Disclaimer: Not mine, they belong to Michael Esner the antichrist, or Disney if you prefer. Don't Sue.

Unexpected Depths

By

Rogue Amazon Boo

Tia had never been really good and comforting people. She was good at shopping, dating, styling hair, and being in the know about what was in. Comforting people was as foreign a concept to her as defiling a Parda bag, they were both things that were not done, Besides the whole comforting people thing was why she kept Keely and Phil around. They were the ones that were all good, with the touchy feely Norman Rockwell crap. Her complete lack of empathetic instincts was the sole reason she hated funerals like this one. They just weren't her thing. Sure she could dress the part, and accessorize well, but dealing with people who were in real pain, well, she was like Paris Hilton in a Wal-mart, completely out of her element.

The problem was that at this moment she wanted to be one of those people who were sensitive and comforting, but she just didn't know what to do about it.

It was all his fault, what with his shaggy brown hair and goofy puppy dog eyes. None of the hotties she had ever dated had puppy dog eyes. She didn't like puppy dog eyes.

At least, that is what she had been telling herself. She didn't cry at movies, she didn't get all starry eyed and infatuated with boys, and she absolutely did not fall for guys who dug math.

Then why did she care that he was sitting out there on the porch, all alone, staring a hole in the ground?

Like she said, his fault. Sighing, Tia went out onto the porch and sat down next to him. It was a testament to his grief that he didn't even so much as glace in her direction. Usually his infatuation with her was written so plainly on his face that she was surprised the whole school didn't know by now.

He didn't seem inclined to speak to her at the moment so she took the time to study him. He was a geek, no doubt about it, but he was also her friend.

Knowing him now and knowing that if it weren't for Keely she would never have even spoken to him, made her uncomfortable.

She wasn't use to having a conscience. Keely was the one who cared about people, not her. After all, if you don't allow yourself to care you can never get hurt.

Glancing at him though and seeing him look so dejected caused a twinge in her heart. No, no, no Tia, you will not care about him, she admonished.

He was cute though, in an unstylish, innocent way. With a sigh she turned towards him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, rather abruptly. Surprised he looked up at her. Tia was the last person he expected to be talking to him, it was too much like an impossible dream for him.

"He was my favorite Uncle," Seth said simply. Tia saw the pain it caused him to say that reflected in his eyes. Against her will she felt the need to reach out to him.

"I wouldn't know about that. I'm not exactly close to any of my family," she admitted. She didn't know what else to say, the concept of being close to someone so foreign to her. Seth gave her a small smile and tentatively laced his fingers with hers. Tia swallowed, denying that she felt anything with every fiber of her being, but she didn't pull away.

"I know you'll probably think its stupid but he's the reason I love math. That's what he did you know. He taught math at the Pickford Junior College. Uncle Seth always said that life was uncertain but math was divine. He told me that no matter what was happening in my life, no matter how many bad things happened, that I could always go to math to find order."

Tia didn't know what to say. She had never cared so much about someone that she would listen to them like that and it suddenly made her very sad.

"Maybe I should go find Phil and Keely. I'm not very good at this. I don't do sympathy," she said softly. Seth gave her a lopsided grin.

"You know, that's probably the best thing anyone has said to me. Honest you know? I like that about you, your honesty that is. Even when it is brutal."

Tia gave him a small smile.

"Brutal honesty, that does seem to by my specialty." She looked down at the ground and then back up at him.

"That's what I like about you too, your honesty. Even when it seems like you are suffering from a bad case of foot in mouth disease, or when you, like, doing something completely spastic." Seth laughed and Tia felt her heart lighten. She had done that; she had made him laugh. Maybe she wasn't as bad at this as she thought.

"The funny thing about that is I know sometimes that I do weird things. I don't really think about them ya know, and that's cause of Uncle Seth too. He also told me that in the long run it is better to be myself, and that it may not seem like people will appreciate it now, but when I'm older it will be different. I got lucky though; I got some friends who don't mind me being me. Uncle Seth was happy about that."

"Your Uncle, he sounds like a great guy." Tia said softly. Seth grew sad again and looked back at the ground.

"He was a great guy. Tia what am I going to do without him?" he choked.

That is when the tears came, the silent tears of a teenage boy who knew that it was considered very unmanly to cry, but who was unable to help it. Tia's uncomfortable feeling had returned but she didn't let it stop her from pulling Seth into a hug. He was shaking with the effort of trying to push back his tears but the floodgates had opened. So, she held him while he cried and did everything in her power to ignore the softening of her heart.

They stayed like that for quite a while. Seth getting comfort from the most unlikely source of all. Eventually, his broken sobs grew faint and slowly the tears stopped falling. He didn't pull away from Tia though, enjoying being in her arms.

Seth smiled. He knew what people said about her. The said that she was selfish and had turned dating into an Olympic event, and there was a lot of truth to that, but they didn't get to see the other side of her. Tia would walk through fire for Keely, and possible him and Phil as well. If it was bad and if it was personal, she went to the mat swinging for her friends. So she didn't think things like looking for a dog, or cheating on her math homework were big deals, but Seth remember that when Tanner had broken Keely's heart. Tia had wanted to find the creep and castrate him.

He smiled one last time and gently pulled away from her, leaving their fingers entwined.

"Thanks Tia," he said, softly. Gently he raised their entwined fingers and kissed the back of her hand. He then released her and stood up.

"I have to go back inside now. My mom is probably looking for me." He gave her one last sad smile and then went in to the house through the French doors.

Tia was frozen where she was. She did not have butterflies in her stomach. She wasn't one of those girls that got butterflies from something as simple as someone kissing her hand. Truth be told she didn't get butterflies from full mouth to mouth contact kissing either because that would imply that she allowed boys to affect her that way. She didn't care about him like that, she wouldn't.

Tia spent the rest of the funeral in denial because the truth would have been far too much for her. The truth would allow for her to get hurt, and she had spent too much of her life avoiding that kind of pain to go and give that kind of power to him now.

Sighing, she pulled her knees to her chest, hugged them to her, and rested her chin on top. This was all his fault.

Damn him and damn his puppy dog eyes.