Spencer and Toby have a deep conversation. Can they finally be together?

Chapter 27: Here We Are

Tea was made. After all the madness that's happened in the past twenty-four hours, there was one important person Spencer could not get out of her mind. She was still hurt by Wren's actions. Very hurt. She ended up not wanting to marry him before finding out the latest information, but they did share some good memories. It was hard to separate the person Spencer thought she knew from the person Wren was. The reason Spencer called Toby is because she started to think about the one honest person in all of this. The one person she does know who has been real with her from the beginning. Part of her wanted to be sure that Toby was still the one real thing she knew. She felt so safe, whole, and protected in Toby's arms earlier that evening. She wanted that feeling again.

Spencer snuck Toby in through the back gate. Her parents were already in bed, not that she cared too much about getting caught. She knew they would see his truck outside the next morning. She did not care. She hid Toby long enough. Spencer invited Toby in, and they sat close together on the couch.

"A lot has happened in the last few days," Spencer said. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything."

"I understand," said Toby.

"I just…I can't believe Wren would do something like this. I'm beginning to second guess my own judgment and every decision I've made in the last two years."

"You can't blame yourself," Toby said. "It's wrong what Wren did. He earned your trust, and no one could have seen this coming. I know I've had my doubts about him, but part of me wanted to be wrong. I know you won't believe that, but I didn't want this. This was never the way I wanted things to end between the two of you."

"Me either," Spencer breathed out. "And I know you didn't.

"I hate him for hurting you."

"I hate him for hurting me too," she said. "But I mostly hate him for making me hurt you."

Toby tilted his head, "what are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry," she sniffled. "The reason I agreed to stay with Wren and agreed to move to London was, so he'd leave you alone."

"What?"

"You already knew Wren smeared your name all over town. I knew Wren wouldn't stop if we still lived here, so to protect your future as a carpenter, I…"

"Wait, Spencer," Toby spoke up. "Are you telling me you were planning to stay with him because you thought it would protect me?"

"I was able to get Jason to rehire you," Spencer said. "But Wren wouldn't let up. He sent reports to three other companies in the area. I couldn't think of anything else to do. You're a good worker, Toby. I know how much you depend on carpenter jobs to make a living, so I… I stayed with Wren. Wren promised to stop smearing your name if I agreed to move to London with him. Before all of this, I didn't want to be with Wren anymore."

"I can't believe you did that," Toby shook his head. "What if we never found this out? What if Wren wasn't a con artist? You were going to stay with him to protect my job. You could have been miserable. I wouldn't want that for you. I wouldn't want to be the reason you moved away from your life here with your friends and family and try to force yourself to be with someone you wouldn't be happy with."

"Who knows what would have happened to you?" Tears pricked Spencer's eyes. "You couldn't have a happy successful life as a carpenter if I was here to screw all of that up."

Toby held her cheek, "Spencer." He stroked her face as he spoke, "you are more important to me than any job. You are more important to me than…than anything in this world. If I'm having a career problem, then that is just something I will have to face and figure out. I never want you to sacrifice what you want in life for me ever again."

"What if Wren's words keep you from getting another job in Rosewood?" She asked.

Toby shook his head and said, "it wouldn't matter, you know why? It wouldn't matter if I got another job again in this town or no job at all ever again. Nothing in my life matters if you're not a part of it." He figured it would be too soon to say it, but he had held these words on his tongue long enough. "I love you."

"Why?" She cried.

He looked at her so lovingly as he continued to stroke her cheek, "because I do. You're intelligent and interesting to talk to. You are passionate about life. You are driven, funny, beautiful inside and out, and you have the biggest heart. There are a million reasons why."

Spencer sniffled and said, "did you open the watch I gave you?"

Toby nodded, smiling.

"It's you, Toby," she cried/smiled. She touched his face and said, "you are what I want."

Spencer searched his eyes. Toby was in a state of disbelief that the girl of his dreams wanted to be with him. He thought after all the drama with Wren, Spencer would be turned off to ever trusting anyone else ever again. He thought she would want time and space to figure things out.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "You just ended things with Wren. I don't want you to feel you have to jump into something you're not ready for."

She shook her head, "No, it's okay. I spent the last week feeling sick at the thought of never seeing you again. I have no desire to ever feel that way again. I just don't want you to think I'm only choosing to be with you because of what we found out about Wren. I wanted to pick you before, but things got complicated and twisted. I want to be with you, Toby."

"I really want to be with you too, but are you sure you don't want to take some time to really wrap your head around everything that's happened?

"All my life I've done things the way other people wanted me to. I was never ready to marry Wren, but my parents wanted to me to be set with a rich man. I jumped through hoops to please my parents and I'm done. I was this close to living a life of misery. You make me happy, Toby. In these last several months knowing you, you've made me feel things I didn't think I was capable of feeling. You make me laugh. You make me feel safe. You're nice to my friends. I know things are still new and unpredictable between us, but I'm interested in seeing how things go for us."

Toby gave her a silly grin and said, "are you trying to say you love me too?"

"What do you think?" She touched his chest. "It's two in the morning, I called you in here, and I gave myself an ulcer thinking about how much I was going to miss you when I thought I was going to be stuck with Wren."

He held her hand, "so, this is it then. Here we are. We're really going to do this. We're going to be an us."

She smiled and said, "There is a us. We'll take things slow for a while and see how things go."

"Okay," He nodded. "Can I kiss you now or are we just in the hand holding stage of our relationship?"

Spencer laughed. She gripped the collar of his shirt and said, "Yes, you better kiss me now if you know what's good for you."

Toby smiled before sealing his lips with hers. Spencer moved her hands from the collar of his shirt to his face. His fingers gripped her back trying to pull her body as close to him as was humanly possible.

"Hmm, Toby," Spencer said between kisses. "Mhmm you're not…" Kiss "secretly a con artist…" Kiss. "Are you?" She pulled her face an inch away to catch his eye.

"Uh, no," Toby shook his head. "No, I'm not. I really am just a carpenter."

"You don't have any dark secrets I should know about?" She asked. "Because if you do, I'd really like to get all of those out in the open right now."

"Well, I do have one secret that's kind of bad."

Spencer looked at him seriously, "what is it?"

"I have a motorcycle."

Spencer's face relaxed. She let out a single laugh as she brushed her own hair off of her face.

"Is that it?"

"I also have a tattoo on my hip bone that says 901 Free At Last I got it after I graduated high school. I was so glad to get out of my house that summer."

"Oh, yeah," Spencer smirked. She traced her fingers against his skin where his tattoo was. "I remember seeing that the night we…you know. Damn that was a good night."

Toby laughed and held her hand.

"Hey, now, we're supposed to be taking things slow."

"I know," she teased. "I just really like your tattoo."

Deep pink colored Toby's cheeks. He smiled sheepishly. Just then, Toby pulled her by her hand into his arms. She smiled as she leaned back against his chest. Toby wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. She reached her hand out searching for his hand. He took it without question. Spencer leaned her head back against his shoulder, so she was able to look up and into his crystal eyes.

"I really like you," said Spencer.

"I really like you too."

He kissed her softly. Every time Toby's lips touched hers, it made Spencer think about the day they first met. She was so curious to know what his lips would feel like on hers. Now that they're here, his touch feels better than she dreamed it would be. Each touch sent a new spark to ignite in her chest. Every kiss felt like fresh air entering her lungs bringing her back to life.

"Toby," Spencer said paused their kissing to ask. "There is one thing left I think we should discuss that might be uncomfortable for you."

"What?"

"Jenna," she hesitated for a moment before asking, "What do you know about her? You told me she's your stepsister."

Spencer felt his chest rise and fall against her back as he sighed.

"She was a complicated person," Toby said. "She stayed in her room a lot. She played her flute a lot. She caused a lot of people a lot of trouble in high school."

"How so?" She asked.

"I don't know the specifics. Back then, I tried to stay clear of her. I just always had a feeling she was trouble. She always found a way to get what she wants."

"How long did you share a house with her?"

"A couple years," Toby admitted. "The only time we ever really spoke was once at our parents' wedding and very rarely we'd see each other during holiday dinners. I swear, I haven't been in contact with her. We weren't close. I had no clue she was involved in all of this. Finding out Jenna knows Wren was just as much as a shock to me as it was for you."

"No, I believe you," Spencer said, touching his hand. "I just…I can't wrap my head around how they met."

"I don't know, but I am sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry Jenna was involved in all of this. Makes me feel like a part of me was…"

"Toby, stop," Spencer leaned up and turned to face him. "Don't even go there. Don't you dare think for a second that you have a single blame in any of this."

Spencer leaned back into his embrace. His fingers went back to stroking her hair.

"Okay," Toby said. "You're turn. I shared a couple of my own secrets. What about you? Tell me something you haven't told me yet."

Spencer smiled trying to think of something.

"Um…when I was in middle school, I used to dream that Jake Gyllenhaal was my boyfriend," she said. "I dreamed that he would pick me up after school. He would take me to the beach, and we would walk on it barefoot as the sun went down."

"Well," Toby nodded. "I'm no Jake Gyllenhaal, but if you really want, I can take you to the beach and we can do that."

Spencer laughed, "oh no." She reached her hand out to stroke his face and said, "you are much better than Jake Gyllenhaal."

"Good to know."

She kissed Toby's cheek. Then the back of his hand. They stayed like this on the couch all night. They shared more secrets with each other. Toby told Spencer he once tried to steal a puppy from a pet store but got caught. Spencer told him that she and her friends tried to take tap dance classes but got kicked out for being too noisy. Toby shared that he used to have long shaggy hair in high school and people used to call him mop head. Spencer told him that she once ran away from home at the age of seven after a fight with her mom and sister. She went to see a movie and came back home later that day. No one noticed she was gone. Toby really felt for her after telling that story.

"Hey, Spence," he said.

"Yes?"

"If you ever feel like running away again, will you please call me first?"

Spencer smiled and said, "okay."

Light was just beginning to break when they finally fell asleep laying on the couch wrapped in each other's arms.

After all the heart breaks, pining, and drama it was time to give you guys a light fluffy chapter. I hope you enjoyed this little chapter. I have just a couple of chapters planned for this story. Please, don't forget to write a review. Thank you to those who have been doing so. I appreciate you. I hope to be back soon with the next chapter. ( :