"The One"

Summary: After years apart Fiona and Adam meet again. When old feelings resurface Fiona takes a leap of faith, despite the misgivings of everyone she knows. – Set many years after "Bury The Castle"; Fiona/Adam pairing! Dark fic!

Author's Note: This is an alternate future fic! (There's no relation to the fic "Coda").

This story is set nearly ten years after "Bury The Castle" and "Lion's Den". Adam is 25 and Fiona is 27. There's plenty of fluff, but this fic has got a dark tone to it. Some messed up stuff happens. You'll see! By the way, this fic is rather Fiona centric. Usually my fics are focused more on Adam's POV of events. I'm happy I'm at a point where I can really get into her head :D

This is not related to my Degrassi timeline fics. (See my Author's Profile for details!) FYI, there's a really long note at the end of this chapter!

Categories: Romance/Drama/Humor/Angst.

Rating: M (for later chapters)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Degrassi!

-oOo-

When she saw him her heart stopped. She could hardly breathe as the air rushed out of her lungs. Time seemed to slow down as he turned his head in her direction. When their eyes met she blinked. She could recognize those blue eyes anywhere. The man with the dark closely cropped hair, strong jaw, and light stubble was Adam Torres. Her high school boyfriend.

"Fiona?" he said. His voice was much deeper then she remembered it.

She nodded and time resumed its usual pace. Adam came towards her and pulled her into a hug.

The train rushed into the station and other straphangers moved towards the edge of the platform. Adam and Fiona darted their eyes towards the 6 train before looking at each other again.

"I'm running late…" he said apologetically.

"Right," she responded understandingly. It was 9:00AM and they both needed to get to work. She was at her stop but apparently he was heading further downtown.

"Let's grab coffee sometime and catch up! Tell me your number and I'll remember it," he suggested.

Fiona smiled. He was always great at memorizing numbers. "Six four six. Eight seven two. Nine four one three."

He glanced up at the ceiling. "Eighty-seven two. Ninety-four thirteen. Got it!" he smiled victoriously.

She softly laughed as he ran towards the train.

"I'll call you!" he said before jumping on. He just made it before the doors closed.

Fiona stood on the platform and waved goodbye. Moments later it headed down the tunnel.

-oOo-

"Who's that?" Beth said as she stood over Fiona's shoulder. She tucked a few strands of her honey blonde hair behind her ears.

"That's Adam Torres. He's the guy I told you about. We randomly ran into each other this morning," Fiona told her. She was on the computer and had found Adam's FaceRange profile.

Beth rubbed her shoulders and Fiona turned to look at her. "He's a handsome guy," Beth commented.

Fiona shrugged. "His transition went well. He looks completely different than he did when we dated."

"I bet!" Beth laughed. "It's been seven years."

Fiona nodded. "I can't believe it's been so long."

Beth playfully rolled her eyes. "Don't start bemoaning how old you feel!" she teased. "I'm 33. Does that make me elderly?"

Fiona snorted. "Six years older is nothing. Besides I'm not into the geriatric set!" She pulled Beth into a kiss. "I'm assuming that clears things up?" she joked.

Beth grinned at her girlfriend. "I guess for now." She leaned in and they shared another, more passionate kiss.

"So, are you coming tomorrow?" Fiona asked after Beth moved away.

Beth sighed. "I don't think so. I've got that art thing downtown."

"Oh, right," Fiona nodded.

"Thanks for including me even though I don't drink coffee!" Beth laughed. She caressed Fiona's cheek. "I'm sure you guys have a lot to catch up on anyway. I'll go next time."

"Alright," Fiona responded and turned back towards the computer. Adam had called her in the later in the day and they made plans to meet up for coffee tomorrow afternoon. It was a Saturday so they both had free time.

Beth picked up her glass of apple juice from the counter. "I still can't believe you're friendly with your exes," she remarked. "I mean, you either dumped or got dumped for a reason."

Fiona smiled as she shook her head. "Sometimes people are really great but you just don't work out romantically."

Beth shrugged unconvinced. "I have tons of friends. I don't date someone to add to the collection," she quipped.

"Wow, you're so cynical," Fiona said in jest.

Beth smirked at her. "You love it."

"Nope. But I love you," she retorted.

.

tbc

A/N: Oh snap! Fiona's dating someone? Don't worry, I'm not a Degrassi show writer so let's see how this turns out! ;-)

Despite the length of chapter 1, this is going to be another LONG fic. Some chapters will be shorter than others, but the majority are 1,000+ words.

Reviews = Awesome! :D

More Notes:

Now that you've read all that, I figure here's a good point to expand on how different this story is from the timeline series.

"Lion's Den", "Bury The Castle", and "The One" comprise a trilogy of stories that follow the events on Degrassi up until the episode "The Way We Get By" (1035/1036). Fiona's drinking problem, rehab, etc. all happened.

The timeline series I've written include the fan fics "How To Save A Life", "Radiate", "You Don't Want Me", "Morning After", "The Wedding", and "Long Weekend". I can go on, but the full listing is in my Author's profile. These stories follow the show up until the Boiling Point finale, "All Falls Down". From Spring semester of Adam's Sophomore year onward, everything is AU (alternate universe). Adam and Fiona start off as friends before becoming a couple. They deal with a multitude of issues such as bullying, initial family disapproval, growing pains, maintaining a long distance relationship, figuring out their future, etc.

There are major differences between the two series. For example, in "Bury The Castle" Owen is a happy drunk who genuinely wishes Adam 'happy birthday' whereas in the timeline series he's a bully who commits a horrific crime against him. Another example is, in the timeline series Fiona is straight and never relapsed with drinking after getting help in the episode "Purple Pills". Whereas, in the trilogy she's pansexual and went to rehab for her escalating problem with alcohol. Perhaps the most obvious difference is that Fadam has been broken up for seven years in this story, but in the timeline series they're married at this age (as established in the epilogue of "How To Save A Life")!

I know this is a super long note, but I just wanted to clarify some points before moving forward! As I stated in "Lion's Den" and "Bury The Castle", this is a dark fic so the characters are quite different than they are in my other stories. I hope this clears up any confusion!

Now, I'm gonna post chapter 2…