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Pizza and stories

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When the men returned into the living room their plates with the pizza already waited. Barbara was just bringing some apple juice and two cans of beer.

"Oh, please, get those caps off." She said with an exhausted sigh placing the drinks next to the plates. Reluctantly Josh and Ian put away the caps Tommy had bought them. Now she glared at him with eyes saying that he was to blame for that. His eyes were sparkling. He definitely was enjoying that.

Already wrapped in their pyjamas the twins jumped onto the sofa almost immediately reaching for pieces of their dinner.

"Wouldn't we wait until everybody sits?" Barbara asked and pulled a chair to the table. Josh and Ian groaned in annoyance. Sometimes adults could be so complicated.

"I'll sit there, Barbara. You'll sit in your comfortable armchair." She was too tired to argue with Tommy and sat down on the soft seat.

There was a munching silence during dinner. Obviously the boys were tired too. They were so tired they did not eat their whole piece of pizza and even forgot the dessert that they had obtained earlier. Yawning but well-bred (or probably just too lazy to get up) they waited until the adults had finished eating. In fact they also did not want to go to bed but they almost fell asleep on the couch while Tommy and Barbara still talked about the beautiful weather today and that such a day at the zoo really hits in the pocket. She never would say it aloud but Barbara was glad that she had the chance to share the costs.

The twins did not say anything but almost dozed off.

"Well, boys... I think it's bedtime." Barbara ended the yawning drama on the sofa. It only started the real drama.

"Noooo!" Josh nagged.

"Can't we watch some telly first?" Ian begged.

"I'd like to draw a bit." Josh pulled the colouring book from the little side table. Barbara shook her head. Her boss was trying hard to stifle a grin and had to look the other way. She very well recognised it.

"I want to play with the cars." Ian jumped towards the box with a few of their toys.

"Not at all." Barbara shook her head again. "Go and brush your teeth."

"Couldn't we-?"

"No."

"But-"

"Off you go, Ian. Josh, please put the book back." With a smirk towards Tommy she added that if they were good boys Tommy might read them a good night story.

Like the bath the tooth brushing went by quickly and was not too intense due to Barbara's own tiredness. Right now she only wanted the kids in bed. There were enough things she still had to do before she could curl up under her own blanket. While she observed them and brushing her own teeth she heard that Tommy brought the plates into the kitchen. At least one thing already was done. Maybe there would be some nice moments alone with him before he left.

Maybe she would at least get a farewell kiss.

The twins hopped into Barbara's bed and she tucked them in. Then Tommy came over too and sat down on the edge of the bed. Eager to hear a story Josh handed him the big old book of fairy-tales opening it where they had put the bookmark the other day.

For a while Barbara listened to Tommy's wonderful voice reading with different accents for different protagonists but then she had to leave the room. She longed to sit down next to him and lean into his side getting lulled away like the twins but she could not just leave the plates in the sink and do the washing-up the next day or later like she would have when she would have been alone.

After a few minutes Tommy joined her in the kitchen at the sink, wordlessly took a towel and helped her.

"They fell asleep in a minute." he chuckled. "Completely exhausted."

Yawning Barbara nodded and handed him a plate. "Me too."

"Shall I read you something?"

Oh, yes, please! A shiver ran across Barbara's slightly flushing skin. It did not go by unnoticed but she dared not to answer. She did not trust her voice. Instead she simply yawned again and shook her head. Better not... she thought. "Nah..."

"Where are you sleeping by the way?" he asked.

"That sofa in the living room - it's a sofa bed. As comfortable as the one in my bedroom." And big enough for two. Barbara concentrated on an invisible spot on a plate. Tommy would leave soon and as much as she wanted him to stay she knew he would leave. Although she thought that at least he could kiss her once but since he had not kissed her throughout the day where there had been enough opportunities he probably would not kiss her now. Barbara inwardly berated herself for being a stupid fool.

Tommy always avoided her fingers when she handed him the plates. He longed to touch her. He just wanted to snuggle his nose into her hair that was so close to him and smelled of coconut and Barbara. He admitted to himself that he better would be leaving soon because actually he dearly wanted to kiss her for the rest of the night. Would she want that too? Probably it was too late now. He had let his chances go by unused and Barbara had not taken any of the advantages that had been offered. But then again, Barbara would never make any first move, would she?

Tommy vowed to himself that he would make use of the first moment that was offered to finally give her a kiss.

Eventually they had finished cleaning the dishes in silence and after stowing them away they returned into the living room.

"And Paula? Will she stay there with the boys?" And nobody will disturb the rest of our evening?

"Oh, gosh, of course not." Barbara plunked down onto her sofa. "I'm rolling her bed out of there before I go to sleep. It'd be enough if she wakes up in the middle of the night, I really don't need the boys to keep me busy too."

Keeping only a few inches of space between them Tommy sat down too and took a sip from his beer.

"They're a double tornado of its kind." she sighed. "I should've known before I agreed on the zoo trip. Somehow I'm glad Emily will pick them up tomorrow."

"You do a great job with them." He smiled, stretched and placed his arms on the backrest but Barbara was too tired to recognise his clever move. "I can imagine you being a wonderful mother."

That had hurt her. "Don't say that, Sir." Barbara choked. He ought to know that she was a hopeless case. "That probably never will happen."

"You shouldn't think that way." he said with a soft tone. "And please stop calling me Sir." They fell silent. Even the dog already was sleeping on his rug, exhausted after such an overwhelming day in his young life. His legs twitched in a dream.

Tommy told himself that it really was time for him to go now even if he had not yet kissed her. He only stalled his leave. The kids were asleep, Barbara was tired - there really was no reason why he should stay. Except for the companionable peace here and now, the wonderful company of the woman he loved. Eventually Barbara's eyes fell shut and she was too tired to keep them open. She let her head fall backwards onto his arm and yawned. Tommy's hand squeezed her nape with a soft massage. She did not want the evening to end and neither did he. Unnoticed by her he moved another bit closer.

"I want all this too." Tommy suddenly said with a low voice near Barbara's ear.

"Mmmh? What?" Barbara did not move although his proximity made her flesh crawl.

"I want to change nappies-"

"You haven't!" she mumbled without opening her eyes.

"I would. And I want to tend to scratched skin. I want to shoo my children into bed. I want to sit on the sofa too tired even to watch some telly." Tommy took a deep breath. "I want all that with you, Barbara."

This made her quickly lift her head and quizzically look at him. Had she already fallen asleep and was dreaming now? Would she finally get a kiss from Tommy? Or was he just mocking her?

"What?!" She shook her head in disbelief.

"I want to raise half a dozen of children. Well, at least two, maybe three. And I want you to be their mum. Their real mum." Tommy took another deep breath and turned a bit more towards Barbara. His voice was firm but gentle when he continued to speak. "Will you marry me, Barbara?"

Oh, crap! He should not have said that. Tommy was shocked about his own brazen question but it was too late now to begin the other way around.

"Sir, are you mad?" Her voice pitched. Suddenly she was wide awake. Had she really heard what he just had said? He must have gone mad simply asking her to marry without the usual process of dating and wooing and without even having kissed before they would make such a life-changing decision but the sincereness with which Tommy looked at her and his tender expression did not look mad at all. Instead he was smiling fondly so Barbara thought he probably only was playfully teasing her. But for her it was not funny at all. "I think you should leave now, Sir. Either you're mocking me and think this is funny, which it isn't at all, or you are too tired to see that you are talking nonsense. You couldn't just ask... Tsk... We couldn't marry, Sir."

"Why not?" He still smiled and made no move to get up and leave. The fingers in her nape now were tenderly buried in her hair. He had been a bit shocked by his words but the idea of marrying Barbara actually was not the worst he had. A bit sudden but alluring.

"We even haven't yet kiss-"

They had been sitting close and Tommy had shifted a bit closer after he had asked her that important question and now he had been so close to her that he only needed to bend down an inch or two, still her head and silence her with a soft kiss. It lingered just for a warm moment that made her head dizzy before he retreated. He read it as a good sign that she did not pull back and that she did not leash out at him and he was still close enough for Barbara to feel his warm breath in her face when he went on talking.

The soft and sincere smile never had left his face. Tommy was sure about it now.

"Done. What do you say now?"

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