Til Death Do Us Part || Tate Langdon

Missing Person

      A couple days later, you were woken from your nap on Tate's, or rather both of your bed now, from him calling your name from downstairs. You groggily rose from your spot and rubbed your eyes, and did a lazy jog down the steps to see him standing in front of the cracked open front door.

   "Someone's here for you," he said in monotone.

   "Who?" your heart sped and dropped.

He raised his brows and stepped aside, gesturing to the door. You assumed that meant it was safe, and cautiously approached, giving him one last glance before opening it and peaking out. Delaney's eyes widened and a smile instantly spread across her face when she saw you.

   "Oh my god," you flung the door open, and you hugged. When you broke apart, you asked, "How'd you know where I was?"

   "I'm FBI agent level that's how," she joked. "After blowing your phone up for a few days, I realized you probably ran away like you said you would, but maybe forgot a charger. So, I drove past your house and your car was gone," she paused, and then, "Come to think of it so was Thea's. But anyway, I decided to check here first, and I saw your car." She pointed over her shoulder at your stupid old car sitting a couple houses down.

   "Like I said-- genius," you half-lied. You hadn't run away, but she'd gotten to the right conclusion and didn't need to know the violent details of the truth. "But.. could you maybe move my car? Leave it in a parking lot or something. I don't want Thea coming by and seeing that."

   "Alright," she nodded, then her eyes looked anxiously behind you.

You felt Tate's hands on your waist just before you turned to see him, he was glaring straight ahead at Delaney and pulled you closer to him. She looked nervous, almost frightened then.

   "It's okay Tate," you told him to try to ease the tension. "You remember Del right?"

He looked at you quickly, then back to her, and nodded.

   "Nice to see you," she gulped awkwardly, and then, "Oh, I almost forgot." She dug in the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a curled white wire to hand to you.

   "A charger," you accepted it eagerly, desperately having missed using your phone. "Man, you thought of everything."

   Tate looked even unhappier about this, but not in an angry way. Finally he spoke to her, "Thanks for looking out for Y/N." It was polite enough, but felt like a dismissal.

   She didn't hide her surprise, and said, "Yeah of course. Let me know if you need anything else and before you guys take off wherever you're gonna go."

You two hugged again before she left, and you gave her your car key that sat on the end table from the night you got here.

   When you shut the door, you asked Tate, "So what was that about?"

   "What?"

   "The whole brooding, possessive boyfriend thing."

   His brows rose ever so slightly, and one corner of his mouth turned up, "Boyfriend, huh?"

   Your face heated, "Well, yeah... right?"

He closed the distance between you and looked confidently in your eyes as he lifted your chin to connect you guys' lips; your kiss lasted so long you were sharing each other's breaths by the time it ended. His hands had moved down to your ass and you didn't stop him. He ended it eventually with a seductive bite on your lip, then soothing it with a lick. You batted your lashes at him and his half-lidded eyes, noting how unfairly hot he looked with his now darker pink, slightly puffed lips.

   "I would've called you my boyfriend way earlier if I knew you liked it that much," you admitted with a shy smile.

   "I did like it that much," he placed one last kiss on your jaw and took both your hands in his.

   "So, are you gonna answer me, though? About the intimidating Delaney out there?"

   "You think I intimidated her?" He was smug.

   "Tate," you nudged him.

   "Okay, okay," he let your hands go and took a few steps back. "I didn't want her to... try to take you away. I thought you would want to leave with her, and you know I can't protect you out there."

A strange mix of emotions came over you, mostly sympathy and honor. He really wanted you here and loved you; he wanted to protect you, and was so worried for when you'd have to leave.

   "I'm not leaving you, Tate," you told him. "At least not yet. And not forever. When I eventually do have to go..." the sorrow in his eyes broke your heart. "I'll find ways to come back and see you. She can't chase me forever."

   You invited him over to the couch to lay on you while your phone charged up.

   "You shouldn't be on that thing too much," he advised while he positioned himself comfortably on top of you. "Someone could see that you're active and maybe trace your location."

   You nodded and assured him you'd be careful, then ran your fingers through his hair until he fell asleep on your chest. When it was finally charged enough to turn on, you clicked my texts first, which were flooded with distant family members asking if you were okay, and a few people from high school sending you articles about yourself titled 'Missing Person': it was odd to see. You sent some reassuring texts to only those who you could trust fully, which ended up being 1 of your cousins and Remi, though you were sure Delaney had told her what was going on by now.

   You wondered where you'd go when you left, and how now that you didn't have a car. You'd brought your purse with you when you initially came here luckily, and could probably buy some sort of bus or train ticket somewhere out of town.

You cleared your mind of the planning, dreading the day you'd have to leave Tate here alone with no way to see or contact him for however long you were gone. You kissed his head and enjoyed the time you two had now.