At lunch, Adam was looking forward to the break from Christine, but his break only lasted three minutes. They had just made it to the cafeteria when Adam noticed that Jason was talking to Alyssa. There was no way that he wanted Christine to witness that scene or did he want to interrupt his brother. His brother was continuing his talk with Alyssa about what was going on. She was still upset, but Jason said things sounded promising for Adam. Fielding Christine towards the side door, he grabbed her by the waist and guided her to the door by opening it like a gentleman.

"How sweet! But why aren't we eating in the cafeteria?" Christine asked as they went out the door.

"I thought you might like the fresh air. Besides, I thought that you packed your lunch," Adam replied, still leading her to the front benches.

"Oh, I did! I packed two lunches. I was so excited last night when you called and said that you loved me that I thought it would be nice," Christine said, holding up her book bag. Adam about died thinking about eating anything that Christine had to offer after his hospital visit. How was he going to get out of this one?

The two teenagers sat down on the bench next to the brother's van. Adam remembered having a bag of pretzels in there and dismissed himself to get them. Relieved, Adam spotted the pretzel bag right behind the console and immediately began eating. He was starved.

"Are you craving things too?" Christine asked, eating her sandwich. "I hope that you like the ham sandwich I made."

"Uh, Christine, baby. I am just not feeling so well. Pretzels calm my stomach," Adam said, still wolfing the chips down.

"That does sound good, let me have some," Christine replied, trying to steal a kiss in a very bad version of a Lady and the Tramp scene. But Adam saw it coming. He quickly held one up to her mouth to deflect the pass.

Christine chomped down on the chip and then made a face. "Adam! These pretzels are stale!"

"That is the way I like them," Adam commented, still eating them like they were candy. He did not want to eat anything Christine prepared, even if that meant starving. But Christine did not seem to mind and ate both of the sandwiches.

Instead, she went on and on about how their life was going to be with the baby. Adam just listened and was trying to think of a way to get word to Alyssa. He was truly scared of losing the love of his life. Meanwhile, Christine chattered about baby names and how their life was going to be picture perfect. She had even quit her job at the theater so she could spend all of her time with Adam. It was then that Adam had an idea. He spotted Alyssa's Cherokee and remembered that he had a spare key to get into it in the van.

"Christine, I have to go and do something. Let me go on ahead and walk you to your next class," Adam said, holding out his arm.

"What do you have to do?" she asked, standing up and grabbing her trash.

"I just need to talk to Jason and you know how he feels about you," Adam said, just thinking of an excuse.

"Well, I actually have to leave early today. Nathan is taking me to the doctor for my first ultrasound. So I need to go around front," Christine mentioned casually. "I figured that you needed to be here in school and that I would see you after school at your house."

"That is fine," Adam replied. But that did hit a cord. They did not do those tests that soon. She would only be a couple or three weeks if the baby were truly his in the first place. Plus Christine always wanted him to go to everything, he figured doctor's visits would be included. That was very suspicious too.

"Which brings me to something?" Christine said as they started walking towards the front of the school. "I need you to get your parents to drop those charges against my brother."

Adam knew that was coming. His father had even called the sheriff over the phone to secure those charges. He was about to say something when Christine muttered back, "If you really want us to start a family, you have to get him out of trouble."

Adam assured her that he would take care of things, even though he knew that this issue was going to be a hard one to get past. After being forced to kiss Christine good-bye, Adam left her to wait on her brother. He sneaked past the cafeteria. He saw the usual gang at their table, including Alyssa. It broke his heart to not be able to go up to her and kiss her or hug her. But that would blow the cover. But he just had to talk to her. He had to let her know that more than ever, he felt a bond with her that he shared with no other person. Realizing that he took her for granted, Adam wanted to make things right. Her sad face would look occasionally around and then at the empty seat next to her. It killed Adam to see her so glum, even if she was mad at him. He hoped that it was not too late.

The bell rang at that moment and people started to flood out of the cafeteria. Adam went to wait for Jason by his locker. Spotting his brother, he quickly briefed Jason on the lunch conversation, leaving out the Nathan part. He would talk to him at home about that.

"So what did Alyssa say?" Adam said, almost unable to contain himself to listen.

"She is still confused Adam. But I think that she still cares about you," Jason answered, getting his books out of the locker. He looked at his brother, whose face almost dropped at the news. "Look, I think that she is just hurt and that things will be fine over time." Jason did not want to tell him that she wanted to return his letterman jacket and ring for the time being. It would really upset him. Jason did not know how much Adam liked Alyssa until now. It hurt him to see his brother moping around while trying to prove his innocence. Jason did agree that something was up, that Christine was not being truthful. "I will ask Mrs. Barnes. She is a science teacher and she just had a baby. Now you just need to go to class and forget about things for awhile."

"I guess," Adam muttered as he turned to go down the stairwell to the special education department. He had to do something or he could lose Alyssa. Then he remembered that she always went out to her Cherokee every afternoon between 6th and 7th period to relax. That was when the school had a fifteen-minute restroom break. He would ask Mrs. Roberts to be excused earlier to help Alyssa like he had been doing. No one would see them because no one went outside for break and Christine was gone for the afternoon. So as soon as he made it to class and finished his assignments, he started on his letter to his beloved Alyssa.

The break bell soon filled the halls with its ring and Mrs. Roberts granted Adam his request, even though she was puzzled. She had heard about the break-up and Christine mess, but allowed Adam to go since he was finished with his work and he was just reviewing. Adam quickly got into the van and got out a CD and waited for Alyssa to come. Then, he saw her. Wheeling her chair over to her car, Alyssa was not looking around much and was started to hear her name being called. She looked over and spotted Adam, waving her towards the van. Reluctantly, she went over.

"Aren't you afraid your new girlfriend is going to catch you?" she snorted to him.

"She IS NOT my girlfriend. Didn't Jason tell you?" Adam snapped back. There was no way he was going to claim Christine.

Alyssa looked at the ground. Her eyes were getting misty. "Yeah, he did. It is just hard to see you with her. Then hearing what people had to say," Alyssa said, not making eye contact.

"I know. I miss you so much," Adam said, reaching out and pulling her chair closer to the van's back bumper. "I can't do all of this without you. I have to prove my innocence. I was set up."

"And you let her set you up!" Alyssa fired back. "Why do you have to be so gullible?"

Adam just shrugged his shoulders. He did not know what else to do. It was like there was this glass between them.

"Come with me," Adam said, jumping up.

"What? We have to go to 7th period," Alyssa said with a stern look.

"I will take care of that. Just get into the van," Adam said, but Alyssa wasn't moving. "Please, I really need for you to get into the van." Alyssa looked at him and then shrugged her shoulders and began getting herself into the van using the bars that Adam had installed for her.

Adam ran back to the school and within minutes, he was back.

"I told Mrs. Roberts that you needed to get your medicine and I would take you to get it," Adam said with a smile.

"What! She just lets you go just like that? Without your parents knowing?"

"Well, I told her that I already talked to mom so I guess I fibbed a little, but she is not home any way," Adam said starting the van and driving out of the lot.

"What about Jason?"

"We will be back by then."

Alyssa just sat there, wondering what Adam had up his sleeve. Within five minutes, she knew. They were at the beach in one of their favorite spots just outside of town. Smiling back at her warmly, he put a CD into the deck. Then he opened the back doors so they could sit and look at the ocean. Alyssa's legs dangled from the van and it almost looked like she was a normal walking person. Adam was taken back by her beauty. He had forgotten how beautiful she was to him. There were a lot of things that he forgot, but now he was going to make up for it.

"This song will tell you just how I feel right now. I want you to listen to it, we don't have long," Adam said, hitting play and coming back to the back of the van. It was then that the song "Always" by Bon Jovi filled the air and Alyssa's stern look turned to a soft look. Tears started to fill her eyes and Adam took his hand and wiped them away.

"Alyssa, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And however long I have to wait, I will. You are well worth the wait," Adam said, holding her chin gently.

"What about Christine? Is she ever going to go away?"

"I will take care of her. Don't you worry about that. For now, we just need to keep the break up act up."

"ACT? Our break up was not an ACT, I DID break it off with you," Alyssa blurted out. Adam quickly put his finger to her lips.

"We can't look at the past if we want a future. Are you with me?" Adam asked, searching her eyes for some type of answer. Alyssa listened to the rest of the song and sat in silence.

"Is that the Crossroads CD I got you?" She asked. Adam was not expecting that answer.

"Yes, why?"

She smiled and directed him to play a certain number, knowing that Adam would not recall what song it was by the number. The sound of "Thank you for Loving Me" came on and she smiled at Adam and patted the space next to her. Adam went and sat down beside her.

"I love you Adam and I will try to get through this, but keep in mind that it is hard. You just have to promise me one thing," Alyssa said, hugging the younger Kramer boy. Adam looked up at her for the next part. "This will not happen again and you will nail Christine to the wall."

Adam answered that with one of the most passionate kisses the couple had ever shared. And that was not the last one to be shared that day. The young couple only had a few precious moments to be together alone before it was back to hating each other. They were so caught up in catching up that Adam forgot about the time. But Adam did not care. He had his Alyssa back and nothing was going to tear him away from her, not Christine, not his family and definitely not time.