Thank you for your patience.

"My mom called last night."

"Oh?"

We're sitting in a booth toward the back of the Busy Bee having lunch. It's the same booth we were in when Walt declared his intentions to my mother and I almost two weeks ago. It's sort of become "our booth". I know it sounds cheesy but I can't keep from grinning whenever I think about it that way.

"Seems my father was finally home long enough for her to tell him about the divorce."

We were late coming in for lunch and the cafe is practically deserted. It seems safe enough to bring the topic up.

"How'd that go?"

"You have a grown daughter. How would you react to news that she and her husband are parting ways?"

"I'd be concerned about her well-being."

"Yes."

"I'd also want to know if she needed me to kick her husband's ass for something he did or didn't do."

I can't keep a smile off my face, "See, just when I think it's impossible to like you anymore than I already do you go and say something like that. Anyway sounds like the great reveal went about as well as one would expect. Mom started telling me about it and Dad took the phone away from her about 2 minutes in. He gave me a stern talking to about the sanctity of marriage, blah, blah, blah. Then his dad instincts kicked in. He asked me how I was feeling about it, did I need anything, you know the drill. Funny thing though, he said he never liked Shaun all that much anyway, didn't think he was a good fit for me."

"That seems to be the general consensus."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

"Anyway, he went on and on about how Shaun never respected me the way he should and that he wasn't supportive enough of my career choice."

"From the little I know about Shaun, I'd say your father's right about that."

"But it doesn't make sense. I mean, I was already a cop when Shaun and I met. Did he think I was going to just quit my job and start popping out babies the second he married me? He never told me he wanted me to find different work. Why the hell did he marry me in the first place if he wasn't okay with it?"

"I've told you before that I can't answer that. I'm not him."

"Thank God for that!"

Walt reaches across the table and lightly runs his fingers across the back of my hand for a few seconds before pulling them back to his side, "Thanks. No point in worrying about why Shaun does what he does anymore anyway. It will be irrelevant soon enough. Has a court date been set yet?"

"Not that I've heard. I'm going to call the guy that's handling the whole thing for us and see what the hell is going on with that. I'm ready to get this over with."

My need to have the divorce finalized grows with every passing day. I'm not sure how much longer I can deal with not being able to know Walt, and yes, I mean in the biblical sense. We came close to crossing that line after he told my mother he wanted to date me and have a chance to earn her respect. I'd gone over to his cabin that night after she'd fallen asleep. I wanted to tell him how much I appreciated his candor and let him know she had been impressed with him. There's nothing he could have done better at lunch that day as far as my mother was concerned. He had impressed me too, more than he ever had before and that's saying something. When he answered the door and I saw him standing there in his usual attire, boots off and a dish towel thrown over his shoulder I was overcome with emotion. Words escaped me. So, I communicated with Walt the only way I could at the time. It wasn't long before we found ourselves in his bedroom, hearts racing, bodies touching and clothing a distant memory.

"Vic? You look a million miles away. Are you okay?"

"Oh, sorry. I was, um, thinking about something."

"What has you so distracted?"

"Well, I was just, um, thinking about the other night."

"The other night?"

"You know, the night at the cabin, when we..."

He smiles, "Oh, that night."

"Yeah."

"I get more than a little distracted thinking about that night myself."

"You do?"

"Of course I do. How could I not?"

"Well, you were the one who..."

I trail off as I see Dorothy approaching out of the corner of my eye.

"Can I get you two anything else this afternoon?"

Walt speaks up for the both of us, "Actually we're good. Gotta get back to work. Vic, you ready to go?"

"Yeah."

I toss a few bucks on the table and admire the view as Walt follows Dorothy to the register to pay the bill. He waits for me at the door and we walk out into the fresh air together. Neither of us speaks as we make the short walk back to the station. A breeze is rustling the leaves in the trees and the sun is shining giving the illusion that it's warmer than it actually is. Still, it's nice to have a few more moments alone before we have to slip back into our work roles. We take the private entrance directly into Walt's office. I'm glad. I'm not ready to share him just yet.

He hangs his jacket and hat up before turning back to me, resting his hands on his duty belt, "Vic, that night...whenever I close my eyes, it's all I can see."

"Oh, I didn't know."

"Being intimate with you...was more than I could have ever imagined it would be. Things suddenly got real and it felt so...right...that it scared me. I thought of all the reasons you shouldn't be there with me, and you knew that. You knew all of it without me saying a thing."

"Well I'd like to think that all these years learning to speak Walt wasn't a waste of my time. I'm glad you realized you were being ridiculous. There is no better match for you than me."

"That's never been the question. I was more concerned about the reverse of that, whether I'm the best match for you."

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer."

He takes a few steps toward me, "You do understand why we had to stop, don't you?"

I follow his lead and walk toward him, "Yes I do. And you understand that if we ever get that close again...I won't let you stop."

He runs his tongue over the front of his teeth and looks at the floor briefly before staring straight into my eyes, "Yep."

"Good."

Back at my desk I can't keep my mind from replaying the last few moments of that night together.

We sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes. When Walt pulls away and starts to stand I can't help but whimper at the loss of his warmth against me. He turns back and smiles, "It's okay." I watch him stretch to his full height covered only with a pair of boxers. He pulls a flannel blanket off the back of the chair next to his bed and turns back to me, "Stand up."

I do as he says and he uses his free hand to rearrange the pillows up against the headboard. He climbs onto the bed and leans into the softness, "Come here."

I have never loved his conservation of words more than I do right now. Simple and to the point. I settle in next to him, my head on his shoulder as he spreads the blanket over both of us. The passion of before is still there lurking under the surface but it's been diminished by a different need: a need for understanding and acceptance, clear and present, not obscured by raw physical desire.

"Vic...I need you to understand. It's not that I"

In stop him, "I do understand, Walt, more than you know."

We stay there together for a long time. When I feel his breathing start to slow I gently slip out from under the blankets. I locate my clothes and get dressed by the dim light coming in from the other room. When I'm finished I come stand by the bed and watch him sleep. I know it's time to go but it's hard to leave. I lean over and gently kiss him. I cannot think of a time when my heart has felt this full. I know from this moment on that I will wait for him, no matter how long it takes.