Looking across the small distance between them on the bed, Tarin looked to be about as lost as she was in terms of what the point had been. The point that he had been trying to make to her.

And that hadn't been the point that he was trying to make.But rather than tell her what his point had been, Tarin ran his hands into his own hair this time.

Then he laughed. Lee shook her head as he spoke. "That's what your point was?" Lee questioned.

Taking a deep breath, Lee shook her head again. "I like it more if my hair's up and you take it down to put your hands in it," Lee admitted, her voice quiet.

Normally, she would have kept that to herself because…Well Lee wasn't exactly sure why, but she would have. Yet tonight it had come out, and she had said it without blushing.

Lee didn’t seem impressed with the point that Tarin had been trying to make. He supposed that was fair because honestly Tarin wasn’t all that impressed with it either.

”I never claimed that it was profound.” he said, but he was still smiling. It was hard to be in anything but an excellent mood, even if he was saying stupid stuff.

Lee took a deep breath and said that she liked it even more when Tarin pulled her hair down when it was up and he hummed appreciatively at the thought. There were a few times Tarin could remember having done that and it was yet another thing that he’d count as mutually beneficial.

While they were sharing…”I’ve always loved your hair…” he said closing his eyes and smiling slightly at the memory, ”I remember the night we watched those adventure movies early on…I think I’d fallen asleep or something with my arm across the couch…I can’t remember exactly what happened, but somehow your hair ended up on my arm and all I could think about was what it felt like...” It sounded silly and maybe even a little weird to talk about it out loud, ”I didn’t stand a chance….”

That was true, Tarin had never said his point would be profound. Or even just important. Simply that he had a point.

He was still smiling, though, which made it hard for Lee to do anything other than smile back. Even as she was telling him what she liked him doing even more than simply putting his hand into her hair.

Tarin was probably going to take massive advantage of that information, Lee was sure. But, like when her hand was in his hair, it would be very mutually beneficial so Lee couldn't take too much objection with it.

And while Lee hadn't blushed when she had spoken, she did when Tarin replied.

He'd always loved her hair. That night had been that first week. Lee hadn't even been allowing herself to consider that she might have had feelings for Tarin at that point.

"You did," Lee said softly in response to Tarin's comment that he'd fallen asleep with his arm across the back of the couch. "At some point it fell. Ended up around my shoulders. I think we were starting to have one of those moments when Robert interrupted us."

Lee shook her head though there was a smile on her face. If it hadn't been for her brother, they may have happened before the night at the bar.

"But what do you mean you 'didn't stand a chance'?"

Lee knew what he was talking about, and Tarin opened his eyes to watch her face as she spoke.

That night had been…something and as Lee reminded him of what had happened, Tarin remembered it clearly. He’d been absolutely exhausted…the nightmares had been relentless and going to work had still been a huge trial. Lee had mentioned the day or a couple days before that she wanted normal and Tarin had decided then and there that he’d needed to put some space between them…then Rachel had barreled into the shop and insisted that Tarin take Lee to the bar for karaoke.

In a way, that was the day that everything had shifted.

Lee thought that maybe they’d have had a moment like tonight if Robert hadn’t shown up and Tarin could remember sitting on the couch and trying to watch the movie, but mostly watching Lee instead. They’d been so close, and Lee had been looking up at him…just the memory made Tarin’s heart skip a bit of a beat. It had been almost painful.

Lee spoke again and Tarin looked at her a bit quizzically, ”We’ve talked about this before…that was the night…” he said softly, “I knew it was probably wrong and that I shouldn’t…but I realized beyond a shadow of a doubt that night that I wanted more.”

It should have been harder to talk about, to admit all of that, but it just wasn’t when they were like this, his fingers resuming their slow path up and down Lee’s arm, “I don’t know about after the movie, but if you hadn’t left my room when you did that night…”

A thought occurred to Tarin as he thought about that night and when Lee had burst into his room, and it was a bit of a risky shift away from the current conversation, ”Can I ask you something unrelated?” he said, and it was something he’d never asked her before.

It was true that what was almost happening on the couch as the movie ended, what Robert had almost interrupted, was different than what had almost happened in Tarin's room later that night. But Lee was still convinced that they had almost had one of those moments they ended up having where they completely forgot the rest of the world even existed.

And while Lee was convinced that something would have happened, and the fact that something did happen between them just two days later, Lee blushed at the absolute certainty in Tarin's voice when he said that he'd known that he wanted more.

"I almost didn't leave your room," Lee whispered, shivering as Tarin's finger started moving along her arm again.

But then Tarin changed subjects, asking her if he could ask her a question. A slight crease formed between her brows as she looked at Tarin. Why would he think he couldn't ask, Lee wondered.

"Of course you can, Tarin," Lee said, still confused and curious. "What do you want to know?"

She almost hadn’t left his room. Tarin had known that they’d been very close to something happening that night, but he couldn’t remember if Lee had every outright said anything similar to what she’d just said. The next day they’d gone to the gym and Tarin had helped Lee stretch afterwards for the first time, and the next day had been the night out at the bar.

“Timing wasn’t right…” he said thoughtfully. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered, maybe they’d still have ended up where they were right now, but those intervening days had given them both time to think through what was happening. When everything had happened at the bar and then later at home there hadn’t been a single iota of regret from either of them. It had all been as close to perfect as a thing could be. “I think it all worked out just like it should have…”

Lee said he could ask his question and Tarin thought for a moment, wanting to reach out and smooth away the littl crinkle between Lee’s eyes that tended to appear when she worried. It wasn’t anything to worry about, but it was a kind of deeply personal question.

“Why don’t you like your name?” he asked, “Robert still calls you by it all the time, but have you always preferred Lee?” Tarin wouldn’t put it past Robert to had just done what he wanted his whole life regardless of what Lee wanted, but Tarin wasn’t curious.

”And you know you don’t have to answer…but I just have wondered and never asked.”

Tarin was very right. The timing hadn't been right for something to actually happen between them that night after the hockey game, even if it almost had. Before the game, Lee hadn't even allowed herself to acknowledge that there might be feelings there.

If something had happened, if they had kissed that night, Lee would have panicked and run. She hadn't yet had the time to think and realized that not only were there feelings there for Tarin, but that she was ok with that.

"You're right," Lee said after a couple moments thought. "I'm not sure how things would have turned out. I just know that I almost didn't leave this room."

Other than the fact that Robert had been there the night that they were talking about, Tarin's question was about as unrelated as it could be. And unexpected.

Though maybe it was so unexpected because Lee honestly couldn't remember the last time she had been asked that question.

"No, I went by Emily when I was a kid," Lee eventually said slowly. "But with how they treated me…"

Lee paused and took a breath before continuing. "I'm not her anymore.I haven't been since before I left."

Lee agreed that the timing hadn’t been right that night and Tarin nodded. Things had moved very quickly between them as it was, speeding them up even more would have been risky. Things had always been more complicated for Lee when it came to their relationship, and Tarin had always respected that, but diving in the first time there’d been an inkling of more than casual feelings could have brought everything down like a house of cards. Sure, two more days didn’t seem like much now, but then it had felt a bit like an eternity.

Lee was clearly surprised when Tarin asked about her name. It had been a bit of a jump but he’d remembered how utterly livid she had been when he’d used her full name that night after she’d stormed into his room. That menacing little step she’d taken towards him and the way she’d absolutely radiated rage had made it as clear as her words that a smart man would never make that mistake again. Tarin had promised that night and had kept the promise ever since.

Eventually though, Lee spoke and her explanation was very simple. Very simple and very sad and Tarin cursed her stupid parents and stupid brother all over again in his head. Whether they’d been subconsciously malicious about Lee’s powers or just so stupidly ignorant, they’d taken so much away from Lee that she’d deserved to have.

“I understand.” he said softly and kissed Lee gently on the forehead, “I’m sorry I brought it up, I just remembered that night and how mad you were when I tossed that out there.”

Unlike a lot of things from when she was younger, Lee wasn't particularly sad or upset talking about this. About her name.

This was something she had come to terms with years earlier. Something that Lee had actually dealt with rather than just burying and moving past it.

Lee smiled slightly when Tarin kissed her on the forehead. "It's ok," Lee replied. "It was just a surprise when you asked. I'm honestly not sure when the last time someone actually asked me that was."

In fact, now that she thought about it, Lee wasn't sure that anyone had ever asked her directly why she hated the name Emily. Not that there were many people outside of family who even knew what her full, legal name was. As Kevin's father had told Robert, he only knew Lee, not an Emily. And Rupert…Well Rupert purposely used it at times to get under her skin.

Lee pointed out that her surprise had been more because of the fact that it had been a really long time since anyone had asked her about her name than anything else and Tarin nodded.

”If it weren’t for your brother, I’d have never even thought about it.” he said. ”It may not have even stuck if you hadn’t gotten so upset with me.”

Tarin was quiet for a moment just thinking about names and things and letting his mind wander until it settled on a memory, ”We used to call my other brother Jimmy to make him mad. He was always so serious…” and boy had Tarin and his other brother taken advantage, James hadn’t had any real issues with the nickname though, he just hadn’t liked it.

”I think everyone expected I’d want to go by TJ which is why it was so weird when you did it. I never really liked it.” Tarin said, rambling a little bit now as something else occurred to him.

”Hey, what’s your middle name?”

Lee nodded as Tarin explained why it had stuck in his mind that she'd been named Emily. She had already been angry at him right then, but then he'd gone on and used that name..

"Yeah, I probably over reacted a bit," Lee admitted a little sheepishly. "But to be fair, I was already mad with you that night."

And they'd called his brother 'Jimmy' purposely to upset him? At that Lee shook her head slightly. Apparently things were much different with multiple brothers like that.

It was only then that Lee realized she didn't actually know Tarin's middle name. She'd assumed that it was James, what with the TJ. But that didn't make a whole lot of sense considering his older brother was named James.

Only, before Lee was able to ask about that, Tarin was asking about her middle name. "Now that," Lee said somewhat jokingly. "I may have to kill you if you say it."

"It's Judith," Lee replied, then quickly continued. "But you? What does the 'J' stand for?"

Had she overreacted a bit? Maybe, maybe not. She had been furious though.

”I thought you might actually hit me.” Tarin said, ”I probably would have deserved it too. You’d made it clear what you thought about it earlier in the night. I was pushing.”

Lee didn’t seem all that impressed about the fact that Tarin had teased his brother with a nickname and Tarin supposed that she wouldn’t be with her experience with the same, ”You’d be horrified if I told you the things he did when he caught me after I did it.” Tarin said with a smile, ”One day you’ll believe me when I tell you we were feral.”

Lee did share her middle name, but it came with threats. ”Won’t say a thing.” he said, but he did roll Lee’s whole name over in his head a few times. Lee didn’t seem to like it, but he thought it was a very nice name.

Then Lee was asking about his middle name and Tarin gave her another slightly questioning look, ”Jacob” he said softly, ”After my Dad. Dunno why they waited for the third.”

Tarin had thought that she might have hit him that night? That obviously wouldn't…

Normally, that would never happen. But she had been very angry that night.

"Horrified?" Lee questioned. Tarin had said many times that him and his brothers had been 'feral'. Had it really been that bad?

"And I'm just realizing how glad I am that Robert and Doug aren't closer in age. And could be a very good thing for Kevin that I didn't go with him to Texas the last few years."

And though Tarin said that he wouldn't say her middle name, it sure looked like he was thinking about it pretty hard.

And Lee had been right, Tarin's middle name wasn't James. Yet another difference between the two men. Not that it had been very important. Really the only reason Lee had even known Kevin's father's middle name had been because of all of the immigration paperwork years earlier.

Both Tarins had middle names after their fathers, but the names were different.

That actually answered a lot of questions. "I like it,"

“We were always dustin’ up over something or other.” Tarin said when Lee asked her one word question about being horrified. ”We’d always lie through our teeth if our parents asked about it though…” He’d explained how he ended up claustrophobic. ”Getting stuck in that feed bin was an accident, getting put inside it was not.” He said, talking about it wasn’t so hard now. They’d been working on that with Dr Rossi.

”That was payback for locking James in the pig barn...” he explained. It felt like a different life, that he was talking about a different person in a story that he had read, ”Ash always got away with everything, he just kind of hid out and let James and I duke it out.” Tarin stopped talking, pensive for a moment. Not one time had he ever tried to reach out, to see what had become of his brothers over the years. The timing had never seemed right, he’d never wanted to impose on whatever lives they’d built with all of his problems and issues. Now he couldn’t.

Lee was glad there was more space between her and her brothers and Tarin had to laugh, ”I cannot imagine what it would have been like to have a sister.”

As for thinking it was a good thing that she hadn’t been in Texas with Kevin? ”From what Kevin has said it sounds like his Uncle has things well in hand.” Tarin said, thinking that Lee was probably right and that Kevin and his cousins probably got up to all sorts of trouble.

When Tarin explained about his middle name, Lee didn’t seem surprised. Tarin didn’t ask, but he did wonder if the story had been similar for the other Tarin.

And she liked it, ”I do too.” he said softly. He could remember as a kid being so proud to tell everyone his name and that he’d been named after his Dad.

Lee laid there in the bed and smiled slightly as Tarin talked about when him and his brothers were young. That had been getting easier for him recently, too. And he even talked just now about getting stuck in the feed bin casually.

That was a huge change from even a couple months ago, and Lee was so glad about that. Tarin hadn't thought that seeing Dr Rossi would have been of any use. And while Lee wasn't sure whether it would have any effect on potential future merges, it had been helping at least some with the claustrophobia.

"It definitely would have made life different," Lee said with a slight laugh. "Though that would partially depend on whether she was older, and by how much, or younger than you."

There was a very good reason why Lee was perfectly comfortable with Kevin spending a month in Texas without her during the summer. Because Lee knew that between Josh and Adele, Kevin would be watched carefully, but also kept out of as much trouble as possible. Though hearing stories, that bar was apparently set in a very different location than Lee kept it in New York.

"He does," Lee agreed with Tarin. "Even if life is incredibly different there than it is here. But that's also why I'm expecting Josh to have taught Kevin how to drive by the time he's able to get his licence."