They met at the farthest table of a small café near Greenbelt—one with soft lighting, no music, and too much air between them.
Jaimie came late on purpose.
She needed him to sit with the waiting.
To feel the ache of absence the way she had—for years.
Tedd stood when he saw her, like he always used to, but she didn't meet his eyes. She sat, smooth and slow, brushing her long skirt behind her.
The silence between them was deafening.
He broke it first.
"You came."
She stared at her coffee. "Don't flatter yourself. I came for closure."
That stunned him.
She didn't flinch.
"I needed to see the man who left me bleeding on my living room floor. The man who never showed up when our son was born. The man who vanished when I needed him most."
Tedd's throat worked hard around the words he couldn't say fast enough.
"I thought I was protecting you."
Her eyes lifted—cold and piercing.
"You don't protect someone by disappearing."
He winced. "I didn't know what Carla was capable of—"
"I do." She leaned forward, eyes sharp with memory. "She tried to kill me, Tedd. And our child. You think I don't know what she's capable of? You think I didn't fight like hell just to stay alive, just to give birth alone in a hospital room with no one holding my hand, no name on my records, just me and a God I wasn't even sure I believed in anymore?"
Tedd looked down, shame hollowing his chest.
"I'm sorry," he said softly.
She laughed—a dry, bitter sound.
"Sorry? Do you know what it's like to explain to a three-year-old why he doesn't have a dad? To lie every time he asks what 'Tito Dad' means because he heard it from Max?"
Tedd's eyes glistened. He opened his mouth. Closed it again.
"I was scared," he said at last.
"I was too," she replied. "The difference is—I stayed."
A long pause settled between them, fragile as glass.
Tedd finally looked up.
"I don't expect forgiveness. I don't expect anything from you."
She nodded. "Good. Because you're not getting it."
"I'm here," he continued, voice low. "For real this time. Not in secret. Not from behind a window. I want to be part of his life. And yours... if you'll let me."
She scoffed.
"You want to be a father after three years of nothing?"
"I want to earn the right to try."
He leaned forward, eyes red, voice shaking.
"Let me prove that I'm not the same man who walked away. Let me build something—with bricks, not words. Let me take care of you, even if you never love me again."
Jaimie finally looked him full in the face.
And for the first time... he saw her tears.
But she didn't wipe them.
She let them fall.
"I don't need a man to take care of me," she whispered. "But my son deserves a father who won't leave when things get ugly."
"I won't," he said. "Not again."
"You'll have to show me."
"I will."
Jaimie stood slowly.
"I'm not saying yes. But I'm not saying no."
She walked away without looking back.
Tedd stayed seated. Still. Shaken.
He didn't have her heart.
Not yet.
But he had something he hadn't had in three years.
A chance.
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