Well, this was suddenly going much much better, Tarin couldn’t help but think. Lee didn’t seem to mind the suggestions he was making at all and he got to feel like he was doing something useful.

She also agreed about the food they’d made together that night and Tarin had to smile. That silenced a bit when Lee pointed out she didn’t think she’d be able to cook Thursday. “Oh god no…” he said, ”I wouldn’t dream of either of us trying to cook Thursday. he said, ”Next week sounds great.”

He sat in silence for a few moments, looking down at Lee and trying to figure out if there was anything else he could do.

”Anything I need to know?”

Tarin thought that cooking the following week was a good idea. And while Lee had meant it when she had said the words, Tarin's agreement made it so much more real, letting the worry start to creep in. Would it go as well as their previous attempt? Would it even turn out to be edible this time?

No, Lee decided. She wasn't going to worry about this. At least not until this dinner with her parents was done. Then she could worry all she wanted about cooking.

"Anything I need to know?”

Lee took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "I mean, you know about what happened before I left," Lee said, then paused a moment. "But they've been trying…Well, you can't really make up for what they did, but they've been trying to be better now. That's why I had even let them meet Kevin to start with."

Lee paused again, trying to think if there was anything else that Tarin needed to know. At first, Lee didn't think so. Tarin could make up his own mind about her parents. Then she realized that there was a subject that could easily come up depending on how things went that she did not want talked about around her son.

"Kevin doesn't know what they did," Lee told Tarin as she looked up at him, her voice a little quieter than it had been. "They've been doing better with me, and they've been good grandparents. I don't think I've even told him how old I was when I left, because that would have led to questions about why."

Tarin nodded grimly when Lee pointed out that he knew what her parents had done before she’d left. He did know. He knew all about the doctors visits, the isolation Lee had suffered from school and her siblings…it made him angry to think about it too much though, and Lee said they were doing better now.

Tarin thought Lee was incredibly gracious to say so and to give them the chance to come and spend time with her. Lee was a better person than he was though, and Tarin would help in any way he could.

Tarin could tell Lee was thinking now and he looked back steadily as he waited for her to decide if there was anything else. Then Lee spoke and Tarin had to think, once again, about just how impressive Lee was as a person and a Mother.

Kevin didn’t have any idea what Lee had gone through at home when she’d been younger, or how old she had been when she had left. Lee hadn’t wanted the knowledge to harm Kevin’s opinion of his grandparents because they’d been good to him.

”Alright, I’ll be mindful of that and make sure not to say anything that would lead the conversation in that direction.” he said softly
In response.

”Have I told you lately that I think you’re a very impressive person?” he added a moment later with a soft smile.

The sole reason that she didn't want that subject coming up was currently sitting in his bedroom. Because frankly, if the subject of how her parents had treated her once they discovered it was all just her mutation and not medical were to come up and their feelings got hurt because of what was said, Lee really didn't care. Yes, they had started doing better, and had continued to get a bit better over the last decade.

But that didn't erase what had happened. And if they didn't like comments about what they had done, that was their problem.

Lee did not want finding out about that to hurt Kevin, though.

As Tarin continued speaking though, a blush started to cover her cheeks. "Not in a few days, at least," Lee whispered, her eyes dropping slightly. She wasn't entirely sure when the last time was, but Tarin did have a tendency to say that kind of thing about her fairly frequently. Though she wasn't sure how wanting her son to not be hurt made her impressive.

Lee responded pretty much the way Tarin had expected and he had to chuckle a little as she dropped her eyes, ”Clearly I have been slacking…” he said and dropped another quick kiss on Lee’s forehead.

Was there anything else? At the moment Tarin couldn’t think of anything. Food was sorted, the pick up details and the logistics were pretty well sorted. Proper etiquette and topics of conversation had been discussed…it really seemed like that was everything.

There would probably be more that came up in the next couple of days, and that was fine, they had a great start. Tarin was just pleased that the ideas had all fallen in line so very well. He still had an important job to do though, keeping Lee from worrying.

”I think that’s enough planning for tonight though…unless you think of anything else. What were your plans for the evening before you got that call?” Tarin asked with another smile, content to stay right where they were for as long as possible.

Lee blushed a bit darker when she felt Tarin kiss her on the forehead again. "No," Lee whispered. "You've been saying things like that quite a bit…" Not that Tarin was likely to stop because of what she said. If anything, Lee thought, he'd start saying it more often.

As silence fell between them, Lee laid her head against Tarin's shoulder again. Her parents would be there in a few days. They had decided to get Italian, and Tarin would pick it up on his way home Thursday. But Lee still had to figure out what to order. She couldn't do that until she had the menu, so that would have to wait until the next day. And she would have to check-

”I think that’s enough planning for tonight though"

Lee was pulled out of her thoughts by Tarin. And, though her brain was telling her that she needed to get everything figured out, Lee thought that Tarin was probably right. She had plenty of time still to worry

What had she been planning? "Nothing really," Lee said with a slight shrug. "Maybe watching the game with this guy I've been seeing."

He had been saying things like that quite a bit?

”Well good. I’d hate you to forget.” he said softly and let it drop.

It was easy to be quiet and sit, but Tarin knew that he was probably going to have his work cut out for him the next couple of days, helping Lee not to worry too much. He could only do that while he was here though, so no matter what he did, Tarin knew that Lee was probably still going to worry.

Tarin also knew that Lee almost needed to plan and understand all of the contingencies in a situation in order to be secure so he would need to find the balance between helping to alleviate the stress of the dinner and taking too much of the control.

Lee spoke a moment later though and Tarin had to grin at her words before feigning a deep sigh. Distraction was an excellent balm for stress and their silly little ongoing joke seemed like it might be just the thing.

”Well, you guys are just going to have to find somewhere else to watch because I have been waiting all day to get some quality time with my girlfriend and I just don’t think she’s going to want to share space.”

Tarin didn't want her to forget that he thought she was impressive. With how often he said things like that, Lee doubted that she was going to be able to ever forget he thought that. But she also knew he wanted her to think that way about herself and…that was not nearly so easy to do.

Lee laughed at Tarin's reply to her comment. She loved that they were able to joke around like this. Especially when things were tense or stressful, playing around like this helped ease the tension.

"Well, what were you planning on doing with your girlfriend?" Lee asked. "You must have some ideas if you've been waiting all day.

"Though," Lee continued, looking up at Tarin with a playful smirk. "If she's that against sharing space with others, she sounds a little jealous. You sure she's the right woman for you?"

”Well, we didn’t have any specific plans…” he said trying to buy time to think because honestly he’d planned on pretty much doing this and watching the game and Lee had already thrown that out there.

”She really loves the Mets though, can’t get a moment’s peace if we don’t watch the games so that’s probably going to happen.”

He looked over and down the short distance between them and shrugged, ”After that, who knows?”

Lee was smirking now though and Tarin couldn’t help but laugh a little at what she said, ”Oh, I’m sure.” he said ”And I wouldn’t call it jealousy…” Tarin said trying to think if he’d ever even sensed a glimmer of jealousy from Lee and coming up completely empty. ”I’d just say she values the quiet and our time, no matter what we are doing.”

It wasn’t what someone witty probably would have said, looking at Lee with that smirk in her face. Tarin knew that, but he’d never claimed to be particularly witty. This was going to have to do.

Lee raised her eyebrow at Tarin when he said that his 'girlfriend' really loved the Mets. Yes, she had started to actually like baseball, but Lee wasn't sure that she would actually watch many games if she wasn't sitting there watching them with Tarin.

"Oh. And does she make you wear something as a ridiculous good luck charm?" Lee asked, her tone still playful and teasing with a happy smile on her face.

When Tarin said that he was sure he was with the right woman, Lee couldn't stop her smile from growing wider if she had tried. Not that she ever worried about that, but it sure was nice to hear out loud.

And…Tarin really did know her well, didn't he? Not that there had even been a reason to cause jealousy. Why would there be? Lee knew how she felt about Tarin, and how he felt about her. No matter the situation, Lee couldn't think of a reason that she'd have to be jealous.

"Well, she sounds pretty amazing. I should probably clear out, then," Lee said, sitting up straighter so she could get off the couch.

”No…nothing ridiculous.” Tarin said, his own smile growing, ”But she does let me wear a magic hat from another universe.”

They were teasing, but Tarin was pretty sure that if Lee really hated wearing the hat so much she’d have stopped wearing it. As it was she didn’t wear it every game because as much as Tarin would have liked to, they didn’t watch every game.

Tarin’s not-so-witty comment did the trick apparently because all of a sudden Lee was declaring his ‘girlfriend’ to be amazing and moving as if she was going to leave. She’d done that the last time they’d played this little game too.

Well, Tarin was nothing if not predictable and as she sat up he looped his arm around her waist and shifting to pull her even closer, wrapping his other around her too for good measure. Tarin knew that Lee could easily keep going if she wanted, but he had a feeling she’d stay, ”No you don’t…” he said, leaning his chin on her shoulder.

”Love you.” he said simply after that.

"A magic hat from another universe?" Lee asked with a laugh. "Now that sounds rather unbelievable."

And in reality it was, but that didn't stop them, well Tarin from claiming it to be true. Though it was quite a coincidence that the Mets really did seem to do better when she was wearing his hat.

Lee was just pushing herself up off the couch when she felt Tarin's arm wrapping around her tighter, pulling her even closer to him than she had been. Lee had been planning on just getting up to go get the hats, but she liked this more, so let Tarin easily pull her close, smiling as his chin came to rest on her shoulder.

"I don't?" she asked in a whisper.

That wasn't the only thing Tarin said, and Lee's smile became even happier as she turned in his arms to look at him. Not the easiest thing to do with how close he was holding her. But once she had turned enough to be able to reach, Lee kissed him before murmuring against his lips. "Love you too."

”Maybe she just really likes how I look in her hat, and the magic is a convenient excuse.” Tarin allowed, even if the team seemed to play better when Lee wore the hat. It was too much coincidence.

As predicted, Lee didn’t seem to mind when Tarin wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. In fact, when he said he loved her, she twisted in his arms and then they were kissing as she said she loved him too.

As far as distractions went, this was the absolutely best thing Tarin could think of, and he let the kiss linger for just a few moments before he pulled back and smiled. They were in a common area of the apartment after all and that had bit them once before. This was so much better than the stress and nervousness that had been practically rolling off of Lee in waves when he’d gotten home.

”Didn’t you say something about a game?” Tarin asked.

"Well, anything's possible," Lee admitted about Tarin's 'girlfriend' liking how he looked in 'her' hat. He had said, a few times, that she was cute in his hat. Not that she had been able to do much more than blush when he said things like that.

The kiss was soft, and sweet, but it lingered for a little while before Tarin pulled back. Asking about a game being on. "Yeah, I think it's starting soon," Lee said.

When had she become the one keeping track of when the Mets were playing?

"Unless you wanted to find a movie or something else to watch?"

The game was starting soon, Lee confirmed, but also pointed out that they could watch a movie or something else too.

”As long as it doesn’t involve you moving more than a few inches, I honestly don’t care what we do.” Tarin said, knowing full well that the hats were back in his room, but deciding that the Mets were just going to have to go it on their own this time.

The rest of the night passed in similar fashion, and over the next couple of days. Tarin had been absolutely right. Lee had continued to plan and worry and worry and plan. Tarin had done his absolute best to help Lee not worry, and thought he’d done a pretty good job…at least as far as he could. As he’d thought the other day, it was like Lee needed to plan and worry about every eventuality in order to be comfortable in a situation. It was just a thing that was so Tarin did his best to help where he could and let Lee take the proverbial wheel where she needed.

As promised, Tarin had ended his day early, pushing the appointments he would have had to other days or the next week and had left to go and grab the food that had been ready exactly on time as he’d entered the restaurant.

It smelled awesome and Tarin had found himself hoping that they wouldn’t have to wait too long to eat as he made his way home down the busy streets. It didn’t take all that long and Tarin was juggling the food and his keys to try and get in the door of the apartment, a few minutes earlier than he had anticipated.

”Hey,” he called as he pushed the door shut with his foot behind him and headed for the kitchen to drop everything off. ”I double checked to make sure that everything was here. They said everything could go in the oven on warm if we needed to keep it heated.”