"How's this?"

Christine stepped back, appraising the streamers Harry had hung. "The left side needs to hang a bit higher."

"Why don't I just lower the right side while I'm here?"

"Then it will hang too low."

"Need I remind you the party guests will not exceed three feet tall."

"Their parents will be there."

Harry sighed but smirked. "I should have known this would be an all-day project."

"Did you have other plans?" she played along.

Pausing with the step ladder in hand, he answered, "I had been entertaining the thought of a pre-birthday Happy Meal."

"Well, the sooner we get things decorated, the sooner we can get lunch and you can see which toy you get."

"I meant for Charlie," he replied unconvincingly.

"Sure, Harry."

Poking her cheek in a playful shove, he went back to the streamers.

It'd been a wonderful few weeks. The absence of onlookers had made their slow yet comfortable pace possible. It wasn't lost on them that they had an advantage in a romantic relationship, already knowing virtually everything there was to know about one another, having already seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. These things undoubtedly had made for few surprises now spending so much extra time together, but it seemed to them that there should be something inside them yearning to explore all there is to explore on this new foundation. Though they hadn't discussed things much at length, there was an understanding that there was no timeline for their progression, only that they were seeing where this road was taking them. If it meant another six months of this demure nature, so be it. The last thing either of them wanted was for this to turn into a rebound romance. It was easier to retreat from this distance should that decision be made. Although, the way things had been, neither was thinking about calling it quits.

"You must be excited," Harry said, adjusting his glasses and examining where to stick the tack.

"For the party?" When he nodded, she admitted, "A little nervous, actually."

"Why nervous?"

"I want things to go well. You know my track record planning parties. Something always goes wrong."

Harry let out a breath. "Come to think of it, your last party was the night Margaret left."

Christine turned stiffly toward Harry, almost knocking over the box of decorations. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I mean, of course, I remember, but I wasn't even thinking that one. I was thinking about the time we all got stuck in here with a hitman after my date."

With a reassuring smile, he said, "It's okay, Christine. I figured."

"Still, I wasn't thinking—"

"Christine."

She sighed. "Like I said, I'm nervous."

Harry climbed down from the ladder again and stepped back toward her. "Are the streamers at least better now?"

"Yes, perfect."

"See?" he touched her shoulder. "Everything's gonna be fine, darlin'."

"I can't thank you enough for your help. Not just with planning this party and setting up, but for being here. Helping me through it. It's been such a wonderful yet strange year."

"I know it has," he said, leaning down and kissing her.

A knock at the door separated them, Harry saying with a squeeze of her arm as he pulled away, "I'll get it. You can get started on the balloons."

"All right, but I'm counting on you for the balloon animals."

"I was going to insist."

He opened the door with a smile. Seeing Tony standing in front of him caused it to dissolve into a tense, unintentional grimace.

"Harry?"

Having heard Tony's voice, Christine was at the door in a sweep. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not allowed to visit my son?"

Realizing her defensive tone, she tried to soften her voice, letting Tony inside. "I just mean, I didn't figure you were coming. I sent the invitation to Charlie's party two weeks ago and you didn't RSVP."

"I have to RSVP?" He turned away from Christine and Harry and focused his attention on Charlie, scooping him up in his arms and all but tossing him in the air as he said his hellos.

Harry tried to meet Christine's eye, not sure what to do with himself, but she refused to meet it. Instead, she continued her questioning of Tony. "Of course you have an open invitation, but I haven't heard from you in weeks. Every time I reach out to see if you can — want — to take Charlie I get your machine. You don't return my calls."

"I've been busy, all right? I'm here now. I'm not going to forget Charlie's birthday."

"His birthday is tomorrow," she reminded him.

"I know that," he grumbled, setting Charlie back in his playpen. "I just figured the three of us would want to spend the weekend together. He glanced back at Harry. "But I guess you have other plans."

"Well yeah," she said with a huff. "Harry and I have to work tonight. He's helping me get things ready for the party."

"I figured you'd be taking the night off."

"Why?"

Tony shrugged. "Charlie's first birthday and all. These types of things are usually a big deal to you."

"I'm not sure which one is the insult."

"Don't start with me, Sullivan-"

"Okay," Harry sang, "I think Charlie and me will let you kids duke this out while we go in the other room and see what Mr. Donohue is up to today."

Tony watched as Charlie held his arms up when he saw Harry coming toward him, a more familiar reception than he'd received moments before. What surprised him more was that Christine didn't interject.

"So," he said once Harry and Charlie had made their escape. "Harry's here planning the party and I had to find out about it through the mail."

"I've tried to call. I've asked you to call me back. I wasn't inviting you over your answering machine. You must have had that invitation for over a week. If that didn't prompt you to call, nothing will."

"I came over here, didn't I? Like I said, I didn't know I needed an invite to see you and Charlie."

"You don't, but you need to make an effort to keep in touch if you don't want surprises. I can't always drop everything because you've finally decided to show up. I don't like being put in the position of hounding you. That's what I did through the entirety of our marriage and it didn't work out for either of us."

"You know that I'm busy. My job is unpredictable. I don't always have the luxury of picking up the phone. That doesn't mean I don't love my son. I want to be involved."

"I'm glad," she said, trying to keep her voice from rising, "but unfortunately, being involved doesn't work on a whim. I'd love to spend time with you both tonight, but I can't. But if you want to take Charlie for the night, you're more than welcome to. I can call off the sitter no problem."

"I gotta work tonight, too. I traded my shift so I can be at the party tomorrow."

"I'm glad you'll be there. And Charlie will be glad."

Tony scoffed. "Yeah, sure."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Seems to me like he's got a new father figure around. Don't think I didn't notice how Harry is with him."

"Harry's around. Charlie's too young to make sense of why you're not. You can't be surprised that he's going to gravitate towards someone he sees frequently."

"Something going on between you two?"

Christine had sensed the question coming as soon as she'd seen the look on Tony's face in response to Harry opening the door. Despite this time to prepare, she had no more clue as to what to say. She settled with a semblance of truth.

"We've leaned on each other the past few months. Our divorce was the most difficult thing I've ever had to face. I couldn't get through it alone. Harry needed support as well. You heard that he and Margaret broke up."

"That doesn't answer my question, Sullivan."

"It's the only answer I've got."

"Whatever," Tony conceded with a grumble. "Whatever it is, I'm clearly interrupting."

Christine followed as he started toward the door. "You're not interrupting anything. There's plenty to do to get ready for the party. I'd love for you to help."

"I'm not going to stay here and be a third — fourth wheel."

"Get back here, Guliano," she said when he opened the door.

He obeyed, albeit reluctantly.

Christine went on. "You're Charlie's father. Nothing will ever change that. But I'm not going to apologize that my friends are bonding with him. They've made a choice to be an active part of my life. I can't sit here and wait for the moments you're ready to embrace being a dad. There will always be room for you, but it might not always look exactly how you'd like it to be. If you had told me ahead of time that you wanted to spend some time with me and Charlie, I would have made it happen. But you can't show up here unannounced and expect me to kick someone out because it's a convenient time for you, especially when he's been giving up his own time to help out."

Tony took in what she said, but ultimately shook his head and stepped over the threshold. "I'll catch you later, Sullivan."

"Are you still coming to the party tomorrow?"

"I dunno," he answered, shutting the door behind him.

Christine gave herself a minute before going to find Harry needing to process. She'd been so unprepared to see Tony. Not that her spending time with Harry was in itself a secret, but she'd never considered that Tony might see him as a threat in his relationship with his son.

She found Harry and Charlie on her bed, amused by the fact he'd actually turned on Phil Donohue.

"Hey," he said tentatively, turning off the television and tossing the remote to Charlie behing him. He looked back toward the door, half expecting Tony to appear.

"Hey."

When Tony didn't show and Christine said nothing more, Harry asked, "What happened?"

Christine sat down next to him on the foot of the bed. "The same argument we always have."

Rubbing her knee, he said, "I'm sorry."

She hesitated to say what else and sat still for a minute. She knew Harry was sensing her strain, so opted to give in before he was forced to ask. "He asked about us."

Harry pursed his lips, tensing up himself and moving away from her the slightest bit. "Oh?"

"He was surprised to see you..."

"And?"

"… I didn't tell him... but I didn't deny it, either."

"What exactly did you say?"

His nervousness confirmed she'd made the right decision to skirt around her answer with Tony. "I told him that we've relied on each other the past few months. That's the truth."

"But he suspects more."

After another moment of hesitation, she said, "Only because of Charlie."

"What about Charlie?"

"Something about how familiar he seemed with you."

He didn't know what to say at first, his shoulders shrugging. "I can't really help that. I know I've been around more than I used to be, but even if things weren't different between us, I..."

Seeing his hesitation, she finished for him. "You see him more than Tony sees him."

"Yeah."

"He just needs to cool off," she said more for her own benefit than for Harry's. "He may or may not be at the party tomorrow."

"I didn't mean to make a mess of things."

She finally turned to look at him. "This isn't your fault. I told him that he can't expect me to drop everything every time he decides to show up. I don't want to say that he doesn't have a right to know who's spending time with Charlie, but I also feel like I don't want to tell him about us until we've told our friends. I'm just not there yet. I've liked the way things have been. It's been..."

"Easy," he finished, taking her hand.

"Very. I'm not ready to complicate things. Not again."

"Neither am I."

"But how can I explain that to Tony without risking a chain reaction?"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times trying to come up with an answer but ultimately came to nothing. "I don't know."

She shook her head. "I just want to get through the party right now. It's not about us. If he's not going to show up, that's something he needs to work through. He can't call you a threat and continue to distance himself."

"He called me a threat?"

"Not in as many words, but the implication was there."

"The last thing I want to do is to come between them. If I need to step back-"

"No," she stopped him. "You have every right to be in Charlie's life. You're a part of mine. The two of us come together."

He couldn't help but smile. "Normally, I consider that a good thing."

Charlie, who had been content playing with the TV clicker up to now, crawled over and filled the gap between them.

"It is a good thing," Christine said with a smile of her own as she smoothed his hair. "I'll handle things with Tony eventually. Like I said, he needs time to cool off. It's just his way. I don't think he's really angry with you. He's probably angry with himself. He knows that his unwillingness to compromise is what led us here. I'm not saying I didn't make my own mistakes along the way, but things are what they are. You and I have just gotten here. I'm not ready to let go of it yet."

"I'm not, either," he agreed. Now that he was thinking about it, he was nervous about the prospect that there might come a day when they need to.

"For right now, I think I could use that Happy Meal."

"My treat," Harry said, standing with an outstretched hand, squeezing hard when Christine accepted.