Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! And a big thank you to chloecorrie  for help with the inspiration for this chapter! <3

The lights are out and Mary's heart is hammering against her chest. She hasn't run this much since college and she's really starting to regret pushing her exercise routine to the side. People that she doesn't know are running around and jumping over whatever stands in their way and, for a second, she feels really old.

Harry's convinced her that this would be fun, and it is, she just didn't expect to get so into the game so quickly. Laser tag hasn't really ever been one of her favorite games, but he's made it fun, even if they're two of the four adults that are playing.

It's date night again and he thought it would be fun to make it a double date with his friend Mark and his fiancée Ruby. Mary was a little wary at first because she's used to it being just them, but after she thought about it for a few minutes she realized that it would be nice. They don't have many friends in the area, mostly just acquaintances, and it will be good for them to hang out with another couple. The idea isn't just good for making friends, it's also another step in their budding relationship because Harry's introducing her to a close friend of his and showing her that he means it when he says that he's serious when he says that he's aiming to be her husband sometime in the future.

Someone taps her shoulder and she nearly screams. Mary whips around to see that Mark's the one that's tapped her and she can't help but to laugh at herself. "I'm taking this game far too seriously. What is it? Did you get a glimpse of where they're at?"

Mark grins and steps a little closer so she can hear him clearly and so that he's not speaking loud enough for the other team to hear. "They're over in the back behind one of the blue walls. I don't think they're moving any time soon because it looks like they're playing defensive instead of offensive. If we flank them from both sides, or somehow manage to get above them without being shot, I think we've got a good chance at winning."

Before the game started and after the teams were picked, Harry decided to make things a little more interesting. Everyone planned to go to a nice bar with food afterward and he wagered that the last team standing gets a pass and the other team has to pay for everything.

At first everyone was a little skeptical, but splitting the bill between two people didn't sound that bad in the end and they made it a bet. So far, everyone's still in the game and it's starting to get tense because there are only a few players left on each team.

Harry's smart, but Mary knows him and she knows that he's not going to stay in one spot for very long.

"That'd be too easy. He's smarter than that. Did they see you?"

Mark pauses and his eyes slightly widen as he thinks back to a few minutes ago. He stood in one spot and looked at them for a good minute or so without them noticing, but he's not entirely sure that they didn't see him. Just as he was leaving, Harry turned his head and Mark has no idea what he saw or if he followed him around the course afterward.

"Shit. No, but he might have because he turned around when I turned to find him."

Mary shakes her head and grabs his wrist to get him moving. "In that case, time to go."

She takes off running and drops Mark's hands after only a few seconds because he can be a big boy and keep up himself. Mary's incredibly competitive and Mark feels like they're at war when she starts signaling him with her hands and telling him to keep his eyes open. It's incredibly fun though, except waiting to be ambushed at any second, that part has both of their hearts pumping a little faster than they should be.

"Mary..."

Mary holds her hand up to silence him because she just saw something move to their left and she's sure that it's either Harry or Ruby. She points to the left to tell Mark that she saw something and he nods, shifting his gaze every now and then to make sure that no one's sneaking up on them.

He's about to tell her that he sees someone when his buzzer goes off and lets him and everyone else know that he's out of the game. Ruby laughs and Mark yells 'run' as loudly as he can to make sure that Mary escapes. Harry had the idea to make the losing team pay for drinks and he doesn't plan on losing any time soon.

Ruby's already running after her, but someone on their team takes her out before she catches up. It's just Mary and Harry now and neither Mark or Ruby know what's going to happen. Harry might end up being too much of a gentleman to let Mary lose, or he could suck it up and win because he made a bet and he's not looking forward to putting his money where his mouth is.

Mary's running through the course like she's a teenager again and it feels great, but Harry's chasing her and she knows it because she whipped her head around for a moment long enough to see him run around the corner. He's got longer legs than her, so it's only a matter of time until he catches up.

She's not giving up though because she's smart too and she wants him to pay up for his little bet since he was so confident going into the game. Mary runs a little longer until she spots a tiny space between two of the giant foam pieces that she can hide in.

She ducks inside just as Harry rounds the corner. It takes all that she has in her not to laugh because he has no idea what's coming.

Harry stops running and glances around. He knows that Mary wasn't far ahead of him and he knows that she isn't as fast as he is, so he should have seen her the moment that he rounded the corner. But she's nowhere in sight and he doesn't know where she could have gone.

Mary lets him walk himself in circles for about a minute or two before she decides to step out and point her laser at him.

"Looking for me?"

Harry turns around slowly with his hands up in defense and a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I was, but it seems like you've found me first."

She grins, "Any last words?"

He smiles, "Fair game, Marigold."

Mary's smile brightens as she pulls the plastic trigger and ends the bet. She knows that he was attempting to get her to refrain from shooting him with his kindness, but he made a bet and she doesn't particularly feel like losing when he's at her mercy.

His vest lights up and starts making loud noises to let him know that he's out of the game and he laughs and shakes his head. "I was hoping that would keep me safe. Good game."

Harry sticks his hand out and Mary laughs loudly as she shakes his hand, "I know you better than you think I do. Good game, even though you lost."

She starts walking past him and playfully bumps her hip into his. Harry pulls at his vest and tries to get the damn thing to stop making so much noise. He lost, he gets it.

He takes a moment to catch up to her and then lace their hands together. "Do you know how to get this thing to stop? It's giving me a headache."

Mary laughs as they walk to the exit, "It's supposed to shut off on its own after a few seconds. Looks like yours is broken."

Harry fiddles with it for another moment before dropping his hand to his side and chuckling lightly, "Looks like I'm full of bright ideas tonight."

She smiles as they walk through the double doors to be met with a drastic light change and questioning faces. Harry's buzzer is still going off so everyone knows what team is paying for food and drinks tonight.

Ruby groans and throws her hands up, "I thought you said you had it covered! Damn it, Harry!"

Mark, on the other hand, grins and raises his hand for Mary to high-five. Of course, Mary returns the gesture, but she plans on paying for everyone anyway. Harry does so much for her and she has the budget, so she figures that it will be a nice way to repay him and to save her possible new friends from blowing their budgets.

The noise from Harry's vest finally stops after a few moments and everyone talks about how intense the game was as they return their 'equipment' and decide on where they're heading for dinner and drinks.

Mark says that he knows the perfect place and Harry groans because he knows that his wallet will be hurting by the time that the night's over. But eventually, they all agree to his suggestion and head out in pairs.

Harry's driving and holding her hand over the center console, a soft smile on his lips for no apparent reason. Mary's curious though and she only stays silent about it for a few minutes before she's asking him why he's in such a cheerful mood.

"What are you smiling about? Is driving places a new favorite of yours?"

He chuckles as he rounds a corner and lets the steering wheel slide through his hands, "What isn't there to smile about? I've got you and my best friend doesn't hate you like he's hated most of the women that I've dated. Plus, now I know that you love me enough to call my bluff and win instead of letting me win."

Mary smiles, it's nice to hear that he's happy to be with her because Alec stopped saying that after Ember was born. Hearing that he's happy with her makes her incredibly happy. "I almost let you win, you know. But I like winning, so I ignored your tactic. And you're right, I do love you enough to call your bluff."

His smile widens, "And I love you enough to call yours. I'll split the bill with you."

She smiles as she shakes her head, "No, I'm paying and you're dealing with it. You do a lot and it's my turn to take care of date night anyway. I've got more than enough, don't worry about it."

"At least let me leave the tip."

Mary laughs as the car slowly rolls to a stop. "What, is my paying taking away your masculinity?"

Harry bites the inside of his cheek as he removes the key and gives her all of his attention. "A little bit, yeah."

They each stare at each other for a good minute before Mary sighs and gives in to his request. "Fine, you can pay the tip. But that's it! Only because I won instead of letting you claim your laser tag victory."

He leans forward and kisses her softly, "Deal. Are you ready to have even more fun?"

Mary grins, "Certainly."

Inside, the lights are dimmed and the music is loud. It's been a while since either of them have really been to a place like this, so it takes a few moments to adjust to the setting. Mark and Ruby grab a table near the back and let them know that they've already ordered drinks. Drinks meaning they've ordered a round of shots and whatever drink they wanted for themselves.

Harry heads to the bar and orders his and Mary's drinks before returning with a food menu. Bar food isn't ever really great, but it'll taste better after the shots anyway so no one's really concerned. Eventually, they all end up with burgers or wings and another round of shots.

The food comes and goes quickly and it's not long until all of them are buzzed on some level. Soon enough, the men venture to the bar for more drinks and some 'manly chatter' and the women are left at the table to have some girl talk.

Ruby takes the opportunity to ask questions the moment that the men walk away. "So, how long have you two been dating? He won't tell us for some reason, but I'm incredibly curious because you two are so good together and I know that he hasn't popped the question yet."

Mary plays with the straw of her drink and shifts her gaze to Harry, who's laughing with Mark at the bar. "Almost six months, but it feels like much longer if I'm being honest."

"Why's that?"

Her eyes drop to her hand for a second, looking to a ring that is no longer there. "I...I was married before. My husband, he was cheating on me and Harry was there when I needed someone and he was there for my daughter when my husband wasn't."

Ruby's smile softens, "I'm sorry, that must have been horrible."

Mary smiles and takes another swig of her drink. She's over it, she is, it still hurts to talk about it though. "What about you and Mark? You two seem to have known each other for a while."

Sensing the sensitivity in the previous subject, Ruby let's her change the subject. She didn't know much about Mary and Harry, but clearly he hadn't told her for a reason. He didn't want to embarrass Mary or make it look like he'd carried out an affair with her—which he hadn't.

"Harry introduced us when we were sophomores in college. It's been...a while to say the least. I love him to death though and I'm so glad that he introduced us. Mark's over there working up the nerve to ask him to be his best man."

Mary's bright smile returns at the mention of a wedding. She loves weddings and seeing people happy with each other, even if she knows that sometimes things don't work out. "Really!? That's great! I'm so happy for you! When's the wedding?"

Ruby steals a glance over at her fiancé, a wide smile cresting her lips. "December fifteenth. We both really love the winter, even though it's going to make it a little difficult to go on our honeymoon. Who cares though? Love is love, doesn't matter where it is, right?"

Mary laughs as she nods in agreement, "You're certainly right about that."

The mood lightens considerably and Ruby's smile turns into a sly one as she sips her drink, "So, how's the sex?"

Mary nearly chokes on her drink, her eyes wide. She knows that other women discuss their sex lives with their friends, but she hasn't really been that close to anyone for a while and the question caught her by surprise.

Ruby laughs at her reaction and offers her a smile, "Sorry, that was a little personal. Blame it on the alcohol and the fact that I've heard some stories about Harry that I'm curious about."

Mary smiles as she shakes her head, "That's alright, I've been out of girl talk for a while, so I'm not really sure what's normal and what's not anymore." The corners of her lips quirk up a little more, "Stories? What kind of stories?"

She's assuming that the stories are from Mark because there isn't really another way that Ruby would have heard them at this point. And she's incredibly curious to hear what the stories are because she knows that he doesn't discuss their personal relations with anyone out of respect for her privacy.

"About his...manhood and preferences. Mark says a lot of crap though, so I tune most of it out. But it doesn't make me a bad person for wondering, does it?"

Mary laughs and Ruby relaxes again, "Being curious doesn't make you a bad person, Ruby. If Mark wants to talk about that subject and get you curious, that's his own fault." She takes another sip of her drink, "I won't tell you any of the...personal details, but I will tell you that the sex is heavenly. Although, I've only been with one other man before so I might not be the best judge of that."

Ruby gives her a knowing look, "That's an interesting adjective."

The two women look at each other for a moment before they each burst out in fits of laughter. Harry and Mark walk over as they're recovering, each of them wearing questioning expressions as they place their drinks on the table.

Harry's the first to question, "What did we miss?"

Ruby only starts laughing again and Mary answers for her, "Nothing, just some girl talk. What did we miss?"

Mark grins and clasps Harry's shoulder, "I asked your boyfriend to be the best man at my wedding!"

Mary already knew that, but she still smiles just as brightly as she did the first time Ruby mentioned it. She's incredibly happy for them and she hopes that their marriage will last because they seem to be so good for each other.

"Congratulations! Is that why you two brought over more shots, or are you just trying to get us drunk?"

Both men laugh and explain that they're celebratory shots and the drinking begins again. A few hours pass relatively quickly as they talk and share stories and get up to dance every now and again. It's nearly one in the morning by the time that they leave and Mary stayed true to her word and paid the bill before anyone could object and she let Harry handle the tip.

Even though they left the bar around one, she and Harry make it back to his house around two. He's not as drunk as she is because he made sure to stay sober to drive home, but Mary's a little wasted and she's giggling softly as he fumbles with the locks.

Mary leans into him and hugs him from the side, pressing her lips to his neck softly and muttering, "You're so handsome," into his skin.

Harry chuckles as he unlocks the door and carefully leads her inside. "No more drinks for you tonight."

Mary hums as he helps her to the couch and disappears to get her some water and a piece of slightly burned toast. He knows that it won't help much, but he wants to try because he's been meaning to ask her a question all night long, but the timing hasn't been right just yet.

She thanks him and cuddles close to him as he takes a seat beside her and they stay like that for a while, talking every now and then about life and the silly things that pass Mary's lips.

Eventually, she comes down from her little bubble of happiness and Harry decides that it's time for another little fun thing to do even though, technically, it isn't date night anymore.

"Let's go skinny dipping."

A loud laugh passes Mary's lips. She thinks that he's joking, but he's incredibly serious. "You're funny."

Harry smiles down at her, "I mean it, Marigold. Let's have one more fun adventure in the privacy of my back yard."

Now that she knows he's serious, she digests the idea for a moment. "What about your neighbors?"

Harry shrugs his shoulders and his smile lifts a little more, "It's nearly four in the morning sweetheart, they're all asleep."

She's still not sure that it's a good idea because her head is a little fuzzy and if they're too loud his neighbors could easily wake up and see them. Mary's silent for a minute or two before Harry speaks up again to try and convince her that no one will see them.

"What are you worried about? I've seen you naked before and there's no way that we'll be loud enough to wake them. I'm not trying to get you in bed, just trying to have a little unconventional fun is all."

Mary realizes that he's right and a few minutes later they're on his patio and undressing. It feels a little weird because they're out in the open and not behind four walls, but it's also nice because it is fun and a little naughty of them considering that he doesn't have a fence or anything to hide them from any peeping neighbors.

Harry jumps in as soon as he's naked, but Mary decides to walk in because she doesn't want to disorientate herself or make a lot of noise that isn't necessary. The water is cool and very relaxing compared to the summer heat and suddenly she doesn't really mind that they're completely naked for anyone to see if they happened to wake up and take a peek.

A soft giggle falls from her lips as she swims over to Harry and splashes some water in his face. Again, she didn't think this would be very fun, but he's managed to prove her wrong for the second time this evening.

He splashes her back and soon it's an all-out war. Water is flying everywhere and they're both laughing so loudly that one of the neighbors has woken up and looked out the window. She couldn't see anything though because of the water and shook her head as she closed the blinds and went back to bed.

Mary's getting tired and she's telling him to stop between her laughter and Harry's got every mind to listen, but not in the way that she's thinking. He stops splashing her and takes her hands in his with a bright smile on his lips.

"Move in with me."

Mary almost stops breathing because that's not what she expected him to say at all. She's breathing a little hard because of their splash war and her mind is running all over the place. He's just asked her to move in with him and she has no idea what to say because she really wasn't expecting him to ask that already.

He knows what she's thinking and offers an explanation, "I know that it's a little soon, but hear me out. I practically live at your house now and when I'm not there, you and Ember are here. Living together would stop the back and forth and it would open up a lot of time for us to bond with Ember. Hell, you don't have to leave your house. I'll move in with you if you want or we can even get a new house, one that's not haunted with memories and one that we can make our own. You don't have to say yes at all, I'll understand if you say no, I just wanted to try because, well, because I love you Marigold."

The briefest of moments pass before a smile tugs at the corners of her lips and her eyes light up, "You want to move in with me?"

Harry laughs and nods as if she's just asked him the silliest question in the world, "Of course I do!"

Sure, he'll miss the personal space that he'll lose with this decision, but that doesn't matter because he loves sharing his space with Mary and Ember, even if Ember hasn't really caught on to the personal space idea yet.

"I'm not sure Ember would want to move to a new house. I do, but that's because the walls hold more painful memories for me than they do for her."

Harry beams, "Is that a yes?"

Mary laughs as she nods in confirmation, "Yes, I'll move in with you."

She's not really sure about staying in her house because she's wanted to leave for a while, but she's positive that Ember will absolutely love the fact that Harry will be living with them twenty-four-seven.

Things are turning around and she's a lot less scared than she was before. Not every man is going to change the way that Alec did and she has to accept that and take risks or she'll never be as happy as she wants to be. Harry's hers right now and she's going to hold on to that with everything that she has because, in her opinion, it's better to love and have lost than to never love again.