Author's Note: I keep leaving this as complete, because I swear; I originally thought it was just going to be a one shot. Then Terp4Life has to keep being awesome, so I guess I have to keep writing. This chapter took longer than I wanted because Terp4Life is also as awesome in reality as she is online. Except, then reality kicked my butt and it took me a while to write.

Still don't own anything.

Patterson sighed, staring around at her apartment. It wasn't like she was obsessed with keeping it clean. In fact, she generally preferred it at the 'well organized chaos' level. But since she'd been spending more and more time at Robert's place, it had gone from organized chaos to simply chaotic chaos. Bills, notes, even old crosswords – everything that she'd been planning to deal with 'later' was still scattered about on her table. The plants (the few that were still alive at least) were drooping, desperately in need of water. Robert had been talking about moving in together, and although she'd been hesitant, but now she realized maybe it wasn't the worst idea ever.

But that didn't matter today. Somehow, she had three hours to get her apartment presentable again.

For years now, she'd been part of a D&D gaming brunch. They all took turns hosting it – at least, everyone else did. The first year, she'd tried. But after last minute cancellations, or having to run out mid game, Patterson was effectively relieved of hosting duties. Now she just showed up whenever she actually had a free Sunday (which was less often than she liked), but hadn't even attempted to host one at her place in at least three years.

So when Weller had given them the weekend off, she quickly let everyone know she would be hosting – that she 100% absolutely would not, could not, be called into work, so yes she was finally taking her turn. And only then did Patterson realize that meant that people would actually be coming over to her apartment.

It's not that any of them were clean freaks, per say. They were all more than a little bit geeky and would rather be playing a video game than cleaning… but at the very least, Patterson needed to clean off the table so they had some place to play.

She'd already been cleaning for a few hours or so when her phone chimed. "Hey, still on for today? You promise you aren't going to leave us hanging while you save the world or something?"

"Promise. Just get your butt over here. Hey, just wondering – it's a little dark here. How many wizards does it take to change a light bulb? ;)" Patterson chuckled at their joke, and was about to put her phone back down when the other unread message caught her eye. Jane. When had she missed that? It was from late last night, but surely she'd checked her phone already this morning, hadn't she?

"Saw a band called GooGoo Dolls next to the beach, then laid in the sand looking at the stars. Not a bad night." Patterson quickly opened up the attachments. The first one was rather generic; she guessed it was of the band, bathed in purple lights. The second one though, was what she was hoping for. Patterson squealed with delight as she saw the selfie Jane took with Weller, smiling cheek to cheek. She could barely even recognize Weller; she didn't think she'd ever seen him smile that much – she wasn't even sure the last time she'd seen him smile at all. Something magical had happened on that trip, that she was sure of. She racked her brain, trying to think of a song by the GooGoo Dolls. The band sounded familiar, but she hadn't thought of them in years. The familiar refrain of "Broadway" popped into her head, and she hummed along as she replied.

"Jane! Where is this magical place? A beach concert then a night under the stars!? You two are so cute together! Details woman, details. Don't even try to avoid us come Monday."

For the first time in a while, Patterson was looking forward to Monday. It was looking more and more likely Tasha would be right – something major had happened between the two of them this weekend. And although she suspected they would try and keep it low-key… well, she also knew how many times Robert and she had been caught by well-meaning coworkers. Besides, however much Jane tried to deny or avoid this subject come Monday; Patterson knew they would have their answer as soon as they looked her in the eye. That woman had no poker face when it came to her feelings about Weller.

Patterson knew better than to expect a reply any time soon, if at all. But that didn't stop her from checking her phone every few minutes as she continued to clean. Besides, her friends still didn't quite believe her, texting and asking repeatedly if she was sure she wasn't going to cancel or run out, or any one of a thousand other possibilities that they had thought up. She almost thought about cancelling on them, just to shut them up. Of course that would just prove their point, but right now, it almost seemed worth it. But then again, it did provide an excuse to check for a text from Jane, so maybe it wasn't all bad.

When her friends arrived, they quickly fell back into familiar habits and roles. Summer meant work and travel, and it had been a few weeks since they had all been together, so they spent a while catching up about their lives – new romances, old friends, and crazy work. Years ago, when they'd first started this group, they had nothing in common except a shared love of Dungeons and Dragons. But in the following years, they'd grown close. Every week, they shared these same stories as they played the game, each time learning something new. Even when she'd been gone for a while, it always felt natural joining back in with bad jokes and old habits. Patterson quickly forgot about Jane and Kurt as she talked to her friends, asked their opinion of moving in with Robert, catching up on everything that was going on in their lives.

It wasn't until after dinner, when she got a text from Tasha that she remembered. "Hey. Going to get into work early tomorrow – make sure they don't try and sneak in, pretend everything is normal. Gotta catch them in the act."

Patterson couldn't help but laugh. That was exactly the kind of thing Tasha would think of. "I'll be there… You know Weller's usually there before 7, right?"

"God, really? What is up with that guy? Fine. 6:30?"

"6:30. I'll bring the coffee. LOTS of coffee."

True story, my brother played (plays?) D&D for years, and when I found out Ashley did, we actually had a really nice bonding moment talking about it. Because for once, our dorkiness had a small overlap.

One more chapter after this one.

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