A/N: This chapter took me a ridiculous amount of time to finish! The characters just wouldn't behave with me, and it took a while to churn out something I was happy with. I just finished like ten minutes ago, so if you spot any typos, let me know! Ah, the joys of not editing. ;)

At first, Tina mused, it was strange to see Gene. Not because of her transition, although that had come as a bit of a shock at first, but because she was there at all. The whole Belcher family had always been close-knit, and so to have the gap that was Gene Belcher there was tough on all of them for the past three or so years. But, Tina had to admit, Gene never seemed happier.

As soon as Gene's story was out in the air, the entire room seemed to lighten. Louise was chattering away supportively, prompting Gene to open up even more about what had been happening over the past few years. Bob was smiling at all of his children with that smile reserved only for exceptionally proud fathers. And Tina was sitting back in her chair, absentmindedly texting Josh to see how his day at school had gone.

"So what has been going on with you T?" Gene asked, drawing her sister back into the conversation. "Still going strong with Josh?"

"Yeah, they are," Tina reported. "Josh is doing great in school and my publisher is starting to believe that it wasn't a mistake to let me publish something."

"Yeah, I saw your name on a book in the airport," Gene smiled. "Something like… The Love Undying?"

"Don't read that one it's awful. Undying was a mistake," Tina groaned, leaving the rest of her family chuckling.

The next morning, Tina got dressed quickly and went down to help with the restaurant opening, like usual. She was just tying an apron around her waist when she looked up, her eyes sweeping across the street absentmindedly until her gaze locked with someone standing in the middle of the restaurant across the street, sweeping.

Jimmy Junior.

Despite it being years since the they'd seen each other last, a small jolt went up Tina's spine when their eyes met. Time had been kind to Jimmy Junior; he was quite a bit taller than she remembered but just as lean, the muscles in his legs clearly defined in a pair of slightly-too-tight pants. Jimmy Junior stared at her for half a second, looking just as shocked as she was. He blinked once, then quickly turned on his heel and disappeared further into the restaurant, just out of Tina's sight.

"Morning T!" Louise called, bursting into the restaurant with a huge smile on her face, pulling chalk out of the pocket of her apron as Tina's own smock hit her in the face. The twenty-three year old sprinted out the front door of the restaurant, across the street, and into Jimmy Pesto's before Louise had untangled the piece of cloth across her head.

"Jimmy Junior!" Tina shouted, crossing the threshold of the italian restaurant. She spotted him immediately, standing behind the bar, an all-too-innocent look on his face. "The last time I saw you, you were headed across the country to go to a performing arts college."

It was, actually, the last time the two had seen each other. Tina and Josh had started dating again on Tina's last year of high school, and that left Tina and Jimmy Junior awkward, but close, friends. By the time Tina had moved, they'd put most of their on-again-off again relationship behind them and hung out pretty frequently. After Tina had moved away with Josh, the two texted pretty infrequently, just exchanging good wishes and sometimes catching each other up on what had been going on. Then suddenly, Jimmy Junior had stopped returning her texts. He maybe responded once every few months instead. They had both started to drift apart. It hadn't hurt, it was to be expected. But seeing him now, for Tina, anyway, was exactly the same as seeing an old friend.

"Oh, hey Tina," Jimmy Junior lisped, setting the broom up against a wall behind the counter. "What are you doing back in town?"

"It's the restaurant's ten year anniversary today. We all came back to celebrate," Tina explained quickly. "But what are you doing back here?"

"Oh, um," Jimmy Junior looked kind of uncomfortable fidgeting absentmindedly with a rag he'd picked up from the counter. "Dad got sick. I had to forfeit my scholarship and come back home."

"What about Andy and Ollie? They're as old as Louise, they could have taken over?" Tina pressed.

"They left," Jimmy Junior said simply, his mouth set in a firm line. Tina blinked quickly but didn't press, clearly it was some family drama that he didn't want to talk about.

Tina looked around the quiet restaurant. The only other person in the building besides them was Trev, perched on the other end of the bar, looking bored.

"Sorry to hear that," Tina said eventually, too late to really be consoling.

Jimmy Junior looked up at her. "You still dating that one guy? That you moved away with?"

"Josh?" Tina asked, then nodded, a tiny smile on her face. "Yeah I am."

"Great," Jimmy Junior said, an edge in his voice.

"So, wanna stop by the restaurant later and catch up?" Tina offered. "We're throwing a little party to celebrate today."

Jimmy Junior met her gaze, a strange smirk on his face.

"Yeah, sounds good," he said, his eyes following Tina as she waved and walked out the door.