Homecoming




Dom Knight got off his airplane. He was actually able to catch a flight late
last night and make it home early. He knew his daughter most likely wouldn't
be up at this hour so he made his way to the service desk. He hired a limo to
take him and surprise his princess.


He was tired the change in time zones compounded with the long layover made
him bone weary. He just wanted to get home. He dozed in the car on the ride
from the airport and woke as the car pulled in front of his house. He
collected his luggage and unlocked the front door. Stepping into the living
room he was shocked at what he saw. Lying together on the couch were Michael
and Maria asleep in each others arms. He didn't know if he should be mad or
just let them sleep. He could tell it was innocent enough because they were
both fully clothed. He decided to let it go and actually take a picture. He
figured it would make a cute memory. They looked so peaceful lying there
like they had not a care in the world. He pulled his camera out of his carry
bag and loaded a fresh roll of film. It wasn't a fancy camera but it was
sort of loud as it automatically advanced the film. He took two pictures of
them sleeping and Maria stirred. He didn't know if it was reflex or not but
Michael pulled her in closer and she settled back down. He put his camera
back in his bag and made his way to the stairs. Don walked out into the
hallway and saw Dom looking back at the cute couple on the couch.

"Welcome home."

"Thanks."

"Sorry about the kids on the couch but they were watching a movie and fell
asleep. I couldn't see waking them up."

"It's okay, I trust them. I know this early into it they wouldn't think of doing anything else. At least I hope."

"I doubt they would either, we raised them well."


"Well I'm going to go and get some sleep. I caught an early fight and am exhausted."

"Okay, Dom, and again welcome home."

Don went into the kitchen and started the coffee brewing. It was almost 9am
and everyone else would be getting up shortly.


He sat at the table with the morning paper and his coffee when Jenny walked
in. She helped herself to a cup of coffee and sat at the table.

"Morning."

"Morning ,hon. Dom is home."


"Oh he got in early. Oh my, did he see the kids on the couch?"


"Yep."

"He must have been upset. I better wake them up before he comes back down."

"No he was ok about it. I think. He went to go and get some sleep had a tough flight."

"Oh ok."

No sooner than they had said that Maria walked sleepily into the kitchen and
straight for the coffee. She poured a cup and took a few swallows getting
her bearings.

"Morning."

"How did you sleep?", Jenny asked.

"Fine thanks. Sorry about falling asleep on the couch I know we were supposed
to be in our rooms."

"It's ok I know it wasn't intentional. Your dad is home."

"Oh no, please tell me he didn't come in the front door and see us on the couch."

"Sorry ,no such luck."

"Oh man ,he is going to kill me."


"Relax he wasn't angry he went to go and get some sleep because he caught an
early flight home."

"Ok well I'm going to go and grab a shower before anyone else get to it
first."

Not long after Maria went to grab her shower, the rest of the house came
alive. Everyone got up and doing their thing to get ready for the day. Shawn
was going to take Jody home after breakfast. Maria wanted to wait around for
her father to wake up so she could spend some time with him. Maria came down
from her shower and went into the kitchen. Everyone was sitting at the table
enjoying breakfast. She was nervous about what her father was going to say
to her about her sleeping on the couch. She grabbed another cup of coffee
and joined everyone at the table. Shawn and Jody were just finishing up and
getting ready to leave. Jody stood up and picked up her bag.

"Thanks Maria I had a great time these last few days."

"So did I, Jody. We have to definitely do it again and next time girls only."

"I'll call you later, bye."

"Ok, bye Jody, bye Shawn."

Don and Jenny got up and put their dishes in the sink. Jenny reached into
her pocket and pulled out two sets of keys. She handed them to Michael and
Maria.

"Well we are headed home you two have fun."

"Thanks Mom for being here.", Maria said.

"Anytime sweetie."

Maria finished clearing the table and set out on cleaning up the house the
last thing she wanted was for her father to wake up and find a mess. Michael
could tell there was something bothering her. As she walked by he touched
her arm and she flinched.

"Sorry,  was thinking."

"What's wrong?"

"My dad is home he saw us on the couch sleeping."

"It was innocent, we weren't doing anything and didn't do anything."

"I know but I still don't know, if he is upset or not about it."

"It will be fine, relax. Lets get this place in order and when he gets up you will find out."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Do you want me to stay and be here when he gets up?"

"Sure, it would make me feel better."

They  set out on cleaning the house and trying not to make too much noise.
They didn't want to wake Dom up before he was ready to get up on his own.
They finished putting things in order and Maria set on getting lunch ready.
She made enough for them and her father if he chose to join them. Michael
was in the living room reading a car magazine when Dom came down the stairs.

"Hi ,Dad. How was your trip?"

"Hi, Michael it was nice, thanks. Did you enjoy the holidays?"

"Yes they were great. We had a lot of fun."

"Good to hear. I see you took good care of my little girl for me."

"I tried anyways."

"I have something for the two of you after I get back from running some
errands."

"Ok thanks."

Dom went into the kitchen where Maria just finished putting out lunch.

"Hi, Daddy how was your trip?"

"It was fine, princess. Did you have a good holiday?"

"Yes thank you, Daddy I love the truck, its perfect. Thank you again for letting me stay home."

"Your welcome, princess. Lunch looks great."

"Thanks Daddy."

Maria walked into the living room and told Michael lunch was ready.

Over lunch Dom told them about his trip and the things he did. How he went
with Wilton to the pier and all about the new things at the mansion. When he
was finished he went to run his errands. He took his camera with him and had
to find a way to finish that roll of film. He wanted to have it developed
and put the picture of them sleeping into frames. He was going to surprise
them with it when he got back.

Maria cleaned up after lunch and sighed with relief. He hadn't said anything
about seeing them together on the couch. Michael noticed and hugged her.

"I told you everything would be ok."

"Yeah I know ,but it was still weird."

"So what do you want to do today?"

"Well since we feel asleep watching that movie, want to finish watching it?"

"Sure sounds good to me."

They settled in for an afternoon at home waiting for Dom to come home. Maria
knew eventually she was going to get a lecture about what happened. Right at
this moment she didn't care. She was happy to be spending time with Michael.
The movie was just about over when Dom came in.

"Hi Daddy."

"Hi princess how is the movie?"

"It's almost over. We were going to go and grab a burger unless you have
something planned."

"Actually, I have something I want to give the two of you."

Dom handed them each a neatly wrapped package.

"Daddy you didn't have to bring me anything else, you did enough."

"Oh this isn't much, princess. Go ahead open it."

Maria looked at Michael he shrugged. They opened the small boxes and
pulled out a picture frame. In the frame was a picture of them sleeping on
the couch. Maria blushed.

"Daddy I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to fall asleep on the couch. We were watching a movie and I guess just fell asleep."

"It's okay, I understand. You looked so cute there I couldn't help not take a picture."

Maria looked at the picture again and smiled. They did look good together.

"Thank you daddy."

"You're  welcome."

"Well I think I am going to go and do some work now.  You kids have fun."

Maria got up and gave her father a hug. He must be the most understanding man she thought.

Maria leaned against Michael and sighed.

"Thank god that is over. I thought for sure I was going to get a lecture on
why it was wrong."

"I told you everything was going to be ok. It's not like we were doing
anything wrong."

"Well, not yet anyways."

Michael looked at her shocked.

"What? I was kidding, get a life please. I am way to young to even think about kids. I am not even married or even engaged. Not like I would anyways."

Maria though in the back of her mind good save. Someday she did want
children and she hoped they would be with Michael. She hoped he didn't see
through her ramblings. She was only 16 and still a virgin. She knew some
girls that were "easy" and knew when she did finally take that step, she
wanted it to be with someone she loved. She had to get back on track. She needed to worry about the present and not the future. She knew that Michael was still looking at her and she wasn't sure what to say.

"Well lets get out of here I'm tired of sitting around."

"Ok."

Michael was still thinking about what she had said. He had dated some but
had never thought of having sex with any of the girls he went out with. He
knew it wasn't usual for a guy to save himself. He felt he always belonged
to someone else. He knew he had only been dating Maria less than two weeks
but it just felt right. He knew if he were meant to love anyone it was her.
He would gladly wait as long as it took.

Maria and Michael decided to go for a walk through the woods. There wasn't a
lot of snow left and they made their way towards the quarry. During the
summer they would come here and go swimming. As kids they used the old shack
that was there as a clubhouse. The roof leaked some, but otherwise it was in good shape. There was a small table ,an old twin bed, and some other things that they either found, or brought from home.

They spend many a day out here just swimming and having fun. Wistfully
Michael thought that this summer would be bittersweet. At the end of the
summer he would be going away and didn't know if he would ever get to come
back.

Maria picked her way over the rocks and found a place to sit. It was a clear day and she could see the water rippling softly on the surface. She remembered the summer she had gotten hurt out here.

They were all swimming and having a generally good time. They usually were
able to pick out all the safe places to jump and dive in the water. They had
even put up a rope swing. Maria went off the rope swing and missed where she
was supposed to land. She landed on a metal rod that someone had pitched in
the water. It wasn't there the last time they had come here, so nobody knew.

It pierced the skin on her left side and she bled terribly. Michael took his towel and tried to stop the
bleeding. Shawn ran back to get help.

After her accident her periods became pure agony. The doctor put her on
birth control pills to help with it and she has been on them ever since. Her
father didn't like the idea, but it helped her not to suffer.


Michael sat next to her. He knew she was thinking about what had happened.

"You saved me ,remember? I owe you my life."


"If I had checked better, you would have never gotten hurt in the first place."

"You didn't know that someone else came up here and was careless. It doesn't
matter anymore anyway. It was four years ago. One good thing came out of it
anyways, I didn't get the pimples that everyone else got."

Michael laughed. When everyone else was having a crisis over getting a zit,
she always had clear skin. Michael stood up and pulled her with him.

"We better get back, it's getting dark."

"Yeah we can always come back another day. I wanted to check out the
clubhouse anyways."