For Joan

[theodorelasso]

Continued from here.

(warnings: sexytimes. also, panic attacks, brutal violence, attempted murder, discussion of suicide and actual murder... )

Comments

[theodorelasso]

"Right, right," Ted answers with a smile, nodding. "Didn't place that much value on the nurturing kind of responsibility, I take it?"

[formersurgeon]

"Not so much," she agrees. "My mom is also the sort that doesn't like to be out of control. There's only so much control you can have over a pet."

Or a mental illness, she adds in her mind.

[theodorelasso]

"Or kids," Ted points out. Or so much control you should have, at least. If you want them to be healthy and happy. Which ideally, as a parent, you should definitely want.

[formersurgeon]

"I think she thought she would have a lot more control in that arena than she actually did," she says, amused. "She still tries to control us. She's more successful than I would like. And less successful than she would like."

[theodorelasso]

"Sounds about right, yeah," Ted agrees. "Hey, at least you've worked out a middle ground, huh?" he jokes, mostly cause Joan seems amused by it. If it were a more fraught relationship, he definitely wouldn't have made that joke. "Hey, that's actually one of the interesting differences between coaching football and soccer, once you're actually in a match."

[formersurgeon]

"For the most part," Joan says with a smile. Of course it's harder now with her mom's Alzheimer's, but she doesn't want to bring down the conversation again.

"How so?" Joan knows football pretty well, but not much about soccer.

[theodorelasso]

"That you can't really tell them what to do," he explains. "You just gotta... send them out there and hope they remember what you tried to teach them, you know?"

[formersurgeon]

"That is very much like being a parent," she agrees. She smiles. "That must be why you're an amazing parent and an amazing coach."

[theodorelasso]

Ted smiles and gives her a soft kiss as thanks for that bit of sweetness. "If only I could be both at the same time, huh?" he says wistfully. It's the one big challenge of coaching Richmond, being so far away from Henry.

[formersurgeon]

"Have you ever thought of having Henry come stay with you for a while?" she asks. "School might be hard to work around, but maybe during a break?"

[theodorelasso]

"I mean sure, but... he's got all his friends, you know?" Ted answers. "And unless I have vacation too, I don't really have that much time to spend with him. I just go back home instead, when I can."

He sighs sadly. "It's not that I never see him. I just miss that feeling of being able to come home from work and just sitting down to watch a movie or something with him, and it's just a normal day, you know?"

[formersurgeon]

"He could make some friends here," she points out. "And you don't need to be with him all the time while he's here."

She doesn't want to complicate things...just point out other options.

[theodorelasso]

Ted looks at her curiously, then pauses to mull it over. She's not wrong. He's sure there's plenty of activities and stuff like that. Roy and Keeley could probably watch him sometimes, since he has a niece the same age. There's options... Maybe even Joan could watch him, once they actually get to meet.

"Maybe I'll bring it up to Michelle sometime," he concedes. He doesn't want to get his hopes up too much though, nor does he want to complicate things with her. But she might want a vacation with her friends or something like that sometime, and not have to rely on grandparents to help.

[formersurgeon]

Joan would absolutely love to watch Henry while Ted is working, but she doesn't want to make that a part of his decision, lest he feel awkward about her stepping into a role usually filled by his ex-wife.

"I'm sure he'd love to be here," she says. "It's not every kid that has the opportunity to spend time in London."

[theodorelasso]

"Yeah, we'll figure something out," Ted agrees, but in a gently dismissive way that implies he doesn't want to discuss it further right now.

[formersurgeon]

Joan gets it. She kisses his cheek, then settles against him again with a happy sigh. The circumstances aren't great, but at least they're together and comfortable and safe.

[theodorelasso]

He just finds it difficult to plan for things right now. Daydreaming about vacations is far enough from reality that it doesn't make him sad that he can't do it right now. And still reminding them that they have a future outside of their current situation.

"So what do we do for food here?" he asks curiously, angling his head a little to the area pretending to be a kitchen.

[formersurgeon]

"Mmm," she says, looking in that direction as well. "The cabinets are full of shelf-stable supplies. Cans and boxes and whatnot." She smiles up at him. "There should be a couple jars of peanut butter if you want to crack one open and leave it on the counter."

She's aware of and amused by the habit.

[theodorelasso]

Ted smiles back at her, aware this is just as much of a good-natured tease as well as a suggestion, and kisses her forehead. "Peanut butter is the best snack," he answers, then extricates himself so he can get up and investigate the supplies.

And yes, maybe get some peanut butter.

[formersurgeon]

She gets up too, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching as he investigates. Sherlock always made sure the safehouses were well stocked, rotating out old supplies to donate to homeless shelters before they went bad.

"I don't think there's any bread, but there should be some pancake mix if you want to have peanut butter on pancakes. There should be some honey, too."

[theodorelasso]

"Oh, pancakes could be great," Ted agrees, digging out the mix. He also locates some bread mix, which means he could bake if he wants to. Even if it has to be done pretty low-tech and by hand. And he finds some raspberry jam in there too, which he holds out to show Joan. "Have you tried jam on pancakes? Really good, and mildly more healthy than honey."

[formersurgeon]

"Jam is good," she agrees. It's so like Ted to go straight to making food. Just another reason he's a great person to be in hiding with.

"I think there are some boxes of shelf-stable milk in the refrigerator."

[theodorelasso]

"The box says 'just add water' - but it's always better to add something extra, right?" Ted says with a smile, poking his head into the fridge. The entire kitchen is a lot better stocked than he'd expect, looking at this place.

"Did you know you can also add apple juice instead?" he says, digging out ingredients and the various tools required. "Better in waffles though. Tastes like... crispy, you know?"

[formersurgeon]

"I did not know that! It sounds delicious." Joan's own culinary skills leave much to be desired. She and Sherlock basically subsist on takeout and delivery. She watches Ted as he moves about the kitchen so effortlessly, quietly proud.

[theodorelasso]

"Think I'm gonna stick to the tried and true for now though, since I don't really know what this mix tastes like in its base form," he says, pouring the mix into a bowl to make the batter. "Or what heat the stove top operates at, for that matter. Always a bit tricky."

It's not entirely effortless, but that's mostly because of the little hops he does to not put too much weight on his cast, walking around without the crutch.

"So, how's your pancake flipping skills?" he asks with a smile, turning towards there as he stands there mixing.