“Okay, Peanut, go upstairs and get ready for bed,” Scott said as he followed his daughter inside, with Hope trailing him. “I’ll be up to tuck you in in a sec, okay?”
Cassie turned to face the two adults. “Can Hope tuck me in instead?” She asked eagerly. Scott raised his eyebrows and looked at Hope, then turned back to Cassie.
“Uh, I don’t think—”
“Sure,” Hope interrupted. Cassie smiled. “Yay!”
As she ran upstairs, Scott turned to Hope again.
“You really don’t have to—”
“It’s fine, Scott,” Hope replied. He shot her an unsure glance at her reply.
“Really, it’s fine,” she reassured him.
— — —
A few minutes had passed, and Scott wasn’t sure what to do, and he knew there must’ve been a reason why Cassie wanted Hope to tuck her in. Going off his intuition, he crept up the stairs quietly, seeing if he could hear anything. Sure enough, the two most important people in his life were having a conversation.
As soon as he was in earshot, he stood silently and waited.
“Do you still hate my Daddy?” He heard Cassie ask.
Hope seemed to pause for a moment, probably thinking. “No,” he heard her respond.
“Does that mean you want to be his partner, too?” Scott leaned in closer to the doorway, hoping neither of them realized his presence, and waited for Hope’s reply.
She took another moment to think, Scott assumed, but he wasn’t disappointed with her reply.
“Well, your dad and I still have a lot of talking to do,” she had responded, “but, yeah. I want to be his partner, too,”
Scott couldn’t help but smile at Hope’s last words.
After hearing Hope telling Cassie to sleep tight, he subtly tried to return to the main floor without causing any noise.
Hope came down a few moments later, and she raised her eyebrows at the “cool” mode he was trying to pull off. “You were totally listening, weren’t you?” She said with a smile on her face.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Scott replied, as he couldn’t help but smile back at her.
She gave a slight laugh as she approached him, lowering her voice slightly as she came into close proximity with his face. “You’re such a dork,” she said before placing her lips on his.
Scott couldn’t help but smile as he kissed back, and as they parted he rested his forehead against hers. They both closed their eyes, enjoying each other’s presence.
“I guess that’s something you’re gonna have to get used to,” he teased as he slightly rubbed his nose against hers. “Oh, I already am,” she replied as they both simultaneously reconnected their lips together.
After another part, Scott once again rested his forehead on hers. He reached around to the palm of her hands and intertwined her fingers with his own.
“I missed this,” he confessed in a whisper.
“Missed what?” she replied, knowing completely well what he meant, but there was something about him admitting it to her that couldn’t be compared.
“You know,” he started, “This. Us. You and me,”
“I do know,” she replied.
“So, when are we going to talk?” he asked, voice still in a low whisper.
“Maybe tomorrow. After we get the particles,” Hope replied, and then kissed him once again.
The three unspoken words between them were lingering in the air, waiting for either one of them to reach out and seize the moment. But neither of them did, because neither of them wanted to ruin what they had. Neither of them wanted to ruin what they could have down the road.
“Hope, I-” Scott started, but she cut him off for the third time that evening.
“I should.. um..” Hope said quickly, letting go of Scott’s hands and slightly backing up. “Oh. Uh, yeah, it’s kinda.. late,”
“Um, yeah, so... I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” She asked hesitantly.
“Yeah. See you then, partner,” Scott joked, meeting her eyes with a smile. She couldn’t help herself but smile as well, forgetting for a moment about reality.
“Right, um, bye,” she flashed him a quick and small smile as she made her way to the front door.
After hearing it shut, Scott muttered one last thing to himself under his breath.
“I love you.”