Well, Tarin thought, that was definitely too bad. He hated being the cause of tension between Lee and her brother and he didn’t know what to do to make it better since his very existence seemed to send Lee’s brother into a blind rage.

Lee advanced a few steps and Tarin was just turning to go back to the living room when she spoke again.

”I’m sorry, what?” Tarin said, digesting the first piece of information and then the second, shock evident on his face. He and Lee had been careful, staunchly following the rules Lee had laid down.

They’d come back to the second.

”What is it with your siblings and their obsession with who you are or are not sleeping with?” He said softly, but definitely loud enough for Lee to hear.

”I’m sorry, what?”

Lee just nodded, honestly not sure what to say to that. They had been so careful since the night they went to the bar. Very careful to have nothing appear to be different between them when Kevin was around. And while yes, Tarin had been helping her wake up in the mornings energy wise, he’d been doing that from the start, at least when he was up and out of his room that early. And there had also been some nights they’d spent together, but they’d been very careful with that as well.

When Tarin asked his next question, though, Lee couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. Maybe it was because of the tension she’d felt while talking with Robert. Maybe because the whole concept was ridiculous, and if she hadn’t been living it, Lee wouldn’t believe that two separate siblings would be this interested and intrusive into their sister’s sex life.

”Honestly, i don’t know,” Lee finally said once she got the laughing mostly under control. ”But they really need to back off. It’s getting to be beyond absurd.”

Lee burst out laughing and Tarin couldn’t help but smile, it was kind of funny in its utter absurdity. It was clear that Lee’s siblings cared deeply about her, and Tarin knew that their childhoods had been complicated…

”As for Kevin…” Tarin frowned, ”He can’t know anything Lee… he said, crossing his arms as he ran through everything in his head. ”He’s just a teenager being a teenager.” Tarin left out the fact that he knew absolutely nothing about teenagers. ”Robert is the one jumping to conclusions…” No matter how accurate. ”Just like he did when he saw you this morning.”

”Are you okay?” he asked, suddenly guilty for leaving Lee to deal with it all on her own.

As Tarin spoke, Lee nodded slowly.. He was right, Kevin couldn't know. Everything that they had done, or maybe more accurately everything that they hadn't done, was to make sure that Kevin didn't, couldn't know. Not until she was able to talk to him.

And Robert had jumped to conclusions. ” You're right, Robert is good at jumping to conclusions,” Lee agreed. He always had been. And then was often too stubborn to change his mind when presented with the truth.

Was she ok? Lee shrugged slightly. '' That's definitely not how I wanted to end the day, but I didn't have to physically remove him from the apartment, so that's something, right?”

Lee took a breath then gave a small smile. ” But it sounded like the end of the game was good. They won?”

It felt good helping Lee work through things. From the beginning, her biggest concern had been controlling the flow of information in their situation in a way to make sure things were easy for Kevin.

She said that she was okay and Tarin nodded ”That is good…though it might have been nice to see Robert knocked down a peg.”

”It was still a great day.” he added with a grin across the room.

As for the game, Tarin nodded and chuckled, ”They did. Careful though, you’re at risk of sounding like you care.”

Lee smiled when Tarin suggested it might have been good to take Robert down a peg. '' There's always next time,” she murmured. Because with how things had ended Lee was sure that the next time they talked wouldn't be much better.

Her smile only widened when he told her how the day had been. ''It really was. We should see what we can do to salvage what's left of it.

“Me? Caring about baseball” she asked, her voice sounding incredible. ” Not at all. Though I am curious about how you managed to get Kevin so interested. How did you bring him?” She finished with another little laugh.

The next time.

For a large portion of his life Tarin had been forced to try and live up to expectations that he’d been unable to meet. The problem hadn’t been the failure, since it was a forgone conclusion. The problem had been the people with the expectations. Expectations like that weren't meant to make a person better. They were meant to break the person down. To manipulate the person into dependency by making them believe they needed the holder of the expectations.

Robert clearly cared about Lee, and wanted her to be safe, but he also clearly did not respect her autonomy. Time would tell, Tarin supposed, what was really at work there. One thing was for sure though, Lee did not need to continue shouldering the burden of her siblings’ insecurities. It definitely wasn’t his place to say anything though, not yet.

Pulled from his thoughts when Lee spoke about salvaging the rest of the night, Tarin smiled an easy smile ”I’m open to suggestions.”

As for Kevin and the baseball game, ”No bribes required. He is a half American teenage boy. Its like a moth to a flame.”

Any suggestions for how to salvage the night? Lee shrugged as she glanced toward the living room before turning back to Tarin. ”We could always just see what is on TV now that the game is over?” Lee suggested. Since Kevin was still awake, it really was about the best they could do, wasn’t it? Though, maybe there would be a good movie they could watch, even if they weren’t able to cuddle together on couch this time.

And Kevin had sat and watched baseball with Tarin voluntarily, with no bribe or encouragement needed? Lee was honestly surprised.

Walking toward Tarin, making her way back into the apartment, Lee grabbed Tarin’s hand, tugging it with her for a moment before letting go again. ”He’s never shown any interest in sports before,” Lee said as she made her way to the couch. ”Except for the gym and that. I never thought baseball would draw him in like that.”

”Sounds good to me.” Tarin said as Lee made her way past him moving with the little tug she gave to his hand and smiling that she’d done it.


Over they went to the couch, and as they went Lee commented that Kevin hadn’t ever really been interested in sports before.

Tarin shrugged, ”It was a good game?” he said ”Always easier to watch when people are actually hitting the ball.” he said, tossing the remote towards Lee’s side of the couch.

”I guess it had to have been, wasn’t it?” Lee asked, giving Tarin a teasing smile as she took the remote he had tossed her way. ”I mean, it even managed to keep my attention a couple times.” Which, despite her joking now, Tarin knew wasn’t true. She had actually been interested as she watched the game that day and had even asked him a few questions.

Though, maybe it had helped that they had been able to sit together and cuddle while they watched most of the game. Lee knew that had a lot to do with the part of the game neither of them had paid attention to.

Lee started flipping through on the TV looking for something to watch, but she was only paying partial attention at the moment. Her brain had gone back to something that Robert had said. One of the few things that came out of his mouth that hadn’t made her angry.

”I’m going to talk with Kevin about everything tomorrow,” Lee said softly after a couple minutes. ”If Robert was telling the truth about him knowing…we may not have to pretend anymore.”

”Something kept your attention anyway.” Tarin said with a little smirk

Lee was flipping through the channels and Tarin was only paying half attention, thinking about everything had happened throughout the day.

Lee spoke, softly this time, and Tarin just looked at her for a few moments, trying to gage how she felt about what she was saying.

”Don’t let Robert push you into something you’re not ready to do.” he said, not that Lee really needed to hear it from him.

”You know I’m not going anywhere.”

Lee smiled, laughing slightly at Tarin’s comment. That was true, something had definitely kept her attention to one degree or another through the entirety of the game that she had been there to watch.

”You know I’m not going anywhere.”

Lee smiled wider, happy and thoughtful as she looked across the couch at Tarin. ”You really aren’t, are you?” Though she had said it as a question, it was more a realization. By this point, they knew if not all the worst parts of each other, at least a good part, and Tarin had been punched by Robert over something that had happened when Tarin hadn’t even been in this world.

And yet, they were both still there. If anything, getting closer rather than moving apart as new information and issues arose.

No, Tarin really wasn’t going anywhere. And neither was she.

”He’s not pushing me into it,” Lee said with a slight shake of her head. ”Kevin’s had time to get used to you being around, and he definitely likes you. I was already going to broach the idea with him in the next few days, but if Robert was telling the truth and he somehow already knows….”


Lee took a breath and shook her head. ”It’d also be good to know if I have to go beat Robert if he’s said anything to Kevin.”

That grin from Lee did funny things to Tarin’s chest and he couldn’t help but grin back

”Nope.”

Why would he go anywhere? Didn’t Lee realize that he’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop this whole time? That eventually she’d listen to everyone else and realize what a mistake this whole wild thing was?

No…he wasn’t going anywhere.

Lee continued speaking and Tarin just listened.

Kevin liked him?

Lee had already planned on talking to him in the next few days?

There was still a chance that Lee was going to beat Robert to a bloody pulp?

”Okay.” he said, still grinning across the space between them. Lee said everything was okay, so it was okay.

Lee’s smile was already wide and happy, was very much a happy grin, when she asked her question, it grew even more when Tarin answered. Even with all the rules in place, even with how her siblings constantly seemed to be forcing themselves in

She hadn’t doubted the idea, but it sure was nice to have confirmation.

Turning back to the TV, Lee paused briefly when she switched to a hockey game. The Leafs were playing. Right, because they had made it to the second round. As Lee started flicking again, she noticed that the game was just starting the second period.

Meaning Robert had actually missed most if not all of the first period because he had been here talking to her.

Lee hadn’t had any luck finding a show or movie that had grabbed her attention yet. But a couple moments later, another baseball game appeared.

Turning to look at Tarin again, she set the remote on her lap. ”Are these teams any good to watch?”

Tarin didn’t miss it when Lee stopped on the hockey game.

Hockey was fine, they could watch hockey.

But Lee didn’t stay on the game, even though it was the playoffs and she did like hockey.

No, instead she kept flipping through the channels until she landed on one of the night games.

And asked if they were good to watch.

The Rays and the Red Socks? They were pretty much the two worst teams in the division.

”Yeah, they’re great.” Tarin said with another grin.