Here it is, the final chapter! I had so much fun writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Extra thanks to everyone who liked, followed, or commented. Coffee Reveries I loved your reviews and look forward to reading your Spaleb story now that mine has wrapped up :)
Epilogue to follow :) (I couldn't resist...)
Spencer woke the next morning to the morning rays hitting her face. She rolled over and immediately thought about the previous evening.
She had enjoyed herself. She wasn't really surprised by that. She knew Marco enough to know that the date was going to be good. She was a little surprised at how much she enjoyed it though. How much she enjoyed the kiss. She hadn't thought about kissing anyone but Caleb in ages.
She let out a sigh. Conflicting emotions swirled inside of her. Because after a first date like that, a first kiss like that, she should feel refreshed, giddy, excited, eagerly anticipating when she could see Marco again. But all she could think about was how much she wished it had been Caleb. Truthfully she had thought that these feelings were going away. She had tried to get over him. Granted it was a challenge when he lived in her backyard. But she really thought she was getting past it, that she was ready to try something new. To be with someone who wanted to be with her and showed it.
She heard James babbling on the monitor so she went to get her son. While changing and feeding him she had more time to think and reached a decision. She just hoped she'd be able to go through with it.
Knowing Caleb wasn't going to be around, she spent the morning downstairs with James, playing, reading, and generally relaxing around the house. Around noon she finally got changed out of her pajama shorts and t-shirt and into some real clothes, just in time for a knock to sound on the kitchen door. She went to open it and was surprised to see Marco standing there.
"So I was thinking that after a night like that I couldn't just wait around for you to call me, so I brought lunch. A little birdie told me you like Sarno's." He smiled as he held up the paper bag with the restaurant's name on the side.
She smiled back and opened the door wider for him to come in. "Your little birdie was right. And I have a feeling your little birdie's name is Toby." She smirked at him as he set the bag down on the kitchen island. James had crawled over to him so Marco bent down to pick him up and proceeded to chat with him while Spencer grabbed plates for the food.
They talked easily over lunch, something they never seemed to struggle with. It was casual, friendly, they didn't even so much as brush hands. But as they finished, Spencer saw that look in his eyes and knew she had to tell him. She gently pushed her plate away from her and glanced over to the family room to see James happily occupied stacking blocks.
"Marco, I think we need to talk about something."
He nodded. For once he didn't smile. "I was wondering if this was coming."
"You should know, I've really loved getting to know you. And our date last night was perfect. Really. I like you, quite a bit actually. I just…" She trailed off, unable to say the rest of her thought.
"You're in love someone else." He said quietly. There was no anger or malice in his voice. She looked at him and and saw the understanding in his eyes.
"Yes." The word was barely a breath. "I'm not sure how he feels though. But I know I'm not ready to do this right now. It wouldn't be fair to you."
Marco nodded and stood to go. Spencer walked with him over to the door.
"I think there's something here Spencer. But I understand that the timing isn't right." He reached out and took one of her hands. "If it ever is though, give me a call." He squeezed her hand as he let it go. Spencer nodded her agreement and leaned over, gently kissing his cheek.
He turned to go, and she went back into the house, hoping she had made the right decision.
Caleb followed Hanna into her apartment. He had never been here, and he quietly took in the surroundings. It was small, but very Hanna. Just then someone came walking out of the bedroom.
"Han, have you seen my jacket?" Gabriel Holbrook looked around, then noticed Caleb standing there. "Oh hey Caleb, Hanna mentioned you were coming over this morning."
Caleb remembered Spencer said something about Hanna and Holbrook, but he didn't know it was serious. He recovered in time to speak. "Yeah, she was kind enough to let me come by before she had to work."
"You're just lucky I don't have any meetings until eleven today." Hanna smiled. "Babe, I put you're jacket in the closet where it belongs. Honestly, I don't understand how you can't remember that." She rolled her eyes as she retrieved it for him. He put it on as the two exchanged a quick kiss before he was out the door. She turned around and faced the man standing in her kitchen.
"Can I get you anything? A cup of coffee maybe?" She looked at him, an eyebrow raised.
He ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, coffee would be great actually." He turned and sat down in the armchair in the living room. After a minute she was in the living room handing him a steaming mug, holding one herself as she settled into the corner of the couch that was next to the chair.
"So? What's up?" Hanna had a pretty good idea of what it was.
Caleb sighed and ran a hand through his hair again, causing Hanna to smirk. "What?" He asked innocently.
She shook her head. "You always used to do that when you were stressed. Or confused. Or upset. Or nervous."
He sighed. "You're right on all accounts."
"I take it this is about Spencer?" Hanna took a sip of her coffee. She'd have to pry it out of him. Some things never changed.
All of a sudden Caleb felt awkward. "Sorry Hanna, this is weird that I'm here, isn't it?" The blonde just shrugged. "I shouldn't be coming to you about this, it isn't fair to you, I'll go." Caleb set his still full cup on coffee table and started to stand up before Hanna stopped him.
"Caleb Samuel Rivers, sit down!" Caleb sat down again and smirked slightly at his ex-girlfriend. He recognized that tone. "You came for a reason. And I think it's because you need help and you didn't know who else to talk to because no one knows you and Spencer better than I do. Now what is going on with you?" Hanna's voice had softened.
Caleb just stared at the mug on the coffee table and traced the handle with one finger. "I think I'm losing her." His tone was quiet, almost scared.
Hanna sat quietly. After a minute she spoke slowly, her voice low. "Is she yours to lose?"
His head snapped up and he looked at her, his eyes slightly narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"
Hanna took a deep breath and set her cup on the table in front of them. "You made it clear to her that you wanted to be friends, nothing more. Can you blame her if she's moving on?"
"But we've been through so much together. And now that we have James, I just…I don't know, I thought…." He twisted his fingers together, avoiding eye contact with the blonde.
"Caleb, what happened? Why did you text me yesterday?" She put a hand on his knee, compassion in her eyes. It was obvious the man was in turmoil.
"She had a date." Caleb said quietly.
"With Marco." Caleb looked at her, eyebrows raised. He shouldn't be surprised Hanna knew already, of course Spencer would have said something. "Yeah, with Marco."
Hanna just nodded. "And you're…jealous?" She asked carefully.
"Maybe. Partly. I don't know. It's not exactly like that. I'm just so confused. I want to be with her. I do. But I fucked it up so bad before Hanna. I can't do that again. There's way too much at stake now. What if we get back together and I screw it up again? What if I just want what I can't have? You know, like with…." He stopped talking before he said too much. Hanna was being kind enough right now, she didn't deserve to hear that.
"Like with me?" She asked, looking at her hands. He should have known she would know what he meant. "Han, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it the way it sounded. Really. How I felt about you, it wasn't like that. I'm not explaining myself right…" He trailed off again. It was like he was incapable of completing a thought.
"It's ok Caleb, I get it. I've had a lot of time to think about everything. You said you had fucked up before, with Spencer. The truth is we both did. We never should have gotten back together. Everyone thought Spencer was the horrible friend, hooking up with her best friend's first love. But Caleb, she loved you for years before she was able to act on her feelings. She asked me how I felt about the two of you before she let anything happen. She did everything right. I didn't. I let her break up with you, knowing she loved you. And I took you back so quickly, knowing how much it hurt her. I was the horrible friend Caleb. I felt so guilty about that for a long time, especially after she disappeared. We both fucked up. " Hanna brushed at a tear that starting rolling down her cheek.
"Hanna, I'm so sorry. I made such a mess of things back then." Caleb also felt tears prick his eyes as he thought about all the pain he caused the three of them.
"Caleb, I don't blame you. I don't regret anything either. I probably should, but I can't. I'm who I am today because of it. Spencer and I have talked and forgiven each other for everything that went down. We're fine. But what I learned from all this is that you can't go back. Maybe in another life we were meant to be together. But with everything that happened with A…I don't know. For so long we weren't in control of our futures. We were fighting just to have them and we all made some stupid decisions as a result. But it doesn't do any good to wonder what might have been. I'm happy now. I'm in control of my future now." Hanna placed a hand over Caleb's.
Caleb let out a deep sigh. "You're probably right Han. But I still don't know what to do. What if she's moved on? What if I can't love her like she deserves?" He looked at her, a tear falling down his cheek. He swiped at it with the back of his hand.
"Caleb you're kind of an idiot aren't you?" She said softly, shaking her head with a smile. He looked at her, confused. She picked up her phone and he could see her scrolling through something until she stopped and handed it to him. On the screen was a picture he had seen before. It was Spencer, James and him in the park. The picture was a few months old. Caleb looked up at Hanna, waiting for an explanation.
"Spencer had shown us this picture when she came to New York the second time. When I saw that picture, it didn't just look like a happy family to me. That looks like a man completely head-over-heels in love with the woman in the photo. Caleb, I think you've been in love with Spencer for just as long as she's been in love with you. I just don't think you realized how much you love her until now."
Caleb looked back down at the photo and suddenly everything clicked in his head. He saw it. Not the picture on the phone, but the metaphorical one. He couldn't believe he had been so blind. But now he saw it and it was her; Spencer Hastings was the whole damn picture.
He just hoped he wasn't too late to tell her.
Spencer was in the kitchen, cleaning up from the day. James had been put to bed. It wasn't that late yet, but she was worried about Caleb. He had left so early that morning, and hadn't called or texted to say if he was one his way home. It was at least a two hour drive from New York, she hoped he had just decided to stay the night. Still it would have been good to hear from him and know he was safe.
She thought about her day and her conversation with Marco. She knew it was the right thing to do, but she also hoped she wasn't giving up too soon. He was a great guy and he did make her feel good. But he wasn't Caleb.
She was still lost in her thoughts when the kitchen door burst open. She jumped, laying a hand on her heart.
"Caleb, what the hell! You scared me! And you were supposed to call when you left, I thought maybe the project went long and you decided to stay overnight." He had taken long, hurried steps over to where she was by the island and just stood there until she finished talking. She looked at him, her eyebrows knit together. He was acting strangely.
"Are you going see Marco again?" He asked her in an even tone.
Spencer's mouth dropped open. She snapped it closed as brief thoughts flashed through her mind. What business was it of his if she saw Marco again? Of course it was his business though. They shared a child. Everything she did was a little bit his business, the same in reverse for him. Besides, why did he care if she saw Marco again? She sighed and decided to tell him the truth.
"No, I—"
As soon as he heard the word "no" his hands were on either side of her face, and he was pulling her to him, kissing her roughly with all the passion he had been holding back for months, maybe even years. All he could think about was how right it felt to have his lips on hers. As if they had belonged there the whole time and were just happy to be home.
It wasn't a terribly long kiss. He broke it off before she could get over the surprise of it and kiss him back. He needed to see her face. He needed to know what she was thinking right this second.
He stared into her widened eyes that were growing darker by the second. "Please tell me that wasn't a mistake." His voice was a whisper.
She looked at him for a second before reaching up and pulling him back to her. Their lips met again, less rough but with just as much passion since she was able to respond to him this time. She briefly remembered that she had thought that kiss with Marco was good. If that was good this was amazing. Incredible. Mind-blowing. Marco who?
She couldn't contain herself. She was soon placing hurried kisses along his jaw and down his throat, before going back to his lips. And then he was gently biting her bottom lip and running his tongue over it, silently begging. She gladly parted her lips and their tongues met in a dance that they remembered all too well. It was both familiar and new. She moaned into him as they explored each other again, recalling the feel of one another.
He ran his hands down her backside, cupping her firmly before hoisting her up onto the island. She wrapped her legs around his torso as he stroked her thighs. She ran her hands over his muscular shoulders, delighting in the way they rippled beneath his shirt. She suddenly needed to feel them without the fabric barrier. She frantically grabbed at the hem, whimpering as she tried to get it off while keeping her lips on his. He detached himself from her long enough remove it himself, and she couldn't believe how much she missed him in those few seconds. She pulled him back to her, anxious to feel his lips on hers again, running her hands over his chest and shoulders. His mouth found her neck, he missed being able to kiss her beautiful pale throat. His traced a trail with his tongue down to her collarbone where he placed hot, open mouthed kisses, as she finally found the ability to speak.
"Caleb." Fuck, he loved the way she said his name. That breathy, raspy voice drove him insane. He moved his mouth back to her neck. "Caleb, I need you to take me upstairs." He reluctantly pulled away and looked at her. Her eyes were hooded and filled with lust and love and a host of emotions he couldn't name right now. She was flushed, her skin blotchy and reddened from where his hands and mouth had been, her hair mussed from his hands running through it. Her chest was rising up and down, her breathing erratic, her lips swollen and red. He couldn't remember when she had looked more beautiful.
He plucked her from the counter as she kept her legs wrapped around him. She was so light he was able to carry her that way upstairs as she distractedly kissed all over his neck, shoulders, and chest. They finally reached her room where he sat her down on the bed. She quickly went for this belt buckle and before he knew it he was down to his boxers as he covered her with his body, giving her another deep kiss as she ran her hands all over his back. She loved his back. She had always been a sucker for back muscles. While she was obsessing over that he worked her shorts off and she was left in her underwear and t-shirt, her bra already neglected before he had come home. He kissed down her neck again as he ran his hands along the sides of her torso, ghosting over her breasts, causing her to shiver. He lightly stroked a nipple through her shirt and she gasped, her centre filling with liquid heat. He needed to feel her skin. He grabbed the hem of her shirt shirt and started pushing it up when she roughly snatched it from of his hands, surprising both of them. He stopped what he was doing to look down at her.
"What's wrong? Do you…do you want to stop?" He asked her tentatively, his breath heavy. He would of course. If she needed to. But he prayed that she didn't because he couldn't remember the last time he had felt like this. Or maybe he did, since it was probably the last time he had been with her.
"No, of course not!" She reassured him, laying a hand on his cheek. "It's just, I…" She grew quiet, biting her bottom lip and looking away from him. He rolled off of her and onto his side, resting his head in one hand.
"Spence, what is it? We don't have to do anything, if you're not comfortable or not ready." He knew what she said, but he didn't know what other problem it could be.
"Oh trust me, I'm more than ready." She let out a breathy laugh as she glanced over at him. She bit her lip again and looked away before she spoke again. "I just..I look different. Than before." She blushed and kept avoiding eye contact with him, toying with the hem of her shirt.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. In all the time he had known Spencer she had never been self-conscious about her body. She never tried to hide herself from his gaze, no matter her state of undress. But they hadn't been together since before she found out she was pregnant. Her body had been through enormous changes, not to mention how it would have affected her emotionally. It made sense she would feel self-conscious. He'd have to do his best to make her believe he couldn't care less what had changed. She drove him crazy just by existing.
"Spence, look at me." He waited until her eyes met his. "Believe me when I say this. You are the most exquisite, gorgeous creature I have ever had the fortune of laying eyes on. You could be wearing a parka and I'd melt at your feet." He smiled, not joking though because it was the absolute truth. She blushed as she looked away again. He'd have to try a different tactic. He started by picking up one of her hands.
"This hand? It's beautiful. A work of art on it's own. They way your fingers run through my hair lights me on fire." He placed several light kisses all over her delicate fingers and palm. She hummed in appreciation. His plan was working.
He stroked one of her legs. "Your legs? I could write sonnets about your legs. They drive me absolutely wild. If I saw you in nothing but a t-shirt and your bare legs for the rest of my life I would die a happy man." He placed small kisses up both of the long limbs, loving the way her breath hitched when he reached the inside of her thighs. He stopped short where he knew she wanted him to go, smirking when she sighed in frustration.
Gently he lifted the hem of her shirt. He maintained eye contact with her as he slowly pushed it up just underneath her breasts. It was true, she was different. Her defined abs were gone. Her stomach, though still flat, was not as taut and firm. Faint stretch marks showed like battle scars. There was some loose skin around her belly button that had not magically vanished after pregnancy like it seemed to for Victoria's Secret models.
"And your stomach. This might be my favourite. Because I know this is where you carried our son for nine long months. And I could never thank you enough for that." Tears sprang to Spencer's eyes as Caleb leaned down and placed slow kisses everywhere on her stomach, focusing on the places she considered most flawed. Her breath caught in her throat. What had she done to deserve this man?
"Caleb." She reached out and gently stroked his face, pulling him up to her lips. After reveling in the feel of his weight against her again, she leaned up and without hesitation removed her shirt, baring her body to him, and at the same time her soul. She couldn't remember him ever looking at her with that much love. She couldn't remember ever loving him back this much. What they had before now felt like a shadow, a glimmer of love. But now she was completely certain that this was it. This was real. Oh she had definitely made the right decision.
The evening had given way to the earliest morning hours as the two lovers were still wide awake. They had spent hours getting reacquainted in a multitude of ways. It had been a long time for both of them, and they now lay sated, a sheet pulled over their naked bodies. Caleb was on is back, his arm around Spencer as she curled up into his side, her head resting on that space between his shoulder and chest. She absentmindedly traced her index finger in little circles over his chest.
"Care to tell me how that just happened?" She said, a wide smile on her face.
He chuckled and she took pleasure in the way the sound vibrated through him. "I had some common sense knocked into me."
She looked at him without raising her head, an eyebrow raised awaiting an explanation. "I realized that I've been in love with my best friend for years, and I've been too big of a coward to admit it. To myself and to her." He ran his hand through her hair as he spoke softly. She smiled and moved to gently place a chaste kiss on his lips.
"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear that." She laid her head back down on him and he circled his arms around her. They lay there for another few moments in the quiet, both thanking the stars above that James was sleeping through the night now.
"Well, it was that and the fact you were falling for Marco's cheesy lines." He said, laughter in his voice. She thumped his chest lightly as she sat up to look at him, her mouth open in slight shock.
"I can't believe you just said that!" She closed her mouth and then thought of something, a smirk appearing on her face. "I guess Hanna was right after all." She said mysteriously, laying her head back down.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" He asked curiously.
She chuckled, drawing little circles on him again as she spoke. "When I was in New York a few months ago, the girls told me I should go for Marco if you weren't going to make a move. Hanna said it might even light a fire under you." She smiled as she remembered the visit.
"I guess it worked." Caleb surmised. "Don't tell me that's the reason you went out with him though." She heard the teasing in his voice.
She shook her head against his chest. "No. We're too old to be playing games like that. Part of me was interested, I admit, but this morning I knew I wasn't ready for anything like that." She sat up, needing to look at him in the eyes. "Not while I was still completely in love with you."
He didn't say anything, just pulled her down into another kiss. It didn't last long and neither felt the need to deepen it given they were still recovering from their earlier activities. Caleb looked into Spencer's eyes as he spoke. "I guess that makes Hanna right again." This time it was Spencer's turn to be confused. Caleb sighed and sat up against the headboard, pulling her up with him. He took her left hand into his right, tracing along her fingers and that little bone on her wrist.
He focused on their hands as he spoke. "I lied to you before. I didn't have a project in New York, I went to see Hanna." He glanced up at her. She didn't react, just waited for him to explain. "I was in hell. I didn't know if I could trust my own feelings, and I was confident that if I tried to start anything with you I'd find a way to screw it up again. After you told me that you were going on a date with Marco, I asked Hanna if I could meet with her. I didn't know who else to talk to. There was no one else who really understood any of this or what we all went through." He looked at Spencer, who was still quiet. He didn't see any trace of anger or jealousy on her face so he continued.
"You know Hanna, she has a certain way of getting through to people. She made me see that I've been in love with you since you came back, probably longer, and I'm basically a big chicken if I didn't do anything about it." He smiled softly, a look Spencer returned. The blonde definitely had a way of telling it like it was."I realized I had been an idiot - her word actually - and that I needed to take a chance on this. On us. And I knew if I didn't I'd regret it the rest of my life. So I left New York and spent the rest of the day driving, thinking, overthinking, and working up the courage to come home and ask about Marco. The rest you know." His mouth turned up at the corners as he thought about what happened after he came home.
Spencer was quiet as she thought about everything Caleb said. Finally she spoke. "I guess I'll have to send her a thank you note." She laughed softly as his eyes widened in surprise at her reaction.
"You're not mad? That I lied to you about why I was in New York? About me talking to Hanna?" He asked her anxiously.
She shook her head. "No. I understand why you did it. Caleb, I've been feeling the same way ever since we broke up. It's why I haven't said anything in the past few months about how I felt about you. I was just as scared that I'd ruin whatever it is we had, and I knew I couldn't handle it if I did. But at least I was able to talk about this with the girls; you've been struggling with it alone all this time. No wonder you were so miserable." She reached up and brushed his shaggy hair over his ear, and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"But I think from here on out, we need to talk to each other." She stated firmly. "We probably could have saved ourselves a lot of misery if we had just been honest from the start."
"You're right about that. And I promise, no more consulting ex-girlfriends on my current relationship." He smiled as he agreed with her statement.
She laughed. "And I'll try not to go out on any more dates with anyone."
"I hope you'll make an exception for me." He grinned at her. "Because I definitely need to see that green dress on you again."
Spencer broke out into a fit of giggles and Caleb just looked at her in surprise, not sure that he had ever seen Spencer Hastings giggle.
"Do you realize that by saying that you just made Hanna Marin right a third time tonight?" Spencer finally said after she had calmed down again. "She's the one that picked it out and told me to buy it. And that it would probably get your attention." The giggles were gone and her arrogant smirk had taken their place.
Caleb shook his head and gave a little chuckle. "Maybe that's why James threw up on it. Because you hadn't worn it for me." Spencer's eyes and mouth opened in shock as she playfully punched him in the shoulder for the remark. Caleb just laughed. "What can I say, the kid's looking out for his old man." When she tried to smack him again, he grabbed her hand and before she knew what was happening, he had flipped her over so that she was underneath him. The mood in the room immediately shifted.
"Now we really need to stop talking about Hanna. Because I don't want anyone in my thoughts but you." He kissed her, and all the desire and love that had been present earlier returned. Talking and sleep could wait.
They had managed to get a few hours sleep before James woke them up. After the events of the night before, neither felt like doing much that day. After eating breakfast together they found themselves in the family room, playing with their son.
Caleb went to the kitchen for a drink of water and as he turned around and looked at Spencer and James on the floor, he couldn't remember ever feeling this happy or his heart feeling this full. He walked back over to the family room and sat down on the couch, still looking at them.
"Marry me." The words were out of his mouth almost before the thought formed in his head.
Spencer looked up at him in surprise. She decided he must be teasing her. She was sitting there in her pajama shorts and his t-shirt, her hair in a messy bun, and not a stitch of makeup on. Not exactly a look that a man would want to commit to for the rest of his life.
"Oh sure. How about after lunch?" She rolled her eyes at him as she continued building a block tower with James, saying the colours and letters on each block as she handed them to the boy.
Caleb shook his head, a smile spreading across his face. "I'm serious. Marry me."
She stopped what she was doing and looked at him again, studying him. Shit, was he actually asking her this?
"Caleb, you can't be serious! We literally just got back together." She shook her head, wondering what had gotten into him.
He ran a hand through his hair. "Spencer, we already know everything about one another. We love each other. We're in love with each other. We have a child together. I'm not interested in dating you for another six months or six years or whatever the appropriate amount of time is before I can ask you this. I want to marry you. We've already wasted too much time. I don't want to spend another day without you. If you want, after lunch works for me." He grinned as he repeated her earlier sarcasm.
Spencer looked at him in shock. He meant it. But this was way too soon, wasn't it? She almost laughed at the thought. Of course it wasn't. It was years in the making. He was right, they already knew each other more than most couples do before they get married. They were in love, and had been for a long time. She didn't have to think too hard to know that this was where they would end up eventually. Why not now?
"Okay."
Caleb looked at her, incredulous. Okay? That was all she had to say to him?
She stood up and climbed onto his lap, straddling his hips, her hands behind his neck. No, that wasn't all she had to say. "Okay, I will marry you." She slowly kissed his cheek. "I want to marry you." Another cheek. "I want to spend all my days with you." His nose. "And all my nights." His eyes. "I want to have all of your babies." His forehead. "I want to be your wife. More than anything in the world. So okay, let's get married." Her eyes were dancing as he leaned forward and their lips met in a heated kiss. They pulled apart when they remembered James was on the floor three feet away from them.
After a few moments of grinning at each other like a couple of lovestruck teenagers, Caleb spoke. "So how many babies were you thinking?" Caleb asked, a cheeky smile on his face.
Spencer shrugged. "I'm not sure, but it's probably a good thing you proposed already. I realized this morning that we weren't exactly safe last night." She smirked at him as his eyes widened with his own realization. They did get pretty carried away.
Caleb just smiled. "Well, as long as you don't run off to Arizona again, I think we'll be fine."
Her laugh was silenced by his lips as the two happily embraced again. They may not be able to control everything in their future, but as long as they were together they'd take whatever came their way.
