A/N: Just a random dream I had. It took me a while to get this all edited though because my glasses were pretty much destroyed by a dog, so yeah. It's been a struggle the last few days, but this chapter is set the fall after Charlie, mid-November when school lets out for Thanksgiving.

I guess this is more of an insight on what happens after Lookin' in a Mirror. Hope y'all enjoy this! xx Mariah

As the end of the school day was near, Katie was sitting at her desk at the front of the classroom, off to the left near the windows, prepping what she needed to tell her students before they let out for Thanksgiving break.

She tugged on her skirt as she stood up. She'd gotten an okay from both her mom and Hannah before she wore this dress too school, but she still felt like it was too short. The material clung very nicely to her figure, but she wore a purple coverup over it, since it had rather short sleeves and to try and hide the cleavage that came with the tight, scoop neckline.

She cleared her throat as she stood, a few heads popping up from the page they were reading. "Oscar Wilde was a man of many secrets, and those secrets influenced his writing." She said, picking up a piece of chalk tow rite on the chalkboard. "So you're going to finishing 'The Picture of Dorian Gray for your first quiz back in December." She said as the bell rang, leaning against the front end of her desk with a smile to all of her students. The school bell rang and the students began packing up. "Now, I know you'll be on vacation, but I expect a three paragraph essay on a novel of your choice from each of you when you get back. Happy Thanksgiving and be safe."

Half of the class had left quickly after that, but some stayed back to say goodbye before the end of the semester. "See you," she smiled at one girl. One boy was turning in his last assignment while he could and hse smiled, taking it from him. "Bye, Ross. Have a good holiday." Another girl came over, one who had told her about how excited she was to go skiing with her family for the first time this year. "Have fun on the slopes! Happy holidays, Becka. I can't wait to hear about it, be safe."

"I will, thanks, Mrs. Banks." Becka smiled, giving her teacher a quick hug before she left the classroom.

Her brother, Lucas and his other friend Nathan were among the last in the class to leave.

"Happy Thanksgiving break boys," she said, nodding at them all, smiling. "Excited for the week off?"

"Of course!" Lucas smiled, beaming proudly as he pulled on his backpack. "Have a good vacation, Mrs. Bnaks. I'll text you Aaron and maybe we can go grab pizza later after basketball at the Y."

"Oh, I will. Tell your grandmother hi for me," she said softly, winking at him. He's been a friend of her brother for years and she'd known him long before she was his teacher this year. "Be safe over the break and that's to all three of you."

"Yeah, sounds fun." Aaron nodded, grinning at his sister with a laugh. "Safety."

"Well, I know you pretty well and dad will be preaching safety if I tell him you said that," she nodded warningly.

"Alright, we'll be safe." He rolled his eyes, chuckling. "See you for dinner later, sis."

"See you later then, Aaron. Bye, Nathan." She said, turning around to grab the folder full of assignments she had left to grade and get in the gradebook over break. There were well over a hundred left, but she had a week. So it was doable.

She sat down in her chair as she grabbed her bag, opening it and placing the folder inside. She couldn't wait to get home and just relax with a big cup of tea and finally watch the last two episodes of her favorite show that were waiting for her on the DVR.

Toby parked his car in front of Katie's house. It looked better than he'd thought it would. He figured Katie would pick a more modern home, but she had gone more traditional. It almost looked like a smaller version of what her parent's house had looked like from his memory of it, except it was blue.

He still regretted that he wasn't able to keep Katie in his life, that he'd ruined their short-lived relationship. As he strolled up the driveway he noticed just how much work had been done to this house. The house was freshly painted from the summer— blue with white shutters — flowers filled the window boxes and there was a hopscotch game in chalk on the front walkway.

He was walking up to the front door when he noticed music coming from the backyard; of course, she would be outside on a nice day. He walked around the side of the house and saw a newer black mini SUV in the driveway. There was no way Katie would by a car like that one. She'd always been a compact car person, right?

Since the window of the SUV was down, he didn't think it would be terrible for him to take a peek inside. He first observed the purple heel that was sitting on her passenger seat, the other was on the floor in front of it. That's when he saw a blue notebook sticking out of the side of the passenger door, a pen tucked in the spiral. She must still keep a journal. He remembered every night whenever she'd stay over, she'd bring her knees up to her chest in bed and write a few pages at least.

He'd always wondered what she'd written about him.

Toby saw a receipt in the center console that started to flutter in the wind. It was his duty to make sure it didn't fly away and litter the ground, right? He picked it up and turned it around to read it. The receipt was from a local shop for earlier in the week for a bottle of wine, a pack of red and blue pens, and a bottle of strawberry lube.

He had to reread the last item at least three times before he chuckled to himself.

Real men didn't use lube because it didn't matter if she was ready, it will still feel good was always what his father told him and he laughed, thinking that Katie might need to use it with her so-called husband she'd told him about.

Were they finally out of the honeymoon stage already because why on earth would Katie buy something like that? She thought things like that were silly when they were together. She'd blushed when they walked past a sex shop that one time when they were together. He'd joked about wanting to go in to see if there were any sexy outfits, but she'd pulled him away from the door.

He walked closer to the fence for the backyard and he heard her laugh. God, he'd missed that sound. He still hated that he'd ever hurt her. As he reached for the handle on the door of the privacy fence, but the sound of a man's voice stopped him.

"What are you doing here?"

He turned around to see Ned coming from around his truck. The man had a brown paper bag full of groceries in his hand and was still in uniform, his police badge glimmering in the sun. He definitely looked the same as when he'd last seen him. About four years ago.

"I came by to see Katie," he cleared his throat, pulling something from his jacket pocket. There had been a reason he'd come by. It wasn't just because he did miss her and he did want to make things better between them. He pulled the lanyard from his pocket. "She must've dropped this at school, but I found it in the lounge and she was already gone by the time I had any time to stop by her room."

"You could've just waited until school started up again," Ned walked past him and opened the backyard gate. "You didn't have to stop by."

"I wanted to," he shrugged, eyeing the man. Ned was obviously not intrigued by his presence and that only egged his ego further. He walked into the backyard behind him, following him up to the side door. "Where's the woman of the hour?"

"Katie's in the backyard, and you're not coming inside," Ned said, opening the door to the white kitchen that he could see. The man blocked his way as he closed the door. "Be quick."

Toby came around the corner and saw Katie lying on her back in the grass with an infant sitting up on her stomach. There was another little girl running around with a bubble wand, lost in a fit of giggles.

"Who's a big girl?" Katie cooed to the little girl. Her blonde hair was what made him pause until he'd remembered her telling him about her parents having another child after the fourth one he remembered. "Emmagirl, you're getting so big. So so big!" He cleared his throat and she looked over at him then, her confusion readable on her face. "What are you doing here, Toby?"

"I just wanted to stop by," he kneeled down as she sat up, holding her sister in her lap still.

"Who are you?" The little girl asked as she ran around him and then around Katie with the bubble wand.

"Hey, Lan, why don't you go inside and see if Ned came home? I think I heard his truck," she said, holding Emma carefully as she stood up

"Ooh okay!" The dark-haired girl put the big wand down and ran toward the house quickly, peeking her head in the door first. "Ned, are you in here?"

"You don't usually just stop by someone's house without calling first," Katie muttered, adjusting Emma to sit on her hip.

"You left this in the lounge, I think," he said, fishing the lanyard out of his pocket again.

"Oh," she took her school ID and smiled up at him. "Thanks. You could've waited, you know. Or emailed me."

"I don't know why, but I wanted to stop by." He shrugged. "Your husband didn't seem to happy about it."

"Do you blame him?" She asked, laughing a little as she walked toward the back patio. There was a table with chairs and a grill, even a highchair. There was a bin of toys too, probably for her sisters whenever they came over. "With all the shit that has gone on lately, I'm perfectly fine with him being a bit overprotective."

"Yeah, I guess." He muttered. "This summer was pretty scary for you two, I presume. I don't really know what happened, just what I heard around town."

"It was a shitshow," she sighed. "Well, you should probably get going now. I've got a busy night."

"Babysitting?" He asked, touching Emma's hand and swinging it around.

"Yeah," she said, setting her sister in the highchair and then turning back to him. "I have a whole lot of stuff I need to get done. I'm watching my sisters for my mom for a couple hours, so I should probably give them my full undivided attention. They can be a handful."

"Yeah, I'll leave you be." He nodded, just as the sliding door opened and Ned and Lana came out, each holding a plate of snacks. Lana had a plate with crackers and cheese and Ned had a plate of sandwiches. "You have a nice break, Katie. See you at school."

"Yeah, see you, Toby. You made snacks, babe?" Katie's voice floated through the air as he kept walking, resisting the urge to turn around. "I love you for all the things you do. Did you get drinks?"

"Oh really, like what?" There was a teasing tone to Ned's voice, one that would only come from someone who was comfortable. He realized they knew each other better than he had hoped. Maybe they were happy. "I have a pitcher of ice tea on the counter waiting for me to come to grab."

"Well, I love that you bring me flowers and that you take me out to dance. I love that you make snacks with my little sister and care for my family as much as I do. I love that you enjoy spending all your time with me, even if it is just to be in the same room while we both work, and I love that you helped me fix up the house this summer." He realized these were things he never did or thought of doing for her when they were together. He just assumed she would think it was a waste of time and resources.

"Oh, is that all?" Ned asked

She chuckled before she answered. "No, I love how your eyes light up when you see me and how your arms make me feel safe even when I think it's impossible. But most of all, I love when you hold my face in your hands when you kiss me."

Ned quickly responded, "Like this?"

Toby looked around just in time to see Ned taking her face in his hands as they kissed and he felt his stomach drop. He had kissed Katie before, but this was different. He could see her melt into his kiss, then he noticed her moved up from where she'd sat down and sat on his lap.

Toby knew he should turn around and leave, but he was frozen in place watching the scene in front of him. Katie giggled as she pulled away, giving him a peck on his cheek as the older one of her sister's snickered.

"Eww," Lana giggled. "You kiss like mommy and daddy do."

"That's a good thing, right?" Katie winked, moving back to her seat.

Ned groaned as she got up, but he swept her back over before she could get too far away from him, which caused her to giggle. Toby again questioned how much he actually knew about her, the Katie he remembered from years ago didn't giggle when he pulled her back to him. It was clear that time had changed her in a good way — this Katie seemed happy with the life she had.

"Daddy and mommy love each other the mostest, so yes!" The little girl cheered. "Ned? Can I sit on your lap like Katie too?"

"Sure, Lan." Ned chuckled, pulling her up on his knee. "Are you gonna eat your sandwich now?"

"Yes, but only if it has ham and cheese like you said," Lana said, her finger wagging at him with a very similar scowl that Katie could give. It must be a family thing, something from their mother.

He started to leave, he knew he had lost her years ago, but the door had finally closed after all these years.