Craig was poignant to be leaving Emma, but excited that he was going to see his daughter after almost 3 months. From the pictures that he had seen, she had changed so much since the last time he had seen her.

He wondered how different life would be in Victoria, compared to Toronto. Would it have the same kind of culture? What would his apartment look like? There were so many questions he had about what his new life would be embarking. It would be so foreign to be living on his own, doing things all for himself without any help, like his laundry for one.

He had so much to do once he got there, find a job, and once he found out how big his place was he would have to get Joey to send the rest of his stuff down. Then he would need to explore the town of his, get to know all the places that the city had to offer.

His eyes began to get heavy, having a hard time trying to keep them open. He soon fell asleep on the plane, leaving all his cares and worries behind him. Today was a new start to the rest of his life, a life that no longer revolved around his girlfriend, Emma.

******

Hours later the plane landed, and Kelsie and Ava were there to greet Craig. A big grin came over his face, he felt like he was coming home to his family; not like what he had with Joey, but his very own little family. “Hey you,” he said taking Ava into his arms. It felt good to hold her again. “You’ve grown so much?” Looking at Kelsie, “She looks much bigger than the photos you sent me.”

“Yeah, I definitely think she’s going to be a tall one.” Touching her hair, “But look at how curly her hair is getting.” She looked so much like her father everyday, she thought.

“I see,” touching her hair. It reminded him of Angela when she was her age.

 “So how was your flight?”

“Good, it let me catch up on some needed sleep.” The night before he spent every last moment he could with Emma.

“Why is that, did you spend a sleepless night with Emma,” nudging him slightly. Remembering how it was when she had to leave Chris. She knew that this move wasn’t easy on him, having to leave his girlfriend behind.

“Not in the way you’re thinking…Em and I haven’t done that yet. No…we spent the night talking, just being in each other’s presence.” He began to wonder how he was going to live without that. She was his everything, the girl he had waited a lifetime for; no one else compared. When he thought of the future, he saw her in it, and they were together.

“I see. Maybe this can be good thing for you two to see if you’re meant to be,” trying think encouraging for him. She wanted him to be as happy with Emma, as she was with Chris. Everyone deserves to be that happy.

“I guess,” trying to be optimistic. Just thinking about being away from her made him depressed. The only thing that made it all worth it was the time he would get to spend with his little girl, seeing her grow up.

“Why don’t we go get your stuff, and head to your new apartment?”

“Okay,” he smirked as they began to walk towards luggage claim.

******

They walked into his new apartment, and he was amazed that she was able to find him one this nice on his budget. It had 2 bedrooms, one for him, the other for Ava when she came to stay, a small living room and an open kitchen. It was perfect, his very own place, he thought.

“I lent you one of our beds until Joey sends yours down, I didn’t want you to sleep on the floor or anything,” knowing that wouldn’t be too comfortable for that long.

“Thanks,” he smiled. He was grateful for all she had done for him. She had really been a big help after he decided not to live on campus. She went apartment searching for him, to make sure that he wasn’t being ripped off, since he wasn’t able to go see any of the places before hand.

“Oh and I also have Ava’s playpen in her room for her to sleep in when she comes to stay. I knew you didn’t have too much money to get one, so I thought I give you ours since we really don’t use it.”

Embracing her into his arms, “Have I ever told you that you’re the greatest?”

“I don’t think today you have,” she joked. It was glad they had been able to get over all their past differences. She had missed the friendship that they once had, the one they had before she broke his heart and chose Chris.

******

They spent the next month becoming friends again, best friends like they used to before she left. He spent that month seeing why she had actually chosen Chris, the reason that they were so perfect for one another, and it only made him long to have the one he loved close by.

******

Emma was coming down for a 2-week visit after not seeing Craig in a month and a half. Manny was helping Emma packing, “How’s Craig and Kelsie getting along?” Manny asked curious to know. She wanted to believe that he really loved Emma, but she also knew how much he loved Kelsie. She had once over heard him tell the boys that it had been love at first sight. She just worried that he never totally got over her.

“He said that it’s like it use to be with them, when they were best friends,” lying down on the bed, starring at the ceiling.

“And Chris doesn’t mind,” thinking of how she would feel if this was J.T.

“No he thinks it’s good for Ava to see her parents getting along even though their not together.”

“And how do you feel?” glancing over at her, wondering what her thought were on this.

“It doesn’t bother me, I mean he loves me and I’m the one he wants; nothings going to change that.”

“But are you sure that they still don’t have some feelings left for each other. She was the love of his life once, and it wasn’t his choice to break up.”

“Come on Manny he’s with me now, and she’s with her great love. Nothing’s ever going to change that,” trying to defend her relationship, and mad that Manny was trying to sabotage it. Why was that, was she jealous that Emma was the one Craig wanted now, not her. Maybe she isn’t in love with JT like everyone thinks, she thought.

“I’m just saying this because I want you to be careful,” not wanting her friend to get hurt by him as she had long ago. She never thought he would do that to Emma until Kelsie came back into his life.

Jumping up from the bed, “No it sounds more like you don’t want me to be happy,” she said rudely. She was tired of her trying to doubt her relationship, why couldn’t she just be supportive.

“Em, it’s not like that. But I know how it feels to be fooled by Craig,” remembering how it felt when he lied to her about Ashley, making her believe that he truly loved her, and thought they had a future.

“Manny he’s not like that anymore. He’s changed since then…you’ve seen him,” trying to convince her.

“Yeah, but I also seen how he looked at Kelsie when she came back to Toronto,” having a hard time looking into her eyes.

Her blood was bowling with anger, but she chose not to yell, “Let’s not talk about this anymore, it’s just upsetting me,” turning her back to Manny, tomorrow was suppose to be a happy day, and now she just felt miserable.

******

Craig was anxiously awaiting Emma’s arrival. It felt like it had been so long since he last laid his eyes upon her, or even touched her soft lips.

Her flight had been late do to the fog. It made the wait even longer, making him feel like she was never going to arrive. Luckily, he didn’t have to worry about picking up Ava today; otherwise, he would be very late. No he had rescheduled to take her tomorrow, tonight he wanted to have some alone time with Emma without any distractions. Kelsie understood it; there were times when she wanted to be just her and Chris.

When they announced her flight coming in, he began to feel nervous, butterflies in his stomach, as his hands shook a little. What was there to be nervous about, it was just his Emma. He had known her forever, she may be his girlfriend now, but he had never felt like this before when he was waiting to see her before.

Emma slowly walked off the plane. She hadn’t stop thinking about what Manny had said. Why was that? Was it deep down, she knew that it could be true? No, she was determined to have a good time. This vacation she would prove Manny wrong. She would be dammed if she were going to lose the only person that had truly made her believe in love.

As she came around the corner, they caught each other’s eyes. Her face lit up, her eyes sparkling, at the very sight. He didn’t look the same; he seemed older, more mature. This experience, out on his own, being a father must have made him grow up pretty fast.

Emma walked up to him; he just grabbed her by her waist and spun her around. He had never been so ecstatic to see her. “I’ve missed you so…much,” he said joyfully.

Staring into his eyes, “Me too…me too.” She wanted to hold him and never let him go.

He set her back down on the ground, right before kissing her. In that moment, it felt like they were the only two people in the terminal. It was just one of those moments that nothing else seemed to matter.

“Why don’t we go pick up your bags and then we can go back to my place,” Craig suggested, grabbing a hold of her hand.

“Sounds good…I want to see what this place looks like, after hearing all about it.”

“So what did you do last night?” Craig asked, wondering if it was any fun. Maybe she spent the whole time thinking of him, as he had of her.

“Manny helped me pack. Of course you know me, I left it to last minute,” she laughed, leaving out the part of their fight. She didn’t want to make him upset at anyone, she didn’t want to ruin their evening. Maybe later she would tell him what she had to say.

“How has Manny been?”

Of course, he had to bring the last person she wanted to talk about. “Okay, she and JT have hit their 2 year mark. It seems like after high school they’re moving in together.”

Craig noticed the tone she was using, “You don’t seem that happy. Is something wrong?” She didn’t seem like herself once he mentioned Manny, had something happened between them, he wondered.

She couldn’t lie to him, so she decided to tell him, “Just me and Manny got into a fight. It seems like she doesn’t support our relationship anymore.”

“What? Why?” wondering what had gotten into Manny. Was she up to her old self trying to steal him away from Emma? He really hoped not, because a friend should never do that to another.

“That’s the thing…I don’t know. It started a few months back, and for a while she had stopped, but then all of sudden she brought it up last night.”

Seeing that she was getting all worked up over it, “Em is there any reason why she would?” He really wanted to know what had gotten her this worked up., what was Manny saying that made her think that she didn’t support their relationship anymore?

Hesitant to tell him, “She…she thinks that you’re,” staring down at the ground, looking a little sad, “still in love with Kelsie.”

“What would make her think that?” curious to know where Manny got her crazy idea. When she was here, he didn’t show that kind of interest in her, the only person that knew about his mixed feelings was Paige and there’s no way in the world that she would have shared that with Manny of all people.

“She says that she could see it in your eyes when you saw Kelsie at the dot.”

“I don’t know what is wrong with her. Can she not see how much I’m in love with you? Does she still have feelings for me?”

Seeing that Craig looked pissed, “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just ruining our day,” she frowned. Why did she have to let Manny ruin their day?

“No I’m glad you did. I’m just going to prove to her how wrong she was.”

Smiling, “I know you will.”

“Now why don’t we forget it, and get out of here,” as he grabbed one of her rolling suitcases, while she grabbed the other.

“I agree.”

Kelsie sat at the computer; she had begun to write another story. Since Ava was taking a nap, she decided to take her latest inspiration for a new book. She needed to jot down these ideas before she forget them.

“Kels, where are you?” Chris hollered as he walked through the front door. He had just had a long day at work, and he just wanted to see his favorite girl. Craig had Ava, well so he thought, so he thought he would enjoy his free time with Kelsie.

“I’m in the office,” she yelled back as she continued to type.

Chris came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her neck, "How was your day?”

Turning around in her chair to face him, “Good, I just got a new idea for a book.”

“That’s great. I was thinking we could go down to that new restaurant on the water tonight. It has been a while since we had a night out on the town, with Craig working a lot lately.”

“That sounds good…”

“Well then I’ll take a shower, and you can …”

Grabbing his hand, “I must have forgotten to tell you that Craig isn’t taking Ava tonight.”

“What? Why?” sounding a little disappointed. He was looking forward to his weekend with just the two of them…alone.

“Emma arrived today, and he really wanted some time for them, since they haven’t seen each other in over a month.”

“Oh I see,” he grinned.

“But he did say he would take her tomorrow,” standing up, putting her arms around his waist, “So we will get some of the weekend for just the two of us,” she said raising her brow. Chris just laughed.

Smiling, “What, you were thinking the exact same thing too!”

“I know!” lightly brushing his lips across hers.

“And in a few weeks we won’t get as much time without her since Craig will be working and going to school, so we have to take advantage of it.”

“Yeah, I know. Not that I don’t love Ava to death, because I do, I just like when I can have you all to myself without any interruptions,” embracing her even closer to his body.

“Me too! But those are the joys of having kids.”

Craig, dressed in a blue dress shirt, and black pants, and Emma, dressed in a strapless green dress, strolled down the waterfront after dinner. It was such a beautiful warm night, the moon was shining on the water, and the night-lights were all beaming bright. Emma couldn’t think of a more beautiful place than this.

“This place is wonderful,” Emma said, spinning around, stopping right in front of him. “This is what I call paradise.” The downtown just seemed to have a charm about it.

“Now that I live here, I don’t think I could ever go back to live in Toronto again,” Craig replied. In addition, since his daughter lived here there was no way he was going anywhere.

Linking her arms around his arm, as they began to walk again, “I can totally understand that. If I lived here, I wouldn’t ever want to leave either.”

“Well you know it won’t be too long before you move here yourself, and then we could have many nights like this,” he smiled. Just them strolling around town, hanging around campus together, and taking his little girl to the park to play, he began to imagine. He hated the thought of spending the next year without her. Even though he had his daughter here, it wasn’t the same thing.

Grinning back at him, “Oh is that so.”

He stopped her, and pulled her into an embrace, “Of course my dear,” then he leaned in to kiss her, sending a tingle throughout her body.

“Why don’t we go back to your place where we could have more privacy, if you know what I mean,” she whispered in his ear.

Craig didn’t know what to say about that comment, was she really serious. He grabbed her hand and darted towards the street that led to his apartments. He had waited patiently for her to be ready, and now that he knew she was ready, it was as if he couldn’t wait to get home.

Emma couldn’t help but giggle, she didn’t know what had come over her, but she just had the urge to have him make love to her. She was tired of hearing how much he loved her, now she wanted him to show her.

******

Kelsie crawled up on the couch next to Chris, who was reading a book. She kept staring at him, in hopes that he would look back at her. However, he kept his eyes on his book, as he read the chapter. She had finally gotten Ava to sleep and now she wanted his attention, since they hadn’t had a lot of time just the two of them with taking care of Ava, and him working.

She moved in a little closer, wrapping her legs around his, but he still ignored her. She couldn’t believe this, how could he just act as if she was not there. She couldn’t handle this; she hated to be ignored.

Chris tried not to laugh, slowly lifting his eyes off his book, acting as if he didn’t know why she was sitting there, “Can I help you?”

Crossing her arms right in front of her chest, “This afternoon you couldn’t keep your hands off me, and now you’re acting like I’m not here,” she pouted like a little girl.

Laughing, “I wanted to see how long it would take until you began to get ticked off. I could never really ignore you, I mean look at you…you’re gorgeous.”

“Are you just trying to butter me up?” she grinned.

Putting down his book, he closed the gap between them, “Is it working?”

Shaking her head, “Yeah, you could keep going.” She loved to hear what Chris loved about her.

“Nah I think I know a better way then just saying it,” smirking at her, as he played with her hair.

“Is that so, and what could that be?” pretending not to know what he was talking about.

Chris pulled her closer, pulling her legs around him, He undid a few buttons on her shirt, just enough so that he could get a little access. He leaned in and began to kissing her chest slowly; she arched her back, so he could get up closer. His touch caused her body to tingle all over.

“I like where this is going,” she said raising a brow.

Chris looked up at her, and noticed that she was biting her lower lip. There was something when she did that, that made him go crazy. He had an urge to kiss her; he pulled her face towards his, pressing his lips against hers.  He roughly kissed her, something she hadn’t expected from him. She didn’t know what had gotten into him, but she certainly liked it.

Kelsie went straight for Chris’s shirt; he helped her get it over his head. He began undoing the rest of her shirt buttons, feeling a need to taste the rest of her skin. He was softly kissing her stomach when there was a cry from down the hall.

Kelsie went to get up from his lap, but Chris stopped her, “I’ll go check on her, you stay here.”

“Okay,” she stayed, watching Chris head down the hall. She was a little disappointed that they were interrupted, it had been so long since the last time they had sex, and it was making her crazy. She picked up her shirt, and put it back on, buttoning the buttons back up.

Emma and Craig barely made it through the door before they started kissing. Emma dropped her purse right at the door, Craig could hardly believe that this was happening; he wasn’t going to waste anytime. Without even pulling apart, he slammed the door shut with his foot. He pressed her up against the hallway wall and began kissing her roughly on the lips; she set her hands on his cheeks, and guided his lips to her neck. He sucked on it roughly; Emma couldn’t believe how good his lips felt against her skin. It was as if she hadn’t ever noticed it before.

Craig roamed his hands over Emma’s body; he could feel Emma’s body quivering at his very touch. He went back to her lips, this time taking time to explore her mouth. Emma’s hands moved from his back to his shirt buttons, undoing them slowly. Once she was done, she took it off, and began to kiss his neck, slowly leading down his chest.

Craig went for Emma’s zipper, once it was undone her dress it fell to the grown revealing her to be only in her undergarments, as he did this she went right for his pants.  He looked at her for a second, and thought she look so beautiful.

They began kissing again slowly finding their way to his bedroom without stopping. Emma couldn’t believe this was happening she was a little nervous. As they got to the bed Craig lightly pushed her on the bed, slowly cradled on above her, “Are you sure you want to do this?” making sure, she didn’t feel pressure to do it since he had been waiting for so long. He would always wait until she was ready.

Smiling at him, shaking her head, “Yes, I’ve never been so sure in my life.” Which was true, she felt this moment was right for them. Emma couldn’t wait any longer; she pulled Craig closer to her and began to kiss him, biting his lower lip.

******

Chris woke up the next morning, still a little tired. Ava had taken longer than he had thought to get back to sleep. It seemed that she had a stomachache, and it kept her from settling down. He had stayed there, rocking her until she fell back to sleep. He hoped that she was feeling better this morning.

He slowly arose from the bed, and walked down the hall to the kitchen in nothing but his pajama bottoms. Kelsie was already in there, eating breakfast with Ava sitting in the highchair next to her.

“Good morning,” walking over to Ava, and picking her up, “How is my little princess doing this morning?” Chris asked.

“She seems to be doing a 100% better,” Kelsie replied.

“Well that’s nice to hear. What time is Craig picking her up?” wanting to be finally alone, just the two of them so that they could finish off what they started last night.

“Noon.”

“Well then I’m going to get this little one dressed, and make sure she has everything she needs in her bag,” Chris said as he got up from the table.

“Okay, well you’re doing that make sure she has some grip water in her bag, just in case Craig is out of it,” she hollered at him, who knows if her stomachache would return..

“Alright.”

******

Emma woke up, with arms around her. Thoughts of last night ran through her head, it made her beam with delight. She was no longer a girl, but a woman. Last night was the most incredible night of her life, more than she could have ever imagined. Craig had been so loving, making sure she was all right the whole way through. He wanted make sure that she wasn’t in any pain, knowing that it can be the first time.

She looked at Craig who was still sound a sleep he looked so peaceful. She could get use to waking up next to him, even if it was only for the next 2 weeks. “I’ve never loved you more than I do now,” she whispered.

Craig opened his eyes slightly, to see Emma’s face shining beside him. He almost thought last night had been a dream, but now he realized it wasn’t. “Hi beautiful,” he said bring her face down towards his, kissing her lips softly.

“Morning,” she said glowing. She felt this was where she belonged.

“Why don’t you stay in bed and I’ll make you breakfast?” he said as he began to get up. He wanted to do something special for her, to show her how much last night meant to him, and show her how much he really cared for her.

“No, I rather have you,” she said yanking him back, making him fall back on the bed. She then climbed on him, pinning his arms down to the bed, taking full advantage of him.

“I can’t complain with that,” he said in between kisses. He had just been introduced to Emma’s wild side.

******

Kelsie was in the office when she heard the doorbell. She hoped that Chris would get it since she was a little busy, but when it rang, again she finally got up to answer it. “Hey Emma, it’s nice to see you again,” she said smiling.

“You too,” Emma answered.

Noticing Craig walk up onto the porch, “Why don’t you two come in, Ava is just with Chris in her bedroom.”

“I’ll go get her,” Craig said.

“Okay, Emma and I will talk then.” Once he was gone, “So what did you two do for your first night in Victoria?”

“Well we went for dinner at a little restaurant at the waterfront, can’t remember the name, went for a little stroll, and then went back to his place.”

“Is that all?” Kelsie curious to know if that was all that took place. Emma couldn’t help but blush, Kelsie noticed that, “Spill it.”

She kind of felt weird talking about it with his ex, but why did it really matter. She was basically was married to Chris so it shouldn’t really matter, she thought. She decided to spill all, “Well even before we got home I had the need for him so I made sure he knew. Once he heard that we rushed back to his place. We barely even at the door when we started kissing, it got all hot and heavy from there. And the sweet thing was Craig made sure I was okay the whole time.”

“Yeah, he does have that sweet side about him,” remembering the way he treated her when they were together.

“I’m glad that I never did it with any of my other boyfriends because it wouldn’t have ever been as special, because I never felt half as much for them as what I feel for Craig.”

“Yeah, I…”

Craig, walked into the room carrying Ava in her car seat, interrupted them, “Ava’s all ready to go,” he stated to Emma.

“Well I guess we should go then, bye…talk to you later,” Emma said to Kelsie, as she began to head towards the door.

“Alright, see you,” she waved as they walked out the door. She noticed Chris standing in the hallway, staring at her with a seductive face. They were finally alone!

******

Emma watched Craig play with his daughter in the living room, as she made a cold plate; it was too hot tonight to have anything else. She noticed how good he was with her; it made her smile. He was a really good dad, and hoped that she could be just as good step-mom to her. She was thinking off in her own little world.

“Yo, earth to Emma,” Craig hollered, she hadn’t seem to hear anything he had just said. He wondered what had her so distracted.

When she finally heard him, “Oh, sorry, I was just thinking.”

“Could you make her a bottle, it about time for her bedtime,” he asked as he cradled Ava in his arms.

“Yeah,” reaching into the cupboard for a bottle, and the other for her formula. When she was done preparing one she brought it to him.

“Thanks, it’s nice to have someone else here to help me when I have her,” he smiled. It felt more like a family when it wasn’t just him.

“My pleasure, you know you’re a great father. I guess helping me out with Jack, help you get ready for fatherhood.”

“Yeah, I guess it did,” he smirked before leaning in to give her a kiss. He couldn’t wait until the future when they had kids of their very own. On his lonely nights, when he thought about Emma, he thought about things like this, about how their life would be when they were finished school, and starting their careers.