"Walter, can I talk to ya for a minute?" asked Eddie, as soon as Walter got through the door, and immediately, the younger man was more worried than he should be. He knew that he wasn't trusting Eddie enough that he spent so much time worrying about their relationship, but Eddie looked so serious and things had been so weird lately that he was sure, in that moment, that they were about to break up.

But if it was coming, there was nothing he could do to avoid it, and all he said was, "Okay," before going to sit with Eddie on the couch.

"Please don't get mad at Dan for this," he said, "but he talked to me. He was a little bit worried because of some stuff you'd told him and cos Laurie was wonderin' where her mom was all the time, so he came to talk to me."

Walter knew he shouldn't have gone to Dan about something so serious! He felt his face burn in humiliation, regretting ever talking about his suspicions. Now Eddie knew about it, and would probably give him shit for going behind his back, at the very least. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Sorry."

"No, no, I'm sorry," he said, which was surprising. He didn't even sound a little bit annoyed about this, and even gave Walter a gentle smile. "I'm sorry I ever gave ya any reason to think something like that, alright?"

"I shouldn't have..."

"It's alright, I understand why you were worried, and I shoulda noticed how I was actin' before it got out of hand. I want to set everything straight between us once and for all, okay?" Walter nodded, and Eddie continued, "Me an' Sal had something in the past, but that ended a long time ago. It's gonna stay in the past, and I promise that there's nothin' going on between us anymore.

"I care about you, and nobody else. She's a good friend an' all, but I don't care about her like that and I would never risk what I got with you over something like that. Once this wedding's over, I won't be seein' much of her at all," he finished.

Walter was silent for a moment; he had always known that Eddie wasn't cheating on him, but relationships did not come easy to him and it was difficult to work through something like this on his own. "Thank you," he mumbled, when he finally managed to respond. It wasn't much, but Eddie knew what he meant, at the very least.

"Everything's gonna go sort of back to normal soon," he said, and then a large grin broke out over his face. "'Cept a few things are gonna be weird, cos Sally finally agreed, and we're gonna tell Laurie. She's finally gonna know the truth about all of this."

Walter had never been quite sure how he felt about that situation, but Eddie looked so happy that he couldn't help but be happy for him. Things were going to get even more weird between him and Laurie, though.

~X~

Hollis wasn't surprised when he opened the door and saw Sally, even though he hadn't been expecting her. He wasn't sure who else would show up unannounced, and when he heard the knock, he had assumed that it would be her. She gave him that gorgeous smile, and then she stepped through the door, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

It had been a long time since anyone had kissed him before, and it took him a moment to relax into it, but once he did, he reached behind her to close the door and kissed her back to the best of his ability. There had been many times when he had fantasized about something like this, but he never thought he would ever get the chance in real life, never thought that she would be the one initiating it.

She kissed him for a very, very long time, and when she finally pulled back, he was breathless while she grinned at him. He didn't know what to say to her or how to respond to what she had done. Sally was waiting for a response, though, and he tried to come up with one.

"So, what brought that on?" he finally asked, more than a bit lamely.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I finally figured a few things out about myself," she replied. "And one of those things is that I want to be with you. If you don't think it's too late for something like that, that is."

Sally wanted to be with him. Sally Juspeczyk, after all these years, wanted to be with him, the one thing he had always wanted from her but had long ago accepted that he would never get. Now, out of nowhere, she was throwing herself at him, and he was stunned, but he didn't understand why she was doing it.

"Are you serious about this?" he asked, a bit reluctantly. "I mean, why now? I've been here all along, so why now?"

"I know, I know, I took my sweet time on this one," she said, "but I really have thought about this and this is what I want. After all these years and after a marriage like I had, I feel like I deserve a wonderful guy by now. Of course, that wonderful guy had been there all along, hasn't he?" She laughed. "Hollis, I'm sorry it took me so long to notice, but you're exactly the kind of man I want to be with."

There was nothing in her words to suggest that she was being insincere, and even if she was, he could only resist so much after wanting her for so long. Maybe they were too old to start this and maybe they weren't; if it was too late, that didn't really matter to him, not as long as she was there. After all these years, he really was in no position to turn the woman of his dreams down.

"What about Eddie?" he finally asked.

"What about him? He and I have a daughter together, yes, but I promise, we're nothing but friends. You're the one I want to be with."

"Sally, you know I've been crazy about you since we met," he said. "I know it had to have been obvious."

"Only a little," she replied.

"If you wanna be with me, you really don't even have to ask," he said. "You know I want to be with me." Sally's response was kissing him again, and this time, it lasted quite a bit longer.