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It was almost midnight before the inevitable knock on her front door echoed through the small house.
She had been expecting it for almost two hours now, knowing damn good and well that his night, which had turned into day, had gone just as horribly as her day, which had turned into night.
But after a while she had wondered if maybe he wouldn’t come.
That he wouldn’t sneak into the house and act as if nothing had happened.
That he wouldn’t crawl into her bed and tuck her against his chest, desperate for at least a few decent hours of sleep.
It wasn’t often that their free time overlapped these days, the norm seeming to be that they ran into each other more at the lab than anywhere else.
But that didn’t stop the late night visits from her and the early morning ones from him.
Sometimes, you just had to work with what you had.
“It took you long enough.” She whispered as she swung the door open, her eyes taking in his tired looking form.
His shoulders were slouched and his head was hanging forward, his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants.
“Hi to you too.” She chuckled softly before stepping back and allowing him to enter, smiling as he stopped just inside the foyer so that he could lean down and press a kiss to her lips.
“You didn’t come straight here from the lab did you?” Judging by the fact that he was still wearing the same outfit that she had seen him in earlier though, she would go with a ‘yes’ for that one.
“I contemplated going home and changing.” He whispered, moving into the living room and dropping to the couch. “It was out of the way, it just made more sense to come straight here.”
“Well I’m glad you did.” She fell to sit beside him, her right hand going to his back as he leaned forward with his elbows on his thighs, his head falling to his hands. “You should sleep.”
He didn’t respond with words, instead he simply nodded, but he still made no move to get up.
So instead of pushing, she simply let her hand rub up and down the expanse of his t-shirt covered back, her head falling to his shoulder as closed her eyes.
“Linds here?” Their unspoken rule of never taking things any further than kissing when the girl was in the house made sense, but sometimes, it sucked.
“Not tonight.” She whispered as she felt him sit upright some, her eyes opening as she watched him raise an eyebrow. “Sleepover.”
“On a Thursday?” Rolling her eyes she pushed at him playfully before moving to stand, extending a hand in his direction as she waited for him to decide to join her.
Her couch may have been comfortable, but there was no way it was comfier than her bed.
“There’s no school tomorrow.” He nodded in understanding as he took her hand, allowing himself to be pulled up and toward her. “That and I anticipated your arrival…”
“Is that why you answered the door in a robe and not flannel PJs?” She rolled her eyes as he pulled her toward him, her hands moving to rest against his chest as he smiled down at her.
“Maybe I just like this robe…” He shook his head as he smiled, his forehead falling forward to rest against hers.
“Liar.” He whispered, his lips pressing to her nose and then her lips. “You hate that robe.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle against his lips before kissing him a little harder, her arms reaching up and wrapping themselves around his neck tightly.
“Why don’t you help me take it off then?” Her whispered suggestion caused him to raise an eyebrow and smirk, his hands moving from her hips to the loose knot resting against her stomach.
“I thought you’d never ask.” He kissed her again as he pulled the small tie loose, allowing the material to fall away from her shoulders and to the floor.
There was nothing good about bad days, but sometimes, just sometimes, there were good things about bad nights.