As Hurricane Rachel left his shop, Tarin just stood and stared at the door for a solid minute, trying to figure out exactly what had just happened.

Rachel had just convinced him to help her contrive to get Lee out to an open mic night so that she could have a little fun. The first fun Lee had apparently had in around six years. Because Lee didn’t think that it was worth it to go out because she had given up on anyone caring about her and didn’t have any real friends.

So much for not getting involved.

Moving to one of the chairs at his table, Tarin sank down for a moment and ran his hands through his hair. He’d known after he left the other morning that he had overreacted to what Lee had said to some degree. He’d always known that she hadn’t meant what she’d said the way he’d initially taken it and by the time he’d gotten to the shop he’d decided that he’d acted poorly.

It had been easy to fall back on Rachel though. Her concerns had seemed valid and he’d pretty easily convinced himself that it would absolutely be for the best if he kept as much distance between himself and Lee as possible. Especially when he’d been noticing the way she bit her lip when she was worried, especially when he’d been noticing how well she wore her workout clothes when they were able to go on runs, especially when he had noticed just how much he enjoyed being around Lee in general. Especially when he knew that he was only there because she knew he needed help.

Lee deserved more than she was doing for herself though. Rachel had that much right and Tarin owed her everything. If he could help Lee, if he could help her be happier…it was absolutely worth it.

The rest of the day passed by in a haze of normalcy and appointments, and when the last one was done instead of stalling, watching TV, and generally avoiding heading back to the apartment, Tarin closed up shop and headed home.

Soon enough, he was letting himself in the apartment, pocketing his keys as he made his way towards the livingroom. Lee was there, working on the seemingly endless paperwork she always seemed to be doing.

“Hey…” he said, just a little bit awkward, “How’s it going?”

Since Rachel had ‘stopped by’, since her words had caused Tarin to think he was the sole cause of the end of the normalcy she had found, he seemed to have barely been in the apartment. Leaving earlier for the shop, getting back later. And when he was home, spending more time in his room.

Sure, Tarin really hadn't been living there that long, maybe this was what his schedule was like. But it seemed a little suspicious that the longer days had started right after that incident.

And unfortunately, the only thing that had seemed to stay the same were his nightmares. She was still having to go wake him up every night.

At least he wasn't clinging to her as tight, as desperately, as that first night. That had to be a good sign, right?

It was Friday evening now, and Kevin had gone to close himself in his room, leaving Lee alone in the living room. Not expecting Tarin to be home anytime soon, Lee figured that she may as well get a head start on the next schedule, though she really wasn't doing a great job focusing on it.

All of a sudden, Lee heard the apartment door open and close. Lee knew that it hadn't been Kevin trying to sneak out, she could still feel his energy coming from his bedroom. Surely it was too early for Tarin to be back, even if it was Friday.

“Hey…How’s it going?”

Or maybe not. “Hello stranger,” Lee said, looking over and giving him a small smile. “Kevin's decided he wants to be alone and moody tonight, so just trying to keep busy. You? Seems like you had a shorter day today.”

“Hello stranger, Kevin's decided he wants to be alone and moody tonight, so just trying to keep busy. You? Seems like you had a shorter day today.”

Tarin couldn’t help but smile a little bit as he moved around to sit down on the couch. Teenagers seemed to be universal because the same tropes had been played on his side of the rift.

“Much shorter day…” he said, “Got everything caught up from Monday and booked in a few new folks.” It was almost weird how many people were seeking out the shop these days. It was also easier to tell a little white lie than it was to point out that he had been avoiding being here.

It really was nice to be back at a decent time though. Tarin’s lack of solid sleep at night was starting to take its toll and rushing out in the morning and hanging out at the shop until the last possible moment hadn’t been incredibly conducive to rest and relaxation.

“I...also think I owe you an apology.” Tarin said, cringing slightly.

Lee was glad that Tarin had caught up from canceling his appointments on Monday. Even if he was used to having these much longer hours than the shop had been open when she worked there, it had to be hard with the nightmares.

“And a few new clients? Sounds like things are going well, then.”

Or, maybe not, Lee thought a moment later. Frowning slightly, Lee set her paperwork on the coffee table, it wasn’t like she’d been really doing much with it anyway, and turned to face Tarin a little more directly. “You do? For what?” she asked, the slight frown still on her face. “Though,” Lee continued, her voice a little quieter. “I may owe you one, too.”

“Yeah, if this wasn’t New York City I’d think it was super weird that so many people wanted to make contact with the dead. A lot of them actually have…people to talk to as well.”

Who knew. It tended to go in cycles. Things would ebb and flow, and a lot of times people would only come to visit a few times before they settled whatever they needed to settle with the spirits they sought.

As for the apology, Tarin sighed, then looked up to make eye contact with Lee, “I haven’t actually been working early and late.” he admitted candidly, “I was just hanging out at the shop because after Rachel came over the other morning I started to think that maybe it would be better if I tried to stay out of the way around here a bit more.”

Tarin had spent the whole walk home trying to figure out what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it. He’d mulled it over and tried out different things, but had finally settled on the fact that the truth was the best. Depending on what Lee thought about what he said, he’d adjust accordingly.

“I realized that it wasn’t just my decision.”

As for Lee owing him an apology, Tarin shrugged, “I don’t know what you could have possibly done that you’d need to apologize for.”

Well that was different. A lot of Tarin’s current clients actually had spirits with them? Though, that was very possible. New York had not exactly been free of strange and dangerous events over the last decade.

Then Tarin started explaining that he hadn’t actually been working longer hours at the shop this week. He’d been…avoiding being in the apartment? Lee’s head tilted slightly as she continued to look at Tarin as he finished speaking. “Why in the world would you think it’d be better not be around here as much?” Lee asked, still confused despite his explanation. “Do I seem like the kind of person who wouldn’t tell you if you were starting to get on my nerves?”

As for her apology…That was the problem, she hadn’t said it properly to start with. How was she supposed to explain it in a way that made more sense in terms of what she had meant? As she sat there trying to think quickly, her lip found its way between her teeth.

Taking a deep breath, Lee raised her eyes, which had dropped to her lap as she thought, back up to Tarin’s green ones. “About the way I said the normalcy I’ve had was going to end. I was in no way blaming you for that. Honestly, I think that thought has been in the back of my mind for at least a year. Because if nothing else strange, dramatic, or dangerous in any way happened, Kevin will still end up getting his powers, and that right there would be the end of the ‘normal’ in this apartment.”

“Do I seem like the kind of person who wouldn’t tell you if you were starting to get on my nerves?

Tarin had to stare, just a little incredulously at Lee as she said that, but the conversation segued into Lee’s apology and Tarin shook his head. They’d been talking about the same thing, both trying to take responsibility for something probably didn’t put either of them at fault.

“It’s…not that I thought I was getting on your nerves…” Tarin said, trying to put all of the words in his head in an order that made the slightest bit of sense.

He took a deep breath and slumped back against the couch a bit, staring off into space that wasn’t Lee, “I know it’s hard for you to see yourself as doing anything out of the ordinary, but the life you have described to me is nothing short of extraordinary.” He said, face thoughtful as he continued, “You mentioned that you hadn’t taken it all in stride and the toll it had taken on you eventually.”

Tarin looked at Lee now, rather more intensely than he intended, but it felt important for her to understand what he was going to say next, “It’s very hard for me to not handle a perceived problem on my own.” It was very hard to admit that too. “So when you said how normal your life has been for the last five years, I couldn’t help but realize that the only thing that was changing for you was my presence.”

Tarin stopped there for a moment, giving Lee a chance to understand what he was trying to say.

“You’ve done so much for me in such a short time, for no other reason than you decided it was the right thing to do. What kind of person would I be if I let that decision take away normalcy that you’ve more than earned?”

Tarin shrugged a little face a bit sad now, “Lots of roommates share space without spending more time together than they have to…it seemed like an easy fix.”

As for Lee’s insistence that things wouldn’t have stayed normal for her anyway, Tarin shook his head, “You signed on for that kind of trouble. I just kind of…fell in your lap.”

Lee listened carefully as Tarin spoke, her eyes on his face. What he was saying did make sense at least in some ways. She couldn't stop the slight blush that crossed her face when he said that her life had been extraordinary. Most of the time, actually just about all of the time until she had started to get to know Tarin, she didn’t think of her life as being extraordinary.

“It did, but I did get help for that,” Lee told Tarin, her voice quiet. “Real, actual help. And that has helped me deal with things since then.

“Though, the kind of person you would be for not wanting to take away that normalcy would be a kind and considerate person”

But Tarin was continuing to speak, and she just nodded her head as he made his points. “Yes, I did sign on for everything that Kevin’s powers would mean when I finally decided that getting pregnant wasn’t the most terrifying and potentially dangerous thing I could do.” Lee swallowed at this point because even when she decided that they could try getting pregnant, she was still scared. “But you know what else? I also decided I would deal with this kind of trouble when I decided to leave the apartment that night. Like I’ve told you, Tarin, I knew what I was getting into here.

God. It would have been so much easier if she would have agreed with him. If Lee had seen the logic in what Tarin was saying and agreed that it was probably better for them to keep their distance. Lee didn’t do that though of course Lee didn’t do that.

No. Lee talked about how she’d gotten real actual help to deal with what she’d been through and how it helped her handle things now. How did one approach a therapist with the kinds of problems Tarin was dealing with? Sure, there was a wealth of nonsense from his childhood that he could get into, but the things plaguing him now were things no therapist could help with unless it was through the plexiglass screen of a prison telephone room.

Tarin supposed he’d just have to settle for Lee and their therapy sessions in the middle of the night, which wasn’t really settling at all.

Not at all.

Lee said Tarin was being kind and considerate, but he just shook his head. He knew deep down that a decent portion of this whole thing was self-preservation, and when Lee said she knew what she was signing on for when she’d decided to leave the apartment he laughed a little bitterly.

“The fact that you knew what you were signing on for and still left instead of calling the cops speaks volumes” The fact that he could talk about it now without panic rising in his chest also spoke volumes, “I hope that you really do know you saved my life. I meant every word I said to Rachel.”

That was a little harder to say, but it seemed right, “And I’m sorry I put all of that on you on top of everything else. I panicked and didn’t know what else to do…”

Lee saw the surprise on Tarin’s face when she said that she had gotten help after her breakdown. And, she supposed, it was a little surprising. Even though there was privilege between a person and their therapist, there were still things that the therapist had to share with authorities.

But with where and by who Dr Rossi was employed, Lee had actually been able to share real details of things that had happened. Maybe Lee would look into whether the woman was still a safe option. Or try to reach out to Slate or Devon, see if they had ideas.

That would be for another day, though.

Today, tonight, it was just them dealing with it.

“I'm glad I was able to,” Lee said softly. “Though the panic…I can understand since you thankfully haven't had many merges. I wasn't expecting exactly that, but we dealt with it and we're both still here, right?”

Lee gave Tarin a small smile, then her head tilted slightly as she got an idea. “Since you're not avoiding me anymore, is there something you wanted to do with the rest of the evening? We could always see if there's something decent to watch.”

Tarin nodded as Lee spoke. It was true. As bad as things had been, they’d both made it through.

And now here they were, sitting on a couch together and talking about whether or not they should try to watch something on TV.

“I’m down for whatever…but first, how’s your back? Have you been using heat like I said? I noticed when Rachel came over the other morning that you were still pretty sore.” He’d meant to bring it up the other morning, but things had gotten weird.

“I know that it sounds weird and fussy, but it really does help.”

There was one more thing that Tarin needed to bring up, but he was trying to decide if it was better to do it now, or to wait until closer to Sunday night. In all honesty the whole situation made him nervous and felt like he was overstepping in a massive way. Rachel really thought a night out would be good for Lee though, and had warned him that the more time she had, the more likely she was to be able to wiggle her way out of the open mic night that Rachel had set up.

So Tarin didn’t say anything, not yet. “If there’s nothing else on TV…there’s always baseball.” he said instead.

How was her back? Because he noticed it had hurt when Rachel was over. Because of course he had. “It’s actually doing a lot better,” Lee replied. “When Rachel was here, the straps of the vest I was wearing dug in, so that hurt more than just leaning back against the couch.”

Then Tarin went on, and Lee just rolled her eyes at him. “Fine…I’ll get the heating pad for while we watch TV,” Lee said, her voice jokingly exaggerated as though it was the worst thing in the world. “Would that make you happy?”

Despite what she had said, Lee reached forward to grab the remote off the coffee table and handed it to Tarin. She then got up to grab the heating pad where it was sitting on her desk nearby. After unwrapping the cord and plugging it in. Then she turned around to look at Tarin, her nose wrinkled slightly. “Baseball? Ok, now you’re just trying to put me to sleep, aren’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter if it makes me happy or not. It’ll make you feel better.” Tarin said with no small amount of satisfaction as Lee handed him the remote and proceeded to grab the handily available heating pad from her desk.

“I’m glad you’re doing better though, still no headaches or anything?” Concussions could be a bitch to deal with, and the side effects could go on for a long time after the initial injury. If Lee wanted him around, she was just going to have to deal with him keeping tabs on injuries that he was responsible for causing.

As for baseball, as cute as Lee’s wrinkled little nose was, Tarin was going to have to disagree.

“Baseball is an art form. The American pastime.” Funnily enough, it was one of the things that had existed on both sides of the rift, with only small differences in seemingly meaningless rules. It was hard to imagine living in New York and not even liking baseball. There was also the fact that Lee wasn’t strictly American too, so that might have explained it.

Still. He tossed the remote back towards Lee’s side of the sofa now that she was settled, “You pick.”

Lee still rolled her eyes at Tarin again when he said that the heating pad would make her feel better. Then went on to ask about headaches. “I’m fine, Dr Brooks,” Lee said as she sat back down and got the heating pad into position against her back. “I haven’t had any headaches since then. No dizziness, blurred vision or nausea either. Is my word good enough, or do you want to check my pupils next?” As Lee finished speaking, she turned to look at Tarin with a raised eyebrow, a slight smirk on her face.

Was Lee teasing Tarin? Yes she was. Did she need to? No, probably not, but she would most likely continue to tease him about it as long as he kept asking her because she really was fine.

“Well, that explains it.” Lee said with a shake of her head. I’m only legally American so I didn’t have to worry about getting deported anymore. And I can assure you, it did not come with anything along the lines of ‘this is how to enjoy baseball’.”

But Tarin had given her the remote back saying that she could choose. So Lee settled in against the heating pad and started flicking through channels. Until she landed on a black and white movie that looked familiar. Lee leaned forward slightly, her brow furrowing as she tried to place where she had seen it before, what movie it was.

And then it clicked. It Came From Outer Space. She hadn’t seen this movie since she had been 12 or 13, but she remembered liking it.

Leaning back again with a small smile, she looked over at Tarin. “What are your thoughts on horrible sci-fi b-movies?”

“Oh, I see how this apparently works,” Tarin quipped back, “You’re the only one who gets to be assertive and give strongly worded suggestions.” He didn’t dare call Lee bossy, he didn’t have a death wish, after all.

As for baseball, “Well it should have.” he said, “because once you get it…basebally is an excellent pastime. It’s also something you can have on while you work…which you always seem to be doing… and keep the thread of what’s going on without having to stare at the TV for hours on end.”

But, at least for tonight, it was not going to be a baseball game on the TV. Lee flipped through channels and Tarin settled in, preparing himself to be content with whatever it was Lee picked. This whole thing hadn’t been nearly as bad as he’d thought it would be. In fact, it had been relatively easy.

That was part of the problem with all of this, he realized, everything with Lee was easy. Something on the TV caught Lee’s attention and she leaned forward to get a better look. As she did, Tarin took the opportunity to study her for a moment when hopefully she wouldn’t notice.

She was dressed down for the night in a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt and it was such a juxtaposition to what she wore during the day that it just made him smile a bit. Her hair was down, and she looked so serious as she studied the TV that it made Tarin want to reach out and smooth that little crease that was forming between her eyebrows.

Lee spoke then and Tarin jerked his eyes to the television where an old black and white played. Clearing his throat and sitting up a bit more, he fixed his attention on the screen and shrugged, “I don’t know a whole lot about them. I didn’t watch a lot of TV growing up. Are they good?”

Oh man…he thought, not for the first time, he was in trouble.