"Apparently, yes," Lee replied with another shrug. Since this had all started as a joke and playing around, Lee wasn't sure why it mattered so much to Tarin.

He had already won; he had gotten her to not only watch baseball, but come to enjoy it, and then he'd gotten her to wear his baseball hat.

As expected, Michael was getting tired, the extra playing with Tarin, though it wasn't much, probably helping with that a bit. Lee had to agree with Tarin, though. It was pretty darn cute when Michael yawned.

While Tarin was trying to explain his surprise at how the previous inning had ended despite his 'gods', Lee tried to get Michael to recline back and snuggle. Despite his yawn, Michael was wanting none of that snuggling relax time.

"Just have faith," Lee repeated. Have faith in the baseball gods Tarin had likely made up mere moments before he spoke about them, who he said were the source of the interdimensional hat magic that helped the Mets play better.

Yeah.

And as she thought that, the batter hit the ball.

Tarin let the topic drop with that little shrug from Lee. He’d only been teasing after all and there was no point in being any more obnoxious than he’d probably already been.

After the cute little yawn, Tarin had wondered if Lee had been exactly right in her order of events for the night. So far she’d predicted everything pretty accurately up to and including the diaper that she’d had to change a little bit before.

Michael seemed to have different ideas though and avoided laying back like one of those round little toys you simply couldn’t tip over. It looked like it was going to be more playing for now.

Tarin’s explanation about the baseball gods also apparently fell flat and he could tell by the skepticism in Lee’s voice that his little speech about faith hadn’t landed as well as he had hoped.

And then, either the baseball gods or the Mets had Tarin’s back.

The pitcher pitched, the batter swung, and the bat connected with the ball.

It was a solid hit…a real solid hit and as the ball sailed into the outfield it quickly became obvious that it was going over the wall.

“Faith.” he said simply as the runner rounded the bases.

Lee heard the ball hit the bat and she turned to look at the tv once more. To see the ball flying. Sailing…

Over the wall.

"Faith."

The timing of that couldn't have be worse. Or, Lee supposed, better for Tarin.

And to top it off, Michael chose that m oment to shake his jellyfish and squeal.

"Really? You too?" Lee asked, looking down at Michael.

Shaking her head, Lee turned to look at Tarin before leaning in for a kiss. "Seriously, though. This is getting harder to believe this is all coincidence."

The home run landed and Tarin couldn’t help but laugh, turning his hat backwards as the next batter came up to the plate.

Michael even got into things and let out a squeal and gave the jellyfish a shake in celebration. At least Tarin was going to call it celebration. What did it matter if Michael was just doing what babies did and playing with his toy? It helped prove Tarin’s point.

Lee just seemed a bit incredulous at this point and Tarin couldn’t blame her, especially when she leaned in for a kiss.

Too much for coincidence?

“I stopped believing in coincidences ages ago.” he said as the batter connected solidly, another base hit.

Michael was still flailing around his jellyfish as he bounced on Lee's lap.

At least he was going to tire himself out, Lee thought.

As the next batter hit the ball, Tarin spoke again. Turning to look at him, Lee reached her free hand out for his. If Lee thought about it she had a guess around what time that Tarin stopped believing in coincidences.

But had they actually ever talked about it?

Not that Lee would have called the fact that she had recognized that monster's method of killing a coincidence.

"You did?" she asked, the playfulness out of her voice leaving just a bit of curiosity. "When was that?"

Lee’s hand found his and Tarin took it, tightening his arm around her shoulders a bit.

The conversation had taken one of those oddly serious turns that their conversations sometimes seemed to take out of nowhere. Tarin had meant the words as an offhand comment, but he knew that they were really anything but offhanded.

The truth of the matter was that Tarin had stopped believing in coincidence at about the time he’d finally pushed Lee hard enough that she’d been willing to leave the shop.

It was all so fuzzy now, even if it hadn’t been all that long in the grand scheme of things. Tarin just knew that even though at the time he’d had no inkling of where they’d be now, he’d known that he couldn’t let her leave.

By all accounts he should have let her walk that day, everything would have been simpler and it was what he’d been trying to accomplish for days. He hadn’t been able to do it though.

“Probably right about the time you think.” he said softly, then sighed. “Because really, what are the odds?” There were just too many things for it to add up.

"Probably right about the time you think.”

Lee squeezed Tarin's hand slightly and took a slow breath.

That…really did make a lot of sense. So many things had to have worked out perfectly for her to have found Tarin that night, for her to have been able to stop the merge without the 'solution' being the one Tarin had been trying to do for a good chunk of that weekend.

She had to have come to the realization that night, Rachel had to have gotten to the apartment to watch Kevin pretty much exactly when she had, Lee had to have taken that exact route through the park and been passing Tarin at that very moment to have heard him speak.

Even if she had discovered Tarin there in the park at another moment in time, even just a few minutes difference would have resulted in very different outcomes that night.

And while Lee was very glad about the outcome, if it wasn't coincidence, that implied that everything that happened in just the right way that night had been 'meant' to happen.

Lee didn't want to think about it that way, either. Because if that night was meant to happen the way that it did, that would mean that every other hard and horrible thing that had happened in her life had been meant to happen as well.

Because without them, she wouldn't have been the person capable of dealing with that night.

"Astronomical, probably," Lee replied softly. "But still technically possible."

Astronomical. “Just like the chances that I’d walk through the rift with almost nothing, aimlessly wander to the shop, and just so happen to run into probably the only person in New York who could have possibly set up for me to take the place over...

It was a lot to think about though and Tarin had just been thinking about how things got too serious between them too often.

Besides, talking about this too much made him think too much about the previous spring, and thinking too much about that time was still a completely visceral experience.

Shuddering slightly, Tarin veered away from this topic, casting around for something else to talk about.

Michael bouncing all over the place was as good an option as any, but suddenly it felt really weird to reach out and play with the baby so Tarin just sat there and held Lee’s hand as the Mets recorded their first out of the inning. “Whatever it was, I’m equal parts glad and sorry you were paying attention.” Tarin said finally, knowing he’d said something similar before but also knowing he’d never stop saying it.

That was also a very good point. What were the chances that Lee would have been at the shop, pounding on the door and calling for Kevin's father to answer because he hadn't shown up for Kevin at the same time that Tarin had wandered by.

With Tarin walking back and forth a couple times before Lee had confronted him.

What were the chances that that would have all lined up? Because Tarin had come across to this world before the rift was closed, and Lee hadn't descended on the shop until a couple days after.

"I'm simply glad that I was," Lee said softly as she turned to look up at Tarin. "Not at all sorry. But if all of that wasn't coincidence…"

Lee was just glad. It made sense, Tarin figured, that she would be glad. Who knows what would have happened otherwise. Well, he knew what probably would have happened if nobody else had stumbled in there. But if someone else had found him?

It was too much to think about right now. This wasn’t the time or place and the more he thought about it, the more that familiar panic was starting to build up inside of Tarin.

It was different for him though, Tarin wished Lee hadn’t had to go through all of that with him, even once. It was hard to meet Lee’s eyes when she looked up, but Tarin did it anyway.

Lee’s last words stuck though and Tarin nodded slowly, “I don’t like to think about it that way either.” he said, “It all just seems so uncanny sometimes…”

Tarin was very right, so much of what had happened with them did feel very uncanny. All of the vastly different things that had to line up exactly for things to have happened as they had.

Because honestly, even their initial meeting 6 years earlier had been necessary for them to have ended up here. Without him ending up outside the shop at the same time that she had been there, it wouldn't have mattered whether she had recognized the murders, had realized the spirit behind them. Lee would have had no idea where to go or who's body the spirit was in.

"But that's just it," Lee said, her voice a whisper as her eyes dropped down to look at their hands. "If it wasn't just an uncanny coincidence, then that means that everything had to happen."

Accepting everything that happened to her during her life, and knowing that it made her the person she needed to be that night in the park was one thing.

But thinking that every single one of those things had been meant to happen to her…

Everything had[/b] to happen.

The subtle emphasis on those words wasn't lost on Tarin. For once though, he could actually empathize.

“I get it.” he said, also barely audible. “ What if I hadn’t made it to New York? What if I’d turned around and gone back home.”

Tarin shook his head, “What if I’d never found those people or if SUPER had found me first? What if what happened here had happened over there?”

He paused for a moment, “ What does a person’s life need to have been like for them to pack up a duffle bag and leave the whole universe without looking back?”

They’d talked about it a bit before, that night by the lake in the park. What they’d change. It was still an impossible thing to answer because it felt like changing anything would change everything.

“It’s like everything had always been building towards that moment.”

Lee couldn’t think everything in her life had led to that moment in the park though. Tarin had been thinking about his.

“I think I was lucky enough to be in the exact right place at the exact right time twice. I also think that maybe the universe knew there was someone close by who just might be able to help.” Tarin said, struggling to find the right words to explain but barreling on before Lee could argue.

“Someone who had made choices in spite of everything that happened to them. Who chose over and over to help despite the personal cost. I don’t think it all happened to you so you could be there. I think you were there because it had all happened.” it was a subtle, but important distinction.

“You could have done nothing and you probably would have never heard about anything like that ever happening again. I think that is where the universe threw me a bone.”

Lee sat and listened as Tarin spoke. And went on, and on. It seemed he had thought about this a lot. It made sense, though; there were a lot of things that had happened where if only one of those things had not happened or been different, Tarin's entire life would be different.

Any one of them being different likely would have resulted in Tarin not having come through the rift.

And he felt like everything in his life had been building up to that night in Central Park.

Which in a way did still make sense.

Tarin went on, explaining how he thought she fit in with all that. And how the universe may have helped him be exactly where he needed to be, with her nearby as she was able to help.

Not because she was 'meant' to help, or was somehow made to.

And that through everything, Tarin thought it was her choices, both that night and before hand, that had brought her there.

As Tarin finished speaking, Lee looked up at him again with a small, grateful little smile. If everything that had happened wasn't huge series of very uncanny coincidences, that was a much better and easier way to think about her life.

It didn't change the bad and horrible things that had happened in her life, the tough times she had been through. Nothing could change that. But the things she'd done and decisions she'd made being her choice rather than somehow fated was easier to deal with.

She hadn't needed to go go out that night. Lee had even tried, however briefly, to talk herself out of it. And with what he had been planning on doing once he was able make himself move from his curled up position against the tree would have meant she wouldn't have heard anything else about it.

Except for when the news reported the murderer was dead, revealing his name to the public.

"I'm glad I decided to go that night," Lee said softly. "I'll never regret that decision."

Lee had been totally quiet as Tarin rambled, and even Michael had gotten a bit more still and calm. As always, after he had said a lot or said something that had felt kind of big or important, Tarin found himself a bit embarrassed. There was a reason why he tended to keep his thoughts to himself. Once he started to talk, sometimes it was like he couldn’t stop.

Lee spoke though and didn’t seem to be upset or uncomfortable with anything he had said. She was just glad she’d come out that night.

”I’m glad too. Obviously…And I’m sorry for rambling about existential nonsense.”

Michael must have agreed because he started flinging his jellyfish around again. The child was nothing if not predictable.

Glancing at the game to see what had happened while they chatted, Tarin was surprised to see that the Mets had scored another couple of runs, but the Marlins had scored as well and the score was now 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

”When did that happen?” he asked.

Tarin was glad. That wasn't a surprise considering what the alternative would have been. But Lee shook her head when Tarin apologized. "No, that…"

Lee bit her lip slightly as she tried to find words for how it had all felt. "All of that. It helps to think about it in that way," Lee told him. "For it to not just be part of some big, horrible plan."

Because on top of the idea that some kind of…being…somewhere had planned for everything to happen to Lee, if it was all going to happen like that, the literally thousands of hours she had spent over the years anxious, worrying, planning…

Those had all been pointless.

"When did that happen?”

Lee turned to the tv again and was surprised when she saw the score.

"I'm ont sure," Lee admitted. "Maybe when you were talking about choices?"