"I love you too, darling," Trent said to his daughter over the phone. "To the moon and back. Could you give the phone to your Daddy, please?" He pulled the phone away from his ear as Maddy screamed for her other father.

"Is everything okay, Trent?" Isaiah asked and Trent chuckled.

"Everything's fine," Trent replied. "I was going to ask the same of you and Xander. How has she been?"

"Like a woman possessed," Isaiah replied with a sign. "How does such a small person have so much energy?"

"One of life's greatest mysteries, I guess," Trent replied. He looked over his shoulder and saw Ted and Rebecca, sans red bag, walking toward him. Trent put his hand over the receiver end of his phone and called out to them, "I'm almost done. How did it go?" Ted flashed Trent two thumbs up and Rebecca just shook her head at Ted.

"How did what go?" Isaiah asked in Trent's ear. "So it turns out you aren't alone today. How about that…"

Trent sighed. "I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow morning, yeah?"

"And then you're going to tell me who you spent Christmas with, Trent."

"I'm hanging up now. Bye. Happy Christmas." Trent pressed the end call button on his phone and shoved it in his pocket before any sort of followup text from Isaiah could pop up on his screen.

"Did you just hang up on your daughter?" Rebecca asked.

Trent laughed at how appalled she looked. "No, my ex-husband."

Rebecca nodded in understanding. Feeling a need to have something in common with her, Trent nodded as well. She didn't have to know that his ex was a good person, unlike hers. But her thinking it wasn't hurting anyone.

"It was real nice seeing you this afternoon. I hope you have fun at Elton John's party. Maybe text me a picture of that puppet show you mentioned earlier?"

Trent's eyebrows slid up. He had heard of Elton John's legendary Christmas parties and was slightly envious that Rebecca Welton was on the guest list.

It was a surprise to both Ted and Trent when she shook her head. "I don't think I'm gonna go. I thought I might pop over to Leslie's later and wish his family and whatever players showed up to his holiday gathering a Happy Christmas."

Ted grinned knowingly. He knew Rebecca's heart was a lot bigger than most people thought it was. She came across as tough, but she was a softie. Ted was glad she started showing more and more of that side of herself lately. It just made her that much more beautiful of a person.

"That's a great idea, Boss."

"Maybe I'll see you there?"

Trent didn't know if she meant you to just Ted, or you to both he and Ted. Just to be on the safe side, Trent didn't move a muscle.

"Yeah, maybe," Ted replied. "Thanks for letting me be part of your kindness this afternoon. Merry Christmas, Rebecca."

Rebecca smiled and hugged Ted. "Happy Christmas, Ted." When they parted, she confidently reached a hand out toward Trent. "Happy Christmas, Mr. Crimm."

Trent smiled and shook her hand. "Happy Christmas, Ms. Welton."

They nodded at each other in some sort of weird courteous way that Ted could only assume was British people code for something.

With a wave, Rebecca walked toward her car and the two men walked toward where Trent could only assume Ted's neighborhood was.

"I think I've got an idea," Ted said slowly, as if he was actually just coming up with it on the spot.

"And what's that?" Trent asked.

"If I do end up at Casa de Higgins later, I can't show up empty handed, right?"

"Right…" Trent agreed, not quite know where Ted was heading with his thoughts.

"And I still gotta thank you for getting me un-lost earlier."

"That's not necessary," Trent said as he rolled his eyes.

"So I'm thinking biscuits would kill two birds with one stone. Maddy likes those, right? I mean, you'd share them with her, I assume. Or not. That's your call." Ted pointed up to a second story window. "That's my place. You wanna keep keeping me company while I bake?"

Trent followed Ted's finger to a window with white slats. Ted said exactly what was on his mind, even if he took a roundabout way to get there sometimes. So this… this was an invitation to keep their conversation going. To keep spending time together. To keep keeping each other company.

"Now I gotta say it again," Ted said as he keyed his way into his apartment. (Flat.) "This is all still off the record, Trent. I can't have anyone knowing the secret to my biscuit recipe."

Crossing his heart like he did when his daughter asked him to swear to keep a promise. "All of it, Ted. The biscuits. How Rebecca Welton moonlights as an elf. That you're bisexual."

"Whoa, Trent Crimm, The Independent," Ted said with a laugh. "Diving headfirst back into a topic without checking if the pool was full first. I admire your gusto, sir." Ted stopped for a second. "I know Granddad Crimm told me 'sir' was only for knights, but where I come from calling someone 'sir' is just plain old manners, so I'm going to keep doing it. Y'all are just going to have to keep dealing with that from me."

"Ted," Trent said gently as he followed Ted to the kitchen, placing his notebook on the table, but off to the side. "We don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable. That just seemed like quite the bombshell you casually dropped earlier and I just wanted to followup about it. Not that it affects me, I guess."

"Doesn't it, though?" Ted asked hopefully, with a slight twinkle in his eye.

Trent ducked his head as he blushed. He cleared his throat. "Well, it does in that there aren't any out men's coaches that I can think of and it would be newsworthy for the sport."

"Sure, sure," Ted said as he took off his Santa hat and involuntarily ran a hand through his hair, brushing back a lock that had fallen over his forehead. "But I wasn't talking about the news right now, Trent."

Trent read into that as something meant for him and him alone, but he couldn't let himself hope like that. "Does anyone know?"

Ted laughed. "Of course! Boss lady. The Diamond Dogs. The team. My family. My ex-wife. The one guy I hooked up with in high school probably figured it out by now since we are Facebook friends and he was likely aware I was married to Michelle for 20 years. But that's the thing, Trent. I was married for almost half of my life. To a woman. People are just going to assume things about me, like you did. And that's fine. But when Keeley was setting me up for that new dating app she's got sponsoring us… well, let's just say everyone learned a little bit more about Ted Lasso that day."

Trent was shocked. "And that didn't get out at all? Not to The Sun or anyone?"

"Why would it?" Ted asked, incredulously, his voice raising a bit. "People who care about me aren't going to blab private stuff to the press." He eyeballed Trent's notebook. Both men knew Trent had notes about Ted in there from press conferences and their impromptu interviews over the past few months. "Are they?"

"I should hope not," Trent said quietly, wondering what he would have done if he heard this news from anyone but Ted before that afternoon. It would have been quite a scoop. Still could be. But he wasn't going to break Ted's trust. Not when he felt like he only just earned it. "So… biscuits?"

It wasn't even close to a smooth segue, but Trent had to get them on a different topic so he wouldn't have to admit to himself that Ted being bisexual did affect him.

It affected him a great deal.

To his credit Ted didn't say anything else about it. Instead, he shouted "BISCUITS!" (and then "Sorry, Ms. Shipley!" after someone stomped from the floor above) and went about his small kitchen, pulling bags of flour and sugar out of his pantry. A bottle of vanilla. Sticks of butter.

Ted offered Trent whiskey or tea and Trent opted for tea, much to Ted's disgust. ("It's steeped lawn clippings, Trent. Why would you do that to yourself?") Ted poured himself a single whiskey and got to work.

Conversation picked back up as Ted went about softening the butter just so before dumping it into his stand mixer. They talked about their kids and the challenges of being a divorced parent whose career took up a lot of time. Trent felt for Ted and couldn't imagine how hard it was to be an entire ocean away from his little boy for most of the year.

After Ted got two batches of biscuits in the oven, he set the oven timer, and sat down next to Trent at the kitchen table. Ted didn't know if his knees knocked into Trent's, or if Trent's knocked into his, but neither said anything as each cradled their respective beverage.

The air was different between them since they had walked in the door. The silence screamed potential, but heartbreak still lingered with every breath they took. Being divorced meant something went awry with the one you vowed to love as long as you both shall live. It didn't mean you were unlovable, but sometimes it felt that way.

Trent kept waiting for Ted to say something first because Ted was always saying something. He didn't, though, so Trent offered up another apology.

"I never said I was sorry for how awful I treated you during your first press conference for Richmond. But I am, Ted. Sorry, that is. I think about that day a lot. I made a snap judgement about you and I can't remember being repeatedly more wrong about someone."

Ted gave a small smile, remembering that day clear as anything. "I appreciate that, Trent."

"Ted," Trent said, his voice cracking every so slightly.

"Water under the bridge," Ted said with a shrug, trying to make a light of a situation that was feeling heavier than a medicine ball. "You didn't know me."

"But I do now. Or, at least, I feel like I'm starting to," Trent said softly. "I do know you're a good man. A good person. Thank you for not writing me off as a complete arsehole."

"Well, I'm not the journalist, am I?" The oven timer went off. Ted excused himself from the table and got both batches of biscuits out. He turned the oven off and set the time again. "These need to cool before I can cut 'em up. You okay to stay another 45 minutes or so?"

Trent didn't even bother checking his phone's clock. He had nowhere to be.