I couldn't say how much longer it was on the plane, but it wasn't too much longer. Then came the unboarding. And then we were free to walk the streets of France. It was as I remembered it, logically I knew it would be, but there were doubts in the back of my mind.

Tatiana and Emily went their separate ways once they had the clear, Dylan and I were trying to figure out how long we wanted the surprise to last. We had two options, call mom and tell her we were here and see if she could pick us up, or walk to a main road and call a taxi and surprise her at her house. 

Option two won. 

The distance wasn't far, but Dylan made it unbearable which wasn't too much of a surprise. He enjoys complaining, it's one of his favorite pastimes.

Soon enough we came to the main road and flagged a taxi.

"Merci monsieur." Dylan said as the driver drove away.

I started going through my wallet to make sure I'd have enough to pay for our ride and a tip.

"Où ça?" the driver asked not taking his eyes off the road.

"The closest train station." Dylan answered before shifting in his seat.

"C'est bizarre d'être de retour," I told him "but I've missed it a lot."

"I know how you feel," he paused. "Do you think they will be welcoming."

Then it was my turn to pause, "Well, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. But yeah I think they'll be welcoming."

"And if you're wrong?"

"We'll worry about that later."

***

The car came to a stop at the station and I paid the driver. Dylan chose to take care of the tip and we both walked up to the ticket machine and put in the city we needed to get to. They had a house in the countryside in one of the neighboring cities of Paris. He pulled his French card from his wallet. "I'll take care of the train."

I stood back and let him buy the tickets. He got the tickets and we both found a booth and waited for the train.

The train pulled up at some point, I lost track of time and didn't care enough to try and figure it out. We boarded on and found a seat in the middle, rather than in the complete front, or the complete back. 

The train pulled out of the station and the nerves were starting to build up. I think Dylan was starting to get the same way based on how he was starting to look red. "That's dad." he whispered. He moved his head back to show me where without pointing. 

"Just stay hidden." I whispered back, sinking down in my seat.

"You're acting like a child," he replied. "Never thought I'd see it. I should record this for proof."

"Whatever, didn't think I was too old to have fun but okay." I pulled myself up, so I was sitting in the seat. 

"Hey, I didn't say that. Actually you kind of do with you're uptight attitude."

"Better than sneaking in your brothers' house to watch tv."

"That was one time!"

"Yeah, on a non-consecutive 24hr scale."

He shrugged, "Well, one time I didn't break in I just never left."

"Still counts."

"No it doesn't because then, I don't get the one extra hour on the 24hr scale."

"I changed my lock so have fun." I replied.

"Windows are glass." he said, without a moment's hesitation.

"If you break my windows, you're going to find a lot of medical problems on your record."

"Damn. Okay I won't touch your windows." 

After a while longer, and several other conversations that didn't involve the use of threats, or window breaking we pulled to a stop. The train pulled up at the station and we both got out of our seats. We walked behind those who boarded in the front, and soon enough we were walking on the platform. 

"Well, we could do this like old times, and just walk to the house." Dylan suggested. 

"Let's do that." I agreed, And we were on our way to the final destination.

We walked on the side of the road. It wasn't too far from the station so we were there in fifteen minutes. We walked up to the house and paused. Dylan knocked on the door, and we waited.

After a moment's wait, the door opened revealing our mom. She was in a plain black dress. "You're here, are you really here?" her voice was in a higher pitch than usual and the guilt began to creep up on me. 

"Yeah, mom, we're really here." Dylan wrapped her in a hug. It was a short-lived hug, then she turned to me. 

She wrapped her arms around me into a tight hug and let go after a few moments. "I'm so glad you're here. Let's go inside." 

We weren't going to argue, so we walked inside the house where I spent the last years of my youth. Dylan walked in before me, I followed behind him and took in the surroundings. Not much had changed but in a way so much had. There was a certain amount of nostalgia.  A mixture of warmth and certainty, but with a hint of deep-rooted hurt and a small portion of ambiguity.

The first thing, when you walk into their house, is that they definitely have money. Or at least went in debt trying to appear they had money. But in their case it was the former. 

"So why are you here?" she asked once we came to the living room. 

"We've been thinking about visiting and finally found the right time." Dylan took a seat after answering. I sat down on the other side of the room. 

Mom took a seat in the chair in between the both of us, "Well, I'm so glad you did." she paused. "I've missed you two a lot."

Sorry for the boring filler chapter...