Lee nodded as she stepped closer to Tarin where he was leaning against the door, reaching out for his hand. "I know you wouldn't," she said softly as she looked up at Tarin. And while he had been in that headspace when she had first found him in the park that night. And at least until they had left the shop after the merge. But Lee knew that he hadn't been there for long, if at all, after they had gone to the Empire State Building that weekend.

"But I still don't like the idea of you being alone there," she continued. Then stretched up to kiss him.

Tarin did have a point about how he should go back to the shop if he was able to, though. "Why don't we go sit for a while?" she suggested. "Head back closer to the appointment. And I can always go with you, if you want."

Well, at least there was that, Tarin thought as Lee took his hand. Lee seemed to have endless faith in him even when he had next to none in himself. It was galvanizing in ways that he hadn’t known were possible. What he’d said was true though, as soon as the utter and complete haze of panic had worn off and Tarin had pulled himself from that dark little space he hadn’t ever gone back. He never would.

Lee still didn’t like him being alone at the shop and he kind of hated it too, just as much as he hated the thought of dealing with spirits for the rest of the day. It was still a sore spot from time to time that the ones that always hung around the shop would have known what was happening and not a single one of them had tried to warn him or tell him what was happening when he fell asleep those nights.

Lee kissed him and Tarin relaxed slightly, letting go of some of the tension from the last few minutes.

“I don’t want to go back.” he admitted, “Not tonight.” But he knew he really should.

Lee suggested sitting down for a while and Tarin thought that was a good idea. Lee offered to come back with him and as they started to head to the couch, Tarin shook his head. He was about to tell Lee that he didn’t want to drag her back and forth again when his hip bumped the table by the door and the papers Lee had set there fell to the ground.

Bending to pick them up, Tarin’s eyes unintentionally flicked down to the papers…bank statements by the look on them and he stood to put them back on the table before his eyes flicked down again.

“Jesus Lee…I knew you were kind of a whiz with numbers…but, they didn’t put a decimal in the wrong place here, did they?” he said, sitting the papers back down on the table, suddenly a bit sheepish, ”I didn’t mean to look…”

Tarin admitted that he didn't want to go back to the shop. Not that day. And he was alright with the idea of sitting down for a while. There at the apartment.

Good, Lee thought as she turned to make her way further into the apartment. She had one hundred percent meant that she would go back to the shop with him so that Tarin wouldn't be there alone, but she really didn't want to go straight back when there was still an hour before the next client.

But then Tarin let go of her hand after a few steps and stopped moving. Lee was a little confused, but figured that he was just stopping to dump his keys on the table.

Until she heard his voice.

"What?" Lee asked, confused, as she turned to look at Tarin again. To see him setting the mail back down on the table.

"No, that should be about right," Lee replied as she stepped closer to see which statement Tarin was talking about.

"Don't worry," Lee said with a shake of her head. "But yeah, that's right about where I'd expect to see Kevin's trust fund sitting."

Lee didn’t seem to mind that he’d ended up looking at the bank statement and Tarin blinked a few times as she confirmed that the number was right. It hadn’t ever remotely occurred to him that Lee would have that kind of money tucked away. Not with the way she worked, and had mentioned working multiple jobs over the last several years. No, she hadn’t really ever seemed to be struggling to make ends meet, but it wasn’t like she lived fancy.

The apartment was definitely nice by New York standards, but it wasn’t extravagant by any means and Tarin realized that Lee’s practicality probably went a long way to explain the number on that paper.

The number on the paper that was apparently Kevin’s trust fund.

He couldn’t help it, despite everything that had happened that afternoon Tarin just had to laugh.

“Is there a single thing you don’t excel at doing?” he asked with a shake of his head. Tarin just knew Lee was going to say cooking, but if he had to guess the list was not much longer than that single word.

“It’s none of my business, but I’m guessing that jet setting around and saving the world paid pretty well, didn’t it…and you’ve been investing ever since.”

When Lee told Tarin that the number was right on the statement for Kevin's trust fund, he laughed.

Lee looked up at him in confusion for a moment. Hadn't she told him at one point that in her case 'saving the world' had paid well? She thought she had, but maybe with the way they had each grown up, how they had each simply survived for so many years, Tarin's idea of paid well had been vastly different from what her reality had been.

"It did," Lee admitted a little self-consciously as she grabbed the stack of papers again. "Officially, we were paid as consultants to the CEO of a medical company. But we had started investing before that."

That was a story Lee hadn't actually told Tarin about, wasn't it?

"Before that, there was a weird incident at the shop," Lee said as she took Tarin's hand again and started to make her way to the livingroom. "I wasn't there at the time, and couldn't remember what happened, but I found him half under the bookcase with his head bleeding and a cheque on the floor beside him."

Consultants to the CEO of a medical corporation. Tarin nodded. Lee had told him that much before. He had apparently just vastly underestimated what that sort of gig paid. But she had started investing before that point?

Yeah, Tarin had a feeling that once again, even with all of the credit he gave Lee for being as capable as she was, he had somehow underestimated just how good Lee was with finances. To be able to invest money in New York before the whole consulting thing had happened…had she managed to make the shop that profitable? Lee had mentioned before that for a time it had been enough to support both her and her ex…but she’d also said that their apartment hadn’t been all that nice and hadn’t ever suggested that they’d made ‘trust fund for their kid’ kind of money.

Lee took his hand and started to move towards the couch and Tarin went along with her as she explained that at some point something weird had happened at the shop.

Huge surprise there.

But apparently the other Tarin had been found there, injured and with a…check?

Good lord. Sometimes people did react poorly when they got exactly what they had asked for in the shop. But this sounded a bit beyond the pale.

”I’m guessing it was a pretty big check?” Tarin asked, wondering what kind of ass beating would be worth the kind of money you invested?

They reached the couch as Tarin asked about how big the cheque had been that had been found in the shop.

Lee didn't react right away but instead sat down first. "Completely outrageous," Lee said softly as she shuffled through the papers to pull out the summary page of another statement before holding it so Tarin could see if he wanted. And while not as large an amount as what was in Kevin's trust, it was still a substantial sum.

"A million dollars," she said. "We invested most of it. This is my share after the divorce. Once we got access to his fathers accounts, it all went into the trust for Kevin."

Absolutely outrageous.

Tarin wasn’t going to make assumptions because he’d apparently been quite a bit off base from what “well compensated” had actually meant.

Lee confirmed that what Tarin would have thought wouldn’t have been close to the actual amount and he let out a low whistle as Lee explained that the check had been for a million dollars.

”One day you have to write all of this down…” Tarin said, shaking his head as Lee held out another bank statement summary thing. Other than being wildly impressed that she had managed to do so much so well, he didn’t really care what it said. To further that point, Tarin didn’t really know how to respond.

”Well. With how business has been lately, maybe I need to hire you to handle some investments for me.” he ended up saying a few moments later. Business had been rather booming lately and between that and living in the shop for several years Tarin had more than he’d ever had before…even if it didn’t light a proverbial candle to Lee’s savings.

Glancing at his watch, Tarin sighed a little. He’d be doing that until the absolute last minute, trying to convince himself that leaving and going back to the shop was the right call.

Having this money in her accounts, and the money set aside for Kevin, had simply become a time that just was over the years. But if she actually sat and really thought about it, it was just as unbelievable as it had been to start with.

She, Lee Smith, who had left home before she turned 16 with less than $100 and had struggled to simply survive for the better part of a decade, had that much money.

"Write it all down?" Lee asked, confused, as she reached out to put the papers on the coffee table. "Why? For who?"

Tarin also thought he might want her to help invest some of his money. "Sure. If that's what you want, I'd be happy to help," she told him with a smile.

Who would Lee write it all down for? Tarin shrugged, ”Kevin? In a carefully edited version…anyone? Use a pen name or whatever.” he said.

”People who have incredible stories should tell them.” Tarin knew Lee hated any kind of attention for the things she had done and that she hadn’t done them for that reason. Lee also didn’t particularly like it when Tarin suggested that people should know about the things she had done.

Lee said she wouldn’t mind helping him with the whole investment thing and Tarin nodded. They could talk about that later though. It wasn’t like they were going to run out right that moment anyway.

Tarin checked his watch again, still restless and trying to do the mental math on how long it was until he needed to leave.

”I should go back.”

Tarin thought that people who had incredible stories should share them.

And that did often happen. Politicians, notable figures, heroes all often had books written, either by themselves or written about them and what they had done. Lee certainly wasn't any of those.

But it was true that a lot of the things she had done, or that she had lived through were incredible. Hard to believe it was true for most people. But did that incredibleness mean that she should actually write it down?

Kevin had been very happy and excited to hear the stories about his father. And if anything were to happen to get, Kevin wouldn't learn anything else, because who was there who actually knew what had happened to them?

"I'll consider it," Lee said, just before Tarin looked at his watch again with a sigh. "Like I said, I can go back with you if you do."

She’d consider it? That was significantly better than a lot of the answers Tarin had gotten about similar things in the past. Even if Lee didn’t think she was particularly extraordinary, or that the things she’d done were extraordinary, they were and she was. Having those stories written down, knowing that there was a record somewhere…Tarin just liked the idea a lot.

He was also smart enough to know that the conversation was done.

Lee offered again to go back to the shop with him and Tarin leaned his head back against the couch, looking over at her and shaking his head slightly. ”There’s really no reason for you to go out again.” He said, sighing again and trying not to be melodramatic.

“These aren’t difficult appointments. The second one is even a little flighty sometimes and may not even show.” Besides, the adapted hadn’t been there when they’d gotten home. That had been one less stressful thing today. If they were there when they left or came back home it would add yet another layer of awful to this day.

Smiling slightly, Tarin squeezed Lee’s hand, “I’ll text when I get there, and between appointments, and before I come home. It’ll be fine…” he paused, “Actually fine.”

And it would be. It wouldn’t be good by any means. It definitely wouldn’t be great or really even acceptable. But it would be fine in the actual sense of the word.

Tarin was trying to convince her that she didn't need to go out again that day. For the previous week, she had been trying to only head out of the building twice a day, once for their run (which so far Lee was still okay going for because she hasn't yet sensed the adapted them) and then to head to the bar. Because there were some things she simply could not do from home. But she had been trying not to go out again because she was worried that the adapted might still or again be there, and that would just make things that much worse.

It also wasn't the difficulty of the upcoming sessions that Lee was concerned about, though she was slightly relieved that Tarin said they would be easy.

"Only if you're sure you'll be alright there by yourself," she said, giving his hand a squeeze in return. "I don't mind going back with you today."

Would he be alright there by himself?

If Tarin was being honest, probably not completely. The problem was that it wasn't going to go away immediately. Now that all of those thoughts and feelings were out in the open, it was going to be hard to just shove them back in their box. It was going to take time.

Lee being with him did always make things easier, but the simple practical fact of the matter was that Lee couldn’t be there all the time.

“I will absolutely manage.” he said, ”And then I’m going to come home, we are going to put something mindless on the TV or just put on some music because the Mets don’t play until tomorrow, and we’re not going to move from this couch until it’s time to go to bed. So make sure that you do anything productive that you need to do before I get home.”

Ignoring their problems wasn't going to make them go away. Tarin knew that and he was sure that Lee knew that too. Dwelling on them when there was nothing to be immediately done didn’t help either though. It was like they were both at a bit of an impasse at the moment, so the best they could do was be there for each other.

”Sound fair?”

Lee definitely noticed that Tarin did not say he would be alright at the shop by him herself. He said that he would manage. Lee knew that those were two very different things. And that for Tarin, he could say that he was 'managing' while barely resisting panicking.

But Lee also couldn't force Tarin to cancel his appointments or agree to her coming to the shop. He was an adult who'd been making his own decisions for decades and has now had a chance to think rationally about the situation.

Plus, Lee was too worried and uncomfortable to walk to the shop on her own after Tarin had left.

"Totally fair," Lee replied. Absolutely nothing sounded like a great plan for the evening. "Though to be honest, I may just sit here and do nothing productive while you're gone, too."