Lady Loves a Tramp ~ PG-13
Title: Lady Loves a Tramp
Summary: While trying to sort out his feelings for Mary Margaret and Kathryn, David Nolan realizes he isn't the only man he knows facing such a similar problem. Since time has begun moving again, more true loves are finding their way back to one another. Tonight it's a Lady and a Tramp's turn.
Rating: PG-13
Pairings/Characters: David Nolan, Terry Gordon (human!Tramp, OMC), Lacey McAlister (human!Lady, OFC), Ruby Lucas, Gail Conway (Glinda, OFC), Zack Finch (Kuzko, OMC), mentions David/Mary Margaret, David/Kathryn, Terry/Lacey (human!Tramp/human!Lady, OCs)
Spoilers: 1x10
Disclaimer: All recognizable aspects belong to their respective owners, I'm just borrowing them for non-profit entertainment.
A/N: It feels strange to tag it Ruby-David, but they're the only non-OCs apparently. Anyway, enjoy.
~~
"Terry, you're late," David sighed when his co-worker (and maybe the closest thing he currently had to an actual friend) finally walked in almost twenty minutes late. With nearly all of his memory back, he remembered enough to know this wasn't typical for Terry. Usually he was quite prompt, particularly when it came to work. But lately... around the same time as he had begun to doubt his feelings for Kathryn actually, Terry had begun coming in later; and always because of the same reason.
"I know, sorry, I stopped to get us some coffee. You're welcome," the other tall blonde man replied as he set the cardboard cups down on the counter.
David glanced at the cups. They weren't from Granny's Diner. They never were anymore when Terry was buying. There was a coffee house not far, though certainly farther than Granny's, from the veterinary clinic and it seemed to be the only place Terry considered worthy to get their coffee from. It was getting clearer that the tall, dark haired Barista was the reason why.
Really, it almost amused David how interested Terry could seem to be in a girl who had more than a few physical similarities to Ruby and yet he barely looked twice in Ruby's direction. However it was true that the Barista, Lacey he remembered, didn't show as much skin as Ruby, nor did she wear nearly as much makeup or wear her hair as long or appear to dye her brown hair at all. She also didn't have nearly the same reputation. But she was close to his and Terry's height when she wore heels just like Ruby, she was just as slim as Ruby and she did appear to be about Ruby's age. Still, only he seemed to have noticed all of that. And why he had noticed, he couldn’t be sure.
"Are you ever going to tell her?" David asked, forgetting for a moment just how many times he might have gotten that question from Terry if he had fought even harder to deny his feelings for Mary Margaret.
Without so much as blinking, Terry asked, "Say, how did Kathryn take the news that you'd rather be with the school teacher?" He really wasn't in the mood for this conversation. Seeing Lacey as he could, even for just those few minutes every day, wasn't easy. There was part of him that loved his wife, just as David claimed to love Kathryn. But for as long as he could remember he had felt that something was missing. His wife was kind, and attractive, and even quite nice to be around most of the time. But for these past few months now, ever since the clock tower had seemed to have fixed itself, he had felt himself becoming more and more detached from the woman. Try as he might, Terry couldn't understand how one day he had managed to walk into the same coffee shop as he always did and only then see Lacey in a way he wasn't sure he ever had before. In that moment, and from then on, he had felt such an overwhelming sense that he genuinely needed her in his life. Even if he had to settle for only getting to see her and talk to her as she filled his and David's morning coffee orders. Terry had found it was still better than nothing no matter the ache he would feel in his chest at knowing it may never be more than that.
David knew he had that coming, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "I just can't figure out why you keep doing this to yourself. You could go to Granny's for the coffee. You could at least try to make this easier for you both."
"Only because I know you're in the same doghouse, I'll ask: Would you rather never see your school teacher again, or see her for the five minutes you're allotted each day?"
Considering those five minutes he was referring to was really a half an hour each morning at 7:15 A.M. at Granny's Diner, David saw Terry's point all too clearly. He had wished so many times to make it easier on himself and Mary Margaret and even Kathryn, but he just hadn't been able to bring himself to. Mary Margaret had asked for space, and he had failed in giving that to her. Kathryn had wanted her husband back, and he had failed there as well. He couldn't remember ever having felt so torn in his life. Looking back to Terry, he could see the exact same was true for him as well.
"Look, how about we grab a beer tonight?" David asked him. "At least us hanging out at the diner will keep us from ending up at a certain coffee house or apartment. And it'll also lead to fewer questions later on when we go home to our wives."
"You buying?" Terry asked in reply, his blues meeting David's.
"It’ll be worth it to keep us out of trouble, I guess," he chuckled. He was relieved to hear Terry laughing in agreement with him a moment later.
Terry's laughter ended quickly however as he found himself lost in thought for a moment. "Um, actually, I might have to meet you at the diner a little later. There's something I just remembered that I've got to do at home first."
Noticing the serious turn his friend had taken, David asked, "Everything okay?"
"I guess that would depend on your definition," he replied with a half-smile.
David wasn't surprised those several hours later to be left waiting after what Terry had said, and how he hadn't offered any explanation beyond what he had to get home for couldn't wait until after their drinks. Maybe Terry was trying to prove to his wife there was either really nothing between him and Lacey or maybe he was trying to prove to her that whatever had been there was over. When Terry finally did walk into the diner, looking a bit more in need of a drink than he had that morning, David guessed either could still be true.
"Sorry," was all Terry offered as he took the stool to David's left.
He shook his head. Terry hardly needed to apologize to him for that. He knew what it was like. He remembered all too well how he had felt after having talked about Mary Margaret with Kathryn.
At least the diner was busy, they wordlessly agreed. They didn't want to be able to focus on anyone or have anyone focus on them. Except perhaps Ruby or one of the other waitresses if they were bringing them their beers, but other than that, they were happy to just get lost in the crowd. And with seemingly every booth and table occupied, it seemed they had gotten their wish.
Over at one of those booths however, someone slightly unexpected was taking in the scenery. "Well look at that, seems your boyfriend's found you once again," the busty blonde to Lacey's right grinned as she glanced to where Terry was sitting.
"What?" she asked, glancing first to Gail and then to where Gail was still staring even as she toyed with the straw she had between her pink painted lips. "Very funny," Lacey groaned when her dark eyes fell on the tall and lean curly blonde haired man.
"Hey, if you don't want him, can I have him?" the dark haired man sitting across from them asked her, unable to keep from looking Terry over himself.
"You know he's married," Lacey sighed as she reached for her beer once again. So much for her relaxing with her friends on their night off.
"Oh, honey, you can't let a thing like that stop you. Not when he comes to the shop nearly every day, always during your shift, always sits in or near your section when he's there for more than five minutes and clearly isn't home with his wife tonight," Gail went on. "In fact, have you ever seen him with his wife? Because I sure can't remember it."
"Egh, I have," Zack told them. "Trust me; she's got nothing on you, Lace."
"Except for that she's the one he goes home to every night," she countered before attempting to wave their waitress over for another beer. She wasn't much of a drinker usually, but this was clearly going to be a long night.
"Oh, no," David sighed when his eyes met Gail's and he finally saw the girl she was sitting beside.
"What?" Terry asked him.
"If I knew something that might make you want to change where we have these beers, would you want me to tell you?"
"What are you talking about?" They hadn't even ordered yet, every waitress in the place, which really only seemed to be three, were at the various tables. And what could be so bad that he would want to leave so soon?
"I'd say it almost seems like someone somewhere doesn't want you to stay out of that trouble we were talking about earlier." With that David indicated with a nod in the direction of the booth Lacey and her friends were seated at and Terry followed his eye line.
Like David, he caught Gail's attention first. And she not only smiled, but even waved to him. He broke their gaze quickly and looked to Lacey, not surprised to see her force a smile when she saw him. He had tried more than once to keep the words from passing his lips, to keep to their (now) often less than casual flirting, but he hadn't been able to stay away from the coffee shop. And one night when she hadn't had any other tables to worry about and had been sitting with him as they chatted about some of the latest town gossip he had slipped and ended up telling her how he felt about her. To his initial surprise, she had followed him right off that cliff by telling him that she cared for him too.
Now however it was becoming clearer they didn't need words, the shared pained look in their eyes spoke volumes. It was clear too neither had lied when they had said they cared for one another, but that didn't change the situation they were in. He would even guess she had come here in an attempt to put him from her mind. But then maybe David was right. Maybe they weren't meant to put each other from their minds just as it seemed David and Mary Margaret weren't meant to.
Lacey was the first to look away. Part of her hoped Terry would let her pretend they hadn't just seen each other and, really, that he wouldn't come over. It looked like he was there with David Nolan, she didn't want to be the reason he ended up canceling his apparent guys’ night out. Especially not when she could only imagine what Zack or Gail would say if he came over and she did not want to endure that headache. Either they would both end up flirting with him just to get a rise out of her or openly encourage her to leave with him. She felt embarrassed enough potentially being in love with a married man, her friends' so-called harmless jests would be guaranteed to only make it worse.
"Ruby! Excellent," Gail said as she finally put her glass down. "Will you please, please tell our darling girl here that just because a man is married it does not mean he's dead? Especially when the man in question has made it obvious he wants her instead of his wife."
"What?" Ruby laughed in her disbelief as she set down another round of beers for them. She knew Gail was hardly shy, in fact that was why they had become such close friends, but it wasn't often she brought it up quite that way. Not even in front of Zack or Lacey.
"Lacey here is letting Terry's hunk of junk called a wedding ring get in the way of true love," Zack told her. "Now, tell us the truth, Rubes, if it were Mr. Gold, or if it'd been Graham, would a thing like that have stopped you from at least sleeping with them and finding out if it was all worth it?"
Ruby wasn't proud of her answer, but admitted it all the same, "Not unless they were married to Regina; because she would shoot me like a wild animal if she found out. Other than that, you know I'm always on the prowl."
"Thank you!" Gail told her, considering her job was done. Turning to Lacey, she added, "I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about that part."
"For the record, his wedding ring is not a hunk of junk," Lacey told them. Even if the band itself had been cheap, which she honestly hadn't even thought about, she had hoped the meaning behind it - at least in the beginning - hadn't been.
"It must be to him," Zack shrugged. "Why else would be chasing you around like a lovesick pup every other day?"
"I appreciate the trying, but none of you are helping," Lacey stated. Short of Terry divorcing his wife, or maybe something to help her forget she had ever even seen him, she doubted anything would help her right then.
"Fine. But I know what will help," Gail told her as she looked back to Ruby. "Bubble shots, if you please!"
"You and your pink bubbly drinks," Zack sighed. He liked them himself occasionally, or the mood they put him in anyway, but Gail seemed to always have to have them when they went out. If it was pink and alcoholic, it almost always had her name on it. In fact sometimes it only had to be pink for her to be interested.
"I refuse to accept that from the man who asks himself 'What would an emperor drink?' before considering his main drink of the night," she shot back.
"You're just jealous you'll never be as fabulous as I am," Zack told her as he used his middle finger to swipe at his short bangs.
The sound of Lacey's buzzing cell phone was a welcome relief when she finally heard it. For a moment she actually didn't care who it was so long as they could make her focus on anything else. No such luck, she realized when she saw the text as well as whom it was from.
She had two choices, she knew, particularly as she glanced to where Terry was sitting once more. He wasn't looking back to her, but he did still have his phone in his hands even as his eyes appeared to be focused on the beer bottle in front of him. With that she decided not to reply. What was there to say? They hadn't planned this, not any of this. And maybe it was Gail and Zack who had gotten to her, but she knew she couldn't stay in her seat and pretend everything was fine, even to him through text messages, when she was anything but. In a moment she was up and out of the booth and soon out of the diner, all but gulping in the fresh night air once she was out the door.
Her haste didn't go unnoticed however. Gail had been startled by the sudden shift of the booth bench they had been sharing and Zack almost found himself regretting how far he had pushed his own comments to her earlier when she seemed to all but bolt from the diner. But he knew he wasn't wrong. Maybe he was no marriage expert, but it was clear to him that if Terry truly valued his marriage he wouldn't have already so blatantly chosen to spend all of the time he could with Lacey. And now Lacey had even heard Ruby and Gail agree with that in their own ways. It was that which kept him in his seat. He knew better than to go after her. There was only one person in the diner right then who should have been going after her.
Gail, Zack, and even David smiled ever so slightly when Terry left his seat to do just that. David couldn't help but hope to live vicariously through Terry in that moment. Maybe someday soon he would have the same courage to go after Mary Margaret the same way again.
"Lacey," Terry called to her when he saw she hadn't gotten too far from the diner. "Will you please talk to me? Or even just hear what I have to say?"
She stopped in her tracks at his voice. She knew she shouldn't have. She knew she could have kept going, to not let him talk her out of walking away. This is what she should have done in the beginning, the second she saw his ring even. His smile, that look in his pale blue eyes, how comfortable she had let herself become with him; she knew she never should have let it go this far. True they hadn't technically done anything too substantial yet, but clearly enough damage had been done. This was proving that even further for her. Despite having believed she knew better, she had let him in, she had gotten too close, and now his presence, even his voice was almost overpowering her as it so often did.
Turning to him finally, she asked, "Why tonight? Why did you have to be here tonight?"
Terry knew he could have blamed David, or he could have told the whole truth in telling her he had gone there with him in an attempt to keep himself from the coffee shop in the hope of not seeing her tonight. But she looked hurt enough. He didn't want to add to it by making her even partially think he wanted to walk away from whatever this was like she had appeared to be doing. Finally, telling her, "I don't know," seemed like a better alternative.
Lacey took a deep breath in an attempt to steady herself. "Whatever you want to talk about, can it just -”
"No," he told her. "I need to tell you this. And I'm getting the feeling that if I don't tell you now you won't give me another chance to say it."
"Is there anything to say anymore? Really? Nothing's changed, and I'm not asking or telling you to change it. But I can't be what my own friends would want me to be either. Not with this. I'm sorry, Terry, I just can't."
"I'm not asking you to. Not anymore. But I need you to see this," he told her as he held up the back his left hand.
Lacey looked, but just shook her head, unsure if she wanted to scream or cry. "Taking your ring off doesn't change anything. If anything, it might be even worse. It might be easy for some, but I can't be that girl." For a while, maybe since she had met Terry, she had wondered if she could be like her friends and put her morals aside for what might be true love. She knew now she couldn't, no matter how much of her did wish to be with Terry.
"I know you can't. And now, I'm not even that guy, not entirely anyway." He paused then, letting his arm fall back to his side and taking a few steps to close the gap between Lacey and himself. Finally, when he was close enough to be able to bring his voice down, he added, "I finally did what I should've done, maybe, the day we met. I told Sarah, and then I packed a few things and I got a room at the bed and breakfast. It's over. That's why I was late meeting David, that's where I was."
"What?" Lacey couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was this a dream?
"I gave her back my ring, I even told her she can keep the house. I don't care. I don't need it. I need you."
"I'm a girl you met in a coffee shop," she all but scoffed. For months she had been hoping to hear him say almost those exact words to her, but now that he had she couldn't believe he meant them.
"How many hours have I spent in that coffee shop just to talk to you? Or even just to see you? Don't get me wrong, you make great coffee, but that's not what kept me coming back."
"And now, tonight, you're telling me you really left your wife for me?" she found herself asking, her stun still getting the better of her.
"I guess some might see it that way. But it wasn't just for you, it was for me and Sarah too. I just couldn't keep pretending anymore and she deserved to know that. Just as you deserve to know that every night I was walking into that house wishing you would be the one welcoming me home and that you were who I was sharing my home, my bed, and my life with. I don't love Sarah. I love you, Lacey. And if you'll still have me, I'm here."
"Then I guess you're right. We should talk." This certainly changed things, and Lacey couldn't help but wonder if it was really for the better or not. She wanted to believe it was, but she was still nervous. She could see everything she had hoped for suddenly being just within her grasp and somehow that scared her more than her earlier belief that this could never be. She could only hope this fantasy wouldn't be ripped away from her as quickly as it had seemed to have been granted.
Terry had begun to get a little nervous himself that this might not go as he had hoped, particularly with Lacey had said, until she took his hand and began to walk in the direction of the coffee shop. He knew well it would be closed now, but he guessed that was what Lacey had in mind. It wasn't as though they would be able to have this apparent conversation in the loud, crowded diner and it was probably best not to have it on the sidewalk, so the closed coffee shop did sound like the better option. Especially if tonight were to be another beginning for them.
"I didn't think you'd want to have this conversation at the diner any more than I would," Lacey told him when they reached the coffee shop, Lacey unlocking the door and flipping on the only light it would seem they would need for the moment.
"You're right," he told her, his nervousness returning as he followed her into the dim restaurant. "But then I guess there isn't much more for me to say right now. What is it you wanted to tell me?"
"I love you too," she all but blurted out. She knew he had heard her loud and clear though when she saw his soft smile. Taking a deep breath, she added, "This is probably the last thing I expected tonight. To see you, to hear you left your wife, for you to say you love me..."
"I didn't expect most of that either," he admitted as he moved close enough to her to rest his hands at her shoulders for a moment. "But something happened today, I don't even know what, I just knew that I had to take the advice I'd tried to give to David. And now here we are."
"So where we go from here?"
"Now, I guess I should get back to the inn at some point so I can meet with Mr. Gold as early as possible about an apartment tomorrow. And I think while I'm at it, maybe I should go about making some plans with the lady I finally confessed my feelings to."
Lacey nodded. "Like meeting with lawyers? I guess you could combine that trip when you see Mr. Gold. I hear he's not a bad attorney when his clients cooperate." At least that was the gist she had gotten from Ruby when she had mentioned it a few weeks ago.
Terry smiled as he put his arms behind her and gently pulled her towards him, her body nearly pressed to his. "I meant you. The other will be taken care of soon, but I can't stop feeling like you and I have a lot of time to make up for."
Maybe it was her proximity to him that was causing her brain to shut out everything else, or maybe it was everything he had already told her, but Lacey couldn't keep from smiling at that. She also couldn't seem to stop herself from wishing to get a head start on at least a bit of that catching up he had mentioned. With her arms soon around him in return, Lacey raised up the only inch or two she needed to finally kiss him as she had been dreaming of for what seemed like entirely too long.
Terry returned the tender exchange in an instant, holding her to him and wishing already that it never had to end. As much as he knew it shouldn't so soon, this all felt right to him. Between the feel of Lacey's slender body relaxing in his arms and the taste of her lips against his own, he finally felt he had found what he had been missing for all this time.
As their kiss deepened, Lacey finally understood that sense herself. No one else had ever stirred up these feelings inside of her, and in that moment she doubted any other ever could. True this may not make things easier for the near future, but Lacey found she didn't have it in her to care. Not as long as she still had him.
"$20 says this is the beginning of their happily ever after," Zack stated as Gail and he looked on through the windows of the coffee shop's front door. They had given them a decent head start, but couldn't help wanting to be sure Terry would do right by their friend.
"No way. Too easy," Gail grinned, unable to keep the swell of pride she felt from taking over.
The End
Summary: While trying to sort out his feelings for Mary Margaret and Kathryn, David Nolan realizes he isn't the only man he knows facing such a similar problem. Since time has begun moving again, more true loves are finding their way back to one another. Tonight it's a Lady and a Tramp's turn.
Rating: PG-13
Pairings/Characters: David Nolan, Terry Gordon (human!Tramp, OMC), Lacey McAlister (human!Lady, OFC), Ruby Lucas, Gail Conway (Glinda, OFC), Zack Finch (Kuzko, OMC), mentions David/Mary Margaret, David/Kathryn, Terry/Lacey (human!Tramp/human!Lady, OCs)
Spoilers: 1x10
Disclaimer: All recognizable aspects belong to their respective owners, I'm just borrowing them for non-profit entertainment.
A/N: It feels strange to tag it Ruby-David, but they're the only non-OCs apparently. Anyway, enjoy.
~~
"Terry, you're late," David sighed when his co-worker (and maybe the closest thing he currently had to an actual friend) finally walked in almost twenty minutes late. With nearly all of his memory back, he remembered enough to know this wasn't typical for Terry. Usually he was quite prompt, particularly when it came to work. But lately... around the same time as he had begun to doubt his feelings for Kathryn actually, Terry had begun coming in later; and always because of the same reason.
"I know, sorry, I stopped to get us some coffee. You're welcome," the other tall blonde man replied as he set the cardboard cups down on the counter.
David glanced at the cups. They weren't from Granny's Diner. They never were anymore when Terry was buying. There was a coffee house not far, though certainly farther than Granny's, from the veterinary clinic and it seemed to be the only place Terry considered worthy to get their coffee from. It was getting clearer that the tall, dark haired Barista was the reason why.
Really, it almost amused David how interested Terry could seem to be in a girl who had more than a few physical similarities to Ruby and yet he barely looked twice in Ruby's direction. However it was true that the Barista, Lacey he remembered, didn't show as much skin as Ruby, nor did she wear nearly as much makeup or wear her hair as long or appear to dye her brown hair at all. She also didn't have nearly the same reputation. But she was close to his and Terry's height when she wore heels just like Ruby, she was just as slim as Ruby and she did appear to be about Ruby's age. Still, only he seemed to have noticed all of that. And why he had noticed, he couldn’t be sure.
"Are you ever going to tell her?" David asked, forgetting for a moment just how many times he might have gotten that question from Terry if he had fought even harder to deny his feelings for Mary Margaret.
Without so much as blinking, Terry asked, "Say, how did Kathryn take the news that you'd rather be with the school teacher?" He really wasn't in the mood for this conversation. Seeing Lacey as he could, even for just those few minutes every day, wasn't easy. There was part of him that loved his wife, just as David claimed to love Kathryn. But for as long as he could remember he had felt that something was missing. His wife was kind, and attractive, and even quite nice to be around most of the time. But for these past few months now, ever since the clock tower had seemed to have fixed itself, he had felt himself becoming more and more detached from the woman. Try as he might, Terry couldn't understand how one day he had managed to walk into the same coffee shop as he always did and only then see Lacey in a way he wasn't sure he ever had before. In that moment, and from then on, he had felt such an overwhelming sense that he genuinely needed her in his life. Even if he had to settle for only getting to see her and talk to her as she filled his and David's morning coffee orders. Terry had found it was still better than nothing no matter the ache he would feel in his chest at knowing it may never be more than that.
David knew he had that coming, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "I just can't figure out why you keep doing this to yourself. You could go to Granny's for the coffee. You could at least try to make this easier for you both."
"Only because I know you're in the same doghouse, I'll ask: Would you rather never see your school teacher again, or see her for the five minutes you're allotted each day?"
Considering those five minutes he was referring to was really a half an hour each morning at 7:15 A.M. at Granny's Diner, David saw Terry's point all too clearly. He had wished so many times to make it easier on himself and Mary Margaret and even Kathryn, but he just hadn't been able to bring himself to. Mary Margaret had asked for space, and he had failed in giving that to her. Kathryn had wanted her husband back, and he had failed there as well. He couldn't remember ever having felt so torn in his life. Looking back to Terry, he could see the exact same was true for him as well.
"Look, how about we grab a beer tonight?" David asked him. "At least us hanging out at the diner will keep us from ending up at a certain coffee house or apartment. And it'll also lead to fewer questions later on when we go home to our wives."
"You buying?" Terry asked in reply, his blues meeting David's.
"It’ll be worth it to keep us out of trouble, I guess," he chuckled. He was relieved to hear Terry laughing in agreement with him a moment later.
Terry's laughter ended quickly however as he found himself lost in thought for a moment. "Um, actually, I might have to meet you at the diner a little later. There's something I just remembered that I've got to do at home first."
Noticing the serious turn his friend had taken, David asked, "Everything okay?"
"I guess that would depend on your definition," he replied with a half-smile.
David wasn't surprised those several hours later to be left waiting after what Terry had said, and how he hadn't offered any explanation beyond what he had to get home for couldn't wait until after their drinks. Maybe Terry was trying to prove to his wife there was either really nothing between him and Lacey or maybe he was trying to prove to her that whatever had been there was over. When Terry finally did walk into the diner, looking a bit more in need of a drink than he had that morning, David guessed either could still be true.
"Sorry," was all Terry offered as he took the stool to David's left.
He shook his head. Terry hardly needed to apologize to him for that. He knew what it was like. He remembered all too well how he had felt after having talked about Mary Margaret with Kathryn.
At least the diner was busy, they wordlessly agreed. They didn't want to be able to focus on anyone or have anyone focus on them. Except perhaps Ruby or one of the other waitresses if they were bringing them their beers, but other than that, they were happy to just get lost in the crowd. And with seemingly every booth and table occupied, it seemed they had gotten their wish.
Over at one of those booths however, someone slightly unexpected was taking in the scenery. "Well look at that, seems your boyfriend's found you once again," the busty blonde to Lacey's right grinned as she glanced to where Terry was sitting.
"What?" she asked, glancing first to Gail and then to where Gail was still staring even as she toyed with the straw she had between her pink painted lips. "Very funny," Lacey groaned when her dark eyes fell on the tall and lean curly blonde haired man.
"Hey, if you don't want him, can I have him?" the dark haired man sitting across from them asked her, unable to keep from looking Terry over himself.
"You know he's married," Lacey sighed as she reached for her beer once again. So much for her relaxing with her friends on their night off.
"Oh, honey, you can't let a thing like that stop you. Not when he comes to the shop nearly every day, always during your shift, always sits in or near your section when he's there for more than five minutes and clearly isn't home with his wife tonight," Gail went on. "In fact, have you ever seen him with his wife? Because I sure can't remember it."
"Egh, I have," Zack told them. "Trust me; she's got nothing on you, Lace."
"Except for that she's the one he goes home to every night," she countered before attempting to wave their waitress over for another beer. She wasn't much of a drinker usually, but this was clearly going to be a long night.
"Oh, no," David sighed when his eyes met Gail's and he finally saw the girl she was sitting beside.
"What?" Terry asked him.
"If I knew something that might make you want to change where we have these beers, would you want me to tell you?"
"What are you talking about?" They hadn't even ordered yet, every waitress in the place, which really only seemed to be three, were at the various tables. And what could be so bad that he would want to leave so soon?
"I'd say it almost seems like someone somewhere doesn't want you to stay out of that trouble we were talking about earlier." With that David indicated with a nod in the direction of the booth Lacey and her friends were seated at and Terry followed his eye line.
Like David, he caught Gail's attention first. And she not only smiled, but even waved to him. He broke their gaze quickly and looked to Lacey, not surprised to see her force a smile when she saw him. He had tried more than once to keep the words from passing his lips, to keep to their (now) often less than casual flirting, but he hadn't been able to stay away from the coffee shop. And one night when she hadn't had any other tables to worry about and had been sitting with him as they chatted about some of the latest town gossip he had slipped and ended up telling her how he felt about her. To his initial surprise, she had followed him right off that cliff by telling him that she cared for him too.
Now however it was becoming clearer they didn't need words, the shared pained look in their eyes spoke volumes. It was clear too neither had lied when they had said they cared for one another, but that didn't change the situation they were in. He would even guess she had come here in an attempt to put him from her mind. But then maybe David was right. Maybe they weren't meant to put each other from their minds just as it seemed David and Mary Margaret weren't meant to.
Lacey was the first to look away. Part of her hoped Terry would let her pretend they hadn't just seen each other and, really, that he wouldn't come over. It looked like he was there with David Nolan, she didn't want to be the reason he ended up canceling his apparent guys’ night out. Especially not when she could only imagine what Zack or Gail would say if he came over and she did not want to endure that headache. Either they would both end up flirting with him just to get a rise out of her or openly encourage her to leave with him. She felt embarrassed enough potentially being in love with a married man, her friends' so-called harmless jests would be guaranteed to only make it worse.
"Ruby! Excellent," Gail said as she finally put her glass down. "Will you please, please tell our darling girl here that just because a man is married it does not mean he's dead? Especially when the man in question has made it obvious he wants her instead of his wife."
"What?" Ruby laughed in her disbelief as she set down another round of beers for them. She knew Gail was hardly shy, in fact that was why they had become such close friends, but it wasn't often she brought it up quite that way. Not even in front of Zack or Lacey.
"Lacey here is letting Terry's hunk of junk called a wedding ring get in the way of true love," Zack told her. "Now, tell us the truth, Rubes, if it were Mr. Gold, or if it'd been Graham, would a thing like that have stopped you from at least sleeping with them and finding out if it was all worth it?"
Ruby wasn't proud of her answer, but admitted it all the same, "Not unless they were married to Regina; because she would shoot me like a wild animal if she found out. Other than that, you know I'm always on the prowl."
"Thank you!" Gail told her, considering her job was done. Turning to Lacey, she added, "I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about that part."
"For the record, his wedding ring is not a hunk of junk," Lacey told them. Even if the band itself had been cheap, which she honestly hadn't even thought about, she had hoped the meaning behind it - at least in the beginning - hadn't been.
"It must be to him," Zack shrugged. "Why else would be chasing you around like a lovesick pup every other day?"
"I appreciate the trying, but none of you are helping," Lacey stated. Short of Terry divorcing his wife, or maybe something to help her forget she had ever even seen him, she doubted anything would help her right then.
"Fine. But I know what will help," Gail told her as she looked back to Ruby. "Bubble shots, if you please!"
"You and your pink bubbly drinks," Zack sighed. He liked them himself occasionally, or the mood they put him in anyway, but Gail seemed to always have to have them when they went out. If it was pink and alcoholic, it almost always had her name on it. In fact sometimes it only had to be pink for her to be interested.
"I refuse to accept that from the man who asks himself 'What would an emperor drink?' before considering his main drink of the night," she shot back.
"You're just jealous you'll never be as fabulous as I am," Zack told her as he used his middle finger to swipe at his short bangs.
The sound of Lacey's buzzing cell phone was a welcome relief when she finally heard it. For a moment she actually didn't care who it was so long as they could make her focus on anything else. No such luck, she realized when she saw the text as well as whom it was from.
She had two choices, she knew, particularly as she glanced to where Terry was sitting once more. He wasn't looking back to her, but he did still have his phone in his hands even as his eyes appeared to be focused on the beer bottle in front of him. With that she decided not to reply. What was there to say? They hadn't planned this, not any of this. And maybe it was Gail and Zack who had gotten to her, but she knew she couldn't stay in her seat and pretend everything was fine, even to him through text messages, when she was anything but. In a moment she was up and out of the booth and soon out of the diner, all but gulping in the fresh night air once she was out the door.
Her haste didn't go unnoticed however. Gail had been startled by the sudden shift of the booth bench they had been sharing and Zack almost found himself regretting how far he had pushed his own comments to her earlier when she seemed to all but bolt from the diner. But he knew he wasn't wrong. Maybe he was no marriage expert, but it was clear to him that if Terry truly valued his marriage he wouldn't have already so blatantly chosen to spend all of the time he could with Lacey. And now Lacey had even heard Ruby and Gail agree with that in their own ways. It was that which kept him in his seat. He knew better than to go after her. There was only one person in the diner right then who should have been going after her.
Gail, Zack, and even David smiled ever so slightly when Terry left his seat to do just that. David couldn't help but hope to live vicariously through Terry in that moment. Maybe someday soon he would have the same courage to go after Mary Margaret the same way again.
"Lacey," Terry called to her when he saw she hadn't gotten too far from the diner. "Will you please talk to me? Or even just hear what I have to say?"
She stopped in her tracks at his voice. She knew she shouldn't have. She knew she could have kept going, to not let him talk her out of walking away. This is what she should have done in the beginning, the second she saw his ring even. His smile, that look in his pale blue eyes, how comfortable she had let herself become with him; she knew she never should have let it go this far. True they hadn't technically done anything too substantial yet, but clearly enough damage had been done. This was proving that even further for her. Despite having believed she knew better, she had let him in, she had gotten too close, and now his presence, even his voice was almost overpowering her as it so often did.
Turning to him finally, she asked, "Why tonight? Why did you have to be here tonight?"
Terry knew he could have blamed David, or he could have told the whole truth in telling her he had gone there with him in an attempt to keep himself from the coffee shop in the hope of not seeing her tonight. But she looked hurt enough. He didn't want to add to it by making her even partially think he wanted to walk away from whatever this was like she had appeared to be doing. Finally, telling her, "I don't know," seemed like a better alternative.
Lacey took a deep breath in an attempt to steady herself. "Whatever you want to talk about, can it just -”
"No," he told her. "I need to tell you this. And I'm getting the feeling that if I don't tell you now you won't give me another chance to say it."
"Is there anything to say anymore? Really? Nothing's changed, and I'm not asking or telling you to change it. But I can't be what my own friends would want me to be either. Not with this. I'm sorry, Terry, I just can't."
"I'm not asking you to. Not anymore. But I need you to see this," he told her as he held up the back his left hand.
Lacey looked, but just shook her head, unsure if she wanted to scream or cry. "Taking your ring off doesn't change anything. If anything, it might be even worse. It might be easy for some, but I can't be that girl." For a while, maybe since she had met Terry, she had wondered if she could be like her friends and put her morals aside for what might be true love. She knew now she couldn't, no matter how much of her did wish to be with Terry.
"I know you can't. And now, I'm not even that guy, not entirely anyway." He paused then, letting his arm fall back to his side and taking a few steps to close the gap between Lacey and himself. Finally, when he was close enough to be able to bring his voice down, he added, "I finally did what I should've done, maybe, the day we met. I told Sarah, and then I packed a few things and I got a room at the bed and breakfast. It's over. That's why I was late meeting David, that's where I was."
"What?" Lacey couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was this a dream?
"I gave her back my ring, I even told her she can keep the house. I don't care. I don't need it. I need you."
"I'm a girl you met in a coffee shop," she all but scoffed. For months she had been hoping to hear him say almost those exact words to her, but now that he had she couldn't believe he meant them.
"How many hours have I spent in that coffee shop just to talk to you? Or even just to see you? Don't get me wrong, you make great coffee, but that's not what kept me coming back."
"And now, tonight, you're telling me you really left your wife for me?" she found herself asking, her stun still getting the better of her.
"I guess some might see it that way. But it wasn't just for you, it was for me and Sarah too. I just couldn't keep pretending anymore and she deserved to know that. Just as you deserve to know that every night I was walking into that house wishing you would be the one welcoming me home and that you were who I was sharing my home, my bed, and my life with. I don't love Sarah. I love you, Lacey. And if you'll still have me, I'm here."
"Then I guess you're right. We should talk." This certainly changed things, and Lacey couldn't help but wonder if it was really for the better or not. She wanted to believe it was, but she was still nervous. She could see everything she had hoped for suddenly being just within her grasp and somehow that scared her more than her earlier belief that this could never be. She could only hope this fantasy wouldn't be ripped away from her as quickly as it had seemed to have been granted.
Terry had begun to get a little nervous himself that this might not go as he had hoped, particularly with Lacey had said, until she took his hand and began to walk in the direction of the coffee shop. He knew well it would be closed now, but he guessed that was what Lacey had in mind. It wasn't as though they would be able to have this apparent conversation in the loud, crowded diner and it was probably best not to have it on the sidewalk, so the closed coffee shop did sound like the better option. Especially if tonight were to be another beginning for them.
"I didn't think you'd want to have this conversation at the diner any more than I would," Lacey told him when they reached the coffee shop, Lacey unlocking the door and flipping on the only light it would seem they would need for the moment.
"You're right," he told her, his nervousness returning as he followed her into the dim restaurant. "But then I guess there isn't much more for me to say right now. What is it you wanted to tell me?"
"I love you too," she all but blurted out. She knew he had heard her loud and clear though when she saw his soft smile. Taking a deep breath, she added, "This is probably the last thing I expected tonight. To see you, to hear you left your wife, for you to say you love me..."
"I didn't expect most of that either," he admitted as he moved close enough to her to rest his hands at her shoulders for a moment. "But something happened today, I don't even know what, I just knew that I had to take the advice I'd tried to give to David. And now here we are."
"So where we go from here?"
"Now, I guess I should get back to the inn at some point so I can meet with Mr. Gold as early as possible about an apartment tomorrow. And I think while I'm at it, maybe I should go about making some plans with the lady I finally confessed my feelings to."
Lacey nodded. "Like meeting with lawyers? I guess you could combine that trip when you see Mr. Gold. I hear he's not a bad attorney when his clients cooperate." At least that was the gist she had gotten from Ruby when she had mentioned it a few weeks ago.
Terry smiled as he put his arms behind her and gently pulled her towards him, her body nearly pressed to his. "I meant you. The other will be taken care of soon, but I can't stop feeling like you and I have a lot of time to make up for."
Maybe it was her proximity to him that was causing her brain to shut out everything else, or maybe it was everything he had already told her, but Lacey couldn't keep from smiling at that. She also couldn't seem to stop herself from wishing to get a head start on at least a bit of that catching up he had mentioned. With her arms soon around him in return, Lacey raised up the only inch or two she needed to finally kiss him as she had been dreaming of for what seemed like entirely too long.
Terry returned the tender exchange in an instant, holding her to him and wishing already that it never had to end. As much as he knew it shouldn't so soon, this all felt right to him. Between the feel of Lacey's slender body relaxing in his arms and the taste of her lips against his own, he finally felt he had found what he had been missing for all this time.
As their kiss deepened, Lacey finally understood that sense herself. No one else had ever stirred up these feelings inside of her, and in that moment she doubted any other ever could. True this may not make things easier for the near future, but Lacey found she didn't have it in her to care. Not as long as she still had him.
"$20 says this is the beginning of their happily ever after," Zack stated as Gail and he looked on through the windows of the coffee shop's front door. They had given them a decent head start, but couldn't help wanting to be sure Terry would do right by their friend.
"No way. Too easy," Gail grinned, unable to keep the swell of pride she felt from taking over.
The End