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Shortly after waking back up in the lab from SISSY’s explosion (and after being yelled at by Bronson), Tree and Carter of course end up at Corky’s. Tree scarfs down chicken tenders and a shake while Carter picks at a basket of fries, half of which Tree has swiped from him. But he doesn’t seem to mind. Tree has had a long few weeks and has barely had anything substantial to eat.
The two of them sit huddled together on the same side of a booth, which had earned them a couple of weird looks from some of the servers and other patrons. But Tree doesn’t care. She just got Carter back; she wouldn’t be leaving his side for a long time. She rests her head on his shoulder as she takes another fry.
“If you weren’t so cute, I’d be pissed that you’re eating all my fries.” He says with a smile.
“Lucky for me, I’m adorable.” Tree chomps the fry in half and offers him the other piece. He waves her off.
“Let me hear more about this other dimension,” Carter pleads. “You haven’t given me any details. It’s so wild that you went to a parallel universe.”
Tree swirls her straw around in her milkshake glass. She hadn’t really shared any details with him because she was still a bit shaken up by everything that had happened. She was so happy to have him back, and she didn’t want to dwell on everything that she was, well, not so happy about. “Um, my mom was alive.” She starts.
Carter stares at her, his mouth falling open a bit. “Yeah, she was alive, and Lori wasn’t trying to kill me. Actually, Gregory was trying to kill Lori. It had nothing to do with me.”
“Wow. That’s crazy. I can’t believe…your mom…”
“Yeah.” She stares down at the table. “It was nice, though, to have more time with her. To get some closure. But leaving her was so, so hard.”
“Why did you?” Carter asks quietly. “Couldn’t you have…stayed there? With her?”
“I planned on it, but…it wouldn’t have been my life. I would have just been stealing someone else’s. It didn’t feel right. Plus, you were back here.” She smiles sweetly at him.
“Here I am.” He grins at her, reaching for her hand under the table and squeezing it. Tree squeezes back. “So, was I over there, then? In the other dimension?”
Oh boy. Tree nods. “Yeah.”
“What was I…did I…we…did we know each other?”
“I guess you could say that.” Tree almost laughs. This conversation echoes one of the last ones she had with the alternate Carter, only this time she wasn’t looking back on any fond memories. “We knew each other because you were dating Danielle.”
“What?” Carter questions. “Okay, who is Danielle?” He sounds genuinely confused. Tree doesn’t think she’ll ever get sick of him not knowing who Danielle is. She’d like to hear him ask a million more times, just to remind herself that he’s hers again.
“She’s my sorority sister,” Tree informs him. “My ‘best friend,’ I guess. The one who gave that stupid interview after I killed Lori. And she called Samar ‘Samosa.’”
“Oh. Her? I was dating her? What about you?” Tree shrugs. “She seems awful. Why would I date her?”
“She was kind of nice in the other dimension, I guess. Well, you thought she was. But she was cheating on you.”
“Well, that’s great.” Carter leans back in the booth. “So I’m kind of a loser in this other dimension, huh?”
Tree snorts and takes another long sip of her milkshake. “Don’t worry, I think the other you will end up just fine.”
“What do you mean?”
“We kissed, right before I got sent back. So the two of them will probably work things out.”
Carter quickly turns his head to look at her. “You kissed him?”
“Uh, yeah. Technically, he kissed me.” Carter makes a face and stares down at the table. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” Carter insists, but he’s avoiding her gaze.
“Oh, my God!” Tree looks at him in disbelief and laughs. “You’re jealous.”
“What? No, I’m not.” Carter scoffs and swirls his straw around in his water glass.
“You totally are. You’re jealous that I kissed you in the other dimension.” Tree puts her hand on his thigh. “You know that was you, right?”
“I guess it technically was. But it wasn’t me. Right?” He sighs. “This hurts my brain. Yeah, I guess I am a little jealous. Sue me.”
Tree isn’t even mad that he’s jealous; it’s adorable. Even when the other guy she’s kissing is himself, he doesn’t want it to be anyone but him. “Let’s call it even for me having to watch you make out with Danielle for weeks, then.” She raises an eyebrow at him.
“Wow, weeks? That’s a lot of kisses to make up for.” Carter gives her a playful smile.
“We’d better get started then,” Tree says quietly, leaning in closer to Carter.
“We’d better.” Carter’s lips find hers for the first time since she got back. It’s a feeling that’s become familiar to her, but still so new and so exciting. To be back in her own dimension, with her own Carter, is such a relief that she doesn’t even care about showing PDA in the middle of a crowded diner. Nothing else matters besides Tree, Carter, and the future ahead of them.
Carter pulls away and grins at Tree, caressing her cheek with his hand. She grins right back at him.
She’s finally home.