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“Hey.” Tim says as he walks into Lucy’s apartment, she’s in the kitchen and looks over a smile on her face.
“Hi babe.” She says and Tim smiles at the name. It has been awhile since she call him that and he loved it before and he loves it now.
Tim comes into the kitchen, and presses a kiss to the top of her head and then wraps his arms around her. “Whatcha making?” He asks. She turns around in his arms, putting her hands on his chest.
“I was trying to make lasagna.” She says. “But I overdid it, the food is on its way.”
“Hmm.” He says softly into her hair. He planned this date night, they had been back together for about a month and they were taking it slow. They did have dates here and there, and it was slowly going back to normal. He didn’t really care if they went out or stayed in as long as they were together—
“Sorry.” She says. “I know you had other plans.” Tim shakes his head, and presses a kiss to her lips.
“This is perfect Luce.” He says. “I don’t need anything else.”
“You are an easy man to please.” She says and stands on her toes to kiss him again. He melts into her touch, and he can’t believe he let her go.
He was still working on himself, and he told that to Lucy when they officially got back together. He was still going to therapy, and he was opening up more not only to his therapist but to Lucy. And it felt good to do it, it wasn’t as scary as he thought it would be.
And of course Lucy was amazing and she just let him talk if he needed to and she reassured him that it would be okay.
“Only with you Luce.” He says softly tucking some hair behind her ear. “I love you.”
“I love you too Tim.” She replies. He opens his mouth to reply, but his phone rings. He frowns and he notices Lucy’s face change a little as she watches him.
He pulls his phone out, and answers it but his eyes never leave Lucy’s face. “Hello?” He says.
“Tim?” Genny’s voice sounds from the other end and he relaxes a little.
“Yes?” He says. He doesn’t know why his sister is calling but he really doesn’t need another date night messed up.
“Can you pick Tyler up from baseball practice tomorrow? I have a meeting that will probably run late.”
“Sure.” Tim says and he looks away for a minute, trying to make a mental note to remember. “What time?”
“7pm.” Genny replies. “Thanks Tim.” Tim looks up at Lucy but she’s not standing in front of him anymore.
“I gotta go.” Tim says. “I’ll see you later.” He hangs up before she can reply.
“Luce?” He calls out. He hears a noise in her bedroom, and he walks slowly towards it. “Baby?” There’s no answer so he pushes the door open, Lucy is sitting on the edge of her bed looking down at the floor.
“Luce?” He says. “What’s wrong? Why did you leave?” Lucy doesn’t answer but she does look up at him, and she has a unfamiliar look on her face.
“You answered your phone again.” She says. Tim frowns at her, and he’s a little confused.
“What—”
“You answered your phone before—” She says and her voice trails off a little. Tim’s eyes widen a little finally making the connection.
Oh.
Oh.
How could he be so stupid? How did he not see it?
He answered the phone last date night. Before he shut her out, before he let her go. Before everything went to shit.
“Oh.” He says softly. “Oh Luce. I’m sorry.” Lucy twists her fingers together and then blows out a breath.
“Is everything okay?” She asks and she still sounds hesitant, like she doesn’t know if she should ask or not. Tim sighs and steps closer to her, he steps between her legs and lifts her chin up towards him.
“Yes.” He replies. “It was just Genny, she asked me if I could pick Tyler up from baseball tomorrow night.”
“Oh.”
“I’m so sorry Lucy. I didn’t mean—” He trails off this time, not knowing what to say. He knows their relationship isn’t perfect yet. It’s not where it was, and he was still working on getting her trust back. And she did deserve to be able to trust him, after he hurt her so much.
“It’s just—” She takes another deep breath. “I want to be able to trust you when you answer the phone but when you did it brought me back to that night. And I don’t know—maybe it’s silly.”
“It’s not silly Lucy.” He says firmly. “I get it. I messed up that night, I messed up a lot since then. But just know I’m not going to walk away again. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I’m going to be a better man for you. I’m going a the man you deserve.”
Lucy stands up, and puts her hands on his chest. “You are already that man Tim.” She says. “I’m still working everything through myself. It can’t go back to the way it was but it doesn’t mean it won’t be better.”
“God I love you.” He mutters. She smiles softly, and leans up to kiss him.
“You are a good man Tim.” She says softly. “I’m so, so proud of you.”
“I really am sorry Luce.” He says. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s okay babe.” She says. “We are both working stuff out right?”
“Yeah.”
“And we are doing it together.” She says. “We do stuff together right? No more shutting each other out when stuff gets hard.”
“Absolutely.” He says. Lucy gives him a small smile, and reaches down to squeeze his hand.
“We are going to be okay.” She says. “If we work through it together.”
“I agree.” He says. He lets go of her hand and puts his hand on her cheek. “I love you.”
She smiles at him softly, and brings his hand down to kiss it. “It might take awhile but we will get there.”
“Oh one hundred percent.” He mutters. He presses a kiss to the top of her head, and holds his lips there for a few seconds.
Lucy is silent, so he pulls her closer and sways them a little, “We will be okay.” He mutters. Lucy nods against his chest. He feels her press a kiss to his chest, and they just stand like that for a minute.
In the moment with each other, and it’s perfect. And maybe they have some more things to work through.
But for right now, just being with each other is all he needs. All he could ever want and it’s perfect.