Tasha's Tasty Tarts

1.2 Morning

I didn't remember falling asleep, but before I realized it I was jolted awake by the sound of breaking glass. The sun was pouring through my window now, and the memories of Babs being home were slowly flooding back to me as I tried to talk myself out of a panic.

No one was breaking into my house.

I got out of bed and went to investigate. Hopefully it was just Babs making her usual mess. I had missed it since she had been gone, but I wouldn't ever tell her that since all I did was complain about her stuff always lying around. My mother always told me not to get so worked up over it, which only made how I felt about it worse.

I was surprised to find not Babs, but Desmond cleaning up a combination of water and glass from the floor. I stood in front of him and looked at him, feeling sleepy and slightly annoyed he had woken me up.

"What are you doing?" I grumbled. He looked at me briefly before he stacked the largest shards of glass and took them to the trash.

"I knocked a glass of water off the coffee table." He said, "Why did you leave a glass of water on the edge of the table?"

I frowned, unable to recall the last time I drank a glass of water. "I didn't." I sighed crouching down and scooping up some smaller pieces of glass. Desmond returned with a towel and the broom. "But I was more referring to why you were here?" We finished cleaning the mess form the floor.

"Oh, I came to see how you were doing." He tossed the remaining glass into the trash and I set the towel aside for the wash later.

"Did Babs let you in?" I hated that my friends felt like they needed to check up on me, but in this situation I realized I was more secluded than usual.

"No, the door was unlocked, so I figured you were already up." He shrugged and I felt the brief panic I felt last night worrying about the locks. Someone could have broken in. But no one did. I hated that I had to keep reassuring myself that I was safe. "I thought Babs was in Italy."

"She was, but she showed up early this morning." I decided it was time for breakfast. Desmond followed me and I got the carton of eggs from the fridge and the bread from the breadbox. Babs had left the bread open when she made herself a sandwich. I offered Desmond some eggs and he shrugged, so I made enough for three and hoped Desmond didn't actually ask how I was doing. He and I both knew I wasn't actually going to tell him the truth.
I heard him clear his throat and I knew it was coming, but Babs appeared, for once right when she was needed.

"You made me breakfast?" She asked grinning, like if didn't always make her breakfast. "What would I do without you, Natasha?"

"Starve." I mumbled.

"True." She grabbed a plate and put some eggs on it. Toast followed and then she sat down at the table to eat. I remember at that moment that I hadn't made any coffee, and I was regretting it. I was feeling the lack of sleep draining my energy. I put on some coffee and took a seat with Babs. I had lost my appetite, but Desmond and Babs seemed to enjoy their meals.

I could hear them talking amongst themselves, but I found myself staring off into space. I couldn't stop thinking about the door being unlocked all night. I replayed the whole evening in my head, knowing for sure I had locked the door and checked it once before I had gotten up and found Babs. I shut off the television, checked the locks on the windows - laughing at myself since they were second story windows - and then I checked the lock on the door. I remembered turning the deadbolt and hearing the satisfying thud as it secured the door. I had gotten out of bed an hour later to check again. It was locked the way I had left it.

But Babs came home. She must have left the door unlocked.

Of course she hadn't realized I had developed a problem with leaving the door unlocked. How could she? She went on vacation. She missed all the awful things that happened in the last few weeks.

I zoned back in at the sound of my name and I found Desmond and Babs looking at me with those worried faces I hated seeing. "I'm fine." I said quickly. I decided to distract them by getting up and getting a cup of coffee.

"Okay, good, but Des asked if you've seen Marvin recently." Babs glanced sideways at Desmond and I sighed. I hadn't seen Marvin in weeks. Not since my mother's funeral. The last thing he had said to me was how sorry he was and how he hoped I would call him if I needed him. I didn't even think about calling him.

"Why would I have seen him?" I asked, trying to keep my back turned from them. They knew how I felt about him, and how he felt about me, but part of me thought maybe that was all over now.

"Well you were practically head over heels in love with him when I left." Babs said frowning. "Did you guys have a fight or something?"

"No!" I said quickly. We never fought about anything except how many cups of surge actually went into a batch of brownies (three). "No, we haven't had any fights." I turned to them and saw them looking at each other. They were having one of those silent conversations. I hated when they did that.

"Then why haven't you seen him?" Desmond got up from the table and placed his dishes in the sink. He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms seriously. I couldn't raise my gaze from the floor. I heard Babs come over to join Desmond. I felt like I was being interrogated, like I had done something wrong.

"He said to call him if I needed him, and I didn't so I didn't call. It's not my fault he didn't want to come over." I shrugged and the crushing realization that Marvin didn't care enough to come knock on my door even though I didn't call him washed over me.

There was a silence that settled over the three of us as they realized I was about to panic over not calling Marvin. Desmond jumped to change the subject before it could happen.

"Are you gonna open the bakery tomorrow?" He asked. I hadn't thought about opening the bakery at all. Part of me wanted to let it die with my mother, but I knew she wouldn't want that. It had been closed up since she died because I didn't know what to do with it. I gave him a shrug and Babs groaned.

"Tasha, you're depressing me." She whined, "You're opening the bakery tomorrow, you're gonna go call Marvin and invite him to dinner tonight, and you're gonna get out of this apartment because I honestly don't think you've been outside in two weeks." After that she walked away and Desmond laughed.

I knew I was depressing. My mother died. I had a right to be depressing. She was all I had, and now suddenly she's gone. Desmond moved over to me and wrapped me in one of his warm hugs. He was always the one to call when you needed some kind of comfort.

"She's right." He said as I buried my face into his shoulder. "You need to get out. Also I will be sorely disappointed if you never get together with Marvin." I laughed for the first time in what felt like years and stepped away from him.

I nodded and decided it was time to get the day started.