"These just arrived for you, sweetheart."

Kat didn't need to look up from her book to know that her mother was holding a bunch of flowers in her hands. They had been arriving every day since Kat had left the hospital and Kat refused to acknowledge them each and every time.

"Bin them," Kat demanded. "And you better tell him again to stop sending them, mom, or have Dad drive to Pittsburgh and remind him."

"Kat," her mother sighed.

"Don't do that," Kat huffed.

"I'm not doing anything, dear."

"Yes, you are, and you know you are."

"I just feel sorry for the boy. He loves you and Kat and he-"

"If you feel so sorry for Tommy then why don't you take his flowers for yourself, or even better go and find him a new intact girlfriend to move on with so he can leave me alone."

"I'm not getting into this with you again, today," her mother rolled her eyes just as the doorbell rang. "Your visitors are here."

"What visitors?" Kat frowned.

"Coming!" Serena called out. "Put that book down and try to look somewhat happy when you see them."

"See who?" Kat asked as her mother disappeared to answer the door. "Mom!"

Sitting up, Kat tried to determine if she had enough time to get up the stairs before her mother returned with the unexpected visitors, but that plan was quashed as Brendan and Tess appeared in the doorway.

"We weren't sure if you'd be up for visitors but your mom said that we should…" Brendan shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "We can always go if you want?"

"Nonsense," Kat's mother waved him off. "A couple of new faces is just what Kat needs. God only knows she's had enough of seeing me and her father. No, you guys sit down and make yourselves comfortable. Do you want anything to drink? Jim's in the kitchen, fixing a shelf in the pantry so he'll bring some lemonade in; I made it just this morning. Jim! Tess and Brendan are here! Bring in the lemonade!"

"Yes, dear!" came a reply.

"And don't forget to use the good glasses that we keep for company!"

"I haven't seen your glasses, Serena!" Jim shouted.

"That's because I'm wearing them! I'm talking about the… never mind, I'll just go and get the drinks myself. I won't be minute, guys," she tittered nervously.

"So, how are you feeling, Kat?" Brendan asked once a full minute of silence had passed.

"Uh, yeah, fine," Kat murmured. "How's everyone? Paddy and, uh, the girls?"

"The old man's doing alright," Brendan smiled tightly. "He and Sheila are on vacation visiting her sister in Texas. They send their love and Sheila said something about dropping by to see you when they're back."

"And the girls made you this," Tess dropped a picture on the coffee table.

Reaching for the paper, Kat's eyes drifted across the photograph of her and the girls dressed as characters from Frozen on the day she first ever met them, and her finger subconsciously trailed the glittery swirly patterns they had drawn around the photograph.

"Emily drew Olaf as you can see, and the brown splodge is supposed to be Sven but Rosie really struggled," Brendan said.

Kat swallowed the lump in her throat as the girls' eyes in the photograph seemed to gnaw at her heart; the innocent joy on their faces punching her in the gut.

"They miss you," Brendan added. "Keep asking when they can see you."

"I'm not sure that…" Kat's voice cracked slightly as she set down the drawing on the table again. "I don't think that I'll be able to-"

"Hang on a minute, missy," Tess interrupted. "Just because you've cut Tommy off and he's happy enough to let you treat him like shit doesn't mean that I'm going to let you do the same to my girls."

"Tess," Brendan hissed .

"Tess nothing," she rolled her eyes. "She's being selfish and you know it."

"Excuse me?" Kat huffed out a laugh of disbelief that she was being spoken to in such a way.

"Don't you sit there looking like miss high and fucking mighty when you're being a prized bitch," Tess stood up and pointed a finger at her. "Tommy is in a fucking mess and you don't give a fucking shit."

"He's in a mess?" Kat frowned. "I'm the one who's lost everything and you come in here and expect me to feel sorry for Tommy."

"Yeah, I do," Tess nodded, completely unaffected by Kat's upset nor Brendan's look of horror. "So you lost your leg and you had to have a hysterectomy? That sucks, I won't deny it, but you're alive for fucks sake. Plenty of people live with missing limbs and millions of women can't have babies of their own; hell, it's cool to have a baby by surrogate these days."

"Get out," Kat spat. "Brendan, get her out of here right now."

"Kat, I'm so sorry," Brendan apologised vehemently.

"Oh shut the hell up, Brendan," Tess growled at him. "She needs to be told and if no one else can get through to her then I'm more than happy to have a go."

"You're lucky you have two children who need you otherwise I'd-"

"You'd what?" Tess goaded her. " You'd hit me? You'd kill me? You'd do nothing of the sort because you're a fucking coward, Kat. You're a coward and liar who is willing to just let someone who worships the ground they walk on leave their life for good?"

"I'm letting Tommy go because he doesn't need me, Tess!" Kat yelled. "I can't give him a future. Not one he deserves."

"You don't get to decide that!" Tess shouted back. "You don't get to decide how he feels about you or your future. Are you truly that fucking selfish? Tommy doesn't care about kids; hell, the whole reason you two got into a fight in the first place was because he was freaking the fuck out about having a baby. And Tommy doesn't care if you have one leg or seven. He wouldn't care if had twelve heads and no arms because all he cares about is you. He loves you! And he needs you just as much as you clearly need him so stop being so wrapped up in your own pain and think about him and everyone else who loves you!"

"Are you done, Tess?" Kat whispered, tears dripping down her cheeks. "Are you done yelling at me?"

"She is," Brendan reached for Tess' arms only for her to yank it away angrily, her chest heaving with emotion.

"I don't think she is, Brendan," Kat shook her head and turned back to Tess. "You're always gonna have something to say so long as I'm being a selfish bitch, aren't you? Because you're right; that is what I'm being."

Kat heard footsteps shuffling in the doorway but she couldn't take her own eyes from Tess' to look. There wasn't anger in them anymore but only gentleness and love.

"I didn't want to yell at you, Kat," Tess murmured softly, moving to sit down beside Kat. "I just wanted you to understand how loved you are. Not just by Tommy but by us and your family and so many others. I know your life has changed inexplicably and I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through, but I do know that you don't have to go through it alone. And I know that attempting to convince yourself you're doing it alone isn't going to help you."

"I'm scared, Tess," Kat admitted, tears dribbling down her cheeks and onto Tess' hands. "Not just about Tommy leaving me one day but about everything; about what my life is gonna be like from now on. It's been weeks and somehow I still feel like I did the day I woke up from the accident."

"Of course you're scared, Kat," Tess stood up slightly and wrapped Kat into a big hug. "But we'll all help you through this, ok? We all love you and we're here through the good days and the bad days if you'll just let us be. And I promise you now that Tommy isn't going anywhere. He's besotted with you and I don't think anything you do could change that."

"I think if he met Pamela Anderson in her Baywatch days then that might change things," Kat let out a teary laugh, which drew a chuckle out of everyone else.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Brendan winked. "I wouldn't be too sure at all."

… … …

Kat hadn't wanted to meet Tommy at her parent's home. She wanted to meet him somewhere they could talk without being overhead, because although her mother would be in another room, that woman had the ears of a… an animal with spectacular hearing. Which was why her father was currently driving her to Tommy's apartment in Pittsburgh. Well, technically it was her apartment too.

So lost in her thoughts of what the next few hours would bring and the emotions it would stir up, Kat didn't even notice that they were nowhere near her apartment until her father stopped the car and turned off the engine.

"What have we stopped here for?" she frowned.

"This is where you're meeting Tommy," her dad hopped out of the driver's seat and hurried around to open Kat's door and grab her crutches from the back seat.

"No, we're meeting Tommy at ours… Erm, his."

"I know," Jim answered, holding out the crutches and trying not to smile at the look of confusion on Kat's face as she settled arms and hands in place before she started moving. "This is Tommy's new house."

"His what?" Kat choked out a laugh of shock. "What happened to the apartment?"

"I don't know," Jim lied. "All I know is that he moved here a few days ago."

"Why didn't he tell me when I texted and arranged this meetup?"

"I have no idea, Kat," her father shrugged. "But seeing as you two haven't spoken in some time maybe he didn't think to tell you."

"But he told you?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, because I'm not the one who's ignored him for over a month. Now would you go already because I have to get some things for your mother from that store she claims she can't find back home. I'll come and collect you when you're done, ok?"

"Sure," Kat muttered, her eyes darting around nervously until they settled upon the newly painted sage green front door that was opening slowly to reveal Tommy stood in the doorway looking as anxious as she felt.

Her heart stopped for a second and her breath caught in her throat as she let her eyes wander the length of him until those stormy eyes of his seared into her own with such intensity that she almost couldn't bear to look at him any longer. Only in the same instance, she couldn't tear her gaze from him even if she wanted to.

"Tommy," she breathed.

"Hey you," he smiled nervously as he reached for her, helping her inside and waving quickly to her father.

Standing in the hallway, Kat wondered if he had always been so broad as she eyed his muscle in the loose t-shirt he wore. When he turned around after closing the front door, she opened her mouth to say everything she felt; everything she felt about him and about them but nothing would come out. In the end all she could was reach out with one hand to cup his face and brush her thumb across his cheek.

"Kat," his voice croaked as he closed the tiny gap between them and steadied Kat with his hands on her waist before pressing his lips to hers, unaware that tears were dripping down his cheeks as she kissed him back desperately.

It was a kiss that said more than words ever could. It was a kiss of grief and of hope and of everything in between.

It was a kiss for regret for the past and hope for the future.

A future that was them against the world forever.

… … …

"I still can't believe we own this place."

Tommy smiled as he turned briefly from the fence he was painting to look at the awe on Kat's face. They had been living back together in their new home for three weeks now, and Tommy and Kat were making the most of the nice day by doing some work in their small but pretty garden. Tommy was painting the fence and had been patching up the shed while Kat potted plants and did the weeding.

"Well believe it, babe," Tommy murmured. "Although technically we won't actually own it for another thirty years or so once the mortgage is paid."

"Details schmetails," Kat rolled her eyes. "Oh, did I tell you your Dad called when you were at the gym this morning? Apparently Sheila thought she saw Dolly Parton when they were at some fancy restaurant last night, but it was actually just a lady with blonde hair and big boobs."

"Wow, and he had to call you to tell you that riveting tale?" Tommy didn't sound impressed.

"Oh well he also called to remind you to drop his car off at the garage for its service tomorrow."

"Like I'd forget," Tommy tittered, as he set down his paintbrush and rolled his bad shoulder until it wasn't as stiff. Walking over to Kat, who was potting a strawberry plant, Tommy sat down beside her and grinned. "But I did forget something."

"Oh yeah," Kat grinned back as Tommy nuzzled his nose against hers. "What's that?"

"To tell you how much I love you today," he kissed her gently at first, a butterfly of a kiss that deepened the second Kat's tongue licked at the seam of his mouth.

Lifting Kat so that she was straddling his lap, Tommy's hands were in her hair and all over her body, gripping and stroking as they kissed until they were desperate to come up for air.

"I want you, baby," Tommy's hand sneaked beneath Kat's tank top to cup her breast and brush his thumb over her nipple, her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip when he pinched and rolled the hard nub between his finger and thumb.

"Tommy," she whimpered when he bent his head to capture her other nipple with his mouth, sucking her through the material of her top. Her hips ground into Tommy's hardening crotch as his lips met with hers once more at the same as his fingers slipped in between their bodies to trace the waistband of her leggings. Delving beneath, Kat's breath hitched in anticipation but the second she felt his hands near to her hysterectomy scar she felt like someone had doused her with a bucket of cold water.

"Baby?" Tommy frowned as she pushed him away gently and shook her head.

"Sorry," she apologised, tears springing to her eyes. "Everytime I see the scar or you touch it I just think about what it means. I mean, I know kids weren't ever in our immediate future but it's just still… it hurts you know. Losing my leg is one thing but using the prosthesis the past couple of weeks has really made me feel like I don't have to let the amputation ruin my life. I think in time, when I'm used to it, I can live like I did before. But the hysterectomy is different. There's nothing that's going to be able to make me be able to get pregnant one day or carry a baby of my own, you know and it really hurts, Tommy."

"I know, babe," Tommy pressed his lips to her forehead and rubbed her back as she sobbed quietly. "It's alright, Kit Kat. One day at a time, right?"

"Yeah," she sniffed and gave him a wobbly smile. "One day at a time."