"So It Took Us Till Today To Get Here"

by: singyourmelody

Disclaimer: Don't own any Degrassi characters. This is my first Degrassi fic and oddly enough it's a Emma/Spinner one. There was something about their relationship in "Degrassi Takes Manhattan" that was incredibly unrealistic and frustrating, yet also full of so much potential. As far as I can remember there's never been a Degrassi (The Next Generation) couple that has gotten married, especially one that wasn't even really a couple before they got married, so I think there's interesting ground here. Wish they would take some time to cover it. Title and song lyrics are from The Weepies' "Slow Pony Home."

it's the second september i have known you
four years or so ago, i rode a pony, called him 'truth'
we didn't know the way so it took us till today to get here

They have been married for three months when she throws the toaster at his head.

She misses.

(Mostly. He'd never admit how much his ear had hurt.)

But he had deserved it. Jane was back in town and wanted to see him. And not only did he not tell her, he kindasortamaybe concealed it from her.

Some stones are better left unturned.

But Emma Nelson doesn't like leaving things unturned. She hates the feeling that some secret is waiting for her. That it is hunched over, silent, waiting to just jump out and say "Aha! I got you." She hates being blindsided.

He looks more than a little bit shocked as the metal toaster hits the wall and falls to the floor with a loud crash.

"Wha—?" he asks, incredulous, hand reaching up to feel if his ear was still attached to his head.

Her eyes are wide as she turns and runs into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Emma." He says, quickly following her and pressing his cheek up against the door. "Please."

Silence.

He stands pressed up against the door for fifteen minutes trying everything to convince her to come out. (He doesn't know that her cheek is pressed to the other side.)

Still no response.

So he walks over and picks up the toaster carcass. It is broken beyond repair. And for a moment he feels nostalgic for a toaster.

(Yeah, so maybe she has him a little bit whipped.)

But it was the first thing they had ever purchased together. As a married couple. As a couple period, really.

"You don't have a toaster?" she had asked a few days after she had moved in, looking at him as if he had suddenly grown two heads and starting speaking in an ancient Chinese dialect.

"No. . ."

"How do you, you know, toast things?"

"I don't?"

She had smiled and shook her head. Standing in front of him, she had taken his hand (how he loved how well their hands seemed to fit together) and had pulled him to the door.

"Well then, Mr. Mason, we have some shopping to do."

He had shrugged. "It's just a toaster."

Her eyes had sparkled as she said, "And I love toast. Really, Spinner, you have a lot to learn about me." She had placed a quick peck on his lips as they had headed off to the nearest store.

But now.

Well now the toaster is dead. Long live the toaster.

He walks back to the bathroom door. "Emma. You kinda killed our toaster."

Still no response. He presses his still throbbing ear to the cool wood. Was that? Was she crying? Over a toaster?

"Emma. It's just an appliance. We can get a new one," he says as the door finally (finally) swings open.

Her eyes are puffy. (They probably match his ear, he can't help thinking to himself.)

"I don't care about the toaster," she says between sniffles.

He looks into her dark brown eyes, eyes that he has come to know so well.

"I know," he says quietly.

"I just. . . I just. It's just that no one thinks this is going to work, okay? And up until tonight I didn't have any doubts. Not any. But now. . ." she says, her eyes still not meeting his.

He walks towards her and places his hands on her shoulders. "Emma, it's completely over between Jane and me. One hundred and fifty percent done."

She looks up at him and starts to cry again.

He lets go of her, frustrated. "I don't know how to show you this or tell you this or whatever you want me to do. I don't love her."

"I know you don't," she says, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands.

"Then what. . ."

"It's not that. It's just that, I don't know what your favorite movie is. Or what you got for Christmas when you were seven. Or how you got this scar right here," she says, gesturing to the small right angle shaped mark on his inner right arm. "And she does know these things. All of them. But I'm the one who's married to you. And I should know these things. And for the first time since we got married, I realized that she knows you better than I do. And I don't know what to do with that knowledge," she finishes quietly, moving to sit on the couch.

For a moment, Gavin "Spinner" Mason is speechless. It didn't happen often; he hopes she is taking note.

He finally kneels in front of where she is sitting. "It's a three way tie."

"What?"

"My favorite movies. It's a three way tie between 'Revenge of the Nerds,' 'Fight Club,' and 'Casablanca.'"

"'Casablanca?'"

He nods. "It's my mom's favorite movie. Something about watching it feels like coming home." He moves to sit next to her. "For Christmas when I was seven I got a G.I. Joe Battle Cruiser set. It came with a fully functional tank and removable fake blood. It was one of the best things I had ever been given. And I knew my dad had picked it out. Which somehow made it all the better." He grows quiet, thinking about his dad. She reaches over and places a hand on his arm, giving it a light squeeze.

"And this?" she asks, brushing her fingers over his scar.

"Drum accident. Grade nine."

She has stopped crying by this point, something he is very grateful for, and actually smiles. "A drum accident."

"Let's just say that boys will be boys and that fighting near a drum set and cymbals can be painful."

Neither says anything for a while. Finally he nudges her shoulder, "Any other questions?"

She shakes her head. "Not for tonight."

She stands and heads towards their bedroom. He knows that he should just let this go. It isn't right yet. It isn't fixed, but he should just let it go. Sleep it off and all that.

But he doesn't want to.

(And starting now, he does what he wants.)

"I love you, you know that, right?" he asks her retreating form.

She stops walking and turns to look at him.

"How can you love me? You don't really even know me."

And suddenly he gets it. What this whole fight was about. Why the toaster was offered up as a sacrificial lamb.

She's scared.

Something got to her. Convinced her that they weren't going to work out, that this whole thing was just momentary.

He crosses the space between them in two lengths.

"How long have we been married?" he asks.

"Three months."

"And you know what? I know so much more about you today than I did even yesterday."

She looks skeptical, so he continues.

"You say you sleep on the right side of the bed, but really you sleep in the middle. You only eat organic food, but I've seen you lusting after a plate of French Fries at the Dot before. You had your heart broken by Sean and sometimes you don't think it'll ever be put back together exactly the right way again, although I hope we're making some progress on that front. You hate that Jane knows more of the details of my life than you do. I hate that too. But every day when I wake up, I'm glad you're next to me. I'm glad you chose me. And I'm glad that one day, Jane won't know more than you do. One day, you'll know more than anyone else. And I will too. About you, I mean," he looks a little flustered as he finishes.

She stares at him, her eyes becoming glassy as they fill with tears.

"Not more crying. . ." he says, gently.

She throws her arms around him and pulls him close. "I'm glad you chose me, too," she whispers in his ear.

Planting a small kiss on his ear (when did that stop hurting?), then beneath his ear, her mouth works its way up his jaw before finally landing on his lips.

After a few moments, he pulls away reluctantly, and looks, really looks at her.

"Well, we know that part works," he says, smiling.

She smiles back at him, before leading him to the couch and wrapping his arm around her.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" she asks after a while.

"No plans as of yet, why?"

"Well, we're going to need to go shopping," she says, nodding to the broken toaster on the counter. "I'm sorry about your ear."

He didn't think she had noticed.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Jane was back in town."

She smiles at him.

"So. . . first major crisis averted?"

She snuggles into his side. "Yes." Another pause. "I love you," she says quietly.

He loves her too.

As he pulls her closer he knows that she is right. He does still have a lot to learn about her. And it's going to be a wild ride.

(Preferably one with less flying appliances. But he's not complaining.)

now we're cleaning the windows between us two
funny, you do it once, and then again, and pretty soon
the fingerprints and dust . . .
but i've begun to trust the view here

A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope I was able to keep them somewhat in character. I haven't seen a ton of the earlier seasons, but it definitely seems like each of them has grown up a lot over the course of the show. And being together as adults, in some ways really makes sense. They both are homebodies, they both are content to stay in town, they both could flourish in a relationship with each other. I mean, no one really saw it coming, but still, in some strange way, it works. Anyway, thank you for reading and reviewing! Love.