„So?" started Lucy, when Toni and Rebecca left. "Is there anything we should know about?"
Myles could only sigh heavily, resting his back against the seat, which he occupied. It was exactly how he imagined it would be, when his friends and Toni met. He wasn't sure just how much he would be able to control his own reactions to the woman, so when he opened the door, convinced it was her, and saw Tara, Lucy and Bobby, later followed by Sue and Jack, he started to hope that she would call him and say, that she couldn't come. It didn't happen though, and when Tara commented how she saw a pick-up with all sorts of plants, he tried not to show his displeasure so much that he didn't even realise that he was trying to lean on the hot barbecue, effectively burning his hand. Now, he wasn't even able to help her, not to mention that all the plans he had to have a conversation with her got completely ruined. Not that they wouldn't if his friends didn't show up, because she decided to come with a friend, who he pretended not to notice was watching him very carefully during their whole stay. They were gone now, and just like he thought, the questions started.
"I don't believe there is anything, that you don't know about." he finally spoke, earning a couple of doubtful glances.
"Oh, come on, Harvard!" protested Bobby. "It's not like we didn't see the way you were looking at her! You know, it sort of reminded me of the glances, that Sparky used to send in Sue's direction before they admitted their feelings to each other!"
Everyone noticed the faint blush on Sue's cheeks at the mention of it and the look, which she exchanged with her husband. As always, it was as if for a moment the whole world around them stopped existing and the love between them was perceptible for everyone. All of their friends were very happy that they managed to find this sort of happiness, and yet, they couldn't help feeling a little jealous. They wanted something like this, too, but their relationships didn't really seem even close to it. At one point, Bobby felt pretty certain that Darcy was the one for him, but then she left DC and it all fell apart; Tara and Stanley eventually decided that the long-distance relationship that they were trying didn't really have sense; Lucy went out on a few dates with a couple of guys, but it was clearly becoming obvious that there was no sparkle and Myles, he didn't really like to talk or even think about his, for some time now, pretty much nonexistent love life.
It was until Toni appeared and stirred all those feelings, which turned out to still be there. There was a point in his life, when he believed that they could be meant to be together. In his mind, he tried to find a way for them to be together forever, and there were even the beginnings of the plan, how to make people – especially his family – accept this relationship. He was just a teenager and he could hardly claim any maturity when it came to this, but if what he felt towards her wasn't true love, he had absolutely no idea what was. Over the next years he's been in more and less serious relationships, but the feelings he had to those women were nowhere near what he felt for Toni. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that she was indirectly the main reason, why neither of those relationships worked out. She was the only person, who truly accepted him for who he was, with all his quirks and faults, who showed him the sort of relationship, which he later tried to find again, but didn't manage to.
He had decided, that he really needed to talk to her and get the answers for all those questions, which kept bothering him for the last days. He needed to know what happened all those years ago, that their roads so brutally divided. What caused her to move so quickly and, why didn't she contact him in any way? He didn't doubt there had to be a really great reason behind it and he needed to find it out. A part of him hoped, that perhaps, it was something she really had no influence on and they could try again. As for now, however, he didn't find enough courage to approach her with all those questions. Only now he actually understood why it took Jack so long to admit how he felt about Sue. Although he wasn't afraid of rejection, Myles was somewhat scared of Toni's temper. He had no idea how she felt about their past relationship, but knew that if he pulled the wrong string, she could explode and the last thing he needed while she was working on his garden, was to offend her.
"Well…" started Sue, bringing Myles back from his thoughts, which Leland drifted off to ignoring all the theories, that his friends had about Toni. "It's a shame that D. and Donna couldn't be here, but Jack and I would still like to use the opportunity, that we're all gathered here together."
"We just found out yesterday, but we thought that today seems like a perfect opportunity to share it with all of you." continued Jack, reaching out his hand to capture Sue's and give it a gentle squeeze.
"OH MY!" exclaimed Lucy, whose wide grin didn't skip anyone's attention. "You two are going to have a baby!"
Myles felt quite certain that the high-pitched squeal, which left her mouth the moment Sue nodded her head and Jack grinned, could be heard by a lot of his neighbours. She immediately ran to her best friend, hugging her tightly, followed by almost equally excited Tara. Bobby and Myles, on the other hand, focused on Jack first, congratulating him and only later moving on to Sue.
"It's sort of funny to think that there is soon going to be Little Sparky running around…" said Bobby. "With all fondness to you, Mate, I hope he's going to take everything after his mommy."
"No way!" protested Tara, blushing a little when all the eyes focused on her.
"I'm sure that what our Tippy wanted to say is that he simply has to have Jack's eyes, and Sue will certainly agree with that, right Sue?" added Lucy, looking at her blonde friend, who pursued her lips.
"This baby might be a girl, you know? But I can't deny that I certainly wouldn't mind if they inherited Jack's eyes."
For the rest of the evening, most of their talk focused on the Hudsons and the awaited addition to their family, and Myles felt quite grateful for that. It gave him the opportunity to avoid answering to all the questions about Toni, which he didn't know the answer to himself and think about it all a little more, as much to anybody's surprise, he found the conversation to be a little senseless. What exactly was a point in trying to guess, what was the unborn baby going to be like in the future? He didn't know, but his friend didn't mind his slight absent-mindedness and he certainly intended to use it.