Desdemona Humphries leads a rather unspectacular life. She's a great daughter, grand-daughter, and aunt. She helps her brother coach little league and helps her sister bake for the school bake sales, in between running a bed and breakfast with her f...
Desi blinked, thinking that perhaps she was in some kind of dream state, maybe brought on by stress. There was absolutely no way that Tom and half of the Avengers were standing in the middle of her kitchen. When she opened her eyes again, they were all still standing there, most now looking amused, especially Tom. The corners of his eyes were crinkled up, just how she liked them... stop it! Before she could say anything at all, Tom stepped forward, a hand out to her, which made her take a step backward. Desi felt the counter hit her square in the back as she heard Hes snickering from behind her.
"Desi, let me introduce you to everyone. You've already met Robert. The gorgeous lady beside him is his wife, Susan. You are already well acquainted with Ben and Anna, and you obviously already know Idris. This is his new girlfriend, Margery. Behind them is Mark, Jeff, and Chris. I believe that's everyone."
Desi gave a tentative smile to everyone, which was returned. She glanced at Idris and smiled the first genuine smile since she had returned home. "It's nice to meet everyone. Idris, you are looking happy. I'm so glad to see that." She glanced over at Tom, who looked quite happy with the situation at hand. She cleared her throat and tried to sound like a normal person. "Tom, you look...exceptionally fine. I mean... "
Everyone started laughing as Tom just smirked with that one eyebrow raised. He stepped closer and leaned in to speak quietly. "Desi, darling, you look absolutely fabulous, but perhaps a bit tired."
He stepped in even closer, and Desi's mind went into panic mode. "Scott! Help me with the groceries!"
Before Tom could lay a hand on her, which he, in fact, looked like he was ready to do, she made a beeline for the back door. "Darling, I can help with that. Scott is helping Ty with his maths."
She shook her head, beyond dismayed that Tom was already calling her nephew by his nickname and her brother by his first. "Math. He's helping with his math."
Tom nodded, grinning. This was an old joke between them, and Desi fell into it without thinking. "Yes, Desi, that's what I said. He's helping with his maths."
She shook her head. "No, it's math... you know what, nevermind. You can't help, you're a guest. Go do guest... things." Desi looked behind herself at Hester. "Hes! Find something for these nice people to do, won't you?"
Desi was pacing beside the truck when Scott appeared to help her with the rest of the groceries. He grins at her as she paced past him. "You're handling this better than I thought you would, I'll say that."
Desi turned to stare at him, holding up her finger and thumb about an inch from each other. "Seriously?! I'm about this close to losing my shit, baby brother! How... why... who's idea was this, anyway?!"
Scott scratched his head as he leaned against the passenger door of Desi's truck. "Well, from what I've managed to put together, it was Robert's idea, then he got Gran on board, and it kind of snowballed from there. I'm almost positive that Tom wasn't in on the planning stages of the operation."
She resumed pacing, trying to figure out what to do. Finally, Scott stepped in front of her, halting her progress. "Move, please."
He shook his head. "No. Look, sis, you need to just calm down and roll with it. This could be a good thing. It will give you and Tom a chance to re-connect."
Desi slapped herself on the forehead. "Dammit, Scott! That's exactly what I don't want to happen. I mean, why? Why would Gran go along with this? She knows how I feel about him. Why would she push him into my personal space?"
Scott shrugged as he walked around to the tailgate of the truck. "Your guess is as good as mine, sis, but I think maybe you need to just relax and see what happens."
She blew out an exasperated breath as they walked back into the house to find Gran motioning for everyone to leave the kitchen. She turned and smiles at Desi as Tom followed behind her. "I'm going to show everyone where their rooms are. I'm giving Tom your room, Des. I thought he'd appreciate the irony."
She heard Tom snicker before he turned to wink at her. "Are we sharing, Desi?"
She couldn't help but grin at him, making his smirk widen. "No, Casanova, we're not. I'm sleeping in the family room."
He laughed as he ducked his head sheepishly. "Well, you can't blame a man for trying, darling."
Tom fell back on the bed after Gran left him in the attic bedroom. He had to stoop a little to stand but other than that, he was beyond thrilled with the accommodations. The only thing that would have made it better was if Desi had indeed been sharing the bed with him. He grinned as he remembered the shocked look on her face. So far, Robert had been right. She wasn't exactly happy to see him, or any of the rest of them for that matter, but she wasn't throwing him out either. Tom just had to hope that the next two weeks would be enough to convince her of his feelings and that she would return them.
He opened his eyes to look around the bedroom of the woman he loved. He saw very little in the way of personal effects, but that was probably because she wouldn't have known who was going to be in her room. Tom opened the drawer of the bedside table and saw her hand lotion, some lip gloss and a journal under a box of tissues. He touched the cover of the journal with the tips of my fingers, itching to pick it up and read her deepest thoughts, but he stopped himself. If he played his hand right, he'd be able to hear them directly from her. Tom laid back and stared up at the ceiling, working out in his head his next move. He was grinning as he dozed off for a short nap.
