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Claudia woke up a little disoriented. She wasn't sleeping on her normal side of the bed. The warm body pressed up behind her reminded her why she was on this particular side of the bed and she smiled as she snuggled closer. The arm around her waist squeezed her in tighter and she felt his warm breath on her neck. As she drifted back into a content and sated sleep the thought that she could get used to this crossed her mind.
When the morning sun streamed into her bedroom and woke Claudia she realized she was by herself in bed. Frowning, she hoped that Jethro hadn't felt the need to sneak out of the apartment before Joshua woke up. She had never had a man stay the night since her divorce and didn't exactly know how to explain it to Joshua, but she wasn't going to try and hide it.
She stuck her head out of the bedroom and smelled coffee. That was a good sign. She paused in the hallway when she heard giggling coming from the kitchen. Quietly peeking her head around the corner she was treated to the sight of Jethro standing in front of the stove with Joshua sitting on the counter next to it supervising whatever it was that Jethro was cooking.
She heard Jethro ask Joshua, "What next?"
"A turtle!" Joshua giggled.
"One turtle coming up." Claudia realized they were making pancakes and watched as Jethro picked up the bowl of batter and with Joshua spooned batter carefully into the pan on the stove.
Jethro was having a happy flashback to doing this same thing with Kelly. He remembered when he had been a very young Marine and new father, he had been deployed and a bunch of the guys were shooting the breeze about how they reconnect with their kids when they get home. One sergeant with four teenagers told him about making "Daddycakes" and Jethro had paid close attention. Daddycakes had been a huge hit with Kelly. And now he was sharing it with Joshua who was equally enthralled.
He sensed Claudia watching them and pulled down another mug and poured her a coffee. Joshua saw her, "Mummy! We're making pancakes."
She walked over to them and kissed Joshua on the forehead, "I see. Are you helping?"
"Yep. That's a turtle." He counted off on his little fingers all the other shapes they made.
Jethro handed her the mug he had poured with a little sheepish grin. She leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips and teased, "Having fun?"
His eyes danced with humor and he cocked his head and replied, "Yeah."
The three of them ate the multi-shaped pancakes with Joshua providing a running commentary on the whole process of making them. Claudia thought it was odd that Joshua didn't comment on Jethro being there this morning, unless Jethro had come up with some brilliant way to explain it before she got up. The three of them sitting there together just felt right.
After he finished eating, Joshua made a beeline for the television to watch the rest of his dvd from the night before, leaving his mother and Jethro sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table.
They each nursed their coffee. The silence between them was loud but it wasn't uncomfortable. Finally Claudia asked, "So did he ask…?"
Jethro shook his head, "Nope. Not a peep. Just said hi."
Claudia got up and started stacking the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. She was suddenly a little unsure of how to act or what to say, which was out of character for her. She wasn't surprised to suddenly feel Jethro's hands on her shoulders. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just, um…" she started to say and turned to face him, "You know, maybe I should start reading Cosmo so I'll know what say in situations like this."
"Situations like this?" he teased.
She laughed, "Well aren't I supposed to say something witty or something. I don't know. Something to stroke your ego about how great last night was?"
"Oh, I know how great last night was. I was there remember?"
They both laughed and retreated back to their coffees. Jethro left before lunchtime and Claudia noted that the apartment oddly seemed a little empty.
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Claudia decided to spend sometime unpacking the moving boxes still tucked into the corners of the apartment. It gave her time to think, time to sort out how utterly surreal her life had become. It would certainly be easy to let Jethro become a fixture in her life. But was that something that she wanted?
Her life was finally back on track after working so hard to finish her degree and to plan for her and Joshua's future. In all her planning and dreaming she hadn't included having a man in her life, or in her current case, two.
And wasn't that just a fine mess. Tony would be just as easy as Jethro to let in. Both were good solid men, wonderful with Joshua, and sexier than any two men had a right to be. Her attraction to both was equal. She didn't put one over the other in her mind, it was more like they each had their own compartment, separate yet equal. If it came down to choosing she wouldn't even know where to begin.
Claudia carefully folded another box flat and scowled at it. Her moving boxes showed the evidence of being reused many times, and in reality they had been. And not necessarily by choice as somehow, some way her ex-husband kept finding out where they lived and threatening her. The restraining order was almost not worth the paper it was printed on, and he frightened her. She really hoped this would be the last move for a while.
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Tony was thinking about his life on the two hour drive back from Baltimore. The wedding last night had almost been unbearable. It would have been if it hadn't been for the open bar. He should have dragged Claudia with him. She would have protected him from the aunties and grandmothers that wanted to introduce him to their single female relatives. She would have protected him from the bitter, divorced barracudas that pounced on him seeing an Armani suit. It should have been a fun evening of food, liquor and dancing. Instead he found himself brooding out on the hotel balcony with a stiff drink.
He knew that in the grand scheme he was a "good catch". He had a great job, a college degree, good looks, and a sense of humor. The trouble was that he was discovering that he didn't want a woman that thought of him as a great catch. He wanted someone warm and caring. Someone he could make smile just by saying something silly. Someone that would give him all the things in a family that he never had growing up. Someone like Claudia.
He had been hounded by old acquaintances about how many kids he had, and they were all shocked when he told them none. He found himself brooding about that out on the balcony as well. And now thinking about it more as he drove, visions of a little sandy-haired boy asking him to play and winking back at him came to mind and he smiled. He thought about the big hug Joshua had given him and Tony felt a twinge in his chest that he wasn't expecting.
The trouble with the whole picture was that he just couldn't commit. And contrary to what his friends and co-workers would probably say to that, it wasn't about being monogamous. He could handle that. It was the idea of being in a relationship that was twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That was the part of commitment that terrified him. And there was no way to have a wife and family and get around that.
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Tony decided to stop at the grocery store on the way home to try and find something other than take-out for dinner. Nothing appealed to him and he was standing in front of the ice cream case when he pulled out his phone and called Claudia.
"Please help me." He pleaded.
"Tony, what's wrong?" she asked, a little concerned at his words.
He laughed and that put her at ease, "Well I'm standing here trying to decide if I want chocolate chip cookie dough or butter pecan ice cream for dinner."
"For dinner?"
"Yeah. I've walked up and down all these aisles and there is no food here."
"You're at the grocery store?"
"Yeah. No food."
She laughed at his sincerity, "Somehow I'm finding that hard to believe. If you're that lazy and don't want to cook just go to the deli and get yourself some lunch meat and make a big sandwich. That's much healthier than ice cream."
"See I knew there was I reason I called you. That actually sounds good."
He made his way to the deli counter chatting with her the whole way. He told her about the wedding, but not about getting hassled or his reaction to it. He ordered his lunch meat and grabbed some rolls and headed for the check out.
There was something in his voice that made her wonder if something was bothering him, "Tony, is everything okay?"
Standing in the checkout line in the grocery store was so not the place Tony wanted to have this conversation but he answered her, "I should have dragged you with me."
"You didn't have fun did you?"
"Um, no."
"Let me guess, the old ladies and the man eater's club all hassled you."
He sighed, how did she know? "Yeah."
"Sorry. Maybe you're right about needing ice cream."
He laughed, he knew that somehow she would make him feel better about the whole disaster. "So are we still on for Friday?"
"Absolutely, as long as you're wearing steel toe dress shoes."
"You'll do fine. I got to go, time to pay."
They said a quick goodbye and Tony was smiling as he left the store. He had definitely been looking for the wrong thing all these years.
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tbc....feedback appreciated!!
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.