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Of course Tarin hadn't meant to startle her. Lee knew that. Why would he want to startle her?

And most of the time, something like him reaching for her hand would not startle her. Because normally, even if her eyes had been closed, Lee would have known he was doing it before his hand ever touched hers. Just like such an action would normally not startle most people. Because it was such a normal, simple thing.

But with the stress from that day combined with not feeling the energy boost just before the contact was made, it had startled Lee more than a little bit.

And it only took Tarin a moment to realize why it had.

He was also apologizing. Lee shook her head as she gave him a smile. "Why would you?" Lee asked, regarding how he hadn't thought about her not siphoning. "Most of the time I turn it off around you, you've got me more than a little distracted, so I don't tend to get startled when you touch me."

Tarin commented that he was very glad they had decided to have lunch together that day. Lee hadn't thought about it, but if they hadn't decided that, she would have been working at the bar well after the point the garbage can had been thrown through the door at the restaurant.

Lee would have only discovered what was happening later, when she had finished all of her paperwork for the day unless someone had broken one of the windows that were blocked off with metal bars when the place was closed.

Or unless Tarin had messaged her about it.

Either way, she and Tarin wouldn't have been together when it all started. And Lee almost had to pull Tarin by the hand out of the restaurant so they could get to the shop. Yes, he had recovered and Lee thought he'd done amazingly with his powers. But right off the bat Tarin had been pretty shocked, and he hadn't known about the panic door.

"I think we should pack some stuff to keep at the shop, just in case….”

Lee smiled over at Tarin quickly. "That sounds like a very good idea," Lee agreed before turning back to the movie. And as she sat there, Lee wondered why she had never actually thought of doing that herself years earlier, after all of the times that she had ended up cleaning the shop up in skirts. All the times she had ended up sitting for long hours overnight in a skirt and blouse in the chill of the shop. It was such a simple thing to do that could make life so much easier and more comfortable.

"And like I said, I can show you everything for the panic door," Lee continued, glancing over at Tarin as she spoke. "But I'm pretty sure that I told you all of the other security stuff before."

The room got silent at that point other than the movie, so Lee shifted, her leg temporarily pausing in its bouncing as Lee turned her attention to the TV.

All of a sudden, Lee felt something touch her hand without warning, and she jumped, her hand pulling back slightly before she realized that it was just Tarin. "I'm sorry!" Lee said as she reached her hand back to his. "I didn't mean to…"

Lee nodded when Tarin offered to help. It was pretty much getting to the point where Lee knew that Tarin would help her with anything at any time. Though something like this, considering as far as she could tell it was solely based on her senses, Lee wasn't sure what Tarin would actually be able to help with.

Maybe once she had a few hours to think about it, Lee would be able to come up with more, but at the moment she wasn't even entirely sure there was anything that she could do beyond simply doing it again and again to see if she could desensitize herself and stop getting dizzy.

"When I start experimenting with it," Lee said after a few moments. "I may ask you to be there with me. Just in case I get really dizzy."

Tarin commented that hopefully third time would be the charm for actually eating at the Chinese restaurant, and Lee couldn't help but hope so. If things had calmed down in the city by then, maybe they could go for dinner there Friday. Then Lee remembered how they had found out about everything that was going on, about the garbage can she had pushed out of the way as she opened the door.

Maybe the following Friday would be better, she thought. And hopefully, by going there at a time when they would normally be eating that food anyway would end up working better.

Lee's leg was still bouncing as Tarin silently got up off the couch and walked over to the window. Then just as silently he came back to sit. And sighed.

Lee was already frowning slightly when Tarin commented that it was going to be a long night. "It probably is," Lee agreed. "But at least we can spend it together."

Lee frowned slightly as Tarin mentioned the guy in the park. Yes, she had taken care of him quickly, and thankfully Tarin hadn't been actually hurt when he'd been knocked over while the spirits had protected her.

But if she hadn't suddenly gotten dizzy, maybe they would have had a couple moments more notice that that guy was coming.

"I'm going to have to work on that," Lee murmured. "See if I can figure out for that to not happen again."

Tarin was reaching for the remote, asking if she wanted to check what the news was saying or find a distraction. And that was a very good question. They would need to try and figure out what was going on, but at the same time, a distraction after everything that had happened would be nice as well.

"They probably aren't sharing any information about what's actually going on yet, if they even know," Lee mused. "Let's find a movie or something and we can check the news after."

As Lee was thanking Tarin, she was confused as she saw a frown forming on his face. Why would he be frowning when she was thanking him for something?

When Tarin spoke, the smile slid off Lee's face and she blinked at him. "No…I'm not joking," Lee said, her voice slow and quiet. "It's so far to the mansion, with who knows who or what between here and there. And a couple minutes earlier you had said you were terrified just getting to the shop…"

Those were all reasons that a rational person would have refused to go with her. And Lee could admit that at that moment, she had not been fully rational. Not while being that worried about her son.

Lee just shook her head at Tarin as she made her way to get changed. She still didn't understand why he thought she was so cute when she wore his baseball hat. But he thought he might die seeing her in a full uniform?

That was never going to happen, Lee thought as she was getting changed. No matter how much Tarin might like it.

But it didn't take long for the two of them to make it out to the living room, and Tarin had taken her suggestion of getting snacks seriously based on how much he had brought out from the kitchen.

Lee still wasn't really hungry, even seeing the food in front of them, so she simply relaxed back into the couch as Tarin asked about Kevin not having his phone. Lee shook her head. "They aren't being allowed outside and were told to stay in the common areas," Lee told Tarin what Kevin had said over the phone.

"So they were watching a movie and his phone was on the table on silent," Lee continued. Though, now that the panic had subsided and she had a moment to actually think about it, Lee wondered what movie they would have been watching that would have had his attention so fully. "There's not nearly as much happening up there thankfully. But the kids have heard at least basics of what's been happening."