Sam woke when he felt the sun come down on his face. He tried to move and felt like his body weighed eight hundred pounds.

“ Shit.”

” Morning, sleepyhead.”

Sam looked over to see Hank on the other couch.

” You stayed the night?”

” Couldn’t let you be alone, Bro.”

” What about the girls?”

” They were renting hotel rooms afterwards.”

” Do I need to worry about what they were doing?”

” Naw. Neither girl has a boyfriend, Sam.”

“ I hope you’re right.”

“ I am. So, how about we get cleaned up, and I take you out for breakfast.”

“ Thanks, Hank.”
 

Whitney came down to the kitchen. Eve was fixing breakfast.

“ Hi Mom.”

” Sweetheart, what do you want in your omelet?”

Whitney looked at the possible ingredients. “ Mushrooms, tomatoes, green pepper and cheddar, please.”

Eve fixed both omelets and they sat down for breakfast.

” Do you think Simone…”, Eve asked.

“ Mom, I know you were worried about them renting a hotel room, and I know she’s serious about Reese, but I don’t think so. I think she just wanted to have a good time.”

” Whitney, do you think she has protection?”

Whitney almost choked on her food. “ Mom, um, even if I knew the answer, I doubt I’ll tell you.”

” That’s fair. She’s just so young..”

“ Mom, we’re both adults.”

“ You’ll always be my babies.”

“ I know. Mom, what about our trip?”

Eve got up and left the kitchen. When she returned, she handed the folder to Whitney. Whitney read it. “ Mom, this sounds absolutely fabulous! How did you find the time to plan all of this?”

” I didn’t. It’s a gift, from Julian.”

” Julian Crane?”

“ Yes.”

Whitney put down the folder. “ Mom, do you want to tell me about you and Mr. Crane. First, he was in the house with you, and now, our trip is courtesy of him?”

“ Julian is a friend, Whitney.”

” Mother, I wasn’t born yesterday.”

” I didn’t think that you were.”

” Are you in a relationship with Mr. Crane? Are you trying to find a way to tell Simone and me?”

” No. I’m not in a relationship with ANYONE, Whitney. I’m still a married woman. Julian and I are FRIENDS. If something happens, in the future, I’m not against it. But, for now, all I can deal with is being your mother, and trying to heal from the breakup of my marriage. I…I thought you liked Julian?”

“ I am thankful to him because he saved my life, but I remember all of Daddy’s hatred towards him.”

” Like I told you before, Whitney. Your father’s gone, and there are new rules for this house. One of them being – Julian Crane is NOT the Anti-Christ.”

” Ok, Mom. I didn’t want you to get defensive. It’s ok. So….how about my grandparents? Are we going to meet them?”

Eve looked at Whitney. “ I…I never thought this would be such a big deal to you and Simone.”

“ You tell us that we have grandparents, and wonder why we want to meet them?”

“ Whitney, my parents…..I…I just don’t want your expectations to be too high.”

“ Mom, I know that they hurt you, but it’s been over twenty years. Maybe things have changed.”

” Maybe, they haven’t.”

” I have to risk that. I’m sure about this, Mom. I want to meet my grandparents.”

Eve shook her head. “ Alright. I’ll think about it some more.”
 

Grace twisted in her bed and heard a knock on the door.

” Come in?”

“ Hey Grace. Just thought you’d need some breakfast.” TC brought in a tray and set it down on the bed.

” TC….how did I get here?”

” You fell asleep downstairs, and I brought you upstairs and put you into bed.”

” Thank you. And, thank you for last night. I didn’t want to be alone.”

” Neither did I. We helped one another.”

There was an awkward silence between the two, and then TC spoke up. “ Well, I just wanted to make sure you had a nice breakfast to start the day.”

” TC, thanks.”

” You’re welcome.”
 

Simone woke up, but didn’t move. She smiled as she felt the protective arm of Reese holding her close. She was glad that they had pooled their money together and gotten one of the best suites of the Harmony Hotel. There were two bedrooms, and more couches for everyone. They’d spent the time after Prom having a great time, just talking about life, eating pizza, Chinese food and junk, playing Monopoly and other games, and watching movies. They hadn’t gone to bed until around five.

“ You awake?”, Reese asked, kissing Simone’s head.

” Yeah.” Simone turned to face Reese. “ Reese?”

” Yes, Baby?”

” I’m glad we only ‘slept’ together. I mean..”

“ I know what you mean. You’re right. It was good that we could be together without having the sex muddle it up. Not that I didn’t want to, but I didn’t want to spoil a fabulous evening.”

” It was fun, wasn’t it?”

” Great times. What time is it?”

” A quarter to eleven.”

” Man. Well, you go shower first, and I’ll try and get everyone else up. I’m psyched my dad rented the stretch limo for us. I told the guy to be downstairs at noon.”

” Ok.” Simone kissed Reese and went into the bathroom.

Reese went out into the living room. “ Wake up, guys!”

“ Reese! Shut up!”

” Kay, get up. We have to get this place semi-cleaned up, and ourselves cleaned up. It’s almost eleven and check out is at noon.”

“ I got the third bathroom!”, Jessica yelled as she ran past Kay.

” Help me clean up, Kay.”

” Why do I have to?”, Kay whined.

“ Because it has to be done.” Kay helped Reese straighten things up.

” Reese?”

” Yeah, Kay.”

” I’m glad you and Simone found one another. You both deserve something good.”

” Thanks Kay….um, Kay?”

” Yes, Reese?”

” I wish you’d realize you could do far better than Miguel.”

Reese didn’t wait for Kay to respond; he went in to take his shower.

Everyone got dressed and were ready right before noon. They all left the room in pretty good shape, and once they got downstairs, the limo was ready. They all went back to the Durke house, where Mr. Durke had put out a large breakfast buffet. They spent the afternoon eating and joking, enjoying these final times together until school let out.