and everything that would follow… but she loved her daughter and had finally found happiness with Scott.

Her therapist, Dr. Wallman, suggested foster care with an encouraging smile crossing her face a year before. "I know you and your boyfriend are familiar with the system through work, and while I am sure that you both want to have biological children together, the foster system would allow you to become parents to children who really need a home."

She had initially wanted to stick firmly to at least try for a few months to get pregnant. She wasn't worried about having trouble, at least not then, but now a year had passed and they hadn't gotten pregnant. Her period had never even been slightly late to the point where it pissed her off.

That was when she mentioned the idea to him one evening as they made dinner, and she watched his eyes light up in anticipation. "Mack, you know how much the foster system and adoption mean to me. I would've just ended up on the streets if it weren't for the system. It has its flaws, but it needs good people with good homes more than anything for these kids." he began, setting the table as she took the meatloaf out of the oven. "It's not what we thought about when we decided to start a family, but maybe it would be good for us. We have a safe and loving home, and it's always been in my plans to at least foster a child or two. It's important to me, babe."

Turning the oven off, Mackenzie turned to grab the serving fork and a knife from the drawer. "I know that and I know you work within the foster system almost daily, but do you really think we could be foster parents? Think realistically," she said, cutting portions for herself, Scott and Freya and plating them. "It was always a dream of yours, sure, and we talked about it becoming reality down the road, but that was when Freya was little and we were blinded by the future. Now that we're here, at the moment we think it's time to start seriously trying for a family, do you think we're cut out for that? Do you think Freya is old enough to handle it? She already gets confused enough by Preston's side of the family… I just don't know."

"Do you know the kind of parents I see that are foster parents? There are good and bad ones, and even worse ones," he said, coming back into the kitchen and standing beside her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead as he grabbed a beer from the fridge. "We would be great foster parents, Mack, and we would be more than capable of being foster parents to someone who needs a stable and loving home more than anything else. I think Freya is old enough to have that conversation with her, but I don't think you are ready to have it with her."

She started to plate the sides while she thought about it and noticed that he backed off. Scott always did. She was grateful, but sometimes she wished her boyfriend would push a little harder on the things he wanted.

Before he could sneak upstairs to get Freya, she called out, "I know what the system means to you and I think you're right. We have a good home and I'm hiding behind the idea of Freya not being ready, but I have one question for you and I want you to answer me honestly. I won't judge. Is this because you don't want to have a kid with me?"

Scott's face softened and he came back to her, pulling her away from what she was doing to embrace her. "No. Never. I love you, and I want to have a boatload of kids with you, but that's not the only way to add to our family. If you don't want to do it, then we won't," he said, trying to reassure her. "But we could handle it all. I don't have any doubts about that. And maybe fostering would be a good way to get our mind off of the stress of trying to get pregnant."

She squeezed him and rested her head on his chest. That was everything that she'd needed to hear from him. "I need time, babe," she said after a minute. "I get that you're so ready to do this, and I get that we have different opinions because you were in the system, but I've never had experience with that. I can't commit to becoming foster parents at the drop of a hat. We would still need to talk to Freya about it too."

Right on cue, the five-year-old came downstairs. "Talk to me about what?" Freya asked, coming into the kitchen.

They shared a look and she knew it was probably better to open the conversation up now. Scott took the lead when she gave him a slight head nod. "Mom and I were talking about maybe bringing someone to live here for a little bit."

"Who? Is it grandma?" Freya asked, giggling.

Her boyfriend chuckled and then kneeled to get on their daughter's level, and she followed suit. "No, not grandma," he explained. "What about someone your age or even older?"

"Like a brother or sister? Are you having a baby like Auntie Katie, mommy?" Freya was getting excited already and she could see it in her eyes and the way her little body was starting to bounce slightly.

"No. I'm not having a baby, Frey," she told her straight off, not wanting to get her hopes up even further. She used her worst carefully, knowing that foster care would sound even more advanced to a five-year-old than it would to her, and she was having trouble with it at her age. "But daddy and I were thinking about helping a friend have a safe place to live. Some parents aren't ready or prepared to take care of their kids like mommy and daddy take care of you, and since we know how to do these things we can help."

Freya pouted slightly before she asked her questions. "Oh, that's sad. Are we going to help?"

"Would you want to do something like that?" Scott asked. "It would kind of be like when your cousins come over, but a little different and for longer. Just until their parents are ready to take care of them again."

"So it won't be forever?" Freya asked.

This was going better than she thought it would. "If their parents get the help that they need then no, not forever sweetheart." She explained the best she could. "But sometimes it doesn't work out that way and they could become like your brother or sister."

"So sometimes they stay and sometimes they don't?" Freya asked, tapping her finger on her chin to show she was thinking and causing her and Scott to laugh.

"Right," he answered.

"When can we start?" Freya asked excitedly.

Scott gave her a look and she wanted to roll her eyes. "Mommy and I are still thinking about it," he said, still holding her gaze for another moment before he scooped up Freya into his arm. "We just wanted to know what you thought before we made our final decision."

"I want to help! And even if they don't stay forever they can still be my brother or sister if they want." Freya said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You're a sweet girl, Frey, but let's eat now. Before dinner gets cold and all your mom's hard work is wasted." He said and brought her into the dining room, giving her a wink on his way out of the room.

He was right.

Mackenzie took another three weeks to think about it. She went back and forth in her mind daily, looking through message boards and books and all the information she could find late at night, long after Scott fell asleep beside her. She met her older sister for advice, the two talking one rainy Saturday afternoon in Village Java.

"I don't think it's that you don't want to be a foster mom," Katie replied easily, reaching for a sugar packet from the container for her tea. "I think it's that you're worried Scott will only want to be a foster parent or adopt, and he won't want to keep trying to have a baby."

Faced with the truth, she stirred her spoon in her coffee. "He has such a connection to fostering and adoption, and I get it. I just… I feel like I got lucky that he wanted to stick around after how badly Preston messed me up. I want to give him a baby of our own," Mackenzie paused, sighing, "and after talking to Freya... she wants to be a big sister, but maybe you're right. Maybe we'll foster and he will decide that that's all he wants to do. How am I supposed to just be okay with that?"

Katie took a sip of her tea, smiling. "Why do you think you owe Scott a baby for wanting to be a part of Freya's life? He chose to be with you and be there for you both because he loves you. And who's to say that you won't feel differently after you foster as well?" Her sister challenged, setting her mug back down on the table as Emily clambered up onto the couch and her lap, holding up a cake pop for her to open. "Careful of my belly, Ems. Wouldn't want to hurt your brother now would we?"

"Sowwy... open it, pwease mamas," Emily asked, leaning down to whisper something she couldn't hear into her mother's pregnant belly to her baby brother.

The little girl was still getting the hang of her words, but being an English teacher that was her sister's specialty. Katie opened the cake pop and then the toddler went back to coloring at the coffee table. "It's understandable that you want to have your own kids. I'm sure that when most of us think about being parents, we assume they'll be biologically ours. You know that Scott is the same way, but he lost his parents when he was little." Katie told her carefully, then shrugged. "Maybe you'll both see that fostering is the right decision for the time being, and the two of you can still keep biological children on the table when the timing is right."

She tipped her head back, looking at the ceiling. "That's easy for you to say."

"Don't talk to me about what's easy," her sister muttered, breaking off a piece of the lemon bread they bought to split. "I fought tooth and nail for my family and you know that. You should talk to mom if you won't listen to me. She and dad were foster parents once. "

She glanced at her niece beside them, feeling guilty. "You're right I'm sorry," she sighed. "Why did you have to go and make things more complicated?"

"Surely you didn't think I was just going to take your side automatically, did you? I may be your sister, but come on." Katie chuckled, rolling her eyes.

Groaning, she ran her fingers through her hair. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to at least explore the option of fostering. We can always put our participation on pause if I get pregnant, or if fostering isn't for us right now," she reasoned. "And Scott has literally always said he wanted to foster at the very least, but possibly even adopt. This wasn't something that caught me by surprise."

Her older sister her the time to sort out her thoughts out loud, leaning back and sipping her tea to hide her smile behind the lip of her mug. "Sounds like you've figured this out on your own, Mack," Katie muttered matter-of-factly.

Breaking off a piece of the lemon bread and dunking it in her coffee, she rolled her eyes. "You are so smug it's annoying. But I love you." Mackenzie said, smiling as her sister caught her up on her latest doctor appointment and the two talked the afternoon away without a care in the world.

Becoming certified foster parents took six weeks and Mackenzie and Scott spent most of those evenings filling out form after form, running background checks, and scheduling social worker visits.

"When I agreed to foster, you didn't tell me how much paperwork was involved babe," she sighed one evening, pouring herself a glass of wine. "I get that it's in the best interest of the kids but God, don't you think at some point they don't need to read the same information in a different form?"

Her boyfriend laughed, following her as she joined him back at the dining room table. "If it makes you feel any better, we only have to fill out half of these again next year to have our license renewed," Scott told her.

Setting her wine glass down, Mack's eyes widened. "You're telling me these forms aren't just one and done?" she asked. "We go through all of this, and then we do it all again next year?"

"We do," he nodded, signing off on another form, placing it in her pile. "It's just to keep us certified. A lot of these forms will stay relevant unless we move, and then we'd have to update them. So good thing we have two extra rooms," he explained, digging into the bag of pretzels at his side. "Just don't worry about that, okay? That's a whole year away."

"A whole year for me to forget about these forms and then want to kill you when you bring them back up. We should've paid Katie to do it. She would've had a blast," she sighed, filling out the other forms and signing her name at the bottom. "What is going to happen after this?"

"After the social worker visits, if we're approved, we could get a placement almost immediately. It just depends on when a case comes across our worker's desk," he said. "I don't know how quick it'll be, but it doesn't usually take long."

Mackenzie nodded, watching as Scott scrolled through his phone, turning on a different playlist. "You know, anytime this feels overwhelming, we can just stop and think it over again."

"I don't want to stop," she replied, reading through another form. "I want to get this done, and I want to be certified, and I want to forget about how tedious this entire process is until it's time to be re-certified again."

Scott laughed beside her, standing and grabbing himself a drink. "Then let's keep going, and this time without Ned's corny playlist he made on my phone when we went out last week." He said, sitting back down beside her. "Once we finish we can enjoy the rest of our child-free night."

She set her pen down, reaching her hand out and holding his chin in her hand. "I love you, Scott O'Neill," she said, closing the space between them and kissing him softly. "I hope you know how much I love you."

"I love you more than anything," he mumbled, kissing her again as the wine taste tickled his tongue. He pulled back, brushing her fingers through his hair and sliding his thumb over her jaw, unable to stop the smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

They laughed and sang through the playlist as they finished the paperwork, and once they filed everything in order and placed it back in the pile to submit the following morning, they danced around their living room to celebrate.

Sitting on the back porch of her parent's house, Mackenzie watched as Freya ran around with Willow and Emily in the backyard and twirled her wine glass between her fingers. Their social worker visit, the final hurdle to becoming certified foster parents, was the following morning, and to put it lightly, she was on edge.

It didn't help that Scott was working with Ned so they were absent from the barbecue which left her in the line of fire to answer any questions anyone had. She had her sisters to back her up and she hadn't had any worries until their grandmother arrived.

To put it nicely, Beth was blatantly rude and she didn't know why their mother put up with it, but Melinda was far nicer, and their grandmother would almost always say anything too terrible outside of her earshot anyhow. They thankfully were inside the house preparing some sort of dessert while the rest of them sat around the table talking and the kids ran their energy out.

"Are you nervous about your visit with the social worker tomorrow?" Her dad asked, breaking the comfortable silence around the table.

Mackenzie smiled, setting her wine glass back down on the frosted glass of the table. "Yes and no. Scott has been good at calming my nerves. It's mostly just a formality and we've basically already been approved. It should probably be done in under an hour, but I can't help but worry that somehow I'm going to mess this up," she admitted. "Plus Freya is really excited."

"It's exciting to expand your family and I'm sure everything will go fine with the social worker. Those meetings are a lot quicker than you think they will be." Jim said with a shrug. "I'm gonna go see what's taking so long for dessert."

"Well don't worry too much. Like your father said I'm sure everything will go just fine," Delia offered, smiling at her.

"No, I know," she nodded as she tied her hair in a braid to occupy her, dragging her fingers through it to pull it free. "I guess I just don't want to be the reason this doesn't work out. That's my worst fear."

Katie reached over from where she was sitting beside her, resting her hand on her forearm. "Mack, do you want to be a foster parent? I understand you guys are in the final stages but are you doing this because you know it's what Scott wants? You must consider your own feelings."

Mackenzie broke her gaze from her older sister, staring at the maple tree in the corner of the yard with the treehouse their father had built when she was young and seeing that was where Asher had hidden away from the rest of the party. She wanted to join him.

The leaves sway in the light breeze, branches knocking and rustling as she adjusted her jacket. "I want to be a foster parent," she said, but she's aware it sounds like she's trying to convince herself. "I wasn't sure about it at first, but it's been almost a year since we started trying… and we're having a hard time getting pregnant, and I want to be a mom, or a mother figure, more than anything. I know we're young and aren't even married, but I want to do it now that Scott and I have our careers established."

When she plucked up the courage to look back at Katie, she found that she's smiling. "You know that I think you're going to be an excellent mother, whether these children are biologically yours or not," her older sister said softly, retracting her hand and placing it on her growing belly. "And who knows, maybe you'll be so preoccupied taking care of whatever kid is placed with you that you'll get pregnant in the end. The second Ned and I stopped obsessively trying to figure out how to get pregnant are when I found out I was expecting this little one."

Mackenzie smiled, feeling the stress she'd been holding in her shoulders relax. Katie winked, knowing that bringing up the baby would likely swing the conversation around the table off of her as their parents and grandma Beth came from inside the house.

"And what a marvelous thing that is!" Jim exclaimed, holding up his beer. "Our family grows every year. It's a running bet at the hospital at this point."

"Don't even get me started on the betting pool at the precinct for the gender," Katie sighed.

Beth had come over to their side of the table and she could see she was set on talking to her, and Mackenzie wanted to run. Her grandmother had already had an awkward conversation with her earlier about why she and Scott weren't married yet, but that was the last thing on her mind these days.

"So your mother tells me that you and that boyfriend of yours are planning to adopt?" Beth said, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other on Katie's.

"We're going to become foster parents, yes," she said, taking a large sip of her wine as she turned to look up at her grandma behind her.

"That's… wonderful, dear. They'll probably ask you about Freya's biological father and if you believe he'll be an issue in the future, but don't worry about all that." Beth said condescendingly with a smile. "I'd just hope that Scott doesn't come to resent not having his own child."

Mackenzie laughed. "Trust me, we've talked about it at length and Freya is his child. Scott has been there since she was born and isn't going to resent anything. Besides, foster care was his idea," she assured her.

"He seems like a good man, but how long will that last while raise kids that aren't his own? Your mother and I know that story very well, don't we?" Beth asked, glancing over at her mother.

"Mom! Enough!" Melinda yelled and everyone who had been talking around the table went quiet. "You can say all you want about me, but if you say another thing about one of my children or grandchildren you'll never be invited back again."

Mackenzie had heard enough and got up from her chair and went inside. But what if Beth was right? What if she couldn't give Scott what he wanted and deserved and he resented her for it?

She poured herself another glass of wine and drank it immediately. "Fucking hell," she muttered.

"Impressive. Pour me one?" Melinda asked as she came into the kitchen a few moments after her. "Don't listen to her, Kenz. She's a bitter old woman and she always has been."

She poured her mother some wine into the glass Melinda held out and poured herself more too. "Then why do you keep her around?" She asked.

Her mother paused to take a sip, sighing, "Because she's family and some of the time she means well, but she's old and won't be around for much longer so look forward to that."

"I would never have expected you to say that. Maybe Katie," she teased her lightly, getting her bit of fun in while she could. "But never you."

"She lied, manipulated, and gaslit me for most of my life. You heard what she said. Tom Gordon wasn't my real father and I didn't find out until he tried to kill me," Melinda muttered into her wine glass as she emptied it. "I'm allowed to hold my grudge against her."

Mackenzie laughed so hard her belly hurt until she saw her mother's straight face. "Wait, seriously? That sounds like something out of an episode of General Hospital. Why have you never told me this before?"

"Because you never needed to know until now. You were just a kid," Melinda told her. "My mom hated me for Tom leaving and she used my gift as an excuse to make me feel like a freak. So when I met your father it took me a long time until I felt like I wasn't and told him, and from there I've told him everything."

"Are you saying I should tell him before the meeting tomorrow?" She asked.

"If you think Scott is ready to know that then yes, but you should definitely tell him before he gets the nerve to pop the question. Just because Freya grew out of her gifts doesn't mean any child you might have with will." Melinda told her, giving her a quick hug. "I think that even if he reacts badly, which I doubt he will, he'll have Ned to lean on for any immediate questions he might not be ready to ask you."

She had always meant to tell Scott, but every time she got close to it she would freeze up. Freya hadn't shown any signs of seeing them either past infancy. They hadn't known what to make of it until Willow grew out of hers as well.

Mackenzie had secretly called it a miracle because as much help as her family could get with their gift, it made living life difficult and she was happy her daughter wouldn't have to worry so much about death from a young age.

She wrapped her arms around her mom fully. "Thank you," she whispered.

Melinda pressed a kiss to her forehead, glancing over her shoulder when she heard the front door open and both Ned and Scott appear. "You could probably do it now and get it over with. I really don't think you have anything to worry about. I saw Scott's face when you got wheeled in on a gurney after the car crash back before everything went down and he loved you then. He loves you even more now."

"I know… I know," she sighed and pulled away as she saw her boyfriend and brother-in-law coming towards her. "I'm just… scared."

"Just remember to breathe," her mom reminded her. "It's just Scott. He probably has a hunch of at least something by now."

"Don't listen to whatever Ned tells you, I absolutely did not cause us to be late. It was him. He insisted on getting more booze," Scott declared, holding a bottle of wine in one hand and a twelve-pack of beer in the other as he set them down in the center of the island. "Oh, hi Mel."

"Hi, Scott. Glad you guys are finally here," Melinda said as she grabbed the bottle of wine from him on her way out of the room. "There are some burgers and brats left on the grill to keep warm for you guys. I'm not sure how much of the ribs are left, but you'll have to thank Jim and Asher for that."

Ned trailed behind, setting another twelve-pack of beer on the counter. "Katie said Beth was being a bitch so I stopped at the liquor store for the rest of us. I doubt anyone is going to be mad that we brought more booze."

"I'd consider what my sister said only half of it," she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, Mack. Don't let that old hag get under your skin." Ned said, giving her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before he snuck outside to get himself some food.

When they were finally alone, Mackenzie's stomach felt like it was in her throat when she looked at Scott. She was so worried that by telling him she would somehow ruin everything.

"What's got you looking so worried, babe? Is she really that bad?" He asked.

She shrugged, having gone mute for a moment. "She's one of a kind, but that's not why I'm worried." Scott looked confused and he had every right to be. She was being vague. "I need to tell you something. We should go somewhere more private."

He chuckled and pulled her toward the basement. "Should we pull a Katie and Ned and sneak off? Is that what you want to tell me?" He teased, winking at her. "Though I should warn you I did run around quite a bit today and worked up a sweat."

Mackenzie nearly gave in and held off on telling him again. That's how simple it was, but her mother's voice popped into her head.

She had to tell him.

"This is important, babe. I have to tell you before tomorrow's meeting." She said seriously. "But people will still likely think we snuck off if that makes you feel any better. And by people I mean Katie, Ned, and my parents."

He pouted, but only for a moment before they headed downstairs. "I guess that's enough for me. I'll just have you when we get home."

Her cheeks flushed. "Will you now?" She giggled.

"If you want me," he teased.

She smiled. "I always do, but you should sit down."

"Do you have cancer or something?" He chuckled and plopped down on the bed when they got into the basement.

"Or something…" she muttered. "Scott, do you… fuck I'm going to sound like a lunatic."

Her head was spinning. How did her mother do this? How did Katie? Mackenzie could barely handle visions and dreams and the spirits she happened to see, but they did this all the time. They told random strangers that they saw ghosts all the time to help them.

Why couldn't she just tell Scott? She told him everything, almost everything.

"Hey, baby… you look like you've seen a ghost," he said, looking terrified of what she might say, and helped her sit down. "Is it Preston? Or Chase? I promise I can take it."

She had to hold in her laughter. The irony. Scott O'Neill hit it on the nail every time. She loved him so much for it. "You don't even know how funny that sounds right now," she chuckled softly.

He looked even more confused now. "Mack, just tell me what's going on..." He sighed.

I see ghosts, Scott. And some does everyone in my family. Well except my dad, Aaron, and his kids, Willow and Freya, but that's it. Fuck.

Mackenzie couldn't even do this hypothetically without freaking out. "I need you to promise me that you'll listen to everything I have to say first before asking me any questions. That's the only way I'll be able to do this."

"I promise," he said.

"You know that my mom has this… super weird connection with me and all of my siblings, but especially Katie?" She began, looking over at him.

Scott chuckled and scratched the top of his head as he nodded. "Well yeah, that's kind of obvious. You guys disappear together all the time and are always saying something to each other that I never quite hear," he said, shrugging. "I've never thought about it too much. It's your family. Katie and your mom are always in Blaire's office for some reason, but what about it? What does that have to do with our social worker meeting tomorrow?"

Everything. Mackenzie took a deep breath. "Well, there's a reason for it. I'll get to it. You promised no questions until I was done." She explained as simply as she could. "I know this might be a tough subject, but you lost your parents when you were young. Have you ever thought about the afterlife?"

"More so when I was little, but yeah… sometimes I still wonder. They were my parents." He answered her simply with no questions in return this time.

"What if I told you that sometimes when people die they stick around… or well their spirits do when they have unfinished business and that my family can see them?" She told him everything slowly, making sure not to use any terms that sounded confusing. "It's different for each of us and Katie is the most like our mom, but I can see them too. Not as much as when I was younger, but I see them. Freya used to when she was really little, but we think she's grown out of it already."

The wheels looked to be turning, but Scott didn't say anything for a while.

Her heart was racing and she felt like this was a terrible mistake the longer the silence got but there was no going back now.

"I'm sorry that I never told you. I've just never been as good at telling people. When I tried to tell Chase… it didn't go well." she said and realized her face was wet with tears. "So if you want to never talk to me again then I'll understand. Just promise me that you'll still be there for Freya. You're her father, Scott no matter what."

He kissed her to stop her from rambling on and it caught her by surprise. That was totally not something he would usually do. His hands cupped her cheeks as she kissed him back eagerly and then leaned her face into his chest.

"I'm not going anywhere, Mackenzie. I was just trying to piece it together," he sighed, holding her tightly in his arms. "It's a lot to take in all at once, but it helps that I kind of always thought there was something about your mom and Katie because whenever they show up in Blaire's office, a body or some sort of case usually follows. I just… I thought they were like psychics or something." He laughed. "I feel stupid now."

She laughed with him, feeling better about it all. "Or something…" she repeated softly. "It's been in the family for a long time."

"Am I the only one who didn't know?" He asked.

"Yes and no. Ned's known forever because he was family long before he ever married Katie, but I don't think Michele knows. Aaron doesn't see them anymore and neither do their kids, so he's never felt the need to tell her." She explained. "I don't know about Lana's girlfriend but I expect not. The same with Emma's boyfriend. My dad obviously knows and so does Katie's best friend Hannah. I've just never felt close enough to tell anyone… until you."

He smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. She understood if he was upset with her for not telling him sooner. "I wish you would've told me sooner. This explains… a lot." He said, standing up. "I'm happy you could finally tell me. It's probably better I know anyway. Wanna go back upstairs? I'm starved."

She relaxed and stood up, taking his hand in hers. "Definitely."