"Sophia! I know you're a big girl, but please stay close," Gen called as she walked down the path. She was holding an oversized picnic basket in her hands and wishing she'd thought to bring a wagon or something.

The younger girl, who was about 500 feet ahead of her, stopped and began spinning in circles, letting her pink sundress billow out around her while she waited for Gen to catch up.

"Come on slowpoke," she said when they began walking together. "We don't want to miss the whole game!"

"Sophia, we still have 20 minutes until it starts," Gen told her with a sigh. Her phone beeped and she resituated the basket in one hand so she could read her text.

It was from Jeremy.

- Where are you guys?

Gen came to a stop so she could respond, setting the basket down on the ground by her feet.

- Easy tiger, give us 5

"Gen!" Sophia shouted again before continuing down the path. With an audible groan, Gen put her phone away, picked up the basket, and quickly followed Sophia.

It was a Thursday afternoon in July and Gen had taken the day off work, wanting to spend some time with Sophia. Ann and Charlie had given Mary the day for herself, starting at 9 a.m. when Gen had picked the girl up.

After visiting Gen's work ("Sophia please act like a lady; don't embarrass me") and stopping at her and Jeremy's apartment ("Where did you guys get that pretty picture of the baseball stadium? I want one above my couch too") the two had packed a big picnic lunch and hopped on the subway to Central Park.

"I see them!" Sophia cried, ignoring Gen's previous request and taking off across the now visible baseball field. Gen sighed, feeling relief when she saw Sophia's target was Jeremy.

Dressed in athletic shorts and a baseball shirt with Oklahoma! scrawled across the front, he was bouncing a softball bat back and forth in his hands while he talked to someone from his team. Sophia must have shouted his name because suddenly he turned in her direction, and even from there Gen could see the grin on his face.

Even though he hadn't returned to Oklahoma! on his return to New York, Jeremy had been asked to play on the production's team for the Broadway Show Softball League that summer. His Thursdays were spent in the park and this was one of the few times Gen had been able to see him play.

Handing the bat to the other team member, Jeremy headed in Sophia's direction, meeting her halfway. Gen stopped walking, choosing to watch as Jeremy ruffled Sophia's hair and then squatted down and let her climb up on his back. When she was situated, Jeremy began walking towards Gen.

"You're going to hurt your knee again," she told him when they finally reached each other. In response, he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

"Ew!" Sophia cried and Jeremy laughed before letting her down, being careful not to let her skirt fly up. Then he reached out and took the picnic basket from Gen's hands.

"Where should we sit?" she asked, looking around.

"Probably behind the fence," he said with a laugh. "Dwight's been off his game today and who knows where he'll be hitting."

Gen looped her arm with his and together the three of them walked over to a nice spot in the grass. While Gen set out the blanket, Jeremy and Sophia dug into the food.

"You two act like you're starving," she said with a roll of her eyes. Jeremy just smirked and reached over to ruffle her hair like he had with Sophia.

"I'm just eager for your cookies," he told her as he lifted up the Tupperware of ginger cookies she had made the night before. He had tried to steal one as they were cooling on the racks, but she had been adamant that he had to wait until today.

Jeremy had been right, things hadn't been easy at first. It was hard for both of them to completely forget the incident and it always seemed to hover in the background, a constant reminder. Small disagreements were made bigger when one of them would add it to the mix, and sometimes shouting and tears escalated quickly.

Still, it only ended up making them stronger. Knowing what could happen made them push harder to stay together. They knew they belonged together, and they had faith that they could make it happen. They weren't perfect; they weren't cookie cutter. They were Gen and Jeremy.

Unfortunately for them, the difficulties didn't just come from each other. Gen's favorite gossip website practically had a heart attack after Jeremy and Gen's first public event as a couple again. Rumors swirled over what was really going on, a lot of them involving Lily, Carla, and every other female celebrity Jeremy interacted with. It took all of Gen's strength to ignore it and only trust what Jeremy told her.

And Ellen.

Seeing Ellen again had hit Gen like a big wall of shame and embarrassment. She had walked into the woman's office for their meeting prior to that first public event and cowered, afraid of what would happen.

Ellen had every right to hate her; she had practically broken Jeremy's heart after all.

But Ellen had just rolled her eyes and given her a knowing look. Gen hated "I told you so" moments, but she knew she deserved this one. She deserved it big time.

However the incident wasn't mentioned until Gen got ready to leave 30 minutes later.

"You have me to thank you know," Ellen had told her. At Gen's confused look she explained. "Why do you think I forced him to do that bachelor story anyway?"

Gen had wanted to ask how Ellen had known where she worked, but she knew the woman had her ways. She wouldn't have gotten where she was today without a few secrets.

And now here they were. A year and a half since they had met, a year since they had broken up, and six months since they had started it all over again. Six months in and twice as strong. It was cheesy to think about it, but Gen knew this was it. She knew they'd be together for as long as two people could be.

Unless they killed each other first.

"You can't eat cookies now," Gen scolded, pulling the Tupperware from his hands.

"Fineeee," Jeremy whined, dragging out the word. "Save me some. I'll eat after the game," he added, coming over to kiss her again.

"Good luck," she told him with a smile.

"Yeah!" Sophia added. "We'll be rooting for you!" And to prove she meant it, she held up the sign she had made with crayon.

The block letters spelled out "GO JEREMY!" and had childish baseball pictures drawn all around it. There was even a stick figure wearing a large jersey with the #8 written on it.

"Is that supposed to be me?" he asked, pointing to the stick figure. Sophia nodded excitedly, proud of her drawings. "Original wording," Jeremy said softly, so only Gen could hear.

"She did it all herself," Gen told him, reaching up to button the top button of his jersey. In response, he reached up and undid it again, undoing the two below it as well. "Ass," Gen said with a smirk.

"Love you," Jeremy replied before jumping up and heading back out to the field.

"Hey Gen," Sophia said, coming up to sit on the blanket beside the older woman, opening the Tupperware and taking out one of the cookies inside. "I think you and Jeremy are gonna get married."

Kids say the darndest things, Gen thought with a laugh, before turning to the other girl and wrapping her arm around her to pull her close.

"I think so too."

I can't believe it's over! Thank you all SO SO MUCH. Seriously, thank you to each and every one of you.

Thank you to AngelEvie, Angelxoxo8, Anushree, Blondiej1, BubblySimple, CassHughes, .Great, CHSShortie, .reading, Demetri Wishing, DrippingRubies, Envygirl, EveryRoseHasAThorn, EveryRoseHasItsThorns, GRACEP1, Genius892050, Girlpower123, Gremlin-Rayne, HarlotAngel, HeyyyitsPickle, Intergalactic Space Knight, Just-For-The-Helluvit, Jeara Mendiz, Justsimplyme123, Lara Madeline Night, Lauryn247, LiveAndHope, MaliJo, MD2013, MissMully, Nicole Emerson, NotExactlyJuliet, Olamby, PikaNika, Pione, Rizu Herd, .Banks, Sammies10, Sissille, The Last Snowflake To Fall, ThisEnglishGal, UntamedImagination, aacanna24, akaluv, beverlyamethyst16, bunnygonnaeatchurcookies, cheerangel4, colourlessbliss, foreverandalways333, flute4me,graybabe, jessicalynnn, joycemyrtle, kittyuk, kmscott25, lalaleasha, laochra, leavesfallingup, mccorza, merkie, missspacecase, molllyannx3, mumblingplatypi, myworkofnothing, niaevereteze, nlori1234, quiet-nostalgia, sky imaginations, soccerchick2899, someclarafication, steddy93, stinkyloser, theslykit, tngag, vicheyasr, and werciaforever13 for following or favoriting (or both!)

And a SUPER huge thank you to everyone who reviewed:

Sacha, Chaka, steddy93, MD2013, Minzy, molllyannx3, Aiden Andrews, abuseBlondiej1, Emma Cohen, Skye, Cudan2, Otangerine, 525600 minutes, Sammies10, LiveAndHope, Anna, Intergalactic Space Knight, beverlyamethyst16, Nicole Emerson, Leavesfallingup, MyKittyChan, Murriel, nathutch1996, Anushree, furrylover86, UntamedImagination, and Justsimplyme123

A double SUPER huge thank you to nlori1234, shinju asuka, and werciaforever13 who reviewed over NINE times EACH!

(Note: if your username has periods in it and should be listed above, for some reason Fictionpress doesn't show them because it thinks they're websites. They were typed out by me with as much gratitude as the usernames that have appeared. Thank you JUST as much)

And last, but not least, thank you to G. E. Brooks, my roomie, my friend, my ever watchful editor. Thanks for pointing out my typos, motivating me to keep writing and posting, and for always making sure to pressure and twist my arm when I found myself in a massive bout of writers block. Love you mucho.