Lee was not happy as she sat behind the counter at the shop. Alone. Tarin had insisted that she go to work that day, insisted that he would be alright at home alone despite the food poisoning.

She had wanted to stay home, even if it meant that she'd be sitting on the couch being bored instead of at the shop, but at least she would have been there if Tarin needed anything.

He had insisted, more strongly than he normally insisted on anything, and so after she had made him promise to call her if he needed anything, Lee had gone to open the shop up for the day.

It felt wrong, though. Despite how he said that it was 'their' shop, it felt weird and strange for it to be open without him there. Sure, she had been there without him on numerous occasions, but to actually be open for business without Tarin being there...

Finally, Lee couldn't take it any more. It was still a little earlier than normal, but she'd been worrying too much about Tarin, and he hadn't called her once that day. Really, it wouldn't hurt to close up early. So Lee tidied the shop up, grabbed her purse, and after arming their new security system, left and locked the shop.

The walk home always sucked, even when she made it directly from the shop; dinner could wait until she saw how Tarin was doing and then order in.

At least the walk was quick.

In the building and up the stairs Lee went. As she stopped in front of their apartment door, pulling her keys out, Lee realized that she didn't feel Tarin in the apartment. Though, she thought as she slipped her key in the lock, that might have been because he was in the bedroom, or possibly the bathroom.

Normally, Lee would have called out, letting Tarin know that she was home as she pushed the door open, but since he was sick, she held back; she didn't want to wake him if he was actually sleeping.

Lee didn't even make it a full step into the apartment before she stopped, her eyes wide, her heart pounding. The place was empty. Completely empty.

This had to be one of the best ideas he’d ever had, Tarin thought to himself as he checked the timer on the oven. Getting Lee to leave the apartment that morning had been one of the most difficult things Tarin had ever done, and he figured she’d probably passed the moving truck as she walked to the shop. Hopefully, she hadn’t noticed it. Needless to say, Tarin didn’t have food poisoning. What he’d had was a great plan.

As usual, Lee had thrown herself into moving with the same vigor and leadership that she threw herself into everything. Tarin would fall asleep at night with plans for packing the next day and wake up to see that Lee had spent most of the night packing their things. Tarin was frustrated by it, even though he understood Lee’s need to do something while she was awake at night. Slowly, this idea had formed.

He and Lee were together so much, that getting everything coordinated had been more difficult than Tarin would have ever thought it would be. Lining up movers was something he’d have never done under usual circumstances, but for the first time in his life, Tarin had the money to do it. He even had the money to give them a little extra to speed things up once they got to the apartment. Tarin was still congratulating himself on the awesome acting job he’d done to convince Lee he was sick when they moved out the couch and the beds. Everything was going perfectly to plan.

In what felt like no time, and really was compared to how long it would have taken Tarin to move everything himself, the movers were hauling boxes into the new apartment. The huge new apartment. It hadn’t taken that long to unpack almost everything, and Tarin was exceedingly pleased with himself as he slid the casserole dish of enchiladas into the oven and set the timer before turning back to the guacamole he’d started mashing in a bowl. This dinner was going to be awesome, and when Lee saw what he had planned for dessert…Tarin grinned in anticipation.

Somewhere in the boxes Tarin had managed to find all of his cowboy gear, and he was sure that since nobody knew where the new place was…it would definitely be Lee walking through the door this time instead of a disgruntled ex-cop, hell bent on ruining his life. Tonight was going to rock…if Lee wasn’t so pissed that the only thing on her mind was giving Tarin one hell of a talking to. He picked his hat up from the counter he’d set it on when he bent to put the enchiladas in the oven and set it back on his head with a grin and a glance at the clock. Knowing Lee, she would have left the shop as early as she thought was reasonable, and that meant she’d be getting the note he’d written and taped to the floor anytime. Tarin hoped that part of the night would go as well as everything else had so far.

As Lee slowly walked into the apartment, she looked around as her panic started to grow. It was slightly irrational, but Lee couldn't help it. When she had left for the shop that morning, everything had been normal, everything had been right, with the sole exception that Tarin had been sick. And now, the apartment was just as empty as it had been before they had started moving Tarin's stuff over from the shop.

And then Lee noticed the piece of paper on the floor in the living room. Frowning, Lee walked over, bent down, and pulled on the paper, which was actually taped to the floor. A quick glance revealed Tarin's handwriting, and Lee's frown deepened as she read the note.

He had sent her to the shop so that he could move everything to the new apartment on his own?! She honestly didn't know whether to be angry or grateful for him doing that.

But one thing Lee did know, she was angry at him for faking the food poisoning to do this.

Back out the apartment she went, locking the door behind her, and then she was back out on the street, walking again, making her way to their new apartment. Thankfully it really wasn't all that far, though, especially by himself, Lee had to wonder how Tarin had managed to move everything in the time she had been at the shop.

Into the building she went, only having to stop at the desk briefly to explain that she was a new tenant before she was stepping into the elevator and making her way up to the sixth floor.

And then Lee was at the door to their new apartment. She stood there for a moment, the strange combination of anger and happiness roiling through her, before she opened the door and stepped in.

"What the hell, T-" Lee started saying as she walked in, but her voice died the moment she saw her husband standing in the kitchen. Wearing his cowboy hat. And was that cooking Mexican food, she smelled? What the hell, indeed.

Everything was almost done, and there was still no sign of Lee. Either she’d managed to hold out longer than he’d thought she would, or she was so angry at the ruse he’d played that she was staying away long enough to control her temper. Tarin seriously hoped that it was the first case and not the second.

The distinctive sound of a key being put into a lock pulled Tarin away from the guacamole he was putting the finishing touches on and he rinsed his hands quickly in the sink before turning to see the door opening to admit his wife. His wife who looked absolutely pissed. Well, Tarin had expected that…sort of. Part of him had still been holding out hope that she’d be pleasantly surprised by what he’d done. The other part though, the much bigger part, knew that she wasn’t going to be completely pleased.

As she walked into the apartment, though, Lee opened her mouth to speak, got half a sentence out, then shut it as she saw him. Tarin decided it was definitely time for him to make his move if he was going to have a chance to save the night.

“Ma’am,” he said, sweeping the hat from his head like a proper southern gentleman and closing the distance between them with quick strides and place his hat back on his head as he came up next to Lee. Reaching around her, he shut the door then gently took her hands and lead her into the now sparsely furnished apartment.

“I hope you don’t mind too much. I took the liberty of finishing up some of that work you were doing around the old place.” He was laying it on thick, the accent every bit as thick as the mush he was laying on. He turned off the game for a moment though, and looked apologetically at Lee from under the brim of the hat.

“I’m sorry I had to trick you…but it was the only way I stop you from working yourself to the bone. I know you get bored when you’re awake…but I felt like I hadn’t done anything…so I got some movers and did this.”

At that exact moment, the oven timer went off and Tarin grinned at how amazing the sound of a working oven timer was. He grinned, full of smarm again and spoke, “Well Miss…I think that means that the mess of food I made up is ready. If you want to take a seat, I’ll see if I can’t rustle us something up.”

He gestured to their table as he spoke, and almost laughed again at how odd it looked in the much nicer setting of the new apartment. As he moved into the kitchen and took the enchiladas out of the oven and made his way out to Lee with it, then returned for the chips, guac, and sour cream, he grinned before sitting down.

“We’re totally going to need to take that trip to IKEA.” He said, “This place is empty.”

Almost as soon as he saw her, Tarin was walking forward, closing the distance between them. And then he was taking his hat off as he spoke. In that accent of his. How the hell was she supposed to stay mad at him when he spoke with his accent? As if the hat itself wasn't enough to start ridding her of her anger.

Tarin was really laying it on thick. As well as the hat, in addition to the accent, he was apologizing for what he had done that day, though at the same time explaining why he had done it. He felt like he had done nothing? How could he think that, Lee wondered with a slight frown appearing. He had helped with the packing, she was sure of it. But the more she thought of it as she stood there, the more Lee realized that maybe Tarin was right; she had done the vast majority of the packing up until that day. Mostly at night after he had gone to bed. Even if they had discussed getting started on something the next day, more often than not, Lee had taken care of it that night.

“I didn't mind doing it,” Lee told Tarin quietly, though that slight frown was still on her face. “I really didn't. I had something to do instead of being bored out of my mind at night, and it actually helped me be able to fall asleep sooner than I would have.” No, she really hadn't minded doing all that packing on her own; if she had of minded, she wouldn't have done quite so much of it so fast.

And then Lee heard a ding coming from the kitchen. A ding like you would hear from a timer, something that Lee didn't remember hearing other times that Tarin had actually cooked.

Before she could wonder about that more, he was speaking again, the accent distracting her more than a little bit. But then he was pointing toward their dinning room table, a table which in that apartment looked tiny compared to their old place. Oh! He wanted her to sit.

“I could help you with that, since you didn't let me help with the move,” Lee pointed out as Tarin made his way into the kitchen. But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wondered how good of an idea that suggestion was; there was a good reason she didn't normally help Tarin the rare times he actually cooked, maybe he shouldn't really let her help now, even if the food was practically done.

It really didn't take Tarin all that long to get the food out to the table, though, and so Lee ended up just sitting at the table while she watched her husband disappear back into the kitchen for what she figured would be the last time before they started eating.

Sure enough, with that next armful of food, Tarin sat down, a grin appearing on his face as he glanced around the apartment. And then Lee laughed. With how much they were actually paying for this apartment, it seemed kind of strange to think about going to IKEA to get furniture, the woman who had shown them the apartment in the first place would probably have had a heart attack to hear that. But Tarin was right, the place was empty. The couch, the dinning room table, all these things that had appeared big at their old place, that had taken up so much room, appeared tiny here.

But then Lee's face turned more serious as she looked across the table at Tarin. “We should,” she started saying. “As long as you don't lie to me again so you can go do that on your own, too.”

She was melting, and as they stood there, Tarin could see the anger fading to be replaced by something else. The only problem was, the something else made Lee frown. That’s not what Tarin had been going for at all and he frowned slightly too for a moment.

Lee didn’t mind packing up the apartment, but Tarin had known that. Lee didn’t do anything unless she was comfortable doing it. He smiled slightly as he’d guided her towards the table and shook his head, “I know you didn’t mind. That’s beside the point, though. I wanted to do something for you.”

Lee actually sat as he got everything from the kitchen, after offering to help. Tarin declined politely. That was a good thing. While the kitchen was a bit larger than the one at their previous apartment had been, there really wasn’t room for two people still. Besides that, as naturally graceful as she was in most circumstances, Lee seemed to lose all ability to function the second that she walked into a kitchen. It was a mental block, Tarin was sure of it, but the fact of the matter was, it existed.

Finally, all the food was set out and as soon as Tarin lowered himself into his seat, he was grabbing one of the serving utensils and offering it to Lee. “Ladies first.” He said, with the same smarmy grin he’d given Lee earlier when she’d been angry. Had. Apparently he’d thought a little too soon, Tarin couldn’t help but add to the mental conversation he was having with himself when Lee used that nasty little three letter ‘l’ word. Tarin scowled and leaned back in his chair.

“Now Lee…I didn’t exactly lie…” he said, then words dried up as he tried to explain that statement. “Well…maybe I did…but it’s in exactly the same way that people lie when they’re setting up a surprise party for someone.”

At least she was open to the idea of going to IKEA to buy furniture. The place was more than reasonably priced, and the fact of the matter was that they needed something to fill all the new space they had. The couch and even the bedroom furniture was dwarfed by the size of some of the rooms, and they simply didn’t have decorations for the bathroom. While Tarin planned to defer completely to Lee’s sense of style in these things, it was still fun to buy them. They didn’t freely spend money very often, but when they did…they did things right.

“I think it’ll be fun to fill this place up with new stuff…” Tarin said to change the subject and then occupied himself with filling his plate. The food really did look good, Tarin thought about how full he was going to be when he was done with all of that and that made him think about dessert. He grinned across the table at Lee almost wolfishly.
“And just you wait until you see what we’ve got for dessert.”

Tarin had wanted to do something for her, that was why he had lied to her that morning, hired movers, and then simply left a note in their empty apartment for her. Just so he could do something for her.

But the food was on the table, Tarin sitting down and saying lady's first, so Lee started dishing her dinner out onto her plate. Until she heard Tarin's words, claiming that he hadn't lied. She stopped what she was doing, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

At least he seemed to realize that he was wrong about what he had said; he had lied, even if he still thought he was justified in doing it.

He didn't seem too keen on apologizing for that, though, so Lee went back to dishing her dinner out, then handed everything over for Tarin to do the same.

As he started doing just that, with a smile, Tarin commented just how fun he thought it would be to go shopping for new furniture for the apartment. Glancing around at the space, a space which still looked almost empty despite the fact that all of their stuff was moved in already, a smile started growing on Lee's face as well.

"It will be fun, won't it?" She asked in return, finally turning to look at Tarin again. They'd gone furniture shopping before, but never like this. Any time in the past with one very morbid exception, they'd always gone shopping for used furniture; all their previous trips had consisted of finding the best priced piece that was in the best condition. Look and style were secondary, unfortunately.

And then dessert. Lee's smile grew, and became more curious, as she looked across the table at her husband. "Do you really think we're going to be able to eat dessert with all of this?" Lee asked, popping a bite in her mouth. Tarin really was a good cook, when he cooked. A couple moments later, Lee cocked her head to the side, swallowing. "Why, what's for dessert?"

Tarin didn’t like the look on Lee’s face as he explained what he’d done that morning. Apparently she saw it as some kind of deceit instead of a simple surprise. Tarin nearly sighed; he’d only been trying to do something nice. Apparently surprise birthday parties were out of the question for the future as well. Lee scooped food onto her plate and Tarin took some solace in that, at least she liked the dinner that he’d cooked. Something of the night could be salvaged. Lee always liked it when he cooked, though, and it had been a while since Tarin had managed to do that.

She finally smiled a little bit and quit giving him those looks that suggested his reasoning for that morning’s farce were less than substantial. Tarin resisted the urge to pout, he had a feeling it wouldn’t make things any better. Besides, Lee seemed to be lightening up even further with the idea of furniture shopping. Tarin couldn’t help but grin, “Yeah, I thought we had plenty of furniture at the old place…you should see our bed…we also need to get some stuff for the walls…I’m no interior design expert, but seriously…it looks institutional in here.”

It did, in fact…even with all their stuff in it, the apartment still kind of looked like the type of place where someone stayed for the week on business. No warmth, no personal touches. They were really going to have to do some work.

Tarin was still thinking about this, intermittently shoveling food into his face when Lee wondered out loud how they were going to have room for dessert with all the food. Tarin chuckled, “Oh…you’ll have room for this.” He said, the frowned slightly down at the enchiladas he’d spooned onto his plate, “At least I hope you will.”

She wanted to know what it was, unfortunately, that was the last ace Tarin had hidden up his sleeve. He smiled and shook his head, “That’s another surprise.” He said, then paused a minute in thought before speaking again, “Actually, I’m kind of hoping it’ll be a bit of an inside joke, but I’m not sure if you’ll catch on or not.”

There was even more space in the bedroom, it looked even emptier than out here did? That...really wasn't good. "Well, good news is if we can't figure the decorating out, Rach can help next time she's down," Lee pointed out. Her sister might not have the same style as her and Tarin, but Lee was sure that her sister would be able to at least help.


Lee was already glancing around the apartment as she ate, trying to come up with ideas for what to get to fill up the space they now had, ideas for decorations to liven the room up. But she wasn't really coming up with anything yet.It was a bit of a problem, but she hoped that that problem would be alleviated, at least slightly, when they got to the store to start shopping.

Tarin seemed convinced that she was going to have plenty of room for dessert, despite how much he had made for dinner. That boded well. But apparently it was another surprise.

Cocking her head as she directed her gaze back at him, Lee wondered what it was he was talking about. He was hoping that dessert would be an inside joke? Lee wasn't sure what kind of inside joke they could have about dessert, but was rather sure that she would end up liking whatever it was Tarin had come up with.

"Well, I guess we should hurry up and finish eating so I can see what dessert is going to be, shouldn't we?" Lee asked as she cut off another piece of the enchiladas and putting it on her fork.

Oh yeah, Lee’s sister was some sort of design wiz. Tarin had forgotten, despite the fact that it was the reason Rachael came to town more often than not. It was the reason that Rachael had managed to bring Lee back to town after she’d left. Tarin nearly mentally slapped himself, how had he forgotten.

“Well,” Tarin said with a grin, “I don’t think we should underestimate ourselves, but she’s more than welcome to help because I’m sure we’ll mess something up.” He said, winking at Lee, “Plus it’ll let me off the hook for some of the shopping. As much as I want to fill this place up a little…I don’t know how much patience I’m going to have for the process.”

He could see her thinking about the comments he’d made about dessert, and Tarin grinned. If nothing else, Lee was intrigued by what he had in store. Hopefully she’d be completely over her frustration with him by the time they got to that point. Otherwise, the dessert was going to flop almost as much as his idea for keeping Lee distracted while he moved everything.

Lee pointed out that they’d better eat so that they could end all the suspense and Tarin laughed, “Darlin’. Haven’t I taught you anything?” he said, a little heat creeping into his eyes as he looked at her from across the table and smirked just slightly, “Rushing isn’t always the best policy…instant gratification isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Dessert, isn’t going to go anywhere.” The accent was back, hopefully that would get Lee’s attention too.

Tarin eyed the enchiladas, he wasn’t stuffed, but with what he had planned he really didn’t want to be, so he resisted the urge to go for seconds. After all, his first serving had been rather large. Besides, another great thing about the enchiladas was that they reheated really well. That decided, Tarin leaned back in his seat and laced his fingers over his stomach, just watching Lee with a slight smile on his face.

Lee couldn't help but laugh slightly when Tarin pointed out that, though he was wanting to fill the apartment up, wanted to make it look less empty and more like someone actually lived here, he figured that he would get bored of the shopping before they finished. So that was something else was going to end up doing when she was up at night. Again, not that she minded, but for somethings, for this, Lee thought that she would prefer Tarin helping with it the entire way.

Well, she'd at least get his opinions to start with, before he lost interest, and she did know him.

But then the accent was making its way back into Tarin's voice, and Lee's small smile grew on her face as she listened to him speak. And blush slightly as she saw the look that came into his eyes, heard the words he said to her.

"Rushing isn't always best, is it?" Lee questioned, shaking her head slightly as she smiled across at Tarin. "Does that mean you want me to slow down and not finish my dinner as quickly?" Lee was teasing, she knew that wasn't what Tarin had meant, but she did want to get to dessert if it was anywhere as good as dinner had been.

She was smiling freely now, and Tarin had a feeling that a large part of the battle had been won. Lee never had any problems sharing her emotions when she was angry, and she rarely forced a smile. Besides, Tarin knew what that looked like, and these smiles were real. Bringing up the shopping had been a good idea, a really good idea. She sure was taking her time eating though, and Tarin was just opening his mouth to hurry her along when she spoke instead. His mouth shut, and

Ahhh, Lee was catching onto the game and Tarin grinned back at her from across the table. “Darlin, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times.” He drawled, making a show of leaning back in his chair and pulling his hat over his eyes, “I’d wait for you forever.” He let the chair fall forward and leaned on the table with his elbows as he pushed the hat back and grinned at Lee, “Waiting for dessert is nothing compared to that.”

This was what the night had been supposed to be from the beginning. The banter, the teasing, the easy conversation between them. The little things that made them Tarin and Lee. There were no world dominating organizations here, no paramilitary commanders, no blood, no spirits, nothing but Tarin and Lee. They were playing, they were smiling, it was normal and it felt good. Right. Tarin grinned brighter, not as good as it was going to feel.

“So.” He said, voice low, “You can take as long as you want to eat those enchiladas, little Miss.”

The accent was definitely back, Lee couldn't help but notice as she watched Tarin leaning back in his chair, his hat shading his eyes.

Lee's breath caught in her throat as she looked across the table at her husband.

Dessert? What was he talk-Oohhh... Yeah, Lee's mind had kind of gone blank there as she looked at the way Tarin was looking at her from under the brim of his hat, and she'd forgotten the fact that they were sitting there eating dinner. A slight blush crossing her cheeks, Lee turned her eyes back down to the plate in front of her.

If they were going to get to dessert at any point that night, especially with how Tarin kept looking at her, she was going to have to keep her eyes down and eat.

But after a couple more bites, Lee decided that that was enough. The food was good, there was absolutely no doubt about that, but she wanted dessert. And, if the look in Tarin's eyes was any indication, what was going to be coming after dessert. Yeah, she would definitely be up for a midnight snack later that night to have some of the leftovers.

"Little miss?" Lee questioned, hearing Tarin speak again, as she once more turned her eyes to look up at him. If it wasn't for the accent, Lee probably wouldn't like being called that one bit, but hearing those words coming out of Tarin's mouth, she couldn't help but smile.

"You know, I think I'm good," she told Tarin, the smile turning a bit more playful. "I'm too eager to find out what's for dessert."

Cowboy act FTW! Tarin made a mental note to keep this in mind the next time he knew he was going to be in trouble, then nixed the idea. If Lee associated all of this with trouble, it would ruin the whole thing. As it was, Tarin was starting to wonder when Lee would get sick of it. From the look on her face, it wouldn’t be anytime soon, and Tarin grinned. He couldn’t help it. Or the small chuckle that escaped him at Lee’s face when he called her Little Miss.

Tarin nodded his head, and didn’t fail to notice the blush spreading across Lee’s cheeks or the heat that was slowly crawling into her gaze from across the table. She dropped that gaze back to her plate and managed to eat a few more bits before she declared that she was finished. Tarin grinned and leaned back in the chair for a moment, nodding his head before rising. “You stay right there.” He said, nodding to Lee’s seated position and getting to work, cleaning up the table.

It was tempting to hurry, but Tarin reigned himself in and made sure that he covered the enchiladas in aluminum foil before slipping them into the curiously empty fridge. Next came the guacamole and the salsa, then the chips. By that point, the table was cleared and Tarin set about getting dessert out and ready.

Into the freezer Tarin went, pulling out the ice cream and whipped cream. Then into the fridge where he pulled out the hot fudge he’d bought. That went into the microwave. The ice cream went into its own bowl. Tarin knew it would melt faster outside of its carton, but that didn’t matter. Cherries, pineapple topping, strawberry topping, and sprinkles went into one of those divided platter things, and Tarin carried it out to set it on the table in front of Lee and giving her a quick wink before making his way back into the kitchen to grab the hot fudge, ice cream, and whipped cream.

Back out into the dining room Tarin went, setting the final ingredients down in front of his wife before slipping into the seat across from her with a slow grin on his face that could only be described as eager and playful. “I figured we should make this a moving day tradition.” He said simply, and yes, Tarin had most definitely noticed that bowls and eating utensils were absent from the things he’d brought out to the table.

She was done eating, but Tarin was simply sitting there nodding his head. Sure, he said that rushing dessert wasn't necessarily a good thing, but at this rate they weren't going to have dessert, not when he wasn't moving and she didn't even know what they were having.

Finally, Tarin pushed himself up, and Lee was about to get up to help him clean up after dinner when he told her to stay right there. Lee rolled her eyes, but otherwise remained in her chair as Tarin went from the table to the kitchen, back and forth, clearing things off.

And then things started to be brought back out to the table. First a small platter that had cherries, pineapple, strawberry, and sprinkles? Lee directed a confused look up at Tarin just in time to see him wink at her before he turned back toward the kitchen.

Only for Tarin to return with a bowl of chocolate, one of whipped cream, and one of ice cream. Lee laughed, shaking her head slightly as Tarin sat down. "A moving day tradition?" Lee asked, her smile growing as her eyes drifted down to the dessert items on the table in front of them.

It was definitely more than what they had had the last time they'd moved into an apartment, and there was actually furniture here unlike the day Tarin had first moved into the last apartment, but it was still sundaes.

Her smile growing, both happier and more playful, Lee dipped her finger into the strawberry topping; there weren't any actual utensils, now were there? Raising her eyes back to Tarin, Lee grinned at him as she reached across the table, putting her finger to his lips so he could lick off the strawberry goodness. "I think I like this tradition."