𝑹𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 (𝑻.𝑵.)

𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

"Why is there a woman in my bed?!" Charlie asked running into the kitchen.

"That's Thea, she stayed the night last night after our original sleeping spot got rained out." Ted explained as he took a sip of orange juice.

"Oh. So she's your crush?" Charlie playfully poked.

"She's just a friend." Ted denied.

"She sure seemed like more than a friend when you sat by the fire last night." Kristin said under hear breath, even if everyone heard it.

"Mom." Ted groaned. Kristin was like a mother to him so he'd occasionally call her mom, the same way he'd occasionally call Phil dad.

"It's true!" She defended herself as she flipped the last pancake onto the plate. "Now, go wake her so that she can join us for breakfast." Ted nodded as he stood up, when he got to the door he noticed Charlie had followed him.

"Can I help you?" Ted turned to the younger boy.

"I wanna meet her." He said reaching for the door handle, but his hand was pushed away.

"You'll meet her downstairs. Go, I'm sure she doesn't need you screaming the second we walk in."

"But that's how I wake you up."

"And you wonder why I always smack you with my pillow after you wake me. Now go." He said shoving the blonde boy back downstairs. Ted quietly opened the door before slowly walking over to the bed, trying not to wake her. Even though she was asleep he thought she still looked beautiful. He sat down on the bed next to her as he lightly shook her arm. Thea groaned before turned over, facing away from him. "Thea, c'mon Kristin made breakfast." That made her open her eyes and turn over.

"What'd she make?" Thea asked, her voice rough since she hadn't spoken since last night.

"Pancakes with fruit." Ted said and Thea shot up out of bed. Ted laughed at how fast she had gotten up. "I put one of my shirts on that table over there. You can wear that while Kristin washes your outfit from yesterday." Ted said before he stood up to leave and let her get ready. He was pulled back before he could leave.

"Thank you, Teddy." She said, pulling him into a quick hug.

"Anytime, Thea. Anytime." He hugged her back. They stood there holding each other for a few more seconds before Ted left. Thea changed into the white button up shirt he had left, luckily she found black pants to wear underneath. She found a belt and tied it around her waist so it didn't look so baggy. She slipped on some socks before making her way to the kitchen.

"Did you sleep well?" Kristin asked as she set a plate of food in front of Thea.

"I slept perfect. Thank you for letting me stay here." She thanked the woman as she took a sip of orange juice.

"Any friend of Ted's is always welcome." Phil said as he dug into his pancake.

"Well, I'm Charlie. I'm sure Ted's told you a lot about me and about how awesome I am." Charlie said as he 'slyly' flexed his muscles.

"He didn't tell me much about you. He hasn't really told me anything at all except for your name." Thea said as she took a bite from a strawberry.

"Ted!" Charlie whined.

"Sorry, you just never came up in the conversation." Ted shrugged after he swallowed the pancake in his mouth.

"You're supposed to tell your girlfriend about your family before she meet them." Charlie said. Theas eyes went wide before she started to choke on her pancake. She quickly recovered after she took a sip of her drink.

"Charlie, she's not my girlfriend." Ted glared at the young boy.

"Yeah, we aren't, uh, we aren't dating." Thea said after she recovered from her coughing fit. Thea felt some sort of sadness when she said that.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"The boys are going with Phil into town to help trade some goods. Would you mind helping me with a few things while they're out?" Kristin asked.

"I've got nothing better to do." Thea shrugged before she stood up from her spot and followed Kristin outside.

"First, hanging up the laundry. Since it rained last night I took everything down, but now I've gotta put the wets up to dry." Thea nodded as she picked out a few items of clothing and pinning them to the clothing line. "I know you and Ted aren't dating, but there's gotta be something there."

"I think there is. I'm not very familiar with the whole feelings thing though." Thea said as she pinned up a shirt.

"Elaborate."

"This is like the first time I've been away from home. Ted is the first guy, who isn't related to me, that I've known. You're the first woman, other than Niki, that I've talked to. I don't know many people and I've never had any feelings towards someone."

"Wow. Not even like a small crush on the man across the street or something...?"

"Nope. I've been basically trapped in my house for my entire life."

"How do you feel when your just around Ted?"

"Like my heart is about to explode. I mean the way he just talks to me is so kind. He makes me feel like I'm floating on clouds when I'm around him. I'm glad I met him because I couldn't imagine how I'd make it out here by myself."

"You've fallen pretty hard my dear."

"Really? That bad."

"Mhm. That bad."