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Tom was still packing the kitchen up, when Kerry walked out of his bedroom with a suitcase full of his clothes
“How many bloody blazers and ties does one man need?” Kerry sighed, standing the case next to the sofa
“You never know when you’re gonna need a nice tie”
“So that’s why you wear the same 6 all the time?” Kerry raised an eyebrow. Tom turned to her, a grin on his face
“Give me a few years and I’ll make use of that royal blue one as you walk down the aisle” Tom watched as Kerry turned away whilst she blushed at his words.
“What a gentleman”
“I’m nothing if not, darling” Toms tone was almost sing-song as he turned back to the plates he had been wrapping. As he began wrapping his cutlery in bubble wrap, Kerry wrapped her arms around his waist; placing her head on his shoulder as she watched him work
“Still can’t believe they transferred you out”
“Well you remember what Rod and I said when Jim went back to uniform. I couldn’t have done it there.”
“Would you go back to uniform elsewhere?”
“Only if they gave me a promotion to sergeant” Tom turned, placing a gentle kiss on his girlfriend’s forehead
“Oh, you’d be the perfect sergeant to walk all over”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kez”
“Anything for you” she smirked as she turned back to the bedroom to pack the rest of his things
——
An hour later — after approximately 4 hours of stress — they have packed pretty much everything they possibly could into boxes and suitcases. Tom spacewalked through the rooms after they’d gotten the furniture into the rental van. Kerry stood in the doorway, watching, with a few stray tears escaping.
Officially, it had never been her home. But she’d stayed enough nights to warrant being allowed to use that term. Whereas Tom had been here 3 years, and was used to the cream walls and every small placement meaning he could walk through blindfolded.
Kerry’s flat had yet to be packed and she was dreading it. Even more, she was dreading moving into the new flat. Realistically, it was a nice place — plus she got to live with Tom on a permanent basis — but it meant an almost 40 minute drive to work (8 times shorter if she got the train). She understood it had to happen, and Tom was doing the same. Something had to give, and in this case they would have to grin and bear it until something else could be worked out.
“It won’t always be this bad, I promise” Tom approached Kerry, wrapping his arms around her torso
“Good” she buried her head in his chest, “because I want to spend every night with you”
“For how long?” Tom teased
“Hm” Kerry pretended to ponder, “Rest of our lives sound good to you”
“That sounds perfect” he gently kissed her head, resting his cheek on her hair.