No matter how long she worked as a ME, the one thing she didn't think she could ever get used to was the late night calls. Before the Jimmie incident, it was the sleep she missed the most, but now she didn't sleep often. Any little noise woke her up, which is why she was wide awake when her phone rang earlier about a recent murder.

She threw a dark-colored knitted sweater on over the white tank top she had slept in and changed into a pair of pants after slipping off her pajama bottoms. She grabbed a coat by the door, slipped on a pair of flats and wrapped a scarf around her neck, then was out the apartment door with her bag.

When she stepped out into the dark night, she paused for a minute to glance around, taking in her surrounds. This was why she hated late night calls now, she hated going out into the night. Once the sun set, there were too many shadows, too many places to hide, and with her out in the open she felt exposed.

She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to ward off the chill. She told herself repeatedly that everything was okay, he wasn't out here waiting for her. Once she felt a little more sure about everything, she finally stepped away from the apartment building and began to walk to her car.

Minutes later, she arrived at the scene, seeing a few officers standing at the entrance to a park. She parked her dark-colored SUV beside one of the many cop cars parked on the side, their lights flashing. After exiting the car, she made her way over toward the small group near the crime scene tape and showed them her credentials, then slipped under the yellow tape.

She walked down a small pathway, getting closer to a small crowd of cops and the detectives on the case, which happened to be Danny and his partner. She came to a stop by a black bench, seeing a middle-aged man's body laying on the ground behind it.

"Hey, Little Bit." Danny turned to see her standing near the body.

"Hey, Danny Boy," Noelle said back.

"You know, I dunno if I can get used to seeing you on cases. When I look at you, I still see that little girl wanting to play doctor."

"Ha, you two use to play doctor?" his partner, Jackie, asked with a laugh.

"No, her and my kid brother," Danny answered. He quickly introduced the two, explaining to his partner that Noelle was an old family friend and was very close to his younger brother.

"Not bad." Jackie nodded.

"No, it wasn't like that." Noelle laughed, knowing she was getting the wrong idea from his comment before. "We really played doctor."

"I dunno, he was shirtless a lot," Danny said back.

"I had to check for wounds!" Noelle exclaimed.

"You were checking something alright," Danny teased her.

Noelle shook her head and rolled her eyes at the comment, then with a slight chuckle, said, "Don't you think we should get to the body?"

"Yeah, yeah, what can you tell us?"

Getting to work, she opened her bag and pulled out a small flashlight and set of gloves. She glanced down at the body as she slipped the gloves on and turned the light on.

"Right off the bat, I see a knife wound in the abdomen area. Looks like a pretty deep cut from here and I would guess was the fatal blow." She pointed toward the man's hands and wrist with the light. "Also some superficial cuts there, probably from trying to stop the attacker."

She squatted down beside the body, getting a closer look at the cut on his stomach. "And from the location of the wound, if I had to guess, I would say your killer is short."

"How short?" Jackie questioned.

"Around my height maybe," she guessed.

"So we're looking for a midget?" Danny joked.

Noelle snapped her head up to look at him, shooting him a playful glare. "Watch it, Reagan. Don't make me shoot you with your own gun."

Jackie let out a loud laugh. "I like her."

"That's great. You can carry her in your pocket later," he sarcastically said to his partner. When Noelle shot him another look, he flashed her his trademark smirk.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Jackie questioned, getting them back to the reason they were there.

Noelle looked over the body again, mostly at the deep cut. "I could be wrong, but I think your killer could be female." She looked up at the detectives, then looked back down at the body as she pointed at the cut with the flashlight. "The cut is deep, but could be a lot deeper if done by someone with more upper body strength, which could point to female."

Standing up, she pulled the gloves off. "But this is just a guess for now, I'll be able to tell more once I get the body at the lab and start examining more."

"When will that be?" Danny asked.

"As soon as Will gets here and we get the body wrapped and loaded," she answered, referring to one of her co-workers.

"I'm going to go question the witness that found the body," Jackie offered. "You want to talk to the first officers on the scene?" she asked her partner.

Danny nodded his head, saying he would. She told Noelle it was nice to meet her, then began to walk over to the side to talk to the homeless woman who discovered the dead man.

As Noelle slipped out her cell phone to text her co-worker, Danny spoke up, "Hey, you coming over to the house tomorrow for the party? It's Jack's birthday."

"Oh, wow, it is his birthday tomorrow. I can't believe I forgot," she said, feeling bad that she didn't remember sooner. "Is it at your dad's house?"

"Yeah. It's just a small family get together. We're doing pizza and cake." A smirk appeared on his face. "I know one kid that would love for you to show." He was referring to his kid brother, but he couldn't help but wonder if she would pick up on that or if she'll play dumb.

Apparently, she was going to do the latter.

"Tell Jack I wouldn't miss it."

"We'll see you then," he said, patting the top of her head when he walked past her to go speak to the officers on the scene.

She watched him as he walked away, for a brief moment she wondered to herself if he meant his son or Jamie would be the one excited for her showing up.

She couldn't deny that she hoped he meant the latter, but she couldn't get caught up on that. He was engaged and her friend, plus she was in the middle of her job. She needed to give her all to the man who was murdered, she needed to learn his story.

•••

Next day, after a few hours of sleep, she woke up to a text from Linda, inviting her to go to the zoo with her and the kids. She told her that both boys really wanted her to come. She smiled at the text, then wrote her back, telling her she needed to visit her parents, but she would meet up with them at the Central Park zoo later.

After the night she had, she needed something fun and light. She spent hours examining the body, then called Danny to tell him what she had found. An hour after that he was arresting the killer, a female, just like she told him.

With the text sent, she grabbed a blue and white striped top and a pair of blue jeans, then showered. Minutes later, she was leaving her apartment and heading for her parent's house. She was pleased to see that her mom was having a good day and the two could reminisce about the past without her mother being stuck in it.

Later, while her father grilled some burger for them, she laid in her mother's bed and watched a few movies with her. It was something they did when she was young and she was sick, her mother would lay in bed with her and watch Disney movies with her until she felt better.

She ate lunch with her parents, then while her mother rested, she had coffee and cookies with her father. She checked the time on her phone, seeing that it was close to four in the afternoon and realized she needed to leave soon. She hated leaving while her mom was having a good day, but her father pointed out that she would be sleeping for the rest of the afternoon anyway.

He ushered her to the door, then handed her a wrapped box, a present he had bought for Jack. He told her to go have fun, then he gave her a tender kiss on top of her head and told her bye.

She promised him she would visit soon, then she left her childhood home to head for the zoo. She lowered her eyebrows in concern as she began to see checkpoints the closer she got to Manhattan.

She saw several officers checking out dark-colored SUV's, they were looking under them, inside them and talking to anyone inside the vehicle. She wasn't all that surprised when a cop motioned for her to pull over and park behind other SUV's waiting to be checked, of course, she had to be driving the type of vehicle they were looking for.

She did as she was instructed, then switched the engine off, but kept the car on to run the air. She nervously tapped her fingers against the steering wheel as she thought about all the different scenarios that would result in a police check. Was there a kidnapping or a fugitive on the run? Although she figured there would have been a report if it was one of those reasons.

As much as she hated to think about it, her mind went back to when she was taken. Spencer had told her afterward about all the police checkpoints that were out as they searched for Jimmie's van that she was tied up in. He wanted her to know that there were people looking for her, he wanted her to know he never gave up on finding her.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't see a cop approach the driver side window, until she heard a light tap on the glass. She jumped slightly and snapped her head to the side with wide eyes. She blew out a sigh of relief when she saw it was Jamie.

Noelle rolled down the window. "Hey, what's going on?" She swallowed hard, feeling a nervous pit in her stomach. "Was-Was someone taken?"

"No, it's a car bomb threat." Jamie glanced inside the car, making it look like he was checking her vehicle while he quietly spoke to her.

"Oh, my god. In Manhattan?" she questioned.

"It could be. I don't know, I haven't been told a lot," he said. "Renzulli and I were just sent here to help out with the checkpoints."

"That's the disadvantage of being on the bottom," she began to say. "They don't really tell you much, they just give orders and expect you to follow them blindly."

"Right," he said with a slight chuckle. "So where are you coming from? Your parents?"

"Yeah, and was on my way to meet Linda..." She paused for a minute, then gasped. "Oh my god, Linda! I was supposed to meet her and the boys at the zoo. Did they make it back home?"

"I don't know. Last I heard Danny hasn't been able to get in touch with her."

"I should go look-"

"No," Jamie interrupted her, knowing what she was going to suggest. She wanted to go further into the city, where a car bomb could be anywhere, but he couldn't agree with that plan, he would never agree to something like that. He wanted his sister-in-law and nephews safe, but he needed to know she was safe as well.

"But, Jamie, they could be out there and have no idea what is going on-"

"I know. I get it, Nol, trust me, but I can't let you pass through and go into the city," he said, cutting her off again.

"You can't let me?" she questioned. "Are you going cop on me, Jamie?"

"That didn't come out right." He shook his head. "Look, I'm asking you...begging actually, please Nol, just turn around and go. You can go back to your parents, okay? Just anywhere but the city."

She looked at him for a moment, seeing how worried he was; for her safety, for his and everyone else's. Finally, she gave him a nod. "You'll keep me updated?"

"Yeah, I'll keep you updated," he promised.

"Okay."

"Okay." He smiled at her, relieved that she listened to him and was staying away from the city.

He tapped the top of the car, signaling that he was done checking the car, then told her he would call her later before he backed up and kept the road clear for her to turn around and head back in the direction she just came from.

She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw him walk over to another vehicle to check it, before looking back at the road. She had only been driving a few minutes when she heard her cell phone ringing.

She kept her eyes on the road as she reached over to the passenger seat to dig into her purse to grab the ringing device. She didn't even glance at the screen as she answered the call, thinking it might be Jamie calling her already.

She lowered her eyebrows in confusion when she heard some static on the other end before the call was dropped. She was about to look at the caller id until the phone began to ring again. A quick look at the screen told her it was Danny, making her assume it was him the first time too.

"Please tell me you are with Linda," he asked as soon as she answered the call.

"I wish I could," Noelle said. "I was on my way to meet up with her and the boys when I went through a checkpoint."

"Damn it," he quietly swore over the phone.

"Jamie said you can't get in touch with her," she said.

"No, it keeps going to voicemail." He rubbed his forehead in frustration. "She probably forgot to plug it up last night again. The damn battery's so old it won't hold a charge."

"I offered to go find her-"

"No."

She breathed out a chuckle. "What is it with you bossy Reagans? Jamie said the same thing. He told me I should go back to my parent's house."

"You should listen to the kid," he said. "But you can do one thing for me, keep trying to call her. I know it might be pointless, but maybe-"

"I'll do it," Noelle said. "And when I get back to the house, I'll look up the number for the zoo and see if they can page her or something."

"Thank you, Little Bit." He sighed.

"Hey, Danny..." she softly said, hearing how tired and frustrated he sounded.

"Yeah?"

"It's going to be okay."

A small smile appeared on his face for a brief moment. "From your lips to God's ears, Little Bit."

"Amen to that," she breathed out.

After ending the call, she dialed Linda's number, but like Danny, all she got was her voicemail. She let out a sigh as she tossed her phone into the passenger seat. She felt hopeless, everyone she cared about could be in danger and there was nothing she could do about it but wait and hoped it all ended well.

For a moment she couldn't help but wonder if this was the way Spencer felt so many months ago and she had no doubt her family and friends would have felt the same way if they had known, making her relieved to know they didn't know. This was not a feeling she would want them to feel.

As she pulled back into her parent's driveway, she said a silent prayer, hoping everyone would be okay.

•••

Jamie kept his word and sent her several text messages throughout the day to keep her updated on everything. The bomber ended up being a woman who could have passed for a soccer mom and was let through the checkpoint. She had her son with her and had planned to meet up with her husband at Washington Square Park and set off the bomb so they all could end up in a 'beautiful place' together. Danny played a huge role in stopping her and the bomb squad was about to defuse the bomb, everything ended up okay, just the way she had prayed.

It was hours later after his tour that Jamie arrived at her house. She was sitting in the family room playing cards with her parents when there was a knock at the door. She laid her cards down on the coffee table, then stood up to leave the room and answer the door. A smile appeared on her face when she saw it was Jamie on the other side.

He was in the middle of telling her hey when she threw herself into his arms, slightly knocking him off guard as she hugged him tightly. He let out a chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her to hug her back, the two silently held each other for a moment.

"Sorry," Noelle mumbled out an apology as she took a step back, ending the hug. "I didn't mean- I'm just glad you're okay, that everyone is okay. Today could have gone completely the other way."

"Yeah, we were all lucky." Jamie stepped into the house and turned to shut the front door. He turned back to look at her with a smile on his face. "But, hey, don't ever apologize for hugging me."

"I wasn't apologizing for hugging you. I was apologizing for basically attacking you." She laughed and saw him shrug his shoulders like it was no big deal. "Although you're probably used to girls throwing themselves at you, right? I remember how it was in high school and I'm sure it's worse now with the uniform."

He shook his head, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"Oh, hey, you remember that girl in high school? The one who had that huge crush on you? She would follow us around everywhere."

"Yeah, her name was, Sara, right?" he questioned.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I remember you felt so bad, that you finally took her out so you could let her down gently." Even as a teenager he was always sweet and considerate of others, one of the many reasons she fell for him at a young age.

"Yeah, then a week later she was chasing another guy." He laughed. "I was easily replaced, I guess."

"You can never be replaced, Jamie Reagan," she said honestly.

He smiled at her comment, catching her eyes as he thought the same about her. The two continued to stare at each other, different emotions and thoughts going through their heads until they heard footsteps heading toward them.

"Jamie!" her mother, Evie, said happily when she saw him standing by the door.

"Hey, Mrs. Kelley." He smiled and gave her a hug.

"Psh, Mrs. Kelley?" She kissed his cheek, then pulled back to look at him. "What did I tell you about calling me that," she teased.

"Sorry, Evie." He laughed as she kissed his cheek again.

"Yes, Evie or you can call me Mama Kelley." She pinched his cheeks. "Do you remember when you were a little boy and you use to call me Mama Kelley?"

"I remember," Jamie said, glancing over at Noelle and her father, from the smiles on their faces he knew that meant that Evie was having a good day and in the present with them.

"Come, come, let's go sit." Evie grabbed his hands. "We're playing a game. You can play with us and then we'll make some cookies. Chocolate chip, your favorite."

"I would love to, but we have a birthday party to go to," he said, referring to himself and Noelle. He glanced over at Byron for a moment, then looked back at Evie. "You two can come too if you want. It's just a small family get together, but you know you two are always invited."

"I appreciate the invitation," Byron spoke up before his wife could. "But it's been a long day, I think we better sit this one out."

"Oh, honey, no, I think we should go," Evie argued with her husband. "I don't want to miss little Jamie's birthday."

"No, Evie, it's not my birthday, it's Jack's," Jamie corrected her.

"Who's Jack?" She looked at each of them, her memory started to slip. "I-I don't know a Jack." Her confusion starting to upset her. She turned to look at her husband. "Do I know Jack?"

Jamie glanced over at Noelle for a moment, seeing the concern look on her face as she watched her mother getting even more agitated and upset at not remembering. She was having such a good day, then in a flash, it was over.

He looked back at the older woman, laying his hands on her shoulders to get her attention and hopefully calm her down. "Shh, it's okay, Evie, I didn't mean to say Jack, I meant to say..."

"Joe?" Evie guessed when he paused to think of a name. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach when she said his deceased brother's name.

With a forced smile, he lied, "Yeah, Joe. It's Joe's birthday."

"Tell your brother I said happy birthday." Evie smiled. "And tell him to come see me soon, I haven't seen him in a while. I'll make him some of those brownies he loves."

"We'll tell him, Mom." Noelle walked over to Jamie, seeing how hard all of this was for him. "We should get going now though, okay?"

"Okay, sweetie, just don't forget your curfew," Evie said to her daughter as she hugged her. She smiled at her mom, then felt her face fall as she looked over at her dad. He gave her a hug, telling her not to worry, he'll give her mother her medicine and get her to rest more, then everything will be okay.

After telling her parents bye, she grabbed Jamie's arm and began to lead him outside. She glanced over at him for a minute as the two walked side by side before she asked him if he was okay.

"Yeah, I just-I didn't expect that to happen," he said. "She was fine one minute, then slipped into the past the next, it happened so fast."

"Yeah, it does," she softly said, coming to a stop by her car. "I'm sorry about that though, I know it had to be hard hearing about Joe."

"It's okay." He shook his head. He knew she didn't mean anything by it. He was more worried about his friend, it had to be hard witnessing a parent going through something like that.

The two were quiet for a moment, then they got into their separate cars, not wanting to be late for the party. She followed Jamie one street over to his childhood home and parked behind him in front of the house. She stepped out of her car as he did, seeing him holding a few pizza boxes. When she saw that he was about to drop one, she rushed over to him and quickly grabbed it.

"Let me guess, that one's yours and you're gonna make the rest of us fight over the other two," he joked, causing her to playfully kick him in the butt before the two walked toward the door laughing.

"Pizza pie! Get it while it's hot!" Jamie announced as they made their way inside the house, where most of the Reagans were; minus Danny, Linda and the kids.

Noelle sat down the pizza in her hand, then began to go around the room hugging everyone as Danny arrived. She gave him a big hug and felt him kiss the side of her head as he thanked her for trying to help him earlier with Linda.

"Thank me? I didn't do anything. You did though and you deserve all the thanks," she said back. "From what I hear you were amazing today, Danny."

"Ah, hail the conquering hero!" Henry said, hugging Danny next.

"You wouldn't know it from the ass-chewing I just got from my sergeant, the ESU sergeant, the SWAT team, the task force." He grabbed a beer.

"You did good, son," Frank spoke up. "If you got your ass chewed, you deserved it."

"Thanks, Dad." Danny glanced around the room. "Where's Linda and the kids?"

"She'll be here," Erin said as she set the table.

As if on cue, they heard the door open, followed by Linda calling out to them. Everyone greeted her and the kids, wishing Jack a happy birthday, and giving out hugs. Danny's other son Sean ran over to Noelle, holding out a bag of pink cotton candy.

"Hey, Noelle, we got you this," he said, referring to himself and his brother.

"Thanks, guys," she said happily as she took the bag from him. "I love cotton candy."

"And popcorn, and Cracker Jacks, and-"

"We get it, Jams. No need to make a list," she cut off her friend with a laugh.

As the other Reagans laughed at the friends, Linda looked over at her. "Hey, what happened to you today?"

"I'm sorry, I meant to meet up with you all, but I..." She glanced around the room at the other family members, realizing they didn't want her to reveal what happened that day. They didn't want to scare the kids or ruin Jack's birthday, she had no doubt Danny would fill her in on everything later.

She looked back at Linda. "I got caught up."

Linda nodded her head in understanding, then looked around the room in confusion, between the looks on everyone's faces and the way Danny was clinging to her, she knew something had happened that day. She asked them what was going on, but everyone quickly answered that everything was okay as they began to sit down at the table and ask how the zoo was.

"Mom, can I eat on the back porch?" Jack asked.

"Uh, Frank?" Linda looked over at him.

"I didn't make up the rules for dinner." Frank looked over at his father, waiting for him to answer.

"Well, on Sundays we always eat at the dinner table. But on birthday Saturdays, anything goes," Henry said. When the kids jumped up, he added, "But...after grace."

As the others began to talk, Jamie leaned over toward his friend sitting beside him. "So are you going to share the cotton candy?"

"Nope." Noelle hugged the bag against her chest and shot him a look. "And I'm not letting it out of my sight either. We're not gonna have a repeat of the Cracker Jack's incident."

"You still think I took it?" A chuckle escaped his lips.

"I know you did. You can't be trusted around snacks," she joked.

"You can never prove that." He placed a birthday hat on top of her head, then laughed when she flashed him a funny face.

The two friends were lost in their own little world until Frank spoke up, saying there was something he wanted to say.

He waited until he had everyone's attention. "We all went our separate ways this morning, and we all expected to return to our family to celebrate this wonderful young man's birthday." He paused to smile over at his grandson. "And here we are. And I feel very blessed and fortunate for that."

Noelle smiled at his words, her eyes landing on each family member; like Frank, she felt blessed and fortunate to be sitting with the Reagans again like she did so many times in the past. It was moments like these that she thought about when she felt like she couldn't go on when it was getting too hard to fight Jimmie, these moments are what gave her the strength to keep fighting.

As Frank asked Jamie to say grace, she glanced over at her friend for a minute, then lowered her head, saying her own private prayer as she thanked the lord for getting her back here- for getting her home.

•••

After many pizza slices and tons of laughs, Danny and his family went home, while Erin had a drink with her father and grandfather. Jamie grabbed the rest of the cake and two forks, then nodded toward the back door, inviting Noelle to go sit on the porch with him. She smiled and gave him a nod before the two made their way outside.

She walked past all the other chairs and went to her favorite place to sit, the wooden porch swing, although it could be called a bed since it was about as big and comfortable as one.

She laid back against the many pillows then kicked her foot, making it slowly swing back and forth. She looked out into the backyard like she had done so many times before in the past. This was one of her all-time favorite places in the world, a place she had always felt so safe.

"Scoot over." Jamie plopped down beside her and laid the cake in between them, then handed her a fork. The two were quiet for a moment as they took a few bites of the cake. He looked out over the yard- like she did earlier- before breaking the silence.

"Today turned out to be a good day."

"Mm-hm." Noelle took another bite of cake. "I'm not going to lie though, there were times I was worried."

"So was I." He turned his head to look at her. "But here we are."

"Yeah, here we are," she softly said back as he continued to stare at her. She didn't know if she was imagining things or not, but she could almost swear he was looking at her in a way she always dreamed he would, but in a flash, it was gone and he looked away.

She glanced down at the cake for a minute, telling herself she was just seeing things. She cleared her throat, then to fill the silence, asked, "So, other than the bomb threat, how was your day at work?"

"I arrested a hot dog," he simply said while she took another bite of cake, almost spitting it out.

"Seriously?" She laughed. "Were you that hungry, Jams?"

"Shut up." He laughed along with her. "It was this guy in a costume. I thought Renzulli was just screwing with me, but the guy did have a stash of illegal prescription drugs on him."

"Wow, good job, Jams." She held up her fork for him to hit his with as a way to 'toast' him. "You are cleaning up the streets, one weenie at a time."

"I knew I shouldn't have told you," he complained as he laid back against the swing.

"Maybe next time you'll get lucky and it'll be a pig in a blanket," she joked, ignoring his comment.

"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up."

She let out a laugh, then looked down at him. "You know I'm just kidding with you. I really am proud of you, Jamie. I have no doubt you really are making a difference out there."

"Thanks, Nol." He flashed her a smile.

"You're welcome," she said back with a smile of her own. "Besides, I got to say, it was kinda cool seeing you on the job today."

She bit her bottom lip for a moment, her mind wandering back to earlier that day and how he looked in his uniform. She didn't think about it much at the time with everything going on, but now that things worked out in the end, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about it. But those were thoughts she couldn't speak out loud.

"Yeah, speaking of that, I'm sorry if I seemed bossy with you," Jamie said, pulling her away from her naughty thoughts.

She cleared her throat, then looked over at him and shook her head. "It's okay, I understand. I'm sorry I was being difficult."

"You're always difficult, so I barely noticed," he joked, causing her to playfully punch his shoulder. He let out a laugh and rubbed his shoulder. "It's fine. I know you were worried about Linda and the boys, I was too, but I was also worried about you, Nol. I feel like I finally got you back, and I'm not looking to lose you again."

Her face fell for a moment as she thought about how close he did come to losing her and he didn't even know it. Sometimes she felt like confiding in him, telling him everything that happened; something Spencer had been pushing her to do since it happened, but another part of her couldn't do it. She didn't think she could handle going back there and reliving what happened just yet.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he questioned when he saw the look on her face. One minute she was happy and laughing, and the next she had that terrified look on her face, the one he had noticed several times since she moved back.

At his question, she plastered a smile on her face, then turned her head to look at him, a little surprised to see he had moved closer to her. She shook her head, then said, "Nothing. Just thinking about close calls, you know?"

"Yeah, but then moments like this happen, you know?" he said back. "Sitting here with a good friend, celebrating birthdays, and being surrounded by family."

"That is true." She smiled. "And it was a good birthday. I think Jack had a great time."

"I think so too." He nodded. He was quiet for a moment in thought. "Hey, you know what it reminds me of? My eleventh birthday. Remember that? Mom had taken you and me to the zoo."

"Yeah, then we went out for ice cream sundaes afterward."

"Of course you'd remember the food part," he joked.

"Ha-ha," she said sarcastically. She glanced down at the cake between them, an idea- correction, an evil idea, popped into her head. "You know, all this talk about your eleventh birthday reminds me of mine. One part in particular."

When he turned his head to ask her which part, she grabbed a chunk of cake and smashed it in his face. His mouth dropped open as he looked over at her in surprise, seeing that she was laughing out loud about what she had done to him.

"You're gonna pay for that, Nol," he playfully threatened as he grabbed some cake to get her back.

Seeing what he was doing, she threw up her hands to stop him, but when she realized that was pointless, she used them to cover her face, then felt him slam the cake on top of her head, smashing it into her hair. She let out a squeal of laughter and tried to grab more cake to throw at him, but as soon as she moved her hands, he had already grabbed more and smashed it in her face.

The two went back and forth a few times, then found themselves in a compromising situation. She didn't know when it happened, one minute cake was flying, then the next she was laid back against the swing with him hovering above her, reminding them both of something else that happened at her eleventh birthday party; their first kiss.

Jamie didn't know what came over him as he laid a hand on the side of her face, cupping her cheek. Seeing a smudge of chocolate icing on her bottom lip, he lightly ran his thumb over her lip to remove it. He had to force himself to hold back a groan when he saw her tongue dart out to lick the lip he just touched.

He stared down at her lips, his breathing labored like hers, then he glanced up to look into her eyes until he heard his cell phone ringing. He quickly jumped back and felt a bit of guilt when he saw it was his fiancée. Nothing happened, but for a brief moment, a small part of him thought about it. He knew he couldn't have those kinds of thoughts though, not about her- not his best friend.

He stood up from the swing, motioning toward the phone. "It's Syd. I should take this."

"Right, yeah, right." She jumped up and subconsciously ran a hand through her hair, pulling a chunk of cake from it. She cleared her throat, willing her heart to stop racing. "I should get going anyways."

"You don't have to leave," he said, feeling like if she left now, he might not see her for a while. He couldn't help but feel like she was pulling away from him- like she was distancing herself because of what just happened. He couldn't blame her though, it probably embarrassed her or made her uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I do." She nodded toward the still ringing phone. "You should talk to your fiancée."

She saw him glance at the phone, then looked back at her, like for a moment he was torn on what to do, but she was going to make the choice easy for him.

Giving him a small smile, she softly said, "Goodbye, Jamie."

Without another word, she turned to walk down the porch stairs, ignoring him as he called out her name, and circled the house to get to her car. She had a feeling Henry and Frank would not be happy about her tracking cake into the house.

As she walked to her car she thought about what happened earlier, but as much as she liked it, she knew it couldn't happen ever again. Jamie is her best friend- her engaged best friend- and even though she had never been a fan of Sydney she was not that kind of girl.

She slid behind the wheel of her car and knew what she had to do, she had to back off. She needed to stop hanging out with him so much, especially alone, before something did happen and he regretted it because she knew he would.

They just got caught up in the moment, but she knew where his heart really lies, it was with Sydney. She knew that is who he loved, he was marrying her for crying out loud. He did not have feelings like that for her, he never would, and she just needed to keep reminding herself of that. She'll just have to push her feelings aside and just be his friend, and lucky for her she had years of practice doing just that.

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A/N; Hey all, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. Thank you to everyone reading!

Happy reading!
xx