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Claudia finished getting the meatloaf into the oven and washed her hands. Her mind a tumble of thoughts and emotions, it had been since Jethro dropped her off at her car still parked at the VFW. She loved both men, and both of them loved her, at least until they found out about the other she decided ruefully. Her eyes fell on a framed cross stitch hanging on the kitchen wall that read, "Happiness is a red potholder" and she felt a huge lump grow in her throat.
Her mother had made the cross stitch to immortalize their private joke about how even the ugliest kitchen could be brightened up just by adding a red potholder. The joke had started soon after Claudia left Rick and had settled into an little apartment with a truly hideous kitchen. Her mom had come over to help her unpack and they realized that her red potholders and dish towels clashed horribly with the kitchen's 1970's sage green counters and its orange and green wallpaper. Her mom had just laughed trying to make light of the situation, "Don't worry about it Claud, the red potholders will just draw attention away from that ugly wallpaper." She had given Claudia a big hug knowing that the color of the potholders wasn't what causing the look of heartbreak on her daughter's face. That honor belonged to Rick and if she thought she could get away with it she would have killed the man. But instead she all she could do was help Claudia pick up the pieces of a her life and help her make a safe and happy home for her and Joshua. The potholder joke became a fixture as Claudia moved from apartment to apartment. And her mother had given her the cross stitch the last Christmas they had together before she died.
It was times like this that she missed her mother terribly. There was nothing the two of them couldn't talk about. And her mother would have had some wise advice on what to do. Claudia smiled to herself thinking that in reality her mother probably would be yelling at her instead. Their arguments were legendary, but it never changed how much they loved each other, they just had different ways of looking at things. There was only one person that her mother had argued with more, her own sister, Claudia's Aunt Claire.
Claudia's mother had gone the traditional route, had gotten married, had a family, and joined the PTA. Claire was more of a free spirit, she had embraced the openness and experimentation of the 60's as she hitchhiked across country. She had lived in a commune in the desert, and even lived for a while on an Indian reservation. She believed in all things spiritual and metaphysical. She epitomized the New Age spirit and was just wild and free. Claire had never married but had had several long term love affairs with fun, creative men that made her laugh and feel young and alive. Most of the family called her eccentric and tried to write off her behavior. She and Claudia had always gotten along well though, much to her mother's dismay. She wondered what Claire would think of the fine mess she had gotten herself into.
Claudia's hand was on the phone and dialing her aunt before she realized it.
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Gibbs was wandering around his house restlessly, not a normal behavior for him. He efficiently stripped his bed to bring the sheets downstairs to wash and he found himself bringing the pillow Claudia had used last night to his nose with a smile. He could smell her shampoo and the faint lingering of her perfume. That niggled something in his brain but he couldn't put a finger on what exactly.
He grabbed the used towels out of the bathroom and headed down the hallway to go downstairs. He paused at the door to the spare bedroom, what was Kelly's room. He had left the room as a shrine to her until it hurt more to look at it than it did to pack her things away. Now it was just a spare room. Functional, but not really warm or inviting. He noticed something sticking out from under the bed and he squatted down and reached for it. It turned out to be one of Joshua's toys, a little plastic sailboat.
He smiled as he stood up with the toy in hand, Joshua loved boats. Having he and Claudia here in his house had made him feel like he had a family again. He had told Claudia that while she had taken her nap, that he and Joshua had worked in the basement for while and had some left over chicken for dinner then it was bath and bedtime. While all that was true, what he hadn't told Claudia was that after Joshua's bath they sat together for almost an hour with a long forgotten book of fairy tales that he used to read to Kelly. Sitting there with Joshua tucked under his arm as they went page by page had fulfilled something in him that he'd thought he had gotten over missing.
He looked around the room and in his mind's eye he could still see it as Kelly's room, full of bright pastel colors and little girl things everywhere. But now the room was bland and plain, more of the tan and beige that permeated the rest of the house. He put the little boat down on the nightstand for Joshua to find the next time he stayed over, Jethro had already decided that there would be a next time. Pausing in the doorway to look around one last time a decision clicked in his head. And leaving the laundry hamper in the upstairs hallway he grabbed his keys and headed for the home improvement store.
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Tony was whistling to himself as he headed down the hallway to Claudia's apartment, a couple of shopping bags in hand. He had gone shopping yesterday for a gun safe for Claudia's front closet, and had picked up a couple of presents while he was at it. He was used to buying gifts for the women he dated, and sadly most of them expected him to buy them gifts. It was a new thing for him to just buy a present for the sake of making someone smile because he wanted to and Tony was looking forward to seeing their faces.
Truth be told, he had had fun picking them out. He was a big kid at heart and had a grand time at the toy store finding something for Joshua and he now had the locations of all the cool boats and superheros mapped out for future shopping trips. When he had gone to the lingerie store he realized it was also a toy store just of a different variety, one for big kids. The saleswoman had flirted with him mercilessly having seen him in the store on more than one occasion, this time though he didn't want her assistance and browsed by himself until he found something perfect for Claudia.
He knocked on the door and when it opened his nose was treated to the scent of meatloaf and chocolate. And between the aromas and warm smile Claudia was giving him as he walked in he had an overwhelming sense of coming home, something he had never had before and it took him a moment to realize what it was, and when he did he smiled.
He put the bags down near the closet and leaned in to give Claudia a kiss, "Hi."
"Hi yourself. What's that grin for?" she teased.
He shook his head lightly, "Nothing. It smells good in here."
She had a feeling that there was a little more to it than that but left it alone, "Meatloaf and brownies for dessert. Joshua picked dessert."
Tony quipped back as they went into the kitchen, "He's got good taste." Looking around he realized he didn't see Joshua. "Where is he anyway?"
Claudia chuckled, "He's in his room working on a surprise for you."
He raised an eyebrow, "Should I be afraid?"
"No, you'll see."
She poured them each some iced tea and proceeded to peel potatoes to get the rest of dinner started. Tony was sitting at her table and noticed a pile of forms, glancing at them he asked, "What's all this?"
She looked over her shoulder as she stood at the sink, "Oh, the paperwork for Joshua to start kindergarten next month. I can't believe he's old enough to go to school."
He fingered the forms, "Wow. That's big. Is he excited?" Claudia answered him but he found himself not listening as he realized that although the forms were mostly completed that there was big section left empty, the emergency contact information. And then really hit him that she didn't have anyone to rely on, and he wondered in dread what would happen to Joshua if something were to happen to Claudia. He found his hand reaching for the pen near the forms.
Claudia heard the scratch of the pen and turned and quietly stepped behind Tony to see that he had filled in all of his information in the emergency contact section. She placed a hand on his shoulder and asked gently, "You sure about that?"
"You have to ask?"
She didn't answer, she just took his face in her hands and kissed him. Her eyes told him that she got it, that it wasn't really about having another person listed on a form that could pick Joshua up at school if he had a tummyache, it was about her having someone that she could count on and someone she could trust with the most precious thing in her life.
She turned back to the sink to finish the potatoes just as Joshua came zipping down the hallway with a piece of paper in hand. "Tony!" he exclaimed as he threw himself at Tony.
"Hey, Squirt. I think you get bigger by the day." He grunted as he settled Joshua on his lap.
"I made this for you." Joshua said, thrusting the paper he was carrying at Tony.
Tony took it and realized that it was a page from one of the coloring books that he had bought when they were sick, it was the Hulk, colored as neatly as Joshua's five year old hand could manage.
Tony ran a finger over the riot of color on the page and had to clear his throat. He never understood the folks at the office with the random crayon scribbles proudly displayed at their desks, or the houses with the front of the refrigerator hidden behind the fingerpainted trees and animals. He just never got it, until now. Until he realized that he wanted to put this picture somewhere where he could see it everyday, to remind him that the little person that made it for him loved him.
"Wow. Look at this. You did this all by yourself?" he said giving Joshua a squeeze.
"Yup. But Mummy helped me take it out of the book."
"This is awesome, Joshua. I'm gonna put it on my fridge so I can see it everyday."
The three of them had a pleasant dinner filled with talk and laughter. And after dinner Tony gave Joshua his gift, a Lego set to make a pirate ship. Needless to say, Joshua was thrilled and the three of them sat around the coffee table and put it together. It was a great way to spend the evening.
Eventually Joshua pooped out on them and he was tucked in with his pirate ship proudly displayed on the dresser where he could see it.
Tony and Claudia were cuddling on the couch, just enjoying the peace and quiet when Tony teased, "I have a present for you too, you know." He reached around the side of the couch were he had hidden the box from the lingerie shop.
She looked at the box and shook her head, "Tony, you don't have to buy us things."
He gave her one of his playboy smiles and said, "I know I don't have to but I wanted to, so open it."
Still shaking her head, she opened the box. Pushing the tissue paper aside, what she pulled out took her breath away. The nightgown was ice blue satin, long and flowing but low cut and tight in all the right places. It looked like something out of an old, glamorous Hollywood movie.
"Tony, it's beautiful. Oh, you really shouldn't have." She didn't even want to think about how much it cost. She had recognized the upscale lingerie shop's logo on the box and knew that this was an extravagant gift.
He hooked a finger under her chin and gently turned her to meet his eyes, "Oh, yes, I should have. You deserve to be spoiled." He brushed his lips against hers softly then teased with a grin, "Gonna model that for me?"
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tbc...feedback welcomed!
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.