Unexpected (bayern munich)

Chapter 37

At Natalia's apartment, Thomas fed Jamie who was overdue for bed time and put him down. Natalia mindlessly poured water and rice into a pot, her mind blank from the events of the day.

Thomas came up behind her and gently took the spoon from her hand. Natalia let go, but didn't move away from him. She leaned against him and sighed heavily.

Her parents conversed quietly at the table. They had been making phone calls and talking to lawyers all afternoon—something Natalia was grateful for. She didn't even know how to begin to handle any of this.

How can we be here eating dinner like nothing happened

How do we keep going

Natalia felt the large lump she had been pushing away all day coming up to her throat, and she again had to struggle to blink away tears.

Thomas served them dinner, this one much more somber than their first dinner together.

"Natalia," her father began gruffly, taking a bite of his meal, "I spoke to Marco and Tanya's lawyer. They filed a will before..." his voice drifted off, and Natalia's mother put her hand over his.

Natalia took a bite of her own food, not feeling at all hungry.

"They've named you Jamie's guardian," her mother finished.

"They what?" Natalia asked dumbfounded, "They didn't tell me," Natalia said quietly looking down at her plate.

"If you don't want the responsibility, of course we—" her mother began

"No," Natalia said defiantly a switch flipping in her head, "If they wanted me to be his guardian, I will be."

Her parents nodded, "We'll go back to London tomorrow to meet with their lawyer in person and finalize everything. Will you be ok taking care of Jamie for a few days?" her father asked

"I'll help," Thomas offered looking at her.

"Thomas, I can't ask you to do that," Natalia said looking back at him

"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. I will help," Thomas said defiantly, matching her tone.

"You have a game this weekend," Natalia said shaking her head.

"Fuck the game," Thomas said suddenly, putting down his own fork, "You're not in charge of my diet or whether I play or not. Let me help you," he said looking from Natalia to her parents; who's faces were a mixture of sorrowful and grateful.

Natalia stared at him, feeling her own cocktail of emotions.

"Okay." Natalia said in a small voice picking at the meal in front of her.

"Write Naomi, Cat and Pep now and tell them you won't be in for a while," Thomas ushered Natalia to her laptop, "Liz, could you please help me clean up? Charlie, if you could set up the pull out couch in the living room, Natalia and I will sleep there tonight," Thomas said suddenly taking control of the Klein's.

After writing emails to everyone at work informing them of what happened, convincing her parents that sleeping in her bed was their only option and she would not let them sleep on the pull out, Natalia turned to face Thomas. It was the first time all day she had been close to alone.

She felt the lump in her throat come back up, and this time didn't force it down. For the first time in 12 hours, Natalia cried. She cried hard into Thomas' chest, who held her weeping form, and drew circles with his hands on her back.

"I'm sorry," Natalia said after several minutes of crying, noticing the large patches of wetness on his shirt, "For your shirt, and for roping you into this."

"Is that what you think?" Thomas asked holding her at an arms distance, "Natalia Klein, you helped me through the worst thing that ever happened to me. I'll be damned if I don't help you through this," he said not looking away from her face.

Natalia nodded weakly and blew her nose loudly into a tissue Thomas handed her. He took her hand gently and guided her into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

"Arms up," Thomas said quietly, helping her take off her shirt and turning on the water in the shower. He got undressed himself and helped her in, never once letting go of her hand. He carefully ran shampoo and conditioner through her hair, while she just stood limply, exhausted, and feeling like a shell of a human. How could fate be so cruel. How could her sister, her own flesh and blood, just be gone.

Natalia didn't notice she was crying until Thomas wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumbs, and kissed her cheeks gently.

He helped her dry off and get into pajamas before leading her back into the living room.

Natalia crawled under the blankets of her pull out couch bed, and allowed Thomas to wrap his arms around her in a comforting hug.

For a long time Natalia did not sleep, but synced her breathing with Thomas', which was low and steady.

When she finally slept, she dreamt of her sister.