“Can we “it was a genuine question. Quinn really needed to hear her reassure him. From the moment Kailee came back into his life, Quinn had tried to convince himself that this was ok, that they were ok, that they could try to become something they never were to begin with. if there was one thing that Quinn knew with absolute certainty it was that he needed Kailee in his life; in any capacity, no matter how hard it would be. ‘It was something he had realized shortly after he and Amber had decided to start patching things up.
Skye was just as heartbroken, if not more, than Quinn was over their separation. Kaillee had been the closest thing to a mother she ever had and for her to have left just like Amber had was clearly devastating. It didn’t help that Quinn had refrained from giving Skye a detailed explanation about why it was that he and her future mom had broken up, which left her even more hurt and confused than if he had. Which was a fact that Quinn had definitely kept in his mind one year later when she was finally starting to reach a point of healing from the loss and he was warming up to the idea of slipping back into the dating pool.
And then Amber came back. She was clean……at least thats what she had told him when she showed up at the bar one night looking for him. He still had her blocked on all modes of communication since the last time she had a bender so showing up to his work was the last resort. Amber had come in head high and sat right in front of him. “I’m sober. … And I want to see my daughter.” She had dropped a few AA chips on the bar along with a letter from her sponsor backing up her statement. Had it been any other day he would have sent her on her way and told her to take it up with the courts ; but he was in a low day, and parenting was hard, and by all accounts Amber looked healthier than he had ever seen her. So he gave in. And they had breakfats at a diner. Which turned into dinner. Which turned into shared parent teacher nights. Which turned into thinking that maybe just maybe it would be worth a shot to try again.
Amber was better. Quinn was lonely and wanting to find someone. Skye needed someone in her life and her mother in a healthy state seemed like the best chance for both of them than introducing a whole new person who could bring a whole new kind of pain that neither of them wanted to feel again. So they went were it was safe. But then Amber wasn’t healthy anymore. And Skye was back to being closed off and shut down. And Quinn was lonely and couldn’t let go, not after insisting on bringing them all back together to try again. So he was back to being lonely, and tired, and before he knew it he was reminiscing about his time with Kailee, going through the file of old pictures of him, Kailee and Skye that they had taken over the years. He missed her, so much his heat ached and he didn’t know what he could do about it. She should have been there, through every moment every milestone in his daughter’s life. And Quinn couldn’t help but stare at their smiling faces and wonder what their lives would have been like if she was still in his life.
The day she walked through his doors felt like a gift from the universe. Llike he would finally be able to answer the question that had been rolling through his mind for months now. Yet here they were, sitting in their favorite booth, at their favorite restaurant, ignoring the biggest elephant in the room. Quinn shifted in his seat, leaning forward so that his forearms were leaning on the table and his left hand was only a mere centimeters from her right hand. It was close enough to fill the part that longed to hold her hand without crossing the line of actually lacing his fingers with hers. Quinn finished off his drink and cleared his throat, as if it would help give him an added boost of courage. His eyes traveled to her face, he looked at her softly, she was so beautiful and he still loved her so much….even though he knew he shouldn’t. “Would you have tried to work things out with us….If I had asked you to?” He finally asked. If I had fought for you?
It was a question he had asked himself time and time again, wondering what she would have said and how life would have been had he made that choice, in stead of letting go so easily. He couldn’t keep thinking about it, he needed to hear her response. Then it was like the universe was once again trying to save him from an answer he was not ready to hear. Her phone went off. It was lying face up between them, the screen lighting up with a picture of Luke and Kailee’s smiling faces, her hand was on Luke’s showing off the extremely large diamond on her ring finger. And it was as if a glass of ice water was thrown on his face. “Oh….right” he said softly.
“i think so.” kailee tried to seem confident in her answer but the truth was, she had no clue. even when they were friends, it was never truly platonic between them. but this time, she needed it to be true. she had the chance to have him and skye back in her life and she would /not/ lose it. up until the time they broke up, she couldn’t imagine a life without him in it, she couldn’t remember a life without him in it. they met so young, had been basically attached at the hip their whole lives. moving away to school without him almost killed her. it was crazy how many times she almost backed out and applied to schools in the city, just to stay near him but she knew she couldn’t give up her dream school because of him. and she knew he wouldn’t have let her.
when things started to go downhill between them, kailee focussing too much on school and just being a kid in college, again she almost dropped out, moved back home, back to quinn and their little girl. her heart was tearing her in separate directions and instead of talking to him about it, she went to a party, broke down and ended up sleeping with the nearest person who gave her attention. she regretted it as soon as it happened but she couldn’t undo it. she tried to talk to quinn about it after but he was shutting her out. she couldn’t get him to understand or really listen to what she had to say. after a while, she had to stop trying, instead of shattering her heart all over again every day, she had to start picking up the pieces. she ended up running into luke again one day in the hall. they started talking, getting to know each other, he started taking her on dates, sometimes they would just study together in her dorm, not talking but just together. they stayed together for the next two years throughout college. she knew nothing could ever compare to the love she had with quinn but she did love luke and she knew she would be happy spending her life with him so when he proposed just after her graduation, she happily accepted.
in the whole breakup, kailee hadn’t just lost the love of her life, she had also lost a daughter. while skye wasn’t hers biologically, she had helped quinn raise her ever since she was left on his doorstep. at some point she even started calling kailee mom. after they broke up, she did her best to keep in contact with skye. she called her as often as she could the calls got shorter and less and less often until skye stopped answering all together. she didn’t know if it was because quinn had said something or if it was the answers kailee didn’t have to the questions she asked but no matter what it was, it hurt just as much as losing quinn.
she never thought she was going to see the two of them again. so the day she somehow stumbled into quinn’s bar and laid eyes on him, it was like a weight that she had been carrying for years was lifted off her chest. he was good, he had a good life. she had almost looked him up on social media a few times, just to see how him and skye were but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. she knew it would hurt too much no matter what the answer was. she was all too aware of how close his hand was to hers and how much she wanted to close the gap. the feelings, the love, she had been pushing back all day, since she had run into him again actually, were bubbling up again.
the question took her by surprise. while she knew deep down a conversation about their relationship would come up at some point, she had hoped she’d have a little more time before it happened. not because she didn’t know the answer, she had thought a lot over the last few years about what she would say to him. and this question? it was the easiest of them all. she just needed more time to prepare herself for it. if he had given her a chance, given /them/ a chance to work things out, unequivocally yes. she would have done almost anything to make it up to him, put in the work to resolve their long distance and communication issues. but before she had the chance to tell him any of this, her phone started ringing on the table. a photo of her and luke from their engagement flashed on the screen with the contact name ‘hubby 💍💕’ at the top. she picked up the phone as quickly as she could but she was sure quinn had seen it. she almost didn’t answer, wanting to stay in the moment with quinn, putting off the conversation wasn’t going to make it any easier. but ultimately she decided to answer the call. “sorry, i’ll just be a second.” she told quinn and took the call outside.
after a quick call with her fiancé, wishing her happy birthday and that he could be there with her and kailee assuring him she was having a good day, she returned to the table. “sorry about that… he just wanted to check in.” she was sure the moment had passed for her to answer the question. but a part of her still wanted to, even though that probably wouldn’t change anything between them.
