Thank you for all the lovely reviews! I'm glad you guys like the story so much because it's been a joy to write!

It's come to my attention that the website is on a purge of all stories with explicit adult content and stories and accounts are being deleted left and right. Well in the event that my stories are deleted (I've got smut planned for both Jyler stories and my One Tree Hill story already has it' fair share) you can find my email on my profile and I will happily send you chapters as I write them. Again I am only doing this as a pre-caution in case my stories are deleted. Until then, I will continue to post on here, smut and all ;)

Disclaimer: don't own

"Have you been stressed lately? It seems like your stutter only really comes when you've been experiencing a lot of stress."

Tyler started to shake his head before he thought better of it and nodded. There was no point in denying what was blatantly obvious; he had been stressed out because of his father, his job, and raising his seven-year-old alone.

"Would you like to…talk about why you've been stressed?" Elena asked, big brown eyes gazing at him imploringly. Normally she wouldn't ask about her patients' lives but something told her Tyler needed someone to talk to. As one of her more favored patients, she went out on an extra limb for him.

Tyler bit his lip and looked down; he wasn't sure he was ready to admit that most of his stress was because of Kol. He met Elena's eyes again and sighed.

"I…m-m-m-my partner, he…I caught him in our bed with—with a woman. A-A-A-And he tried to lie about—about it but I kicked him out and—and Katherine and I m-m-moved to a different area closer to her school."

"I see," she murmured; it didn't surprise her that he was gay. "And what about your father? I know you were having problems with him before."

He nodded, "Yeah—yeah he doesn't approve of m-m-m-my lifestyle. He—he doesn't even want to meet my daughter. My—my mother's tried to get him t-t-t-to change his mind but he's stubborn."

"And he wants you to work at his law firm, correct?"

"Yeah but I don't…I don't want t-t-to be like him at all," Tyler muttered, cringing at the thought of being anything like his cold, unloving father. The man was the main reason his stutter never went away. He recalled times when he was younger when his father would terrify the hell out of him; always yelling at him to be the best, yelling at him to speak properly, to go out for football, to get the best grades, etc. When he finally left for college he was more than relieved to get away from him. His mother had even encouraged him to go to NYU and stay on campus, saying that being around other could do him some good and it had. His stutter had almost completely gone away after a couple of months and the small amount of friends he had there were supportive and patient with him. Then one day his friend Amy had set him up with Kol and the two immediately hit it off. He was so genuine and natural around Tyler that he felt as if he knew him his whole life; they started spending more and more time together until eventually Kol asked to see him exclusively. The two had been together since, even going so far as to adopt a little girl like they talked about.

Then the dream was shattered when Tyler came home early one day, hoping to surprise his lover and got a bigger surprise in return.

She smiled sympathetically and squeezed his hand, "That's understandable Tyler. I can't imagine what it must have been like to live in that type of household or what it must feel like to be betrayed like that. It makes sense that your stutter has returned but we're going to work hard on it and you'll be as good as you were before okay?"

"Okay," he muttered, smiling a bit. Elena had always been good to talk to about these things; Caroline was great for venting to but Elena wasn't close to him like Caroline was. She could give him better advice on handling problems than Caroline could sometimes.

His glanced at the clock; Katherine should be home by now and wired from her first day. His thoughts drifted to her teacher and the surprise he felt upon seeing that it was the same beautiful angel from the restaurant. He would find himself in a situation like this; pinning over someone who was probably not even gay and who just so happened to be his daughter's instructor. The universe truly hated him.

"The universe hates me," Jeremy groaned as he plopped down on the couch after a long first week at his new school, during which he could not get Kitty's father out of his head. He groaned as the man crossed his mind yet again and he shoved a spoonful of cookie dough ice cream into his mouth.

"Why does it hate you? Better, what did you do to piss it off?" Elena asked amused as she flipped through channels on their flat-screen.

"Well—I haven't done anything! And it's a long story," he said quickly, "but one of my kid's fathers is someone I've…met before and…well…"

"And you think he's insanely hot but you don't want to try anything with him because he's one of your student's fathers?"

"And he's married," Jeremy groaned, sulking into the plush armchair. "His wife looks like she could be Miss U.S.A."

"Ooh, you have no chance," Elena said jokingly. Jeremy groaned again and shoveled another large spoonful into his mouth. "Well he's always good as eye candy. What's his name? I might know them."

"Oh no, I'm not telling you so you can stalk them," Jeremy said warily. Every time he told Elena about someone he was a little interested in she made it a point to find out everything about them and he didn't want her to know anything about Tyler. He couldn't explain it but he wanted to get to know the guy first before Elena hopped all over him.

"Aww come on Jere. I only 'stalk' them so I can see if they're good enough for you! It's for your own good."

"Well I didn't stalk Damon when you first started going out. And I still don't know much about him other than what you or he has said. I respect his privacy."

"Is he ugly? Is that why you don't want me to know?"

"He's definitely not ugly; he could be the face of Calvin Klein's underwear ads."

"Well then why—"

"Because there's nothing for me to do about it!" he said exasperatedly. "He's married and the father of one of my students. It's not going to happen Elena, that's why I don't want you to know. You give me too much hope with these things and then I'm always let down."

She sighed, "Alright, that's fair. But if you're ever curious…"

"Nope, I'm good," he lied. He was dying to know everything about Tyler but he knew it wasn't a good idea to get involved in anything having to do with his kids other than at school. It didn't make him feel any better as he finished off the last of his ice cream; he hoped his feelings for Tyler would pass with time but he had a feeling they would only continue to grow.

Sundays were Tyler's favorite days; not only did he not have to work but neither one of his girls had school, so they could all spend the day together. He needed this day after the hell that was this past week; he had seen Jeremy every day when he dropped of his daughter and the smile the man would give him would make his heart skip beats and his breath catch in his throat, often distracting him at work and he was called out on it more than once by Klaus and Rebekah, his sister and President of the company. He would stay and talk to the man for a couple of minutes, during which he would stutter out things that he was sure Jeremy couldn't understand but he wear that smile and talk to him as if they were good friends. He contemplated, more than once, about asking the beautiful man out to dinner but every time he gained a little courage to ask he would talk himself out of it, convincing himself that it wasn't a good idea to fraternize with his daughter's teacher and how awkward things would be if Jeremy wasn't even gay. But he couldn't help himself as he thought about that smile, his heart doing a little flip; he wanted to know him, everything about him. It had been a while since anyone captured his interests the way this man had but he willed the thought away; it would only be more stress he would put on himself and that was the last thing he needed right now. He didn't do well in social situations.

He rolled over and sighed heavily; how could he have such strong feelings for someone he hardly knew? Maybe it was because this was the first time in a long time that Kol's betrayal didn't bother him so much; he hadn't thought much about the man this past week in favor of day-dreaming about Jeremy. Maybe that's all this was, an escape from his loneliness and a hope of sharing his life with someone who could love him for who he was one day; someone who would not only love him but love Katherine as well and, eventually accept her as their child. He closed his eyes, picturing that someone to be Jeremy; Katherine had raved all week long about how awesome Mr. Gilbert was and that it was going to be a fun year with him so she already liked him. He imagined coming home to Jeremy every night, being greeted with soft kisses and simple, home-cooked meals as soon as he walked in, imagined them taking long walks in the park with the girls, Katherine and Caroline feeding the ducks in the lake while they sat on a nearby bench watching them and stealing kisses when they felt like it, smiling at each other all the while.

His daydream was interrupted when he was tackled by two giggling bodies and a mass of brown, curly hair blocked his vision. He laughed as he lifted Kitty into the air who squealed happily before putting her down gently between him and Caroline. She smiled at him, "I don't understand how you can sleep so late Ty; it's almost noon!"

"Yeah Daddy, let's do something!" Katherine exclaimed getting to her feet, jumping up and down.

"Hmm…" he thought for a moment with a mock frown on his face. "How about…w-w-we go to th-th-the movies and see Madag-g-gascar?"

Katherine cried out happily jumping up and down on the bed. "Can Pearl and Anna come too Daddy?"

"Yeah, why d-d-don't you call and ask them?" he laughed as she squealed again and jumped off the bed, running into the living room to call her friends. Caroline laughed, shaking her head and Tyler chuckled; his daughter's enthusiasm always brought a smile to his face.

"You want me to take them? I can't imagine an old man in his mid-30s would be interested in seeing Madagascar," she said laughing. Tyler glared playfully at her but it turned into a grin.

"I want t-t-to see how different car-cartoons are these days," he said dryly. "I need t-t-to know what my kid is being ex-ex-exposed to."

"Talking animals isn't exactly something to be alarmed about Ty," she said teasingly and laughed when he shoved her lightly. She hopped out of the bed, pulling down her shirt and her jeans up a bit. "I made cinnamon rolls and omelets for breakfast—and before you ask I only let her have two rolls, I know how she gets—and I made peach and raspberry ice tea."

"Th-Th-Thanks Caroline," he said with a smile she returned before flouncing out of the room. He sighed as his thoughts went back to Jeremy once more before he shook his head and got out of bed, heading to the shower. The movie would be good for him; he needed something to distract him for a few hours.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The movie turned out to be the perfect distraction; Tyler, Caroline and Katherine met up with Pearl, Anna and their parents for the movie, and they all went out to dinner afterwards. Tyler had become good friends with their parents, Kelly and Phil after Pearl and Anna had defended Katherine from bullies last year.

Katherine had been having problems with a few of the students in her class because they thought that a girl having two fathers was unnatural. During one particular incident where she had been ganged up on by five children, Pearl and her younger twin Anna came to Katherine's defense even though they had never met. Tyler was always grateful to the twins for helping his daughter that day and even more grateful to their parents for filing a complaint against the parents of the children who had bullied his little girl. After multiple apologies from Kelly and her husband, she insisted on treating Tyler, Kol and Katherine to dinner where they became fast friends. After that day, Katherine's bullies bothered her less since she was always around Pearl and Anna. Before Caroline had become Katherine's full-time nanny, Kelly and Phil would watch Katherine when they could, making things easier on Tyler when he and Kol split. To this day, the girls were great friends and were inseparable at school and now on the weekends.

At dinner, Kelly gushed over how wonderful the girl's teacher was and that she was happy he wasn't anything like the 'wretch' of a teacher their daughters had last year.

"He knows how to handle kids, that man," she said approvingly in her heavy southern accent. "He knows how to treat children without lettin' them get outta hand if you know what I mean."

"It's only the first week sweetheart, he'll be yellin' at them soon enough," Phil said, his Brooklyn accent prominent while taking a sip of his beer. "You like him, Tyler?"

"Y-Yeah, seems like—like a good guy," he murmured, glad the menu was hiding the heavy blush he knew was spreading across his face. He felt Caroline's eyes on him but he didn't look in her direction.

"Well the girls absolutely love him! And they said he has no tolerance for bullies. I hope that Taylor kid watches his mouth this year because I don't think he'll stay in that class very long if he doesn't," Kelly stated as she flipped her long, blonde hair behind her shoulder and took a sip of her Arnold Palmer. "He should've been expelled after last year. He hasn't been givin' y'all any trouble has he?" she asked, turning to the three seven-year-olds.

"Nope," Katherine said shaking her head, the other two following her motions. "He hasn't said anything at all." She left out the part where Pearl and Anna cornered him before class on the second day and threatened to beat him up in front of all his friends should he choose to harass any of them this year.

"You know why he teases you Kitty? He's got a crush on you," Caroline said, laughing as Katherine made a face and Pearl and Anna voiced their disgust.

"That's gross," Katherine said as she put down her blue crayon. "I would never be his girlfriend. Not even if he was nice to me this year."

"If he likes her then why would he tease her?" Anna asked with wide, grey eyes.

"Because that's the only way he can show her his feelings," Caroline said as Kelly and Phil laughed. "I'll bet he's scared to let you know how he feels about you, Kit-Kat."

"Well if he liked me, he should've just said so instead of teasing me because now I'll never like him. Ever," she emphasized and the adults broke into laughter. Tyler smiled at her fondly; he was glad Katherine hadn't hopped aboard the boy train like some young girls he'd seen on television. Katherine and the twins were too busy being children to even think about boys and he was glad he wouldn't have to worry about that for a long time.

"Smart young lady," Phil chuckled and Katherine smiled at him before going back to her coloring. He turned to the other adults, "I'm tellin' ya, I'm thankful our girls aren't like these other kids I see at the clinic. I just delivered a girl's baby today, only fifteen-years-old! And I'm sittin' there wonderin' where the hell these parents are, where the hell are their teachers to step in and intervene!"

"Phil, they're only seven! But I understand what you mean; these kids grow up too fast these days," Kelly agreed. "I think Mr. Gilbert understands that and that's why he's keeping learning fun for kids because Lord knows they all try to act so grown so fast. The lessons he's got planned for those kids are somethin' Phil. He's gonna be good for them."

"I need to meet him! He sounds like the best teacher at the school," Caroline said and Kelly smiled at her before launching into more praises about Mr. Gilbert. Tyler sipped at his diet coke trying very hard not to slip into his fantasies about him. He knew Caroline could tell something was bothering him but, thankfully, she had the tact to hold it in until they were alone.

Kelly was in the middle of telling Caroline that she would look cute on Mr. Gilbert's arm when his phone buzzed in his pocket and he sighed inwardly as he saw it was his father. he excused himself from the table and went outside before taking a deep breath and answering softly, "Hello?"

"Tyler," Richard Lockwood said curtly, "your mother and I will be expecting you for dinner this Thursday. Some of my associates from the firm are coming and I want them to meet you. You would be a great asset to the team."

Tyler took another deep breath. "Dad," he began slowly so he wouldn't stutter. "I'm…not interested in working for—for the firm, I've already t-t-told you this."

"You haven't even met them; give them a chance Tyler. Come to dinner Thursday and just talk to them. Plus your mother misses you."

"Fine," Tyler bit out. "I'll be there."

"Good." He hung up without saying anything more. Tyler resisted the urge to throw his phone in the nearby fountain; he hated family dinners with his parents. His mother did her best to keep everything flowing smoothly but the night always ended worse than it started because Richard always had something to say about Tyler's job or his lifestyle or the granddaughter he had yet to meet. The only reason he didn't flat out refuse the invitation was because of his mother; she wasn't the best mother in the world but he still loved her and made a point to see her at least once a month. At least she was more accepting of Katherine; she loved her granddaughter to pieces and loved spoiling her. She constantly worried about Tyler, calling him at least every other day, sometimes twice a day when she was bored and while Tyler appreciated her checking in on them, he felt that she was overbearing. He was 35 for Christ's sake; he didn't need his mother calling him like he was in college.

After a few more moments of reining in his annoyance, he went back into the restaurant, a fake smile plastered on his face that everyone saw through but decided to ignore.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Alright, spill," Caroline said once they both walked out of Katherine's room after putting her to sleep. Tyler sighed, ignoring her question as he went into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of iced tea. He couldn't tell her that he was becoming undone by his daughter's teacher, Caroline would take it upon herself to set them up and he could not let that happen. He walked back into the living room where Caroline was sitting with her legs curled under her and a pillow in her lap, looking like she was in a therapy session.

"Tyler," Caroline called warningly. He sighed again before taking a large gulp, "What Caroline?"

"You know what; this whole week, something's been bothering you. I didn't want to press because I thought it would pass but you're starting to worry me. What's wrong?"

He glanced at her over his glass, "W-W-W-What makes you think anything's wr-wr-wr-wrong?"

"Because your stutter is coming out more and you keep sighing. Something's up."

He sighed again, catching her look that said 'what did I tell you?' and he resisted the urge to sigh again as he took a drink. There was silence in the apartment for a while before Tyler sat his glass down and picked up a pillow by his crossed legs on the couch.

"It's…It's nothing," he said finally. "Rebekah is—is just riding my ass again at-at-at work."

"You know, the same thing I said about Kitty at dinner applies to you too; she only picks on you because she wants to sleep with you."

"So you've said," he said dryly but it was no secret around the office that Rebekah wanted Tyler in her bed. Quite frankly, she scared Tyler and even if he were straight, he wouldn't go for her. She was too controlling for his liking.

"Maybe you should file a complaint against her. Some of the things she's said to you are definitely not office appropriate."

"Th-Th-They aren't but I can't complain to her brother about that, he'd f-f-fire me in a heartbeat then—then I really would h-h-have to work for my f-f-f-father," he sighed. He really was debating on telling Klaus; he wasn't allowed to show favoritism but he had no doubt he would try to make his life a living hell. He briefly wondered what Jeremy would say before he shook his head.

"I think you should tell him if she's making you uncomfortable Ty," the blonde said quietly. "I can't imagine you going through something like that and you shouldn't have to. I don't even get why she's still trying to get with you anyways, she knows you're gay; you were with Kol for like ten years!" she huffed. "Do I need to make it clear for her? You know I'd be more than happy to."

Tyler chuckled, "N-No it's okay Caroline but if it gets too bad, I'll let you know. I can handle it for now." He licked his lips and stared down at the pillow for a moment before speaking again, "Could—would you m-m-mind watching Katherine for a bit longer on Th-Th-Thursday? My f-f-f-f—my father is having dinner with the people from—from the firm over and he w-w-wants me t-t-to meet them."

"No problem Ty—wait what?" she asked quickly. "Are you really thinking about working for him?"

"Hell no," he scoffed, "but you know how he gets when—when I d-d-d-don't do what he wants, plus my moth-moth-mother will be there."

"Ah, your mother; you know she called me the other day and we had a two hour talk about you. She's worried about you being lonely since…everything."

"Since when do you talk to my m-m-m-mother?" Tyler questioned narrowing his eyes. He didn't like the idea of Caroline and his mother being friends; they liked to meddle in his life too much, especially his love life.

"Since you started ignoring her calls. She's a bored woman and your dad only has her around to show her off to his colleagues."

"Oh did sh-sh-she tell you that?"

"Why's it a big deal if I talk to your mom? I like her! And she knows that me and you are never getting married or anything like that so I don't see the big deal…unless you'd like to tell me."

Tyler pressed his lips together, "You guys meddle in my non-existent love life too much. Trying to set me up on dates with guys I have no in-in-in-interest in isn't going to help my loneliness."

She sighed, "We don't mean to 'meddle' we just…we're worried about you Tyler. You refuse to see a therapist after the Kol incident except for your speech therapist, your work hours are longer, you don't get enough sleep and sometimes I think if I didn't remind you, you wouldn't be eating." She put the pillow back and sat next to him, "I know I get on your nerves with this but as you can tell, I don't really care. So long as me annoying you is making sure you're alright, I'm going to do it; your mother feels the same."

She drew him into a hug and he leaned into her, feeling guilty that he worried everyone so much. He was lonely and he was still hurt by Kol's actions but he believed over time he would get better. Katherine was great and he loved her but she couldn't fill that place in his heart that only a partner could fill. And now he had to start all over; at 35 he thought he was done looking for love, even if it wasn't perfect. Now he had to start over, with baggage.

"I'll-I'll be okay Caroline. Really, you should worry about your love life. I know it hasn't been the gr-gr-gr-greatest since you've started working for me."

"Hey, I don't need a man, I just want for you to get over this whole thing. If I wasn't looking out for you, you would be lost and you know it," she said and he chuckled.

"You're right," he said and he grabbed her hand, squeezing it. "I'll get th-th-th-there Caroline, it's going to take me some t-t-t-time, but I'll—I'll get back to where I was and—and I won't be s-s-s-so lonely." He said with as much conviction he needed to make his best friend believe him, Jeremy on his mind the whole time.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Good morning Kitty, Mr. Lockwood," Jeremy greeted them, heart sprinting a mile a minute as Tyler smiled at him. He barely heard Kitty's perky, "Morning Mr. Gilbert!" before she scampered off to meet her girls.

"M-M-Morning Mr. Gilbert," Tyler murmured, unable to keep the smile off his face as he finally got to talk to the man he'd been secretly pinning for since he met him. "H-H-How was your weekend?"

"It was great! I mean…I didn't really do anything, so it was relaxing," Jeremy rushed out, trying not to sound as eager as he really was. When he and Tyler first started having their morning conversations he was surprised at how softly Tyler spoke and his stutter, which he found utterly endearing. From their brief conversations he found Tyler to be riveting; he was smart and had a great sense of humor. Jeremy could tell he loved his daughter to pieces and he found that to be one of his top qualities; then again, he had yet to find any faults with this man. He was absolutely and completely perfect.

He had noticed, however, that Tyler never mentioned his wife. Jeremy had looked at Tyler's hands more than once to find a wedding band but he hadn't seen one, which made him wonder if he was wrong in assuming he was married. A part of him wanted to just flat out ask the man but he thought that might be rude and cause their relationship to become awkward.

"That—that sounds nice," Tyler said honestly with his smile; Jeremy felt his insides melting and was about 3.5 seconds from just going out on a limb and asking him out when another parent greeted him and asked to talk to him about something. Jeremy let a groan of frustration slip that Tyler noticed but didn't comment on and righted his glasses on his face.

"Well I've got to go…duty calls," he said with a chuckle and Tyler joined in.

"Y-Y-Yeah I've got to g-g-get going to."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Jeremy asked, immediately berating himself for asking; of course he would! He dropped his daughter off every day. Stupid Jeremy, he's going to think you're a moron.

"Yeah, of course," Tyler said, smiling wider and Jeremy beamed at him before turning to the red-headed parent, feeling like he was on cloud nine the rest of the day.

More reviews means more Jeremy/Tyler sexy time ;)