The Third Time He Left
Author's Note: It's going to be a short series, but I have a couple of other mornings in me. Let me know what you think.
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Don Ressler was peeing in Liz's washroom when he heard a little voice in the room behind him.
"Mummy, who's here?" Agnes asked sleepily.
Don turned and saw that the door to Liz's room was closed over but not completely shut. Luckily, it was shut enough that no one could see in. When he left Liz in bed, she was asleep, and he was just relieving his bladder before he got dressed and hit the road.
"Honey?" Liz's sleepy voice answered as Don carefully padded naked toward the slightly open door and gently and silently closed it.
"Mummy?" Agnes asked as Don heard some movement.
"What did you ask?" Liz asked, and he could tell she was waking up a little more.
"Who's peeing?" Agnes asked.
"Oh, that's uh…you remember Uncle Don, right?" Liz asked her. Ressler could hear the tinge of panic in her voice as she looked around and saw the shut door to the washroom with the light coming through underneath.
Don reached for one of her green towels and wrapped it around his waist.
"He fell asleep here and I guess he needed to pee," Liz said.
"He's a boy," Agnes said.
"He is," Liz chuckled.
"This is a girl apartment," Agnes said.
"We can have boys too," Liz said. "Can't we?"
Don leaned his ear against the door when the next phrase from Agnes seemed muffled.
"Yes, they pee differently," Liz chuckled slightly.
"I don't want boy peeing germs," Agnes said.
"Just because the boys at daycare pee on the seat…" Liz started.
"Is Uncle Don peeing on our seat?" Agnes asked, obviously alarmed.
"No," Liz chuckled. "As boys get older, they have better…aim. Come on honey, let's get you back in your bed."
"I want to see Uncle Don," Agnes whined.
"Okay, uh, I'm sure he can come in and say goodbye before he leaves," Liz said, and Ressler heard movement in her room. "But how about you and mommy got to your room and read a book to get you back to sleep?"
Liz said the last sentence to Agnes quite loud, so she knew he'd realize when the coast was clear to come out. Ressler heard footfalls and then the loud closing of her bedroom door to indicate they were gone.
"Jesus Christ," Ressler said under his breath as he carefully opened the bathroom door into her bedroom and, seeing no one, quickly walked into the room and grabbed all his clothes so he could dress. He pulled on his jeans, shoving his underwear in his pocket, pulled on his navy sweater, and stood at the door to her room for a long time before he opened it.
Ressler wasn't sure if she wanted him to just quietly leave or if she really wanted him to say 'hi' to Agnes before he left. It may have just been something she said to Agnes to placate her.
He carefully opened her bedroom door, cursing the smallest of squeaks as he did. He stepped into her kitchen in his bare feet and silently gathered his wallet before he carefully and slowly picked up his keys. Only the slightest of noises indicated what he was doing. Don was standing with his shoes in his hand (he would put them on in the hallway outside of her apartment) when he heard Agnes' voice.
"Uncle Don?" Agnes called out.
Ressler dropped his head down to his chest in defeat and carefully walked toward the little girl's room where Liz was already perched on the bed with Agnes.
"Hey sweetheart, you're up early," Don smiled at her.
"I heard you peeing," Agnes said.
"I promise I didn't spread any boy germs in your girl-power apartment," Ressler said officially.
Agnes giggled and Liz smiled.
"Are you going back to sleep?" Ressler asked Agnes.
"I want to watch Elsa," Agnes whined.
"Well, that's for your mother to…" Ressler started.
"You need to go to sleep munchkin," Liz said. "I am turning out the light and you are going back to sleep for another hour."
"But…" Agnes started.
"No buts," Liz said as she rose off the little girl's bed and reached for the light.
"Sleep tight, sweetheart," Ressler said before he stepped back out of her room.
Liz walked out of the room and up to Ressler, shutting the door behind her as she did and giving him a huge bug-eyed look.
He chuckled and leaned down to put on his shoes.
"That was…close," he whispered as they walked toward the front door.
He was secretly worried that the next words out of her mouth were going to be 'we can't do this anymore' and he steeled himself to respond appropriately, citing her child's comfort over anything that was going on between them. She opened the door and he turned to face her, schooling his reaction so she wouldn't feel bad about ending what had just started.
"I need to buy a lock for my door," Liz said as she leaned in and placed a hand on his chest.
He wasn't prepared for that, and his face demonstrated that with his perplexed reaction.
"What?" She asked, confused.
"I thought…" Ressler started and then shook his head.
She raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you were going to say we couldn't do this anymore because of Agnes," Ressler admitted finally. Half of him worried that she was going to say he was right.
"No," Liz smiled at him. "She seemed, surprisingly, good and not freaked out. Probably because she knows you."
He returned her smile.
"And you were great with her," Liz's smile broadened.
He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.
"I'll see you at the office," he said before he pulled back and started down the hallway.
"See you soon," Liz called quietly after him.
"And I'll go to a hardware store and get you a lock set on my lunch hour and install it tonight," he said over his shoulder before he disappeared into the stairwell. Her laughter followed him and made him smile as he hit the stairs to go down to his car.
To be continued…