July 11, 2005 Los Angeles, California

Somehow along the way, a date that started out relatively simple had turned into the second most amazing night of Nick and Tina’s lives. The first, of course, being the night of they met. After quickly dropping their things off in the condo, they headed down the beach toward the Santa Monica pier. The lights from the large Ferris wheel and other businesses were shining brightly and lighting up the sky as they headed toward the pier, making small talk. Once they arrived, they found it was bustling with people, both locals and tourists, but everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Lots of happy couples and teenagers enjoying the evening playing games, riding rides and generally enjoying themselves.  Nick filled Tina about some of his favorite things to do there, one of which was the Playland Arcade.  Although Tina was not big on video games, she indulged Nick's childlike nature and they stopped in for a few old school arcade style games. She liked just watching him laugh and have fun since so much of the time they'd been together had been filled with stress and anger.

They left the arcade and began walking along the pier, Nick's hands stuck in his pockets, Tina's crossed over her chest, both of them itching to reach out for one another; mostly out of habit and partially out of the newness of being together, alone, almost like a real couple.

There was barely a discussion over where they should choose to go for dinner. As soon as Tina spied the red and blue sign with the dancing shrimp advertising a seafood restaurant she had gravitated in that direction and Nick went along quite willingly, having hoped that she would have been up for seafood. It was one of the few things that he knew they both loved. They took a table on the patio that stretched out of over the pacific ocean, it was a beautiful night and the atmosphere was amazing.  They ordered more food than they would ever be able to finish; mussels, clams, scallops, crab legs, lobster, and a large side order of garlic butter for all of them.  By the time they could see the patterns on the plates again were both absolutely stuffed and dreading the short walk back to the condo.

Tina had called to make sure the kids had gotten to bed alright as they were on their way to the pier, and it had prompted them to start sharing stories about them on the way back. While it wasn’t as easy to bridge the gap between the last three years by talking about themselves, they could easily fill some of the holes with anecdotes about their children. What started out as funny stories; Parker’s penchant for singing in the bathtub, and Zoey’s love of colouring on the walls, had turned into a serious discussion about how fast they’d gone from babies to little people looking to them for guidance. The memories caused both parents be hit with a wave of nostalgia of not only what had been, but what could have been. Nick started thinking about his own mistakes when it came to the kids, especially Zoey. He couldn't believe that there was a time when he didn't want another baby, when he actually suggested that Tina put an end to her pregnancy. He couldn't imagine not having Zoey now so he didn't know why he had been so flippant about it when he found out Tina was expecting. Then, to add insult to injury, the fact that it had taken him four days to build up the nerve to hold his own daughter after her birth all the while ignoring his son. Neither of them had ever done anything wrong and he had acted like a selfish prick. Suddenly Nick stopped dead in his tracks, a few feet away from the walk up to the patio door of the condo. The sand was cold underneath his bare feet but he couldn't move. He had spent a lot of time reflecting over the last three years but a lot of it had been justifying his actions to himself. Now though, as if someone suddenly slapped him with clarity, he realized how wrong he'd been.

"Nick?" Tina asked, realizing that he wasn't following her any longer. She turned, barely able to see him in the dim light. The night was very different from the last time they'd walked along the beach, the night they'd met, it was overcast and the moon was hidden well behind a blanket of clouds. He seemed paralyzed, and she could see his chest heaving up and down with every breath, "are you okay?" she asked in a concerned tone, wondering if maybe he'd stepped on something and was hurt. When she reached him she could see tears quickly trailing down his cheeks, his eyes focused down towards the sand. She could see that he was biting the inside of his cheek, a habit of his when he was trying to hold back any kind of emotion whether it be anger, anxiousness or sadness.

Suddenly he looked up into her eyes, "I am so sorry," he whispered, his voice raw, "I wouldn't blame you if you said you couldn't be with me. I can't believe how self centered I've been."

Tina frowned, "Where is this coming from?"

"I don't know," Nick admitted, his hands running through his hair anxiously. He willed himself to move, pushing past Tina towards the condo, running up the steps with her on his heels, "I don't know," he repeated as soon as he reached the door, away from the prying eyes and ears of the neighbours, "it just hit me all of a sudden that I was acting like a spoiled brat and blaming all of my issues on you. Our kids are going to end up in therapy because of me, aren't they?"

Tina sighed and shook her head, "If they end up in therapy it'll be because of us," she corrected him, "I made my fair share of blunders. I've been quite selfish in the last three years--"

"Because I ruined you!" he exclaimed, moving into the house.

Tina followed him through the condo and out the french doors in the master bedroom to the rooftop patio. It was rectangular, one end flanked by a U shaped bench and a small outdoor fireplace, the other side empty save for their camping equipment (no doubt soon to house patio furniture and a barbeque). Nick walked to the end of the patio, taking a seat along the length of one bench, staring out at the beach and the pier still light up with light.

"Let's not ruin this evening, it's been so great," Tina sighed, moving to sit by his feet. She watched him carefully, his tears had stopped but the sad look on his face was still apparent, "Nick you're a good person, I know you are. I knew when I first met you that you were good inside, and I know you tried hard to stay good. I'm not saying you didn't make mistakes because you did, but I'm ready to move on. I can't keep holding this grudge, it's weighing down on me so heavy. I'm so happy to see that you've really come into your own, and part of me thinks that the last three years have actually been really good for you."

"Good for me?" he asked with a spiteful laugh, "do you know what I've gone through the past three years?"

"I don't," she shook her head, "I want to though, I do."

Silence fell over the two of them, Nick still mentally picking apart every mistake he'd ever made and Tina trying to figure out what had changed between leaving the restaurant and now. She could only assume it had to do with talking about Parker and Zoey, but wished she knew exactly what had triggered his revelation.

"I have an idea," she spoke suddenly, patting his bare knee quickly. She ran back into the condo quickly, grabbing paper and crayons from her purse (she was always armed with art supplies in case of emergency) before making her way back to him.

"What's this for?" he wondered, taking a purple crayon out of her hand.

Nick immediately started drawing circles on the page she handed him and Tina smiled. She had never seen him do that before but Parker always did the same thing, as soon as he had a pencil or a crayon he would doodle circles on the page.

"Make a list of demands," she instructed him, "we've had this back and forth fight over whether or not we should be together. You think we're meant to be together and I want you to be right. Write down exactly what you want from me and I'll do the same for you. If there's anything on these lists that we absolutely can't agree on then maybe we're not but if we can agree on everything, like adults, then clearly there's no reason why we shouldn't be together regardless of what is in our past."

The look on his face made it clear that he thought she was nuts. He couldn't help but think how odd it would be to balance their entire future on whether or not they agreed to a list of demands thought up on a whim. Reluctantly he put the piece of paper down on his leg, thinking of what it was that he would absolutely need before they could happily coexist.