“Oh there's hope for me, is there?” Lee questioned, shaking her head and rolling her eyes slightly.

And Tarin said he would like to have a movie marathon. Even though these weren't the type of movie that Lee would normally want to spend a whole day watching, it actually did sound like a good plan. “Me too,” Lee agreed, even though it had been her idea in the first place, smiling over at Tarin.

But the movie was really starting now, so Lee settled in to watch. After a while, Lee unwrapped her arms from around her leg, pulling her other leg up and curled both beside her on the couch.

During a transitional scene, Lee glanced over at Tarin to see him sitting there with his eyes closed. A slightly sad smile on her face, Lee just looked at him for a few moments. He'd had a rough week, it had taken him quite a while to get back to sleep each night after his nightmares plus all the time before she'd found him in the park when he hadn't actually slept due to the spirit.

She'd leave him, Lee decided, still looking over at his peaceful face. Let him sleep on the couch for the moment, get some much needed rest, then wake him up after the movie so he could actually crawl into bed.

As it turned out, a quick little snooze was not in the books. The last week had taken its toll and for the first time since he’d woken up to a cold nightmare in the park, Tarin was fully relaxed.

There weren’t any nightmares, there weren’t even any dreams, and the longer he slept, the more that a boneless, deep sleep set in.

Time in the movie continued to pass and Tarin slumped a little more fully into the couch. As he did so, his arm slipped from where he’d stretched it across the back of the couch, heedless of where it came to rest across Lee’s shoulders.

Tarin seemed to be out. And very relaxed as he slept there on the couch. Lee was happy, he needed the sleep.

Turning back to the movie, Lee watched, and actually started to get engrossed in it.

So much so that Lee actually jumped when she suddenly felt Tarin’s arm around her shoulders. That was not…what was he…

Lee turned, her eyes slightly wide and confused, to look at Tarin sitting beside her. With his arm around her shoulders.

Tarin hadn’t noticed when his arm slipped off the back of the couch, and he didn’t even notice when it came to rest across Lee’s shoulders. He really was out but when Lee jumped and when she turned and looked up at him…then he woke up with a slight jerk, blinking blearily while he tried to figure out where he was and what had happened.

Slowly, reason returned and Tarin took in the TV, the couch he was sitting on, Lee still next to him while he draped his arm over the back of the…cou…

Wait. That was not the couch.

”Oh….I…sorry,” He said, quickly but carefully pulling his arm back and then rubbing his face with his hands while he still tried to find his bearings and he felt a deep flush creeping up his neck. Awkward.

What was even happening in the movie? Did it matter?

“I guess I really passed out there…”

Lee was sitting there very still, as she looked over and up at Tarin. Her eyes were still widened in surprise as she watched him blink, slowly waking up.

His arm was still around her shoulders.

She finally turned away, moving her feet to the floor as she shifted on the couch at the same time Tarin finally was pulling his arm away. Because she was looking away, Lee didn't see the flush moving up his neck even as a blush of her own crossed her cheeks.

Her movement on the couch did put a few more inches of space between them.

“Yeah you were,” Lee said, her voice only slightly above a whisper as her eyes stared directly at the TV. Why was she blushing? He'd been sleeping, very peacefully sleeping. It meant nothing, other than maybe the fact he was able to relax that much with her in the room.

But the blush on her cheeks didn't seem to be disappearing. “You missed almost half the movie.”

Lee pointed out that Tarin had missed half of the movie and he shrugged, “I guess we will have to do that movie marathon.” He said, turning to look back at Lee across the slightly larger distance between them.

Was Lee blushing?

Along with the crushing insecurity that was telling Tarin that he had done something wrong, there was something else there.

Lee was clearly…unsettled…and she had moved away from where she had been before, but she was still there.

Slowly and very deliberately, Tarin stretched his arm back across the back of the couch instead of where it had recently been across Lee’s shoulders.

“Or you could just fill me in on what I missed?”

Lee realized that she was biting her bottom lip, eyes still intently focused on the tv screen as she heard Tarin confirm that they would need to do the movie marathon since he’d missed most of this movie. She nodded her agreement as she sat there, eyes on the screen, hands resting in her lap, but extremely aware of exactly where Tarin was. She wasn’t even registering what her eyes were seeing, Lee realized, because she was so focused on her siphoning.

Her back was still against the back of the couch, but she was now sitting up straighter, not leaning back as comfortably as she had previously been.

Then she felt Tarin moving. She bit her lip harder as her breath caught in her throat. But no, it wasn’t his body moving. Yet she felt energy getting closer to her, moving behind her.

Now that she was actually paying attention to her siphoning, Lee was acutely aware that Tarin had just placed his arm across the back of the couch again. Behind her. The same way it had apparently been when he had fallen asleep. Before it had slid down onto her shoulders. Why was he doing this again, after they had both quickly moved out of this same position not even a minute earlier?

Why was it affecting her so much?

“Or you could just fill me in on what I missed?”

Forcing herself to slowly take a deep breath, Lee finally turned back to look at Tarin, her bottom lip still pulled between her teeth. Was he actually closer now that he’d moved his arm? She hadn’t thought his body had moved toward her, but he looked closer. Finally, she turned to look at Tarin, her lip only being released from between her teeth as she spoke softly. “I could try. But then we’d miss more of the movie…”

She still didn’t move away. Tarin had absolutely no idea what he was doing or how they’d gotten here, or what any of this meant. It probably just meant that Lee was too nice to crush his feelings. Surely she’d tell him to stop, or she would move to the other side of the couch. Lee always made her feelings clear. Yes, it was just his arm partially invading Lee’s space…but maybe it was just the slightest bit more?

God, she was biting that bottom lip again, Tarin noted with no small amount of consternation. What was she thinking about that was worrying her? Why were his fingers simply itching to reach out and touch her hair?

Too much. This was much too much…he was taking advantage of the generosity and hospitality that Lee had shown him by being an absolute wretch.

Still.

Lee spoke, and looked back at him, thankfully dropping her lip from her teeth so he could actually focus on what she was saying about the movie and missing even more of it.

“If you’re so invested we can just keep watching, I’m sure I can catch myself up.” He said, reluctantly pulling his eyes back to the TV screen.

Were those…aliens?

He had been looking at her already when she turned. He’d been looking at her so that the moment she had turned her head enough to be facing him, she was looking directly into his eyes. Those green eyes. And Lee was still very aware of just how close his arm was behind her.

Why were her cheeks feeling warmer now that they were looking at each other? They had looked at each other plenty of times over the last week. She’d looked in his eyes like this many times. So why was she…

He turned to look at the tv again, and it was only then that she realized that he’d said he could catch himself up, so they wouldn’t miss more of the movie.

That…that would work, Lee thought as she turned back to the tv again. And found that it was easier, now, to breathe without looking at each other. Lee closed her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath. Then she relaxed into the couch again, though not nearly as much as she had been before.

Yes. The movie. Watching the movie, paying attention to the movie was a great idea.

Watching the movie was a good thing, there were Russians, and more aliens, and an honest to God alien spacecraft. Tarin didn’t know why, but it had all seemed more realistic when they were dealing with religious artifacts. This all seemed a bit…outlandish. Even more outlandish than the way Lee had been looking at him a few minutes before, all blushes and worried lips.

Still keenly aware that Lee still had not moved to the other side of the couch, room, or apartment, Tarin did his best to figure out what else was happening on the screen. That worked for a while and the intensity with which his heart had been beating in his chest lessened just the slightest bit. Every now and then he found himself glancing in Lee’s direction, but hopefully never long enough that she’d be compelled to look back.

A wedding appeared on screen and Tarin frowned a slight bit, “Isn’t that…Isn’t that the lady from one of the first movies?” He asked. “What’s her part in all of this? Why are they getting married?” He asked, glancing over at Lee once again. He’d apparently missed more than he’d thought.

As the movie continued playing, Lee tried to ignore the fact that Tarin’s arm was still resting behind her on the couch. Still very close behind her, almost draped across her shoulders.

Tried to ignore, but failed each and every time. Unlike earlier in the night, now that she had been made hyper aware of its presence when it slipped down and did lay draped across her shoulders, she wasn’t not able to feel the energy coming from it.

Shutting her siphoning off didn’t even cross her mind as a possible solution, at least to her being so aware of the proximity of Tarin’s arm. Of Tarin.

Then Tarin spoke, asking questions about the wedding that was now happening in the movie. Turning her head to look at him, Lee couldn’t feel it as her hair didn’t have nerve endings, but her hair brushed against Tarin’s forearm and wrist. “It is,” Lee confirmed as she found herself looking into Tarin’s eyes again as he was looking directly at her. “That greaser kid is theirs. And why are they getting married?” Lee asked, a little confused by that question.Though she did have to think a moment before a satisfactory answer.

“Sometimes, when it’s actual, true love,” Lee said slowly, her voice soft. Unaware of the slight blush that slowly started making its way across her cheeks. “It doesn’t matter what’s happened before, what might have brought you together, or back together. Sometimes you just….know that it’s the right time.”

Lee turned back to talk to Tarin again and as she did, her hair brushed up against his arm. Such a small thing, but it sent little goosebumps running up his arm and down his neck as Lee explained that the silly sidekick kid who’d been doing silly sidekick things the whole movie had actually been the hero's son.

“Huh” Tarin said, in response to the explanation, not really watching the movie any more, but watching Lee as she spoke. Watching Lee as his fingers ever so slightly touched her hair. Watching Lee as that same blush from earlier started to creep back up over her face.

Listening as she explained why exactly the two people on the screen were getting married.

It wasn’t exactly what Tarin had meant with the question, but her answer had him nodding his head, “Sometimes,” he said, his voice just above a whisper this time, “It’s just meant to be…” A slow, slightly sad smile spread across his face as he glanced back at the TV, “At least in the movies…”

“Huh”

As Lee sat there looking at Tarin, him looking back at her, Lee noticed that her heart was beating faster than normal, though she didn’t notice the blush on her cheeks. And Tarin seemed to really be taking in her explanation of why the two were getting married. Her eyes were focused on his as he started speaking, his voice quiet as well.

“Sometimes, It’s just meant to be…”

“Exactly,” Lee nodded, her voice even quieter than his had been. She felt her hair move slightly, but didn’t pay much attention as she’d just moved her head. But then she saw the sad smile on his face as he turned back to the tv. “Sometimes in real life…”

Suddenly, Lee heard a loud noise and jumped. She didn’t realize that she gasped slightly in surprise as she did. A moment later, her brain registered that the noise had been a knock at the door. “I should get that,” she said, getting up off the couch. Much more quickly than necessary.

As she made her way to the door, Lee took a few slow breaths. That…that had been intense. And unexpected. And nice.

Reaching the front door, Lee unlocked it and pulled it open, standing there in surprise when she saw her brother standing on the other side. “Robert? What are you doing here?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot. Toronto’s playing game 7 tonight. You said it’d be better to watch here because of Kevin.”

Lee’s brain was trying to remember what in the world her brother was talking about. Then she remembered; before everything that had happened with Tarin this past week, they’d been talking about Toronto being in the playoffs. Robert had been busy with work for the earlier games in the series, but they’d made plans to watch together if it went to a game 7.

“I completely forgot,” Lee admitted. But did she send her brother away, or let him in now that he was there? Which option would have the least fallout?

She didn’t get to even make the decision as Robert was already stepping past her into the apartment. “Well, good thing I got here a little early, isn’t it?”

“Sometimes in real life…”

They were the words of someone who had experienced exactly what Lee had been talking about. The kind of love that transcended silly little things like time and space. The kind of love that didn’t fade over time or distance, but just settle in.

What was that like? The words were forming on his lips, when a loud knock rang through the apartment and Lee gasped, pulling away and moving to her feet. It had a similar effect, Tarin decided, as if someone had run past and dumped a bucket of ice water on his head.

What had that been? What had he been thinking? Why hadn’t Lee moved away from him? Why? Why did it feel like every single nerve ending in his body was on fire? Was his hand shaking?

All those questions and more were destined to go unanswered as Tarin heard the voices filtering in through the rest of the apartment.

Who was Robert, and why was he here to watch the game? Pulling his arm down from the back of the couch, Tarin turned so he could see the man pushing past Lee into the apartment in a way that told Tarin exactly who he was.

Only an older sibling would body their sister like that.

This night needed to stop getting interesting.

But hey, at least there would be hockey. It was a poor substitute for the night’s previous activities, but it was something.

Robert pushed past her and into the apartment. Lee couldn’t stop the glare at her brother’s back as she closed and locked the door. “Well, at least you remembered the beer this time,” Lee replied, grabbing the 12 pack from her brother. Then she looked back to the living room to see Tarin looking toward them. “Apparently, we’re watching hockey tonight,” she told him, then lifted the beer slightly. “Did you want one?”

Waiting long enough to hear Tarin’s answer, Lee made her way into the kitchen. “Oh, I didn’t know you already had company,” she heard Robert say. Lee quickly grabbed the drinks before sticking the rest of the case in the fridge as she frantically thought about how she could explain this to her brother. Telling him that Tarin was here because of a merge would not go over well at all. He’d been just a little too happy when she got divorced.

Quickly making her way back to the living room so the two men weren’t alone for too long (she had no idea how that might turn out), she passed the two men their drinks and sat down in the center of the couch again. Had things gotten…weird before Robert arrived. Sure did. But in Lee’s mind, that was far preferable to Tarin and Robert sitting next to each other.

Lee looked at Tarin first. This would be the easier part. “This is my big brother Robert,” she introduced, then turned to look at her brother. “Bobby, this is Tarin. Remember how I mentioned he’d been stuck on this side when that rift in the park closed?”

“This is Tarin?” Lee saw Robert take another good look at him. Noticed Robert’s eyes linger on Tarin’s arms. “I like him better already.”

“Just shove it, Bobby,” Lee said, a note of anger suddenly in her voice. “The divorce was ten years ago and he’s been gone for six. If you still can’t get over that crap, you need to just keep your mouth closed.”