”Completely,” Lee agreed. It wasn't like they were fighting to keep their hands off of each other anymore. It had just been so nice laying there like that with Tarin.

But it was true that he had a birthday pie waiting. A pie that Lee herself had made for him. It wasn't like it would take all that long to eat some pie, and then they could come back to this.

When Tarin started to actually move, Lee shifted I've to give him room to get out of bed, then started putting her clothing on as he gathered his.

”Pie time.”

Lee giggled slightly as she stood and made her way out of the bedroom. Forcing herself to but stop and give Tarin a kiss on the way; they were up and dressed for pie, a kiss might move them backwards.

It really didn't take long to make it into the kitchen. Pulling the pie out and grabbing a knife, Lee looked at Tarin. ”How big if a alive do you want?”

They made it out of Lee’s bedroom. Kudos to them.

Out of the bedroom and all the way back out to the kitchen. Tarin considered sitting down at the table because he still didn’t quite trust himself with too much proximity at the moment, but followed Lee partway into the kitchen as she got the pie out.

How big a slice? What kind of question was that?

”I mean, if I’m going to all of this effort to eat pie, I want it to be worth my while.” he said with a grin. ”It really does look good.” he added.

Looking over his shoulder and down the hall towards the rooms, Tarin looked back and grinned at Lee, ”Maybe this time we tell Kevin that there’s food.”

”All this effort?” Lee asked with a shake of her head. It really hadn’t taken a whole lot for them to get out here, they’d really only needed to put clothing on. Though, simply getting out of bed had been difficult.

Cutting into the pie, Lee didn’t see Tarin looking toward the bedrooms. But Tarin voiced his thoughts a moment later and Lee nodded. ”That’s likely a good idea,” she agreed as she took the largest slice she’d cut and put it on a plate. Since she’d made this pie for Tarin’s birthday, it only seemed right that Kevin be there to eat it with them. Even if it was a month and a half late because Tarin hadn’t told her it had been his birthday.

Having Kevin out would also help to keep their hands to themselves.

”Did you want to tell him while I finish dishing out?” she asked Tarin over her shoulder.

”So. Much. Effort. Tarin said.

He hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said that the pie looked good. It really did and since he’d had a pretty light dinner it was not going to be an issue for him to finish the slice that Lee was putting on a plate for him.

She also agreed that letting Kevin know that there was food was a good idea.

”Sure.” Tarin said when Lee asked him to do the notifying. Taking a few steps away from the kitchen and towards the hallway Tarin called out, ”Hey, Kevin, there’s pie if you want some!”

That would have to be good enough, Tarin thought as he made his way back to the kitchen to grab the slice of pie Lee had dished up and head to the table.

”I hope that this extreme amount of effort is worth it for the pie, then,” Lee joked. Though personally she had doubts. Lee was well aware of her limitations in the kitchen, as had been proven by her first attempt that day. She just hoped that Adele’s guidance had been able to offset enough of that to even partially live up to Tarin’s apparent anticipation.

As Lee was plating slices for herself and Kevin, Tarin moved away and called to let him know there was food. Chuckling as Tarin came back to grab his plate, Lee looked over and shook her head. ”Thanks hon,” she said, turning to put the pie away before grabbing the two plates and following Tarin out to the table.

Sitting across from Tarin again, Lee set the extra plate between them then smiled at Tarin. Just as Kevin was making his way into the room. ”Happy birthday, Tarin. I hope you enjoy it.”

”It’s your birthday, Tarin?” Kevin asked as he reached the table.

It would be. Just the fact that Lee had gone out of her way to make something for him made it worth the effort in Tarin’s mind.

Lee seemed fine with how he’d chosen to alert Kevin to the presence of the pie and he grinned when she called him hon.

To say that Tarin Brooks was highly content when he sat down at the table with his plate of birthday pie was a vast understatement.

Lee emerged from the kitchen with two more plates of pie and Kevin emerged from his room to eat right about the time that Lee wished Tarin happy birthday.

To Kevin’s question about his birthday Tarin shook his head, ”It was a couple of months ago.” he said, ”I didn’t mention it and your Mom was…unhappy that I did that and thought I needed a pie.”

Speaking of which…Tarin cut a piece of the pie with his fork and took a generous bite. Despite Lee’s concerns about her baking skill, the pie looked absolutely fine.

Tasted fine too. More than fine, in fact. ”That…tastes almost just like my Mom used to make…” he said offhandedly, then directed a look at Lee, ”And you said you couldn’t bake…”

”Oh,” Kevin said as he sat down and immediately dug into his slice of pie. ”She does make a big deal about birthdays.”

At that point, the table fell into silence, and as Lee took a small bite of her pie, she looked across the table at Tarin to see his reaction.

And Lee had been expecting any number of different reactions, from Tarin outright not liking it because she had managed to do something wrong (not impossible by any means), him pretending to like it to spare her feelings, all the way to him actually liking it.

The reaction that she got had never crossed her mind until the words were out of Tarin’s mouth. The pie tasted like his mom made. She had asked Adele for help with figuring out what she had done wrong. Lee had only been hoping for help making sure that her second attempt using all premade ingredients turned out edible.

Adele had instead walked Lee through making the filling from scratch.

And it tasted like Tarin’s mom made.

Shit.

”Would you believe it came out of a can?”

”It’s nice,” Tarin said when Kevin agreed that Lee made a big deal out of birthdays, ”It had been a really long time since anyone made a big deal out of my birthday.” he said with a smile.

When he commented about how good the pie was, Lee did what Lee kind of always did.

A can?

”No.” Tarin said, shaking his head, ”Not that there’s anything wrong with canned filling…” but Tarin knew the difference.

Why did she always have to when she did something awesome?

”Either way, it’s really good. Thanks.” Definitely probably worth eating fresh.

Did she make a big deal about birthdays now? Maybe. But only because she had spent so many years pretending that her birthday didn’t exist because she’d had no one who cared about it. And then there were even more years where they’d been unable to celebrate birthdays because events and situations she’d found herself in didn’t allow it.

And Lee wasn't going to let Kevin ever feel like no one cared about his birthday.

Tarin didn’t believe that the pie filling was from a can. Of course not. She hadn’t thought that he would, but it had been worth an attempt. But he said that it was really good, and Lee gave him a small, happy smile. ”I’m glad. You’re welcome,” she said softly, turning her eyes to her pie again as she took another bite. Lee was glad that Tarin liked the pie, but she hadn’t even considered the fact that it might be similar to what his own mother had made.

”You burned the canned pie, mum,” Kevin pointed out. ”With how long you were talking with grandma this afternoon, I’m surprised she didn’t teach you how to make a whole meal too.”

At least Lee was wiling to accept that the pie was good. Tarin was a bit surprised she wasn’t trying to argue that it wasn’t, as reluctant as she sometimes was to accept praise.

Kevin spoke a moment later though and Tarin’s forkful of pie stopped about halfway to his mouth for a moment before he finished the bite. It made sense that the pie tasted like the pie his Mom used to make because Lee had talked to Kevin’s Grandma about how to make a pie and she had apparently helped.

Tarin kept eating the pie, and it was still really good. It was just so weird when things like this happened. Tarin wasn’t upset that Lee had called Kevin’s Grandma for help, in fact, it just put all the trouble she’d gone to into sharper perspective. It was just so weird for him that this person he had never met knew how to make pie just like his Mother, who he hadn’t seen or spoken to in two and a half decades. He wasn’t even going to get into thinking about the fact that the woman probably hadn’t had any idea who Lee was making the pie for.

”Well, that honestly makes it an even nicer thought…” Tarin said with a small smile at Lee, ”It sounds like your Mom worked hard, and the hard work paid off, because you have to admit it’s real good.”

Lee’s eyes shot to her son as he started speaking. Yes, she had burned the first pie, that was why she had called for help. But Kevin didn’t have to announce how long she had been speaking with Adele for to get the pie made properly.

And Lee definitely did not miss the way that Tarin’s fork had stopped part way to his mouth when he heard what Kevin was saying. Lee knew, at least as well as she was able to understand, how weird it was for Tarin knowing that the family was there, and that Kevin’s father had gotten back into contact with them. That they were a part of Kevin’s, and her, lives.

Lee’s eyes had dropped back to her plate as she took another bite of pie. She had planned on not telling Tarin who she’d gotten help from. She wasn’t going to lie about it, but she hadn’t wanted to tell Tarin.

She just hoped that this wasn’t going to ruin the pie for him, or the rest of the night.

”Well, that honestly makes it an even nicer thought…”

Lee looked up, honestly surprised to see the smile on Tarin’s face, small though it was, and returned it. ”Thanks,” she said softly.

”It actually is good,” Kevin allowed, his voice sounding slightly surprised. Then turned his full attention to Tarin. ”I don’t think she even left the kitchen today, except when she had to go shopping again. I came out to get a drink at one point, and mum was just staring at the oven, like she expected it to burst into flame at any moment.”

Lee had gone shopping twice to make this pie, and she had asked for help to do it?

One of the first significant things that Lee had told Tarin about herself was that it was incredibly difficult for her to even let people help her. Asking for help was even more difficult.

Kevin was speaking directly to him, so Tarin didn’t turn to look at Lee, but the fact that she had put so much work into the pie made Tarin all sorts of warm and fuzzy inside.

”Well, as you pointed out a few times, it sounds like she made a mistake the first time. Gotta learn from mistakes so that you don’t repeat them, right?” he said, eating more of the pie.

”And as we established…it worked. I can firmly assert that birthday pie is superior to cake.”

Kevin seemed to be going out of his way to tell Tarin just how much effort she had gone to in order to make this pie for her, and a blush spread across Lee’s cheeks as she looked at her plate and ate her pie. No, not just the effort, but the time, the request for help, the fact that she didn’t trust the oven not to burn the second pie as it had the first if she had turned away…

And the fact that it had been Adele that she had asked for help. It had to be weird for Tarin, but other than when his fork had paused midair, he didn’t seem to be reacting to it.

Then again, Tarin rarely showed emotions externally.

Lee frowned slightly as she continued looking at her plate as Tarin and Kevin spoke. And birthday pie was superior to birthday cake? At that, Lee looked up at Tarin in slight surprise, the blush still on her cheeks. ”It is?” she asked. Lee was quite happy to hear that considering everything else that had been revealed about it.

The way Lee was studying her pie and blushing, Tarin knew that she absolutely hadn’t planned on Kevin sharing the story of how much time and effort had gone into making the pie.

Tarin was glad Kevin had said something though. Lee wouldn’t have ever told him how much work she’d done, and she’d gone out of her way to try and spare his feelings again at her own expense. It was something they needed to talk about, but not right now. Not when Lee seemed so surprised that Tarin would prefer pie over cake.

Most of his pie was gone, but Tarin took another bite and nodded, ”Absolutely.” he said, looking right back.

Lee smiled wider as Tarin continued to look across the table at her. ”I’m glad you like it so much,” she said.

”Cake is still better for birthdays,” Kevin shared his thoughts on the subject. ”But, if you wanted to make pie again, mum, that'd be ok.”

Lee laughed as she turned to look at her son. ”That would be ok, would it? Glad to hear that.”