THE AFTERNOON WINDED down and Kurt and Lindy followed suit, eventually untangling their bodies and laying close together in bed. What had started as a lashing out of their mutual grievances had turned into a passionate display of their love for each other.

Lindy laid burrowed into Kurt's side, her face against his shoulder. She could feel her pounding heart, nowhere near close to slowing down after the hour and a half of vivid intimacy she and Kurt had just shared. It was therapeutic in making her forget all the trouble she'd had on her mind.

"How do you feel?" Kurt asked, skimming his fingers along Lindy's bare back, feeling the ripple of her spine.

"Better," Lindy told him, before she laughed at her response.

"Fucking is really good for the soul," Kurt jested, contented with having Lindy so near to him.

"So I've learned," she said back sarcastically. Somewhere in the middle of her exhaustion, she wouldn't have minded continuing on with Kurt. She was aware that he would have to leave soon, but her irresponsible tendencies were telling her to seduce him all over again.

Coyly, Lindy rolled over until she was on top of Kurt, straddling her legs around his hips and lowering herself against him. He groaned and closed his eyes. When he leaned his head back, she could see the veins strain in his neck. It made her want him even more.

"Don't start that when I've got to go so soon," Kurt begged. He moved his hands down the front of Lindy's body, admiring her like a work of art.

"I won't. I was only half-tempted anyways," she smirked. Kurt scowled and grabbed her around the waist, pinning her down onto the bed and smothering her with kisses. She squealed with laugher, fighting him off and kicking her legs.

When he stopped, she shook her head at him. "Our relationship is so bipolar."

"Why's that?"

"One minute we're both hysterical, and the next we've made up and we're happy again and it's all forgotten."

"I like it that way. It's a nice reminder that you're a great antidote to all the bad things that happen."

"Mhm."

Kurt kissed Lindy tenderly, caressing the side of her face and sinking lower between the sheets. If he had a say in the matter, he would have stayed the night with her. Once again, it was too big of a risk to take.

"Going home to a fancy house isn't even comparable to being here with you," he professed lovingly.

"My apartment thanks you for being so kind," Lindy teased. She couldn't imagine anyone besides Kurt choosing her one bedroom lodging over a one million dollar mansion. It was so predictable of him to locate a small space and make a home out of it.

"It's too big," he complained, practically reading Lindy's mind. "It's got all these rooms that we don't need in it.

"Then why did you buy it?"

Kurt's frown was enough of an answer for Lindy; she guessed that Courtney wouldn't have been even the slightest alright with turning away such a magnificent home. She also knew that Kurt had a touch of flavor for nice things, but at the same time, she would have never pictured him in such a place.

"You could live here with me," she added. It was a silly thing to say, nothing except a hope and dream, but she couldn't stop herself from saying it. She glided her two fingers across Kurt's lips, feeling his lips pucker as he kissed them lightly. 

"If it weren't for Frances, I would have moved in already."

"There's got to be something good about the house at least. I mean, it's a mansion."

Kurt perked up. "Well besides that it's a great place for Frances to grow up in, there's another thing. I've found the best hide and seek spot in the world."

"Oh yeah? Are you going to give it away to me?"

"Sure," Kurt smiled. "Considering I'll never have to hide from you. It's pretty neat to be honest."

"Where is it?" Lindy laughed, envisioning Kurt contorting his body so that he could fit in some small manhole that he'd found all by himself.

"It's above our garage. It's supposed to be a greenhouse, but you can't really tell. I didn't even know it was a room until I found the entrance."

"As long as you're using it for hide and seek and nothing else," Lindy commented, vaguely referring to the notion that she didn't want Kurt to use this newfound place as a spot to shoot up.

He must have understood the memo, for his forehead creased and his mouth curved downward at Lindy's sly instance of chiding.

"Why do you have to talk about it?"

"Because until it stops, I will annoy the ever-loving shit out of you."

Kurt muttered and looked away, predictably skittering away from the subject of addiction. Broaching it with Lindy was about as painful for him as walking over hot coals.

"I know people may say it's already gone too far," Lindy said. "But I won't give up on you, Kurt. You're not going to get away from me and this whole thing."

"It's temporary," Kurt lied. Even he knew that his relationship with heroin was far past being a momentary thing. He was too convoluted with it to easily break away whenever he so pleased.

"Like hell it is," Lindy shot back. She would have pursued the conversation further if it weren't for the sudden ringing of her phone in the kitchen.

Scrambling out of bed, she scooped Kurt's flannel off the ground and slid it over her naked body, pulling it tight around her. When she bounded into the kitchen and picked up, she heard Lee's voice.

"Hey Lindy," he greeted, sounding more feeble than usual.

"Hi," Lindy said back, instantly worried. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine over here. I was calling to check in."

"Shouldn't I be doing that for you?"

"Well sure, but you haven't called since yesterday morning."

Lee had become utterly dependent on Lindy's daily phone calls. Receiving them reassured him each day that she had not changed her mind about patching their relationship. Every time she answered, Lee fell back into his safety net of relief.

"Are you sure you're alright? Has Trae been helping you during the day?" Lindy pressed.

In only a few weeks, Lee's health had deteriorated even further. He now struggled to do mundane things, like make food or use the bathroom. Trae had been enlisted to help Lee with these various tasks, something Lindy would have gladly done if it weren't for the distance.

As much as she still held her father accountable for the things he had done, she felt mature enough to put it all aside in order to make his last few months of life pleasant. She'd understood that Lee would not survive his cancer and she didn't want him to die thinking he'd lost all chances of earning her forgiveness.

"Oh yeah, he's been stopping by plenty. I was hoping you'd make your way out here soon too, though. I'd like to take you to dinner."

"Dinner? I don't think you can manage that right now . . ."

"I don't know if I'll be able to eat myself, but I'd at least like to take you."

"You don't have to do that."

"Yes I do. I never got to take you out on a proper dinner date that we didn't always argue on. Let me do it now."

Lindy sighed. It was hard to resist her father's demands when he had so little time left to make them. Plus, she appreciated the gesture of dinner with her dad, something she had missed out on greatly.

"Okay, fine. But pick somewhere close by. I don't want you having to travel long distances."

They said their goodbyes, Lee ending the call with a gentle 'I love you.' Lindy said it back, hoping it would begin to feel more natural to share the exchange with him.

When she returned to her room, Kurt wore a confused expression on his face.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"My dad," Lindy said, realizing that Kurt had yet to learn of her father's condition.

"You're speaking to him?" Kurt sounded totally blown away by this prospect.

"Yes. He's got cancer. Stage four prostate. He's going to die soon," Lindy explained directly, sparing Kurt the miscellaneous details.

"Damn. That sucks."

"I can tell you weren't expecting that."

Kurt shrugged. "I just never thought you'd speak to him again. He was fucking terrible to you, Linds."

"You know there's such thing as forgiveness," Lindy prompted.

"I know. But should you waste your time on someone who ruined your life?"

"Without forgiveness, the world would be a shit place," Lindy pointed out, choosing to skate around Kurt's insistence that Lee had ruined Lindy's life. He had definitely damaged it in some ways, but she couldn't fully say that he'd ruined it.

"Hmmm," Kurt mused, turning his eyes towards the ceiling.

"What?"

"'Dunno. Kind of makes me want to call my own dad."

"Do it," Lindy urged. "You never know what could happen."

Kurt wrapped his arm around her shoulders, smiling down at her with dimpled cheeks.

"Okay, Mother Theresa. I will."

Lindy rolled her eyes and swatted at him, but still stretched forward to lock her lips to his. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kurt's ring for her, glinting on her nightstand and calling out to her in a way that she wished she could respond to.